Reviews

Ian Budge and Dennis J. Farlie, Explaining and Predicting Elections. Issue Effects and Party Strategies in Twenty‐Three Democracies, London, George Allen & Unwin, 1983, pp. 226. $49.95

John McMillan, Gareth Evans and Haddon Storey Australia's Constitution: Time for Change? Sydney, Law Foundation of NSW and Allen & Unwin, 1983, pp. 422. $9.95 (paper)

Richard Lucy (ed) The Pieces of Politics, 3rd edn, Melbourne, Macmillan, 1983, pp. 532. $39.95, $19.95 (paper)

K.S. Inglis, This is the ABC: The Australian Broadcasting Commission 1932–1983, Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 1983, pp.521. $24.95

Richard Kennedy (ed) Australian Welfare History: Critical Essays. Melbourne, Macmillan, 1982, pp. 322 $13.95

Adam Graycar (ed) Retreat From the Welfare State, Sydney, George Allen and Unwin, 1983, pp.206. $22.50, $11.95 (paper)

Frank Brennan, Too Much Order With Too Little Law, St Lucia, Queensland University Press, 1983, pp. 303. $24.95, $12.95 (paper)

Stan Ross, Politics of Law Reform, Ringwood, Penguin, 1982, pp. 295. $9.95

Peter Edwards, Prime Ministers and Diplomats: The Makings of Australian Foreign Policy, 1901–1949, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1983, pp. 240. $24.99

Jim Falk, Taking Australia off the Map — Facing the Threat of Nuclear War, Ringwood, Penguin, 1983, pp. 290. $6.95 (paper)

Peter King (ed) Australia's Vietnam: Australia in the Second Indo‐China War, Sydney, Allen & Un‐win, 1983, pp. 226. $19.95, $9.95 (paper)

Oye, Lieber & Rothschild (eds) Eagle Defiant: United States Foreign Policy in the 1980s, Boston, Little Brown, 1983, pp. 404. Paperback. Price not indicated.

Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, The Reagan phenomenon and other speeches on foreign policy, Washington, American Enterprise Institute, 1983, pp. 230. $US14.95

James Dunn, Timor: A People Betrayed, Brisbane, Jacaranda, 1983, pp.402. $15.95

Richard Higgott, Political Development Theory: The Contemporary Debate London & Canberra, Croom Helm, 1983, pp.124. $11.75 (paper)

D.C. Pitt and B.C. Smith, Government Departments: An Organizational Perspective, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1981, pp. 149. $14.95 (paper)

Thomas T. Mackie and Brian W. Hogwood: Cabinet Committees in Executive Decision Making — A Comparative Perspective Studies in Public Policy No. Ill, Centre for the Study of Public Policy, University of Strathclyde, 1983, pp. 48. npa

Samuel H. Beer, Britain Against Itself: The Political Contradictions of Collectivism, London, Faber and Faber, 1982, pp. 231. £9.50

Johan P. Olsen, Organized Democracy. Bergen, Universitetsforlaget, 1983, pp. 246. Norwegian Krone 135.00

Oliver MacDonagh, States of Mind: A Study of Anglo‐Irish Conflict, 1780–1980, London, George Allen and Unwin, 1983, pp 153. $24.95

Richard A. DeAngelis, Blue‐Collar Workers and Politics: A French Paradox, Canberra and London, Croom Helm, 1982, pp. 286. £12.95

Alastair Davidson, The Theory and Practice of Italian Communism, Vol. 1, London, Merlin Press, 1982 (distributed by Cambridge University Press, Melbourne), pp. 302. $17.95

David Lane, The End of Social Inequality? Class Status and Power under State Socialism, London, George Allen & Unwin, 1982, pp. 176. $34.95, $10.95 (paper)

Christel Lane, The Rites of Rulers: Ritual in Industrial Society — the Soviet Case, Cambridge University Press, 1981, pp.308. $15.50 (paper)

Ferenc Fehér, Agnes Heller and Gjorgy Markus, Dictatorship Over Needs, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1983, p.312. $62.00

Jürgen Tampke, The People's Republics of Eastern Europe, London & Canberra, Croom Helm, 1983, pp. 178. $27.50

Bogdan Szajkowski, The Establishment of Marxist Regimes, London, Butterworth, 1982, pp. 173. $25.00, $13.95 (paper)

Peter Worsley, Marx and Marxism, London, Ellis Horwood and Tavistock, 1982, pp. 126. $6.95

Frank Parkin, Max Weber, London, Ellis Horwood and Tavistock, 1982, pp. 123. $6.95

Kenneth Thompson, Entile Durkheim, London, Ellis Horwood and Tavistock, 1982, pp. 179. $6.95

Graeme Duncan (ed) Democratic Theory and Practice, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1983, pp.296. $17.95 (paper)

Norman Wintrop (ed) Liberal Democratic Theory and Its Critics London, Croom Helm, 1983, pp.516. $21.95 (paper)

Dale Spender, Women of Ideas and What Men have Done to Them: From Aphra Behn to Adrienne Rich, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1982, pp. 586. $24.95

Dale Spender (ed) Feminist Theorists: Three Centuries of Women's Intellectual Traditions, London, The Women's Press 1983 pp. 402. £6.95 (paper)

Margaret Bevege, Margaret James and Carmel Shute (eds) Worth Her Salt: Women at Work in Australia, Sydney, Hale and Iremonger, 1982, pp. 453. $27.95, $14.95 (paper)

Judy Wajcman, Women In Control: Dilemmas of a Workers Cooperative, Milton Keynes, Open University Press, 1983, pp.209. $15.00 (paper)

Jane Lewis (ed) Women's Welfare, Women's Rights. London, Croom Helm, 1983, pp.225. $26.75.     

The movement: Two views

Paul Ormonde, The Movement, Thomas Nelson (Aust.), Melbourne, 1972, pp. xxiii + 198, $5.95.     

Fêtes et divertissements en occident durant le haut moyen âge

The author is trying to deepen our knowledge of medieval society through a study of its festivals and entertainments. In the middle ages, as in ancient times, a good physical condition was sought after. Various sports were practised and hunting was highly valued, be it hunting with hounds or hawking. After tiring physical exercise, people liked to relax and to dine well. One of the major occupations of upper class men in the middle ages consisted in feasting, but their preoccupations were sometimes of a more cultural nature. Their banquets provided a means for many to share in the pleasures of civilisation. In Merovingian and Carolingian times spectacular entertainments were not valued so highly as they had been in Roman times, but singing and dancing were enjoyed. People much appreciated jugglers and they played dice.Though Christianity had triumphed, traces of paganism still persisted. Pagan festivals were not unusual at the beginning of the middle ages even though they had been prohibited by the Church. Nevertheless, religious feasts established by the Church and celebrated with great solemnity were the climax of religious life.     

Book reviews

New Book Review policy

Australia

IDEALS AND FOREIGN POLICY

Henry S. Albinski

J. A. Camilleri, An Introduction to Australian Foreign Policy, Jacaranda Press, Brisbane, 1973, pp. v + 137, $1.50; J. Camilleri and M. Teichmann, Security and Survival. The New Era in International Relations, Heinemann Educational Australia. Melbourne, 1973, pp. ix + 226, $3.75.

Peter Aimer, Politics, Power and Persuasion: the Liberals in Victoria, James Bennett, Melbourne. 1974. pp. lv + 243, $9.95.

Alan Richardson, British Immigrants and Australia: A Psycho‐social Inquiry, ANU Press, Canberra, 1974, pp. 198, $8.95.

Bruce Juddery, At the Centre: The Australian Bureaucracy in the 1970s, Cheshire, Melbourne, 1974, pp. 272. Illustrated by Pickering. $4.95.

F. A. Larcombe, The Origin of Local Government in New South Wales 1831–58, Sydney University Press, in association with the Local Government Association of New South Wales and the Shires Association of New South Wales, 1973, pp. xv + 323, maps, $12.00.

H. G. Oxley, Mateship in Local Organization, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1974, pp. 240, $8.00.

H. Raysmith, J. Rimmer and D. Wookey, The Gee‐long Experiment in Social Planning, Geelong and District Community Chest Association, 1973, pp. 110, no price given.

C. A. Hughes and B. D. Graham, Voting for the Australian House of Representatives 1901–1964, ANU Press, Canberra, 1974, pp. xiv + 544 + xiii, $8.95.

International

URBAN POLITICS Martin Painter

Eugene Lewis, The Urban Political System, Dryden, Hinsdale, Illinois, 1973, $5.00.

Murray S. Stedman, Urban Politics, Winthrop, Cambridge, Mass., 1972, $7.50.

Kevin R. Cox, Conflict, Power and Politics in the City, McGraw‐Hill, N.Y., 1973, $4.50.

I. H. Burnley, ed., Urbanization in Australia, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1974, $13.50.

Rex Mortimer, ed., Showcase State: The Illusion of Indonesia's “Accelerated Modernisation”, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1973, pp. xiii + 163, $3.25, $5.95.

CHINA, RUSSIA, INDIA

S. P. Seth

Edward E. Rice, Mao's Way, University of California Press (Centre for Chinese Studies), Berkeley, 1972, pp. 596 + ix, $14.00.

Richard H. Solomon, Mao's Revolution and the Chinese Political Culture, University of California Press (Centre for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan), 1972 (paperback), pp. 604 + xix, $US5.95.

Geoffrey Jukes, The Soviet Union in Asia, Angus and Robertson (in association with The Australian Institute of International Affairs), Sydney, 1973, pp. 304 + vii, $7.50.

Alastair Lamb, The Sino‐Indian Border in Ladakh, Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1973, pp. 113 + xi, $6.00.

T. E. Smith, ed., The Politics of Family Planning in the Third World, Allen and Unwin, London, 1973, pp. 352, $14.00.

Ronald J. May, ed., Priorities in Melanesian Development: Papers Delivered at the Sixth Waigani Seminar, University of Papua and New Guinea, Port Moresby, and Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, ANU Press, Canberra, 1973, pp. xii + 470, $6.00.

J. Ayodele Langley, Pan‐Africanism and Nationalism in West Africa 1900–1945, Oxford University Press, London, 1973, pp. viii + 421, $12.00.

Robert C. Good, U.D.I.: The International Politics of the Rhodesian Rebellion, Faber & Faber, London, 1973, pp. 368, $14.00.

Jack. Hayward, The One and Indivisible French Republic, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1973, pp. 306, $16.00 and $6.10.

Jean‐Jacques Salomon, Science and Politics, N. Lindsay, trans., MIT Press, Cambridge, 1973, pp. xxii + 277, $US 15.00.

M. Moroshima, Marx's Economics, Cambridge University Press, 1973, pp. viii + 198, £3.60.     

Monks and hermits in medieval love stories

Monks and hermits are frequently mentioned in courtly romances. It is an unresolved problem whether these are real men or the product of literary imagination. The monks and hermits of love literature do evolve over time: whereas in the twelfth century they are predominantly monastic figures, later they are laymen. This article examines the literary image of the monk and hermit, including their role as advocates of marital fidelity, and asks how effective these models were for contemporary Christians, especially in cases where poets abandoned their secular life to become monks and hermits. With the rise of the friars traditional literary images were not abandoned. Emphasis is placed on the role of the hermit as a symbol of the quest for divine love.     

Land Policy and Farming Practices in Laos

The government of Laos has identified the eradication of poverty as a priority. Given the primarily agricultural character of the country, it has selected land reform as a core policy to reach this goal. The policy has two major aims: to increase land tenure security in order to encourage farmer involvement in intensive farming, and to eliminate slash‐and‐burn agriculture to protect the environment in a country still rich in forest resources. State intervention takes the form of land allocation, a process which combines the protection of some areas of village land with the formal recognition of private ownership in authorized farming areas. In a country with different types of geography, the effects of the policy are variable, but the research presented in this article demonstrates that the land laws have shortcomings which allow for differing interpretations depending on the local social relationships. Since local specificities are not taken into account, the reform is proving counterproductive for both forest protection and agricultural modernization, as well as having a negative social impact by marginalizing the poorest farmers.