Book reviews

Glen St J. Barclay, Friends in High Places. Australian‐American Diplomatic Relations Since 1945. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1985, pp 245, $25.00.

Leonie Foster, High Hopes: The Men and Motives of the Australian Round Table. Melbourne University Press in association with the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Melbourne, 1986, pp.xviii+294. $25.00.

Ritchie Ovendale, The English‐Speaking Alliance: Britain, the United States, the Dominions and the Cold War, 1945–51. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1985, ppxt309. $60.00.

Australian Institute of Urban Affairs, Review of Australian Assistance to the Indonesian Water Supply and Sanitation Sector. A report for the Australian Development Assistance Bureau, January 1986. pp.xxxiii + 305. $ 16.00.

Malcolm Templeton, Defence and Security: What New Zealand Needs. Institute of Policy Studies, Victoria University, Wellington, 1986, pp.62. $NZ11.00.

Philip Eldridge, Dean Forbes and Doug Porter, Australian Overseas Aid: Future Directions. Croom Helm, Sydney, 1986, pp. 284. £16.95.

Christopher Clapham, Third World Politics. An Introduction. Croom Helm, London and Sydney, 1985, pp.197. $39.95 (cloth), $17.50 (paper).

William Tordoff, Government and Politics in Africa, Macmillan, London, 1984, pp.xix+352. £7.95.

Richard Hodder‐Williams. An Introduction to the Politics of Tropical Africa. George Allen and Unwin, London, Boston and Sydney, 1984. $45.00 (cloth), $ 17.95 (paper).

D. K. Fieldhouse, Black Africa 1945–1980: Economic Decolonization and Arrested Development. Allen and Unwin, London, 1986, pp.xix & 260. $32.50.

Neil Kinnock, Making Our Way. Investing in Britain's Future. Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1986, pp.viii + 200. $13.95.

Andrew J. Taylor, The Trade Unions and the Labour Party. Croom Helm, London, 1987, pp. 320. £27.50.

Alistair I. Johnston, China and Arms Control: Emerging Issues and Interest in the 1980s. The Canadian Centre for Arms Control and Disarmament, Ottawa, 1986, pp.85. $US12.00.

Tim Huxley, Asean and Indochina. A Study of Political Responses. 1975–1981. Canberra Studies in World Affairs No. 19. Department of International Relations, the Australian National University, 1985, pp. 116. $10.00.

Lim Chong‐Yah and Peter J. Lloyd (eds), Singapore: Resources and Growth. Oxford University Press, Singapore, 1986, pp 279 + xiv. $20.00.

R. J. May (ed.), Between Two Nations. The Indonesia — Papua New Guinea Border and West Papua Nationalism. Robert Brown and Associates, Bathurst, 1986, pp. 260. $13.95.

Shamsul A. B., From British to Bumiputera Rule — Local Politics and Rural Development in Peninsular Malaysia. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 1986, pp. xxi + 282. $US28.00 (cloth), $US18.00 (paper).

Bernard Swan, Peace and Conflict in a Poor Country: Sri Lanka, AIIA Occasional Paper No. 3, The Australian Institute of International Affairs, Canberra, 1986, pp.62 $3.50.

James Manor (ed.) Sri Lanka in Change and Crisis. Croom Helm, London & Sydney, 1984, pp.229 $16.95.

Orlando Fals Borda (ed.), The Challenge of Social Change. Sage Publications, London, 1985, pp.134. £15.95.

National Commission on Disappeared People, Nunca Mas/Never Again, English Translation by Writers and Scholars International Ltd. Faber and Faber, London, 1986, pp.xvi + 463. $24.95.

G. McCormack and Y. Sugimoto (eds.), Democracy in Contemporary Japan. Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, 1986, pp.272. $29.95 (cloth), $14.95 (paper).

Rokuro Hidaka, The Price of Affluence. Dilemma of Contemporary Japan. Penguin Books, Ringwood, 1985, pp.196. $7.95.

Hans H. Baerwald, Party Politics in Japan. Allen and Unwin, London, 1986, pp. xiv+204. $24.50.

Peter Calvert, The Foreign Policy of New States. Wheatsheaf Books, Brighton, 1986, pp. viii + 216. $27.95.

Mohammed Ayoob (ed.), Regional Security in the Third World: Case Studies from Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Croom Helm, London and Sydney, 1986, pp. 284. $49.95.

R.J. Vincent (ed.), Foreign Policy and Human Rights — Issues and Responses. Cambridge University Press, in association with The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Cambridge, 1986, pp.283. $84.00.

R.J. Vincent, Human Rights and International Relations. Cambridge University Press, in association with The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Cambridge 1986, pp 186. No price given.

Gerard Chaliand and Jean‐Pierre Rageau, Strategic Atlas: World Geopolitics. Penguin Books, Hammondsworth, 1986, pp. 224. $16.95.

John H. Makin, The Global Debt Crisis: America's Growing Involvement, Basic Books, New York, 1984, pp. 281. $34.95.

Bruce R. Scott and George C. Lodge (eds), U.S. Competitiveness in the World Economy. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Mass, 1985, pp.x+543. $40.95.

Desmond Ball, A Base for Debate. The US Satellite Station at Nurrungar. Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1987, pp. 122. $9.95.

E. M. Andrews, The Writing on the Wall: The British Commonwealth and Aggression in the East 1931–1935. Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1987, pp. KV+228. $29.95.

Lawrence T. Farley, Plebiscites and Sovereignty: The Crisis of Political Legitimacy. Westview Press, Boulder, and Maunsell Publishing, London, 1986, pp. xiv+179. £16.95.

Edwin E. Moise, Modern China: A History. Longmans, New York, 1986, pp.xvi+256. $22.95.

Mark Mancall, China at the Center: 300 Years of Foreign Policy. The Free Press, New York, 1984, pp. xvii+540. $59.95.

Penny Kane, The Second Billion: Population and Family Planning in China. Penguin Books Australia, Ringwood, 1987, pp. 264. $14.95.

Germain A. Hoston, Marxism and the Crisis of Development in Prewar Japan. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1987, pp. xviii+401. $US40.00 (cloth), $US15.00 (paper).

William S. Turley, The Second Indochina War: A Short Political and Military History, 1954–1975. Westview Press, Boulder, and Gower, London, 1986, pp. xvii, 238. $US35.00.     

The Prestige of Australian State Supreme Courts Over the 20th Century

This article measures the prestige of the Australian State supreme courts and examines competing explanations for differentials in their prestige over the course of the 20th century. The study finds that the prestige of the State supreme courts are positively correlated with the reputation of their Bench, proxied by the number of High Court judges from that State; socioeconomic diversity in that State, proxied by the State's population; and legal capital, proxied by the number of pages of the official law reports of the State supreme court.     

(Re)assessing Parliamentary Policy Impact: The Case of the Australian Senate

A recent article in this Journal suggested that assumptions about the legislative influence of the Australian Senate may overstate its de facto power. Stanley Bach indicated that compromise with the Senate was relatively rare, and pointed out that most successful Senate amendments were government amendments. This paper provides an alternative view. We suggest that legislative influence is more subtle than Bach acknowledged, and that it is necessary to dig deeper in the data to fully understand the Senate's role. We therefore supplement his analysis in two ways: (1) through tracking the ultimate outcome of government defeats in the Senate; and (2) through analysis of two case study bills. We find that in confrontations with government the Senate ‘wins’ the great majority of the time. This shapes government behaviour in the chamber, such that many government amendments actually respond to non-government concerns. The most important element of Senate influence is therefore ‘soft power’– exercised through negotiation – backed up only in extremis by the ‘hard power’ of government defeat. This holds important lessons for the study of legislative influence more broadly, as well as demonstrating the true power of the Australian Senate.     

Metallurgical findings from a Viking Age chieftain’s farm in Iceland

The metalworking, metal import, and use of metal in medieval Iceland is still little understood. When the Scandinavian settlers colonized Iceland in the 9th c. AD, the island was found to contain no useful metal deposits save for bog iron, and the deforestation that followed the settlement resulted in a scarcity of wood. Only in the last decades have archaeological excavations begun to unravel how the first Icelanders dealt with this lack of resources. This paper presents the metallurgical findings from a Viking Age chieftain's farmstead at Hrísbrú in the Mosfell valley, located just outside Iceland’s present-day capital Reykjavik. The excavated metal objects had all been crafted with good workmanship employing technology similar to that used in mainland Scandinavia. However, most excavated metal finds show evidence of re-use, which together with the second-grade metal in some of the objects indicates a shortage of raw material that prompted the Icelandic colonizers to improvise and make do with whatever material was at hand.     

Diatoms as bioindicators of site use: locating turf structures from the Viking Age

Diatoms recovered from archaeological features on a Viking Age farmstead excavation in the Mosfell Valley in southwestern Iceland are utilized as microscopic indicators of turf-based structures. Eroded turf can be difficult to distinguish macroscopically from naturally occurring sediments because turf foundations erode and melt into the landscape over time, leaving minimal evidence of site use. Turf was a principle building component in Iceland until the early 20th century. Turf strips and blocks were harvested from lowlands where organically rich peat and abundant water contributed to the development of bog plants with thick root mats that produced premium turf. Diatoms embedded in turf reflect the ecological conditions of the peat-bog at the time of deposition. Turf was cut from the bog and transported to higher elevations where drainage was more conducive to house construction. Siliceous diatom frustules are resistant to decay and preserve well archaeologically. The presence of diatoms in archaeological sediments is considered a marker of sediment provenience and an indication of human site use and anthropogenic modification of natural substrates. This paper demonstrates how diatom analysis can determine the presence and delimitation of archaeological features otherwise difficult to distinguish with the naked eye.