Reviews

Henry Mayer and Liz Kirby, ARGAP 2: A second Research Guide to Australian Politics and Cognate Subjects, Melbourne, Longman Cheshire, 1984, pp. 254. $39.95 (paper)

Patrick Weller, First Among Equals: Prime Ministers in Westminster Systems, Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1985, pp. 228. $14.95 (cloth)

Kosmas Tsokhas, A Class Apart? Businessmen and Australian Politics 1960–1980, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1984, pp. xvii, 197. $25.00 (cloth)

H. P. Lee, Emergency Powers, Sydney, Law Book Company, 1984, pp. 334. $50.00 (cloth)

Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Aborigines and Uranium: Consolidated Report to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs on the Social Impact of Uranium on the Aborigines of the Northern Territory, Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service, 1984, pp. 318. $15.40 (paper)

Tim Duncan and John Fogarty, Australia and Argentina: On Parallel Paths, Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 1985, pp. 203. $22.50 (paper)

Gil Duthie, I Had 50,000 Bosses: Memoirs of a Labor Backbencher, 1946–1975, Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1984, pp.366. $14.95 (paper)

Sidney Sax, A Strife of Interests: Politics and Policies in Australian Health Services, Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1984, pp.274. $14.95 (paper)

Roger Milliss, Serpent's Tooth, Ringwood, Penguin, 1984, pp.482. $9.95 (paper)

P. Dwyer, B. Wilson, R. Woock, Confronting School and Work: Youth and Class Cultures in Australia, Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1984, pp. 175, $10.95 (paper)

Roy Kriegler and Grant Stendal (eds), At Work: Australian Experiences, Sydney, Allen & Unwin in association with National Institute of Labour Studies, 1984, pp.228. $9.95 (paper)

Peter Loveday and Dean Jaensch (eds), A Landslide Election. The NT 1983, Darwin, Australian National University North Australia Research Unit Monograph, 1984, pp.86. $8.00 (paper)

Bruce McCallum, The Public Service Manager: An introduction to personnel management in the Australian Public Service, Melbourne, Longman Cheshire, 1984, pp.450, $19.95.

A. Kouzmin, J.R. Nethercote, Roger Wettenhall, (eds), Australian Commonwealth Administration 1983: Essays in Review, Canberra, Canberra C. A.E., 1984, pp.230, $20.00.

Dennis Woodward, Andrew Parkin, John Summers (eds), Government, Politics and Power in Australia, 3rd edition, Melbourne, Longman Cheshire, 1985, pp xiii + 373 (paperback).

Drew Cottle (ed.), Capital Essays, Sydney, General Studies Department, University of New South Wales, 1984, pp.104. $7.00 (paper)

G. S. Reid (ed), The Role of Upper Houses Today, Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Workshop of the Australasian Study of Parliament Group, 1983, pp.180, n.p.a.

R. A. Herr (ed.), Party Committees: The Implications For Parliament. Proceedings of the Third Special Workshop of the Australasian Study of Parliament Group, 1983, pp.115, n.p.a.

Dean Jaensch and Max Teichmann, The Macmillan Dictionary of Australian Politics, Second Edition, Melbourne, Macmillan, 1984, pp. 236. $12.95 (paper)

David Green and Lawrence Cromwell, Multual Aid or Welfare State: Australia's Friendly Societies, Sydney, Allen and Unwin, 1984, pp.229. $11.95 (paper).

Tatchell, M. (ed.) Perspectives in health policy, Health Economics Research Unit, ANU, Canberra, 1984.

Yemon Wright, David Lange, Prime Minister, Wellington, Unwin Paperbacks (with Port Nicholson Press), 1984, pp.146. $10.95 (paper)

Michael Useem, The Inner Circle: Large Corporations and the Rise of Business Political Activity in the United States and the United Kingdom, New York, Oxford University Press, 1984, pp.246. $39.00 (cloth)

Rokuro Hidaka, The Price of Affluence: Dilemmas of Contemporary Japan, Ringwood, Penguin Books, 1985, pp.196. $7.95 (paper)

Masahide Shibusawa, Japan and the Asian‐Pacific Region: Profile of Change, London & Sydney, Croom Helm for the Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1984, pp. 196. $35.95 (cloth)

John Gyford, Local Politics in Britain, Second Edition, London & Canberra, Croom Helm, 1984, pp. 171. $13.95 (paper)

Michael Clyne, Language and Society in the German‐speaking Countries, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1984, pp.205, $46.50. $12.95 (paper)

R. J. May (ed.), Micronationalist Movements in Papua New Guinea, Political and Social Change Monograph 1, Canberra, Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, 1982, pp. xiv + 486, with maps and photographs. $9.50 (paper)

Arend Lijphart and Bernard Grofman (eds), Choosing an Electoral System: Issues and Alternatives, New York, Praeger, 1984, pp.269. $32.95 (cloth)

Stuart Harris (ed.), Australia's Antarctic Policy Options, Canberra, Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, 1984, pp.412. $15.95 (paper).

Lily Gardner Feldman, The Special Relationship between West Germany and Israel, Boston & London, Allen and Unwin, 1984, pp.330. $65.00 (cloth)

James P. Piscatori (ed.), Islam in the Political Process, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1983, pp.240. $20.50 (paper)

Ritchie Ovendale, The Origins of the Arab‐Israeli Wars, London, Longman, 1984, pp 232. $16.50 (paper)

Stephen Green, Taking Sides: America's Secret Relations with a Militant Israel, 1948–1967, London and Boston, Faber and Faber, 1984, pp. 370. $29.95 (cloth)

Joseph Camilleri, The State and Nuclear Power, Brighton, Harvester/Wheatsheaf, 1984, pp. 347. $62.50 (cloth)

Brian Martin, Uprooting War, London, Freedom Press, 1984, pp. 298. Australian distributor Canberra Peacemakers, GPO Box 1875, Canberra 2601. $8.00 (paper)

Boris Frankel, Beyond the State? Dominant Theories and Socialist Strategies, London, Mac‐millan, 1983, pp.322. $ 17.95 (paper)

Paul E. Corcoran (ed.), Before Marx: Socialism and Communism in France, 1830–48, London, Macmillan, 1983, pp.237. $60.00 (cloth)

Anthony Brewer, A Guide to Marx's ‘Capital’, London, Cambridge University Press, 1984, pp. 211. $12.50 (paper)

Lynda Birke and Jonathan Silvertown (eds), More than the Parts: Biology and Politics, London and Sydney, Pluto Press, 1984, pp.268. $19.95 (paper)

Peter Wellington (ed.), Civil Liberties 1984, Oxford, Martin Robertson, 1984, pp.379. $49.95 (cloth), $17.95 (paper)

Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred D. Miller, Jr.; and Jeffrey Paul (eds), Human Rights, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1984, pp.175. $16.95 (paper)     

Multi‐member electorates and the development of Australian party politics

Australian political scientists have paid little attention to voting in multi‐member electorates apart from the working of Proportional Representation in Tasmania and the Senate. Yet the existence of such electorates and the methods of voting therein probably helped Labor parties gain their first representation in the colonial parliaments.

The strength of their organisations meant that those parties often fared well in the state‐wide electorates for the Senate after federation. From 1902 the prohibition of plumping in Senate elections fostered ticket voting. It not only introduced the first coercive element into the electoral system, but, by establishing a ‘winner‐take‐all’ method of voting, encouraged a two‐party system at federal level.     

Book reviews

Australian books

Lionel Wigmore: Struggle for the Snowy, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1968, pp. xx + 215, $8.75.

G. Singer, Margaret Austin, Fil Schofield: On How to Keep Your Gown Clean, Basic Books, Sydney, 1968, pp. 47, 95c.

M. Kahan and D. Aitkin: Drawing a Sample of the Australian Electorate, A.N.U., Research School of Social Sciences, Department of Political Science, Occasional Papers no. 3, Canberra, 1968, pp. 46 + viii, n.p.

Malcolm Mackerras: The 1968 Federal Redistribution, A.N.U. Press, Canberra, 1969, pp. 125, $3.50.

Arthur Dean: A Multitude of Counsellors: A History of the Bar of Victoria, Cheshire, Melbourne, 1968, pp. 332 + xiii, $10.50.

Rupert Goodman: Secondary Education in Queensland, 1860–1960, Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1968, pp. 396 + xi, $10.50.

Ravinder Kumar: Western India in the Nineteenth Century: a Study in the Social History of Maharashtra, Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1968, pp. 347 + xii, $6.90.

Peter Boyce: Malaysia and Singapore in International Diplomacy: Documents and Commentaries, Sydney University Press, Sydney, 1968, pp. 268, $6.50.

Alastair Lamb: Asian Frontiers: Studies in a Continuing Problem, F. W. Cheshire for the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Melbourne, 1968, $3.50.

J. D. B. Miller (ed.): India, Japan, Australia: Partners in Asia?, A.N.U. Press, Canberra, pp. 212, $6.50.

Non‐Australian books

Daniel Wit: Thailand: Another Vietnam?, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1968, pp. 125, $A3.70.

Radivon Richta (ed.): Civilisation at the Crossroads: Social and Human Implications of the Scientific and Technological Revolution, Australian Left Review Publications, Sydney, 1967, pp. 275, $3.00.

Ruth M. Beard: An Outline of Piaget's Developmental Psychology, Routledge & Kegan Paul Students’ Library of Education, London, 1969, pp. 128 + xvi, $1.55.

Hans G. Furth, Piaget and Knowledge: Theoretical Foundations, Prentice‐Hall, Engle‐wood Cliffs, 1969, pp. 270 + xvii, $9.30.

J. W. Davis and K. M. Dolbeare: Little Groups of Neighbours: The Selective Service System, Markham, Chicago, 1968, pp. 268, $U.S.6.50.

E. J. Feuchtwanger: Disraeli, Democracy and the Tory Party, O.U.P., Melbourne, 1968, pp. 268 + xiv, $6.30.

Arnold J. Heidenheimer and Frank C. Langdon: Business Associations and the Financing of Political Parties: A comparative study of the evolution of practices in Germany, Norway and Japan, The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff, 1968, pp. 247 + xxiii.     

Remembering Lee Kuan Yew: politics,heritage and political heritage in Singapore

The paper discusses issues of political heritage and the commemoration of notable figures within the context of the small city state of Singapore, a former British colony which celebrated 50 years of full independence in 2015. Particular reference is made to Mr Lee Kuan Yew, hailed as the founding father of the modern republic, who also died that year. Heritage overall is shown to occupy an important place in official nation building efforts, including political heritage dominated by the narrative of the success of the government formed by the party created and led by Mr Lee. Approaches to remembering the man and his legacy are considered, focusing on debate about turning his home into a memorial and possibly a national monument. The case confirms the generally observed manner in which formal depictions of political heritage, encompassing stories of influential individuals, are inextricably tied to contemporary politics. It also reveals the particular challenges of heritage management in Singapore arising from its history and official endeavours to shape public and private memories.     

Honoring Ambiguity/Problematizing Certitude

In this paper I argue that the practice of archaeology over-emphasizes and over-rewards unambiguous certainty in our interpretations, even though our conclusions are usually drawn from necessarily partial, underdetermined and complex evidence. I argue that full or partial erasure of ambiguity from our data and from our interpretive assertions does not serve the long-term interests of the discipline; that a feminist practice aimed at more nuanced understandings of the past and open to more subtle, multivalenced notions of reality, must accept ambiguity as a central feature of archaeological interpretation. After I review familiar strategies that are used to obscure troubling areas of uncertainty in archaeology, I urge feminist practice to resist employing these “mechanisms of closure” in our work. It is only by openly recognizing and preserving the ambiguity that resides in messy data arrangements today that we stand any hope of fuller and richer understandings in the future.

Post–national Spain? Post–Spanish Spain?

The term ‘post–nationalism’ has been proposed to designate the emergence of political bodies in the wake of economic globalisation. However, not only is the ‘post–national landscape’ strongly redolent of nationalism, but nations themselves continue to correlate with the political subject in ways that cannot be dismissed. In Spanish political debates the notion of ‘post–nationalism’ has been deployed along with the concept of ‘patriotism of the constitution’, vulgarising their original philosophical use. In this context both terms do ideological duty against the peripheral nationalities in an effort to relegitimise the centralised control of the state. In this article I ‘deconstruct’ the self–serving duality between ‘constitutionalists’ and ‘nationalists’ by showing that traditional state nationalism overlaps with the ‘constitutionalist’ position. Subsequently, I consider whether some form of Habermasian detachment of nation from state can be contemplated for Spain.     

Connectivity and Restructuring: Identity and gender relations in a fishing community

Until very recently, fishing communities have sustained themselves through their reliance upon the sea, in the context of cultures that have resisted outside forces of change. With the increasing impacts of environmental degradation and globalisation, these communities are undergoing rapid change, not only in terms of economic restructuring, but fundamentally in areas of social and spatial relations. Focussing on the concepts of connectivity and proximity within a framework of Mead's (1934) social interactionism, this article shows how histories of migration, mobility and communication underpin the consequences of these changing realities for gender relations in a small island fishing community on Canada's east coast. It highlights the contradictions and paradoxes intrinsic to the choices women are having to make, and argues that understanding historical context, both as affecting mobility and as a source of rootedness, is crucial in the illumination of this process of change. Based on interviews over 5 years, the article looks specifically at the roles of in- and out-migration, tourism, technologies and external relations associated with aquaculture, the mass media, and new communications technologies, as agents of change.