Designing a brave new world: eugenics, politics, and fiction

Aldous Huxley composed Brave New World in the context of the Depression and the eugenics movement in Britain. Today his novel is best known as satirical and predictive, but an additional interpretation emerges from Huxley's nonfiction writings in which the liberal hurmanist expressed some surprising opinions about eugenics, citizenship, and meritocracy. He felt that his role as an artist and public intellectual was to formulate an evolving outlook on urgent social, scientific, and moral issues. His brave new world can therefore be understood as a serious design for social reform, as well as a commentary about the social uses of scientific knowledge.     

The Ethnic Dimension to Bureaucratic Encounters in Postcommunist Europe: Perceptions and Experience

Abstract. In a survey of public opinion about the behaviour of officials in four postcommunist countries ‐Ukraine, Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic – we found pervasive suspicions of ethnic bias. Although ethnic minorities themselves were particularly suspicious of officials, there was a consensus across both ethnic majorities and minorities that officials favoured their own ethnic group and discriminated against others. Suspicion may distort reality, however. Citizens' own reports of dealing with officials generally revealed much less ethnic discrimination in their personal experience than in their suspicions, presumptions and perceptions. Either suspicion exaggerated reality or general perceptions of bias focused on the most badly treated, rather than the most numerous, minorities. Ethnic minorities themselves behaved in different ways towards officials. Amongst the ethnic minorities covered in this study, only Gypsies displayed the characteristics of hopelessness and ‘exclusion’. Some minorities behaved much like the titular nationality. But most compensated for their minority status by engaging more than the titular nationality in a wide range of strategies to influence officials ‐including the use of contacts, presents and bribes. Conversely, in areas where an ethnic minority was concentrated locally, members of the titular nationality displayed a measurably defensive reaction and a somewhat heightened degree of vigilance. The paper is based on a total of 6,050 interviews made in the winter of 1997–8, including representative country‐wide samples and special additional samples in areas where ethnic minorities were concentrated. It compares the four titular nationalities with eight ethnic minorities. This research was funded by the ODADFID (formerly Overseas Development Administration, now Department for International Development) under grant R6445 to Miller and Koshechkina, and by the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) under grant R222474 to Miller and Grødeland. Translation and fieldwork was carried out by OPW (Opinion Window) of Prague and MVK of Bratislava both under the direction of Ladislav Koppl, CSD (Centre for the Study of Democracy) of Sofia under the direction of Alexander Stoyanov, and GfK‐USM (Ukrainian Surveys and Market Research) of Kyiv under the direction of Tatyana Koshechkina.     

Potential Contributions of Spatial Analysis to Geographic Information Systems for Transportation (GIS-T)

Geographic information systems (GIS) are having tremendous impacts on many scientific and application domains. The traditional subfield of spatial analysis is witnessing a major resurgence and enhancement due to GIS and geographical information science (GISci), an interdisciplinary field focusing on the theory and methodology underlying GIS software. The interdisciplinary field of geographic information systems for transportation (GIS-T) has emerged to focus on the role of GIS in transportaton analysis and planning. This paper suggests the benefits of closer linkages between spatial analysis, GISci, and transportation through a focused review of spatial analytical issues and their potential contributions to GIS-T. Specifically, this paper reviews the following issues: (i) modifiable areal units; (ii) boundary problems and spatial sampling; (iii) spatial dependence and spatial heterogeneity; and (iv) alternative representations of geographic environments. The discussion highlights the general issues as well as identifies their specific relevance to GIS-T. In addition, this paper identifies some emerging tools from GISci that can address these spatial analytical issues in GIS-T.     

The rhetoric of consensus

Bob Hawke has used the notion of consensus in three distinct ways. The term was first employed as a polemic to discredit the Fraser government and establish Hawke's claim to the ALP leadership. It then became shorthand for the political program Hawke put forward during the 1983 election campaign. Finally — and perhaps most ambitiously — it sought a new philosophical twist for Australian politics. By 1985, however, the concept lacked credibility and was quietly abandoned as polemic, program or government philosophy. The rhetoric of consensus, for all its success, was short‐lived in its usefulness.     

Book reviews

Johan Galtung, The True Worlds: A Transnational Perspective. The Free Press, New York, 1980, pp. 469. No price given.

Robert C. Johansen, The National Interest and the Human Interest: An Analysis of U.S. Foreign Policy. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N. J., 1980, pp. 517. $US41.00 (cloth),’$US8.75 (paper).

Sir John Crawford and Saburo Okita (eds.), Raw Materials and Pacific Economic Integration. Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1978, pp. 343. $A25.50

Peter MacCawley Department of Economics Australian National University John W. Holmes, The Shaping of Peace: Canada and the Search for World Order. Volume I. 1943–1957. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1979, pp. xviii + 349. $Can 25.00.

Joe Garner, The Commonwealth Office 1925–68. Heinemann, London, 1978, pp. 474. No price given.

Lev Kopelev, No Jail for Thought. Translated and edited by Anthony Austin. Foreword by Heinrich Boll. Afterword by Robert G. Kaiser. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1979, pp. 320. $4.95.

Azeem Amarshi, Kenneth Good and Rex Mortimer, Development and Dependency: the Political Economy of Papua New Guinea. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1979, pp. xvii + 287. $17.50 (cloth), $8.95 (paper).

Paul Harrison, Inside the Third World: The Anatomy of Poverty: Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1979, pp. 480. $7.95. (Revised and updated edition to be published in 1981).

Colin A; Ronan, The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China Vol 1. An abridgement of Joseph Needham's Original Text. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1978, pp. 326. $19.25.

Orikar Marwah and Jonathan D. Pollack (eds.). Military Power and Policy in Asian States: China, India, Japan, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1980. pp. xviii+ 180. $US 18.50.

W. B. Gallie, Philosphers of peace and war: Kant, Clawewitz, Marx, Engels and Tolstoy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1978, pp. 147. $10.25.

Alan Ned Sabrosky, Defense Manpower Policy: A Critical Reappraisal. Monograph 22. Foreign Policy Research Institute, Philadelphia, 1978, pp. vii + 107. $US4.00.

Marshall E. Daniell Jr., Defence Transportation Organisation: Strategic Mobility in Changing Times. National Defence University, Washington, 1979, pp. 113. No price given.

Martin Middlebrook, The Kaiser's Battle. 21 March 1918: The First Day of the German Spring Offensive. Allen Lane, London, 1978, pp. 431. $14.95.

SIPRI, Armaments or Disarmament? Taylor and Francis, London, 1978, pp. 37.8 Sw. Cr.

P. G. Edwards (ed.), Australia through American Eyes 1935–1945. Observations by American Diplomats. University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1979, pp. xi, 104. $12.95.     

Book reviews

P.A. Reynolds, An Introduction to International Relations. Second edition. Longman, New York, 1980. pp. 325. $16.95.

Brij Mohan Kaushik and O. N. Mehrotra, Pakistan's Nuclear Bomb. Sopan Publishing House, New Delhi, 1980, pp. 228. $US15.00.

Gary S. Fields, Poverty, Inequality and Development. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980, pp.xi + 281. £16.00 (cloth), £5.50 (paper).

J. K. Galbraith, The Nature of Mass Poverty. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1980. $3.95.

Valerie Bunce, Do New Leaders Make a Difference? Executive Succession and Public Policy under Capitalism and Socialism. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1981, pp. xiii+296. $US29.50 (cloth), $US9.25 (paper).

Richard Falk, Human Rights and State Sovereignty. Holmes and Meier Publishers, Inc., New York, 1981, pp.x+251. $US28.50 (cloth), $US15.75 (paper).

Lars Schoultz, Human Rights and United States Policy Toward Latin America. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1981, pp.xvii+421. $US42.50 (cloth), $US10.50 (paper).

Archimedes L.A. Patti, Why Viet Nam? Prelude to America's Albatross, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1980, pp. xx + 612. $27.50.

Robert H. Donaldson (ed.), The Soviet Union in the Third World: Successes and Failures. Croom Helm, London, 1981, pp. xiv + 458. £14.95.

Arthur Gavshon, Crisis in Africa. Battleground of East and West. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1981, pp. 320. $9.95.

Study Commission on US Policy Toward Southern Africa, South Africa: Time Running Out. University of California Press and Foreign Policy Study Foundation, Inc., Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1981, pp xxix + 517. No price given.

Abner Cohen, The Politics of Bite Culture: Explorations in the Dramaturgy of Power in a Modem African Society. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1981. No price given.

Franklin D. Margiotta (ed.), Evolving Strategic Realities: Implications for U.S. Policymakers. National Defense University, Washington, 1980, pp. 222. No price given.

Alan D. Buckley and Daniel D. Olson (eds.), International Terrorism: Current Research and Future Directions. Avery Publishing Group, Inc., Wayne, N.J., 1980, pp. xi + 113. $US7.95

Charles Himawan, The Foreign Investment Process in Indonesia Gunung Agung, Singapore, 1980, pp. xvi + 332. Rp 8500.

Mohd A. Nawawi, The Political Economy of Political Develop‐menu A Case Study of Regional Development in the Philippines Before Martial Law. Australian National University, Development Studies Centre Monograph No. 21, 1980, pp. xvi + 82. $6.00.

Alfons von der Kraan, Lombok: Conquest, Colonization and Underdevelopment. Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1981, pp. xii + 277. $22.50 (cloth), $10.50 (paper).

A.T. Cowat and K.E. Brofoss, Decisions, Politics and Change: A Study of Norwegian Urban Budgeting, Universitetsforlaget, Oslo, 1979, pp. 150. $US11.00.

John Nation, Customs of respect: the traditional basis of Fijian communal politics. The Australian National University Development Studies Monograph No. 14, 1978, pp. xx + 168. $8.00.