War and Foreign Affairs in China

EDWARD L. DREYER. China at War, 1901–1949. London and New York: Longman, 1995. Pp. x, 422. $114.95 (CDN);

ARTHUR WALDRON. From War to Nationalism: China's Turning Point, 1924–1925. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Pp. xix, 366. $39.95 (us);

MICHAEL H. HUNT. The Genesis of Chinese Communist Foreign Policy. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996. Pp. xiv, 343. $34.50 (us);

XIAOYUAN LIU. A Partnership for Disorder: China, the United States, and Their Policies for the Postwar Disposition of the Japanese Empire, 1941–1945. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Pp. xiii, 343. $59.95 (us).     

Rock type variability and impact fracture formation: working towards a more robust macrofracture method

Investigations into the development of weapon systems are increasingly important in archaeological debates about human evolution and behavioural variability. ‘Diagnostic’ impact fractures are key, but controversial, lines of evidence commonly used in such investigations. In 2009 a series of experiments was initiated to investigate the processes associated with macrofracture formation specifically focussing on the taphonomic factors affecting the formation of ‘diagnostic’ impact fractures (DIFs). This paper adds to that experimental data set with macrofracture results from recent knapping experiments investigating rock type variability and DIF formation. These results show that rock type variation plays less of a role in DIF formation than variables related to use and lithic taphonomy. The collective results of this experimental series show that the location, co-occurrence, type and proximity to retouch on a tool are all important means of distinguishing between weapon and non-weapon related DIFs. Collectively these macrofracture patterns are more important in diagnosing weapon components than any one ‘diagnostic’ impact fracture is alone. Overall, these experimental studies are showing that background ‘noise’ in the form of non-hunting related impact fractures, exists in many macrofracture results and that much work remains in securing the analytical robusticity of the method. The paper concludes that the macrofracture method is not a stand-alone method, but when used with caution and in conjunction with other lines of evidence it is a useful, time-efficient, tool for generating assemblage-level use-trace data.     

Australia and the challenges of order-building in the Indian Ocean region

This article considers the regional order-building challenges that Australia presently confronts in the Indian Ocean region (IOR). The author argues that while regional stability within the IOR constitutes an increasingly important Australian security interest, policy makers will struggle to translate the order-building strategies they have previously pursued in East Asia into an Indian Ocean context. In East Asia, Australia has historically pursued a ‘dual track’ order-building strategy centred on its participation in a US-dominated ‘hub and spokes’ alliance system alongside multilateral regional engagement. The absence of an equivalent alliance system or an established tradition of multilateral security diplomacy conversely precludes an extension of this strategy into the IOR. Growing tensions between the USA and China and between China and India, meanwhile, further complicate IOR security dynamics, while underscoring the urgent need for a more coherent approach to regional order-building. With these challenges in mind, the author concludes by proposing a range of bilateral, minilateral and multilateral initiatives that Australia should pursue to stimulate the emergence of a more cooperative IOR security environment.     

The Role of Spatial Scale in Geomorphic Systems

Geomorphic systems are characterized by numerous, complex interrelationships between system components, and by processes and controls which may operate over different spatial scales. Factors operating at any given spatial scale can be viewed as an abstracted subset of all relationships operating at all scales. The theory that relationships which operate over spatial scales an order of magnitude different are effectively independent of each other is formally stated in terms of abstracted systems. An example is given to illustrate the use of spatial statistics to determine what constitutes a significant spatial scale difference in controls over hydraulic geometry of a desert wash.     

Prehistory of Chihuahua and Sonora,Mexico

The North American Southwest includes much of Mexico as well as the southwestern United States. The area north of the international border has been studied intensively and its culture history is widely known; the portion south of the border has usually been ignored. This essay proposes a new term for the entire culture area, Northern Mexico, and provides a summary of local sequences for two states in the region, Chihuahua and Sonora. The general sequence in the U.S. Southwest (Paleo-Indian, Archaic, and Ceramic periods) also holds in northwest Mexico. Preceramic occupations are poorly known. The Ceramic period saw the rise of a number of local cultures, which varied greatly in adaptation and social complexity. The basic culture pattern of Northern Mexico is derived from that of central Mexico, but direct Mesoamerican intervention in the region was apparently limited. While the issue of Mesoamerican-Northern Mexican relationships has dominated scholarly debate for decades, the greater need is to define and explain cultural variability within and between local sequences.     

Reviews

EUROPEAN UNIFICATION IN THE SIXTIES. FROM THE VETO TO THE CRISIS. Miriam Camps. London, Oxford University Press, 1965. Pp. 257. $5.80.

CONTEMPORARY SOVIET GOVERNMENT. L. G. Churchward. London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1968. Pp. xix + 366. $2.50.

SOUTH WEST AFRICA AND ITS HUMAN ISSUES. J. H. Wellington. Oxford University Press, 1967. Pp. xriv + 461. $13.10.

ASIAN BUREAUCRATIC SYSTEMS EMERGENT FROM THE BRITISH IMPERIAL TRADITION. Ralph Braibanti (ed.). Duke University Press, 1966. Pp. xx + 733. U.S.$17.50.

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN NEWER NATIONS. Harold F. Alderfer. Praeger, 1967. Pp. xii + 206. U.S.$12.50.

ISSUES OF POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. Charles W. Anderson, Fred R. von der Mehden, Crawford Young. Prentice‐Hall, 1967. Pp. viii ‐f 248. £Stg.1.12.0.

COMMUNISM IN MALAYSIA AND SINGAPORE. A CONTEMPORARY SURVEY. Justus M. van der Kroef. The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff, 1967. Pp. viii + 268. Guilders 40.60.

INDIA'S QUEST FOR SECURITY: DEFENCE POLICIES, 1947–1965 Lorne J. Kavic. Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1967. Pp. 263 + maps. $7.95 (U.S.).

DEMOCRACY AND ECONOMIC CHANGE IN INDIA. George Rosen. Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, Revised Edition 1967. Pp. xviii + 340. $2.25 (U.S.).

INDIA'S POLITICAL SYSTEM. Richard L. Park. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice‐Hall, Inc., Revised Edition 1967. Pp. ix + 116. $2.55.

CAN WE WIN IN VIETNAM? Frank E. Armbruster, Raymond D. Gastil, Herman Kahn, William Pfaff, Edmund Stillman. Pall Mall, 1968. Pp. xiv + 427. $10.10.

VIET‐NAM AND THE WEST. Ralph Smith. Heinemann Educational Books, 1968. Pp. ix + 206. $4.80.

THE CHINESE IN AUSTRALIA. Arthur Huck. Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 1968. Pp. x + 117. $4.50.

FROM ASSIMILATION TO GROUP SURVIVAL. A POLITICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF AN AUSTRALIAN JEWISH COMMUNITY. P. Y. Medding. Melbourne, F. W. Cheshire, 1968. Pp. xxii + 300. $6.00.

ISAAC ISAACS. Zelman Cowen. Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1967. Pp. 280. $6.00.

CONTEMPORARY CANADA. Richard H. Leach (ed.) Duke University, Commonwealth Studies Center. Pp. xii + 328. $10.00 (US).

AUSTRALIAN TRADE POLICY 1942–1966. A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY. J. G. Crawford, assisted by Nancy Anderson and Margery G. N. Morris. Canberra, A.N.U. Press, 1968. Pp. xxvii + 641. $10.50.     

Has Québec Become a Northern Mexico? Public Opinion and America's “Long War”

In contrast with Mexico, a consistent pattern of anti-Americanism has never been present in Québec, but there has been an ostensible upsurge in anti-American sentiment recently. This article asks whether Québec has become a “northern Mexico” with respect to societal attitudes displayed toward the United States. To answer this, we first explore the argument that Mexico is effectively an axiomatically anti-American land. We then examine public opinion in Québec, with a view to contrasting it with Mexican views, especially on the all-important question of the use of force in international politics. We argue that Quebeckers show themselves to be more supportive than Mexicans of the idea that the “international community” in certain instances does have both a right and a duty to intervene in the domestic affairs of states.