Beyond the Vietnam Principle

K. Buchanan, Out of Asia: Asian Themes. 1958–66, Sydney University Press, 1968, pp. 320, $6.75. H. G. Gelber, The Australian American Alliance: Costs and Benefits, Penguin, 1968, pp. 160, 85c. G. Greenwood and N. Harper, Australia in World Affairs, 1961–1965, F. W. Cheshire for the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Melbourne, 1968, pp. viii + 503, $8.75. T. B. Millar, Australia's Foreign Policy, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1968, pp. xiv + 361, $4.95. T. B. Millar (ed.), Australian‐New Zealand Defence Co‐operation, Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1968, pp. ix + 125, $3.75. R. J. O'Neill, Indo China Tragedy, 1945–54, Cheshire, Melbourne, 1968, pp. 56. M. Teichmann (ed.), New Directions in Australian Foreign Policy: Ally Satellite or Neutral?, Penguin, 1969, pp. 212, $1.00. D. Vital, The Inequality of States: A Study of the Small Power in International Relations, Oxford University Press, 1967, pp. 198, $5.10. A. Watt, Vietnam: an Australian Analysis, Cheshire, Melbourne, 1968, pp. ix + 177, $3.50.     

Australian Foreign Policy

G. Clark: In Fear of China, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1967, pp. 219 + ix, $3.00.

W. J. Hudson, ed.: Towards a Foreign Policy: 1914–1941, Cassell, Melbourne, 1967.

T. B. Millar, ed.: Britain's Withdrawal from Asia: Its Implications for Australia, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, 1967, pp. 114.

T. B. Millar, ed.: Australia's Defence Policies 1945–1965, Department of International Relations, A.N.U., 1967, pp. 86.

A. and M. Vandenbosch: Australia Faces Southeast Asia: The Emergence of a Foreign Policy, University of Kentucky Press, Lexington, 1967, pp. 175 + vi, $5.75 (U.S.).

A. Watt: The Evolution of Australian Foreign Policy 1938–65, Cambridge University Press, 1967, pp. 387 + ix, $9.25.     

Ageing well: the time–spaces of possibility for older female Latvian migrants in the UK

In this article, we explore the relationships between ageing, place and migration based on life history interviews with 37 female Latvian migrants in the UK. Reflecting an approach that sees migration as both embodied and emplaced, we conceptualise ageing and migration as entwined becomings that reconfigure the possibilities of a ‘better life’ in different time–spaces. Our approach combines time-geography with a well-being-based approach to migration constraints and outcomes. Our stress is on vitality – the ways in which migrants are able to mobilise resources and enact agency even in an environment where some aspects of life and working conditions are restrictive and exploitative. Hence, older Latvian women are able to transgress negative perceptions of ageing in their home country and achieve a measure of empowerment, both economic and psychosocial by moving to the UK.     

Lost Palaces,Lost History: The Wang of Bangkok’s Rattanakosin

Siam’s practices of polygamy variously bemused and shocked European visitors to the kingdom in the nineteenth century; however, especially in the case of the early Chakri monarchy, there was always also a strong political rationale to such customs. Multiple liaisons would yield multiple sons who could subsequently serve as defenders of both realm and dynasty; later, as the nation evolved, they could form a pool of ministers and administrators. Multiple daughters, in turn, were always useful in shoring up support from a restive nobility. Sons in particular, however, presented a real estate challenge as they had to be housed in appropriate style and this called for a profusion of both small and large palaces, wang, throughout the old historic city of Rattanakosin. From the locations of wang and their degrees of splendour one might have been able to read the evolving politics and political economy of early Bangkok, also the always evolving role of the monarchy, except that most have been swept away for more mundane urban development. Yet enough evidence remains for the story still to be pieced together, thereby throwing some light on currently fraught debates over the political context and role of the monarchy.     

Empirical Fragility Curves for Non-Residential Buildings from the 2010–2011 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence

This study develops a motion-damage database (the Canterbury Earthquake Building Assessment, CEBA database) using surveyed information obtained from the Canterbury earthquake sequence. The database is then applied to derive fragility curves for non-residential buildings in New Zealand. The results indicate that unreinforced masonry buildings are the most vulnerable to damage, while the concrete shear wall buildings were found to be the most resilient. Discrepancies were found when comparing equivalent structures in New Zealand and the United States. Inherent difference of building characteristics between the two countries, significant ground failure, and accumulated damage from multiple events might explain the difference.     

Book reviews

Rachel Sharp (ed.), Apocalypse No: An Australian Guide to the Arms Race and the Peace Movement. Pluto Press, Sydney and London, 1984.

David Martin, Armed Neutrality for Australia. Dove Communications, Blackburn, Vic., 1984, pp. xii + 294. $14.95.

Jeffrey T. Richelson and Desmond Ball, The Ties That Bind. Allen and Unwin Australia, North Sydney, 1985, pp. xvi + 402. $29.95.

Deborah Welch Larson, Origins of Containment: A Psychological Explanation. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1985, pp. xvi + 380. $US40.50.

Michael Ghertman and Margaret Allen, An Introduction to the Multinationals. Macmillan Press for the Institute for Research and Information on Multinationals, London, 1984, pp. 143. $11.95.

Neil Renwick, Multinational Corporations and the Political Economy of Power. Canberra Studies in World Affairs No. 14, Department of International Relations, Australian National University, Canberra, 1983, pp. 207. $10.00.

David Hawdon (ed.), The Energy Crisis: ten years after. Croom Helm, London and Canberra, 1984, pp. iii + 137. $27.95.

Robert L. Downen and Bruce J. Dickson (eds), The Emerging Pacific Community: A Regional Perspective. Westview Press, Boulder (Suppliers Bowker Publishing Co. Epping UK), 1984, pp.245. $US23.00

Donald Denoon, Settler Capitalism: The Dynamics of Dependent Development in the Southern Hemisphere. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1983, p. viii + 280. $56.00.

John Ravenhill, Collective Clientelism The Lomé Conventions and North‐South Relations. Columbia University Press, New York, 1985, pp. xxi + 389. $US49.00.

Miron Dolot, Execution by Hunger: The Hidden Holocaust. W.W. Norton, New York, 1985, pp. xvi + 231. $32.90.

W. Laquer and B. Rubin (eds), The Israel‐Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict. Fourth edition. Penguin Books, New York, 1984, pp. xi + 704. $7.95.

David Newman (ed.), The Impact of Gush Emunim. Croom Helm, London and Sydney, 1985, pp. 276. $35.95.

Alan Dowty, Middle East Crisis: US Decision‐Making in 1958, 1970 and 1973. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1984, pp. xiv +416. $71.95.

Michael Smith, Jane McLoughlin, Peter Large and Rod Chapman, Asia's New Industrial World. Methuen, London and New York, 1985, pp. 136. $8.95.

Lim Joo‐Jock and Vani S. (eds), Armed Communist Movements in Southeast Asia. Gower, Aldershot, 1984, for the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, pp. xviii + 204. $28.50.

Lim Joo‐Jock and Vani S. (eds), Armed Separatism in Southeast Asia. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 1984, pp. 270. $S44.00 (cloth), $S32.00 (paper).

Beverley Hooper, Youth in China. Penguin Books Australia, Ringwood, 1985, pp. x + 235 pages. $7.95.

Chang Pao‐Min, Kampuchea Between China and Vietnam. Singapore University Press, Singapore, 1985, pp. xi + 204. No price given.

Carmel Budiardjo and Liem Soei Liong, The War Against East Timor. Zed Press, London; Pluto Press, Sydney, 1984, pp. xviii + 253. $14.95.

Michael C. Williams, Sickle and Crescent: The Communist Revolt of 1926 in Banten. Cornell Modern Indonesia Project, Cornell University, 1982, pp. 81. $US6.00.

Patricia Herbert, The Hsaya San Rebellion (1930–1932) Reappraised. Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University, 1982, pp. 17. $3.00.

Abd Chamid. The Poorest of the Poor: Three Case Studies from Indonesia. Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University, 1982, pp. 42. $3.00.

Benjamin A. Batson, The End of the Absolute Monarchy in Siam. Oxford University Press (for the Asian Studies Association of Australia), Singapore, 1984, pp. xviii + 349. $13.95.

Kim Richard Nossal, The Politics of Canadian Foreign Policy. Prentice‐Hall Canada, Scarborough, Ont., 1985, pp. 232. No price given.