BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviews in This Article: Trois ?uvres Inédites de mystiques musulmans: āqq? al-Bal?, Ibn ?, Niffarā. By Paul Nwyia. The Formative Period of Islamic Thought. By W. Montgomery Watt. The Arab Mind. By Raphael Patai. l?m? al-Adab al-M?r f? Mir? (Bio-bibliographical Critical Series), No. 1, h?āūsayn. By Hamdi Sakkut and Marsden Jones. A History of the Crusades. Kenneth M. Setton, general editor. Volume III, The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries , edited by Harry W. Hazard. The Muslim Dilemma in India. By M. R. A. Baig. Who is Maudoodi ? By Maryam Jameelah. A Tacit Alliance. By S. K. Crosbie.     

Reviews

CHANGING PERSPECTIVES IN BRITISH FOREIGN POLICY. Kenneth Younger. Chatham House Essays: 7. London, Oxford University Press, 1964. Pp. 139. 15/9.

BRITISH EMIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA. R. T. Appleyard. Australian National University, Canberra, 1964. Pp. xiii + 255. £2/17/6.

BRITAIN AND THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY 1955–1963. Miriam Camps. London, Oxford University Press, 1964. Pp. x + 547. £A4.14.6.

INTERNAL WAR. Harry Eckstein (ed.). Glencoe, The Free Press, 1964. Pp. 339. $6.50.

MODERN GUERRILLA WARFARE. Franklin Mark Osanka (ed.). Glencoe, The Free Press, 1962. Pp. xxii + 519, bibliog.

MALAYSIA. K. G. Tregonning. Cheshire for the Australian Institute of International Affairs, 1964. Pp. 98. 13/6.

MALAYSIA; A SURVEY. Wang Gungwu (ed.). Melbourne, F. W. Cheshire, 1964. Pp. 466. £5.

SINGAPORE AND MALAYSIA. Milton E. Osborne. Data Paper: Number 53, Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University, 1964. Pp. 115. $2.50.

SOUTHEAST ASIAN UNIVERSITY. A COMPARATIVE ACCOUNT OF SOME DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS. T. H. Silcock. Durham, North Carolina, Duke University Press, 1964. Pp. xiii + 194. $6.

CHINA. K. S. Latourette. New Jersey, Prentice‐Hall, 1964. Pp. viii + 152. $1.95.

MODERN CHINA. Edited by A. Feuerwerker. New Jersey, Prentice‐Hall, 1964. Pp. vi + 186. $1.95.

CEYLON. S. Arasaratnam. New Jersey, Prentice‐Hall, 1964. Pp. vi + 182. $1.95.

TRADITIONAL INDIA. Edited by O. L. Chavarria‐Aguilar. New Jersey, Prentice‐Hall, 1964. Pp. vi + 153. $1.95.

DEFIANCE IN MANCHURIA: THE MAKING OF JAPANESE FOREIGN POLICY, 1931–1932. Ogata Sadako. Berkeley and Los Angeles, Calif., 1964. Pp. xvi + 259, bibliog. $5, Aust. 65/6.

THE MILITARY AND SOCIETY IN LATIN AMERICA. John J. Johnson. Stanford University Press, California, 1964. x + 308 pp. $7.00.     

Buyer Engagement and Labour Conditions in Global Supply Chains: The Bangladesh Accord and Beyond

The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh (‘the Accord’) has received both praise and criticism concerning its implications for corporate responsibility and power. This article contributes to the debate by situating the Accord within a broader set of activities that buyers are engaged in to promote better labour conditions in their supply chains. The authors identify three approaches of buyer engagement: auditing, capacity building and advocacy. Drawing on interviews conducted with European brands and retailers, the article shows how buyers perceive the merits and challenges of these approaches, and whether and how they discharge responsibility and power through these activities. The study shows that the Accord is seen primarily as part of the auditing approach with a key feature being its use of collective leverage as a means of enforcement. While greater buyer power has not necessarily been accompanied by greater responsibility, the article highlights heterogeneity among buyers in how they take up different approaches, painting a more nuanced picture of buyer responsibility and power.     

Loose‐footed Sails of the Egyptian New Kingdom Ships

The relief from the temple of Ramesses III (1184–1153 BC) in Medinet Habu is often considered to be the most ancient representation of a brailed sail. According to many researchers, the loose‐footed sail and the system of brails were invented in the ancient countries of the Syro‐Canaanite coast and were later adopted by the Ancient Egyptians. However, iconographic material from Ancient Egypt testifies to the indigenous origin of a loose‐footed sail. The article presents an unknown relief from the Amarna period (1352–1336 BC) that further supports this hypothesis.     

Explaining accommodation and resistance to demands for independence referendums in the UK and Spain

This article examines why the UK Government accepted the 2014 Scottish independence referendum while the Spanish Government opposes a similar referendum in Catalonia. Adopting a most similar research design, we argue that the variation is best explained by perceived political opportunities by the two ruling parties. These are embedded in different conceptions of the state and constitutional designs, mostly mononational in Spain and mostly plurinational in the UK but multiple and contested in both cases. In Spain, vote‐seeking calculations incentivise the Popular Party to oppose a referendum, while its mononational conception of the state and the Spanish constitutional design provide a further constraint and a discursive justification for their position. In the UK, David Cameron's accommodating position was based on the view that the Scottish referendum was low risk – as support for independence was minimal – with a high reward: the annihilation of the independence demand. The Conservatives have recently adopted a more restrictive position because seeming political advantage has changed. The findings suggest that independence referendums will continue to be rare events.