Political theory and postmodernism

Based on Max Weber's concept of Kulturnation and Hans Blumenberg's project of metaphorology, this essay argues that modern nations follow distinct cultural programmes that are inherent to their national ideas. Each national idea is propagated by a particular biopolitical metaphor, which performs a transfer from practical or scientific ideas about how nature structures and organises life to cultural ideas about how human lives should be socially and politically organised. The essay examines the emergence of the principal metaphors of grafting in England (Great Britain), of regeneration and elective affinities in France, and of organic self-generation in Prussia (Germany). The fact that each nation claims for its particular national idea the status of a universal principle constitutes the intrinsic paradox of nationalism.     

Sentiment vs Strategy: British Naval Policy,Imperial Defence,and the Development of Dominion Navies, 1911–14

This article examines British naval policy towards imperial defence and the development of autonomous Dominion navies in 1911–14. It shows that the Admiralty's main goal under the leadership of Winston Churchill was to concentrate British and Dominion warships in European waters, and ideally in the North Sea, to meet the German threat. Churchill's approach to naval developments in the Dominions was also shaped by his desire to fulfil the Cabinet's policy of remaining strong in the Mediterranean Sea. He made some concessions to sentiment in the Dominions, but his attempts to create a coherent imperial policy for the naval defence of Britain and its empire were ultimately unsuccessful. By 1914 it was clear that the Dominions would not provide the additional warships Britain required for the Mediterranean, and on the eve of war the Admiralty was beginning to prepare an imperial naval strategy that more accurately reflected the Empire's capabilities.     

The French Communist Party within the Left and alternative movements

French Communism once dominated the Left of the Left and assimilated within itself most of the ‘alternative’ political movements. However, the decline of Communism has created a space on the extreme Left that has been exploited by a myriad of small movements. These have occupied a political territory that the Communists would like to claim for their own, but they are unable to reclaim their once hegemonic position and find themselves a junior partner in many of the transactions on the extreme Left. Communist decline and their inability to find a way out of their impasse are connected with the same thing–their rigidity. However, if Communism changes it will cease to be Communist and the indications are, given Communist history and politics, that it is not capable of making the changes.     

State strength and capitalist weakness: Manufacturing capital and the Tariff Board's attack on McEwenism, 1967–74

In order to test a number of propositions drawn from recent theories of the state, this paper examines power relationships between manufacturing capital and the state at the federal level of Australian politics during a period of tariff policy reformism between 1967 and 1974. The paper finds limitations to the ‘privileged position of business’ argument of Lindblom, but affirms a more historically dynamic model of state‐capital relations developed independently in the work of Block and Vogel. The paper also affirms the general perspective developed by recent neo‐Weberian theorists regarding the potential for independent state initiative. It is argued that such a perspective is consistent with important aspects of neo‐Marxist ‘relative autonomy’ of the state arguments. Indeed, an important facet of this paper is designed to show, through historical analysis, the conditions under which states within capitalist societies may come to have the autonomy and the capacity to resist important sectors of capital during efforts to restructure the economy.     

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)