Book reviews

AUSTRALIA IN NEW GUINEA. L. P. Mair. Melbourne University Press, 1970 (2nd ed.). 254 pp. $6.75 hard cover.

DENIS HEALEY AND THE POLICIES OF POWER. Geoffrey Williams and Bruce Reed. Sidgwick and Jackson Ltd., London, 1971. 286 pp. £3.50 stg.

THE PHILIPPINES AND TAIWAN: INDUSTRIALIZATION AND TRADE POLICIES. John H. Power, Gerardo P. Sicat and Mo‐Huang Hsing. Oxford University Press for the Development Centre, OECD, 1971. 324 pp. $7.00 (Paper).

TRADE AND GROWTH IN THE PHILIPPINES. AN OPEN DUAL ECONOMY. George 1. Hicks and Geoffrey McNicoll. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y., 1971. xi, 244 pp. US.$8.50.

THE NEW CHINA. J. A. Johnston and Maslyn Williams (ed.). A. H. & A. W. Reed, Sydney, 1971. 127 pp.

STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY: SUNG CHIAO‐JEN AND THE 1911 CHINESE REVOLUTION. K. S. Liew. Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1971. 260 pp. $7.50.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF INDEPENDENT FIJI. E. K. Fisk. Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1970. 89 pp. $1.95 paper.

THE MAKING OF INDIA'S FOREIGN POLICY: DETERMINANTS, INSTITUTIONS, PROCESSES, PERSONALITIES. J. Bandyopadhyaya. Allied Publishers, Bombay, 1970, xi, 286 pp. Rs 20.

SOVIET RELATIONS WITH LATIN AMERICA, 1918–68. Stephen Clissold (ed.). Oxford University Press, 1970. 313 pp. $11.60.

OIL AND THE ROUMANIAN STATE. Maurice Pearton. Oxford University Press, 1971. 361 pp. $12.50.

BRASSEY'S ANNUAL: DEFENCE AND THE ARMED FORCES 1971. Major‐General J. L. Moulton (ed.). William Clowes and Sons Ltd., London, 1971. 517 pp. £5.00 (stg.)

THE TEMPEST WITHIN. AN ACCOUNT OF EAST PAKISTAN. Dom Moraes. Vikas Publications, Delhi, 1971. x, 103 pp. Rs. 12.50.

POLITICS IN A PLURAL SOCIETY. A STUDY OF NON‐COMMUNAL POLITICAL PARTIES IN WEST MALAYSIA. R. K. Vasil. Oxford University Press for the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Kuala Lumpur, 1971. 338 pp. $6.00 paper, $11.20 hard cover.

THE STRUGGLE OF ISLAM IN MODERN INDONESIA. B. J. Boland. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1971. 283 pp. 28 guilders.

ZIONISM, ISRAEL AND ASIAN NATIONALISM. G. H. Jansen. The Institute for Palestine Studies, Beirut, 1971. xv, 347 pp. US$2.00 Paperback.

WESTERN ECONOMICS IN NON‐WESTERN ECONOMIES. L. G. Reynolds. University of Western Australia Press, 1970. 37 pp. $1.00.

THE INDIGENT RICH: A THEORY OF GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM IN A KEYNESIAN SYSTEM. J W. C. Cumes. Pergamon Press, Australia, 1971. 218 pp. $5.95.     

Circum-mortem damage to some ancient African hominid crania: a taphonomic and evolutionary essay

Close examination of three early hominid crania from Africa yields taphonomic information long after they were excavated, and can contribute information relevant to their dating and taxonomic status. The condition of the bone and breaks and markings are reviewed in the Florisbad, Saldanha and Broken Hill (Kabwe) crania, indicating animal biting while the bone was still fresh in the first and last of these specimens. However, the damage to the base of the Kabwe cranium indicates that there may also have been breakage by hominids, including scorings near the margin of the squamous suture. No tooth marks are observed on the Saldanha cranium, but a depressed fracture and other lesions indicate hominid damage to fresh bone. Postmortem weathering indicates cranial thickness even greater than the original measurements, which implies a more primitive evolutionary status for Saldanha than for Kabwe. This view is supported by other morphological evidence, and suggests a considerably earlier date for Saldanha and a classification asHomo erectus.

---

Résumé L'examen à fond de trois crânes d'hominidés anciens de l'Afrique fournit des données taphonomiques longtemps après la fouille, et peut livrer informations quant à leur date et à leur statut taxonomique. L'état de l'os et les cassures et d'autres traces sont étudiés dans les crânes de Florisbad, Saldanha et Broken Hill (Kabwe); dans ceux de Florisbad et de Broken Hill on constate que l'os a été mordu par des animaux lorsqu'il était encore frais. Cependant les dégâts à la base du crâne de Kabwe—y compris des stries près du bord de la suture squameuse—indiquent qu'il peut aussi avoir été cassé par des hominidés.Il n'y a pas de traces de morsures sur le crâne de Saldanha, mais on y observe une fracture aplatie et d'autres lésions qui indiquent que l'os frais a été endommagé par des hominidés. A cause des altérations survenues après la mort, on constate que le crâne original était même plus épais que les premières mésures l'indiquaient, ce qui implique un statut évolutionnaire plus primitif pour Saldanha que pour Kabwe. Cette idée, renforcée par d'autres indices morphologiques, suggère que Saldanha est beaucoup plus ancien que l'on ne croyait, et doit être classifié commeHomo erectus.

     

The Revolutionary Imperative

Abstract: In the last three decades in the advanced capitalist world, the idea of revolution has largely slipped from political view. The neoliberal moment seemed to smother any political possibility other than capitalism, but with that historical phase now itself fading, it may be a good time to revive the idea of revolution if for no other reason than that revolutions do happen. Certainly, the political right is concerned about the possibility of revolts resulting from the social privation resulting, in turn, from the global economic crisis. This essay attempts to explore and reanimate the notion of revolution, both historically and in the present context.     

Beyond Hybridity to the Politics of Scale: International Intervention and ‘Local’ Politics

The evident failures of international peacebuilding and statebuilding interventions (PSBIs) have recently prompted a focus on the interaction between interventions and target societies and states. Especially popular has been the ‘hybridity’ approach, which understands forms of peace and governance emerging through the mixing of local and international agendas and institutions. This article argues that hybridity is a highly problematic optic. Despite contrary claims, hybridity scholarship falsely dichotomizes ‘local’ and ‘international’ ideal‐typical assemblages, and incorrectly presents outcomes as stemming from conflict and accommodation between them. Scholarship in political geography and state theory provides better tools for explaining PSBIs’ outcomes as reflecting socio‐political contestation over power and resources. We theorize PSBIs as involving a politics of scale, where different social forces promote and resist alternative scales and modes of governance, depending on their interests and agendas. Contestation between these forces, which may be located at different scales and involved in complex, tactical, multi‐scalar alliances, explains the uneven outcomes of international intervention. We demonstrate this using a case study of East Timor, focusing on decentralization and land policy.