Book reviews

Glen St J. Barclay, Friends in High Places. Australian‐American Diplomatic Relations Since 1945. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1985, pp 245, $25.00.

Leonie Foster, High Hopes: The Men and Motives of the Australian Round Table. Melbourne University Press in association with the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Melbourne, 1986, pp.xviii+294. $25.00.

Ritchie Ovendale, The English‐Speaking Alliance: Britain, the United States, the Dominions and the Cold War, 1945–51. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1985, ppxt309. $60.00.

Australian Institute of Urban Affairs, Review of Australian Assistance to the Indonesian Water Supply and Sanitation Sector. A report for the Australian Development Assistance Bureau, January 1986. pp.xxxiii + 305. $ 16.00.

Malcolm Templeton, Defence and Security: What New Zealand Needs. Institute of Policy Studies, Victoria University, Wellington, 1986, pp.62. $NZ11.00.

Philip Eldridge, Dean Forbes and Doug Porter, Australian Overseas Aid: Future Directions. Croom Helm, Sydney, 1986, pp. 284. £16.95.

Christopher Clapham, Third World Politics. An Introduction. Croom Helm, London and Sydney, 1985, pp.197. $39.95 (cloth), $17.50 (paper).

William Tordoff, Government and Politics in Africa, Macmillan, London, 1984, pp.xix+352. £7.95.

Richard Hodder‐Williams. An Introduction to the Politics of Tropical Africa. George Allen and Unwin, London, Boston and Sydney, 1984. $45.00 (cloth), $ 17.95 (paper).

D. K. Fieldhouse, Black Africa 1945–1980: Economic Decolonization and Arrested Development. Allen and Unwin, London, 1986, pp.xix & 260. $32.50.

Neil Kinnock, Making Our Way. Investing in Britain's Future. Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1986, pp.viii + 200. $13.95.

Andrew J. Taylor, The Trade Unions and the Labour Party. Croom Helm, London, 1987, pp. 320. £27.50.

Alistair I. Johnston, China and Arms Control: Emerging Issues and Interest in the 1980s. The Canadian Centre for Arms Control and Disarmament, Ottawa, 1986, pp.85. $US12.00.

Tim Huxley, Asean and Indochina. A Study of Political Responses. 1975–1981. Canberra Studies in World Affairs No. 19. Department of International Relations, the Australian National University, 1985, pp. 116. $10.00.

Lim Chong‐Yah and Peter J. Lloyd (eds), Singapore: Resources and Growth. Oxford University Press, Singapore, 1986, pp 279 + xiv. $20.00.

R. J. May (ed.), Between Two Nations. The Indonesia — Papua New Guinea Border and West Papua Nationalism. Robert Brown and Associates, Bathurst, 1986, pp. 260. $13.95.

Shamsul A. B., From British to Bumiputera Rule — Local Politics and Rural Development in Peninsular Malaysia. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 1986, pp. xxi + 282. $US28.00 (cloth), $US18.00 (paper).

Bernard Swan, Peace and Conflict in a Poor Country: Sri Lanka, AIIA Occasional Paper No. 3, The Australian Institute of International Affairs, Canberra, 1986, pp.62 $3.50.

James Manor (ed.) Sri Lanka in Change and Crisis. Croom Helm, London & Sydney, 1984, pp.229 $16.95.

Orlando Fals Borda (ed.), The Challenge of Social Change. Sage Publications, London, 1985, pp.134. £15.95.

National Commission on Disappeared People, Nunca Mas/Never Again, English Translation by Writers and Scholars International Ltd. Faber and Faber, London, 1986, pp.xvi + 463. $24.95.

G. McCormack and Y. Sugimoto (eds.), Democracy in Contemporary Japan. Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, 1986, pp.272. $29.95 (cloth), $14.95 (paper).

Rokuro Hidaka, The Price of Affluence. Dilemma of Contemporary Japan. Penguin Books, Ringwood, 1985, pp.196. $7.95.

Hans H. Baerwald, Party Politics in Japan. Allen and Unwin, London, 1986, pp. xiv+204. $24.50.

Peter Calvert, The Foreign Policy of New States. Wheatsheaf Books, Brighton, 1986, pp. viii + 216. $27.95.

Mohammed Ayoob (ed.), Regional Security in the Third World: Case Studies from Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Croom Helm, London and Sydney, 1986, pp. 284. $49.95.

R.J. Vincent (ed.), Foreign Policy and Human Rights — Issues and Responses. Cambridge University Press, in association with The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Cambridge, 1986, pp.283. $84.00.

R.J. Vincent, Human Rights and International Relations. Cambridge University Press, in association with The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Cambridge 1986, pp 186. No price given.

Gerard Chaliand and Jean‐Pierre Rageau, Strategic Atlas: World Geopolitics. Penguin Books, Hammondsworth, 1986, pp. 224. $16.95.

John H. Makin, The Global Debt Crisis: America's Growing Involvement, Basic Books, New York, 1984, pp. 281. $34.95.

Bruce R. Scott and George C. Lodge (eds), U.S. Competitiveness in the World Economy. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Mass, 1985, pp.x+543. $40.95.

Desmond Ball, A Base for Debate. The US Satellite Station at Nurrungar. Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1987, pp. 122. $9.95.

E. M. Andrews, The Writing on the Wall: The British Commonwealth and Aggression in the East 1931–1935. Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1987, pp. KV+228. $29.95.

Lawrence T. Farley, Plebiscites and Sovereignty: The Crisis of Political Legitimacy. Westview Press, Boulder, and Maunsell Publishing, London, 1986, pp. xiv+179. £16.95.

Edwin E. Moise, Modern China: A History. Longmans, New York, 1986, pp.xvi+256. $22.95.

Mark Mancall, China at the Center: 300 Years of Foreign Policy. The Free Press, New York, 1984, pp. xvii+540. $59.95.

Penny Kane, The Second Billion: Population and Family Planning in China. Penguin Books Australia, Ringwood, 1987, pp. 264. $14.95.

Germain A. Hoston, Marxism and the Crisis of Development in Prewar Japan. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1987, pp. xviii+401. $US40.00 (cloth), $US15.00 (paper).

William S. Turley, The Second Indochina War: A Short Political and Military History, 1954–1975. Westview Press, Boulder, and Gower, London, 1986, pp. xvii, 238. $US35.00.     

Are Households Universal? On Misunderstanding Domestic Groups in Swaziland

‘Household’ is not the neutral, universal category that census-takers have lulled us into believing, but a culturally-loaded, historically specific, Western term, like ‘family’. This article demonstrates its inappropriateness in capturing the nature of domestic organization in Swaziland through a critical examination of attempts to reduce the indigenous domestic unit umuti (rural homestead) to various constellations of household. The patrilineal homestead on traditionally tenured land persists as the dominant domestic group despite urbanization and the deep penetration of the economy by market principles. The relationship between this homestead and the more ephemeral urban households, into which many of its members are continually dispersed, underlies the linkage between urban and rural areas. Without grounding our understanding of contemporary Swazi society in the rural homestead we fail to understand female-headed domestic groups, domestic cycles, and the location and dynamics of poverty and wealth.     

Resources Versus Results: Comparative Performance of State Highway Systems, 1984–1990

This article compares the relative performance of the U.S. and the 50 state highway systems against resources available, over the period 1984–1990. Data are collected on 13 measures of revenues, expenditures, pavement condition, congestion, bridge condition, and accidents. Statistics are normalized to control the effects of size and inflation. Each state's performance is then graded according to whether the state is making progress, holding steady, or losing ground relative to the national trends. Findings show that the U.S. highway system is in good condition and is continuing to improve: even statistics on congestion are now beginning to show improvement. Against this general improvement six states have been able to maintain or improve their highway systems with considerably less resources per mile than other states. These states are New Mexico, South Dakota, Wyoming, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Arkansas. Each of these stales seems to have a combination of geography, traffic, economic structure, and fiscal capability that results in particularly cost-effective highway systems. The findings suggest that simplistic explanations of performance based on location, urban/rural distinctions, weather, climate, or taxes are inadequate; more research is needed to explain the causes of these differences.     

A COPY OF MUL.APIN FROM A PRIVATE LIBRARY AT ASHUR(VAT 9429)

Extensive excavations at the site of Ashur allowed Olaf Pedersén to reconstruct, to a considerable level of detail, the many archives and libraries in official and private collections that existed at ancient Ashur through the middle