Working Groups or Wage Labour? Cash-crops,Reciprocity and Money among the Maka of Southeastern Cameroon

The spread of cocoa cultivation among the Maka in the 1950s created new labour demands. These were not met by wage labour, as in most cocoa producing areas, but rather by a novel system of working groups. Specific economic factors can help to explain why wage labour did not develop within the villages, but it is also clear that the preference of the Maka for more cooperative labour arrangements was related to broader socio-cultural characteristics of this society—notably the somewhat paradoxical tension between strong levelling mechanisms and an equally strong emphasis on personal ambition. The new working groups were based on reciprocal exchange of labour, but money came to play an increasing role in their functioning. They allowed for a certain degree of commodification of labour to the advantage of richer farmers, but ultimately they restricted the rise of more structural inequalities. The recent crisis in cash-cropping makes it clear that a system of working groups can offer farmers more flexibility than wage labour in the face of the vagaries of world-market prices.     

Social and Political Dimensions of Environmental Protection in Central America

This study takes a critical look at mainstream efforts to protect and rehabilitate the environment in Central America. Despite some notable successes, many forest protection and tree planting schemes have not been effectively implemented and have even contributed to further environmental degradation, social inequality and impoverishment. It is argued that the trade-off between environmental protection and human welfare which characterizes many schemes to protect forests and promote tree planting undermines not only local livelihoods but also the possibility of achieving basic environmental objectives, given the nature of local responses and their effects on project implementation. There is a need for a more integrative and socially-aware approach to environmental planning which addresses two fundamental problems: the failure to locate environmental protection initiatives within a broader development framework and the failure to integrate concerns for environmental protection with the needs and rights of local people. Addressing these two problems of ‘macro-’ and ‘micro-coherency’ in environmental planning requires not only dealing with the many technical, administrative and financial constraints which typically characterize environmental programmes and projects, but also changes in the balance of social forces.     

Late Glacial Origin of the Sandbanks, Webb Bay, Labrador

The Sandbanks of Webb Bay, Labrador owe their origin to ice marginal conditions during the last stages of deglaciation of this section of the Labrador coast. Several phases in their evolution are recognized. Phase 1 was characterized by disintegration of the remnants of Webb Bay and Ado's Brook valley ice masses into separate local bodies with ice marginal runoff in an eastern direction. During Phase 2 the first and highest ice-dammed lake formed. Eastward ice marginal flow continued into Phase 3, when a large system of kame terraces (altitude 360 feet) formed beside the receding Webb Bay Ice. They led to new and lower ice marginal lakes in the eastern part of the Sandbanks. Phase 4 was dominated by the construction of a more extensive system of kame terraces almost 100 feet lower than those formed in Phase 3. Locally, minor moraines helped to direct runoff and control development of these newer kame terraces. In Phase 5, meltwater from the ice and runoff from the deglaciated highlands filled a large marginal lake (altitude 230 feet), which may have contributed to subglacial drainage down Port Manvers Run. Phase 6, the last of the glacial conditions associated with formation of the Sandbanks, was introduced by withdrawal of ice far enough so that the eustatically rising sea level was able to reach part of the Sandbanks. A terrace at 135 feet above sea level is believed to be the local upper marine limit. Stagnant ice still covered the floor of Hummock Valley at the western end of the Sandbanks at this time. Subsequently isostatic adjustment has lifted the last glacio-fluvial and some of the glacio-marine features above sea level.     

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.     

Reviews

THE PAPUA‐NEW GUINEA ELECTIONS 1964. David Bettism, Colin Hughes and Paul van der Veur (eds.) Canberra, Australian National University Press, 1965. Pp. xi + 545. $A 9.00.

SEARCH FOR NEW GUINEA'S BOUNDARIES: FROM TORRES STRAIT TO THE PACIFIC. Paul van der Veur. Canberra, Australian National University Press, 1966. Pp. xii + 178. $A 6.30.

DOCUMENTS AND CORRESPONDENCE ON NEW GUINEA'S BOUNDARIES. Paul van der Veur. Canberra, Australian National University Press, 1966. Pp. 212. $A 3.90.

BURMA: FROM KINGDOM TO INDEPENDENCE. Frank N. Trager. London, Pall Mall Press, 1966. Pp. xiii + 455. $A 10.90.

THE POLITICS OF THE THIRD WORLD. J. D. B. Miller. London, Oxford University Press for the Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1966. Pp. xiv + 126. $A2.15.

IRONIES OF HISTORY, ESSAYS IN CONTEMPORARY COMMUNISM. Isaac Deutscher. Oxford University Press, 1966. Pp. vii + 278. $A 5.80.

SOVIET AFFAIRS NUMBER FOUR. St. Antony's Papers No. 19. Michael Kaser (ed.). Oxford University Press, 1966. Pp. 156. $A5.10.

A DECADE OF COMMONWEALTH 1955–1964. W. B. Hamilton, Kenneth Robinson and C. D. W. Goodwin (eds.). Durham, N.C., Duke University Press, 1966. Pp. xx + 567. (US) $12.50.

THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE‐COMMONWEALTH. Robin W. Winks (ed.). Durham N.C., Duke University Press, 1966. Pp. xiv + 596. (US) $12.50.

TEST BAN AND DISARMAMENT: THE PATH OF NEGOTIATION. Arthur H. Dean. New York, Harper and Row, 1966. Pp. xiii + 153. (U.S.) $3.50.

DETERRENCE AND THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE. Albert Legault. Toronto, Canadian Institute of International Affairs, 1966. Pp. xv + 103. $2.00 (Canadian).

STRATEGIC POWER AND SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY. Arnold L. Horelick and Myron Rush. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1966. Pp. xii + 225. (U.S.) $5.95.

NEW FEDERATIONS: EXPERIMENTS IN THE COMMONWEALTH. R. L. Watts. Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1966. Pp. xii + 417 + Maps. $A 10.90.