Book reviews

THE MIND OF EAST ASIA, Lily Abegg. (338 pp. with Index). Translated from the German. Thames and Hudson; London, New York.

BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES: Problems in Co‐operation. A joint report prepared by Henry L. Roberts and Paul A. Wilson. London. Royal Institute of International Affairs. Pp. 224. Price 8/6 sterling. 1953.

D?R LAUTLOSE AUFSTAND. BERICHT VEBER DIE WIDER‐STANDSBEWEGUNG DES DEUTSCHEN VOLKES 1933–1945. Herausgegeben von Guenther Weissenborn. Rowohlt Verlag Hamburg. Pp. 348.

“EASTERN AND WESTERN WORLD”: Selected Readings with a foreword by S. Hofstra. Issued under the auspices of the Netherlands Foundation for International Co‐operation and published by W. Van Hoeve Ltd., The Hague, Bandung. 1953. Pp. 181.

NATIONALISM AND SOCIAL COMMUNICATION. By Karl W. Deutsch. John Wiley & Sons, N. Y. viii and 292.

BURMA UNDER THE JAPANESE: By Thakin Nu. Pictures and Portraits, Edited and translated with Introduction by J. S. Furnivall. Macmillan, London. 1954. Pp. xxviii and 132. Price 12s 6d.

COMMODITY TRADE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT—Report of a Committee appointed by the Secretary‐General, United Nations, Published by the United Nations, 1953.     

Book Reviews

Ken Booth and Steve Smith (eds), International Relations Theory Today, Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995. xii + 367pp. $39.95 (paper).

Christine Sylvester, Feminist Theory and International Relations in a Postmodern Era. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. xi + 265pp. $47.50 (paper).

Stephanie Lawson (ed.), The New Agenda for Global Security: Cooperating for Peace and Beyond. St. Leonards: Allen & Unwin/Department of International Relations, RSPAS, Australian National University, 1995. xi + 217pp. $24.95.

Anne O. Krueger, Economic Policies at Cross‐Purposes: The United States and Developing Countries. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1993. xii + 253pp. $US36.95 (cloth).

Robert L. Paarlberg, Leadership Abroad Begins at Home: U.S. Foreign Economic Policy After the Cold War. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1995. xxv + 115pp. $US28.95 (cloth); $US10.95 (paper).

Tony Brenton, The Greening of Machiavelli: The Evolution of International Environmental Politics. London: Royal Institute of International Affairs/Earthscan, 1994. xvii + 282pp. $UK14.95 (paper).

John Charmley, Churchill's Grand Alliance: The Anglo‐American Special Relationship, 1940–1957. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1995. xv + 427pp. $55.00 (cloth).

Victor A. Kremenyuk, Conflicts In and Around Russia. Nation‐Building in Difficult Times. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1994. xiv + 159pp. $US49.95 (cloth).

Alexander Johnston, Sipho Shezi and Gavin Bradshaw (eds), Constitution‐making in the New South Africa. London and New York: Leicester University Press, 1993. viii + 272pp. $UK 39.50.

Ramesh Thakur, The Politics and Economics of India's Foreign Policy. London: Hurst and Company; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994. xi + 306pp. No price given.

Francis Seow, To Catch a Tartar: A Dissident in Lee Kuan Yew's Prison (with a foreword by C.V. Devan Nair). Yale Southeast Asia Studies Monograph 42, New Haven: Yale Centre for International and Area Studies, 1994. xxxiii + 293pp. $50.00 (paper).

Brij Lal, Robert Kiste and Kerry Howe (eds), The Tides of History: The Pacific Islands in the 20th Century. St Leonards: Allen & Unwin, 1994. xviii + 475pp. $34.95 (paper).

LaMond Tullis, Unintended Consequences—Illegal Drugs and Drug Policies in Nine Countries. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1995. ix + 229pp. $US42.00 (cloth).

The United Nations and Cambodia 1991–1995, The United Nations Blue Books Series, Vol. II. New York: Department of Public Information, United Nations, 1995. 352pp. $US29.95 (paper).

‘Atu Emberson‐Bain (ed.), Sustainable Development or Malignant Growth? Perspectives of Pacific Island Women. Suva, Fiji: Marama Publications, 1994. 290pp. No price given.

Payam Akhavan and Robert Howse (eds), Yugoslavia, the Former and Future: Reflections by Scholars front the Region. Washington, DC and Geneva: The Brookings Institution and The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, 1995. xxviii + 188pp. $US32.95 (cloth) $US 12.95 (paper).

David Camroux, ‘Looking East’ . . . and Inwards: Internal Factors in Malaysian Foreign Relations during the Mahathir Era 1981–1994. Australia‐Asia Papers No. 72. Griffith University: Centre for the Study of Australia‐Asia Relations, 1994. iii + 62pp. $10.00.     

Consuming Ethics: Articulating the Subjects and Spaces of Ethical Consumption

Geography's debates about how to maintain a sense of morally responsible action often emphasise the problematic nature of caring at a distance, and take for granted particular kinds of moral selfhood in which responsibility is bound into notions of human agency that emphasise knowledge and recognition. Taking commodity consumption as a field in which the ethics, morality, and politics of responsibility has been problematised, we argue that existing research on consumption fails to register the full complexity of the practices, motivations and mechanisms through which the working-up of moral selves is undertaken in relation to consumption practices. Rather than assuming that ethical decision‐making works through the rational calculation of obligations, we conceptualise the emergence of ethical consumption as ways in which everyday practical moral dispositions are re‐articulated by policies, campaigns and practices that enlist ordinary people into broader projects of social change. Ethical consumption, then, involves both a governing of consumption and a governing of the consuming self. Using the example of Traidcraft , we present a detailed examination of one particular context in which self‐consciously ethical consumption is mediated, suggesting that ethical consumption can be understood as opening up ethical and political considerations in new combinations. We therefore argue for the importance of the growth of ethical consumption as a new terrain of political action, while also emphasising the grounds upon which ethical consumption can be opened up to normative critique.     

The radiocarbon reservoir effect: new evidence from the cemeteries of the middle and lower Dnieper basin,Ukraine

This paper presents preliminary results of new radiocarbon dating of human, faunal and fish skeletal remains from a number of the cemeteries from the Middle and Lower Dnieper Basin, Ukraine. The results appear to demonstrate the presence of a radiocarbon reservoir effect during the Neolithic–Eneolithic periods, the first time that this has been identified in this region. The data indicate that the radiocarbon reservoir effect is currently only evident during these periods, and not in the earlier Epipalaeolithic–Mesolithic periods, prompting the suggestion that the radiocarbon reservoir effect is associated with elevated fish consumption from the Neolithic period onwards.     

Stable isotope analysis of prehistoric populations from the cemeteries of the Middle and Lower Dnieper Basin,Ukraine

This paper presents the results of new stable isotopes (carbon and nitrogen) analysis of human, faunal and fish remains from thirteen cemeteries from the Middle and Lower Dnieper Basin, Ukraine. The results are integrated with earlier analyses, undertaken solely on human samples, in order to provide a comprehensive overview of subsistence across the Upper Palaeolithic through to Eneolithic periods in this region. This is the first time that a combined sample of human, faunal and fish remains has been studied in order to interpret subsistence strategies across these periods in Ukraine. The total dataset comprises 113 samples of human, faunal and fish remains, 59 of which include new analyses of faunal and fish remains that have not previously been made available for study (Table 1). The analysis of the faunal and fish remains allows for a consideration of trophic levels which indicates that the consumption of freshwater fish occurs from the Epipalaeolithic period onwards. Whilst the majority of the cemeteries and the individuals therein cluster in relatively tight groups, there is a significant offset between the human and faunal samples due to the consumption of freshwater resources. The fish samples analysed in the study appear to exhibit a relatively random distribution when compared to the other samples analysed. In general, freshwater resources remain significant through until the end of the Neolithic period and into the Eneolithic period at the sites investigated.     

Stable isotope analysis of Neolithic and Chalcolithic populations from Aktopraklık,northern Anatolia

This paper presents the results of stable isotope (carbon and nitrogen) analysis of human and faunal remains from the site of Aktoprakl?k, one of the earliest farming sites in the Eastern Marmara region of Northwest Anatolia. Excavations at this site have shown that occupation occurs from the middle of the 7th millennium BC through to the middle of the 6th millennium BC. The earliest Neolithic activity at this location occurs at the settlement site of Aktoprakl?k C. Since 2004 a number of Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic burials have been recovered from the settlement areas and an Early Chalcolithic cemetery (Aktoprakl?k B and A respectively). To date a total of 60 individuals have been recovered from Aktoprakl?k, 23 of which (20 adults [10 males, 8 females and 2 indet adults] and 3 children below ca. 12 years of age) form the basis of the current isotope study. In addition, 14 faunal samples from cattle, pig, sheep/goat and fallow deer are included in the analysis in order to facilitate a consideration of trophic level shifts and to interpret the ¹³C data. The data represents the first isotopic study of a farming community from this region of Anatolia. This region is important to our understanding of the north-westwards transmission of farming into Europe from the Near East, and as such Aktoprakl?k represents a key site for studying the diet of farmers at the transition to agriculture. The close clustering of isotope values overall indicates homogeneity in subsistence practices for this farming population. Interestingly, the isotope values indicate a general focus on C₃ terrestrial resources at Aktoprakl?k, despite the close proximity of both freshwater and marine environments where alternative resources could have been procured.