Commonwealth & Comparative Politics articles from July 2003

Commonwealth & Comparative Politics archives from July 2003

Globalisation and India's national autonomy.
July 1, 2003... The critics of globalisation maintain that it has the consequence of eroding the economic autonomy of the nation-state. In contrast, the argument here is that the national autonomy that is assumed to have existed earlier is exaggerated, and...

The new South Africa confronts Abacha's Nigeria: the politics of human rights in a seminal relationship.
July 1, 2003... The 'new' South Africa's effort to confront and bring pressure to bear on the rights-abusive Nigerian military, regime of General Sani Abacha is revisited in this article as a seminal case in a pivotal relationship. The challenge posed by the...

Governance, democracy and recent political struggles in Mainland Tanzania.
July 1, 2003... The Governance Agenda rests on the idea that economic and political liberalisation in Africa can be mutually reinforcing; that liberal democracy, in other words, can help legitimise capitalist development. Tanzania, which began liberalising its...

Explaining historical dissent rates in the high court of Australia.
July 1, 2003... This article examines the role of a judge's social background and the role of the leadership of the chief justice in explaining variations in dissent rates on the High Court of Australia between 1903 and 1975. It is of interest for students of...

Sri Lanka's political decay: analysing the October 2000 and December 2001 parliamentary elections.
July 1, 2003... Beginning in the mid-1950s, Sri Lanka's Sinhalese politicians began outbidding each other on who could provide the best deal for their community. This ethnic outbidding was initially influenced by linguistic nationalism, though it was soon also...

Spurious Majorities, Electoral Systems and Electoral System Change.
July 1, 2003... Although there hove been many analyses of the phenomenon of 'manufactured majorities', that is, those where a party wins a majority of seats on a minority of the popular vote, there has been much less analysis of situations where this party in...

Shaping Nations: Constitutionalism and Society in Australia and Canada.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... edited by Linda Cardinal and David Headon (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2002, pp.xvi + 330, $29.95 pb). The conference which spawned this collection of essays was hosted on the premise that Canada and Australia share more in common...

Speaking for the People. Representation in Australian Politics.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... edited by Marian Sawer and Gianni Zappala (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2001, pp.348, $A32.95 pb). Representation is at the heart of liberal democratic governance, but it has always been a contested and problematic concept. One...

Australians and Globalisation. The Experience of Two Centuries.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... by Brian Galligan, Winsome Roberts and Gabriella Trifiletti (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001, 17.95 [pounds sterling] pb; 47.50 hb [pounds sterling]). How should one look at Australian citizenship? The usual way is to see it as...

States of Mind: Australia and New Zealand 1901-2001.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... edited by A. Grimes, L. Wevers and G. Sullivan (Wellington: Institute of Policy Studies, 2002, pp.v + 363, NZ$39 pb). This book is the product of an interdisciplinary conference held to mark 100 years since Australian federation. This is a...

The Multicultural Path--Issues Of Diversity and Discrimination in Democracy.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... by Gurpreet Mahajan (New Delhi: Sage, 2002, pp.240, US$29.95). The significance of multiculturalism in the Indian context is that it goes against the grain of the Hindu Right's slogan of 'one nation, one people, one culture'. Given the...

State and Nation in South Asia.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... by Swarna Rajagopalan (London: Lynne Rienner, 2001, pp.233, 43.95 [pounds sterling]). Swarna Rajagopalan, while exploring the tension between state and nation in South Asia, has addressed the fundamental question of what makes a 'national...

Operation Black Thunder. An Eyewitness Account of Terrorism in Punjab.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... by Sarah Jit Singh (New Delhi: Sage, 2002, pp.356, $15 pb). This book is the author's record of his period in office as Deputy Commissioner (DC) Amritsar from 1987 to 1992. It is a detailed account, primarily for the Punjab specialist....

Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life: Hindus and Muslims in India.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life: Hindus and Muslims in India by Ashutosh Varshney (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002, pp.ix + 382, $45 hb). Inter-religious riots in India have been much reported and condemned but seldom analysed in the...

Intervention and Transnationalism in Africa.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... edited by T. Callaghy, R. Kassimir and R. Latham (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001, pp.336, 47.50 hb [pounds sterling], 17.95 pb [pounds sterling]). Transboundary formations bring global and local together in different...

Government and Politics in Africa.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... by William Tordoff (Basingstoke: Palgrave/Macmillan, 2002, pp.xviii + 326, 16.99 pb [pounds sterling]). This book offers detailed and in-depth material and analysis, covering African colonial and recent post-colonial political...

Comparative Politics: a Global Introduction.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Comparative Politics: A Global Introduction edited by Michael J. Sodaro (McGraw Hill, 2001, pp.870, 44.66 pb [pounds sterling]). Comparative politics has come on significantly from the days when it focused on the governments and politics...

Argument and Change in World Politics.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... by Neta C. Crawford (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, pp.xv + 466, 65 hb [pounds sterling], 21.95 pb [pounds sterling]). The author claims that argument, and good argument, has brought about change in world politics. Using two...