Abstract
Melani Claire Cammett's book provides the reader with a clear and very accessible description of the economic problems and current transformations occurring in the North African countries.
The author constructs a model of economic reaction – a response to globalisation and world integration processes – and checks its effectiveness based on the analysis of business politics in two countries of the Maghreb: Morocco and Tunisia. The author presents the relations and dependencies of these two countries in the world and attempts to define their position in a complex globalising market. She shows that, while the two countries display many economic similarities (e.g. trade dependence on the EU), they have developed completely different responses to economic liberalisation.
Cammett focuses her analysis on the textile and garment industry, which is a significant sector for both the Moroccan and Tunisian economies. This sector in particular has faced most competition from Asia and Central and Eastern Europe in recent years, leading to numerous changes and transformations and resulting in privatisation and liberalisation within the sector. Using her extensive research, the author presents an in-depth study of these transformations and thus gives the reader far more than just a general description of current problems.
The book's analysis is supported by numerous quotes from the various interviews and is richly illustrated with charts and tables, and altogether it provides a stimulating and pleasurable read. It fills a gap in the research and literature on Arab North African countries in the second half of the twentieth century and therefore provides an intellectual contribution that will be of particular interest to academics in the field of economics and international relations. Cammett's study will become an important voice in discussions on the economic future not only of the Maghreb, but of the whole Middle East.
Katarzyna Jarecka-Stepień
(Jagiellonian University, Cracow)
This clearly written, balanced and accessible book sets out to analyse the tactical and operational conduct of the Israel Defence Forces’ (IDF) counter-insurgency operations during two major Palestinian uprisings (1987–93 and 2000–5). It aims to examine ‘whether or not the IDF has been able to adapt its conventional order of battle and conduct of warfare to the realities of the Israeli–Palestinian low intensity conflict (LIC) and achieve some sort of victory over the Palestinian insurgency’ (p. 1). The book also looks at ‘what effects both Palestinian Intifadas have had on the combat morale of the IDF’ (p. 1) – something which the author sees as strongly related to combat efficiency.
The book begins by conceptualising the notion of combat motivation and what it may mean in the context of the IDF. This is followed by a useful historical account of political–military relations in Israel, the development of the state's national security doctrine and the rise of LIC, setting the context for analysing the IDF's tactical and operational conduct during the two Palestinian Intifadas. The examination of the first Intifada underscores the confusion and demoralisation that the IDF experienced during this period. Although the account is succinct, balanced and animated by interviews, the feeling is that it does not add a great deal to what we already know.
The examination of the al-Aqsa Intifada – which Catignani perceives as an ‘urban guerrilla war and terror campaign’ (p. 104) rather than a popular uprising – is more rewarding, for it is one of the first accounts to link the tactical and operational conduct of the IDF, its ethical dilemmas and the broader environment in which it operated during the al-Aqsa Intifada. The causes and consequences of the new tactics and operational conduct adopted by the IDF – including the introduction of the major weapons platform, greater reliance on real-time intelligence and swarm tactics – are convincingly exposed. As Catignani rightly emphasises, the IDF's adaptation of its conventional order of battle and conduct of warfare did not only result from the al-Aqsa Intifada being a different type of conflict from the first one; it was also a product of the changed international, political, economic and social environment in which the IDF operated during the two Intifadas. Even though the IDF has been able to adapt very well from a tactical perspective to both Palestinian Intifadas, Catignani convincingly demonstrates that it remained unable to impose a strategic solution on the Palestinian insurgency.
Overall I would recommend this book for advanced undergraduate and master's students, academics and practitioners who are interested in political–military relations in contemporary Israel and the current state of the IDF. Those doing comparative work on the challenges posed by LIC to conventional armies at the beginning of the twenty-first century may also benefit from Catignani's study.
Amnon Aran
(London School of Economics and Political Science)
Lyons and Straus have produced a non-academic text that provides no analysis and little contextualisation of the Rwandan genocide. Why then is it a novel, insightful, compelling and chilling contribution to the discourse on the Rwandan conflict?
Intimate Enemy is complex in its simplicity and is the product of two differing approaches. Straus provides a number of extracts from interviews undertaken with convicted or confessed Rwandan génocidaires, whereas Lyons provides over 70 portrait photographs of both victims and perpetrators. There is no link between the interviews and the photos, each project having been undertaken separately. For Straus academic restraints mean that the interviewees are unnamed, although we are given information about their sentencing and their previous occupation. For Lyons, an independent photographer, such constraints do not apply and we are provided with details about each photograph. The overall purpose of the text is ‘not to interpret or analyse the narratives it contains but to present largely unmediated narratives and images’ (p. 24). This simple objective is unquestionably achieved. No more and no less is provided.
The images that we often associate with the Rwandan genocide – the machete and corpses on the roadside – are absent. Those images result in the inability to comprehend the brutality, immensity and inhumanity of what occurred in Rwanda. Lyons and Straus have purposely avoided such content, and in doing so they bring the reader down to the level of the individual. We are forced to reflect on the banality of the interviewees – it is this sense of normality that is most chilling.
Intimate Enemy is aimed at academics and non-academics alike. It is neither grotesque and voyeuristic nor insipid and trite. It is a novel means of re-engaging the reader to the almost unimaginable events of 1994. Its complexity comes from forcing each of us individually to inquire as to what we would do in a similar situation to these génocidaires.
It is not possible to remain unmoved by the rawness with which Lyons and Straus have conveyed the information. This is not supposed to be a stand-alone resource on the genocide in Rwanda and in fact the interview excerpts used here are part of a larger analysis used by Scott Straus elsewhere [see below]. This text is a reminder not to simplify events or to identify génocidaires as the ‘other,’ as evil or demonic.
Michael Clarke
(University of Bath)
Although ethnic nationalist resurgence has manifested itself across the globe many times in recent decades, explanations of the phenomenon are susceptible to overgeneralisation or, conversely, to being too contextually limited. David Romano negotiates this challenge by exploring the Kurdish nationalist resurgence in Turkey, Iraq and Iran using three theoretical frameworks found in the social movement literature: opportunity structure, resource mobilisation and cultural framing. In addition to the principal objective of examining the Kurdish nationalist resurgence in comparative perspective (although the crucial part of the analysis focuses on Turkey), the author claims that his ‘logic of analysis … should be useful for anyone seeking to examine social movements in other contexts’ (p. 2). After individually assessing the value of each theoretical approach to social movements against the case of Kurdish ethnic nationalism in Turkey (chs 2–4), the book's theoretical synthesis unfolds gradually in chapter 5. Individual studies on Iraq (ch. 6) and Iran (ch. 7) are followed by a concluding chapter in which Romano compares and contrasts all three cases while noting that ‘opportunity structures emerged as crucial determinants of the form Kurdish challenges would take’ (p. 249) in all three cases. The major strength of this work is how Romano traces the theoretical claims of three approaches through empirical narratives.
The theoretical framework and arguments of this book are well reasoned and accessible to readers with a limited background in general social movement frameworks. But despite the high quality of the analysis and Romano's background as a teacher and researcher in Northern Iraq and Turkey, the different theories and applications across countries make it somewhat difficult for a coherent set of ideas to emerge. Rather than dealing with these transitions in presentation of the cases, I found it more compelling to approach each country study as a unique contribution. Also there are minor confusions in the text such as the percentage of the Kurdish population in Turkey (20 per cent on page 3 but 23 per cent on page 243) and reference to Leyla Zana, who was said to be in prison (p.174, fn.5) at the time of publication in 2006, but actually was released in 2004.
These minor errors and presentational criticism notwithstanding, Romano has brought to our attention a serious subject – the Kurdish nationalist movement – and has provided a serious effort to show how theoretical approaches to examining social movements can help us to grapple with the topic.
A. Tolga Turker
(University of Cincinnati)
Scott Straus’ award-winning publication is one of the most groundbreaking and comprehensive contributions to the ever-expanding literature on the Rwanda genocide. By repudiating the ‘first wave’ explanations of the genocide (primordial/ancient tribal hatreds argument) and challenging the totality of the now conventional ‘second wave’ (modernist and constructivist argument), the author develops a theory based on micro-level study which utilises both a social science and statistical approach.
At its core, the author attempts to answer ‘how and why did genocide happen?’ (p. 2). If such a query is instilled in a plethora of complex sub-questions involving group behaviour and socio-psychology, the answer is relatively straightforward. Perpetrators committed such horrifying acts due to peer intimidation (intra-ethnic coercion) and/or extreme alarm/trepidation at the advancing Tutsi rebel army (inter-ethnic anxiety). In both cases, fear was the common denominator. Straus also concludes that the timing and context of Rwanda was ripe for genocide: intense civil war (legitimisation of killing), state power (hardliners monopolising authority) and ethnic categorisation (the collective ‘other’).
Perhaps the most extraordinary aspect of the publication is just how ordinary the perpetrators were. Such a conclusion will not have been lost on those readers well acquainted with the events of 1994. However, unlike a number of previous books on the subject, The Order of Genocide is grounded in extensive and innovative research. By utilising a variety of methodologies including both qualitative and bivariate regression analysis, the author is able successfully and effectively to model those patterns of mobilisation and violence that drove the genocide. Nevertheless, the book is of interest far beyond simply the Rwanda genocide; key themes include the dichotomy between state and society, coercion, authority, mobilisation, obedience, group dynamics, the nature of conflict and ethnic identity.
Straus writes with fluency and simplicity without sacrificing a scholarly and well-argued text. There are a number of notable chapters which, for example, analyse the historical trends in the country and evaluate the ‘space of opportunity’ (p. 91) prior to the shift in the balance of power. Furthermore, his well-explained and thorough primary research is often accompanied by detailed triangulation and cross-referencing of secondary sources. However, such perseverance for clarity does at times lend itself to repetition. This is unfortunate because beyond some illustrative examples from the Holocaust, the book could certainly be improved with more substantiated comparative reflections on genocide. Let us hope that with the country's relatively successful parliamentary elections of September 2008, Rwanda can finally move on from being exclusively associated with the opprobrium of such events.
Mark Naftalin
(Independent Scholar)
For Scott Taylor effective coalitions between business and political elites are a key prerequisite for successful economic adjustment in developing countries. These can constitute ‘reform coalitions’ which ‘refer to cooperative arrangements between state and business, typically acting collectively via associations that play an instrumental role in the formation of generally “good” policies’ (p. 9). While such coalitions have been identified as an important factor in explaining successful strategies pursued in Latin America and East Asia, they have been weaker and less common in Africa. On this basis, the book sets out to explore the conditions which give rise to, and sustain, such coalitions.
The first two chapters focus on developing a conceptual model of business–state relationships, which is then used to analyse three country case studies of Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Taylor devotes a chapter to each of these, providing an authoritative account of evolving business–state relations and placing these within the broader context of political and economic reform. The case studies are informed by over 150 interviews conducted with key policy actors, and this allows Taylor to dissect some of the conflicts and tensions between state and business associations that he documents. One does not have to buy into Taylor's overall conceptual framework to appreciate the detailed and illuminating analysis presented in each of these case studies. The final chapter draws the strands of argument together and places them within a comparative perspective.
The book is likely to be of interest to scholars of Southern African politics and to those with a wider comparative interest in state–business relationships but less familiarity with the political economy of the region. It could usefully be used as further reading for undergraduate students taking courses focusing on African or comparative political economy. It will also appeal to postgraduate readers and academics studying these issues.
John Craig
(University of Huddersfield)
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