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BOOK REVIEWS

Nezar AlSayyad and Manuel Castells (eds.), Muslim Europe or Euro-

Islam: Politics, Culture, and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization.
Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2002. Pp. Viii +204, $24.95. ISBN
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0 7391 0339 3.

Of the many collective volumes about Muslims in Europe to appear

over the past decade, most have been Euro-works: books reflect-
ing the perspectives of European scholars on immigration and
adaptation by Muslims in Europe. By contrast, the volume under
review was jointly developed at the centers of European and Mid-
dle Eastern studies at the University of California at Berkeley, and
its cross-area origins are reflected in its intellectual eclecticism.
The authors live in the United States and Europe, and include
experts in sociology, international relations, Islamic studies, and
architecture. Many have engaged this topic for the first time.
This particular mix of background knowledge gives the vol-
ume a fresh quality found less often in the European discussions
of Islam and Europe. The editors and authors introduce into these
discussions some new perspectives (networks, critical theory) and
some almost-new ones (post-national citizenship, secularism), as
well as the critical distance available from afar. The risk of this ap-
proach is, however, failing to build on the wealth of knowledge
already at our disposal, a risk not entirely escaped here.
The editors usefully bring together two sets of questions, one
having to do with the nature of nationhood, citizenship, and inte-
gration in Europe, and the other having to do with ways in which
Muslims living in Europe think about their identities and their
futures. Krishan Kumar’s article most clearly sets out the central
issues. First, he notes the dynamic interrelationship between two
tendencies. On the one hand, Europe is increasingly structured
by rights and relationships that transcend state boundaries, from
the mobility of workers to claims brought against in European
courts against states. The idea of post-national citizenship, that
residents in Europe have certain rights regardless of nationality,

141
 NEP TJ1064-BR April 27, 2004 16:21

142 Book Reviews

underlies many of these supra-state claims, as do the assertions by

sub-national units of linguistic or economic rights. On the other
hand, states have a number of ways of responding to these claims,
from controlling access to welfare benefits to redefining what it
means to successfully integrate into a nation, a task that France has
recently given itself. Kumar rightly points to debates and tensions,
rather than claiming general trends towards post-nationhood.
Kumar then (and here is his second contribution) situates
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Muslims within this broader tension. Muslims are increasingly con-

fronted with claims made by self-styled ‘English’ or ‘French’ per-
sons, claims that explicitly exclude them on grounds of religion
(vide current debates over a European Constitution), putative in-
digenousness (e.g., français de souche), or specific characteristics
attributed to ‘Islam’ (e.g., patriarchy). Against these reassertions
of the nation-state, Muslims are asked to choose between adopt-
ing ‘national’ traits (removing headcoverings, rooting for the local
football team) and retaining trans-nation-state ties to the broader
umma, the Islamic community. Two pieces provide useful, brief
overviews of some of the social contextual for these processes. Paul
Lubeck points out some of the major differences in histories of in-
corporation of Muslim immigrants into European countries, and
Hala Mustafa describes some important Muslim movements in the
Middle East.
Two veteran observers of issues of integration in Europe
provide clear, concise summaries of their own longer works.
Tariq Modood deftly traces the developing relationships among
race/ethnicity, Islam, and politics in the U.K. His concluding
sentences points toward the comparison with France offered in
the articles by Michel Wieviorka, and by Laurence Michalak and
Agha Saeed. Together, these pieces remind us that to understand
Muslims’ efforts to create and refashion identities in any particu-
lar country requires us to examine the shifting set of social cate-
gories that have shaped perceptions of difference. Renate Holub
contrasts two key ‘mandarin’ political theorists of Europe: Jürgen
Habermas of Germany and Alain Touraine of France. Holub pro-
vides a fascinating sociopolitical analysis of their differing positions
on multiculturalism—the type of analysis that the editors might
have provided for the book’s central phrase, ‘Euro-Islam.’
Indeed, despite the book’s title, few articles take up the issue
of how Muslims have thought about the relationship of Islam to
 NEP TJ1064-BR April 27, 2004 16:21

Book Reviews 143

Europe. Bassam Tibi’s plea for Euro-Islam is an eloquent argument

for a very reasonable combination of political integration and cul-
tural pluralism. However, an analysis of the issues surrounding
Islam and Europe would have brought to light vigorous debates
among Muslim scholars about the extent to which or the ways with
which Islam in Europe should become different from Islam in, say,
Qatar or Egypt. Muslims today are asking whether there should be
a separate set of European Muslim norms, or a reinterpretation of
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all Islamic norms and traditions in terms of the basic purposes of

Islam, or a continuation of the traditions of reasoning through ju-
risprudence (fiqh). Each position on ‘Euro-Islam’ has its advocates
and detractors among leading Muslim scholars, but they are not
mentioned here.
With that observation we return to the risk mentioned earlier,
namely, that by starting afresh one may fail to build on knowledge
already acquired. Little mention is made of the many sociological
and anthropological studies of Muslims in European towns and
cities, or of the growing political science literature on Muslim or-
ganizations and their changing relationships with local political
structures. Much of this current work deals precisely with the is-
sues of citizenship that arise for Muslim immigrants, and that this
volume highlights conceptually. For example, current comparative
studies across Europe examine how Muslims have or have not suc-
ceeded in turning local voting power into access to city resources
for mosque construction. Other research focuses on the ways in
which younger Muslim men and women have negotiated the dif-
fering and usually conflicting identifications with their parents’
‘homelands,’ their new understandings of Islam, and their cultural
surroundings. These focused, local studies have allowed social sci-
entists to combine a concern with institutions and networks with
studies about actors and identities. It is from these kinds of coordi-
nated, detailed, and highly contextualized research projects that
a better understanding of Muslims in Europe will emerge.

John R. Bowen
Washington University in St. Louis
 NEP TJ1064-BR April 27, 2004 16:21

144 Book Reviews

Eddie S. Glaude, Jr, Exodus: Religion, Race, and Nation in Early

Nineteenth-Century Black America. Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press, 2000. Pp. 216. $42.00 (hbk); $16.00 (pbk). ISBNs
0226298191 and 0226298205.

Hermeneutics (the art of textual interpretation) can assume dif-

ferent forms motivated by disparate and even conflicting purposes.
We can interpret original texts or originating texts that spawn vari-
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ous meanings and effects. When interpreting, we can do rich read-

ings that preserve texts and their reception in all its complexity
by exposing meanings, nuances, contradictions, connotations and
obscurities; or paradigmatic readings aiming to preserve the best
features of texts, protecting against errors of author(s), redactions,
or the ill effects that corrupt readings might produce. Both rich
and paradigmatic readings are invaluable.
Eddie S. Glaude Jr. wishes to protect biblical accounts of the
Exodus from both internal difficulties in the original texts and cor-
ruptions in their reception history. His paradigmatic reading of the
Exodus story follows Michael Walzer’s model in Exodus and Revo-
lution. Walzer stresses the democratic joining of a people through
covenant lauding the attempts of the ancient Israelites to keep
faith with one another despite inevitable lapses. He resists the im-
pulses toward messianic redemption that would ‘force the end’ in
a paradise where the effort to keep faith would be unnecessary.
Glaude adapts Walzer’s paradigm to African American Exo-
dus narratives in the early nineteenth century. The adaptation ad-
dresses the unique situation of African Americans who, according
to Glaude, are a nation within a nation. For Glaude, nationalism
need not assume either the possession of a state or the aim to
create one, but simply requires a people imagining themselves as
distinct with a common destiny.
Glaude’s analysis resists two common features of Black Na-
tionalist thought, separatism and essentialism. Separatism implies
that distinct peoples cannot form a single political community.
Essentialism implies that peoples are distinct for biological rather
than social and political reasons. Glaude shows that African
Americans in the early nineteenth century affirmed their dis-
tinctness without necessarily accepting separatism or essentialism.
They affirmed ‘America’ while accepting the distinctness that came
 NEP TJ1064-BR April 27, 2004 16:21

Book Reviews 145

from both political oppression and contrasting cultural heritages.

Affirming America was, however, aspirational, not an affirmation
of the idea or practice of American oppression.
Exodus inevitably functioned as a different symbol for African
Americans than for white Americans who conceived it as an errand
into the wilderness, escaping the corruption of the European Egypt
in a new covenant. For Africans in America, America was the land
of bondage. For them to affirm America, the symbolism of Exo-
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dus had to serve as a counter-narrative for smug American excep-

tionalism symbolizing a promised ‘America’ beyond the reality of
bondage.
Glaude shows how the aspiration for Exodus to a new America
triumphed over despair among many African Americans in the
early nineteenth century. Because African Americans in the North
were excluded from white churches and denied full citizenship,
they were forced to develop parallel institutions and practices for
political ends. These involved rituals providing ‘counter-memory’
for the dominant memorials of American nationhood. As alterna-
tives to American commemorations, African Americans celebrated
the end of slavery in New York, the end of the slave trade, and the
emancipation of slaves in the British West Indies. Celebrating the
second of these events on July 5 especially highlighted the distinct
role of the celebrations as counter-memory.
Glaude also examines the Black Convention movement—
political gatherings addressing pressing problems such as slavery
and white race riots. Glaude’s discussion reveals two persistent re-
sponses to American racial oppression. First, was the critique of
institutions of oppression. Second, was a ‘politics of respectability’
(Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham’s phrase) that sought the uplift and
inclusion for African Americans through their moral efforts. These
two responses reveal a simultaneous sense of belonging and not
belonging in America, which Glaude describes as a ‘structure of
ambivalence’ in African American politics.
From the nineteenth century onward, many African Ameri-
cans have affirmed ‘America’ as a possibility against a backdrop
of despair. Despair sometimes feeds messianic politics, and the
Exodus narrative structures attempts to ‘force the end’ through
utopian nationalist projects. However, messianism need not de-
fine Exodus politics. Glaude argues that Exodus politics can be
non-messianic and that non-Exodus politics can be apocalyptic by
 NEP TJ1064-BR April 27, 2004 16:21

146 Book Reviews

contrasting two famous appeals for slaves to rise up against slave-

holders.
David Walker’s appeal provides a classic Exodus narrative that
manages to affirm America while urging violence. Henry Highland
Garnet’s appeal rejects the Exodus narrative finding ‘Pharaohs on
both sides of the blood red waters.’ Garnet urges violence out of a
moral obligation to resist bondage at all costs (an ironic twist on the
politics of respectability) and out of despair that ‘devils’ enslaving a
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people are capable of redemption. Garnet, unlike Walker, rejects

‘America’ and Exodus simultaneously. Glaude both appreciates
and resists Garnet’s vision of the fire next time. He concludes that
African American politics is tragic but not hopeless. Hope, how-
ever, cannot abandon the two-ness W. E. B. Dubois recognized at
the heart of African American life.
While one might hope for a rich reading of the Exodus narra-
tive, a book should not be criticized for something it does not at-
tempt. Glaude’s book is essential reading for anyone who wishes to
reflect on the uses of the Exodus tale among African Americans—
an essential starting point for both rich and alternative paradig-
matic readings.

Larry W. Chappell
Department of Social Science

Rana Mitter, The Manchurian Myth: Nationalism, Resistance, and Col-

laboration in Modern China. Berkeley: University of California Press,
2000. Pp. 306. $45.00. ISBN 0 520 22111 7.

In his important new book The Manchurian Myth, Rana Mitter

achieves two major goals. First, he gives the best account yet in
Western scholarly literature of the Japanese takeover of Manchuria
as seen from a Chinese perspective. Most scholarly publication
has been done from a Japanese perspective or from the stand-
point of diplomatic history and the League of Nations. Work which
has dealt with the Chinese politics of Manchuria has largely been
concerned with its relationship with the history of the Chinese
Communist Party. Mitter’s is really the first publication to deal
thoroughly with conditions ‘on the ground’ in China’s northeast
provinces both before the Manchurian Incident of 1931 and after
 NEP TJ1064-BR April 27, 2004 16:21

Book Reviews 147

the creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo (Manzhouguo).

Mitter’s second major accomplishment is an exposition of the im-
portance of this incident in the creation of modern Chinese na-
tionalism. Mitter argues persuasively that the northeastern activists
used the techniques of modern nationalist ideology to create the
myth of resistance to the Japanese in Manchuria, a myth which he
argues remains part of the collective Chinese memory even today.
The interplay between these two goals is what gives The
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Manchurian Myth its great strength. At the core of the Chinese na-
tionalist myth is the idea of spontaneous resistance to the Japanese
attack, resistance contrasting sharply with the non-resistance poli-
cies of Chiang Kai-shek. What Mitter’s detailed study of the reality
of Manchurian politics reveals is that much of this is simply myth—
many elements in the northeast accepted Japanese control with few
qualms. Mitter traces this acceptance to the legacy of weak and in-
ept government from the era of Zhang Zuolin, whose large expen-
ditures for military purposes fuelled ruinous inflation. When his
son, young Zhang Xueliang, took over following his father’s assas-
sination by Japanese agents, he quickly alienated large segments
of the old establishment. Many of his father’s cronies, who had
considered Zuolin first among equals, were unhappy to submit to
a much younger man. The younger Zhang had been much more
influenced by nationalist ideology than his father and attempted
reforms. Yet in a pattern similar to that of the last decade of the
Qing period, the reforms alienated many traditional groups while
imposing financial burdens the northeast was ill-prepared to bear.
Finally, Liaoning natives dominated administration which alien-
ated many in Jilin and Heilongjiang from the regime of the Zhangs.
As a consequence of these circumstances, Mitter demon-
strates, many in the northeast initially viewed the Japanese as an
acceptable alternative to rule by Zhang Xueliang. The decision
by Zhang and Nanjing to order a policy of nonresistance eased
the process by which large numbers of the military, political, and
social elite of the northeast quickly accepted Japanese authority.
Mitter concludes that the provincial elites were largely co-opted
by the Japanese and that the state of Manchukuo could not have
functioned without this cooperation.
Yet, here Mitter switches to the second goal—the creation
of the myth of resistance. Unlike the semi-colonial settings of
the treaty ports, where young nationalists could berate Western
 NEP TJ1064-BR April 27, 2004 16:21

148 Book Reviews

imperialism while still living in a foreign enclave and even studying

at a foreign-run college, the Japanese created an exclusive colonial
empire. The young nationalists who had been involved in Zhang
Xueliang’s regime and wished to advocate resistance had to flee
to Beiping (now Beijing).
In a chapter entitled ‘Selling Salvation,’ Mitter examines the
work of the Northeast National Salvation Society, which formed in
the immediate aftermath of the incident on 18 September 1931.
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Established in Beiping by exiled intellectuals, it both raised the flag

of resistance and created the myths surrounding it. Mitter demon-
strates how these intellectuals incorporated the rhetoric of Western
nationalism, ironically through Chinese words largely devised in
Japan. He analyzes their techniques—petitions, student demon-
strations, and the polemical journals—which thrust the northeast
issue into the mainstream of Chinese salvationist nationalism in the
1930s, even when temporarily eclipsed by the fighting at Shanghai
in 1932 and the suppression of the Nanjing government after the
Tanggu Truce.
Mitter contrasts the simple world view of nationalist rhetoric—
good versus evil, Chinese versus Japanese, resistors versus traitors—
with the complex motives of the resistance fighters in the
northeast. Most were uneducated, many were former bandits. Few
understood the framework being created for them by refugee in-
tellectuals. Yet using Ma Zhanshan, the most famous of the fighters,
as a case study, Mitter reveals how the resistance rhetoric came to
have a major impact on the behavior of the rebels. Their options
and opportunities came to be shaped by the new atmosphere.
Mitter’s study builds on the scholarly work done on both
Manchuria and the development of Chinese nationalism. It can be
read with profit in comparison with Louise Young’s work Japan’s
Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism on
the Manchurian project in Japanese imagination. Yet, in revealing
the role of the incident in the formation of modern Chinese na-
tionalism, Mitter makes an original and important contribution to
our understanding of modern Chinese history. At a time when the
appeal of communist ideology has waned in China and nationalist
sentiment is resurgent, Mitter’s work takes on added significance.

Parks M. Coble
University of Nebraska
 NEP TJ1064-BR April 27, 2004 16:21

Book Reviews 149

Will Guy (ed.), Between Past and Future: The Roma of Central and
Eastern Europe. Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press, 2001.
Pp. 429. $69.95 (hbk); $37.95 (pbk). ISBNs 1 902806 04 2 and
1 902806 04 2; £40 (hbk); £18.99 (pbk). ISBNs 1 902806 17 4 and
1 901806 07 7.

Edited collections of essays often suffer from uneven quality and

lack of thematic continuity. This is certainly the case with this study
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of the Roma or Gypsies in Central Europe, though its strengths far

outweigh its weaknesses, particularly given the complexity of the
subject. There are 26 essays in this collection which are divided into
three broad categories. ‘ “A Truly European People”: themes and
issues,’ ‘The Fifth World Romani Congress and the IRU,’ and ‘Di-
versity in Romani experience: Countries of the region.’ The essays
in the first section deal with a number of issues including Romania
identity, general ethnic and minority rights, and their place in a
post-communist Europe. The second section discusses the Interna-
tional Romani Union and the Fifth World Romani Congress; while
the third section, certainly the most interesting part of the book,
looks at the Roma or Gypsies in each of the countries of Central
and Eastern Europe, including Russia.
There is little new in the first section, which deals with the
evolution of Roma policy in the communist and post-communist
period. There is some grudging sense that there were some positive
developments for the Roma in the communist era, particularly in
education and employment, though the price for such gains were
consistent policies of forced assimilation that paid little attention
to Roma cultural and linguistic traditions. The authors of this sec-
tion, while consistently critical of communist policies towards the
Roma, save most of their ire for NGOs and organizations such
as the European Union, the Council of Europe, and the OSCE
for their failure to do more to help the plight of the Roma through-
out the region. Each of these organizations, at least from the
perspective of the authors, has failed to adopt forceful, practical
policies that address the complex, growing problems of the Roma.
According to Martin Kovats, who wrote the essay on the evolution
of European organizational policy towards the Roma, the basic
flaw in such policies is that the discrimination of the Roma is seen
as essentially a cultural issue. He concludes that United Europe
 NEP TJ1064-BR April 27, 2004 16:21

150 Book Reviews

will have to invest much more politically and financially to deal

with these issues.
Nidhi Trehan’s essay on the role of private foundations and
NGOs is quite critical of the new ‘caste’ of specialists who have
come to Central and Eastern Europe to deal with Roma problems.
What has emerged, she writes, is an ‘ethno-business’ or ‘Gypsy
industry’ that has lost sight of the virtues of volunteerism and al-
truistic public sector work. Such developments have created a lot
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of resentment in the Roma communities across the region. Very

often, the NGOs know nothing about Roma traditions and often
perpetuate new stereotypes of the Roma. The few Roma who are
able to break through the professional NGO ‘glass ceiling’ are of-
ten looked upon as outsiders. Perhaps, she notes, the best thing to
do would be eliminate NGOs once their task is completed.
The authors in the third section of the book are not as crit-
ical and take a more balanced approach to the discussion of the
role of western-trained NGOs and European organizations. This
is certainly the more interesting part of the book because of its
historical and anthropological approach to the subject.
Poland has not traditionally been a country inhabited by large
numbers of Roma. Yet some of Europe’s finest Roma specialists,
including Lech Mroz, who wrote the essay on Poland, come from
this country. Conditions for the Roma, at least based on the infor-
mation in this article, seem not to be as harsh as in other parts
of Central and Eastern Europe. This, in part, might be because
Poland has not traditionally had a large Roma population. Re-
gardless, Poland’s Roma suffer from lack of adequate education
and poverty.
Any discussion on Romania is always welcomed, given that it
is the traditional European homeland of the Roma and has the
world’s largest Roma population (1.5–2.5 million). Anthropolo-
gists László Fosztó and Marian-Viorel An. St. Soaie look at the im-
pact of state policies on the Roma in Transylvania and the impor-
tance of media on strengthening public stereotypes towards the
Roma. What is particularly interesting in the Transylvanian case
study is the emergence of Pentacostalism on the Roma. Christian
evangelicals have been making tremendous inroads among not
only Roma in Central and Eastern Europe but also in the United
States. This has provided the Roma with an institutional island
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Book Reviews 151

where they can maintain their culture, escape local prejudice, and
avoid organizations dominated by non-Roma.
Overall, these essays provide some important insights into the
life, culture, and problems of the Roma in contemporary Central
and Eastern Europe. On the other hand, the authors should have
expanded their discussion on two topics they raised but never fully
explored—the Holocaust and the centrality of Soviet Roma policy
on its European empire. The value of the book as an academic re-
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source is hurt by the maddening use of both parenthesized notes

and endnotes. One longs for the days of a single footnote comfort-
ably resting at the bottom of a page. Finally, this book begs for an
index.
Regardless, this is, in general, a very fine collection of essays
that should be a part of any personal or academic library. The
essays are probably a little too esoteric for an undergraduate class
but would certainly be useful in any graduate course that deals with
ethnic, minority, or policy issues in Central and Eastern Europe.

David M. Crowe
Elon University

Blair Ruble, Jodi Koehn, and Nancy Popson (eds.), Fragmented Space
in the Russian Federation. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press,
2002. Pp. 360. $48.00. ISBN 0 8018 6570 0.

This volume, edited by the Kennan Institute’s Blair Ruble, Jodi

Koehn, and Nancy Popson, focuses on the diverse and complex
realities that span Russia’s 89 constituent regions. Contributors—
who include social scientists from both Russia and the West—
represent a range of disciplines and perspectives. Each chapter
is organized around a particular theme (economic geography, cit-
izenship, federalism, democratization, culture, and international
relations) and written by several authors who present their own
research in chapter sub-sections. This kind of organization allows
a large amount of information to be conveyed concisely—one of
the volume’s great strengths. However, it also produces several
chapters in which authors struggle to integrate their findings and
arguments.
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152 Book Reviews

The first essay avoids this problem insofar as its au-

thors (Grigory Ioffe, Olga Medvedkov, Yuri Medvedkov, Tatiana
Nefodova, and Natalia Vlasova) all view Russia’s regions as eco-
nomically polarized between the capital cities and the rest of the
region. Because Russians rarely change residences, the authors
argue, people born in regional capitals have superior job opportu-
nities and quality of life than those born outside the capitals. This
view of geography as destiny is provocative but fails to consider how
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migration within and across Russia’s regions also affects peoples’

life-chances.
In the second chapter, Cynthia Buckley and Regina Smyth
disagree about Russia’s prospects for developing a universal citi-
zenship in the near future. Buckley sees Russian citizenship as po-
tentially undermined by the possibility of mass mobilization along
regional lines, as citizens organize for government provided goods.
Regional leaders recognize the potential power of interest groups
within their regions and distribute goods, such as old-age pensions,
at levels that inhibit mass mobilization. Regina Smyth, on the other
hand, views a more optimistic future for Russian citizenship based
on results from her 1999 survey of regional party functionaries. The
survey suggests that Russia’s national political parties are develop-
ing core programs with which citizens identify—a trend that can
counteract regional fragmentation and integrate Russia’s citizenry.
Beth Mitchneck, Steven Solnick, and Kathryn Stoner-Weiss
show in the next chapter that, contrary to theoretical expectations,
decentralization in Russia has not increased local democratic ac-
countability or the delivery of public goods and services.
Each author then presents a distinct interpretation of center–
regional relations. For Stoner-Weiss, decentralization occurred as
a power grab by the regions. The federal center’s political and fi-
nancial weakness inspired (and forced) regions to figure out ways
of providing their populations with social welfare. Her discussion
of Tatarstan, Kostroma, and Novgorod paints a clear picture of re-
gional resourcefulness. Mitchneck, conversely, argues that decen-
tralization has not progressed as far as is generally believed. Her
survey of 700 regional officials indicates that the central govern-
ment continued to significantly influence the formation and im-
plementation of sub-national policy as of the mid-1990s. She con-
cludes that because the interests of the center often conflict with
those of the local population, social welfare and regional economic
 NEP TJ1064-BR April 27, 2004 16:21

Book Reviews 153

performance are unlikely to improve. Solnick views devolution as

the federal center’s deliberate political strategy of asymmetrically
offering benefits to individual regions. Solnick’s analysis of a sur-
vey of 229 regional officials indicates that the center’s ‘systematic
favoritism’ (152) of ethnic republics over oblasts and krais was start-
ing to decline by 1996—a trend that pre-dated President Putin’s
subsequent policy battle against asymmetric federalism.
In chapter 4, the authors highlight the disparate levels of
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democracy attained by Russia’s regions. Vladimir Gel’man ad-

dresses these differences by developing a typology of regional
regime change. Andrei Degtyarev analyzes Moscow as an exam-
ple of a ‘winner takes all’ regime, while James Alexander demon-
strates how counter-elites in the Komi Republic fractured presi-
dential hegemony by challenging undemocratic local elections in
republic and federal courts.
In a chapter on culture and identity, Lawrence Robertson an-
alyzes census data and local polls, finding that minority language
use among titular ethnic groups has not grown despite the re-
publics’ adoption of policies privileging titular languages. Marjorie
Mandelstam Balzer investigates contestation over language, repub-
lican history and civic groups in multi-ethnic Sakha-Yakutia to illus-
trate the republic’s embrace of a liberal nationalism. She encour-
ages Moscow to increase its support for Sakha’s tolerant but fragile
inter-ethnic politics. Finally, Nicolai Petro argues that regional of-
ficials in Novgorod employed ideas and symbols about the region’s
past as a trading center and cradle of Russian democracy to build
popular support for economic reform and self-government. Petro
presents evidence from interviews and speeches showing local lead-
ers engaged in myth-building, yet offers little evidence of popular
belief in those myths. While his claim that elites have constructed
‘a broad base of public support for reforms’ (223) remains unsup-
ported, Petro’s interesting argument suggests the key role regional
elites play in Russia’s emergent political culture.
In the final chapter, Andrei Makarychev and Michael
Bradshaw offer well-integrated discussions of the regions’ role in
Russia’s foreign policy, and of the ways in which multinational
corporations, multilateral assistance programs and foreign state
organizations involve themselves in Russia’s regions.
The empirical material in this volume reflects research com-
pleted in 1999, yet the analyses remain current. This is no small
 NEP TJ1064-BR April 27, 2004 16:21

154 Book Reviews

accomplishment considering the ongoing and rapid changes in

Russia’s regions. The analyses remain current in part because each
chapter is grounded in theory drawn from the authors’ respective
disciplines. The book’s theoretical sophistication, then, will appeal
not only to Russianists but also to comparativists concerned with
regional issues.

Elise Giuliano
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University of Miami

Baogang He and Yingjie Guo, Nationalism, National Identity and

Democratization in China. Aldershot, Brookfield USA, Singapore,
Sydney: Ashgate, 2000. Pp. 240. $74.95. ISBN 1 84014 780 6.

The volume links together the issues of nationalism, national iden-

tity and democratization in China and explores their interrelation-
ship. It addresses the issue of nationalism from various aspects:
state, popular and ethnic nationalism, ethnic literary nationalism,
historical nationalism, identity issues and nationalism in terms of
Taiwan, similarities and differences between Russia and China and
the clash between state nationalism and democratization over the
national identity question.
In contrast to other volumes on Chinese nationalism, the book
critically examines the various Chinese approaches towards a new
imagining of the Chinese nation and the impact of the national
identity question on political transition. It focuses on the inner-
Chinese discourse yet omits the foreign-policy implications. The
authors take up Benedict Anderson’s argument of nations as ‘imag-
ined communities’ to approach the issues of nationalism and na-
tional identity, differentiating between ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ national-
ism, the first being more emotional and irrational, the latter more
rational and less emotional. Yet, one cannot speak of a single, ho-
mogeneous Chinese nationalism, but rather of multiple nation-
alisms and identities: an identity of the ethnic majority (Han) and
identities of various ethnic minorities; civic and territorial identity,
socialist and Confucian cultural identities, etc.
One of the key elements of Chinese nationalism is its strong
loyalty to the Communist Party (CCP), which intends to tie the
people to the Party and the state. Furthermore, the political elite
 NEP TJ1064-BR April 27, 2004 16:21

Book Reviews 155

discerns nationalism as an alternative to the declining official doc-

trine (Marxism-Leninism and Maozedong ideas). He and Guo ar-
gue that China is developing from an ‘empire’ to a nation and
that such a process is accompanied by the rise of ethnic nation-
alisms and separatist movements (like in Tibet or Xinjiang). State
nationalism and loyalty to the Party appear to be the primary alter-
natives to prevent the erosion of the nation and to integrate the
ethnic minorities. Indeed, recent policies of the CCP in form of
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the ‘Three Representatives’—i.e. that the Party is no longer rep-

resenting one particular class but the entire Chinese people and
Chinese culture in the sense of a ‘party of the entire people’—
are a strong indication that the CCP and thus the state are eager
to strengthen the identification of ‘all Chinese people’ including
ethnic minorities with the Party or the state.
Of particular interest are the discourses on historical figures
like Zeng Guofan (1811–72). The Chinese discourse on Zeng, one
of the most controversial figures in modern Chinese history, a
strong supporter of the Manchus who was likewise condemned as
a ‘traitor’ and ‘cold-blooded killer’ or a ‘national hero who saved
China from chaos’ and a representative of the ‘Confucian tradi-
tion’ has to be comprehended as an expression of reconstructing
national identity on a Confucian foundation. Historical materialis-
tic views, which condemned Zeng as a reactionary, are confronted
with the image of Zeng as a symbol of ‘Chineseness.’ Thus the dis-
course on Zeng’s contributions for the Chinese nation could be
understood as a challenge to the official ideology (in the sense of:
the Marxist history is not ours, it is the Chinese history which is
ours) and a component of nationalism.
The chapter on Mainland China and Taiwan provides exhaus-
tive insights into the development of national identity in Taiwan
and differences of nationalisms in China mainland and Taiwan.
He and Guo argue that in Taiwan we find a popular nationalism,
coming from below, that has undermined the old state nationalism
of the Guomindang, whereas in mainland China state nationalism
utilizes popular nationalism. This difference makes reunifaction of
both entities difficult. The authors assert that without any compro-
mise on the unification issue a clash between the two nationalisms
would be inevitable. Yet, the authors doubt whether without a de-
mocratization of mainland China a peaceful reunification might
be possible.
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156 Book Reviews

In the section comparing nationalism, national identity and

democratization in Russia and China, the authors argue that Russia
faces problems of democratic consolidation, whereas China faces
the prospect of democratic transition. In contrast to Russia China
does not have a serious identity crisis. Chinese nationalists have
learnt the lesson from Russia’s development, i.e. that democrati-
zation might lead to national disintegration and chaos. Therefore
they find that democracy is not a desirable objective to be followed.
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In the concluding chapter He and Guo turn to the clash be-

tween state nationalism and democratization over the national
identity question. They argue that Chinese nationalists take an in-
strumentalist view of democracy: if it can promote unification, they
might introduce it; if not, they will reject it. Therefore, Chinese
elites do not favor democratization as a solution to its national
identity question, as, for them, a great China is far more impor-
tant than democracy. To be patriotic, nationalists must support an
authoritarian state. This makes the development of democracy in
China difficult indeed.
Without doubt, the book provides new insights in the issues
of national identity and nationalism in China, particularly as it
links those issues to democratization. Its differentiation between
various forms of nationalism and the comparative aspect (Taiwan–
Mainland, China–Russia) is supportive in attainting a better un-
derstanding of the problem of nationalism and national identity.
As the content reflects primarily the level of the mid-1990s, recent
developments in the political sphere like the turn to a ‘state of
the entire people’ in form of the above-mentioned ‘Three Rep-
resentatives’ or the debate on China’s national interests are not
included. Interesting and of actual value are considerations on
the solution of the Taiwan and Tibet questions, for instance by
the means of federalism. And, indeed, in the long run the estab-
lishing of a federative state might be an instrument of national
stability and unity. Federalism seems advisable not only for eth-
nic reasons, but also for spatial-structural ones, since the central
government has always had difficulties in terms of flexible policies
towards the various provinces and autonomous entities, due to the
size and heterogeneity of the country. Yet, the political scientist
Karl Deutsch has shown that federalism without democracy does
not work. Therefore federalism might provide an answer only after
democratization.
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Book Reviews 157

In principle, nationalism and democracy are not incompati-

ble as, for instance, demonstrated by the example of the Italian
Risorgimento-nationalism, which combined a strong nationalism,
directed on the establishing of a nation-state with democratization
in form of creating a democratic national entity.
To conclude, this book is a valuable volume that can
be recommended to all students and researchers working on
Chinese nationalisms and its relationship to national identity and
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democratization.

Thomas Heberer
Gerhard-Mercator University

Arthur C. Helton, The Price of Indifference: Refugees and Humanitarian

Action in the New Century. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Pp. 328. $19.95(pbk). ISBN 0 19 925031 6.

Arthur C. Helton, The Price of Indifference is a comprehensive and

accessible contribution to the literature on refugees and humani-
tarian action. In the first two chapters, Helton conveys a sense of
the complexity and diversity of forced migration and offers a useful
timeline reminding the reader of some forgotten crises, including
Namibia, Sudan, and Ingushetia. Afghan refugees in Pakistan (the
most important refugee population at the time of writing) are not
the only forced migrants forgotten in those concise introductory
chapters but they go a long way for readers unacquainted with
complex emergencies.
Case studies of the Balkans, Cambodia, Haiti and East Timor
present in more detail the challenges of humanitarian action. The
most thorough discussion is on the pursuit of war aims through
property law arrangements, which make returnees into internally
displaced persons. He also covers the issues of rebuilding civil
society and governmental structures, notably the police and the
justice system, which are too often overshadowed by economic
reconstruction. But, Helton seems primarily concerned with mili-
tary humanitarianism and, more particularly, US involvement. This
is unfortunately a bias that appears throughout the book. Hel-
ton lays great emphasis on the need to integrate humanitarian
and military planning and the lack of strategy, coordination and
 NEP TJ1064-BR April 27, 2004 16:21

158 Book Reviews

accountability of international civilian aid. Over-reliance on the

military is vehemently criticized. The ethical and operational is-
sues of NGOs are largely dismissed while the military merely suffers
from ‘politicization’ only when it engages itself in state building.
Helton is most convincing in his discussion of the manage-
ment of international migration and the politics of humanitarian
intervention. Few authors have so effectively linked refugee policy
in the South and the North. In chapter 6, for example, Helton
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analyzes refugee policy in host countries in the Third World. He be-

gins with a description of the Dadaab’s Somali camps and Kenyan
refugee policy, before tackling the debate of asylum and temporary
protection in Western Europe. Germany epitomizes the fragility
in the West of asylum as a remedy to refugee exile. Although few
claimants are actually denied asylum or deported, the multiplica-
tion of procedural arrangements nonetheless weakens the human-
itarian dimension of asylum for forcibly displaced persons. Helton
argues that the weakening of asylum and the concomitant selectiv-
ity of refugee protection both in the North and the South has led
to the implementation of haphazard efforts at internal protection
or repatriation.
While strong overall the book is not without weaknesses. The
cases of Northern Iraq and Mitrovica are taken as examples of
internal protection but Helton fails to contrast his examples with
the failures at protecting civilian populations in the Balkans as well
as in the Great Lakes region of Africa. Repatriation is exemplified
by the Afghan situation without comparing it with the Cambodian
repatriation process.
The main problem of the book is its state-centrist approach,
which does not acknowledge properly the role of intergovernmen-
tal organizations and international NGOs in shaping and imple-
menting refugee and humanitarian policies. This oversight con-
siderably undermines Helton’s policy propositions. On the one
hand, Helton describes in detail the role of the US Congress in
humanitarian policymaking, exemplified by the resettlement pro-
gram for Vietnamese refugees. Helton also criticizes the fragmen-
tation of US humanitarian policy among agencies and the lack
of strong leadership even on an ad hoc basis. On the other hand,
he notes with seeming reluctance the reliance of Western govern-
ments on NGOs for humanitarian assistance and only pays lip ser-
vice to the extensive work of relief workers. Helton acknowledges
 NEP TJ1064-BR April 27, 2004 16:21

Book Reviews 159

that the debate on the need for more coordination of both the
international and US humanitarian action has tended to hide the
fact that all areas of humanitarian aid are not properly endowed
with resources, and he advocates consolidation, particularly within
the UN system. However, Helton is little interested in the politi-
cal economy of international relief during war, which has been a
central concern of the literature on humanitarian action in the
past few years. Reforms of US humanitarian aid as well as the
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international humanitarian system are bound to fail if they are

isolated and do not take into account the totality of actors involved.
In the end, Arthur Helton’s book is an interesting and rare
introduction to humanitarian action if only for its sheer breadth.
It is also successful in clearly exposing refugee and humanitarian
policies and integrating them into a ‘policy toolbox.’ The author
conveys persuasively the message that humanitarian action is in-
deed political in the sense that it is not merely dictated by necessity
or ethics but is also within the realm of choice between compet-
ing ends and interests. The book is notable for the inclusion of
powerful testimonies from high-ranking and anonymous humani-
tarian, political and military actors, as well as some refugees. Better
consistency in the argument as well as useful contrasts and compar-
isons could have been achieved with little effort put into slightly
rearranging the book. For example, it is somewhat odd that the
chapters on refugee repatriation and reintegration precede any
consideration for refugees in settlements. Such points aside, The
Price of Indifference will constitute a very useful and appropriate in-
troductory textbook for students of forced migration and complex
emergencies.

Charles Lor
American University

Norbert Frei, Adenauer’s Germany and the Nazi Past: The Politics of
Amnesty and Integration. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.
Pp. xv + 479. $35 (hbk). ISBN 0 231 11882 1.

This is a translation of a very influential book in Germany since

its original publication in 1996 under the zippy one-word title
Vergangenheitspolitik. That word itself, coined by the author to
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160 Book Reviews

express the politics in the West German state, when the govern-
ment of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer sought to build a demo-
cratic consensus in the still very real presence of the past elites,
who had built Nazi careers under Hitler. In this situation, when
large numbers of Germans still held defensively to nationalist
ideas akin to those of the Nazis and resented the Allied victors’
blanket condemnation of all aspects Nazi Germany, the way the
new government dealt with this burden of the past, that is, its
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Vergangenheitspolitik, was critical for the consolidation and democ-

ratization of the new state. The fact that the German language has
the often irritating ability to bunch a set of conceptual relation-
ships into one word (e.g. Verantwortungsbewusstsein = being con-
scious of one’s responsibility) has turned Vergangenheitspolitik and
its adjective form, ‘vergangenheitspolitisch,’ into an immensely use-
ful and therefore influential term in the historiography of postwar
Germany. But the decision to translate these terms directly, respec-
tively as ‘policy for the past’ and—even more meaningless—‘past-
political,’ can leave the reader of the English edition only bewil-
dered. The terms should have been woven into the text in clear,
idiomatic phrases, as was done in the English book title, apparently
suggested by historian Fritz Stern.
Frei argues the centrality of Vergangenheitspolitik on two levels.
On the first level, he describes and documents in great detail how
old conservative-nationalist elites, able to keep, or return to, the
positions they had held in the Nazi state, were able to hold off
and eventually to reverse almost entirely the actions of the Allied
occupation powers to bring to justice the German war criminals
in the SS, Army, industries, and elsewhere. This included those
who had been directly responsible for Nazi brutalities against Jews,
forced laborers, resisters, and other victims. While this has been
generally known, the extent of this systematic manoeuvering is
striking, especially because it is documented meticulously from
the whole range of archives and parliamentary debates.
These networks of former Nazi officials, profiteers, and col-
laborators were able to exert considerable influence in the new
state because the main parties, the governing Christian Democrats
and the opposition Social Democrats, as well as labour unions and
churches were eager to integrate as many of the old groups into
the democratic system as possible to prevent the nationalist back-
lash that ultimately destroyed the Weimar Republic. These forces
 NEP TJ1064-BR April 27, 2004 16:21

Book Reviews 161

were also strengthened by a broader popular resentment against

the seemingly arrogant denazification and other reform demands
by the occupation powers. Frei shows that the nationalist allies
of the imprisoned war criminals were thus able to gain consid-
erable political space in Adenauer’s Germany. Even though the
long-time chancellor was personally deeply committed to democ-
ratization and Western integration, his political deals with old elites
led to increasing use of covert suppression of democratic opposi-
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tion. With Daniel E. Rogers (Politics After Hitler: The Western Allies
and the German Party System), which appeared just before Frei’s
German original (1995), he believes that it was the firm, while flex-
ible, stand of the Western Allies against radical nationalist forces in
Germany that prevented Adenauer Germany from slipping back
into quasi-Nazi nationalism.
Frei likes to call the widespread defiance of Allied demands
to punish war criminals and break up former Nazi networks, a con-
tinuation of the Volksgemeinschaft, which the Nazis had promoted
as a total national mobilization against enemy nations and those
designated as internal racial, ideological, and social enemies. Re-
cycling that term has also been popular because it is catchy and
provocatively questions whether there was a new start at all after
1945 or 1949. In that sense the term has been useful. But such a
direct equation is misleading. The defensive mentality of most post-
war Germans was not a pro-Nazi backlash or even a ‘conspiracy of
silence’—another crude buzz-word. Much like the resentment by
former East Germans against political and economic reforms from
the West, this was simply a psychologically understandable defen-
sive reaction by people who were naturally reluctant to have every-
thing rejected that constituted, after all, 12 years of their own lives.
But Frei goes beyond this basic level of argument, which is
stressed on the book jacket and the advertisements, presumably
because it is more sensational. He also addresses the historically
more fundamental question about the process by which Germany
managed to move from a criminal dictatorship, built on a long
authoritarian past, to a genuine liberal democracy by the 1960s.
Here he acknowledges that both Adenauer’s Christian Democrats
and the more emphatically anti-Nazi Social Democrats recognized
that the degree of political integration that was necessary for build-
ing a stable democracy required that the new state be responsive
to the most urgent needs for affirmation and representation of
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162 Book Reviews

those among the old elites, especially civil servants and soldiers,
who were willing to live within the basic constitutional rules of the
new democracy. It was to be their state, too, even within clear limits.
For this reason, as James M. Diehl has pointed out for the veterans
(Thanks to the Fatherland: German Veterans after the Second World War
[Chapel Hill, 1993]), it was essential that the West German state
demonstrated that it was less harsh and more understanding than
the pre-1949 foreign occupation governments.
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Unfortunately the translation of this excellent book is so

stilted and at times simply faulty in its diction that only special-
ists or advanced students will struggle through it.

Diethelm Prowe
Carleton College

Steve Fenton and Stephen May (eds.), Ethnonational Identities.

New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. Pp. 259. $69.95. ISBN 0 333
75012 8.

This book consists of ten chapters, half of whose authors have

some affiliation with the University of Bristol. Most of the authors
are sociologists. Steve Fenton and Stephen May, the editors, as-
sert in the first chapter that ‘ethnicity’ and ‘nation’ have usually
been viewed as distinct concepts, yet nations are based on ethnic
identities. Hence, they propose to link the two and to examine
‘ethnonational identities.’ The following eight chapters are case
studies of particular ethnonational identities. The last chapter by
Judith Squires looks at how political theorists have tried to broaden
the concept of citizenship in ways that would allow minority groups
to maintain their cultural identities.
Fenton and May mention that the fields of politics and soci-
ology have often perpetuated a false dichotomy of the concepts
nation and ethnicity. The term ‘ethnicity’ has come to mean the
identity of a minority group. On the other hand, the term ‘na-
tion’ implies an identity often devoid of ethnic connotations. Since
nations consist of ethnic groups, Fenton and May suggest that the
identities of nations need to be investigated in ethnic terms. More-
over, the authors add that ‘race’ should also be conjoined with
nation and ethnicity. The second big point Fenton and May make
 NEP TJ1064-BR April 27, 2004 16:21

Book Reviews 163

is that the study of nationalism has been unfortunately dominated

by two perspectives: the primordialism and the constructivist. The
authors suggest that each has elements of truth, but the best ap-
proach is to find a middle ground between the two.
The eight case studies cover a broad territory: everything from
nationalism in Quebec to the Gypsies in the Czech lands to indige-
nous rights in Aotearoa/New Zealand to ethnicity and nationalism
in Malaysia. Moreover, there are three chapters that deal with
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nationalism in South Asia. All of the chapters are well written,

informative, and insightful. A few points are highlighted in more
than a couple of chapters: the enduring legacy of colonialism on
postcolonial nationalisms; the importance of international norms
in enhancing minority rights; the salience of minority issues in
defining the identities of the larger nation; and the difficulties
of the liberal nation-state in accommodating minority identities.
The last chapter, which provides an excellent summary of political
theorists’ attempts to grapple with citizenship and identity, advo-
cates an inclusive and less territorial conception of citizenship.
In spite of the strength of the individual cases, the book lacks
an audience. The various topics in the chapters are too broad.
This would not be a major fault if all of the chapters followed
a common theoretical framework, but few references are made
to the opening chapter by Fenton and May. The theoretical gap
between the poles of primordialism and constructivism is so great
that almost any discussion of ethnonational identity could fit in
this book. Indeed, Fenton and May fail to develop a theoretical
framework that could be used in the cases throughout the book.
Finally, they do not explain why they selected the various cases that
they did.

Robert S. Snyder
Southwestern University

M.J. Akbar, The Shade of Swords: Jihad and the Conflict Between Islam &
Christianity. New York, NY: Routledge, 2002. Pp 272. $21.71. ISBN
0 415 28470 8.

As a student and professor of Middle Eastern affairs, I agree with

M.J. Akbar when he states that, ‘While there is more available in
 NEP TJ1064-BR April 27, 2004 16:21

164 Book Reviews

one bookshop about the conflicts of the Middle East, there is a

comparative indifference to the passion plays on the Indian sub-
continent (p. 190). The Shade of Swords takes a large step forward in
addressing this indifference. In this book, Akbar gives a wonderful
background to the United States’ current ‘war on terrorism’ and
the roots of Jihad. Anyone wishing to gain a profound understand-
ing of the history of discord between Islam and Christianity would
do very well to read this masterpiece. Be prepared, however, for
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a viewpoint that leans sharply to the history of India and the sub-
sequent separation of the land into two strongly opposed nuclear
powers.
The Shade of Swords begins with a thorough review of the his-
tory of Islam. In this history, Akbar highlights the necessity of the
Jihad in the early church. From the battle of Badr to the return
to Mecca, one leaves with a clearer appreciation of what many
Muslim children are raised to believe with regards to Jihad. Akbar
then transforms his pages into a literary battlefield wherein the
reader can truly picture the strife of the early church, the battles
for control, and the significance of the dome of the rock. From
this background, Akbar segues into the involvement and conflict
with the early Christian church. Using Dante’s Inferno as a pre-
lude, Akbar paints an accurate, yet ugly portrait of the historic
behaviour that Christians have demonstrated towards Muslims—a
portrait that answers many questions as to why the strife between
the two religions exists. In the process, the reader is awed by the
interesting anecdotes of Saladin’s story and the dominance of the
Ottoman empire. About halfway through the book though, this in-
credible history stops, takes a detour, and then dives into the Indian
subcontinent. The account is brave, but it is clear that Akbar in-
tends this discourse to depart from the ordinary treatment of
Middle Eastern history. He intends to highlight a new path of
understanding—India.
To do this, Akbar starts with the simple proposition that India
was originally only valuable to the Muslims to obtain spices and
other booty. He assiduously outlines the Muslim and Indian inter-
action and the diversity of the land throughout time. This is culmi-
nated with a very strong point that Akbar asserts rather candidly—
‘Gandhi persuaded Muslims into their only experience of a non-
violent jihad. It failed (p. 190).’ Extrapolating from this, Akbar
delves into the seeds of hate emanating out of Pakistan along with
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Book Reviews 165

the roots of terror growing out of Afghanistan. Akbar’s approach is

unique; it makes sense, yet it is bold—the roots of Muslim terrorism
grew from the Indian subcontinent.
The Shade of Swords, while controversial in its approach to high-
lighting India, is a fantastic piece of literature. Some critics have
commented that this book is not accessible to the general reader.
I disagree. It would be very interesting to the general reader. In
addition, The Shade of Swords would be a great book for college
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level Middle Eastern history classes, or research material for any

scholar looking for an uncomplicated walk in the steps of impor-
tant Islamic historical figures. A reason for this book’s success is
the magnificence with which Akbar is able to tell a story. Whether
appalled at Vasco De Gamma’s love of torturing Muslims ‘by pour-
ing boiling pork fat on their skins’ (p. 118), or shocked at the
fact that King Richard the Lionhearted was gay (p. 81), the reader
will no doubt enjoy Akbar’s interesting and sometimes flippant
view of a history that is oftentimes overlooked. For this reason,
The Shade of Swords is entertaining and a very enlightening book.
From a historical perspective, one can not go wrong by reading
The Shade of Swords; and there is no doubt that the reader will also
gain a greater appreciation of the interaction India plays into the
history of Jihad. Either way this book is a winner.

David J. Western
United States Air Force Academy