Spiro
The Origins of Modern African Thought: Its Development in West Africa during the Nineteenth
and Twentieth Centuries. by Robert W. July
Africa: The Politics of Unity. An Analysis of a Contemporary Social Movement. by Immanuel
Wallerstein
Political Leadership in Africa: Post-Independence Generational Conflict in Upper Volta, Senegal,
Niger, Dahomey, and the Central African Republic. by Victor T. Le Vine
The New Africa. by Lucy Mair
Review by: John D. Hargreaves
Source: International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-), Vol. 44, No. 3
(Jul., 1968), pp. 573-574
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Royal Institute of International Affairs
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2615091
Accessed: 27-08-2014 08:53 UTC
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Wiley and Royal Institute of International Affairs are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-).
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 119.15.93.148 on Wed, 27 Aug 2014 08:53:59 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
MIDDLE EAST
573
United States Policy and the Partition of Turkey, 1914-1924. By Laurence Evans.
Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins Press; London: Oxford University
Press. 1967. 437 pp. Bibliog. Index (The Johns Hopkins University
Studies in Historical and Political Science, under the direction of the
Department of History, Political Economy and Political Science. Series
LXXXII (1964), No. 2.) 64s.
AFRICA
Patternsof AfricanDevelopment:Five Comparisons.Ed. by HerbertJ.
Spiro. Englevood Cliffs,N.J.,London: Prentice-Hall.1967. 144 pp.
(A Spectrum
Book). $4.95. 40s.
The Originsof ModernAfricanThought:Its development
in WestAfrica
duringthe nineteenth
and twentieth
centuries. By RobertW. July.
London:Faber & Faber. 1968. 512 pp. Bibliog. Index. 70s.
Africa: The Politicsof Unity. An Analysisof a Contemporary
Social
Movement. By ImmanuelWallerstein.New York: Random House.
1967. 274 pp. Index. $4.95.
PoliticalLeadershipin Africa:Post-Independence
Generational
Conflictin
Upper Volta, Senegal, Niger, Dahomey, and the Central African
Republic. By VictorT. Le Vine. Stanford,Calif.:Hoover Institution
on War,Revolutionand Peace, StanfordUniversity.1967. 114 pp.
(HooverInstitution
Studies:18.) $3.50.
The New Africa: By Lucy Mair. London: Watts.1967. 226 pp. Bibliog.
Index. (The New Thinker'sLibrary.Gen. Ed.: RaymondWilliams.)
ISs.
books representfiveverydifferent
approachesto the formidable
task of understanding
the rapidlychangingfacesof contemporary
African
politics.ProfessorSpiroand fourcolleaguesapplycomparative
approaches
in attempts
to discoverhow fareventsin Africaare likelyto followlines
predictable
on the basis of experienceelsewhere.Fifteenyearsago it was
possibleto holdwhatnowseemnaiveexpectations
on thebasisof European
constitutional
experience;now thereis a tendencyto predictthatAfrican
stateswillfollowthecourseof developing
societieselsewhereand turninto
banana republics,or 'broken-back' states. Spiro
corruptdictatorships,
suspectsthatanalogisingof thissortmayproveequallynaive;he concludes
with a prophecy,if not of successfulinnovation,at least of increasing
Africanskillin thecraftof politics.As ProfessorAli Mazruiargues,'the
of vocabularybetweenAfricaand her formerrulersdisguises
similarity
differences
in modes of thought.Africais moreoriginalin its
important
ideas than the wordsshe uses may tend to suggest'(pp. 91-92). These
authorsthus remaincautiouslyuncertainbut guardedlyoptimistic
about
Africa'spoliticalfuture.
One of them,ProfessorAbu-Lughod,believesthatthe natureof conwould be illuminated
Africannationalism
temporary
by morestudyof its
before1945. So faras WestAfricais concerned,
development
manyof his
THESE
This content downloaded from 119.15.93.148 on Wed, 27 Aug 2014 08:53:59 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
574
INTERNATIONAL
AFFAIRS
HARGREAVES.
Le Maghreb entreles Mythes: L'IRconomienord-africainedepuis l'Independance. By Andre'Tiano. Paris: Presses Universitairesde France. 1967.
623 pp. Bibliog. 48F.
This content downloaded from 119.15.93.148 on Wed, 27 Aug 2014 08:53:59 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions