Suchergebnisse

A survey of developments in the Third World debt crisis, emphasizing the containment of the crisis by the creditor banks & countries on the one hand, & the partial unraveling of the creditor strategy on the other. Continued negative transfers, economic stagnation, & the blurring of default are seen as likely trends over the next year. AA

THE TITLE PAGE OF THIS NEW BOOK BY JOHN A. ARMSTRONG, BEARS A SUGGESTIVELY BLANK MAP OF THE PHYSICAL OUTLINES OF EUROPE, NORTH AFRICA AND WEST ASIA AS FAR EAST AS THE LAKES OF CENTRAL ASIA. THE THRUST OF HIS BOOK IS TO EXPLORE HOW HUMANKIND HAS DELIMITED, NAMED, GOVERNED, AND PERCEIVED THIS TERRITORY AND THE GROUPS THAT HAVE INHABITED AND MOVED ACROSS IT. ARMSTRONG IDENTIFIES TWO PRINCIPLES WHICH HAVE PREVAILED OVER A VAST SWEEP OF HISTORY (HIS CHRONOLOGY STRETCHES FROM 1250 B.C. TO 1877 A.D.) IN EUROPE, A SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE GRADUALLY PREVAILED, LEADING TO THE TERRITORIAL PRINCIPLE. SEDENTARISM WAS MANIFESTED AT EVERY LEVEL-THE ARCHITECTONIC STRUCTURE OF THE CITY, RELIGION (THE "PEASANT RELIGION" OF THE BABY JESUS IN THE CRIB, BETWEEN THE OX AND THE ASS), LITERATURE (THE PASTORAL IDYLL OF AN UNMOUNTED, SLOW-MOVING SHEPHERD), AND LAW (WHERE TERRITORIALISM REPLACED UNIVERSALISM). FROM THIS EMERGED THE IMPERIAL POLITY, BUREAUCRACY, ORGANIZED CHURCHES, AND LANGUAGE DIVISIONS.

ONE GOAL OF THE LONGMAN MONOGRAPH SERIES IS TO EXAMINE THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN POLITICAL COMMUNICATION AS A SOCIAL PROCESS AND COMMUNICATION POLICY. BRIAN WEINSTEIN, A POLITICAL SCIENTIST AT HOWARD UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON, D.C., ACHIEVE THIS GOAL BY ILLUSTRATING THE FACT THAT THE VERY OPERATION OF A POLITICAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEM IS ITSELF A POLITICAL OUTCOME. WEINSTEIN HAS STUDIED THE POLITICS OF LANGUAGE IN NUMEROUS SOCIETIES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, AND HAD DIRECT PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IN FRANCOPHONE AFRICA, INDIA, AND THE UNITED STATES. HE IS NEITHER A MARXIST NOR A REPRESENTATIVE OF ANY OTHER IDENTIFIABLE SCHOOL OF THOUGHT. HIS APPROACH IS BROADLY LIBERAL, AND IN IDENTIFYING LANGUAGE POLICY OPTIONS WHERE AMERICAN TRADITION HAS FAILED TO IDENTIFY THEM, OR HAS SILENTLY INSISTED UPON LINGUISTIC CONFORMITY, HE VENTURES VIEWPOINTS THAT OTHER AMERICAN SCHOLARS HAVE FAILED TO EXPRESS.