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Showing papers in "Modern Asian Studies in 1973"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In South Asia, the dominant themes of world history during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have been the imperialism of the west and the nationalism of its colonial subjects as discussed by the authors, and these themes developed more spectacularly than in South Asia; its history quite naturally came to be viewed as a gigantic clash between these two large forces.
Abstract: Among the dominant themes of world history during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have been the imperialism of the west and the nationalism of its colonial subjects. Nowhere were these themes developed more spectacularly than in South Asia; its history quite naturally came to be viewed as a gigantic clash between these two large forces. The subject then was held together by a set of assumptions about the imperialism of the British and the reactions of the Indians against it. That imperialism, so it was thought, had engineered great effects on the territories where it ruled. Those who held the power could make the policy, and they could see that it became the practice. Sometimes that policy might be formulated ineptly or might fall on stony ground or even smash against the hard facts of colonial life. But for good or ill, imperial policy seemed to be the main force affecting colonial conditions. It emerged from an identifiable source, the official mind of Whitehall or the contrivances of pro-consuls; and so the study of policy-making made a framework for investigations into colonial history.

70 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For many Hindu residents of the great cities of northern India in the mid-nineteenth century, the most powerful figures in the community were members of the wealthy families of indigenous bankers and traders which controlled credit and dispensed patronage for the religious life of their localities as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: For many Hindu residents of the great cities of northern India in the mid-nineteenth century, the most powerful figures in the community were members of the wealthy families of indigenous bankers and traders which controlled credit and dispensed patronage for the religious life of their localities. Just as in the smallest bazaar great power lay in the hands of the petty moneylender, so in the cities which remained clusters of bazaars and residential blocs, the banking and trading oligarchies determined the limits of commercial activity with their credit notes, and helped to supply the community through their secondary trades in cloth, grain and sugar.

41 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The relation between kinds of religious ethic and economic (and political) activity is more open than Weber made it out to be as discussed by the authors, and it is also my view that it is time we went beyond Weber because we have exhausted his ideas, and because we now have more and better evidence than he had.
Abstract: Let me say at the outset that although I am an admirer of Weber, yet in my view the relation between kinds of religious ethic and economic (and political) activity is more open than Weber made it out to be. It is also my view that it is time we went beyond Weber because we have exhausted his ideas, and because we now have more and better evidence than he had.

38 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
David C. Potter1
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a theory to explain why European countries abandon colonies after the Second World War, but it does not directly refer to the end of the specific form of imperialism which concerns us here, although one may infer from Lenin's work the very general proposition that imperialism disappears when capitalism is replaced by socialism.
Abstract: Why did European countries abandon colonies after the Second World War? No acceptable theory exists to help us with this question—theory neither in the sense of conceptualizations which ‘map out the problem area and thus prepare the ground for its empirical investigation’, nor in the sense of a set of interconnected hypotheses about the specific reality of the end of colonialism which can be validated or refuted by empirical research. Lenin's classic work on imperialism develops powerful theoretical insights regarding the establishment, growth and nature of imperialism, but it does not refer directly to the end of the specific form of imperialism which concerns us here, namely colonialism, although one may infer from Lenin's work the very general proposition that imperialism disappears when capitalism is replaced by socialism. Imperialism as a consequence of capitalism is still with us today, yet colonies have been abandoned. Lenin's theory is not refuted, but at the same time it does not help us directly with an explanation for the end of colonialism.

37 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The period from the 1880s to the 1930s was one of major change in the political organization of India as mentioned in this paper, where Indians joined the British in the highest offices of state; government greatly increased its activity through legislation and through the trebling of taxation; elective institutions and legislatures steadily replaced the discretionary rule of bureaucrats; the means of communication through road, rail and press improved beyond recognition to bring together for the first time the diverse peoples of India.
Abstract: The period from the 1880s to the 1930s was one of major change in the political organization of India. Indians joined the British in the highest offices of state; government greatly increased its activity through legislation and through the trebling of taxation; elective institutions and legislatures steadily replaced the discretionary rule of bureaucrats; a nationalist movement of great size and force appeared; the means of communication—through road, rail and press—improved beyond recognition to bring together for the first time the diverse peoples of India.

30 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The slow growth of railways is undoubtedly one of the most astonishing features of the history of modernization in China as mentioned in this paper. But, until recently, these explanations have never been given serious consideration, despite the fact that Ch'ing officials discussed railway-policy in these terms in a major debate in 1866-67.
Abstract: The slow growth of railways is undoubtedly one of the most astonishing features of the history of modernization in China. The Chinese government often gave as its reasons for opposition to railway development the fact that improved communications would facilitate foreign military expansion, that railways obstructed the feng-shui, that mandarin and peasant alike were opposed to the railway, and that railways destroyed the livelihood of the common people. But, until recently, these explanations have never been given serious consideration, despite the fact that Ch'ing officials discussed railway-policy in these terms in a major debate in 1866–67. This is partly because historians have found it difficult to accept Chinese objections to railway development at their face-value, and partly because Chinese officials themselves, seeing that foreigners were unimpressed by Chinese arguments against railway construction, offered others which they thought would be more acceptable to the Western mind. This essay, however, tries to analyse Chinese objections as a coherent body of thought that might be said to xpress 'Confucian Patriotism'. It considers in detail the events surround-ing the destruction of the Woosung railway.

24 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A consensus of academic opinion exists on the question of the formation of Malaysia as discussed by the authors and this consensus is manifested in an explanation which specifies a date and sees Malaysia as the outcome of the attempt to solve the Singapore Problem.
Abstract: A Formidable consensus of academic opinion exists on the question of the formation of Malaysia. In its most commonly stated form, this consensus is manifested in an explanation which specifies a date—27 May 1961—and sees Malaysia as the outcome of the attempt to solve the ‘Singapore Problem’. The movement towards Malaysia is, with dull regularity, dated from the Tunku's almost casual, certainly very vague, reference to the need for a ‘closer understanding’ between Singapore, British North Borneo (Sabah), Brunei, and Sarawak, and for ‘a plan whereby these territories can be brought closer together in a political and economic association’ which he made in the course of a speech to the Foreign Correspondents’ Association of South-east Asia on 27 May 1961. The Tunku's initiative arose, it is almost invariably argued, from the fear of future events in Singapore. Since the Republicwould in all probability be granted a separate independence by 1963,the British would no longer be in a position to control the island's internal security, defence and foreign relations. The Federation would be deprived of the Internal Security Council through which it had had (in conjunction with the British) direct control over Singapore's internal Malaya viewpoint if an amenable Singapore government could be guaranteed. By May 1961, however, the opposite appeared imminent. There were indications that the PAP was rapidly losing ground. In the Hong Lim by-election held in late April, its candidate was severely trounced. This, combined with the knowledge that no government had in the past managed to win more than one term of office, and full aware-ness of the seemingly perpetual leftward movement of Singapore politics, ness of the seemingly perpetual leftward movement of Singapore politics, created the impression in Kuala Lumpur that unless something was done, the Republic would become a second Cuba threatening the security of the Federation. The Tunku was convinced, so the argument goes, that the Federation had to ensure control over Singapore's internal security. A reversal of his previous stand on merger was, therefore, necessary. This explanation may be referred to as the security theory on the formation of Malaysia. It has a corollary: having decided that the incorporation of Singapore was necessary, the Tunku had to find a racial counter-balance to the island's Chinese population; the Borneo territories had to be included because it was essential that Singapore be territories had to be included because it was essential that Singapore be brought into the Federation of Malaya. Malaysia was thus the logicalsolution to the Singapore Problem. Among those who have propounded the security theory are Willard Hanna, Arnold Brackman, Gordon Means, George Me. T. Kahin, James Gould, Milton Osborne, Tan Koh Chiang, J. M. Gullick, Emily Sadka, Sir Richard Allen and Justus Van der Kroef.

22 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a model of a nationalist movement where the leaders of such movements come from the centre, or more precisely, the large urban areas of the envisaged state.
Abstract: Nationalism postulates the existence of a people and declares its right to take over an old state organization or establish a new one. A nationalist movement attempts to do this in the name of the people so postulated. Usually, the leaders of such movements come from the centre, or more precisely, the large urban areas of the envisaged state.

19 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The first decade of the 20th century witnessed a noticeable change in the temper of the Chinese people as mentioned in this paper, which was more than a change in mood, but a wave of activities aimed at the recovery of China's sovereign rights.
Abstract: During the first decade of the twentieth century, foreign residents in China observed a noticeable change in the temper of the Chinese people. It was more than a change in mood, but a wave of activities, a dynamic force aimed at the recovery of China's sovereign rights. The movement was so intense that Japanese diplomats in Peking called it the ‘rights recovery fever’. Sir Ernest Satow, British minister in China, remarked that the movement was a manifestation of ‘the consciousness of national solidarity, which is entirely a new phenomenon in China’.

17 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In the first decades of the nineteenth-century Western missionary activity, like the opium trade, was prohibited by the Chinese government as mentioned in this paper, and the Protestant missionaries, however, could not equal the independent opium traders in their evasion of the Chinese authorities.
Abstract: In the first decades of the nineteenth-century Western missionary activity, like the opium trade, was prohibited by the Chinese government. The Protestant missionaries, however, could not equal the independent opium traders in their evasion of the Chinese authorities. As well, they had to contend with the opposition of the British East India Company, which theoretically monopolized Anglo-Chinese commerce at Portuguese Macao.

16 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The British did not plan these reforms of 1919 and 1935 as stages by which they would quit India, bag and baggage, but rather as adjustments in the methods of keeping their Indian connection while retaining intact most of its fundamental advantages as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: During the twenty years after the First World War, Indian politics were moulded by two main forces, each of which drew strength from the other. Important constitutional changes devolved a range of powers to Indians. But the British did not plan these reforms of 1919 and 1935 as stages by which they would quit India, bag and baggage, but rather as adjustments in the methods of keeping their Indian connection while retaining intact most of its fundamental advantages. At the centre of government in India, the powers of the Raj were increased; in the provinces more and more authority was entrusted to Indians. This system canalized much of Indian political action into the provinces. Moreover, by placing the new provincial administrations upon greatly widened electorates, it gave the Raj a further range of collaborators, selected now for their mastery of vote-gathering. The reforms of 1919 provoked another seminal development. By widening the functions of local government bodies in municipalities and the rural areas, which were to be chosen by the same voters who elected the new provincial councils, they linked the politics of the localities more closely to the politics of the province.

Journal ArticleDOI
Ian Copland1
TL;DR: The British Indian empire, like the empires before it, depended on a measure of collaboration with the ruled as discussed by the authors. But the raj's systems of collaboration were neither static nor uniform.
Abstract: The British Indian empire, like the empires before it, depended on a measure of collaboration with the ruled. But the raj's systems of collaboration were neither static nor uniform. In the decade after 1900 some of the Indian princes, and the Maharaja of Kolhapur in particular, worked closely with the British to stem the rising tide of militant nationalism. This essay attempts to uncover the reasons for this collaboration-reasons which suggest that collaboration was always a conditional bargain, reflecting the immediate interests of both sides.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper analyzed the local origins of the Muslim demand for a protected share of power in the United Provinces and found that Muslims felt this loss of power most severely in the towns, but, because the municipalities were electorates for the provincial councils, this decline of Muslim power was reflected in the province as a whole.
Abstract: British rule cut down Muslim power in the United Provinces. Between 1868 and 1916, municipalities and councils acts tempered the rule of officials, many of whom were Muslims, with the rule of the people, few of whom were Muslims. Up to 1916, Muslims felt this loss of power most severely in the towns. But, because the municipalities were electorates for the provincial councils, this decline of Muslim power in the towns was reflected in the province as a whole. UP Muslims directed their politics towards compensating for this loss. They aimed for a protected share of power. This essay analyses the local origins of this Muslim demand.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal administered the largest province in India as discussed by the authors, which included parts of Orissa and virtually all of Bihar, and nearly two-thirds of the population were Hindus and just over one third were Muslims.
Abstract: At the beginning of the twentieth century the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal administered the largest province in India. In addition to the Bengali-speaking area, it included parts of Orissa and virtually all of Bihar. Nearly two-thirds of the population were Hindus, and just over one third were Muslims. However, the Hindus predominated mainly in Bihar, Orissa and west Bengal, while the Muslims lived mainly in the east. In Bengal Proper there were, by 1901, more Muslims than Hindus. The province was ruled from Calcutta, the only large city in the region. Until 1912 Calcutta was also the capital of India itself. The city was a great economic, political, administrative and educational centre, and few other towns exercised such an influence over their surrounding districts as Calcutta did over Bengal.

Journal ArticleDOI
Howard Spodek1
TL;DR: A substantial body of literature argues persuasively that Indian towns were often founded by local political-military rulers to serve as fortress-headquarters as mentioned in this paper, in order to enhance their personal prestige, improve the efficiency of their administration, and provide market facilities for their small kingdoms.
Abstract: A Substantial body of literature argues persuasively that Indian towns were often founded by local political-military rulers to serve as fortress-headquarters. In order to enhance their personal prestige, improve the efficiency of their administration, and provide market facilities for their small kingdoms, the rulers later invited merchants, artisans, administrators, and professionals to the fortress capitals. These invited, non-landed groups then formed courts, markets, and temple establishments which were dependent on the ruler for protection in an often violent atmosphere. The headquarters towns have been seen as the geographical locus and political nexus, or hinge, at which village levels of polity were linked with regional or state levels of government in a predominantly agrarian society. The most explicit and sophisticated presentation of this ‘hinge’ view is in Richard Fox's ‘Rajput “Clans” and Rurban Settlements in Northern India.'

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The role of urban government and politics as trivial or inconsequential in 19th-century India has been examined by a number of scholars as mentioned in this paper, who have pointed out that local self-government never gained major significance in the political history of modern India.
Abstract: Until very recently, scholars of nineteenth-century India have tended to dismiss the role of urban government and politics as trivial or inconsequential. Most have reached their conclusions by studying the formation of policy in London or Delhi, using the private papers of high officials or reports prepared by the Government of India. A standard authority on British policy of this period states that local self-government ‘proved to be a tree which never took firm root. Local self-government never gained major significance in the political history of modern India.’ Local self-government failed, according to another scholar, because ‘… a rigid system of supervision was created, which ran from the smallest municipality up to the Secretary of State for India.’ In his opinion, this control and shortage of funds can be held responsible for the lack of development in ‘… the scope of public services, which were confined to the bare essentials.’ A dreary picture of petty quarreling in municipal government and stagnation in urban services prevails, alleviated only by the appearance of Lord Curzon as Viceroy in 1899 and his efforts to instill some ‘dynamic influence’ into local government. Although the policy of local self-government satisfied neither official aims nor nationalist aspirations, its importance for local politics and administration is now undergoing a major reassessment.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The history of Tanjong Datu Perpateh is described in detail in the first volume of the Malay-English Dictionary as discussed by the authors, where the authors suggest that the original settler, Merpati, represents the legendary creator of Minangkabau customary law, and that the interpretation of names is full of pitfalls, as Harrisson points out.
Abstract: There is little information on the working of kinship ties and the ramifications of a complex Malay family; but they affect rights in land and exchanges of goods and services, and cut right across area boundaries set for a survey or any other purpose. A subject which is evidently of great interest to Harrisson is the history of the area before the nineteenth century. It is to be hoped that the great gap of some hundreds of years will one day be closed and that the relations of myth and the findings of archaeology can be brought into better connexion with the present. The interpretation of names is full of pitfalls, as Harrisson points out, but this is no reason for avoiding the pursuit of such clues as they may offer. R. J. Wilkinson, A Malay English Dictionary, is most useful in this game and would suggest, among other things, that the original settler at Tanjong Datu, Merpati, represents the legendary creator of Minangkabau customary law, Datu Perpateh. The survey brings together a great deal of information which will be of help in further studies and, it is to be hoped, in improving the future of the Malays both in this area and others. I look forward to the early appearance of the next of the four volumes projected for the series.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the selectiveness of the bibliography lies in anything other than the titles being conveniently to hand when the editors were rounding out the book, which is not true.
Abstract: Mark Jefferson's 'Distribution of the world's city folk', or Martin J. Beckmann's 'City hierarchies and the distribution of city size', which have no especial relevance to Asia. Even following the principles of compilation cited above, it is difficult to conclude that the selectiveness of the bibliography resides in anything other than the titles being conveniently to hand when the editors were rounding out the book. Why, for instance, include Raza's useless paper on 'Urbanization in pre-historic India' at all, but more particularly so when a substantial corpus of high-calibre'work on early Indian urbanism is ignored ? Why cite Leighton W. Hazlehurst's short paper in Asian survey in preference to his monograph on a Panjabi city, or Clifford Geertz's article on 'The social history of an Indonesian town' but not his book with the same title ? Why list several very minor works on Ahmedabad but omit Kenneth L. Gillion's fine study of the modernization of the city? Why bother to mention Vaiyapuri's three-page note on ancient Kaveripatanam in any case, but if this were indeed necessary, then why under the heading of Ceylon ?

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In Malayan labor and trade union policy at the eve of Merdeka (Independence) bore the indelible imprints of past crises and uneven development as discussed by the authors, where labor policy limited itself to protecting workers from the more blatant social and economic evils as a means of encouraging immigration of needed manpower.
Abstract: Malayan labor and trade union policy at the eve of Merdeka (Independence) bore the indelible imprints of past crises and uneven development. Prior to the Second World War trade unions were outlawed in British Malaya, where labor policy limited itself to protecting workers from the more blatant social and economic evils as a means of encouraging immigration of needed manpower.1 By the end of the war and Japanese occupation, however, the hitherto transient Chinese and Indians had become transformed into a domiciled labor force, conscious of their organizational power and prepared to defend their interests.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Gandhi's passive resistance campaigns in South Africa and his satyagraha agitation against the Rowlatt Bills in 1919 were conceived in wholly different circumstances; and the non-cooperation programme of 1920 was designed to meet conditions which were different again this paper.
Abstract: Gandhi's passive resistance campaigns in South Africa and his satyagraha agitation against the Rowlatt Bills in 1919 were conceived in wholly different circumstances; and the non-cooperation programme of 1920 was designed to meet conditions which were different again. To regard the non-cooperation movement simply as the logical consequence of the 1919 satyagraha and as the political application of Gandhi's ideology is to fail to appreciate just how experimental and uncertain Gandhi's politics were during this period.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The anti-Japanese guerilla-army in Central Luzon formed the nucleus of a peasant movement, the Hukbalahap (an abbreviation of Anti-Japanese People's Army) or in short Huks as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Central Luzon is a fertile plain directly to the north of metropolitan Manila. This region, thoroughly colonized and densely populated, has been a centre of agrarian unrest for decades. In the forties and fifties Central Luzon formed the nucleus of a peasant movement which produced the strongest anti-Japanese guerilla-army in the whole Southeast Asia, the Hukbalahap (an abbreviation of Anti-Japanese People's Army) or in short Huks . The strength of this army came primarily from the fact that the struggle against the national enemy could be combined with the pre-war conflict between the peasants and the landowners.The latter, together with the Constabulary, sided for the most part with the Japanese. At the time of the liberation in 1945 most of the local and provincial administration was in the hands of the Huks. However,having quickly regained the top positions, the political elite, who feared having quickly regained the top positions, the political elite, who feared to this. When this elite first refused to allow the radical people's represen-tatives delegated from Central Luzon to take their seats in parliament,and then attempted to recapture political mastery in Central Luzon by means of force, the Huk movement was compelled to adopt an ever more militant attitude.In the process,the leadership of the popular front set up by the Hukbalahap moved more and more towards the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The result was no less than a complete incorporation of all guerillas into the CPP in 1950. It had already been decided in 1948 that the policy of a parliamentary and legal conflict which had hitherto been pursued was not adiquate,and that force would have to play a decisive role. The Anti-Japanese People's Army was re-christened the People's Liberation Army(HMB).i

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Tanaka memorial as mentioned in this paper is a 13,000-word secret petition presented by Prime Minister Baron Tanaka Giichi to Emperor Hirohito on 25 July 1927 outlining a program of economic penetration into Manchuria, China, and Mongolia that would prepare for Japan's subjection of Asia and Europe.
Abstract: Few documents in recent history have provoked such controversy as the so-called ‘Tanaka Memorial’. ‘Document’ is perhaps a misnomer, for the original (assuming that there was one) has never been seen by anyone willing to admit its existence. The memorial is said to be a 13,000-word secret petition presented by Prime Minister Baron Tanaka Giichi to Emperor Hirohito on 25 July 1927 outlining a program of economic penetration into Manchuria, China, and Mongolia that would prepare for Japan's subjection of Asia and Europe. Exposed by the Chinese in 1929, the document gained global notoriety during the 1930s. Over vehement Japanese objections and disclaimers, it was translated and circulated in Europe and the United States. Grandiose designs expressed in a language that might have aroused incredulity or mirth in calmer times sounded uncomfortably authentic in the context of Japanese behavior in East Asia and the Pacific between 1931 and 1945.

Journal ArticleDOI
C. W. Watson1
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a novel as an expression of the clash between adat and modernism, between the old conservative traditions upheld by the elders of the village community and the new Weltanschauung of the members of the younger generation.
Abstract: The orthodox approach to a criticism of early Indonesian novels has always been to see the novel as an expression of the clash between adat and modernism, between the old conservative traditions upheld by the elders of the village community and the new Weltanschauung of the members of the younger generation. The latter have been exposed to Western traditions of thought, and their desires and ambitions refuse to be contained by the traditional patterns of a society to which they feel close but whose narrowness they regard as crippling to their own personal development. This conceptualization of the problems of Indonesian society between the wars has gone almost unchallenged; nearly all discussion of its literature has been framed within its reference. Professor A. Johns's article in Quadrant is perhaps the most recent formulation of this approach. The intellectual, educated elements of society which Johns sees summed up in the figures of Kartini, the champion of women's rights, and Goenawan Mohammed, a contemporary literary figure, seek to develop ideas and attitudes which have no currency in traditional society. Their attempts to modernize society arouse opposition, but it is not this which pains them so much as their being misunderstood and their unwillingness to break with the society of their fathers to which they feel a close attachment.


Journal ArticleDOI
Mahadev L. Apte1
TL;DR: Gopal Hari Deshmukh, popularly known by his pen name of Lokahitasvadi, and Vishnu Krishna Chiplunkar were two of the most prominent public figures in nineteenth-century Maharashtra as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Gopal Hari Deshmukh, popularly known by his pen name of Lokahitasvadi, and Vishnu Krishna Chiplunkar were two of the most prominent public figures in nineteenth-century Maharashtra. It is customary for both Indian and Western scholars to link them with literary and nationalist movements. Yet no effort has been made so far to assess their contribution by means of a survey of their work.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The bond between nationalists and communists in the Indonesian independence movement was always close as mentioned in this paper, and the failure of the communist rising of 1926-27 was felt in nationalist circles as a blow for the Movement.
Abstract: The bond between nationalists and communists in the Indonesian independence movement was always close. For this reason the failure of the communist rising of 1926–27 was felt in nationalist circles as a blew for the Movement. It is also typical that the communist rising of 1948 did not lead to a ban on the Indonesian Communist Party, the PKI, whereas the anti-communist sweeps of 1951 were not received in outside circles with whole-hearted approval. The co-operation between nationalists and communists rested thus on more than a simple battle for independence. The nationalists, just as much as the communists, attributed a positive significance to the public masses, which were to harbour all the prosperity of the nation. These popular masses were supposed to be bowed down by imperialism and capitalilst exploitation, so that the Indonesian nationalists also made the liberation of the popular masses a point of policy.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In 1898, with the international scramble for concessions at its peak, the leading representatives of British finance in China co-operated fully with the Foreign Office to gain the bulk of Chinese railway contracts and concessions.
Abstract: British financial interests in China, since 1895, had been closely linked with political and strategic considerations. As the political and financial rivalry between the European powers intensified, the link tightened, becoming increasingly essential for mutual preservation. European finance meant railways, mineral rights, arms, and support for the ailing Manchu Dynasty; it was clear to successive British governments that British political supremacy in China could not survive the passing of such important financial concessions into foreign hands. In 1898, with the international scramble for concessions at its peak, the leading representatives of British finance in China co-operated fully with the Foreign Office to gain the bulk of Chinese railway contracts and concessions. Such respectable British enterprises as the British and Chinese Corporation and the Pekin Syndicate received active diplomatic support at Peking and the encouragement of the Foreign Office in London. Short of actually negotiating financial contracts on behalf of private companies British diplomacy could do little more to improve the competitive standing of these leading British firms vis-a-vis their foreign rivals.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Brown as mentioned in this paper provides a coherent account of M. K. Gandhi's rise to political power in India, and the influence of his 'charisma' on the political nation, in a manner which is credible and capable of some demonstration; the South African origin of his idiosyncratic brand of political action is examined in detail.
Abstract: Dr Brown's purpose in writing this book is to provide a coherent account of M. K. Gandhi's rise to political power in India. In place of the wild conjecture of Gandhi's importance, so often produced by psychologists and political scientists, she gives us a closely referenced and detailed narrative of Gandhi's activities between 1915 and 1922. She follows him around India on his many tours and agitational campaigns, listens at the door while he talks to various men of political substance, gauges the changing political climate of her period and describes with detachment Gandhi's great Congress victory of 1920 and his subsequent decline. Her contribution to our knowledge of Gandhi, the man and the political leader, is considerable. The influence of his 'charisma' on the political nation is presented, for once, in a manner which is credible and capable of some demonstration; the South African origin of his idiosyncratic brand of political action is examined in detail; and the difficult question of the relationship between his political— and social—philosophy and his use of political opportunity in India is treated with sympathy and insight.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the aims behind the political mobilization of Chinese communist society, and the ways in which the Chinese try to direct matters so that those aims may be attained, determine the content and character of the mobilization.
Abstract: If one wishes to understand something about the political mobilization of Chinese communist society, then it is necessary to concentrate primarily on the aims behind that political mobilization. The ways in which the Chinese try to direct matters so that those aims may be attained, determine the content and character of the mobilization. An analysis which is mainly concerned with such dimensions of the phenomenon ‘political mobilization’ as intensity, globality, tempo, structuring, organization, etc., is not suited to the Chinese situation, simply because these dimensions are to a large extent determined by, and can be explained by, the meaning and content of the underlying values and aims.