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Knowledge-Centered Tradition in India: From Ancient to the Modern Times
-- R P Singh
This paper analyzes the basic issues and concepts concerning the knowledge-centered tradition of Indian philosophical quest. As a matter of fact, the present millennium is different from all other such epochs of human history. There is a strong impression that we have failed in making use of `information' and `knowledge' hidden in ancient scriptures for the benefit of humanity. It is in this context that knowledge-centered tradition in the Indian philosophy can be of immense help. This kind of study can properly be done in the light of the intellectual traditions of the Western thinkers along with globalization and postmodern developments.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Does Culture Matter? The Logics and Counter-Logics of Culture in State Finance, Taxation and Tributary Trade Policies During the Ming Times c. 1370-1600
-- Jerry C Y Liu
Looking into the compiled works on statecraft and Ming officials' transcripts and memorials to the emperors, the paper aims to derive the cultural logics and counter logics in the state finance, taxation and tributary trade policies of the Ming China (c. 1370-1600). It illustrates how cultural values, motives and way of thought may play a significant role in affecting the Chinese political economy. It is the position of this paper that there is a delicate intersubjectivity between culture and political economy. This is important in the sense that it provides an alternative, a more complicated theoretical outlet for the often one-sided narrative of either cultural or material-institutional determinist interpretation of history. Cultural values are expressed through the function of institutions (here the state and officialdom). And culture influences the practice of policymakers by saturating their way of thinking and by containing them within certain value systems, within which a political and economic policy is set in cultural debates. In order to appeal to their colleagues and subjects, the Ming politicians had to negotiate under an overpowering cultural framework, which was characterized by its moral-ethical-commonsensical oriented cultural logics. Such a dialogic mode shifts the focus of historical interpretation from the oppositional tensions between culture and economy to the integrative and interconnective relations between them.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
The Transition of the East and Central European Countries to Market Economy: An Evolution at Dramatic Rates
-- H C Dan Popescu
The study aims to outline the causes that led to the victory and the subsequent influence of Soviet communism over the Central and Eastern European countries after the World War II, the way the economies of those countries developed, and the respective revolutions against the system as such. With these coordinates established, the largest part of the efforts made by the author is dedicated to the transition of the economies in Central and Eastern Europe from the strictly centralized and bureaucratized socialist model to the open market one. The stages of the transition are examined, and the shortcomings are pointed out. The paper concludes saying that these changes will lead to their logical fruition under the aegis of the European Union.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Famines and Famine Relief Measures in Punganur, an Andhra Zamindari During 1800-78
-- K S S Seshan
Punganur in Andhra Pradesh was a prominent zamindari during the British rule. Lack of permanent irrigational facilities and inadequate transport coupled with poor soils left the zamindari a backward region. Whenever there was a famine in any part of the ceded district, it had its echo in Punganur. The entire 19th century was dotted with numerous famines in the zamindari. The famines which occurred in the zamindari before the first Famine Commission of 1880 form the frame of reference for this paper. They present certain unique features both in their severity and also in the manner the relief was provided. During the first phase of the famines (1800-1870), a large number of ryots were forced to abandon their lands and leave the villages in search of living. The Great Famine of 1876-78 was the severest of all famines. The starving people ate even the leaves and roots to keep the body and soul together. There were also famines during the last decade of the century, but they are beyond the scope of the present paper. This paper also analyzes the nature of the famine relief measures adopted during the famines. There was relief provided by the zamindar. The government directly took certain measures to mitigate the sufferings of the people and there were also certain concessions shown by the government to the zamindar with the hope that those concessions would ultimately percolate to the ryots. Thus, there was a three-pronged approach in the relief that came to the people. While the relief works undertaken by the zamindar were mostly related to the improvement of irrigational works, the government's relief revolved around the provision of transport facilities like road works, etc.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Book Review
Beyond Eurocentrism: A New View of Modern World History
-- Author: Peter Gran, Beyond Eurocentrism
Reviewed by Sukumar Muralidharan
Though it has evaded a precise characterization, "Eurocentrism" has been a part of the lexicon of the social sciences for decades. "Eurocentrism" exists both in the abstract and in the concrete. It is the ideology of world organization today, and moreover, the model too. It is a shorthand description of the skewed distribution of economic opportunity, political power and presumed intellectual authority, that the revolutionary theorist Frantz Fanon debunked with unparalleled eloquence and insight during the global anticolonial upsurge of the 1950s. Fanon's declaration that the future of the world would be determined by the "reentry into history" of all those who had been denied a voice for centuries, was a prophecy that deeply shocked older elites, mostly of European extraction.
© 1995 Syracuse University Press. All Rights Reserved. IUP holds the copyright for the review.
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