New Left ReviewIn NLR 28, July-August 2004

Stubborn Iraqi resistance has been the pebble on the track of the US bid to
restructure the Middle East. What are Washington's chances of stabilizing
its chosen government in Baghdad? Vichy on the Tigris assesses some of the
strengths and weaknesses of the Iraqi maquis, and measures the unprecedented
world hostility it confronts. For previous analysis of US foreign policy
after 9.11 see Perry Anderson, Force and Consent and Tariq Ali,
Re-Colonizing Iraq.

In Turkey, the Erdogan government must square its mass base among the urban
poor with the pursuit of highly unpopular IMF policies and a forward role in
Iraq, against a background of grinding unemployment and fragile economic
recovery. In The Turkish Bell Jar Çaglar Keyder traces political and
economic developments, and evolutions of Islamism and the Kurdish question,
since the military coup of 1980.
Alarmed at the fanning of ethnic differences for party-political ends during
the run-up to the Taiwanese elections this spring, a group of artists,
activists and intellectuals (including film director Hou Hsiao Hsien,
novelist Chu Tien Hsin, writer Tang Nuo and urban geographer Hsia Chu-Joe)
came together to form the Alliance for Ethnic Equality. In Tensions in
Taiwan, founder members of the Alliance discuss the island's political
culture, the social base of KMT Blues and DDP Greens and the
'de-sinicization' instigated by the Chen government since 2000, in the
context of a rapidly globalizing East Asia.

Also in NLR 28:

Benedict Anderson suggests a new political reading of José Rizal's
astonishing novel, El Filibusterismo, setting the work of the young
'founding father' of the Philippine nation within a 19th century world
landscape of imperial power, anarchist bombing and anti-colonial
insurrection: In the World-Shadow of Bismarck and Nobel. See also
Nitroglycerine in the Pomegranate, NLR 27.

After 'Graphs' (NLR 24) and 'Maps' (NLR 26), Franco Moretti's concluding
essay on abstract models for literary history examines 'Trees'. Can
evolutionary theory help pattern the transformation of cultural forms or the
divergence of genres, through time and space? Graphs, Maps, Trees-3
Book Reviews:

Chaohua Wang, One China, Many Paths. Leading PRC intellectuals debate their
country's future (Arif Dirlik). For other recent texts on China, see Qin
Hui, NLR 20; He Qinglian, NLR 5; Wang Hui, NLR 6.

Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto, with a new Introduction by Gareth
Stedman Jones. Post-communist excavation of Marxism's intellectual
antecedents (Jacob Stevens).

Alex Woloch, The One vs the Many. Bold new model of the political economy of
'character-system' within the realist novel (Rachel Malik).
NLR Digital Archive

CONTENTS

Susan Watkins: Vichy on the Tigris

With the now unanimous support of the 'international community', can
Washington hope to recoup its gamble in Iraq? Prospects for the resistance
and the Occupation, as the UN-approved government is hoisted into place.

'Alliance for Ethnic Equality': Tensions in Taiwan

Taiwanese artists, activists and intellectuals organize against the fanning
of ethnic differences by DPP Greens and KMT Blues during the island's 2004
election. Cultural identity and official 'de-Sinicization' in a
fast-expanding East Asian context.

Franco Moretti: Graphs, Maps, Trees-3

After 'graphs' and 'maps', trees: can evolutionary theory help pattern the
transformation of cultural forms and divergence of genres, through time and
space? Franco Moretti's final essay on abstract models for literary history.

Çaglar Keyder: The Turkish Bell Jar

Against a background of high unemployment and fragile economic recovery, the
neo-Islamist AKP is submitting its supporters among the urban poor to the
programmes of the IMF, Pentagon and Kemalist elite. Internal pressures on
NATO's Middle East bridgehead and EU candidate member.

Benedict Anderson: Rizal's Worlds

After the literary revelations of 'Nitroglycerine in the Pomegranate' (NLR
27), a new political reading of José Rizal's astonishing last novel.
Imperial power, anarchist bombings and anti-colonial insurrection in the
gifted young Filipino's vision of a 19th-century global landscape.

BOOK REVIEWS

Arif Dirlik on Chaohua Wang, One China, Many Paths. A collective magnifying
glass on the PRC's complex social and political problems, as some of the
country's leading critical intellectuals debate its future.

Rachel Malik on Alex Woloch, The One vs the Many. The creation of
character-systems in the realist novel, in a bold account that proposes a
new political economy of major and minor.

Jacob Stevens on Gareth Stedman Jones, Introduction to The Communist
Manifesto. Intellectual antecedents of the trumpet blast of 1848. Must today
's critics lower their political horizons?




By the end of 2004, all NLR articles from 1960 will be available online,
making it an invaluable tool for reseach in a wide variety of fields. Please
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Digital Archive: this will mean that library users have instant access to
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