Bhutan: Hidden Lands of Happiness; Texts and Photographs by JOHN WEHRHEIMReview by: LUCIAN W. PYEForeign Affairs, Vol. 87, No. 5 (September/October 2008), pp. 184-185Published by: Council on Foreign RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20699356 .

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Recent Books

Chinas Water Warriors: Citizen Action and

Policy Change, by Andrew c.

mertha. Cornell University Press,

2008,192 pp. $29.95. China has a serious problem with water

shortages. Many of its rivers and streams

are running dry, and its lakes and pools are so short of water that they are badly polluted; such great waterways as the

Yellow River no longer carry much water to the ocean. Many Chinese citizens

recognize that Chinas water problems are much too serious a matter to be left to

government officials, and so civic-action

groups have taken up the challenge of

defining better water policies. Mertha

recognized early on that citizen involve ment could be important in implementing effective water policies. His research has led him to three categories of case studies. The first is about the failure of the civic-action

groups to shape policy when the state is too powerful and the movements fail to mobilize public opinion. The second

category consists of positive stories of

successful citizen involvement. And the

third group is about untidy mixed results, when the state is still too powerful but civic-action groups are able to mobilize

public opinion.

and upbeat. Emmott sees China as the middle country that will play the central role in defining the future of the Asian

continent, Japan as powerful but aging, and India as in the process of shedding its confused view of its potential role in international affairs.

Bhutan: Hidden Lands of Happiness; Texts and Photographs, by john wehrheim.

Serindia Publications, 2008, 280 pp. $65.00.

Wehrheim, in this engrossing and beautiful

photography book, offers an encouraging message of happiness and sustainability from the Kingdom of Bhutan. In the 1960s, the third king of Bhutan constructed the first roads leading out of the country and initiated a development policy. The fourth

king led the Bhutanese from absolute

monarchy to a parliamentary democracy based on the principle that "gross national

happiness" is a better measure of prosperity than gross national product. In 2007, after

the first democratic constitution was

carefully crafted, the 59-year-old king abdicated before his time in favor of his

29-year-old son, who became head of

state but not head of government. The

author, a photojournalist and hydropower

engineer with special access to "the Land

of the Thunder Dragon," provides a close

up view of a unique culture that has thrived for over 1,200 years, hidden in the towering

peaks of the eastern Himalayas. Stunning black-and-white photographs, taken from

1991 to 2006, present a geographic and

cultural passage ranging from the yak pastures along the Tibetan boarder to the

nightclubs of the capital city of Thimphu. The nature of daily life, pervaded by traditional Buddhist culture, is conveyed through poignant tales, journal entries, folk

Rivals: How the Power Struggle Between

China, India, and Japan Will Shape Our NextDecade. by bill emmott.

Harcourt, 2008,352 pp. $26.00.

This is a bold study of how the three major Asian states are engaging in power struggles that will shape the future of international

relations, and not just in Asia. The title of the book and some of the chapter headings suggest conflict and differences, but the

author s argument is essentially constructive

[184] FOREIGN AFFAIRS Volume 8y No. 5

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lore, dharmic teachings, and oral history. Wehrheim writes, "Excelling in the study of

consciousness, [the Bhutanese] developed a highly involved environmental ethic." He concludes that the mystical kingdom poses cultural values worthy of consid

eration by the rest of the modern world. AUDREY RONNING TOPPING

COUNCILOR FOREIGN RELATIONS

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[185]

Africa NICOLAS VAN DE WALLE

The Political Economy of Economic Growth in Africa, 1960-2000, 2 vols. edited

BY BENNO j. NDULU, STEPHEN a.

o'cONNELL, ROBERT h. BATES,

PAUL COLLIER, CHUKWUMA C.

SOLUDO, JEAN-PAUL AZAM, AUGUSTIN k. fosu, JAY WILLEM

GUNNING, AND DOMINIQUE

nj i n keu. Cambridge University Press, 2007,1,232 pp. $280.00.

This gargantuan work is the most compre hensive attempt ever to explain empirically the economic record of sub-Saharan

Africa in the postcolonial era. Sponsored by the African Economic Research Con sortium, it brings together several dozen

economists and includes case studies of

18 different countries in a second volume

(plus case studies of an additional eight on a cd-rom). The first volume advances the

groups ambitious theoretical approach.

Refreshingly, it emphasizes the variation across African countries?in terms of the

resources available, the policies followed, the national politics, and the ethnic

dynamics?and, as a result of this variation, the overall economic growth outcome of each country. Inevitably, in a book with so many contributors, the central themes

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