BOEKE, J. H. The Structure of Nether lands Indian Economy. Pp. x, 201. New York: Institute of Pacific Relations, 1942. $2.50
| Date | 01 November 1942 |
| Published date | 01 November 1942 |
| Author | A. Vandenbosch |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271624222400148 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
210
more
than
200,000
have
any
conception
of
the
meaning
of
democracy.
&dquo;Independence
would
have
introduced
merely
an
oligarchic
domination
by
the
small
minority
of
edu-
cated
leaders ...
not
even
a
pretense
of
democratic
government
could
have
been
maintained.&dquo;
Thailand
is
a
case
in
point:
the
People’s
Party
which
has
governed
the
country
since
the
revolution
of
1931
is
a
small
oligarchy
of
the
Western-educated
government
ofhcials,
army
officers,
and
pro-
fessional
men.
The
small
rice
farmers
who
make
up
the
bulk
of
the
nation
have
no
understanding
of
democracy,
and
have
little
greater
voice
in
the
government
than
in
the
days
of
the
despotic
monarchy
of
a
decade
ago.
Professor
Kennedy
points
out
that
owing
to
fear
of
the
Japanese,
the
goal
of
the
Indonesian
nationalists
was
dominion
status
and
not
independence
from
Holland.
LENNOX
A.
MILLS
University
of
Minnesota
BOEKE,
J.
H.
The
Structure
of
Nether-
lands
Indian
Economy.
Pp.
x,
201.
New
York:
Institute
of
Pacific
Relations,
1942.
$2.50.
Dr.
Boeke,
who
is
professor
of
tropical
economics
at
Leiden
University,
has
long
enjoyed
a
solid
reputation
for
his
original
work
on
the
native
economy
of
the
Nether-
lands
Indies.
He
knows
the
Indies
from
years
of
residence,
study,
and
work
there.
His
special
contribution
has
been
the
theory
of
economic
dualism.
As
Boeke
sees
it,
there
are
two
sharply
distinct
societies
or
economies-an
indigenous
precapitalistic
and
a
Western
economic-operating
side
by
side
in
the
Indies.
He
sometimes
speaks
of
this
dualism
as
an
antithesis
between
two
social-economic
periods.
In
this
study
Boeke
examines
the
char-
acteristics
and
the
component
factors
of
colonial
society,
the
effect
of
the
economic
contact
between
the
various
population
groups,
theories
regarding
the
population
problem
and
the
Indies
trade
balance
and
the
drain
theory.
In
the
first
part
Boeke
gives
an
excellent
analysis
of
the
indigenous
precapitalistic
society.
Much
in
the
second
part,
in
which
the
economic
contact
be-
tween
the
colonial
groups
is
examined,
seems
to
be
in
contradiction
with
what
is
stated
in
the
first
part.
In
the
first,
the
indigenous
economy
is
pictured
as
quite
distinct
and
uninfluenced
by
the
presence
of
the
Western
economy;
yet
in
the
second
part,
considerable
influence
of
the
latter
on
the
first
is
admitted.
This
is
probably
due
to
the
fact
that
Boeke
presses
his
thesis
of
the
two
distinct
and
totally
different
econo-
mies
a
bit
far.
However
that
may
be,
he
has
enriched
the
literature
on
the
Indies
with
a
penetrating
and
illuminating
analy-
sis
and
description
of
the
economic
struc-
ture
and
life
of
the
very
complicated,
&dquo;pluralistic&dquo;
Indies
society.
Readers
not
acquainted
with
the
Indies
ought
to
be
cau-
tioned,
however.
Boeke’s
masterful
analy-
sis
is
a
truer
picture
of
Indies
society
as
it
was
twenty
years
ago
than
at
the
time
of
the
Japanese
invasion.
During
the
past
decade,
and
especially
during
the
years
since
1937,
the
economic
life
of
the
Indies
has
undergone
a
rapid
integration,
due
to
the
Government’s
policy
of
introducing
measures
to
combat
the
depression,
to
re-
duce
the
vulnerability
of
the
country
to
outside
forces,
and
to
strengthen
its
de-
fenses.
This
is
a
unique
study.
All
persons
in-
terested
in
colonialism
and
Oriental
society
will
find
it
very
valuable.
A.
VANDENBOSCH
University
of
Kentucky
GRAJDANZEV,
ANDREW
J.
Formosa
Today.
Pp.
193.
New
York:
Institute
of
Pacific
Relations,
1942.
$1.00.
For
three
outstanding
reasons,
this
vol-
ume
of
the
I.P.R.
&dquo;International
Research
Series&dquo;
is
especially
welcome:
because
of
the
poverty
of
material
dealing
with
the
subject-on
it
&dquo;scarcely
a
work
of
impor-
tance
has
appeared
in
English
since
1907,
when
a
translation
of
a
book
by
Yosaburo
Takekoshi
was
published&dquo;;
because
of
the
size
and
intrinsic
importance
of
Formosa
(the
external
trade
of
which
surpasses
that
of
Turkey,
Indo-China,
or
Yugoslavia),
which
constitutes
an
example
of
what
the
world
may
expect
from
a
China
in
which
&dquo;co-existence
and
co-prosperity,&dquo;
propa-
gated
by
Japan,
are
practiced;
and,
finally,
because
Formosa
serves
as
a
base
for
the
southward
advance
of
Japan
on
the
road
to
empire
in
the
tropics
of
southeastern
Asia
and
the
southwestern
Pacific.
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