Book Reviews and Notices : Twilight in South Africa. By HENRY GIBBS. (New York: The Philosophi cal Library. 1950. Pp. 288. $4.50.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591295100400139
• Published date: 01 March 1951
• Date: 01 March 1951
• Author: Louis Menand
• Subject Matter: Articles

161

under

cultivation,

while

Iraq

has

excellent

long-range

prospects

because

of

adequate

land

and

water

resources

found

in

the

Tigres-Euphrates

river

valleys.

At

least $225,308,000

is

needed,

according

to

estimates,

for

the

re,

settlement

of

refugees

on

Middle

East

land.

To

facilitate

resettlement,

many

projects

are

being

planned,

but

a

serious

handicap

is

lack

of

cap-

ital.

The

Arab

states

do

not

accept

any

responsibility

for

creating

the

problem,

and

have

made

it

clear

that

refugees

will

be

accepted

for

per-

manent

settlement

only

on

condition

that

outside

capital

is

made

avail-

able.

While

resettlement

plans

are

being

developed,

relief

to

refugees

is

needed

for

an

additional

four

or

five

years

to

forestall

starvation.

The

re-

settlement

of

refugees

will

prove

difhcult

but

not

impossible,

provided

there

is

in

existence

initiative,

good

will,

and

capital.

This

brief

volume

represents

the

findings

of

a

survey

conducted

by

a

committee

composed

of

members

and

associates

of

Chatham

House

and

of

members

of

the

Royal

Central

Asian

Society.

The

reviewer

feels

the

volume

points

out

in

a

concise

and

clear

manner

the

problems

and

future

prospects

for

Arab

refugee

resettlement.

New

Mexico

Western

College.

ARTHUR

L.

BACH.

Twilight

in

South

Africa.

By

HENRY

GIBBS.

(New

York:

The

Philosophi-

cal

Library.

1950.

Pp.

288.

$4.50.)

The

conditions

in

society

necessary

for

a

well-developed

and

function-

ing

democracy

are

receiving

more

and

more

study

by

political

scientists.

Indeed,

much

of

the

study

since

World

War

II

is

based

on

the

hypothe-

sis

that

a

healthy

community

needs

more

than

a

well-written

constitu-

tion.

It

is

this

interest

in

social

conditions

that

has

led

to

a

wide

and

ever

growing

desire

to

study

such

areas

as

South

Africa,

which

has

had

attention

brought

to

it

by

such

widely

different

publications

as

the

novel

of

Alan

Paton

and

the

United

Nations’

inquiries.

Gibbs’

volume

is

another

attempt

to

explore

the

historical

reasons

for

the

complex

racial

and

economic

conditions

in

South

Africa

today,

and

to

look

at

the

contemporary

political

life

of

the

Cape

for

a

clue

to

the

future

handling

of

these

difficulties.

The

thesis

of

the

book

is

that

apartheid,

the

doctrine

of

racial

segregation

favored

by

the

Nationalist

party

which

assumed

power

in

1948,

is

economically

and

socially

invalid.

It

is

the

combination

of

racial

segregation

and

a

struggling

economy

that

is

the

prime,

domestic,

political

fact

in

South

Africa.

To

meet

it,

the

author

suggests

a

more

productive

economy

for

all

races,

a

reduction

in