Theda Skocpol, The Missing Middle, W.W. Norton & Company: 2001, 207 pages, $ 15.95, ASIN 0393048225.

In her recent book, "The Missing Middle", Theda Skocpol (2001), is trying to draw our, but particularly, in my opinion, the policy-makers' attention, to the continuous ignorance of working American parents, an ignorance that can be seen whenever a social security and health care improvement draft takes place in policy agenda. While making the issue clear, and constructing her arguments, she emphasizes on historical background of policy implementations, which pertain to social security and welfare programs, by including to the analysis, the precise promises and obvious failures of both the Democrats and the Republicans, in attempting to realize those promises. In doing that, she gives political promises of Bill Clinton, the promises that he declared during presidential campaign, as an example. She explains the policy plans and proclamations of Clinton Administration, and, consequently, reaches the conclusion that the Democrats have failed in the above-mentioned policy implementations, as the Republicans did before (pp. 3-5). She summarizes what she is attempting to do in "The Missing Middle" in another work as follows: "I analyze the politics lay behind major U.S. social programs in the past, and show that, from the 1960s onward, possibilities for enacting additional inclusive social programs broke down (Skocpol, 2002). Of course, the failures in "enacting additional social programs" caused the party in the office to decline in the following election. In the review of one of her books, it is written that "Boomerang [by Theda Skocpol] suggests that the Clinton health reform effort contributed to the Republican sweep in 1994." (Starr, 1997, p. 153). But the question is, why did not the Clinton Administration do what it had promised, while knowing that a failure on the implementation of this policy would bring a future loss? This question is answered in another review of the same book: "the study [of Skocpol] emphasizes the interest groups in shaping domestic policy in the United States and, the immense difficulties impeding the Clinton White House's effort to build a coalition for reform" (King, 1997, p. 990).

The issue of "The Missing Middle" is briefly stated in a review by Little (2001): "At [the beginning of the 20th century]…, Americans were concerned about each other: rich and poor, young, middle aged, and old. Skocpol argues that this concern for everyone is missing in social policy debates today. Americans continue to support programs for the very poor and tax cuts for the very rich: we worry about the health and well being of our longer-living grandparents and the educational neglect of the nation's children. But we have forgotten about both the middle-income and middle-aged working men and women of modest means who struggle every day to feed and clothe their families." (p. 342). Although the way of stating the problem seems very logical, in my view, the ongoing system does not create such dramatic consequences. Because, the present working individuals used to be children at a certain time, and would become grandparents in the future. Therefore, in that sense, they both have benefited and would benefit from any social program. Her logic lies behind the argument that tax payments of working individuals are allocated to finance the social policy programs. As a result, an inequality is produced by the system.

Two extreme approaches, liberal approach, which focuses on destitute people, and conservative one, which tries to stress the importance of promoting "privileged" groups, and the reason of this polarization, which excludes working families, are introduced. She denies that imperatives, such as aging population of the US and financial difficulties are the reasons laid behind the ignorance of middle class, since the US is enjoying quite appropriate conditions in terms of those imperatives, compared to its counterparts, namely, highly developed European countries and Canada. Afterwards, she gets the former successes of American social policy recalled. She thinks that the US has been successful in social policies up until 1960s. Therefore, in fact, "Americans forgot the formula for successful social policy", which they had enjoyed for a long time. We can reach a solution simply by recalling the past.

"Skocpol argues that we can reclaim the American tradition of "generous" social policy and defeat mean-minded right-wing politics by recalling the historical formula for success: benefits for service, broad constituencies, partnerships between government and civic membership associations, and reliable public revenues. Her list of previously successful and generous social policies includes free public education, benefits for Union army veterans and their survivors, health education for mothers and babies funded by the Children's Bureau and the 1921 Sheppard Towner Act, Old Age Insurance, Medicare, and GI benefits for veterans of World War Two and the wars in Korea and Vietnam." (Helmbold, 2000, p. 10).

However, Little (2001) does not agree with Skocpol on successful social policy history of America. She argues that most of the policies that Skocpol stated as patterns of glorious success were "neither generous nor inclusive". Therefore, since Skocpol just misread the history, the solutions that she proposed are no longer consistent (p. 342).

Skocpol is concerned about the polarization among various social groups and the possible bad effects of this polarization. She states her concern saying "[t]he gap is especially sharp between privileged families headed by two higher-educated, fully employed professionals, and all other families." (Skocpol, 2002). There is another fact which makes the situation worse: "Medicare and Medicaid do not reach the more than 40 million Americans now without health insurance, most of whom are in low-wage working families." (Skocpol, 2002). As seen, the key point is to make improvements in the lives of working families. For this reason, the following question is of great importance: "how we as Americans can continue to care for our grandparents, while doing a much better job than we now do of supporting all working parents as they do the hard and vital work of raising our nation's children[?]" (Skocpol, 2001, p. xi). The answer to this question would recenter the civic and political life of American society. For an ultimate and effective solution, she makes call "the supporters of a more equitable society and stronger social supports for families" to organize, form a common stance and proposal and force the politicians to take influential actions to recenter the society and remove the inequalities (Skocpol, 2001, pp. 170-1).

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Helmbold, L. (2000, March). Moonlight in Vermont [Review of the book The Missing Middle]. Women's Review of Books, 17, 10.
King, D. (1997, December). Booknotes: Extra-European areas [Review of the book Boomerang: Clinton's Health Security Effort and the Turn Against Government in US Politics]. Political Studies, 45, 990.
Little, M. (2001, Summer). Collapse of the middle class [Review of the book The Missing Middle]. Journal of the American Planning Association, 67, 342.
Skocpol, T. (2001). The missing middle. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Skocpol, T. (2002). The political bind [Electronic version]. Boston Review, 27(1).

Cenap Cakmak
Center for Global Change and Governance,
Rutgers University

Ranajit Guha (with foreword by Amartya Sen). A Rule of Property for Bengal: An Essay on the Idea of Permanent Settlement. Durham: Duke University Press, 1996. 241 pages, $69.50, ISBN: 0822317613

To formation of Subaltern Studies as an intervention in South Asian historiography occurred in the wake of the growing crisis of the Indian state in the 1970s. In the field of historical scholarship, the perilous position of the nation-state in 1970s becomes evident in the increasingly embattled nationalist historiography. Subaltern studies plunged into historiographical contest over the representation and politics of the people. Accusing colonialist, nationalist and Marxist interpretations of robbing the common people of their agency, it announced a new approach to restore history to the subordinated. Started by an editorial collective consisting of six scholars of South Asia spread across Britain, India and Australia. Subaltern studies was inspired by Ranajit Guha. A distinguished historian whose most notable previous work was a Rule of Property for Bengal , Guha edited the first six Subaltern Studies volumes. After he relinquished the editorship, Subaltern studies was published by a rotating two-member editorial team drawn from the collective. Guha has continued, however to publish in Subaltern Studies, now under an expanded and reconstituted editorial collective. The establishment of Subaltern Studies was aimed to promote, as the preface by Guha to the first volume declared, the study and discussion of subalternist themes in South Asian studies.(1)

A Rule of Property for Bengal is Ranajit's Guha's first book originally was published in 1963. A Rule of Property for Bengal is not the work for which Guha is now most famous. The distinction between his first book and most notable followings, On Some Aspects of the Historiography of Colonial India which is powerful example of scholarship that seeks to recover peasant from elite project, and Dominance Without Hegemony can be noticed easily. In the second and third book carried responsibility of being pioneer of Subaltern Studies School, it is witnessed he matured his intellectual accumulation. Because of that, to compare earlier studies with last two, under the influence of Subaltern school is not too appropriate occasion. On the other hand, comparison can help to indicate shifts and maturing of Ranajit Guha' s studies. Furthermore, to read the A Rule of Property for Bengal paves the way to understand ruling elite's approach in given case, which conceptualizes in the Dominance without Hegemony.

In particular, A Rule of Property for Bengal is concerned with ideas and theories that moved the ruling elite of the East India Company to introduce possibly the most decisive and certainly the most disputed land legislation in the history of British India. Guha's study tells the story of how the idea of Permanent Settlement happened, what ideas lay behind the proposal, how those ideas had originated in French and British thought, how they were interpreted by important servants of the Company, what reservations were expressed, what the Indian experience tells us about the political economy that lay behind the ideas how profound the consequences have been on the economy and society of those parts of British India that had this settlement. (2)

Although, "A Rule of Property for Bengal" doesn't present powerful theoretical approach, it doesn't choke reader into intensively unnecessary and quantative information about Permanent Settlement.

He analyzes the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized in terms of the knowledge construction. This kind of knowledge construction would conceptualize in the later studies such as Foucault's " Archeology of Knowledge". Colonizers required producing their own knowledge accumulation, because of lack of written codes, serious problem of communication and unhelpful character of natives who rulers depend on in matter concerning the land revenue, agricultural practice and all management problems. In addition to knowledge production, the English language introduced as the official language for the Government of Bengal and several colonized country used to successful tool to overcome communication problem and set up superiority of the colonizers.

One of the most important concepts Guha argues is the despotism in Bengal's instance. He indicates colonizers emphasis on the 'right of arms', the sword gave them domination of everywhere without any doubt. On the other hand, domination by a power is natural character of Orient and subcontinent as a part of it, which doesn't have ability to govern himself. Naturally European is considered superior than the Oriental. New problems of power had already in the 17th century led to revival of the word 'despot'.(3) Particularly after the French Revolution there was an increasing tendency to use the word as a description of all authoritarian regimes in Europe - those of the tsars & the emperors everywhere. It is so clear that Orientalists shared Montesquieu's idea that despotism was almost exclusively an oriental phenomenon, the strange fruit that grew only in the fertile soil of the East & matured only in its burning sun.(4) That despotism claim influenced governors in Bengal. Geography that caused unwarlike character of the Indians and moral aspects especially tolerant religion had been rising to despotism in India. It was the important instance of determinism geographic and cultural.

During the years that this book was written, Marxist trend was widespread in Indian historiography. Influence of Marxism is felt in the study, particularly choosing of making economic history, analysis Francis's idea of surplus of value and correct distribution of it. Furthermore, he criticizes inequality idea of governors influenced by Western thought.

The chapter Guha focuses discussions about ' Who is King of Bengal' among Francis and others was the most interesting part of the book. In his following books, Guha goes on arguing who is king of Bengal, extends its scope to how did they become the king? How did colonizers impose power into colonies? What methods are used? While one of them was altering settlement system what were the others?

NOTES
1) Gyan Prakash, " Subaltern Studies as Postcolonial Criticism, " American Historical Review 99, 5(December 1994), 1476-1477
2) Ranjit Guha, A Rule of Property for Bengal(London, 1996) p.x
3) Guha, A Rule of Property for Bengal, 17
4) Guha, A Rule of Property for Bengal 18

Zeynep Þahin
Department of International Relations
Fatih University

REVIEW ARTICLE

Language and Islamic Political Change

David R. Hunsicker, Jr.
University of Washington

The twentieth century has seen the growth of numerous new media and new uses for traditional media throughout the world. In the Islamic world they have had a profound effect on the way Muslims perceive their faith and its role in their personal and communal lives. This has been demonstrated in Brinkley Messick's The Calligraphic State: Textual Domination and History in a Muslim Society (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1996) in reference to the changes in the use of texts as tools in the bureaucratic structure of the Yemeni state. Annabelle Srberny-Mohammadi and Ali Mohammadi detail the use of new electronic and other visual media by both the government and opposition that influenced the course of the Iranian Revolution in their Small Media, Big Revolution: Communication, Culture, and the Iranian revolution (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994). Similarly, Gregory Starrett examines the changes brought about in the religious and political life in Egypt through the introduction of mass education, specifically Islamic education, in his Putting Islam to Work: Education, Politics, and Religious Transformation in Egypt (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998). In each of these works the concentration is focused on a specific medium or types of media and the ways that they have brought about innovations in how Islam is conceived in their respective contexts. In addition to their respective foci on media and media innovations, each work demonstrates how the most basic human communication medium, language itself, is used to evoke responses in the reader or listener due to the authoritative nature of the idiom used. Specifically, innovations that are thoroughly contemporary in character are restated using an idiom based on the Qur'anic vocabulary that refers them back to traditional conceptions of Islamic history and religious thought. In some cases this may be done deliberately but often these changes developed so subtly as to be unnoticed by those using them thus merging new ideas almost seamlessly into the discourse of traditional Islam.

Beginning with the most basic communication technology discussed in these works, "writing", we see how language, encompassed in symbols that represent the most basic tool for transmitting ideas beyond verbal communication possesses an authority in and of itself. Buttressed with and sometimes buttressing oral transmission, written language is fundamental to the creation a shared idiom to express Islamic political and religious ideas. The basis for this idiom is established on the model of the Qur'an itself, of course. "The paradigmatic, Urtext qualities of the Qu'ran concern both content and textual form…Discursively, the Qur'an represents both the end and the beginning of the kitab (text, scripture, writing, book) (Messick, p. 16)." The Qur'an as the authoritative final revelation provides a set of principles and a fund of theological and legal material that drives commentary and extrapolation. But it also provides a medium to express the ideas that it inspires. That medium is a Qur'anic idiom that is drawn from and again inspired by the language used in the Qur'an. The language itself bears an authority because it is the language of the Qur'an. Knowledge of "the language" of the Qur'an, classical literary Arabic which was standardized according to Qur'anic usage, granted someone authority as a scholar, an `alim. The common people, while they spoke Arabic, were not familiar with the rules and the forms associated with the language of the Qur'an. They spoke their local dialectal forms that were sufficient for daily interaction and business but nonetheless were deemed as not possessing the authority associated with "classical" Arabic. "The most perfect example of 'the language' is the Quran, 'an Arabic Quran,' as it describes itself. Grammar and other language sciences pertain only to the written language. It is not that dialects have no grammar, of course, that 'grammar,' the recognized formal discipline, is associated exclusively with what is defined as 'the language (Messick, p. 156).'" Messick further illustrates this by noting that it is preferable even in the recitation of the daily prayers for them be conducted by an imam who knows the grammatical rules so as to help ensure that it is recited correctly (ibid.). Thus knowledge of the language of the Qur'an and the rules of its use confer an authority on individuals and its use an authority upon a discourse.

As Messick shows the use of texts in Yemen undergoes a critical transformation under the influence of modern influences in the authority of texts vis-à-vis intimate human transmission of those texts. Within the traditional system as he describes it in religious education, judicial matters and legal opinions the role of verbal transmission was paramount to a text's authority. Along with verbal transmission also came interpretation and implementation of the rules derived from the texts based on local conditions through the interpretation of the local scholar, whether mufti or judge. Under the influence of the Ottomans and the British, Yemen undergoes a change in its state structure that can be traced to a change in the authority of written texts. Written texts become standardized and formalized thus removing them from the arena of local scholars to interpret a variegated tradition locally but rather they are established on the basis of a codified standard that hardly resembled the earlier open interpretative tradition. Messick says in speaking of Shawkani that he "concludes by saying that the shari`a, and Islam generally, survives not so much in concrete writing ('in the bodies of pages and registers') as through embodiment in the lives of individuals, in the living 'text' they transmit and interpret (p. 43)." Despite this profound change in understanding of the authorities of texts and how they are implemented in the conduct of legal affairs by the state in Yemen it is still understood largely in terms of the common Qur'anic idiom. The Republican constitution is headed with quotations from the Qur'an and the shari`a is seen as the "source" ("asl") of the law (ibid. p. 69). Terms derived from the Qur'an like "shura" ("consultation") are similarly used to describe modern state innovations such as parliamentary procedure (ibid. p. 71). In this way the essential structures of the state are changed radically but the use of the Qur'anic idiom to define these structures gives them an authority which would perhaps not be otherwise readily recognizable as the historically recognized political and social structure of Islamic communities. Thus the use of an idiom is able to define two radically different conceptions of the shari`a and, more generally, Islam with a similar authority.

This same phenomenon is much more pronounced and much more easily observed in the other two books mentioned above although they make use of different media. In looking at Small Media, Big Revolution, the use of modern media and expression of modern political discourse in the Qur'anic idiom is much more pronounced in the case of modern pre- and post-revolutionary Iran. This of course can be attributed to the greater degree of modernization that Iran underwent in the twentieth century relative to Yemen. This is particularly true of the changes brought about in the political and social spheres under the influence of westernization. Iran unlike Yemen underwent a much greater degree of secularization and with secularization came an alienation of a segment of the population who continued to adhere to Islamic values but were also effected in fundamental ways by the changes going on around them.

Iranian society experienced economic and political development spurred on by the introduction of western development technologies and political change based on western models both from abroad and from above by the Shahs. Western ideas and technologies were of course also being incorporated into society on a popular level and were integrated quite fully into Iranian life. Even in the early years of the revolution in Iran, the domination of the opposition to the Shah and later the government by the `ulama was far from being assured and secular parties vied with the `ulama for the support of the people. In this struggle however the mullahs had powerful tools at their disposal that the secular opposition did not. One was the their control of one of the few outlets available from which to mobilize and address the people, the pulpit. The pulpit also granted them a ready constituency that employed many traditional forms of communication to further mobilize an opposition to the Shah. The primary focus of the book is to demonstrate how "[t]he mobilization was coordinated by the religious leaders using traditional networks of social communication, which were enhanced and extended by an innovative use of various contemporary 'small media,' including photocopied leaflets and audiocassette tapes (Srberny-Mohammadi and Mohammadi, p. xviii)."

The weapon at the disposal of the `ulama that served to make the use of new small media technologies particularly effective was the use of the Qur'anic idiom to make their message appeal to the people. Khomeini and the mullahs successfully integrated new concepts and innovative uses of old ones into the political discourse. By doing so, as was demonstrated with the few examples shown above in Yemen where modern political ideas are reshaped and justified through reference to the tradition of shari'a and defined using the Qur'anic idiom the nature of what is Islam shifts. " 'Tradition' is not simply frozen memory but an active adaptation to the new, current time frame and sociopolitical context…In its active mobilization as a resource in an ideological struggle against an opposing cultural and political reality, tradition itself is irrevocably altered…(ibid. 39)." This is certainly true in the case of Iran in a profound way. The revolution in Iran was not a simple action of turning back the clock and reestablishing a static tradition that had been merely pushed to the side only to be revived and implemented in the same way that the tradition had been established under the Safavids. Rather, the Islamic revolution was a thoroughly modern revolution that used the rhetoric and mythology of religious tradition to establish a contemporary state (ibid. p. 15).
The process by which the `ulama were able to bring about this innovative modern revolution in many ways can be directly linked to their use of the Qur'anic idiom to define their revolutionary aims. On the most basic level the `ulama were able to make their message understood to a great number of Iranians using language familiar to them which appealed to some of their deeply embedded communal identities (ibid. p. 107). Specifically, "Khomeini's rhetoric uses Qoranic and Islamized Persian concepts in pairs of polar opposites, such that the meaning and value attached to each pole is clear (ibid. p. 115)." At the same time this is not just simply a recitation of an established text that is being presented from the pulpit as it had been previously. Rather this is a wholly new discourse that restates completely innovative concepts in the language of Qur'an or in this case the Persian equivalent which has become recognized as having the same referent. In fact in many cases the `ulama were stating many of the same things as the secular opposition but whereas the latter were employing an idiom familiar only to a select elite. In fact the secular opposition's arguments were more easily understood by middle class intellectuals outside of Iran than by other Iranians because of the idiom used to express their arguments (ibid. p. 108-9). Khomeini and the `ulama on the other had were able to make many of the same appeals as the secular opposition groups but were able to appeal to the people in a more familiar way and with the benefit of traditional Islamic authority. "Khomeini and his reconstructed religious rhetoric…appropriated and developed positions close to many secular radical critiques…His rhetoric left secular groupings literally speechless (ibid. p. 106)." Because there was an overlap between some of the terminology used by both groups it tended to benefit Islamists to the detriment of the secularists (ibid. p. 107). Thus while both secularists and Islamists both had access to the same new media technologies it was the language used to present their messages through these media that had a decisive effect on how their respective messages were received, even in cases where they were making the same appeals.

The situation that Starrett describes in Egypt is in some ways similar to that which we find described above concerning Iran. In the case of Egypt however it is not a simply a circumstance of conflict between a secular state and an Islamic opposition using two different idioms to convey their respective messages but rather they compete over the same ideological space. Both compete to define what Islam is. In this way, however, he doesn't deal extensively with language itself to a great degree but instead examines the discourse as a whole and the elements which shape that discourse. He in fact describing essentially the same phenomenon however but his paradigm includes many more non-linguistic signs while language itself is not emphasized.

Starrett describes a functionalization of religion in Egypt whereby the government, by changing the manner in which religious education is provided as well as its aims changes the role it plays in society. In religious education in Egypt, Islam is reinterpreted to move beyond the scope of traditional texts and their authoritative discourse and to give new meanings to modern concerns and concepts. Starrett describes this functionalization as a two-step process: "First, social functions (increased health, cleanliness, order) are attributed to Islamic practices. Then these functions are interpreted not only as effects, but as the primary intent of given practices, and therefore divinely sanctioned themselves (p. 142)." This brings about a sanctification of otherwise mundane spheres of life and in Starrett's view ultimately leads to competition between the government and the opposition to necessarily be conducted through an Islamic discourse. Each side professing to have the correct and pure view of Islam but in many cases each presented an Islam that contrasts sharply with how it was understood and practiced in Egypt just a few generations before.
As Starrett describes it, public space in Egypt has become an Islamic space and in order to operate within that space politically or socially requires that one employ the Islamic discourse he describes. Each act in this direction however drives the process even further. The prime example that he uses to illustrate this point is the hijab. This ubiquitous non-linguistic sign serves to continually reinforce the role Islam in the social discourse by its continued adoption by many Egyptian women. "The act of veiling, whatever its individual motivation and spiritual consequences, is a ritual act that contributes de facto to the Islamization of public space, altering the social and cultural universe in which subsequent perceptions arise and subsequent choices are made (Starrett, p. 245)."

While Starrett's analysis is excellent and provides a very useful model for the further analysis of the reasons for the continued development of the "Islamic Trend," to use his preferred terminology, there is a particular point that can be disputed in regard to the themes that have been discussed here. In discussing the "hegemonic" role that the "language" of Islam has in modern Egyptian political discourse he makes the assertion that it "is forced by necessity…to become [emphasis added]…the language in which cultural and political battles are fought by the vast majority of interested parties (p. 219)." This theme that the modernized educational system is largely responsible for the dominance of Islam as the "language" of social and political discourse in Egypt runs throughout the book. As we have seen in the descriptions given of these processes as outlined in the first two books it is necessary to evaluate Starrett's argument here and question whether or not we may be dealing with a situation of "the chicken and the egg." While Islam indeed has been transformed in the twentieth century as discussed above and occupies a role in modern political life that can be directly attributable to these changes. It is ultimately the use of the Qur'anic idiom in the redefinition of modern innovations that is characteristic of the processes of "retraditionalization" and "functionalization" of Islam that produces a hybrid derived from contemporary sociopolitical circumstances and traditional Islamic terminology and thought. Islam does not "become" the language of discourse rather it "is" that language and contemporary problems and innovations need to be recast so as to make them familiar and incorporate them into the lives of Muslim peoples.

All three of the books discussed above describe significant changes in Islamic social and political thought when confronted with new technologies and ideas from the West. In each case an Islamic discourse develops which is different from what preceded it but nonetheless identified by the Muslims living it and engaging in the discourse as being "Islamic." This is accomplished by bringing familiar terminology to bear on new circumstances and ideas. It can certainly be debated as to what extent these innovations can be justified when judged with traditional Islamic paradigms. Or whether they perhaps served as a disservice to the development of Islam as a viable sociopolitical system in the twentieth century (for example the difficulties connected with the rigidity of a codified shari`a). It is nonetheless an adaptable Islam built upon the terms which compose its idiom. Ultimately it is an interpretation according to circumstances that are local in time and location but become accepted and agreed upon as the norm largely through their identification with the familiar Qur'anic idiom. This process is central to the history of Islamic law in general. Messick says, "Seen in relation to interpretation, consensus is the mechanism through which the parole of the individual interpreter could become part of the collective, consensual langue of the shari`a (p. 148)." More generally, with reference to the cases discussed above, we see the parole of contemporary reinterpretations of Islam which are adapted to the realities of contemporary circumstances but nonetheless consistent with and incorporated into the langue of the Qur'anic paradigm.