Argentina, 1516-1982, and: Argentina: Illusions and Realities (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 223 and issues surrounding Kenya's decolonization process between 1945 and 1963. The author's thesis is that the decolonization process in Kenya was propelled by the inability of the colonial state to reconcile the twin imperatives of economic accumulation and political conquest. Under the aegis of a settler-dominated state, the author cites the need to derive economic benefits from the country as the raison d'être of formal colonization of Kenya. After having strengthened their grip on the apparatus of the state, the prime commitment of the settler colonial authorities was to pursue a pattern of accumulation dependent solely upon the alienation of African land and the exploitation of African labor. However, this mode of accumulation generated problems in the greater political economy; foremost of these problems was the issue of African nationalism, which arose to challenge the colonial state. The author uses his exhaustive examination of colonial reports to support his principal argument: the post-World War II colonial strategy of piecemeal agrarian reforms contained in the Swynnerton Plan of 1954 clearly reflected the colonial state's increasing inability to contain the tide of African nationalism while the authorities tried to maintain accumulation patterns pursued since the onset of colonial rule in Kenya. In the midst of this crisis of accumulation and control, the colonial state decided to use decolonization as a last strategy, transferring the reigns of state power to a class of Africans while maintaining most of the colonial economy's structural forms. In Gordon's view, independence was a bargain between three contending forces: the British government, the settlercontrolled Kenyan state, and the African nationalists. In Decolonization and the State Gordon has assembled critical primary archival data to elucidate the conflicts that persisted in this period between the settlers, the British government and the nationalist forces in Kenya. This book is a discursive blend of narrative, insight, and anecdote which provides a logical, sequential account of Kenya's transition from a colony to an independent state. It can be recommended to students of Kenyan history. Argentina, 1516-1982. By David Rock. Berkeley, Calif. : University of California Press, 1985. 378 pp. $35.00/cloth. Argentina: Illusions and Realities. By Gary W. Wynia. New York: Holmes and Meier Publishers, Inc., 1986. 200 pp. $32.50/cloth. Reviewed by Donald E. facobson, M.A. candidate, SAIS. The political turmoil in Argentina during the 1960s and 1970s has frequently been traced or attributed to the misguided policies and social impact of presidentJuan Perón's enduring legacy of mass populism. Recently, however, several authorities have moved away from this narrow and deterministic view. Two scholars — David Rock, a historian, and Gary W. Wynia, a political scientist — have made great strides in proving that Peronist rule is not wholly to blame for later political upheaval. Argentina, 1516-1982 is Rock's attempt to explain away the failures of Peronism in the context of Argentine history. In the early chapters of the book 224 SAIS REVIEW Rock chronicles Argentina's formative years under Spanish rule. This does not constitute the main body of the work, but the ideas put forth in these chapters are vital to Rock's perception of Argentine politics. Almost too vital, in fact: the prevailing theme in this history is that Argentina's colonial heritage and the country's subsequent vulnerability to external forces have been the primary causes of the political and economic disruptions that have plagued the country over the years. Rock argues that few would accept the various periods of political turmoil in the nineteenth century as direct determinants of today's problems; thus he sees no reason why Peronism should be viewed as a major cause of recent instability . He overcompensates with his historiography, however, and declares Perón to have been a victim of circumstances, maintaining that the economic crises of the 1950s were inevitable even without him. He acknowledges that the late president's policies probably exacerbated economic troubles and that the Peronist movement has been a factor in the further polarization of Argentine politics, but the author counters that many of Perdn's mistakes are only evident with hindsight. As a narrative of Argentine history, Rock's...