La Révolution Burkinabe (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 235 disciplines they represent." In these exercises of individual recollection and appraisal of personal experiences, which form the majority of the essays included, the ultimate contribution may precisely be their subjectivity, even though the perspective they reflect might not coincide with the reader's or, in this case, the editors'. The essays are written in different styles and moods, ranging from the very informal and witty to the more scholarly and profound, but invariably the reader will find that they are rich in thoughts about the value of international education , of which the authors' vocations and careers are proof. AsJeanneJ. Smoot writes in her essay, "Ambassador Unaware," the kind of learning that is gained may not always be hung on a wall — international education goes beyond mere degrees into intangibles, such as the ability to empathize with foreign cultures and to examine one's own culture at arm's length. Although Robin Winks, in his "A Tissue of Clichés," argues that thoughts about the transcendence of the Fulbright experience "invariably consist of a string of clichés," his thoughts are nevertheless quite insightful and otherwise universal, for among the things he learned was that "the scholar's greatest skill was applying the seat of the pants to a chair for hours at a time, undeluded by notions that good health required eight hours' sleep, or that two hours without a cigarette, a walk around the room, or a talk with one's friends was a hardship." Among the most enjoyable essays is one by Alfred Maurice de Zayas, entitled "A FulbrighterJoins a German Fencing Fraternity." Despite its brevity, it is rich in references to German literature and culture —de Zayas argues that he not only experienced student life in Gemany but also discovered that it entailed "a commitment for life, not only for three or four semesters" but to friendships that endure. The Fulbright Experience 1946-1986 will be very entertaining reading for aspiring and former "Fulbrighters" alike, as well as for anybody who believes that international education goes beyond what can be learned in a classroom. It may also serve as a provocative example of imaginative solutions to potentially explosive debt problems: the Fulbright program originated with a senator's generous and far-sighted determination to invest abroad, through international educational exchanges, the money from war debts that would otherwise have been uncollectible — a kind of debt-for-education swap. La Révolution Burkinabé. By Pierre Englebert. Preface byJean-Pierre Cot. Paris: L'Harmattan, 1986. 270 pp. FF130/paper. Reviewed by Pamela Stedman, M. A. candidate, SAIS. Several books have been published on Burkina Faso since Thomas Sankara seized power in an August 1983 military coup, however, most of these are journalistic accounts of the revolution and deal principally with the media personality of the young president. Pierre Englebert's book, instead, is a comprehensive analysis of the current revolutionary process and includes a detailed overview of the country 's political evolution since the period preceding independence of the area 236 SAIS REVIEW formerly known as Upper Volta. In this respect, Englebert's book differs from the main trend of publications on Burkina. La Révolution Burkinabé is divided into two parts. The first handles the country's political history, in which change has occurred mainly through military coups. Englebert briefly analyzes each of these coups (1966, 1974, 1980, 1982, May 1983, and August 1983). This high level of military intervention in the government political process is partially due to the loose definition of a coup d'état used by Englebert. Calling the 1974 and May 1983 changes "coups" is indeed debatable. This section ends with an attempt (which could have been more developed) to construct a theory of coups in Burkina. The second part examines in depth the revolution itself. No doubt Burkina Faso's revolution deserves such attention, for it has thus far not followed any conventional revolutionary path. Englebert describes its ideological foundations as threefold: (1) Marxist-Leninist (as far as many intellectuals in the government are concerned), (2) anti-imperialist, and (3) nationalist, especially in the military wing of the government. In conclusion, he insists on the relatively minor weight of the...