1 The term "new states," indeterminate to begin with, becomes even more so as time passes and the states age. Though my main referent is the countries that have gained independence since World War II, I do not hesitate, where it suits my purposes and seems realistic, to extend the term to cover states like those of the Middle East, whose formal independence came earlier, or even those, like Ethiopia, Iran, or Thailand, which in the strict sense were never colonies at all.
2 For an incisive, if anecdotal, discussion of the way in which contemporary social conditions in the Third World hamper the recognition of change on the part of "the natives" and foreign observers alike, see A. Hirschman, "Underdevelopment, Obstacles to the Perception of Change, and Leadership," Daedalus 97 ( 1968): 925-937. For some comments of my own relative to the tendency of Western scholars--and, inferentially, Third World intellectuals--to underestimate the present rate (and to misconceive the direction) of change in the new states, see "Myrdal's Mythology," Encounter, June 1969, pp. 26-34.
3 For a general review, see J. A. Fishman et al., eds., Language Problems of Developing Nations ( New York, 1968).
4 For the first (not accepted, but attacked), see L. Harries, "Swahili in Modern East Africa," in Fishman et al., Language Problems, p. 426. For the second (accepted during an incisive discussion along the general lines here being developed), see C. Gallagher, "North African Problems and Prospects: Language and Identity," in Language Problems, p. 140. My point, of course, is not that technical linguistic matters have no relevance to language problems in the new states, but merely that the roots of those problems are much deeper and that expanding lexicons, standardizing usages, improving writing systems, and rationalizing instruction, though valuable in themselves, do not touch the central difficulty.
5 The main exception so far as the Third World generally is concerned is Latin America, but there--proving the rule--language issues are very much less prominent than in the new states proper and tend to reduce to education and minority group problems. (For an example, see D. H. Burns, "Bilingual Education in the Andes of Peru," in Fishman et al., Language Problems, pp. 403-413.) To what degree the fact that Spanish (or, more, Portuguese) is just enough of a carrier of modern thought to be felt to be an avenue to it and just marginal enough a carrier of it not actually to be a very good one has played a part in the intellectual provincialization of Latin America--so that it has in fact had a language problem without quite realizing it--is an interesting and separate question.
6 S. P. Huntington, "The Political Modernization of Traditional Monarchies," Daedalus 95 ( 1966):763-768; see also his Political Order in Changing Societies ( New Haven, 1968). With Huntington's general analysis, too much influenced, in my opinion, by the analogy of the king vs. aristocracy struggle in premodern Europe, I am, however, in some disagreement. For Morocco, anyway, the image of a populist monarchy "out of style in middle-class circles," appealing over the heads of "local privilege, corporate autonomy [and] feudal power" to the masses in the interests of progressive reform, seems to me very nearly the reverse of the truth. For more realistic views of postindependence Moroccan politics, see J. Waterbury, The Commander of the Faithful ( London, 1970).
7 E. Shils, "Political Development in the New States," Comparative Studies in Society and History 2 ( 1960): 265-292, 379-411.
8 T. Parsons, The Social System ( Glencoe, III., 1951), p. 349. Italics added.
9 The question of the relationship between Marxism and nationalism is a vexed one which it would take another essay even to outline. Suffice it here to say that, as far as the new states are concerned, Marxist movements, Communist or non-Communist, have almost everywhere been heavily nationalistic in both aim and idiom, and there is very little sign that they are becoming any less so. Actually, the same point could be made about religio-political movements-Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, or whatever; they too tend to be as localized in fact as they are placeless in principle.
2 For an incisive, if anecdotal, discussion of the way in which contemporary social conditions in the Third World hamper the recognition of change on the part of "the natives" and foreign observers alike, see A. Hirschman, "Underdevelopment, Obstacles to the Perception of Change, and Leadership," Daedalus 97 ( 1968): 925-937. For some comments of my own relative to the tendency of Western scholars--and, inferentially, Third World intellectuals--to underestimate the present rate (and to misconceive the direction) of change in the new states, see "Myrdal's Mythology," Encounter, June 1969, pp. 26-34.
3 For a general review, see J. A. Fishman et al., eds., Language Problems of Developing Nations ( New York, 1968).
4 For the first (not accepted, but attacked), see L. Harries, "Swahili in Modern East Africa," in Fishman et al., Language Problems, p. 426. For the second (accepted during an incisive discussion along the general lines here being developed), see C. Gallagher, "North African Problems and Prospects: Language and Identity," in Language Problems, p. 140. My point, of course, is not that technical linguistic matters have no relevance to language problems in the new states, but merely that the roots of those problems are much deeper and that expanding lexicons, standardizing usages, improving writing systems, and rationalizing instruction, though valuable in themselves, do not touch the central difficulty.
5 The main exception so far as the Third World generally is concerned is Latin America, but there--proving the rule--language issues are very much less prominent than in the new states proper and tend to reduce to education and minority group problems. (For an example, see D. H. Burns, "Bilingual Education in the Andes of Peru," in Fishman et al., Language Problems, pp. 403-413.) To what degree the fact that Spanish (or, more, Portuguese) is just enough of a carrier of modern thought to be felt to be an avenue to it and just marginal enough a carrier of it not actually to be a very good one has played a part in the intellectual provincialization of Latin America--so that it has in fact had a language problem without quite realizing it--is an interesting and separate question.
6 S. P. Huntington, "The Political Modernization of Traditional Monarchies," Daedalus 95 ( 1966):763-768; see also his Political Order in Changing Societies ( New Haven, 1968). With Huntington's general analysis, too much influenced, in my opinion, by the analogy of the king vs. aristocracy struggle in premodern Europe, I am, however, in some disagreement. For Morocco, anyway, the image of a populist monarchy "out of style in middle-class circles," appealing over the heads of "local privilege, corporate autonomy [and] feudal power" to the masses in the interests of progressive reform, seems to me very nearly the reverse of the truth. For more realistic views of postindependence Moroccan politics, see J. Waterbury, The Commander of the Faithful ( London, 1970).
7 E. Shils, "Political Development in the New States," Comparative Studies in Society and History 2 ( 1960): 265-292, 379-411.
8 T. Parsons, The Social System ( Glencoe, III., 1951), p. 349. Italics added.
9 The question of the relationship between Marxism and nationalism is a vexed one which it would take another essay even to outline. Suffice it here to say that, as far as the new states are concerned, Marxist movements, Communist or non-Communist, have almost everywhere been heavily nationalistic in both aim and idiom, and there is very little sign that they are becoming any less so. Actually, the same point could be made about religio-political movements-Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, or whatever; they too tend to be as localized in fact as they are placeless in principle.