The effective demise of communism in 1990 and the proper names. Despite a number of international con-<br >fragmentationoftheSoviet Unionin 1991 triggered aseries ferences on the subject， the problem is becoming more.<br >of changes in global politics of unparalleled proportions， rather than less acute， in part because of an increasing<br >With the abrupt end of the Cold War. the potential for tendency toward linguistic "nationalization". Thus cities<br >armed conflict shifted， for the most part， from the in- once known as keopoldvilte. Lourenqo-Marques， and Sal-<br >terstate to the intrastate level， with long simmering aspira- isbury are now styled Kinshasa， Maputo， and Hararc. re-<br >tions for ethnic self-determination erupting in dozens， if spectively， while the former Republic of Upper Volta is<br >not hundreds， of new locations. Fleetingly， it appeared that now Burkina Faso and Burma is Myanm ar; m addition.<br >the United Nations might be able to contain the ethnic throughout the Fhird World (particularly in Africa) Chris-<br >brushfires; instead， it slipped almost imperceptibly from tian given names are commonly- and understandably--<br >the role of peacekeeper into the far more challenging task being abandoned as lingering relics of colonialism. Another<br >of peacemaker， with results that to date have been mixed， problem turns on the use o f foreshortened first names， many<br >at best. In the vanguard of the UN-backed global effort， politicians (particularly in Australasia and the Caribbean~<br >the United States has seemed bewildered as its humani- choosing to be known， for example， as "Bob". rather than<br >tarian gestures are increasingly reviled as acts of unwelcome "Robert"， or "Tom"， rather than "Thomas"， while the Greek<br >intrusion， version of "John" may be rendered fin ascending order of<br > Accompanying the apparent retreat from authoritarian- familiarity) as "loannis". "Yiannis". "Yannis"， or "Yanni".<br >ism has been a global proliferation of political parties， With And. of course， US President Truman insisted that his legal<br >communism following fascismintothe dustbin of history， name was "Harry S Truman" rather than "Harry S. Tru-<br >autocrats of varying stripes have become pluralists or have man"， since the "S" stood as an abbreviation of nothing.<br >had pluralism thrust upon them. In some cases， however， In rendering proper names based on the Roman alpha-<br >the democratic explosion has given former dictators room bet. we have included relevant diacritics， where known.<br >to maneuver; in others， previously antidemocratic leaders The indexing of Spanish names has been keyed to the pa-<br >have been returned to power by democratic means. The ternal component; in the case of Portuguese names， how-<br >highpoints of hope bracketed by the collapse of the Berlin ever， the increasingly prevalent practice (to which we large-<br >Wallin 1989 and the signing of the lsraeli-Jordanian peace ly adhere) is to key to the terminal component， even if<br >accord in 1994 have also witnessed a near-Malthusian maternal. Insomecases， the"family"nameinthewestern<br >population explosioa tragically curtailed by widespread sense may be rarely， if ever， used， while the given name may<br >famine and untreatable diseases such as AIDS and drug- be foreshortened.<br >resistantTB， theuncertainprospectsofdebt-riddenless- In the transliteration of names derived from non-<br >advantaged economies， and a potentially irreversible deg- Western languages， we have attempted to strike a reason-<br >radation of the earth s environment， able balance between the customary usage of the country<br > In attempting to assess， in highly compressed form， the under treatment and that of the international press. In the<br >past and present politicsoftheglobalcommunity， wecon- rendering of Arabic names， we have attempted to stan-<br >tinue a publishing tradition extending from 1928， when the dardize within individual countries， although regional and<br >Council on Foreign Relations issued A PoliticalHandbook other variations remain across countries. In accordance<br >of the World， edited by Malcolm W， Davis and Walter H. with currently prevailing practice， mainland Chinese names<br >Mallory. Mr. Mallory became the sole editor in 1929 and are given in pinyin， although Wade-Giles and other vari-<br >continued in that capacity until 1968. The present struc- ants are utilized elsewhere. On occasion， consistency must<br >ture of the work is based largely on the format introduced yield to an individual s preference (if known)， as， in the case<br >by Richard P. Stebbins and Alba Areola in the 1970 edi- of Greek， choosing between Constantine. Constantinos.<br >tion. Since 1975 the Handbook has been assembled at the or Konstantinos. In some cases (e.g. Burmese and Viet-<br >State University of New York at Binghamton， which， as namese) no distinction is made between "first" and "last"<br >of 1985， also assumed the role of publisher， names; in others (e.g.， Indonesian) the name may con-<br > The editors have attempted to make the textual infor- tain only one element， while in some the preferred form<br >mation current as of August 1， 1994. with major develop- of address may be by the given， rather than the family<br >menls through October 1 also being noted (see page iv for component.<br >additional details on calendar coverageJ. In 1989， for the fifth year in a row， no newly indepen-<br > A major problem facing thecompilersofa globalcom- dent territory entered the community of nations， and it<br >peadium turns on the rendering of both geographic and appeared that the post-World War I1 march toward in-<br >