A: Reviews: general

BYZANTIUM AND THE EARLY ISLAMIC CONQUESTS. By WALTER E. KAEGI. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992. xiii, 313pp. 5 maps, 2 pp. of plates. £45.00 (hb).

STUDIES IN EARLY MUSLIM JURISPRUDENCE. By NORMAN CALDER. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1993. xiv, 257pp. £35.00.

GOLDEN ROADS: MIGRATION, PILGRIMAGE AND TRAVEL IN MEDIAEVAL AND MODERN ISLAM. Edited by IAN RICHARD NETTON. Richmond (Surrey), Curzon Press, 1993. xvii, 193pp. £35 (hb), £16.99 (pb).

SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT: THE MAN, HIS LIFE, HIS EPOCH. By ANDRE CLOT [trans. from the French]. London, Saqi Books, 1992. viii, 399pp.

POPULAR CULTURE IN MEDIEVAL EGYPT. By BOAZ SHOSHAN. (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993. 148pp. $49.95.

HOLYMEN OF THE BLUE NILE: THE MAKING OF AN ARAB‐ISLAMIC COMMUNITY IN THE NILOTIC SUDAN, 1500–1850. By NEIL MCHUGH. (Northwestern University Press Series in Islam and Society in Africa.) Evanston, Illinois, Northwestern University Press, 1994. xii, 280pp. 3 maps.

OTTOMAN MANUFACTURING IN THE AGE OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. By DONALD QUATAERT. (Cambridge Middle East Library 30.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993. xvii, 224pp. 5 maps, 5 illustrations. £35.

ESTRANGED BEDFELLOWS: BRITAIN AND FRANCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR. By AVIEL ROSHWALD. (Studies in Middle Eastern History.) New York and Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1990. 315pp. Index.

ELUSIVE DEVELOPMENT: FROM DEPENDENCE TO SELF‐RELIANCE IN THE ARAB WORLD. By YUSIF SAYIGH. London, Routledge, 1991. xi, 270pp. £40.

THE MIDDLE EAST AND PROBLEMS OF DEMOCRACY. By HEATHER DEEGAN. Philadelphia, Open University Press, 1993. 135pp. Notes, bibliography, index.

THE MIDDLE EAST AND EUROPE: AN INTEGRATED COMMUNITIES APPROACH. Edited by GERD NONNEMAN. Federal Trust for Education and Research, 1992. 305pp. £30.

STEPPES D'ARABIES. ETATS, PASTEURS, AGRICULTEURS ET COMMERÇANTS: LE DEVENIR DES ZONES SECHES. Edited by RICCARDO BOCCO, RONALD JAUBERT and FRANÇOISE METRAL. Paris, Presses Universitaires de France; Geneva, Cahiers de l'I.U.E.D., 1993. 401pp. n.p.

OIL MONARCHIES: DOMESTIC AND SECURITY CHALLENGES IN THE ARAB GULF STATES. By F. GREGORY GAUSE III. New York, Council on Foreign Relations Inc. xii, 237pp. Map, tables. $16.95 (pb).

SAUDI ARABIA: GOVERNMENT, SOCIETY AND THE GULF CRISIS. By MORDECHAI ABIR. London, Routledge, 1993. xvi, 269pp. £40 (hb).

KUWAIT AND IRAQ: HISTORICAL CLAIMS AND TERRITORIAL DISPUTES. By RICHARD SCHOFIELD. London, Middle East Programme, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 2nd edition, 1993. xv, 207pp. Maps, index. £15.00 (pb).

TERRITORIAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE GULF STATES. Edited by RICHARD SCHOFIELD. London, UCL Press, 1994. (SOAS/GRC Geopolitics Series, 1). xi, 256pp. Maps, index.

KING ABDUL‐AZIZ AND THE KUWAIT CONFERENCE 1923–1924. By MOUDI M. ABDUL‐AZIZ. Translated from Arabic by Basil Hatim with Ron Buckley. London, Echoes, 1993. 169pp. Notes, bibliography, index.

KUWAIT: FALL AND REBIRTH. By MOHAMMED ABDULRAHMAN AL‐YAHYA. London, Kegan Paul International, 1993. x, 130pp. £35.

CONTEMPORARY SYRIA: LIBERALIZATION BETWEEN COLD WAR AND COLD PEACE. Edited by EBERHARD KIENLE. London, British Academic Press in association with the Centre for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, SOAS, 1994. 187pp.

COEXISTENCE IN WARTIME LEBANON: DECLINE OF A STATE AND RISE OF A NATION. By THEODOR HANF. London: Centre for Lebanese Studies in association with I.B. Tauris, 1993. 646pp.

JUDAISM AND MODERNIZATION ON THE RELIGIOUS KIBBUTZ. By ARYEI FISHMAN. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992. 202pp. £32.50.

THE NEGEV BEDOUIN AND LIVESTOCK REARING: SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ASPECTS. By AREF ABU‐RABIA. (Mediterranean Series.) Oxford, Berg Publishers, 1994. 139pp. illustrations, maps, charts, index. £29.95.

THE KURDS OF IRAQ: TRAGEDY AND HOPE. By MICHAEL M. GUNTER. New York, St Martin's Press, 1992. 175pp. Map. £29.95.

Alavi, Hamza, ‘India and the Colonial Mode of Production’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.X, Nos.33–35, August 1975.

Althusser, L. and Balibar, E. Reading Capital. London, New Left Review, 1970.

Foran, John, ‘The Modes of Production Approach to Seventeenth‐century Iran’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol.20, No.3, August 1988.

Foster‐Carter, Aidan, ‘The Modes of Production Controversy’, New Left Review, 107, February 1978.

Hindess, B. and Hirst, P., Mode of Production and Social Formation, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1977.

Mahdi, Ali‐Akbar, ‘The Iranian Social Formation: Pre‐Capitalism, Dependent Capitalism and the World System’, PhD dissertation. Department of Sociology, Michigan State University, 1983.

Weber, Max, The Methodology of Social Sciences (E.A. Shills and H.A. Finch, eds.). New York: The Free Press, 1949.

IRAN AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY. Edited by ANOUSHIRAVAN EHTESHAMI and MANSHOUR VARASTEH. London, Routledge, 1991. 191pp. $35.00.

NOMAD: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A QASHQA'I TRIBESMAN IN IRAN. By LOIS BECK. Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1991. 489pp. 4 maps, 43 photographs, 9 tables.

THE POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF NORTHERN CYPRUS. Edited by C.H. DODD. Hemingford Grey, Eothen Press, 1993. 382pp. £24.95 (pb).

ANTI‐CHRISTIAN POLEMIC IN EARLY ISLAM. ABU ‘ISA AL‐WARRAQ'S ‘AGAINST THE TRINITY’. Edited and translated by DAVID THOMAS. (University of Cambridge Oriental Publications, 45.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992. ix, 218pp.

EARLY PHILOSOPHICAL SHIISM: THE ISMAILI NEOPLATONISM OF ABU YA'QUB AL‐SIJISTANI. By PAUL E. WALKER. (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993. 203pp. £30.

THE SHI'IS OF IRAQ. By YITZHAK NAKASH. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ, 1994. 312pp. £25.

MAHMUD SHALTUT AND ISLAMIC MODERNISM. By KATE ZEBIRI. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1993. viii, 200pp. £27.50.

ISLAM, ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY. By SYED NAWAB HAIDER NAQVI. London, Kegan Paul International, 1994. xxv, 176pp. £35.00.

RELIGION IN THIRD WORLD POLITICS. By JEFF HAYNES. Buckingham, Open University Press, 1993. x, 166pp. £12.99 (pb); £37.50 (hb).

A SYNTAX OF SAN'ANI ARABIC. By JANET C.E. WATSON. (Semitica Viva, 13.) Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 1993. xxii, 454pp.; DM 148.

AN INTRODUCTION TO PERSIAN. By W.M. THACKSTON. Revised Third Edition. Bethesda, Maryland, Iranbooks, 1993. 287pp. $25.00.

MIDDLE EASTERN LIVES: THE PRACTICE OF BIOGRAPHY AND SELF‐NARRATIVE. Edited by MARTIN KRAMER. Syracuse, Syracuse University Press, 1991. viii, 167pp. $19.95 (hb).

HAGIA SOPHIA FROM THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN TO THE PRESENT. Edited by ROBERT MARK and AHMET ?. ÇAKMAK. Cambridge and New York, Cambridge University Press, 1992. 255pp. Numerous illustrations.

THE ARMS AND ARMOUR OF ARABIA. By ROBERT ELGOOD. Aldershot, Scolar Press, 1994. ix, 138pp. £75.00.     

Demythologising the petite bourgeoisie: The Italian case

The political volatility and economic instability of the petite bourgeoisie are taken for granted in most political and sociological analysis. Viewed as a pivotal force in historic and contemporary movements of the extreme right, it is widely believed to exercise a constant ‘threat’ potential, thus guaranteeing its protection throughout the post‐war period — above all in the Italian context where small economic entrepreneurs persist in substantial numbers. Using a variety of evidence, including electoral and survey materials, this article counterposes to the ‘pathological’ interpretation of the petite bourgeoisie an alternative profile, one that stresses its confidence, its stability of allegiance and its commitment to centrism.     

Discretion and the Sex Dyad: Exploring the Interactive Effects of Offender and Victim Sex on Reporting and Arrest of One-on-One Assaultive Crime

Gender has been hypothesized to affect how violent offenders are treated within the criminal justice system, but studies have tended to ignore the role of the victim in decision making. This study explores the interactive effects of offender and victim sex (i.e., the sex dyad) on reporting and arrest of one-on-one assaultive crime. Using data from the National Crime Victimization Survey and National Incident-Based Reporting System, findings show that male-on-female offenses are reported to police more often than other dyads, but female-on-male offenses result in more arrests. Meanwhile, female-on-female offenses result in fewer arrests, despite nonsignificant differences in reporting. Implications of findings for theory and future research on gender discretion are discussed.     

Characterizing the Performance of Pipe Bombs

Pipe bombs of steel or PVC fragment in reproducible patterns when similarly configured. The power of the explosion correlates with number, mass, and size of the fragments recovered, where a large number of small, low‐mass fragments indicate a high‐power event and vice versa. In discussing performance, describing pipe fragmentation pattern by fragment weight distribution mapping (FWDM) or fragment surface area distribution mapping (FSADM) was useful. When fillers detonated, detonation velocities of ~4.4 mm/μs were measured. In such cases, side walls of the pipe were thrown first; the average fragment velocity was ~1000 km/s. In deflagrations, the end cap was first thrown; fragment velocities were only ~240 km/s. Blast overpressures varied; at 10 feet, 2 × 12 inch steel pipes containing ~550 g of detonable mixture produced overpressures of 5–6 psi; similar nondetonating pipes produced less than 2 psi. Maximum fragment throw distances were 250–300 m, with an average of ~100 m.     

Transaction Costs and the Establishment of the European Security and Defense Policy

This article explains the establishment of the European Union's Security and Defense Policy (esdp) in 1998–99 and its institutional design. I argue that both the soft balancing explanation and the “second wave” of approaches fall short. In contrast, the article shows that liberal-institutionalist thought and transaction costs economics offer a heuristically promising perspective. Most crucially, the pivotal concept of asset specificity provides explanatory leverage. The combination of risks of opportunism and the non-specificity of esdp's ultimate assets explains why and how the major European powers designed the eu's security and defense pillar in 1998–99. Empirically, I trace how the United Kingdom and France were gradually confronted with not fully credible commitments within nato for crisis management in Europe. Based primarily on the signals sent by us domestic politics, they were increasingly concerned about isolationism and questioned the American commitment to European security. Therefore, they were searching for another institutional option for providing security on a long-term basis. Although this assessment of ex post transaction costs triggered the initial establishment of esdp, ex ante transaction costs were responsible for its more specific design. Given the indirect American threat of disengagement when faced with Europe's aspirations for autonomy, esdp had to be designed in a compatible way with nato. Non-specific, and thus redeployable, military assets represented the institutional solution to the conflict between European autonomy and NATO's primacy. In other words, asset specificity as the key analytical concept of transaction costs economics is what differentiates this argument from previous accounts and provides a more comprehensive framework for understanding both the establishment and design of esdp in 1998–99.     

A welfare analysis of the EC‐ACP sugar protocol

The Sugar Protocol, laid down in the Convention of Lome, has been an established instrument of commodity policy for nearly 20 years. Its basic rule is that the EC imports at guaranteed prices specified quantities of sugar from ACP countries. It is the objective of the article to provide an economic evaluation of the Sugar Protocol. Impacts on prices, trade, export earnings and economic welfare are elaborated. The Sugar Protocol's impacts on the level and instabilty of sugar export earnings are jointly evaluated by computing transfer and risk benefits along the lines of Newbery/Stiglitz. A major conclusion is that the policy has to be evaluated differently from the donor's and the recipient's point of view. The Sugar Protocol induces international income transfers that are untargeted in terms of per capita income. It causes, however, rather strong risk benefits compared with other instruments of international commodity policy and sizeable welfare gains for individual recipient countries.     

Use and Evolution of the Claims-Made Policy Form in Environmental Insurance: Selected Issues

Environmental risks have two basic components: the policyholder's obligation to clean up contaminated property and the policyholder's potential liability to third parties, including the government, resulting from environmental damage. The environmental risks for which policyholders seek coverage include environmental cleanup costs, third-party bodily injury claims, third-party property damage or devaluation claims, fines/penalties for noncompliance, or loss of market share due to lack of environmental stewardship. To be certain that all aspects of potential environmental liability are covered, an expert insurance consultant or broker should be retained to plan the program, analyze policy language and execute the purchase in the most cost effective way.