A. reviews: general

WARFARE IN THE LATIN EAST, 1192–1291. By CHRISTOPHER MARSHALL. (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, fourth series, 17.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992. xiv, 290pp. 7 figures, 9 plates.

MINORITES RELIGIEUSES DANS L'ESPAGNE MEDIEVALE [ = Revue du Monde Musulman et de la Méditerranée, 63–4]. Aix‐en‐Provence, Edisud, 1992. 292 pp. 150FF.

THE TRANSMISSION OF KNOWLEDGE IN MEDIEVAL CAIRO. By JONATHAN BERKEY. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1992. x, 238pp. $39.50.

PRAGMATISM IN THE AGE OF JIHAD: THE PRECOLONIAL STATE OF BUNDU. By MICHAEL A. GOMEZ. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992. xiii, 252 pp. £35.00.

THE CHURCH OF THE EAST AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. A HISTORY OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY'S ASSYRIAN MISSION. By J.F. COAKLEY. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1992. £45.00.

WOMEN, ISLAM AND THE STATE. By DENIZ KANDIYOTI. London, Macmillan, 1991. 271pp. + index.

MARRIAGE ON TRIAL: A STUDY OF ISLAMIC FAMILY LAW. By ZIBA MIRHOSSEINI. (Society and Culture in Modern Middle East Series.) London, I.B. Tauris, 1993. 200 pp. + notes and index.

WOMEN IN THE MIDDLE EAST: PERCEPTIONS, REALITIES AND STRUGGLES FOR LIBERATION. Edited by HALEH AFSHAR and MARY MAYNARD. Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1993. xiv, 250pp.

WRITING WOMEN'S WORLDS: BEDOUIN STORIES. By LILA ABU‐LUGHOD. Berkeley, Los Angeles and Oxford, University of California Press, 1993. xxiii, 266 pp., bibliography. $30.00 (hb), $12.00 (pb).

NASSER'S BLESSED MOVEMENT: EGYPT'S FREE OFFICERS AND THE JULY REVOLUTION. By JOEL GORDON. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1992. vii, 254 pp.

WAR AND PEACE IN ISRAELI POLITICS: LABOR PARTY POSITIONS ON NATIONAL SECURITY. By EFRAIM INBAR. Boulder and London, Lynne Rien‐ner, 1991. 184pp., appendices. £21.95.

TURKEY AND THE WEST: CHANGING POLITICAL AND CULTURAL IDENTITIES. Edited by METIN HEPER, AYSE ÖNCÜ and HEINZ KRAMER. London/New York, Tauris, 1993. xiv, 289 pp.

TURKEY'S NEW GEOPOLITICS: FROM THE BALKANS TO WESTERN CHINA. By GRAHAM E. FULLER and IAN O. LESSER, with PAUL B. HENZE and J.F. BROWN. Boulder and Oxford, Westview Press, 1993. xv, 197pp.

THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT IN TURKEY, 1960–1980. By IGOR P. LIPOVSKY. Leiden, Brill, 1992. ix, 190pp. $48.75.

ISLAM IN MODERN TURKEY: RELIGION, POLITICS AND LITERATURE IN A SECULAR STATE. Edited by RICHARD TAPPER. London/New York: Tauris, 1991. v, 314 pp.

SIBAWAYH THE PHONOLOGIST: A CRITICAL STUDY OF THE PHONETIC AND PHONOLOGICAL THEORY OF SIBAWAYH AS PRESENTED IN HIS TREATISE AL‐KITAB. By A.A. AL‐NASSIR. London and New York, Kegan Paul International, 1993. xx, 130 pp.

AL‐MADKHAL ILā TAQWīM AL‐LISāN WA‐TA'LīM AL‐BAYāN. By IBN HISHāM AL‐LAKHMī. Edited by JOSÉ PÉREZ LÁZARO. (Fuentes Arábico‐Hispanas, no. 6.) Madrid, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas & Insti‐tuto de Cooperatión con el Mundo Árabe, 1990. 2 vols. 219; 599pp.     

Personal identification based on radiographic vertebral features

Personal identification of human remains constitutes about 10% of the normal caseload of any forensic medicine practice. Identification can be achieved by a variety of methods, one of which is the comparison of antemortem and postmortem radiographs. There are numerous accounts of cranial and dental radiographic features useful for identification, whereas the availability of postcranial radiographs and especially plates that depict the vertebral column is less widespread among the forensic community. The authors here review the various vertebral features instrumental in positive identification that can be identified on radiographs of the spine.     

Marine taphonomy: adipocere formation in a series of bodies recovered from a single shipwreck.

Taphonomy of marine environments has been studied mostly from individual cases. The formation of adipocere, or "grave-wax," is an important indicator of the postmortem interval. In the present paper, the conditions and the timing of adipoceric formation are observed in a series of 15 cadavers recovered at different times, over a period of 433 days, from the same contained environment. Initial foci of adipocere on the subcutaneous tissue of the cadavers were detected as early as 38 days from the time of immersion in cold (10-12 degrees C) sea water. The discrepancies between our findings and previous reports on the correlation between time since death and decomposition stages in marine environments are discussed.     

Making Palestinian “Martyrdom Operations”/“Suicide Attacks”: Interviews With Would-Be Perpetrators and Organizers

Knowledge about the ways in which suicide attacks are recruited and prepared and on the motivation of suicide bombers and the factors that influence the decisions of organizers of suicide attacks has so far been sketchy and sporadic, derived mostly from media sources. In this study, 15 Palestinian would-be suicides and 14 organizers of suicide attacks participated in semi-structured interviews designed to fill this lacuna. The paper focuses on the self-reported feelings and behavior of the suicide bombers from recruitment to dispatching, as well as on the organizers' self-reported views and decisions concerning suicide attacks.     

An Intifada in Europe? A Comparative Analysis of Radicalization Processes Among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza versus Muslim Immigrants in Europe

Groups of second- and third-generation Muslim immigrants in Europe are increasingly undergoing radicalization processes that can lead to violent activity. These immigrants find relief for their frustrations in global jihadi ideology and radical Islam. In seeking to understand these radicalization processes within the European context, the author draws lessons from the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza on the eve of the “First Intifada” (popular uprising) in 1987. While these cases have different root causes and implications, the author's comparative analysis demonstrates that the social processes and generational clashes that lead to radicalization are shared by the two arenas.     

State Weakness and “Vacuum of Power” in Lebanon

The conventional wisdom is that weak and failed states are at great risk of becoming havens for transnational terrorist and guerilla groups. The assumption is that lack of enforcement capabilities enables militant organizations to infiltrate and fill the “vacuum of power” that is created in the absence of a strong state. This article argues, though, that this is only one of the ways in which weak states are attractive to militant groups. It explores the various mechanisms through which the vacuum of power translates into opportunities for such groups. These mechanisms include the easiness of acquiring support and recruitment within refugees or marginalized populations; the ability of the violent non-state transnational organization to establish a “surrogate state” in supplying institutions and services that enhance its public appeal; the relations between civil or communal conflict and the success of such groups; and the use of transnational violent groups as proxies for other states. Using the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Hezbollah in Lebanon as the primary cases, as well as two mini-cases from Central America and Africa, the paper illustrates the working of these mechanisms and contributes to our understanding of the relations between state weakness and transnational violent non-state organizations.     

Clinical issues of middle age and later life

Mental health problems of middle and late life are the focus of this article. Among topics discussed are adjustment reactions to mid-life, late-life transitions, and stressful life events. Emerging mental health problems during this period are considered as a function of increased stress that is not mediated by social supports or effective strategies in coping. Sex differences in adjustive tasks during mid-life and the later years are presented. The impact of family dynamics on mental health is considered. Age-related differences in specific types of mental disorders, including organic problems, schizophrenia, and depression, are reviewed. Sexual problems, substance abuse, and psychosomatic problems are reviewed in the context of clinical problems during middle and late life. Diversity and individual differences in responses to the stresses of life transitions are emphasized while psychosocial strengths of older persons that promote mental health are portrayed.     

Antemortem and Postmortem Nonapposite Data—A Multidisciplinary Identification Strategy

Identification of human remains is often achieved by comparing documented reference data with the same type of evidence obtained from the remains. We present a case of a decomposed unidentified body, whose identity was presumed but because of the low validity range of the available data, the identification process could not be completed. Antemortem radiographs of the teeth found in the house of the reputed victim could not be compared to the edentulous cadaver and the kinship between the victim and the only living relative that could provide DNA for comparison was too tenuous. Isolated teeth found at the scene, were neither a source of DNA reference information nor questioned data to be compared to the antemortem radiographs. The strategy implemented by the investigators to reallocate the status of the isolated teeth from the questioned source to the reference source of DNA to be compared with the cadaver is presented.     

Terrorist Organization Typologies and the Probability of a Boomerang Effect

Since the 1970s, many researchers have proposed typologies to sort the phenomenon of terror into different categories and to divide terror organizations into groups based on various characteristics of their activities. These typologies were designed to facilitate understanding of the phenomenon of terror and of terror organizations’ processes, structures and operative methods. They relied on a variety of diagnostic criteria such as: motives for using terror, targets of the attacks, terrorists’ demands, organizational structure; arenas of operation; and more. This article surveys major typologies of terror, notes the differences between them, presents a model to combine the different classifications of the typologies into a single typology, and proposes a new typology that sorts terror organizations by the variables that limit their activities. The proposed typology makes it possible to analyze terror organizations’ behavior and even to forecast their reactions to a situation in which they are attacked by the enemy state—the boomerang effect.