What explains regional variation in election fraud? Evidence from Russia: a research note

The December 2011 legislative election was among the most fraudulent national elections in Russia since the communist period. The fraud, however, was not evenly spread across the country. Precinct-level election returns from the 83 regions of the Russian Federation suggest that the level of fraud ranged from minimal or small in some regions to extreme in some others, with moderate to high fraud levels in many regions in between. We argue that in an electoral authoritarian context like Russia, regional variation in fraud can be explained by differences in (a) the perceived need by regional authorities to signal loyalty to the center by “delivering” desired election results; (b) the capacity of regional authorities to organize fraud; and (c) the vulnerability of citizens to political pressure and manipulation. We test the effect of signaling, capacity, and vulnerability on electoral fraud in the 2011 legislative elections with data on the 83 regions of the Russian Federation. We find evidence for all three mechanisms, finding that the tenure of governors in office, United Russia's dominance in regional legislatures, and the ethnic composition of regions are most important for explaining regional variation in electoral fraud.     

A note on the “ Hudud al‐'Alam “

The Sino‐Soviet Conflict 1956–61. By Donald S. Zagoria. Princeton University Press; London, Oxford University Press, 1962. Pp. 484. Notes. Appendices. Bibliog. Index. 50s.     

The Ottoman empire in the mid‐nineteenth century: a review

Roderick H. Davison, Reform in the Ottoman Empire, 1856–1876, xiv + 479 pp., bibliography, index; Princeton University Press, London: Oxford University Press, £5 5s.     

New roles in the Japan‐US alliance

"There is a much greater need for the security alliance today than at any time during the Cold War era, and at this critical juncture new lifeblood needs to be injected into this alliance if it is to continue to thrive,” writes Yasuhiro Nakasone, former prime minister of Japan, IIPS chairman, and now well into his fifth decade as a member of the Diet. Nakasone analyzes the state of the alliance, describes the changed roles of the allies, and urges new Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto to explain to the Japanese people the alliance's contribution to peace and prosperity in Asia‐Pacific.     

A note on the Ottoman socio‐economic structure and its response to the Balkan war of 1912

Agrarniye strukturi stran Vostoka, Agrarian Structure of the Countries of the East (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1977; 280 pp.)

Idiyolojiyat al‐Dimuqratiyya al‐Thawriyya al‐Ifriqiyya, The Ideology of African Revolutionary Democracy (Moscow: The Soviet Academy of Science, 1983; 144 pp.)

Partii v riyevolyutsionniy protsyess b stranakh Azii i Afriki, sbornik statyey, Parties in the Revolutionary Processes in the Countries of Asia and Africa: A collection of articles (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1983; 254 pp.)

Kharaktyerniye chyerti sotzial'no‐politichyeskogo razvitiya Arabskikh stran v 1950–1970ye godi, Characteristic Traits of the Socio‐Political Development of the Arab Countries from the 1950s to the 1970s (Erevan: The Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of Soviet Armenia, 1980; 208 pp.)

Arabskiye strani, istoriya i sovryemyennost, The Arab Countries: History and Contemporary Affairs (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1981; 248 pp.)

Contemporary Development of the Arab Countries (Oriental Studies in the USSR, No. 8 – Moscow: ‘Social Sciences Today’ Editorial Board for the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1984; 236 pp.)

V.L. Fatis's Liviya (Moscow: Misl’ Press, 1982; 160 pp.)

N.I. Proshin's Istoriya Livii v novoye vryemya (syeryedina XVI – nachala XXv.), The History of Libya in Modern Times: The Mid‐Sixteenth Century to the Beginning of the Twentieth (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1981; 288 pp.)

Aldzhirskaya narodnaya dyemokratichyeskaya ryespublika, konstitutsiya i zakonodatyel'nye akti, The Algerian Popular Democratic Republic: The Constitution and Legislative Documents (Moscow: Progress Press, 1983; 414 pp.)

Istoriya Aldzhirskoy ryevolyutsii, 1954–1962, History of the Algerian Revolution, 1954–62 (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1983; 287 pp.) by R. G. Landa

Sturm und Drang years, V.S. Svyetlov's Aldzhir syegodnya, Algeria Today (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1981: 222 pp.)

Ochyerki Marokkanskoy istorii (Moscow: Progress Press, 1982; 384 pp.)

V.G. Rasnitsin's Marokko na rubyedzhye dvukh epokh, 1956–1960 g., Morocco Between Two Epochs, 1956–60 (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1983; 144 pp.)

Anna Kowalska‐Lewicka's Mavritaniya, Mauritania (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1981; 304 pp.)     

Faith in forgiveness? Exploring conversions to Christianity within a former Khmer Rouge community

This article explores stories of former members of the Khmer Rouge who have converted to Christianity. It sheds light on the intersections of patterns of religious change in Cambodia, which implicates peace-building, redress, and development trajectories in the wake of conflict and atrocities. The case raises important questions about why former members of the Khmer Rouge convert to Christianity and the social, political, and ethical implications of their conversions. We explore these questions to show that, while transitions and attendant redress efforts in Cambodia have been principally explained at the level of the state, we should pay closer attention to the granular experiences of former Khmer Rouge members as they navigate Cambodia’s changing post-conflict terrain, and the social and cultural sites through which they have made their experiences of the past meaningful.     

Towards a new paradigm for pan‐African knowledge production and application in the context of the African renaissance

Abstract

The article argues that the primary purpose of education, both formal and non‐formal, is the development of interrelated and interdependent sets of human capacity to think, to know and to act by honing social consciousness or awareness, values and skills. Investing in education is therefore viewed as investment in the development of social capital that combines with material resources and other non‐material phenomena to produce goods and services, as well as a favourable spiritual environment for human sustenance and development.

Education in Africa needs a fundamental paradigm change which entails, among other things, focusing on confronting, with a view to correcting and departing from, hegemonic knowledge and knowledge systems that are predicated on racist paradigms that have deliberately and otherwise distorted, and continue to distort, the reality of who Africans really are. The article visits some of the terrains most in need of this change: contestations about the roles Africans and Africa have played in human civilisation during the four main historical periods to date: Africa's leadership as the cradle of humankind or the Naissance of Humanity; Africa's leadership in all fields of knowledge and human achievements at the beginning of modern civilisation up to about the fourteenth century AD; the fifteenth century AD to the present which marks the only period in human development when Africa and Africans have been dominated and marginalised by mainly European civilisation and its global projections; and, the emerging era of the renaissance of Africa and other marginalised peoples.

A model curriculum that requires supplementation by the specific characteristics of each country that adopts it is suggested as a step towards this paradigm change. This modest effort at constructing a model curriculum is informed by the understanding that all Africans and peoples of African descent need to possess some basic, shared common knowledge about Africa, the Diaspora and the world ‐ and to acquire critical approaches to contextualised learning.     

Women in German Politics: Still Jobs for the Boys?

Today the proportion of German politicians who are female is at an all time high. This has largely been achieved via quotas and most of the main parties now operate some kind of quota system. But have quantitative improvements in female representation in been matched by qualitative improvements? This article seeks to answer this question by looking not only at the number of women in parliaments and other collective bodies, but also in the highest echelons of power. It outlines each party's policies regarding the promotion of women and the factors which enhance or hamper their impact. A brief comparison of female political representation in eastern and western Germany is also provided. The author argues that measures such as quotas have increased the number of female German politicians but still do not guarantee them equal access to positions of real power. Furthermore, the incorporation of pro-equality principles into party statutes has not automatically led to their assimilation into party cultures, especially in the case of well-established parties which only recently addressed the gender imbalance in their ranks.     

Confrontation and co‐operation in the Indian Ocean

The end of the Cold War has created new dangers and opportunities. The formation of an Indian Ocean Rim trading bloc has the potential to benefit some of the poorest people in the world. Regional maritime co‐operation could provide the catalyst for alleviating poverty on the Indian Ocean Rim by giving a spurt to incomes and employment from the seas.     

Palestine’s Membership in the Commonwealth as a Contribution to a Lasting Peace in the Middle East

With the re-election of Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu for another four-year term as prime minister of Israel there is a real danger that the peace process has reached an irrevocable impasse. It is argued that bold moves must be considered by the international community to breathe life back into the peace process. To coax Netanyahu into negotiations real pressure must be brought to bear on his government to respect the international consensus on Palestinian statehood and to halt settlement activity in occupied territory. To coax the Palestinian leadership back into a negotiation process with Israel, membership in the Commonwealth should be considered as a stepping stone to membership in the United Nations, to be followed by Israel’s membership in the Commonwealth—but on condition that Israel agrees to abide by international law, and respect the international consensus on the two-state solution, completely freeze settlement activity, including in East Jerusalem, and on condition that Palestine agrees to enter into final status negotiations with Israel to conclude a peace treaty to resolve all remaining disputes.     

Towards a new model of the rise of right‐wing extremism

Terror from the Extreme Right. Edited by Tore Bj?rgo. London: Frank Cass, 1995.

The Extreme Right. Freedom and Security at Risk. Edited by Aurel Braun and Stephen Scheinberg. Boulder: Westview, 1997.

The Logic of Evil. The Social Origins of the Nazi Party, 1925–1933. By William Brustein. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996.

Extremism in Europe. By Jean‐Yves Camus (co‐ordinator). Paris: Editions de l'Aube/CERA, 1997.

The Rise of National Socialism and the Working Classes in Weimar Germany. Edited by Conan Fischer. Providence and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 1996.

The Radical Right in Western Europe. A Comparative Analysis. By Herbert kitschelt (in collaboration with Anthony J. Mcgann). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995.

The Revival of Right‐Wing Extremism in the Nineties. Edited by Peter H. Merkl and Leonard Weinberg. London: Frank Cass, 1997.

Hitler's Thirty Days to Power. January 1933. By Henry Ashby Turner Jnr. Reading, Mass.: Addison‐Wesley, 1996.