The first Moscow station: An espionage footnote to cold war history

Views of intelligence

Abram N. Shulsky: Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence Brassey's (US), Inc., Washington, D.C., 1991, 222p., $19.95.

An introduction to intelligence

Abram N. Shulsky: Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence Brassey's, Washington, D.C., 1991, 222 p., $19.95.

Scuttling notions

G. J. A. O'Toole: Honorable Treachery: A History of U.S. Intelligence, Espionage, and Covert Action from the American Revolution to the CIA A A Morgan Entrekin Book, The Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, 1991, 591 p., $35.

Which will is will?

Peter Sammartino: The Man Who Was William Shakespeare Cornwall Books, New York, 1990, 132p., $14.50.

FDR's mistake? Not likely

Good camera, poor exposure

Morris G. Moses: Spy Camera—The Minox Story Hove Press Books, Sussex, U.K., 1990, 194 p., $37.95.

Istanbul a la Casablanca

Barry Rubin: Istanbul Intrigues McGraw‐Hill, New York, 1989, 301 p., $18.95.

Understanding terrorism

David E. Long: The Anatomy Of Terrorism The Free Press, New York, 1990, 224 p., $22.95.     

Stalin and the cold war: A review article

Caroline Kennedy‐Pipe, Stalin's Cold War: Soviet Strategies in Europe, 1943 to 1956. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995, 218 pp., £40.00 h/b, £14.99 p/b.

R. C. Raack, Stalin's Drive to the West, 1938–1945: The Origins of the Cold War. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995, 265 pp., £35.00 h/b.     

After the cold war: New strategies in Latin American-United States relations

Eds. Note: This article was written in the early 1990s, during the last year of George Bush's presidency. Since then NAFTA negotiations have been completed and the treaty is now in operation. An updating of the article would require considerable statistical revision, as well as further analysis of events. Neither the statistics nor the events; however, require a revision of the interpretative perspective advanced in the article.     

Modes of transition and the timing of separatist war onset: a comparative analysis of South Ossetia and Kosovo

This paper compares the escalation of civil war in South Ossetia and Kosovo and shows how different modes of transition deeply influenced the timing and type of conflict in these two cases. It argues that regimes resulting from a transition from above – when the elite in power leads the process of regime change and imposes its political agenda on other social actors – are more likely to ensure political stability in the short term, since governments are more cohesive internally, enjoy the support of the military, and can rely on a loyal bureaucracy. In contrast, regimes that emerge from transitions from below are more likely to experience civil war with an ethnic minority in the short term because of an intrinsic weakness of the elite in power. Under these circumstances, the newcomers need to win the loyalty of the military and of the bureaucracy, and separatist groups can take advantage of the incumbents’ weaknesses and try to build resources to militarily challenge the state.     

The world's trading system in the post cold war era: implications for public administration

The authors of this article argue that the world is evolving into a regional bloc trading system with important public policy implications. Recent developments in North America and Europe suggest that regional integration is becoming an alternative approach to the multilateral trade deliberations under the auspices of the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The reasons for the evolution are suggested in this article, and arguments are presented on how the negative implications of this trend in world trade can be countered effectively by constructive domestic and international government action.     

Gorbachev, ideology, and the fate of Soviet communism

The collapse of the Soviet Union has spurred much scholarly debate about the reasons for the rapid disintegration of this apparently entrenched system. In this article, it is argued that the basic source of ultimate weakness was the obverse of the system's strengths, especially its form of organization and its relation to Marxist–Leninist ideology. Democratic centralism provided cohesion for the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) but also gave inordinate control over ideology to the party leader. Mikhail Gorbachev carried out an ideological revision that undercut the legitimacy of party elites and his restructuring of the system left the party with no clear functional role in the society. The successor party, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), has made a surprising comeback for communism, utilizing the Leninist model of party organization, which has proved to be highly effective in the Russian political culture. Furthermore, the CPRF, under party leaders like Gennadi Zyuganov, has avoided Gorbachev's ideological deviations while attempting to broaden the party's base through the cultivation of Russian nationalism.     

Parties,ideology and elections: the politics of federal revenues and expenditures forecasting

Some scholars view problems in the accuracy of federal fiscal forecasts as being largely technical in nature .Others intimate that there may be a political component as well. This paper exlpores the relative merits of these two perspectives finding some support for each. Executive forecasts were found to be random with respect to direction of errors , error magnitudes increased in absolute terms over time , and revenues estimate error s tended to cluster in short bursts. Executive forecasting errors were also linked to presidential party , ideology and year in the election cycle.     

Regeneration,partnerships and communities: Towards an ideology for the third way

Government by Consent: The Principle and Practice of Accountability in Local Government, Margaret Simey, Bedford Square Press, pp. 53, £2.95.

Local Democracies: A Study in Comparative Local Government, Margaret Bowman and William Hampton (eds), Longman, Cheshire, 1983, pp. 207, £6.95 paperback.

Fiscal Tiers: the Economics of Multilevel Government, David King, George Allen and Unwin in association with The Centre for Research on Federal Financial Relations, The Australian National University, 1984, pp. vii + 326. No price given.

Fiscal Decentralisation, Thomas Wilson (ed.), Anglo‐German Foundation for the Study of Industrial Society, 1984, pp. vii + 197, £8,80.

Community Action for Change, Ray Lees and Majorie Mayo, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984, pp. 208, £6.95 paperback.

Women's Committees: A Study of Gender and Local Policy Formulation, Working Paper no. 45, S. Button, School for Advanced Urban Studies, University of Bristol, 1984, pp. 110, £4.20 paperback.

The Idea of Neighbourhood, What Local Politics Should be about, J. Seabrook, Pluto Press, 1984, pp. 147, £3.95 paperback.     

Oil,war, and semiperipheral mobility: The case of Iraq

Semiperipheral states have been characterized as politically tumultuous and economically dynamic. Iraq, in particular, manifests these tendencies. I explore the crucial events, shifts, and discontinuities that add up to Iraq’s changing position within the world-system over the past half century. These elements cannot be studied independent of transformations in the historic “weak state/strong bourgeoisie configuration,” which are integral components of its change. Nor can they be examined apart from world conditions. The outcome of Iraq’s attempts at semiperipheral mobility is also determined by the global petroleum hunger and geopolitical situation. Especially in the last instance, whether the world context is favorable to a particular kind of move virtually determines the outcome.     

Regenerating the City: People,Politics, Power and the Public Sphere

Abstract

The transformative potential that has come to be associated with networking in all areas of social, economic and political life, not least initiatives designed to tackle urban deprivation, is premised upon the idea that better outcomes prevail when state, market and civil society actors work together in partnership to agree and implement change. Such a perspective is informed by two underlying and related assumptions; first, an understanding of democracy as being essentially deliberative in nature; second, an understanding of social and political change as being essentially consensus based. An agonistic model and alternative explanation questioning these assumptions and the ‘transformative’ claims made on behalf of partnership is presented in this article. In contrast to what is termed a ‘neo-liberal orthodox’ approach an alternative interpretation of regeneration located within a radical conceptualisation of civil society is proposed. Regeneration, it is argued, is better conceptualised in terms of contestation between state, market and third-sector interests with better outcomes for communities prevailing when third-sector actors develop the legitimacy and power to engage politically within the context of a contested public sphere.