Classifying political regimes

This study presents a classification of political regimes as democracies and dictatorships for a set of 141 countries between 1950 or the year of independence and 1990. It improves existing classifications by a better grounding in political theory, an exclusive reliance on observables rather than on subjective judgements, an explicit distinction between systematic and random errors, and a more extensive coverage.     

Reviews

John L. H. Keep, The Russian Revolution: A Study in Mass Mobilisation. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1977. 614 pp. £12.50.

Archie Brown and Jack Gray (eds.), Political Culture and Political Change in Communist States. London: Macmillan, 1977. xiii+286 pp. £10.00.

Mary McAuley, Politics and the Soviet Union. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1977. 352 pp. £1.50.

G. P. van den Berg, De regering van Rusland en de Sovjet‐Unie. Leiden: 1977. 258 pp. English summary.

Richard Lowenthal, Model Or Ally: Communist Powers and the Developing Countries, London: OUP, 1977. x+400 pp. £12.95.

Martin McCauley, Khrushchev and the Development of Soviet Agriculture. The Virgin Land Programme 1953–1964. London: Macmillan, 1976. 232 pp. £10.00.

Robert W. Campbell, Trends in the Soviet Oil and Gas Industry. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press for Resources for the Future, 1976. xiv+125 pp.

Joseph S. Berliner, The Innovation Decision in Soviet Industry. Cambridge, Mass, and London: The MIT Press, 1976. ix+561 pp. £23.80.

James Riordan, Sport in Soviet Society. London: CUP, 1977. xi+435 pp. £10.00.

Robert Auty and Dimitry Obolensky (eds.), Companion to Russian Studies. Volume 2. An Introduction to Russian Language and Literature. London: CUP, 1977. 300 pp. £11.50.

Frederick C. Barghoorn, Detente and the Democratic Movement in the USSR. New York and London: The Free Press/Collier Macmillan Publishers, 1976. x+230 pp. $12.95.

Rudolf L. Tokés (ed.), Dissent in the USSR. Politics, Ideology, and People. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975. xvi+464 pp. £7.75.

Alexander Yanov, Detente after Brezhnev: The Domestic Roots of Soviet Foreign Policy. Translated by Robert Kessler. (Policy Papers in International Affairs, No. 2.) Berkeley: Institute of International Studies, University of California, 1977. x+90 pp. $3.00.

Nirmala Joshi, Foundations of Indo‐ Soviet Relations: A Study of Non‐Official Attitudes and Contacts, 1917–1947. New Delhi: Radiant Publishers, 1975. 204 pp. Rs. 30.

J. P. Jain, Soviet Policy Towards Pakistan and Bangladesh. New Delhi: Radiant Publishers, 1974. 258 pp. Rs. 50. $11.50.

Paul E. Lydolph, Geography of the U.S.S.R. Third edition. New York: Wiley, 1977. xi+495 pp.     

Helplessness and Hopelessness in Adolescents who Commit Sexual and Nonsexual Crimes

The authors’ purpose was to test the relationship of helplessness and hopefulness to experienced trauma, as well to explore the role of these emotions to sexual and nonsexual criminal behaviors among 332 residential youths adjudicated for sexual crimes. All subtypes of trauma measured were positively correlated with helplessness, whereas hopelessness was not associated with sexual or physical abuse. Helplessness was associated with the severity of sexual crimes, as well as the commission of multiple nonsexual crimes. Hopelessness was not associated to any sexual crime characteristics and only associated with general delinquency and property damage. In the regression models, controlling for trauma, helplessness predicted sexual and nonsexual criminality, and hopelessness predicted nonsexual criminality. Implications for practice, policy, and research are discussed.     

Police Report Construction When Domestic Violence Surrounds or Involves Child-Parent Relationships

Child-parent relationships can complicate law enforcement responses to domestic violence. Little research has been conducted on the construction of police reports, particularly in domestic violence. The authors analyzed domestic violence police reports to distinguish information recorded for three types of cases: child (adult or minor) involved, child (adult or minor) present, or other adults only. Using a social constructionist criminologist perspective, recorded information differs by the level of child involvement in cases. Discrepancies in report quality and details are important to social policy, as officers’ perceptions of the involved individuals and resources can be clarified through awareness and training.