Reviews

Barbara Caine and Rosemary Pringle (eds), Transitions: New Australian Feminisms (Allen & Unwin) 1995.

Peta Tait, Converging Realities: Feminism in Australian Theatre (Currency Press) Sydney, 1994.

Pauline Johnson, Feminism as Radical Humanism (Allen & Unwin) St Leonards, 1994.

Denise Russell, Women, Madness and Medicine (Polity Press) Cambridge, 1995.

R.W‐ Connell, Masculinities (Allen & Unwin) St Leonards, 1995.

Margaret Maynard, Fashioned from Penury: Dress as Cultural Practice in Colonial Australia (Cambridge University Press) Melbourne, 1994.

Joy Damousi, Women Come Rally: Socialism, Communism and Gender in Australia, 1890–1955 (Oxford University Press) Melbourne, 1995.

Susan Sheridan, Along the Faultlines: Sex, Race and Nation in Australian Women's Writing, 1880s—1930s (Allen & Unwin) Sydney, 1995.     

As outcomes measurement and management become widespread, providers should beware of legal pitfalls

Until new statutes and court decisions clarify the law applicable to outcomes research, providers will continue to face new questions. In the meantime, paying careful attention to satisfying the requirements of existing laws protecting peer review information will put providers in the best position to minimize their exposure. Providers should review their current outcomes measurement and management systems to ensure that (1) they are structured to take full advantage of the confidentiality protections available under state law, and (2) appropriate access to outcomes data for those who need it is clearly provided for in the relevant documentation.     

Book reviews

Hélène Carrère d'Encausse, Une Révolution, une victoire. L'union soviétique de Lénine à Staline 1917–1953. Paris: Editions Richelieu, 1972. 446 pp. 60 F.

Joel C. Moses, Regional Party Leadership and Policy‐Making in the USSR. (Praeger Special Studies in International Politics and Government.) New York: Praeger Publishers, 1974, and London: Pall Mall Press, 1975. xv+263 pp. £8.00.

Robert J. Osborn, The Evolution of Soviet Politics. Homewood, Ill. and London: The Dorsey Press, 1974. xiii+574 pp. $10.95.

Robert H. Donaldson, Soviet Policy toward India: Ideology and Strategy. (Russian Research Center Studies, 74.) Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1974. x+338 pp. £7.50.

Lloyd G. Churchward, Contemporary Soviet Government. Second Edition. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975. 368 pp. £6.95.

Otto Ul?, Politics in Czechoslovakia. San Francisco and Reading: W. H. Freeman, 1975. xi+181 pp. £4.70.

Ivan Volgyes (ed.), Environmental Deterioration in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. (Praeger Special Studies in International Politics and Government.) New York: Praeger, 1974, and London: Pall Mall Press, 1975. xiii+168 pp. $14.00. £6.00.

Rolf Freund, Investitionskriterien als Mittel zur Realisierung eines Entwick‐lungspfades. Dargestellt am Beispiel der UdSSR. Berlin: Osteuropa‐Institut an der Freien Universität Berlin, 1974. v+202 pp. DM 12.00.

László Szamuely, First Models of the Socialist Economic Systems. Principles and Theories. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiádó, 1974. 109 pp. £2.60.

Iain F. Elliot, The Soviet Energy Balance. Natural Gas, Other Fossil Fuels, and Alternative Power Sources. (Praeger Special Studies in Economics and Development.) New York: Praeger Publishers, 1974, and London: Pall Mall Press, 1975. xv+277 pp. £8.00.     

Decommodification and the Workfare State

Two related concepts have been used to understand the welfare state –'decommodification' and the 'workfare' or the 'competition' state, as it relates to processes of 'recommodification'. I show how these related literatures may be integrated in order to enhance our understanding of current labour market policies. Applying these concepts to an analysis of the ideas and policies of New Labour leads to the conclusion that state welfare services are being reconfigured to serve more effectively the needs of the market, through a process of 'administrative recommodification'.     

The development of corporate governance in China

Over the last decade there have been significant economic reforms in China. Foreign investment is encouraged and there are increasing numbers of joint ventures with foreign partners. The stock exchanges of Shanghai and Shenzen have developed quite rapidly, and the expansion of China's economy and the growing importance of foreign investment has implications for the development of corporate governance structures in China. The internationalization of institutional portfolios ensures that there is a cross‐border interest in corporate governance, and that China's steps in developing corporate governance will be watched with interest. In this paper, we will explore the existing cultural aspects of China, the structure of share ownership in China, recent developments that have taken place in China's capital markets, including the growing foreign influence, and their implications for corporate governance developments. We compare and contrast the influences on corporate governance in the West with those in China. We conclude that any model of corporate governance which develops in China is likely to embody the special role of the state and certain idiosyncratic cultural aspects of China, whilst taking on certain of the characteristics of an Anglo‐Saxon corporate governance model.     

Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting: Has Its Time Really Come?

In April 1994 GASB released Concepts Statement No. 2, Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting , bringing required SEA external financial reporting a very large step closer to reality. Before long, public financial officials may be required to annually report measures of performance. We are now about halfway through the experimentation phase established in Statement 2. This article summarizes the status of GASB's SEA experimentation process. It then suggests important behavioral, auditing, and other issues which GASB ought to address before proceeding with any formal pronouncements regarding SEA reporting requirements.