Open revolver cylinder at the suicide death scene

Revolvers with an open cylinder were found at three death scenes of apparently self-inflicted gunshot wounds. All three handguns were Smith & Wesson.38 or.357 revolvers. Investigation revealed that firing the gun with the thumb on the cylinder release latch could disengage the cylinder. A combination of gravity and recoil impact against the thumb would open the cylinder and even allow the casing and the unspent cartridges to fall from the gun, creating a confusing death scene.     

Organizing the Federal System for Homeland Security: Problems, Issues, and Dilemmas

Improving the capacity of U.S. governments to provide greater homeland security will require numerous changes in the way federal, state, and local governments are organized and operate. It also will require significant alterations in intergovernmental relations. Changes will be required in intergovernmental dimensions, including operational, financial, legal, and political dimensions. A dual–track approach to rearranging intergovernmental relationships in order to provide a coordinated intergovernmental response to the requirements of homeland security is to be expected.     

Measurement and the dynamics of party identification

Recent work has questioned the conclusions of the revisionist model of party identification. One central issue concerns the measurement of party identification. According to the critics, the research showing that partisanship is responsive to other political evaluations is in error because of peculiarities of measurement. I test this assertion by considering the effects that changes in measurement have on estimates of the dynamics of party identification. The results strongly support the original revisionist conclusions. The findings of responsiveness of party identification to evaluations of party issue positions are quite robust in the face of alternative measures of party identification.     

State Environmental Regulation and Economic Development: Are They Compatible?

An underlyingussumption of the partial preemption apprmh is the belief that minimum federal standmds contribute to the prospective decentralization of environmental protection programs by removing or reducing industry incentives to shop aroundfor states with a more lenient regulatory stance. This assumption was examined through a survey of chief executive oficers of pollution-generating firms. Tlze data suggest that corporate officials see regulatory climate m an important component of overhead ctxits. The author concludes that the desire to retain industries within state boundaries does inhibit the promulgation of strict environmental regulat ions by public officials.     

B. Reviews and notes of recent bibliographies

i. Islamic Bindings & Bookmaking: A Catalogue of an Exhibition, The Oriental Institute, The University of Chicago, May 18 — August 18, 1981. By Gulnar Bosch, John Carswell and Guy Petheridge. Chicago, 1981. pp.xii, 235, 177 photographs, 15 colour plates, 15 figures. $40.OO (hard cover), $20.00 (soft cover) plus postage and handling charges (foreign surface mail $3.10 and £2.80 respectively). Inquiries and orders to: The Oriental Institute (Attn.: Museum Office), 1155 E. 58th St., Chicago IL 60637, USA.

ii. A Book World Directory of the Arab Countries, Turkey and Iran. Compiled by Anthony Rudkin and Irene Butcher. London, Mansell/Detroit, Gale, 1981. pp.xiv, 143.

iii. Islamic Revolution or Revolutionary Islam in Iran, A Selected and Annotated Bibliography of Political Publications from the Overthrow of the Shah until his Death. By Wolfgang Behn. Berlin, “Ayidok”, 1980. pp.118.

iv. A Brief Guide to Sources for the Study of Afghanistan in the India Office Records. By Lesley Hall. London, India Office Library and Records, 1981. pp.v, 60. £4.00.

v. Scholars’ Guide to Washington, D.C. for Middle Eastern Studies. Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, the Arabian Peninsula, Israel, Turkey, Iran. (Scholars’ Guide to Washington, D.C, No.7) . By Steven R. Dorr. Washington, D.C., Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981. pp.xiii, 540,2. $27.50 (cloth), $12.5O (paper).     

Embattled authoritarians: continuity and collapse in Central and Southwest Asia

ABSTRACT

Why are some authoritarian leaders able to stave off violent challengers to their rule while others falter? This article analyzes several case studies involving a series of nondemocratic governments and violent non-state actors waging war and posits that different combinations of variables lead to dissimilar outcomes (ranging from “civil war/insurgency”, “regime implosion” or “foreign-based overthrow”, “negotiated peace”, to “strategic advance and retreat”). Accordingly, “embattled authoritarians” require a high level of “political-military aid” over time from a supportive foreign power to effectively combat “violent non-state challengers”. However, it is difficult for such governments to completely escape from “embattled” status, particularly if a supportive foreign power does not exert influence to set parameters for peace between the warring parties and the level of international interference (i.e. political-military aid abetting violent non-state challengers courtesy of other foreign powers) does not recede over time. This article concludes with a forecast on Afghanistan and Tajikistan’s respective futures and discusses how the onset of political instability within the former may serve to destabilize the political situation in the latter.