Test of Impacts of Gender Equality and Economic Development on Sexual Violence

Austin and Kim (International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 44, 204–221, 2000) tested the relationship between gender equality and rape victimization by employing an international data set. The current study advances Austin and Kim’s (International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 44, 204–221, 2000) work by employing more variables, such as absolute measures of female socioeconomic status and Muslim and Latin American regional indicators. Additionally, the current work utilizes a larger and updated international data set from The United Nations’ Surveys on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems. The results of multiple regression analyses partially support backlash hypotheses, but not the amelioration hypothesis. An interesting finding of this work is that developed countries display a higher level of sexual violence than their developing counterparts, which is inconsistent with the perspective of the civilizing process on violence. Additionally, Muslim countries register lower sexual violence than non-Muslim ones, while Latin American countries exhibit higher sexual violence than non-Latin American ones.     

Horror and Hope: (re)presenting militarised children in global North–South relations

Elite planners in the Eastern Caribbean sub-region pin their hopes of economic viability on tourism, a vibrant offshore financial (and other) services sector and an increase in export activity from companies operating out of industrial parks. Framed against the perception of an inevitable globalisation process underway, with limitations posed to high-level or diversified manufacturing, power holders have sought to concentrate on the promotion of 'export services' as a viable cover against new competitive challenges. This article argues, however, that this state of affairs betrays a crisis-of-mission within the ruling class on how to reconstruct political economies marked by the hegemony of merchant capital. Rather than a move towards what are globally the most remunerative factors of production--high-level manufacturing and services--a rather curious consensus has emerged which proclaims a solid future for export services without roots and/or ganglia to local manufacturing. The success of such an 'export services' model anywhere in the Eastern Caribbean will not turn as much on the quality of human resources as it will on overcoming the short-term horizon of local politicians, and the low-risk predilections of the wealthy planter-merchant elite. The latter's conscious 'opt out' strategy on the question of manufacturing diversity has made for a strikingly conservative enterprise culture. More specifically, merchant capitalist societies like those in the Eastern Caribbean insufficiently display the sociocultural attributes required for the creation of high-level services: innovation-mediated risk, research and development competence, and affinities to industrial processes and networks.     

Book reviews

European Democratization since 1800 edited by J. Garrard, V. Tolz and R. White. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000. Pp.x + 292; index. £45 (hardback). ISBN 0 3337 3894 2

Changing Party Systems in Western Europe edited by David Broughton and Mark Donovan. London: Pinter, 1999. Pp.315; index. £55 (hardback); £16.99 (paperback). ISBN 1 85567 327 4 and 328 2

How France Votes edited by M. Lewis‐Beck. New York and London: Chatham House, 2000. Pp.xi + 292; index. £18.99 (paperback). ISBN 1 56643 069 0

Democracy the Swedish Way: The 1999 SNS Democratic Audit of Sweden by Olof Petersson, Klaus von Beyme, Lauri Karvonen, Birgitta Nedelmann and Eivind Smith (trans. by Frank G. Perry). Stockholm: SNS Forlag, 1999. Pp.165; bibliography. SEK (Swedish crowns) 300 (paperback). ISBN 91 7150 7612

On My Country and the World by M. Gorbachev (trans. by G. Shriver). New York and Chichester: Columbia University Press and John Wiley, 2000. Pp.278; index. £19.00 (hardback). ISBN 0 231 11514 8

The Limits of Empire: The United States and Southeast Asia since World War II by Robert J. McMahon. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. Pp.ix + 276; index; bibliographic essay; map. £36 (hardback); £13.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 231 10880 X and 10881 8

China's Political System: Modernization and Tradition by June Teufel Dreyer. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press, 2000. Pp xvii + 347; index. £16.50 (paperback). ISBN 0 333 91287 X

The Postcommunist Citizen edited by Samuel H. Barnes and Janos Simon. Budapest: Erasmus Foundation and Institute for Political Science of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1998. Pp.272; index. NP (paperback). ISBN 963 03 5551 5

Federal Practice: Exploring Alternatives for Georgia and Abkhazia edited by Bruno Coppieters, David Darchiashvili and Natella Akaba. Brussels: VUB University Press, 2000. Pp.281. £14.45 (paperback). ISBN 90 5487 2381

Intellectual Politics in Post‐Tiananmen China, Social Text, No.55 edited by Xudong Zhang. Durham: Duke University Press, 1998. Pp.14. US$12 (paperback). ISBN 0 8223 6463 8

Mass Politics and Culture in Democratizing Korea by Doh C. Shin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp.Xxxv +335; index. £37.50 (hardback); £13.95 (paperback). ISBN 0521 651468 and 67823 2

Towards Mexico's Democratization: Parties, Campaigns, Elections and Public Opinion edited by Jorge Domínguez and Alejandro Poiré. London: Routledge, 1999. Pp.xii + 251; index. £45 (hardback); £14.99 (paperback). ISBN: 0 415 92159 7 and 92158 9

Democratization in Africa edited by L. Diamond and M.F. Plattner. Baltimore, MD and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999. Pp.xxvii + 244; index. £32.50 (hardback); £12.50 (paperback). ISBN 0 8018 6272 8 and 6273 6

Democracy and Decentralisation in South Asia and West Africa: Participation, Accountability and Performance by Richard C. Crook and James Manor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp.xvi + 335; index; bibliography. £45 (hardback); £15.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 521 63157 2 and 63647 7

Predatory Globalization: A Critique by Richard Falk. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1999. Pp.x + 217; index. £49.50 (hardback); £14.99 (paperback). ISBN 0 7456 0935 X and 0936 8

The Myth of Global Chaos by Y. Sadowski. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1998. Pp.xv + 267; index. NP (hardback) ISBN 0 8157 7664 0

Political Economy and the Changing Global Order, Second Edition edited by Richard Stubbs and Geoffrey R.D. Underhill. Ontario: Oxford University Press, 2000. Pp.x + 422. £18.99 (paperback). ISBN 0 19 541 4640

Critical Citizens: Global Support for Democratic Governance edited by Pippa Norris. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Pp.xv + 303; index. £45.00 (hardback); £16.99 (paperback). ISBN 0 19 829479 4 and 829568 5

Democracy's Edges edited by I. Shapiro and C. Hacker‐Cordón. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp.xiii + 297; index. £35 (hardback); £12.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 521 64356 and 64389 9

Revitalizing the State: A Menu of Options by Pradip N. Khandwalla. New Delhi and London: Sage Publications, 1999. Pp.304; index. £27.50 (hardback). ISBN 0 7619 9316 9

The Self‐Restraining State edited by A. Schedler, L. Diamond and M.F. Plattner. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1999. Pp.x + 393; index. US$59.95 (hardback); US$24.95 (paperback). ISBN 1 55587 773 7 and 774 5

Technology and Popular Participation edited by Brian Martin. Wollongong: University of Wollongong, Science and Technology Studies, 1999. Pp.263. Gratis (paperback). ISBN 0 86418 559 6

Contemporary Social and Political Theory: An Introduction by F. Ashe et al. Buckingham: Open University Press, 1999. Pp.xi + 209; glossary; bibliography; index. £45 (hardback); £14.99 (paperback). ISBN 0 335 19625 X and 19624 1

The New Political Culture edited by Terry Nichols Clark and Vincent Hoffman‐Martinot. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1998. Pp.298; index. $65 (hardback); $26.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 8133 2814 4 and 6694 1     

From calculation to alienation: disentangling economic abstractions

This article uses a debate between Michel Callon and Daniel Miller to explore tensions within economic sociology and anthropology.The tension is between characterizations of markets and economic rationality that seem to dissolve them into a generalized notion of culture and those which seem to abstract them as specific social forms. The paper argues that markets are best defined in terms of a form of transaction rather than a specific mode of calculation: market transactions involve the alienation of goods in the form of property. Such transactions require the kinds of socio-technical apparatuses that Callon describes, in order to establish both alienability and its limits; on the other hand, and drawing on Callon's own concepts of framing and overflowing, such transactions allow for more diverse, ambiguous and contradictory forms of calculation than Callon seems to allow. The latter point is developed particularly in relation to cultural calculation, typified by marketing and advertising.     

Organized crime: Changing concepts and realities for the police

This brief presentation notes how the lack of clarity of what exactly is meant by “organized crime” as it is evolving, and particularly its transnational dimensions, can create problems and confusion for police and community alike. The role of the media is of particular significance in determining how both police and citizens perceive the scope and impact of organized crime. This in turn has implications for operations, priorities, and so on. The need to address a number of important areas that limit police effectiveness in countering organized crime, such as cooperation and sharing, appropriate resources, and measures of effectiveness, is also noted.     

Public Sector Land Banking: A Decision Model for Local Governments

Local governments frequently face land banking decisions concerning real properties that they may acquire now in open market transactions or later via their power of eminent domain. After construction of a practical local government land banking example, a theoretically correct cash flow and cost-benefit analysis is presented. Then a buy-now or buy-later decision model is developed explaining when to exercise the free American Call Option provided to governments through their power of eminent domain.     

Police Reporting by Sexual Assault Victims in Western and in Non-Western Countries

The current research had the primary goal of investigating the difference in police reporting patterns by sexual assault victims in Western and in non-Western countries. The data for the present study were obtained from the International Crime Victimization Survey. The present work found a significant difference in police reporting behavior by sexual assault victims in Western and in non-Western countries. Gender, urban residency, and the number of offenders were important factors for victims in non-Western countries, but not for those in Western countries. On the other hand, a victim’s prior relationship with his or her offender and family income level were significantly related to police reports in Western countries, but not in non-Western countries.     

A tribute to Earl A. Thompson and, in his own words, a summary of his general economic and social theory

Brilliant but little known, in part because his style was dense and crucial papers unpublished, Earl Thompson reformulated standard theory to achieve policy relevance, focusing on significant rent-seeking inefficiencies stemming from private information and transaction costs. Drawing on history, he showed a vast array of institutions to be efficient which economists had previously found to be inefficient, modeled governments and their nature, defined government’s functions, and showed why dominant states rise and fall.