A: Reviews: general

BYZANTIUM AND THE EARLY ISLAMIC CONQUESTS. By WALTER E. KAEGI. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992. xiii, 313pp. 5 maps, 2 pp. of plates. £45.00 (hb).

STUDIES IN EARLY MUSLIM JURISPRUDENCE. By NORMAN CALDER. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1993. xiv, 257pp. £35.00.

GOLDEN ROADS: MIGRATION, PILGRIMAGE AND TRAVEL IN MEDIAEVAL AND MODERN ISLAM. Edited by IAN RICHARD NETTON. Richmond (Surrey), Curzon Press, 1993. xvii, 193pp. £35 (hb), £16.99 (pb).

SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT: THE MAN, HIS LIFE, HIS EPOCH. By ANDRE CLOT [trans. from the French]. London, Saqi Books, 1992. viii, 399pp.

POPULAR CULTURE IN MEDIEVAL EGYPT. By BOAZ SHOSHAN. (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993. 148pp. $49.95.

HOLYMEN OF THE BLUE NILE: THE MAKING OF AN ARAB‐ISLAMIC COMMUNITY IN THE NILOTIC SUDAN, 1500–1850. By NEIL MCHUGH. (Northwestern University Press Series in Islam and Society in Africa.) Evanston, Illinois, Northwestern University Press, 1994. xii, 280pp. 3 maps.

OTTOMAN MANUFACTURING IN THE AGE OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. By DONALD QUATAERT. (Cambridge Middle East Library 30.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993. xvii, 224pp. 5 maps, 5 illustrations. £35.

ESTRANGED BEDFELLOWS: BRITAIN AND FRANCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR. By AVIEL ROSHWALD. (Studies in Middle Eastern History.) New York and Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1990. 315pp. Index.

ELUSIVE DEVELOPMENT: FROM DEPENDENCE TO SELF‐RELIANCE IN THE ARAB WORLD. By YUSIF SAYIGH. London, Routledge, 1991. xi, 270pp. £40.

THE MIDDLE EAST AND PROBLEMS OF DEMOCRACY. By HEATHER DEEGAN. Philadelphia, Open University Press, 1993. 135pp. Notes, bibliography, index.

THE MIDDLE EAST AND EUROPE: AN INTEGRATED COMMUNITIES APPROACH. Edited by GERD NONNEMAN. Federal Trust for Education and Research, 1992. 305pp. £30.

STEPPES D'ARABIES. ETATS, PASTEURS, AGRICULTEURS ET COMMERÇANTS: LE DEVENIR DES ZONES SECHES. Edited by RICCARDO BOCCO, RONALD JAUBERT and FRANÇOISE METRAL. Paris, Presses Universitaires de France; Geneva, Cahiers de l'I.U.E.D., 1993. 401pp. n.p.

OIL MONARCHIES: DOMESTIC AND SECURITY CHALLENGES IN THE ARAB GULF STATES. By F. GREGORY GAUSE III. New York, Council on Foreign Relations Inc. xii, 237pp. Map, tables. $16.95 (pb).

SAUDI ARABIA: GOVERNMENT, SOCIETY AND THE GULF CRISIS. By MORDECHAI ABIR. London, Routledge, 1993. xvi, 269pp. £40 (hb).

KUWAIT AND IRAQ: HISTORICAL CLAIMS AND TERRITORIAL DISPUTES. By RICHARD SCHOFIELD. London, Middle East Programme, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 2nd edition, 1993. xv, 207pp. Maps, index. £15.00 (pb).

TERRITORIAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE GULF STATES. Edited by RICHARD SCHOFIELD. London, UCL Press, 1994. (SOAS/GRC Geopolitics Series, 1). xi, 256pp. Maps, index.

KING ABDUL‐AZIZ AND THE KUWAIT CONFERENCE 1923–1924. By MOUDI M. ABDUL‐AZIZ. Translated from Arabic by Basil Hatim with Ron Buckley. London, Echoes, 1993. 169pp. Notes, bibliography, index.

KUWAIT: FALL AND REBIRTH. By MOHAMMED ABDULRAHMAN AL‐YAHYA. London, Kegan Paul International, 1993. x, 130pp. £35.

CONTEMPORARY SYRIA: LIBERALIZATION BETWEEN COLD WAR AND COLD PEACE. Edited by EBERHARD KIENLE. London, British Academic Press in association with the Centre for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, SOAS, 1994. 187pp.

COEXISTENCE IN WARTIME LEBANON: DECLINE OF A STATE AND RISE OF A NATION. By THEODOR HANF. London: Centre for Lebanese Studies in association with I.B. Tauris, 1993. 646pp.

JUDAISM AND MODERNIZATION ON THE RELIGIOUS KIBBUTZ. By ARYEI FISHMAN. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992. 202pp. £32.50.

THE NEGEV BEDOUIN AND LIVESTOCK REARING: SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ASPECTS. By AREF ABU‐RABIA. (Mediterranean Series.) Oxford, Berg Publishers, 1994. 139pp. illustrations, maps, charts, index. £29.95.

THE KURDS OF IRAQ: TRAGEDY AND HOPE. By MICHAEL M. GUNTER. New York, St Martin's Press, 1992. 175pp. Map. £29.95.

Alavi, Hamza, ‘India and the Colonial Mode of Production’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.X, Nos.33–35, August 1975.

Althusser, L. and Balibar, E. Reading Capital. London, New Left Review, 1970.

Foran, John, ‘The Modes of Production Approach to Seventeenth‐century Iran’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol.20, No.3, August 1988.

Foster‐Carter, Aidan, ‘The Modes of Production Controversy’, New Left Review, 107, February 1978.

Hindess, B. and Hirst, P., Mode of Production and Social Formation, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1977.

Mahdi, Ali‐Akbar, ‘The Iranian Social Formation: Pre‐Capitalism, Dependent Capitalism and the World System’, PhD dissertation. Department of Sociology, Michigan State University, 1983.

Weber, Max, The Methodology of Social Sciences (E.A. Shills and H.A. Finch, eds.). New York: The Free Press, 1949.

IRAN AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY. Edited by ANOUSHIRAVAN EHTESHAMI and MANSHOUR VARASTEH. London, Routledge, 1991. 191pp. $35.00.

NOMAD: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A QASHQA'I TRIBESMAN IN IRAN. By LOIS BECK. Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1991. 489pp. 4 maps, 43 photographs, 9 tables.

THE POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF NORTHERN CYPRUS. Edited by C.H. DODD. Hemingford Grey, Eothen Press, 1993. 382pp. £24.95 (pb).

ANTI‐CHRISTIAN POLEMIC IN EARLY ISLAM. ABU ‘ISA AL‐WARRAQ'S ‘AGAINST THE TRINITY’. Edited and translated by DAVID THOMAS. (University of Cambridge Oriental Publications, 45.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992. ix, 218pp.

EARLY PHILOSOPHICAL SHIISM: THE ISMAILI NEOPLATONISM OF ABU YA'QUB AL‐SIJISTANI. By PAUL E. WALKER. (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993. 203pp. £30.

THE SHI'IS OF IRAQ. By YITZHAK NAKASH. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ, 1994. 312pp. £25.

MAHMUD SHALTUT AND ISLAMIC MODERNISM. By KATE ZEBIRI. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1993. viii, 200pp. £27.50.

ISLAM, ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY. By SYED NAWAB HAIDER NAQVI. London, Kegan Paul International, 1994. xxv, 176pp. £35.00.

RELIGION IN THIRD WORLD POLITICS. By JEFF HAYNES. Buckingham, Open University Press, 1993. x, 166pp. £12.99 (pb); £37.50 (hb).

A SYNTAX OF SAN'ANI ARABIC. By JANET C.E. WATSON. (Semitica Viva, 13.) Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 1993. xxii, 454pp.; DM 148.

AN INTRODUCTION TO PERSIAN. By W.M. THACKSTON. Revised Third Edition. Bethesda, Maryland, Iranbooks, 1993. 287pp. $25.00.

MIDDLE EASTERN LIVES: THE PRACTICE OF BIOGRAPHY AND SELF‐NARRATIVE. Edited by MARTIN KRAMER. Syracuse, Syracuse University Press, 1991. viii, 167pp. $19.95 (hb).

HAGIA SOPHIA FROM THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN TO THE PRESENT. Edited by ROBERT MARK and AHMET ?. ÇAKMAK. Cambridge and New York, Cambridge University Press, 1992. 255pp. Numerous illustrations.

THE ARMS AND ARMOUR OF ARABIA. By ROBERT ELGOOD. Aldershot, Scolar Press, 1994. ix, 138pp. £75.00.     

Healthy voting: The effect of self-reported health on turnout in 30 countries

Based on five rounds of European social survey (ESS), we examine both the direct and indirect effect of health, channelled by social connectedness, on turnout in 30 countries. Our analysis is the first attempt to make a comprehensive account of the magnitude of health in electoral participation. The results show that health has an effect on turnout and that it is notably larger among older people. The impact of health is partly mediated by social connectedness, which suggests that attenuated health may weaken an individual's social network which in turn depresses voting.     

The Generational Effect in Turnout in the Swedish General Elections, 1960–2010

Recent analyses have reported a generational pattern in electoral participation both in national and the European Parliament elections which suggests that a lower voting propensity among the younger cohorts remains relatively stable over time. Based on the Swedish national election studies 1960–2010, this article examines the magnitude of generational differences in a high‐turnout context. It contributes to earlier studies by using multilevel modeling to estimate the impacts of life cycle, generation and period on turnout and by aiming to account for the generational effect with institutional‐ and individual‐level factors. The results show a fairly modest generational effect. When controlling for the proportion of party members in the electorate and the effective number of parties, the differences between generations in their propensities to vote are substantially reduced.     

Homicide-suicide - an event hard to prevent and separate from homicide or suicide

Suicide preceded by homicide is a rare but tragic event that often shocks the whole community. Annual rates show considerable variation, though not as great as the incidence of homicides. Within the industrialized nations, Finland's prevalence rates for homicide-suicide have been mid-range. The National Suicide Prevention Project recorded and carefully analysed all suicides committed in Finland during a 12-month period. In this material of almost 1400 suicides, 10 verified homicide-suicide cases were found. The perpetrator was male in all but one case, and all the victims were family, 9/10 being spouses and/or children. The most typical homicide-suicide seemed to be a man shooting a family member during a separation process. No perpetrator was found suffering from a psychotic disorder but three had major depression. The homicide-suicides were compared with the suicides and statistically significant differences emerged in two variables: shooting was more often the method used in the homicide-suicide cases, which, furthermore, were more likely to involve a divorce or recent rupture in another long-term intimate relationship. Sharing few common variables with either homicide or suicide, homicide-suicide appears to be a distinct phenomenon whose prevention would seem to be extremely difficult on the individual level. Since shooting is the most common method of homicide-suicide, firearm licenses should be more restricted.     

Female impulsive aggression: A sleep research perspective

The rate of violent crimes among girls and women appears to be increasing. One in every five female prisoners has been reported to have antisocial personality disorder. However, it has been quite unclear whether the impulsive, aggressive behaviour among women is affected by the same biological mechanisms as among men. Psychiatric sleep research has attempted to identify diagnostically sensitive and specific sleep patterns associated with particular disorders. Most psychiatric disorders are typically characterized by a severe sleep disturbance associated with decreased amounts of slow wave sleep (SWS), the physiologically significant, refreshing part of sleep. Among men with antisocial behaviour with severe aggression, on the contrary, increased SWS has been reported, reflecting either specific brain pathology or a delay in the normal development of human sleep patterns. In our preliminary study among medication-free, detoxified female homicidal offenders with antisocial personality disorder, the same profound abnormality in sleep architecture was found. From the perspective of sleep research, the biological correlates of severe impulsive aggression seem to share similar features in both sexes.     

The Individual-Level Determinants of German Party Membership

Why do citizens join German parties? Do specific attributes and abilities play a determinant role in participation in political parties? The German Party Membership Study of 2009 enables us to answer these questions. On the basis of the telephone survey, we will address these issues by way of a systematic comparison of current party members with fellow citizens who never joined a party. For the purpose of analysing the individual-level determinants of joining a party, we use fundamental explanatory approaches to political participation: The socioeconomic standard model, the social-psychological approach, and the general incentives model. The results of our analyses clearly show that social-psychological attributes best explain the decision to join a party. Nevertheless, the findings for the determinants in both the socioeconomic standard model and the general incentives model complete the picture of citizens who are party members.