Testing for the Equality of Maximum-Likelihood Regression Coefficients Between Two Independent Equations

Consider the case where one obtains maximum-likelihood estimates of regression coefficients for the respective populations from which each of two large independent samples is drawn. A question sometimes asked about the results of such an analysis is whether there is a difference between a coefficient in one population, _a, and the same coefficient in another population, _b. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of two test statistics that have been used to address this problem. Our results suggest that one statistic produces valid conclusions, while the other fails.     

Multiculturalism

In rejecting the liberal claim to the universality of morals, some contemporary philosophers insist on the danger of reducing the human being to an abstraction. This paper goes beyond this debate. The theoretical core of multiculturalism is the recognition that these universalistic claims can be realised in different ways in different cultures, so as to require a re-conception of the liberal thesis of the well-being and dignity of people. This interpretation of morality cannot be understood within the ideology of nationalism. Replacing nationalism as the common bond of society is thus one of the main political challenges facing multiculturalism. However, any specific policy must presuppose a new social sensitivity: Societies are not made up of majorities and minorities, but of a plurality of cultural groups. This is why the notion of toleration is not enough. 1 Abstract by Antonio Rotolo.
     

A: Reviews: general

PALESTINIAN PEASANTS AND OTTOMAN OFFICIALS: RURAL ADMINISTRATION AROUND SIXTEENTH‐CENTURY JERUSALEM. By Amy Singer. (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1995.

THE PASHA'S PEASANTS: LAND, SOCIETY, AND ECONOMY IN LOWER EGYPT, 1740–1858. By Kenneth M. Cuno. (Cambridge Middle East Library, 27.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992. 295 pp., tables, appendices, index. £35.00 (hb).

SOCIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. Edited by Mete Tunçay and Erik Jan Zürcher. London & New York, British Academic Press, in association with the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam. 222 pp. £39.50.

INSIDE THE ARAB WORLD. By Michael Field. London, John Murray, 1994. 439 pp., maps. £25.

STRUGGLE AND SURVIVAL IN THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST. Edited by Edmund Burke III. London & New York, I. B. Taurís, 1993. xi, 393 pp. £14.95 (pb).

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF SYRIA UNDER ASAD. By Volker Perthes. London & New York, I. B. Tauris, 1995. 298 pp. £39.50.

THE ARAB MINORITY IN ISRAEL 1967–1991: POLITICAL ASPECTS. By Jacob M. Landau. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1993.

THE ARAB MINORITY IN ISRAEL'S ECONOMY: PATTERNS OF ETHNIC INEQUALITY. By Noah Lewin‐Epstein and Moshe Semyonov. (Social Inequality Series.) Oxford, Westview Press, 1993.

THE HEALTH CARE OF THE ARABS IN ISRAEL. By Nira Reiss. (Westview Special Studies on the Middle East.) Oxford, Westview Press, 1991.

THE GULF: ENERGY AND GLOBAL SECURITY. By Charles F. Doran and Stephen W. Buck. London, Lynne Rienner, 1991. 228 pp. £27.50.

IRAN AND THE COLD WAR: THE AZERBAIJAN CRISIS OF 1946. By Louise Fawcett. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992. 181 pp. £32.50.

THE GULF CONFLICT, 1990–1991: DIPLOMACY AND WAR IN THE NEW WORLD ORDER. By Lawrence Freedman and Efraim Karsh. London, Faber & Faber, 1994. xlv, 504 pp.

IRAN AND IRAQ: THE THREAT FROM THE NORTHERN GULF. By Anthony H. Cordesman. Oxford, Westview Press, 1994. x, 378 pp. £45.50 (hb), £16.95 (pb).

THE UNITED NATIONS, IRAN, AND IRAQ: HOW PEACEMAKING CHANGED. By Cameron R. Hume. Buckingham, Open University Press, 1994. xi, 269 pp. £27.50.

THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH PETROLEUM COMPANY. Volume 2: THE ANGLO‐IRANIAN YEARS 1928–1954. By J. H. Bamberg. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994. 639 pp. 55 tables, 5 maps, 20 graphs and diagrams, 88 illustrations, 3 appendices, index. £55.00 (hb).

POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC TRENDS IN CENTRAL ASIA. Edited by Shirin Akiner. London, British Academic Press, 1994. ix, 205 pp.

FAITH AND FREEDOM: WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE MUSLIM WORLD. Edited by Mahnaz Afkhami. London, I. B. Tauris, 1995. xi, 244 pp: £12.95 (pb).

DECIPHERING THE SIGNS OF GOD: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH TO ISLAM. By Annemarie Schimmel. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1994. 317 pp. £39.50.

BEYOND FAITH AND INFIDELITY: THE SUFI POETRY AND TEACHINGS OF MAHMUD SHABISTARI. By Leonard Lewisohn. (Curzon Sufi Series.) Richmond, Curzon Press, 1995. 344 pp. £14.99.

GIVING VOICE TO STONES: PLACE AND IDENTITY IN PALESTINIAN LITERATURE. By Barbara McKean Parmenter. Austin, University of Texas Press, 1994. ix, 117 pp. One map.

GENIZAH RESEARCH AFTER 90 YEARS: THE CASE OF JUDAEO‐ARABIC: PAPERS READ AT THE THIRD CONGRESS OF THE SOCIETY FOR JUDAEO‐ARABIC STUDIES. Edited by Joshua Blau and Stefan C. Reif. (University of Cambridge Oriental Publications, 47.) Cambridge and New York, Cambridge University Press, 1992. 1 illustration, 3 indexes, xiv, 176 pp. $54.95.

ARABIC SOCIOLINGUISTICS: ISSUES AND PERSPECTIVES. Edited by Yasir Suleiman. Richmond, Curzon Press, 1994. xv, 273 pp.

DIE MAMLUKISCHE ARCHITEKTUR IN ÄGYPTEN UND SYRIEN. By Michael Meinecke. (Abhandlung des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Kairos, Islamische Reihe, Band 5.) Gluckstadt, Verlag J. J. Augustin GmbH, 1994. 2 vols., 819 pp. 142 pis., 153 plans.     

Book reviews

Tsou Tang, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Zhengzhi: Cong hongguan lishi yu weiguan xingdong jiaodu kan [Twentieth Century Chinese Politics: Viewed from the Perspective of Macro History and Micro Actions] (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1994).

Eric Harwit, China's Automobile Industry: Policies, Problems, and Prospects (Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1995).     

Ghana's elections of 7 December 2016: A post-mortem

Ghana went to presidential and parliamentary polls on 7 December 2016, leading to the defeat of President John Mahama and the National Democratic Congress government by the opposition, the New Patriotic Party led by Nana Akufo-Addo. The outcome of the elections therefore followed in the same vein as those held in Ghana in 2000 and 2008, in which the incumbent party lost to the opposition. This article is based on a desk study review of the 2016 elections. There is a brief overview of the state of affairs in Ghana's electoral politics, followed by a discussion of Ghana's electoral reforms, the organisation and management of the elections, the candidates and the campaigns, and the outcome of the elections, as well as some of the challenges that faced the transition process.     

Family Historiography in The White Earth

In recent years, family history research has become a popular activity for many Australians. This imperative to connect with our ancestors extends into the field of literary production. In this essay, we examine one prominent novel that reflects this movement, Andrew McGahan’s The White Earth (2004). Looking through a lens of family history and historiography, the novel asks questions about postcolonial belonging, inheritance, and the violent foundations of the nation. McGahan’s young protagonist, William, stands to inherit a vast but crumbling property on the Darling Downs in Queensland. As William discovers more about the land, he comes into contact with both his own white pastoralist ancestors, and the powerful Indigenous spirits who inhabit secret and sacred spaces in the landscape. We argue that William’s encounter with secret family histories produces the hysteria at the climax of the novel, when the repressed violence of the past returns to haunt the present. Confronted with hidden knowledge, William—and, by proxy, the reader—is called to reconsider inherited histories in light of contemporary historiographies. The move towards knowledge of the family’s origins is a realisation of the complexity of the white Australian relationship to the land and its first inhabitants.     

Privacy for the institutionalized mentally ill

During the past decade the courts have taken an increasingly active rule in shaping the physical facilities that house environmentally captive individuals. Perhaps the most influential of these cases was Wyatt v. Stickney (1972), which has been cited as a basis for standards promulgated by other courts (e.g., Davis v. Hubbard, 1980), for model standards (Staff, 1977), and for changes made by administrators fearing litigation (Sommer & Kroll, 1979). Despite this widespread acceptance, there was no apparent empirical basis for, or validation of, the standards. The purpose of the present study was to assess the validity of the behavioral assumptions underlying the Wyatt standards regarding physical changes intended to ensure patient privacy. Patient perceptions of privacy were examined on two units in a facility that met the standards mandated in Wyatt. The results demonstrated that although some of the court's assumptions were valid, several were not, and that overall the standards in this influential case do not ensure patient privacy for the institutionalized mentally ill. The implications of these findings are discussed.