B: Reviews and notes: bibliographies and works of reference

WORLD SURVEY OF ISLAMIC MANUSCRIPTS, Volumes III and IV. General editor: Geoffrey Roper. London, Al‐Furqaan Islamic Heritage Foundation, 1994. 716 pp. and 489 pp.

MANUSCRIPTS OF THE MIDDLE EAST: A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OF HANDWRITTEN MATERIALS OF THE MIDDLE EAST AND RELATED SUBJECTS, Volume 6 (1992). Edited by François Déroche, Adam Gacek and Jan Just Witkam. Leiden, Ter Lugt Press, 1994. 164 pp. illustrations, facsimiles.

A DICTIONARY OF THE ARABIC MATERIAL OF S. D. GOITEIN'S A MEDITERRANEAN SOCIETY. By Werner Diem and Hans‐Peter Radenberg. Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 1994. xvi, 241 pp.

GUIDE TO SCHOLARS OF THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF CENTRAL ASIA. Compiled by John S. Schoeberlein‐engel. (Research Publications of the Harvard Central Asia Forum, 1.) Cambridge (USA), Harvard Central Asia Forum, sponsored by Center for Middle Eastern Studies & Russian Research Center, Harvard University, 1995. 313 pp. $15.

OMAN. Compiled by Frank A. Clements. (World Bibliographical Series, Volume 29, revised edition.) Oxford, Clio Press, 1994. xxii, 346 pp. Map. £52.     

Batterers Stalking Patterns

This clinically based study asked 165 batterers attending a court-mandated assessment program to quantify a series of behaviors that occurred since being convicted of battering. The behaviors clustered into 2 factors: (1) an Ambivalent Contact Pattern whereby behaviors of batterers were associated with contacting their ex-partner, sending gifts and letters, and watching her without her knowing while harboring conflicting feelings of love, hate, and anger; and (2) a Predatory Contact Pattern whereby the behaviors of batterers were associated with hang up calls, entering her home without permission, threatening or physically causing harm to her while harboring a propensity for abusiveness. Clinicians should assess batterers for predatory thoughts about the estranged partner, and reason for the contact since separation. Presence of stalking behaviors and predatory fantasy is a window to determine repetitive and escalating domestic violence.     

The African post-conflict policing agenda in Sierra Leone

This article examines policing in Sierra Leone four years after the civil war. It evaluates the achievements in the area of policing against the major policing challenges in African post-conflict societies. These are recruitment and (re)training of a civilian force; establishing an organizational culture that is accountable and responsive to citizen concerns; organizational rebuilding and re-equipment; utilizing the resources of commercial and community organized policing; and establishing a sustainable basis. The research finds that for all the positive achievements, the fact remains that the government of Sierra Leone still does not exert effective control over, nor is it able to deliver state policing services to, significant parts of its own territory. The 7,000 active police officers are too small in number and too limited in resources to provide all Sierra Leone's citizens with a service that protects them from crime and investigates crime. Its fundamental weaknesses mean that post-conflict internal security programmes may have to look again at others who currently authorize and provide policing. It may be that some community led policing groups can be harnessed and if necessary reformed to assist the police in establishing the rule of law.     

Term Limits and Legislative‐Executive Conflict in the American States

State governments have experienced considerable institutional change in the last several decades. None appeared at first glance to be as far‐reaching as the legislative term limits that were adopted by over 20 states in the 1990s. The evidence to date suggests that term limits have indeed changed the character of many of the states' legislatures, if not always as predicted by their advocates. We report data on veto dynamics over the period 1989–2008 to determine how term limits have impacted legislative‐executive relations. Our data both challenge and support what has become the conventional wisdom, i.e., that term limits will weaken legislatures relative to their governors. States with more stringent term limits experienced fewer gubernatorial vetoes but proved more likely to override those vetoes when they were issued. Taken together the evidence suggests that the relationship between governors and legislatures in the wake of term limits is more complex and variable than scholars and others had previously thought.