The Paradox of Implementing the Government Performance and Results Act: Top-Down Direction for Bottom-Up Implementation

Research on the implementation of the Government Performance and Results Act generally has not considered how the strategic plan, annual performance plan, and annual performance report are produced and used. Are the documents good decision and management tools, as the act intends, or are agencies internalizing them to meet the unique needs of their organization? Interviews with representatives of 14 cabinet‐level federal agencies suggest that implementation of the act is not standardized. Instead, it is influenced by the unique challenges that agencies face. Further, there is a relationship between the implementation challenges and the overall use of the documents.     

Performance evaluation of two multiplexes used in fluorescent short tandem repeat DNA analysis

The performance of two commercial multiplex kits that together amplify the 13 core short tandem repeat (STR) loci currently in use by forensic laboratories and the U.S. national Combined DNA Indexing System (CODIS) were evaluated. The typing systems examined were AmpFlSTR Profiler Plus and AmpFlSTR COfiler (PE Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA). Electrophoretic separation and detection of the fluorescent PCR products was achieved by capillary electrophoresis (CE) using an ABI Prism 310 Genetic Analyzer. The studies addressed the on-site validation of the instrument, the software, and each typing system. These studies included instrument sensitivity, resolution, precision, binning, peak height ratios, mixtures, stutter, and the amplification of non-probative and simulated forensic samples. Other additional developmental-type work is also reported herein, such as species specificity testing and amplification of environmentally insulted samples. Amplification conditions were found to be robust and the primer sets shown to be specific to human DNA. Stutter and peak height ratios fell within limits published by the manufacturer and other laboratories. The data demonstrate that the CE instrument can consistently resolve fragments differing in length by one base and that the +/-0.5 base bin used by the Genotyper software is acceptable for making accurate allele calls. Correct typing results were obtained from non-probative and simulated case samples, as well as samples exposed to outdoor environmental conditions. The results support the conclusion that DNA extracted from biological samples routinely encountered in the forensic laboratory can be reliably analyzed with AmpFlSTR Profiler Plus and COfiler using CE.     

Family violence reported in a psychiatric emergency room

The prevalence of family violence reported in psychiatric emergency rooms is relatively undocumented, despite the clinical and legal concern for dangerousness. This study assesses the prevalence of aggression incidents reported to clinicians and physicians during evaluation interviews (n =389).Two-thirds of the total number of subjects reported being involved in an aggression incident sometime in their past. Only 8% reported being the victim of such incidents. About one-half of the cases involved physical assaults; nearly one-half of these assaults had family members as victims. One third of the total cases had been assaultive within 3 months; one sixth had been assaultive within 2 weeks of visiting the hospital. Clinicians and researchers are urged to consider more systematically family violence in psychiatric settings.     

Book reviews

Pride of Small Nations: The Caucasus and Post‐Soviet Disorder Suzanne Goldenberg London: Zed Books, 1994, xv, 233 pp, 1 map

The North Caucasus: Minorities at a Crossroads Helen Krag and Lars Funch Report of The Minority Rights Group International, 94/5, 45 pp (incl. map), 1994, £4.95

The Legacy of History in Russia and the New States of Eurasia. The International Politics of Eurasia Vol 1 Series editors, S. Frederick Starr (editor), Bruce Parrott and Karen Dawisha Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1994, xiii, 328 pp, $49.95 hb, $19.95 pb

Central Asia Reader: The Rediscovery of History H. B. Paksoy (editor) Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1994, ix + 206 pp $60 hb, $21.95 pb

National Identity and Ethnicity in Russia and the New States of Eurasia. The International Politics of Eurasia Vol 2 Roman Szporluk (editor) Series editors, Bruce Parrott and Karen Dawisha Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1994, xiii, 328 pp, $49.95 hb, $19.95 pb

Muslim Communities Reemerge: Historical Perspectives on Nationality, Politics, and Opposition in the Former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia Andreas Kappeler, Gerhard Simon and Georg Brunner, editors of the German edition: Edward Allworth, editor English edition Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1994, Caroline Sawyer, trans., xiv, 365 pp, $54.95 hb, $24.95 pb

The Making of Iran's Islamic Revolution Mohsen M. Milani Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994, 268 pp

Torture and Modernity: Self, Society, and State in Modern Iran Darious M. Rejali Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994, 289 pp

China's Minorities: Integration and Modernization in the Twentieth Century Colin Mackerras Hong Kong and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994, viii, 341 pp, $79.00

High Tartary Owen Lattimore New York, Tokyo, London: Kodansha International, 386 pp, illus, £11.99

Turkestan Reunion Eleanor Holgate Lattimore New York, Tokyo, London: Kodansha International, 323 pp, illus, £10.99

Islamic Urban Studies: Historical Review and Perspectives Masashi Haneda and Toru Miura (editors) London: Kegan Paul International, 1995, 365 pp, index, biblio, £55     

Book reviews

George Ritzer, The McDonaldisation Thesis (Sage, London, 1998), 212 pp., ISBN 0–7619–5540–2 (pb)

Terrell Carver and Veronique Mottier (eds), Politics of Sexuality. Identity, gender, citizenship (Routledge, London, 1998), 200 pp., ISBN 0–415–16953–4 (hb)

Hein Marais, South Africa: Limits to Change. The Political Economy of Transformation (Zed Books, London, 1998), 290 pp., ISBN 1–85649–544–2 (pb)

Taras Kuzio, Ukraine: State and Nation Building (Routledge, London, 1998), 298 pp., ISBN 0–415–17195–4 (hb)

Alan M. Dershowitz, Sexual McCarthyism: Clinton, Starr, and the Emerging Constitutional Crisis (Basic Books, New York, 1998), 275 pp., ISBN 0–465–01628–6 (hb)

Timothy Hoye, Japanese Politics: Fixed and Floating Worlds (Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 1999), 233 pp., ISBN 0–13–271289‐X (pb)

Julia Sudbury, Other Kinds of Dreams: Black Women's Organisations and the Politics of Transformation (Routledge, London, 1998), 282 pp., ISBN 0–415–16732–9 (pb)     

The insider/outsider distinction: an empirical investigation

The distinction between 'insiders' and 'outsiders' occupies a central role in thinking about the relationship between government and interest groups in Britain. Usually, the accuracy of such distinctions are based on studies of small numbers of groups. The results of a survey of 381 groups reveals that relatively few groups could be classed as pure outsiders, while a much larger number have the features of the insider. While the methodology employed means that the results are suggestive rather than conclusive, the implications of the findings for the study of government-group relations in Britain are that the insider/outsider distinction is at best an oversimplification and at worst misleading.     

Joint implementation of greenhouse gas abatement under the Kyoto protocol's ‘clean development mechanism’: Its scope and limits

The Kyoto Protocol on climate change includes four flexibility mechanisms, which pursue lower-cost global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through voluntary international re-distribution of abatement effort. We consider the operation of one of these, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which grants transferable credit for abatement achieved by individual projects in countries without national emission targets. An uncredited pilot phase in effect since 1995 provides only limited guidance for projecting the operation of the credited CDM. Under the CDM, intractable difficulties of accounting for project-level effects are likely to bias project activity toward particular project types for which exaggeration-resistant accounting rules are most readily available. This bias will favor retrofits over new investments, and will consequently limit the CDM to a modest contribution to required abatement in developing countries. Use of CDM credits as instruments of domestic policy in investor countries, as well as instruments of international policy, may mitigate this bias and the associated limitation. So may the use of projects based on novel technologies of carbon management.     

Book reviews

The Nationalities Question in the Post‐Soviet States Graham Smith (editor) New York and London: Longman Group, 1996, xiv + 524 pp. $21.00 pb (second edition)

Regional Power Rivalries in the New Eurasia: Russia, Turkey and Iran Alvin Z. Rubinstein and Oles M. Smolansky (editors) New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc., 1995, xii 4‐ 290 pp, pb

Kochevaia tsivilizatsiia kazakhov: osnovy zhiznedeiatel'nosti nomadnogo obshchestva (Nomad civilisation of the Kazaks: bases of the life activity of a nomad society) Nurbulat Masanov Almaty: Sotsivest. 1995

Atlas Geopolitique Informatique du Caucase Nicolas Beroutchachvili and Jean Radvanyi (editors) Paris: Observatoire des Etats Post‐Sovietiques (INALCO) 1996

Aurel Stein. Pioneer of the Silk Road Annabel Walker London: John Murray, 1995, 393 pp, illus., £25

Empire's Edge. Travels in South‐Eastern Europe, Turkey and Central Asia Scott Malcomson London: Faber and Faber, 256 pp, £8.99, pb

Frontiers of Heaven. A Journey Beyond the Great Wall Stanley Stewart London: John Murray, 1995, 223 pp, illus, £16.99

Art and Nationalism in Colonial India 1850–1922, Occidental Orientations Partha Mitter Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994, 475 pp, illus, index, £60     

The Validity of Mental Patients' Accounts of Coercion-Related Behaviors in the Hospital Admission Process

Although the recent development of a measure for perceived coercion has led to great progress in research on coercion in psychiatric settings, there still exists no consensus on how to measure the existence of real coercive events or pressures. This article reports the development of a system for integrating chart review data and data from interviews with multiple participants in the decision for an individual to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital. The method generates a most plausible factual account (MPFA). We then compare this account with that of patients, admitting clinicians and other collateral informants in 171 cases. Patient accounts most closely approximate the MPFA on all but one of nine dimensions related to coercion. This may be due to wider knowledge of the events surrounding the admission.