Crisis (hostage) negotiators weigh in: the skills,behaviors, and qualities that characterize an expert crisis negotiator

This research identified what skills, behaviors, and qualities experienced crisis (hostage) negotiators believe enhance or harm their success during negotiation. 188 negotiators from various countries (primarily United States) voluntarily completed an online survey in which they listed the aforementioned characteristics and reported on various aspects of their own background and behaviors. Open-response questions were coded and quantitative methods revealed what qualities were listed most frequently by negotiators. Active listening, displays of empathy, effective communication, and remaining calm and collected appear at the top of their to-do lists. Conversely, being confrontational, arguing, yelling, and interrupting were reported as behaviors to be avoided. Most negotiators attend trainings multiple times a year and read on the topic of crisis negotiation. About half follow a model during negotiations, typically the FBI’s Behavioral Change Stairway Model. Findings are discussed with relevance to future research directions and improvement of negotiator trainings.     

Homeless Youth Seeking Health and Life-Meaning Through Popular Culture and the Arts

This pilot study demonstrates the roles of popular culture, media and the arts in the health and self-esteem of homeless youth. Reflecting focus group findings from a representative sample of street and sheltered youth, this article provides a qualitative assessment of what they advocated as an effective intervention that would promote the receipt of health services within their vulnerable community. Unlike alienating disease models where adverse health behaviors and outcomes determine intervention success or failure, a culturally-sensitive approach which provided skills mentoring and engaged the youth as health advocates seemed likely to produce important recovery incentives and enhanced health outcomes.     

Book reviews

Derek Bok, The State of the Nation (Harvard University Press, Cambridge and London, 1996), 483 pp., ISBN 0–674–29210–3

Philip J. Davies and Frederic A. Waldstein (eds), Political Issues in America Today: the 1990s Revisited (Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York, 1996), 275 pp., ISBN 0–7190–4225–9

Marino Regini, Uncertain Boundaries. The Social and Political Construction of European Economies (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1995), 164 pp., ISBN 0–521–473771–3

Dietrich Rometsch and Wolfgang Wessels (eds), The European Union and Member States: Towards Institutional Fusion? (Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1996), xvii + 382 pp., ISBN 0–7190–4809–5 (hb)

Stephen D. Morris, Political Reform in Mexico. An Overview of Contemporary Mexican Politics (Rienner, Boulder and London, 1995), x + 262pp., ISBN 1–55587–594–7 (pb)

Atilio Boron, State, Capitalism, and Democracy in Latin America (Rienner, Boulder and London, 1995), x + 262 pp., ISBN 1–55587–508–4 (hb)

Alexander Stille, Excellent Cadavers. The Mafia and Death of the First Italian Republic (Vintage, London, 1995), 467 pp., ISBN 9–59–959491–9 (pb)

David Westerlund (ed), Questioning the Secular State: The Worldwide Resurgence of Religion in Politics (Hurst, London, 1996), 428 pp., ISBN 1–85065–241–4