Book reviews

Russland als Vielvolkerreich. Entstehung, Geschichte, Zerfall. Andreas Kappeler. München, Germany: C. H. Beck, 1992, 395 pp, bibliography, index.

A Traveller's Companion to Central Asia. Kathleen Hopkirk. London: John Murray, 1993, 292 pp, £16.

Samarkand and Bukhara. John Lawton. Photographs by Francesco Venturi. London: Tauris Parke Books, 1992, 128 pp, £16.95. Mirror of the Orient. Roland and Sabrina Michaud. London: Thames and Hudson, 1992, 96 pp, £12.95, paperback.

The Continuing Conflict in Kashmir. Regional Conflict in Jeopardy. Iftikhar H. Malik. London: Research Institute for the Study of Conflict and Terrorism, 1993, 25 pp, £10.     

State-sponsored violence as a tragedy of the commons: England's privateering wars with France and Spain, 1625–1630

The “tragedy of the commons” is the familiar problem that open access to a common property resource leads to overexploitation and to zero profits. A commons model is applied to an example of state sponsored private violence, the practice of privateering or licensed piracy. It is predicted that the presence of uncertainty about the value of the prey will reduce the amount of exploitation effort, and that industry profits may be positive due to both uncertainty and heterogeneous exploiters. Using data from England's wars with France and Spain between 1625 and 1630, the model suggests that the commons, represented by enemy merchant shipping, was not overexploited and that privateering profits were positive. The dynamic paths of privateering effort, ships seized, and individual firm profits were, however, consistent with the normal expectation that commons exploitation will peak and fall, as competition drives down returns through entry. “England was never richer than when at war with Spain.” Sir Edward Coke      

Book reviews

Transcaucasian Boundaries John F. Wright, Suzanne Goldenberg and Richard Schofield (editors) London: UCL Press, 1996, 248pp, £40 and £14.95

The Russian Policy Debate on Central Asia Irina Zviagelskaia London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1995, X, 41 pp, £12.50

CIS Integration Trends: Russia and the Former Soviet South Mark Webber London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1997, IX, 72 pp, £12.50 Both distributed by Plimbridge Distributors Ltd, Estover Road, Plymouth. Devon PL6 7PZ, and in North America by the Brookings Institutional Press, Washington DC.

Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition Tadeusz Swietochowski New York: Columbia University Press, 1995, xvi, 290 pp, $34.95

The Soviet Socialist Republic of Iran, 1920–1921 Cosroe Chaqueri Pittsburgh, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1995, xvii, 649 pp, $75.00

Bibliography of Islamic Central Asia Yuri Bregel (editor and compiler) Bloomington, Indiana: Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, Indiana University, 1995, in three volumes: Pt. I, LXXTV+773 pp; Pt. II, XLIII+774–1512 pp; Pt. III, XXXII+1513–2276 pp, $299

Mohieddin Alempour. A Tajik Visionary Baqer Moin (editor) London: BBC Persian Service, Bush House, 1997, illus, 140 pp, £20

Tatar Costume M. Zavyalova Kazan: Zaman Publishers Fund Turan, 1996, illus, 252 pp, $50     

Measuring School-Related Stressors in Adolescents

Some 1620 high school students responded to 68 items that measure adolescent stressors. Thirty-five of the items were based on J. P. Kohn and G. H. Frazer's Academic Stress Scale [1(1986) An Academic Stress Scale: Identification and Rated Importance of Academic Stressors, Psychological Reports, Vol. 59, pp. 415–426] developed in the United States, while the remaining 33 items were developed from P. Strutynski's [(1985) A Survey of Queensland Year 10, 11 and 12 Student Attitudes to Schools and Schooling, State Planning Committee, International Youth Year, Brisbane] lists of the most frequently named problems of 2336 Australian high school students. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was used to test and develop a measurement model developed from an extensive review of previous scales. The High School Stressors Scale emerged from the analytic process and measures nine school-related stressors. For researchers focusing on school-related problems and stressors among adolescents, the HSSS promises to be a very useful instrument. It has sound construct and predictive validity and adequate reliability, as demonstrated by the goodness-of-fit indices the squared multiple correlations.     

The Cairo Stories: Some Reflections on Conflict Resolution in Egypt

The author relates three cases of conflict which he has observed in Cairo and recognizes patterns that cut across each of these stories. The stories shed light on how people in Egypt approach and deal with conflict; in addition, they may help readers understand conflict in their home culture as well as be instructive on how to listen to conflict in different cultures. Six general themes in the way Egyptians approach or handle conflict are identified, and each of these themes is analyzed.     

Book reviews

The New Geopolitics of Central Asia and its Borderlands Ali Banuazizi and Myron Weiner (editors) London: I. B. Tauris, 1994, 284 pp, £39.50

The Central Asian Republics. Fragments of Empire, Magnets of Wealth Charles Undeland and Nicholas Platt New York: The Asia Society, 1994, 143 pp

Does Russian Democracy Have a Future? Stephen J. Blank and Earl H. Tilford, Jr. (editors) Pennsylvania: US Army War College, 1994, 162 pp

Between Marx and Muhammad. The Changing Face of Central Asia Dilip Hiro London: Harper Collins, 1994, 402 pp

The Boundaries of Modern Iran Keith McLachlan (editor) University College London: 1994, 150 pp

Islam and Romantic Orientalism. Literary Encounters with the Orient Mohammed Sharafuddin London: I. B. Tauris, 1994, 296 pp, £34.50

Critical Terrains. French and British Orientalisms Lisa Lowe Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1991, 216 pp, $31.85

The Art and Architecture of Islam 1250–1800 Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom Yale University Press, New Haven and London: 1994, biblio, 280 pp, £45

Culinary Cultures of the Middle East Sami Zubaida and Richard Tapper (editors) London: I. B. Tauris, 302 pp, biblio, index, £34.50     

Book reviews

Stephen Chan and Andrew J. Williams (eds), Renegade states: The Evolution of Revolutionary Foreign Policy (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1994).

Adam Roberts and Benedict Kingsbury (eds), United Nations, Divided World. The UN's Role in International Relations 2nd edition (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993)

G. Hastedt and K. Knickrehm, (eds), Toward the Twenty‐first Century. A Reader in World Politics (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1994).

A. J.R. Groom and Margot Light (eds), Contemporary International Relations: A Guide to Theory (London: Pinter Publishers, 1994).