A Review of: “Devin R. Springer,James L. Regens,and David N. Edger. Islamic Radicalism and Global Jihad. Stephen Vertigans (with contributions from Donncha Marron and Philip W. Sutton). Militant Islam: A Sociology of Characteristics,Causes, and Consequences. David Aaron. In Their Own Words: Voices of Jihad.”

Chinese arms sales to Africa have increased in recent years. In a region beset by conflict and unstable regimes, and where arms sales are a significant and positive predictor of an increased probability of political violence, this is inherently problematic. The sale of weaponry to a regime in Khartoum caught up in an alleged “genocide” in Darfur, the awkward appearance in 2008 of a Chinese ship loaded with weapons bound for Mugabe's Zimbabwe off the coast of eastern Africa, and the recent exposure in 2011 that Chinese arms companies offered to sell around $200 million worth of arms to Muammar Gaddafi's regime are emblematic of an issue in Africa's political violence that needs analysis. This article seeks to discuss the rationale behind China's arms sales to Africa and the effect that they have had on political violence in recipient countries. It also provides an analysis of the supply-and-demand circumstances of Chinese arms transfers to Africa, Beijing's attempts to control such transfers, and evidence that Chinese policies on proliferation are (slowly) evolving.     

Book Reviews

The past decade has seen many developments in anti‐discrimination law in Great Britain, from the implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and the Treaty of Amsterdam 1997, to the EU framework directive for equal treatment in employment introducing three new protected grounds between 2003 and 2006 (and the subsequent extension beyond employment, in national law, of two of those grounds). All of these, and myriad implementing regulations, build on the national foundations set by the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Race Relations Act 1976. With formal equality remaining the dominant model, this article looks at the scope for positive measures within British anti‐discrimination law.     

Juvenile justice: a basic framework for the implementation of a functional juvenile justice system

The provision of appeal in arbitration law is a place where the judicial intervention can take place. One of the reasons many parties choose arbitration over litigation is the finality of the arbitral award even though a trial court may be more likely to deliver a legally correct result. The scope of appeal to the court in matters relating to arbitration is made very much limited by the statute in India. But despite several constraints and restrictions imposed by the legislature, this paper argues, the role of the judiciary still vastly remains interventionist in nature in some form or the other which is unacceptable.     

A Review of: “Mikel Dunham. Buddha's Warriors: The Story of the CIA-Backed Tibetan Freedom Fighters,the Chinese Invasion,and the Ultimate Fall of Tibet”

Brenda K. Uekert, Rivers of Blood: A Comparative Study of Government Massacres. Westport, CT and London: Praeger Publishers, 1995. Pp.256, biblio, appendix of data sources. $55. ISBN 0–275–95165–0.

Maria Tatar, Lustmord: Sexual Murder in Weimar Germany. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995. Pp. 213.

James E. Jacob, Hills of Conflict: Basque Nationalism in France. Reno, Las Vegas and London: University of Nevada Press, 1994. Pp.568.

Mark S. Hamm, Hate Crime: International Perspectives on Causes and Control. Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishing, 1994. Pp.199, index. ISBN 0–87084–350–8.

David A. Korn, Assassination in Khartoum. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press (An Institute for the Study of Diplomacy Book), 1993. Pp.262, biblio, index. $24.95. ISBN 0–253–33202–8.     

A Review of: “Bruce Bongar,Lisa M. Brown,Larry E. Beutler,James N. Breckenridge,and Philip G. Zimbardo (Eds.). Psychology of Terrorism.”

ABSTRACT

This study evaluates the popular hypothesis that poverty, inequality, and poor economic development are root causes of terrorism. Employing a series of multiple regression analyses on terrorist incidents and casualties in ninety-six countries from 1986 to 2002, the study considers the significance of poverty, malnutrition, inequality, unemployment, inflation, and poor economic growth as predictors of terrorism, along with a variety of political and demographic control variables. The findings are that, contrary to popular opinion, no significant relationship between any of the measures of economic development and terrorism can be determined. Rather, variables such as population, ethno-religious diversity, increased state repression and, most significantly, the structure of party politics are found to be significant predictors of terrorism. The article concludes that “social cleavage theory” is better equipped to explain terrorism than are theories that link terrorism to poor economic development.     

John Mueller. Overblown: How Politicians and the Terrorism Industry Inflate National Security Threats,and Why We Believe Them

The history and identity of fundamentalism is complex. Religious fundamentalism names an ideological perspective found in most, if not all, major religions and is currently associated with variant forms of extremism and religiously-motivated acts of violence, including terrorism. Following a discussion of religious extremism per se, a typological paradigm of religious fundamentalism that attempts to demonstrate the ideological development from what might be referred to as an “initial” and relatively benign fundamentalism into extremism and thence to terrorism, will be presented. A discussion of a model of fundamentalism as applied to Islam will provide a comparative basis for assessing Christian fundamentalism and extremism, so setting the scene for an applied exploration of religious extremism and terrorism with particular reference to Christian contexts and examples.