Reviews

Joseph M. van Brabant, Remaking Eastern Europe—On the Political Economy of Transition. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1990, xiv+223 pp., £57.00 h/b.

Ronald J. Hill, Communist Politics under the Knife: Surgery or Autopsy? London and New York: Pinter Publishers, 1990, 224 pp., £30.00 h/b; £9.95 p/b.

Andrei Akatovich Belykh, Istoriya sovetskikh ekonomiko‐matematicheskikh issledovanii. Leningrad University Press, 1990, 141 pp., 2 rubles.

Gregory Gleason, Federalism and Nationalism: The Struggle for Republican Rights in the USSR. Foreword by John N. Hazard. Boulder, CO: Westview Press: Westview Special Studies on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, 1990, xiv+170 pp., £17.50 p/b.

James Hughes, Stalin, Siberia and the Crisis of the New Economic Policy. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1991, xiii+260 pp., £30.00

Joan Sokolovsky, Peasants and Power: State Autonomy and the Collectivization of Agriculture in Eastern Europe. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1990, 181 pp., £18.95.

Louis Guy Michael, More Corn for Bessarabia: Russian Experience, 1910–1917. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 1983, 245 pp., $18.95.

P. Pomper, Lenin, Trostsky and Stalin: The Intelligentsia and Power. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990, xiii+446 pp., $19.00 p/b.

Tony Cliff, Trotsky, 1923–27. Fighting the Rising Stalinist Bureaucracy. London: Bookmarks, 1991, 306 pp., £6.95 p/b.     

Reviews

Christel Lane, Christian Religion in the Soviet Union: A Sociological Study. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1978. 256 pp. £10.00.

R. Amann, J. M. Cooper, R. W. Davies (eds.), The Technological Level of Soviet Industry. New Haven, Conn, and London: Yale University Press, 1977. xxxii +575 pp. £20.00.

M. M. Kostecki, East‐West Trade and the GATT System. London: Macmillan, for the Trade Policy Research Centre, 1979. xviii + 157 pp. £12.00.

Josef C. Brada and V. S. Somanath (eds.), East‐West Trade: Theory and Evidence. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University International Development Institute, 1978. xi + 178 pp. $10.00. No index.

Jeremy R. Azrael (ed.), Soviet Nationality Policies and Practices. New York: Praeger Publishers (Praeger Special Studies), 1978. xi + 393 pp.

Robert G. Wesson, Communism and Communist Systems. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice‐Hall, 1978. x + 227 pp.

Adam Bromke and Derry Novak (eds.), The Communist States in the Era of Detente, 1971–1977. Oakville, Ontario: Mosaic Press, 1978. 306 pp. $7.95.

Jaroslav Krejci, Social Structure in Divided Germany. London: Croom Helm, 1976. 262 pp. £7.95.

Miklós Molnár, A Short History of the Hungarian Communist Party. Boulder, Colorado & Folkestone: Westview, Dawson, 1978, 168 pp. £9.00.

Robert N. North, Transport in Western Siberia: Tsarist and Soviet Development. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press and The Centre for Transportation Studies, 1979. viii + 364 pp. $22.00.     

The Impact of Anti-Assimilationist Beliefs on Attitudes toward Immigration

I outline different beliefs about assimilation, and show that these beliefs can influence attitudes toward immigration. Using data from a new national sample survey in Japan, I test whether and how beliefs about assimilation influence attitudes toward immigration. The results show two important conclusions. First, there is a large anti-immigrant sentiment in Japan. Second, after controlling for other known determinants of attitudes toward immigration, I find that those who are in favor of immigrant assimilation support higher levels of immigration, more immigrant equal rights, and have more accurate views about immigrant crime in Japan. This suggests that those favoring assimilation are not necessarily xenophobic in all cultures.     

The Rise of the Insider: Memoirs and Diaries in Recent Australian Political History

The memoirs and diaries composed by politicians represent an increasingly important form of history. This article provides a comprehensive survey of such writings in Australia. It suggests that they have become more popular, diffuse, confessional, immediate, ambitious, interventionist and cynical over recent decades. The significance of these developments is considered and some tentative explanations advanced.     

An Elite Theory of Political Consulting and Its Implications for U.S. House Election Competition

Does the hiring of political consultants make election races more competitive? If so, why? Most scholars of political consulting argue their expertise enhances competition; I argue that consultant reputation also boosts competition. Many political consultants are part of the Washington establishment, which notices their association with candidates. In particular, congressional candidates of the out party, especially challengers, have an incentive to hire the most reputable consultants to signal to political elites their viability. I demonstrate a positive empirical relationship between out-party candidates hiring top consultants (compared to less reputable ones) and how competitive their race is perceived by elites. These findings and theoretical insight provide a basis for understanding the high costs of political consultants and their impact on election outcomes.