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     

Merger Melancholia: An Empirical Analysis of the Perceptions of the Residents of the Forcibly Amalgamated Manilla Shire Council

Notwithstanding cogent reasons for the continued existence of small local authorities in the sparsely populated Australian hinterland, compulsory council consolidation has been a recurring theme throughout the history of Australian local government. Despite its ubiquity, especially in rural, regional and remote Australian communities, its local consequences have not yet been fully examined by scholars or policy makers. The present paper seeks to remedy this neglect with an exploratory study of the social and economic consequences of forced local government amalgamations through the lens of the ‘lived experience’ of the small rural community of Manilla, which was forced in merge with the much larger Tamworth in 2004.     

Does counterfeiting benefit genuine manufacturer? The role of production costs

A monopolist sells a luxury genuine product which can be illegally copied and sold by a competitive fringe of counterfeiters. Fines imposed on caught counterfeiters are pocketed by the genuine firm. We prove that if production costs are low, then the genuine manufacturer would lobbying for high penalties so that counterfeiters should be thrown out of the market. In this case, the presence of counterfeiters does not provide any benefit to the producer of the original product. Whenever the production cost is neither too high nor too low, the optimal fine guarantees a positive demand for the genuine product as well as for the fake; the genuine producer is better off than in a world without counterfeiters. If production costs are too high, the genuine firm has no more incentive to produce. Its remaining goal is to collect penalty money from counterfeiters. Again, the presence of counterfeiters provides a benefit to the genuine manufacturer. Finally, a comparison between full protection and null protection policies is performed.     

An analysis of well-being in urban Nigeria

Improving the well-being of Nigerians is the aim of Nigeria Vision 20:2020, the key development policy document in Nigeria. However, as well-being is an emerging and contested concept, this article explores how the well-being of urban citizens is understood in Nigeria, and identifies key trends affecting urban well-being as expressed by a selection of strategic elite stakeholders in Nigerian society. These included senior civil servants and politicians, and various senior members of civil society groups and academia. The analysis also reveals characteristics underpinning policies for urban well-being.     

The activities of university knowledge transfer offices: towards the third mission in Italy

Establishing deeper engagement with industry and society has recently become a key concern of universities. To pursue this goal, universities—as well as other public research organizations—have started to reorganize internal resources, to redefine their activities and policies, and to redesign their overall knowledge transfer (KT) business models. As a consequence, in several countries a wide heterogeneity exists in the types of KT models adopted and in the outcomes arising from KT activities. By performing a cluster analysis and a multinomial logit regression on an extensive dataset that almost covers the entire population of Italian universities, in this study we analyze (1) whether models of KT characterized by a broader engagement with society are gradually substituting models more focused on technology commercialization, and (2) which factors related to the availability of resources and universities’ strategic intention better explain existing differences. Insights from the study might help university managers to define the most appropriate actions to fully undertake the implementation of the university third mission.     

The stationarity of inflation in Croatia: anti-inflation stabilization program and the change in persistence

This study examines the impact of the anti-inflation stabilization policies on the behavior of inflation in Croatia in the early 1990s and through the subsequent post-stabilization period using fractional integration techniques. Indeed, the implementation of the stabilization program in October 1993 brought immediate deflation with a relative high degree of inflation stability in the post-stabilization period. With allowance for a structural break corresponding to the stabilization program in October 1993, the degree of persistence was substantially reduced with the fractional differencing parameter being positive but close to zero in the post-stabilization period.     

From ‘gender equality and ‘women’s empowerment’ to global justice: reclaiming a transformative agenda for gender and development

The language of ‘gender equality’ and ‘women’s empowerment’ was mobilised by feminists in the 1980s and 1990s as a way of getting women’s rights onto the international development agenda. Their efforts can be declared a resounding success. The international development industry has fully embraced these terms. From international NGOs to donor governments to multilateral agencies the language of gender equality and women’s empowerment is a pervasive presence and takes pride of place among their major development priorities. And yet, this article argues, the fact that these terms have been eviscerated of conceptual and political bite compromises their use as the primary frame through which to demand rights and justice. Critically examining the trajectories of these terms in development, the article suggests that if the promise of the post-2015 agenda is to deliver on gender justice, new frames are needed, which can connect with and contribute to a broader movement for global justice.     

Postmortem urine immunoassay showing false-positive phencyclidine reactivity in a case of fatal tramadol overdose

This is a report of postmortem false-positive reactivity using an enzyme-multiplied urine phencyclidine (PCP) immunoassay (EMIT II+) due to a single-agent fatal tramadol overdose. An autopsy of a 42-year-old male who died alone at home revealed no identifiable lethal anatomic abnormalities, thus leading to toxicologic analysis. Femoral blood was obtained for drug testing by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and showed a tramadol level of 14.0 mg/L, 2 orders of magnitude greater than the therapeutic range (0.1 to 0.3 mg/L). Urine was also obtained and EMIT II+ immunoassay revealed positivity for PCP at 88 mAU/min. However, confirmatory testing by HPLC failed to identify PCP in either the urine or serum. To verify the suspicion that this was a false-positive PCP result, stock solutions of tramadol and its major metabolite (O-desmethyltramadol) at concentrations of 100 mg/L in 10% methanol/H2O were compared with a blank solution (10% methanol/H2O) for EMIT II+ PCP reactivity and demonstrated reactivities of 44 mAU/min and 27 mAU/min, respectively. While these individual results were below the cutoff reactivity for a positive EMIT II+ PCP result (ca. 85 mAU/min), they were much more reactive than the blank calibrator (set at 0 mAU/min). Therefore, we conclude that the immunoreactivity of tramadol and its metabolites in aggregate is responsible for the PCP immunoassay interference and false-positive result.     

Genetic analysis of the populations from Northern and Mesopotamian provinces of Argentina by means of 15 autosomal STRs

The allele frequencies for the 15 short tandem repeats included in the Power Plex-16 kit (Promega Corp., Madison, WI, USA) were determined in a sample of 429 unrelated individuals from five provinces of the Northern and Northeastern regions of Argentina. Three Northern provinces including Salta, Formosa and Chaco and two within the region surrounded by the Paraná and Uruguay Rivers commonly known as the Argentine Mesopotamia, including Misiones and Corrientes. Since in this region Entre Ríos Province is also present, previously published results were used for comparison. The calculated parameters: polymorphism information content (PIC); discrimination power (DP); matching probability (MP); typical paternity index (TPI) and power of exclusion (PE) showed Penta E to be the most valuable marker from the studied sample set. All loci met Hardy-Weinberg expectations using the Bonferroni correction for the number of loci analyzed, except D3S1358 in Salta and THO1 in Formosa provinces. Population differentiation test revealed that the Salta population sample data denoted significant differences for various loci when compared with the other province information presented here in, as well as with other published data sets.     

“Thinking About Makin’ It”: Black Canadian Students’ Beliefs Regarding Education and Academic Achievement

Black Canadians share many aspects of the historical experiences of African Americans, but there are also important differences. One similarity between these two groups is the persistent academic underachievement of Black adolescents. Although this is a subject of widespread concern in both countries, it has received little empirical scrutiny in Canada. We address this shortcoming by examining the academic and achievement-related beliefs of Black high school students in two Canadian cities, Toronto and Halifax. Despite significant regional differences most participants believed that schooling could lead to success for them. Females’ attitudes and beliefs regarding education were more positive than those of males. Perceived parental values and support were strong predictors of participants’ attitudes and school marks; socioeconomic status (SES) and perceived peer support were non-significant correlates of academic outcomes. We discuss the results in terms of the germane US research, and highlight the implications of the findings for understanding diversity among Black Canadian youth.Received PhD from the University of Toronto. Areas of research include educational and psychological correlates of ethnic and racial identity in Black Canadians.Received PhD from the University of Toronto. Research focuses on the cultural dimensions of friendship.Received PhD from the University of Toronto. Research interests include adolescent development, social justice, and children’s rights-related thinking and knowledge.