Book reviews

Cook P &; C Kirkpatrick (eds), Privatisation in Developing Countries. International Library of Critical Writings in Economics. Cheltenham: Elgar Reference Collection, 2000. 120pp. ISBN: 1–85898–358–4 (Two volume set).

Entman RM &; A Rojecki, The Black Image in the White Mind: Media and Race in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.305pp. US$26.00. ISBN: 0–26–21075–8.

Jalilian H, Tribe M &; J Weiss (eds), Industrial Development and Policy in Africa. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2000. 292pp. ISBN: 1–84064–120–7

Jing J (ed.), Feeding China's Little Emperors: Food, Children and Social Change. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000. 279pp. ISBN: 0–8047–3134–9. US$17.95. http: //www. sup. org

Kleinen J, Facing the Future Reviving the Past: A Study of Social Change in a Northern Vietnamese Village. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1999. 239pp. ISBN: 981–230–039–2. US$29.90. http: //www.iseas.edu.sg/pub.html

Kebede JA, The Changing Face of Rural Policy in Tanzania: From Collectivism to Capitalism. London: Minerva Press, 2000. 86pp. ISBN: 07–5410–828–7. £8.99

Lane RE, The Loss of Happiness in Market Democracies . New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. 465pp. ISBN: 0–300–07801–3. £22.50

Madsen W, Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa : 1993–1999. Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales: Edwin Mellen Press, 1999. 568pp. ISBN 0–7734–8002–1.

Mankekar P, Screening Culture, Viewing Politics: An Ethnography of Television, Womanhood and Nation in Postcolonial India. Durham and London: Duke University Press. 429pp. 1999. ISBN: 0–8223–2390–7.

Mathoma P, Mills G &; J Stremlau (eds), Putting People First: African Priorities for the UN Millennium Assembly. Johannesburg, SANA, 2000. 129pp. ISBN: 1–919819–14–5

Nurnberger K, Prosperity, Poverty and Pollution: Managing the Approaching Crisis. Cluster Publications, 1999.487pp. ISBN: 1–875053–15–8.

Harvey D, Limits to Capital , Verso, 1999. 478pp. ISBN: 1–85984–714–5

O'Conner JS, Orloff AS &; S Shaver, States, Markets, Families: Gender, Liberalism, and Social Policy in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, and the United States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. 280pp. ISBN: 0–521–63881‐X. £15.95. h ttp: //www. cup. cam.ac.uk

Oi J &; A Walder (eds), Property Rights and Economic Reform in China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999. 354pp. ISBN: 08047–3788–6. £13.95. http: //www.sup.org

Parenti C, Lockdown America: Police and Prisons in the Age of Crisis. London: Verso, 1999. 244pp. ISBN: 1–85984–3034. £15.00

Townsend RF, Agricultural Incentives in Sub‐Saharan Africa: Policy Challenges , World Bank Technical Paper no.444. Washington DC: World Bank, August 1999. ISBN: 0–8213–4528–1. Available from World Bank offices and Oxford University Press.

Verdery K, The Political Lives of Dead Bodies, Reburial and Postsocialist Change. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. 185pp. ISBN: 0–231–11230–0. US$25.00. http: //www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup

Zouev A (ed.) Generation in Jeopardy: Children in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. New York: Unicef, 1999. 206pp. ISBN: 0–7656–0290–3. US$19.95. http: //www.unicef.org     

Perineal‐Vaginal Injuries in Children: Accident or Abuse?

Abstract: A large number of conditions have been mistaken for abuse. Differentiating accidental injuries from inflicted injuries is important in the management of injured children. In this work, the authors describe two cases of accidental perineal‐vaginal injury in children. In case 1, a 4‐year‐old girl suffered a vaginal tear caused by violent stretching during play; in case 2, a 3‐year‐old girl had minor lacerations of labia minora and majora. The intervention of a multi‐specialist team including a forensic pathologist and forensic psychiatrist was the key factor in being able to exclude abuse by third parties in the described cases.. This leads to the appropriate recommendations to be adopted in the forensic medicine setting.     

REFLECTIONS ON THE STATE OF CONSENSUS-BASED DECISION MAKING IN CHILD WELFARE

Consensus approaches to child protection decision making such as mediation and family group conferencing have become increasingly widespread since first initiated about 25 years ago. They address but are also constrained by paradoxes in the child protection system about commitments to protecting children and to family autonomy. In a series of surveys, interviews, and dialogues, mediation and conferencing researchers and practitioners discussed the key issues that face their work: clarity about purpose, system support, family empowerment, professional qualifications, and coordination among different types of consensus-building efforts. Consensus-based decision making in child protection will continue to expand and grow but will also continue to confront these challenges.     

A Clinical Comparison,Simulation Study Testing the Validity of SIMS and IOP-29 with an Italian Sample

The Inventory of Problems–29 (IOP-29) was recently introduced as a brief, easy-to-use measure of non-credible mental and cognitive symptoms that may be applied to a wide variety of contexts or clinical conditions. The current study compared its validity in discriminating bona fide versus feigned (via experimental malingering paradigm) psychopathology against that of the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS). Specifically, 452 Italian adult volunteers participated in this study: 216 were individuals with mental illness who were asked to take the SIMS and IOP-29 honestly, and 236 were nonclinical participants (experimental simulators) who took the same two tests with the instruction to feign a psychopathological condition. Two main, broad categories of symptom presentations were investigated: (a) psychotic spectrum disorders and (b) anxiety, depression, and/or trauma-related disorders. Data analysis compared the effect sizes of the differences between the patients and experimental simulators, as well as the AUC and classification accuracy statistics for both the SIMS and IOP-29. The results indicate that the IOP-29 outperformed the SIMS, with the differences between the two tools being more notable within the psychotic (IOP-29 vs. SIMS: d?=???1.80 vs. d?=???1.06; AUC?=?.89 vs. AUC?=?.79) than within the anxiety, depression, and/or trauma related subgroup (IOP-29 vs. SIMS: d?=???2.02 vs. d?=???1.62; AUC?=?.90 vs. AUC?=?.86). This study also demonstrates that the IOP-29, with its single cutoff score, is generalizable culturally and linguistically from the USA (English) to Italy (Italian).     

Geographic proximity and university–industry interaction: the case of Mexico

This paper analyses whether geographic proximity favours specific channels of university–industry interaction when firms collaborate with universities and with government research centres. Our study also provides insights regarding the relationship between the associated channel and the role of firms’ absorptive capacities. Our results show that firms with higher levels of absorptive capacities tend to interact more independently of their location. Additionally, interaction with non-local universities generally includes the transfer of codified forms of knowledge, while links with local universities includes more tacit forms of knowledge. Policy implications derived from this analysis focus on fostering interaction at local and non-local levels.     

Can We Talk? What We Have Learned About How to Have Productive Conflicts About Family Policy and Family Law

How we handle professional conflicts affects our capacity to help others in conflict. Two AFCC dialogues, one about domestic violence, the other about shared parenting, illustrate the challenges of taking on professional differences. The former resulted in considerable consensus. The latter involved a frank exchange of differences but little overall consensus. It was, however, an important beginning of a critical conversation. Other issues calling out for constructive conflict engagement, include the crisis in providing access to justice for family litigants who cannot afford legal representation. Professional groups must move beyond defending their own self interests to addressing this crisis.     

Book Review: Game Theory and the Transformation of Family Law by Kenneth H Waldron and Allan R. Koritzinsky

In this book, Waldron and Koritzinsky, provide a stimulating and interesting new way of understanding the impact of traditional approaches to divorce on families and divorcees. They ask whether the structure of divorce can be altered so that the payoff systems for a divorcing couple lead toward a more constructive and cooperative approach. Waldron and Koritzinsky encourage us to understand how what appears to be irrational behavior actually makes sense when you analyze the payoffs built into the divorce process and argue that we can change that system to reward more constructive behavior. They also urge us to look at subjective payoffs as well as objective outcomes. Their application of game theory yields rich insights to divorce practitioners, but it is important to remember that a rational actor model can only go so far in explaining the complexities and variations of the divorce process.     

International relations theory and Japanese pacifism: Why didn’t Tokyo go ballistic over North Korean nukes?

Seen from the perspectives of the various Western theories of international relations, Japan’s peculiar armed pacifism can appear very different. Prominent neorealists have predicted that Japan will inevitably develop nuclear weapons; prominent liberals have cited Japan as the model pacifist nation of the future. Over the last five years, it became clear to Japan that North Korea either possessed, or was on the brink of acquiring, nuclear weapons. How would the Japanese government respond to such a critical threat to its security? The case of North Korean nukes suggests that policymakers should be wary of the grim expectations of Western neorealists, at least in regard to Japan.