Book reviews

John P. Willerton, Patronage and Politics in the USSR. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, xv+305 pp., $59.95, £40.00.

Michael Ellman & Vladimir Kontorovich, eds, The Disintegration of the Soviet Economic System. London and New York: Routledge, 1992, xv+281 pp., h/b £45.00., p/b £14.99.

Paul R. Josephson, Physics and Politics in Revolutionary Russia. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1991, xix+423 pp., $39.95.

Hélène Carrère D'Encausse, The Great Challenge: Nationalities and the Bolshevik State 1917–1930. Nancy Festinger, Trans., Richard Pipes, Foreword. New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, 1991, xviii+262 pp., $39.95.

Niels Erik Rosenfeldt, Stalin's Secret Chancellery and the Comintern. University of Copenhagen, Institute of Slavonic and East European Studies, 1991. 116 pp.

Christoph Bluth, Soviet Strategic Arms Policy Before SALT. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, 317 pp., £40.00.

Roger E. Kanet, Deborah Nutter Miner & Tamara J. Resler, Soviet Foreign Policy in Transition. Cambridge University Press, 1992, xvi+308 pp., £40.00, $59.95.

M. A. Babkina, ed., New Political Parties and Movements in the Soviet Union. Commack, NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 1991, 156 pp., $35.00.

S. Berglund & J. A. Dellenbrandt, eds., The New Democracies in Eastern Europe: Party Systems and Political Cleavages. Aldershot: Edward Elgar, 1991, xii + 237 pp., £39.95.

Gyorgy Csepeli & Antal Örkény, Ideology and Political Beliefs in Hungary: The Twilight of State Socialism. Trans., Brian McLean & Julianna Parti, London: Pinter, 1992, viii+148 pp., £35.00.     

The current state of medical school education in bioethics, health law, and health economics.

Current challenges in medical practice, research, and administration demand physicians who are familiar with bioethics, health law, and health economics. Curriculum directors at American Association of Medical Colleges-affiliated medical schools were sent confidential surveys requesting the number of required hours of the above subjects and the years in which they were taught, as well as instructor names. The number of relevant publications since 1990 for each named instructor was assessed by a PubMed search. In sum, teaching in all three subjects combined comprises less than two percent of the total hours in the American medical curriculum, and most instructors have not recently published articles in the fields they teach. This suggests that medical schools should reevaluate their curricula and instructors in bioethics, health law, and health economics.     

Nucleotide variability of HV-I in admixed population of the Brazilian Amazon Region

The analysis of genetic variation in the nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial DNA has been used as a tool in the study of history of different human populations, as Amerindians, Afro-descendents populations and furthermore admixed populations. In this study, the mitochondrial DNA was analyzed in 158 unrelated individuals in an admixed population of the Amazonian Region: Santarém-PA-Brazil. The polymorphisms were detected using both levels, analysis of restriction enzyme and direct sequencing. We observed a total of 49 different haplotypes were found determined by 46 variable nucleotides. The more frequent haplotypes (Hap03) was shared by five samples and 43 sequences were unique. The genetic diversity was estimated to 0.989+/-0.0067 and the probability of two random individuals showed identical mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotypes were 2.8%.     

Competition between unions as a stimulus for initiating reform: the Israeli case, 1958–2015

The article identifies characteristics and consequences of competition between two teachers’ unions as a component of multi-unionism. The study aimed to clarify the consequences of this competition for the education system following the splitting of one teachers’ union and formation of a new union, which challenged both its rival and the policy-makers. The study focuses particularly on the development of the newer union. Data was gathered from documents written between 1958 and 2013, and supplementary interviews were conducted with 15 key figures in the unions, the Ministry of Education, and the Treasury. While research literature usually describes the conduct of teachers’ unions on a continuum between hindrance and facilitation of educational reforms, the study’s findings add an additional dimension relating to the possibility that competition between two teachers’ unions can engender competitive proposals for educational reform and act as a catalyst for change in educational policy. The rivalry led to the emergence of two similar, but competing, educational reforms, accepted by government and in effect today in all the schools. The study provides information on different levels of competition between the teachers’ unions, and the leeway for action that a union has as an interest group.     

Damned If You Do,Damned If You Don't: Performative Power and the Strategy of Conventional and Nuclear Defusing

This article seeks to initiate a new round of strategic intellectual innovation in an era when threats posed by non-state terrorist organizations and their state supporters do not resemble Cold War threats. Based on an interpretative sociological reading of the concepts of power, security, and rationality, it argues that a “damned if you do, damned if you don't” dilemma is to the post-Cold War era what the danger of surprise attack or unintended nuclear war was to the Cold War: the defining structural threat of international politics. The dilemma leaves states confronting asymmetrical warfare with the choice of reacting with force to a terrorist act or practicing appeasement. Neither approach, however, can achieve the goal of putting an end to terrorism. Deterrence sustains the dilemma by providing a rationale for why force should be used and why self-restraint is irrational. This article proposes a third option, defusing, which may be accomplished by denial (preventing provocateurs from dragging states into the use of force) and restructuration (transforming the structure and rules of the situation). Defusing relies on “performative power”—the capacity to project a dramatic and credible performance on the world stage and to decouple social actors, their audiences, and their most deeply held strategic beliefs. The force of the argument is illustrated by examples from the global “war on terror,” the 2006 Lebanon War, the 2008–09 operation “Cast Lead” in Gaza, and the Iranian nuclear crisis.     

Institutions and Vote Unity in Parliaments: Evidence from 33 National Chambers

The paper looks at the relationship between institutions and vote unity in national parliaments with the help of a large data set of votes from 33 national parliaments. The tests run are the first to confirm empirically the relationship between vote of confidence procedure and vote unity. The paper also provides a theoretical explanation for why the existence of the confidence procedure influences vote unity despite being used only rarely. The vote of confidence influences votes through the development of control mechanisms as well as the selection of party members who are more ideologically united. This study also challenges the view that electoral rules which make candidates individually accountable to voters necessarily lead to more vote defections. The findings suggest that higher personal accountability decreases vote unity only if party leaders do not control candidate nomination. Parties that rely on government finance for campaigns are also more united.     

Increasing Representative Accountability through Electoral Laws: The Consequences of the 2008 Romanian Electoral Reform

The paper tests the effects of the 2008 Romanian electoral reform on the behaviour of MPs with the help of personal interviews conducted post reform. The reform was meant to make MPs more responsive to the needs of constituents, which in turn should lead to more constituency input in the legislative process, while at the same time yielding proportional results. The paper finds that there are few channels for the transmission of constituents' needs to MPs, and the existing channels are used for petty requests that have little to do with the legislative procedure. This in turn encourages the development of clientelistic ties between representatives and voters, which benefit wealthier candidates. The study also finds that although the new system translates votes into seats closely, small parties may still be disadvantaged because of what Duverger (1954 Duverger, M. (1954). Political parties: Their organization and activity in the modern state, New York, NY: John Wiley. [Google Scholar]. Political parties: Their organization and activity in the modern state. New York: John Wiley) calls the psychological aspects of the wasted vote problem.     

The Interplay Between Diabetes and Pancreatitis: Two Case Reports of Sudden,Natural Deaths and a Review of the Literature

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common disease involving insulin resistance or deficit that, when left unchecked, may cause severe hyperglycemia and subsequent end‐organ damage. Acute pancreatitis (AP) is inflammation of the pancreas that can lead to significant morbidity and mortality. AP and DM both account for a significant amount of sudden deaths, and rarely both disease processes may be present in the same decedent, causing some difficulty in wording the cause of death statement. Although much research has been directed at studying the causes and risk factors for AP and DM, there is a complex interplay between these diseases that is not fully understood. This study presents two autopsy cases of sudden, natural deaths that illustrate this interplay, along with a review of the literature. An algorithm for differentiating AP and DM is then discussed in the context of the presented cases as a proposed aid for forensic pathologists in the certification of such deaths.     

Y-chromosomal STR haplotypes in a population from the Amazon region, Brazil

Haplotype and allele frequencies of the nine Y-STR (DYS19, DYS389 I, DYS389 II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385 I/II) were determined in a population sample of 200 unrelated males from Belém, Brazil. The most common haplotypes are shared by 1.5% of the sample, while 186 haplotypes are unique. The haplotype diversity is 0.9995+/-0.0006. The data obtained were compared to those of other Brazilian populations. AMOVA indicates that 99.91% of all the haplotypical variation is found within geopolitical regions and only 0.09% is found among regions.     

Nucleotide variability of HV-I in Afro-descendents populations of the Brazilian Amazon Region

The analysis of genetic variation in the nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial DNA, provides unique information about the population diversity and human identification. In this study, the mitochondrial DNA sequences of the first hypervariable region (HV-I) were analyzed in 243 unrelated individuals of seven Afro-descendents populations of the Amazon Region. Sequence polymorphisms were detected using PCR and direct sequencing analysis. A total of 133 different haplotypes were found determined by 97 variable nucleotides. Each one of the three more frequent haplotypes was shared by 9 samples and 91 sequences were unique. The genetic diversity was estimated to 0.9898+/-0.0016 and the probability of two random individuals showed identical mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotypes were 1.2%.