Decentring state categories: diaspora within a Palestinian geopolitical assemblage in Nicosia,Cyprus

With over 50% of Palestinians in diaspora, global constructions of what is Palestinian are central to Palestinian geopolitics. This article examines how the meanings and implications of the label “Palestinian” in diaspora are produced as Palestinians negotiate the politics of migration and citizenship while living in Cyprus. Using the concept of a geopolitical assemblage incorporates the role of state immigration control into a critical discussion of diaspora. Cyprus provides a complex context in which the momentary constructions of a Palestinian diaspora in relation to other geopolitical entities affects Palestinians despite their immigration or citizenship status in Cyprus.     

Book Reviews

Jarol B. Manheim, All of the People all the Time: Strategic Communication and American Politics (New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 1991), 255 pp. $25.00.

Harry C. Mansfield, Jr., America's Constitutional Soul (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, 1991), pp. 236.

Donald L. Horowitz, A Democratic South Africa? (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1991), 293 pp. $24.95.     

Regional prosperities compared: Massachusetts and Baden-Württemberg in the 1980s

This article compares the relationship between economic development and public policy in two of the most prosperous regions of the 1980s: Massachusetts in the United States and Baden-Württemberg in West Germany. Beginning with a critique of the theory of the product life-cycle, the article examines the rise and fall of traditional industries in Massachusetts and their survival in Baden-Württemberg. It then goes on to consider the rise–but also the vulnerability–of the high-tech and financial firms in Massachusetts, as well as the more robust, though almost invisible growth of these sectors in Baden-Württemberg. The burden of the argument is that there are, strictly speaking, no ‘mature’ industries and public policies aimed at stimulating innovation are most successful when the latter is integrated into the local industrial structure as a whole rather than isolated into a distinct high-tech sector.     

Simulating commercial policy in a small,open dual economy with urban unemployment: A general equilibrium approach

A two‐sector numerical general equilibrium model calibrated on Kenyan data is used to consider second‐best tariff policy in an economy with a distorted market for urban‐industrial labour and urban unemployment. The results illustrate the sensitivity of second‐best policy to the way the administered urban wage is determined (whether it is fixed primarily in terms of food or the manufactured good), and to the degree of inter‐sectoral mobility of capital. Efficiency gains from moving to a second‐best policy are shown to be small in comparison with the gains from eliminating the wage distortion in the first place.     

The recovery of radical Islam in the wake of the defeat of the Taliban11Many of the websites cited in this article have either been suppressed or have moved from address to address. When this is the case I have placed an asterix in brackets (∗) at the end of the URL.

This article analyses the intellectual and religious processes through which radical Islam has had to confront its defeat in Afghanistan and rebuild during the period since that time, including paradigms of battle, dreams and martyrologies and apocalyptic readings of history and current events.     

Measuring the quality of election administration

How do we distinguish between a ‘genuine’, ‘free and fair’, or ‘legitimate’ election and an election that is something less? In this article, we offer an answer to this vexing question: the Election Administration Systems Index (EASI). EASI is a practical, transparent, and sustainable tool for measuring the quality of elections in the developing world. The following pages describe the current limitations in measuring election quality, detail the EASI approach, and provide a comparative analysis of the results of its pilot implementation. EASI scores are drawn from a survey of experts on elections in the target country following a recent nationwide election. The analytical framework is comprised of three electoral dimensions: participation, competition, and integrity of the process. We also divide these dimensions temporally according to the electoral cycle: either pre-election, during the election, or post-election. The final product is a set of six primary scores displayed across dimension and time. By aggregating the survey data in this fashion, we provide for a nuanced assessment of an election by each dimension and across the cycle. As our pilot results demonstrate, EASI is a diagnostic tool for identifying electoral strengths and weaknesses and serves well for comparative assessments.     

The English common law criminal defence and excuse of necessity: a critical comparison of the customary law and commonplace

A defendant turned off an oil pipeline argued and used the common law defence of necessity. The Court permitted the accused to argue that this action was necessary to decelerate calamitous climate change. The objective is to compare critically the development and use of the defence and excuse of necessity. The question is whether Lord Coleridge had a prejudging objective, in R v. Dudley and Stephens, and if so, what was it likely to have been. Necessity, as an excuse, is a categorical imperative because it is of the same structure as violating a law to save the state.     

Correlation between saw blade width and kerf width

Most studies of saw marks have focused on morphological characteristics and their utility in identifying saws suspected to have been utilized in cases of criminal dismemberment. The present study examined the extent to which metric analysis may be used to correlate saw blade measurements with minimum kerf widths (MKWs). A sample of 56 partially defleshed white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) long bones was utilized as proxy for human remains. The long bones were cut using a variety of commercially available saws, including 11 manual‐powered and 5 mechanical‐powered saws. A total of 496 false start kerfs (FSKs) were created. Two experiments were performed, with the first test examining the MKWs of FSKs produced on specimens that were restrained using a bench vise, while the second test analyzed the MKWs of FSKs produced on minimally restrained specimens. Statistical analysis using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) indicated a positive relationship between saw blade width (mm) and MKW, with blade width (p < 0.001) and the overall difference between the mechanical‐ and manual‐powered saws (p = 0.029) tested, reaching statistical significance. A comparison of MKWs produced using manual‐powered saws on restrained and minimally restrained bones suggests that restraint condition (p = 0.009) has a statistically significant effect. In comparisons of MKWs to blade widths, the average ratio for mechanical‐powered saws is 18.7% greater than the average ratio for manual‐powered saws. While the mode of the ratios was 1.42, thus supporting the general rule that MKW does not exceed 1.5 times blade width, multiple individual ratios did surpass 1.5.