Reviews

Big Men, Small Boys and Politics in Ghana: Power, Ideology and the Burden of History, 1982–1994 by Paul Nugent. Pinter Publishing Limited (London and New York). 1995. xiv plus 306pp. including bibliography and index. £35 or $63 hardback.

Understanding Contemporary Africa (2nd edition) edited by April A. Gordon and Donald L. Gordon. Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder and London. 1996. xiv plus 432pp. including maps, illustrations, notes, bibliographies, appendices and index.

The Politics of Difference: Ethnic Premises in a World of Power edited by Edwin N. Wilmsen and Patrick McAllister. University of Chicago Press: Chicago and London. 1996. ix plus 210pp.

The Multilateral Development Banks. Volume 1. The African Development Bank by E. Philip English and Harris M. Mule. The North‐South Institute. Ottawa. 1996. xvi plus 213pp.

Brothers at War: Dissidence and Rebellion in Southern Africa by Abiodun Alao. British Academic Press, London and New York. 1994. xiii plus 201pp. including notes, bibliography, index. £39.50. Hardback.

Now that We are Free: Coloured Communities in Democratic South Africa edited by Wilmot James, Daria Caliguire and Kerry Cullinan. Lynne Rienner Publishing, Boulder (Colorado) and London. 1996. 142pp.

Imperialism or Solidarity? International Labour and South African Trade Unions by Roger Southall. University of Cape Town Press, Cape Town. 1995. 398pp.

The Aid Relationship in Zambia: A Conflict Scenario by Oliver Saasa and Jerker Carlsson. Institute for African Studies, Lusaka (Zambia) and Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala (Sweden). 1996. 170pp. including figures, tables, notes, bibliography and index. Paperback.     

U.S. Navy and Marine Corps recruit training deaths in San Diego, California, 1973-1985; a review of 31 cases.

The deaths of military recruits associated with training activities nearly always fall under close scrutiny from relatives of the deceased recruit and the media. The literature contains isolated case reports of recruit deaths but no comprehensive reviews of all deaths at a single training facility. The purpose of this study is to describe the circumstances and causes of all recruit deaths occurring at the Naval Training Command and the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, California, from 1973 through 1985. Thirty-one male recruits died in training during this period; eight died from medical conditions not detected by preenlistment questioning or examination. In five of these cases, the conditions were probably known to the recruit but were not listed on a medical history form. Seven recruits died in incidents related to training, and there were six cases of "sudden cardiac death," as well as eight deaths caused by infectious diseases.     

Herabsetzung des Wahlalters auf 16 Jahre – Fortschritt oder Irrweg

Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden verschiedene Fragen diskutiert, die sich im Zusammenhang mit der Herabsetzung des Wahlalters für die Nationalratswahlen auf 16 Jahre ergeben. Insbesondere wird auf mögliche Inkonsistenzen infolge höherer Altersgrenzen in anderen Bundesgesetzen, die ebenfalls auf eine entsprechende Reife von Jugendlichen abstellen, eingegangen. So stellt sich etwa die Frage, ob Personen, die noch nicht voll geschäftsfähig sind, schon die geistige Reife haben, um auf Bundesebene zu wählen.     

Die Haushaltsrechtsreform des Bundes

Dieser Artikel beschreibt das wohl weitreichendste, gleichwohl aber von der Öffentlichkeit weitgehend unbemerkte Reformwerk der vergangenen Legislaturperiode. Die Haushaltsrechtsreform des Bundes wird in diesem Text nicht aus juristischer Perspektive kommentiert. Vielmehr versucht der Autor, einen allgemein verständlichen Überblick über das facettenreiche und sehr umfängliche Reformwerk zu geben, das in seinen Details noch immer im Entstehen begriffen ist. Die Grundthese des Autors lautet, dass diese Reform in ihren absehbaren Auswirkungen weit über das Haushaltsrecht selbst hinaus wirkt und zu wesentlichen Veränderungen in der gesamten Bundesverwaltung und in wichtigen anderen Politikbereichen führen könnte. Der Kern der Reform ist gleichsam die Etablierung eines permanent weiter wirkenden Reformmotors, dessen Herz die Wirkungsorientierung darstellt.     

Political Control and Public Sector Savings: Evidence from the States

The right to access (and ultimately spend)public sector savings is determined by the party which can control the politicaloutcome. This implies that anticipatedfuture changes in the state's controllingpolitical party may systematicallyadversely affect current savings. Extendingthe Life Cycle/Permanent Income model, Ishow that a representative legislator willopt to forgo current saving in favor ofspending when his prospects for futurepolitical control diminish. Estimating apanel data model of 39 states from1973–1995, I find that an actual futurechange in the controlling party of astate's lower house significantly reducescurrent saving.     

Agricultural land management and flood risks Interrelations

Recent extreme weather events have resulted in an ongoing discussion on the issues of land use and compensation payments within Austrian agriculture. Building on a functional evaluation system for agricultural lands, the national project ＂agriculture and flooding＂ has as its goal to classify the flood-protection contribution and flood sensitivity of agricultural lands. This, in turn, enables the recommendation of targeted measures for potentially improving flood situations, as well as an estimate of their implementation costs. In addition to the digital soil map, other fundamental sources used for the project are the digital flood risk map, IACS （integrated administration and control system of agricultural subsidies） land-use data and soil properties. The results will contribute to an understanding of the multifunctionality of agricultural lands and the setting of priorities on a regional scale regarding packaged flood-prevention and damage-minimization.     

The party politics of legislative‒executive relations in security and defence policy

Abstract

The move from territorial defence to ‘wars of choice’ has influenced the domestic politics of military interventions. This paper examines the extent to which both the substance and the procedure of military interventions are contested among political parties. Regarding the substance, our analysis of Chapel Hill Expert Survey data demonstrates that across European states political parties on the right are more supportive of military missions than those on the left. On the decision-making procedures, our case studies of Germany, France, Spain and the United Kingdom show that political parties on the left tend to favour strong parliamentary control whereas those on the right tend to prefer an unconstrained executive, although with differences across countries. These findings challenge the view that ‘politics stops at the water’s edge’ and contribute to a better understanding of how political parties and parliaments influence military interventions.