Reviews

Ference Feher, Agnes Heller and Gyorgy Markus, Dictatorship Over Needs, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1983, xiii+312 pp. £22.50.

Pierre Kende and Zdenek Strmiska, (Eds.) Egalités et inégalités en Europe de l’ Est, Presses de la Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, Paris, 1984.

Lewis H. Siegelbaum, The Politics of Industrial Mobilisation in Russia, 1914–17: A Study of the War‐Industries Committees, London, Macmillan (in association with St. Antony's College, Oxford), 1983, xix + 312 pp. £25.00

William J. Conyngham, The Modernization of Soviet Industrial Management, Cambridge University Press, 1982, pp. 332 + ix. £19–50.

Caroline Humphrey, Karl Marx Collective: Economy, society and religion in a Siberian collective farm. Cambridge, Melbourne, Sydney: Cambridge University Press, 1983. xviii + 522 pp. £30–00 (£10–95 paperback).

Victor Zaslavsky and Robert J. Brym, Soviet Jewish Emigration and Soviet Nationality Policy, London, Macmillan, 1984, vii + 185 pp. £20.00.

James E. Mace, Communism and the Dilemmas of National Liberation: National Communism in Soviet Ukraine 1918–1933, Harvard University Press for the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute and the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the U.S., Cambridge, Mass. 1983. xiv + 334 pp. $21.50.

Kalman Rupp, Entrepreneurs in Red, State University of New York Press, Albany, N.Y., 1983. 260 + xvii pp. £37.60 (hardback) £14.25 (paperback).

Cole Blasier, The Giant's Rival: the USSR and Latin America. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1983, xvi + 213 pp. $7.95 (paperback).     

Local culture and governmental change: The endurance of culture in the face of structural change

Abstract: As part of a larger exploration of local civic culture, this article seeks to answer the following questions: Is there one culture across policy arenas? Is there a unified perspective on civic culture? Do cities with demographic and ethnic diversity have a single culture? Recent research has focused, or perhaps re‐focused, attention on the importance of culture in determining public policy at the local level. These efforts have classified different types of local culture in an attempt to develop an operationally sound and replicable definition of civic culture that can also delineate cities based on their cultural profile. The ultimate goal of such research is to explore how civic cultures affect public policies to not only provide researchers with a theoretical understanding of how communities are governed but also to identify the forces affecting ultimate policy choices. Using a triangulation of methods technique, this research employed a citizen phone survey along with five years of élite interviews in the City of Ottawa, Ontario. The focus on Ottawa provides an understanding of civic culture in light of significant governmental structural change, namely the provincially mandated amalgamation of seven cities, four townships, and the Ottawa‐Carleton Regional Municipality in 2001. Sommaire: Dans le cadre d'une étude plus approfondie de la culture municipale locale, le présent article cherche à répondre aux questions suivantes: Y a‐t‐il une culture propre à toutes les sphères de politiques? Existe‐t‐il une perspective unifiée sur la culture municipale? Est‐ce que les villes qui ont une diversité démographique et ethnique ont une seule et même culture? Des recherches récentes ont porté leur attention ‐ ou peut‐être porté leur attention à nouveau ‐ sur l'importance de la culture pour déterminer la politique publique à l'échelle locale. Ces efforts ont classé différents types de culture locale, afin d'essayer de mettre au point une définition de la culture municípale valable, pouvant être reproduite dans la pratique et qui puisse aussi délimiter les villes d'après leur profil culturel. Le but ultime d'une telle recherche est d'examiner à fond comment les cultures municipales influent sur les politiques publiques. Non seulement elles fournissent aux chercheurs une compré‐hension théorique de la manière dont les communautés sont gouvernées, mais elles permettent d'identifier les forces qui influent sur les choix politiques ultimes. Utilisant une méthode de triangulation, cette recherche a été menée par le biais d'un sondage téléphonique de citoyens ainsi que d'interviews de membres de l'élite dans la ville d'Ottawa, Ontario, sur une période de cinq années. Le fait de se pencher sur Ottawa fournit une compréhension de la culture municipale à la lumière d'importants changements structuraux gouvernementaux, à savoir le regroupement prescrit par la province de sept villes, quatre cantons et la municipalité régionale d'Ottawa‐Carleton en 2001.     

Muscle contraction during electro-muscular incapacitation: A comparison between square-wave pulses and the TASER(®) X26 Electronic control device

Abstract: Electronic control devices (including the Advanced TASER^® X26 model produced by TASER International) incapacitate individuals by causing muscle contractions. To provide information relevant to development of future potential devices, effects of monophasic square waves with different parameters were compared with those of the X26 electronic control device, using two animal models (frogs and swine). Pulse power, electrical pulse charge, pulse duration, and pulse repetition frequency affected muscle contraction. There was no difference in the charge required, between the square waveform and the X26 waveform, to cause approximately the same muscle‐contraction response (in terms of the strength‐duration curve). Thus, on the basis of these initial studies, the detailed shape of a waveform may not be important in terms of generating electro‐muscular incapacitation. More detailed studies, however, may be required to thoroughly test all potential waveforms to be considered for future use in ECDs.     

Intimate violence among underrepresented groups on a college campus

Rape, sexual violence, psychological violence, and physical violence, among college students have been a concern. Lifetime events are often studied but not violence that specifically transpires while one is in college. Underrepresented groups such as Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, students who are gay, lesbian, and bisexual, and students who are members of racial and ethnic minorities have not been studied as extensively as White, heterosexual females. The authors used several measures to investigate the incidence of sexual violence, physical and psychological abuse among underrepresented groups in a random sample of 1,028 college students at a private, northeastern, technological campus in upstate New York, United States and analyzed victimization rates by gender, race/ethnicity, auditory status, and sexual orientation. Binary logistic regression analyses found that statistically significant differences are likely to exist between members of underrepresented groups and groups in the majority. The study found statistically significant associations between Deaf and Hard of Hearing students and students who were gay, lesbian, bisexual, or other sexual orientation with psychological abuse and physical abuse. Racial and ethnic minorities and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and other sexual orientation students were significantly more at risk for sexual abuse. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and other sexual orientation students, students who were members of a racial or ethnic minority, and female students were significantly more likely to be raped. Female heterosexual students were more likely to be the victim of an attempted rape. Suggestions for further research and policy implications are provided.