B: Reviews: general

MIDDLE EAST STUDIES IN DENMARK. Edited by LARS ERSLEV ANDERSEN. Odense, Odense University Press, 1994. 215pp. DKK 200.

APPROACHES TO THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE EAST: INTERVIEWS WITH LEADING MIDDLE EAST HISTORIANS. By NANCY ELIZABETH GALLAGHER. Reading, Garnet Publishing, 1994. viii, 197pp.

A HISTORY OF THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST. By WILLIAM L. CLEVELAND. Boulder and Oxford, Westview Press, 1994. 503pp. Tables, maps, photographs, glossary, select bibliography.

MUHAMMAD AND THE ORIGINS OF ISLAM. By F.E. PETERS. Albany, State University of New York Press, 1994. 334pp.

A READER ON CLASSICAL ISLAM. By F.E. PETERS. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1994. 420pp.

BEFORE REVELATION: THE BOUNDARIES OF MUSLIM MORAL THOUGHT. By A. KEVIN REINHART. (SUNY Series in Middle Eastern Studies.) Albany, State University of New York Press, 1995. 255pp.

THE DIVINE GUIDE IN EARLY SH'ISM: THE SOURCES OF ESOTERICISM. By MOHAMMAD ALI AMIR‐MOEZZI. Translated by DAVID STREIGHT. Albany, SUNY Press, 1994. 279pp.

IMAGINAL WORLDS: IBN AL‐'ARABI AND THE PROBLEM OF RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY. By WILLIAM C. CHITTICK. Albany, SUNY Press, 1994. vii, 208pp. $18.95 (pb.).

RETHINKING ISLAM: COMMON QUESTION, UNCOMMON ANSWERS. By MOHAMMED ARKOUN. Translated and edited by ROBERT D. LEE. Oxford, Westview Press, 1994. 139pp.

A YOUNG MUSLIM'S GUIDE TO THE MODERN WORLD. By SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR. Cambridge, Islamic Texts Society, 1993. 270pp.

PIOUS PASSENGERS. THE HAJJ IN EARLIER TIMES. By M.N. PEARSON. London, Hurst, 1994. viii, 217 pp. Illustrated.

PILGRIMS AND SULTANS: THE HAJJ UNDER THE OTTOMANS. By SURAIYA FAROQHI. London, I.B. Tauris, 1994. xii, 244pp. 1 map.

DEMOCRACY WITHOUT DEMOCRATS? THE RENEWAL OF POLITICS IN THE MUSLIM WORLD. Edited by GHASSAN SALAMÉ. London and New York, I. B. Taurus, 1994. 340pp., figures and tables. £45.

THE PROPHET'S PULPIT: ISLAMIC PREACHING IN CONTEMPORARY EGYPT. By PATRICK D. GAFFNEY. University of California Press, 1994. 367pp. Map, bibliographic references and index.

THE WOMEN'S AWAKENING IN EGYPT: CULTURE, SOCIETY, AND THE PRESS. By BETH BARON. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1994. 259pp. £20.

THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, URB ANA‐CHAMPAIGN

LE DESERT ET LA GLOIRE: LES MEMOIRES D'UN AGENT SYRIEN DE NAPOLEON. By FATHALLAH SAYIGH. Translated and edited by JOSEPH CHELHOD. Paris, Gallimard, 1991. 304pp.

AMERICAN CONSULS IN THE HOLY LAND: 1832–1914. By RUTH KARK. Jerusalem, Magnes Press & Hebrew University; Detroit, Wayne State University Press, 1994. 388pp. 28 plates.

PALESTINE IN TRANSFORMATION, 1856–1882: STUDIES IN SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. By ALEXANDER SCHÖLCH. Translated by WILLIAM C. YOUNG and MICHAEL C. GERRITY. Washington, D.C., Institute for Palestine Studies, 1993. xii, 351pp. 8 maps, 44 tables. $29.95.

AN OCCASION FOR WAR: CIVIL CONFLICT IN LEBANON AND DAMASCUS IN 1860. By LEILA TARAZI FAWAZ. London, Centre for Lebanese Studies and I.B. Tauris, 1994. 302pp.

THE ROOTS OF SEPARATISM IN PALESTINE: BRITISH ECONOMIC POLICY 1920–1929. By BARBARA J. SMITH. London, I.B. Tauris, 1993. 258pp. £39.50.

SYRIA'S QUEST FOR INDEPENDENCE, 1939–1945. By SALMA MARDAM BEY. Reading, Ithaca Press, 1994. 288pp.

STAAT UND GESELLSCHAFT IN SYRIEN, 1970–1989. By VOLKER PERTHES. (Schriften des Deutschen Orient‐Institut.) Hamburg, Deutsches Orient‐Institut, 1990. 340pp. DM 39.‐

ÖFFENTLICHE UND PRIVATE LANDWIRTSCHAFT IN SYRIEN. EINE WIRTSCHAFTS‐ UND SOZIALGEOGRAPHISCHE UNTERSUCHUNG IM NORDWESTEN UND NORDOSTEN DES LANDES. By HANS HOPFINGER. (Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 19.). Erlangen, Frankische Geographische Gesellschaft, 1991. 348pp, 24 illustrations, 77 tables, 13 photographs, 5 coloured maps.

LA GUERRE DU LIBAN: DE LA DISSENSION NATIONALE AU CONFLIT REGIONAL, 1975–1982. By SAMIR KASSIR. Paris, Karthala, 1994. 510pp.

A HISTORY OF THE DRUZES. By KAIS M. FIRRO. (Handbuch der Orientalistik, Ergänszungsband 9.) Leiden, Brill, 1992. 396pp. 9 maps.

VILLAGE, STEPPE AND STATE: THE SOCIAL ORIGINS OF MODERN JORDAN. Edited by EUGENE L. ROGAN and TARIQ TELL. London and New York, British Academic Press, 1994. xxviii, 226pp.

JORDAN'S INTER‐ARAB RELATIONS: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ALLIANCE MAKING. By LAURIE A. BRAND. New York, Columbia University Press, 1995. x, 350pp.

THE PALESTINIANS IN ISRAEL: IS ISRAEL THE STATE OF ALL ITS CITIZENS AND ‘ABSENTEES'? Translated and edited by NUR MASALHA. Haifa, Galilee Center for Social Research, 1993. $12 (pb).

FASTING AND FEASTING IN MOROCCO: WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN RAMADAN. By MARJO BUITELAAR. (Mediterranea Series.) Oxford and Providence, Berg Publishers, 1993. 203pp. 9 photographs, 15 illustrations, glossary.

IMPERIAL IDENTITIES: STEREOTYPING, PREJUDICE AND RACE IN COLONIAL ALGERIA. By PATRICIA M. LORCIN. (Society and Culture in the Modern Middle East.) London, I.B. Tauris, 1995. x, 323pp. 1 map.

THE MAKING OF SAUDI ARABIA 1916–1936: FROM CHIEFTAINCY TO MONARCHICAL STATE. By JOSEPH KOSTINER. (Studies in Middle Eastern History.) New York and Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1993. xii, 260pp. Maps. £35.00

OIL, POWER AND PRINCIPLE: IRAN'S OIL NATIONALIZATION AND ITS AFTERMATH. By MOSTAFA ELM. New York, Syracuse University Press, 1994. xvii, 413pp. Map, tables (pb).

AN OTTOMAN STATESMAN IN WAR & PEACE: AHMED RESMI EFENDI, 1700–1783. By VIRGINIA H. AKSAN. (The Ottoman Empire & its Heritage, 3.) Leiden, Brill, 1995. xviii, 253pp. Illustration, maps, glossary of place names, terms and phrases, bibliography, index.

TURKEY: A MODERN HISTORY. By ERIK J. ZÜRCHER. London, I.B. Tauris, 1993. 381pp., maps, biographical notes.

THE SEED AND THE SOIL: GENDER AND COSMOLOGY IN TURKISH VILLAGE SOCIETY. By CAROL DELANEY. (Comparative Studies on Muslim Societies, 11.) Berkeley, University of California Press, 1991. xiii, 360pp. Illustrations. Photographs. Index.

INDIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST. By PRITHVI RAM MUDIAM. London, British Academic Press, 1994. ix, 232pp. £39.50.

ARAB WOMEN. Edited by JUDITH E. TUCKER. (Indiana Series in Arab and Islamic Studies.) Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1993. 256pp., index.

WOMEN, ISLAM AND THE STATE. By DENIZ KANDIYOTI. London, Macmillan, 1991. 271 pp., index.

VISITING ARAB COUNTRIES OF THE MIDDLE EAST: A PERSONAL GUIDE FOR WOMEN. By PENELOPE TURING. Glasgow, Centre for Management Training and Development in the Middle East, n.d. [1994]. 26pp.

MEDIEVAL AGRICULTURE AND ISLAMIC SCIENCE: THE ALMANAC OF A YEMENI SULTAN. By DANIEL MARTIN VARISCO. (Publications on the Near East, No. 6.) Seattle & London, University of Washington Press, 1994. xv, 349pp. 2 maps.

REORIENTATIONS: ARABIC AND PERSIAN POETRY. Edited by SUZANNE PINCKNEY STETKEVYCH. Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1994. x, 269pp. £25.

THE ARABIAN NIGHTS: A COMPANION. By ROBERT IRWIN. London: Allen Lane, The Penguin Press. 1994. 344pp. £20.

NAGIB MAHFOUZ: THE PURSUIT OF MEANING. By RASHEED EL‐ENANY. London and New York, Routledge, 1993. xv, 271pp. £12.99 (pb).

ARAB COMIC STRIPS: POLITICS OF AN EMERGING MASS CULTURE. By ALLEN DOUGLAS and FEDWA MALTI‐DOUGLAS. Bloomington & Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1994. xiii, 263pp.

ISLAMIC SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING. By DONALD R. HILL. (Islamic Surveys.) Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1994. 250pp. 78 illustrations. £16.95 (pb), £39.95 (hb).

CAUGHT IN TIME: GREAT PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVES. KHIVA. BUKHARA. SAMARKAND. Series editor: VITALY NAUMKIN. Reading, Garnet Publishing, 1993. 127pp. (Khiva); 159pp. (Bukhara); 159pp. (Samarkand).

THE CORAL BUILDINGS OF SUAKIN: ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING, DESIGN AND DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS IN A RED SEA PORT. By J.‐P. GREENLAW. London and New York, Kegan Paul International, 1995.132pp.     

When men fight with women (versus other men): Limited offending during disputes

What transpires in a dispute, even a violent dispute, is affected by the tendency for adversaries to engage in “limited offending.” We focus on one restraint: the tendency of men to limit their aggression in their disputes with women. Analyses are based on an incident-level survey about interpersonal disputes administered to 503 men who are incarcerated and 220 men who had never been incarcerated. Using multinomial and logistic regression models, we examined the extent to which an adversary's gender predicted dispute-related behaviors. The evidence suggests that the chivalry norm has pervasive effects on the behavior of men during their disputes with women. Men are more likely to engage in remedial actions (e.g., apologies) when their adversary is a woman, as opposed to another man. In addition, men are less likely to make violent threats and engage in physical attacks when their adversary is a woman, even after they have themselves been physically attacked. When men are violent, they are less likely to injure a woman than a man. However, the chivalry norm does not inhibit verbal aggression in these disputes: men are just as likely to engage in verbal attacks and nonviolent threats when the adversary is a woman.     

When aid builds states: party dominance and the effects of foreign aid on tax collection after civil war

ABSTRACT

Does foreign aid strengthen or weaken post-conflict states? We examine the effects of aid on tax collection after civil war, an important dimension of state effectiveness. While the literature emphasizes aid’s perverse effects, the relationship between aid dependence and the growth of tax collection is unclear. We argue that the impact of aid reflects its political utility for ruling elites in consolidating their authority after civil war. While dominant parties subvert tax strengthening reforms to solidify their political base, elites in more fractionalized settings rely on external political backing to manage internal challenges to their authority, and are more likely to comply with donor conditions. We test this argument through a Latent Curve Analysis of tax collection rate growth in post-civil war countries from 1978 to 2012. We find that aid is associated with slower growth in tax collection in dominant party settings, and more rapid tax growth in politically fractionalized settings. The findings highlight the need for attention to internal political dynamics to explain aid effectiveness after civil war, and point to opportunities to strengthen institutions in some post-conflict countries.     

MDS use with crime scene data replicates poorly: response to Goodwill,Alison, and Humann (this issue) and Davis (this issue)

Abstract

Examinations of treatment attrition form an important – although sometimes neglected – component of evaluating a correctional programme's effectiveness in reducing recidivism. Previous research has identified offender characteristics that predict non-completion. This study investigated non-completion in 138 high-risk, violent male prisoners attending an intensive cognitive–behavioural programme. Almost one-third of men who commenced it did not complete the 7-month programme. Most asked to leave of their own accord, or were removed for ongoing offending. In contrast to previous research, no support was found for the hypothesis that those who terminated treatment prematurely were more in need of intervention than those who completed the programme; non-completers did not differ from completers on static estimates of criminal risk, PCL-R scores, demographic variables or self-report scales measuring dynamic risk factors. It was concluded that successful prediction using variables related to criminal risk and criminogenic need depends both on the characteristics of programme participants, and on contextual factors such as programme policies: when high-risk high needs offenders are a programme's target clientele, variables related to risk and need will have limited predictive utility. From a practice perspective, the programme was successful in retaining through to completion a relatively untreatable group: high-risk offenders with moderate to high PCL-R scores.     

Loan Officers’ Gender and Microfinance Repayment Rates

This study examines the impact of loan officer characteristics on repayment rates of microfinance borrowers in Mexico applying multilevel analyses, with special attention to the impact of the gender of the loan officer on default rates. The results strongly suggest that loan officers play a crucial role in improving repayment rates in microfinance and that male loan officers are better able to induce borrowers to repay than female loan officers. This may be because men exert authority over women and face fewer problems working late, travelling through unsafe places, and combining a position as counsellor with enforcing repayment.     

Humanitarian mine action and peace building: exploring the relationship

Focusing on the humanitarian mine action (hma) sector, this article argues that rooting peace building in concrete activities carries considerable promise, diversifying the repertoire and enhancing the robustness of peace building. However, the assumption that mine action necessarily contributes to building peace is problematic and permits the neglect of harmful effects and a failure to capitalise fully on the potential for positive ones. If peace building is seen in terms of three major domains—security, development and politics—the current tendency is to emphasise security primarily, development secondarily, and the political only marginally when addressing the impact of hma on peace building. Several examples indicate that mine action may have a significant impact on the political aspects of peace building, including confidence building, conflict resolution and reconciliation. At the same time, linking mine action to peace building creates certain dilemmas, and a rigid subordination of mine action initiatives to a centrally directed peace building strategy is unlikely to be productive. Ultimately, a focus on the peace building role of mine action carries a dual promise for the sector: it documents impacts that are currently unacknowledged, while encouraging new and refined practices.     

Coercion and patient satisfaction on psychiatric acute wards

Legal-, perceived- and objective coercion were examined both separately and together as a measure of accumulated coercion, to determine how coercion affected patient satisfaction in patients admitted for acute psychiatric care. Accumulated coercive events significantly reduced both overall satisfaction, and satisfaction in four of five subscales evaluating different aspects of treatment. Neither legal status nor perceived coercion affected patient satisfaction, while objective coercion had a significant negative effect on overall satisfaction when these measures were analysed separately. Overall patient satisfaction reported at discharge was low, while satisfaction with different aspects of treatment showed considerable variation. The observation that perceived coercion in the admission process did not affect satisfaction significantly underlines the need to further explore the interaction between subjective and objective measures for coercion. It appears that multiple measures for coercion should be used in future studies.     

Examining Power-sharing in Persistent Conflicts: De Facto Pseudo-statehood versus de JureQuasi-federalism

The reasons that explain the failures in power-sharing lie in the notions of sovereignty and territoriality and their applications in the (post-)modern world. While territory is largely perceived as indivisible, sovereignty is seen as something that could be shared. Power-sharing schemes tend to fail because of the incompatibility of these two principles. Although enduring compromises between facts and norms may allow talks about diffused power and fuzzy identities and are therefore an asset, they do not offer a recipe of how to end zero-sum games and provide communal security. The aim of this paper is to examine comparatively recent attempts to resolve persistent conflicts through power-sharing in Cyprus, Moldova and Bosnia & Herzegovina. It concludes that although power-sharing is compatible with the normative categories stipulated in international law, solving modern conflicts necessitates a rethinking of the concepts over which these conflicts are taking place.     

War and peace—cyclical phenomena?

This paper demonstrates how the analysis can differ dramatically between two common static modeling approaches to conflict. The first approach uses a one-period setup and associates positive arms investments with conflict. The second approach has two periods, where arming decisions are taken in the first period, and the decision on whether to go to war is taken separately in the second. Building on the latter approach, I introduce a repeated game protocol with myopic players. Under these circumstances countries may end up in cycles of war and peace. This result offers a novel explanation for a common pattern in history.