Regulation of technology transfer: The Mexican experience

Beginning some 20 years ago, regulation of technology transfer became common-place in a number of developing countries. Whether such regulation could prove beneficial was often questioned, particularly in the industrialized world. But with a 15–20 year history to study, we can now look at the impact that regulation has had. Mexico presents a good case study, as its original law was one of the earliest, and the country's political continuity has led to a detectable evolvement of the technology-transfer process that allows analysis of various factors over time.     

Predicting batterer recidivism five years after community intervention

The purpose of this study was to examine batterer recidivism rates 5 years after community intervention and to determine differences that discriminate between recidivists and nonrecidivists. Of the 100 men included in the sample, 40% were identified as recidivists because they were either convicted of domestic assault, the subject of an order for protection, or a police suspect for domestic assault. A discriminant analysis was conducted using a variety of background and intervention variables. Five variables were selected that significantly discriminated between recidivists and nonrecidivists and correctly classified 60.6% of the cases. Men who had been abusive for a shorter duration prior to the program, court ordered to have a chemical dependency evaluation, in chemical dependency treatment, abused as children, and previously convicted for nonassault crimes were more likely to be recidivists. Variables relating to intervention did not significantly predict recidivism. Implications for community intervention programs are discussed.     

Expert Approaches to Communicating Violence Risk

There has been virtually no empirical study of the way in which evaluating clinicians communicate their conclusions about the risk of violence toward others. Risk communication has become particularly important in recent years, serving as the link between empirical data from recent studies and the understanding and use of such data by evaluators and decision makers. The present study considered how psychologists and psychiatrists, identified as experts in violence risk assessment, responded to eight vignettes that systematically measured preferences for risk communication. The vignettes involved the presentation of the following factors in a 2 × 2 × 2 within-subjects design, counterbalanced for order: (1) risk model (prediction vs. management), (2) risk level (high vs. low risk of the individual being assessed), and (3) risk factors (the predominance of static vs. dynamic risk factors). A total of 71 individuals (41 psychologists, 2 sociologists, and 28 psychiatrists) responded to a survey mailed to 100 individuals, for a response rate of 71%. Participants were asked to rate the value of six forms of risk communication for each of the eight vignettes. There were few significant differences between the ratings assigned by psychologists and those assigned by psychiatrists. The most highly valued form of risk communication involved identifying risk factors applicable to the individual and specifying interventions to reduce risk. A repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance yielded a main effect for risk level and an interaction between risk level and risk factors. The implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.     

B. Reviews: general

REGIERUNG UND VERWALTUNG DES VORDEREN ORIENTS IN ISLAMISCHER ZEIT. TEIL 2. Mit Beiträgen von D. SOURDEL und J. BOSCH VILÁ. (Handbuch der Orientalistik, Band VI: Geschichte der islamischen Länder, Abschnitt 5.) Leiden, Brill, 1988. vi, 152pp. Hfl.68.‐ (58.‐ to Series subscribers).

BRITAIN AND THE MIDDLE EAST: AN ECONOMIC HISTORY 1945–87. By FRANK BRENCHLEY. (Middle East Studies.) London, Lester Crook, 1989. 391pp.

AN IMPERIAL TWILIGHT. By SIR GAWAIN BELL. London, Lester Crook Academic Publishing, 1989. 266 pp. £15.95

JERUSALEM IN HISTORY. Edited by K.J. ASALI. London, Scorpion Publishing, 1989.

KING ABDULLAH, BRITAIN AND THE MAKING OF JORDAN. By MARY C. WILSON. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1987. 289pp. £25.00.

A HOUSE OF MANY MANSIONS: THE HISTORY OF LEBANON RECONSIDERED. By KAMAL SALIBI. London, I.B. Tauris, 1988. 234pp. £17.95

THE UNMAKING OF PALESTINE. By W.F. ABBOUSHI. Wisbech, Menas Press, 1985. xi, 250pp. £21.50.

CHILDREN OF BETHANY: THE STORY OF A PALESTINIAN FAMILY. By SAID K. ABURISH. London, Tauris, 1988. 243pp. £14.95.

TOWARDS A PALESTINIAN ENTITY. By PAUL LALOR. London, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1989. 35pp.

ISRAEL, PALESTINIANS AND THE INTIFADA: CREATING FACTS ON THE WEST BANK. By GEOFFREY ARONSON. Lonon, Kegan Paul International, 2nd ed., 1990. 376 pp.

SUDAN 1898–1989: THE UNSTABLE STATE. By PETER WOODWARD. London, Lester Crook, 1990. 273pp.

REVOLUTION AND FOREIGN POLICY: THE CASE OF SOUTH YEMEN 1967–1987. By FRED HALLIDAY. (Cambridge Middle East Library, 21.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990. 316 pp.

THE MAKING OF CONTEMPORARY ALGERIA, 1830–1987: COLONIAL UPHEAVALS AND POST‐INDEPENDENCE DEVELOPMENT. By MAHFOUD BENNOUNE. (Cambridge Middle East Library series.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1988.

THE GULF WAR: ITS ORIGINS, HISTORY AND CONSEQUENCES. By JOHN BULLOCH and HARVEY MORRIS. London, Methuen 1989. 309 pp. £14.99.

THE GULF WAR. By EDGAR O'BALLANCE. London, Brasseys's Defence Publishers (Pergamon), 1988. 231pp. £17.95.

THE GULF AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY: THE 1980S AND BEYOND. Edited by M.E. AHRARI. London, Macmillan, 1989. 210pp. £35.00.

THE GULF WAR. By MAJID KHADDURI. New York, Oxford University Press, 1988. 236pp. $24.95.

THE GULF WAR. Edited by HANS MAULL and OTTO PICK. New York, St. Martin's Press, 1989. ix, 203pp. £30.00.

THE FUTURE OF THE GULF. By PHILIP ROBINS. Aldershot, Royal Institute of International Affairs/Dartmouth Publishing Co., 1989. xvii, 145pp.

THE ISLAMIC IMPULSE. Edited by BARBARA FREYER STOWASSER. London and Sydney, Croom Helm, 1987. 329pp. £25.00.

ISLAM: STATE AND SOCIETY. Edited by KLAUS FERDINAND and MEHDI MOZAFFARI. London, Coarsen Press, 1988. 219pp. £6.50.

THE ISLAMIC POLITY AND POLITICAL LEADERSHIP; FUNDAMENTALISM, SECTARIANISM, AND PRAGMATISM. By MEHRAN TAMADONFAR. Boulder, San Francisco & London, Westview Press, 1989. 152pp.

RELIGION AND POLITICAL POWER. Edited by GUSTAVO BENAVIDES and M.W. DALY. Albany, State University of New York Press, 1989. 240pp.

FIRST YEAR ARABIC COURSE. 1: ANA AKTUB: PHONOLOGY AND SCRIPT. 2: MIN FADLAK: LISTENING AND SPEAKING. 3: MABRUK: READING AND WRITING GRAMMAR. By DIONISIUS A. AGIUS. [Leeds], University of Leeds, Department of Modern Arabic Studies, 1989. 3 parts (in 4 vols.), 4 cassettes. £25.00.

DAS KAPITEL INNA WA‐AHAWATUHA AUS DEM ‘MANHAG AS‐SALIK’ DES GRAMMATIKERS ABU HAYYAN AL‐GARNATI (1256–1344). BY ANNETTE BERGTER. (Arabische Texte und Studien, 2.) Hildesheim, Zürich, New York, Georg O1ms, 1988. 201pp. DM35.80.

SAUDI ARABIAN DIALECTS. By THEODORE PROCHAZKA. (Library of Arabic Linguistics, monograph 8.) London and New York, Kegan Paul International, 1988. xix, 240pp. + 13pp. (Arabic text).

LANGUAGE VARIATION AND CHANGE IN A MODERNISING ARAB STATE: THE CASE OF BAHRAIN. By CLIVE HOLES. (Library of Arabic Linguistics, 7.) London/New York, Kegan Paul International, 1987. xii, 210 pp. £45.00.

DER NEUARAMÄISCHE DIALEKT VON HERTEVIN (PROVINZ S??RT). By OTTO JASTROW. (Semitica Viva, 3.) Wiesbaden, Otto Harrassowitz, 1988. XXV, 234pp. 1 map. DM132.

SÜDOGHUSISCHE MATERIALIEN AUS AFGHANISTAN UND IRAN. By GERHARD DOERFER & WOLFRAM HESCHE. Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 1989. 548pp. Maps, illustrations. DM236.‐

AL‐GHAZALI THE REMEMBRANCE OF DEATH AND THE AFTERLIFE: KITAB DHIKR AL‐MAWT WA‐MA BA'DAHU: BOOK XL OF THE REVIVAL OF THE RELIGIOUS SCIENCES IHYA’ ‘ULUM AL‐DIN. Translated with an introduction and notes by T.J. WINTER. Cambridge, Islamic Texts Society, 1989. 347pp. £12.95 (p/b), £35 (h/b).

BAHA’ AL‐DAN AL‐'AMILI AND HIS LITERARY ANTHOLOGIES. By CLIFFORD EDMUND BOSWORTH. (Journal of Semitic Studies, monograph 10.) Manchester, University of Manchester, 1989. vii, [3], 128pp.

SAND AND OTHER POEMS. By MAHMOUD DARWEESH. Selected and translated by RANA KABBANI. London, KPI, 1986. 77pp. £9.95.

MAWSU'AT AL‐ADAB AL‐DAHIK = AN ANTHOLOGY OF HUMOUR IN ARAB LITERATURE. By ‘ALI MURUWWA. London, Riad El‐Rayyes Books, 1987. 8 vols., 1293pp. £80.00

LE PATRIMOINE JOURNALISTIQUE DE TUNISIE. By MUSTAPHA CHELBI. Tunis, Editions Bouslama, 1986. 296pp. $6 or TD 3.500.

ADVICE ON THE ART OF GOVERNANCE: MAU'IZAH‐JAHANGIRI OF MUHAMMAD BAQIR NAJM‐I SANI: AN INDO‐ISLAMIC MIRROR FOR PRINCES. Persian Text with introduction, translation and notes by SAJIDA SULTANA ALVI. (SUNY series in Near Eastern studies.) Albany, State University of New York Press, 1989. x, 215pp.

THICKHEAD AND OTHER STORIES. By HALDUN TANER. Translated by GEOFFREY LEWIS. (UNESCO Collection of Representative Works.) London, Forest Books, 1988. 160pp. £8.95

AVERROES’ DE SUBSTANTIA ORBIS: A CRITICAL EDITION OF THE HEBREW TEXT WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY. By ARTHUR HYMAN. (Corpus Philosophorum Medii Aevi Academiarum Consociatarum Auspiciis et Consilio Editum, Opera Averrois, Medieval Academy Books, 96.) Cambridge, Mass., Medieval Academy of America and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1986. 156 pp. (English), 68 pp. (Hebrew).

FIVE ESSAYS ON ISLAMIC ART. By TERRY ALLEN. Sebastopol, Cal, Solipsist Press, 1988. x, 189pp. 113 black‐and‐white illustrations. $46.‐     

The Public Relevance of International Security Research in an Era of Globalism

International relations specialists have frequently questioned whether their academic research and teaching has any impact on the "real world." The record of success is generally believed to be a spotty one. While there is no denying that academics have informed aspects of policymaking, the concern remains that the great bulk of international studies research is too abstract, specialized, or linguistically incestuous to reach the light of day in policy circles. We argue that the relationship between the pursuit of peace and security and the study of it is more complex than is captured by the classic policy–research divide. The argument rests on two observations: First, to assess the public impact of peace and security studies, one must focus on how practices within a variety of institutional contexts, not just state policies, are transformed. Second, it is not scholarship per se that has a measurable public impact, but the interplay of research, practical innovation, and advocacy. We derive these observations from a review of the work of Social Science Research Council–MacArthur Program fellows over the fifteen-year life of that program.