Reviews

Stephen Sestanovich (ed.), Rethinking Russia's National Interests. Washington, DC: Center for Strategic & International Studies, 1994, xii + 115pp., $14.95 p/b.

Neil Malcolm, (ed.), Russia and Europe: An End to Confrontation? London and New York: Pinter Publishers, for The Royal Institute of International Affairs, London, 1994, xi + 240pp., £35.00.

Douglas W. Blum (ed.), Russia's Future: Consolidation or Disintegration? Boulder, CO, San Francisco, CA & Oxford: Westview Press, 1994, 173pp., £33.50 h/b, £9.95 p/b.

Lynn D. Nelson & Irina Y. Kuzes, Property to the People. The Struggle for Radical Economic Reform in Russia. New York and London: M. E. Sharpe, 1994, xi + 268 pp., £48.00 h/b, £16.00 p/b.

Richard F. Kaufman & John P. Hardt (eds) for the Joint Economic Committee, Congress of the United States, The Former Soviet Union in Transition. Armonk, NY, York and London: M. E. Sharpe, 1993, xxiv + 1222pp.

Michael Jakobson, Origins of the Gulag. The Soviet Prison Camp System 1917–1934. Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 1993, xiv+ 176pp., $28.00.

Paul R. Gregory, Before Command: An Economic History of Russia from Emancipation to the First Five‐Year Plan. Princeton; NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994, viii + 188pp., £30.00.

Helene Seppain, Contrasting US and German Attitudes to Soviet Trade, 1917–91. Politics by Economic Means. New York & Basingstoke: St Martin's Press and Macmillan, 1992, xiv + 349pp.

Graham Smith (ed.), The Baltic States: The National Self‐determination of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. London: The MacMillan Press Ltd, 1994, xii + 214pp., £40.00.

Jan Zaprudnik, Belarus: At a Crossroads in History. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992, xxiii + 278pp., £11.95 p/b.

Dirk Kretzschmar, Die Sowjetische Kulturpolitik 1970–1985. Bochum: Universitatsverlag Dr N. Brockmeyer, 1993, xxvi + 873pp., DM89.80.

Jan Kubik, The Power of Symbols against the Symbols of Power; The Rise of Solidarity and the Fall of State Socialism in Poland. Pennsylvania, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994, xiv + 322pp., £38.00 h/b, £13.95 p/b.

Ljerka Fulgosi & Vlasta Vince‐Ribaric (eds), Hundred Testimonies: The Moving Accounts of Croatian Displaced Persons and War Prisoners. Zagreb: Society of Croatian Professional Women and INA Consulting, 1994, 196pp., $20.00.

Theodor Bergman, Gert Schaefer & Mark Seldon (eds), Bukharin in Retrospect. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1994, xxv +251pp.     

Testing the limits of freedom of contract: the commercialization of reproductive materials and services

This article examines the cases for and against commercializing, or "commodifying," reproductive materials and services. Using a supply/demand third-party framework, three basic scenarios in which commercial-exchange relationships may be possible--exchange of gametes and zygotes, exchange of gestational services, and exchange of fetal material--and the major parties of interest, or stakeholders, are identified. The study sketches the liberal, essentialist, and radical contingency theories that shape the debate over the commercialization of reproductive materials and services. The article then attempts to derive some basic governing principles that reflect as much common ground as possible amongst these various normative perspectives, while recognizing that complete reconciliation is impossible. Taken together, these principles are designed to reflect a strategy of "constrained commodification," where commercialization or commodification, that is, financial remuneration, plays a relatively neutral role in the utilization of reproductive materials and services. In light of these principles, the article concludes by sketching legal and regulatory regimes with respect to the exchange of gametes and zygotes, gestational services, and fetal tissue.     

Toward a demo-anthropological perspective on nuptiality and its relationship with new reproductive patterns: consideration of a study carried out in the area surrounding Zacatepec,Morelos

"The research is based on a study carried out between 1989 and 1991 in the three rural communities in the state of Morelos [Mexico] that included a socio-demographic survey and interviews. The methodological goal of the authors is to view nuptiality from demographic and anthropological standpoints.... The authors seek to pinpoint the elements that account for changes that have taken place in nuptiality, as well as to identify the impact of these changes on [descendants]." (SUMMARY IN ENG)     

Reviews

Wing Thye Woo, Stephen Parker & Jeffrey D. Sachs (eds), Economies in Transition: Comparing Asia and Eastern Europe. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997, xiv + 412 pp., £33.95 h/b, £16.95 p/b.

Guy Standing, Russian Unemployment and Enterprise Restructuring: Reviving Dead Souls. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996, xxix + 404 pp., £45.00.

Ellen Mickiewicz, Changing Channels: Television and the Struggle for Power in Russia. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, xiii + 340 pp., $35.00.

Naum Nim (ed.), Dos'e na tsenzuru, No. 1. Moscow: Fond zashchity glasnosti, 1997, 208 pp.

Taras Kuzio, Ukraine under Kuchma: Political Reform, Economic Transformation and Security Policy in Independent Ukraine. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997, xxiii + 281 pp., £50.00.

Mary Buckley (ed.), Post‐Soviet Women: from the Baltic to Central Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, xvii + 316 pp., £15.95.

Neil Hood, Robert Kilis & Jan‐Erik Vahlne (eds), Transition in the Baltic States: Micro‐level Studies. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997, xv + 299 pp., £50.00.

V. Stanley Vardis & Judith B. Sedaitis, Lithuania: The Rebel Nation. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1997, xi + 242 pp., £14.50.

Lonnie R. Johnson, Central Europe. Enemies, Neighbours, Friends. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996, xii + 339 pp., £15.99.

Gale Stokes, Three Eras of Political Change in Eastern Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997, xvi + 240 pp., £13.99.

Kevin F. F. Quigley, For Democracy's Sake: Foundations and Democracy Assistance in Central Europe. Washington, DC: The Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 1997, xix + 190 pp., £13.00.

James Gow, Triumph of the Lack of Will. International Diplomacy and the Yugoslav War. London: C. Hurst and Co., 1997, 343 pp., £14.95.

Robert Chenciner, Daghestan: Tradition and Survival. Richmond: Curzon, 1997, xi + 307 pp., £25.00

William C. Wohlforth (ed.), Witnesses to the End of the Cold War. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, xvi + 344 pp., $39.95.

Vladimir N. Brovkin (ed.), The Bolsheviks in Russian Society: The Revolution and the Civil Wars. London: Yale University Press, 1997, vi + 333 pp., £21.00.

Carl Van Dyke, The Soviet Invasion of Finland 1939–40. London: Frank Cass, 1997, xiv + 288 pp., £35.00.

Maurice Friedberg, Literary Translation in Russia: A Cultural History, University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania University Press, 1997, viii + 224 pp.     

Reviews

The Possessed and the Dispossessed: Spirits, Identity and Power in a Madagascar Migrant Town by Lesley A. Sharp.

University of California Press, Berkeley and London. 1993. xx plus 345 pp. including maps, illustrations, tables, notes, bibliography and index.

Marketing Africa's High Value Foods edited by S. Jaffee and J. Morton. World Bank, Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, Iowa. 1995. 503 pp. including bibliography and index.

Democratisation and Demilitarisation in Lesotho: The General Election of 1993 and its Aftermath edited by Roger Southall and Tsoeu Petlane. Africa Institute of South Africa, Pretoria. 1995. xvii plus 193 pp. R60 ($30).

A Culture of Censorship: Secrecy and Intellectual Repression in South Africa by Christopher Merrett.

David Philip, Cape Town; University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg and Mercer University Press, Macon (Georgia). 1994. xv plus 296 pp. including notes and index. Paperback. Price R54,95.

The Eritrean Question: The Conflict Between the Right of Self‐Deter‐mination and the Interests of States by Eyassu Gayim.

Iustus Förlag AB, Uppsala (Sweden). 1993. 716 pp. including figures, tables, notes, maps, annexures bibliography and index. Paperback.

The Rwanda Crisis 1959–1994 — History of a Genocide by G. Prunier. Hurst & Co. London. 1995. xiii plus 389 pp. Paperback. Price £12.50.

Entrance into Reproductive Life: A Demographic Expression of Socio‐Economic Changes in a Senegalese Rural Area by Valérie Delaunay. Centre Français sur la Population et le Développement (CEPED), Paris. 1994. Les Etudes du CEPED No 7. xxii plus 326 pp. including figures, maps, tables, appendices and bibliography. Paperback. Price 90FF.

Verso un Nuovo Sudafrica: Dall'Apartheid allo Stato Multietnico by Chiara Robertazzi.

Milan: Francoangeli. 1995. 130 pp. Paperback.     

Comparative analysis of the effects of alcoholic drinks of different qualities (author's transl)

The authors compared the effects of alcoholic drinks rich in fusel oil with the effects of diluted pure alcohol of the same quantity on 19 clinically healthy university students. The investigations utilized EEG and physiopsychic testing methods. The clinical symptoms were observed both under the effect of drinks and in a crapulous state ("hang-over"). It was found that alcoholic drinks rich in fusel oil can produce a more deviating EEG curve, an increased worsening of physiopsychic performance and of clinical and subjective symptoms. The necessity of regular quality control of alcoholic beverages is pointed out.     

The social policy of the firm

The welfare state concept hides an important aspect of modern industrial societies. In capitalist countries welfare is provided through a mixture of public and private initiatives. The author suggests that the concept welfare economy more fully captures the economic interpenetration of public and private sectors. The growth of fringe benefits illustrates the extent to which private enterprise performs the welfare function.Government increasingly intervenes through processes of mandating, stimulating, regulating, and supporting, using private enterprise as the vehicle for delivery of welfare services. Government's traditionally conceived role as welfare service provider is also changed through recognition that it is both an employer and purchaser, significantly impacting society's original income distribution.An earlier version of this essay was presented as a lecture at the University of Melbourne and published in Ronald F. Henderson, The Welfare Stakes: Strategies for Australian Social Policy, Melbourne: Institute of Applied Economics and Social Research, 1981.