Procreation and the succession of generations

"This article presents a complex conceptual and methodological proposal.... The study proposes an analysis similar and complementary to the abstract models of formal demography. Specifically, the article considers the practices and strategies of procreation, as well as the subjectiveness of people as constitutive elements of a succession of generations, as observed on different analytical levels." (SUMMARY IN ENG)     

Ethos,ideology, and partisanship: Exploring the paradox of conservative democrats

Despite the increasingly liberal cast of the national Democratic Party, self-identified conservatives continue to represent a significant segment of the party. At least 25 percent of Democratic identifiers considered themselves to be conservatives during the 1972–1988 period. This paper explores the puzzle of why significant numbers of political conservatives continue to identify with the Democratic Party. We argue that conservative Democrats relate to their party not because of political ideology, as do Republicans and to a lesser extent, liberal/moderate Democrats, but because of the symbolic values associated with the main groups in the party—what we refer to as party ethos. This proposition is examined by analyzing a new set of open-ended questions included in the 1988 American National Election Study probing citizens' images and assessments of the Republican and Democratic parties.The data utilized in this paper were made available by the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. The data forAmerican National Election Study 1988: Pre- and Post-Election Survey were originally collected by Warren E. Miller and the National Election Studies. Neither the collector of the original data nor the Consortium bears any responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here.     

The DutchAlgemene Rekenkamer and its role in light of practical experience

TheAlgemene Rekenkamer functions in the area around government and parliament. This chapter focuses on two questions: How does theRekenkamer ascertain loss of efficiency and effectiveness within government, and how does theRekenkamer restrict loss of efficiency and effectiveness within its own organization?

The goal of theRekenkamer is to provide parliament with reasonable assurances of the validity of expenses incurred and to promote the efficiency of the ministries and the effective spending of state funds. TheRekenkamer pursues a policy aimed at achieving these goals. Some central elements in this active policy are

• ? An independent position,

• ? Optimum reliability,

• ? Strategic planning,

• ? Both regularity and performance audits.

• ? The political and social relevance of research subjects, and

• ? Dialogue between parliament and theRekenkamer.

With regard to the audit theory of W.J. Van Braband, some suggestions for improvement are given.

     

Reviews

Aleksei Ulyukaev, Reforming the Russian Economy 1991–1995. London: The Centre for Research into Post‐Communist Economies, 1996, x + 138 pp., £9.95.

Joseph R. Blasi, Maya Kroumova & Douglas Kruse, Kremlin Capitalism. Privatizing the Russian Economy. Ithaca: ILR Press/Cornell University Press, 1997, xix + 249 pp., $16.95.

Grigory Ioffe & Tatyana Nefedova, Continuity and Change in Rural Russia: A Geographical Perspective. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1997, ix + 315 pp., $59.95 h/b.

Patrick Artisien‐Maksimenko & Yuri Adjubei (eds), Foreign Investment in Russia and Other Soviet Successor States. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996, xxi + 277 pp., £45.00.

Kazimierz Poznanski, Poland's Protracted Transition. Institutional Change and Economic Growth 1970–1994. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, xl + 337 pp., £50.00 h/b, £16.96 p/b.

Padraic Kenney, Rebuilding Poland: Workers and Communists 1945–1950. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996, xx + 360 pp., £31.50.

Minton F. Goldman, Revolution and Change in Central and Eastern Europe: Political, Economic and Social Changes. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1997, xiv + 497 pp., $32.95.

Jeffrey T. Checkel, Ideas and International Political Change. Soviet/Russian Behavior and the End of the Cold War. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997, xiv + 191 pp., £18.00.

Roger E. Kanet & Alexander V. Kozhemiakin (eds), The Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation. London: Macmillan, 1997, xii + 208 pp., £40.00.

Vladimir Baranovsky (ed.), Russia and Europe: The Emerging Security Agenda. Oxford: Oxford University Press/Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 1997, xviii + 582 pp., £45.00.

Walter L. Hixson, Parting the Curtain: Propaganda, Culture, and the Cold War, 1945–1961. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997, xvi + 283 pp., £45.00 h/b, £16.99 p/b.

Kevin McDermott & Jeremy Agnew, The Comintern: A History of International Communism from Lenin to Stalin. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996, xxv + 304 pp., £13.99.

Geoffrey Hosking, Russia: People and Empire, 1552–1917. London: HarperCollins, 1997, xxviii + 548 pp., £20.00.

John P. LeDonne, The Russian Empire and the World, 1700–1917: The Geopolitics of Expansion and Containment. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997, xxii + 394 pp., £19.99.

E. A. Rees (ed.), Decision‐making in the Stalinist Command Economy, 1932–37. London: Macmillan, 1997, xv + 331 pp., £40.00.

James Hughes, Stalinism in a Russian Province: Collectivization and Dekulakization in Siberia. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996, xi + 271 pp., £45.00.

Jonathan D. Smele, Civil War in Siberia. The Anti‐Bolshevik Government of Admiral Kolchak 1918–20. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, xix + 759 pp., £50.00.

G. A. Bordyugov (ed.), Istoricheskie issledovaniya v Rossii: tendentsii poslednikh let. Moscow: AIRO‐XX, 1996, 464 pp.

Peter Waldron, The End of Imperial Russia, 1855–1917. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997, viii + 189 pp., £37.50 h/b, £11.99 p/b.

Catherine Evtuhov, The Cross and the Sickle. Sergei Bulgakov and the Fate of Russian Religious Philosophy, 1890–1920. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997, x + 278 pp., £33.50.     

Book reviews

Vernon Hewitt, The New International Politics of South Asia (Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York, 1997), xxxvi +305 pp., ISBN 0–7190–5121–5 (hb), 0–7190–5122–3 (pb)

Ruth Lister, Citizenship: Feminist Perspectives (Macmillan, London, 1997), 284 pp., ISBN 0–333–53488–3

Martin Bull and Martin Rhodes (eds), Crisis and Transition in Italian Politics (Frank Cass, London, 1997), 253 pp., ISBN 0–7146–4816–7 (hb), 0–7146–4366–1 (pb)

Linda McDougall, Westminster Women (Vintage, London, 1998), 215 pp., ISBN 0–09–927405–1     

Information for action: the Clearinghouse project

This document summarizes the activities of the American Public Health Association International Clearinghouse that operated with funding from the US Agency for International Development for 16 years beginning in 1979. The Clearinghouse was established to improve access to information on infant feeding and maternal nutrition for health practitioners and decision-makers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. By 1996, the Clearinghouse had created a substantial and accessible resource for USAID, and its activities included 1) developing an international center for information and materials on maternal and child nutrition and related issues in developing countries, 2) sharing lessons learned through a publication of a regular bulletin ("Mothers and Children"), 3) training staff from field-based organizations on information production and management, and 4) establishing a network of national and regional nutrition and health-related resource centers to increase access to locally published and unpublished information. Thus, the Clearinghouse was more than a library or distribution center; it identified key materials, repackaged information to increase accessibility, and monitored information use. Although the Clearinghouse project ended in 1996, the website on women's rights to maternity protection continues to provide access to information and to encourage dialogue and networking. The lessons learned from the project lead to the conclusions that users' needs must be the basis for increasing information access, that local capacity must be increased through new technologies and traditional methods, and that information resources must be used strategically to ensure equitable access.     

Are there environmental factors influencing the choice of death by drowning as a means of suicide in the Geneva canton?

123 out of 850 suicides that occurred in the Canton of Geneva between 1980 and 1989 were suicides by submersion. 75 women and 48 men committed this kind of suicide. 89 victims (57 women and 32 men) were older than 40 years. In all cases the spatial distance between the residence of the suicides and the nearest river or lake was determined; a correlation with the tendency to commit suicide by drowning was not evident. More than geographical factors, the psychological influences have to be considered.     

The FDA may not regulate tobacco products as "drugs" or as "medical devices"

Professor Richard Merrill contends that the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act does not grant the FDA regulatory authority over cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products. The fact that Congress did not expressly deny the FDA regulatory authority over tobacco cannot, Professor Merrill argues, be used to infer such authority. This inference is particularly inappropriate in the case of tobacco regulation, he maintains, because there is compelling evidence that Congress had no intention of delegating this authority to the FDA. He is unpersuaded that presidential approval legally sanctions the FDA's claim of authority by granting it a superficial political legitimacy. Finally, he reminds us of the FDA's own repeated denials of jurisdiction over tobacco products, and he recalls the numerous times that Congress passed legislation directed at tobacco without granting the FDA any role in its regulation. Professor Merrill's Essay, like the other pieces in this volume, was written after the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina decided Coyne Beahm v. FDA, but before a three judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed that decision in Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. v. FDA. In Coyne Beahm, the District Court held that the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act authorized the FDA to regulate tobacco products, but not tobacco advertising. The Fourth Circuit rejected the District Court's jurisdictional ruling and invalidated the FDA's regulations in their entirety. The Clinton Administration has since requested an en banc rehearing before the Fourth Circuit.     

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.