Transition from paper to paperless: DOD'S CALS system

When technology is transferred from one context to another, it is an established principle that innovation must take place. Even though a technology is well situated in one context, it must be adoptively redesigned for another. The sharper the difference in contexts, the greater the adaptation. This paper describes a program to transfer technology among a very diverse group of organizations: contractors to the US Department of Defense (DOD). Specifically, it describes how the technology of electronic communication, including electronic- data interchange (EDI), is being pursued by both the DOD and its supporters.     

R&D spinoffs: Serendipity vs. a managed process

This paper describes some of the spinoff benefits that can result from R&D projects, and categorizes them in terms of the dimensions of market and technical newness. These dimensions are discussed with reference to two types of spinoffs: 1) alternative market applications, when the results of an R&D project are subsequently applied to a market or use that differs from the originally intended application, and 2) second-generation technologies, when the technology that was the subject of an R&D project is significantly altered or enhanced in unanticipated ways through subsequent R&D. Examples from the Department of Energy's Energy-Related Inventions Program are integrated into the results of literature review to illustrate key concepts, including core technologies, degrees of market and technology newness, technology robustness, and the nature of connections linking spinoffs to prior R&D investments. The paper concludes by discussing spinoffs as a managerial strategy.     

State-sponsored violence as a tragedy of the commons: England's privateering wars with France and Spain, 1625–1630

The “tragedy of the commons” is the familiar problem that open access to a common property resource leads to overexploitation and to zero profits. A commons model is applied to an example of state sponsored private violence, the practice of privateering or licensed piracy. It is predicted that the presence of uncertainty about the value of the prey will reduce the amount of exploitation effort, and that industry profits may be positive due to both uncertainty and heterogeneous exploiters. Using data from England's wars with France and Spain between 1625 and 1630, the model suggests that the commons, represented by enemy merchant shipping, was not overexploited and that privateering profits were positive. The dynamic paths of privateering effort, ships seized, and individual firm profits were, however, consistent with the normal expectation that commons exploitation will peak and fall, as competition drives down returns through entry. “England was never richer than when at war with Spain.” Sir Edward Coke      

Unwanted fertility in Mexico

Data from the 1987 National Health and Fertility Survey were used to explore trends and differentials in unwanted fertility in Mexico. Women were classified in three educational categories: illiterate or incomplete primary, complete primary or some secondary, and complete secondary or more. The four urbanization categories were: under 2500; 2500 to 19,999; 20,000 and more; and metropolitan areas. The place of primary socialization was the place of residence until age 12. Two categories of employment of household head were included, agricultural or nonagricultural. The categories for mother's employment considered employment until the union and employment between the time of union and the birth of the first child. The proportion of births that were unwanted was estimated by calculating the total fertility rate for the year before the survey and comparing it to desired family size. The "total desired family size" was 2.4 for the entire sample. In other words, nearly 37% of the total fertility rate was undesired. The greatest differentials in percentages of undesired fertility were found in educational categories. 40.7% of the total fertility rate in the least educated groups vs. 13.6% in the most educated groups was undesired. Differentials in the other categories ranged from 1.9 for a history of employment before the birth of the first child to 8.8 for agricultural or nonagricultural employment of the household head. When effects of education were controlled, the percentage of undesired fertility declined as educational level increased for all rural or urban residence categories, places of socialization, and employment groups except women who worked before the first child was born. Women with more education, urban residence, and with histories of employment had the lowest levels of undesired fertility.     

Reviews

Orlando Figes, A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924. London: Jonathan Cape, 1996, xx + 923 pp., £25.00

Hafeez Malik (ed.), The Roles of the United States, Russia and China in the New World Order. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997, xvi + 333 pp., £47.50.

Leszek Buszynski, Russian Foreign Policy after the Cold War. Westport and London: Praeger, 1996, xiv + 243 pp., £46.95.

Mette Skak, From Empire to Anarchy: Postcommunist Foreign Policy and International Relations. London: C. Hurst & Company, 1996, x + 340 pp., £35.00 h/b, £14.95 p/b.

Hans von Zon, The Future of Industry in Central and Eastern Europe. Aldershot: Avebury, 1996, x + 164 pp., £35.00.

Bartlomiej Kaminski (ed.), Economic Transition in Russia and the New States of Eurasia. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1996, xviii + 430 pp.

Ben Fowkes, The Disintegration of the Soviet Union: A Study in the Rise and Triumph of Nationalism. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997, xii + 273 pp., £40.00

Juan J. Linz & Alfred Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation. Southern Europe, South America, and Post‐Communist Europe. London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, xx + 479 pp., £15.50.

David Lane, The Rise and Fall of State Socialism. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1996, 233 pp., £12.95.

Reneo Lukic & Allen Lynch, Europe from the Balkans to the Urals: The Disintegration of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996, xvii + 436 pp.

Thomas Cushman & Stjepan G. Mestrovic (eds), This Time We Knew: Western Responses to Genocide in Bosnia. New York: New York University Press, 1996, ix + 412 pp., $50.00 h/b, $18.95 p/b.

Derek Hall & Darrick Danta (eds), Reconstructing the Balkans. A Geography of the New Southeast Europe. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 1996, xx + 260 pp., £45.00.

Ajay Patnaik. Central Asia. Between Modernity and Tradition. New Delhi: Konark Publishers, 1996, viii + 238 pp.

Rudolf L. Tokes, Hungary's Negotiated Revolution: Economic Reform, Social Change and Political Succession, 1957–1990. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, xxiii + 544 pp., £19.95.

John D. H. Downing, Internationalizing Media Theory, Transition, Power, Culture, Reflections on Media in Russia, Poland and Hungary 1980–95. London: Sage, 1996, xviii + 269 pp., £45.00 h/b, £13.95 p/b.

Rogers Brubaker, Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, xi + 202 pp., £35.00 h/b, £12.95 p/b.

Donald P. Steury (ed.), Intentions and Capabilities: Estimates on Soviet Strategic Forces, 1950–1983. Washington DC: Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1996, xxii + 504 pp.

R. W. Davies, Crisis and Progress in the Soviet Economy, 1931–1933. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996, xviii + 612 pp., £65.00.

William Chase, Jeffrey Burds, S. V. Praslova, A. K. Sokolov & E. A. Tiurina (eds), Russian Stale Archive of the Economy: A Research Guide: I. Guide to Collections. Moscow: Blagovest, 1994, xx + 679 pp.

V. P. Butt, A. B. Murphy, N. A. Myshov & G. R. Swain (eds), The Russian Civil War. Documents from the Soviet Archives. London: Macmillan, 1996, xvii + 217 pp., £15.99.

Ilya Somin, Stillborn Crusade: The Tragic Failure of Western Intervention in the Russian Civil War, 1918–1920. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1996, ix + 236 pp., £21.95, $32.99.

David R. Shearer, Industry, State, and Society in Stalin's Russia, 1926–1934. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996, xiv + 263 pp., £33.50 h/b, £14.95 p/b.

Peter H. Solomon Jr., Soviet Criminal Justice under Stalin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, xvii + 494 pp., £55.00 h/b, £19.95 p/b.

Richard G. Hovannisian, The Republic of Armenia, Volume III, From London to Sèvres, February‐August 1920, xx + 534 pp., and Volume IV, Between Crescent and Sickle: Partition and Sovietization, xii + 496 pp. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1996. £35.00 each volume.

Ian D. Thatcher & James D. White (eds), Journal of Trotsky Studies. Glasgow: Institute of Russian & East European Studies, 1993–1996, Nos. 1–4, £10.00 (Institutions), £5.00 (Individuals).

Mikhail Baitalsky, Notebooks for the Grandchildren. Recollections of a Trotskyist Who Survived the Stalin Terror, Edited and translated by Marilyn Vogt‐Downey. Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, 1996, xviii + 447 pp.

Leopoldina Plut‐Pregelj & Carole Rogel, Historical Dictionary of Slovenia. London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc, 1996, xxvii + 345 pp., £63.65.     

Reviews

Vladimir Mau, The Political History of Economic Reform in Russia, 1985–1994 (Foreword by Lord Skidelsky; afterword by Egor Gaidar). London: Centre for Research into Communist Economies, 1996, viii + 135 pp. £9.95.

Tim McDaniel, The Agony of the Russian Idea. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996, x + 201 pp. £24.95.

John Lowenhardt, The Reincarnation of Russia. Struggling with the Legacy of Communism, 1990–1994. Harlow: Longman, 1995, xii + 238 pp. £12.99.

Jeffrey W. Hahn (ed.), Democratization in Russia: The Development of Legislative Institutions. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1996, 328 pp., $63.95 h/b, $24.95 p/b.

Celeste A. Wallander (ed.), The Sources of Russian Foreign Policy after the Cold War. Boulder Co: Westview, 1996, xi + 233 pp., £15.50.

David Cox, Retreating from the Cold War: Germany, Russia and the Withdrawal of the Western Group of Forces, London: Macmillan, 1996, xiv + 185 pp., £35.00.

Mark Webber, The International Politics of Russia and the Successor States. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1996, xvii + 366 pp. £14.99.

Michael Kraus & Ronald D. Liebowitz (eds), Russia and Eastern Europe after Communism: The Search for New Political, Economic and Security Systems. Boulder, Co: Westview Press, 1996, xv+ 349 pp., £51.95.

Ivan T. Berend, Central and Eastern Europe, 1944–1993: Detour from Periphery to Periphery. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, xvii + 414 pp., £45.00.

Hubert Tworzecki, Parties and Politics in Post‐1989 Poland. Boulder, Co: Westview, 1996 xv + 219 pp.,

Jaroslav Krej?í & Pavel Machonin, Czechoslovakia 1918–92: A Laboratory for Social Change. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996, xviii + 266 pp., £42.50.

Jon Elster (ed.), The Roundtable Talks and the Breakdown of Communism. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 1996, vi + 247 pp., £31.95.

J. Eatwell, M. Ellman, M. Nuti & J. Shapiro, Transformation and Integration: Shaping the Future of Central and Eastern Europe. London: Institute for Public Policy Research, 1995, 206 pp.

D. Gross & A. Steinherr, Winds of Change—Economic Transition in Central and Western Europe. London: Longman, 1995.

Constantine Michalopoulos & David Tarr, Trade Performance and Policy in the New Independent States. Washington, DC: The World Bank, 1996, vi + 30 pp.

Laurila Juhani, Finnish‐Soviet Clearing Trade and Payment System: History and Lessons. Helsinki: Bank of Finland, 1995, 144 pp.

Walter R. Iwaskiw (ed.), Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania: Country Studies. Washington, DC: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 1996, xxxix + 304 pp.

Peter Unwin, Baltic Approaches. Wilby Hall, Norwich: Michael Russell, 1996, 256 pp., £19.50.

Yegor Ligachev, Inside Gorbachev's Kremlin: The Memoirs of Yegor Ligachev. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1996, xxxix + 407 pp., £19.00.

Hillel Ticktin & Michael Cox (eds), The Ideas of Leon Trotsky. London: Porcupine Press, 1995, viii + 386 pp., £14.95.

Folke Dovring, Leninism: Political Economy as Pseudoscience, Westport,: Praeger, 1996, xi + 155 pp., £39.95.

Kevin Anderson, Lenin, Hegel, and Western Marxism: A Critical Study, Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1995, xvii + 311 pp., $49.95 h/b, $15.95 p/b.

Ragnar E. Löfstedt & Gunnar Sjöstedt (eds), Environmental Aid Programmes to Eastern Europe, Aldershot: Avebury, 1996, ix+226 pp., £37.50.

Seabron Adamson, Robin Bates, Robert Laslett & Alberto Potoschnig, Energy Use, Air Pollution, and Environmental Policy in Krakow: Can Economic Incentives Really Help? Washington DC: The World Bank, 1996, 67 pp.

Alexander S. Preker & Richard G.A. Feachem, Market Mechanisms and the Health Sector in Central and Eastern Europe. Washington DC: The World Bank, 1995, 48 pp.

Adrian Room, Placenames of Russia and the Former Soviet Union. London: McFarland 1996, v + 282 pp., £52.65.

G. S. Smith, The Letters of D. S. Mirsky to P. P. Suvchinskii, 1922–31. Birmingham: Department of Russian Language and Literature, University of Birmingham, 1995, vii + 238 pp., £16.00

Nicholas Rzhevsky (ed.), An Anthology of Russian Literature from Earliest Writings to Modern Fiction: Introduction to a Culture. London: M. E. Sharpe, 1996, xiv + 587 pp.

Donald J. Raleigh (ed.), The Emperors and Empresses of Russia: Rediscovering the Romanovs. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1996, xviii + 414 pp., $59.95 h/b, $23.95 p/b.

Maureen Perrie, Pretenders and Popular Monarchism in Early Modern Russia: The False Tsars of the Time of Troubles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, xvii + 269 pp. £40.00.     

Arising from the dead: challenges of posthumous procreation

The medical capabilities derived from modern reproductive technology, such as in vitro fertilization and cryopreservation, have enabled physicians and scientists to intervene in the procreative process in innumerable ways. However, this intervention in the natural reproductive process raises both moral and legal concerns. In this Article, Professor Schiff explores some of the conflicts that may result when an individual or couple elects to cryopreserve gametes or embryos and subsequently, one or both of the contributors dies, or when gametes are harvested from a dead body. This Article will specifically address the moral and legal responses to circumstances where the decedent has either clearly expressed opposition to posthumous use of the reproductive material or else the decedent's intent regarding posthumous use of the material is ambiguous. By discussing philosophical and moral positions relating to personhood and the body and analyzing legal issues such as reproductive choice and organ donation, Professor Schiff creates the necessary format to examine and recommend the proper legal treatment of this controversial aspect of posthumous procreation.     

Frozen life's dominion: extending reproductive autonomy rights to in vitro fertilization

Lawyers and judges faced with a contemporary constitutional issue must try to construct a coherent, principled, and persuasive interpretation of the text of particular clauses, the structure of the Constitution as a whole, and our history under the Constitution--an interpretation that both unifies these distinct sources, so far as this is possible, and directs future adjudication. They must seek, that is, constitutional integrity.