A: Reviews: general

BYZANTIUM AND THE EARLY ISLAMIC CONQUESTS. By WALTER E. KAEGI. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992. xiii, 313pp. 5 maps, 2 pp. of plates. £45.00 (hb).

STUDIES IN EARLY MUSLIM JURISPRUDENCE. By NORMAN CALDER. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1993. xiv, 257pp. £35.00.

GOLDEN ROADS: MIGRATION, PILGRIMAGE AND TRAVEL IN MEDIAEVAL AND MODERN ISLAM. Edited by IAN RICHARD NETTON. Richmond (Surrey), Curzon Press, 1993. xvii, 193pp. £35 (hb), £16.99 (pb).

SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT: THE MAN, HIS LIFE, HIS EPOCH. By ANDRE CLOT [trans. from the French]. London, Saqi Books, 1992. viii, 399pp.

POPULAR CULTURE IN MEDIEVAL EGYPT. By BOAZ SHOSHAN. (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993. 148pp. $49.95.

HOLYMEN OF THE BLUE NILE: THE MAKING OF AN ARAB‐ISLAMIC COMMUNITY IN THE NILOTIC SUDAN, 1500–1850. By NEIL MCHUGH. (Northwestern University Press Series in Islam and Society in Africa.) Evanston, Illinois, Northwestern University Press, 1994. xii, 280pp. 3 maps.

OTTOMAN MANUFACTURING IN THE AGE OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. By DONALD QUATAERT. (Cambridge Middle East Library 30.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993. xvii, 224pp. 5 maps, 5 illustrations. £35.

ESTRANGED BEDFELLOWS: BRITAIN AND FRANCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR. By AVIEL ROSHWALD. (Studies in Middle Eastern History.) New York and Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1990. 315pp. Index.

ELUSIVE DEVELOPMENT: FROM DEPENDENCE TO SELF‐RELIANCE IN THE ARAB WORLD. By YUSIF SAYIGH. London, Routledge, 1991. xi, 270pp. £40.

THE MIDDLE EAST AND PROBLEMS OF DEMOCRACY. By HEATHER DEEGAN. Philadelphia, Open University Press, 1993. 135pp. Notes, bibliography, index.

THE MIDDLE EAST AND EUROPE: AN INTEGRATED COMMUNITIES APPROACH. Edited by GERD NONNEMAN. Federal Trust for Education and Research, 1992. 305pp. £30.

STEPPES D'ARABIES. ETATS, PASTEURS, AGRICULTEURS ET COMMERÇANTS: LE DEVENIR DES ZONES SECHES. Edited by RICCARDO BOCCO, RONALD JAUBERT and FRANÇOISE METRAL. Paris, Presses Universitaires de France; Geneva, Cahiers de l'I.U.E.D., 1993. 401pp. n.p.

OIL MONARCHIES: DOMESTIC AND SECURITY CHALLENGES IN THE ARAB GULF STATES. By F. GREGORY GAUSE III. New York, Council on Foreign Relations Inc. xii, 237pp. Map, tables. $16.95 (pb).

SAUDI ARABIA: GOVERNMENT, SOCIETY AND THE GULF CRISIS. By MORDECHAI ABIR. London, Routledge, 1993. xvi, 269pp. £40 (hb).

KUWAIT AND IRAQ: HISTORICAL CLAIMS AND TERRITORIAL DISPUTES. By RICHARD SCHOFIELD. London, Middle East Programme, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 2nd edition, 1993. xv, 207pp. Maps, index. £15.00 (pb).

TERRITORIAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE GULF STATES. Edited by RICHARD SCHOFIELD. London, UCL Press, 1994. (SOAS/GRC Geopolitics Series, 1). xi, 256pp. Maps, index.

KING ABDUL‐AZIZ AND THE KUWAIT CONFERENCE 1923–1924. By MOUDI M. ABDUL‐AZIZ. Translated from Arabic by Basil Hatim with Ron Buckley. London, Echoes, 1993. 169pp. Notes, bibliography, index.

KUWAIT: FALL AND REBIRTH. By MOHAMMED ABDULRAHMAN AL‐YAHYA. London, Kegan Paul International, 1993. x, 130pp. £35.

CONTEMPORARY SYRIA: LIBERALIZATION BETWEEN COLD WAR AND COLD PEACE. Edited by EBERHARD KIENLE. London, British Academic Press in association with the Centre for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, SOAS, 1994. 187pp.

COEXISTENCE IN WARTIME LEBANON: DECLINE OF A STATE AND RISE OF A NATION. By THEODOR HANF. London: Centre for Lebanese Studies in association with I.B. Tauris, 1993. 646pp.

JUDAISM AND MODERNIZATION ON THE RELIGIOUS KIBBUTZ. By ARYEI FISHMAN. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992. 202pp. £32.50.

THE NEGEV BEDOUIN AND LIVESTOCK REARING: SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ASPECTS. By AREF ABU‐RABIA. (Mediterranean Series.) Oxford, Berg Publishers, 1994. 139pp. illustrations, maps, charts, index. £29.95.

THE KURDS OF IRAQ: TRAGEDY AND HOPE. By MICHAEL M. GUNTER. New York, St Martin's Press, 1992. 175pp. Map. £29.95.

Alavi, Hamza, ‘India and the Colonial Mode of Production’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.X, Nos.33–35, August 1975.

Althusser, L. and Balibar, E. Reading Capital. London, New Left Review, 1970.

Foran, John, ‘The Modes of Production Approach to Seventeenth‐century Iran’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol.20, No.3, August 1988.

Foster‐Carter, Aidan, ‘The Modes of Production Controversy’, New Left Review, 107, February 1978.

Hindess, B. and Hirst, P., Mode of Production and Social Formation, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1977.

Mahdi, Ali‐Akbar, ‘The Iranian Social Formation: Pre‐Capitalism, Dependent Capitalism and the World System’, PhD dissertation. Department of Sociology, Michigan State University, 1983.

Weber, Max, The Methodology of Social Sciences (E.A. Shills and H.A. Finch, eds.). New York: The Free Press, 1949.

IRAN AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY. Edited by ANOUSHIRAVAN EHTESHAMI and MANSHOUR VARASTEH. London, Routledge, 1991. 191pp. $35.00.

NOMAD: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A QASHQA'I TRIBESMAN IN IRAN. By LOIS BECK. Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1991. 489pp. 4 maps, 43 photographs, 9 tables.

THE POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF NORTHERN CYPRUS. Edited by C.H. DODD. Hemingford Grey, Eothen Press, 1993. 382pp. £24.95 (pb).

ANTI‐CHRISTIAN POLEMIC IN EARLY ISLAM. ABU ‘ISA AL‐WARRAQ'S ‘AGAINST THE TRINITY’. Edited and translated by DAVID THOMAS. (University of Cambridge Oriental Publications, 45.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992. ix, 218pp.

EARLY PHILOSOPHICAL SHIISM: THE ISMAILI NEOPLATONISM OF ABU YA'QUB AL‐SIJISTANI. By PAUL E. WALKER. (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993. 203pp. £30.

THE SHI'IS OF IRAQ. By YITZHAK NAKASH. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ, 1994. 312pp. £25.

MAHMUD SHALTUT AND ISLAMIC MODERNISM. By KATE ZEBIRI. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1993. viii, 200pp. £27.50.

ISLAM, ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY. By SYED NAWAB HAIDER NAQVI. London, Kegan Paul International, 1994. xxv, 176pp. £35.00.

RELIGION IN THIRD WORLD POLITICS. By JEFF HAYNES. Buckingham, Open University Press, 1993. x, 166pp. £12.99 (pb); £37.50 (hb).

A SYNTAX OF SAN'ANI ARABIC. By JANET C.E. WATSON. (Semitica Viva, 13.) Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 1993. xxii, 454pp.; DM 148.

AN INTRODUCTION TO PERSIAN. By W.M. THACKSTON. Revised Third Edition. Bethesda, Maryland, Iranbooks, 1993. 287pp. $25.00.

MIDDLE EASTERN LIVES: THE PRACTICE OF BIOGRAPHY AND SELF‐NARRATIVE. Edited by MARTIN KRAMER. Syracuse, Syracuse University Press, 1991. viii, 167pp. $19.95 (hb).

HAGIA SOPHIA FROM THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN TO THE PRESENT. Edited by ROBERT MARK and AHMET ?. ÇAKMAK. Cambridge and New York, Cambridge University Press, 1992. 255pp. Numerous illustrations.

THE ARMS AND ARMOUR OF ARABIA. By ROBERT ELGOOD. Aldershot, Scolar Press, 1994. ix, 138pp. £75.00.     

Assessment of accuracy of suicide mortality surveillance data in South Africa: investigation in an urban setting

Although it is not a legal requirement in South Africa, medical practitioners determine the manner of injury death for a surveillance system that is currently the only source of epidemiological data on suicide. This study assessed the accuracy of suicide data as recorded in the system using the docket produced from standard medico-legal investigation procedures as the gold standard. It was conducted in one of three cities where the surveillance system had full coverage for the year 2000. In the medico-legal system, one-third of cases could not be tracked, had not been finalized, or had unclear outcomes. For the remaining cases, the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were generally high, varying somewhat across sex and race groups. Poisoning, jumping, and railway suicides were more likely than other methods to be misclassified, and were more common among females and Whites. The study provides encouraging results regarding the use of medical practitioner expertise for the accurate determination of suicide deaths. However, suicides may still be underestimated in this process given the challenge of tracing disguised suicides and without the careful examination of potential misclassifications of true suicides as unintentional deaths.     

The Role of Academic Achievement in the Relationship between School Ethos and Adolescent Distress and Aggression: A Study of Ninth Grade Students in the Segregated School Landscape of Stockholm

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Equitable access to high-quality schools is important for student achievement. However, the increasing attention placed on adolescent mental health promotion...     

Results of the 2018 Rapid DNA Maturity Assessment

Three commercially available integrated rapid DNA instruments were tested as a part of a rapid DNA maturity assessment in July of 2018. The assessment was conducted with sets of blinded single-source reference samples provided to participants for testing on the individual rapid platforms within their laboratories. The data were returned to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for review and analysis. Both FBI-defined automated review (Rapid DNA Analysis) and manual review (Modified Rapid DNA Analysis) of the datasets were conducted to assess the success of genotyping the 20 Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) core STR loci and full profiles generated by the instruments. Genotype results from the multiple platforms, participating laboratories, and STR typing chemistries were combined into a single analysis. The Rapid DNA Analysis resulted in a success rate of 80% for full profiles (85% for the 20 CODIS core loci) with automated analysis. Modified Rapid DNA Analysis resulted in a success rate of 90% for both the CODIS 20 core loci and full profiles (all attempted loci per chemistry). An analysis of the peak height ratios demonstrated that 95% of all heterozygous alleles were above 59% heterozygote balance. For base-pair sizing precision, the precision was below the standard 0.5 bp deviation for both the ANDE 6C System and the RapidHIT 200.     

Quality of Laypersons' Assessment of Forensically Relevant Stimuli,

The current study examined the potential for cognitive bias in lay examiners' comparisons of footwear impressions within the technical review process while addressing limitations of previous research. Prior research has found inconsistent results regarding the extent to which cognitive bias may influence forensic comparisons, often asking non-experts to review forensic stimuli above their competency level. Furthermore, past research has largely ignored the potential for cognitive bias during the technical review process. In collaboration with the Miami-Dade Police Department's Forensic Services Bureau, we examined the effects of previous examiners' level of experience and prior knowledge of the previous examiner's decision on the technical review stage of footwear impression stimuli. Before lay examiners were presented with pairs of known match and nonmatch footwear impressions, they were either told that an expert or a novice had previously examined them and determined them to be either a match, nonmatch, or inconclusive (plus a no-information condition). Participants then evaluated each pair of footwear impressions to make their own determinations of match, nonmatch, or inconclusive. Results support the technical review process for all decision types, as known nonmatch stimuli were generally more difficult for lay examiners to assess than known match stimuli. Knowledge of a prior examiner's decision and status was observed only when the prior decision was inconclusive, suggesting the need for inclusion of inconclusive decisions in future research examining cognitive bias in forensic examination.     

A more martial Europe? Public opinion,permissive consensus,and EU defence policy

EU defence policy has been extremely popular over the past three decades, averaging around 75% public support. In fact, no other policy domain is as popular and robust as the idea of pooling national sovereignty over defence. However, public support for EU defence has been dismissed as mere “permissive consensus”, rather than genuine support. Scholars have often assumed that public opinion towards European integration is passive and shallow, especially over foreign policy issues, where the public has limited understanding of the complexity of issues. Consistent with contemporary findings about the complexity of comparative foreign policy attitudes, the authors contest the permissive consensus logic and demonstrate that European publics have held coherent preferences over the use of force at the European level. The authors conclude that the slow progress of integration in this area is due to the reluctance of elites rather than to the reticence of Europe’s citizens.     

Boarding School Fictions: schoolgirls' own communities of learning

This article explores the fictional world of the schoolgirl annual in the interwar period and the significance of the imagined girls'-only spaces for their intended readership. The article takes the year 1929, the year of Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, and focuses on two annuals designed for the 12–15 market: School Friend and Schoolgirls' Own. The annual compendium of stories, a very British invention, drew on characters whose adventures were followed in the weekly schoolgirl comics and was published at Christmas, a time when there was little personal space available as families gathered together. The imaginary world of boarding schools such as Cliff House or Morcove offered readers an escape from the hierarchy of family life and expectations of girls' participation in the home. Using the background of Woolf's feminist polemic and a framework informed by the theoretical framing of space by feminist geographer Linda McDowell, the article teases out the meaning of the multilayered nature of stories created by men with no experience of single-sex girls' school, writing as women.     

Critical Reflections on Hamiltonian Perspectives on Rule-Making and Legislative Proposal Initiatives by the Chief Executive

Reflecting on James Hart and Edwin Witte's analysis affords the field a rare opportunity to observe the complexities of a separation-of-powers system in action. In making their case, they underscored the importance of the president having a substantial supervisory role in the way administrative agencies write rules and propose legislative measures. As a result, they ignored Congress's constitutional responsibility to supervise, regulate, and guide these areas of administrative law. Their highly controversial arguments not only provide the field with a broader understanding of the overall mission of the Brownlow Committee, but also we can see how they influenced the development of the administrative state.