C: Reviews and notes bibliographies and works of reference

INTRODUCTORY GUIDE TO MIDDLE EASTERN AND ISLAMIC BIBLIOGRAPHY. (Middle East Libraries Committee Research Guides, 5.) Edited by PAUL AUCHTERLONIE. Oxford, Middle East Libraries Committee, 1990. v, 84pp. £9.50.

SUFI WOMEN. By JAVAD NURBAKHSH. Translated by L. Lewisohn. Rev. ed., London & New York, Khaniqahi‐Nimatullahi Publications, 1990. 263pp. 8 illustrations. £7.95.

WHO'S WHO IN THE ARAB WORLD 1990–1991. Tenth edition, thoroughly revised and completed. München, New York, London, Paris, K.G. Saur, for Publitec Publications, 1990. 927 pp. £180.00

INVENTARIO DE FOLLETOS: SECCIÓN DE ÁFRICA Y MUNDO ÁRABE DE LA BIBLIOTECA NACIONAL, I (CAJAS 7000 A 7021). By JAVIER GÓMEZ LÓPEZ & others. Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, 1989. 124pp.

BIBLIOGRAFIA DE LA LITERATURA HISPANO‐ARABE. Compiled by MARIA JESUS RUBIERA MATA. Alicante, Universidad de Alicante, 1988. 75pp. Ptas. 566.‐

ESTUDIOS ONOMÁSTICO‐BIOGRÁFICOS DE AL‐ANDALUS, I. Edited by MANUELA MARlN. Madrid, CSIC, Instituto de Filología, Departamento de Estudio Árabes, 1988. 610,[2]pp.

ESTUDIOS ONOMÁSTICO‐BIOGRÁFICOS DE AL‐ANDALUS, II. Edited by MARlA LUISA ÁVILA. Granada, CSIC, Escuela de Estudios Árabes, 1989. 342,[2]pp.

AL‐ADAB AL‐TÜNISI AL‐MU'ASIR. By JEAN FONTAINE. Tunis, al‐Dar al‐Tūnisiyya li‐1‐Nashr, 1989. 191pp. TD3.200.

ENGLISH‐PERSIAN DICTIONARY OF LEGAL AND COMMERCIAL TERMS. Compiled By K.FAHIM, J. HABIBION and F. VITTOR. Leiden, Brill, 1989. 81pp. Hfl 150.

FLORA OF EASTERN SAUDI ARABIA. By JAMES P. MANDAVILLE. London, Kegan Paul International, in association with the National Commission for Wild Life Conservation and Development, Riyadh, 1990. x, 482pp. 200 colour ills. £95.00.     

The influence of individual and community-level child mortality on fertility in Egypt

Child mortality was analyzed in relation to 3 dimensions of reproductive behavior: birth intervals, additional children desired, and contraceptive use. Study data were drawn from a 1978 survey conducted in 2 predominantly rural governorates, Beheira and Kafr El-Sheikh, in lower Egypt. Within each governorate, 2 districts were selected on the basis of their distance from the capital of the governorate, agricultural output by major crops, percent of the population urban, infant mortality rate, and crude birthrate. Within each of the 4 districts, villages were randomly drawn from 3 strata: villages lacking any governmental services; villages with limited services (health center or primary school); and villages served by a combined unit center providing integrated services. A random sample of household heads was selected from household registration records of the provision office of each district. 1200 interviews were obtained from 685 households. Restriction of the sample to women with 1 or more live births, and the elimination of 13 cases with incomplete or inaccurate information, yielded 1010 cases for analysis. The basic measure of actual fertility was birth intervals. For the total sample and within each age category, cumulative fertility is higher the greater the number of child deaths. The data demonstrate a strong relationship between child mortality experience and cumulative fertility. The problem lies in interpreting such results. With some exceptions, birth intervals increased as expected with increasing parity. Women without child death experience displayed longer birth intervals than women who had not lost a child. With the single exception of the 7th parity women, all differences were statistically significant. The data fail to eliminate potential biological influences on subsequent fertility. With biological influences adequately controlled, no behavioral differences remained. Women who experienced child mortality desired greater numbers of additional children than women without child death experience. 19% of respondents were ever users of contraception, with women of low parity the least likely ever to have used contraception.     

The Intergenerational Transmission of Values in National and Immigrant Families: The Role of Zeitgeist

Correspondence in value orientation between parents and their offspring may be due to actual transmission processes between generations, but it may also be due to influences from the general value context in society that are common to parents and their offspring. This common value context is referred to as Zeitgeist. The present study deals with one family relationship value (i.e., parents’ and adolescents’ obligations toward the family). Participants were 1,252 immigrant and 726 national adolescent–parent dyads from 10 Western countries. There were significant relationships between the value placed on family obligations among parents and offspring, and these were independent of gender. Zeitgeist effects, both intergenerational and intragenerational, were found. The strength of these Zeitgeist effects depended on the basis for defining Zeitgeist, either a person’s own ethnic group or the wider community including both nationals and immigrants. For explaining national adolescents’ acceptance of their family obligations, both the ethnic and the national Zeitgeist played a role, whereas in the immigrant groups only the ethnic Zeitgeist played a significant role. In short, in an immigration context it makes sense to distinguish the influence of a person’s own ethnic group from the influence of the wider community, including other ethnic groups. Explanations are suggested and implications are discussed.

Brain Politics: Aspects of Administration in the Comparative Issue Definition of Autism-Related Policy

The construction of public problems has a lasting influence on implementation in a given policy subsystem. National and sociopolitical contexts influence issue definition differently across nations. However, the degree to which nation-specific issue definition takes place has been insufficiently explored. In recent years, the growing incidence of autism has led to a quest for causal factors. One hypothesis posits that the use of mercury in vaccines may be a culprit. This paper examines the definition of the mercury and autism issue in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Insights into the comparative elements of issue definition are suggested by the case. These insights are of particular importance to administrators, as agencies are deeply involved as objects and actors in the process of issue definition and are often responsible for implementing new and redefined policies.     

Confidentiality and privacy

She is a developmental psychologist and has written and lectured widely on infant and early childhood development, high risk infants, and the gifted. Most recently she has published a book on theories of development. She is a member of the editorial boards of Developmental Reviewand Infant Behavior and Development.     

Short versus Long Coalitions: Electoral Accountability and the Size of the Public Sector

This article examines the policy consequences of the number of parties in government. We argue that parties externalize costs not borne by their support groups. Larger parties thus internalize more costs than small parties because they represent more groups. This argument implies that the public sector should be larger the more parties there are in the government coalition. We test this prediction using yearly time-series cross-sectional data from 1970 to 1998 in 17 European countries. We find that increasing the number of parties in government increases the fraction of GDP accounted for by government spending by close to half a percentage point, or more than one billion current dollars in the typical year. We find little support for the alternative claim that the number of legislative parties affects the size of the public sector, except via the number of parties in government .     

An insurer's perspective on reform

Individual health insurance markets differ from state to state, and as a result approaches to individual market reforms need to be different. In evaluating approaches, policy makers need to remember that since the decision to purchase health insurance coverage is voluntary, the potential for adverse selection exists. In addition, rather than putting the focus of individual market reforms almost exclusively on access to health insurance for a small number of persons with high-cost health conditions, more attention needs to be put on how to decrease the number of uninsured persons. This includes making the premiums paid for individual health insurance 100 percent tax deductible, similar to those of employer-based health insurance. Finally, market reforms need to treat all types of coverage issued in the individual market the same, whether they are purchased direct for the insurer or through an out-of-state association.