Foreign minister's budget vote address

This article examines the evolution of the responsibility to protect (R2P) norm through the institutional frameworks of the African Union and the United Nations. The investigation aligns itself with recent constructivist thinking around norm evolution and contestation which holds that diverging interpretations around norms facilitate not only norm contestation, but ultimately norm acceptance. In this case different ‘meanings-in-use’ of R2P within and across both organisations reinforce the contested nature of R2P. This becomes most apparent in the prevailing confusion around the affiliated concept of the protection of civilians, which is not effectively delineated from R2P. Nevertheless R2P is found to be widely acknowledged within both organisations.     

Shorter notices

The Future of Political Science. By Harold D. Lasswell. Tavistock Publications, 1964. Pp. xii+256. 50/‐.

Mass Persuasion in Communist China. By Frederick T. G. Yu. Pall Mall Press, 1964. Pp. viii+168. 40/‐.

The Emerging Elite: a Study of Political Leadership in Ceylon. By Marshall R. Singer. M.I. T. Press, 1964. Pp. xx+204. $7.50.

The Allocation of Economic Resources. By Moses Abramovitz and others. Stanford University Press, paper‐back edition, 1966. Pp. 244. 22/6.

The Ohlin‐Heckscher Theory of the Basis and Effects of Commodity Trade. By J. L. Ford. Asia Publishing House, 1965. Pp. viii+88. 25/‐.

Essays in Southern Economic Development. Edited by Melvin L. Greenhut and W. Tate Whitman. University of North Carolina Press, 1965. Pp. xx+498. 60/‐.

Scarcity and Growth: the Economics of Natural Resource Availability. By Harold J. Barnett and Chandler Morse. Johns Hopkins Press. 1965. Pp. 304. 18/‐.     

Literary reviews

Thinly‐veiled autobiography

The Enigma of Arrival. V S Naipaul, London: Viking. 1987. 318pp. £10.95hb

Unmasking Mexico

The Good Conscience. Carlos Fuentes, London: André Deutsch. 1986. 148pp. £8.95hb/£3.95pb

A Change of Skin. Carlos Fuentes, London: André Deutsch. 1986. 462pp. £6.95pb

The Old Gringo. Carlos Fuentes, London: André Deutsch. 1986. 199pp. £8.95

Alternative realities: novels from Brazil

Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands. Jorge Amado, London: Serpent's Tail. 1986. 553pp

High Art. Rubem Fonseca, London: William Collins Sons. 1987. 345pp. £9.95

Maíra. Darcy Ribeiro, London: Picador, Pan Books, 1985. 353pp. £3.50

Perceptions of Nicaragua

To Bury Our Fathers. Sergio Ramirez, London: Readers International. 1984. 253pp. £5.95pb

Stories. Sergio Ramirez, London: Readers International. 1986. 118pp. £3.95pb

The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey. Salman Rushdie, London: Picador. 1987. 171pp. £2.95pb

The double yoke: women's writing from the Third World

Other Fires: Stories from the Women of Latin America. Edited by Alberto Manguel, London: Picador. 1986. 222pp. £3.50pb

Unheard Words: Women and Literature in Africa, The Arab World, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America. Edited by Mineke Schipper, London and New York: Allison and Busby. 1985. 288pp. £4.95pb

A Double Colonization: Colonial and Post‐Colonial Women's Writing. Edited by Kirsten Hoist Petersen & Anna Rutherford London: Dangaroo Press. 1986. 188pp. £15.95hb/£8.95pb

Future landscapes

A Sport of Nature. Nadine Gordimer, London: Jonathan Cape. 1987. 396pp. £10.95hb

A Land Apart: A South African Reader. Edited by André Brink and J M Coetzee, London: Faber and Faber. 1986. 256pp. £9.50hb

Satires of class and power

Out of India. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, London: John Murray. 1987. 288pp. £10.95hb

Rich Like Us. Nayantara Sahgal, London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1987. 268pp. £3.95pb

The oil of acceptance

Talkative Man. R K Narayan, London: William Heinemann. 1986. 123pp. £7.95hb

Occupied Palestine: the writer as eyewitness

The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist. Emile Habiby, London: Zed. 1985. 169pp. £9.95hb/£3.95pb

Wild Thorns. Sahar Khalifeh, London: Al Saqi. 1985. 207pp. £3.95pb

Poetry and politics

Modern Poetry of the Arab World. Translated and edited by Abdullah al‐Udhari, London: Penguin. 1986. 154pp. £3.95pb

Spanning Muslim Literature

The Worlds of Muslim Imagination. Edited by Alamgir Hashmi, Islamabad: Gulmohar. 1986. 270pp. $12.95hb

Pakistani Literature. Edited by Alamgir Hashmi, Islamabad: Gulmohar. 1987. 107pp. $10.00hb     

Comparing Sexuality,Aggressiveness, and Antisocial Behavior of Alleged Juvenile Sexual and Violent Offenders,

Sexual delinquency in juveniles is insufficiently explored in regard to the specificity of offender characteristics. The aim is to investigate relevant areas for juvenile sexual offending in a precourt, pretreatment group. Thirty‐two alleged juvenile sexual offenders (ASO) referred to by police were compared with 32 juvenile nonsexual violent offenders (VNO) on standardized measures of aggressiveness and psychopathology, antisocial behavior, substance use problems, and sexuality. Less externalizing disorders and antisocial behavior were found among the ASOs than among the VNOs. The ASO group was sexually less experienced, had less trust in their relationship abilities, fewer victimization experiences, and reported more sexual deviance, while pornography use and obscene calls were reported less often. Few juvenile sexual offenders had severe problems in the investigated areas. Including groups of offenders before court, treatment or incarceration in research appears crucial to understand the full spectrum of sexual deviance in youth and avoid misguidance due to selection factors.     

Single‐Image Rectification Technique in Forensic Science

Many researchers have been working in Spain to document the communal graves of those assassinated during the Spanish Civil War. This article shows the results obtained with two low‐cost photogrammetric techniques for the basic documentation of forensic studies. These low‐cost techniques are based on single‐image rectification and the correction of the original photo displacement due to the projection and perspective distortions introduced by the lens of the camera. The capability of image rectification is tested in an excavation in the village of Loma de Montija (Burgos, Spain). The results of both techniques are compared with the more accurate data obtained from a laser scanner system RIEGL LMS‐Z390i to evaluate the error in the lengths. The first technique uses a camera situated on a triangle‐shaped pole at a height of 5 m and the second positions the camera over the grave using a linearly actuated device. The first technique shows measurement errors less than 6%, whereas the second shows greater errors (between 8% and 14%) owing to the positioning of the carbon‐fiber cross on an uneven surface.     

Cardiac Inhibitory Reflex as a Cause/Mechanism of Death

The role of cardiac inhibitory reflex as a potential cause of death is still a matter of debate. This study reports two cases of death under unusual circumstances. Case 1 corresponds to a man found hanging where the role of ligature compression of the carotid sinus became relevant as a possible explanation of death. In Case 2, the participation of a vasovagal syncope was clearly triggered by the laryngoscopic procedure. It is proposed that cardiac inhibitory reflex should be taken into account in those cases of unexpected death, which fulfills the following three criteria: (i) The investigation of the circumstances of the death is consistent with a hypothesis of cardiac arrest. (ii) A typical triggering peripheral stimulus is present. (iii) The performance of a complete autopsy cannot rule out the participation of a cardiac inhibitory reflex in the cause of death.     

A 27‐Locus STR Assay to Meet All United States and European Law Enforcement Agency Standards,

Different national and international agencies have selected specific STR sets for forensic database use. To enhance database comparison across national and international borders, a 27‐locus multiplex system was developed comprising all 15 STR loci of the European standard set, the current 13 STR loci of the CODIS core, the proposed 22 STR loci of the expanded CODIS core, 4 additional commonly used STR loci, and the amelogenin locus. Development required iterative primer design to resolve primer‐related artifacts, amplicon sizing, and locus‐to‐locus balance issues. The 19.5‐min assay incorporated newly developed six‐dye chemistry analyzed using a novel microfluidic electrophoresis instrument capable of simultaneous detection and discrimination of 8 or more fluorescent dyes. The 27‐locus multiplex offers the potential for a new international STR standard permitting laboratories in any jurisdiction to use a single reaction to determine profiles for loci they typically generate plus an expanded common STR profiling set of global interest.