Misreading One's Sources: Charles Taylor's Rousseau

This article challenges Taylor's defense of community by criticizing his reading of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Taylor, who adheres to the old charge that Rousseau is at bottom a totalitarian, neglects several points of resistance to the claims of the community that are present in Rousseau's political thought. Such points of resistance prove, on close examination, to be unavailable to Taylor. Taylor inadvertently offers a theoretical attack on individualism and a foundation for social tyranny more powerful than any to be found in Rousseau's thought.     

Anticipated Mortality,HIV Vulnerability,and Psychological Distress Among Adolescents and Young Adults at Higher and Lower Risk for HIV Infection

This study described multivariate patterns of associations among psychological distress, anticipated mortality, and perceived vulnerability to HIV among urban, multiethnic samples of (a) adolescents (N = 120) undergoing substance abuse treatment, and (b) young adult university students (N = 222). While there were significant correlations between (a) psychological distress and reported vulnerability to HIV in the treatment sample; and (b) psychological distress and anticipated mortality in the university sample, there was no significant relation between anticipated mortality and perceived vulnerability to HIV in either sample. Cluster analysis revealed four distinct and meaningful groups in both samples, including parallel high- and low-functioning subgroups. Multivariate group differences in both samples were validated via corresponding group differences in (a) motives for drinking during sex, and (b) markers of serious psychological distress (e.g., suicidal thoughts and attempts). The findings challenge popular sterotpes of adolescents' perceptions of their own mortality and vulnerability to HIV and may have significant implications for the planning and implementation of effective HIV preventions among at-risk youth.     

Books in review

He is author of Polls and the Awareness of Public Opinion;and recently of Preserving the Press.     

Urban government and market reforms in China

Chinese reformers wish through their economic programme to create a new form of developmental state in China and a new relationship between state and economy. This paper examines these issues through a study of the impact of Chinese economic reforms on the structure and behaviour of local government, focusing on urban government at the district level. It looks at three aspects of the issue—the trend towards financial decentralization, institutional changes in district administration and changes in the relationship between local government and the urban economy. It concludes (contrary to arguments which regard bureaucratic response to the reforms as one of pure inertia and obstruction) that urban local government has changed in several major ways, the most obvious being a trend towards institutional expansion and proliferation. From the point of view of the reform process, some institutional changes have been positive, others negative, resulting in a ‘dualistic’ state which contains elements of both old and new forms of developmental state. There is a need for systematic analysis of the specific future needs and evolution of China's urban government which would guide a process of politico-administrative reform comparable to the current economic reform.     

Continuity of difficult temperament in adolescence: Relations with depression,life events,family support,and substance use across a one-year period

This longitudinal study examined the continuity of temperamental difficulty among a school-based sample of middle adolescents (n=975) over a one-year period. Of the participants, 25% were classified as difficult at one or both measurement occasions and over 40% were classified as temperamentally discontinuous. Repeated measures multivariate analyses of covariance analyses identified mean differences in psychosocial functioning by temperamental continuity groups and by gender. Temperamental difficulty was associated with higher levels of depression, stressful life events, use of some substances, and lower levels of perceived family support. Gender differences were indicated for family support, depression, life events, and alcohol use.This research was supported in part by NIAAA Grant No. AA07861 awarded to Michael Windle.Received Ph.D. in human development and family studies from the Pennsylvania State University. Major research interests involve individual and family contextual influences on the etiology and development of internalizing and externalizing behaviors in childhood and adolescence.Received Ph.D. in human development and family studies from the Pennsylvania State University. Major research interests involve the identification of high-risk factors for adolescent substance use and other problem behaviors.     

The Launching of the EMS: An Analysis of Change in Foreign Economic Policy

Foreign exchange markets are subject to changing international regimes. When and why regimes change is a legitimate focus of political study. This is particularly so as shifts in foreign exchange markets modify relative prices in and between national economies. Authorities presiding over foreign exchange markets are answerable to their national policy communities and to their national electorates. They also operate within an international state system. Applying John S. Odell's framework to an analysis of the launch of the European Monetary System (EMS) in April 1978 by Chancellor Schmidt and President Giscard d'Estaing, it is argued that a market perspective alone would have failed to predict the establishment of the EMS. An analysis of the principal actors and their ideas; of the power political constellation; and of the domestic context in the Federal Republic and in France, contributes most to explaining ex post the shift towards a European managed exchange rate regime. In this case, the neoclassical M arket perspective provided erroneous, inadequate and subsidiary explanations. The article suggests that foreign exchange policy and therefore global financial markets belong firmly in the realm of international and comparative political studies. They are too important to be left to economists alone.     

A. Reviews: general

JOURNAL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES, Vol. 1. Edited by ATHANASIUS TH. PHOTOPOULOS. Athens, 1989. viii, 245 pp.

RELIGION AND SOCIETY IN ARAB SIND. By BERRYL N. MACLEAN. (Monographs and Theoretical Studies in Sociology and Anthropology in Honour of Nels Anderson, 25.) Leiden, Brill, 1989. x, 191pp. Hf1.75‐/$37.50.

AN ARAB‐SYRIAN GENTLEMAN AND WARRIOR IN THE PERIOD OF THE CRUSADES: MEMOIRS OF USAMAH IBN‐MUNQIDH. Translated by PHILIP K. HITTI. Columbia University Press, 1929; reissued by Princeton University Press 1987. x, 265pp. 3 illustrations, 1 map. US$9.95.

THE ASSASSINS. By BERNARD LEWIS. London, al‐Saqi Books, repr. 1985. £4.95.

ECONOMIC LIFE IN OTTOMAN JERUSALEM. By AMNON COHEN. (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1989. 179pp., 6 photographs, 1 map. £27.50.

SUMMON UP REMEMBRANCE. By MARZIEH GAIL. Oxford, George Ronald, 1987. 295pp. £14.95 (H/B); £7.50 (P/B).

AFRICANISMO Y ORIENTALISMO ESPAÑOL EN EL SIGLO XIX. By VICTOR MORALES LEZCANO. Madrid, Universidad Nacional de Education a Distancia, 1989. 175pp.

ORIENT AND OCCIDENT. By AHMAD AMIN, translated by WOLFGANG H. BEHN. Berlin, Adiyok 1984. 76 pp. DM19.50.

ISLAM, THE PEOPLE AND THE STATE; ESSAYS ON POLITICAL IDEAS AND MOVEMENTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST. By SAMI ZUBAIDA. London and New York, Routledge, 1989. xi, 192pp. £27.95

POWER AND STABILITY IN THE MIDDLE EAST. Edited by BERCH BERBEROGLU. London, Zed Books, 1989. 206pp., tables, index.

THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF JUSTICE: LAW AS CULTURE IN ISLAMIC SOCIETY. By LAWRENCE ROSEN. (Lewis Henry Morgan Lectures, 1985.) Cambridge and New York, Cambridge University Press, 1989. 101pp. Plates. £22.50/$34.50 (h/b), £7.50/$12.95 (p/b)

THE DRUZE. By ROBERT BRENTON BETTS. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1988. xiv, 161pp. 5 maps, 22 black & white plates.

PUBLIC OPINION AND THE QUESTION OF PALESTINE. Edited by ELIA ZUREIK and FOUAD MUGHRABI. London, Croom Helm, 1987. 206pp.

PALESTINE AND ISRAEL: THE UPRISING AND BEYOND. By DAVID MCDOWALL. London, Tauris, 1989. 322 pp.

THE PLO UNDER ‘ARAFAT: BETWEEN GUN AND OLIVE BRANCH. By SHAUL MISHAL. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1986. 178pp.

THE MIDDLE EAST: TEN YEARS AFTER CAMP DAVID. Edited by WILLIAM B. QUANDT. Washington DC, Brookings Institution. £28.75

RADICAL ISLAM: THE IRANIAN MOJAHEDIN. By ERVAND ABRAHAMIAN, London, I.B. Tauris, 1989. 320pp. £29.50 (hardback), £9.50 (paperback).

ARAB WOMEN IN THE FIELD: STUDYING YOUR OWN SOCIETY. Edited by SORAYA ALTORKI and CAMILLIA FAWZI EL‐SOLH. Syracuse, Syracuse University Press, 1988. xii, 184pp.

KHUL‐KHAAL: FIVE EGYPTIAN WOMEN TELL THEIR STORIES. By NAYRA ATIYA. London, Virago Press, 1988. xxii, 182pp.

WE SHALL RETURN: WOMEN OF PALESTINE. By INGELA BENDT and JAMES DOWNING. London, Zed Press, 1982. iii, 129pp.

THREE WOMEN OF HERAT. By VERONICA DOUBLEDAY. London, Jonathan Cape, 1988. xi, 222pp. £12.95.

DOING DAILY BATTLE: INTERVIEWS WITH MOROCCAN WOMEN. By FATIMA MERNISSI, translated by JO LAKELAND. London, The Women's Press, 1988. 224pp. £5.95.

BOTH RIGHT AND LEFT HANDED: ARAB WOMEN TALK ABOUT THEIR LIVES. By BOUTHAINA SHAABAN. London, The Women's Press, 1988. vii, 242pp. £5.95.

THE PRESS IN THE MIDDLE EAST: CONSTRAINT, CONSENSUS, CENSORSHIP. By BARBARA KOEPPEL. Washington, Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), [c.1989]. 14pp. US$2.00.

INFORMATION AND THE MUSLIM WORLD: A STRATEGY FOR THE TWENTY‐FIRST CENTURY. By ZIAUDDIN SARDAR. London, Mansell, 1988. x, 186pp. £24.75

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF SERVICES IN THE ARAB GULF STATES: COMPANY AND INDUSTRY CASES. By M. SAMI KASSEM and GHAZI M. HABIB. Berlin and New York, de Gruyter, 1989. xxi, 480pp.

THE MODERN ARABIC SHORT STORY: SHAHRAZAD RETURNS. By MUHAMMAD SHAHEEN. London, Macmillan, 1989. 158 pp.

MUSIC OF AFGHANISTAN. By JOHN BAILY. (Cambridge Studies in Ethnomusicology.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1988. 183pp., cassette. £32.50.

WOMEN'S COSTUME OF THE NEAR AND MIDDLE EAST. By JENNIFER SCARCE. London and Sydney, Unwin Hyman, 1987. £40.00.

A SHORT ACCOUNT OF EARLY MUSLIM ARCHITECTURE. By K.A.C. CRESWELL, revised and supplemented by J.W. ALLAN. Aldershot, Scolar Press, 1989. 435pp. 273 illustrations, 3 maps. £47.50

THE HISTORICAL MOSQUES OF SAUDI ARABIA. By G.R.D. KING. London and New York, 1986. 208pp.

YEMEN: 3000 YEARS OF ART AND CIVILISATION IN ARABIA FELIX. Edited by WERNER DAUM. Innsbruck, Pinguin‐Verlag and Frankfurt/Main, Umschau‐Verlag, 1987. 483pp.

MANDA: EXCAVATIONS AT AN ISLAND PORT ON THE KENYA COAST. By NEVILLE CHITTICK. (Memoirs, 9.) Nairobi, British Institute in Eastern Africa, 1984. xvi, 258pp. £25.00     

Family and social factors associated with substantiation of child abuse and neglect reports

One hundred fifty-nine families who were reported for child abuse or neglect to a country social services agency in a single fiscal year were studied empirically to test the ecological model of child abuse and neglect. Several family and social factors were studied. Only two, size of family and stage in family developmental cycle, were significantly associated with an increased risk of substantiation of the report. Two potential sources of social support, the use of regular child care and the presence of an extended family member, were tested for their effect on substantiation in those cases where risk factors such as the two mentioned above and combinations of risk factors such as single parenthood and unemployed head of household were associated with higher rates of substantiation. In every case, these two examples of social support reduced the substantiation rate. The influence of the use of regular child care was especially strong in mitigating the effect of the family and social risk factors.     

The introduction of professional regulation and labor market conditions

There has been increasing concern by policy makers about the impact of occupational regulation and the process by which it is introduced. This paper examines the introduction of mandatory licensure laws to replace public certification of registered nurses at the state level. Historical analysis supports the hypothesis in economic models that small groups with concentrated interests like occupations will dominate the introduction of laws and suggests examining changes in labor market conditions may be useful in predicting future demands for legislation. Estimates of an empirical model of the diffusion of licensure across states for nurses suggests this type of quality assurance regulation was introduced first where the quality of services was probably already relatively high and that policies reducing the impact of licensure on geographical mobility may reduce pressure for new laws. Patterns in the introduction of laws also have implications for evaluating their impact.     

Energy Insecurity with Chinese and American Characteristics: implications for Sino–American relations

This paper reviews Chinese and American energy futures, focusing in particular on long-term oil supply and demand, policy deliberations in China and (to a lesser extent) the United States on energy strategy and its implications for national-level decision making, and the implications of Sino–American energy futures for bilateral relations. There is far more commonality in the energy requirements of both countries than is often acknowledged, but this overlap is often obscured by domestic political agendas, corporate and bureaucratic interests, and the increasing tendency to view energy as a defense planning issue, in particular with reference to future Chinese and US maritime strategies. The conditions for heightened Sino–American energy collaboration exist, and some important initial steps have been undertaken toward this end. But sustained and far more vigorous governmental and institutional interactions will be needed to forestall the potential for heightened antagonism in the longer-term energy futures of both countries.