Book reviews

F. J. M. Feldbrugge, Samizdat and Political Dissent in the USSR. Leyden: Sijthoff, 1975. 255 pp. Dfl. 48,00. $20.00.

Daniel Stone (ed.), The Polish Memoirs of William John Rose. Toronto and Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1975. xxv+248 pp. $15.00.

George Maude, The Finnish Dilemma: Neutrality in the Shadow of Power. London: OUP, 1976. vi+153 pp. £6.00.

Christopher Stevens, The Soviet Union and Black Africa. London: Macmillan Press, 1976. xii+236 pp. £10.00.

Jochen Bethkenhagen, Bedeutung und Möglichkeiten des Ost‐West‐Handels mit Energierohstoffen. (Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Sonder‐heft 104.) Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1975. 307 pp.

Jeremy Russell, Energy as a Factor in Soviet Foreign Policy. (Published for the Royal Institute of International Affairs.) London: D. C. Heath, 1976. xix+241 pp. £7.50.

Michael Kaser, Health Care in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. London: Croom Helm, 1976. 278 pp. £12.95.

James H. Bater, St. Petersburg: Industrialisation and Change. Studies in Urban History 4. General Editor H. J. Dyos. London: Edward Arnold, 1976. xxiii+411 pp. £14.95.

Leslie Symons and Colin White (eds.), Russian Transport: An historical and geographical survey. London: G. Bell, 1975. xxiii+192 pp. £7.25 or £3.50 (paperback).

Robert Auty and Dimitri Obolensky (eds.), An introduction to Russian History. Cambridge: CUP, 1976. 403 pp. £12.50.

Edward Allworth, Soviet Asia: Bibliographies; A Compilation of Social Science and Humanities Sources on the Iranian, Mongolian and Turkic Nationalities. With an Essay on the Soviet‐Asian Controversy. New York: Praeger, 1975. lxiii+686 pp. $35.00. £21.35.     

Implementing evidence-based policy in a network setting: road safety policy in the Netherlands

In the early 1990s, in order to improve road safety in The Netherlands, the Institute for Road Safety Research (SWOV) developed an evidence-based "Sustainable Safety" concept. Based on this concept, Dutch road safety policy, was seen as successful and as a best practice in Europe. In The Netherlands, the policy context has now changed from a sectoral policy setting towards a fragmented network in which safety is a facet of other transport-related policies. In this contribution, it is argued that the implementation strategy underlying Sustainable Safety should be aligned with the changed context. In order to explore the adjustments needed, two perspectives of policy implementation are discussed: (1) national evidence-based policies with sectoral implementation; and (2) decentralized negotiation on transport policy in which road safety is but one aspect. We argue that the latter approach matches the characteristics of the newly evolved policy context best, and conclude with recommendations for reformulating the implementation strategy.     

The introduction of public–private partnerships in the Netherlands as a case of institutional bricolage: The evolution of an Anglo‐Saxon transplant in a Rhineland context

In this contribution, the introduction of contractual public–private partnerships (PPPs) in the Netherlands, more specifically the use of Design, Build, Finance, Maintenance, and Operations (DBFMO) contracts in Dutch infrastructure management, is analysed using a specific strand within the policy transfer and institutional transplantation literature: that of ‘institutional bricolage’. This perspective states that policy transplants come to fit their new institutional context stepwise. This contribution reconstructs the adoption process by which the Anglo‐Saxon‐inspired PPP practice is incorporated into the traditional ‘Rhinelandic’ practice of infrastructure management in the Netherlands, identifying four waves of PPP initiatives. It concludes that these waves and the difficulties that emerge in them stem from an ongoing struggle between actor coalitions, one aiming to preserve the transplant in its original shape, and others making attempts at bricolage. Shifts in power relations explain the progress and outcomes of the process of institutional transplantation.     

Electoral competition and democratic decline in Nicaragua: uncovering an electorally viable platform for the right

Between the 1980s and 2006 Nicaragua was a competitive democracy where parties of the left and right won national presidential elections and relinquished power when their terms ended. More recently the quality of Nicaragua’s democracy has deteriorated. This change is due partly to autocratic behaviour by the elected leftist president, Daniel Ortega. But democratic decline is also the result of factional divisions and vague, outmoded policy commitments on the right that have crippled its electoral competitiveness, enabling Ortega’s behaviour. Utilizing an experimental research design, this article identifies two modernized policy platforms that could significantly broaden rightist electoral support in presidential campaigns, aiding democratic resurgence in Nicaragua. At a point when opposition parties are struggling to retain strength and coherence in many other democracies, the study presents a research strategy that could help clarify the ways such parties might reinvigorate their electoral competitiveness.     

对《刑法》中拟制罪名的几点看法

罪名是根据犯罪行为的性质和特征所规定的犯罪的名称。我国《刑法》中拟制的一批罪 名,总的情况是好的。但尚存在不足之处:有些罪名字数较多,可识别性程度不够,概括性不强。     

Offender Characteristics and Behaviors in NonSexual Child Maltreatment

Data on 552 child maltreatment cases in South Korea involving convictions, including child physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect, were analyzed in order to compare 259 offenses committed by male offenders with 293 offenses committed by female offenders. Relative to cases involving female offenders, male offenders both had a higher number of criminal convictions and were more likely to have previously abused their victims. By contrast, female offenders were more likely to have had financial difficulties, while their victims were significantly younger compared to male offenders. Male offenders were more likely to strike the victim, either manually or with an instrument, particularly a blunt instrument, whereas female offenders were more likely to pinch or bite their victims. The findings can aid social workers and medical personnel in recognizing the signs of child maltreatment and identifying at-risk children more effectively, helping to employ timely interventions and prevent the reoccurrence of child maltreatment.