Turning like a Femme: Figuring Critical Femininity Studies

Psychotropics and alcohol are psychoactive substances with different cultural meanings and opposing gender associations. This paper examines the Swedish press debate on gender and psychotropics and compares it with the press debate on gender and alcohol, aiming to identify the conditions under which gendered moral boundaries of acceptable/unacceptable consumption are defended. The study shows that boundaries acquire a heightened moral status in news stories (1) that deal with a topic related to cultural ideas about essential gender difference, (2) where the cultural status of the psychoactive substance is linked to selfish and/or hedonistic motives, and (3) where innocent victims of consumption can be identified. Moreover, it shows that the “bad” characters constructed through this moral boundary are portrayed as exhibiting “excessive masculinity” and “insufficient femininity”. On the basis of these findings, it is argued that newspaper discourse on psychotropics and alcohol still relies quite heavily on gendered and heteronormative ideas.     

Development of a capillary zone electrophoresis method including a factorial design and simplex optimisation for analysis of amphetamine, amphetamine analogues, cocaine, and heroin

A capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) method was developed for the analysis of amphetamine and 13 amphetamine analogues. A full factorial design was used to screen for important design variables (i.e. carrier electrolyte concentration, pH, and separation temperature), and a modified simplex was employed in a final optimisation step. The resolution values of the target compounds were used as responses in the screening and optimisation phases. This approach made it possible to control the effects of the design variables on the separation of the target compounds. The best results were obtained using a 100mM Tris/phosphate buffer (pH 3.1) at a separation temperature of 10 degrees C, and the analysis time was 23 min under these conditions. After slight modification, the method also enabled baseline resolution of the most commonly encountered amphetamine derivatives, as well as cocaine and heroin, within 7 min. There was a linear relationship between peak area and concentration for all substances, with correlation coefficients in the range of 0.9975-0.9999. Moreover, the technique was repeatable and exhibited relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) values in the ranges of 0.01-0.11% and 0.54-1.60% for relative migration time and corrected peak area, respectively. Lastly, the method was successfully applied to analyse street samples.     

B: Reviews: general

MIDDLE EAST STUDIES IN DENMARK. Edited by LARS ERSLEV ANDERSEN. Odense, Odense University Press, 1994. 215pp. DKK 200.

APPROACHES TO THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE EAST: INTERVIEWS WITH LEADING MIDDLE EAST HISTORIANS. By NANCY ELIZABETH GALLAGHER. Reading, Garnet Publishing, 1994. viii, 197pp.

A HISTORY OF THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST. By WILLIAM L. CLEVELAND. Boulder and Oxford, Westview Press, 1994. 503pp. Tables, maps, photographs, glossary, select bibliography.

MUHAMMAD AND THE ORIGINS OF ISLAM. By F.E. PETERS. Albany, State University of New York Press, 1994. 334pp.

A READER ON CLASSICAL ISLAM. By F.E. PETERS. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1994. 420pp.

BEFORE REVELATION: THE BOUNDARIES OF MUSLIM MORAL THOUGHT. By A. KEVIN REINHART. (SUNY Series in Middle Eastern Studies.) Albany, State University of New York Press, 1995. 255pp.

THE DIVINE GUIDE IN EARLY SH'ISM: THE SOURCES OF ESOTERICISM. By MOHAMMAD ALI AMIR‐MOEZZI. Translated by DAVID STREIGHT. Albany, SUNY Press, 1994. 279pp.

IMAGINAL WORLDS: IBN AL‐'ARABI AND THE PROBLEM OF RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY. By WILLIAM C. CHITTICK. Albany, SUNY Press, 1994. vii, 208pp. $18.95 (pb.).

RETHINKING ISLAM: COMMON QUESTION, UNCOMMON ANSWERS. By MOHAMMED ARKOUN. Translated and edited by ROBERT D. LEE. Oxford, Westview Press, 1994. 139pp.

A YOUNG MUSLIM'S GUIDE TO THE MODERN WORLD. By SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR. Cambridge, Islamic Texts Society, 1993. 270pp.

PIOUS PASSENGERS. THE HAJJ IN EARLIER TIMES. By M.N. PEARSON. London, Hurst, 1994. viii, 217 pp. Illustrated.

PILGRIMS AND SULTANS: THE HAJJ UNDER THE OTTOMANS. By SURAIYA FAROQHI. London, I.B. Tauris, 1994. xii, 244pp. 1 map.

DEMOCRACY WITHOUT DEMOCRATS? THE RENEWAL OF POLITICS IN THE MUSLIM WORLD. Edited by GHASSAN SALAMÉ. London and New York, I. B. Taurus, 1994. 340pp., figures and tables. £45.

THE PROPHET'S PULPIT: ISLAMIC PREACHING IN CONTEMPORARY EGYPT. By PATRICK D. GAFFNEY. University of California Press, 1994. 367pp. Map, bibliographic references and index.

THE WOMEN'S AWAKENING IN EGYPT: CULTURE, SOCIETY, AND THE PRESS. By BETH BARON. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1994. 259pp. £20.

THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, URB ANA‐CHAMPAIGN

LE DESERT ET LA GLOIRE: LES MEMOIRES D'UN AGENT SYRIEN DE NAPOLEON. By FATHALLAH SAYIGH. Translated and edited by JOSEPH CHELHOD. Paris, Gallimard, 1991. 304pp.

AMERICAN CONSULS IN THE HOLY LAND: 1832–1914. By RUTH KARK. Jerusalem, Magnes Press & Hebrew University; Detroit, Wayne State University Press, 1994. 388pp. 28 plates.

PALESTINE IN TRANSFORMATION, 1856–1882: STUDIES IN SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. By ALEXANDER SCHÖLCH. Translated by WILLIAM C. YOUNG and MICHAEL C. GERRITY. Washington, D.C., Institute for Palestine Studies, 1993. xii, 351pp. 8 maps, 44 tables. $29.95.

AN OCCASION FOR WAR: CIVIL CONFLICT IN LEBANON AND DAMASCUS IN 1860. By LEILA TARAZI FAWAZ. London, Centre for Lebanese Studies and I.B. Tauris, 1994. 302pp.

THE ROOTS OF SEPARATISM IN PALESTINE: BRITISH ECONOMIC POLICY 1920–1929. By BARBARA J. SMITH. London, I.B. Tauris, 1993. 258pp. £39.50.

SYRIA'S QUEST FOR INDEPENDENCE, 1939–1945. By SALMA MARDAM BEY. Reading, Ithaca Press, 1994. 288pp.

STAAT UND GESELLSCHAFT IN SYRIEN, 1970–1989. By VOLKER PERTHES. (Schriften des Deutschen Orient‐Institut.) Hamburg, Deutsches Orient‐Institut, 1990. 340pp. DM 39.‐

ÖFFENTLICHE UND PRIVATE LANDWIRTSCHAFT IN SYRIEN. EINE WIRTSCHAFTS‐ UND SOZIALGEOGRAPHISCHE UNTERSUCHUNG IM NORDWESTEN UND NORDOSTEN DES LANDES. By HANS HOPFINGER. (Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 19.). Erlangen, Frankische Geographische Gesellschaft, 1991. 348pp, 24 illustrations, 77 tables, 13 photographs, 5 coloured maps.

LA GUERRE DU LIBAN: DE LA DISSENSION NATIONALE AU CONFLIT REGIONAL, 1975–1982. By SAMIR KASSIR. Paris, Karthala, 1994. 510pp.

A HISTORY OF THE DRUZES. By KAIS M. FIRRO. (Handbuch der Orientalistik, Ergänszungsband 9.) Leiden, Brill, 1992. 396pp. 9 maps.

VILLAGE, STEPPE AND STATE: THE SOCIAL ORIGINS OF MODERN JORDAN. Edited by EUGENE L. ROGAN and TARIQ TELL. London and New York, British Academic Press, 1994. xxviii, 226pp.

JORDAN'S INTER‐ARAB RELATIONS: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ALLIANCE MAKING. By LAURIE A. BRAND. New York, Columbia University Press, 1995. x, 350pp.

THE PALESTINIANS IN ISRAEL: IS ISRAEL THE STATE OF ALL ITS CITIZENS AND ‘ABSENTEES'? Translated and edited by NUR MASALHA. Haifa, Galilee Center for Social Research, 1993. $12 (pb).

FASTING AND FEASTING IN MOROCCO: WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN RAMADAN. By MARJO BUITELAAR. (Mediterranea Series.) Oxford and Providence, Berg Publishers, 1993. 203pp. 9 photographs, 15 illustrations, glossary.

IMPERIAL IDENTITIES: STEREOTYPING, PREJUDICE AND RACE IN COLONIAL ALGERIA. By PATRICIA M. LORCIN. (Society and Culture in the Modern Middle East.) London, I.B. Tauris, 1995. x, 323pp. 1 map.

THE MAKING OF SAUDI ARABIA 1916–1936: FROM CHIEFTAINCY TO MONARCHICAL STATE. By JOSEPH KOSTINER. (Studies in Middle Eastern History.) New York and Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1993. xii, 260pp. Maps. £35.00

OIL, POWER AND PRINCIPLE: IRAN'S OIL NATIONALIZATION AND ITS AFTERMATH. By MOSTAFA ELM. New York, Syracuse University Press, 1994. xvii, 413pp. Map, tables (pb).

AN OTTOMAN STATESMAN IN WAR & PEACE: AHMED RESMI EFENDI, 1700–1783. By VIRGINIA H. AKSAN. (The Ottoman Empire & its Heritage, 3.) Leiden, Brill, 1995. xviii, 253pp. Illustration, maps, glossary of place names, terms and phrases, bibliography, index.

TURKEY: A MODERN HISTORY. By ERIK J. ZÜRCHER. London, I.B. Tauris, 1993. 381pp., maps, biographical notes.

THE SEED AND THE SOIL: GENDER AND COSMOLOGY IN TURKISH VILLAGE SOCIETY. By CAROL DELANEY. (Comparative Studies on Muslim Societies, 11.) Berkeley, University of California Press, 1991. xiii, 360pp. Illustrations. Photographs. Index.

INDIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST. By PRITHVI RAM MUDIAM. London, British Academic Press, 1994. ix, 232pp. £39.50.

ARAB WOMEN. Edited by JUDITH E. TUCKER. (Indiana Series in Arab and Islamic Studies.) Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1993. 256pp., index.

WOMEN, ISLAM AND THE STATE. By DENIZ KANDIYOTI. London, Macmillan, 1991. 271 pp., index.

VISITING ARAB COUNTRIES OF THE MIDDLE EAST: A PERSONAL GUIDE FOR WOMEN. By PENELOPE TURING. Glasgow, Centre for Management Training and Development in the Middle East, n.d. [1994]. 26pp.

MEDIEVAL AGRICULTURE AND ISLAMIC SCIENCE: THE ALMANAC OF A YEMENI SULTAN. By DANIEL MARTIN VARISCO. (Publications on the Near East, No. 6.) Seattle & London, University of Washington Press, 1994. xv, 349pp. 2 maps.

REORIENTATIONS: ARABIC AND PERSIAN POETRY. Edited by SUZANNE PINCKNEY STETKEVYCH. Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1994. x, 269pp. £25.

THE ARABIAN NIGHTS: A COMPANION. By ROBERT IRWIN. London: Allen Lane, The Penguin Press. 1994. 344pp. £20.

NAGIB MAHFOUZ: THE PURSUIT OF MEANING. By RASHEED EL‐ENANY. London and New York, Routledge, 1993. xv, 271pp. £12.99 (pb).

ARAB COMIC STRIPS: POLITICS OF AN EMERGING MASS CULTURE. By ALLEN DOUGLAS and FEDWA MALTI‐DOUGLAS. Bloomington & Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1994. xiii, 263pp.

ISLAMIC SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING. By DONALD R. HILL. (Islamic Surveys.) Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1994. 250pp. 78 illustrations. £16.95 (pb), £39.95 (hb).

CAUGHT IN TIME: GREAT PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVES. KHIVA. BUKHARA. SAMARKAND. Series editor: VITALY NAUMKIN. Reading, Garnet Publishing, 1993. 127pp. (Khiva); 159pp. (Bukhara); 159pp. (Samarkand).

THE CORAL BUILDINGS OF SUAKIN: ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING, DESIGN AND DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS IN A RED SEA PORT. By J.‐P. GREENLAW. London and New York, Kegan Paul International, 1995.132pp.     

Public Sector Growth: Comparing Politicians’ and Administrators’ Spending Preferences

The notion that appointed bureaucrats act as budget maximizers still stands strong within theories attempting to explain the growth in the size of the public sector. This paper reports the results of a case study that included local authority politicians and bureaucrats in 30 Norwegian municipalities and where differences in spending preferences was empirically investigated. Counter to the original theory, bureaucrats seem to be less expansive than their political counterparts. The most expansive were found to be members of political left‐wing parties, the more peripheral politicians and administrators, women, those with lower education and those working in the public sector. Nevertheless, there is some support given to a modified hypothesis that administrators have stronger preferences for ‘slack’ (that is, organizational slack in terms of spending more money on internal administration) than politicians. The data also strongly support the notion that within a specialized sector, both politicians and administrators have similar preferences for higher spending to their specific sector.     

Public and Private Think Tank Visibility in the Danish Parliament and Media

While the number of think tanks in Denmark has increased considerably in recent decades, our knowledge about their visibility in political arenas is limited. The article explores how and why the mentions of private and public think tanks in the parliamentary and media arenas has developed from 2005 to 2018. Building on insights from previous studies of think tanks, publicly funded think tanks are expected to achieve more parliamentary mentions than private think tanks because they are expected to be more heavily influenced by institutionalized norms to target inside actors through parliament. By contrast, privately funded think tanks are expected to achieve more media mentions than public think tanks, because they are policymaking outsiders and emphasize public advocacy over direct influence. Although publicly funded think tanks have been more visible in the parliamentary arena than private think tanks, their visibility has declined. Private think tanks are more visible than public think tanks, but media visibility for privately funded think tanks also drops towards the end of the period. The article concludes that public or private funding cannot fully explain changes in think tank visibility in the two arenas over time. Instead media and parliamentary mentions are driven by a handful of think tanks while most think tanks struggle to achieve and maintain parliamentary and media visibility over time.     

MDS use with crime scene data replicates poorly: response to Goodwill,Alison, and Humann (this issue) and Davis (this issue)

Abstract

Examinations of treatment attrition form an important – although sometimes neglected – component of evaluating a correctional programme's effectiveness in reducing recidivism. Previous research has identified offender characteristics that predict non-completion. This study investigated non-completion in 138 high-risk, violent male prisoners attending an intensive cognitive–behavioural programme. Almost one-third of men who commenced it did not complete the 7-month programme. Most asked to leave of their own accord, or were removed for ongoing offending. In contrast to previous research, no support was found for the hypothesis that those who terminated treatment prematurely were more in need of intervention than those who completed the programme; non-completers did not differ from completers on static estimates of criminal risk, PCL-R scores, demographic variables or self-report scales measuring dynamic risk factors. It was concluded that successful prediction using variables related to criminal risk and criminogenic need depends both on the characteristics of programme participants, and on contextual factors such as programme policies: when high-risk high needs offenders are a programme's target clientele, variables related to risk and need will have limited predictive utility. From a practice perspective, the programme was successful in retaining through to completion a relatively untreatable group: high-risk offenders with moderate to high PCL-R scores.     

The Plots that Failed: Intelligence Lessons Learned from Unsuccessful Terrorist Attacks Against the United States

While much of the focus of terrorism research is on successful terrorist attacks, the most significant lessons for terrorism prevention may come from examination of terrorist plots and attacks that do not succeed. This article analyzes 176 terrorist plots against American targets that have been thwarted or otherwise failed during the past 25 years. It considers what kinds of intelligence and security measures are most useful in counterterrorism, and argues that the conventional wisdom about why intelligence fails—because analysts and agencies are unable to “connect the dots”—is wrong. Most plots, especially domestic terrorist plots, are not foiled through imaginative analysis, but through conventional law enforcement efforts and aggressive domestic intelligence collection that reveal to authorities just what the plotters are up to.