Book reviews

Transcaucasian Boundaries John F. Wright, Suzanne Goldenberg and Richard Schofield (editors) London: UCL Press, 1996, 248pp, £40 and £14.95

The Russian Policy Debate on Central Asia Irina Zviagelskaia London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1995, X, 41 pp, £12.50

CIS Integration Trends: Russia and the Former Soviet South Mark Webber London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1997, IX, 72 pp, £12.50 Both distributed by Plimbridge Distributors Ltd, Estover Road, Plymouth. Devon PL6 7PZ, and in North America by the Brookings Institutional Press, Washington DC.

Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition Tadeusz Swietochowski New York: Columbia University Press, 1995, xvi, 290 pp, $34.95

The Soviet Socialist Republic of Iran, 1920–1921 Cosroe Chaqueri Pittsburgh, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1995, xvii, 649 pp, $75.00

Bibliography of Islamic Central Asia Yuri Bregel (editor and compiler) Bloomington, Indiana: Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, Indiana University, 1995, in three volumes: Pt. I, LXXTV+773 pp; Pt. II, XLIII+774–1512 pp; Pt. III, XXXII+1513–2276 pp, $299

Mohieddin Alempour. A Tajik Visionary Baqer Moin (editor) London: BBC Persian Service, Bush House, 1997, illus, 140 pp, £20

Tatar Costume M. Zavyalova Kazan: Zaman Publishers Fund Turan, 1996, illus, 252 pp, $50     

Book reviews

Roland Axtmann, Liberal democracy into the twenty‐first century: Globalization, integration and the nation‐state (Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1996), 198 pp., ISBN 0–7190–4304–2 (hb), 0–7190–4305–0 (pb)

Paul Kapteyn, The Stateless Market: The European Dilemma of Civilization (Routledge, London and New York, 1996), 194 pp., ISBN 0–415–12232–5 (hb), 0–415–12233–3 (pb)

Richard Werbner and Terence Ranger (eds), Postcolonial Identities in Africa (Zed Books, London & New Jersey, 1996), 292 pp., ISBN 1–85649–415–2 (hb), 1–85649–416–0 (pb)

Mark Wheeler, Politics and the Mass Media (Blackwell, Oxford, 1997), 274 pp., ISBN 0–631–19783–4 (hb), 0–631–19784–2 (pb)

Nigel Harris, The New Untouchables: Immigration and the New World Worker (Penguin Books, London, 1995), 254 pp., ISBN 0–14–014689‐X (pb)

Gilles Kepel, Allah in the West (Polity Press, Cambridge, 1997), 273 pp., ISBN 0–7456–1557–0 (hb), 0–7456–1558–9 (pb)

Leonard Weinberg, The Transformation of Italian Communism (Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1995), 147 pp., ISBN 1–56000–180–1 (hb)

Brian Jenkins and Spyros A. Sofos (eds), Nation and Identity in Contemporary Europe (Routledge, London, 1996), x + 294pp., ISBN 0–415–12312–7 (hb), 0–415–12313–5 (pb)

Stuart Parkes, Understanding Contemporary Germany (Routledge, London, 1997), 247 pp., ISBN 0–415–14123–0 (hb), 0–415–14124–9 (pb)     

Explaining “Pain and Suffering” Awards: The Role of Injury Characteristics and Fault Attributions

The present research explored factors thought to affect compensatory awards for non-economic ham (pain and suffering) in personal injury cases. Experiment 1 showed that the nature and severity of the plaintiffs injury had a strong effect on perceptions of the extent of harm suffered and on award amounts. The parties' relatively active or passive roles in causing the injury affected assessments of their degree of fault, but perceived fault had little influence on awards. Experiment 2 replicated with more varied cases the strong impact of injury severity on harm perception and on awards for pain and suffering. In both studies, the disability and the mental suffering associated with injuries were stronger predictors of awards than were pain and disfigurement.     

The government's best offense is deference: the decision of the Supreme Court in Shalala v. Guernsey Memorial Hospital

The United States Supreme Court agreed with the Secretary of Health and Human Services that Guernsey Memorial Hospital's advance refunding transaction costs would be subject to a medicare reimbursement policy that is not based upon generally accepted accounting principles. According to the sharp dissent in this case, this policy, set forth in a manual provision, contradicts federal regulations.