B. Reviews: general

EUROPE'S FUTURE IN THE ARAB VIEW. Edited by Dieter Beilenstein. (Paper of the Institute for International Relations, No.7), Saarbrücken, Breitenbach, 1981. pp.163.

A CHANGING IMAGE: AMERICAN PERCEPTIONS OF THE ARAB‐ISRAELI DISPUTE. By Richard H. Curtiss. Washing D.C., American Educational Trust, 1982.

THE BATTLE OF BEIRUT: WHY ISRAEL INVADED LEBANON. By Michael Jensen. London, Zed Press, 1982.

FIRE OF ISLAM. By Desmond Meiring. London, Wildwood House, 1982.

PUBLIC DUTIES IN ISLAM: THE INSTITUTION OF THE HISBA. By Ibn Taymiya, Al‐Shaykh Al‐Imam Taqi Al‐Din Ahmad (trans. Mukhtar Holland). (Islamic Economic Series 3), Leicester, The Islamic Foundation, 1982.

ISSUES IN ISLAMIC BANKING: SELECTED PAPERS. By M.N.Siddiqui. (Islamic Economic Series, 4), Leicester, The Islamic Foundation, 1983.

REGESTEN PUBLIZIERTER SAFAWIDISCHER HERRSCHERURKUNDEN: ERLASSE UND STAATSSCHREIBEN DER FRUHEN NEUZEIT IRANS. By Renate. Schimkoreit. (Islamkuhdliche Untersuchungen, Bd 68), Berlin, Klaus Shwarz Verlag, 1982. pp. 552. DM.87.

THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH PETROLEUM COMPANY.‐ VOLUME I: THE DEVELOPING YEARS 1901–1932.. By R.W.Ferrier. Cambridge University Press, 1982. pp.801. £37.50.

THE CHALLENGE OF ENERGY: POLICIES IN THE MAKING. Edited by Mohammad W. Khouja. (Energy Resources and Policies of the Middle East and North Africa.) London‐New York, Longman, 1981. pp.127. Paperback.

THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF IRAN. Volume 3: THE SELEUCID, PARTHIAN AND SASANIAN PERIODS. Edited by Ehsan Yarshater. Vol. 3(1), pp. lxxv, 624, 48 pl., 4 line drawings, 13 maps; vol.3(2), pp.xix, thereafter pagination continuous with that of 3(1), ending at p.1488, 99 pl. (4 in colour), 25 line drawings, 3 maps. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1983. £37.50.

TA ‘LIKI‐ZADE'S ?EHNAME‐YI HÜMAYUN: A HISTORY OF THE OTTOMAN CAMPAIGN INTO HUNGARY 1593–94. Edited with introduction and notes by Christine Woodhead. (Islamkundliche Untersuchungen, Band 82.) vii, pp.421, map. Berlin, Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1983.

OTTOMAN YEAR BOOKS (SALNAME AND NEVSAL). Compiled by Hasan Duman. Istanbul, Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA), 1402/1982. pp.144.

THE CRISIS OF TURKISH DEMOCRACY. By C.H.Dodd. Hull, Eothen Press, 1983. pp.136. £9.50 (cloth); £4.95 (paperback).

CULT, GHETTO AND STATE: THE PERSISTENCE OF THE JEWISH QUESTION. By Maxime Rodinson. London, Al Saqi Books, 1983. pp.239. £5.95.     

Jail drug and alcohol treatment program reduces recidivism in nonviolent offenders: a longitudinal study of Monroe County, New York's, Jail Treatment Drug and Alcohol Program

Substance abuse treatment has become the new fashion for reducing recidivism among inmates. But the question is, does this work? Various studies have been done tracking the same cohort of inmates over time to assess the validity of treatment. This study assesses one treatment program's success over 5 years to determine if drug and alcohol treatment reduces recidivism among nonviolent, short-term (sentence of less than a year) inmates. Monroe County's drug treatment program demonstrates that for 1 year after receiving the treatment, three different cohorts of nonviolent, short-term inmates (1995, 1998, and 2000) were found to be substantially less likely to be recidivists than control group inmates.     

'It's Labour, But Not as we Know it.' Media Lesson-drawing and the Disciplining of Social Democracy: A Case Study

A qualitative content analysis of New Zealand newspapers from 1997 to 2002 shows how the overwhelmingly conservative print media in that country used a highly partial version of Tony Blair's New Labour to try to help set parameters for its New Zealand counterpart and point it in what it saw as the right direction. Globalisation rests on the flow of ideas as well as the flow of trade: it has an important ideational component that the media—internationally owned though often parochially focused—helps construct by drawing lessons from abroad. The thrust of the coverage analysed was to transnationalise a business-friendly common sense concerning the proper—indeed the inevitable—response of a modern social democratic party to a globalised political economy. Whether this actually affected the behaviour of the New Zealand variant of social democracy, however, is a moot point. Finally, in keeping with Lijphart's seminal discussion of the purpose of case studies, this one generates the following hypothesis: that the print media in one country will interpret the domestic politics of other countries (other than those which are geographically closest or economically crucial) in such a way as to try to influence the outcome of political and policy debates at home.     

Performance Indicators for Police Oversight Agencies

This study addresses the question of performance indicators for police oversight agencies through a survey of the directors of agencies in Australia and an analysis of annual reports. The findings show that a variety of targets and measures are in place. The majority of oversight bodies adopt fairly basic and largely quantitative measures on matters processed, supplemented by case study accounts of positive impacts.     

Global Justice and the Distribution of Natural Resources

What should a political theorist say about the justice of the global distribution of natural resources? One issue is whether principles of distributive justice should be applied globally, and this has been debated between nationalists and cosmopolitans. A second, though, is how the category of 'natural resources' should be conceived in relation to other distributable goods. This has not adequately been addressed even by theorists of global justice who expressly focus on natural resources. In particular, neither Charles Beitz's argument for a natural resources redistribution principle nor David Miller's argument against works with a satisfactory account of how the physical distribution of resources relates to the distribution of their economic value. A more satisfactory account can be developed from the perspective of ecological economics as inspired by Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen. From this perspective, global inequalities in the command of natural resources can be viewed with the clarity that a normative theory of their justice requires. If natural resources are re-conceptualised in terms of 'ecological space', Beitz's argument can be recast and vindicated. The re-conceptualisation is necessary to overcome the problems with the original version, as is shown by reference to the existing alternative formulations of Hillel Steiner and Thomas Pogge.     

Infant class sizes in the new admissions framework: a devolution of power

It was one of the major planks of the Blair government's legislative programme that it would set a limit on school class sizes for the youngest children. While the objective of reducing class sizes no doubt has much to recommend it from the point of view of raising educational standards, it is also inevitable that parental choice of school, already emasculated, will be limited even further. It is particularly likely to be borne out in practice wherever governing bodies and head teachers are insufficiently aware of the ramifications of all the other rules and regulations enacted alongside the ‘30 pupil’ limit. Nevertheless, it will be argued in this article that, if head teachers and governing bodies are prepared to persevere with the small print of the Act and the extraordinarily convoluted regulations and departmental Codes of Practice, circulars and guidance issued along with it, then there is a case for saying that the new infant class size limit can—when coupled with other changes in the law introduced by the School Standards and Framework Act (SSFA) 1998—sometimes be used as a tool both to increase the devolution of power down to individual schools and to improve parental choice     

The logic of no alternative? Political scientists, historians and the politics of Labour's past

This paper critiques the largely incommensurate approaches taken both by historians and political scientists to the governmental past of the British Labour Party. It argues that revisionist historians, in flight from the traditional left critique of parliamentary socialism, are in danger of damaging their capacity to produce general explanations, while political scientists (who specialise in the latter) have tended to preserve an outdated version of Labour's past that supports their greater interest in its present and future. Both approaches dovetail with the political strategy of the Party's current leadership, but do little to contribute to what could be a profitable breaking-down of the barriers between the two disciplines in this area.     

Is There a Police Culture?

Recent commissions of inquiry and the growth of police studies in Australia have popularised the idea of a 'police culture'. A stereotyped image has developed of police sexism, racism, secrecy, anti-intellectualism, brutality, corruption, biased law enforcement and politicisation. The alleged 'police culture' is at odds with every fundamental ethical principle of public service. In its simplified version the concept is becoming discredited as excessively unitary and deterministic. Nonetheless, the term has utility when seen in the context of the general idea of occupational cultures and of specific elements of an organisation's traditions and task environment which generate counter-productive and unethical practices. The concept also assists in focusing on managing organisational change to facilitate integrity and effective service provision.