Current Controversies Concerning Gender Differences in Perpetration of Physical Partner Violence

The article provides a general background for this special issue, describing its starting point and goals, and their implementation guidelines.     

Gender differences in intended escalatory tendencies among marital partners

This study addresses the intended escalatory tendency in eight hypothetical situations in which the provocator's identity (partner or stranger, male or female) and the provocation form (verbal or physical aggression) were manipulated. The research question is "how does the identity of the provocator and the form of his or her provocation affect the participant's intended escalation level, and does the gender of the participant affect differences in intended escalation level?" The research sample consisted of 208 Israeli couples. The main finding is that women's intended response to their male partner is more escalatory than men's intended response to their female partner. Results also show that women's escalation is the most severe to partner provocation and the least severe to male strangers' provocation. Men's escalation is the most severe to provocation by male strangers and the least severe to their partner's provocation. Findings indicate that men's intention to escalate decreases as their partner's provocation becomes more severe. The severity of provocation has little effect on women's inten-tion to escalate. Such results are consistent with social role theory and sexual selection theory that maintain that status enhancement is more important for men than for women, and is more important for men than risk reduction is, whereas the opposite is true for women.     

Protecting buildings against explosives

This article sets out to establish the links between classical military doctrine as applied to general war and the empirical development of any doctrine with regard to insurgency and counterinsurgency. The theme is developed by covering both the attrition theory and the maneuver theory of warfare in outline, and then by examining the essential tenets of maneuver warfare in detail and applying these tenets to the experience gained by the United Kingdom in countering insurgency. The scope and role of the newly fashionable “information warfare” in counterinsurgency operations is examined, followed by an assessment of the important task of integrating all the separate aspects of these operations into an overall plan of action for a counterinsurgency campaign. The author concludes that there is a clear and positive link between classical doctrine for the application of force in general war and doctrine that can be usefully applied in counterinsurgency operations.     

Towards the Development of a Conflict Escalation Model: The Case of Israeli Youth

The aim of this study was to present and initially test a model of escalation to verbal and physical aggression among Israeli youths. Stratified sampling was used to obtain data from 799 students in the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades of junior high schools in a northern Israeli city and its suburbs. A structural equation model (SEM) analysis confirmed that there is a significant positive correlation between the constructs of the so-called escalation preference and capability, and showed that both significantly influenced the escalation pattern. In addition, boys and younger students appeared to demonstrate a higher escalatory tendency than girls and older students. Theoretical and practical implications for professional intervention are discussed.     

From local to global: transformations of Bukharan Jewish community organization in the twentieth century

Zdenek Hojda and Jirí Pokorný, Pomníky a zapomníky (Monuments and Forgetting). Prague: Paseka, 1996, 280 pp. + illustrations.

Vladimír Macura, Masarykové boty (Masaryk's Shoes). Prague, 1993, 99 pp.

Jirí Rak, Bývali ?echové, ?eské historické myty a stereotypy (Once Upon a Time, The Czechs Were. Czech Historical Myths and Stereotypes). Prague: Nakladatelstvi H &; H, 1994, 149 pp. + illustrations.

Vít Vinas, Jan Nepomucky,Ceská Legenda (Jan of Nepomuck. Czech Legend). Prague: Nakladadelství Mladá Fronta, 1993, 283 pp. + bibliography, chronology, illustrations.     

Provocation at the center: A study in the history of counter‐terror

Abstract

This paper deals with the early beginnings and subsequent history of the secret, or political, police in nineteenth‐century Europe, whose task was to tame and terrify the masses, appeal to fear, and to root out revolutionary groups and secret societies, including even revolutionary attitudes. As pointed out here, the origins of such police forces, specializing in counter‐terror, go back to the French Revolution and the Ministry of Police headed by Fouche. Autocratic governments not being unusual, the history of counter‐terrorism displays many practitioners and techniques during the nineteenth century. A true heir of Fouche was Louis Andrieux, a Chief of Police of the Third Republic in France, who gave advice to Tsar Alexander III that has since been followed by many agents provocateurs and counter‐revolutionaries. The Russian Okhrana and the role played by Plehve in containing the revolutionary movement are discussed as are also the alliance between Degayev and Sudeykin, in addition to the Zubatov system and the Azef affair. Throughout, the struggle between revolution and counter‐revolution illustrates the fact that the physical blows that were the results of provocation were not always decisive; the exposure of provocation was often more harmful than anything that provocation itself could achieve. Moreover, the author concludes, the role played by the Russian secret police served to perpetuate terrorism and made all other state authorities a domain for the machinations and intrigues of the leaders of the secret police.