The Frontiers of Legal Analysis: Reframing the Transition in Northern Ireland

British constitutional legal discourse is structurally limited in its capacity to capture the complexity of the Good Friday Agreement. Rather than assessing the Agreement in narrow devolutionary terms, it should be seen as a hybrid domestic and international law instrument, making an important contribution to accepted international law norms in relation to self-determination. The Agreement transforms and partly transcends the Northern Ireland conflict by substituting political contestation for violent conflict, and by defining the modalities of conducting that contestation. This analysis complements classical international law perspectives, and opens up the application of legal discourses associated with 'transitional justice' to the legal and political transformation in Northern Ireland. These discourses focus on the problem of reconciling the demands of peace with the imperatives of justice. The Agreement sits squarely in this terrain with its provisions on 'dealing with the past' and 'institutional legacies'. The insights gained here challenge orthodox thinking about conflict-management and the ongoing political process.     

Federal labor protetons and the privatization of public transit

Federal transportation officials assert that labor protections in the Urban Mass Transportation Act inhibit the propensity of local transit agencies to contract with private firms for services. The authors present results from a survey of a large sample of transit managers and econometric analysis to support their conclusion that labor protections do not appear to reduce the incidence of contracting. The labor protections, however, may be costly to transit management in other ways. The authors recommend actions, aside from repeal of labor protections, to increase contracting by local transit agencies.     

Politics, culture, and political crime: Covariates of abortion clinic attacks in the United States

This study examined crime and violence against abortion clinics, testing elements of several theories that may help explain the variation of such attacks. The study theoretically and methodologically improved upon the prior research on abortion-related crime and violence. Theoretically, it investigated previously unexamined hypotheses from the social movement literature that may be relevant to this type of behavior. Methodologically, it used more careful measures for several variables, employed unique and heretofore ignored data bases, and examined hundreds of criminal acts across several types of crime (e.g., violence, vandalism, and harassment) directed at abortion clinics. Employing robust logistic regression and correcting for clustering of clinics by state, the study investigated the cross-sectional effects of state-level cultural and structural characteristics on anti-abortion crimes against clinics and staff. Results indicated that some crimes against clinics are more likely in areas where female empowerment is weaker, female victimization is more tolerated, and the anti-abortion movement has failed to reduce abortions.     

Cheap Hawks, Cheap Doves, and the Pursuit of Strategy

The post-9/11 threats to American security require a complete revision of American national strategy. For too long, presidents have had to favor quick, cheap solutions to crises, unable to count on support from the “homebody” public for long, drawn-out conflicts. “Cheap hawks” among them have hoped that apocalyptic rhetoric will suffice when resources fall short; “cheap doves” hope that by ignoring the threat, it will go away. But with the war on terror, the revival of geopolitics, and ever-accelerating globalization, the U.S. tradition of bellicose rhetoric backed by underwhelming force is a recipe for failure. To effectively manage its threats, America needs a new catechism and to make sure its economic, energy, and military policies support this.     

Technology-transfer strategies of DOE's conservation programs

This paper examines the process by which R&D results funded by the Office of Conservation and Renewable Energy (CE) of the US Department of Energy (DOE) have generated commercial applications. It looks at examples of technology-transfer procedures and activitees across three of CE's component offices that correspond to the major energy end-use sectors: transportation, buildings, and industry. On the surface, the conservation programs would appear to have little strategic consistency and, therefore, lack the clear leadership many seek in a technology-transfer program. However, as an alternative to strategic consistency, one may tailor the technology-transfer approach of each program to its unique circumstances. This paper presents case studies of such tailoring, in which the diversity of approaches mirrors the complexity of the energy end-use markets and the private-public interests that must be negotiated to successfully commercialize energy-saving innovations. The paper discusses the lessons learned about the conditions requiring adaptive design and the structures and practices that have been proven effective.     

Reviews

Susan Gross Solomon (ed.), Beyond Sovietology: Essays in Politics and History. New York and London: M.E. Sharpe, 1993, 254 pp., £38.00.

Alice H. Amsden, Jacek Kochanowicz & Lance Taylor, The Market Meets Its Match. Restructuring the Economics of Eastern Europe. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994, 250 pp.

Robert E. Ebel, Energy Choices in Russia. Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1994, xii + 152 pp., $16.95.

Michael Waller, The End of the Communist Power Monopoly. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1993, viii + 287 pp., £35.00 h/b., £9.99 p/b.

Minxin Pei, From Reform to Revolution: The Demise of Communism in China and the Soviet Union. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994, 253 pp., £29.95.

William G. Rosenberg & Lewis H. Siegelbaum (eds), Social Dimensions of Soviet Industrialisation. Bloomington and Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press, 1993, xix + 296 pp., £12.99 p/b.

Taras Kuzio & Andrew Wilson, Ukraine: Perestroika to Independence. Basingstoke: Macmil‐lan Press, 1994, xiv + 260 pp., £40.00.

Russell F. Farnen (ed.), Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Identity. Cross National and Comparative Perspectives. New Brunswick, NJ, and London: Transaction, 1994, xiv + 538 pp., £49.95.

Edwin Thomas Bacon, The Gulag at War: Stalin's Forced Labour System in the Light of Archives. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1994, xii + 190 pp.

Robert S. Ross, China, the United States and the Soviet Union: Tripolarity and Policy Making in the Cold War. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1993, x + 204 pp., £42.00.     

A. reviews: general

WARFARE IN THE LATIN EAST, 1192–1291. By CHRISTOPHER MARSHALL. (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, fourth series, 17.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992. xiv, 290pp. 7 figures, 9 plates.

MINORITES RELIGIEUSES DANS L'ESPAGNE MEDIEVALE [ = Revue du Monde Musulman et de la Méditerranée, 63–4]. Aix‐en‐Provence, Edisud, 1992. 292 pp. 150FF.

THE TRANSMISSION OF KNOWLEDGE IN MEDIEVAL CAIRO. By JONATHAN BERKEY. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1992. x, 238pp. $39.50.

PRAGMATISM IN THE AGE OF JIHAD: THE PRECOLONIAL STATE OF BUNDU. By MICHAEL A. GOMEZ. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992. xiii, 252 pp. £35.00.

THE CHURCH OF THE EAST AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. A HISTORY OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY'S ASSYRIAN MISSION. By J.F. COAKLEY. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1992. £45.00.

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

MARRIAGE ON TRIAL: A STUDY OF ISLAMIC FAMILY LAW. By ZIBA MIRHOSSEINI. (Society and Culture in Modern Middle East Series.) London, I.B. Tauris, 1993. 200 pp. + notes and index.

WOMEN IN THE MIDDLE EAST: PERCEPTIONS, REALITIES AND STRUGGLES FOR LIBERATION. Edited by HALEH AFSHAR and MARY MAYNARD. Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1993. xiv, 250pp.

WRITING WOMEN'S WORLDS: BEDOUIN STORIES. By LILA ABU‐LUGHOD. Berkeley, Los Angeles and Oxford, University of California Press, 1993. xxiii, 266 pp., bibliography. $30.00 (hb), $12.00 (pb).

NASSER'S BLESSED MOVEMENT: EGYPT'S FREE OFFICERS AND THE JULY REVOLUTION. By JOEL GORDON. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1992. vii, 254 pp.

WAR AND PEACE IN ISRAELI POLITICS: LABOR PARTY POSITIONS ON NATIONAL SECURITY. By EFRAIM INBAR. Boulder and London, Lynne Rien‐ner, 1991. 184pp., appendices. £21.95.

TURKEY AND THE WEST: CHANGING POLITICAL AND CULTURAL IDENTITIES. Edited by METIN HEPER, AYSE ÖNCÜ and HEINZ KRAMER. London/New York, Tauris, 1993. xiv, 289 pp.

TURKEY'S NEW GEOPOLITICS: FROM THE BALKANS TO WESTERN CHINA. By GRAHAM E. FULLER and IAN O. LESSER, with PAUL B. HENZE and J.F. BROWN. Boulder and Oxford, Westview Press, 1993. xv, 197pp.

THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT IN TURKEY, 1960–1980. By IGOR P. LIPOVSKY. Leiden, Brill, 1992. ix, 190pp. $48.75.

ISLAM IN MODERN TURKEY: RELIGION, POLITICS AND LITERATURE IN A SECULAR STATE. Edited by RICHARD TAPPER. London/New York: Tauris, 1991. v, 314 pp.

SIBAWAYH THE PHONOLOGIST: A CRITICAL STUDY OF THE PHONETIC AND PHONOLOGICAL THEORY OF SIBAWAYH AS PRESENTED IN HIS TREATISE AL‐KITAB. By A.A. AL‐NASSIR. London and New York, Kegan Paul International, 1993. xx, 130 pp.

AL‐MADKHAL ILā TAQWīM AL‐LISāN WA‐TA'LīM AL‐BAYāN. By IBN HISHāM AL‐LAKHMī. Edited by JOSÉ PÉREZ LÁZARO. (Fuentes Arábico‐Hispanas, no. 6.) Madrid, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas & Insti‐tuto de Cooperatión con el Mundo Árabe, 1990. 2 vols. 219; 599pp.     

Terminating federal research and development programs

The barriers to terminating federal research and development vary with the type of program (manpower resource creation, basic or applied research, hardware development) and the functional sector in which it is lodged (defense or civilian). Each has a public/private constituency of sponsors and performers. Some constituencies are much more potent than others. Hence, to kill an R&D program, one must weaken the constituency behind it. Useful strategies for would-be terminators include decremental funding and the amalgamation of competing R&D programs within the same agency.