■ Dauvergne, Peter, ed., 2005. Handbook of Global Environmental Politics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 538 pp. ISBN 1843764660
| DOI | 10.1177/00223433070440020702 |
| Date | 01 March 2007 |
| Author | Nils Petter Gleditsch |
| Published date | 01 March 2007 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
247
䊏Bonner, Michael; Megan Reif & Mark Tessler,
eds, 2005. Islam, Democracy and the State in Algeria:
Lessons for the Western Mediterranean and Beyond.
London: Routledge. 232 pp. ISBN 0415348293.
This edited volume is based on a special issue of
Journal of North African Studies. It portrays 15
different perspectives through four sections. The
first deals with violence and its relation to popu-
lation transitions, such as youth unemployment,
political liberalization, oil-rent effects and the ques-
tion of political transition. The second goes into
the question of economy, looking at gender issues,
economic reforms and their impact. The third
section turns to the role of international networks
and external influence, such as the question of a
diaspora in France after the violent 1990s and the
role of external state actors such as the United
States after the 9/11 attacks or the EU after the
Barcelona process. The concluding section focuses
on Algeria in a comparative perspective that looks
at Algeria’s scores on the World Values Survey that
was carried out in 2002 in Algeria. This sector also
discusses the lessons from Algeria’s experiences with
Islamist politics and democracy, before Zartman
ends the volume by asking whether Algeria at age
40 has reached its midlife crisis. The contributing
authors present their cases well, although some
chapters are fairly brief. This results in rather short
analyses. However, as a multidimensional piece on
differing yet connected aspects of Algerian political
life and issues, it works. Colonna’s chapter on the
question of the Algerian diaspora in France poses
interesting questions, and her concluding remarks
on the Algerian ‘brain drain’ effect on Algeria’s
development of civil society and political trans-
formations merits thought. Also, interesting ques-
tions and issues can be found in several chapters on
the effects of the botched democratic experience of
1989–92.
Naima Mouhleb
䊏Dauvergne, Peter, ed., 2005. Handbook of
Global Environmental Politics.Cheltenham: Edward
Elgar. 538 pp. ISBN 1843764660.
In 30 chapters divided into four parts (Introduc-
tion; States, Governance and Security; Capitalism,
Trade and Corporations; Civil Societies, Knowl-
edge and Ethics), this book reviews the key
debates in global environmental governance and
politics. Several chapters focus on environmental
cooperation. Marvin Soroos sees the Tragedy of
the Commons as a suitable metaphor for global
environmental change, but his views are chal-
lenged, directly and indirectly, by authors who are
more optimistic about the human ability to develop
ways of managing common-pool resources. In
other areas, too, such as the potential for environ-
mentally induced conflict, or the role of the
market economy and globalization in promoting
environmental degradation or improvement,
there is fruitful disagreement between different
authors. Some of the chapters are perhaps a bit
discursive, making all the more refreshing the
somewhat more technical and nuanced chapter
on the environmental Kuznets curve by Matthew
A. Cole and Eric Neumayer. Most of the authors
come from political science or environmental
studies (or both). It would have been useful to
have a few chapters written by economists. There
is a critique by two political scientists of what the
editor calls ‘neoliberal environmental wordviews’,
but no independent presentation of such views.
The book is generally well written. A consolidated
bibliography would have added to the book’s
value as a reference source.
Nils Petter Gleditsch
䊏Diehl, Paul F., ed., 2005. War (Sage Library of
International Relations). London: Sage. xxxviii +
2536 pp. ISBN 1412903734.
From its humble origins, conflict research has
expanded to address a broad and intertwined set
of questions. Because most of the best work has
been presented through articles published in
scholarly journals, clear overviews of this rich
literature have largely been lacking. In this six-
volume collection, editor Paul F. Diehl system-
atizes the whole literature, presenting 87 of the last
decades’ most central articles. Most of the articles
are concerned with interstate war. This choice is
justified by the impact of the two world wars and
the theoretical focus on realism which gave
primacy to states. Furthermore, the bulk of the
© 2007 Journal of Peace Research,
vol. 44, no. 2, 2007, pp. 247–254
Sage Publications (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi
and Singapore) http://jpr.sagepub.com
DOI 10.1177/0022343307075126
BOOK
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