Recent Council Publications Friends in Need: Burden Sharing in th Gulf War, edited by Andrew Bennett, Jo eph Lepgold, and Danny Unger. Spon red by the MacArthur Foundation and the Committee on International Peace and Security. New York: St. Martin' Pre ,1997.362 page. Who contribute to alliance and why? I a tate' aggregate relative capabilitie the major factor in determining participation? How do perceived threat, dependence on other alliance member dome tic politic , and learned experience from analogou ituation matter? For the mo t part, que tion like the e have been an we red by u ing NATO a the example. A the mo t well-known and long- tanding alliance in contemporary hi tory, NATO ha alway been regarded a the tandard. While thi i under tandable, given NATO' role during the cold war period, thi reliance on NATO a a model ha re ulted in a gap in our under tanding of burdenharing more generally. Alliance will be 100 er and more ad hoc in the po t-cold war international y tern than they were between 1947 and 1991. The editor recognize thi ituation and the key policy i ue it rai e with regard to multilateral conflict management. In thi book, the contributor tudy alliance in a more general en e, u ing the coalition that wa e tabli hed to deal with the Gulf War a their example. Looking individually at 311 the coun-
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trie that took part in the coalition, they provide a detailed tudy of alliance and the way they work now. Andrew Bennett, J ph Lepgold, and Danny Unger are profe or in the Department of Government, Georgetown Univer ity.
Islamic Legal Interpretation: Muftis and Their Fatwas, edited by Muhammad Khalid Ma ud, Brinkley Me iek, and David S. Power . Spon ored by the Joint Committee on the Comparative Study of Mu lim Societie (198593). Cambridge, Ma achu ett : Harvard U niver ity Pre ,1996. x + 431 page. Legal interpretation hed light not only on the law and it method but al 0 on ociety and the human relation urrounding the ca e con trued. Weighing doctrine and fact, interpreter ~ rmulate opinion that leave mark on the di cour e of their juri t colleague , on their communitie , and on the world at large. To examine a culturally pecific form of legal interpretation i to rai e i ue of an interdi ciplinary and comparative nature concerning law, ociety, and hi tory. Mo t of the paper in thi volume are drawn from pre entation at an international conference on the in titution of fatwagiving a it ha manife ted it elf throughout hi tory in different Mu lim ocietie . Contributor were a ked to tran late a hort fatwa and to write a chapter ba ed on the tran lation, u ing
the per pective of their re pective di cipline , which include law, I lamic tudie , hi tory, and anthropology. The re ult i a hi torical, ca ebased overview of I lamic legal interpretation. Muhammad Khalid Ma ud i profe r of I lamic tudie at the I lamie Re earch In titute, International I lamic Univer ity in I lamabad; Brinkley Me ick i a ociate profe or of anthropology at the Univer ity of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and David S. Power i profe or of I lamic hi tory at Cornell Univer ity.
Modern outheast ian Literature in Translation: A Resource for Teaching, edited by Grant A. 01 on. Spon ored by the Joint Committee on Southea t A ia (1976-96). Tempe, Arizona: Arizona State University, Program for Southea t A ian Studie , 1997. 103 page. The impetu behind thi publication wa the dearth of humani tie, particularly literary, cholarhip on Southeast A ia when "Southea t A ian tudie" emerged after World War II. In a field uch as literature, the diversity of the region pose particular ob tacle for a • Sou thea t A ian" or comparative view. Acro 10 countries-Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indone ia, La ,Malay ia, the Philippine , Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam-the multiplicity of language and cultural form i at once enticing and daunting. In order to fo ter work in thi VOL ME
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