Reviews of books

Historical Archaeology -     

Book reviews

The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume I, The Land of Iran. Edited by W. B. Fisher. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968. xix + 784 pp., maps, bibliogr., index. $12.50.

The Cambridge History of Iran. Volume V, The Saljug and Mongol Periods. Edited by J. A. Boyle, Cambirdge: Cambridge University Press, 1968. xiii + 763 pp., maps, tables, bibliog., index. $12.50.

Planning and Development in Iran. By George B. Baldwin. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1967. xv + 212. $6.95.     

Mixed messages & bounded rationality: The perverse consequences of real ID for immigration policy

Policies concerning undocumented immigrants are inevitably ambivalent, creating uncertainty and confusion in the implementation process. We identify a clear example of this ambivalence —U.S. law setting standards for determining the credibility of asylum seekers—that resulted in an increase in asylum grants despite policymakers' intention to make it harder for individuals to obtain the status. We argue that this law, The REAL ID Act of 2005, sent mixed messages to immigration judges (IJs), street-level bureaucrats who implement immigration policy. It increased IJ discretion, but set vague limits. We theorize that IJs, behaving in a bounded rationality framework, use their professional legal training as a short-cut and look primarily to the courts for guidance. Our evidence supports our argument. After the passage of the REAL ID Act, IJ decision-making is more closely aligned with the preferences of their political and legal principals, and, in the final score, the federal circuit courts are the winners.     

Orientalism Reconsidered: Peter Duignan,Lewis Gann,Edward Said,and the Rebirth of Imperialism

Book reviewed in this article: culture and Imperialism: Edward W. Said The Rebirth of the West: Culture, Politics and Society 7 945–1958: Peter Duignan and L. H. Gann