Reviews

A. Hamish Ion and E.J. Errington (eds.), Great Powers and Little Wars: the Limits of Power. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1993. Pp.246, select biblio, index. $49.95. ISBN 0275–93965–0

John M. Rothgeb, Jr., Defining Power: Influence and Force in the Contemporary International System. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993. Pp.205. $39.95 (hbk); $18.70 (pbk). ISBN 0312–086–822 and 061–056

Brian L. Job (ed.), The Insecurity Dilemma: National Security in Third World States. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1992, Pp.257. $37. ISBN 1–55587–267–0

Edwin G. Corr and Stephen Sloan (eds.), Low‐Intensity Conflict: Old Threats in a New World. Westview Studies in Regional Security, Boulder, CO: Westview, 1992. Pp.310, maps, figures, index. $55 (hbk); $18.85 (pbk). ISBN 0–8133–8593–8 and 8594–6     

Determining confidence bounds for highly reliable coherent systems based on a paucity of component failures

A computationally simple method for obtaining confidence bounds for highly reliable coherent systems, based on component tests which experience few or no failures, is given. Binomial and Type I censored exponential failure data are considered. Here unknown component unreliabilities are ordered by weighting factors, which are firstly presumed known then sensitivity of the confidence bounds to these assumed weights is examined and shown to be low.     

The demand for military spending in developing countries: A dynamic panel analysis∗

Estimating demand functions for developing countries before and after the end of the Cold War, Dunne and Perlo-Freeman (2003) found little evidence of any change in the underlying relationship. One concern with their analysis was that the use of cross-section averages might have obscured important time series effects. This paper deals with this issue by analysing their data using static and dynamic panel data methods. This produces evidence of a change in relationship and suggests that the focus in the literature on cross-section analyses has indeed limited our understanding of important dynamic processes at work within countries.