CIAO DATE: 11/2011
Volume: 126, Issue: 3
Fall 2011
The Future of Islam and U.S.–Muslim Relations
John L. Esposito
JOHN L. ESPOSITO analyzes the future of Islam and Muslim–West relations. He argues that the mindset among policymakers and the narrative in U.S.–Muslim world relations is shifting away from a policy of “democratic exceptionalism” and support for authoritarian regimes. Now the United States is committed to democratic institution-building and civil society and is responsive to the aspirations and expectations of their peoples, political parties (Islamist and secular), and civil society organizations.
The Costs and Benefits of Immigration
Darrell M. West
DARRELL M. WEST seeks to reframe the public debate over immigration policy by arguing that the benefits of immigration are much broader than popularly imagined and the costs more confined. He contends that in spite of legitimate fear and anxiety over illegal immigration, immigrants bring a “brain gain” of innovation and creativity that outweighs real or imagined costs.
Discrepancies in Perceptions of Corruption, or Why Is Canada So Corrupt? (PDF)
Michael M. Atkinson
MICHAEL M. ATKINSON demonstrates that public opinion polling has established a clear gap between what Canadians expect and what they believe they are receiving in terms of ethical conduct from their leaders. The author claims that this major discrepancy has its roots in the ways in which elites and the public employ the concept of corruption.
Dysfunctional Doctrines? Eisenhower, Carter and U.S. Military Intervention in the Middle East
Jeffrey H. Michaels
JEFFREY H. MICHAELS examines several of the analytical and practical problems of U.S. presidential foreign policy doctrines by looking specifically at the Eisenhower and Carter doctrines. He concludes that presidential doctrines are usually overrated as new statements of principle, and that the elevation of a presidential statement into doctrine can have unintended consequences.
What Happened to Obama? An Opinion Piece
Drew Westen
DREW WESTEN analyses the leadership style of President Barack Obama. He argues that the President’s aversion to conflict and his failure to understand “bully” dynamics led him to miss a historic opportunity to change the dynamics of a political and economic system dominated by corruption and inequality not seen since the eve of the Great Depression. This is an article of opinion and the Editors welcome submissions from those with a different point of view.
Keith Shimko, The Iraq Wars and America's Military Revolution; David Kilcullen, Counterinsurgency
Colin Jackson
Barak Mendelsohn
It is always a surprising revelation for political scientists when historians show them that what they view as new is often only a link in a long chain of historical developments. Putting current events and thoughts in historical context is therefore very humbling and sobering, facilitating a much more nuanced political analysis and debate. If only the partisans and sensationalists would agree to listen. The conclusion from Richard Immermanʼs Empire for Liberty is that they should. Through the story of six important shapers of U.S. foreign policy (Benjamin Franklin, John Quincy Adams, William Henry Seward, Henry Cabot Lodge, John Foster Dulles, and Paul Wolfowitz), Immerman examines the development of American thinking about the connection between empire and liberty. He shows that throughout U.S. history, policymakers believed that America stood for liberty and against empire even while pursuing policies that in fact led to the creation of an American empire. Immerman eloquently tells a story of the internal contradictions between the ideals and the actual policies the U.S. undertook, and the diverse solutions the makers of foreign policy found in their struggle to formulate a response to the cognitive dissonance these tensions produced. Advocates of expanding American territory, influence, and control were often blinded by self-serving ideas about American exceptionalism and its unique role as a promoter of liberty. These ideas justified expansion while providing defense against accusations suggesting disharmonious interests and internal contradictions in the heart of U.S. core beliefs. Policymakers vigorously debated, but usually preferred to explain away, the divergence between truth and ideals. With remarkable success, some resolved the dissonance by arguing that the long-term benefits of U.S. actions sometimes required compromises. At other times they simply dismissed incongruities as anomalies
Steven Weber and Bruce W. Jentleson, The End of Arrogance: America in the Global Competition of Ideas
Michael H. Hunt
Kate Kenski, Bruce W. Hardy, and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, The Obama Victory: How Media, Money, and Message Shaped the 2008 Election
Paul R. Abramson
Shanna Rose
This book offers a highly accessible, engagingly written account of the political struggles behind the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The authors—two prominent experts on health care politics—provide a concise yet thorough overview of the roles played by the president, congressional leaders, voters, interest groups (ranging from the health care industry to grassroots organizations to Tea Partiers), and other key players in shaping this landmark piece of legislation. Noting that “it ainʼt over ʼtil itʼs over” (p. 147), the authors then look ahead to the many political and legal challenges still facing the Affordable Care Act, tying in the crucial roles of the courts, the federal bureaucracy, and state government officials. The book also offers an elucidating overview of the Actʼs distributive effects—trumpeting lower- and middle-class Americans as the big winners—as well as its (mostly positive) economic and budgetary implications. Some of the bookʼs most interesting insights relate to the many puzzling political ironies of health reform. How did President Barack Obama—who during the 2008 Democratic primary offered health reform proposals that “seemed cautious and short of a commitment to try for universal coverage”— come to champion one of the most sweeping transformations of social policy in U.S. history (p. 32)? How is it that the health reform legislation incorporated “hundreds of amendments proposed by House and Senate Republicans” and that “many concrete ideas about how to expand access or control costs came from Republican sources”—and yet not a single Republican member voted for the legislation (p. 85)? How did the death of Democratic Senator and health reform champion Edward Kennedy and the election of Republican Scott Brown to replace him ultimately “deliver” health care reform for the Democrats (p. 103)? The authors skillfully explain these and other surprising twists and turns along the path to health care reform as reflections of specific aspects of electoral politics, interest group pressures, congressional procedures such as reconciliation and the filibuster, and other unique features of the American political process
Kristina C. Miler, Constituency Representation in Congress: The View from Capitol Hill
David R. Mayhew
David C. Kang, East Asia Before the West: Five Centuries of Trade and Tribute (PDF)
Morris Rossabi
David C. Kang seeks to use history to understand the present, a laudable objective, and to predict the future, a risky venture. After a study of five centuries of commerce and diplomacy in East Asia, he concludes that “Although China may already be…the largest economic and military power in East Asia, it has virtually no cultural or political legitimacy as a leading state” (p. 169) and “there is almost no chance that China will become the unquestioned hegemon in East Asia” (p. 171). Such astonishing speculation is, at the very least, uncertain. Who could have predicted that China in its chaotic 1930s and 1940s or even in the more-stable 1980s would be in such a dominant position in 2010? Even the most astute experts on China cannot ascertain whether the so-called Middle Kingdom will not become the “unquestioned hegemon in East Asia.” Speculation about the future is tricky
Daniel L. Feldman and Gerald Benjamin, Tales from the Sausage Factory: Making Laws in New York State
Steven Cohen
Aziz Rana, The Two Faces of American Freedom
Stefan Heumann
Norrin M. Ripsman and T.V. Paul, Globalization and the National Security State
Patrick J. McDonald
Daniel Wirls, Irrational Security: The Politics of Defense from Reagan to Obama
Philip A. Schrodt
Philip G. Cerny, Rethinking World Politics: A Theory of Transnational Neopluralism
Jaekwon Suh
Laura Katz Olson, The Politics of Medicaid
Mary Ruggie
Jack P. Greene, The Constitutional Origins of the American Revolution
Gregory A. McBrayer
Elizabeth Rose, The Promise of Preschool: From Head Start to Universal Pre-Kindergarten
Doug Imig
Katherine Tate, What's Going On? Political Incorporation and the Transformation of Black Public Opinion
David C. Wilson
Charles S Bullock III, Redistricting: The Most Political Activity in America
Jason P. Kelly
Lee Ann Banaszak, The Women's Movement Inside and Outside the State
David S. Meyer
Gary L. McDowell, The Language of Law and the Foundations of American Constitutionalism
Dennis J. Goldford
Rose Ernst, The Price of Progressive Politics: The Welfare Rights Movement in an Era of Colorblind Racism
Catherine M. Paden
Joan Fitzgerald, Emerald Cities: Urban Sustainability and Economic Development
Richard Dilworth
Pierre Clavel, Activists in City Hall: The Progressive Response to the Reagan Era in Boston and Chicago
Larry Bennett
José Luis Martí and Philip Pettit, A Political Philosophy in Public Life: Civic Republicanism in Zapatero's Spain
Omar G. Encarnación
Hal Brands, Latin America's Cold War
Richard Feinberg
Ronald M. Peters, Jr. and Cindy Simon Rosenthal, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the New American Politics
Douglas B. Harris
Allan R. Brewer-Carias, Dismantling Democracy in Venezuela: The Chávez Authoritarian Experiment
David Mares
Irwin L. Morris, The American Presidency: An Analytical Approach
Sean Gailmard
Michael E. Latham, The Right Kind of Revolution: Modernization, Development, and U.S. Foreign Policy from the Cold War to the Present
Keith L. Shimko
Robert P. Saldin, War, the American State, and Politics since 1898
Sean Kay
Daniel Klinghard, The Nationalization of American Political Parties, 1880–1896
Cedric de Leon