Political Science Quarterly

 

Number 23, Fall 1997

• "Disobedient" Generals and the Politics of Redemocratization: The Clinton Administration and Haiti

  Morris Morley and Chris McGillio review American policy toward Haiti from the September 1991 military coup that toppled democratically-elected President Jean Bertrand Aristide to the September 1994 U.S. intervention that ousted the ruling generals. They argue that Bush and Clinton policy makers' commitment to redemocratization in Haiti was subordinated to efforts to promote a regime change that would ensure the continuity of key state institutions supportive of long-term American interests in that country.

• Television News and American Intervention in Somalia: The Myth of a Media-Driven Foreign Policy

  Jonathan Mermin challenges the idea that individual journalistic initiative put Somalia in the news in 1992 and was the driving force behind American action. He shows that Somalia had emerged as an issue in Washington before it appeared on the evening news and concludes that American politicians, not television journalists, put Somalia on the foreign policy agenda.

• Teenage Childbearing and Personal Responsibility: An Alternative View

  Arline T. Geronimus examines widely-shared assumptions about teen childbearing that informed the welfare reform debate. She argues that the scientific basis for these assumptions is equivocal and questions the belief that teen childbearing always represents irrationality and the abdication of personal responsibility.

• Unfolding Promises: Trust Funds and the Politics of Precommitment

  Eric M. Patashnik explores the limits and possibilities of precommitment in democratic politics by examining federal trust funds, a device for earmarking future tax revenues for government activities such as Social Security, Medicare, and highway building. He argues that precommitment is an historical process that shapes the environment in which policy making takes place.

• Continuity or Change: Civil-Military Relations in Democratic Argentina, Chile, and Peru

  Wendy Hunter analyzes military influence in postauthoritarian Argentina, Chile, and Peru. She contends that electoral politics unleashes a competitive dynamic that induces politicians to attend to civilian interests and rein in the military.

• Toeing the Hardline? The Reagan Administration and the Ending of the Cold War

  Beth A. Fischer describes the Reagan administration's policy toward the Soviet Union between 1981 and 1985. She argues that, contrary to conventional wisdom, Reagan began seeking a rapprochement with Moscow before Mikhail Gorbachev came to power.

   

  Book Reviews

• Kinder, Donald R. and Lynn M. Sanders Divided by Color: Racial Politics and Democratic Ideals
  Reviewed by Jennifer Hochschild

• Carter, Dan T. From George Wallace to Newt Gingrich: Race in the Conservative Counterrevolution, 1963-1994
  Reviewed by Richard M. Vallely

• Drake, W. Avon and Robert D. Holsworth Affirmative Action and the Stalled Quest for Black Progress
  Reviewed by Wilbur C. Rich

• Desipio, Louis Counting the Latino Vote: Latinos as a New Electorate
  Reviewed by Juan Carlos Huerta

• Mayer, William G. The Divided Democrats: Ideological Unity, Party Reform, and Presidential Elections
  Reviewed by Francis E. Rourke

• Wilcox, Clyde Onward Christian Soldiers: The Religious Right in American Politics
  Reviewed by Allen D. Hertzke

• Jacobsohn, Gary Jeffrey and Susan dunn, eds. Diversity and Citizenship: Rediscovering American Nationhood
  Reviewed by Philip Gleason

• Lee, MarthaThe Nation of Islam: An American Millenarian Movement
  Reviewed by Adam B. Seligman

• Lipset, Seymour Martin American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword
  Reviewed by James A. Morone

• Linz, Juan J. and Alfred Stepan Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe
  Reviewed by Scott Mainwaring

• Yahuda, Michael The International Politics of the Asia-Pacific, 1945-1995
  Reviewed by Akira Iriye

• Tabb, William K. The Postwar Japanese System: Cultural Economy and Economic Transformation
  Reviewed by David Arase

• Uriu, Robert M.Troubled Industries: Confronting Economic Change in Japan
  Reviewed by Ulrike Schaede

• Potter, David M. Japan's Foreign Aid to Thailand and the Philippines
  Reviewed by Miranda A. Schreurs

• Phongpaichit, Pasuk and Chris Baker Thailand: Economy and Politics
  Reviewed by Jim Logerfo

• Leng, Tse-Kang The Taiwan-China Connection: Democracy and Development Across the Taiwan Straits
  Reviewed by Thomas B. Gold

• Esposito, John L. and John O. Voll Islam and Democracy and Dale F. Eickelman and James PiscatoriMuslim Politics
  Reviewed by Stephen Pelletiere

• Yansane, Aguibou Y., ed. Development Strategies in Africa: Current Economic, Socio-Political, and Institutional Trends and Issues
  Reviewed by Goran Hyden

• Barnett, Michael N. Israel in Comparative Perspective
  Reviewed by Jerome Slater

• Winik, Jay On the Brink: Dramatic Behind-the-Scenes Saga of the Reagan Era and the Men and Women Who won the Cold War
  Reviewed by Robert A. Divine

• Warshaw, Shirley Anne The Domestic Presidency: Policy Making in the White House
  Reviewed by Matthew J. Dickinson

• Laham, Nicholas A Lost Cause: Bill Clinton's Campaign for National Health Insurance
  Reviewed byAnne Lenhard Reisinger

• Korn, JessicaThe Power of Separation: American Constitutionalism and the Myth of the Legislative Veto
  Reviewed by Louis Fisher

• Rozell, Mark In Contempt of Congress: Postwar Press Coverage on Capitol Hill
  Reviewed by John J. Smee

• Smith, Jean Edward John Marshall: Definer of a Nation
  Reviewed by Herbert Sloan

• Eldersveld, Samuel J. Party Conflict and Community Development: Postwar Development in Ann Arbor
  Reviewed by Cynthia Y. Jackson

• Sbragia, Alberta M. Debt Wish: Entrepreneurial Cities, U.W. Federalism, and Economic Development
  Reviewed by Todd Swanstrom

• Vogel, David Kindred Strangers: The Uneasy Relationship between Politics and Business in America
  Reviewed by William B. Friedricks

• Bean, Jonathan J. Beyond the Broker State: Federal Policies Toward Small Business, 1936-1961
  Reviewed by David Vogel

• Samuels, Suzanne Uttara Fetal Rights, Women's Rights: Gender Equality in the Workplace
  Reviewed by Joyce Gelb

• Braden, Maria Women Politicians and the Media
  Reviewed by Doris A. Graber

• Newman, Michael Democracy, Sovereignty, and the European Union
  Reviewed by Michael J. Baun

• James, Harold International Monetary Cooperation since Bretton Wooks; and Alberto Giovannini The Debate on Money in Europe
  Reviewed by Kathleen R. McNamara

• Harris, NigelThe New Untouchables: Immigration and the New World Worker
  Reviewed by Peter Rachleff