Political Science Quarterly

Volume 114 No. 2 (Summer 1999)

Abstracts

• Democratic Secrecy

  Dennis F. Thompson explores a neglected dilemma of governmental secrecy. Governments cannot be held accountable for policies and practices they keep secret, but some policies and practices cannot be fully public without undermining their efficacy. Among the instances he considers are Clinton’s Task Force on Health Care Reform, covert drug operations, gays in the military, physician-assisted suicide, and the misuse of the National Security Council.

• A New Imperial Presidency? Insights from U.S. Involvement in Bosnia

  William C. Banks and Jeffrey D. Straussman points out that contrary to the Framers’ plan, the president as commander in chief has acquired the equivalent of his own spending power for military interventions. The presidential overreaching is illustrated through an analysis of United States involvement in Bosnia.

• The Stinger Missile and U.S. Intervention in Afghanistan

  Alan J. Kuperman challenges the traditional assessment of the U.S. decision to supply Stinger antiaircraft missiles to the Afghan Mujahedin resistance during the Soviet occupation of the 1980s. He exposes the bureaucratic politics behind this decision, rejects as myth the popular notion that the Stingers forced Soviet withdrawal, and examines how the CIA’s faulty implementation contributed to long-term threats to U.S. national security.

• The United States and South Korean Democratization

  James Fowler draws on interviews with State Department officials and recently declassified documents to analyze the role of the United States in South Korea’s democratization, concluding that U.S. public pressure on the Korean government played a critical role in determining the timing of the transition.

• A Snapshot of Family Homelessness Across America

  Ralph Nunez and Cybelle Fox provide the most current snapshot of family homelessness in America. Looking at ten diverse cities this study examines the demographics and housing, education, and income histories of homeless families within the context of changing social policies.

• Warren Christopher’s In the Stream of History: A Review Essay

  Charles Hill reviews Warren Christopher’s book, In the Stream of History, on his years as secretary of State. Hill finds Christopher’s solid record of service to the country marred by his involvement with President Clinton’s avoidance of key foreign policy challenges and evasion of responsibility for failures in the former Yugoslavia, Somalia, and Rwanda.

 

Book Reviews

• Odom, William E., The Collapse of the Soviet Military
  Reviewed by Kimberly Marten Zisk
  [ Full text ]

• Rehnquist, William H., All the Laws But One: Civil Liberties in Wartime
  Reviewed by Henry J. Abraham

• Speel, Robert W., Changing Patterns of Voting in the Northern United States: Electoral Realignment, 1952-1996
  Reviewed by Everett Ladd
  [ Full text ]

• Jones, Charles O., Passages to the Presidency: From Campaigning to Governing
  Reviewed by Richard M. Pious

• Moynihan, Daniel Patrick, Secrecy: The American Experience
  Reviewed by Raymond L. Garthoff

• Olson, Robert, The Kurdish Question and Turkish-Iranian Relations From World War I to 1998
  Reviewed by Michael M. Gunter

• Kaplowitz, Donna Rich, Anatomy of a Failed Embargo: U.S. Sanctions Against Cuba
  Reviewed by Jorge I. Domínguez
  [ Full text ]

• Posner, Paul L., The Politics of Unfunded Mandates: Whither Federalism?
  Reviewed by John Kincaid
  [ Full text ]

• Marx, Anthony W., Making Race and Nation: A Comparison of the United States, South Africa, and Brazil
  Reviewed by Gretchen Bauer

• Levi, Margaret, Consent, Dissent, and Patriotism
  Reviewed by Deborah L. Norden

• Gurtov, Mel and Byong-Moo Hwang, China’s Security: The New Roles of the Military
  Reviewed by June Teufel Dreyer

• Hoffman, Bruce, Inside Terrorism
  Reviewed by Louise Richardson

• Duffield, John S., World Power Forsaken: Political Culture, International Institutions, and German Security Policy After Unification
  Reviewed by Peter A. Johnson

• Desch, Michael C., Jorge I. Domínguez, and Andres Serbin, eds.,From Pirates to Drug Lords: The Post-Cold War Caribbean Security Environment
  Reviewed by Peter Andreas

• Dinan, John J., Keeping the People’s Liberties: Legislators, Citizens, and Judges as Guardians of Rights
  Reviewed by Christopher H. Pyle

• Abramson, Paul R., John H. Aldrich, and David W. Rohde, Change and Continuity in the 1996 Elections
  Reviewed by R. Michael Alvarez

• Jones-Correa, Michael, Between Two Nations: The Political Predicament of Latinos in New York City
  Reviewed by Louis DeSipio

• Feldstein, Martin, ed., Privatizing Social Security
  Reviewed by Lawrence H. Thompson

• Clawson, Dan, Alan Neustadtl, and Mark Weller, Dollars and Votes: How Business Campaign Contributions Subvert Democracy
  Reviewed by Doug Schuler

• Weart, Spencer R., Never at War: Why Democracies Will Not Fight One Another
  Reviewed by John M. Owen IV

• Keck, Margaret E. and Kathryn Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics; and Jeffrey Knopf, , Domestic Society and International Cooperation: The Impact of Protest on US Arms Control Policy
  Reviewed by David Skidmore

• Ranville, Michael, To Strike at a King: The Turning Point in the McCarthy Witch-Hunts
  Reviewed by John J. Smee

• Selnow, Gary W., Electronic Whistle-Stops: The Impact of the Internet on American Politics
  Reviewed by Carl H.A. Dassbach

• Scott, James C., Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed
  Reviewed by R. Bin Wong

• Latham, Robert, The Liberal Moment: Modernity, Security, and the Making of Postwar International Order
  Reviewed by Stephen Gill

• Rozell, Mark J. and Clyde Wilcox, Interest Groups in American Campaigns: The New Face of Electioneering
  Reviewed by Lawrence S. Rothenberg

• Zelman, Walter A. and Robert A. Berenson, The Managed Care Blues and How to Cure Them
  Reviewed by Sherry Glied

• Tismaneanu, Vladimir, Fantasies of Salvation: Democracy, Nationalism, and Myth in Post-Communist Europe
  Reviewed by Peter Juviler

• Reno, William, Warlord Politics and African States
  Reviewed by I. William Zartman

• Throup, David and Charles Hornsby, Multi-Party Politics in Kenya
  Reviewed by Stephen Orvis

• Cohen, Avner, Israel and the Bomb
  Reviewed by Leon V. Sigal

• Dickson, Bruce J., Democratization in China and Taiwan: The Adaptability of Leninist Parties
  Reviewed by Steven J. Hood

• Crigler, Ann N., ed., The Psychology of Political Communication
  Reviewed by Scott L. Althaus

• Brand, Laurie A., Women, the State, and Political Liberalization: Middle Eastern and North African Experiences
  Reviewed by Elizabeth Thompson

• Schrijver, Nico, Sovereignty Over Natural Resources: Balancing Rights and Duties
  Reviewed by Christian Hunold

• Nester, William R., The War for America’s Natural Resources
  Reviewed by Matthew Holden, Jr. and Amy K. Stewart

• Smith, Michael P., and Luis E. Guarnizo, eds., Transformation from Below
  Reviewed by Eric Hershberg