This article examines the conditions under which policy discourses can serve as contributing factors to policy change, even in the absence of changes in institutions and interests. It begins with a discussion of the role of ideas in policy analysis and how they can play a "constitutive role" as frames for policy. Drawing on a distinction between "augmentative" discourses that serve to reinforce an existing policy framework and "transformative discourses" that seek to persuade various publics of the need for significant policy change, four types of policy discourse are defined and a methodology is suggested for identifying these types. Two of these types, "challenging" and "truth-seeking," are hypothesized to be more conducive to the occurrence of significant policy change. Drawing then on case studies of policy change in Canada and Germany respectively, the article shows that a "challenging" discourse emerges in both countries, but leads to significant policy change only in Germany. Based on the comparison of the two cases, it is argued that three factors are relevant to whether a challenging discourse is successful or not: a broad consensus among core policy actors on the nature and gravity of the policy problem; the consistency of the discourse with broadly held normative values; and the persuasiveness of the "social facts" brought to bear in favour of proposed new solutions.

This article shows that the timing and nature of policies hostile to foreign direct investment stem both from the transaction costs of negotiating with different host country agencies, and from changes to domestic and international coalitions. Divided agency jurisdiction is modeled as a partial property right to the use of a resource. Host industries lacking political cohesion allow foreign firms economic opportunities and a stronger political voice. Qualitative and quantitative evidence from five fisheries in the United States and Canada confirm that the costs of negotiating with a fractured government and the opportunity to form transnational coalitions lead host countries to adopt policies that will facilitate forced divestment. These policies vary in respect to their timing and format.

This study uses a game-theoretic analysis to suggest that governments can minimize the political risks associated with significant liberalization of trade by employing a multistep process in the reduction of state-supplied rents. The model argues that when governments precede significant reductions in state-supplied rents with a smaller reduction, or with a reduction that can be portrayed credibly as externally imposed, they may be in a position to evaluate, and hence mitigate, costs associated with significant trade liberalization. Substantive implications are explored in the context of United States trade policy and the still-curious ability of the Franklin Roosevelt administration to engage in strategic rent reductions without suffering meaningful political backlash.

Theorists of contentious politics have been divided over the influence on agency behaviour of ideational or cultural factors on the one hand, and rational strategic calculations of opportunities on the other. Based on an Israeli nonparliamentary opposition movement to the peace process, this study presents an integrative approach in which ideational variables are elevated to the level of independent motivating forces in which the objectives of the movement are embedded. Argumentation at the strategic level provides the movement with opportunities for increasing its support basis beyond the natural constituency with which it shares ideology and, ultimately, for mobilizing protest. The case illustrates how a political context that limits activity actually mobilizes contention, while a context of more open opportunity can demobilize protest activity.

This article questions the relevance of the use of participatory democracy, in order to build a new theoretical frame for the understanding of the government of French cities. The nature of local actors, the way they are organized and deal with common issues, will be assumed to challenge the spreading of participatory democracy. The analysis will consider the problem of the adoption of the word “governance” from corporate and development patterns to urban ones, the structural shackles due to French municipal organization, and some special weaknesses in the way associations try to get involved in urban government.

There is little agreement about the degree to which parliamentary institutions can help overcome the democratic deficit in global governance. While much of the literature on the European Union's democratic deficit focuses on reforming parliament, most commentary on the subject in global governance and foreign policy holds out little hope that national parliaments could be used to mitigate the effects of the internationalization of public policy. This article examines the case of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT), established by the Australian government in 1996 in an explicit attempt to use parliamentary reform to address the democratic deficit. Although JSCOT was highly active, it did not significantly change the way in which Australian national positions in international negotiations were arrived at; the democratic deficit created in Australia by increasing internationalization has not been mitigated by the creation of this committee. While the JSCOT initiatives might have been motivated by the concerns of the government of John Howard to overcome the democratic deficit, the way in which JSCOT actually evolved departed considerably from those original intentions. Ironically, JSCOT evolved in ways not dissimilar to the evolution of NGO consultation in Canada in the 1990s: as a tool of political management, a means by which the government could channel protest, deflect opposition, and in essence legitimize its own policy preferences.

Despite contentious debates within the field of environmental security, findings of the principal research projects undertaken in the 1990s suggest significant agreement about the process linking environmental change to conflict. This article offers a reconsideration of the theoretical arguments unifying much of the research in environmental security, and argues that cases must extend their time frames considerably. The authors suggest that this would improve understanding of the social effects of environmental change, but is likely to revise mainstream arguments connecting environment and security in dramatic ways. By focusing on the often neglected role played by adaptive mechanisms, longer-range case studies tend not to support the claim that environmental stress is an urgent security issue, viewing it instead as an issue with long-term theoretical and policy relevance to those concerned not only with security, but also with sustainable development and environmental justice.

While it remains a diffuse field of enquiry, political psychology has established itself as an important approach to the analysis of political life. In the United States, political psychology is offered as an optional programme in a number of leading graduate schools and is a recognized subfield of the American Political Science Association. Despite the existence of a number of active political psychologists in Canada, there has been relatively little curiosity about the status of the field. This article offers an account of research in the field. Central to this exploration is an evaluation of the ideological, cultural and substantive research in political psychology in Canada.

CLARKSON, STEPHEN. Uncle Sam and US: Globalization, Neoconservatism, and the Canadian State. By W. Andy Knight 899

WALLOT, JEAN-PIERRE, sous la direction de. La Commission Pepin-Robarts quelque vingt ans aprés. Le débat qui n'a pas eu lieu. Par Simon Langois 900

MARTIN, MICHEL, dir. Andrée Ferretti : La passion de l'engagement. Discours et textes (1964-2001). Par Denyse Côté 902

ABU-LABAN, YASMEEN and CHRISTINA GABRIEL. Selling Diversity: Immigration, Multiculturalism, Employment Equity, and Globalization. By Leslie A. Pal 905

HALE, GEOFFREY, The Politics of Taxation in Canada. By Michael J. Prince 906

NOLIN, PIERRE CLAUDE, Président. Le cannabis. Rapport du Comité spécial du Sénat sur les drogues illicites. Par Line Beauchesne 907

TARDY, ÉVELYNE. Les femmes et les conseils municipaux du Québec. Par Jocelyne Praud 909

PERL, ANTHONY. New Departures: Rethinking Rail Passenger Policy in the Twenty- First Century. By Dan Madar 912

FREITAG, MICHEL, avec la collaboration d'Yves Bonny. L'oubli de la société : Pour une théorie critique de la postmodernité. Par Ulric Deschênes 913

BERNSTEIN, STEVEN. The Compromise of Liberal Environmentalism. By Matthew Paterson 915

LEISS, WILLIAM. In the Chamber of Risks: Understanding Risk Controversies. By James Tansey 916

THÉRET, BRUNO. Protection sociale et fédéralisme. L'Europe dans le miroir de l'Amérique du Nord. Par Daniel Béland 917

DELWIT, PASCAL, dir. Libéralismes et partis libéraux en Europe. Par Vincent Lemieux 920

DRIVER, STEPHEN AND LUKE MARTELL. Blair's Britain. By Alexandra Dobrowolsky 921

PALIER, BRUNO. Gouverner la Sécurité sociale. Par Jacinthe Michaud 922

HOOK, GLENN D., JULIE GILSON, CHRISTOPHERW. HUGHES AND HUGO DOBSON. Japan's International Relations: Politics, Economics and Security. By Tsuyoshi Kawasaki 927

CHAPPELL, LOUISE A. Gendering Government: Feminist Engagement with the State in Australia and Canada. By Jill Vickers 929

BALDEZ, LISA. Why Women Protest: Women's Movements in Chile. By Susan Franceschet 930

HAYES, MICHAEL T. The Limits of Policy Change: Incrementalism, Worldview, and the Rule of Law. By Andrea Migone 931

GAGNON, BERNARD. La philosophie morale et politique de Charles Taylor. Par Benoît Dubreuil 933

MOSCHONAS, GERASSIMOS, Trans. GREGORY ELLIOT. In the Name of Social Democracy: The Great Transformation: 1945 to the Present; and PIERSON, CHRISTOPHER. Hard Choices: Social Democracy in the 21st Century. By David Laycock 935

STANKIEWICZ, W. J. The Essential Stankiewicz: On the Importance of Political Theory. By Herminio Meireles Teixeira 937

BLATTBERG, CHARLES. From Pluralist to Patriotic Politics: Putting Practice First. By Simone Chambers 940

JANARA, LAURA, Democracy Growing Up: Authority, Autonomy, and Passion in Tocqueville's Democracy in America. By Catherine A. Holland 941