Globalization and the Politics of Pay: Policy Choices in the American States. By Susan B. Hansen. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2006. 248p. $24.95.

During the past 50 years, U.S. trade negotiators have consistently tried to pry open global manufactured goods and services markets and to transform publicly regulated service sectors into contestable markets. Most analyses have focused on this strategy's effects on wages and work conditions in the target countries. Susan Hansen provides a detailed empirical consideration of what that strategy means back home at the level of U.S. states. The book's primary contribution is to link two research domains—state and local politics (SAL) and international political economy (IPE)—that are usually strictly segregated not only inside American political science departments but also across universities. Unfortunately, however, the author, a SAL specialist, neglects about a decade of helpful findings from the IPE literature.

The Politics of Precedent on the U.S. Supreme Court. By Thomas G. Hansford and James F. Spriggs, II. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006. 176p. $29.95.

Judging on a Collegial Court: Influences on Federal Appellate Decision Making. By Virginia A. Hettinger, Stefanie A. Lindquist, and Wendy L. Martinek. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006. 192p. $39.50.

It is all too rare when books are more than the sum of their individual articles. Fortunately for scholars of judicial politics, both The Politics of Precedent on the U.S. Supreme Court and Judging on a Collegial Court are exactly that. Despite the fact that earlier incarnations of several chapters previously appeared in print, both books significantly improve upon the earlier analyses and make independent and important contributions to the literature on courts. In fact, some of the results presented in Precedent contradict previous research published by the authors (see, for example, p. 123).

Politics, Policy, and Organizations: Frontiers in the Scientific Study of Bureaucracy. Edited by George A. Krause and Kenneth J. Meier. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2004. 352p. $65.00 cloth, $24.95 paper.

In this important book, coeditors George A. Krause and Kenneth J. Meier, along with their chapter authors, make a strong case for a theoretically informed and empirically advanced social science study of government bureaucracies. Although other social science disciplines have been rigorously studying public and private organizations for some time, the study of government bureaucracies has had a somewhat marginal position in political science. The current cadre of political scientists “scientifically” studying the bureaucracy, including many of the contributors to this volume, attests to the growing prominence of this subject in the discipline.

If the Workers Took a Notion: The Right to Strike and American Political Development. By Josiah Bartlett Lambert. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005. 259p. $49.94 cloth, $19.95 paper.

Josiah Lambert's book succeeds at several levels, asking us to take seriously the rights and obligations once thought intrinsic to work and citizenship, especially in the context of the ever-malleable right to strike. One finds here a comprehensive history of organized labor in the United States dependent upon, and effectively situated in, an analysis of the crucial and fundamental right to strike—a right that has over time substantially changed in meaning and usefulness as a weapon in the struggle between capital and labor. This book is perfect for upper-level students in labor or political history, but is far more satisfying than such a recommendation suggests. While those new to this history will find themselves fascinated by accounts of strikes and the often violent reactions they engendered, more seasoned scholars will also be asked to think through their understanding of civil society and labor activism in a new and refreshing way. Well organized and tightly expressed, this volume should receive a wide and appreciative audience.

Not Working: Latina Immigrants, Low-Wage Jobs, and the Failure of Welfare Reform. By Alejandra Marchevsky and Jeanne Theoharis. New York: New York University Press, 2006. 336p. $75.00 cloth, $22.00 paper.

This is an ethnographic study of how welfare reform affected Mexican immigrants in Long Beach, California, in the late 1990s. Poverty research is dominated by impersonal statistical studies. Ethnography is valuable for giving more hands-on sense on how the poor react to social policy. The authors know the welfare field well, and they write well. They are, however, much more hostile to welfare reform than are most experts. The major issue their book raises is whether we can take their position seriously. (Full disclosure: I am myself a proponent of reform whom the authors criticize.)

Popular Efficacy in the Democratic Era: A Reexamination of Electoral Accountability in the United States, 1828–2000. By Peter F. Nardulli. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005. 284p. $39.50.

Peter Nardulli's book blends syntheses of previous research and new empirical analysis to address the question of the capacity of American voters to hold political leaders accountable through elections—to achieve, that is, “popular efficacy.” The book begins by interpreting previous scholarly research as depicting voters as “manageable fools” because of their limited cognitive abilities for political evaluation (Chapter 2) and their habitual reliance on party identifications to dictate their vote choices (Chapter 4). Given this, why do politicians pay attention to public concerns? The original empirical analysis of the book answers this question. It shows how variations in and deviations from the normal vote are related to exogenous forces beyond the control of politicians, rather than habitual party loyalties or political strategies. The realization that their fortunes are tied to forces beyond their control, in turn, induces strategic politicians to be responsive to the public's core concerns.

First Person Political: Legislative Life and the Meaning of Public Service. By Grant Reeher. New York: New York University Press, 2006. 216p. $65.00 cloth, $21.00 paper.

At a time when public disillusionment with elected leaders and political institutions is increasing rapidly, it is refreshing to read a book that highlights the selfless nature of public service.

The Politics of Democratic Inclusion. Edited by Christina Wolbrecht and Rodney E. Hero. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005. 352p. $69.50 cloth, $24.95 paper.

Are edited volumes an endangered species? Publishers report poor sales of most titles, junior faculty are advised not to publish in them lest tenure committees frown, and a scant few feature pathbreaking research. Yet occasionally, an essay collection reminds us of the considerable benefits of this scholarly genre. The best edited volumes are oriented around a compelling theme, address that core from diverse perspectives, and feature a collection of expert authors working at a high scholarly pitch. The Politics of Democratic Inclusion is one such book.

American Mythos: Why Our Best Efforts to Be a Better Nation Fall Short. By Robert Wuthnow. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006. 298p. $29.95.

Robert Wuthnow's insightful book examines the stories that we Americans like to believe about ourselves, not so much for the purpose of discovering whether those stories are true—though he presents plenty of evidence to show both truth and falsity in them—as for the sake of showing what the United States needs to become a better nation. The falsity in those “narratives” makes our perceptions of ourselves biased (p. 1), he argues; but because they function at the level of “deep meaning” behind our collective thinking (p. 25), we rarely question their validity. Such questioning should be the work of “reflective democracy” (p. 3), a combination of opinions from experts and the masses. Since the United States is a country of immigrants, Wuthnow relies on interviews with “new immigrant elites because they provide a particularly interesting informational context in which to examine ideas about cultural renewal” (p. 9). It stands to reason that elites will be more interesting than the masses, but is Wuthnow's sample a good way to gauge the prospects for democracy? “Cultural renewal” involves families, schools, and civic associations, but it is not always clear what he means by culture. At times he gives the word an entirely intellectual meaning (e.g., “basic values and … taken-for-granted understandings of what it means to be good people and to live responsibly in a good society” [p. 14]).

Ethnic Politics after Communism. Edited by Zoltan Barany and Robert G. Moser. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005. 296p. $19.95.

In the wake of communism's collapse, dire predictions of intractable ethno-religious conflict throughout the post-Soviet and East Central European territories were the order of the day. Although ethnic violence overshadowed opportunities for political transformation in the Caucuses and Balkans during the 1990s, many of the potential fault lines of ethnic conflict have weathered the tumultuous period of transition either without incident or via institutionally regulated means. While it is fortunate in human terms that the latent ethnic tensions in most instances fell short of their genocidal potential, the failure of political science and sociology to predict accurately the scope of ethnic conflict resulting from the implosion of communist regimes highlights the limitations of social science, especially when the events it purports to explain are rapidly unfolding. With a firm grasp of these limitations and 15 years of hindsight, Zoltan Barany and Robert Moser, in their edited volume, reassess the impact that regime change and state collapse have had on identity and ethnicity and, in turn, how ethnicity and nationalism have shaped the transitions from real socialism.

Citizens Abroad: Emigration and the State in the Middle East and North Africa. By Laurie A. Brand. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 264p. $85.00.

This book charts new territory by taking emigration, and the policies of sending states toward their citizens abroad, seriously. Laurie Brand's comparative examination of state emigration institutions and policy across Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Jordan places her in an excellent position both to critique and to contribute to literatures on transnationalism and citizenship that are myopically focused on immigration to the North and host country policies toward migrants. Most intriguingly, early research led Brand to frame her investigation in terms of broader questions about the contemporary reconfiguration of “sovereignty in the international system” by home states in response not only to host state actions but also to the changing demands, material resources, and experiences of émigré communities (pp. 10–11, 222).

Fujimori's Peru: Deception in the Public Sphere. By Catherine M. Conaghan. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005. 328p. $29.95 cloth, $25.95 paper.

In her book, Catherine M. Conaghan traces the major events of the presidency of Alberto Fujimori, starting in 1990 with his rise to power out of political obscurity and continuing through his departure from office in disgrace in 2000 after winning a highly controversial third term. The author characterizes the Fujimori regime as a “permanent coup,” whereby government officials repeatedly eviscerated the country's constitution and subverted the rule of law. A central theme of the book is the Fujimori government's inability through various unsuccessful attempts to completely dominate the political discourse despite persistent and sophisticated efforts to control the public sphere. As Conaghan writes, “The history of the Fujimori presidency is a chronicle of wrongdoing and complicity, but it is also a story about resistance and the limits of public deception in modern politics” (p. 13). The book is enriched with excellent primary sources and recent investigative reports that became available only after the collapse of the regime, and which had not previously been so cohesively compiled into one comprehensive narrative.

Political Culture and Institutional Development in Costa Rica and Nicaragua: World Making in the Tropics. By Consuelo Cruz. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 302p. $80.00.

Political culture has remained an attractive subject since works such as Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba's The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations (1963) propelled it to the fore of comparative politics in the 1960s. Over the last four decades, different approaches to political culture sought to provide theoretical leverage on an array of political phenomena, including political participation, modernization, democratic development, and state building. The appeal of the concept of political culture lies primarily in its intuitive logic: Individuals, organized into groups, are responsible for the creation of political realities. While these realities may certainly be influenced by an array of exogenous factors, their creation is dependent on individuals' perceptions and preferences. Critics of political culture research suggest that attributions of political culture are frequently deterministic or difficult to falsify scientifically. In Political Culture and Institutional Development in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, Consuelo Cruz analyzes political culture employing what she refers to as an integrative approach, a rational-structural culturalism that recognizes the direct influence of morally driven, rational political actors on institutional norms.

Governance in Contemporary Germany: The Semisovereign State Revisited. Edited by Simon Green and William E. Paterson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 350 pages. $75.00 cloth, $35.00 paper.

This is a rare thing indeed. Edited volumes tend to contain a hodgepodge of contributions only loosely centered around some theme. The hapless editors are too often left to finesse an introductory link among a series of articles that are, in fact, only vaguely related. In the present case, however, we have an edited volume planned and implemented around a clear vision. If not for the list of contributors (luminaries in the scholarship of German politics), one might easily take this book for a single-authored text.

Mao and the Economic Stalinization of China, 1948–1953. By Hua-yu Li. Lanham, MD: Rowan & Littlefield, 2006. 266p. $75.00 cloth.

At the heart of Hua-yu Li's argument is the policymaking process of the early People's Republic of China (PRC). Between the years 1948 and 1953, the PRC began its massive and far-reaching socialist transformation. The author suggests not only that Mao Zedong played the decisive role in the drastic policy shift but that he also helped clarify various convoluted economic issues, as well as ignored Stalin's advice on how to achieve socialism.

Voices of the New Arab Public: Iraq, Al-Jazeera, and Middle East Politics Today. By Marc Lynch. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006. 293p. $ 24.50.

The book delves into the crucial subject of the new independent media and politics in the Middle East. It examines the changing landscape of Arab public discourse consequent to the proliferation of the new Arab media—al-Jazeera, Abu Dubai TV, al-Manar, al-Arabiya, al-Hurra, and a host of other satellite television stations—over the past decade. The study contends that these new Arab media outlets have freed the dissemination of information from the shackles of state control, challenged old taboos on open discussion, and generated free debate about pertinent political and social issues—culture and identity, political reform, Palestine, Islam and modernity, and Iraq, among others. All this marked the birth of a new diverse Arab public sphere, which ended the previously controlled and muted Arab public discourse and posed a challenge to the future of Arab politics and to U.S. diplomacy.

The Russian Military: Power and Policy. Edited by Steven E. Miller and Dmitri V. Trenin. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2004. 272p. $50.00 cloth, $25.00 paper.

When Russia became an independent state at the end of 1991, it inherited the bulk of the Soviet armed forces and the Soviet defense industry. The Russian government initially tried to persuade the other former Soviet republics to preserve a unified military force, but in May 1992, after those efforts had proven fruitless, Russian President Boris Yeltsin established a separate Russian army on the basis of what had been left over from the Soviet Union. Because the Soviet military had been deteriorating since the late 1980s, sweeping reform of the new Russian army seemed an urgent priority. Economic, military, social, demographic, and political considerations all pointed to the need for a much smaller army equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry and configured for plausible combat scenarios. Advocates of reform hoped to place the Russian military under strict civilian control, including parliamentary oversight, and to replace the mass, conscript-based system of the Soviet army with a fully professional force. They also hoped to devise a completely new military doctrine that would be appropriate for the realities of the post-Soviet era.

Federalism and the Welfare State: New World and European Experiences. By Herbert Obinger, Stephan Liebfried, and Francis G. Castles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 378 pages. $75.00 cloth, $34.99 paper.

Decentralizing the State: Elections, Parties, and Local Power in the Andes. By Kathleen O'Neill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 286 pages. $70.00.

As the literature on federalism and decentralization experienced a revival in recent years, comparative research has tended to fall into two categories. The first examines the origins of institutions, seeking the causes of decentralization and federalism. The second explores the consequences of decentralization and federalism for such outcomes as fiscal performance, economic growth, and the welfare state. The two books under review respectively make important contributions to each field. In both instances, we see that federalism and decentralization remain lively topics of concern for comparative politics.

Europe and the Politics of Capabilities. Edited by Robert Salais and Robert Villeneuve. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 328p. $90.

This innovative edited collection seeks to help shape the academic and policy debate over the future of the welfare state in Europe by introducing and advocating Amartya Sen's “capabilities approach.” Since the editors' primary objective is to promote a particular set of policies, there is little effort by contributors to explain policy variation across European Union member states or over time, which is the collection's main weakness. Rather, this distinguished group of academics and practitioners evaluates European economic development policies and prescribes a course of action consistent with the capability approach.

Democracy Without Competition in Japan: Opposition Failure in a One-Party Dominant State. By Ethan Scheiner. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 286p. $70.00 cloth, $27.99 paper.

The resilience of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is the most remarkable feature of the Japanese political system. The party sustained majorities in both houses of the Diet and ruled the cabinet alone from its founding in 1955 until 1989. It was one of the few ruling parties in the industrialized democracies to survive the oil crises of the 1970s, and it somehow managed to escape the voters' wrath over innumerable corruption scandals. The party's image in public opinion surveys became so negative in the middle to late 1970s that political scientist Ichiro Miyake coined the term “negative partisans” to describe the many voters who backed the LDP in elections despite professing negative images of the party.