Books

Although compromise is an inherent part of politics, many politicians chose not to adjust their goals for fear of losing supporters or a strong debate position. It is the strategies of these office holders that John Gilmour describes in Strategic Disagreement, illuminating lost opportunities to pass important legislation resulting from such disagreements.

Now back in print, this is a pioneering analysis of an elite driven, post-World War II urban renewal, that has become the classic model for all such redevelopment projects.

This volume traces the major decisions, events, programs, and personalities that transformed the city of Pittsburgh during its urban renewal project, which began in 1977. Roy Lubove demonstrates how the city showed united determination to attract high technology companies in an attempt to reverse the economic fallout from the decline of the local steel industry. Lubove also separates the successes from the failures, the good intentions from the actual results.

Albert Sbragia considers American urban government as an investor whether for building infrastructure or supporting economic development. Over time, such investment has become disconnected from the normal political and administrative processes of local policymaking through the use of special public spending authorities like water and sewer commissions and port, turnpike, and public power authorities.

This book examines why some countries succeed in installing democracy after authoritarian rule, and why some of these new democracies make progress toward consolidation.

Nations use product standards, and manipulate them, for reasons other than practical use or safety. Samuel Krislov compares and contrasts the United States, the EC, the former Eastern bloc, and Japan—o link standard choice with political styles and to trace growing internationalization based on product efficiency criteria.

Violent conflicts rooted in ethnicity have, unfortunately, become increasingly common throughout the world, particularly in countries recently liberated from authoritarianism. Using theory, case studies, and aggregate data, the essays in this volume address the difficulties facing contemporary leaders and offer potential solutions to the policy issues surrounding ethnic disputes.

Because of the power-fearing drafters of the U.S. Constitution, presidents have had to look beyond the formal powers of the office to influence Congress and push a legislative agenda. In Between the Branches, a book of unprecedented depth, Kenneth Collier traces the evolution of the methods the White House has developed to influence Congress over nine adminstrations, from Eisenhower to Clinton.

During much of the military regime in Brazil (1964-1985), an elaborate but illegal system of restrictions prevented the press from covering important news or criticizing the government. In this intriguing new book, Anne-Marie Smith investigates why the press acquiesced to this system, and why this state-administered system of restrictions was known as “self-censorship.”

Examines the nuclear power plant constructed at Shoreham, New York, and the accumulated miscalculation and mishaps that eventually forced its deconstruction. An intricate study of the groups, policies and regulatory issues involved in a historic legal battle.

Bo Rothstein examines the experience of the Sweedish Social Democratic Party, otherwise known as the SAP, to analyze the limits a social democratic government labors under and the possibilities it enjoys in using the state to implement large-scale social change. He uses two SAP programs, one successful and one failed, to examine the potential for social change in capitolist nations.

The Left’s Dirty Job compares the experiences of recent socialist governments in France and Spain, examining how the governments of Franois Mitterrand (1981-1995) and Felipe Gonzalez (1982-1996) provide a key test of whether a leftist approach to industrial restructuring is possible. Taking the unusual position that these governments’ policies were generally similar to those in European countries, this study provides insight into these important socialist governments.

Based on interviews with more than 100 participants, Van Cott demonstrates how social issues were placed on the constitutional reform agenda and transformed into the nation’s highest law. She follows each reform for five years to assess early results of what she calls an emerging model of multicultural constitutionalism.

Blais tackles the controversial topic of rational choice theory in an engaging and personal way, bringing together the opposing theories and literatures, and offering convincing tests of these different viewpoints in order to find out what makes people decide to vote.

Including the conflict in Kosovo, the WTO meeting in Seattle, and new developments in the 2000 presidential campaign, The Postmodern Presidency is the most comprehensive and current assessment of Bill Clinton’s presidency available in print.