Abstract
New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. 237, £17.99, ISBN 0 19 515016 3
Readership: Advanced undergraduates, postgraduates, academic/research
Rating: *****
Reviewer: AGUSTÍN JOSÉ MENÉNDEZ
(University of Oslo)
The aim of The Myth of Ownership is to establish the basic elements of a fair tax system. The authors successfully combine insights from normative political theory and public finance scholarship. Although most of the arguments can easily be applied to any Western country, the book focuses mainly on the existing US tax system. The book is very well structured. Chapters two and three provide an excellent reconstruction of the main theories of tax justice. The remaining chapters focus on the design of a fair tax system. Murphy and Nagel defend three main points. (1) The tax system should be considered part and parcel of the socio-economic constitution, on a par with the definition of private property; consequently, the fairness of a tax system cannot be determined by reference to the pre-tax distribution of property, as one question depends on the other in normative terms. (2) A distinction should be made between the different tasks assigned to the tax system, and at the very least between (i) financing basic public goods, (ii) redistributing income, and (iii) the achievement of other socially desirable goals. (3) A basic condition for the fairness of the socio-economic structure is that everyone in society should enjoy a minimum level of life quality; this necessarily requires redistribution through taxation.
The book is a very successful contribution to a rather neglected topic in political theory. However, the authors could have profited from a more systematic analysis of Continental tax law dogmatics and public finance scholarship. From Adolph Wagner to Dino Jarach, Continental scholars laid the ground for a normative analysis of taxation in the 1800s and 1900s. The constitutionalization of the obligation to pay taxes in post-war Germany, Italy or Spain has contributed to the richness of the European debate in the last three decades.
Ontario: Oxford University Press, 2002. 263, £11.99, ISBN 0 19 541599 X
Reviewer: ROBERT DRUMMOND
(York University, Canada)
This valuable collection is composed of papers originally delivered at a conference honouring Mildred Schwartz for her work on regionalism and political parties, particularly in Canada. The conference was held at the University of Calgary while Dr Schwartz was visiting there as the Thomas O. Enders Fellow. Following a brief introduction by the editors and a reminiscent foreword by Professor Schwartz, there appear two excellent reviews of contending, but potentially complementary, approaches to political regionalism – geographic and sociological. In the succeeding chapters, more attention is paid to sociological than geographic influences, and the potential of complementarity is rarely realized. Three chapters outline different ways of understanding Canadian regionalism – an analysis of regional variations in attitudes and opinions; a discussion of Western alienation which concludes that the phenomenon is more ‘peripheral’ than ‘Western’; and a review of historical and other literature to reveal the place of regional difference in the dominant myths of Canadian politics. Four chapters explore aspects of the Canadian party system implicated in regionalism – national election campaigns; the ‘Western’ character of the Reform party; the recent federal dominance of the Liberals in Ontario; and the possibility of political realignment in Atlantic Canada. The book concludes with three comparative chapters – one on Quebec nationalism, one on comparisons with Australia, and one that compares the Bloc Quebecois with the Italian Lega Nord.
While the styles of the articles are different, the quality is uniformly good. Most take an iconoclastic approach to conventional appearances, and all are well argued and grounded in evidence. A minor weakness is the repetition in several places of the same recent history of party competition – a history that would already be familiar to Canadian readers. The reader is left with the understanding that the role of region in Canadian party politics at present is complex, but comprehensible, especially in the context of similar phenomena elsewhere in the developed world.
Ontario: Oxford University Press, 2002. 236, £12.99, ISBN 0 19 541621 X
Reviewer: STEVE PATTEN
(University of Alberta)
Laycock's The New Right and Democracy in Canada offers a theoretically rich analysis of the ideas and policies of the Reform Party of Canada and its successor, the Canadian Alliance. While providing a convincing critique of the new right's redefinition of freedom and equality, this highly readable book reveals how the Reform-Alliance approach to democratic decision-making would devalue the public sphere and undermine core aspects of modern democracy. This is not a book about the personalities and organizational history of the Reform and Canadian Alliance parties; it is a book about ideas and policy. This is refreshing. Unfortunately, for a book whose empi-rical data is drawn primarily from party policy documents, the detailed information on party policy is surprisingly limited.
Laycock's analysis is noteworthy in two regards. First is the clarity and thoughtfulness of his depiction of the ideological nature and political character of the Reform-Alliance party. While giving primacy to the role of new right ideology in shaping the party, he does an excellent job of specifying what is specifically ‘populist’ about the Reform-Alliance. He is also uniquely effective at highlighting the party's Western-ness, while demonstrating that it is incorrect to assume that Reform's emergence was a simple product or expression of Western Canadian political culture or grievances. More significantly, Laycock does an excellent job of bringing political theory to the real world of party politics. He traces the roots of Reform-Alliance ideas to Hayek, Friedman and the ungovernability thesis of the 1970s. Then, in the core of the book, he combines a Habermasian perspective on deliberative democracy with a Rousseauian analysis of representation and democratic citizenship to develop a thoughtful critique of the devaluation of public life that he believes is inherent to the Reform-Alliance party's plebiscitarian perspective on redefining Canadian democracy.
Lanham MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002. 269, £20.95, ISBN 0 7425 1733 0
Readership: Postgraduates, academic/research
Rating: **
Reviewer: CHRISTOPHER HOWARD
(College of William & Mary Virginia)
According to Epstein, social policy-making in the USA is not designed to improve the lives of the needy. Nor is it a rational exercise in which policy-makers genuinely try to learn which programs work well and which do not. US social policy is a symbolic ritual that interferes as little as possible with inequalities of income, wealth and political power. As evidence, the author focuses primarily on social services for the poor.
The book is a strongly worded critique of many aspects of social thought and practice. Indeed, it is hard to think of another work that takes on Adam Smith, bounded rationality, psychotherapy, Romantic political thought, evaluation research, US public opinion, the social work profession, and the 1996 welfare reform act. In part because of this ambition, some of the arguments feel underdeveloped; outrage and rhetoric too often substitute for evidence. For example, the author assumes that social policy is a direct product of public opinion and attributes every design flaw to a mean-spiritedness that pervades the culture. The possibility that interest-group pressure, elected officials or political institutions might have important independent effects, and perhaps even blunt the expression of more generous impulses in the polity, is not seriously considered. For a more nuanced account of public opinion and welfare policy in the USA, readers should consult R. Kent Weaver, Ending Welfare As We Know It (Brookings Institution, 2000). Epstein's book would also have benefited from some engagement with the writings of Murray Edelman, one of the pre-eminent scholars of symbolic action in politics, who has written often about American public policy.
Lanham MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002. 192, £18.95, ISBN 0 7425 1764 0
Readership: Undergraduates, advanced undergraduates, postgraduates
Rating: ****
Reviewer: ROBERT SINGH
(Birkbeck College, London)
Obscured amid the rush of commentaries on how September 11 has ushered a new era into being is the pronounced continuity in domestic American government and politics. The central strength of this admirable edited collection is its vivid but concise depiction of the main features of recent American politics, captured through a focus on the 2000 elections. Bringing together senior American journalists and political scientists, the essays – originally delivered as a series of public lectures at Oxford in the spring of 2001 – cover the social base of US politics, elite strategies and governing institutions. By assessing topics as varied as the ‘invisible primary’, the ‘Bush nation’ and the ‘Gore nation’, and the challenges facing the presidency and Congress in the context of a virtual ‘perfect tie’ after the 2000 results, the essays seek to sketch the main contours underpinning current mass and elite politics.
The result is an impressively lucid and clear analysis of the paradox of seemingly broad public consensus on preferred policies with an intense partisanship that flows from the stark contrasts in the two main parties' electoral bases. Most authors explain this through a focus on cultural value conflict that will now be familiar – but no less consequential – to analysts of the intensity of partisan competition in the era of divided government. The essays are clearly written and should especially appeal to students seeking straightforward explanations of the 2000 results. Inevitably, the virtue of concision is purchased to a degree by the omission of extensive data and discussion common in more specialized analyses of specific elections, but the authors succinctly convey the broader picture of post-1992 politics. The only slight anomaly is the chapter on judicial activism from 1950 to 2002, which sits uneasily with the remaining essays and makes only the briefest reference to Bush v. Gore.
Cambridge: Polity, 2002. 232, £15.99, ISBN 0 7456 2061 2
Readership: Undergraduates, advanced undergraduates, postgraduates, academic
Rating: ****
Reviewer: DILYS M. HILL
(University of Southampton)
Jon Roper's engaging book investigates the ideas and principles shaping the values and attitudes of American political culture. Drawing on history, literature and American political thought, he considers the ideals of destiny and mission that animated the nation from the Pilgrims and the Founders to United States hegemony after World War II. Roper shows the persistence of key themes: the politics of spectacle marks the presidency from Jefferson to Clinton; religion and liberty shape debate and action; radicalism and equality overcame slavery but face the challenges of race, gender, ethnic and lifestyle demands for inclusiveness.
Roper's analysis is strong on the importance of constitutional debate, setting the original principles of federalism and separation of powers against the realities of the electoral game and against the enduring issue of states' rights versus federal authority. The founding framework of Congress and court embodies the republican ideal, but inhabits a modern world of elites, money and religious agendas that result, Roper concludes, in a situation where ‘political power in America is at once fascinating and repulsive’. Roper's study is also incisive on how the relationship between the media and politicians, especially presidents, is concerned with image and attention. As he stresses, the media map the contours of American politics and provide an arena for the struggle for hearts and minds.
On the global stage, the USA has tried to promote its spiritual and democratic republican values as a model, but this mission has led it to define its adversaries as public enemies – international communists, drug dealers, Middle Eastern dictators and terrorists – who threaten the democratic health of not only the nation, but also the world. Thus the founding forces of destiny and mission, rights and liberties, as Roper's important book shows, still maintain the core of the ‘idea of America’.
Boulder CO: Westview Press, 2001. 381, £18.99, ISBN 0 8133 9793 6
Readership: Undergraduates, general audience
Rating: *
Reviewer: ROBERT M. EISINGER
(Lewis & Clark College Oregon)
This book attempts to defend the practice of public opinion polling, and the pollsters who create survey instruments. Considering that journalists and the mass public periodically criticize polls, one would expect that Warren's book would be both timely and provocative. Unfortunately, this book is more designed for an introductory undergraduate class than for the already informed scholar or layperson. Warren does not challenge the reader with provocative theories; instead, he provides a thorough but bland defence of public opinion polling. Nuances and subtleties are missing; one is either for or against polls and pollsters. As a result, one is left thinking of the polls' complexities without reading about them.
Warren's text could have been improved had he immersed himself in the history of polling. Jean Converse receives but one brief mention. Lindsay Rogers, creator of the term ‘pollster’ is missing altogether. Kurt and Gladys Engels Lang's intriguing article in which they polled pollsters are also not mentioned. Similarly, prominent criticisms of polling – namely from Pierre Bourdieu, Benjamin Ginsberg and Christopher Hitchens – are noticeably absent. The text therefore is a response to a problem that has not been clearly articulated.
The book is on its shakiest ground in chapter seven – ‘Today's Politicians Live and Die by Polls’. While the author is a pollster himself, he peculiarly provides scant anecdotal evidence to support his claim. Surely today's elected officials employ polls in ways unimaginable thirty years ago. But the ‘life and death’ allegation demands more critical inquiry.
The epilogue begins with a quotation written by an undergraduate who was taught by the author: ‘In this class I learned that properly conducted scientific polls are not only amazingly accurate, but are valuable tools in understanding society.’ This pithy comment summarizes the primary problem with this book. Many scholars and students begin with this student's declaration with which the author concludes. For those interested in what polls do, and arguments as to why they benefit democracy, George Gallup and Saul Forbes Rae's The Pulse of Democracy, Albert H. Cantril's The Opinion Connection, and Charles W. Roll and Albert H. Cantril's Polls: their use and misuse in politics provide analytic depth and rigor. While Warren cites these works, he has not developed or refuted their arguments in a substantive way.
North America
New books received
R. Michael Alvarez and John Brehm (2002) Hard Choices, Easy Answers: values, information, and American public opinion. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 261, £10.95, ISBN 0 691 09635 X
Abraham Ben-Zvi (2002) John F. Kennedy and the Politics of Arms Sales to Israel. London: Frank Cass, 150, £45.00, ISBN 0 7146 5269 5
David W. Brady, John F. Cogan and Morris P. Fiorina (eds) (2001) Continuity and Change in House Elections. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press, 312, £15.95, ISBN 0 8047 3739 8
Ian Brodie (2002) Friends of the Court: the privileging of interest group litigants in Canada. Albany NY: State University of New York Press, 182, ISBN 0 7914 5300 6
Don S. Browning and Gloria G. Rodriguez (2002) Reweaving the Social Tapestry: toward a public philosophy and policy for families. London: Norton, 218, £11.95, ISBN 0 393 32272 6
Colton C. Campbell and John F. Stack Jr (eds) (2002) Congress and the Politics of Emerging Rights. Lanham MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 206, £18.95, ISBN 0 7425 1647 4
Robert Dahl (2002) How Democratic is the American Constitution? New Haven CT: Yale University Press, 208, £14.50, ISBN 0 300 09218 0
Charles W. Dunn (2001) The Scarlet Thread of Scandal: morality and the American presidency. Lanham MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 220, £14.95, ISBN 0 8476 9607 3
Deborah M. Figart, Ellen Mutari and Marilyn Power (2002) Living Wages, Equal Wages: gender and labor market policies in the United States. London: Routledge, 272, £19.99, ISBN 0 415 27391 9
James L. Golden and Alan L. Golden (2002) Thomas Jefferson and the Rhetoric of Virtue. Lanham MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 540, £31.00, ISBN 0 7425 2080 3
Hugh Davis Graham (2002) Collision Course: the strange convergence of affirmative action and immigration policy in America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 246, £20.99, ISBN 0 19 514318 3
Randall Hansen and Patrick Weil (eds) (2002) Dual Nationality, Social Rights and Federal Citizenship in the US and Europe: the reinvention of citizenship. New York: Berghahn, 350, £17.00, ISBN 1 57181 805 7
Fraser J. Harbutt (2002) The Cold War Era. Oxford: Blackwell, 381, £15.99, ISBN 1 57718 052 6
Leonard Harris, Scott L. Pratt and Anne S. Waters (eds) (2002) American Philosophies: an anthology. Oxford: Blackwell, 464, £16.99, ISBN 0 631 21002 4
Roderick P. Hart (2000) Campaign Talk: why elections are good for us. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 324, £12.95, ISBN 0 691 09282 6
Ronald Hayduk and Kevin Mattson (eds) [foreword by Miles S. Rapoport] (2002) Democracy's Moment: reforming the American political system for the 21st century. Lanham MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 285, £18.95, ISBN 0 7425 1750 0
Paul S. Herrnson and John C. Green (eds) (2002) Multiparty Politics in America. Second edition. Lanham MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 207, £15.95, ISBN 0 7425 1599 0
John R. Hibbing and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse (eds) (2001) What is it about Government that Americans Dislike? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 295, £15.95, ISBN 0 521 79631 8
John R. Hibbing and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse (2002) Stealth Democracy: Americans’ beliefs about how government should work. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 299, £16.95, ISBN 0 521 00986 3
Douglas A. Irwin (2002) Free Trade under Fire. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 267, £16.95, ISBN 0 691 08843 8
Ira Katznelson and Martin Shefter (eds) (2002) Shaped by War and Trade: international influences on American political development. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 384, £13.95, ISBN 0 691 05704 4
Tom Lansford (2002) All for One: terrorism, NATO and the United States. Aldershot: Ashgate, 221, £39.95, ISBN 0 7546 3045 5
Julia Lesage, Abby L. Ferber, Debbie Storrs and Donna Wong (2002) Making a Difference: university students of color speak out. Lanham MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 255, £18.95, ISBN 0 7425 0080 2
Paul C. Light (2002) Government's Greatest Achievements: from civil rights to homeland security. Washington DC: Brookings Institution, 249, $19.95, ISBN 0 8157 0604 9
L. Sandy Maisel and Ira N. Forman (eds) (2001) Jews in American Politics. Lanham MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 533, £30.95, ISBN 0 7425 0181 7
David McKay, David Houghton and Andrew Wroe (2002) Controversies in American Politics and Society. Oxford: Blackwell, 217, £12.99, ISBN 0 631 2289 50
Judith A. McKenzie (2002) Environmental Politics in Canada: managing the commons into the twenty-first century. Ontario: Oxford University Press, 334, £12.99, ISBN 0 19 541508 6
David B. Magleby (ed.) (2002) Financing the 2000 Election. Washington DC: Brookings Institution, 291, $19.95, ISBN 0 8157 0621 9
Kevin Mattson (2002) Intellectuals in Action: the origins of the New Left and radical liberalism, 1945–1970. University Park PA: Penn State University Press, 315, $24.50, ISBN 0 271 02206 X
Harvey Mitchell (2002) America after Tocqueville: democracy against difference. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 335, £45.00, ISBN 0 521 81246 1
Iwan Morgan (2002) Nixon. London: Arnold, 239, £14.99, ISBN 0 340 76032 X
Vincent Mosco and Dan Schiller (eds) (2001) Continental Order? Integrating North America for cybercapitalism. Lanham MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 318, £20.95, ISBN 0 7425 0954 0
Gillian Peele, Christopher J. Bailey, Bruce Cain and B. Guy Peters (eds) (2002) Developments in American Politics 4. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 367, £16.99, ISBN 0 333 94873 4
Richard A. Posner (2001) Breaking Deadlock: the 2000 election, the constitution and the courts. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 266, £17.95, ISBN 0 691 09073 4
Frederic L. Pryor (2002) The Future of US Capitalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 460, £30.00, ISBN 0 521 81358 1
Andrew Rudalevige (2002) Managing the President's Program: presidential leadership and legislative policy formulation. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 287, £13.95, ISBN 0 691 09501 9
Lester M. Salamon (ed.) (2002) The Tools of Government: a guide to the new governance. New York: Oxford University Press, 681, £37.50, ISBN 0 19 513665 9
Austin Sarat (2002) When the State Kills: capital punishment and the American condition. Paperback Edition. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 342, £12.95, ISBN 0 691 10261 9
Giles Scott-Smith (2001) The Politics of Apolitical Culture: the Congress for Cultural Freedom, the CIA and post-war American hegemony. London: Routledge/PSA, 243, £55.00, ISBN 0 415 244455
Robert Snyder (2001) Politics after Neoliberalism: reregulation in Mexico. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 266, £40.00, ISBN 0 521 79034 4
Carol M. Swain (2002) The New White Nationalism in America: its challenge to integration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 556, £30.00, ISBN 0 521 80886 3
Daniel J. Tichenor (2002) Dividing Lines: the politics of immigration control in America. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 390, £15.95, ISBN 0 691 08805 5
Tevi Troy (2002) Intellectuals and the American Presidency: philosophers, jesters, or technicians? 1960 to present. Lanham MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 264, $27.95 ISBN 0 7425 0825 0
Steven W. Usselman (2002) Regulating Railroad Innovation: business, technology, and politics in America, 1840–1920. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 413, £18.95, ISBN 0 521 00106 4
Duncan Watts (2002) Understanding American Government and Politics. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 276, £10.99, ISBN 0 7190 6074 5
Hoyt N. Wheeler (2002) The Future of the American Labor Movement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 257, £16.95, ISBN 0 521 89354 2
David E. Wilkins (2001) American Indian Politics and the American Political System. Lanham MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 384, $28.95, ISBN 0 8476 9306 6