Current-order Books

This book should be on the desk of every policymaker ! As a deacon in the Roman Catholic Church I would also hope that deacons, animators of justice and peace in the local Church, would read and ponder this difficult and complex problem. After 20 years of my own study of the problem of war and peace in the nuclear age, with the end of the Cold War, there seemed to have emerged more questions than answers for myself and others.

This collection of essays gives the reader insight into the multilayered complexity of what to do with nuclear weapons, how useful are they, and what can we do to get rid of them in the future. I was impressed by the depth of the essays from each of the contributors, even when I disagreed with some of the assumptions or conclusions. This book forces one to wrestle with the unfinished agenda of human survival and thrival. As a Christian theologian, the ethical argument opposing nuclear weapons forces one to grapple with the complexity of this issue as an act of love. It is a struggle directed to understanding this seemingly unsolvable problem and the possibilities for living in a more just and peaceful world. This cannot be accomplished without knowing something of the world and problem of nuclear weapons. This book offers a superb overview of this most important and vexing dilemma at this time in human history. We cannot hope to secure some level of peace and justice without study and discussion of the emerging constellation of problems and developments surrounding this issue. This book helps us to understand.

Africa south of the Sahara is usually wrongfully ignored when it comes to world politics. "Africa in World Politics: Reforming Political Order" is an examination of Africa's current political troubles and how it can shake off its current turmoil and move ahead and embrace prosperity, something it has struggled to do since the Europeans have departed around fifty years ago. Critical of Africa's problems but rife with optimism for the future, "Africa in World Politics" is a good read for anyone who to be educated on the governments of this great continent.

This book deals with a central question. Why do leading states after major wars institutionalize and even strategically restrain their powers? Ikenberry's response is that 'states in this situation have sought hold onto power and make it last, and that this has led these states, paradoxically, to find ways to set limits on their power and make it acceptable to other states".(p. xi) To analyze this central puzzle, the author looks at the settlements of 1815, 1919, and 1945 as well as the end of the cold war. These times are important turning points in the history of world politics as major powers search for a new international order.

Moreover, this book has important implications for contemporary American foreign policy makers. "The United States has entered the new century as the world's lone superpower. Whether that extraordinary power can be put to good use in creating a lasting and legitimate international order will in no small measure determined by how American officials use and operate within international institutions. It might appear that there are few constraints or penalties for the United States to exercise its power unilaterally and at its own discretion. But the theory and historical experiences in these chapters suggest otherwise. The most enduringly powerful states are those that work with and through institutions". (p.20)

Overall, After Victory is a very good contribution to diplomatic history, international relations theory as well as to American foreign policy.

This book offers us the definitive account of the lives and massacre in communal martyrdom of eight courageous Catholics of these Americas, six Jesuit priests and professors and theologians, and a mother and daughter caretaker, definitive at least until their hagiographies may be officially written in Rome.

Reading the accounts of the lives of these holy innocents must move any true Catholic to prayer and to action and to grief, and ultimately hope in the final glorious Resurrection when we pray Our Lord may one day finally draw us altogether into His Eternal Peace and Joy and Love.

Reading the life's work as well of these great priests and theologians and seminary professors must also stir our hearts and minds and the cold ashes long grown still from lack of fuel. To read the several learned writings of Father Ellacuria, or the careful ode for Archbishop Romero written by Father Ignacio Martin-Baro, all available here on the amazon, is to remember and meditate the truest meaning, mission and message of our great Faith. To read of the simple yet influential pastoral work of Father Lopez y Lopez is to see our Faith in truest action for peace and the evangelization of the poor, until the night we shot him.

The reader finds here a telling quote in Stan Granot Duncan's comprehensive and objective introduction of the crime, which could serve as legal brief presenting every aspect of the martyrdom and massacre for our Faith. The immediate official response of both the the US supported Salvadoran right-wing military dictatorship and from DC was denial of involvement, which quickly proved undeniable. Thus, on page xix we read: "In the U.S., Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney stated emphatically that 'there's no indication at all that the governmentof El Salvador had any involvement' in the crime." Even after the US supported regime admitted its involvement, the US State Dept. continued to deny the truth and speak falsely. The deceptive road to Bagdhad began in San Salvador, often by the same voices.

Please take this book and read deeply. The contributions by Father Jon Sobrino, a member of this same community of Jesuit priests and professors who happened by accident to be out of town the night of their martyrdom, tells it all, as well as the closing eulogy by Jesuit Father Joseph O'Hare of Fordham.

You must read this book, please, in memory of our martyrs and for our own edification, courage, instruction and Faith. This too is our Catechism. The precious blood of our martyrs is the seed of vocations.

This is a great piece of work. The essays are short and concise. If you plan on taking graduate exams, START with this book to find out how to carve up the discipline. Read this book about 1 week before your exam, you won't be sorry.
This is also a book with theory applications. The chapters on structures and rational choice are particularly strong in that vein. This is also a book you will want to own so you can mark it up.

From Front Jacket:

"In contrast to realist and liberal approaches to international relations, which emphasize the institutional or structural form of international politics, the authors of this volume assert that states do not possess autonomous international preferences conditioned only by competition with other states. Instead, such preferences are socially constructed in a fluid environment in which there exist no strict dividing lines between state and society. The organizing principle of this volume is a focus on how the domestic social order affects a country's foreign relations. [This book] thus posits an international system that consists not of competing states but of social orders among which there exist varying degrees of compatibility and rivalry.

Individual chapters in this book cover both broad and specific topics including war termination, the international monetary order, business conflict, the politics of appeasement, private interests in U.S. policy toward Haiti, and transnational social control in Chile. These theoretically informed case studies are a major strenght of the volume.

Chapters:

* Contested Social Orders and War Termination (C. Stein)
* The Domestic Politics of International Monetary Order: The Gold Standard (Broz)
* Business Conflict and the Demise of Imperialism (Nolt)
* Politics of Appeasement: The Rise of the Left and European International Relations During the Interwar Period (Halperin)
* Rethinking Realist Interpretations of the Cold War; (Skidmore)
* Private Interests and U.S. Foreign Policy in Haiti and the Caribbean Basin (Cox)
* Transnational Social Control in the Age of Globalization: The U.S. and Regime Transition in Chile (Robinson)
* Future of Contested Social Orders (Nolt)

Why has America experienced an explosion in crime rates since 1960? Why has the crime rate dropped in recent years? Though politicians are always ready to both to take the credit for crime reduction and to exploit grisly headlines for short-term political gain, these questions remain among the most important and most difficult to answer in America today.

In CRIME AND POLITICS, award-winning journalist Ted Gest gives readers the inside story of how crime policy is formulated within the Washington beltway and state capitols, why we've had cycle after cycle of ineffective federal legislation, and where promising reforms might lead us in the future. Gest examines how politicians first made crime a national rather than a local issue, beginning with Lyndon Johnson's crime commission and the landmark anti-crime law of 1968, and continuing right up to such present-day measures as "three strikes" laws, mandatory sentencing, and community policing. Gest exposes a lack of consistent leadership, backroom partisan politics, and the rush to embrace simplistic solutions as the main causes for why Federal and state crime programs have failed to make our streets safe.

Drawing on extensive research and including interviews with Edwin Meese, Janet Reno, Joseph Biden, Ted Kennedy, and William Webster, CRIME AND POLITICS uncovers the real reasons why American continues to struggle with the crime problem and shows how we can do a better job in the future.

"Ted Gest's book is a unique contribution to understanding how criminal justice policies are fashioned at the national level. The book offers a compelling insider's view of the deals, political bargains, individual egos, and agency turf wars that shape the real world of federal criminal policy. The book spans several decades in which the modern criminal justice system was born and shaped. It is a must read for those who want to know how America lost its way in the war against crime--and how we might find a path back to enlightened and rational domestic policies."--Dr. Barry Krisberg, President, National Council on Crime and Delinquency

"Crime is not just a continuing national problem, it is also a major focus of jockeying for political advantage. Ted Gest is a distinguished journalist who has dvoted his career to studying both crime and the political machinations it engenders. His book is filled with important insights into the problems of crime and its political battlegrounds."--Alfred Blumstein, H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon University

In this useful book, journalist and lecturer Garry Leech shows how oil, not concern for promoting democracy, drives the US to intervene in countries across the world. He looks at the damaging effects of US interventions in the Middle East, Central Asia, West Africa and Latin America.

The US-British invasion of Iraq has brought disaster to the people, but a bonanza for US companies. It gave US and British oil companies access to Iraq's oil reserves. The US government controls the Development Fund for Iraq, where, by UN mandate, Iraq's oil revenues are deposited for the Iraqi people's benefit. The Coalition Provisional Authority claimed that most of the Fund paid for contracts to Iraqi companies, but 85% of the $2.2 billion went to US companies, mostly to Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Dick Cheney's Halliburton.

The 1999 Silk Road Strategy Act spelt out long-term US policy, "It shall be the policy of the United States in the countries of the South Caucasus and Central Asia ... to help promote market-oriented principles and practices ... to support United States business interests and investments in the region." The effects have been dire: in Kazakhstan, for example, since its counter-revolution, wages have been cut by more than 50%, poverty and corruption have soared and health care has worsened. In Azerbaijan, 68% of the population now live in absolute poverty.

The US has exercised influence in West Africa through the World Bank. So in oil-rich Nigeria, 66% of the population live in absolute poverty, up from 43% in 1986. In Angola, 82% live in poverty.

In Colombia, the number of poor rose from 60% in 1995 to 64% in 2000. The state is warring on the people: the USA backs it as part of the `war on terror', although no US citizens have been killed in Colombia.

In Venezuela, by contrast, life for the people is improving as the nation reclaims its resources and defends its sovereign independence. The government funds free medical care, subsidises food, enrols ever more children in schools, and distributes land. 20,000 Cuban doctors and health educators are helping to improve people's health. Hugo Chavez won 57% of the votes in the 1998 presidential election. In 1999, 70% of voters approved the new Constitution, which allowed the recall of all elected officials, including the President, and increased democratic participation in decision-making. Chavez won 59% of the votes in the 2004 referendum.

A must buy, although not entirely due to its merit.

The book's success, its ability to stimulate a reconsideration of Democracy Promotion, is marked by its graduate style.

Its central thesis questions the independence of Human Rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch, National Endowment for Democracy, and the Republican and Democratic International Institutes. Detailing the professional biographies of the invidividuals behind these institutions, Guilhot chronicles their gradual drift from anti-Stalinist left, to inhouse Democracy experts of the State Department, and the Reagan and Bush White House. With the creation of the National Endowment for Democracy these individuals sealed the link between Democracy Promotion and the national security doctrine of the United States, thus compromising the very nature of Human Rights, which were thought to be supranational, and not subject to national interest.

Daring as it sounds, Guilhot's evidence is shoddy. Complex institutions cannot be pigenholed through their founders' political ordeals. The book is convicing until you arrive at page 100, where its tediousness finally reveals its nature, that of a PhD dissertation, hence juxtaposition of oddly incongruent quotes, summed up by even stranger corollaries by the author. One wonders about Guilhot's recent appointment as LSE professor. Either the LSE is lowering its standards, or Europe's pool of scholars is shallow. They should have waited until he was more seasoned. None of this, of course, detracts from the books originality.

Buy this book and hope that it brings Guilhot enough money to move to Washington and do some of the research necessary for a more convicing sequel. Till then, no other book is better than his first 90 pages.

Head has written a solid work on historical scholarship. The area under study is called the Grisons, the Grey Leagues, and Graubunden, and is part of early modern Switzerland. Head takes on a number of historiographical battles that raged at the time of the writing, and some still do. One is the argument that communalism, the notion that common people could and here did work together to create a liberating and progressive political system, to be idealized along with ancient Athens as heroic models for today. Head shows how communalism was an idea that was preached and discussed, but that elites and factions combatted its core tenets, hindering its ability to function. He also looks at a famous uprising that some see in it communalism, but he shows how the Faehnlilupf movement never succeeded in its ambitious mission.
As for the factionalism in the region, which Head shows without a doubt existed and affected any idyllic wishes for pure democracy, it is shown to be an outcome of the major political forces in Europe using this part of Switzerland in turf wars for geopolitical advantage. The great powers competed for control of the area, leading to factionalism among its elites. And so this is another blow to those who want to find democracy or proto-Parliamentarism in 16th century Switzerland.
That said, however, the Grisons still presents a rich area of study, because of its tradition of independence from outsider control, and because it boldly evoked the language of communalism and freedom for all citizens, and as such should be paid attention to, especially by students of political language and of democratic movements in the past. And it is in the region's use of political language and its creation of a unique political culture that is the strength of Randolph Head's book.
It is to be highly recommended.