Governments

This is perhaps the best brief summary one is likely to find on the behavioral revolution in American political science.

Jack Peltason is a distinguished memeber of a generation of political scientists that inherited an intellectual tradition focused on formal structures of government and legal doctrines and transformed the study of government by concentrating on the actual behavior of real political actors.

I enjoyed reading this book. I learned a lot. I took "Easy Politics" on a plane trip along with a current well-reviewed mystery novel. I found "Easy Politics" the far better read!
The author argues that too many apathetic voters open the door to more money in politics, contributed by people who too often expect an obscene return on their investment in the form of softened administrative regulations or lucrative government contracts. The result is cozy politics, which involves big bucks and undercuts what government tries to do. Unlike many books concerned with such corruption, the author proposes a solution in the form of revitalized political parties. These citizen-based organizations differ dramatically from the current parties, which are obsessed with campaign technology and fundraising. The author's modern political parties combine TV, radio, and direct mail with more grassroots activity where local and state party activists listen to citizens, explain party positions, and mobilize voters at election time. This book provides stimulating ideas and solutions without requiring a lot of prior knowledge of politics.. I enjoyed Cozy Politics because it was informative, well reasoned, dealt with an important topic and was easy for me to read and understand.

Too Little Citizen Participation and Too Much Cozy Politics
Increasing numbers of apathetic American citizens have opened the way to "cozy politics" where decisions are driven primarily by who benefits along the way rather than by the purpose of a federal government program or regulation. Cozy politics is different today because far more money changes hands in politics and wealthy individuals, interest groups, and professional associations achieve access and often receive beneficial treatment in the form of softened regulations or lucrative government contracts in exchange for political contributions.
Cozy politics thereby contributes to the increasing erosion of civic confidence, the warping of political parties, the denigration of politicians, and the compromise of federal administrative agencies. Drawing on a rich body of scholarly work, public interest group data on the Internet, and the morgues of national newspapers, I have amassed evidence of a wide range of cozy political arrangements that crosses party lines. Politicians delivering for their "second constituency" are having a serious impact on Congressional decisions and on agency missions.
The answer to such political excesses and voter apathy is to reinvent political parties by strengthening their citizen base and thereby reestablish the classic democratic balance between numbers and money. These parties would combine the use of media and mailing technologies with greater organization of voters at the local and state levels. In seeking to revive politics, local and state party leaders should draw on the decentralized, participatory model found in a number of global corporations. Ironically such corporations, dedicated to developing long-term relationships are treating their customers more like citizens while politicians, too often focused solely on the next election, treat the citizens more like customers. The book concludes with three recommendations on how to jump-start the formation of such citizen-based parties.

Un-opinionated, information-rich reference book contains a biography for every U.S. Senator and Representative, as well as information regarding every states' Governor, Congressional Districts, and State Contacts for both the Democratic and Republican Parties. Well worth the money for such valuable information. A + for students studying politics...

For any political junkie, this is so full of obscure facts that it will keep you overinformed, which any politico knows is the only way to be.

On the advice of a friend who knows one of the "Cast Of Characters" (a "Yank In The Bank"), I ordered a used copy of this long out of print book. What an eye opener. It's amazing what a group of "former" senior military officers and spooks can get up to when allowed to run amok overseas. You name it and they got away with it. Even though some of the principals are dead, nobody has been held accountable for the myriad of crimes that have occurred abroad. With the lack of support rendered by the U.S. government (especially the F.B.I.), it makes one wonder how "former" some of the players really were. It's amazing how many of these same people reared their ugly heads years later during "Iran-Contra". Read the book and then decide for yourself.

As an Australian I was both surprised and gratified that an American journalist should want to trace the extraordinary history of the Nugan Hand Bank's Australian operations. This great document decribes the most cut-throat, heroin dealing, crime syndicate ever to have sullied our shores, and all under the covert auspices of the C.I.A. Kwitny's research is exhaustive and his even handed way of presenting his findings is exemplary of fine journalism. The implications hatched in this veritable can of worms will have net-sleuths busy for years tracing the myriad references to the numerous associates of Nugan Hand who vanished into the night only to surface again in the Irangate scandal. Essential reading for anyone trying to come to terms with the scourge of heroin, the world arms trade and those members of the U.S.'s covert agencies that spread misery in their own and other countries...Read it if you dare!

Imagine a world where humankind is considered part of the environment and our elected leaders consider the needs of the commons when making decisions. Imagine a world where neither unbridled communism or capitalism reign. This is the world described in Wally Hickel's new book, "Crisis in the Commons: The Alaska Solution."
If you haven't read this book yet, you should. It is a well-written lesson for every citizen of the planet. Even if you don't agree with all of his ideas, Wally Hickel's book will make you think about how we can co-exist with nature and how our potential as residents and stewards of the planet is limited only by our imagination.
The story he tells is a lesson in Alaska's battle for statehood and the world's struggle to find balance between bottom-line exploitation and lock-it-up environmentalism.
It is a story every student should read. Our youth need to understand the battles that were fought by some of Alaska's greatest leaders to win statehood. They need to learn about how the federal government has broken its promises to the people of Alaska. They need to read about how outside commercial interests have exploited Alaska's resources at the expense of Alaska's citizens and the environment. They need to learn about how the environmental movement is trying to lock up Alaska and take humans out of nature's equation.
Everyone should listen to his message of entitlement. He explains with refreshing clarity how the creation of Alaska's Permanent Fund has fostered an atmosphere of doubt, greed, and narrow-sightedness. And his theory that the Permanent Fund has stolen Alaska's pioneering spirit is worthy of consideration. As Alaska faces its current fiscal crisis, it would do every Alaskan good to understand that the Permanent Fund was established as a "rainy day account" and not as a giant trust fund.
Our local, state, and federal leaders would serve us well to read this book, debate its ideas and concepts, and consider the arguments. Perhaps then they would move beyond the rancor of political jousting and act in the best interests of Alaska, the nation and the world.
Wally Hickel's life has been one of challenges, victories, defeats, vision, leadership, and controversy. This book is the culmination of an amazing life. It brings into focus an idea that has been nurtured over 50 years - an idea from a man respected around the globe for his vision and straight forward manner.
"Crisis in the Commons: The Alaska Solution" is a textbook - a textbook for the present and the future.

Don Stolworthy
Juneau, Alaska

Walter J. Hickel's "Crisis in the Commons" is must reading for anyone interested in land use patterns and environmental issues. Hickel's analysis is truly a view from the top as he has shaped land use policy both as an advocate for Alaska statehood,as governor of Alaska, and as U.S. Secretary of the Interior under Richard Nixon.

Hickel takes the reader through his trials in negotiating a state land grant for Alaska in the 1958 statehood bill. We then move to the builidng of the trans-Alaska pipeline and later examine the issue of oil drilling in the Santa Barbara channel when Hickel was Secretary of the Interior. Hickel provides insightful analysis into various crises in the Nixon administration, including an account of his own firing.

The book is also a view from the top in its discussion of a new form of land ownership that has emerged in America's most northern state. Hickel calls this the "owner state." In Alaska the state, rather than the federal government or private individuals, owns a vast portion of land, including the Prudhoe Bay Oil field. Unlike earlier American states, Alaska's goal is not to place such land in private hands, but to develop it for the benefit of all the people of Alaska.

All readers may not agree with every policy that Hickel developed to "manage" the owner state. But there is no question that the "owner state" points to a new concept and vision of the public lands.

Finally the personality of Hickel, a fascinating state and national figure, comes through with vibrance in this volume. The reader will truly come to know Walter Hickel by reading "Crisis in the Commons."

Fergus Millar's published lectures provide a unique insight into the mechanics of popular politics in the Late Republic. Millar's analysis focuses on how Roman suffrage was restricted to the physical location of the forum and, how this affected the dynamics of Rome's political and legal institutions from the time of the Social Wars until the Civil War.

Millar suggests that the traditional assemblies and their physical restriction to Rome as a location to express popular will became a cause of intense political friction after the Social Wars and the enfranchisement of Italy; a political environment ripe for demagoguery and military potentates who were not satisfied with the restrictions imposed by Sulla's conservative retrenchment of the Senate. Specifically, Millar seeks to show how laws such as the enfranchisement of Italy, the reinstatement of the tribunes after 70 B.C., and the granting of extraordinary commands, eroded the legitimacy of the Senate and voting assemblies as legislative bodies; transforming the forum into a platform for incessant plebicites forced into the public arena by charismatic leaders through politically motivated trials and hired mobs. Such conditions he argues, increased the development of violent factionalism as a means to control the forum and rendered the Senate obsolete as a governing body, thus paving the way for the Civil War.

As with Gruen in "The Last Generation of the Roman Republic", Millar is very detailed in supporting his arguments; referring not only to Cicero's letters and trials but various other classical and modern sources. Along with Ward's "Marcus Crasssus and The Late Roman Republic", this book does a great service to the study of the Late Roman Republic. As there are variant opinions as to what factors were primarily responsible for the collapse of republican Rome, this is a thought provoking analysis. Millar offers a unique insight on the impact of the forum's physical location, how that affected Rome's political institutions and, how this interaction with socio-political events after the Social War led to the desintegration of the Roman Republic.

This is an excellent book for anyone interested in the politics and goverenment of the late Roman republic. It is well written. Millar has done an outstanding job. I strongly recommend it.

The result is a terrific and important book... It's important because it is history and the author was there on the front lines making this history with his people. I have read almost every book on the Chicano Movement, and this is the best ever written. Every middle school , high school, and university should have this book in their history department if one is to understand what the Chicano people had to endure

Like Rudolfo "Corky" Gonzalez himself, Ernesto B. Vigil takes his fight back to the street, and this time as historian and reveals the strengths and the criticisms, of the Chicano movement in 1960s Denver. Revealing the intolerance and the brutality for all to see this definitive period of Chicano history, its fascinating text like a hypertext to the streets of Denver, and the backrooms of the "Crusade for Justice" remained unknown to researchers partly because it had not been identified, but also because the interior covert nature of the urban Chicano organization made it almost impossible to enter from the outside. But Vigil's biography is as powerful as a right-cross to the glass-chin of America. Significant not simply for what the "Crusade" was but for what it has to say about the sucker punches thrown by the "Government's War on Dissent." With the sting of smelling salts, and the knowledge there is an opponent that needs to be identified, Vigil's lends clarity to a culture of competition. The cut man will be kept busy for many more rounds but there is no doubt that this is the definitive biography which historians and participants will turn to and that students will finally be able to resource for knowledge and understanding. For many years this hidden fragment of history lay buried now Ernesto Vigil's "The Crusade for Justice: Chicano Militancy and the Government's War on Dissent" allows the reader to cross to the other side of experience and examine the corners and cracks of America. A brilliant historian of two nations, Vigil's work opens a fresh chapter to a time period too long buried.- -Michael Evans-Smith

This short but powerful book provides the best and most concise review of the disastrous policies that have been developed by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Bello traces the origins of structural adjustment programs and then follows their effects into countries around the world.

Although originally published in 1994, the material is more relavent than ever. A MUST READ.

Bello provides a clear, concise and well evidenced argument that the structural adjustment programs of the IMF and World bank have sunk the countries of the global south into deeper and deeper debt and impovereshment. Bello sets this argument in the historical frame of the northern backlash against the rising economic power of the south. He also links the economic philosophy behind adjustment to the widening prosperity gap and falling real wages in the north.

A must read for all those curios about the World Bank and IMF and why people are against them.

I am a political junkie- I love to hear stories about politics and in particular the people involved. I live in New Hampshire where it used to be that every four years we would have a new Presidential campaign. Now, of course, the campaigns start as soon as the President is sworn into office. In a past life I wonder if I was a reporter on "the beat".

Walter Mears tells his stories as an AP (Associated Press) reporter for the past 40 years. From 1955 until 2001 this man's words were seen daily in every American newspaper in the country. Thus he could be said to be the most influential political reporter of his time. He is in a sense the storyteller of the past. He tells the stories of the 11 presidential campaigns that he covered. He is a fascinating man, and I have read all the material available about him and his writing and speaking.

Walter Mears graduated from Middlebury and got a job straight away with the AP. He started in Boston and reported from a pay phone that was reserved for bookies. He was soon asked to cover the Legislature in Montpelier, Vermont. He had no training, it was on the job. He was told to report on the Legislature and that is what he did. He said recently that the AP job in Vermont was the job he loved the most. He eventually moved to the big time in Washington, D.C. and it is there that he retired from the AP in 2001.

In between, Walter Mears covered all the important campaigns of the past 45 years. He has stories of JF Kennedy- " that man kept his love life secret- there is no way that the press wouldn't have talked about it if we had known- it worked for him because he didn't let anybody know". The Nixon years, the Clinton years-Vietnam and Watergate changed attitudes about government coverage- it turned from skeptical trust to suspicion and cynicism. Bill Clinton made suspicion and trust of politicians worse by his misconduct and dishonesty. American citizens fed on the assumption that politicians are not to be trusted said Mears.
In 1977 Walter Mears won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting of the 1976 Presidential Campaign. The day after he won, everyone gathered around him to see what he was going too write- as he said "The next story is the news".

Walter Mears believes in his profession, loves it. His philosophy is "Let people know what is happening and then let them decide what to do about it." He loves the politicians he covers. He believes they are honest people, and they think they are doing good things whether they are or not.

Walter Mears is a reporter who does not give biased, opininated news, and he is despondent over the news celebrities on the cable channels that think they are delivering news. This is one hell of a book. I enjoyed every page- the stories he tells and the times he has had. This man has lived his life doing what he loved! An admirable man and an admirable book. prisrob

Walter Mears crafts a compelling look at presidential politics from Kennedy to George W. Bush. His story does not contain the level of ego found in other books, and his behind the scenes stories and insights, and the history of American presidential politics, are worth a read.

Since the handover of Hong Kong to the Chinese government in 1997, the former British colony seems to be slowly slipping out of the world's attention. In Mr. Fenby's look at the year 1999 as Hong Kong lived it, we see not only why we need to watch Hong Kong closely, but we realize what stakes China is playing with as it slowly comes to terms with theis quasi-democratic city and its place in the world.

Mr. Fenby writes the book as essentially a journalist's diary that spans the entire course of 1999 - the final year that Mr. Fenby was editor of the South China Morning Post, arguably the premiere English-language newspaper in Hong Kong. He details not only the key figures in Hong Kong politics and the economy - at a very personal level - but also how China deals with Hong Kong and how the events of 1999 (everything from Falun Gong to the Taliban) shaped China's responses.

I think Mr. Fenby sees 1999 as not only the year that China stopped observing Hong Kong and began acting, but also the year that many of the fundamental agreememnts laid down between China and Hong Kong got tested. He shows the slow erosion of judicial and political autonomy caused, not through outright repression, but by behind-the-scenes deal-making and a desire of the political powers-that-be in Hong Kong not to ruffle mainland feathers.

His book is eminently readable and in many parts reads more like a political thriller than a diary or a report. If there is one criticism with the book, it is that when Mr. Fenby loses his job at the South China Morning Post in July of 1999, his personal hurt comes out quite clearly in the course of the narrative and possibly influences his objectivity throughout the rest of the year. However, were it me, I think that I would be hard-pressed to maintain even Mr. Fenby's level of detachment.

All in all, the book is not only fascinating and illuminating, but it is also quite enjoyable. I found myself caught up in the power play between China and Hong Kong as if it were a first-rate novel. However, the book is not a novel, and it does contain some rather chilling messages for the future of Hong Kong. If you have any interest in China - or interest in China's relationship with the Western world - I recommend not missing this book.

I read Mr Fenby's book on a plane ride from Rio to Hong Kong. It was the perfect antidote to spending hours on a plane. The first part of the book is a compendium of facts, views and background on Hong Kong particularly as they relate to the handover to China. So by the time I got to London I was an expert on the fascinating topic. I then started on the diary section where Jonathan picks out news items and events during his last year in Hong Kong. Now I was an expert on the "Handover" I could laugh at all his wonderful one-liners. (Such as his final sentence on a piece describing some particularly errant behaviour by the authorities in Hong Kong: "One country, three systems"). He also contrasts, with devastating effect, the ideological flag waving for the "love of motherland" with almost daily reports of corruption in China. A wonderful book that will educate and amuse in equal doses.