Volume 119 · Number 1 · Spring 2004

FAREED ZAKARIA reflects on the factors present in the Middle East that have provided for the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and a complete absence of democracy. He prescribes policy measures for the United States and the leaders of the Middle Eastern regimes in order to best transition the region to one where at least constitutional liberalism may flourish.

JACK N. RAKOVE examines the conventional arguments made on behalf of preserving the state-based system of presidential elections and concludes that the familiar defenses of the electoral college are fallacious. If one person-one vote is the fundamental norm of modern democracy, there is no persuasive rationale that can legitimate the leveraging effect of the “senatorial bump” on the voting weights of differently sized states.

JUDITH A. BEST analyzes the electoral vote system in terms of six complex and interdependent goals for presidential elections and concludes that the current system, although not perfect, meets them all. She then examines six alternative plans for presidential selection and concludes that they would deform, rather than reform, our presidential elections.

MIA M. BLOOM demonstrates why Palestinian public opinion increasingly supports suicide terror against Israeli civilians and military personnel. Suicide bombings have become a method of recruitment and mobilization for radical Palestinian organizations. They serve at one and the same time to attack the hated enemy and give legitimacy to outlier militant groups who compete with the Palestinian Authority for leadership.

RANDALL STRAHAN and DANIEL J. PALAZZOLO discuss the leadership style of former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich. They show that Gingrich’s own goals and understanding of leadership significantly influenced his activist leadership style and that he both shaped the context in which he led and altered the expectations of his followers.

KARL K. SCHONBERG looks at the congressional authorizations of force since September 11, which he claims are best understood as the latest manifestations of a sixty-year pattern of growth in the president’s power to make war. He argues for a return to the intent of the Framers of the Constitution in the exercise of war powers.

TREVOR L. BROWN and CHARLES R. WISE scrutinize Ukraine’s constitutional court. Their analysis suggests that in order for the constitutional court to work, it must have extensive judicial review powers, its jurisdiction must be broad enough to encompass separation of powers issues, and neither the executive nor the legislative branch should be able to easily control the court through the appointment process.

RICHARD L. RUSSELL reviews several recent books that put the spotlight on perennial issues in American civil-military relations, especially as they pertain to the threat, use, and management of force. He argues that these books will help inform politicians, soldiers, scholars, and citizens of the inherent tensions in healthy civil-military relations as well as the pitfalls and dangers of imbalanced civil-military relations.

Book reviews

Reviewed by Brigitte L. Nacos

Reviewed by Julie Webber

Reviewed by William E. Odom

Reviewed by John Prados

Reviewed by Barry M. Blechman

Reviewed by Mlada Bukovansky

Reviewed by Jorge I. Domínguez

Reviewed by David M. Stemper

Reviewed by Ralph Nunez

Reviewed by Doris A. Graber

Reviewed by John Baumann

Reviewed by Eldon J. Eisenach

Reviewed by Ronald J. Hrebenar

Reviewed by David Leonard Downie

Reviewed by Steven Cohen

Reviewed by David S. Meyer

Reviewed by Joyce Gelb

Reviewed by Stephen J. Wayne

Reviewed by Gerald Benjamin

Reviewed by Norman J. Ornstein

Reviewed by Howard Gillman

Reviewed by Costas Panagopoulos

Reviewed by Lawrence Jacobs

Reviewed by Richard Davis

Reviewed by James A. Morone

Reviewed by Kathleen Knight

Reviewed by Mark Kesselman

Reviewed by Donald P. Kommers

Reviewed by Norman A. Graham

Reviewed by Frederick R. Dickinson

Reviewed by Klemens von Klemperer