RONALD R. KREBS discusses the history, politics, and effects of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize. While conferral of the Prize seeks to change the world, Krebs argues the award only occasionally draws attention to ignored problems. He claims that the award has sometimes produced unexpected and unwanted outcomes, which have become more common in recent years as the Peace Prize has increasingly been awarded to promote domestic liberalization.

GREG M. SHAW analyzes the relationship between American public opinion and several redistributive programs from the beginning of the 1990s to the present. He concludes that the recent political success of these programs has more to do with the workforce attachment of the recipients and the nature of the assistance—cash versus in-kind—than it does with means testing.

SHARON K. WEINER looks at two cooperative threat reduction programs between the United States and Russia that were aimed at the proliferation of nuclear weapons expertise. She concludes that the organizational interests of the U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories—key actors in these programs—are responsible for early success but, in the long term, have led to concerns that have limited program effectiveness.

HELENA YEAMAN examines the partisan claims about the origins of the financial services crisis of 2008–2009. She challenges the view that observers should solely blame either the Democrats or the Republicans for the political climate that allowed the crisis to develop. She finds that the political roots of the crisis can be found in the strange admixture of the Democratic promotion of homeownership for all, combined with Republican adherence to laissezfaire in the financial services sector.

SULE TOKTAS and BULENT ARAS describe the development of minority rights in Turkey in light of the European Union accession process. They conclude that Turkey initiated several reforms that were necessary for EU membership but failed to alter its established “minority regime,” which recognizes as minorities the non-Muslim Armenian, Jewish and Greek communities and excludes other groups from the minority category.