State Building in Crisis Governance: Donald Trump and COVID-19
NICHOLAS F. JACOBS, DESMOND KING, and Sidney M. Milkis look at the final year of the Donald Trump presidency, and the administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They argue that Trump’s actions fit a rationale, partisan strategy endemic to executive-centered partisanship. Consequently, Trump and the Republican Party failed to suffer the repudiation that punished previous presidents when adjudged failed crisis leaders.
pp. 225-261
Judging Inequality: State Supreme Courts and the Inequality Crisis
James L. Gibson and MICHAEL J. NELSON examine the role of state high courts in producing, maintaining, or ameliorating political, legal, economic, and social inequality over the period from 1990 to 2015.
pp. 263-292
Legal Claims and Compensation in Climate-Related Disasters
Susan M. Sterett and Laura K. Mateczun argue that courts are significant in governance in climate-related disasters. Complaints about the immediate harm from fires and floods expand the range of climate-related litigation beyond landmark environmental pursuits concerning greenhouse gas emissions. They do not argue that these cases solve the problems, but that the broadened scope of cases expands the actors, timeline, and institutions identified as contributing to problems with climate-related disasters..
pp. 293-330
Thinking about Groups in Political Science: A Case for Bringing the Meso Level Back In
LOUBNA EL AMINE and KEVIN MAZUR discuss the study of groups in comparative politics and political theory. They argue for focusing on the meso-level, which comprises families, neighborhoods, and localities, and which shows groups to be neither bounded and fixed nor ever-changing and completely malleable.
pp. 331-355
The President and the Supreme Court: The Effect of the Prospect of Non-Implementation on Government Success in the Court
GORDON D. BALLINGRUD examines judicial decision-making under conditions of political pressure given through ideological hostility from other federal institutions. He finds that in case outcomes and majority opinion writing, the Court’s behavior changes when other institutions are ideologically distant from the Court’s center.
pp. 357-379
Review Essay: Pity the Poor Autocrat: Vladimir Putin, Russia's “Weak Strongman”
KATHRYN STONER assesses Timothy Frye’s Weak Strongman: The Limits of Power in Putin’s Russia within the context of an emergent comparative political science literature on rising authoritarianism and democratic recession.
pp. 381-392
Review Essay: Making America Great Again? Individualism, Community, and Enlightened Self-Interest in the United States
Michael X. Delli Carpini reviews Robert Putnam’s The Upswing . He finds Putnam’s argument—that American democracy requires a balance between individualism and communitarianism—and his evidence that this balance produced positive effects through the first 60 years of the twentieth century, insightful and convincing, but raises concerns that this “data driven narrative” silos issues of race and gender, overstates the negative consequences of the political and cultural movements of the 1960s, and downplays the importance of political struggle and power in both the “upswings” and the downswings” that Putnam documents.
pp. 393-403
Thucydides's Trap? Historical Interpretation, Logic of Inquiry, and the Future of Sino-American Relations, Steve Chan Reviewed by Andrew Scobell
pp. 405-406
Creating the Desired Citizen: Ideology, State and Islam in Turkey, Ihsan Yilmaz Reviewed by Ahmet T. Kuru
pp. 407-408
After Repression: How Polarization Derails Democratic Transition, Elizabeth R. Nugent Reviewed by Gary A. Stradiotto
pp. 408-410
Ideology and International Institutions, Erik Voeten Reviewed by Stephen C. Nelson
pp. 410-411
Averting Catastrophe: Decision Theory for COVID-19, Climate Change, and Potential Disasters of All Kinds, Cass R. Sunstein Reviewed by Timothy W. Kneeland
pp. 411-413
The Political Economy of Development: A Game Theoretic Approach, Robert H. Bates Reviewed by Cesar Martinelli
pp. 413-414
Ukraine's Nuclear Disarmament: A History, Yuri Kostenko Reviewed by Bennett Ramberg
pp. 415-416
Women as War Criminals: Gender, Agency, and Justice, Izabela Steflja and Jessica Trisko Darden Reviewed by Shirley Graham
pp. 416-418
Advising Governments in the Westminster Tradition: Policy Advisory Systems in Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand, John Halligan and Jonathan Craft Reviewed by Andrea Migone
pp. 418-419
Governing through Expertise: The Politics of Bioethics, Annabelle Littoz-Monnet Reviewed by Benjamin Gregg
pp. 419-421
It's Not Personal: Politics and Policy in Lower Court Confirmation Hearings, Eve. M. Ringsmuth, Logan Dancey and Kjersten R. Nelson Reviewed by Benjamin Kassow
pp. 421-423
Hidden Liberalism: Burdened Visions of Progress in Modern Iran, Hussein Banai Reviewed by R. R. Asaadi
pp. 423-424
Political Economies of Energy Transition: Wind and Solar Power in Brazil and South Africa, Kathryn Hochstetler Reviewed by Michaël Aklin
pp. 424-426
Clash of Powers: US-China Rivalry in Global Trade Governance, Kristen Hopewell Reviewed by Dimitar D. Gueorguiev
pp. 426-428
Courts at War: Executive Power, Judicial Intervention, and Enemy Combatant Policies since 9/11, Gregory Burnep Reviewed by James J.F. Forest
pp. 428-429
Managing Transition: The First Post-Uprising Phase in Tunisia and Libya, Sabina Henneberg Reviewed by Nate Grubman
pp. 429-431
A Constitution for the Living: Imagining How Five Generations of Americans Would Rewrite the Nation's Fundamental Law, Beau Breslin Reviewed by Alin Fumurescu
pp. 431-432
Europe's Migration Crisis: Border Deaths and Human Dignity, Vicki Squire Reviewed by Rebecca Hamlin
pp. 432-434
Judicial Selection in the States, Herbert M. Kritzer Reviewed by Hayley Munir
pp. 434-435
Decadent Developmentalism: The Political Economy of Democratic Brazil, Matthew M. Taylor Reviewed by Guillermo Toral
pp. 435-437
Assault on Democracy: Communism, Fascism, and Authoritarianism during the Interwar Years, Kurt Weyland Reviewed by Jeffrey Kopstein
pp. 437-439
Global Jihad: A Brief History, Glenn E. Robinson Reviewed by Deina Abdelkader
pp. 439-440
Other People's Wars: The U.S. Military and the Challenge of Learning from Foreign Conflicts, Brent L. Sterling Reviewed by Michael J. Butler
pp. 440-442
Women's Empowerment and Disempowerment in Brazil: The Rise and Fall of President Dilma Rousseff, Pedro A. G. dos Santos and Farida Jalalzai Reviewed by Lorraine Bayard De Volo
pp. 442-443
The Comparative Politics of Immigration: Policy Choices in Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and the United States, Antje Ellermann Reviewed by Ariane Chebel D'Appollonia
pp. 443-445
Congress in Reverse: Repeals from Reconstruction to the Present, Jordan M. Ragusa and Nathaniel A. Birkhead Reviewed by Ruth Bloch Rubin
pp. 445-446
Presidential Elections in Iran: Islamic Idealism since the Revolution, Mahmoud Pargoo and Shahram Akbarzadeh Reviewed by Eric Lob
pp. 447-448
The Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, Joas Wagemakers Reviewed by Sean Yom
pp. 448-450
Inward Conquest: The Political Origins of Modern Public Services, Ben W. Ansell and Johannes Lindvall Reviewed by Ahmed Shafiqul Huque
pp. 450-451
Toxic Politics: China's Environmental Health Crisis and its Challenge to the Chinese State, Yanzhong Huang Reviewed by Yifei Li
pp. 452-453