Volume - Number -

Can Social Movements Save American Democracy? A Review Essay
Robert C. Lieberman examines the contrasting roles of political parties and social movements in both supporting and undermining American democracy. He suggests that parties and movements are more complementary that is typically understood and that both might be necessary to confront the contemporary crisis of democracy in the United States.

Volume 137 - Number 4 - Winter 2022-23

The Polarized American Electorate: The Rise of Partisan-Ideological Consistency and Its Consequences
Alan I. Abramowitz presents evidence from American National Election Studies surveys showing that party identification, ideological identification and issue positions have become much more closely connected over the past half century. He argues that as a result, the ideological divide between Democratic and Republican identifiers has widened considerably. The rise of partisan-ideological consistency has contributed to growing affective polarization as well as increasing party loyalty and straight ticket voting.

Power Shifts: Congress and Presidential Representation, John A. Dearborn
Reviewed by Jeffrey Crouch

American Political Thought: An Invitation, Ken Kersch
Reviewed by Loren Goldman

Firepower: How the NRA Turned Gun Owners into a Political Force, Matthew J. Lacombe
Reviewed by Leslie K. Finger

Volume 137 - Number 3 - Fall 2022

Assessing Futures Intelligence: Looking Back on Global Trends 2025
James J. Wirtz and ROGER Z. GEORGE offer an assessment of the forecasts contained in Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World, an unclassified report produced by the National Intelligence Council. They identify several analytical biases that shaped this effort at futures intelligence and one critical factor that is not adequately considered in U.S. futures estimates in general and Global Trends 2025 in particular.

Changing Their Minds? Donald Trump and Presidential Leadership, George C. Edwards III
Reviewed by Douglas L. Kriner

Where Great Powers Meet: America and China in Southeast Asia, David Shambaugh
Reviewed by Bonny Lin

Fighting the First Wave: Why the Coronavirus Was Tackled So Differently across the Globe, Peter Baldwin
Reviewed by Scott Greer

Civic Gifts: Voluntarism and the Making of the American Nation-State, Elisabeth S. Clemens
Reviewed by Michael J. Illuzzi

The Women of 2018: The Pink Wave in the US House Elections… and Its Legacy in 2020, Barbara Burrell
Reviewed by Emily Baer

Informing a Nation: The Newspaper Presidency of Thomas Jefferson, Mel Laracey
Reviewed by Simon Gilhooley

Volume 137 - Number 2 - Summer 2022

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.

Thucydides's Trap? Historical Interpretation, Logic of Inquiry, and the Future of Sino-American Relations, Steve Chan
Reviewed by Andrew Scobell

Creating the Desired Citizen: Ideology, State and Islam in Turkey, Ihsan Yilmaz
Reviewed by Ahmet T. Kuru

Averting Catastrophe: Decision Theory for COVID-19, Climate Change, and Potential Disasters of All Kinds, Cass R. Sunstein
Reviewed by Timothy W. Kneeland

Ukraine's Nuclear Disarmament: A History, Yuri Kostenko
Reviewed by Bennett Ramberg

The Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, Joas Wagemakers
Reviewed by Sean Yom

Inward Conquest: The Political Origins of Modern Public Services, Ben W. Ansell
Reviewed by Ahmed Shafiqul Huque

Toxic Politics: China's Environmental Health Crisis and its Challenge to the Chinese State, Yanzhong Huang
Reviewed by Yifei Li

Volume 137 - Number 1 - Spring 2022

How Populism Dies: Political Weaknesses of Personalistic Plebiscitarian Leadership
Kurt Weyland examines the weaknesses of populist leadership. He argues that populist leaders are prone to errors and misdeeds, have difficulty dealing with other political forces, and face institutional and external constraints. Consequently, he concludes, they damage and suffocate democracy not as easily and frequently as recent observers have feared.

How Can Presidents and the Executive Branch Preserve and Protect American Democracy? A Review Essay
Meena Bose reviews Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic: The  Deep State and the Unitary Executive by Stephen Skowronek, John A. Dearborn, and Desmond King. She finds that their study of the “dueling concepts,” or “phantoms,” of the “deep state” and “unitary executive” in American politics presents a trenchant assessment of the challenges of presidential governance today. She questions whether their recommendations for stronger party leadership and more collaborative decision making will address the problems that are so thoughtfully presented in this profound analysis of the American political system.  

The Autocratic Middle Class: How State Dependency Reduces the Demand for Democracy, Bryn Rosenfeld
Reviewed by Natalie Wenzell Letsa

Elections, Protest, and Authoritarian Regime Stability: Russia 2008–2020, Regina Smyth
Reviewed by Graeme Robertson

The Real Psychology of the Trump Presidency, Stanley Renshon
Reviewed by William G. Mayer