Absolutism and the Resilience of Monarchy in the Middle East
Lisa Anderson explores the reasons for the unusually high number of monarchies in the Middle East, denying that it is an attribute of regional political culture. Instead she argues that these monarchies are the results of British imperial policy and the political utility of absolutism in meeting the demands of state formation.

The Congressional Role in U.S. Military Policy
Barry M. Blechman shows that Congress has both a constitutional basis and political incentives to play a role in forming U.S. military policy. He argues that acceptance of these roles by the executive branch could streamline the congressional process, reduce negative aspects of congressional interventions, and permit the legislature to carry out its constitutional responsibilities more effectively.

An American Democrat: A Reevaluation of the Personality of Harry S. Truman
Alonzo L. Hamby offers an eclectic interpretation of Harry S. Truman's personality. He asserts that American democracy allows a "commoner' such as Truman to reach the presidency. He argues that as a commoner, Truman was a less successful leader than those presidents who were either born to high status or had reached it outside of politics.

The Reagan Administration and Coercive Diplomacy: Restraining More Than Remaking Governments
Bruce W. Jentleson analyzes the uses and limitations of a strategy of coercive diplomacy as seen in five principal cases drawn from the Reagan years. He argues that coercive diplomacy is much more effective as a strategy for restraining rather than remaking governments.

From Negro to Black to African American: The Power of Names and Naming
Ben L. Martin examines the movement by some black American opinionmakers to adopt the term "African American" in referring to themselves. He finds analogues in the successful imposition of "black" over "Negro" twenty years earlier.

Alliance Pathology: Institutional Lessons of the 1930s
Alexander J. Groth and Richard G. Randall reevaluate the conventional meaning of "alliance" from the perspective of the Franco-British response to Nazi military incursion into the Rhineland in 1936. They suggest that alliances may occasionally become demagogic substitutes for national defense.

The American Secretaries of State and Their Diplomacy, Robert H. Ferrell ; Dean Rusk, Warren I. Cohen ; As I Saw It, Dean Rusk, Richard Rusk and Daniel S. Papp
Reviewed by Warren I. Cohen

Constitutionalism, Democracy, and Foreign Affairs, Louis Henkin
Reviewed by Louis Fisher

China's Crisis, ANDREW J. NATHAN ; China Rising: The Meaning of Tienanmen, Lee Feigon
Reviewed by Allen S. Whiting

China's Unfinished Revolution: Problems and Prospects Since Mao, James M. Ethridge
Reviewed by Richard Lufrano

Soldiers and the Soviet State: Civil-Military Relations From Brezhnev to Gorbachev, Thane Gustafson and Timothy J. Colton
Reviewed by Raymond L. Garthoff

Civilian-Based Defense: A Post-Military Weapons System, Gene Sharp
Reviewed by Philip W. Dyer

The New Deal and its Legacy: Critique and Reappraisal, Robert Eden
Reviewed by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

The Fifth Branch: Science Advisers as Policymakers, Sheila Jasanoff
Reviewed by Sanford Lakoff

South Africa's Foreign Policy: The Search for Status and Security 1945- 1988, James Barber and John Barratt
Reviewed by Crawford Young

The Politics of Rich and Poor: Wealth and the American Electorate in the Reagan Aftermath, Kevin Phillips
Reviewed by Nelson W. Polsby

The Loyalties of Voters: A Lifetime Learning Model, Richard Rose and Ian McAllister
Reviewed by Russell J. Dalton

The Environmental Protection Agency: Asking the Wrong Questions, Marc K. Landy, Marc J. Roberts and Stephen R. Thomas
Reviewed by Steven Cohen

Deadly Dilemmas: Deterrence in U.S. Nuclear Strategy, James H. Lebovic
Reviewed by George H. Quester

Eisenhower: Soldier and President, Stephen E. Ambrose ; Eisenhower: Turning the World Toward Peace, Harold Stassen and Marshall Houts
Reviewed by Richard H. Immerman

Lucius D. Clay: An American Life, Jean Edward Smith
Reviewed by John Gimbel

The Limits of Alliance: NATO Out-of-Area Problems Since 1949, Douglas Stuart and William Tow
Reviewed by Donald J. Puchala

The Cold War and Defense, Keith Neilson and Ronald G. Haycock
Reviewed by H. W. Brands, Jr.

Rethinking the Pacific, Gerald Segal
Reviewed by John Bresnan

Public Opinion, Polls, and Democracy, Irving Crespi
Reviewed by Terrance Carroll

The United States and Egypt: An Essay on Policy for the 1990s, William B. Quandt
Reviewed by F. Gregory Gause III

The Founding of Israeli Democracy, 1948-1967, Peter Y. Medding
Reviewed by Gary S. Schiff

The Parties Respond: Changes in the American Party System, L. Sandy Maisel
Reviewed by Leon D. Epstein

Belonging to America: Equal Citizenship and the Constitution, Kenneth L. Karst
Reviewed by R. Kent Greenawalt

The Money Chase: Congressional Campaign Finance Reform, Candice J. Nelson and David B. Magleby
Reviewed by Frank J. Sorauf

Governors and Legislatures: Contending Powers, Alan Rosenthal
Reviewed by Gerald Benjamin

Black Entrepreneurship in America, Shelley Green and Paul Pryde
Reviewed by Robert C. Smith

Race, Redevelopment and the New Company Town, Daniel J. Monti
Reviewed by Jewel Bellush

Supremely Political: The Role of Ideology and Presidential Management in Unsuccessful Supreme Court Nominations, John Massaro
Reviewed by Timothy O. Lenz

City Choices: Education and Housing, Kenneth K. Wong
Reviewed by John Mollenkopf

The Politics of Plant Closings, John Portz
Reviewed by Clarence N. Stone

Coping with Mandates: What Are the Alternatives?, Michael Fix and Daphne A. Kenyon
Reviewed by Timothy J. Conlan

The Justice Juggernaut: Fighting Street Crime, Controlling Citizens, Diana R. Gordon
Reviewed by Wesley G. Skogan

Rules for Rulers: The Politics of Advice, Arnold J. Meltsner
Reviewed by Robert D. Behn

The Privatization Decision: Public Ends, Private Means, John D. Donahue
Reviewed by Steven Rathgeb Smith

Tar Heel Politics: Myths and Realities, Paul Luebke
Reviewed by Clifton McCleskey

The Cause that Failed: Communism in American Political Life, Guenter Lewy
Reviewed by Athan Theoharis

Nicaragua's Other Revolution: Religious Faith and Political Struggle, Michael Dodson and Laura Nuzzi O'Shaughnessy
Reviewed by John A. Booth

The Political Economy of European Integration, Paolo Guerrieri and Pier Carlo Padoan
Reviewed by Jorg Boche

Autonomy, Sovereignty, and Self-Determination: The Accommodation of Conflicting Rights, Hurst Hannum
Reviewed by Lowell S. Gustafson

Middle Power Internationalism: The North-South Dimension, Cranford Pratt
Reviewed by Robert L. Paarlberg

Sweden: Social Democracy in Practice, Henry Milner
Reviewed by Tim Tilton

The Indochinese Refugee Dilemma, Valerie O'Connor Sutter
Reviewed by Gil Loescher

The Political Unification of Korea in the 1990s: Key to World Peace, Young Jeh Kim
Reviewed by Young Whan Kihl

Entangling Alliances: How the Third World Shapes Our Lives, John Maxwell Hamilton
Reviewed by Craig N. Murphy

Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society, Ronald Inglehart
Reviewed by Markus Kreuzer