Defining Moment: The Threat and Use of Force in American Foreign Policy
Barry M. Blechman and Tamara Cofman Wittes examine the uses of military threats and military interventions in the Bush and first Clinton administrations. Based on case studies and interviews with U.S. decision makers, they conclude that domestic and international political constraints are preventing U.S. leaders from making threats decisive enough to persuade foreign leaders to comply with U.S. demands.

Impeachment Politics in the 1998 Congressional Elections
Gary C. Jacobson analyzes the 1998 U.S. congressional elections to determine why voters strongly endorsed the political status quo despite the president's involvement in a scandal that led to his impeachment by the House of Representatives.

Public Support for Peacekeeping in Lebanon and Somalia: Assessing the Casualties Hypothesis
James Burk challenges the hypothesis that public support for peacekeeping missions vanishes once casualties are taken. He identifies logical problems with the underlying theory and shows that its empirical predictions are not supported in the critical cases of Lebanon and Somalia.

Origins of the Fourth Amendment
Leonard W. Levy discusses English and American history to determine the sources and development of the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment barring unreasonable searches and seizures. He concludes that general warrants and warrantless searches were the norm until the American Revolution, when specific warrants began to emerge, especially in Massachusetts.

Lessons from Russia's Protracted Transition from Communist Rule
Michael McFaul explains why Russia's change from communist rule has been so protracted and conflictual in comparison with other democratic transitions. He focuses on the strategic interaction of individual actors, rather than cultural or historical factors, to build an explanation for Russia's troubled transition.

A Review Essay of H. R. McMaster's "Dereliction of Duty"
James J. Wirtz reviews H.R. McMaster's "Dereliction of Duty", which argues that the Joint Chiefs of Staff failed to devise an effective strategy in Vietnam. He questions McMaster's claim that the Joint Chiefs quickly recognized that U.S. forces had only limited prospects for success in Southeast Asia and failed to inform the Johnson administration about their reservations concerning American military intervention in Southeast Asia.

Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam, H. R. McMaster
Reviewed by James J. Wirtz

Saddam's Word: Political Discourse in Iraq, Ofra Bengio
Reviewed by F. Gregory Gause III

The Brink of Peace: The Israeli-Syrian Negotiations, Itamar Rabinovitch
Reviewed by William B. Quandt

America's Imperial Burden: Is the Past Prologue?, Ernest W. Lefever
Reviewed by Tony Smith

How to Be a Cheap Hawk: The 1999 and 2000 Defense Budgets, Michael O'Hanlon
Reviewed by Randy Willoughby

Stealing the State: Control and Collapse in Soviet Institutions, Steven L. Solnick
Reviewed by Leonid Polishchuk

Without Warning: Threat Assessment, Intelligence, and Global Struggle, Mikhail A. Alexseev
Reviewed by Robert Jervis

Chechnya: Tombstone of Russian Power, Anatol Lieven
Reviewed by Laura V. Swartz

The Enigma of 1989: The USSR and the Liberation of Eastern Europe, Jacques Levesque
Reviewed by John T. Ishiyama

Deng: A Political Biography, Benjamin Yang
Reviewed by June Teufel Dreyer

Disarming Strangers: Nuclear Diplomacy with North Korea, Leon D. Sigal
Reviewed by Victor D. Cha

Battling Western Imperialism: Mao, Stalin, and the United States, Michael M. Sheng
Reviewed by Steven M. Goldstein

Building Democracy in Latin America, John Peeler
Reviewed by Gerardo L. Munck

China's Transition, ANDREW J. NATHAN
Reviewed by Minxin Pei

From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America's World Role, Fareed Zakaria
Reviewed by Peter Trubowitz

Politics of Illusion: The Bay of Pigs Invasion Reexamined, James G. Blight and Peter Kornbluh, eds.
Reviewed by Robert A. Divine

Constructive Conflicts: From Escalation to Resolution, Louis Kriesberg
Reviewed by Roy Licklider

War and the Media: A Random Searchlight, Miles Hudson and John Stanier
Reviewed by John J. Smee

The Dynamics of Enduring Rivalries, Paul F. Diehl, ed.
Reviewed by K. J. Holsti

Global Diaspora: An Introduction, Robin Cohen
Reviewed by Robert C. Smith

Freedom's Ordeal: The Struggle for Human Rights and Democracy in Post-Soviet States, Peter Juviler
Reviewed by Michael Urban

The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter's Journey Beyond the White House, Douglas Brinkley
Reviewed by Erwin C. Hargrove

Waging Peace: How Eisenhower Shaped and Enduring Cold War Strategy, Robert R. Bowie and Richard H. Immerman
Reviewed by Meena Bose

Turkey's Kurdish Question, Graham E. Fuller and Henri J. Barkey
Reviewed by Michael M. Gunter

The Peruvian Labyrinth: Polity, Society, Economy, Maxwell A. Cameron and Philip Mauceri, eds.
Reviewed by Jo-Marie Burt

The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Nations are So Rich and Some So Poor, David S. Landes
Reviewed by Susan Rose-Ackerman

Citizenship and Civil Society, Thomas Janoski
Reviewed by David Fagelson

Democracy and Elections, Richard S. Katz
Reviewed by Mark P. Jones

Presidential-Congressional Relations: Policy and Time Approaches, Steven A. Shull
Reviewed by Jay P. Greene

The Chicago NAACP and the Rise of Black Professional Leadership, 1910-1966, Christopher Robert Reed
Reviewed by Desiree S. Pedescleaux

The Soviet World of American Communism, Harvey Klehr, John Earl Haynes and Kyrill M. Anderson
Reviewed by David Plotke

Interest Groups and Judicial Federalism, Donald J. Farole, Jr.
Reviewed by Barbara M. Yarnold

Bold Relief: Institutional Politics and the Origins of Modern American Social Policy, Edwin Amenta
Reviewed by Bartholomew H. Sparrow

Basic Interests: The Importance of Groups in Politics and in Political Science, Frank R. Baumgartner and Beth L. Leech
Reviewed by Ken W. Kollman