Referendum: The 2006 Midterm Congressional Elections
Gary C. Jacobson analyzes the 2006 midterm election as a referendum on the performance of President Bush, the war in Iraq, and the Republican Congress. He argues that the Democrats won control of Congress by nationalizing the election and exploiting widespread public discontent with the Republican regime to overcome the Republicans’ formidable structural advantage in present-day electoral politics.
pp. 1-24
Do Counterproliferation and Counterterrorism Go Together?
Daniel Byman challenges the view that proliferation and terrorism are similar problems and that the policies to combat them necessarily operate in harmony. Policymakers concerned about nuclear terrorism should focus on helping potential leakers improve security and on guarding against the rise of hostile ideological states.
pp. 25-46
The Detention and Trial of Enemy Combatants: A Drama in Three Branches
Michael C. Dorf describes the interactions among the three branches of the federal government in addressing the detention and trial of captives in the war in Afghanistan and the broader ‘‘war on terror.’’ He explains that the Supreme Court’s repeated rejections of the Bush administration’s sweeping assertions of wartime authority have erected few insurmountable obstacles to administration policy. Instead, the Court has required the administration to seek authority from Congress, which in turn has shown little appetite for reining in the President.
pp. 47-58
Is America a Christian Nation?
Hugh Heclo argues that both secular and religious political activists have found it advantageous to demonize each other by using the idea of America as a Christian nation. Citizens can gain a more mature understanding of the relationship between Christianity and American nationhood by considering different domains of variation in America’s alleged Christian-ness.
pp. 59-87
Between Passion and Deliberation: The Christian Right and Democratic Ideals
JON A. SHIELDS unearths a surprising relationship between the Christian right and democratic ideals. Although Christian right leaders are strident in the context of mobilization, they also encourage their activists to embrace civility and public reason in the public square. This fact highlights a deeper tension between the democratic ideals of participation and deliberation.
pp. 89-113
The Basis of Puerto Rico’s Constitutional Status: Colony, Compact, or ‘‘Federacy’’?
DAVID A. REZVANI examines the controversy surrounding Puerto Rico’s constitutional status and rejects both of the traditional views on this issue. Puerto Rico is neither an American colony nor are its powers legally safeguarded by its 1952 ‘‘compact’’ with the United States. Instead, mirroring the historic British dominions, unwritten constitutional rules defend Puerto Rico’s constitutional status, making it into a partially sovereign polity known as a ‘‘federacy.’’
pp. 115-140
Constructing the U.S. Rapprochement with China, 1961-1974: From "Red Menace" to "Tacit Ally", Evelyn Goh ;
Sino-Japanese Relations: Interaction, Logic, and Transformation, Ming Wan ;
China and Vietnam: The Politics of Asymmetry, Brantly Womack Reviewed by ANDREW J. NATHAN
pp. 141-143
Money, Power, & Elections: How Campaign Finance Reform Subverts American Democracy, Rodney A. Smith ;
Money and Free Speech: Campaign Finance Reform and the Courts, Melvin I. Urofsky Reviewed by J. Mark Wrighton
pp. 144-146
Spying on the Bomb: American Nuclear Intelligence from Nazi Germany
to Iran and North Korea, Jeffrey T. Richelson Reviewed by Robert Jervis
pp. 146-147
The Silent Majority: Suburban Politics in the Sunbelt South, Matthew D. Lassiter Reviewed by Charles W. Eagles
pp. 147-149
Party Wars: Polarization and the Politics of National Policy Making, Barbara Sinclair Reviewed by Nolan McCarty
pp. 149-150
The Election After Reform: Money, Politics, and the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, Michael Malbin Reviewed by Costas Panagopoulos
pp. 150-152
Deliberative Choices: Debating Public Policy in Congress, Paul J. Quirk and Gary Mucciaroni Reviewed by Katrina L. Gamble
pp. 152-154
Ten Thousand Democracies: Politics and Public Opinion in America’s
School Districts, Michael B. Berkman and Eric Plutzer Reviewed by Kenneth K. Wong
pp. 154-156
The Reagan Imprint: Ideas in American Foreign Policy from the Collapse
of Communism to the War on Terror, John Arquilla Reviewed by Stuart Gottlieb
pp. 156-157
The Shield and the Cloak: The Security of the Commons, Gary Hart Reviewed by Jakub Grygiel
pp. 157-158
The Enemy of My Enemy: The Alarming Convergence of Militant Islam and the Extreme Right, George Michael Reviewed by Eric Larson
pp. 159-160
Why War? The Cultural Logic of Iraq, the Gulf War, and Suez, Philip Smith Reviewed by Marc Lynch
pp. 160-161
Strategies of Dominance: The Misdirection of U.S. Foreign Policy, P. Edward Haley Reviewed by David V. Edwards
pp. 161-163
Counterinsurgency and the Global War on Terror: Military Culture and Irregular War, Robert M. Cassidy Reviewed by Dessie P. Zagorcheva
pp. 163-164
Terror on the Internet: The New Arena, the New Challenges, Gabriel Weimann Reviewed by Benjamin H. Friedman
pp. 164-165
Blind Oracles: Intellectuals and War from Kennan to Kissinger, Bruce Kuklick Reviewed by David Greenberg
pp. 166-167
The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty: An Insider’s Perspective, Keith A. Hansen Reviewed by George H. Quester
pp. 167-168
The New Lion of Damascus: Bashar al-Asad and Modern Syria, David W. Lesch Reviewed by Steven Heydemann
pp. 168-170
Reaching for Power: The Shi’a in the Modern Arab World, Yitzhak Nakash Reviewed by Magnus T. Bernhardsson
pp. 170-171
Uniting Africa: Building Regional Peace and Security Systems, David J. Francis Reviewed by Kevin C. Dunn
pp. 171-173
Building New Deal Liberalism: The Political Economy of Public Works, 1933-1956, Jason Scott Smith Reviewed by Gary Mucciaroni
pp. 173-174
Five Days in Philadelphia: 1940, Wendell Willkie, and the Political Convention
that Freed FDR to Win World War II, Charles Peters Reviewed by Edwin Amenta
pp. 174-175
No Child Left Behind and the Transformation of Federal Education
Policy, 1965-2005, Patrick J. McGuinn Reviewed by Paul Manna
pp. 176-177
School’s In: Federalism and the National Education Agenda, Paul Manna Reviewed by Christopher A. Simon
pp. 177-178
Common Ground: Committee Politics in the U.S. House of Representatives, John Baughman Reviewed by C. Lawrence Evans
pp. 178-179
Democracy, Inc.: The Press and Law in the Corporate Rationalization of the Public Sphere, David S. Allen Reviewed by Roger L. Sadler
pp. 180-181
The Hard Count: The Political and Social Challenges of Census
Mobilization, Norman H. Nie, Kenneth Prewitt, D. Sunshine Hillygus and Heili Pals Reviewed by John Mark Hansen
pp. 181-182
Reconstructing the Commercial Republic: Constitutional Design after Madison, Stephen L. Elkin Reviewed by Keith E. Whittington
pp. 182-183
Age in the Welfare State, Julia Lynch Reviewed by Greg M. Shaw
pp. 184-185
Design for a New Europe, John Gillingham Reviewed by George Ross
pp. 185-186
Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages, Saskia Sassen Reviewed by Paul Kantor
pp. 186-188