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.

Why Women Support Conservative Parties: The Case of Turkey
GAMZE ÇAVDAR analyzes women’s support for conservative parties in Turkey between 2003 and 2020. She highlights the role of clientelist networks that strategically target women and provide them with both material benefits (such as cash and in-kind transfers) and non-material aid (such as social support and solidarity).

Revisiting Religious Economy Models: The Decline of Religious Engagement among Turkish Youth
Esen Kirdis¸ explores why Turkish youth  became  less  religious  under the two-decade incumbency of the Justice and Development Party (JDP), a religio-conservative party. She argues that the Turkish youth’s religious disengagement can be explained by the rising religious monopoly of the JDP that neither supplied services to address the youth’s socioeconomic grievances nor allowed for the formation of a diverse and competitive religious market that could capture the changes among Turkish youth.

Political Marginalization of Youth in Nigeria and the Use of Social Media to Pursue Inclusivity: A Study of #NotTooYoungToRun
TAMAR HARUNA DAMBO, METIN ERSOY, KAYODE KOLAWOLE ELUWOLE, ABDULGAFFAR OLAWALE ARIKEWUYO discuss how new media technologies are leading the way for new forms of political inclusion campaigns and political activity among youths in Nigeria. They examine the impact of the #NotTooYoungToRun (NTYTR) campaign in Nigeria.

The Conservative Bias in America’s Local Governments
BRIAN F. SCHAFFNER, JESSE H. RHODES, and Raymond J. La Raja use new population-level data to examine the ideologies of municipal residents relative to those of elected officials in their communities. They find that the average ideology of local officials is markedly more conservative than that of the average resident and that local officials are especially distant from non-white constituents.

China and Grand Strategy: Does the Empire Have a Plan? A Review Essay
Andrew Scobell reviews Rush Doshi’s book The Long Game. Scobell contends that while significantly advancing the study of China’s grand strategy, the volume tends to exaggerate Beijing’s capacity to plan, coordinate, and attain long term goals.

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

The Man of the People: Political Dissent and the Making of the American Presidency, Nathaniel C. Green
Reviewed by Christopher J. Galdieri

Learning from Loss: The Democrats, 2016–2020, Seth Masket
Reviewed by Daniel J. Lee

Protecting China's Interests Overseas: Securitization and Foreign Policy, Andrea Ghiselli
Reviewed by Robert S. Ross

Japanese Foreign Intelligence and Grand Strategy: From the Cold War to the Abe Era, Brad Williams
Reviewed by Richard J. Samuels

Immigrant Incorporation in East Asian Democracies, Erin Aeran Chung
Reviewed by Celeste L. Arrington

Homeschooling the Right: How Conservative Education Activism Erodes the State, Heath Brown
Reviewed by John B. Holbein

Angry Politics: Partisan Hatred and Political Polarization among College Students, Stacy G. Ulbig
Reviewed by Jaime E. Settle

Criminalizing Atrocity: The Global Spread of Criminal Laws against International Crimes, Mark S. Berlin
Reviewed by Kyle Rapp

Opposing Lincoln: Clement L. Vallandigham, Presidential Power, and the Legal Battle over Dissent in Wartime, Thomas C. Mackey
Reviewed by Joseph R. Fornieri

Women and the Holy City: The Struggle over Jerusalem's Sacred Space, Lihi Ben Shitrit
Reviewed by Leonard Hammer

Nonstate Warfare: The Military Methods of Guerillas, Warlords, and Militias, Stephen Biddle
Reviewed by Lionel Beehner

Babel: A Guide to the East-West Encounter, Ofer Grosbard
Reviewed by Yael Aronoff

Implementing City Sustainability: Overcoming Administrative Silos to Achieve Functional Collective Action, Rachel M. Krause and Christopher Hawkins
Reviewed by Corina Mckendry

Peacekeeping, Policing, and the Rule of Law after Civil War, Robert A. Blair
Reviewed by Megan Shannon

Pittsburgh and the Urban League Movement: A Century of Social Service and Activism, Joe William Trotter, Jr.
Reviewed by Ronald J. Stephens

The Last Years of Karl Marx: An Intellectual Biography, Marcello Musto
Reviewed by William Clare Roberts

The Work of Politics: Making a Democratic Welfare State, Steven Klein
Reviewed by Thimo Heisenberg

Jihadists of North Africa and the Sahel, Alexander Thurston
Reviewed by Glenn E. Robinson

John F. Kennedy and the Politics of Faith, Patrick Lacroix
Reviewed by David O'Connell

Whistleblowers, Leakers, and Their Networks: From Snowden to Samizdat, Jason Ross Arnold
Reviewed by Allison Stanger

Recognizing Resentment: Sympathy, Injustice, and Liberal Political Thought, Michelle Schwarze
Reviewed by Manu Samnotra

The Judicial Tug of War: How Lawyers, Politicians, and Ideological Incentives Shape the American Judiciary, Adam Bonica and Maya Sen
Reviewed by Deborah Beim

Continuity and Change in Political Culture: Israel and Beyond, Yael Aronoff, Ilan Peleg and Saliba Sarsar
Reviewed by Liron Lavi

Endgames: Military Response to Protest in Arab Autocracies, Hicham Bou Nassif
Reviewed by Yezid Sayigh

Citizenship Reimagined: A New Framework for State Rights in the United States, Allan Colbern and S. Karthick Ramakrishnan
Reviewed by Els De Graauw

How Autocrats Compete: Parties, Patrons and Unfair Elections in Africa, Yonatan L. Morse
Reviewed by Michaela Collord

Racism in American Public Life: A Call to Action, Johnnetta Betsch Cole
Reviewed by Brandy S. Faulkner