Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2017 -

Explanation of regime change is one of the quintessential questions of our time. Why some countries have democratized successfully and others struggle with the persistence of dictatorship is a vexing puzzle that has preoccupied social scientists for a long time. Haggard and Kaufman provide an erudite analysis of the complexities of transition from the authoritarian rule to democracy in the last three decades. The authors discuss the preconditions of different paths to democracy, including a critical appraisal of the role of inequality and the popular demand for distributive policies and democratic rights. The underlying causes of variations--why some democratic transitions are successful and others revert to dictatorship--are also addressed. In contrast to the conventional wisdom of modernization theory on social change, the authors offer a nuanced analysis that takes into account the institutional and the elite capabilities, the civil society strength and the mass mobilization and organizational assets of the opposition, as well as the role of international factors. This book is a first-rate contribution to the literature on regime transition and an essential reading for students and scholars of democratization. Recommended for upper-division and graduate courses.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

Karl Polanyi is a great polymath who strides across the academic boundaries of social sciences. His most famous achievement, The Great Transformation, is a masterpiece, a brilliant critique of a world ruled by markets in which market values seem to trump important virtues. This idea remains at the center of Polanyi's work: markets operate more or less independently of society at large with little concern about the impact on people and their societies. Yes, regulations exist, but they are a minimal determinant of markets. Polanyi observes the disheartening transition from early capitalism to fascism. With excellent access to people with information about Polanyi, Dale paints a detailed picture of the highly developed intellectual level of central Europe as well as the struggle of Jews to build lives in a society in which anti-Semitism was rampant. This terrific book can be read on different levels, learning about Jewish evolution as well as the gross of modernist thinking. Perhaps, above all, Polanyi's personal life with family, friends, and other intellectuals is engrossing. Dale deserves great credit for his masterpiece.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

To say Liebert (West Point) has written the best book on Plutarch in many years would be to damn with faint praise--this is not merely an excellent study of Plutarch, it is an excellent study of serious questions in political philosophy, and it admirably shows exactly why Plutarch is still relevant today. Plutarch's Politics is rich with many treasures; all who read Plutarch will of course profit from it. Lieber has an eye for uncovering the nuance and subtlety of Plutarch's Lives, and in doing so does both Plutarch and contemporary readers a great service. Liebert focuses chiefly on the Lycurgus and the Numa Pompilius, but in doing so he draws out much that applies to the Lives as a whole. Liebert's book reveals that Plutarch's Lives truly is a possession for all time, and the lessons Plutarch presents are as relevant today as they ever have been. Plutarch's insights, ably recovered by Liebert, can guide us as we confront similar political problems today. This is not just an outstanding study of Plutarch; it is an outstanding study of political philosophy.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

The theme of this intense dialogue between authors Urbinati (Columbia) and Zampaglione (La Republica) is the change western democracies are presently undergoing, whereby the concept of equality has been diminished by populist, nationalist, and xenophobic attitudes and beliefs. The material is presented as a collection of conversations between the authors, carried out in New York, Bologna, and Rome, and originally published in Italy. There is a wealth of references to political philosophers and intellectuals from a variety of disciplines, familiarity with which is somewhat necessary to fully appreciate the book's deep and dense rhetoric.The challenges facing democracies today and the implications for liberty and equality are spelled out in exacting form, requiring the reader to pay close attention. Democracy for Urbinati is an important ideology because it is transformative for the individual and the community and, therefore, an important contribution to human development. The threat to some of democracy's core values causes the authors to delve into the relationship between civil society and politics. This is an essential read for all interested in political theory and philosophy.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

A product of doctoral research, this book is a tour de force on the theories of political philosophers from Great Britain, the US, and Western Europe dealing with the creation of a stable world order in the era emerging just before World War II to the middle of the Cold War. Rosenboim, a political research fellow (Cambridge), presents in a most impressive manner a wide range of American and European intellectual elites' approach to the study and ultimate creation of a structured world order. Under the separate themes of the history of geopolitics, cosmopolitanism, federalism, and democratic theory, the author captures the significance of thought of such luminaries as Raymond Aron, David Mitrany, E. H. Carr, Owen Lattimore, Nicholas Spykman, Friedrich Hayek, Michael Polanyi, and H. G. Wells, among others. The major focus and most significant contribution is a discussion on the formation of ideas of order in world politics. Rosenboim examines the tensions between the then-growing recognition of pluralism and the emergence of a humanitarian notion of global unity. This meta-analysis is unquestionably a necessary addition to a reading list for students of international relations.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

Scholars who look at the framing of the US Constitution tend to think almost exclusively about its "ideological foundations" (Bailyn), its economic determinants (Beard), or the rational calculations underlying its premises (Ostrom). This reviewer has done all these things. But Klarman (Harvard Law) offers a pragmatic, even quotidian, explanation, taking the reader through the most minute historical detail and presenting quite literally everything anyone interested in the coming-to-be of the US Constitution would possibly want: theory, philosophy, history, theology, religion, politics, economics--and just plain random chance. And he weaves it all together with a master storyteller's ear for just the right phrase and just the right dramatic line. This reviewer is amazed by what the author has accomplished. This is not the first thing he's written, and yet it feels like something one would spend an entire academic career writing. The documentation is astonishing, and is alone worth the price of this (extremely large!) volume. This reviewer had a grand time reading this, and cannot wait to do it again. This is an amazing piece of work.Summing Up: Essential. All readership levels.