The Vice President, Secretary of State, and Foreign Policy
Paul Kengor examines the influence of the secretary of state in affecting the vice president's role in foreign policy. He focuses on the relationship between vice presidents Dan Quayle and Al Gore and the secretaries of state in their administrations. While acknowledging that the president is most critical in determining a vice president's foreign-policy role, Kengor shows that the role of the secretary of state can be a vital factor in the vice president's ultimate level of involvement.

Economic Insecurity, Prejudicial Stereotypes, and Public Opinion on Immigration Policy
Peter Burns and James G. Gimpel examine mass attitudes toward immigration policy in the United States, asking whether widespread restrictionist sentiment is stirred more by economic insecurity, by negative ethnic stereotypes, or by some combination of the two. For some, prejudice is rooted in economic insecurity, but prejudice also has roots that are quite independent of economic fears. Anti-immigrant sentiment will not disappear simply because economic conditions improve.

Show of Force: Chinese Soldiers, Statesmen, and the 1995-1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis
Andrew Scobell analyses the 1995-96 Taiwan Strait crisis as a case study in coercive diplomacy. He focuses on the role of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and discusses the implications of the case for the future of cross-strait ties and Sino-American relations.

The Regional Sources of Power-Sharing Failure: The Case of Lebanon
Brenda M. Seaver examines the sources of power-sharing failure in societies afflicted by severe ethnic, religious, and/or linguistic cleavages. Focusing on Lebanon's democratic breakdown in 1975, she argues that inauspicious regional conditions pose the most serious threat to power-sharing arrangements. Specifically, turbulent regional systems undermine the domestic elite consensus upon which power sharing is based and ultimately contribute to institutional failure.

Opinion: The Shutdowns and the Constitution
Alfred Hill contends that the shutdowns of the federal government a few years ago represented an unconstitutional usurpation of power by the legislative branch. He observes that appropriation lapses have been common in American history, but drew little public attention because, to the extent that shutdowns actually resulted, they were apparently of short duration and seemingly without the broad coercive intent that was obvious, and indeed proclaimed, in the most recent shutdowns.

The Logic of Japanese Politics: Leaders, Institutions, and the Limits of Change, Gerald Curtis
Reviewed by Dennis P. Patterson

Pluralism and the Politics of Difference: State, Culture, and Ethnicity in Comparative Perspective, Ralph Grillo
Reviewed by Jennifer Hochschild

African Politics and Society: A Mosaic in Transformation, Peter J. Schraeder
Reviewed by Crawford Young

Authoritarianism in Syria: Institutions and Social Conflict 1946-1970, Steven Heydemann
Reviewed by Dirk Vandewalle

Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, Harvey Klehr and John Earl Haynes
Reviewed by David Plotke

Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography, Adam Clymer
Reviewed by Wendy J. Schiller

Progressivism and the New Democracy, Sidney M. Milkis and Jerome M. Mileur, eds.
Reviewed by Lawrence J. R. Herson

The Necessity of Politics: Reclaiming American Public Life, Christopher Beem ; For Common Things: Irony, Trust, and Commitment in America Today, Jedediah Purdy
Reviewed by Nina Eliasoph

Stirrings in the Jug: Black Politics in the Post-Segregation Era, Adolph Reed, Jr.
Reviewed by Mark E. Brandon

Race, Redistricting, and Representation: The Unintended Consequences of Black Majority Districts, David T. Canon
Reviewed by Louis DeSipio

The Rise of the Virtual State: Wealth and Power in the Coming Century, Richard Rosecrance
Reviewed by Bruce Russett

Revolutions, Nations, Empires: Conceptual Limits and Theoretical Possibilities, Alexander J. Motyl
Reviewed by Stephen White

Prosecuting War Crimes and Genocide: The Twentieth Century Experience, Howard Ball
Reviewed by Leslie Vinjamuri

Drug Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century, William B. McAllister
Reviewed by Peter Andreas

Discovering Chinese Nationalism in China, Yongnian Zheng
Reviewed by Joseph Fewsmith

The Presidency and the Politics of Racial Inequality: Nation-Keeping from 1831-1965, Russell L. Riley
Reviewed by Gregory Portillo

The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in America, Rogers M. Smith and Philip A. Klinkner
Reviewed by Charles Hirschman

Tocqueville's Revenge: State, Society and Economy in Contemporary France, Jonah D. Levy
Reviewed by Sheri Berman

The Politics of Positive Incentives in Arms Control, Thomas Bernauer and Dieter Ruloff, eds.
Reviewed by James W. Davis

The Activist Advocate: Policy Making in State Supreme Courts, Charles S. Lopeman
Reviewed by Brian L. Fife

Not Whether But When: The U.S. Decision to Enlarge NATO, James M. Goldgeier
Reviewed by Randall L. Schweller

Television and Its Viewers: Cultivation Theory and Research, James Shanahan and Michael Morgan
Reviewed by Brigitte L. Nacos

Jordanians, Palestinians and the Hashemite Kingdom in the Middle East Peace Process, Adnan Abu-Odeh
Reviewed by Laurie A. Brand

India against Itself: Assam and the Politics of Nationality, Sanjib Baruah
Reviewed by Maya Chadda

Crafting Coalitions for Reform: Business Preferences, Political Institutions, and Neoliberal Reform in Brazil, Peter R. Kingstone
Reviewed by Sylvia Maxfield

Spain at the Crossroads: Civil Society, Politics, and the Rule of Law, Victor Perez-Diaz
Reviewed by Eric Hershberg

Power of a Third Kind: The Western Attempt to Colonize the Global Village, Hisham M. Nazer
Reviewed by Jon B. Alterman

State Interests and Public Spheres: The International Politics of Jordan's Identity, Marc Lynch
Reviewed by Fred H. Lawson

City Making: Building Communities without Building Walls, Gerald E. Frug
Reviewed by David Schultz

Eco-Wars: Political Campaigns and Social Movements, Ronald T. Libby
Reviewed by David H. Colnic