Islam, Democracy, and Constitutional Liberalism
Fareed Zakaria reflects on the factors present in the Middle East that have provided for the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and a complete absence of democracy. He prescribes policy measures for the United States and the leaders of the Middle Eastern regimes in order to best transition the region to one where at least constitutional liberalism may flourish.

Presidential Selection: Electoral Fallacies
JACK N. RAKOVE examines the conventional arguments made on behalf of preserving the state-based system of presidential elections and concludes that the familiar defenses of the electoral college are fallacious. If one person-one vote is the fundamental norm of modern democracy, there is no persuasive rationale that can legitimate the leveraging effect of the “senatorial bump” on the voting weights of differently sized states.

Presidential Selection: Complex Problems and Simple Solutions
Judith A. Best analyzes the electoral vote system in terms of six complex and interdependent goals for presidential elections and concludes that the current system, although not perfect, meets them all. She then examines six alternative plans for presidential selection and concludes that they would deform, rather than reform, our presidential elections.

Palestinian Suicide Bombing: Public Support, Market Share, and Outbidding
MIA M. BLOOM demonstrates why Palestinian public opinion increasingly supports suicide terror against Israeli civilians and military personnel. Suicide bombings have become a method of recruitment and mobilization for radical Palestinian organizations. They serve at one and the same time to attack the hated enemy and give legitimacy to outlier militant groups who compete with the Palestinian Authority for leadership.

The Gingrich Effect
Randall Strahan and Daniel J. Palazzolo discuss the leadership style of former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich. They show that Gingrich’s own goals and understanding of leadership significantly influenced his activist leadership style and that he both shaped the context in which he led and altered the expectations of his followers.

Global Security and Legal Restraint: Reconsidering War Powers after September 11
KARL K. SCHONBERG looks at the congressional authorizations of force since September 11, which he claims are best understood as the latest manifestations of a sixty-year pattern of growth in the president’s power to make war. He argues for a return to the intent of the Framers of the Constitution in the exercise of war powers.

Constitutional Courts and Legislative-Executive Relations: The Case of Ukraine
TREVOR L. BROWN and CHARLES R. WISE scrutinize Ukraine’s constitutional court. Their analysis suggests that in order for the constitutional court to work, it must have extensive judicial review powers, its jurisdiction must be broad enough to encompass separation of powers issues, and neither the executive nor the legislative branch should be able to easily control the court through the appointment process.

Civilian Masters and Military Servants: A Review Essay
RICHARD L. RUSSELL reviews several recent books that put the spotlight on perennial issues in American civil-military relations, especially as they pertain to the threat, use, and management of force. He argues that these books will help inform politicians, soldiers, scholars, and citizens of the inherent tensions in healthy civil-military relations as well as the pitfalls and dangers of imbalanced civil-military relations.

Terrorism, Freedom, and Security: Winning without War, Philip B. Heymann
Reviewed by Brigitte L. Nacos

U.S. Hegemony and International Organizations, Rosemary Foot, S. Neil MacFarlane and Michael Mastanduno
Reviewed by Julie Webber

A Grand Strategy for America, Robert J. Art
Reviewed by William E. Odom

No End to War: Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century, Walter Laqueur
Reviewed by John Prados

How Democracies Lose Small Wars: State, Society, and the Failures of France in Algeria, Israel in Lebanon, and the United States in Vietnam, Gil Merom
Reviewed by Barry M. Blechman

Argument and Change in World Politics: Ethics, Decolonization, and Humanitarian Intervention, Neta C. Crawford
Reviewed by Mlada Bukovansky

Democracy Delayed: The Case of Castro's Cuba, Juan J. Lopez
Reviewed by Jorge I. Domínguez

Canada, the United States, and Cuba: An Evolving Relationship, Sahadeo Basdeo and Heather N. Nicol
Reviewed by David M. Stemper

Reckoning with Homelessness, Kim Hopper
Reviewed by Ralph Nunez

Entertainment and Politics: The Influence of Pop Culture on Young Adult Political Socialization, David J. Jackson
Reviewed by Doris A. Graber

Rediscovering America's Sacred Ground: Public Religion and Pursuit of the Good in a Pluralistic America, Barbara A. McGraw
Reviewed by John Baumann

Religious Pluralism in America: The Contentious History of a Founding Ideal, William R. Hutchison
Reviewed by Eldon J. Eisenach

Faith-Based Initiatives and the Bush Administration: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Mary C. Segers, Jo Renee Formicola and Paul Weber
Reviewed by Ronald J. Hrebenar

Environmental Peacemaking, Ken Conca and Geoffrey D. Dabelko
Reviewed by David Leonard Downie

Bringing Society Back in: Grassroots Ecosystem Management, Accountability, and Sustainable Communities, Edward P. Weber
Reviewed by Steven Cohen

Social Movements and Democracy, Pedro Ibarra
Reviewed by David S. Meyer

Rising Tide: Gender Equality and Cultural Change around the World, Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris
Reviewed by Joyce Gelb

The George W. Bush Presidency: An Early Assessment, Fred I. Greenstein
Reviewed by Stephen J. Wayne

Bringing Representation Home: State Legislators among Their Constituencies, Michael A. Smith
Reviewed by Gerald Benjamin

Stalemate: Causes and Consequences of Legislative Gridlock, Sarah A. Binder
Reviewed by Norman J. Ornstein

Overruling Democracy: The Supreme Court vs. The American People, Jamin B. Raskin
Reviewed by Howard Gillman

One-Car Caravan: On the Road with the 2004 Democrats before America Tunes In, Walter Shapiro
Reviewed by Costas Panagopoulos

The Evolution of Presidential Polling, Robert M. Eisinger
Reviewed by Lawrence Jacobs

Information and American Democracy: Technology in the Evolution of Political Power, Bruce Bimber
Reviewed by Richard Davis

Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in American Civic Life, Theda Skocpol
Reviewed by James A. Morone

Madam President: Women Blazing the Leadership Trail, Eleanor Clift and Tom Brazaitis
Reviewed by Kathleen Knight

The Cult of the Nation in France: Inventing Nationalism, 1680-1800, David A. Bell
Reviewed by Mark Kesselman

Strategic Dilemmas and the Evolution of German Foreign Policy since Unification, Jeffrey S. Lantis
Reviewed by Donald P. Kommers

The Emergence of Mass Politics in Spain: Populist Demagoguery and Republican Culture, 1890-1910, José Alvarez-Junco
Reviewed by Norman A. Graham

Machiavelli's Children: Leaders and Their Legacies in Italy and Japan, Richard J. Samuels
Reviewed by Frederick R. Dickinson

Alternatives to Hitler: German Resistance under the Third Reich, Hans Mommsen
Reviewed by Klemens von Klemperer