• After the Revolution: PACs, Lobbies, and the Republican Congress
• By Invitation Only: The Rise of Exclusive Politics in the United States
• Campaigns and Elections: Contemporary Case Studies
• Checks and Balances? How a Parliamentary System Could Change American Politics
• Congress and the Decline of Public Trust: Why Can't the Government Do What's Right
• Done Deal? The Politics of the 1997 Budget Agreement
• The Dysfunctional Congress? The Individual Roots of an Institutional Dilemma
• The Guide to the Federal Budget: Fiscal 2000
• Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy
• Parliamentary Representation: The Case of the Norwegian Storting
• Representing Women: Sex, Gender, and Legislative Behavior in Arizona and California
• Rostenkowski: The Pursuit of Power and the End of the Old Politics
• Sharing the Balance of Power: An Examination of Shared Power in the Michigan House of Representatives 1993-1994
• This War Really Matters: Inside the Fight for Defense Dollars

This edited volume examines thirteen of the most powerful interest lobbies in Washington, DC in the mid and late 1990s exploring how those organizations made strategic adjustments to deal with the change in congressional leadership in 1994. The editors compile a series of essays from scholars in the discipline who analyze the changes in strategy and approaches these key groups underwent with the change to Republican congressional control. 

This work is critical because political activity in Washington since the advent of the lobby culture in the 1970s typically operated around a stable set of assumptions about the way lobbying worked. The editors note that the GOP takeover of Congress in 1994 shattered three assumptions in political science and in Washington: 1) incumbents would win more than 90 percent of all
House races and 75 percent of all Senate races; 2) Democrats would maintain control of the House; and 3) brief periods of Republican control would interrupt a largely Democratic Senate. Given the GOP electoral landslide of 1994, political scientists found new opportunity to study how the electoral events would shape the nature of lobbying Congress. 

This insightful new volume clearly contributes to our understanding of interest group activity and addresses questions regarding lobby group maintenance and strategic adjustments given a suddenly transformed legislative arena. The result is a collection of case studies profiling how prominent interest group organizations network in Washington, DC, how they adjusted and
refocused themselves after a surprising change in majority control, and how they influenced policy outcomes.

A primary conclusion of this work is that the GOP takeover of Congress did not fundamentally change the way interest groups work on Capitol Hill. Rather, certain conservative groups - including the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) and the National Rifle Association (NRA) - emerged as winners with great access to new opportunities for influence
while other traditional liberal groups such as the American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and the Sierra Club suddenly lost access to the policymaking process and found themselves forming new coalitions to block new GOP initiatives.

Given the continuing slim control of the House and the prospects for a fairly equally-divided chamber in the near future, the questions the editors and contributors of this volume raise are critical to political scientists and political practitioners alike. 

Documenting a shift that began in the early part of the twentieth century and culminated in the 1970s, Schier argues that participation in mass political behavior has become "by invitation" with many U.S. citizens sitting on the sidelines. This change has alarming consequences for democracy as the number and character of those "invited" to participate in the political process has narrowed and become more exclusive in contemporary American politics. 

'Mobilization of the electorate' broadly describes all efforts at encouraging participation. Key to his analysis, however, Schier makes an important distinction between mobilization and activation. Mobilization describes the partisan efforts undertaken to encourage participation in the late nineteenth century. The political parties used mass, broad-based appeals, thus politics was
more inclusive. Activation in this new era of politics refers to exclusive tactics used to prompt participation, not just by political parties, but also by candidates and interest groups. Those targeted are disproportionately better educated, have higher incomes, have more political resources than the average citizen, and are most receptive to targeting. 

What prompted this change in electoral strategies? Schier attributes it to the weakening of political parties, the consequent rise of interest groups, and technological innovations that enable the tracking and targeting of individuals. He notes that activation strategies are wholly rational in today's political environment and not likely to disappear; nonetheless Schier seeks to evaluate
ways to expand the targets of activation politics. He believes structural changes in the electoral arena can make politics more inclusive, most notably compulsory voting and making registration of voters a government responsibility rather than an individual one.

Campaigns and Elections: Contemporary Case Studies. Michael A. Bailey, Ronald A. Faucheux, Paul S. Herrnson, and Clyde Wilcox, editors. CQ Press, 2000. ISBN 1568024959, $22.95, paper, 212 pages.

The focus of election studies is who wins and why. The editors of Campaigns and Elections have compiled a series of national, state and local campaign case studies to explore the complex nature of American political elections. Although elections in the United States demonstrate stable and predictable trends due to partisan voting and incumbency advantage, the editors argue that issues still matter, sometimes upsetting predicted electoral outcomes. First, the authors analyze five Senate races, including races determined by popularity, campaign spending and interest group support, ideological fit, a clear campaign message, and a powerful image. Second, the book targets House races. While incumbents typically have a powerful advantage in national elections to the U. S. House of Representatives, the authors illustrate through a series of cases the importance of the mobilization of new constituencies, independent challengers, demographic change, redistricting, and party leadership and organization to the outcome of elections at this level. 

The editors then extend their analysis to several state and local elections to further emphasize the importance of issues to campaign outcomes. The cases in this section suggest the importance of mobilization of constituent bases during the primary season, the centrality of local issues, and the effect of open primaries on challenger recruitment. The authors also explore the success that independents, such as Jesse Ventura in Minnesota, have enjoyed in gubernatorial elections. 

Finally, the authors look at the role of referenda in campaigns and elections. This section includes such movements as support for the NRA in Washington, local pressure for a new football stadium in San Francisco, opposition to gay rights legislation in Oregon, and opposition to progressive state income tax initiatives in Massachusetts. In conclusion, the project is a nice qualitative contribution to the literature and would serve well as an addition to any undergraduate or graduate course on campaigns and elections in American politics.

Checks and Balances? is a laudable attempt to use cross-case comparisons to look at the fundamentals of the U.S. political system. Despite its title, however, it is not a sustained advocacy of a parliamentary system for the United States. Rather, the authors' stated goal is to challenge readers to understand how institutional/rule changes lead to differing policy and political
outcomes. The book examines the classic tradeoff between majority rule and minority rights. 

For teaching purposes, the most valuable chapter of the book may well be the first. It not only lays out the research question (is American government still useful?), but also punctures six common "misperceptions" that equate American government with democracy in general. The authors offer an enlightening discussion of different governing arrangements in other leading democracies, including variations on proportional representation. 

Checks and Balances? revolves around two loci: a thorough comparison of executive-legislative functions in the American and British systems, and secondly, an exegesis of the Republicans' 1994 "Contract with America." The discussion of the contract illustrates the central claim of the book-that institutions matter and the contract would have had a very different fate under a
parliamentary system. Even so, the authors are careful to note shortcomings of parliamentary systems, and, in fact, readers will gain a new appreciation for some aspects of the American system from a comparative perspective.

The authors offer three major reform ideas which would push the U.S. closer to a parliamentary system, viz., fusing executive-legislative functions, increasing party strength, and finally, eliminating fixed terms of office. These are thought-provoking proposals, even if such changes are unlikely. The book is written in accessible style and is especially suitable for sophomore or junior-level courses on American political process, the president and Congress, legislative process, and
comparative politics.

Echoing the concerns of former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley who provides the foreword for this edited volume, Cooper and his contributors argue that there is a serious crisis in America today with regard to democracy, and that crisis can be largely attributed to the lack of trust citizens have in their government and especially the Congress. The decline in public trust in government transcends the governmental spectrum, but is mainly concentrated around the institutions of Congress and the presidency, both having come to be seen as enemies of the people.

Cooper and his contributors argue that this decline in trust may be attributable to the elusive and enigmatic organizational structures and procedures of Congress, alongside the institution's high level of partisanship and openness to public scrutiny. David Shribman argues that external forces related to but not derivative of Congress may also be responsible, such as special interests and the public perception that government does not care about "people like me." This is a salient issue regardless of the diminished role of government in recent years because "people still expect government to provide relief for the pain of their lives" (28).

John Hibbing provides a different spin on the issue of public trust, arguing that perhaps the real problem may be traced back to a shortcoming of the American people, not in the institution of Congress itself. Citizens do not truly understand the functions inherent in the design of democratic process, including its necessarily slow and deliberative nature and the need for coalition building. 

Taking this argument one step further, Charles Bullock and Mary Hepburn argue that civic education should inculcate our abilities to be critical and skeptical of government, but only when accompanied by true understanding of the governmental and policy process. There is a discord now between citizens' overly critical and narrow perspective of government and their dearth
of knowledge regarding the way democratic government is supposed to function.

This collection provides an in-depth examination of one of the most distressing issues facing American democracy today.

Done Deal? The Politics of the 1997 Budget Agreement. Daniel J. Palazzolo. Chatham House Publishers, 1999. ISBN 1889119202, $24.95, paper, 256 pages.

The Guide to the Federal Budget: Fiscal 2000. Stanley E. Collender. The Century Foundation Press, 1999. ISBN 087078434X, $22.95, paper, 224 pages.

These two new book provide readers with useful insights into the process and politics of federal budget-making.

Done Deal? The Politics of the 1997 Budget Agreement explores the 1997 budget agreement in an effort to understand how a Democratic president and a Republican-controlled Congress can reach an agreement to balance the budget in spite of divided government and partisanship. Palazzolo not only provides the reader with a detailed account of the months of debate and
compromise that led up to the 1997 agreement, but he places this detailed account in theoretical terms. Palazzolo refutes scholars who argue that the deficit problem cannot be solved because of "inevitable gridlock" due to partisanship and interest group pressures. Using a "realist expectations model," Palazzolo identifies the constraints to policy reform and the ability of the key budget actors to adapt to these constraints as well as respond to the changing political and economic environment to produce significant policy reform. Participant observation, interviews, and document review provide evidence that with a political environment ripe for cooperation, a soaring economy, and key budget actors willing to compromise, a bipartisan deficit reduction agreement can occur in an era of divided government. This book is a must read for any student of politics, particularly those with an interest in budgeting or divided government.

In The Guide to the Federal Budget: Fiscal 2000, Stanley Collender, a former staffer for both the House and Senate Budget Committees, provides a comprehensive account of the federal budget process beginning with key definitions and a review of the most recent changes to the budget process: Gramm-Rudman-Hollings and the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990. The
author reviews the major tenets of these laws including the changes in responsibilities and powers of the key actors in the federal budget process. Further, the budget process is explained in terms of the activities, deadlines, and key actors involved at each stage. One of the most useful parts of the book entitled, "How to read and use the federal budget," walks the reader through the tables and schedules of the executive budget produced by the Office of Management and Budget. This book is an easy to understand guide to the federal budget and is well suited for students of public budgeting as well as budget novices seeking information on federal revenues and expenditures. 

Mayer and Canon present a well-organized, classroom-compatible book which examines the policy implications of the institutional structure of Congress. Their underlying argument is that the unfavorable public opinion of Congress is a by-product of its constitutional structure. They explain the inherent tensions between delegate and trustee in terms of each member of Congress' dual responsibilities to represent their district and to legislate for the benefit of the nation. They argue that the American constitutional structure is such that the tension between representation and responsible legislation can not be completely reconciled. In their conclusion, Mayer and Canon present proposals for institutional reform which would alleviate this tension.

The authors examine the public disillusionment with Congress in lieu of the public's generally positive attitude toward individual members. Using a modified rational choice analysis, Mayer and Canon explain how individual member behavior aggravates this public discontent. In addition, they employ a historical approach to demonstrate that an institutional base for this tension has existed since the founding of the republic and recent institutional changes have served, in conjunction with rational action by members, to aggravate the disjunction created by the constitution. While tracing previous attempts at reform, Mayer and Canon also present their own reform agenda.

Mayer and Canon have presented an excellent guide (complete with a glossary, study questions, and an index) for understanding the institutional tension between representation and legislation in the U.S. Congress. With a very accessible structure and a good overview of congressional literature, the book would serve well as a supplementary text for students of Congress. 

Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy. Mark M. Lowenthal. CQ Press, 1999. ISBN 1568025122, $28.95, paper, 264 pages.

Lowenthal is a recognized authority on the U.S. intelligence community with more than 23 years of  experience as an intelligence official in both the executive and legislative branches of government. Drawing upon his personal experience and extensive research, he strives to provide a better understanding of the roles and challenges of intelligence in the formulation of US national
security policy. 

The book focuses on the intelligence process and the relationship between intelligence and policy making. Lowenthal concentrates on the role of the policy maker in each phase of the intelligence process: requirements, collection, processing and exploitation, analysis and production, dissemination and consumption, and feedback. Moreover, each step is discussed thoroughly in terms of its functions, advantages, and challenges.

Other areas examined throughout the book include covert action, counterintelligence, oversight, and ethical and moral issues. Attention is given to the changing intelligence agenda in the post-Cold War era and the challenges resulting from unclear intelligence priorities. Included within each chapter is a list of other recommended readings that would further broaden the readers' understanding of intelligence, and an extensive appendix contains important intelligence documents. Undoubtedly, Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy promises to be a great introductory text in any undergraduate or graduate class on intelligence. 

Parliamentary Representation: The Case of the Norwegian Storting. Donald R. Matthews and Henry Valen. Ohio State University Press, 1999. ISBN 0814250025, $23.95, paper, 224 pages.

Donald Matthews and Henry Valen add to the literature on representative government by analyzing the means and extent to which Norway's parliament, the Storting, represents the Norwegian people. They argue that current models of representative government, most of which assume American circumstances, do not adequately explain representation, especially in multi-party, consensus democracies, such as Norway. 

They briefly review the nature of the hybrid Storting, in which all 165 members are elected at the same time from party lists in proportional representation districts and allocated between the larger Odelsting and smaller Lagting legislative chambers by party caucuses. Because only dues-paying party members are allowed to choose candidates at these caucuses, only five percent of Norway's population - the politically active "selectorate - actually participates in the nominating process. The
Storting's powerful standing committees perform most of the legislature's work in closed meetings, where compromises across party lines are commonplace. 

The authors question the representativeness of Storting members, given the low level of voter participation in the nominating process, as well as the representativeness of standing committee members, compared to the legislature as a whole. Surveys of Storting members, party nominating committee members, and voters indicate that on policy issues, Storting majorities agree with a majority of the voters on most public policy issues. Surprisingly, the mostly wealthy, well-educated male members of the legislature appear to successfully represent the Norwegian people on a symbolic level, as well. More than half of the legislative members also maintained high levels of constituency service representation, dedicating more than ten days a month to their home districts. Finally, differences between standing committee members and the legislature as a whole appeared to be insignificant.

The authors' straightforward methodology and refreshingly simple statistical analyses make this a highly readable and thoughtful single country study. Although the authors do not present their own model of representation, they clearly demonstrate the need to develop more complex models that can be applied to non-American cases.

Representing Women: Sex, Gender, and Legislative Behavior in Arizona and California. Beth Reingold. University of North Carolina Press, 2000. ISBN 0807848506, $19.95, paper, 338 pages.

Playing off the double entendre in the title of her book, Beth Reingold examines the representative nature, action, and effectiveness of women legislators. "Are women in public office simply women who represent, or are they also women who represent women? And what about the men in public office - do they represent women? Do they represent women to the same extent their female counterparts do" (2)? Reingold researches legislative records, conducts extensive personal interviews, and issues surveys to male and female legislators of California and Arizona in order to deconstruct popular views of female/male representation.

By defining, dissecting, and, finally, dismissing the "strategy of difference" (what legislators attribute to legitimize women's positions in legislation) in chapter 1, Reingold shows that there are no significant differences between the representing behavior of men and women legislators (243). In fact there are more similarities than differences.

Utilizing Pitkin's (1967) framework, Reingold further reveals that in "neither [the California nor Arizona] legislature was being female (descriptive representation) a guarantee of attitudes and activities associated with women (substantive representation)" (30, 243). Men and women have an equal opportunity to effectively represent women. Reingold's concludes that "descriptive
representation was, as a criterion for substantive representation, neither absolutely necessary nor always sufficient" (243). These findings indicate two things: 1) men are able to fairly and successfully represent women, regardless of the lack of personal or bodily connection (i.e. abortion); and 2) women representatives do not always make a difference for women. Reingold is quick to say that it does make a difference that women hold public office, even if the importance only lies in increasing the numbers. 

Beth Reingold's research and findings challenge the foundations of gender politics and expectations in America. 

Rostenkowski: The Pursuit of Power and the End of the Old Politics. Richard E. Cohen. Ivan R. Dee, 1999. ISBN 1566632544, $27.50, cloth, 311 pages.

In this biographical account of the life of Congressman Dan Rostenkowski, Richard Cohen provides an in depth look into the political career of one of the most influential legislators of the twentieth century. Cohen details every aspect of Rostenkowski's life, from his political lineage and upbringing to the public scandal that ended his lengthy congressional career.

In his examination of the political life of Rostenkowski, Cohen paints the picture of a man who was able to thrive politically over five tumultuous decades. In essence, Rostenkowski was a throw back to the old type of politics. He was a product of Chicago machine politics loyal to Richard Daley throughout his career. Unlike many of the new members of the Democratic party,
Rostenkowski was foremost a politician who used his ability to bargain in order to gain power. Although he suffered defeat at the hands of liberal reformers in the House, Rostenkowski was able to rebound and wield an enormous amount of power as chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. However, Rostenkowski's political career will always be marked by the public scandal that forced him from office. Accused of payroll padding and the misuse of thousands of dollars in official funds, Rostenkowski pled guilty on two counts and served several months in prison.

Through his review of Rostenkowski's political career, Cohen simultaneously traces the changes within American politics over the past five decades. During Rostenkowski's lengthy tenure, the makeup of the Democratic party within the House of Representatives changed from machine party loyalists to liberal reformers, while the institution itself underwent dramatic restructuring. By situating Rostenkowski's political career within this context, Cohen provides an excellent historical account of the House of Representatives and the personalities operating within it. Because of this dual purpose, Rostenkowski: The Pursuit of Power and the End of Old Politics would be beneficial to any student of American politics.

Sharing the Balance of Power: An Examination of Shared Power in the Michigan House of Representatives 1993-1994. Daniel Loepp. University of Michigan Press, 1999. ISBN 0472097024, $34.50, cloth, 197 pages.

Daniel Loepp chronicles Michigan's Eighty-seventh Legislature (1993-1994), a unique period when Democrats and Republicans successfully shared power. This brief historical account provides a refreshingly positive view of how legislators can temporarily suspend partisan bickering in favor of bipartisan consensus. More specifically, this account shows how two men from different parties - Paul Hillegonds and Curtis Hertel - unselfishly shared power and influenced the nature of legislative actions.

Daniel Loepp, former chief of staff to the Democratic co-Speaker Curtis Hertel, fuses interviews with his own experiences in order to provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the rise, challenges, and demise of the shared power agreement that structured the state legislature for two years. He records how Hillegonds and Hertel negotiated, bargained, and compromised their way to a shared power agreement in order to avoid complete deadlock. The apex of this agreement was a rotating co-speakership of the state house and its respective committees. Loepp notes how the shared power agreement survived membership turnover, policy conflict, and the House Fiscal Agency scandal. In the midst of these challenges, Hillegonds and Hertel worked surreptitiously within the framework of the shared power agreement to preserve the spirit of the agreement. The result,
according to Loepp, was unprecedented partisan harmony and policy success for members of both parties. Loepp annotates the book with stories about and quotes from members of the Eighty-seventh Legislature regarding the strengths of and their experience with the shared power agreement.

In a period where most of the public is cynical about legislators and the legislative process, Loepp provides readers with a positive account of individuals setting aside intense partisan differences in favor of genuine bipartisan cooperation. Thus, this historical case study is valuable because it offers a positive glimpse of governance. For students of legislative politics, this book is an excellent case study of how personalities can dominate a legislative session and how legislatures respond to unique conditions.

This War Really Matters: Inside the Fight for Defense Dollars. George C. Wilson. CQ Press, 1999. ISBN 1568024066, $19.95, paper, 256 pages.

George C. Wilson draws upon 38 years of experience as a respected defense reporter in his narrative of the battle for defense dollars. Anecdotes and interviews with military and political leaders add interest to this highly readable descriptive analysis of defense politics.

The author focuses on debates during the 105th Congress to highlight difficulties involved in post-Cold War defense budgeting. The book includes probing accounts of the quadrennial defense review process, base closure decision making, the larger guns vs. butter debate, and specific arguments made by the secretary of defense, chiefs of staff, and political leaders on each of these issues. Along the way, Wilson deciphers the "Pentagonese" of civilian-military conflict, inter-service rivalry, and pork-barrel politics.

Wilson concludes that the defense budgeting process is "seriously, but not fatally flawed." He is critical of the Clinton administration's initial handling of military issues after the Cold War and cites the president's unwillingness to "take on military leaders" because of his own lack of military service. He suggests the need to abandon the current policy process and initiate substantial defense reform under the leadership of a president "with Eisenhower's military credibility and Carter's political guts."According to Wilson, such a leader would be able to win over the political might of the defense industry, armed services, and lawmakers to implement real reform.

With many examples of bureaucratic turf wars, this book should be of interest to scholars of American politics in general as well as to those concerned primarily with defense matters. The author's brief description of a "political version of guerrilla warfare" captivates the reader without needlessly overemphasizing statistics or technical details of weapon systems. While this book
addresses the popular topic of defense politics, it is a welcome departure from more common and less exciting "iron triangle" analyses of the subject matter.

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