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311. Suicide Bombers in Iraq: The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom

Author:
Mia Bloom
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
Mohammed Hafez's new book, Suicide Bombers in Iraq: The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom , is a must-read for every American soldier or journalist on his or her way to Iraq. This book shows beyond a shadow of a doubt just how complex the situation is. Loaded with facts and figures, it will provide students of terrorism studies considerable data from which to conduct research and analysis for years to come. In addition, the book puts names to and gives details about the many un-named suicide bombers in Iraq and settles the debate of the past few years about their real identity and nationality. They are overwhelmingly foreigners (as Hafez and others have argued for years with a certain colleague from Chicago), overwhelmingly Saudis, Kuwaitis, Maghrebis, and Europeans of Moroccan descent; only a small percentage of suicide bombers in Iraq are actually Iraqis.
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, and Europe

312. The Impact of Women in Congress

Author:
Georgia Duerst-Lahti
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
The title understates the scope of this book. While students of Congress indeed should read this book—and not only those interested in women—so should those concerned about policymaking, representation, and new approaches to studying institutions. Its conclusions are sophisticated and nuanced, and illuminate all of these fields. It also answers persistent questions about the relationship between descriptive and substantive representation, concluding indisputably that women's presence matters but that their impact is moderated by numbers, power, position, issue opportunity, and the attitudes, ideas, and concerns of both voters and men in Congress, especially male leaders.

313. America and Europe after 9/11 and Iraq: The Great Divide

Author:
Thomas Alan Schwartz
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
After watching the media coverage of French President Nicholas Sarkozy's November 2007 visit to the United States, reading a book about the ''great divide'' between the United States and Europe is a strange experience. After all, Sarkozy, along with German President Angela Merkel, have done almost everything in their power to heal the bitter rift created by the George W. Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq in March 2003. With pretty much the sole exception of Bush, almost all the leaders who engaged in the vitriol of that period have retired from the scene, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has made cooperation with Europe over issues like the Iranian nuclear program a high priority. So in some ways, this book feels outdated.
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, and Europe

314. On To the Convention!

Author:
Jason Bello and Robert Y. Shapiro
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
The 2008 primary campaigns started earlier than ever before. The focus of the press, pundits, and academics was on how the candidates were going out early to gain support, to raise money, and to build momentum. At the start, and even by late summer (six months after most candidates announced their intentions to run), no commentators—or anyone—spoke or wrote about the rules regarding delegate selection or their implications for the campaign. This is not surprising, given that it has been 80 years since an election with no incumbent or early front-runner in either major party and that the last primary contest to make it to the convention undecided was the 1976 Republican race. Even more striking, there has not been a primary with multiple balloting at the convention since the 1952 Democratic contest. Nonetheless, because we noticed that both major parties had several strong candidates emerge early on, we wanted to see if the rules could help us predict the likelihood of going to the convention with the results undecided (which only occurs when no candidate has secured a majority of the available delegates—1,191 delegates on the Republican side and 2,025 delegates on the Democratic side). Simply getting hold of the data to answer this question was extremely difficult at that time. When we called states looking for their delegate selection plans in August, most party leaders that we spoke with told us that the plans had not been written yet, while several others were surprised that anyone was asking about them, and a handful did not know how their states apportioned their delegates at all. Everyone was happy to tell us how to become a delegate (beginning by filling out a form of intention), but few were able to tell us what that meant (are the delegates bound to the primary or caucus results and in what way?).
Political Geography:
New York

315. Ideological Change and Israel's Disengagement from Gaza

Author:
Jonathan Rynhold and Dov Waxman
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
JONATHAN RYNHOLD and DOV WAXMAN posit that ideological change within the right-wing Likud party generated support for the partition of Israel that was a vital prerequisite to the Sharon government's adoption of the Gaza disengagement plan in 2005. Although international and domestic pressures were important in determining certain elements of the withdrawal, they did not dictate the policy of disengagement.
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
Israel and Gaza

316. Casualty Sensitivity in a Post-Soviet Context: Russian Views of the Second Chechen War, 2001–2004

Author:
Theodore P. Gerber and Sarah E. Mendelson
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
THEODORE P. GERBER and SARAH E. MENDELSON analyze Russian public opinion about the second war in Chechnya. They show that concern over Russian military casualties and the war's economic costs were the dominant sentiments, despite the Russian government's monopoly on media coverage of the conflict. Moreover, they argue that the war appears to have fueled ethnic animosity toward Chechens.
Topic:
Government and War
Political Geography:
Russia and Chechnya

317. The President as Chief Administrator: James Landis and the Brownlow Report

Author:
Donald R. Brand
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
DONALD R. BRAND examines the relationship between the Brownlow Report and James Landis's The Administrative Process. He argues that both of the interlocutors in this implicit debate have valuable insights, but that both are ultimately insufficient because they are not attentive to the constitutional and political context of administration.

318. Are African Voters Really Ethnic or Clientelistic? Survey Evidence from Ghana

Author:
Staffan I. Lindberg and Minion K. C. Morrison
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
STAFFAN I. LINDBERG and MINION K. C. MORRISON look at voting rationales in Ghana's 1996 and 2000 elections and find that citizens in a new democracy like Ghana are more ''mature'' democratic voters than the literature would have us to expect. While voting is no doubt patterned along ethnic and tribal lines, it appears that voting behavior is also explained at the individual level by rational policy calculations constrained by classic information problems.
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

319. Greek–Turkish Rapprochement: Rhetoric or Reality

Author:
Ziya Önis and Suhnaz Yilmaz
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
ZIYA ÖNIS and SUHNAZ YILMAZ discuss the nature of the current Turkish–Greek rapprochement. They conclude that while the relations have improved, in order to reach a durable partnership and to move beyond the existing stalemate, a more proactive approach from both sides on core issues of conflict is necessary.
Political Geography:
Turkey

320. David or Goliath? The Israel Lobby and Its Critics

Author:
Douglas Little
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
DOUGLAS LITTLE reviews John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's controversial new book, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. He concludes that despite their prosecutorial tone, the authors have sparked a long-overdue public debate about America's special relationship by questioning whether domestic politics drives the United States to act against its own national security interests.
Topic:
Security and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Israel