Customer Reviews:
Major work on political agenda setting.......2007-06-05
Agenda setting, in the world of politics, is when a problem becomes identified as an issue that calls for government attention, discussion, and--possibly--decision making. This book is one of the most important works on agenda-setting.
John Kingdon has stated that:
Political events flow along according to their own dynamics and their own rules. Participants perceive swings in national mood, elections bring new administrations to power and new partisan or ideological distributions to Congress, and interest groups of various descriptions press (or fail to press) their demands on government.
The author sees three streams that must come together for an issue to be placed on the agenda--a political stream (just noted above), a policy stream (in which some policy proposal emerges as "best"), and a problem stream (a problem develops that people label as important). If they come together and if the window of opportunity for success is there, then the issue can become an agenda item. If the streams do not come together, agenda placement is unsuccessful--as with President Clinton's health care plan. That plan had two of three requirements in place. One, the political stream was supportive. A new President had been elected with his party having a majority in both houses of Congress; furthermore, Clinton outlined as a campaign issue support for a more ambitious health care program for Americans. The confluence of these two factors produced something like a "mandate" for change. Two, the problem stream saw health care bubbling up toward the top. That is, increasingly, people seemed to define health care as a serious problem about which something had to be done.
Nonetheless, no major initiative emerged to be fully considered. Clinton's plan was very nearly DOA (dead on arrival) once serious discussion began. Why? No single policy proposal garnered enough support. Democrats supported several different plans--such as a single payer system (in which government becomes the insurer), "pay or play" (in which businesses would largely fund health care insurance), and the Clinton plan itself (which focused on managed care). Thus, the policy stream never did "come together" around any single proposal. As a result, the initiative died and no substantial changes were forthcoming in the health care system.
What emerges in each stream is, to a large extent, "contingent," depending upon many factors--including chance. The result is unpredictability.
It may be that this work overemphasizes chance and contingency and underplays the role of human agency (for instance, the role of policy entrepreneurs who labot to get issues placed on the agenda and acted upon). Nonetheless, this is an exemplary work and well worth attending to if one is interested in setting the political agenda.
Good theory, easy to read.......2004-10-10
Kingdon has produced an innovative and useful theory of the policy process. This book is clearly not intended for the lay reader, but for political scientists and policy specialists interested in theorizing about policy formation.
Kingdon's writing style is somewhat formal, and at times stiff, but the book is easy to get through. Kingdon provides many concrete examples of the ideas he discusses, making the abstract principles easier to understand.
Recommended for classes on the policy process, especially in conjunction with Baumgarter and Jones' Agendas and Instability in American Politics.
Great, just a little expensive.......2003-01-08
John Kingdon attempts to answer very difficult questions in his work "Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies." What makes an idea's time come? What makes people in and around government attend to some subjects and not to others? In short, Kingdon explores how ideas become policy in his 1994 award-winning book.
The book makes many interesting conclusions, as Kingdon uses scientific research methods to discuss how ideas become policy. It is amazing that Kingdon is able to quantify how influential certain groups are to policy formulation and implementation. In doing this, he looks at the influence of groups in and outside of government. Kingdon then goes onto his major two concepts of the policy primeval soup and the political stream. Both of these are wonderful illustrations of how policymaking happens.
In the end, this is a great book for public policy students. My only complaint is that Kingdon is oftentimes too wordy. It seems that he could have written a much more effective piece by summing it up in a 40-page journal article. In any event, the book is worth the read, even if some chapters are only skimmed.
Was Not Riviting but the Theory Is Good.......2002-12-25
I am in the graduate program at American University's School of Public Affairs. This book was required for one of the core classes. The theory--the dynamic, fluid model that Kingdon builds in this book has been practically adopted as THE mantra within policy formation/agenda setting research.
The book is well organized and easy to follow. It is not a challenging read but I found sections of the book to be a bit dry. Also, be ready to contend with literally hundreds of fluid metaphors that Kingdon employs throughout the book.
A great book on public policy formulation.......1999-07-07
In this very readable book, Kindgon provides an insightful perspective on how agendas are set and public policies made in the government. Using the "garbage can model" as the basis and starting point, Kindgon develops his "policy window" concept of policy making that has three fundamental components: problems, policies, and politics. Each component has a life of its own and is independent from each other. The concept of "policy entrepreneurs" is also introduced.
I highly recommend this book to anybody interested in public policy formulation.
Book Description
Written by renowned international relations expert Joseph S. Nye, this lively book gives readers the background in history and political concepts they need to understand the issues facing our world today: the war in Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, nuclear proliferation in North Korea and Iran, and much more.
Origins of the Great Twentieth-Century Conflicts; Balance of Power and World War I; The Failure of Collective Security and World War II; The Cold War; Intervention, Institutions, and Regional Conflicts; Interdependence and Globalization; The Information Age; A New World Order?
Anyone interested in understanding international relations today.
Customer Reviews:
Good Detail of Topics Relating to International Politics.......2006-03-01
I had to purchase this book as a second book for a class I had taken. This book helped cover many of the topics I had to study and this book did a better job of describing several topics relating to nationalism, imperialism history of international politics, foreign policies, international law and organization and human factors in international politics. I would recommend this book to anyone who is trying to learn the basics or even get more indepth details on certain topics of international politics.
An interesting book indeed.......2003-12-22
An interesting book indeed, written by an excellent writer who took me in a journey through history beginning with the Peloponnesian war and passing through world war one and two and the cold war after that, and ending with the new world order.
The book starts with the two views of the anarchic politics ( Realism & Liberalism ) and a very wise explanation for both of them, and I liked the way the writer analyzed the two world wars and their reasons and I agree with him about the inevitability part as I believe that the war wasn't inevitable but I quote him by saying "Ironically the belief that war is inevitable played a major role in causing it", and also the part about ethics and morality is very interesting and I liked what the French diplomat said when he was asked about what's moral and his answer was "what's moral is whatever is good for France", and also the part about counterfactuals was very exciting.
I don't agree with the writer about some points concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict but the book as a whole is a very good one.
I agree with the "back to the future" theory in some points as all I see now is "the strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accepts what they have to accept".
I'll quote him again to end my review by saying "Has global society made war socially and morally unthinkable? We have to hope so, because the next hegemonic war would probably be the last".
Excellent book :).......2003-12-08
The basis for "Understanding International Conflicts: An Introduction to Theory and History" is, as the author explains in the preface, a course on international conflicts in the modern world he taught for a long time in Harvard. Nye says that the aim of the book is "to introduce students to the complexities of international politics by giving them a good grounding in the traditional realist theory before turning to liberal and constructivist approaches that became more prominent after the Cold War". I believe he excels at doing exactly that...
I found the book very interesting, and full of examples taken from history that made the concepts easier to grasp. Moreover, it takes into account the three levels of causation: the individual, the state and the international system. It also includes suggested reading material, that allows the reader to delve deeper in those subjects she/he finds more interesting...
The book is very well organized. It was a foreword, a preface, 9 chapters and an index. Each chapter deals with a main theme, and some related topics. The themes of the chapters are:
chapter 1:"Is there an enduring logic of conflict in world politics?";
chapter 2: "Origins of the great 20th century conflicts";
chapter 3: "Balance of power and World War I";
chapter 4: "The failure of collective security and World War II";
chapter 5: "The Cold War";
chapter 6: "Intervention, institutions and regional and ethnic conflicts";
chapter 7: "Globalization and interdependence";
chapter 8: "The information revolution, transnational actors, and the diffusion of power";
chapter 9: "A new world order?".
All in all, I strongly recommend this book to those interested in international relations... I think the author was successful in doing what he set out to do: he didn't want to give all the answers, he merely tried to help the readers to look for them. In his own words: "provide our students with conceptual tools that will help them shape their own answers as the future unfolds".
On the whole, a keeper :) Enjoy it !!!
Superb, Post 9-11 Update, Excellent Adult Foundation.......2003-01-11
First, it is vital for prospective buyers to understand that the existing reviews are three years out of date--this is a five-star tutorial on international relations that has been most recently updated after 9-11. If I were to recommend only two books on international relations, for any adult including nominally sophisticated world travelers, this would be the first book; the second would be Shultz, Godson, & Quester's wonderful edited work, "Security Studies for the 21st Century."
I really want to stress the utility of this work to adults, including those like myself who earned a couple of graduate degrees in the last century (smile). I was surprised to find no mention of the author's stellar service as Chairman of the National Intelligence Council--not only has he had full access to everything that can be known by secret as well as non-secret means, but he has kept current, and this undergraduate and affordable paperback was a great way for me--despite the 400+ books I've read (most of them reviewed on Amazon.com) in the past four plus years--to come up to speed on the rigorous methodical scholarly understanding of both historical and current theories and practices in international relations. This book is worth anyone's time, no matter how experienced or educated.
Each chapter has a very satisfactory mix of figures, maps, chronologies, and photos--a special value is a block chart showing the causes for major wars or periods of conflict at the three levels of analysis--international system, national, and key individual personalities, and I found these quite original and helpful.
Excellent reference and orientation work. Took five hours to read, with annotation--this is not a mind-glazer, it's a mind-exerciser.
excellent intro book to International Affairs.......1999-11-11
One of the few textbooks I truly enjoyed, Nye's Understanding International Conflicts was a clear, easy-to-read, and yet insightful book. Its focus is on the three levels of influence on a state's behavior: the interstate system, intrastate politics, and individual. It is one of the few entry-level IA books to discuss the effect of personality on the actions of a state. Even in my graduate-level seminars and papers, I found it to be useful.
Book Description
Jacobson, Gary C., The Politics of Congressional Elections, 5th Edition*\ Jacobson's classic work offers readers a systematic and engaging account of what goes on in congressional elections and demonstrates how electoral politics reflect and shape other basic components of our political system. The Fifth Edition brings everything up to date through the 1998 elections, analyzing new electoral trends that have appeared in the 1990s-including the Republicans' rise to majority status and their current precarious hold on Congress-while also offering a thorough consideration of impeachment politics in 1998 and 1999.
For those interested in Political Campaigning and voting and elections.
Customer Reviews:
A political science classic.......2005-08-15
This is one of the best and most valuable political science texts I have ever read - and, as a political science major, self-confessed politics junkie and activist, I've read most of them. Gary Jacobson's research is unmatched and his findings are essential to anyone who wants to get involved in Congressional campaigns. His assessment of the role of money in such campaigns is astounding and discomforting. While the going gets dry at times, overall the book is a good read with very practical applications today.
--Bill Arnone
The Bible on Congressional Elections.......2000-12-01
Anyone involved in running for a congressional seat, working on a congressional election or just interested in national politics will find this book enormously interesting. It's short. It's down to earth. It's up-to-date. And, it's one of the best on the subject. Professor Jacobson's book features pertinent analysis of national survey data plugged into long-term electoral trends. It covers all you need to know about how to make a run for Congress, calculating your odds and the chances of knocking off an incumbent. It is a unique blend of academic effort and practicality that is continually useful. It is the very best on what to expect in congressional elections for the U.S. House and Senate.
Customer Reviews:
The Thinking Man's Guide To Politics.......2006-03-11
Glen Tinder's book is a modern day classic. There's no spin doctoring here. He backs up his points with common sense that are insightful,to the point, and very thorough. If you want an introduction to the world at large this is it--!!!
Anti-American Subtext.......2005-07-11
I just finished this book for a Political Science class at the local community college. The premise of the book is that the author will provide no answers to the questions presented and so much of the work is devoted towards painting hypothetical situations for the reader to consider. However, when he does make a concise, unabiguous statement, it is often anti-American and anti-Conservative and presentative as a statement of fact. Conservatives are mean-spirited and support class distinctions. Liberals are all for equality and the goodness of man. His chapter on feminism would lead one to believe that all women consider men the enemy and that simply isn't the case.
It was amusing how he considered American intellectuals to be university professors, journalists and writers. Given the state of our education system and our mass media and the lack of idealogical diversity in both areas, I think his characterization expired about 50 years ago.
The book is also somewhat anachronistic with many references to The Establishment ala the 1960's and has a strong pro-Marxist bent. Naturally, capitalism is bad.
The writing itself is poorly organized, but what bother me the most was that when he did make clear statements one way or another it was to criticize America or conservatives.
Essential Issues in Political Philosophy.......2005-04-02
Glenn Tinder's _Political Thinking: The Perennial Questions_ is an interesting introduction to the study of political philosophy and political theory. It was assigned for an intro to political studies class I am currently enrolled in. The book's largest strength is that it presents various viewpoints on politics and focuses on numerous profound questions: estrangement and unity, inequality and equality, who should possess, what are the limitations and what are the proper end of power, and historical change. Tinder concludes his book with a thesis of "humane uncertainty." He notes how there are no exact and definite solutions to the world's political problems and that one should be extremely wary of any revolutionary political agenda, from either the right or the left, which promises a perfect world if all of its demands are met. He also takes into close consideration, as another reviewer notes, "the relationship between politics and metaphysics." Tinder notes well how faith in traditional orthodox Christianity has been on the downswing in Western societies during the past several centuries and how materialistic, man-centered methods of thinking have gained ascendancy in today's societies. Tinder's most sobering reflection is a hypothetical example of someone, someday establishing a perfect society on earth, totally eradicating injustice (in whatever form injustice may be correctly conceived). This perfect society would eventually die out anyway and fade into oblivion with each successive generation of human beings over time. Human history points toward an ultimate abyss as time passes making any achievement of a perfect society irrelevant in the overarching scheme of phenomena.
A Paramount Work.......2001-01-14
Perhaps the greatest reference work on one of the most difficult topics humanity faces: political philosophy. It's depth of analysis and provocative insight propel the reader to new heights of personal reflection and understanding, successfully assisting civilization in its struggle to become something we cannot be. I thank the author.
great start on theory.......2000-07-07
I first read this book as an undergrad, and now as a graduate student in politcal theory, I still find my self going back to its books lists for further reading. Tinder does what so few popularizers of complex issues fail at--making a hard, relevant discipline accessible without oversimplifying, without denying its complexity. Political philosophers, especially those in philosophy departments, should follow Tinder's example.
Book Description
This favorite of both instructors and students is a "behind-the-scenes" tour of news in American politics. The core question explored in this book is: How well does the news, as the core of the national political information system, serve the needs of democracy? In investigating this question, the book examines how various political actors—from presidents and members of Congress, to interest organizations and citizen-activists—try to get their messages into the news.
Book Description
In Interest Groups and Congress, John Wright surveys the history, organization, aims and processes of interest groups to explain how they influence and affect public policy and opinion in the US Congress. Throughout, he hews to a consistent and unifying theme: that interest groups wield influence through “the strategic presentation of specialized information to members of congress.
Customer Reviews:
Who priced this book.......2005-09-21
I haven't read this book yet, though I bought it for class. It is thinner than a Hemmingway novel. $40? It better have congressional cellphone numbers in it.
It's a great book........1999-08-08
This is a highly informative and readable text. Students love it
Book Description
Providing a survey of the short story in-depth, the anthology encompasses a rich global and historical mix of the masterpieces of short fiction and presents them in a way readers find accessible, engaging, and relevant. "Author Perspectives" -- short lively statements from 52 authors that discuss the writing process and refer to specific stories in the anthology. This unique feature provides readers with critical reflections and insight into the stories they are reading. "Critical Approaches to Fiction" -- introduces readers to 10 leading schools of critical theory in an accessible way. The Glossary of Literary Terms is the most complete glossary in a short fiction book on the market. For those interested in the short fiction genre.
Customer Reviews:
Great Collection Covers Major Themes.......2002-06-09
This book has a great collection of stories and profound themes. One way to use this book is to pair up the stories. For example, one can look at "The Misfit's Misguided Quest for Love" by studying "Bartleby" by Melville and "The Overcoat" by Gogol.
Another good pairing is to study "Lost Love and Alcohol" by looking at "Babylon Revisted" by Fitzgerald and "The Swimmer" by John Cheever. In both stories the characters lose free will as their self-destructiveness reaches a point of no return.
The power of empathy to remove blindness can be found by looking at Raymond Carver's "A Small, Good Thing" and "Cathedral." Another great story about the power of empathy is Richard Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues."
Also take a look at "Gimpel the Fool" by Singer and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" to study the love and widsom of fools.
The dangers of intellectual pride are dramatized in Flanner O'Conner's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" and Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown."
Yet another fine pairing can be found by studying the conflict between romantic, personal love and public responsibility in Chekhov's "The Lady with the Dog" and John Updike's "Separating."
One of my favorite pairings is to study "The Love of the Tribe over the Love of Humanity" by studying "Those Who Walked Away from Omelas" and "The Lottery."
There are even far more stories than the ones I've mentioned. But these pairings give you an idea of how many themes you can study in a collection as rich as this one.
Customer Reviews:
A classic work.......2005-04-20
Fenno's Home Style may have since been surpassed by some of his own work, but the original is still the best, in my humble opinion. Fenno traveled with congressmen from around the country and examined how they interact with their constituents while "at home" and out of the Beltway. His findings are a must-read for anyone interested in politics, Congress, and the legislative process.
Fenno finds that congressmen are motivated by three factors: first, a desire to be re-elected; second, a desire to gain power within Congress; and third, to try and enact what they believe to be good public policy. Congressmen link these desires with their "home style," that is to say, how they act when dealing with their constituents, and how that translates into their legislative effectiveness.
Fenno also portrays the differing ways that congressmen approach their districts. Some are more personable, while others are more aloof and indirect in their dealings. Those who fear losing re-election the least are the least likely to regularly visit their districts (no surprise, but still a useful empirical finding).
This book is a must-read!
Analysis and Adnecdotes.......2000-04-21
Homestyle is easy to read and full of wonderful examples of how Congressmen relate to their districts. Based upon Fenno's extensive travels with and interviews of eight different Congressmen, it is a must for anyone interested in understanding American politics.
Book Description
Part of the “Longman Classics in Political Science” series, Nye's best-selling text has been completely updated with new discussions about Middle East politics, including the Israel-Palestine dispute and the Iraq war, terrorism in general and radical Islamic terrorism in particular, the global politics of oil, and much more. Replete with illustrative examples and written in a lively, engaging manner, this is a brief, inexpensive book that students will buy and actually enjoy reading. It deftly balances theory and history to help students develop a well-rounded, informed framework for analyzing the international issues confronting us at the beginning of the 21st Century.
Customer Reviews:
First Rate, Post 9-11 Update, One of Two Core Works.......2007-06-10
First, this is a five-star tutorial on international relations that has been most recently updated after 9-11. If I were to recommend only two books on international relations, for any adult including nominally sophisticated world travelers, this would be the first book; the second would be Shultz, Godson, & Quester's wonderful edited work, "Security Studies for the 21st Century."
I really want to stress the utility of this work to adults, including those like myself who earned a couple of graduate degrees in the last century (smile). I was surprised to find no mention of the author's stellar service as Chairman of the National Intelligence Council--not only has he had full access to everything that can be known by secret as well as non-secret means, but he has kept current, and this undergraduate and affordable paperback was a great way for me--despite the 400+ books I've read (most of them reviewed on Amazon.com) in the past four plus years--to come up to speed on the rigorous methodical scholarly understanding of both historical and current theories and practices in international relations. This book is worth anyone's time, no matter how experienced or educated.
Each chapter has a very satisfactory mix of figures, maps, chronologies, and photos--a special value is a block chart showing the causes for major wars or periods of conflict at the three levels of analysis--international system, national, and key individual personalities, and I found these quite original and helpful.
Excellent reference and orientation work. Took five hours to read, with annotation--this is not a mind-glazer, it's a mind-exerciser.
Security Studies for the 21st Century
Book Description
Focusing on institutions and processes and paying rigorous attention to scholarship, Politics in Russia is an authoritative overview of the Russian political system, now updated to reflect all of the most recent political events in
Russia
.
Customer Reviews:
A Comprehensive Text on Modern Russian Politics.......2001-07-27
I used this book with some success in my upper division course on Russian politics. The book addresses Russian politics after the implosion of the Soviet system. The book is comprehensive, but its attention to detail does not destract the reader from main points. This is important, because textbooks often become unreadable due to excessive irrelevant information. This in not the case with Remington's book. The writing style is rather pedestrian, but for a textbook, it is more than adequate. This book cover events in Russia up until 1997, so this book, or at least this edition is a bit dated. Events in Russia are changing very fast, and the author is not responsible for not being able to churn out a textbook that is 100 percent up to date. For a more popular analysis of events in Russia afer 1991 see David Remnick's "Resurrection." I recommend this textbook for any undergraduate class in Russian politics.
Remington's Politics in Russia.......2000-04-01
I have twice used Remington's Politics in Russia as a text in my Russia Politics course for intermediate political science students. -- It is an excellent text for students. Most of my students thought the book was readable, comprehensive, sufficiently detailed, and clear. -- It is an excellent text from which to teach, comparative in nature, adequately comprehensive, short (244 pages), and without a strong personal bias.
Remington's approach is the comparative politics approach of Almond and Powell -- systems from socialization through interest aggregation and policy making to implementation and feedback. His book is a broader, more detailed version of his chapter in Almond and Coleman's Comparative Politics Today (Longman) 2000.
For a short book, it is comprehensive. It lacks, however, a development of the historical context of the Russian political system. Its chapters 1 and 2 are sufficient for his purposes, but they do not give a student, with little or no knowledge of late 19th and 20th century Russian history, an adequate overview of the past. Additionally, the book does not discuss sufficiently critical social issues in Russia, although his comparative approach is dependent upon the culture and socialization.
Because the book is short, I can supplement it with other readings (I use a Russian foreign policy text and The Economist)without breaking the student's bank account or having to rely solely on Remington.
The book has no obvious bias, other than its particular comparative approach. It is objective and factual, while raising many of the important value issues. He does not try to sell the reader a particular view of Russian politics.
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Public Policy
| Government
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making, Revised Edition
A Practical Guide For Policy Analysis: The Eightfold Path To More Effective Problem Solving
Theories of the Policy Process
Agendas and Instability in American Politics (American Politics and Political Economy Series)
Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It (Basic Books Classics)
