Harvard University Press - POLITICAL SCIENCE

Does Ethics Have a Chance in a World of Consumers?

Fri, 15 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Zygmunt Bauman
Bauman urges us to think in new ways about a newly flexible, newly challenging modern world. In an era of routine travel, where most people circulate widely, the inherited beliefs that aid our thinking about the world have become an obstacle. He challenges members of the “knowledge class” to overcome their estrangement from the rest of society.
Paperback May 2009

A Failure of Capitalism

Fri, 15 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Richard A. Posner
The financial and economic crisis that began in 2008 is the most alarming of our lifetime because of the warp-speed at which it is occurring. Richard Posner presents a concise and non-technical examination of this mother of all financial disasters and of the, as yet, stumbling efforts to cope with it. No previous acquaintance on the part of the reader with macroeconomics or the theory of finance is presupposed. This is a book for intelligent generalists that will interest specialists as well.
Hardcover May 2009

Hope and Despair in the American City

Fri, 15 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Gerald Grant
In Hope and Despair, Gerald Grant compares two cities—his hometown of Syracuse, New York, and Raleigh, North Carolina—in order to examine the consequences of the nation’s ongoing educational inequities. The result is an ambitious portrait—sometimes disturbing, often inspiring—of two cities that exemplify our nation’s greatest educational challenges, as well as a passionate exploration of the potential for school reform that exists for our urban schools today.
Hardcover May 2009

Interrogations, Forced Feedings, and the Role of Health Professionals

Fri, 15 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Ryan Goodman
Mindy Jane Roseman
The involvement of health professionals in human rights and humanitarian law violations has again become a live issue as a consequence of the U.S. prosecution of conflicts with al Qaeda, the Taliban, and Iraq. In this volume, a wide range of prominent practitioners and scholars explore these issues. Their insights provide significant potential for reforming institutions to assist health professionals maintain their legal and ethical obligations in times of national crisis.
Paperback May 2009

Prosecuting Apartheid-Era Crimes?

Fri, 15 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Tyler Giannini
Susan Farbstein
Samantha Bent
Miles Jackson
Foreword by John Kani
This book presents a diverse collection of perspectives on prosecutions in South Africa, including a foreword by playwright and actor John Kani. Throughout, it highlights the important themes related to any post-conflict prosecution scheme including rule-of-law concerns, questions of evenhandedness and moral relativism, competing priorities and resource allocation, the limits of a court-centered approach to justice, and the potential transformative power of prosecutions.
Paperback May 2009

The Sandbox Investment

Fri, 15 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT

David L. Kirp
The rich have always valued early education, and for the past forty years, millions of poorer kids have had Head Start. Now, more and more middle class parents have realized that a good preschool is the smartest investment they can make in their children's future in a competitive world. Writing with the verve of a magazine journalist and the authority of a scholar, Kirp makes the ideal guide to this quiet movement and campaign.
Paperback May 2009

Starved for Science

Fri, 15 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Robert Paarlberg
Foreword by Norman Borlaug
Foreword by Jimmy Carter
In Starved for Science Paarlberg explains why poor African farmers are denied access to productive technologies, particularly genetically engineered seeds with improved resistance to insects and drought. He traces this obstacle to the current opposition to farm science in prosperous countries.
Paperback May 2009

The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan

Fri, 15 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Edited by Robert D. Crews
Edited by Amin Tarzi
The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan explores the paradox at the center of a challenging phenomenon: how has a seemingly anachronistic band of religious zealots managed to retain a tenacious foothold in the struggle for Afghanistan's future? Grounding their analysis in a deep understanding of the country's past, leading scholars of Afghan history, politics, society, and culture show how the Taliban was less an attempt to revive a medieval theocracy than a dynamic, complex, and adaptive force rooted in the history of Afghanistan and shaped by modern international politics.
Paperback May 2009

Worst-Case Scenarios

Fri, 15 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Cass R. Sunstein
Nuclear bombs in suitcases, anthrax bacilli in ventilators, tsunamis and meteors, avian flu, scorchingly hot temperatures: nightmares that were once the plot of Hollywood movies are now frighteningly real possibilities. Sunstein explores these and other worst-case scenarios and how we might best prevent them in this vivid, illuminating, and highly original analysis.
Paperback May 2009

Henry Kissinger and the American Century

Fri, 1 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Jeremi Suri
What made Henry Kissinger the kind of diplomat he was? What experiences and influences shaped his worldview and provided the framework for his approach to international relations? Suri offers a thought-provoking, interpretive study of one of the most influential and controversial political figures of the twentieth century.
Paperback May 2009

The Mighty Wurlitzer

Fri, 1 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Hugh Wilford
Wilford provides the first comprehensive account of the clandestine relationship between the CIA and its front organizations. Using an unprecedented wealth of sources, he traces the rise and fall of America's Cold War front network from its origins in the 1940s to its Third World expansion during the 1950s and ultimate collapse in the 1960s.
Paperback May 2009

Minerva's Owl

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Jeffrey Abramson
As Hegel famously noted, referring to the Roman goddess Minerva, her owl brought back wisdom only at dusk, when it was too late to shine light on actual politics. Jeffrey Abramson provides a lively and accessible guide for readers discovering the tradition of political thought that dates back to Socrates and Plato, with contemporary examples that illustrate the enduring nature of political dilemmas.
Hardcover April 2009

The Cultural Logic of Computation

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EDT

David Golumbia
In The Cultural Logic of Computation, David Golumbia, who worked as a software designer for more than ten years, argues that computers are cultural “all the way down”—that there is no part of the apparent technological transformation that is not shaped by historical and cultural processes, or that escapes existing cultural politics. The Cultural Logic of Computation provides a needed corrective to the uncritical enthusiasm for computers common today in many parts of our culture.
Hardcover April 2009

Dominance by Design

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Michael Adas
Long before the United States became a major force in global affairs, Americans believed in their superiority over others because of their inventiveness, productivity, and economic and social well-being. U.S. expansionists assumed a mandate to "civilize" non-Western peoples by demanding submission to American technological prowess and design. Michael Adas brilliantly pursues the history of this mission through America's foreign relations over nearly four centuries from North America to the Philippines, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf.
Paperback April 2009

On Nuclear Terrorism

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Michael Levi
Levi takes us inside nuclear terrorism and behind the decisions a terrorist leader would be faced with in pursuing a nuclear plot. Surveying the broad universe of plots and defenses, this accessible account shows how a wide-ranging defense that integrates the tools of weapon and materials security, law enforcement, intelligence, border controls, diplomacy, and the military can multiply, intensify, and compound the possibility that nuclear terrorists will fail.
Paperback April 2009

Articulating the Sinosphere

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Joshua A. Fogel
Joshua Fogel offers an incisive historical look at Sino-Japanese relations from three different perspectives. Introducing the concept of “Sinosphere” to capture the nature of Sino-foreign relations both spatially and temporally, Fogel presents an original and thought-provoking study on the long, complex relationship between China and Japan.
Hardcover March 2009

Beyond Facts

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Edited by Inter-Amer Dev Bank
Traditionally, the concept of quality of life has been viewed through objective indicators of living conditions, basic needs, or capabilities. In Beyond Facts, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) looks at quality of life through the perceptions of millions of Latin Americans. Using an enhanced version of the recently created Gallup World Poll that incorporates Latin America–specific questions, the IDB surveyed people from throughout the region and found that reality and perceptions of quality of life are often very different. Beyond Facts attempts to explain these differences and consider their implications for both politics and policy.
Hardcover March 2009

Christianity and American Democracy

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Hugh Heclo
Foreword by Theda Skocpol
Christianity, not religion in general, has been important for American democracy. With this bold thesis, Heclo offers a panoramic view of how Christianity and democracy have shaped each other over the years, and how their relationship is changing in the present day. Responding to his challenging argument, Mary Jo Bane, Michael Kazin, and Alan Wolfe criticize, qualify, and amend it. The result is a lively debate about a momentous tension in American public life.
Paperback March 2009

The End of Southern Exceptionalism

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Byron E. Shafer
Richard Johnston
Until now, the critical shift in Southern political allegiance from Democratic to Republican has been explained, by scholars and journalists, as a white backlash to the civil rights revolution. In this myth-shattering book, Byron Shafer and Richard Johnston refute that view, one stretching all the way back to V. O. Key in his classic book Southern Politics. The true story is instead one of dramatic class reversal, beginning in the 1950s and pulling everything else in its wake.
Paperback March 2009

The Ethos of a Late-Modern Citizen

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Stephen K. White
In The Ethos of a Late-Modern Citizen, Stephen K. White contends that Western democracies face novel challenges demanding our reexamination of the role of citizens. White argues that the intense focus in the past three decades on finding general principles of justice for diversity-rich societies needs to be complemented by an exploration of what sort of ethos would be needed to adequately sustain any such principles. Accessible, pithy, and erudite, The Ethos of a Late-Modern Citizen will appeal to a wide audience.
Hardcover March 2009

The Political Worlds of Slavery and Freedom

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Steven Hahn
Pulitzer Prize–winner Steven Hahn’s provocative new book challenges deep-rooted views in the writing of American and African-American history. Moving from slave emancipations of the eighteenth century through slave activity during the Civil War and on to the black power movements of the twentieth century, he asks us to rethink African-American history and politics in bolder, more dynamic terms. Throughout, Hahn presents African Americans as central actors in the arenas of American politics, while emphasizing traditions of self-determination, self-governance, and self-defense.
Hardcover March 2009

Saving Persuasion

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Bryan Garsten
In Saving Persuasion, Bryan Garsten uncovers the early modern origins of today's suspicious attitude toward rhetoric and seeks to loosen its grip on contemporary political theory. He argues that the artful practice of persuasion ought to be viewed as a crucial part of democratic politics. Against theorists who advocate a rationalized ideal of deliberation aimed at consensus, Garsten argues that a controversial politics of partiality and passion can produce a more engaged and more deliberative kind of democratic discourse.
Paperback March 2009

Government by Contract

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:00:00 EST

Edited by Jody Freeman
Edited by Martha Minow
Explains the phenomenon and scope of government outsourcing and sets an agenda for future research attentive to workforce capacities as well as legal, economic, and political concerns.
Hardcover February 2009

Constructing the Monolith

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 EST

Marc J. Selverstone
This book not only explains the cold war mindset that determined global policy for much of the twentieth century, but reveals how the search to define a foreign threat can shape the ways in which that threat is actually met.
Hardcover February 2009

The Origins of Canadian and American Political Differences

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 EST

Jason Kaufman
Why do the United States and Canada have such divergent political cultures when they share one of the closest economic and cultural relationships in the world? Kaufman examines the North American political landscape to draw out the essential historical factors that underlie the countries’ differences.
Hardcover February 2009

Presidential Constitutionalism in Perilous Times

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 EST

Scott M. Matheson
Presidents have exercised extraordinary power to protect the nation in ways that raised serious constitutional concerns about individual liberties and separation of powers. By looking at examples through different constitutional perspectives, Matheson achieves a deeper understanding of wartime presidential power in general and of President Bush’s assertions of executive power in particular.
Hardcover February 2009

Strait Talk

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 EST

Nancy Bernkopf Tucker
Relations among the United States, Taiwan, and China challenge policymakers, international relations specialists, and a concerned public to examine their assumptions about security, sovereignty, and peace. Tucker traces the thorny relationship between the United States and Taiwan as both watch China’s power grow.
Hardcover February 2009

The Clash Within

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:00:00 EST

Martha C. Nussbaum
While America is focused on religious militancy and terrorism in the Middle East, democracy has been under siege from religious extremism in another critical part of the world. As Nussbaum reveals in this penetrating look at India today, the forces of the Hindu right pose a disturbing threat to its democratic traditions and secular state. Nussbaum's long-standing professional relationship with India makes her an excellent guide to its recent history.
Paperback January 2009

The Declaration of Independence

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST

David Armitage
Not only did the Declaration announce the entry of the United States onto the world stage, it became the model for other countries to follow. This unique global perspective demonstrates the singular role of the United States document as a founding statement of our modern world.
Paperback December 2008

Popular Protest in China

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST

Edited by Kevin J. O'Brien
Unrest in China, from the dramatic events of 1989 to more recent stirrings, offers a rare opportunity to consider how popular contention unfolds in places where speech and assembly are tightly controlled. The contributors to this volume argue that ideas inspired by social movements elsewhere can help explain popular protest in China.
Hardcover / Paperback November 2008

Your Spirits Walk Beside Us

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST

Barbara Dianne Savage
Even before the emergence of the civil rights movement, African American religion and progressive politics were assumed to be inextricably intertwined. Savage counters this assumption with the story of a highly diversified religious community whose debates over engagement in the struggle for racial equality were as vigorous as they were persistent.
Hardcover November 2008

Beyond Terror and Martyrdom

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST

Gilles Kepel
Kepel urges us to escape the ideological quagmire of terrorism and martyrdom and explore the terms of a new and constructive dialogue between Islam and the West. This book sounds the alarm to the West and to Islam that both of these exhausted narratives are bankrupt—neither productive of democratic change in the Middle East nor of unity in Islam.
Hardcover November 2008

Total Cure

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Harold S. Luft
Proposals to reform the health care system typically focus on either increasing private insurance or expanding government-sponsored plans. Guaranteeing that everyone is insured, however, does not create a system with the quality of care patients want, the flexibility clinicians need, and the internal dynamics to continually improve the value of health care. Luft presents a comprehensive new proposal, SecureChoice, which does all that while providing affordable health insurance for every American.
Hardcover October 2008

Governing the Metropolis

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Edited by Eduardo Rojas
Edited by Juan R. Cuadrado-Roura
Edited by Jose Miguel Fernandez Guell
Translated by Sarah Schineller
This book explores key metropolitan management issues, presents practical principles of good governance as they apply to the metropolis, and unfolds cases of institutional and programmatic arrangements to tackle such issues.
Paperback September 2008

Americans All

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Diana Selig
From the 1920s—a decade marked by racism and nativism—through World War II, hundreds of thousands of Americans took part in a vibrant campaign to overcome racial, ethnic, and religious prejudices. Progressive activists encouraged pluralism in homes, schools, and churches across the country.Selig tells the neglected story of the cultural gifts movement, which flourished between the world wars.
Hardcover June 2008

Nexus

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Jonathan Reed Winkler
In an illuminating study that blends diplomatic, military, technology, and business history, Winkler shows how U.S. officials during World War I discovered the enormous value of global communications. In this absorbing history, Winkler sheds light on the early stages of the global infrastructure that helped launch the United States as the predominant power of the century.
Hardcover June 2008

Free Riding

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Richard Tuck
A proposition of contemporary economics and political science is that it would be an exercise of reason, not a failure of it, not to contribute to a collective project if the contribution is negligible, but to benefit from it nonetheless.Tuck makes careful distinctions between the prisoner’s dilemma problem, threshold phenomena such as voting, and free riding. He analyzes the notion of negligibility, and shows some of the logical difficulties in the idea—and how the ancient paradox of the sorites illustrates the difficulties.
Hardcover June 2008