bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Molecular dynamics analysis of farnesyltransferase: A closer look into the amino acid behavior
Authors: Sousa Sérgio F. , Fernandes Pedro A. , Ramos Maria João
Published: April 2008

Farnesyltransferase (FTase) is a zinc enzyme that catalyzes the addition of a 15 carbons isoprenoid group from farnesyl diphosphate to protein substrates containing a typical ‐CAAX motif, where C is a cysteine residue. Among the possible CAAX substrates for FTase are a large number of biologically relevant proteins involved in cancer development, including the Ras family of proteins. FTase thus quickly became a very promising target for anticancer therapy, despite the fact that a number of questions regarding its catalytic activity have remained unexplained. This study describes the successful application of three sets of molecular dynamics parameters specifically designed to allow a reliable treatment of the zinc coordination sphere in the four key intermediate states formed during the catalytic cycle of this enzyme—FTase resting state, binary complex (FTase‐FPP), ternary complex (FTase‐FPP‐CAAX), and product complex—allowing a detailed analysis of the dynamic behavior of the several amino acid residues that constitute the enzyme, and complementing the more rigid time‐averaged snapshot‐view given by the available X‐crystallographic structures with a more global structural vision that takes motion into account. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2008
Computational optimization of AG18051 inhibitor for amyloid‐β binding alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme
Authors: Marques Alexandra T. , Antunes Agostinho , Fernandes Pedro A. , Ramos Maria J.
Published: April 2008

Amyloid‐beta (Aβ) binding alcohol dehydrogenase (ABAD) is a multifunctional enzyme involved in maintaining the homeostasis. The enzyme can also mediate some diseases, including genetic diseases, Alzheimer's disease, and possibly some prostate cancers. Potent inhibitors of ABAD might facilitate a better clarification of the functions of the enzyme under normal and pathogenic conditions and might also be used for therapeutic intervention in disease conditions mediated by the enzyme. The AG18051 is the only presently available inhibitor of ABAD. It binds in the active‐site cavity of the enzyme and reacts with the NAD+ cofactor to form a covalent adduct. In this work, we use computational methods to perform a rational optimization of the AG18051 inhibitor, through the introduction of chemical substitutions directed to improve the affinity of the inhibitor to the enzyme. The molecular mechanics–Poisson–Boltzmann surface area methodology was used to predict the relative free binding energy of the different modified inhibitor‐NAD‐enzyme complexes. We show that it is possible to increase significantly the affinity of the inhibitor to the enzyme with small modifications, without changing the overall structure and ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion) properties of the original inhibitor. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2008
Object‐oriented wrappers for the Linux kernel
Authors: Janakiram D. , Gunnam Ashok , Suneetha N. , Rajani Vineet , Reddy K. Vinay Kumar
Published: April 2008

Linux is an open‐source operating system, which has increased in its popularity and size since its birth. Various studies have been conducted in literature on the evolution of the Linux kernel, which have shown that there are considerable maintenance problems arising out of the coupling issues in the Linux kernel and this may hamper the evolution of the kernel in future. We propose an object‐oriented (OO) wrapper‐based approach to Linux kernel to provide OO abstractions to external modules. As the major growth of the size of the Linux kernel is in device drivers, our approach provides substantial benefits in terms of developing the device drivers in C++, although the kernel is in C. Providing reusability and extensibility features to device drivers improves the maintainability of the kernel. The OO wrappers provide several benefits to module developers in terms of understandability, development ease, support for OO modules, etc. The design and implementation of C++ wrappers for Linux kernel and the performance of a device driver re‐engineered in C++ are presented in this paper. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Rheological Characteristics of Different Tropical Root Starches
Authors: Moorthy Subramony N. , Larsson Helena , Eliasson Ann‐Charlotte
Published: April 2008

The rheological properties of starch extracted from ten different species of tropical tuber crops were examined using a Bohlin rheometer. Suspensions with starch concentrations of 3, 4 and 5% were gelatinised at 75°C and fed into the rheometer cup. A C 25 measuring system was used and the heating rate was 1.5°C/min, heating schedule 75‐95ºC, holding at 95°C for 600 s, cooling to 35°C at 1.5ºC/min, holding for 3600 s. For strain sweep tests, the range of strain used was 0‐0.2% and the temperature of test was 35ºC. The data on viscosity, storage modulus (G′) and phase angle were obtained from the rheograms. The results indicated variability in the various properties of the different starches. However the results did not follow a definite trend. The viscosity of Colocasia starch was low while Canna edulis and yam starches had high viscosities. The storage modulus was also highest for Canna starch (70‐93 Pa) for 5% and gel strength was comparatively high for Canna edulis, Dioscorea esculenta and D. rotundata starches. The phase angle values followed the pattern of G′ and all the starch pastes were found to be elastic in nature at higher concentration. The wide variability in rheological properties can be useful in different applications of tuber starches.
Application of an unsupervised artificial neural network technique to multivariant surface water quality data
Authors: Çinar Özer , Merdun Hasan
Published: April 2008

Surface water contamination from agricultural and urban runoff and wastewater discharges from industrial and municipal activities is of major concern to people worldwide. Classical models can be insufficient to visualise the results because the water quality variables used to describe dynamic pollution sources are complex, multivariable, and nonlinearly related. Artificial intelligence techniques with the ability to analyse multivariant water quality data by means of a sophisticated visualisation capacity can offer an alternative to current models. In this study, the Kohonen self‐organising feature maps (SOM) neural network was initially applied to analyse the complex nonlinear relationships among multivariable surface water quality variables using the component planes of the variables to determine the complex behaviour of water quality parameters. The dependencies between water quality variables were extracted and interpreted using the pattern analysis visualised in component planes. For further investigation, the k‐means clustering algorithm was used to determine the optimal number of clusters by partitioning the maps and utilising the Davies–Bouldin clustering index, leading to seven groups or clusters corresponding to water quality variables. The results reveal that the concentrations of Na, K, Cl, NH4‐N, NO2‐N, o‐PO4, component planes of organic matter (pV), and dissolved oxygen (DO) were significantly affected by seasonal changes, and that the SOM technique is an efficient tool with which to analyse and determine the complex behaviour of multidimensional surface water quality data. These results suggest that this technique could also be applied to other environmentally sensitive areas such as air and groundwater pollution.
Increased sensitivity to heat pain in chronic low blood pressure
Authors: Duschek Stefan , Dietel Anja , Schandry Rainer , del Paso Gustavo A. Reyes
Published: April 2008

While in elevated blood pressure reduced sensitivity to acute pain has been well established, little is known about possible alterations in pain perception within the lower range of blood pressure. In this study, sensitivity to heat pain was assessed in 40 subjects with chronic hypotension (mean blood pressure 96.5/57.7mmHg) and 40 normotensive control persons (mean blood pressure 121.8/77.2mmHg). Employing a contact thermode, heat stimuli were applied to the forearm. Pain threshold and tolerance were determined. Participants furthermore rated subjective intensities and unpleasantness of tonic heat stimuli (45.5–47.5°C) on visual analogue scales and in a questionnaire. Possible confounding of sensitivity to heat pain with skin temperature, temperature sensitivity and mood was controlled for. In addition to blood pressure, functional features of the arterial baroreceptor system were related to pain experience. Therefore, estimates for the input on the baroreceptors, as well as baroreflex sensitivity were obtained. Hypotensive individuals exhibited markedly reduced pain threshold and pain tolerance, as well as increased sensory and affective pain experience. The measures related to the baroreceptor system were not associated with pain experience, suggesting that no significant modulation of heat pain occurs through this system. The results of this study complete the findings on hypertension‐related hypoalgesia and suggest an inverse relationship between blood pressure and pain sensitivity across the whole blood pressure spectrum. Furthermore, increased proneness of hypotensive individuals to clinical pain may be discussed.
Factors associated with regular cervical cancer screening
Authors: Grangé Gilles , Malvy Denis , Lançon Florian , Gaudin Anne‐Francoise , El Hasnaoui Abdelkader
Published: April 2008

Objective

To identify the factors associated with regular cervical screening (CS) in the French female population.

Methods

Face‐to‐face interviews with 5354 randomly selected French women were carried out in this population‐based, observational, cross‐sectional study. The variables found significant by univariate analysis were entered in a stepwise analysis. A multivariate logistic model constructed with these variables permitted to identify which were significantly related to women undergoing regular CS.

Results

A significant relationship was found between regular CS and previous screening for HIV infection, being professionally active, fear of cervical cancer, level of education, and having had a gynecologic check‐up in the past 5 years.

Conclusion

Since the study sample was known to be representative of the female adult population, most of our observations may have important public health implications in France, where information on HPV infection and its possible consequences need to be improved.
Pelvic denervation procedures: A current reappraisal
Authors: Lee Ted T.M. , Yang Linda C.
Published: April 2008

The introduction of minimally invasive techniques over recent years has led to the resurgence of pelvic denervation procedures such as presacral neurectomy and uterine nerve ablation being performed for women with dysmenorrhea and pelvic pain. Women who have failed medical therapy with persistent and debilitating symptoms may certainly benefit from these procedures. However, presacral neurectomy and uterine nerve ablation are distinct procedures that require appropriate patient selection in order to optimize pain relief. Whereas presacral neurectomy may be effective for both primary dysmenorrhea and endometriosis‐related pelvic pain, the role of uterine nerve ablation should be reserved for patients with primary dysmenorrhea only, as evidenced by several randomized trials.
Evidence for geographic variation in the diets of late Pleistocene and early HoloceneBisonin North America, and differences from the diets of recentBison
Authors: Rivals Florent , Solounias Nikos , Mihlbachler Matthew C.
Published: April 2008

During the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, Bisonwas widely dispersed across North America and occupied most regions not covered by ice sheets. A dietary study onBisonpaleopopulations from Alaska, New Mexico, Florida, and Texas was performed using two methods that relate dental wear patterns to diet, mesowear analysis and microwear analysis. These data were compared to a mixed sample of extantBisonfrom the North American central plains, extant woodBisonfrom Alberta (Canada) and a variety of other modern ungulates. Mesowear relates macroscopic molar facet shape to levels of dietary abrasion. The mesowear signature observed on fossilBisondiffers significantly from the hyper-abrasive grazing diet of extantBison. Tooth microwear examines wear on the surface of enamel at a microscopic scale. The microwear signal of fossil samples resembles to modernBison, but the fossil samples show a greater diversity of features, suggesting that fossilBisonpopulations regularly consumed food items that are texturally inconsistent with the short-grass diet typical of modern plainsBison. Mesowear and microwear signals of fossilBisonsamples most closely resemble a variety of typical mixed feeding ungulates, all with diets that are substantially less abrasive than what is typical for modern plainsBison. Furthermore, statistical tests suggest significant differences between the microwear signatures of the fossil samples, thus revealing geographic variability in PleistoceneBisondiets. This study reveals that fossils are of value in developing an understanding of the dietary breadth and ecological versatility of species that, in recent times, are rare, endangered, and occupy only a small remnant of their former ranges.
A new approach to detecting vegetation and land-use Change using high-resolution lipid biomarker records in stalagmites
Authors: Blyth Alison J. , Asrat Asfawossen , Baker Andy , Gulliver Pauline , Leng Melanie J. , Genty Dominique
Published: April 2008

A hundred-year stalagmite lipid biomarker record from Mechara, southeastern Ethiopia, is presented. The record has been recovered at a 10-yr temporal resolution, marking the first time this has been achieved in stalagmite biomarker work and providing the first opportunity to investigate the relationship between stalagmite lipid records and hydrological transport lags, a vital issue in interpreting palaeoenvironmental signals. Preserved plant-derived n-alkanes and n-alkanols show clear changes in composition over time, relating to known land-use changes in the area, particularly the expansion of agriculture in the early twentieth century. The level of environmental detail provided by this technique, combined with the long-term chronological framework offered by stalagmites, holds significant promise for the investigation of early human environments and their associated climatic and anthropogenic controls.
Relationships between glacier and rock glacier in the Maritime Alps, Schiantala Valley, Italy
Authors: Ribolini Adriano , Chelli Alessandro , Guglielmin Mauro , Pappalardo Marta
Published: April 2008

In the Schiantala Valley of the Maritime Alps, the relationship between a till-like body and a contiguous rock glacier has been analyzed using geomorphologic, geoelectric and ice-petrographic methodologies. DC resistivity tomographies undertaken in the till and in the rock glacier show the presence of buried massive ice and ice-rich sediments, respectively. Ice samples from a massive ice outcrop show spherical gas inclusions and equidimensional ice crystals that are randomly orientated, confirming the typical petrographic characteristics of sedimentary ice. The rock glacier formation began after a phase of glacier expansion about 2550"50 14C yr BP. Further ice advance during the Little Ice Age (LIA) overrode the rock glacier root and caused partial shrinkage of the pre-existing permafrost. Finally, during the 19th and 20th centuries, the glacial surface became totally debris covered. Geomorphological and geophysical methods combined with analyses of ice structure and fabric can effectively interpret the genesis of landforms in an environment where glaciers and permafrost interact. Ice petrography proved especially useful for differentiating ice of past glaciers versus ice formed under permafrost conditions. These two mechanisms of ice formation are common in the Maritime Alps where many sites of modern rock glaciers were formerly occupied by LIA glaciers.
White Residents, Black Incumbents, and a Declining Racial Divide
Authors: Hajnal Zoltan L.
Published: April 2008

Despite the hopes of the civil rights movement, researchers have found that the election of African Americans to office has not greatly improved the well-being of the black community. This study focuses on the white community, however, and finds that black leadership can have a profound effect. Under black mayors there is positive change in the white vote and in the racial sentiments expressed by members of the white electorate. Although white Republicans seem largely immune to the effects of black incumbency, for Democrats and independents an experience with a black mayoralty tends to decrease racial tension, increase racial sympathy, and increase support of black leadership.
“The Case” Responds
Authors: MacKinnon Catharine A.
Published: April 2008

MacKinnon responds that her theory, while not liberalism in denial or disguise, is engaged in dialogue with liberalism (as well as with other theoretical traditions).
Thucydides the Constructivist
Authors: Lebow Richard Ned
Published: April 2008

The most superficial level of Thucydides’ history examines the destructive consequences of domestic and foreign policies framed outside the language of justice. His deeper political-philosophical aim was to explore the relationship between nomos (convention) and phusis (nature) and its implications for civilization. Thucydides concludes that nomos constructs identities and channels and restrains the behavior of individuals and societies. Speech and reason (logos) in turn make nomos possible because all conventions depend on shared meanings. The feedback loop between logoi (words) and ergoi (deeds) created Greek civilization but also the international and civil strife (stasis) associated with the Peloponnesian War. International security and civil order depend upon recovering the meanings of words and the conventions they enable. Thucydides should properly be considered a constructivist.
Mary Wollstonecraft's Nurturing Liberalism: Between an Ethic of Justice and Care
Authors: Engster Daniel
Published: April 2008

Contemporary feminist scholars have devoted much attention to analyzing the relationship between justice and care theories but little to the ideas of early feminist authors. I bring the political philosophy of the Mary Wollstonecraft to bear on contemporary justice/care debates in order to highlight her unique contribution. Although usually interpreted as a classical liberal or republican thinker, Wollstonecraft is better understood as a feminist care theorist. She aimed at a revolutionary transformation of liberal society by emphasizing the importance of care-giving duties. Unlike some recent feminist scholars, however, she still recognized an important role for justice. She argued that before personal care-giving activities could transform the political, political justice had first to be extended to personal caring relationships. Wollstonecraft's political philosophy thus provides a feminist model for synthesizing justice and care theories and represents an innovative reformulation of classical liberal and republican ideas that incorporates the care perspective.
Human Rights as a Common Concern
Authors: Beitz Charles R.
Published: April 2008

The doctrine of human rights has come to play a distinctive role in international life. This is primarily the role of a moral touchstone-a standard of assessment and criticism for domestic institutions, a standard of aspiration for their reform, and increasingly a standard of evaluation for the policies and practices of international economic and political institutions. International practice has followed the controlling documents of international law in taking a broad view of the scope of human rights. Many political theorists argue, however, that this view is excessively broad and that genuine human rights, if they are to be regarded as a truly common concern of world society, must be construed more narrowly. I argue against that perspective and in favor of the view implicit in contemporary international practice, using the right to democratic institutions as an example.
Taking Temporality Seriously: Modeling History and the Use of Narratives as Evidence
Authors: BÜTHE TIM
Published: April 2008

Social scientists interested in explaining historical processes can, indeed should, refuse the choice between modeling causal relationships and studying history. Identifying temporality as the defining characteristic of processes that can be meaningfully distinguished as “history,” I show that modeling such phenomena engenders particular difficulties but is both possible and fruitful. Narratives, as a way of presenting empirical information, have distinctive strengths that make them especially suited for historical scholarship, and structuring the narratives based on the model allows us to treat them as data on which to test the model. At the same time, this use of narratives raises methodological problems not identified in recent debates. I specify these problems, analyze their implications, and suggest ways of solving or minimizing them. There is no inherent incompatibility between—but much potential gain from—modeling history and using historical narratives as data.
How Political Parties Can Use the Courts to Advance Their Agendas: Federal Courts in the United States, 1875–1891
Authors: Gillman Howard
Published: April 2008

This case study of late-nineteenth century federal courts in the United States sheds light on two seemingly unrelated questions of general interest to political scientists: What tools are available to party leaders who seek to institutionalize their policy agendas or insulate those agendas from electoral politics? and How do we account for expansions of judicial power? Using an historical–interpretive analysis of partisan agendas, party control of national institutions, congressional initiatives relating to federal courts, the appointment of federal judges, judicial decision making, and litigation patterns, I demonstrate that the increased power, jurisdiction, and conservatism of federal courts during this period was a by-product of Republican Party efforts to promote and entrench a policy of economic nationalism during a time when that agenda was vulnerable to electoral politics. In addition to offering an innovative interpretation of these developments, I discuss the implications arising from this case study for our standard accounts of partisan politics, political development, and the determinants of judicial decision making.
Socratic Political Philosophy and the Problem of Virtue
Authors: BARTLETT ROBERT C.
Published: April 2008

Plato's Meno deserves careful examination today because it highlights two facets of the concern for virtue neglected or obscured by the current revival of virtue among liberal theorists: the devotion to a good that cannot simply be reduced either to individual flourishing or to communal well-being—what Plato calls “nobility” or “the noble”; and the complex relation of virtue so understood to the concern for religion or piety. If the sought-for incorporation of virtue into liberal thought and practice today fails to grapple with these profound human concerns, in the first place by recognizing their existence, the language of virtue and its attendant moral sentiments will remain a matter more of scholarly debate than of lived practice.
Political Citizenship and Democratization: The Gender Paradox
Authors: MCDONAGH EILEEN
Published: April 2008

This research challenges models of democratization that claim liberal principles affirming the equality of rights-bearing individuals equably enhance the political inclusion of groups marginalized by race, class, or gender. While such explanations may suffice for race and class, this study's quantitative cross-national analysis of women's contemporary officeholding patterns establishes that gender presents a counter case whereby women's political citizenship is enhanced, first, by government institutions that paradoxically affirm both individual equality and kinship group difference and, second, by state policies that paradoxically affirm both individual equality and women's group difference. These findings challenge assumptions about the relationship between political citizenship and democratization, demonstrate how women's political inclusion as voters and officeholders is strengthened not by either a “sameness” principle (asserting women's equality to men as individuals) or a “difference” principle (asserting women's group difference from men) but rather by the paradoxical combination of both, and provide new views for assessing multiculturalism prospects within democratic states.
Lipstick and Logarithms: Gender, Institutional Context, and Representative Bureaucracy
Authors: KEISER LAEL R. , WILKINS VICKY M. , MEIER KENNETH J. , HOLLAND CATHERINE A.
Published: April 2008

According to the theory of representative bureaucracy, passive representation among public employees will lead to active representation in bureaucratic outputs. Existing research demonstrates that the link between passive and active representation exists for race but not for sex. Past research on this topic has not, however, taken into account the contextual environment that affects whether sex will translate into gender and lead to active representation in the bureaucracy. In this paper, we create a framework that specifies the conditions that affect whether passive representation results in active representation for sex and then test this framework using the case of education. We find that passive representation of women in education leads to active representation and that the institutional context affects the extent to which this link between passive and active representation occurs.
The Problems of Communitarian Politics: Unity and Conflict By Elizabeth Frazer. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. 279p. $70.00 cloth, $24.95 paper.
Authors: Arneil Barbara
Published: April 2008

This book begins where The Politics of Community (1993), Elizabeth Frazer's previous book (coauthored with Nicola Lacey) left off. Having laid the groundwork for the analytical problems within both liberal and communitarian thought and proposed a new type of feminist communitarianism in the first book, Frazer turns her penetrating analytical mind in this book to considering in greater depth the nature of both communitarianism and community. Ironically, having spent so much time analyzing the community, Frazer's recommendation at the end of this book is to dispense with the term in many contexts in favor of a series of interlinked concepts such as family, locality, association, and group.
Environmentalism Unbound: Exploring New Pathways for Change By Robert Gottlieb. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2001. 408p. $29.95.
Authors: Schlosberg David
Published: April 2008

The key argument of Robert Gottlieb's Environmentalism Unbound is that an integrated focus on pollution prevention and environmental justice can lay the groundwork for fundamental environmental and social change (p. xiii). The aim is to develop a common vision and a more “embracing language” for environmentalism that is more broadly appealing than a mainstream focus on nature and species and more broadly applicable to a range of environmental and social issues. Such an expanded environmental discourse—integrating the workplace, the social, and the ecological—would make for an unbounded and more successful environmentalism. This is another wonderful offering by Gottlieb, right up there with his Forcing the Spring (1993). The recognition of diverse discourses of environmentalism and social justice is a challenge to movement strategies, and Gottlieb takes on the issue with a focus on both a broad vision and everyday practice.
The Theory and Practice of Third World Solidarity. By Darryl C. Thomas. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2001. 324p. $57.95.
Authors: Lehman Howard P.
Published: April 2008

Since the end of the Cold War, development studies have fallen to the wayside as attention has shifted to the democratization process in Eastern Europe, the increased integration of the European Union, and the effects of economic globalization in the advanced industrialized countries. The developing world was seen as an afterthought or, in some cases, as arenas of misunderstandable ethnic or religious conflict, structural poverty, disease, and other hardships. However, in the context of September 11, more attention now is on the developing world, perhaps not so much on economic development, but more on containing various terrorist organizations. Yet development studies still exist, and this area of study maintains an historical connection to several decades worth of academic research. Scholars persistently ask such questions as why the South is poor and politically weak compared to countries in the North. Answers generally are located in the dependency literature of unequal economic relations leading to unequal power relations. Darryl C. Thomas, in The Theory and Practice of Third World Solidarity, asks this question but provides a somewhat different response. The economic and political inequality in the world is not necessarily due to economic ideology but to the color of skin (p. xi). The solidarity of the Third World that Thomas sees in the past is one based on race, and racial solidarity should be the means by which the poor and powerless of the Third World transform unequal power relations. Thomas refers to this relationship as global apartheid, defining it as a structure of the world system that combines political economy and racial antagonism (p. 26). He states that global apartheid refers to the continuation of white-minority dominance of political, social, legal, cultural, and economic decision-making apparatuses within the world system (p. 111) and that this form of racial capitalism has become a permanent feature in the world system.
Conscience and Community: Revisiting Toleration and Religious Dissent in Early Modern England and America By Andrew R. Murphy. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001. 337p. $45.00.
Authors: Neal Patrick
Published: April 2008

Political theorists interested in liberalism often fall into one of two quite different camps. There are those (call them the “analytic” school) who engage in arguments designed to justify or criticize various accounts of justice, legitimacy, and the like, and on the other hand, there are those (call them the “historical” school) who aim at providing a rich historical account of the processes through which such concepts developed in the modern age. Rawls and Dworkin as opposed to Pocock and Skinner, if you will. In my view, the most interesting and ultimately fruitful work in political theory is done by those who practice a mixture of the two approaches. Two prime examples would be Jeremy Waldron and Charles Taylor. Andrew Murphy's first book is a highly interesting and very promising exemplar of this mixed approach. I have no doubt but that “pure” historians will question the novelty of his account of arguments over toleration in the seventeenth century, or that “pure” analysts will question the relevance of that account to the more analytical positions with regard to the contemporary concerns he stakes out in the latter portion of the book. But I found it to be one of the great strengths of his book that he does try to look at contemporary issues with an eye toward the historical context out of which they emerged. I found my own understanding of contemporary normative arguments about toleration, religious freedom, and liberal public reason enriched and deepened by a reading of Murphy's clear and lively account of the seventeenth-century arguments.
Forms of Power By Gianfranco Poggi. Cambridge: Blackwell, 2001. 256p. $66.95 cloth, $28.95 paper.
Authors: Titunik Regina F.
Published: April 2008

The main themes of this book are prefigured in Gianfranco Poggi's two significant earlier works on the rise and character of the modern state: The Development of the Modern State: A Sociological Introduction, 1978, and The State: Its Nature, Development, and Prospects, 1990, (especially in the first chapter of the latter). In connection with his discussion of state formation, Poggi put forward the view that political power is one particular form of social power and is distinguished from other types of social power by its control of the means of violence. In the current work, Poggi undertakes the considerable task of explicating power in its various forms. He abstracts the concept of power from the historical context of his previous works and, with characteristic lucidity, details the various forms of social power and their interrelations.
Liberalism Beyond Justice: Citizens, Society, and the Boundaries of Political Theory By John Tomasi. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001. 163p. $55.00 cloth, $15.95 paper.
Authors: Newman Stephen L.
Published: April 2008

In a book published almost a decade ago, Ronald Beiner complained that contemporary liberalism suffers for its neglect of the Big Questions traditionally addressed by political philosophy. Preoccupied with narrowly conceived and highly formal questions of (procedural) justice, liberalism had no advice to give about how one should live. (See Ronald Beiner, What's the Matter with Liberalism, 1992.) John Tomasi's provocative new book takes this complaint seriously and attempts to remedy the defect in contemporary liberalism by moving it “beyond justice” to address the normative concerns of persons earnestly striving to lead good and worthwhile lives.
Civil Rights and Public Accommodations: The Heart of Atlanta Motel and McClung Cases By Richard C. Cortner. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2001. 240p. $29.95.
Authors: Stewart Joseph
Published: April 2008

Mention Richard Cortner's name and political scientists think of “stories” of court cases well and thoroughly told. Cortner's latest effort is another superb contribution to this line of work. In this work he focuses on the two cases in which the constitutionality of Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (CRA) was tested—the Heart of Atlanta Motel case and the “Ollie's Barbeque” case.
Justice & Nature: Kantian Philosophy, Environmental Policy, and the Law By John Martin Gillroy. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2000. 443p. $70.00 cloth, $34.95 paper.
Authors: Whiteside Kerry H.
Published: April 2008

That environmental problems such as groundwater contamination, global warming, and loss of biodiversity pose mounting political challenges is now widely admitted. The meager progress in reversing these trends calls into question the adequacy of policy instruments conventionally used to address them. Gillroy maintains that the environmental policy failure stems from its grounding in economic reasoning. An alternative paradigm of Kantian inspiration is his proposed remedy.
Hitching a Ride: Omnibus Legislating in the U.S. Congress By Glen S. Krutz. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2001. 183p. $60.00 cloth, $22.95 paper.
Authors: Evans C. Lawrence
Published: April 2008

In recent decades, roughly 25 percent of major bills considered by the U.S. Congress have been omnibus measures—large, often unwieldy, legislative vehicles that touch on multiple policy areas. The 1981 reconciliation bill, which included much of President Reagan's economic agenda, is perhaps the best-known example. But many important policy proposals, from crime control to welfare reform, have passed as part of omnibus legislation.
The Great Divide: Religious and Cultural Conflict in American Party Politics By Geoffrey Layman. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001. 435p. $49.50 cloth, $22.50 paper.
Authors: Jelen Ted G.
Published: April 2008

Analysts of religion and American politics have been awaiting this book for some time. In The Great Divide, Geoffrey Layman brings together two strands of research in American political behavior in an elegant, systematic fashion: the study of party system change (often described as the literature on “party realignment”) and the analysis of religion in politics in the United States (long something of an esoteric speciality within political science). While Layman is not first to address the connection between the pew and the precinct, his impressive effort is at this point the authoritative source on religion and contemporary party politics.
Disjointed Pluralism: Institutional Innovation and the Development of the U.S. Congress By Eric Schickler. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001. 356p. $65.00 cloth, $22.95 paper.
Authors: King David C.
Published: April 2008

For those of us who watch Congress and steep ourselves in its history, there are a handful of theories purporting to explain how and why Congress changes. Political parties behave like cartels gathering power at another's expense. Election-minded members shape Congress to ease the passage of pork-barrel bills and to trade votes. Congress often seems designed to encourage legislators to become policy experts, and their expertise is protected by deference to committees that fairly closely represent the interests of the whole House or Senate. For at least the last 15 years, and in the name of New Institutionalism, full-throated fans of various theories have been arguing over which one is “right.”
The Retreat of Social Democracy. By John Callaghan. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000. 255p. $69.95 cloth, $24.95 paper. Against the Third Way. By Alex Callinicos. Oxford: Polity Press, 2001. 160p. $56.95 cloth, $21.95 paper. Social Democracy in Neoliberal Times: The Left and Economic Policy since 1980. Edited by Andrew Glyn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. 374p. $70.00 cloth, $22.95 paper.
Authors: Block Fred
Published: April 2008

Since the 1980s, global financial integration and the rise of neoliberalism have significantly changed the terrain on which European social democratic parties operate. However, fierce debate persists over the evaluation of these changes. Some observers—from widely differing political standpoints—insist that social democracy and the free movement of capital across national boundaries are fundamentally incompatible. It follows that the only options for social democratic parties are either to embrace neoliberalism and dismantle much of the welfare state or organize concerted action to reshape the global financial architecture. An opposing group of analysts are equally adamant that while the terrain has certainly become more difficult, it is still possible for Social Democrats to preserve much of the welfare state and even launch new policy initiatives.
Commissioned Ridings: Designing Canada's Electoral Districts. By John C. Courtney. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2001. 337p. $75.00 cloth, $27.95 paper.
Authors: Bakvis Herman
Published: April 2008

The approach to the design and revision of electoral districts in Canada is quite different from that found in the United States, despite the two countries' sharing of the same basic first-past-the-post electoral system. As John Courtney notes in his careful study of the topic, in Canada the emphasis in defining electoral districts, or constituencies or ridings, has been underpinned by concepts such as “community of interest” and “effective representation,” which encompass a wide range of political and social considerations—many local in nature—and which permit substantial deviation from the principle of one person, one vote. At the federal level, the allowable deviation in the size of constituencies can be plus or minus 25% within any given province, with the possibility of even greater variances under special circumstances. At the level of provincial electoral systems, the variances can be even larger, in part due to the fact that in certain provinces the ratio of urban to rural seats is specified in law. At the same time, the actual process of designing and reconfiguring the boundaries of constituencies, in the hands of independent, arm's-length commissions for the past 40 years, has been remarkably free of direct partisan influence. In fact, given the rather tattered state of current Canadian parliamentary democracy, characterized by one-party dominance in the federal parliament and a precipitous decline in voter turnout over the past three elections, the institution of arms-length boundary commissions stands out as something that works well and enjoys broad respect.
No Other Way Out: States and Revolutionary Movements, 1945–1991. By Jeff Goodwin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 428p. $60.00 cloth, $23.00 paper.
Authors: Selbin Eric
Published: April 2008

“Do we need yet another comparative study of revolutions?” (p. 5; emphasis in original), Jeff Goodwin asks in this eagerly (and long) anticipated and important new book, which is destined to influence scholars in several disciplines and fields. The answer, as this volume makes abundantly clear, is “yes,” and few will be disappointed with this well-written, accessible, and compelling volume, the most nuanced and sophisticated argument yet for the state-centered (but, pace Goodwin, not structuralist; see p. 53) approach, and worthy heir to Theda Skocpol's (1979) still paradigmatic States and Social Revolutions. But therein lies the rub: Rather than the first book of the (putative) emergent fourth generation of scholars of revolution(s), this is likely the last of the third generation. Goodwin concedes he has “largely moved beyond” (p. xvi) the perspective he articulates here, and he, along with John Foran, is one of the most likely suspects to produce the next paradigmatic statement on revolutions. This, then, would seem the third generation's crowning glory; given the long gestation period and the prolific Goodwin's many and impressive contributions to matters revolutionary, this is almost more a legend than a book.
Has Liberalism Failed Women?: Assuring Equal Representation in Europe and the United States. Edited by Jytte Klausen and Charles S. Maier. New York: Palgrave, 2001. 243p.
Authors: Norton Noelle H.
Published: April 2008

Over the past decade, while the United States effectively decided that liberalism could not accommodate quotas or affirmative action plans designed to alleviate gender and racial inequality, Europe decided that liberalism could accommodate a form of positive discrimination. As the U.S. Supreme Court systematically rolled back affirmative action plans and the state of California led the initiative to curtail government and educational affirmative action, countries like France, Germany, and Norway were implementing a variety of parity policies at both the constitutional and political levels. The parity movement that gained strength in Europe in the 1990s called for equal representation of both men and women in elected assemblies. Methods for achieving parity ranged from reserving parliamentary seats for female legislators by means of constitutional change to legal gender quotas in party lists and party rules. The editors of this volume point out that the Europeans have implemented these electoral reforms with “little public outcry” and “no manifestations of mass protests.”
Grassroots Expectations of Democracy and Economy: Argentina in Comparative Perspective. By Nancy R. Powers. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001. 294p. $45.00 cloth, $19.95 paper.
Authors: Levitsky Steven
Published: April 2008

As the recent political meltdowns in Venezuela and Argentina made clear, a vast gap persists between elite behavior and mass attitudes in much of Latin America. Scholarly understanding of this gap—and its political implications—would benefit from more fine-grained, yet theoretically informed, studies of nonelites. Nancy Powers's Grassroots Expectations of Democracy and Economy is one such study. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 41 residents of two lower-income neighborhoods in Argentina's federal capital, Powers examines how poor people understand their own interests. She argues that people experience poverty in vastly different ways, and this variation has important implications for political behavior. Thus, to understand how poor people view the relationship between their own material conditions and government policy, one must examine “the conditions themselves and how people live with them” (p. 33). This kind of inductive analysis has important and well-known limitations, particularly for studies—such as this one—based on a small sample size. Yet given how little we continue to know about the relationship between mass attitudes and macrolevel politics in Latin America, such a “bottom up” approach should be welcomed. To the extent that fine-grained inductive research generates insights that 1) are unlikely to emerge out of larger-n studies and 2) challenge or refine dominant theoretical assumptions, it can be extremely fruitful. This is the case with important sections of the book.
Political Transition in Cambodia 1991–1999. Power, Elitism and Democracy. By David W. Roberts. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000. 259p. $40.00.
Authors: Weyden Patrick Vander
Published: April 2008

In this book David W. Roberts provides an interesting descriptive account of recent Cambodian politics. The guiding principle of his study is the evaluation and implementation of the Paris Peace Agreement (PPA), which was signed in 1993. The main thesis in the book is that the content of the PPA mainly served the interests of international actors such as the United States and China, without taking into account the Cambodian political reality. In Roberts's view, the PPA developed from the Western ideal of liberal democracy, with multiparty elections as its central component and with total disregard for the Cambodian political context.
Through a Glass Darkly: Looking at Conflict Prevention, Management, and Termination. By Stephen J. Cimbala. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2001. 224p. $65.00.
Authors: Underhill-Cady Joseph B.
Published: April 2008

One test of a book is how well it weathers major developments in world events, and, as with the end of the Cold War, the beginning of the new war on terrorism presents recent publications in international or military affairs with the danger of untimely relegation to the trash bin of history. After September 11, as we scramble to adjust and make sense of the “hunt for Osama,” Stephen Cimbala's work, however, remains a useful compendium of lessons from several recent wars, crises, and ongoing military challenges. Although the book is not as suddenly relevant as Samuel Huntington's (1998) The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order or Chalmers Johnson's (2001) Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire, the wisdom distilled within it is sound enough to apply equally well to the pre- and post-September 11 worlds. It is largely rooted in frameworks developed for studying the Cold War and superpower arms races, but Cimbala's examination of the new realities of military strategy and technology still has much to say about the war being waged in Afghanistan and the campaigns that are likely to follow.
Power and Conflict in the Age of Transparency. Edited by Bernard I. Finel and Kristin M. Lord. New York: Palgrave, 2000. 371p. $49.95.
Authors: Comor Edward
Published: April 2008

According to editors Bernard I. Finel and Kristin M. Lord, “the puzzle for analysts of international affairs” in relation to transparency is not only how it has weakened states, “but also how it has strengthened them” (p. 2). Transparency, for them, is “a condition in which information about governmental preferences, intentions, and capabilities is made available either to the public or other outsiders” (p. 3). This apparently increasing openness is the outcome of, among other things, emerging communication and information technologies, the widespread adoption of democratic institutions, and the global reach of mass media organizations. Although transparency is “transforming international politics” (p. ix), it has been underassessed and, as such, Finel and Lord aim to examine “the phenomenon” in a “comprehensive way and assess its impact on world security and diplomacy” (p. 6).