Recommending Books for Purchase (Bulletin 84 - June 2020): US Politics

Adam Smith is commonly conceived as either an economist or a moral philosopher so his importance as a political thinker has been somewhat neglected and, at times, even denied. This book reveals the integrated, deeply political project that lies at the heart of Smith's thought, showing both the breadth and novelty of Smith's approach to political thought. A key argument running through the book is that attempts to locate Smith on the left-right spectrum (however that was interpreted in the eighteenth century) are mistaken: his position was ultimately dictated by his social scientific and economic thought rather than by ideology or principle. Through examining Smith's political interests and positions, this book reveals that apparent tensions in Smith's thought are generally a function of his willingness to abandon, not only proto-liberal principles, but even the principles of his own social science when the achievement of good outcomes was at stake. Despite the common perception, negative liberty was not the be-all and end-all for Smith; rather, welfare was his main concern and he should therefore be understood as a thinker just as interested in what we would now call positive liberty. The book will uniquely show that Smith's approach was basically coherent, not muddled, ad hoc, or 'full of slips'; in other words, that it is a system unified by his social science and his practical desire to maximise welfare. 

This book examines the American industrial strategy, from the late 70s to the present day, in what is now known as the 'neoliberal era'. The author illustrates the ways in which the protection and promotion of American companies and industries took place in the context of the international 'free market'. He provides clear evidence of how the economic power of the United States - wielded to influence the formal and informal institutions of the neoliberal order - has been used as a tool for enhancing its competitive advantage against other world economies.

This book addresses what is perhaps the most salient issue in American politics today: the decline of the middle class. It is this single issue that drove the outlier presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump to national prominence, and undergirded the electoral victory of Donald Trump. While there are other longer studies exploring in detail the structural forces, most prominently the loss of manufacturing in the US, that have caused the contraction of the middle class, none offer in shorter form practical policy solutions directly geared towards practitioners in government and the private sector. This work focuses specifically on combining both an academic analysis of the subject combined with detailed policy recommendations. These recommendations are designed to be implemented; they take into account the latest set of real world political variables such as actual current legislative and institutional agendas currently in play on the federal and local levels. 

In 2011, Lawrence Davidson founded his website, tothepointanalyses.com, as a home for his brief essays on contemporary issues touching on US domestic and foreign policy. Over the last few years, Davidson's analytic reflections on contemporary politics have garnered over six million views. Now, for the first time, these essays are collected together to form a coherent, punchy look at American Politics in 2018. Contextualized by a new prologue and new conclusion, as well as updated with new material throughout, these essays provide a cogent demonstration of the power of analytical thinking to create clear and understandable descriptions of issues that impact us all, but are most often obfuscated by propaganda, lying by omission, or other forms of distortion. For those who encounter this work, it is hoped that they will come away with a clearer, if not happier, idea of what sort of world we are all living in.  

The topic of immigration is at the center of contemporary politics and, from a scholarly perspective, existing studies have documented that attitudes towards immigration have brought about changes in both partisanship and voting behavior. However, many scholars have missed or misconstrued the role of religion in this transformation, particularly evangelical Protestant Christianity. This book examines the historical and contemporary relationships between religion and immigration politics, with a particularly in-depth analysis of the fault lines within evangelicalism--divisions not only between whites and non-whites, but also the increasingly consequential disconnect between elites and laity within white evangelicalism. The book's empirical analysis relies on original interviews with Christian leaders, data from original church surveys conducted by the authors, and secondary analysis of several national public opinion surveys.  It concludes with suggestions for bridging the elite/laity and racial divides. Ruth M. Melkonian-Hoover: (Ph.D., Emory University) is Chair and Professor of Political Science at Gordon College, Massachusetts. She has contributed chapters to Faith in a Pluralist Age (2018) and Is the Good Book Good Enough? (2011). She has published in a wide range of journals including Social Science Quarterly, The Review of Faith & International Affairs, Latin American Perspectives, Political Research Quarterly, Comment, and Capital Commentary.    Lyman A. Kellstedt: (Ph.D., University of Illinois) is Professor of Political Science (emeritus) at Wheaton College, Illinois. He has authored or coauthored numerous articles, book chapters, and books in religion and politics, including Religion and the Culture Wars (1996), The Bully Pulpit (1997), and The Oxford Handbook of Religion and American Politics (2009).  

This book explains the original meaning of the two religion clauses of the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law [1] respecting an establishment of religion or [2] prohibiting the free exercise thereof." As the book shows, both clauses were intended to protect the free exercise of religion or religious freedom.  West shows the position taken by early Americans on four issues: (1) the general meaning of the "free exercise of religion," including whether it is different from the meaning of "no establishment of religion"; (2) whether the free exercise of religion may be intentionally and directly limited, and if so, under what circumstances; (3) whether laws regulating temporal matters that also have a religious sanction violate the free exercise of religion; and (4) whether the free exercise of religion gives persons a right to be exempt from obeying valid civil laws that unintentionally and indirectly make it difficult or impossible to practice their religion in some way. A definitive work on the subject and a major contribution to the field of constitutional law and history, this volume is key to a better understanding of the ongoing constitutional adjudication based on the religion clauses of the First Amendment.

This book focuses on the unique challenges women in politics face in the United States based on their gender. It also focuses on issues of intersectionality in political marketing, including race, age, weight, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. From a theoretical perspective, this book facilitates an investigation of the interplay of gender dynamics and power structures within political marketing. Focusing on women in the United States of both parties at various levels in politics, it examines both historical data and contemporary examples of female politicians and their campaigns. Using qualitative research methods and taking a feminist approach to data collection and analysis, this book features primary source interviews with 15 politicians, including a Governor, Senator, two Congresswomen, and several state and local legislators. It also incorporates interviews with 19 political consultants, PAC executives, aides, political party officials, and members of the media. 

This handbook is the definitive resource for understanding current mental health policy controversies, options, and implementation strategies. It offers a thorough review of major issues in mental health policy to inform the policy-making process, presenting the pros and cons of controversial, significant issues through close analyses of data. Some of the topics covered are the effectiveness of various biomedical and psychosocial interventions, the role of mental illness in violence, and the effectiveness of coercive strategies. The handbook presents cases for conditions in which specialized mental health services are needed and those in which it might be better to deliver mental health treatment in mainstream health and social services settings. It also examines the balance between federal, state, and local authority, and the financing models for delivery of efficient and effective mental health services. It is aimed for an audience of policy-makers, researchers, and informed citizens that can contribute to future policy deliberations. 

This critical and systematic analysis of election reforms post-HAVA (Help America Vote Act of 2002) offers a detailed look ahead at the significant challenges that remain in the context of a new presidential administration. Employing a mixed methodological approach, this book analyzes the biggest election challenges faced by voters and election administrators in the areas of voter registration, polling place and non-polling place voting, election administration personnel, and voting technology. Within the framework of the competing values of integrity and access, this book fills a crucial gap in the existing literature by analyzing the impact of election reform wins and losses. The book concludes with a promising agenda for the future of election reform and the political considerations that will be brought to bear on that agenda.

This book offers a historical analysis of the geopolitical and geoeconomic competition between the USA and Russia, which has recently heated up again due to the eastward expansion of NATO. The analysis departs from an exploration of the USA's foreign policy and geopolitical ambitions by illustrating the influence of Wall Street and the military-industrial complex on the country's political decision-making.  The historical review covers a wide timespan, from the Second World War and the birth of NATO, to the wars against Iraq and Afghanistan, to the rebellions that erupted in Eurasia, Northern Africa and the Middle East in the 2010's, as well as the wars in the Ukraine and in Syria. By doing so, it reveals the influence of US neocons, the US intelligence services and the military complex on the Arab Spring, the Color Revolutions and the armed conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. Ultimately, the book depicts a new era of worldwide instability and disorder, dominated by violence and arbitrariness.