Booknotes

The Political Environment of Public Management. By Peter Kobrak. New York: HarperCollins, 1993.

In this reader Kobrak brings together recent literature on the political role played by public managers in policymaking. Kobrak divides the book into five parts all with introductions written by himself which provide context, the major issues, the sources of the readings, and their place in the literature. Part I looks at the political role of the public manager through selections by Kotter, Helegson, Fottler, and Denhardt. In Part II, the book's focus is on the political aspects of bureaucratic power and citizens relations, and includes selections by Rourke, Ripley and Franklin, Osborne and Gaebler, and Lipsky. The third section is concerned with the leadership role of public managers in and outside government, and includes selections by Kanter, Wilson, Rubin, Rosenbloom, and Kaniss. In Part IV, the focus shifts to the influence of public managers during the stages of policymaking, and includes readings by Berry, Rivlin, Wholey and Hatry, and Quirk. And finally, Part V looks at accountability and democratic values, and contains readings by Gormley, Meier, Reich, and Bellone and Goerl. The text is targeted for upper-division public administration and political science undergraduates, MPA students, and political science graduate students.

Foundations of Administrative Law. By Peter H. Schuck. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. $45.00(c), $19.95(p).

This reader brought together by Schuck is part of the series, Interdisciplinary Readers In Law. Schuck organizes this reader around eight broad themes: the theoretical foundations of administrative law, the historical evolution of administrative law, the impact of the Administrative Procedures Act, determinants of agency behavior, the role of justice and effectiveness in administration, controls of agency power, comparative administrative law, and the future of administrative law. The text is primarily targeted for law school courses, and also courses in public administration, organization theory, and sociology. Each chapter contains an introduction and notes and questions written by Schuck.

An Ever Closer Union? An Introduction to the European Community . By Desmond Dinan. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1994. 475 p. $55.00(c), $19.95(p).

Dinan, an historian, in this book examines basically three questions in regard to the European Community: Why did it develop? How does it work? And what does it do? To answer these questions, Dinan presents an overview and analysis of the history of the Community, the institutions that make up the Community, and its policies and programs. The book is divided into three sections dealing with each of those three issues. Part III examines the Community's policies and programs pertaining to agriculture, creating a single market, industry, creating a monetary union, and external economic relations.

Contemporary Issues in Bioethics, Fourth Edition. Edited by Tom L. Beauchamp and LeRoy Walters. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1994. 752 p. $42.95.

This fourth edition, similar to the previous three, explores current problems and debates in biomedical ethics. Three-quarters of the articles in this edition are new, and this edition addresses a range of new topics - reproduction, euthanasia and assisted-suicide, AIDS, and human genetics. Beauchamp and Walters revised their introductory chapter on ethical theory and bioethics, and the other nine chapters include introductions by Beauchamp and Walters and suggested reading lists.

Beyond Agendas: New Directions in Communication Research . Edited by Philip Gaunt. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993. 248 p. $55.00.

The essays in this edited volume come from a 1992 symposium of the same name sponsored by the Elliot School of Communication at Wichita State University. Two themes running through the collection are the intersection and melding of multiple methods of communication research from numerous disciplines and a shift in research emphasis to examine the question of "how" information is communicated. The book is divided into four parts: "historical perspectives," "information flows and filters," "policy and social outcomes," and "future directions."

Homelessness in America, 1893-1992: An Annotated Bibliography . Compiled by Rod Van Whitlock, Bernard Lubin, and Jean R. Sailors. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. 232 p. $55.00.

This bibliography contains 1703 sources and supplies 717 annotated entries on research on the homeless in the last century. The entries are organized into 11 categories: Early Research, 1893-1965; Mental Health; Alcohol and Drug Abuse; Single Homeless; Health; Families and Children; Legal Issues; Social and Historical Perspectives; Special Populations - Elderly, Minorities, & Veterans; Programs, Services & Training; and Housing. The bibliography also includes author and subject indexes.

America's Future Work Force: A Health and Education Policy Issues Handbook. By Carl W. Stenberg III and William G. Colman. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. 640 p. $95.00.

Stenberg and Colman examine the changing nature of the workplace and America's labor force and, in particular, the effect of public health and education on the development of America's youth into a productive labor force. Stenberg and Colman's aim is to collect and analyze the essential data and information concerning these policy areas, organizing it into a comprehensive reference book targeted for citizens, policymakers, and the business community.

Global Telecommunications Policies: The Challenge of Change . Edited by Meheroo Jussawalla. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993. 280 p. $59.95.

This volume is part of the series, Contributions in Economics and Economic History. The general focus of the contributors is on the changing nature of telecommunication regulation around the world with the movement toward liberalization and privatization, and the impact of these changes on both national and international markets. The individual selections cover many of the telecommunications reforms in the 1980s and early 1990s in countries and regions such as, the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia, Latin America, Africa, China, and Southeast Asia.

The Development of the Dutch Welfare State: From Workers Insurance to Universal Entitlement. By Robert H. Cox. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1993. 240 p. $59.95.

In this case study of the Dutch welfare state, Cox highlights the importance of examining smaller welfare states for theories of the development of welfare states. He uses the Dutch case to test the major assumptions about theories of the welfare state and finds that this case does not fit the traditional theory exactly. He argues that the Dutch welfare state developed relatively quickly and its development was driven not by the social democratic left, but rather by the religious center, and that other forces such as the impact of ideas from outside the country, the importance of collective action, and the influence of corporatism were significant to the development of the Dutch welfare state and outcomes.

Public Opinion, The Press, and Public Policy. Edited by J. David Kennamer. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1992. 216 p. $45.00.

With contributions by scholars of journalism, communications, and political science, this volume addresses the role of the media linking policymaking institutions to the general public. The chapters examine the techniques used by policymakers to identify and estimate public opinion, and the impact of public opinion on policymaking. Some of the topics covered by the contributors include: public knowledge of politics, interest group use of the media, agenda-setting, the media's reporting of public opinion, spiral-of-silence theory, and third-person effects.

Troubled Lands: The Legacy of Soviet Environmental Destruction . By DJ Peterson. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1993. $55.00(c), $19.95(p).

Peterson documents the extent of the environmental problems facing post-Soviet nations in areas such as air and water pollution, resource depletion, and management of solid and hazardous wastes. His analysis is largely of recently made available data and interviews, and it focusses on the actions and responses of actors and institutions involved with these issues such as the government, industry, military, and citizenry. An important question in this study is the balance of economic development and environmental quality in these regions and whether the imbalance toward economic development will continue.

Dead Laws For Dead Men: The Politics of Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Legislation. By Daniel J. Curran. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1993. $39.95.

This publication by Curran, part of the Pitt Series in Social and Labor History, explores the federal government's efforts to regulate mine safety. Curran's central questions are to find out why mine legislation was enacted and their success in improving health and safety. His findings indicate that the policies often did little to improve mining conditions. His analysis includes an historical review of mining health and safety legislation, and an in-depth examination of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 and the 1977 Amendments to that act, looking at implementation and enforcement of those laws.

Local justice: How Institutions Allocate Scarce Goods and Necessary Burdens. By Jon Elster. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1992. 283 p. $24.95.

Elster in this volume develops a framework to reveal how, as the title suggests, institutions allocate scarce resources and necessary burdens. He identifies principles and mechanisms of allocation used by institutions and he explains these institutional choices. His analysis is supported by studies conducted in the U.S., Norway, France, and West Germany that look at three areas of policy and institutional activity: organ transplantation, job layoffs, and higher education.

Prelude To Trade Wars: American Trade Tariff Policy, 1890-1922 . By Edward S. Kaplan and Thomas W. Ryley. Westport, Ct: Greenwood Press, 1994. 160 p. $49.95.

Part of the series, Contributions in Economics and Economics History, this volume by Kaplan and Ryley examines tariff policy in the U.S. prior to and including the Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922. The authors examine the swings in policy toward and away from protectionism during this period with the final swing toward protectionism with the 1922 tariff. Their analysis pays particular attention to the role of Porter McCumber and his influence on tariff policy during this period.

Market, Bureaucracy and Community: A Student's Guide to Organisation. By Hal Colebatch and Peter Larmour. 144 p. $57.00(c), $15.95(p).

Colebatch and Larmour prepared this guide for students who are delving into the study of organizations in the public, private or voluntary sector for the first time and for students in a variety of fields. The book examines the process of organization by looking at three models of organization, markets, bureaucracy and community. The authors use case studies of youth homeless, HIV and AIDS, and broadcasting to demonstrate and evaluate these models. Each chapter also includes a review, discussion questions and suggested readings lists, and a glossary is provide at the end of the book.

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