The State of American Federalism, 1993-1994

National political energies in 1993–1994 were focusedon major initiatives promised by the Clinton administrationduring the 1992 presidential campaign, especially health-carereform and crime. From the perspective of the states, federalgovernment action in these (and other) policy areas raised seriousquestions about preemption and mandates. The administration'sofficial pronouncements on federalism have suggested a strategyof decongestion and decentralization. Thus far, its actionshave fallen short of empowerment, taking instead the path ofregulatory waivers. Frustrated with the federal government,states and localities continued to engage in policy experimentation.     

Tracing and periodizing China's food safety regulation: A study on China's food safety regime change

How has China's food safety administrative system changed since it was founded in 1949? How can we periodize the process of this historical transformation in terms of regulators, regulatees, and regulatory tools? This review article offers an analytical framework that distinguishes three regimes in the history of China's food safety governance: an old regime of command and control (1949–1977), an intermediate regime of mixed instruments (1978–1992), and a new regime of regulatory governance (1993–ongoing). In the article the regimes' features, advantages, disadvantages, and development tracks are discussed, and the groundwork is laid for an analysis of China's emerging regulatory state. Finally, a new notion of “transitional regulatory state” is used to define the current Chinese regulatory state based on its food safety regulation.     

because they are forbidden but forbidden because they are

Carolyn Merchant: Radical Ecology: The Search for a Livable World. New York/London: Routledge, 1992.

David Pepper: Eco‐Socialism: From Deep Ecology to Social Justice. New York/London: Routledge, 1993.

Kirkpatrick Sale: The Green Revolution. New York: Hill and Wang, 1993.

Paul Hawken: The Ecology of Commerce. New York: Harper and Row, 1993

Vincente Navarro: Dangerous to Your Health. Capitalism in Health Care. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1993     

Book Reviews

Book Reviewed in this article:
Teree Wasley . 1992. What Government Has Done to Our Health Care
Paul Diesing . 1991. How Does Science Work? Reflections on Practice
J. E. Meade . 1993. Liberty, Equalify and Efficiency Apologia Pro Agathotopia Mea
J. Mayne, M. L. Bemelmans-Videc, J. Hudson and R. Conner (Eds). 1992. Advancing Public Policy Evaluation
Kenji Hayao . 1993. The Japanese PrimeMinisterand Public Policy .     

Short notices

Eastern Asia: An Introductory History, edited by Colin Mackerras. Longman Cheshire Pty Ltd., Melbourne, 1992. xiv + 639 pp., illus., tables, maps. Aus $18.99. ISBN 0–582–87005–4.

Asia Pacific: A view of its role in the New World Order, by M.S. Dobbs‐Higginson. Longman Asia Ltd., Hong Kong, 1993. xxviii + 422 pp., maps. £25.00. ISBN 962–000105–2

Korea Briefing 1993: Festival of Korea, edited by Donald N. Clark. Westview Press, Boulder CO, San Francisco and Oxford, in cooperation with The Asia Society, 1993. x + 249 pp. £9.95 paperback. ISBN 0–8133–8770–1.

Southeast Asian Affairs 1992, edited by Daljit Singh. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 1992. x + 364 pp. S$ 26.00. ISSN 0377–5437.     

Aggressive Foreign Policy Marketing: Public Response to Reagan's 1983 Address on Lebanon and Grenada

Building public support for the use of force has become a primary preoccupation for presidents in the post-Vietnam era. Rather than let popular opposition to military actions fester, they pay special attention to public opinion and they attempt to orchestrate these actions in a way that enhances mass support. These strategies and tactics are often aggressive in nature, involving prime-time television appearances, high-profile speaking tours, and a concerted effort by the president's foreign policy advisors to echo the messages delivered by the commander-in-chief. The effect of these actions has been the subject of past research. Unlike other studies of the effects of presidential speeches (Ragsdale, 1984, 1987; Brace and Hinckley, 1992), this one focuses on changes in substantive policy opinion, as opposed to changes in presidential approval. A before/after survey design that incorporates a control group that was not exposed to Ronald Reagan's October 27, 1983 speech on the use of U.S. troops in Lebanon and Grenada reveals that public support for each of these policies increased following the speech. It also reveals that support increased more for Grenada than for Lebanon. The result is consistent with findings by Jentleson (1992) that support is more likely to follow the use of troops to repel a state's violation of another's sovereignty than the use of troops to resolve a political conflict internal to a single sovereign state.     

South Australia: Caution and Consistency

During the 1990s public service industrial relations in South Australia have followed the state's long‐standing practice of being moderate and careful. From 1993 onwards, processes of corporatisation and privatisation that had commenced under the Bannon Labor government were continued and extended under the new Liberal government, in part as a response to financial pressures arising from the State Bank collapse, and in part as a reflection of the same trends that were widespread elsewhere. Where possible the government avoided direct confrontation with unions. There were various contests where the parties explored options in the changing environment, but the most prominent trend was that government policies of financial restraint and outsourcing tended to reduce most unions' bargaining power. Those policies were initially conjoined with agency‐specific enterprise bargaining, but the resulting variations in outcomes finally led to a Wages Parity Agreement to restore consistency.     

Budget Deficits, Hyperinflation, and Stabilization in Ukraine, 1991–96

Since gaining independence in 1991, the former Soviet republic of Ukraine has been plagued by persistent fiscal deficits and punctuated periods of rampant inflation. Having few options to cover the fiscal deficit, Ukraine in 1992–94 largely resorted to money creation. The result was that hyperinflation broke out in late 1993, its burden falling mainly on households, but also eroding the capital of state enterprises. Falling revenues and robust expenditures—even in the face of the continuing output collapse—were exacerbated by a policy of lavishing large amounts of cheap credits on state enterprises. This article reviews and analyzes the causes of Ukraine's inflationary impulse, the descent into hyperinflation in 1993–94, its effects, and the subsequent drive to stabilization by 1996. It concludes that a substantial erosion of the inflation tax base by late 1995 propelled the government to pursue stabilization through an IMF-sponsored program of fiscal restraint. A two-year drive to fiscal and monetary stabilization ensued. Stabilization was largely achieved by mid-1996, permitting a currency reform in September.     

Paving the Way: the Rise of Direct Action against Road-building and the Changing Character of British Environmentalism

Sustained protests against the building of new roads in Britain since 1992 signal the emergence of a new social movement dimension in British environmentalism. The growth of direct action has occurred outside the existing environmental pressure groups and this more radical green politics has undermined the view that the British state was able to prevent confrontational environmental protest. Small numbers of protesters have been able to make a major impact on the political agenda through a combination of technical ingenuity, tactical astuteness and determination. Models of political opportunity structures have become dominant in explaining the emergence and character of social movements but because they lay too much emphasis on the calculation of costs and benefits by movement actors they are of little help in analysis of this case. Rather, the case of the anti-roads movement suggests that further attention needs to be paid to the identities of the movement's founders in explaining their actions and lends credibility to the (much criticized) claim that new social movements are qualitatively new.     

Protest Actions against the European Union, 1992–2007

In spite of the enormous amount of attention devoted to the process of European integration, the study of protest actions that take the European Union as their target is only incipient and suffers from a lack of up-to-date systematic information. This research note presents new data on protests in the member states which, directly or indirectly, targeted the Union between 1992 and 2007. These data show that the increase in protest mobilisation anticipated by previous scholars has not taken place and that the advances in formal European integration have not been matched by any corresponding increase in protests targeting the EU.     

The Status of State Governments in Nigeria's Federalism

Nigerian states have almost completely lost their autonomy.The Babangida years and, in particular, 1991–1992, havewitnessed unprecedented reductions in states' powers. The entrenchmentof local government autonomy and the loss of some state powersto local authorities, the reduction of states' financial powersand their share of the Federation Account, as well as the decreeof a highly centralized two-party system, all have, within theframework of structural economic adjustment and the transitionto civil rule (expected to be completed in January 1993), worsenedthe position of the state governments. However, with the establishmentof civilian governance in the states and the return of constitutionalgovernment after January 1993, the state governments may reasserttheir autonomy.     

More than a ‘war of words’: identity,politics and the struggle for dominance during the recent ‘political reform’ period in Hong Kong

Patten's arrival as Governor in 1992 Marked a new stage inthe Sino-British struggle over ‘decolonization’ in Hong Kong. This struggle ishighly rhetorical and the local mass media call it a ‘war of words’.However, by adopting a strategic-relational approach, this article reveals a dual struggle over the politics of identity and the social basis for a new economic and political regime in the approach to 1997. The key protagonists (Patten and Chinese officials) have deploye various discursive strategies as economic and political circumstances in Hong Knog have changed. Global, regional and local factors and forces are shaping the emergence of two new, but still unstable, power blocs with different social bases. Whether these actions have an effect upon transforming the structural forms depends on the balanceof forces which is increasingly mediated by changes in discourses and discursive practices over time.     

Japan and its impact on South‐east Asia

J.E. Dreifort, Myopic Grandeur: The Ambivalence of French Foreign Policy in the Far East, 1919–45 (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1992). Pp.xiv + 334. £31.50. ISBN 0–87338–441–5.

R.J. Aldrich, The Key to the South: Britain, the United States, and Thailand during the Approach of the Pacific War, 1929–42 (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1993). Pp.xxiii + 416. £25.00. ISBN 0–19–588612–7.

A. Gilchrist, Malaya, 1941: The Fall of a Fighting Empire (London: Robert Hale, 1992). Pp.185. Price unstated. ISBN 0–7090–4684–7.

P. Elphick and M. Smith, Odd Man Out: The Story of the Singapore Traitor (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1993). Pp.xv + 265. £17.99. ISBN 0–340–58762–8.

P. Bates, Japan and the British Commonwealth Occupation Force, 1946–52 (London: Brassey's, 1993). Pp.xviii + 270. £29.95. ISBN 1–85753–000–4.     

References to racial issues

This paper explores the readiness with which the issue of race comes to the minds of ordinary Americans—the accessibility of racial issues—by assessing the frequency with which ordinary Americans refer to racial issues when talking about politics. Explicitly racial issues have declined dramatically in accessibility among the general public over the past thirty years. Coinciding with the decrease in the accessibility of issues explicitly involving race there has been some increase in the accessibility of other issues—crime, poverty, and welfare—that some regard as code words with which whites communicate, in socially acceptable language, continued anxiety about race. There is little evidence, however, that many white Americans use references to such issues to express hostility toward black Americans. Contrary to some interpretations of recent presidential elections, moreover, the increased accessibility of such issues has not produced a windfall of votes for the Republicans.Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the 1992 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois, September 3–6, and at the 1993 conference of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, St. Charles, Illinois, May 20–23.     

Reviews

Austrians right and further right Dokumentationsarchiv des österreichischen Widerstandes (ed.), Handbuch des österreichischen Rechtsextremismus. Vienna: Deuticke Verlag, 1993. 654pp. Illus. Ind.

Resistance or indifference? Asher Cohen, Persécutions et sauvetages: Juifs et François sous l'Occupation et sous Vichy. Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1993. 524pp. Inds. FF245.00.

Claude Singer, Vichy, l'université et les Juifs: les silences de la mémoire. Paris: Les Belles‐Lettres, 1992. 437pp. Append. Notes. Bibl. Ind. FFl 160.00.

The art and craft of homesickness Jack Kugelmass (ed.), Going Home (YIVO Annual, vol. 21). Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press and The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 1993. xvi+463 pp. Gloss. Illus.

The march of illiberalism Geoffrey Harris, The Dark Side of Europe. The Extreme Right Today. 2nd edn. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1994. xi+265pp. Notes. App. Ind. £12.95 (pbk.).

Paul Hockenos, Free to Hate. The Rise of the Right in Post‐Communist Europe. New York and London: Routledge, 1993. xii+332pp. Notes. Ind. £17.99.

An array of ethnic conflicts John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary (eds.), The Politics of Ethnic Conflict Regulation. Case Studies of Protracted Ethnic Conflicts. London and New York: Routledge, 1993. xi+321pp. Tables. Figs. Notes. Bibl. Ind. £12.99 (pbk.).

Becoming (or not becoming) German or French Rogers Brubaker, Citizenship and Nationality in France and Germany. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992. xii+225pp. Index.

The Arendt revival Phillip Hansen, Hannah Arendt: Politics, History and Citizenship. London: Polity Press, 1993. viii+266pp. Notes. Ind. £12.95 (pbk.).

Calling murder ‘murder‘ Christopher Browning, The Path to Genocide: Essays on Launching the Final Solution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. xiv+191pp. Ind. £27.95 (£7.95 pbk.).

Helen Fein, Genocide: A Sociological Perspective. New edn. London: Sage Publications, 1993. x+120pp. Bibl. Ind. £25.00 (£9.95 pbk.). Panikos Panayi (ed.), Minorities in Wartime: National and Racial Groupings in North America and Australia during the Two World Wars. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 1993. viii+328pp. Ind. £25.00.

The mean streets of Stepney Geoffrey Alderman and Colin Holmes (eds.), Outsiders and Outcasts: Essays in Honour of William J. Fishman. London: Duckworth, 1993. 214pp. Notes. Bibl. Ind. £35.00.

Neither French nor English Alan Davies (ed.), Antisemitism in Canada: History and Interpretation. Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1992. viii+304pp. Notes. Ind. $34.95.

Waldheim without wrath Richard Mitten, The Politics of Antisemitic Prejudice: The Waldheim Phenomenon in Austria. Boulder, CO and Oxford: Westview Press, 1992. ix+260pp. Notes. £30.

Towards a Fourth Reich? Uwe Backes and Patrick Moreau, Die extreme Rechte in Deutschland: Geschichte—gegenwärfige Gefahren—Ursachen—Gegenmassnahmen. Munich: Akademischer Verlag in co‐operation with the B'nai B'rith, Munich, 1993. 152pp. Tables.

The concise Hitler Dick Geary, Hitler and Nazism. London and New York: Routledge, 1993. ix+82pp. Notes. Bibl. £4.99 (pbk.).     

Democracy,dictators and the regulation of arms exports: The UK and Iraq

Chris Cowley, Guns, Lies and Spies: How We Armed Iraq (London, Hamish Hamilton, 1992). Pp.273. £7.99.

Paul Henderson, The Unlikely Spy (London, Bloomsbury, 1993). Pp.294. £16.99.

David Leigh, Betrayed: The Real Story of the Matrix Churchill Trial (London, Bloomsbury, 1993). Pp.271. £5.99.

John Sweeney, Trading With the Enemy: Britain's Arming of Iraq (London, Pan Books, 1993). Pp.197. £5.99.     

Does Involvement in Performance Management Routines Encourage Performance Information Use? Evaluating GPRA and PART

The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 and the George W. Bush administration’s Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) established new routines that were intended to foster performance management practices. Using data from two surveys, the authors find that the involvement of agency employees in GPRA processes and PART reviews generally had little direct effect on performance information use once other factors are accounted for. The main exception is that managerial involvement in GPRA processes and PART reviews is associated with the use of performance data to refine measures and goals. This reflects the limits of government‐wide reform efforts that depend on difficult‐to‐observe bureaucratic behavior. The authors also find that a series of organizational factors—leadership commitment to results, learning routines led by supervisors, the motivational nature of the task, and the ability to link measures to actions—are positive predictors of performance information use.     

Obama’s Human Rights Policy: Déjà vu with a Twist

In US history, much human rights policy developed in four waves during the twentieth century. These waves were triggered by similar circumstances, but all proved short-lived as structural constraints such as limited US power over other countries’ domestic actions, competing US policy priorities, a US hesitance to join multilateral institutions, and the continued domestic political weakness of human rights advocates led to setbacks. As Barack Obama took office, his campaign comments and the past patterns led to widespread expectations that he would introduce new human rights initiatives. His policies, though, would continue to face the structural constraints and would be affected by the Bush administration’s legacy. It was predictable that many of Obama’s initiatives would be only partially implemented and only partially successful. As expected, Obama’s first years have seen mixed results, but the Obama administration has advanced US human rights policies sufficiently in half-dozen key areas to say that a fifth wave of human rights policy development is underway.     

Two reversals in Israeli politics: why 1992 was not 1977

Twice elections caused sharp changes in Israeli politics—once in 1977, and again in 1992. The 1992 shift was smaller, but the major difference was that the 1977 election put an end to the era dominated by Labor. It climaxed a realigning electoral era which was grounded in ethnicity and established new and durable election groupings. The issue of the territories was significant in the 1977 reversal, but in the 1992 turnover it was central and the elections were predominantly issue-based. There was an increased willingness to compromise on the territories; disaffection with the Likud's performance rose: and the Likud government expenditures on the settlements in the territories served as a powerful wedge issue.