Documents received

B.A., University of Pennsylvania 1971; J.D., Rutgers University 1987.     

Conversion,Acquiescence, or Delusion: The Contingent Nature of the Party-Voter Connection

Normative theories of representative government posit congruence of opinion between the electorate and their representatives. However, not all political issues are equally salient, and agreement is expected to be greater on relatively salient issues. This paper employs balance theory to describe mechanisms which may produce congruence of opinion between voters and parties when an issue increases rapidly in salience. Panel data on Norwegian opinion during the debate on European Union membership are used to determine whether opinion congruence resulted from persuasion by political parties or policy voting by the electorate. Policy voters are found to differ systematically from voters who were persuaded by parties. Finally, the characteristics of parties which determine their success in persuading voters or attracting policy voters are evaluated.     

Book reviews

William G. Rosenberg, Liberals in the Russian Revolution. The Constitutional Democratic Party, 1917–1921. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1974. xiv+534 pp. $25.00 or $9.75 (paperback).

Roger Pethybridge, The Social Prelude to Stalinism. London: Macmillan, 1974. 343 pp. £7.00.

Vladimir Seduro, Dostoevski's Image in Russia Today. Belmont, Mass.: Nordland Publishing Company, 1975. 508 pp. $18.50.

P. H. Vigor, The Soviet View of War, Peace and Neutrality. London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975. vii+256 pp. £6.50.

Franklyn D. Holzman, Financial Checks on Soviet Defense Expenditures. Lexington, Mass.: D. C. Heath, 1975. xv+104 pp. $11.50.

Hans‐E. Gramatzki, Räumliche Aspekte der Sowjetischen Wirtschaftsplanung. Berlin: Berichte des Osteuropa‐Instituts an der Freien Universität Berlin, 1974. 500 pp. DM 18.50.

Andrew F. Burghardt (ed.), Development Regions in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Canada. New York: Praeger, and London: Martin Robertson, 1975. xiii+192 pp. £8.25.

Alvin Z. Rubinstein (ed.), Soviet and Chinese Influence in the Third World. Praeger Special Studies in International Politics and Government. New York: Praeger, and London: Martin Robertson, 1975. ix+232 pp. £8.55.

Alfred Zauberman, The Mathematical Revolution in Soviet Economics. London: OUP, 1975. xii+62 pp. £2.75.

M. W. Balz, Invention and Innovation under Soviet Law: A Comparative Analysis. Toronto and London: Lexington Books, D. C. Heath, 1975. ix+187pp. £7.50.

Susan Jacoby, Inside Soviet Schools. New York: Schocken Books, 1974. 248 pp. $3.95.

Alexander Matejko, Social Change and Stratification in Eastern Europe. An Interpretive Analysis of Poland and Her Neighbors. (Praeger Special Studies in International Economics and Development.) New York: Praeger, 1974, and London: Pall Mall Press, 1975. xxiii+272 pp. £8.00.

Jaroslaw Piekalkiewicz, Communist Local Government. A Study of Poland. Athens, Ohio: Ohio UP, 1975. xiv+282 pp. $10.00.

Hans Hermann Höhmann, Michael C. Kaser, Karl C. Thalheim (eds.), The New Economic Systems of Eastern Europe. London: C. Hurst, and Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1975. xxi+585 pp. £9.50.

Betty A. Laird and Roy D. Laird, To Live Long Enough: the Memoirs of Naum Jasny, Scientific Analyst. Lawrence: The University Press of Kansas, 1976. vii+190 pp. $11.00.

Oleh Semenovych Pidhainy and Oleksandra Ivanivna Pidhainy, The Ukrainian Republic in the Great East‐European Revolution: A Bibliography. Part II. Vol. 6. Toronto and New York: New Review Books, 1975. xv+387 pp. $34.50.