Notermans has written a bold and ambitious book in which he purports to explain the conditions under which social democratic policies, and therefore the social democratic project, have been successful in modern democracies. The book, which relies heavily but not exclusively on historical data, examines the ebb and flow of social democratic domi- nance in five countries-Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Britain-since roughly the introduction of (male) universal suffrage after World War I.

In the introduction, Valerie Sperling notes that "Russia's transition from communism toward capitalism and a more democratic political arrangement has been both good and bad for women, presenting both obstacles and opportunities for organizing" (p. 7). She goes on to produce an engaging and thought-provoking analysis aimed at broadening the scope and explanatory power of social movement theory, which, she argues, has been developed by scholars who focus primarily on social movements in the "contemporary core democracies" (pp. 52-3). In contrast Sperling develops "a cross-cultural model of social movement organizing and development that explores five interrelated opportunity structures: socio-cultural or attitudinal, political, economic, political-historical, and international" (p. 53). In each subse- quent chapter she tackles one of these opportunity structures and offers a number of fascinating insights into the world of post-Soviet social movements, based on the experience of her sample of women's organizations.

Political globalization makes cross-national comparisons ever more important, especially those that reach widely and over time. Such policy analysis offers potentially practical applica- tions for improved democratic representation. Valerie O'Regan provides such analytic reach in her study about the influence female policymakers have achieved in 22 industri- alized nations. She considers the effects and effectiveness of female legislators and executives in representing women's interests. The central thesis, that gender differences in policy priorities will be reflected in policy outcomes as the number of female policymakers increases, is supported. The second- ary thesis, that (wage) policy comprehensiveness will im- prove, is not.

With women holding 18% of the seats in parliament and a woman serving as a vice-president, the status of women at the apex of Uganda's political system is impressive compared to most other countries, including the United States. In noting this surprising fact and in chronicling how it came about, Aili Mari Tripp has written a thought-provoking book that raises serious questions about what it means. She draws on empir- ical research in the realms of both "high" politics (i.e., the halls of parliament) and "deep" politics (urban working-class neighborhoods and rural villages) and provides a rich account of Ugandan women's associational life and political mobili- zation.

This ambitious new book is a valuable contribution to a growing literature that assumes political democracy cannot be fully achieved in Latin America without recognizing and acting on the region's ethnic and cultural diversity. Van Cott explores the link between ethnic politics, particularly the demands of indigenous peoples, and the constitutional re- forms that have occurred in various countries in Latin America over the past decade. Relying primarily on compre- hensive analyses of constitutional reforms in Colombia (1991) and Bolivia (1994), she develops the case for what she terms a new "multicultural" model for the region.

"Civil society" has become a key concept and a central quest in the search for paths to democracy and liberty in many parts of the world. This search has been particularly notable in Egypt, where an increasingly totalitarian state has sought in recent decades to project an image of democracy but at the same time attack and undermine all potential bases of social autonomy and political action. These are the central issues discussed in this book. The picture is complicated by the prominent part played by religious and religio-communal politics on the Egyptian stage. Are Islamic associations and forms of political action forces of civil society engaged in the quest for social autonomies and liberation from authoritarian strictures, or do they themselves add another tier of repres- sion in the name of religious conformity and moral conduct?

Tong addresses one of the most important issues in compar- ative politics: What are the key factors that determine the courses and outcomes of transitions from state socialism? The book makes three contributions to this field of study. First, it reminds us that the relationship between state and society with regard to either power or objectives may not be zero-sum, as widely accepted by students of politics. The author argues that state and society may share a wide range of objectives, laying the groundwork for a cooperative rela- tionship. This helps explain why the regime and a society may compromise in the transition process.

When the Soviet Union disappeared, so did much of aca- demic political science's interest in nuclear arms control. This is unfortunate. First, the risk of nuclear war has not gone away and may be increasing because of nuclear proliferation. Second, U.S.-Soviet cooperation on arms control was in many ways unexpected, and it remains a useful laboratory for testing international relations theory.

This book seeks to explain why participation rates in elections to the European Parliament (EP) are low and declining. Turnout has fallen from 66% in 1979 to 59% in 1994-20- 40% below levels in national elections. This is a critical issue, the authors insist, because low turnout confirms pervasive doubts that the European Union (EU) is "democratically legitimate." Behind this lies the central question of this era in modern European history, namely, whether a transnational policy with a common discourse and shared institutions can form.

Daniel Treisman offers an ingenious explanation for the fact that the Russian Federation held together after the collapse of the Soviet regime. Unlike the three other ethnic federa- tions in the communist world-Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and the USSR itself-the Russian Federation, which was the largest of the 15 nationally based constituent republics in the Soviet Union, avoided disintegration. Many observers in the early 1990s feared the same pressures that had led to powerful separatist movements among the Soviet republics would prove too strong for the fragile central government to resist. Yet, Russia managed to maintain itself as a federal state, albeit weak. The one constituent republic in which separatism ultimately led to armed confrontation was Chech- nia, where a brutal war began in 1994, paused in 1996, and erupted again in 1999.