Several recent books on India have focused on issues of nationalism and ethnic conflict, policy and ideological differences, parties and elections, and the stability of Indian democracy. The most useful contributions to the understanding of Indian politics and to social science theory have come from works that use analytical categories that have proven themselves cross-culturally (namely, those of class, status group, and power), and that lay bare through case studies the sources of the conflicts and cleavages in Indian society that both threaten and sustain democracy. Less useful are works that impose on Indian political behavior explanatory frameworks, political ideals, and methodologies derived from Western political history and culture-bound social science, such as political divisions between Left and non-Left, the two-party system, citizenship, and survey research.

Observers have recently challenged the fundamental tenets of NATO's nuclear doctrine, above all its potentially fateful threat—or bluff—to employ theater nuclear weapons to repel Soviet conventional attacks. One group of these commentators has come to view NATO theater nuclear weapons as an anachronism that is neither necessary for deterrence and defense nor usable under any prudent calculation. Another group envisages new weapons and new doctrines that would make theater nuclear weapons more credible instruments of U.S. and NATO foreign policy. The article explores briefly some of the sources of this radical disagreement.

Only small gains can be made in the study of political economy without building upon the traditions of Marx and rationality models. Deep are the historical observations and theoretical linkages that these schools have given us. Rationality models give us a feeling for the coalitional and strategic elements in political calculations. They inform us as to the behavioral constraints that will operate on political actors. Marxian tradition sensitizes us to the institutional constraints which markets and private property give to the political process. It is therefore unfortunate that two recent books regarding political economy-Tufte's Political Control of the Economy and Lindblom's Politics and Markets-avoid both of these traditions. Their contribution to our understanding of political economy suffers because of this omission.

Three recent works provide the point of departure for assessing the performance of the new profession of policy analysis. Both the scope of the enterprise and the standards it adopts for evaluating policy are found to be excessively narrow. A revised framework for policy analysis is proposed whose scope is broadened to encompass the design of policy-making procedures as well as substantive policy outcomes. Such procedures have a vital impact upon how policy problems are defined and how preferences concerning them are formed. The standards for evaluating policy are expanded to include an explicit consideration of citizenship. All policies and policy-making procedures directly or indirectly affect the capacity for self-government. Therefore they must be judged, at least in part, in terms of how they influence the capabilities of citizens to participate in public life and the willingness of citizens to do so.

In the process of reviewing three recent books on international monetary developments, this article focuses on both positive and normative aspects of the “exchange-rate crisis” and its effects on policy formulation in both developed and developing countries. It attributes short-run exchange rate volatility mainly to shifts in expectations and movements in international interest rate differentials; at the same time, it links long-run exchange rate movements to the current account positions of various countries. The article also focuses on the policy implications of such volatility in a world characterized by real as opposed to monetary disturbances and discusses the alternatives open to policy makers in that context. Finally, it critically evaluates the argument that flexible exchange rates among industrialized countries have benefited the less developed countries, and discusses the implications of these developments for their choice of exchange-rate regime.