New Titles from the Brookings Institution Press

Details below the fold. [JH]

• Power Play: The Bush Presidency and the Constitution by James P. Pfiffner
• Attacks on the Press in 2007: A Worldwide Survey by the Committee to Protect Journalists
• Democracy in the States: Experiments in Election Reform edited by Bruce E. Cain, Todd Donovan and Caroline J. Tolbert
• Freedom's Unsteady March: America's Role in Building Arab Democracy by Tamara Cofman Wittes
• Beyond the Façade: Political Reform in the Arab World edited by Marina Ottaway and Julia Choucair-Vizoso

Power Play
The Bush Presidency and the Constitution
James P. Pfiffner

Brookings Institution Press, 2008
Cloth Trade, 299 pages
978-0-8157-7044-2, $28.95

Description: The framers of the U.S. Constitution divided the federal government's powers among three branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary. Their goal was to prevent tyranny by ensuring that none of the branches could govern alone. While numerous presidents have sought to escape these constitutional constraints, the administration of George W. Bush went farther than most. It denied the writ of habeas corpus to individuals deemed to be enemy combatants. It suspended the Geneva Convention and allowed or encouraged the use of harsh interrogation methods amounting to torture. It ordered the surveillance of Americans without obtaining warrants as required by law. And it issued signing statements declaring that the president does not have the duty to faithfully execute hundreds of provisions in the laws he has signed.

Power Play analyzes the Bush presidency's efforts to expand executive power in these four domains and puts them into constitutional and historical perspective. Pfiffner explores the evolution of Anglo-American thinking about executive power and individual rights. He highlights the lessons the Constitution's framers drew from such philosophers as Locke and Montesquieu, as well as English constitutional history. He documents the ways in which the Bush administration's policies have undermined the separation of powers, and he shows how these practices have imperiled the rule of law.

Attacks on the Press in 2007
A Worldwide Survey by the Committee to Protect Journalists

Brookings Institution Press, 2008
Paper Text. 325 pages
978-0-944823-27-9, $30

Description: Attacks on the Press in 2007 recounts hundreds of threats to the news media and explores the trends underlying the news. International pressure has spurred improvements in nations such as China, where the government has eased media restrictions for the 2008 Olympics. But the erosion of U.S. influence in Latin America has led to setbacks for press freedom, and impunity in journalist murders remains a pervasive problem in nations from Russia to the Philippines.

Compiled annually by the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent, nonprofit organization, Attacks on the Press is the most authoritative reference guide to press freedom worldwide, providing factual and unbiased analyses of media conditions in 120 nations.

Democracy in the States
Experiments in Election Reform
Bruce E. Cain, Todd Donovan and Caroline J. Tolbert, eds.

Brookings Institution Press, 2008
Cloth Text, 256 pages
978-0-8157-1336-4, $62.95

Description: Democracy in the States offers a 21st century agenda for election reform in America based on lessons learned in the fifty states. Combining accessibility and rigor, leading scholars of U.S. politics and elections examine the impact of reforms intended to increase the integrity, fairness, and responsiveness of the electoral system. While some of these reforms focus on election administration, which has been the subject of much controversy since the 2000 presidential election, others seek more broadly to increase political participation and improve representation.

Freedom's Unsteady March
America's Role in Building Arab Democracy
Tamara Cofman Wittes

Brookings Institution Press, 2008
Cloth Trade, 176 pages
978-0-8157-9494-3, $26.95

Description: Freedom's Unsteady March shows why America cannot afford to be neutral or passive in the face of the momentous changes taking place in Arab states and why it must wield its power and influence in support of democratic reform. Wittes also dissects the Bush administration's failure to advance freedom in the Middle East. She diagnoses the roots of America's ambivalence about Arab democracy, and shows how to confront more honestly the risks of change and act more effectively to contain them.

Beyond the Façade
Political Reform in the Arab World
Marina Ottaway and Julia Choucair-Vizoso, eds.

Carnegie Endowment For International Peace, 2008
Cloth Text, 295 pages
978-0-87003-240-0, $57.95

Description: Beyond the Façade: Political Reform in the Arab World evaluates the changes that are taking place in the region and explores the potential for further reform. The essays provide careful, detailed examinations of ten countries (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen), highlighting the diversity of processes and problems. Beyond the Façade forces us to recognize the reality of conflicting interests and the limitations of external actors to bring about political reform, while drawing lessons on how to make international democracy promotion more effective