Political Science Publishing

“The books that Penn State Press publishes in political science, the discipline I know best, engage controversial political or policy questions in a scholarly, informative way; at the same time, they offer strong arguments and assertions backed by clear evidence. Thus they avoid both timidity and shrillness. Perhaps most important, Penn State Press books are consistently interesting to read and valuable to return to again and again, attesting to the good taste and talent of its editors as well as the Press’s appeal to high-quality authors—a winning combination.”

—Jennifer Hochschild, Harvard University

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In its first thirty-five years, the Press only published sporadically in political science, with a few titles scattered across four main subfields: American politics, comparative politics, international relations, and political theory. In the past fifteen years, however, the Press has moved to the forefront of publishing in this field. Aided in the early 1990s by frequent co-publishing with Polity Press, especially in the area of political theory—with titles by Alex Callinicos, Bob Jessop, Anne Phillips, Chris Pierson, and other luminaries, plus volumes like the landmark Feminist Interpretations and Political Theory, edited by Mary Lyndon Shanley and Carole Pateman—the Press has earned a significant place for itself among the premier smaller presses operating in political science.

Impelled by a firm belief that books about politics matter and should be able to speak to students, scholars, and laypeople who are not trained in mathematics, the Press has shown a preference for books that employ narrative techniques and qualitative methodology rather than heavy doses of statistical analysis and formal modeling. Because American politics and international relations manifest the strong influence of the latter approach, the Press has concentrated more in comparative politics and political theory. Political scientists who have experienced the recent turmoil in the field prompted by those identifying themselves under the banner of “perestroika” may note that the Press’s publishing priorities express decided sympathies for the perestroikans’ side of the debate.

In comparative politics, the Press emphasizes two area studies, East Europe/Russia and Latin America, with the help of strong neighboring disciplines like history and sociology. The list also highlights political economy and political sociology. And many Penn State Press titles, such as those that appear in the Post-Communist Cultural Studies series edited by Tom Cushman, feature historical-institutionalist analysis and historical sociology.

Political theory is a major strength of the Press’s publishing program, reflected not only in the many individual books the Press has published but also in its relationship with the Political Economy of the Good Society (PEGS), headed by Stephen Elkin and based at the University of Maryland, which sponsors both The Good Society journal and a book series. Contributors to the Press’s list in this area come from both political science and philosophy departments. Not surprisingly, our books reflect these differing disciplinary approaches to political theory: the former emphasizes more historical, contextualist, interpretive approaches, while the latter stresses the mode of analysis known as “rational reconstruction.”

In American politics, the Press proudly publishes the interdisciplinary Journal of Policy History, which was recognized in the June 2005 issue of the American Political Science Association’s Perspectives on Political Science as a leading journal in the subfield of American political development. Much of the Press’s list in this subfield has a historical orientation, with titles such as Scott Bowman’s The Modern Corporation and American Political Thought (1995), Marc Allen Eisner’s From Warfare State to Welfare State (2000), Dennis Ippolito’s Why Budgets Matter (2003), David Nichols’s The Myth of the Modern Presidency (1994), Sheldon Pollack’s The Failure of U.S. Tax Policy (1998), and Jack Treadway’s Elections in Pennsylvania (2005). The Press also publishes a series of paperback books titled Issues in Policy History. Drawn from special thematic issues of the Journal, these books treat topics ranging from urban public policy to money’s role in politics.

History is also prominently featured in Penn State Press books on international relations (including international law), as exemplified by Emily Goldman’s Sunken Treaties (1994), Randall Newnham’s Deutsche Mark Diplomacy (2002), and Norrin Ripsman’s Peacemaking by Democracies (2002). Within international relations, the Press has made substantial contributions to the subfields of intelligence and Cold War studies, including analytic works such as Anne Hessing Cahn’s Killing Detente: The Right Attacks the CIA (1998) and Carolyn McGiffert Ekedahl and Melvin Goodman’s The Wars of Eduard Shevardnadze (1997) as well as memoirs like Anatoly Chernyaev’s My Six Years with Gorbachev (2000) and Victor Israelyan’s On the Battlefields of the Cold War (2003). Other books combine memoir with analysis, such as Douglas MacEachin’s U.S. Intelligence and the Confrontation in Poland, 1980–1981 (2002); Willard Matthias’s America’s Strategic Blunders (2001); John Murtha’s From Vietnam to 9/11 (2003, with new paperback editions in 2005 and 2006); Cold War Endgame: Oral History, Analysis, Debates (2002), edited by William Wohlforth; Yale Richmond’s Cultural Exchange and the Cold War (2003); and the three-volume complete memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev (2005, 2006, 2007).

While favoring narratives, “case studies,” and qualitative research in general, the Press remains open to publishing books that combine qualitative and quantitative research. Several of these already grace the Press’s list, such as Kirk Bowman’s Militarization, Democracy, and Development (2002) and Mark Peceny’s Democracy at the Point of Bayonets (1999). The trend toward “nested analysis” looks particularly promising, and Penn State Press hopes to lead in advancing research of this kind. In addition, political theory will remain a priority for the Press as this subfield—with institutional support from the recently founded Association for Political Theory—develops in its own distinctive ways.

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“Under the leadership of Sandy Thatcher, Penn State Press has become a major force to contend with in political theory, ir, and allied fields. I always make sure to peruse its books at Association meetings, and I am never disappointed with the results.”

—William E. Connolly, The Johns Hopkins University

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Choice Outstanding Academic Books

Andrzej Paczkowski, The Spring Will Be Ours: Poland and the Poles from Occupation to Freedom (2003)

George E. Marcus, The Sentimental Citizen: Emotion in Democratic Politics (2002)

Nathan Newman, Net Loss: Internet Prophets, Private Profits, and the Costs to Community (2002)

José Itzigsohn, Developing Poverty: The State, Labor Market Deregulation, and the Informal Economy in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic (2001)

Peter M. Siavelis, The President and Congress in Postauthoritarian Chile: Institutional Constraints to Democratic Consolidation (2000)

Gerardo L. Munck, Authoritarianism and Democratization: Soldiers and Workers in Argentina, 1976–1983 (1998)

James Turner Johnson, The Holy War Idea in Western and Islamic Traditions (1997)

A. Mark Weisburd, The Use of Force: The Practice of States Since World War II (1997)

Gary Remer, Humanism and the Rhetoric of Toleration (1996)

Uri Bar-Joseph, Intelligence Intervention in the Politics of Democratic States: The United States, Israel, and Britain (1995)

Miguel Angel Centeno, Democracy Within Reason: Technocratic Revolution in Mexico (1994)

Gilles Kepel, The Revenge of God: The Resurgence of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism in the Modern World (1994)

Ethan A. Nadelmann, Cops Across Borders: The Internationalization of U.S. Criminal Law Enforcement (1994)

Peter H. Merkl, German Unification in the European Context (1993)

Christopher Pierson, Beyond the Welfare State? The New Political Economy of Welfare (1991)

Ronald T. Libby, Hawke’s Law: The Politics of Mining and Aboriginal Land Rights in Australia (1990)

Edward Keynes, Undeclared War: Twilight Zone of Constitutional Power (1983)

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“As a biographer of Nikita Khrushchev and of Mikhail Gorbachev, I have found myself referring again and again to invaluable Penn State Press books. To put it simply, Khrushchev’s and Gorbachev’s biographies couldn’t be written without works like Sergei Khrushchev’s Nikita Khrushchev and the Creation of a Superpower, Anatoly Chernyaev’s My Six Years with Gorbachev, and Pavel Palazchenko’s My Years with Gorbachev and Shevardnadze. Along with these and other volumes, the Press’s ongoing publication of a full English-language version of Khrushchev’s memoirs constitutes a major contribution to the fields of Soviet politics and Cold War history.”

—William Taubman, Amherst College

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Book Prizes

Linda Faye Williams, The Constraint of Race: Legacies of White Skin Privilege in America (2004 W. E. B. Du Bois Book Award, National Conference of Black Political Scientists; 2004 Michael Harrington Award, Caucus for a New Political Science; 2004 Best Book on Public Policy and Race and Ethnicity, Organized Section on Race, Ethnicity, and Politics of the American Political Science Association)

Miguel Angel Centeno, Blood and Debt: War and the Nation-State in Latin America (Honorable Mention, 2003 Mattei Dogan Award, Society for Comparative Research)

Javier Corrales, Presidents Without Parties: The Politics of Economic Reform in Argentina and Venezuela in the 1990s (Runner-up, 2003 Best Book Prize, New England Council of Latin American Studies)

Kok-Chor Tan, Toleration, Diversity, and Global Justice (Runner-up, 2003 Book Prize, Canadian Philosophical Association)

Michael Forman, Nationalism and the International Labor Movement: The Idea of the Nation in Socialist and Anarchist Theory (1999 Michael Harrington Award, Caucus for a New Political Science)

Elizabeth Bussiere, (Dis)Entitling the Poor: The Warren Court, Welfare Rights, and the American Political Tradition (Honorable Mention, 1998 Victoria Schuck Award, American Political Science Association)

Gerald W. Creed, Domesticating Revolution: From Socialist Reform to Ambivalent Transition in a Bulgarian Village (1998 Book Prize, Bulgarian Studies Association)

Mary Lyndon Shanley and Uma Narayan, eds., Reconstructing Political Theory: Feminist Perspectives (Honorable Mention, 1998 Victoria Schuck Award, American Political Science Association)

Mark Kingwell, A Civil Tongue: Justice, Dialogue, and the Politics of Pluralism (1997 Elaine and David Spitz Book Prize, Conference for the Study of Political Thought)

Jan Kubik, The Power of Symbols Against the Symbols of Power: The Rise of Solidarity and the Fall of State Socialism in Poland (1994 Biennial Young Scholar Award, Polish Studies Association)

Alex Callinicos, The Revenge of History: Marxism and the East European Revolutions (1992 Distinguished Scholarship Book Award, Marxist Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association)

Anne Phillips, Engendering Democracy (1992 Victoria Schuck Award, American Political Science Association)

Ron Eyerman and Andrew Jamison, Social Movements: A Cognitive Approach (Honorable Mention, 1991 European Amalfi Prize for Sociology and the Social Sciences)

Richard G. Hewlett and Francis Duncan, Atomic Shield, 1947–1952, vol. 2 of The History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (1970 David B. Lloyd Prize, Harry S. Truman Library Institute)

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Best Sellers

Chris Matthew Sciabarra, Ayn Rand (1995): 9,500+

Mary Lyndon Shanley and Carole Pateman, eds., Feminist Interpretations and Political Theory (1991): 5,500+

Gilles Kepel, The Revenge of God (2004): 5,500+

Martin Carnoy, Manuel Castells, Stephen S. Cohen, and Fernando Henrique Cardoso, The New Global Economy in the Information Age (1993): 5,000+

Judy Scales-Trent, Notes of a White Black Woman (1995): 5,000+

Sergei N. Khrushchev, Nikita Khrushchev and the Creation of a Superpower (2000): 5,000+

Martha Crenshaw, ed., Terrorism in Context (1995): 4,500+

Anne Phillips, Engendering Democracy (1991): 4,500+

Miguel Angel Centeno, Democracy Within Reason (1994; 2nd ed. 1997): 4,000+

John P. Murtha with John Plashal, From Vietnam to 9/11 (2003): 3,500+

Ethan A. Nadelmann, Cops Across Borders (1994): 3,500+

Ken Booth and Steve Smith, eds., International Relations Theory Today (1995): 3,000+

James Turner Johnson, The Holy War Idea in Western and Islamic Traditions (1997): 3,000+

Christopher Pierson, Beyond the Welfare State? (1991; 2nd ed. 1998): 3,000+

John Higham, ed., Civil Rights and Social Wrongs (1999): 3,000+

Alex Callinicos, The Revenge of History (1991): 2,500+

Bob Jessop, State Theory (1991): 2,500+

Mimi Reisel Gladstein and Chris Matthew Sciabarra, eds., Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand (1999): 2,000+

Melvin G. Holli, The American Mayor (1999): 2,000+

Eldon Kenworthy, America/Américas (1995): 2,000+

Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith, Drugs and Security in the Caribbean (1997): 2,000+

Philip D. Oxhorn, Organizing Civil Society (1995): 2,000+

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“In the broad field of social movements and contentious politics, Penn State Press has made a name for itself with the publication of such books as Ron Eyerman and Andrew Jamison’s Social Movements (1991), Myron and Penina Glazer’s The Environmental Crusaders (1998), Jan Kubik’s The Power of Symbols Against the Symbols of Power (1994), and Anna Szemere’s Up from the Underground: The Culture of Rock Music in Postsocialist Hungary (2001). Penn State now vies with the best presses—even those with a much longer history in this field—for the most original works on social movements.”

—Sidney Tarrow, Cornell University