A Review of “The Presidential Pardon Power”

James E. Anderson and Jared E. Hazelton, Managing Macroeconomic Policy: The Johnson Presidency. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1986. Pp. 285; $27.50.

Kathleen J. Turner, Lyndon Johnson's Dual War: Vietnam and the Press. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985. Pp. 385; $25.00 hardbound; $9.95 softbound.

Daniel C. Hallin, The "Uncensored War": The Media and Vietnam. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. Pp. 285; $24.95.     

Sousveilling the ‘Global War on Terror’

This article theorises what it means to challenge official regimes of surveillance in the War on Terror by further developing the notion of ‘sousveillance’. In particular, we focus on the performative dimension of surveillance by attending to its sites of struggle, particularly where alternative and counter-performances work to disrupt and dislodge official regimes of vision. These potent counter-performances have become important flashpoints for discussion in the ongoing negotiation of security state power since the onset of the War on Terror. The article begins by considering what it means to call surveillance ‘performative’ and how such official performances have had a documented chilling effect on free expression and democratic deliberation. It continues by exploring Steve Mann’s notion of ‘sousveillance’, or the view from below, as a theoretical resource for understanding counter-visual performances that otherwise challenge authoritarian surveillant practices. Finally, the article illustrates these dynamics through a number of sousveillant performances that have provoked new deliberative spaces in the context of the War on Terror.     

A Review of “Going Local: Presidential Leadership in the Post-Broadcast Age”

In 1974, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives adopted major reforms in their committee assignment process. Drawing upon interviews with participants and personal observation, we identify the major differences and similarities in the new and old assignment mechanisms and in their environments. The formal and informal procedural changes, in turn, lead to a set of expectations about the role and significance of the characteristics of requesters and Committee on Committees (CC) members in postreform assignment decisions. These expectations are tested using previously unavailable CC ballot tallies for assignments in the 95th-97th Congresses. These data permit us to peer into the “black box” of the assignment process and to avoid questionable assumptions about who is nominated and the mechanism by which they are elected. Despite the presence of significant changes in the process, few differences in the factors shaping assignment decisions are found. Still, the openness of the new environment and the nominal control of the process by elected party leaders have helped eliminate rumors of manipulation and conspiracy that frequently surrounded Ways and Means deliberations.