Welfare Reform and Economic and Housing Capacity for Low-Income Households, 1997–1999

The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) marked the continued devolution of social policy to state and local government in addition to restructuring an ailing welfare system. Despite concerns that welfare recipients would find greater obstacles to economic stability as a result, declining welfare rolls have been accompanied by declining poverty rates over the past seven years. An important question is whether low‐income families have gained greater employment and housing capacity following welfare reform. Moreover, does capacity vary across states with different welfare policies? In addition, do families face greater economic vulnerability with respect to food scarcity and health care? This article uses the data from the 1997 and 1999 waves of the National Survey of America's Families to systematically assess differences in capacity and vulnerability among lower income families across different policy regimes. Using two measures of capacity for housing and employment, and quality of life, findings suggest that more stringent welfare rules are related to greater job and housing attainment but a reduced quality of life.     

A Forest of Contradictions: Producing the Landscapes of the Scottish Highlands

While total global forest cover is decreasing, in many parts of the world forests are on the rebound. Uncritical examinations of this phenomenon credit the benign diffusion of capitalist development for this "forest transition." More critical readings of this question—including green Marxian and poststructuralist approaches—might conclude something very different, however. In this paper, we explore the question of expanding forest cover, using the case of the Scottish Highlands, where forestland has tripled since the 1920s, in an attempt to critically explain regional land–cover change. Drawing upon historical sources and Scottish Executive and Forestry Commission data, we examine the specific environments currently forming in the Highlands under conditions of economic change. We conclude that two divergent forestry practices and ecologies have been formed in the wake of economic restructuring: those geared towards industrial production and those targeted at consumption through ecotourism. We conclude, therefore, that capitalism's spatial fix to declining industrial power in the region is an inherently ecological one that takes the form of "schizophrenic forestry," in which forest expansion leads to the rise of degraded monocultures alongside "pristine" sites of conservation.     

Statistics for anthropologists

David Hurst Thomas. Figuring Anthropology: First Principles of Probability and Statistics. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976. xi + 532 pp. Tables, figures, appendix, exercises, references, and index. $13.50.     

Book reviews

Australian politics

Paul R. Bartrop, Australia and the Holocaust 1933–45 (Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 1994) pp.304 $34.95 ISBN I 875606 12 2.

Ross Fitzgerald, ’Red Ted’ The Life of E.G. Theodore (St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1994) pp.474 $24.95 ISBN 0 7022 2649 1.

Ian Gray, Politics in Place: Social Power Relations in an Australian Country Town (Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1991) pp.214 $45.00 ISBN 0 521 40426 6.

Mike Nahan and Tony Rutherford (eds), Reform and Recovery: An Agenda for the New Western Australian Government (Perth: Institute of Public Affairs, March 1993) pp.253 $21.50 ISBN 0 909536 39 2.

Dean Jaensch, The Liberals (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1994) pp.240 $19.95 ISBN 1 86373 361 2.

C.B. Schedvin, In Reserve: Central Banking in Australia, 1945–75 (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1992) pp.602. $49.95 ISBN 1 86373 371.

Susanna Short, Laurie Short: A Political Life (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1992) pp.299 $29.95 ISBN 1 86373 188 I.

Julie P. Smith, Taxing Popularity: The Story of Taxation in Australia (Canberra: Federalism Research Centre, 1993) pp.172 $n.p. ISBN 0 7315 1508 0.

Jenny Stewart, The Lie of the Level Playing Field: Industry Policy and Australia's Future (Melbourne: Text Publishing Co., 1994) pp.305 $19.95 ISBN 1 86372 037 5.

Phillip Toyne, The Reluctant Nation: Environment, Law & Politics in Australia (Sydney: Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 1994) pp.228 $17.95 ISBN 0 7333 0375 7.

Ken Walker (ed.), Australian Environmental Policy (Kensington: New South Wales University Press, 1992) pp.306 $29.95 ISBN 0 86840 029 7.

Comparative and international politics

Gary D. Allinson and Yasunori Sone (eds), Political Dynamics in Contemporary Japan (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993) pp.311 SUS16.95 ISBN 0 8014 8096 5.

Barbara Callaway and Lucy Creevey, The Heritage of Islam: Women, Religion, & Politics in West Africa (Boulder, Co.: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1994) pp.221 $US19.95 ISBN 1 55587 253 0.

Helena Catt and Elizabeth McLeay (eds), Women and Politics in New Zealand (Wellington: Political Science in association with Victoria University Press, 1993) pp.151 $n.p. ISBN 0 86473 260 0.

Ann Millar, Trust the Women: Women in the Federal Parliament (Canberra: Department of the Senate, 1993) pp.194 $29.95 ISBN 0 642 19523 4.

David F. Ericson, The Shaping of American Liberalism: The Debates Over Ratification, Nullification and Slavery (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1993) pp.238 $n.p. ISBN 0 226 21684 5.

John Francis, The Politics of Regulation: A Comparative Perspective (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993) pp.289 $45.00 ISBN 0 631 17467 2.

B.D. Graham, Representation and Party Politics: A Comparative Perspective (St Leonards NSW: Allen & Unwin/Oxford: Blackwell, 1993) pp.261 $45.00 ISBN 0 631 17396 X.

Carol Graham, Peru's APRA: Parties, Politics, and the Elusive Quest for Democracy (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner, 1992) pp.267 $US37.50 ISBN 1 55587 306 5.

Joseph Held (ed.), The Columbia History of Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century (New York: Columbia University Press, 1992) pp.435 $29.95 ISBN 0 231 07696 7.

R.A. Herr and B.W. Davis (eds), Asia in Antarctica (Canberra: Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Australian National University with Antarctic Cooperative Research Centre, 1994) pp.232 $n.p. ISBN 0 86740 426 4.

Michael Hill, Understanding Social Policy, 4th edn (Oxford UK and Cambridge USA: Blackwell, 1993) pp.230 $45.00 ISBN 0 631 18849 5.

Robin Jeffrey, What's Happening to India? Punjab, Ethnic Conflict and the Test for Federalism, 2nd edn (London: Macmillan, 1994) pp.252 $36.95 ISBN 0 333 59444 4.

Joel S. Kahn and Francis Lob. Kok Wah (eds), Fragmented Vision: Culture and Politics in Contemporary Malaysia (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1992) $24.95 pp.327 ISBN 1 86373 167 9.

Andrew Mack and John Ravenhill (eds), Pacific Cooperation: Building Economic and Security Regimes in the Asia‐Pacific Region (St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 1994) pp.269 $24.95 ISBN 1 86373 605 0.

Anne McElvoy, The Saddled Cow: East Germany's Life and Legacy (London: Faber and Faber, 1992), pp.258 £14.99 ISBN 0 671 16691 6.

Gaines Post, Jr, Dilemmas of Appeasement: British Deterrence and Defence 1934–37 (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1993) pp.363 $US53.35 ISBN 0 8013 27487.

David Remnick, Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire (London: Viking, 1993) pp.576 $45.00 ISBN 0 670 85236 8. Gale Stokes, The Walls Came Tumbling Down: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993) pp.319 $n.p. ISBN 0 19 506645 6.

Brian Roper and Chris Rudd (eds), State and Economy in New Zealand (Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1993) pp.276 SNZ36.50 ISBN 0 19 558273 X.

Peter Self, Government by the Market? The Politics of Public Choice (London: Macmillan, 1993) pp.317 $29.95 ISBN 0 333 56972 3.

Mitchell A. Seligson and John T. Passé‐Smith (eds), Development and Underdevelopment: The Political Economy of Inequality (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1993) pp.456 $US22.00 ISBN 155587 400 2.

Martin Shaw, Post‐Military Society: Militarism, Demilitarization and War at the End of the Twentieth Century (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991) pp.229 $32.95 ISBN 0 7456 0199 5.

Hugh Smith (ed.), Peacekeeping: Challenges for the Future (Canberra: Australian Defence Studies Centre, Australian Defence Force Academy, 1993) pp.229 $20.00 ISBN 0 7317 0274 3.

Stephen John Stedman (ed.), Botswana: The Political Economy of Democratic Development (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1993) pp.214 $US35.00 ISBN 1 55587 305 7.

Stephen John Stedman (ed.), South Africa: The Political Economy of Transition (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner, 1994) pp.213 $US38.00 ISBN 1 55587 421 5.

Lionel Cliffe et al, The Transition to Independence in Namibia (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner, 1994) pp.293 $US38.50 ISBN 1 55587 420 7.

Dan Tschirgi (ed.), The Arab World Today (Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rlenner, 1994) pp.274 $US18.50 ISBN 1 55587 459 2.

Thomas G. Weiss (ed.), Collective Security in a Changing World (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner, 1993) pp.332 $US35.00 ISBN 1 5587 338 3.

Robert W. Gregg, About Face? The United States and the United Nations (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner, 1993). pp.180 $ US16.95 ISBN 1 55587 406 1.

Robert Zuzowski, Political Dissent and Opposition in Poland: The Workers’ Defense Committee ‘KOR’ (Praeger: Westport, 1992) pp.293 $US65.00 ISBN: 0 275 94138 8.

Political Theory and Methodology

Geoffrey Brennan and Loren Lomasky, Democracy and Decision: The Pure Theory of Electoral Preference (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993) pp.237 $99.00 ISBN 0 521 35043 3.

Alain Lipietz, Towards a New Economic Order: Post Fordism, Ecology Democracy (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1992) pp.199 $34.95 ISBN 0 7456 0866 3.

Graham Little, Friendship. Being Ourselves with Others (Melbourne: Text Publishing, 1993) pp.272 $24.95 ISBN 1 86362 024 3.

John Locke, Political Writings (ed. David Wootton), (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1993) pp.479 $17.95 ISBN 0 14 043310 4.

Martin Loughlin, Public Law and Political Theory (Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1992) pp.292 $34.95 ISBN 0 19 876268 2.

Philippe Van Parijs (ed.), Arguing for Basic Income: Ethical Foundations for a Radical Reform (London and New York: Verso, 1992) pp.248 $39.95. ISBN 0 86091 586 7.     

Play Nice or Pick a Fight? Cooperation as an Interest Group Strategy at Implementation

The open, multilevel nature of U.S. policymaking enables interest group activity throughout the policy process. At policy implementation, groups attempt to secure benefits or ameliorate legislated effects by devising cooperative or conflictual strategies to influence outcomes, especially when agency officials have discretion to design rules and negotiate agreements. Investigating group “street‐level” activity with respect to the Endangered Species Act, this research finds that policy context and resources shape the degree of information and access available to groups, which influences the strategies groups adopt. Groups with access and specialized information will attempt to change or influence policy outcomes cooperatively. Groups with limited technical information are more likely to fight implementation.