Book Review: Comparative
| Date | 01 September 2008 |
| Published date | 01 September 2008 |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1478-9302.2008.00165_7.x |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
413
popular forces have been unable to convince the
morality are analysed by means of parallelism and
MAS to accept any other form of political repre-
literary metaphors, for example with quotations
sentation besides the political party, thus severely
from the Bible. The book is aimed at New
curtailing the possibilities of radical transformation
Zealanders, especially at potential voters in the
of the economy and society.
next elections for the possible coalition of market
The authors’ conclusion that the revolutionary
liberals and moral conservatives.
cycle has ‘closed’ is necessarily speculative, given
However, although the book seems to recount
the fact that the MAS has been in power for less
correctly the historical framework of the New
than two years. However, they are essentially right
Right, it blurs the very arguments of the authors
to argue that it was a popular revolution that
by excessive use of adjectives, literary metaphors
brought about the government rather than vice
or allegoric remarks, cartoon pictures and the
versa. As such, and similar to previous revolution-
somewhat imposing attitude of the authors (see p.
ary episodes in Bolivian history, the revolution
171, p. 172 and p. 11 for examples of all of these).
that brought Morales to office will likely remain
The authors also seem bilaterally to restrict
‘unfinished’.This book is an important contribu-
their audience: on the one hand, by referring only
tion not only to Bolivian history but to the lit-
to New Zealanders, they seem to exclude those
erature on social movements and revolutions
from other countries eager to learn about the
more generally, and deserves to be widely read.
New Right phenomenon. On the other hand, by
extensive citations from the Bible, they narrow
Susan Spronk
the scope of readers to those who are familiar
(Cornell University)
with it. Although possibly an interesting angle for
approaching economic phenomena, such numer-
New Rights New Zealand Myths, Moralities
ous references cannot be obvious to all potential
and Markets by Dolores Janiewski and Paul
readers.
Morris. Auckland: Auckland University Press,
2005. 206pp., NZ$34.99, ISBN 1 86940 345 2
Mariia Matsepa
(College of Europe)
This book focuses on the New Right in New
Zealand in the years 1984 to 1999, examining the
global context of the economic programmes for
We welcome short reviews of books in all
change in the 1980s and 1990s and stressing the
areas of politics and international relations.
international networks which carried the New
For guidelines on submitting reviews, and to
Right message. Its principal arguments are (1) the
see an up-to-date listing of books avail-
New Right – unique for New Zealand – can lead
able for review, please visit http://www.
the country to prosperity under specific condi-
politicalstudiesreview.org/.
tions; (2) New Zealanders should clearly differen-
tiate between ideology, the market and the state;
(3) New Zealanders must abandon their nostalgia
Comparative
for previous market experiences if they are to
reason impartially on the benefits of particular
Losers’ Consent: Elections and Democratic
economic reforms.
Legitimacy by Christopher J. Anderson,
The authors aim to prove the uniqueness of
André Blais, Shaun Bowler, Todd Donovan
the New Right in New Zealand through a com-
and Ola Listhaug. Oxford: Oxford University
parative approach, juxtaposing the general back-
Press, 2007. 222pp., £18.99, ISBN 978 0 19
ground of the phenomenon in New Zealand with
923200 0
respective frameworks in the US, UK and
Australia. (By ‘New Right’ the authors refer to ‘an
This book asks important questions concerning
intellectual and political movement, sometimes
the legitimacy of democratic institutions by
called economic rationalism’ [p. 1].) Market and
studying how losers react to losing and how insti-
© 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2008 Political Studies Association
Political Studies Review: 2008, 6(3)
414
C O M P A RA T I VE
tutions mediate the effects of losing voters’ per-
The State and Revolution in the Twentieth
ception of democracy. The authors begin from
Century: Major Social Transformations of
the premise that in order to understand why
Our Time by Berch Berberoglu. Lanham MD:
democracy is upheld we need to understand who
Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. 170pp., £15.99,
the losers are, that is, what are the individual-level
ISBN 0 7425 3884 2
characteristics of losers and the way losses are
mediated by institutions. Understanding losers is
This book investigates the socialist revolutions
important because they have an incentive to
of the twentieth century from a class-analytic
change institutions so that they can be included in
perspective. The main proposition is that the
the winning coalition. The authors hypothesise
dynamics of these revolutions cannot be fully
that the more inclusive the institutions, the
grasped unless one places the class forces involved
smaller the gap in attitudes towards democracy
in the revolutionary process at the centre of the
across winners and losers.
analysis. Berberoglu dismisses elite theories not
Using survey data the authors convincingly
only because they exclude masses but also because
show that the winner–loser gaps are affected by
they are instruments of ‘the official propaganda of
institutions in the directions theorised, such that
the dominant classes to legitimize their rule’ (p. 8).
majoritarian democracies produce larger winner–
In contrast, the author adheres to the Marxist
loser gaps than do proportional democracies.
notion that views the state as a tool of the ruling
Interestingly, they also show that federalism has a
class and underlines the key role of the working
direct and negative effect on losers’ attitudes
classes as the agents of revolution. Against this
towards democracy. Canadian losers prove to be
theoretical background, he offers narratives of
satisfied with democracy, despite their majoritar-
the Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Cuban and
ian electoral institutions.
Nicaraguan revolutions to highlight – drawing
Turning to the individual characteristics of
on secondary sources – the key phases of social
losers, levels of education and affluence prove to be
transformation, i.e. the formation of a revolution-
significantly and positively related to how severely
ary party, incorporation of the masses, the seizure
the loss is felt.Hence better educated and wealthier
of
state
power
and
formulation
of
post-
voters are not greatly affected by losing. More
revolutionary policies.
interestingly, the authors show that a voter’s degree
Many will find the guidance of this book by
of extremism affects levels of dissatisfaction with
firm normative concerns laudable. The norma-
democracy. Voters at the ends of the ideological
tive tone of the analysis, however, is coupled
continuum are more dissatisfied than other losers.
with an unwarranted and ultimately unfruitful
Finally, the authors demonstrate that where the
dichotomisation of theories, whereby nuances
winner–loser gap is large, the potential for insti-
within each approach are neglected or blended
tutional change is also high. An interesting ques-
into unnecessarily homogeneous categories. A
tion for future research would be to analyse the
related issue is the sub-optimal fit between the
effects of win margins on winner–loser gaps.
clear-cut theoretical framework and the empiri-
All in all this is an interesting book which
cal complexities. Several cases indicate the preva-
deserves to be read. It is also a good starting point
lence of conflictual relations within the party
for getting ideas on the consequences of the
leadership, exemplified by the conflicts between
winner–loser gap. An answer to the question of
Stalinists (or Maoists) and revisionists, which in
how large this gap has to be in order for voters to
turn suggests that relations among elites are a key
be willing to move from ‘exit’ to demanding
part of the revolutionary process.While Berbero-
non-democratic institutions seems particularly
glu’s critique regarding the aristocratic character
important.
of the elite theories is self-evidently valid, it is
not clear to what extent the class analysis – at
Robert Klemmensen
least its straightforward form proposed here – can
(University of Southern Denmark)
accommodate the tension between the involve-
© 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2008 Political Studies Association
Political Studies Review: 2008, 6(3)
B O O K R E V I E W S
415
ment of the masses and the dynamics of the
political conflicts; parties, party systems and
post-revolutionary intra-elite relations. The very
voters; political institutions, including electoral
empirical picture depicted by the case studies
systems and coalition theory; and issues of com-
thus warrants a more nuanced rendition of the
parative political economy.
class-analytic framework, one that takes seriously
The
current
alternative
methodological
matters
of
intra-elite
relations
and
state
approaches in comparative politics are obvious in
autonomy.
the various area sections, in that the chapters
Berberoglu’s book is a well-written example of
range from small N detailed case studies (such as
class analysis and particularly noteworthy for its
Pincus’ chapter on revolutions and the...
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