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THIS ARTICLE EXAMINES POLICY EXPERTISE AND THE ROLE OF THINK TANKS IN THE CONTEXT OF SHIFTING POLITICAL ALIGNMENTS IN AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. THE ARTICLE FIRST CONSIDERS THE RADICAL AND NEOCONSERVATIVE CRITIQUES OF THE LIBERAL USE OF AN ELITE GROUP OF POLICY EXPERTS TO FORMULATE AND LEGITIMATE POLITICAL REFORM AGENDAS, A STRATEGY SAID TO REPRESENT A TECHNOCRATIC THREAT TO THE FUTURE OF REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT. THE DISCUSSION THEN FOCUSES IN PARTICULAR ON THE NEOCONSERVATIVE CRITIQUE AND ITS PROMOTION OF A COUNTER STRATEGY DESIGNED TO POLITICIZE POLICY EXPERTISE THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CONSERVATIVE "COUNTERINTELLIGENSIA" AND THE FUNDING OF PARTISAN THINK TANKS. THE POLITICAL OUTCOME IS SEEN TO BE A SIGNIFICANT VARIATION IN THE RELATIONSHIPS LINKING EXPERTISE, THINK TANKS, AND THE SETTING OF NATIONAL POLICY AGENDAS. ELITE THINK TANKS, CONCEPTUALIZED AS POLICY "DISCOURSE COALITIONS," ARE ANALYZED AS INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS FOR COORDINATING THE ADVICE OF LEADING POLICY EXPERTS WITH THE INTERESTS OF ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ELITES.

Reviews Peter deLeon Advice and consent: the development of the policy sciences; Deborah Stone Policy paradox and political reason; and John Dryzek and Davis Bobrow Policy analysis by design. (SJK)

An anthropologist uncovers how ";great coffee"; depends not just on taste, but also on a complex system of values worked out among farmers, roasters, and consumers. What justifies the steep prices commanded by small-batch, high-end Third Wave coffees? Making Better Coffee explores this question, looking at highland coffee farmers in Guatemala and their relationship to the trends that dictate what makes ";great coffee."; Traders stress material conditions of terroir and botany, but just as important are the social, moral, and political values that farmers, roasters, and consumers attach to the beans. In the late nineteenth century, Maya farmers were forced to work on the large plantations that colonized their ancestral lands. The international coffee market shifted in the 1990s, creating demand for high-altitude varietals-plants suited to the mountains where the Maya had been displaced. Edward F. Fisher connects the quest for quality among U.S. tastemakers to the lives and desires of Maya producers, showing how profits are made by artfully combining coffee's material and symbolic attributes. The result is a complex story of terroir and taste, quality and craft, justice and necessity, worth and value

What could middle-class German supermarket shoppers buying eggs and impoverished coffee farmers in Guatemala possibly have in common? Both groups use the market in pursuit of the "good life." But what exactly is the good life? How do we define wellbeing beyond material standards of living? While we all may want to live the good life, we differ widely on just what that entails. In The Good Life, Edward Fischer examines wellbeing in very different cultural contexts to uncover shared notions of the good life and how best to achieve it. With fascinating on-the-ground narratives of Germans' choices regarding the purchase of eggs and cars, and Guatemalans' trade in coffee and cocaine, Fischer presents a richly layered understanding of how aspiration, opportunity, dignity, and purpose comprise the good life.

In recent years the concept and study of "civil society" has received a lot of attention from political scientists, economists, and sociologists, but less so from anthropologists. A ground-breaking ethnographic approach to civil society as it is formed in indigenous communities in Latin America, this volume explores the multiple potentialities of civil society's growth and critically assesses the potential for sustained change. Much recent literature has focused on the remarkable gains made by civil society and the chapters in this volume reinforce this trend while also showing the complexi

Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- PART I: Contexts of Study -- 1: Maya Culture and Identity Politics -- 2: Tecpán and Patzún -- PART II: Global Processes and Pan-Maya Identity Politics -- 3: Guatemalan Political Economies and the World System -- 4: The Rise of Pan-Maya Activism -- 5: Constructing a Pan-Maya Identity in a PostmodernWorld -- PART III: Maya Identity as Lived Experience in Tecpán and Patzún -- 6: Souls, Socialization, and the Kaqchikel Self -- 7: Hearth, Kin, and Communities -- 8: Local Forms of Ethnic Resistance -- 9: Economic Change and Cultural Continuity -- PART IV: Conclusion -- 10: Convergent Strategies and Cultural Logics -- Notes -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index.

This comprehensive, section-by-section analysis of these two fundamental international treaties on human rights includes a concise comparison of their provisions with U.S. law. The authors discuss the general role played by the treaties under U.S. law, and the means of enforcing compliance. Explaining why it has taken the U.S. so long to ratify even one of the two Covenants, the authors show how the obstacles may be overcome and urge speedy ratification of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint