2004 Gladys M. Kammerer Award

For the best political science publication in 2003 in the field of U.S. national policy.

Award Committee: Victoria Hattam, New School University, chair; James Bjorkman, Institute of Social Studies; and David Baldwin, Columbia University.

Recipient: Gerry Mackie, University of Notre Dame

Book: Democracy Defended (Cambridge University Press)

Recipient: Peter W. Singer, Brookings Institution

Book: Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry (Cornell University Press)

Citation: Gerry Mackie's Democracy Defended is an ambitious book which considers the central question for US national policy, namely the viability of democratic governance itself. Mackie sets his sights on Kenneth Arrow and William Riker in order to challenge their accounts of democratic instability. After an extensive theoretical engagement, Mackie contends that issues of cycling, strategic voting, and dimensional manipulation do not necessarily generate problems for democratic governance. Mackie drives home his critique through a detailed empirical analysis of the key policy issues of nineteenth century American politics that have long been considered as leading to the outbreak of civil war. Throughout this substantial work, Mackie displays an unusual capacity to link theoretical critique with extensive empirical research that makes his challenge to contemporary theories of democratic politics especially compelling. This is a masterful book that will no doubt provoke much debate. Our understandings of democratic theory and practice will surely be enhanced from the arguments to follow.

Relevant for US national policy and with implications for the international political order, Peter Singer's Corporate Warriors systematically and cogently analyzes the process and the effects of how the privatization of security is challenging the state monopoly on coercion. The importance of the question, the depth of the research, the range of the evidence and the clarity of the exposition - all characterize this well conceptualized, theoretically grounded, clearly articulated disquisition that draws on classic literature, social science theory, modern management techniques, applied economics and moral philosophy.

Grounded in historical antecedents among the mercenaries of the Middle Ages and the 'corporate enforcers' of 19th century America, Peter Warren Singer's elegant account provides profound insights into contemporary and future governance. When affairs of state are out-sourced to private corporations, the accountability of agents lies beyond the control of public principals. The emergence of a private military industry raises political dilemmas that not only are theoretically compelling but also have empirically immediate policy relevance for democracy, human rights and national security. With consummate skill and dynamic analysis, Singer addresses key issues in contemporary American politics.