MARC Record from Library of Congress

LEADER: 03083cam a2200337 a 4500
001 2009023027
003 DLC
005 20100813141319.0
008 090604s2010 enka b 001 0 eng
010 $a 2009023027
020 $a9780195391237 (alk. paper)
020 $a0195391233
035 $a(OCoLC)ocn373561599
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dC#P$dYDXCP$dBWX$dCDX$dIUA$dDLC
050 00 $aJF1525.P6$bS37 2010
082 00 $a320.6$222
100 1 $aSchrad, Mark Lawrence.
245 14 $aThe political power of bad ideas :$bnetworks, institutions, and the global prohibition wave /$cMark Lawrence Schrad.
260 $aOxford ;$aNew York :$bOxford University Press,$c2010.
300 $aix, 302 p. :$bill. ;$c25 cm.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
505 0 $aThe transnational temperance network -- American prohibition reconsidered -- Avoiding the prohibition pitfall in Sweden -- The surprising rise and tenacity of Russian prohibition -- International influences on national alcohol policy making -- Transnational activism and national policy making.
520 $aIn The Political Power of Bad Ideas, Mark Schrad looks on an oddity of modern history-the broad diffusion of temperance legislation in the early twentieth century-to make a broad argument about how bad policy ideas achieve international success. His root question is this: how could a bad policy idea-one that was widely recognized by experts as bad before adoption, and which ultimately failed everywhere-come to be adopted throughout the world? To answer it, Schrad uses an institutionalist approach, and focuses in particular on the US, Russia/USSR (ironically, one of the only laws the Soviets kept on the books was the Tsarist temperance law), and Sweden. Conventional wisdom, based largely on the U.S. experience, blames evangelical zealots for the success of the temperance movement. Yet as Schrad shows, "prohibition was adopted in ten countries other than the United States, as well as countless colonial possessions-all with similar disastrous consequences, and in every case followed by repeal." Schrad focuses on the dynamic interaction of ideas and political institutions, tracing the process through which concepts of dubious merit gain momentum and achieve credibility as they wend their way through institutional structures. And while he focuses on one episode, his historical argument applies far more broadly, and even can tell us a great deal about how today's policy failures, such as reasons proffered for invading Iraq, became acceptable.
650 0 $aPolicy sciences$vCase studies.
650 0 $aCulture diffusion$xPolitical aspects$vCase studies.
650 0 $aProhibition.
650 0 $aTemperance.
650 0 $aGlobalization$vCase studies.
856 42 $3Publisher description$uhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0916/2009023027-d.html
856 42 $3Contributor biographical information$uhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0916/2009023027-b.html
856 41 $3Table of contents only$uhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0916/2009023027-t.html