Power and Regionalism in Latin America

Power and Regionalism in Latin America adds depth and breadth to scholarly reflections on Mercosur and more widely on the drivers of regional cooperation. It carefully distinguishes between survival and success of integration. The interplay of systemic forces, especially regional power configurations, and domestic interests, especially state agencies' preferences, will determine whether Mercosur will be a case of one or the other. For now, Gomez-Mera provides a convincing explanation of what is perhaps the only consistency in Mercosur's trajectory: its inconsistency. --Bulletin of Latin American Research A careful theoretical scheme includes domestic, bureaucratic, and external bloc forces to explain the evolution of this [MERCOSUR] regional integration bloc. . . . The multidimensional theoretical approach does clearly get at the complexity of the MERCOSUR case, in which domestic actors are influential but the state, albeit often divided, remains central in responding to domestic and international pressures. --Choice In this book Dr. Briggle provides a sympathetic account of the President's Council on Bioethics led by Dr. Leon Kass. He shows the wisdom of the approach to bioethics taken by the Kass Council and corrects the unfair and often nasty attacks on the Council and Dr. Kass himself. It is a persuasive and thoughtful reconstruction of the Council's goals and rationale. --Law & Medicine Briggle had an inspired idea to make the controversies surrounding Leon Kass's chairmanship of the President's Council on Bioethics (2001-5) his point of departure to argue the need for bioethics based in humanistic questioning rather than accepting the more restricted task of what he calls instrumental bioethics, which exists to offer specific policy guidelines. The issues are clear throughout but perhaps best crystallized near the end of the book, when Briggle presents criticisms that the Kass Council failed to be sufficiently policy oriented. --Science and Public Policy Briggle offers the first book-length analysis of the council's work, setting it in a wider philosophical, historical, and political context. The book also discusses how the procedure for selecting council members led to accusations that it was ideologically narrow. The book's well-balanced analysis and close but fair readings of the council's documents show how the Kass Council dealt with differences and was far more tolerant of varying opinions than many think. This book would be a useful supplementary text in classes on bioethics and public policy. --Choice . . . Briggle sketches a set of views about nature, rationality, and the self that is decidedly modern and characteristic of instrumentalist thinking. . . . A Rich Bioethics is well worth reading . . . it offers a model for public ethics committees that merits serious consideration. --Commonweal