Do institutions matter?: government capabilities in the United States and abroad

As a stunning tide of democratization sweeps across much of the world, countries must cope with increasing problems of economic development, political and social integration, and greater public demand of scarce resources.

That ability to respond effectively to these issues depends largely on the institutional choices of each of these newly democratizing countries.

With critics of national political institutions in the United States arguing that the American separation-of-powers system promotes ineffectiveness and policy deadlock, many question whether these countries should emulate American institutions or choose parliamentary institutions instead.The essays in this book fully examine whether parliamentary government is superior to the separation-of-powers system through a direct comparison of the two.

In addressing specific policy areas?such as innovation and implementation of energy policies after the oil shocks of 1970, manageme