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Etzioni offers a well-argued critique of recent trends in U.S. foreign policy that the author finds, in the main, persuasive. There are, though, a few points that seem somewhat overstated.

Abstract.  This article explores the sources of variation in state redistribution across 13 developed democracies over the period 1979–2000, drawing upon data from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, the Luxembourg Income Study and the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems. The discussion begins with the median voter hypothesis, which predicts that the extent of state redistribution in a country will be positively related to the degree of pre‐government inequality. In seeking to extend the median voter approach, the article takes into account two additional variables: the level of electoral turnout and the degree to which turnout is skewed by income. The analysis confirms that pre‐government inequality is indeed positively related to state redistribution. However, the predictive power of the median voter approach is significantly improved when account is taken of the level of electoral turnout and the extent to which the turnout rate reflects an income skew – variables that are themselves related. The link between turnout and redistribution is especially strong for social transfers as opposed to taxes, and for the lower and middle, as opposed to the upper, part of the income spectrum.

This paper explores the sources of variation in state redistribution across 13 developed democracies over the 1979-2000 period, drawing upon data from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, the Luxembourg Income Study and the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems. The discussion begins with the median voter hypothesis, which predicts that the extent of state redistribution in a country will be positively related to the degree of pre-government inequality. In seeking to extend the median voter approach, the paper takes into account two additional variables, the level of electoral turnout and the degree to which turnout is skewed by income. The analysis confirms that pre-government inequality is indeed positively related to state redistribution. However, the predictive power of the median voter approach is significantly improved when account is taken of the level of electoral turnout and the extent to which the turnout rate reflects an income skew, variables which are themselves related. The link between turnout and redistribution is especially strong for social transfers, as opposed to taxes, and for the lower and middle, as opposed to the upper, part of the income spectrum.

This article assesses the impact of economic globalization and domestic political factors on income inequality and state redistribution in the developed countries over the past two decades, using household-level data from the Luxembourg Income Study that are more detailed, accurate, and cross-nationally comparable than those used in previous empirical work. It examines three major modes of international integration—trade, direct foreign investment, and international financial flows—as well as four domestic political variables—the partisan balance of national cabinets, electoral turnout, union density, and the centralization of wage-setting institutions. The study finds only scattered relationships between global integration and income distribution or redistribution but reasonably strong positive relationships between several domestic political variables and an egalitarian distribution of income and/or extensive state redistribution. These findings are consistent with a growing number of studies that emphasize the resilience of domestic political factors in the face of economic globalization.

Contrasts sociopolitical, ideological, and cultural factors.