Before Norms: Institutions and Civic Culture. By Robert W. Jackman and Ross A. Miller. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2004. 262p. $70.00 cloth, $22.95 paper.

With this volume, Robert Jackman and Ross Miller pursue a twofold ambition. First, they want to demonstrate that most of the research on political culture and the impact of values on political behavior can be questioned, both on theoretical as on methodological grounds. Second, they want to demonstrate that their theoretical model, based on the assumption that actors optimize their behavior within durable institutional restraints, is better able to explain what people do with regard to politics.