Democratic Commitments: Legislatures and International Cooperation. By Lisa L. Martin. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000. 225p. $49.50 cloth, $18.95 paper

One of the sharpest and most consequential divisions in international relations lies between those who believe that international politics is a realm unto its own and those who see the lines between domestic and international politics as both permeable and pertinent. For the former group, the consequences of anarchy swamp any potential for politics to be ordered at the international level as it is within states. In this view, the dynamics of domestic political life, such as the rule of law, norms of trust, or the independent effects of institutions, are foreign to the international system.