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Burnham selects and introduces some of the articles on politics and government found in "The American Prospect", an independent policy journal founded during the Reagan-Bush era, as a result of the need to refurbish classical liberal ideas by means of a constructive dialogue involving academics, journalists, and political figures. The first section on the fundamental values of liberalism features essays by sociologist Paul Starr and journalist Robert Kuttner dealing with the question of salvaging liberalism from the failures of Eastern European socialism, an ideology that polarized the political spectrum in the West. Turning to public involvement and debate, the next section offers White House pollster Stanley Greenberg's essay on reconstructing democratic vision and journalist John Judis's analysis of interest-group politics. The last section looks to basic governmental institutions and to the question of bureaucracy. It features Nelson Polsby of the University of Berkeley speaking out on the growing disillusionment with today's politicians, and spotlights Gene Sperling, deputy White House assistant on economic policy, discussing the Supreme Court as an institution that can rise above the special interests dominating politics today.