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In the early 1990s, Cameroon - like other sub-Saharan African countries - opened up to democratisation. In addition to the formation of some one hundred political parties, associations based on ethnic or regional identity mushroomed. Generally speaking, the elite & politicians peacefully mobilise parochial solidarities with the aim of maintaining their positions in the state, or of entering the state apparatus through ethnic votes - this is why the size of ethnic groups are an important factor in the rivalries between politicians. However, in Logone & Chari districts, situated in the border area between Cameroon, Nigeria, & Chad, the rivalry opposing the Kotoko to Shoa Arabs manifested itself in the form of interethnic violence. Demography played an important role in these conflicts, as it permitted Shoa Arabs to reverse the political majority. The Kotoko were the first inhabitants of the region, & had hitherto controlled traditional as well as modern power structures. In respect of the controversy over the population sizes of the two communities, this paper goes back in history to examine the role of epidemics & immigration in the numerical relationship between the two peoples. The manipulation of censuses, the relativity of ethnic differences, & new dimensions in the politics of ethnicity in North Cameroon are also considered.

Charles J. Halperin, Tverian political thought in the fifteenth century.
The pokhval'noe slovo (word of praise) to Grand Prince Boris Aleksandrovich of Tver' attributed to the monk Foma has not been correctly interpreted as an expression of Tverian political thought in the fifteenth century. First, although it does discuss the Council of Florence, it never accuses the Greeks of apostasy, and therefore its use of Byzantine Imperial epithets and titulature do not constitute an attempted translatio imperio such as is found in the Muscovite tales of the Council, or later in the theory of Moscow-the Third Rome. Secondly, Foma's careful usage suggests that the Muscovite monopoly of the myth of the Russian Land had not been broken by Muscovy's civil war, and that the more provincial concept of the Tverian Land is used by Foma in its stead. Such "land" (zemli) terminology in Old Russian political thought has not been sufficiently studied.

Fifty years later, the concept of populism is still plagued by the disorder that Isaiah Berlin labelled as the "Cinderella complex", meaning there is a shoe, the shape of populism, but no foot to fit it or almost none. In order to go beyond this ironic situation, the analysis claims it is necessary to avoid seeing populism as a form of ideology characterized by a certain degree of internal coherence. Similarly, it considers it is necessary to avoid reducing populism to a simple rhetorical and demagogic style every political actor can use according to his/her needs. If we adopt a comparative perspective, take into account the populism's most recent manifestations and search for their lowest common denominator, we can identify the elements of a psychological predisposition that, in line with Theodor Geiger and Juan Linz, can be considered the basis of a characteristic mentality. Within this context, this article aims to identify the specific elements belonging to this mentality and to include them in a definition able to cover the multiplicity of meanings given to the word "people". Finally yet importantly, this definition aims to shed light on the nature of the relationship between populism and democracy.

Résumé L'article cherche à révéler les structures de la société civile dans le domaine de l'immigration, ses capacités de négociation et ses relations avec l'Etat au Portugal et en Italie et, par ailleurs, à proposer une possible explication à nos résultats. Pour mettre en œuvre notre objectif, nous utilisons une approche institutionnelle, ayant recours à une notion très répandue dans le domaine des mouvements sociaux, à savoir, le concept de structures d'opportunités politiques (SOP). Nos conclusions s'appuient sur une comparaison systématique des sociétés civiles au Portugal et en Italie et des capacités de négociation et de revendication politiques de ses acteurs. Cette comparaison permet d'affirmer que les SOP au Portugal et en Italie ont un rôle intermédiaire dans la mise en forme des structures, des capacités de négociation et des relations des acteurs de la société civile avec les structures de l'Etat mais dans des directions opposées. Sur ce, nous allons au-delà de ces conclusions pour pouvoir expliquer des résultats si opposés entre les deux pays. Nous vérifions que les deux pays ont vécu des dictatures dans un passé récent et de nombreuses études montrent que le passé autoritaire et son héritage politique façonnent les SOP et la société civile. Nous disons donc que l'héritage du passé politique a un rôle explicatif essentiel dans le structurant des SOP et de la société civile aussi bien que dans leurs rapports dans le domaine de l'immigration.