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The relationship between voters' perceptions of party leaders' personality traits & their subsequent party identification & voting behavior was examined in the Nov 1981 Belgian national elections based on evaluations made by 201 voters of 4 well-known leaders of the main Flemish political parties. Factor analysis reveals 3 main dimensions of personality traits -- reliability, expertness, & self-control -- & 4 types of voters -- convinced, policy-oriented, routine, & indifferent. Party leaders' personality traits variably affected voting behavior depending on voter type. Overall, the personality profiles of each leader were quite similar; however, Rs identified with a certain party tended to rate politicians from that party more favorably, particularly on reliability & attractiveness dimensions. 6 Tables, 1 Figure. Modified HA

On 13 March 1908, the National Bureau for the Collection of Data on the Trade in Women and Girls was founded. The 47-year-old H.J.A. Simons de Ruyter was appointed National Police Commissioner. He proved to be the best person for the job owing to his passion for gathering and recording vital data, his knowledge of languages and his dedicated, helpful and generous personality. The Bureau and the police worked with women's organisations to monitor activities and carry out checks at stations and ports where women and girls who could be exposed to a lewd lifestyle might be travelling. After legislation on morality was passed in 1911, the Bureau was given an additional task in 1914 to tackle trade in lewd publications. After the First World War erupted that year, there was not much more to do at the Bureau, which led Simons de Ruyter to support the immigration authorities in Amsterdam at his own request. This consisted mainly of finding accommodation, providing healthcare, food, clothing and financial assistance and helping to repatriate Belgian refugees.

In 1975/76, the Belgian government gave high priority to the restructuring of local government. By means of mergers, the total number of communes decreased from 2,359 to 596. The decision-making process that led to the mergers is studied. The single most important factor was the personality of & the initiatives taken by the Minister of the Interior. He dealt with the delimitation of the new communes as well as personnel, finances, & transfer of goods. Local governments had only the option of advising on the delimitation of the new communes' territory (in some cases even that option was de facto & denied to them). These new delimitations were approved by the legislative assemblies at the end of 1975, after difficult & heated debates. At the same time, important resistance to the mergers developed on the part of the communes & opposition parties, particularly the Belgian Socialist Party, which did not participate in the government that drew the new map of communes according to its own objectives. Opposition parties were in agreement with the principle of the mergers; they mainly contested the way in which they were executed. Abolition of the federations of communes around the Brussels agglomeration, which was decided at the same time, must be understood in the context of the typically Belgian problem of the coexistence of two different linguistic groups. Modified HA.

Hans Schippers surveys the position of Hezbollah in Lebanese politics and its relations with Iran and Syria. Hezbollah is an organisation with two faces. Together with Amal it represents the Shia in Lebanon. It participates in elections and the government. However, in the Southern part of the country Hezbollah constitutes a state within a state, with a militia and a social and medical network of its own. Most of the costs of this structure are paid for by Iran. The Shia leadership of Iran also played a vital role in the establishment of the organisation in 1982. Syria acted as the protector of Hezbollah in its agitation against Israel. With the departure of Syrian troops following the Cedar Revolution in the spring of 2005 most non-Shia Lebanese wanted to see the Hezbollah militia, seen as a pro-Syrian force, dissolved. However, this was refused by leader Nasrallah. The militia protected Lebanon against Israeli aggression, he declared. It is unclear what motivated Hezbollah to kidnap the Israeli soldiers. This action seemed to be co-ordinated with Iran and Syria to divert attention from the Iranian troubles with the United Nations about Iran's uranium enrichment programme. However, also solidarity with Hamas and the personality of Nasrallah may have played a role. The War of Summer 2006 made it clear once more that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict maybe exploited by forces not directly involved, like Iran. The strong presence of European soldiers in the new peace force presents an opportunity for the EU to take the initiative for a restart of the peace process in the region. A new Madrid type conference may offer away out of the deadlock.