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This discussion of how Israel created a state with many ethnicities focuses on the impact on the Arab population. Also examined are problems that have arisen as a result of this multiethnic society, including land disagreements, & some of the more significant political events regarding negotiations with Arab citizens of Israel. The law of Israel is discussed with respect to discrimination against Arabs within different facets of society. E. Miller

Since the beginning of the 1990s there has been in Italy a partial and incomplete transition from a consensual to a majoritarian form of democracy. And the traditional interpretations of the 'Italian case' have been gradually abandoned without having been substituted by new ones. So, nowadays there are many detailed empirical researches about specific aspects of the Italian political system and transition, but no comprehensive model is available to understand the overall logics of its functioning and development. The thesis of the article is that the models proposed to depict the First Republic can be useful to understand also the Second one, once they have been adequately revisited and updated. Then, three frameworks are analyzed -- polarized pluralism, party government, and the theory of democratic consolidation and anchoring -- in order to suggest how they can be applied and how to 'rediscover' a tradition of research that risks to be lost. Adapted from the source document.

After defining deliberation as a form of public discussion central to the functioning of deliberative democracy, E. Noelle-Neumann's (1984) theory of the spiral of silence is outlined & applied in modeling deliberation processes. A formal model of public deliberation is elaborated & tested on two hypothetical groups defending & advancing arguments in support of their political/ideological viewpoint. Statistical formulas for computing the probabilistic distribution of motivations to speak out are developed, & monological & pluralistic equilibriums are described as stable & unstable, respectively; the motivational transformations necessary to produce a stable pluralistic equilibrium are considered & several such outcomes are modeled. The theoretical & applicational aspects of the model proposed are discussed, outlining three strategies, & their underlying procedural rules, leading to a stable equilibrium in a multilateral exchange of views & arguments during deliberation. Figures, References. Z. Dubiel

Multiculturalism's main assumption is that 'diversity matters', and within contemporary multicultural societies the different religious experiences of the members are perceived as one of their most relevant features, one that might also lead to a number of dangerous and (at least seemingly) unsolvable conflicts. In the first and second sections of this article, I consider Bhikhu Parekh and Tariq Modood's positions concerning the relationship between multiculturalism and the variety of religious experiences, while in the third section I discuss the main theoretical problems that remain open. Essentially, such problems have all to do with the lack of an explicit addressing the issue of religious diversity from an effective intercultural perspective. Lastly, I try to bring back the variety of religious experiences to a different theoretical paradigm, which aims at importing some of the conceptual achievements of contemporary complexity theories into the social sciences' discourse. In doing so, my goal is not to elaborate a single model able to give definite answers, but rather, to the extent to which it is possible, to secure its flexibility, as well as its ability to adequate to the inputs coming from an unceasingly changing 'reality'. Adapted from the source document.

The paper investigates the relationship between the classical liberal tradition & Daniel J. Elazar's neofederalism. In the opinion of this important political scientist of the 20th century, it is federalism that makes possible the protection of individual rights: without the constitutional framework of a pluralist federalism, democracy becomes centralized & can be a road to dictatorship. But the article is also an attempt to underline the limits of Elazar's theory & the inconsistency of his opposition between federal freedom & natural freedom. Moreover, it was not clear to Elazar how calling any form of political organization a "state" is a great obstacle to understanding the phenomenon of federalism & its polycentric order. Adapted from the source document.

In recent years, claims for autonomy & self-government have conditioned the politics of the so-called multinational democracies. In such democracies, national minorities have obtained one form or another of self-government thanks to various kinds of federal frameworks. Such important political processes have significantly contributed toward the renewed interest in federalism. In particular, a number of scholars have pointed out the need to formulate a specific variety of federalism to meet the needs of national minorities: asymmetric federalism. Thus, unlike scholars such as Carl Friedrich, Daniel Elazar, & Kenneth Wheare, who thought that traditional, symmetrical federal institutions could be used to manage nationalist claims thanks to their intrinsic capability of dealing with unity & diversity, many contemporary political scientists (eg, Alfred Stepan, Alain Gagnon, Ferran Requeio, Michael Burgess, & others) have analyzed the relationship between nationalism & federalism through the concept of asymmetric federalism. Focusing on the different dimensions of the concept & analyzing such a literature -- its results, suggestions, & limits, constitute the aim of this paper. 2 Tables, 45 References. Adapted from the source document.

Examines economic reconstruction and democratic consolidation in Albania since the fall of communism; efforts to diversify foreign relations to overcome past isolation, EU aid, intellectuals' political involvement, from state atheism to religious pluralism, condition of women, the Kosovo question, and the Albanian community in Italy; 12 articles. Summaries in English p. 295-8.