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THE NEW BRITISH GOVERNMENT THAT WILL TAKE OFFICE IN 1997 FACES THE DIFFICULT TASK OF RE-ESTABLISHING THE CREDIBILITY OF THE PEACE PROCESS IN NORTHERN IRELAND. IT MUST DO SO AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF INCREASED POLARIZATION BETWEEN THE PROTESTANT COMMUNITY, WHICH LARGELY FAVORS CONTINUED UNION WITH BRITAIN, AND THE CATHOLIC COMMUNITY, WHICH GENERALLY WANTS CLOSER LINKS WITH THE IRISH REPUBLIC. INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS ARE WAITING TO SEE IF A COMBINATION OF THE NEW WESTMINSTER GOVERNMENT, THE SECOND CLINTON ADMINISTRATION, AND THE IRISH GOVERNMENT FORMED AFTER THE REPUBLIC'S 1997 GENERAL ELECTIONS CAN PERSUADE THE PARTIES IN NORTHERN IRELAND TO REACH A POLITICAL SETTLEMENT THAT WILL ENSURE LASTING PEACE.

Focuses on issues and prospects of the 1998-99 elections. Discusses political situation, regional elections, political parties, radicalism, constitutionalism, nationalism, and regionalism.

The political behavior of elites & citizens, the party system, & standards of governability in Spain cannot be understood without adequate attention to the splits of identity between citizens & territories in that country. The Basque case is the most critical of those splits, because the relationship between the national government & the Basque region reflects a cleavage of the first order in Spanish politics. Here, Basque polarized pluralism is explored in terms of political attitudes, ethnic identity, & the support of terrorism, drawing on extant survey data, 1978-1998. 10 Tables. Adapted from the source document.

Among the nations of the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen is the most populous, the poorest, and the most politically liberal. It is the only republic where sovereignty theoretically rests with its 16 million inhabitants, not with a monarch. The constitution promulgated in 1991 and amended in 1994 guarantees many basic rights and liberties to all adult citizens, including rights to vote, run for office, and join political parties. Since Yemeni unification in 1990, two rounds of contested, multiparty parliamentary elections in 1993 and 1997 involved women as well as men in the political process as voters, candidates, volunteers, and reporters. Yemenis enjoy relatively greater freedom of movement, expression, and association than most Arabs. Within the Yemeni political arena there is a wide range of legitimate political opinion, from the socialist left to the Islamist right, that cuts diagonally across the particularistic claims of region, tribe, sect, social status, or gender. Indeed, this political pluralism is more a property of society than of the state.

Suggests that during the last 12 years Basque politics have undergone a solid process of consolidation for the autonomy institutions and their plurality. The political climate was increasingly characterized by the consociational patterns of consensus, pact, and coalition. In the midst of a growing and widely accepted pluralism, the Weberian ethic of reality is emerging victorious over that of principles, and the nationalist utopia has been pragmatically adapting to accepted political responsibilities. (Original abstract - amended)

During much of the 1990s, the US economy experienced a boom, with rising productivity & employment. Moreover, since mid-decade, the public lost much of its apprehension about "downsizing" & its devastating effects on people whose jobs were displaced. Nevertheless, in the midst of it all, downsizing not only continued, but increased, with companies constantly announcing reductions in workforce. What was underway was an interesting combination of forces -- increasing productivity due to advancing computerized technology; a vast expansion of service employment in an economy that remained labor-intensive in those areas; & the continuing reduction of manufacturing & agricultural employment -- all with an underlying development of a technology that offered to become non-labor-intensive in all areas, including the service sector. This led to an increasing polarization of incomes & of wealth, raising substantial questions that even the most devoted follower of a market system must ultimately address. Adapted from the source document.