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Unemployment has been rising in GB since 1966 & is currently the most important electorate issue. Present politics & economic positions, however, have been & are unable to deal effectively with the problem. GB's economic role in the capitalist world economy is reviewed & seen to be a trap preventing any rapid progress or recovery. In addition, the rising Social Democratic Party-Liberal Alliance has fostered false economic expectations, fundamentalism, & commitment to consensus politics, paving the way for tension between the political system & social problems. It is suggested that significant leftist & rightist sections of the electorate will be forced to seek solutions inconsistent with the present system by the mid-1980s, leading to intense political conflict. Possible ramifications of such a conflict are noted. J. Cannon.

IN THE SPRING 1984 ISSUE OF PRESIDENTIAL STUDIES QUARTERLY CHAIRMEN FAHRENKOPF AND MANATT PRESENTED THE PARTICULARS ABOUT THE POLITICS THAT YOU WILL SEE UNFOLD IN 1984. NOW THE AUTHOR WOULD LIKE TO PRESENT A GENERAL STATEMENT ABOUT THE NATURE OF AMERICAN POLITICS AND ITS SYSTEMIC WEAKNESS THAT MAKES THE PRESIDENCY ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT. MY CENTRAL POINT IS THAT THE PEOPLE WHO COMPLAIN THAT OUR PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN STARTS TOO SOON, MISUNDERSTAND FUNDAMENTALLY THE NATURE OF OUR POLITICS AND THE CENTRALITY THE PRESIDECY HAS. OUR CAMPAIGNS DON'T START TOO SOON, OUR CAMPAIGNS NEVER START; THEY NEVER END. THERE IS AN ONGOING, CONSTANT CAMPAIGNING, CONSTANT MANEUVERING, THAT IS ALL A PART OF THE POLITICAL CONVERSATION OF A GREAT CONTINENTAL NATION.

IN 1964 THE BRAZILIAN POLITICAL SYSTEM UNDERWENT A basic change. The populist republic (1946–64), which had paved the way for both a formal and an informal extension of political and economic franchises, after the success of Kubitschek's administration (1956–61) and Quadros's resignation (1961), collapsed as a result of decisional paralysis. The economic challen e of accumulation and the political challenge of social justice led, in the early 1960s during the Goulart administration, both to a fragmentation of power and to radicalization. The more demands multiplied, the more the government hesitated, feeding the anxiety of different political grou s in society. The result was a growing distrust of the politicafsystem. Distrust in turn not only prevented a coalition in support of a consistent governmental programme but also brought about an intensification of conflictual demands. This self-sustaining mechanism of decisional paralysis was interrupted by the emergence of what has been called by Juan Linz and Guuermo O'Donnell 'a bureaucratic-authoritarian regime'.