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Dual‐resource constrained queuing systems contain fewer servers than service facilities. This study uses computer simulation to evaluate several server assignment procedures in a dual‐resource system. A field study serves as the basis for developing a model with two service facilities in parallel, a single server, and deterministic information access and transfer delays that can be applied to job shops, computer operating systems, and elevators. Several findings, useful in server assignment decision making, resulted from the study. If first‐come, first‐served sequencing is used, delaying server assignment at a facility until all jobs are completed reduces both the mean and the variance of job flow time. If shortest‐process‐time‐first sequencing is used, an assignment rule is tested that delays a server at a facility until a sufficiently short job is estimated to have arrived elsewhere. This rule performs best overall in terms of both the mean and variance of flow time. Methods to implement this decision rule easily are discussed.

A distinguished group of scholars examine recent transitions to democracy and the prospects for democratic stability in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay. They also assess the role of elites in the longer-established democratic regimes in Columbia, Costa Rica, Italy, Mexico and Venezuela. The authors conclude that in independent states with long records of political instability and authoritarian rule, democratic consolidation requires the achievement of elite 'consensual unity' - that is, agreement among all politically important elites on the worth of existing democratic institutions and respect for democratic rules-of-the-game, coupled with increased 'structural integration' among those elites. Two processes by which consensual unity can be established are explored - elite settlement, the negotiating of compromises on basic disagreements, and elite convergence, a more subtle series of tactical decisions by rival elites which have cumulative effect, over perhaps a generation

Embora a literatura específica já inclua um grande número de tipologias de partidos, é cada vez mais difícil dar conta da grande diversidade de tipos de partido político surgidos em todo o mundo nas últimas décadas, especialmente porque a maioria das tipologias baseou-se em partidos da Europa Ocidental, já existentes entre o final do século XIX e a metade do século XX. Alguns novos tipos evoluíram, mas de maneira fortuita e com base em critérios muito variáveis e frequentemente inconsistentes. Este artigo é uma tentativa de encaixar muitas das concepções de partido comumen­te utilizadas em uma estrutura coerente e de delinear novos tipos de agremiação partidária sempre que os modelos existentes se mostrarem incapazes de apreender aspectos importantes das legendas contemporâneas. De acordo com seu "gênero", classificamos cada uma das 15 "espécies" de partido com base em três critérios: 1) a natureza da organização partidária (forte/fraca, elitista ou de massa, etc.); 2) a orien­tação programática do partido (ideológica ou particularista-clientelista, etc.); e 3) o caráter tolerante e pluralista (ou democrático) versus o proto-hegemônico (ou antis­sistema). Embora falte parcimônia nesta tipologia, acreditamos que ela indique com maior precisão a diversidade de partidos existentes no mundo democrático contem­porâneo, sendo mais adequada ao teste de hipóteses e à construção de teorias do que outras.

While the literature already includes a large number of party typologies, they are increasingly incapable of capturing the great diversity of party types that have emerged worldwide in recent decades, largely because most typologies were based upon West European parties as they existed in the late nineteenth through mid-twentieth centuries. Some new party types have been advanced, but in an ad hoc manner and on the basis of widely varying and often inconsistent criteria. This article is an effort to set many of the commonly used conceptions of parties into a coherent framework, and to delineate new party types whenever the existing models are incapable of capturing important aspects of contemporary parties. We classify each of 15 'species' of party into its proper 'genus' on the basis of three criteria: (1) the nature of the party's organization (thick/thin, elite-based or mass-based, etc.); (2) the programmatic orientation of the party (ideological, particularistic-clientele-oriented, etc.); and (3) tolerant and pluralistic (or democratic) versus proto-hegemonic (or anti-system). While this typology lacks parsimony, we believe that it captures more accurately the diversity of the parties as they exist in the contemporary democratic world, and is more conducive to hypothesistesting and theory-building than others.

Studies the impact of various organizational models on party performance through a case study. The demise of the Union de Centro Democratico (UCD) was caused by the party's lack of institutionalization. One key component was the lack of commitment of the party's top-ranking leaders in Madrid, who interacted with the party in purely utilitarian terms to achieve election, but failed to tie values into the party institution or to develop loyalty toward the party. Lack of agreement was also evident regarding the model of the party, its electoral strategies, & its norms of internal governance. Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez wanted to develop a classic catch-all party with strong presidential leadership; while the party's 'barons' favored development along factional lines with collective decision-making processes. Different expectations led to infighting & defections by prominent leaders. The lack of commitment to the party at the abstract level, lack of behavioral norms, & intra-party decision-making processes destroyed the party & even threatened the survival of the new democratic regime. An electorate disillusioned with the UCD's destructive conflicts gave it the worst electoral defeat in West European history. 2 Tables, 1 Figure. L. A. Hoffman

Presents a typology of political parties that includes important features of parties in many different parts of the world, not just Western Europe & North America. It is contended that political parties have become "thinner" structures, performing a limited set of functions that are primarily associated with elections. The key functions of political parties are described: candidate nomination; electoral mobilization; issue structuring; societal representation; forming/sustaining governments; interest aggregation; & social integration. The four main types of parties that exist today are elite-based, mass-based, ethnicity-based, electoralist, & movement parties. Suborganizations of each type are examined. It is noted that religious fundamentalist parties are the only ones that still fit the historical centralized, hierarchical, mass-based model. There is no evidence of a trend toward less ideological or programmatic parties. Shifts in how party organizations relate to citizens are discussed, & it is concluded that changes in party organizational forms, electoral strategies, & programmatic goals are not exclusively the result of broader social changes. 2 Tables, 1 Figure. J. Lindroth

An introductory chapter notes that the last 25 years have exhibited both an unprecedented increase in democracies around the world & growing dissatisfaction with them. The decline in confidence in government throughout North America, Europe, & Japan is accompanied by an erosion of partisan attachments. The attachment to political parties is even weaker in the developing "third wave" democracies of Asia, Latin America, Africa, & the postcommunist world, where the legitimacy of democracy is not as deeply rooted. Various explanations for this decline are examined. The essays in this volume focus on the roles that parties play in contemporary democracies, & whether they are living up to citizens' expectations & fulfilling the functional demands implicit in the concept of representative democracy. The urgent need to understand how parties are evolving & changing is discussed. The essays are organized in four sections that address theoretical/historical perspectives; parties/party systems after reform; developing & postcommunist party systems; & challenges facing contemporary parties. J. Lindroth