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Policy lessons from abroad often are put forward as politically neutral truths. Beneath this superficial impartiality, political adversaries just as often are using such lessons as political weapons. The political value of these lessons lies in their power to bias policy choice and to affect the coalition supporting a particular program. (SJK)

By reporting on some conflicts but not on others, and by representing conflicts they report on in particular ways, the media strongly influence the dynamics and outcomes of democratisation conflicts, and thus also shape the prospects of success of conflict parties. This paper explores the literature on media and conflict by focusing on the ways in which media frame inter-state and civil wars, institutionalised conflicts and social movements in western democracies, and conflicts in nondemocratic and democratising states. Much of the literature discusses the ways in which western media frame foreign conflicts and domestic election campaigns and policy debates, while there is considerably less focus on domestic conflicts in nonwestern settings, such as those that arise during and after transitions from nondemocratic rule. There are only limited attempts to draw parallels between the media coverage of disparate conflicts. In contrast, this study builds upon research findings in these related areas to draw lessons for empirical research of media framing of the contentious dimension of contemporary democratisation. This study concludes that the political context is the main factor that shapes the media framing of various forms of political conflict. Several dimensions of the political context matter in this respect, such as regime type, international (foreign) or domestic perspective, elite consensus or conflict, policy consensus or uncertainty, policy area, more or less institutionalised nature of the political conflict at stake, and the stage of democratisation. Also, the literature suggests that media framing strongly influences political outcomes and thus fosters or undermines democratic institutions in new democracies. .

In this paper we analyze the political viability of equalization rules in the context of a decentralized country. In concrete terms, we suggest that when equalization devices are perceived as unfair by one or more regions, political conflict may emerge as a result. Political conflict is analysed through a non cooperative game. Regions are formed by identical individuals who, through lobbying, try to impose their regional preferences on the rest of the country, and political conflict is measured as the total contribution to lobbying. We conclude that the onset of conflict depends on the degree of publicness of the regional budget. When regional budgets are used to provide pure public goods, proportional equalization is politically feasible. However, no equalization rule is immune to conflicte when budgets are used to provide private goods or a linear combination of private and public goods.

The normative element in lesson-drawing results from conflicting political goals. Evidence from programs in effect in other places can be the persuasive material for fueling partisan debates, often with adversaries taking the same evidence as illustration of their particular viewpoints. The values, practicalities, & transferability of contested policies are the substance of these debates. Political actors advocating change are motivated to use lessons to help set agendas, though lessons can also provide counterexamples to support the position of opponents to change. A case example of political conflict in lesson-drawing is found in the 1988 debate in the US Congress on prenotifying the public of mandatory plant closings. An illustration of the hypotheses that (1) polities are not willing to combine conflicting agenda (conservative & liberal), despite the combination's theoretical possibility, & (2) politico-economic feasibility of a program determines whether a set of polities will adopt a particular policy, is provided in a discussion of labor market/income maintenance policies in the US. 1 Table, 1 Figure, 79 References. Adapted from the source document.

In Legal Reasoning and Political Conflict, Cass R. Sunstein, one of America's best known commentators on our legal system, offers a bold, new thesis about how the law should work in America, arguing that the courts best enable people to live together, despite their diversity, by resolving particular cases without taking sides in broader, more abstract conflicts. Whether discussing abortion, homosexuality, or free speech, the meaning of the Constitution, or the spell cast by the Warren Court, Cass Sunstein writes with grace and power, offering a striking and original vision of the role of the law in a diverse society. In this Second Edition, the author updates the previous edition bringing it into the current mainstream of twenty-first century legal reasoning and judicial decision-making focusing on the many relevant contemporary issues and developments that occurred since the initial 1996 publication.

Over the past half-century, Europe has experienced the most radical reallocation of authority that has ever taken place in peace-time, yet the ideological conflicts that will emerge from this are only now becoming apparent. The editors of this 2004 volume, Gary Marks and Marco Steenbergen, have brought together a formidable group of scholars of European and comparative politics to investigate patterns of conflict that are arising in the European Union. Using diverse sources of data, and examining a range of actors, including citizens, political parties, members of the European Parliament, social movements, and interest groups, the authors of this volume conclude that political contestation concerning European integration is indeed rooted in the basic conflicts that have shaped political life in Western Europe for many years. This comprehensive volume provides an analysis of political conflict in the European Union

3 sets of factors which are perceived as important to an understanding of the Guyana situation are examined: (1) the colonial history of the country & its present relation to the US; (2) the structure of the economy & the internal system of soc stratification; (3) the extent of cultural diff's, soc segregation, & pol'al polarization between diff groups. Guyana's pop of about 700,000 is over 51% of East Indian descent, 30% of African, 5% of Amerindian descent, 1% Portuguese, & 6% Chinese. The pol'al process reflects a soc structure in which the units are racially-based cultural segments. The system is dynamic inasmuch as there has been a continuous movement both geographically & in terms of occup'al mobility. Racial diff's lead to jealousies & conflict in various areas, eg, in the civil service, in the area of Ur unemployment. Pol'ly, 2 issues of nat'l policy have arisen which appear to align with the group interests of Africans & Indians respectively: (a) the question of Caribbean Federation; (b) the question of the relative emphasis to be placed on agriculture as opposed to industry in the nat'l development plan. Neither party has been able to face the truly formidable task of soc transformation that will be necessary if disastrous internal conflicts are to be avoided. The Caribbean Free Trade Area seems to be making some real progress, but this is not going to solve Guyana's internal problems. internal pot in Guyana have not been able to pass beyond the stage of factional conflict over office-holding on one hand & accommodation to the realities of internat'l power pot & econ structure on the other. Pol'al conflicts are aligned to racial diff's & activated by a sense of group identity but their cause & origin must be sought in the soc & econ structure & the external pol'al environment. M. Maxfield.

Analyses of political conflict typically concentrate on various structural dimensions and neglect the underlying dynamic processes. In this research, we depart from that practice and take the collective learning process inherent in large-scale and ongoing social conflict as our focus. A mathematical model and its theoretical rationale are developed and evaluated. The model, derived from well-grounded behavioral propositions, assumes that the trend in success/failure rates in this type of conflict is accounted for by the relative learning rates of the parties in conflict. In tests involving several sets of data on conflicts between government and opposition groups in Latin America from 1946 through 1975, the model quite accurately describes the distribution of outcomes.

ABSTRACTPolitical adversaries have reason and opportunity to use foreign lessons to gain advantage in political conflicts. Political factors strongly affect the way public policy lessons are drawn and transformed into public policy. Political opponents contest the value, practicality, and transferability of policy initiatives in order to bias the outcome. The paper hypothesizes that (i) the politicization of lesson-drawing induces issue experts to emphasize the descriptive and technical aspects of programs; (2) gives an incentive to advocates of change to use lessons to advance their position during the agenda-setting process; and (3) gives opponents of change an incentive to draw counterbalancing negative lessons from foreign experience when a proposed lesson reaches the point where adoption is entirely possible. The 1988 Congressional debate over mandatory plant closing prenotification provides evidence supporting hypotheses. The paper further hypothesizes: (4) most polities will not adopt both conservative and liberal programs even when theoretically they could do so; and (5) the degree to which a population of polities adopt a particular lesson will be a function of the program's economic and politicial feasibility. The diffusion of labor market and income maintenance policies across the American states supports both of these claims.