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'GOVERNMENTAL INSTABILITY: ITS CAUSES AND CURE' HAS stimulated a growth industry in political science. Conferences, projects and published and unpublished works attest to its attraction as a research topic as well as its centrality for the democratic process. The volatility of electorates ranks high among the presumed causes of instability. The inability of cabinets to maintain legislative majorities, often attributed to the fickle nature of mass publics, is said to lead to ineffective government. Lack of effectiveness, in turn, results in voter disaffection, loss of legitimacy and increased volatility.

Once again, Spain is in political transition. The death of Franco in 1975 provided the opportunity for rationalizing an awkward political system. The objective of the politicians who gathered to draft a new constitution was twofold: to organize a state that was to be both modern and legitimate in a society that is still in many ways 'pre-civic' but, at the same time, increasingly tied to the industrial and post-industrial West.

The reconstruction of past mentalités is so flawed an enterprise that we will never know for sure what portion of the de-ideologization of Spanish politics represents "objective" change and what portion reflects the demystification of stereotypes associated with the black legend of Hispanic zealotry. The softening of the antagonisms between left and right has occurred amid unprecedented prosperity and a massive transformation of the class structure of the country; it also reflects a lesson about the hazards of conflict without quarter and the benefits of compromise, learned at great cost.

Each German federal election since 1949 has resulted in a reduction in the number of parties securing representation in the Bundestag. While this trend continued in 1961, there is evidence that the party system is becoming stabilized, making it unlikely that any of the present parties will disappear in the near future. This article examines the 1961 election and its significance for the German party system.The major outlines of the present German party system became apparent as early as 1946, when party activities were resumed on a zonal basis. The principal parties then in the field were the Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party, the Christian Democratic Union, and the Free Democratic Party. The last two of these were known differently in different sections of West Germany, but today, with very few exceptions, the designation for each group is the same throughout the Federal Republic.

"Series editor: Samuel H. Barnes"--T.p. verso. ; "U.S. Department of State Contract 1724-520100"--T.p. verso. ; Bibliography: p. 36-58. ; Mode of access: Internet.