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The article takes as its point of departure the apparently contradictory findings in recent research about accident rates in shipping and IMO implementation records. It is argued here that although IMO conventions have probably greatly improved shipping safety, they cannot credibly be held to be the chief cause of reduced accident rates as claimed in a recent Marine Policy article, when the documented failures of flag state and port state implementation continue to leave vessels sailing with grave deficiencies. The present analysis posits and corroborates a cluster of linked tendencies that jointly undermine IMO implementation. The core problem is IMO's weak connection to the national maritime administrations, leading to broadly discretionary practices, exacerbated by language difficulties. Adding new rules is no panacea, as new rules in some cases negatively affect the functioning of existing regulations, and sometimes seem motivated mainly to show political alertness. The structural weakness of the IMO/member state link is the core implementation problem that urgently needs to be dealt with if marine safety is to be improved. The concluding section proposes a reform to bring the IMO out of this conundrum and ensure effective implementation.

Knudsen, O.F. and Underdal, A. Patterns of Norwegian Foreign Policy Behavior: An Exploratory Analysis. Cooperation and Conflict, XX, 1985, 229-251. In this article the authors use events data for a 7-month period in 1978-9 to explore the following question: Who (in Norway's governmental apparatus) does what to whom (meaning to other states, societies, or inter- and trans-national organizations)? The findings reported indicate support for some of the 'conventional wisdom' propositions on small state behavior, such as a leaning towards cautiousness and instruments of international law and order, but Norway emerges as more of a concerned, perhaps officious, 'citizen' of the world community than 'small state realism' would suggest. The patterns of behavior revealed by this 'snapshot' clearly reflect a relationship of complex interdependence to neighbors in northwestern Europe, expressed in inter alia, a high level of attention, a concentration on matters of 'economic wealth', and a prominent role for 'domestic' sectors of government. By contrast, despite receiving a fair amount of attention, the Third World countries appear essentially as 'faraway strangers', left to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Norway's relationship to the USSR seems to be rather heavily loaded with issues concerning inter-state norms, rights, and duties, and is also characterized by a significantly higher proportion of conflict behavior than is interaction with the West.

Setting their focus on the role of decision‐makers at intermediate and higher levels of a country's foreign policy administration, the authors analyze contextual factors that may determine the impact of decision‐makers' personal characteristics on foreign policy. The article highlights the dynamics of these factors in the case of Norwegian foreign policy‐making in the mid‐ and late 1970s. Over time, there has been a general relaxation of formal bureaucratic constraints, including the use of internally recruited political appointment, compounded by the growth of non‐traditional international public affairs. The Foreign Minister's leadership style appears to have served as a catalyst to create an environment in which middle‐to‐upper level administrative leaders and political appointees have had greater opportunity than previously to garner influence and make it felt.