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Most theorists on international relations agree on recognizing natural resources, economic strength, technological development, political stability, & military strength as the five bases of a state's power. This unanimity is in sharp contrast with the divergences in the operationalizations of the power of states. Most operationalizations use only one or two bases of a state's power & thus are very limited in scope. Therefore, the demand for an operationalization sticking as closely as possible to the unanimity among theorists forces itself on the researcher. An attempt is made to transform the theoretical unanimity into an operational measure. Each power basis represented by partial indicators is listed: (1) natural resources--area, population, production of energy, (2) economic strength--gross national product, energy consumption, monetary stability, (3) technological development--level of alphabetization, number of students in higher education, scientific production & infrastructure, (4) political stability--length of independence, internal stability, & (5) military strength--number of men in the armed forces, conventional weapons, nuclear strength. The operationalization was obtained by granting all five power bases an equal share in the index & by giving an equal weight to the sums of the arithmetical values for fifteen partial indicators & thus, for the five indicators. The nation's power-index, thus obtained, was applied to 110 nation states as they existed at the beginning of the '70s. On this power scale, ratings differ from 29,046 indexpoints of world power (IWM) for the US to 276 IWM for Gambia & even less for a number of the smaller states that could not be investigated. Modified HA.

In a test of an earlier study (Cleymans, A., "De niet-aanwezige burger midden de jaren zeventig" [The Non-Present Citizen in the Mid-1970s] in Res Publica, 1985, 1, 140), the structure & selectivity of political participation in the Netherlands & Belgium are compared. Overall political participation since 1973 appears to remain at the same level for a range of ten activities, eg, trying to contact politicians & joining a demonstration. However at the macrolevel, the stability of participation is combined with a constant or slowly rising passive political involvement. The relationship of political involvement & participation with individual & social background characteristics is not very strong in the 1980s. The better educated, leftists, & public employees have the highest participation rates during 1973-1986. Differences between the sexes seems to decrease over time. In Belgium, working outside the home does not appear to stimulate the participation of women; however, in the Netherlands, this factor is of utmost importance. 5 Tables. Modified HA

The political map of Europe was transformed by the collapse of the Soviet Union & the reunification of Germany, ending four decades of stability & leading to new political configurations: the emergence of the independent Baltic states -- Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania -- with regional links not only to neighboring Russia but to Western Europe as well. The recent political history of the Baltic states is summarized, from their interwar independence to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact & their renewed independence in the early 1990s. Also discussed are postindependence demographic & social problems & prospects in the Baltics: the presence of large Russian minorities, language tests for citizenship, & the states' aspirations for European Union membership. The European Union has tried to serve as go-between for the region, & there are especially close & positive ties between the Baltic states & the Nordic countries. A. Siegel

The present article is a discussion of De spankracht van de Europese Unie. Gaan democratie en uitbreiding samen? (The EU tension capital. Do democracy and expansion go together?), an assembly of essays that are rated highly interesting by its reviewers. Characteristic for the European Union is its wish to be both democratic and effective. To nourish national and regional diversity, and establish a large internal market at the same time. To promote citizen and stakeholder participation, and respond in an effective and rapid way to all sorts of new challenges. The guiding principle of the book is the question whether the nature of the EU allows the achieving of these different topics at the same time. An edition in the interest of political scientists, but more so for politicians and policy makers, marked by a tendency for pessimism amongst the different contributors. As stated in the conclusion; a perfectly normal characteristic of complex political systems going through institutional crisis to reemerge at a later date with renewed stability. References. O. van Zijl

The history of Surinam's economy & class development is analyzed, providing the basis for explanation of how privileged & nonprivileged classes were determined. Racial characteristics & class position are closely related. An attempt is made to demonstrate in which ways class & race have affected the development of political parties after WWII. The creation of political parties can be considered the reaction of different racial elites to the necessity of democratically legitimizing their power. Until now elites have been able to preserve an advantageous position in influencing basic policy decisions within their parties. Elites govern by means of informal compromises & coalitions, which constitutes a threat to the stability of the system. Surinam, on the verge of independence, awaits a long period of political instability & faces the possibility of external interference. 1 Table. Modified HA.

THE ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN VOTING BEHAVIOR IS OFTEN BASED UPON RECALL DATA. THE NOTE OF RELIABILITY OF THIS TYPE OF DATA IS QUESTIONED. RECALL DATA UNDERESTIMATE THE NUMBER OF CHANGES IN PARTY CHOICE. NO EVIDENCE HAS BEEN FOUND THAT THE USE OF RECALL DATA HAS ANY CONSEQUENCES FOR THE STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE STABILITY OF PARTY CHOICE & SUCH VARIABLES AS POLITICAL INTEREST, POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE, & EDUCATION. THE ANALYSIS OF THE RELIABILITY OF QUESTIONS ON TURN-OUT IS NOT CONCLUSIVE. THERE ARE VERY STRONG INDICATIONS THAT IN EACH ELECTION STUDY NONVOTERS GIVE LESS RELIABLE ANSWERS THAN VOTERS. THIS UNRELIABILITY IS ESPECIALLY HIGH WHEN RECALL DATA ARE USED. 11 TABLES. HA.

Using data on fathers & parental grandfathers from a largescale survey held among all members of either House of the Dutch Parliament sitting in 1968, the soc background of members of Parliament is traced both re occup & soc stratification. The data show very little stability over 3 generations in occup'al background, & considerable verticle mobility. For the larger parties & for the 2 Houses as a whole, an index is constructed showing the average ranking of fathers & grandfathers on a prestige status scale. It appears that members of the Lower House come from higher soc milieus as measured by the ranking of fathers than members of the Upper House. This is particularly true of socialist members in the Lower House who score higher than either socialist Upper House members, or Lower House members of the 2 larger religious parties. Extensive data on the denomination of parents, grandparents & husbands or wives of members allow some insight into the extent to which traditional religious cleavage lines continue to determine pol'al recruitment. A diagram is presented to show the degree of traditional congruence between pol'al choice & religious denomination (or sub-denomination) & the extent to which 2 new anti-system parties (Democrats '66 & Farmer's Party) have successfully challenged the traditional divisions. On the whole, the close alignment between religious adherence & pol'al choice persists, both when measured by formal church association & actual church attendance. But liberals come from circles which are more traditionally identified with secular poi than members of the socialist party. In the latter case, the pot of 'breaking through' traditional religious boundaries materialized in some deliberate recruitment of orthodox-Protestant & Catholic members. But the traditional left-right division remains evident even when measured by the faith of parents & grandparents; a process of secularization is more characteristic for members of the non-confessional parties than a deliberate crossing of traditional pol'al boundaries by Catholics or orthodox-Protestants. IPSA.