THERE ARE MANY ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST COMPULSION AS A MEANS OF DECREASING THE NUMBERS OF CITIZENS WHO DO NOT VOTE. IN THE NETHERLANDS, VOTING WAS COMPULSORY(1917-1970). DURING THE YEARS IT WAS IN FORCE, VOTER TURNOUT WAS CONSISENTLY ABOVE 90%. RESULTS INDICATE THAT BETWEEN 10 TO 25% OF THE ELIGIBLE DUTCH VOTERS WERE INFLUENCED BY THE COMPULSORY VOTING LEGISLATION.
After an historiographical review, this article seeks to shed light on a somewhat forgotten question of the Venezuelan recent history: the civil-military relations in the context of the peculiar symbiosis that stretched from the fall of the Dictatorship in 1958 through the 1992 crisis, as well as the dilemma that nowadays confronts a military sector that is protagonizing the political debate due to the radicalization of Hugo Chávez's Bolivarian Revolution. ; Partiendo de un balance historiográfico, este estudio intenta aclarar un aspecto algo olvidado de la historia reciente de Venezuela: las relaciones civiles-militares, desde la peculiar simbiosis que se da desde la caída de la dictadura en 1958 hasta la crisis de 1992 y el dilema que enfrenta, hoy en día, un sector militar convertido en protagonista del debate político ante la radicalización de la Revolución Bolivariana del Presidente Hugo Chávez.
THREE ELECTIONS DURING THE FIRST HALF OF 1994 PROVED TO BE ALMOST MORE THAN THE PARTIES AND THE ELECTORATE OF THE NETHERLANDS COULD HANDLE. AFTER MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS IN MARCH, AND PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN MAY, THE POLITICAL PARTIES WERE EXHAUSTED AND THE VOTERS HAD LITTLE INTEREST IN THE ELECTIONS FOR THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT. ONE REASON FOR THIS LACK OF INTEREST IS THE FACT THAT THERE WERE NO REAL ISSUES SEPARATING THE POLITICAL PARTIES. ALL IN ALL, THESE WERE PROBABLY THE MOST UNEVENTFUL ELECTIONS EVER HELD IN THE NETHERLANDS.
The present article aims to examine the ways in which social support may affect the adaptation of individuals to a novel social environment. A distinctive feature of this research was the assessment of social support both before and after entering a completely new network of social relationships. A cohort of international exchange high school students (N = 242) was administered a battery of self-report ques tionnaires dealing with personality traits, perceived social support, coping beha viors and emotional distress before leaving Japan and six months after living with a host family in a foreign community. Perceived social support abroad contributed to less emotional distress. This health-promoting effect of social support was found to be mediated by adaptive coping behaviours, and was not due to confounding by personality traits. Perceived social support at home was predictive of more emotional distress abroad. Subjects who reported high levels of social support at home were particularly vulnerable when they entered the completely new environment and found that such support was no longer available.
