Argentina has been going through the transition to democracy since 1912, when universal suffrage was introduced, for men. A significant portion of the political process takes place in the form of competition between corporatist structures rather than through political parties, with the military convinced that they have an historical right to intervene whenever they deem necessary a clean-up of the civilian or democratic mess
Between Nov 2003 & Jun 2004, Georgia experienced several dramatic political events. President Eduard Shevardnadze was ousted in a peaceful revolt that was subsequently dubbed the 'Rose Revolution.' He was replaced by a trio of young politicians with the charismatic 35-year-old Mikheil Saakashvili at the helm. The article argues that the actual change was less deep than it was presented in the international media, & that it primarily constituted a youth rebellion within the ethnically Georgian elite in the country's capital, Tbilisi. The new generation of leaders faces a range of pressing problems, in particular corruption & the disintegration of the Georgian state. Several high-profile arrests have been carried out & the renegade republic Adjara was brought back into the fold when Tbilisi won a standoff with its corrupt leader, Asian Abashidze. Problems such as the separatist movement in Abkhazia will, however, be far more difficult to solve. There is a danger that Saakashvili's regime will proceed too fast, be sidetracked by vendettas against old enemies or fail to consolidate democracy. At the moment, however, this is one of the most promising governments in the former Soviet Union. 28 References. Adapted from the source document.
If the struggle for power becomes a matter of decision for a pol'al party or pol'al figure in a democracy, the ensuing action may not be in accord with previous behavior. The British pol'al scene shows an actual example of this kind of applied psychol. The Suez affair & its subsequent crisis created a serious psychol'al crisis in GB, a crisis so severe that Harold Macmillan had to deal with it by original methods. Forced to take measures, such as the one giving British shipowners the right to again use the canal, which really indicate the decline in British power, he nevertheless succeeded in restoring public confidence. He took his cabinet ministers in hand by allowing them a large measure of individual initiative, unlike Eden who supervised the most minute details of admin'tion. His authority over the Conservative party was very rapidly reaffirmed, to the point where he was able to force Lord Salisbury to leave the Cabinet. In the end he managed to get the Conservatives in Parliament behind him, by channeling their dislike toward the Labor Party, & by also directing their animosity toward the US & the UN. His apparent calm & indifference allowed him to take a neutral position toward these scapegoats, leaving vindictiveness to his partisans by this device. All of his efforts, however, did not succeed in restoring his prestige with the public who are less sensitive to the psychol'al techniques of the leader than the politicians, & who measure a politician in terms of his accomplishments, which have not been, so far very favorable. Tr by J. A. Broussard from IPSA.
