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Majority rule has various applications. In parliamentary theory, it intervenes at the level of relations between assembly & gov, & again, in elections. We find it in democratic theory where the majority of the people must approve decisions of the constitutional organs. Finally, it is employed in the decisionmaking process of the assemblies, & it is this aspect which forms the object of the present study. Since antiquity the majority principle has been generally observed in the decisions of deliberating bodies; but it was not until the 16th cent that it triumphed in England & France. In Switzerland up to the 16th cent majority rule was in effect, disappeared for a while, & then reappeared after the transition from confederation to federation. In Holland, majority rule was applied with certain restrictions from the 16th cent on. Poland had the 'liberum veto' up to the beginning of the 19th cent. From a theoretical viewpoint, the jurists of the Middle Ages based their justification of majority rule on an old Roman adage, & Canon Law has also made an important contribution to this doctrine. The authors of the 18th cent elaborated a legal theory based on rational fictions & on the doctrine of the Social Contract in particular. Among the moderns, 3 principal schools can be distinguished: those who, with Duguit, give a utilitarian basis to the principle, those who see in it a sublimated power, particularly sociol'ts, & finally the theoreticians who accept the principle for ethical reasons. The problem has increased in importance with the existence of international org's where at present, the majority principle is applied only exceptionally. (Translated by Z. Dana from IPSA).

Pleading for an `International Institute on Wars', whose task would be to study the cause of conflicts & to attempt to prevent such conflicts, this article was written in French in a Belgian periodical: The Army--The Nation. The authors begin with the fact that war has been studied very little, which is a result of mans' familiartity with such a phenomenon. There is the impression that war depends solely on the arbitrary will of men, & finally, there is the illusion that we are in no danger of it. Neither the philosophers nor the sociol's who have actually studied war have been able to explain its power. The jurists, in fighting against war & in seeking to create an international order, actually encourage war by making war one of the perogatives of all sovereign states. Has Bertrand de Jouvenel discovered the solution which holds that war is connected to power? The establishment of an institute is as wise, as it is urgent to support the role of defensive military alliances such as NATO which, to guard against war, bestirs us to arm ourselves. Tr by J. A. Broussard from IPSA.