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In the scientific literature emphasizes how to observe in recent decades an increase in electoral volatility. However, this finding contradicts the classical theories of voting behavior, which emphasize the importance of social cleavages and thus just more stability in party choice for drafting. However, many volatile electorate shift cited related to an ideological party and it is often used as an argument to support the continued importance of this fault line theories. Volatile voters in this vision still bound by their ideology and make an informed choice. Moreover'm changing party often within an ideological block interpreted as a choice driven by strategic considerations. Adapted from the source document.

The concern is with how the soc & econ structure of cities affects the degree of pol'al competition & how these factors in turn affect the degree of pol'al stability. Data derive from a comparative empirical study of the outcomes of the communal elections of 1952, 1958, & 1964, in 147 Belgian cities with a pop size of 10,000 or more in 1947. The following generalizations are noted: A general proliferation of election lists or parties participating in the elections from 1952 to 1964; a trend from 1-party control over the electoral college of thc city council toward coalition control; a net increase in the number of Catholic lists & a net decrease in the number of socialist & liberal lists participating; & an increase in the number of cities in which newer, smaller & non-traditional parties or lists participated in the electoral college of the city council. 3 measures of pol'al competition were used: (1) the average number of parties or lists that entered the communal elections of 1952, 1958 & 1964; (2) the average number of lists that received at least 10% of the vote in these 3 elections: & (3) the presence or absence of a coalition on the electoral college of the city council in 1952. 2 measures of pol'al stability were employed: (a) the degree of stability in the lists & parties participating, & (b) the degree of stability in the list or party controlling the electoral college of the city council. In general, measures of structural diff'iation, linguistic diversity, industr diversity, & soc heterogeneity (ie, the presence of a large Mc) are found to be positively related to the degree of competition in local pol. In turn, measures of each of these structural factors & measures of pol'al competition are negatively related to measures of pol'al stability. Regression analysis supports the interpretation that diversity & heterogeneity in the soc structure of cities--specifically, pop size, density, & the presence of many persons with high occup'al status--contribute to greater pol'al competition in local pol; but it was the degree of pol'al competition that most strongly affected the degree of pol'al stability. It is concluded that cities with a high degree of soc & econ heterogeneity have a greater amount of conflict & cleavage. This results in greater competition in the pol'al arena. 16 Tables. M. Maxfield.

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.

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.

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 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

A series of 11 polls on samples of the Belgian electorate was held between the elections of Mar, 1968, & Nov, 1971. 2 questions were asked, one on past voting behavior & one on voting intentions. Although each survey was held on a completely renewed sample, the most striking result is the stability of the party preference of the Belgian voter. Little relationship is found between pol'al events & changes in voting intentions. On the basis of the results the hyp is formulated that, in periods without crises, the majority of electors are influenced by a global pol'al atmosphere rather than by separate events. Perceptible changes in party preference only occur after a series of "coherent" events, of which the effect is cumulative. A secondary result of the analysis is the description of some systematic patterns of switching in party preference. AA.

This article explores whether the development of a common European asylum policy, & the construction of a directive on minimum standards for the granting of refugee status, is dominated by a security discourse. In such a security discourse, asylum is considered a cross-border threat to the realization of the internal market & the internal stability of Member States. While the social construction of asylum as a problem puts pressure on the traditional humanitarian framework on which international refugee protection is being based. The tension between these two approaches seems to result in a restrictive European common asylum policy, with a focus on control & prevention of migration into the EU. In this article, we analyse the tensions between the security & the humanitarian discourse in primary & secondary sources, using the model of Laclau & Mouffe. We conclude that while creating a common asylum policy, a securitization process is present. Tables. Adapted from the source document.

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