Clash Of Interests Research Articles

Separating Church and State or Guaranteeing Religious Expression?

How is religious controversy resolved? Although no definitive and agreed-on rule exists for determining constitutionally appropriate standards for sectarian behavior in the public workplace, an assessment of current research provides a framework to understand the diverse interests that this controversial issue engenders. This article traces the historical and legal evolution of the separation of church and state, provides a framework that more clearly defines salient issues, and poses recommendations for the public employer who faces the controversies created by the clash of secular and sectarian interests. In so doing, the article aims to provide both the public employer and employee with a deeper understanding of the complex issues concerning religious expression in the workplace.

Economic crime in Sweden

This article describes and explains the conflicts surrounding economic crime in Sweden between 1975 and 1997. A theoretical approach is employed that views social problems as collective outcomes arising from a clash of interests between different actors. The empirical material comprises public documents and the method employed is a form of qualitative content analysis. The study focuses on the views and positions of the actors concerned in relation to central themes of conflict, such as the phenomenon's definition, extent, victims and harm, causes and countermeasures. Major changes over time have seen the welfare state experiencing competition from the market system as the most prominent category of victimization, and the regulation/control strategy giving way to a strategy of deregulation and self-regulation. The two dominant constellations of actors are an offensive leftist bloc and a more conservative centre-right bloc. These groups represent dominant frames—the social justice/solidarity frame and the deregulation/tax-cut frame—that have served as an ideological infrastructure giving meaning to the economic crime discourse. A clear politicization and polarization have incorporated the economic crime issue into one of 20th-century politics' most well-established conflict patterns. The article concludes with a few comparative impressions based on the limited international literature available in this area.

America and Political Islam. Clash of Cultures or Clash of Interests? (cf. Arch. supra. Malika Zeghal)

America and Political Islam. Clash of Cultures or Clash of Interests? (cf. Arch. supra. Malika Zeghal)

The Recalcitrance of Aggression: An Aporetic Moment in Cicero'sDe inventione

In De inventione Cicero defends rhetoric by presenting a myth of the progress of the human species from asocial brutes to rational and social creatures. However, as Cicero explains the corruption of rhetoric by cunning individuals moved only by private interest, his myth reveals the present situation to be every bit as divided and contentious as the mythic state of nature. His myth discovers that rhetoric cannot escape corruption. Stasis theory, however, offers the possibility of an ethical rhetorical practice. By formalizing the agonistic clash of interests as a method of invention, stasis theory transforms a source of social instability into a resource for on-going social reinvention.

Like the Supreme Court, Posner is right for the wrong reasons

Judge Richard Posner’s Breaking the Deadlock is readable, brilliant, eclectic, insightful, combative and ultimately troublesome as a prescription for judicial review. Like everything Posner writes, this book is very well written. Posner’s remarkable intellect leaps from the pages as he moves easily from political theory to statistics to politics and finally to legal analysis. He emphasizes a few salient points which, if understood by the commentators of a year ago, would have made the commentary more constructive and less polemical. He does not, as he never does, pull punches, so will offend many on whom he lands deserved blows. But at the end of the day, notwithstanding his insight and persuasive legal analysis, Posner urges a philosophy of judicial pragmatism that should give pause to all who value liberty and democracy. Others contributing to this volume are far better qualified than I to assess Posner’s statistical analysis. My comments will instead focus on his discussion of the law and his prescription for judicial review. Posner’s description of representative democracy as ‘a pragmatic institution rather than the instantiation of a theorist’s ideal state’, 1 is surely accurate, particularly as it relates to liberty on which, says Posner, ‘democracy depends’. 2 From the perspective of liberty, there is nothing ideal about democracy. Short of a rule of unanimity, democracy at its best is the least worst form of government. 3 It accomplishes the aggregation of individual preferences necessary to public action while minimizing the risks to liberty inherent in public action. At a time when Americans of both political parties idealize democracy as an end somehow above and independent from liberty, Posner reminds us that ‘voting is indeed a crude method of mapping preferences onto policies’, and that ‘[p]olitical conflicts are not intellectual disagreements, resolvable by deliberation or debate ... [rather] ‘[t]hey are clashes of interests and values’. 4

Effects of Migration, Ethnicity, and Religiosity on Cohabitation

Home as a concept has several dimensions and aspects of theoretical importance. From a family and individual perspective “being at home” can mean a variety of different statuses and experiences. In the global society the question arises as to how families and their members are able to negotiate establishing a home and having a place as well as group identity. Understanding of mobility includes decision making as both an individual and a family activity that moves one from being a potential migrant or immigrant into an actual one, and from a temporary worker to a long term resident. Clashes of interest and different perceptions of opportunity are important at different points in the process. The globalization of the economic system and the growth of world political and non-governmental agencies and movements have challenged the way macro-systems are understood. These macroprocesses are mediated and interpreted at the micro level by individuals and their families. Two aspects at this micro level are newly developed in this model for family mobility and migration decisions in this model: -The relative attachment of families to place and culture and how their worldviews influence their negotiation skills and their understanding of mobility or stability options. -The many inputs from family and social networks at different points in the mobility decision making process and its implementation. Home and family are altered in the dynamic process of decision-making and the resulting new situation may be evaluated by families and society around the critical social values. In this context assimilation, integration, or continued multiple loyalties are not simple policy and program plans, but familial choices in their search for a secure and satisfactory survival of family and home.

The Political Economy of the New South: Retrospects and Prospects

A CONFERENCE TO EVALUATE AND ASSESS THE INFLUENCE OF C. VANN Woodward's Origins of the New South a half century after its publication is certainly remarkable. (1) Few historical studies have the staying power that would justify such a conference, especially in these days of almost instant revisionism. Ordinarily, fifty-year-old books, if not completely forgotten and ignored in new scholarship, are mentioned as documents that illustrate the views of the time they were written but are now obsolete. Rarely are they considered to be important interpretive contributions to the problems being studied. The career of Origins has been quite different. Over the years, many scholars have argued that the book's basic interpretive thrust remained viable even in the face of revisionist efforts. After surveying the scholarship on issues raised by Origins in the twenty years since its publication, Sheldon Hackney declared that the book had survived relatively untarnished; a decade later J. Morgan Kousser and James M. McPherson announced that Hackney's assessment still remained valid. Woodward also offered his own assessment. His 1986 memoir, Thinking Back, is a sensitive and insightful discussion of his career and scholarship in which he gives recognition to his critics--at least some of them--in the form of both modifying (somewhat) and clarifying his positions, but in a usually convincing, if sometimes slippery, manner that leaves the basic structure of his work intact. (2) The staying power of Origins is revealed in another way in the bibliographies and historiographical essays dealing with all aspects of the period 1877 to 1913. (3) These surveys do not show that all of Woodward's interpretations stand undisputed or unscathed, but they do demonstrate how much of the literature deals with the same questions he asked a half century ago--even when the answers sometimes, but certainly not always, differ. Moreover, even when more recent work poses new problems or suggests new approaches, Woodward, as Edward L. Ayers put it in his splendid study, never far from my mind. Indeed, one rarely comes across a book or essay concerning the post-Reconstruction South where the author fails to indicate how his or her interpretation fits into the literature and arguments that stem from Woodward's work. (4) In sum, Woodward's 1951 study turned our view of the post-Reconstruction South in a different direction, and now, fifty years later, that direction remains dominant. Because Origins has had this remarkable staying power and because it has already been the subject of so many evaluations and assessments, a new and original appraisal becomes difficult, a difficulty compounded by my specific assignment here. My task in this discussion is to consider Woodward's treatment of economic, agricultural, and legal matters. This is obviously a major assignment that includes almost everything in Origins, because these matters, given Woodward's clearly articulated Beardian approach, are at the core of his analysis here and in much of his other work as well. (5) (I cannot resist noting that there is a certain irony--very appropriate at a Woodward conference--in the fact that Charles Beard is one of those historians who, unfortunately, in my view, seems to have been revised out of existence and is seldom read these days. But his seemingly faded interpretation is very alive at the heart of Woodward's analysis. Beard's economic interpretation is not without problems, but it is far less crudely reductive than some of his critics have contended and, in any case, far less crudely reductive than the work of some of the still widely read cliometricians. But that's obiter dicta, as a lawyer might say.) Like Beard, Woodward saw class conflict and the clash of economic interests as central to American history. He was particularly drawn to Charles and Mary Beard, who in their textbook emphasized the industrial-agricultural antagonism that had divided North and South and led to the Civil War, resulting in what they called the Second American Revolution: the victory of the industrialists and the destruction of southern agrarianism based upon slavery. …

Chapter 10. The Importance of Health and Medical Care for Public Health

Health and medical care are of great signi® cance for of medical knowledge (1, 2). Others have pointed out that mortality from infectious diseases sank long before public health. Estimations indicate that health and medical care contribute several years to life expectancy. antibiotics and vaccination became generally available (3, 4). In their view it was chie y better housing and They also contribute perhaps even more to improving many people’ s functional ability and quality of life. sanitary conditions, and improved social and economic conditions, that underlay the improvements in life This chapter focuses on the contributions of health and medical care during the 1990s. The conclusion is that expectancy. In these circumstances a clash of interests easily the Swedish health services are maintaining a high international standard and made great progress during arises between those who adopt a population perspective with prevention in focus and those who work with the 1990s, primarily in areas concerning cardiovascular care but also because many more people are being patients every day. The former view it as self-evident that contributions directed towards the large majority spared problems with their hip and knee joints or are regaining their sight. Had the risks and treatment poshave greater chances of giving eVects at population level. For those who work with patients it seems unfair sibilities for coronary heart disease been the same during the whole of the 1990s as they are today, the to hear that the eVects of their contributions are not noticed at population level. Cut-backs in resources in lives of rather more than 3,000 persons would have been saved each year. Every year 60,000 cataract operathe public sector unfortunately reinforce this clash of interests. But it is not normally a matter of ` either-or’ ’ tions are performed, a doubling compared with the previous decade. Most have considerably improved but of ` both-and’ ’ . The 1997 Public Health Report included a review of studies of the contribution of vision after the operation. But the picture is not entirely positive. During the early 1990s there were clear signs medical care to public health (6, 7). The basis for that presentation was a broad American study by Bunker that care was not being distributed equably. Towards the end of the decade it appears that care once more and co-workers (5). The study is brie y summarised below. became more equal although disquieting signs remain. Dental care diVers from medical care in its clearly uneven distribution. In addition, patients are aZicted Longer life by injuries caused by medical or surgical treatment. It is reasonable that the heavy staV cutbacks in care According to Bunker’ s calculations medical care proshould lead to a worsening in quality of caring but the longed life expectancy in the USA by about ® ve years eVect on public health is hard to judge. (Table 10:1). The ® gure of 5 years should be interpreted with great caution. It refers to American circumstances and all contributions historically made by A matter of dispute medical care. Smallpox, for example, no longer exists, but it was thanks to health and medical care that the The importance of health and medical care for public health has been debated for decades (1± 5). Some disease could be eradicated. Without these eVorts, smallpox could still have been a major public health people have maintained that the greatly increased life expectancy during the twentieth century can be problem. The greatest gains in life expectancy were ascribed to treatment of cardiovascular diseases (about ascribed largely to medical care and the development

India and the Asia‐Pacific balance of power

Recent events suggest a mixed trend regarding regional security in the Asia‐Pacific. There are distinct possibilities that a multipolar Asia‐Pacific will see an inevitable clash of interests among the great powers. The ensuing uncertainty will have considerable implications for the region, and there is great need to ensure the smooth management of intra‐great power relations, so that the Asia‐Pacific region is not subjected to destabilising tendencies. A combination of balance of power and development of multilateral mechanisms is necessary as a simultaneous operation of these two is a better guarantee of stability in the Asia‐Pacific. India can emerge as one of the important poles, provided it qualitatively improves its economic and strategic bonds with the region. India's interests in the Asia‐Pacific are growing and that warrants greater attention being paid to developments in the region.

Prospects for security cooperation between India and Japan

With the end of the Cold War, the strategic divide between India and Japan is also over. For the first time in the past five decades there is a convergence of interests between the two countries. Japan is gradually shedding post‐World War II constraints and engaging in a more activist foreign policy. India must take into account this changing reality. India is expanding its security perimeter to include the wider Asia‐Pacific region, hence, the importance of political and strategic interaction between India and Japan becomes evident. A constructive engagement from both sides within this paradigm is what will provide the basis for future India‐Japan relations. Cooperation between India and Japan can be visualised at three levels—global, regional and bilateral. At the global level, both countries have a stake in maintaining international peace and security. Both want comprehensive reforms in the United Nations (UN) linked also to the issue of UN peace‐keeping operations. At the regional level, given the complex security environment, India and Japan both have a stake in maintaining peace and stability in Asia. A convergence of interests lies in the maintenance of a stable maritime order as well as the issue of energy security. At the bilateral level, these two Asian nations with no past record of any significant clash of interests can work in a productive manner towards greater India‐Japan cooperation.

Housing as basis for sustainable consumption

An important element in the discussion regarding development in our part of the world is directed towards the large growth in private consumption, and the clash of interests that arises between this growth and development requirements. A considerable part of private consumption can be related to our houses and the living situations of which they are part. It is of considerable interest to obtain more knowledge about the variations in patterns and volumes of consumption between different living situations, as well as to explore the important factors behind these variations. The acquisition of this type of empirical knowledge is an important aim in the present study. It is based on the superior thesis that it is possible through land use and housing planning to achieve substantial changes in living situations and thus contribute to a development in a direction of sustainable production and consumption. The article first sums up the state-of-art regarding research on relations between physical planning, household consumption and environment. A theoretical framework and the methods applied in a Norwegian research project acquiring new empirical knowledge into these relations are also presented. The project was intended to be finished by the end of year 2000. Parts of the investigations are, however, completed and the material has been analysed. Two different types of urban structure, Oslo and a small rural town, are included in the investigations. The article presents some of the findings and relates them to former research.

The Ethiopian–Eritrean conflict: diasporic vs. hegemonic states in the Horn of Africa, 1991–2000

This article examines the new norms in bilateral, regional and international relations that evolved in the wake of the emergence of the Eritrean state which had successfully challenged the hegemonic claims of both the imperial and Afro-Marxist Ethiopian state. The analysis proceeds from a retelling of the events in 1998 which precipitated the break between the Ethiopian and Eritrean partners of the old alliance against the Mengistu regime, then examines the structural anomalies in the alliance and their consequences. The evidence examined here suggests that two inter-related phenomena help to shed light on the structural, historical and philosophical underpinnings of the 1998–2000 Ethio–Eritrean conflict: (1) the asymmetry of vision between diasporic and hegemonic states, leading to a clash of interests; (2) the failure of both post-war regimes to formalise their ‘understandings’ into formal treaties based on international law.As the two countries pursued different systems of economic and political governance, the cluster of informal understandings unravelled amidst conflicting interpretations of issues relating to sovereignty: territorial jurisdiction and citizenship. What emerges is a picture – seen from below rather than from above – of the norms and rules that govern the conduct of interstate relations between Africa's most recent and oldest sovereign states.

Canada and Italy

IN CANADA'S INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, the multilateral dimensions usually attract the headlines, whether it is summits of the G-7 or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), ministerial meetings of the World Trade Organization (WTO) or the Organization of American States (OAS), or international conferences on climate change or on the banning of anti-personnel landmines. With the exception of the Canada-United States relationship, which is the object of almost constant scrutiny, Canada's bilateral relationships attract relatively little attention, except in times of crisis - France over interventions in Canada's internal affairs, India following nuclear weapons tests, or Spain over the turbot. And yet bilateral relationships constitute the foundation stones or building blocks of Canada's ongoing interactions with the rest of the world. Based on historico-cultural and geopolitical variables, the more important of these relationships usually have one thing in common - they are the focus and end product of quiet, incrementalist diplomacy over a period of years or decades. Their nurturing and development is a steady, unspectacular process in which Canadian national interests are pursued without much hype and without much attention being paid to the fleetingly fashionable ideas of the hour. The relationship that exists between Canada and Italy is illustrative of this reality.Although clearly fostered by governmental policies and initiatives, the relationship between Canada and Italy is in the first instance the product of a shared Western civilization. Whether in the fields of art or literature, philosophy or religion, science or political thought, the two countries are heirs to a common cultural tradition. This in itself is sufficient to create certain natural affinities and to make the relationship an 'obvious' one. It also accounts in part for Canada's attraction as a destination for Italian emigrants, giving the relationship a strong social basis, and for the identification of common political, economic, and security interests, giving the relationship broad institutional foundations (NATO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and so on).The relationship with Italy is one to which the Canadian government has paid a 'normal' amount of attention, given the level of the interests at stake. Diplomatic contacts have been continuous and substantive, as would be expected with a country that is a NATO ally, a G-7 partner, and a leading member of the European Union. A long list of bilateral agreements has been negotiated with Italian governments in response to evolving circumstances and interests. Italy has not, however, been accorded a particularly high priority in the formulation of Canadian government policies and programmes and has rarely been the target of any unique or high profile initiatives. Although substantial, and likely to continue its steady growth, the relationship does not seem destined to know any spectacular developments or break-throughs in the near future.THE FOUNDATIONSA shared civilization and a common cultural heritage do not guarantee close or friendly relationships between nation states - a point eloquently demonstrated by two World Wars in the past century. However, in the absence of any major clashes of interests or policies, they do constitute an important basis for understanding between states, for mutual appreciation, and for the development of solid bilateral relationships, especially when, as in the case of Canada and Italy, they are buttressed by social ties and contacts resulting from immigration and the presence of significant Italian communities in Canada.While the existence of a shared 'civilizational space' may not always be a leading consideration in the process of foreign policy development, it does constitute a sub-text that occasionally finds overt expression. As early as 1927, Prime Minister Mackenzie King wrote in a public message that Italians 'have always stood at the forefront in all spheres of human activity, in that of the intellect, of the imagination, of science and of art. …

The Causes and Origins of "Primitive Warfare": On Evolved Motivations for War

Azar Gat's argument represents a major advance toward realism in neo-Darwinian theory on war. Consistently reasonable, plausible, with substantial evidence (on some points), his basic argument is that a wide range of reasons for war are all part of an integrated motivational complex, evolved to deal with problems of survival and reproduction in our species past. Some, clashes of material (somatic) or reproductive interests, are root causes of conflict. Others are secondary or derived, second floor elaborations necessary for coping with more basic competition, including an impulse toward revenge, sensitivity to status, fear of sorcery, quest for power, even predilection toward sadism. His point is that cultural anthropologists have been mistaken in trying to identify one versus another as explaining war, because they all are involved, non-reductionistically, stamped into our species' mind by their complementary contributions to our evolutionary success. In approaching war, he avoids the more dubious evolutionary constructs, such as instincts to kill (Ghiglieri 1999: 178), Darwinian algorithms for collective aggression (Tooby and Cosmides 1988), and unconscious tracking of reproductive advantages of violence (Chagnon 1979; 1987). I do not know how he categorizes his approach, but in emphasizing material self- interest and behavioral plasticity, along with directed efforts to maximize inclusive fitness, it appears to me as a development of evolutionary ecology. Evolutionary ecology has a great deal of overlap with ecological approaches that do not include reproductive interests. So Gat's view (Part II: 79) of reasons for war on the Pacific Northwest Coast is much like my (Ferguson 1984a) pre-contact model, though he brings in evidence of women capture which, as he notes (I: 28), 1 ignore. And there are major correspondences with the Divale and Harris (1976) model regarding female scarcity and fighting over women, although without the population-regulation element. The primary difference between evolutionary ecology and regular ecology is the former posits that human behavior is evolutionarily designed to maximize reproductive success along with material well-being. I have several major disagreements with Gat. First, throughout his arguments runs the assumption that humans practiced war throughout the huntergatherer past. I believe that assumption is unsustainable. The question of the antiquity of war has been raised but clouded by Keeley (1996), whose rhetoric exceeds his evidence in implying war is as old as humanity. The earliest accepted evidence for warfare, Site 117, near Jebel Sahaba, Nubia, is a cemetery dated to 12,000 to 10,000 B.C., in which 24 of 59 well-preserved skeletons are associated with stone artifacts interpreted as projectile microliths (Wendorf 1968: 90-93; Wendorf and Schild 1986: 818-824). Though late Paleolithic in standard periodization, these people had been experimenting with wild crop harvesting thousands of years before the development of agriculture elsewhere. This experiment was brought to a crashing halt by climatic change which would have put extreme pressure on all peoples throughout the region, especially those in favorable locales like Site 117 (Hoffman 1993: 86-90). Northern Australia, a favorite illustration for Gat, is a unique area in terms of the depth and continuity of collective violence among mobile huntergatherers, with rock art images suggesting individual and small group combats from about 8,000 B.C., and larger group confrontations beginning about 4,000 B.C. (Tacon and Chippindale 1994). This was a time of massive ecological crisis, with rising sea levels drowning the rich plain that once connected Australia to New Guinea. Socially, we see signs of increasing complexity and cultural divisions (Jones and Bowler 1980:23; Schrire 1982: 7; Tacon and Chippindale 1994: 217, 224, 227). Why war became such an institutionalized pattern is suggested by historic observations: their reliance on water holes in dry seasons, sources that sometimes disappear in droughts, gave them an extremely concentrated and valuable resource to fight over (Meggitt 1962: 24, 42), as Gat notes (I: 23). …

The Soviet Union in Southeast Asia: National Perspectives from the Region*

It is often tempting to describe Soviet-Southeast Asian relations as if a single view exists. Equally prevalent is the belief that the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries are unanimous in opposing expansionism in the region. While this statement may be true in general terms, differences in nuances and, at times, genuine clashes of interest drastically alter this basic scenario. This paper aims to analyse the ASEAN member states' perspectives on involve ment in the region, especially in terms of how they perceive the Soviet threat''. As for the views of the Indochinese states, especially Vietnam, and Burma, it is only possible to make educated guesses because relatively little is known about the goals and perceptions of their leaders. But whenever the term Southeast Asia appears in the paper, it refers to all regional countries except when specific reference is made.

America and political Islam: clash of cultures or clash of interests?

America and political Islam: clash of cultures or clash of interests?

Hong Kong's Embattled Democracy: A Societal Analysis

In July 1997, the British government handed Hong Kong back to China as the world wondered whether the building blocks of democracy hastily laid in Hong Kong over the previous two decades were sturdy enough to withstand the change. While many scholars of democratization have focused on outside forces and legal change, the author of this text argues that - in the case of Hong Kong - the societal dimension reveals more clearly the issues and difficulties of establishing a viable democracy. He shows how Hong Kong moved from being a non-democracy in the 1970s to a restricted democracy in the 1980s to a contested democracy in the 1990s and how Hong Kong now negotiates a democratic compromise under Chinese rule. The change in the speed and direction of Hong Kong democratization, argues Alvin Y. So, arises from the clash of interests between service professionals (such as teachers, journalists and lawyers) and the business sector. So highlights the crucial role played by Hong Kong's business-entrepreneurial class, which rose in power and influence, developed an alliance with the Chinese government, and slowed down democratization before the handover. By analyzing the shifting interests and alliances of the populace, So seeks to explain why democracy in Hong Kong under Beijing's rule is much more like the limited democracy of the Hong Kong of the 1980s.

Cancer chemotherapy, biodiversity, public and private property: the case of the anti-cancer drug Taxol

The drug taxol has been hailed by many in the cancer community as a major breakthrough in the treatment of cancer. It has already been approved in use against ovarian and advanced breast cancer in many countries world-wide. Taxol has also promoted profound debates in the policy arena not, as one might expect, because of the characteristics or purposes of the drug itself, but because of other far-reaching effects. Taxol is a complex compound found in the bark of the Pacific yew tree, primarily in Oregon and Washington in the USA. The bark was first collected in 1962 and cytotoxicity demonstrated in 1964. Yet it was not until 1989 that the first results of clinical trials were reported. In the US taxol was then rushed through the Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory procedures, approval being granted for use in refractory ovarian cancer in 1992. The controversies surrounding taxol surfaced in 1989 and grew substantially over the next few years. In this paper we examine two principal controversies concerning taxol, the first of which focused on apparent conflicts between the needs of environmental protection and those of cancer chemotherapy. Although the media portrayed this as a clash of interests between the environment and people with cancer, we argue that it was an attempt to increase lay participation in biomedical decision making and policy formulation. The second controversy was between health policy and the transfer of public scientific property to the corporate sector. The pharmaceutical company Bristol–Myers Squibb was given exclusive rights to provide taxol from Pacific yew trees under a Co-operative Research and Development Agreement signed in 1991. While this was seen to be in the US Government’s (as well as the company’s) interest, it provoked a public reaction questioning the terms and consequences of the transfer of publicly generated scientific knowledge to the private sector.

America and Political Islam: Clash of Cultures or Clash of Interests?

America and Political Islam: Clash of Cultures or Clash of Interests?

The evolution of social democracy in reforming Bulgaria

The Bulgarian Communist Party, during its decades in power, became a genuine ‘party of the whole people’, but ipso facto the country's politico‐administrative elite, associated with the party, became an increasingly heterogeneous entity. With the decline of communist rule, clashes of interest within this elite emerged and dominated political processes. The Socialist Party (former Communist Party) retained office in the immediate aftermath of the change in regime, and was never able to break with its legacy ‐ which also retained public affection and allowed it to win votes in the difficult economic circumstances. A result has been a recognition of the need for firm measures, reinforced by pressure from external economic agencies, combined with an unwillingness or inability to implement them. The party in disarray held a congress in December 1996, leading to a change of leadership, but this proved insufficient to win the elections of April 1997, and the party subsequently split.