Council Action Research Articles

Finding the Trolls Under Your Bridge: The New Case for Party Politics in Canadian Cities

Through the twentieth century, Canadian city politics has operated under the pretense of non-partisanship. Municipal governments have been a refuge for special interests who, garbed in antipartyism and common sense, were left alone to rule their local roosts. For instance, the Civic Non-Partisan Association, Vancouver's dominant political organization and living oxymoron, long espoused the Burkean notion that council not be a congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests.1 With its recent and massive restructuring of urban government in Ontario however, the government of Premier Mike Harris has rendered Canadians a service: by focussing public attention on who does what at both levels of government, Harris inadvertently smoked out almost everyone with a priorized municipal agenda. In spite of its somewhat brutal methods, the Ontario provincial government has provoked a broad rethinking of how local political business should be transacted. Canadian city politics have yet to mature, either as they might or as their citizens have a right to expect. In the small debate about local democracy and citizen-centred government one obvious question is scarcely considered: should formal parties be introduced into civic elections in Canada's major cities?2 Over the years non-partisanship has veiled a conservative and incrementalist policy-making style that seems inappropriate for postmodern metropolises. That non-partisanship is a conservative force is really not all that surprising. Among the political gladiators in Vancouver, Canada's most overtly partisan city, the most conservative faction has seen the city as a business and somehow independent of politics.3 The Maud Commission in Great Britain found anti-party feeling strongest among rural, suburban and more conservative councillors generally. In Canada, voter turnout is very low municipally compared to other political levels, perhaps because the issues at stake are obscured by the lack of coherent policy positions. Debates and decisions of local councils are generally understood to be muddled not petty; this obscures partisan ties to other levels and to avoid quasi-ministerial accountability for the consequences of council actions. In addition to this general concern with appropriate representation, non-partisan local politics has not been benign but inefficient and wrong. When well-educated citizens are denied fundamental opportunities for reasonable democratic choice, as Henry Milner's comparative study has convincingly argued, municipal electoral participation is discouraged.4 There may well be a growing appreciation among the civic political elite of the importance of these issues in big city elections.5 But by the evidence from the playing fields, little partisanship is admitted to in Canadian city politics in the 1990s.6 Even where they have been most successful over the years, Canada's purely local city parties have been very small cadres, often no more than a few dozen activists in the gladiatorial roles. For example, in Edmonton, the Citizens' Committee that held all council seats between 1945 and 1959 was never a large group: when founded in 1936 it comprised 41 professionals and businessmen led by the president of the chamber of commerce, and at its nomination meeting in 1962 only 27 members were present, including candidates.7 Enough party-like activity, such as slate-making, has taken place during the twentieth century to inform a small debate as to whether such behaviours, or even open party politics are desirable.8 Across the Prairies, the hypocrisy of pretended non-partisanship prevailed in city elections in Regina and Saskatoon in October, 1988. These elections saw Saskatoon Mayor C. Wright retire after being given an Order-in-Council appointment by the provincial Conservatives, to be replaced by 12-year council veteran and New Democrat Henry Dayday. In Regina's march of the political toreadors, new Mayor D. …

APSA Council Actions

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From Korea to Kuwait: The Legal Basis of United Nations' Military Action

international law as established by the United Nations' Charter of 1945, a state, or group of states, is allowed to use military force in only three situations: self-defence (the sovereign right being embodied in Article 51); if authorized by the Security Council itself under Article 42; or acting through a regional agency under Article 53. There is disagreement about the legal basis of the only two operations authorized by the Security Council to combat aggression, in Korea in 1950 and Kuwait in 1990. It is claimed that the states responding to aggression were simply exercising, with the encouragement of the Security Council, their inherent right of collective self-defence. This explanation is incorrect, however, as the actions taken against North Korea and Iraq were United Nations' operations empowered under Article 42. Although the Security Council's military actions have not followed the text of the Charter, UN practice, and its acceptance by members, has created an alternative system inevitable in a world in which powerful states jealously guard their military strength and only allow its collective use within a system that respects their interests. Furthermore, the decentralized security system one relying on volunteers1 that has emerged deals not only with aggression but also with threats to the peace arising out of events within states (Somalia, Bosnia, Rwanda, Haiti, Zaire, and Albania). Thus, it is no longer possible to view the United Nations' involvement in military enforcement operations as aberrant or ad hoc. Paradoxical though the statement may seem, the decentralized military option has been institutionalized. If the legal basis for the invasions of North Korea and Kuwait were provided by Article 51 of the Charter, authorization by the Security Council would become legally superfluous, as the military action would be founded upon the right of self-defence. It would merely take the form of collective defence as other states co-operated with the victim to repel the attack.2 It

Die Bedeutung der Stadtschreiber für die Reformation der süddeutschen Reichsstädte

By dealing with about one-half of the imperial cities in southwestern Germany and their Stadtschreiber, the author determines the role of this important social group in the Reformation. Some of the Stadtschreiber opposed it, others promoted it and tried to shape the commune according to Reformed principles by creating ordinances and securing the help of important theologians. In many cases, the Stadtschreiber were in charge of the literary presentation of the events within the city, the defense of the council's actions in churchly matters before courts, and the efforts to gain political support for the city through alliance negotiations. The presented materials should stimulate a similar investigation of the role of the Stadtschreiber in the Hansa cities and territorial towns.

Finifter Renewed, Other APSA Council Actions

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APSA Council Actions

APSA Council Actions

New award will honor contributions to education

AGU is seeking nominations for the Union's new award, the Excellence in Geophysical Education Award, which recognizes a contribution to the advancement of the geophysical sciences through educational activities. Members have supported the geophysical sciences through a wide variety of educational activities at all levels, kindergarten through postgraduate, with such contributions helping to build the foundation for future research and advancements in science. Approved by the Council at the 1996 Spring Meeting, this award is the culmination of several years of discussion by the Education and Human Resources Committee and of a final proposal for Council action prepared jointly by the Education and Human Resources Committee and the Fellows Committee. An Education Award Committee, appointed by the AGU President, will review nominations and recommend a recipient for the final approval of the Executive Committee.

Accreditation of vascular training programs and certification of vascular surgeons

Accreditation of vascular training programs and certification of vascular surgeons

Refugees as an Impetus for Intervention: The Case of Haiti

The 1991-94 Haitian refugee crisis, and the resulting intervention, brings together a number ofdifferent issues, including refugee flows, human rights concerns, UN Security Council action, and the domestic politics and other direct interests ofone ofthe great powers. This article examines these factors and the role they played in the eventual US led intervention. It concludes that the perceived security aspects of the Haitian refugees were the primary impetus for the US action. However, human rights and other humanitarian concerns also played a significant, although ambiguous, role, and the reaction on the part of other states to the intervention may prove to be precedential in legitimating future intervention for humanitarian purposes.

Declining blood lead levels in Victorian children

To investigate the distribution of blood lead levels in a sample of Victorian children, and to compare current levels with those from a similar survey in 1979, blood was tested for lead in 252 children (123 under five years) attending Royal Children's Hospital as outpatients and having venepuncture blood samples for medical reasons. Blood lead levels were determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The mean blood lead level was 0.26 mu mol/L (5.4 mu g/dL). In the under-five age group, the mean was 0.28 mu mol/L (5.7 mu g/dL). Only 1.6 per cent of this group exceeded the National Health and Medical Research Council action level of 0.72 mu mol/L (15 mu g/dL). Levels in this age group have declined significantly since 1979, when the mean was 0.54 mu mol/L (11.1 mu g/dL) and 12.9 per cent exceeded 0.72 mu mol/L (15 mu g/dL). Average blood lead levels have halved since 1979, with likely contributing factors being reduced exposure from lead in diet, reduced access to lead in paint and reduced lead in ambient air. Children with elevated levels had identifiable risk factors such as pica or exposure to lead-based paint, suggesting the need for ongoing pubic health action to prevent exposure in these groups.

Between Unilateralism and Collective Security: Authorizations of the Use of Force by the UN Security Council

Whole libraries have already been written on various aspects of Security Council action since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990, on the unprecedented decisions during this conflict and its aftermath, followed by a much more cautious approach to the Yugoslav crisis and a curious response to the Somalia emergency. Assessments, of course, differed widely. They have ranged from believers in a New World Order to critics of Western imperialism under multilateral cover or neocolonialism in humanitarian disguise, from idealists to realists, from those who regarded the action in the Gulf as a one-time aberration to those who saw the dawning of a new era. In a way, the Security Council has proven all these extreme schools of thought wrong. In this paper I do not intend to intervene in this debate again directly. Instead I shall attempt to retrace the road taken by the Security Council since Resolution 665, giving to the extent possible some background of the genesis of all 19 texts which contain authorizations of the use of force but with variations upon the theme. Following these case studies, some of their legal aspects, and in particular the Charter basis for these resolutions, will be explored. Finally, through an examination of both the legal and the political aspects of authorizations of the use of force by the UN Security Council, I elaborate on my long-held view that, by and large, such authorizations are the most we can expect under present circumstances from the

Council actions on revisions of the IPA

Following the 1989 Kiel Convention a number of proposals for revisions of the IPA appeared in the Journal. These proposals were submitted to the Council on 1 December 1992, and votes were received from 24 of the 30 Council members by 1 February 1993. These votes are listed in Table 1. The marity of the specific proposals on which the Council voted appeared in the Journal 20 (2): 22–32. In this report, the numbering of the proposals and the responses has been arranged so that it forms a continuous sequence for easy reference.

Local Realities, Local Adaptations: Problem, Process, and Person in a School's Governance

Part 1: Trinity - setting, background, first contacts. Part 2 The first constitution episode - abortive problem solving: constitution - from originating problem to collective action the re-contextualized solution plays itself out variables affecting problem-solving effectiveness. Part 3 The co-director episode - conflict and its management: the co-director's problems the incipient conflict extends regional administrators get moving conflict management from higher up - a researcher-consultant's dilemma. Part 4 The second constitution episode - an effective but vulnerable solution: council planning - problems and process forums, a report, final council action the decline of school governance.

Leave to the Court What Belongs to the Court The Libyan Case

Many recent activities of the United Nations Security Council have been carried out in the shadow of legal doubts. A prominent and disturbing example of apparently activist Security Council action is found in measures taken against Libya due to its alleged involvement in the bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie in Scotland in 1988. On 21 January 1992 the Security Council passed Resolution 731 which inter alia obliged Libya to extradite two suspected perpetrators of the crime to either the United States or the United Kingdom for trial in one of those countries. In response Libya brought an action before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and requested the Court to indicate provisional measures to enjoin the United States from taking coercive actions against Libya and to ensure that no steps were taken that would prejudice Libyas's rights.

Lessons for International Law from the Gulf War

Politically and militarily, the War in the Gulf remains an unsettled event. Although nearly two years have passed since the War, its political consequences are still evolving. Militarily, the recent reintroduction of allied forces into Iraqi air space suggests that the War continues, though at a much reduced level.1 In the long run, the War will probably be seen as a footnote to the larger political upheavals that marked the start of this decade-noteworthy because it made visible the realignment of the international order that had already occurred. While the War may be merely a footnote from the perspective of political history, it is a major event from the perspective of international law. It marked one of the few occasions on which there was a deliberate invocation of international law to justify military force. For this reason, an examination of the War can teach us much about the reality of, and possibilities for, international law. Given the continuing tumultuous politics of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, this legal reconsideration is important. Already, the international-legal machinery deployed in the War has served as a precedent for United Nations Security Council action authorizing military intervention in Bosnia and Hercegovina.2 We are moving rapidly toward a new world order of some sort. While it may be too early to predict the political shape of that order, it is not too early to consider the role that international law may play in it. Before we raise our hopes for a vital future for international law, we need to fully understand the character and power of existing international law. To that end, it is useful to examine international law as it operated, and failed to operate, in the Gulf War.

AGU Council Actions: Fall 1991 Meeting

AGU Council Actions: Fall 1991 Meeting

Church, State, and Dissent: The Crisis of the Swiss Reformation, 1531–1536

During the 1520s the city council of Zurich, with the full cooperation of Zwingli, created a Reformed community in which all powers of discipline were placed in the hands of the city magistrates. Both Zwingli's theory of the Christian community and the council's actions to create such a community had their roots in the late medieval communal idea which viewed the city as a “sacral community.” This corporate ideal led to the blurring of the distinctions between the civil and ecclesiastical communities.Zwingli's theory also had roots in the thought of Marsilius of Padua, Occam, and Zwingli's contemporary, Erasmus.

Council actions

The AGU Council and Executive Committee met on May 19, 1987, in Baltimore, Md., during the 1987 AGU Spring Meeting. All Council members except the Foreign Secretary were present. A number of section secretaries, committee chairmen, editors, interested members, and staff also attended. The primary actions of Council are outlined below.

Council actions

The AGU Council and Executive Committee met on December 9, 1986. in San Francisco during the 1986 AGU Fall Meeting. All members except the Past President were present. The primary actions of Council are outlined below.

Executive Committee and Council Actions

The AGU Council and Executive Committee met in San Francisco during the AGU Fall Meeting. The Council next meets on Tuesday, May 28, 1985, in Baltimore. The Executive Committee will meet in March and then again just prior to the Council meeting in Baltimore.