Managing conflict in divided societies: Lessons from Tajikistan

This article presents a new approach to managing conflict in divided societies and describes how it is being implemented in Tajikistan. This approach involves two interrelated strategies: (1) a five-stage unofficial dialogue process aimed at probing the dynamics of the conflictual relationships among the parties and designing a sequence of interactive steps to changing the relationships; and (2) a civil society strategy aimed at building institutions of civil society that transcend the traditional divisions in the society. Randa M. Slim is a program officer in charge of the international civil society programs at the Kettering Foundation, 200 Commons Road, Dayton, Ohio 45459.Harold H. Saunders, former member of the National Security Council Staff and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, is Director of International Affairs at the Kettering Foundation, 444 North Capitol Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20001. They co-direct the Tajikistani dialogue program.     

Reviews

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The Use of Administrative Discretion in Implementing the State Children's Health Insurance Program

States have exercised administrative discretion in at leastsix different ways during the intergovernmental implementationof the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provisionof the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. States have used this flexibilityto determine when to submit their plans and when to put theCHIP program into effect. After describing the problem of uninsuredchildren in America and the politics of program adoption, multivariateanalysis is used to attempt to answer the following question:Why have some states moved more quickly than others to get plansfor introducing CHIP submitted, approved, and implemented? Thenature and extent of a relationship between a state's economic,political, and health-need characteristics, on the one hand,and the timing of submission and implementation, on the other,are examined.     

The Elements of the Concept of Ideology

This article, based upon an extensive examination of the literature on the concept of ideology, identifies some 27 definitional components or 'elements' which are discussed in turn to ascertain their utility and coherence as definitional criteria. On the basis of this examination a number of these elements are found to be essential to the concept, and are built into a definition which allows consideration of, among other things, the expressive and justificatory dimension of beliefs often ignored in other definitions.     

The renaissance of territorial minorities in Western Europe

Renewed agitation by minority groups has been a feature of West European politics over the last decade. Minorities have very varied characteristics and this article is mainly concerned with those which have clear territorial identities. Territorial minorities often have specific linguistic practices: the political significance of these and the nature of their defence has changed with the emergence of left‐wing radical elements. The recent behaviour of minorities is probably symptomatic of broad changes in attitudes towards territory and towards the existing States, and there is a possibility of important new minorities emerging along the State boundaries.