The Tunisian Revolt: Learning from the Mistakes of the Iranian Revolution

The Great Arab Revolt of 2011 has moved swiftly from the peaceful overthrow of autocrats in the nation‐states of Tunisia and Egypt to brutal repression in the tribal societies of Libya, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen. Meanwhile, the wired youth bulge of the Middle East that brought change is dissipating into an impotent diaspora while the organized interests of the old regimes and the once‐suppressed Islamists charge ahead to power. This section examines the revolt, the reaction and the power struggles in its aftermath.     

Disarmament,with special reference to Asia

On February 20 M. V. dc Korostovetz read a paper on Soviet Russia and her Southern Neighbours. The subject was divided into four parts: (a) The general trend of Russia's foreign policy, which, whether Imperial or Bolshevik, has differed in method rather than aim; (b) the States from Turkey to China, lying to the south of the Soviet block, with special attention to Chinese Turkestan; (c) the Ukrainian attitude to Communism; and (d) an outline of the new canals planned to make the Volga the chief waterway of Russia at the expense of the Don, and, with the refortification of the Straits, to turn the Black Sea into a mare clausum.     

Editor's note

This study applies Elisabeth Noelle‐Neumann's spiral of silence theory to the controversial issue of whether children with AIDS should be allowed to attend public school. The study tests the theory's hypotheses in light of two content analyses of the media's treatment of the issue. The findings offer tentative and qualified support for Noelle‐Neumann's theoretical propositions about the relationship between individuals' perceptions of the issue and the media's tenor of the issue; particularly that of television. The findings suggest the need to address the role of other agents of influence, including reference groups, and to use time‐based data to unravel the causal order of the relationships.     

The coastal zone as an administrative entity for governing U.S. marine minerals development

The coastal zone is being promoted as a spatial unit to coordinate and administer offshore minerals development with other coastal uses. Rather than aiding the administration of minerals development , the coastal zone is being used as the reason to block such development. This paper explores the coastal zone concept as an entity for administration. It concludes that just because minerals may be found in a coastal zone does not mean that physical entity is the most appropriate vehicle for administering mineral development. Arbitrariness at to what is included or excluded from a coastal zone as well as many minerals impacts being found outside of the coastal zone militate against such an entity being the sole criterion for decisionmaking. While the coastal zone may be appropriate for some mineral decisions, the choice to implement it must be arrayed against alternative criteria to ensure a high degree of effectiveness and efficiency in those decisions.