Constructing loyalism: politics,communications and peace in Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland peace process has provided the space for the emergence of an articulate loyalist politics which has had implications for the traditionally obstructive and negative representations of unionist discourse. During talk and negotiations which led to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, leaders of the Progressive Unionist Party and the Ulster Democratic Party (both political wings of loyalist paramilitary groupings) voiced positions which assisted the possibilities for building constitutional change based along more moderate lines than those associated with dominant unionism. However, have the news media been receptive to such articulations and, if not, what problems have they created for the communication of loyalist positions? By considering such questions, this article explores the development of loyalism and loyalist communications in the early years of peace in Northern Ireland.     

Allocating resources among AIDS research strategies

One of the central questions facing policy-makers is how to allocate limited federal funds among alternative AIDS research strategies. A rational answer requires judgments about both the prospects of scientific progress and the societal value of research outcomes. Using a decision-analytic approach, this paper examines the marginal returns from additional funding of basic biology, epidemiology and mathematical modeling, vaccine development and testing, treatment development and testing, and behavioral and social science. A survey of a recent Institute of Medicine Committee on AIDS was conducted to elicit scientific judgments on the prospects for scientific progress in each of the five areas. The scientists were quite capable of transcending their disciplinary orientation as reflected in the dominant sentiment in favor of more behavioral and social science research. A comparison of the actual FY 1987 AIDS research budget with the budgets recommended by the scientific experts also suggests that basic biological research deserves greater emphasis.This research was supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in the form of a grant to the Health Science Policy Working Group of the Harvard Division on Health Policy, Research and Education.     

Electric power planning in Ontario: public participation at a normative level

Abstract: During the years 1974–1980, extensive opportunities existed for public participation at a normative level on the issue of electric power planning in Ontario through the Royal Commission on Electric Power Planning and the Select Committees on Ontario Hydro. In contrast, there is presently no adequate forum for public participation at a normative planning level. Based on personal interviews and available literature., this paper examines the need for public participation at a normative level in electric power planning in Ontario, and assesses three alternative approaches to the provision of participatory opportunities. Sommaire: Au cours des années 1974–1980, le public a pu, sur le plan normatif, participer largement à la planification de l'énergie électrique en Ontario, par le truchement de la Commission royale sur la planification de 1'énergie électrique ainsi que par les Comités restreints sur Ontario Hydro. À l'heure actuelle, cette situation s'est complètement modifiée en absence d'un forum adéquat qui permette la participation du public au niveau normatif de la planification. L'auteur de cet article, après avoir fait des interviews et consulté les publications existantes, examine le besoin d'une telle participation de la part du public et évalue trois approches possihles pour l'assurer.