Saudi Arabia Walks the Tightrope

Saudi diplomacy seems more active than ever. This has to do with three recent major regional developments: the summer 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, the violent clashes between Hamas and Fatah in the occupied Palestinian territories, and the Iraqi quagmire. In each of these, the role of Iran is difficult to overlook and this is troubling Riyadh. Yet Saudi Arabia has difficulty in responding to Iran's assertiveness: it wants to contain Tehran's ambitions, but at the same time it cannot allow itself to clash with it. As a result, it is treading a fine line.     

DEVOLUTION,GOVERNANCE AND THE PEACE PROCESS

Devolution and the associated mechanisms of governance—a power-sharing Executive, elected assembly, cross-border bodies, a reformed system of public administration and civic engagement —are a part of the wider mosaic of peace-building. Their implementation is an attempt to institutionalize stability and copper-fasten a political settlement. This article outlines the changing governmental arrangements existing within Northern Ireland, as it has shifted tentatively away from direct rule. It maps the wider public sector in Northern Ireland, including civil administration (chiefly the Northern Ireland Civil Service), an extended mosaic of nondepartmental public bodies (NDPBs) and other public agencies that, together with local government, form a complex, multi-layered, subregional governance. Our contention is that the manner in which the administration of Northern Ireland has been conducted yields fruitful insights into issues of territorial management in other areas afflicted by intractable constitutional wrangles and attendant violence. In short, an agreed system of governance is integral to the transition from conflict to peace (or at least stability) and, in the case of Northern Ireland, was central to the substance of the Belfast Agreement, characterized by a power-sharing Executive.     

The media and terrorism: A reassessment

The author begins by challenging Michel Wieviorka's dismissal of the claim that there is a symbiotic relationship between terrorism and the media. Terrorists' manipulation and exploitation of the media is shown to play a crucial part in their propaganda war. The article concludes by arguing that voluntary self‐restraint and self‐regulation by the media are the best policy options for a democratic society in regard to the media's response to terrorism, but that the mass media need to work harder at devising measures of self‐restraint that are both appropriate and effective.     

Keeping Cyprus off the agenda: British and American relations at the United Nations, 1954–58

From 1954 to 1958, the Greek government sought to raise the issue of self‐determination for Cyprus at the United Nations as a means of pressing for the union of the island with the Greek state ‐ enosis. The British government's objective was to ensure if possible that Cyprus was not debated using the legal argument that it was a domestic issue in which the UN had no rights. The British accepted, however, that other political and strategic arguments would be needed to defeat the Greeks and looked to the US government to support them in the UN forums. This article examines the positions of the British and Americans governments and shows the difficulties which the issue created for both in the UN in the period.     

The functions of the executive and the republic: Exploring the platonic roots of chester barnard

This essay examines the similarities between Plato's Republic and Barnard's Functions of the Executive.The essay argues that comparisons between Barnard and Plato are not overstated in form or substance. Three major areas of each work are compared: the ethical foundations, the political foundations, and the role of education in achieving those political means. Implications arising from the comparison are discussed and the essay concludes by linking the Barnard-Plato dialogue with current issues in management theory and practice.     

Role behavior of U S . city managers: development and testing of a multidimensional typology

The article addresses a deficiency in previous studies of city managers role behavior: the lack of a comprehensive, multidimensional typology through which such behavior might be categorized and explained. Utilizing factor scores generated from a list of fifteen questions in an I.C.M.A. survey questionnaire, the author uses a hierarchial grouping technique to produce seven profiles of managers role behavior. Personal, environmental, and attitudinal correlates are examined to round out each profile.