Fridtjof Nansen and the Aegean population exchange

This article examines Fridtjof Nansen’s role in elaborating the compulsory Greco-Turkish population exchange of 1923–1924. Thrust into a spiralling crisis, the League’s High Commissioner took on humanitarian, representational and negotiating roles having long-term as well as immediate impact, while the Norwegian’s emergence at Lausanne as chief spokesman for an agreement widely considered reprehensible invites scrutiny of his interventions. Drawing on recent publications and key archival sources, the analysis presses four strands of argument. First, while Nansen helped articulate the exchange idea along with Greece’s Eleftherios Venizelos, he neither originated it nor provided the essential political impetus. Second, Nansen’s oft-cited ‘first mention’ of making it compulsory assigns him a misleadingly strong role in a solution chiefly engineered by Kemal’s Turkey. Third, his impact on the agreement’s scope, involving exemptions for minority populations in Western Thrace and Constantinople, was limited. Fourth, Nansen’s ultimate push for a lasting settlement blended pragmatism with strategic vision. Subsequent delays and wider political failure not of his making to secure equitable property exchange highlighted the harsher aspects of a deal all the main parties in fact favoured, Nansen recognized as necessary and which thwarted a still worse calamity.     

Scientific Uncertainty and Learning in European Union Environmental Policymaking

Scientific uncertainty characterizes policy/making in many environmental issue areas. Policymakers must rely on scientists to bring environmental problems to their attention, design and prescribe policy solutions, and to define and evaluate policy effectiveness. An important theoretical question is: What role does organizational learning play in amelioration of scientific uncertainty and shaping environmental policy. This study examines the political processes and policy outcomes associated with European Union policymaking to revise water quality directives and deal with climate change to ascertain and describe the role played by organizational learning. The evidence suggests that organizational learning is occurring as an integral part of the political dynamics of policymaking in these two issue areas.     

The Planning System in Northern Ireland Post-devolution

Devolution within the UK has produced new systems of governance within Scotland and Wales and restored to Northern Ireland local accountability following three decades of direct administration. The paper reviews the different status of Northern Ireland to provide both an understanding of the context in which planning has been set and the new structures that are taking shape. Particular focus is placed upon the ambitious mechanisms underlying the Agreement between the political parties in the province. The paper discusses how planning issues and responsibilities have moved from one highly centralized government department pre-devolution to effectively three new departments thereby providing a test not only of joined-up governance but of the ability of the new devolved structures to work effectively. Challenges posed by the different competencies are debated and emerging issues are discussed in terms of coherent planning at regional, subregional and local levels.     

Participation and Representation in ATSIC Elections: A 10 Year Perspective

This paper examines participation and representation in ATSIC elections over the 10 year period since 1990. It attempts to identify patterns of participation and representation that seem to be emerging and what these might suggest about ATSIC's operation. By examining numbers of nominees compared to positions available, the paper suggests that ATSIC elected office has been fairly keenly and consistently sought and competed for by Indigenous people, though there may have been some slight initial reticence in the 1990 elections. By examining voter numbers and voter turnout, the paper suggests that voter participation nation-wide rose slightly from 1990 to 1996 and then largely stabilised in 1999. It also suggests that there have been significant variations from this national pattern at State and Territory levels and it explores some reasons for this. The paper also examines voter numbers and voter turnout at the ATSIC regional level since 1993 and finds that there has been much higher voter turnout in the sparsely settled regions of northern Australia and much lower voter turnout in the southern and urban areas. This is explained in terms of ATSIC program and expenditure priorities and in terms of polling place access. The final two sections of the paper examine the representation of women and Torres Strait Islanders among ATSIC elected representatives. Both are seen as significant issues which should be of some ongoing concern within ATSIC, alongside the issue of the southern/northern difference in voter participation.