The purpose of this article is to create a method for determining regions which is suitable for political science. The criteria proposed to define a “political region” are based on the concepts of political cleavages and party systems. Applying this framework of analysis to Belgium and Switzerland makes it possible to establish two very different kinds of regions. In the case of Switzerland, the proposed political regions do not correspond to linguistic areas but are instead combinations of religious and industrial factors. On the other hand, in the case of Belgium the suggested political regions reflect the tensions among the Flemings, Walloons, residents of Brussels, and German-speaking Belgians.

All administrative structures are affected by their cultural, social, economic, and political environments. The daily interactions between the two sectors comprise the substance of the administrative activity. In 1973 Zaïre's local administration was subjected to a reform which centralized and standardized its structures. This article examines the reform of the administration from the perspective of social underdevelopment. The local administrative cadres appeared to emerge from the reform with more power and prestige in social planning. However, the actual outcome of the reform in terms of development was doubtful since the authorities who acquired politico-administrative functions were engaged in their own lucrative activities and the public had little control over their administrative actions. Thus the administrative structure became an instrument which the dominant class—the bourgeois politico-administration—could use to strengthen its power over the economy. It could scarcely be otherwise in a situation in which underdevelopment creates and sustains a continual crisis. The consequences are inequalityx in the distribution of public goods and inequity in public decisions. All of these factors produce real stagnation in the society, in spite of the apparently revolutionary upsets which have occurred from time to time. They permit external domination to strengthen its hand and allow internal domination to carve out a suitable empire. To change the situation and free up local administration would require a genuine revolution in the devolution of power to the whole public.

The connection between knowledge and action can be examined empirically in two ways: the first by studying the relationship that knowledge has to action and the second by examining the connection between action and knowledge. Without trying to include the whole span of the problems involved in this double link, this article attempts to sketch some aspects of the impact which action claims to have upon knowledge by examining certain practices which emerge in an explicit way from such a connection. Set in the context of Canada and Quebec, the examination focusses chiefly on some governmental reforms which try to establish explicit functions of control, coordination, and planning. The theme of these reforms exhibits the desire on the part of these governments to stress the deliberate, accountable, and rational nature of the decisions. It seems to be a question of a new compulsion to want to break with the opportunism of the past and to reestablish the links between the “scholar” and the “politician.” In this situation how well do the reforms come out? Is there a real connection with knowledge or is it alluded to only to justify the political pronouncement? These are the questions on which the author tries to shed some light.

A popular theme in the literature on British government and politics describes British culture as suffused with deference to political authority. However, recently observers have begun to question whether political deference is characteristic of the British public. They argue the need to reexamine the extent of deference in the light of changes in the political culture. Accordingly, this note critically examines the hypothesis concerning political deference with respect to England specifically, and presents some evidence relating to deference among the younger generation there. We can thereby assess the persistence of political deference and explore some hypotheses concerning the sources of political deference in England.