Editorial

Are you ready to handle conflict this time? We are talking up three topics that are among the most controversial subjects now being discussed: population policy; separatism; and the causes of the war in Bosnia. Very rarely does our editorial group argue about the merits of various points of view in the articles we publish. This time, we did. Patricia Adams's piece argues that bad development policies are mainly to blame for population expansion in the Third World - if blame is the word, since Adams seems not to regard population growth as a problem. John Bacher takes an alternative view. Although the two articles are about 90% in agreement, the differences between them stimulated lengthy debates among us.

Andrew Pakula's piece about Yugoslavia presents several points of view, including his call for a larger role for U.N. troops in preventing wars. Leonard Johnson, in contrast, envisages a reduced tendency toward U.N. military intervention. The two articles were not written as a debate, for neither author read the other's paper, but you see in them alternative views, if not contradictory ones.

At last we are getting around to considering a serious Canadian conflict: Quebec separatism. Such was our motive when we decided to interview Robert Schaeffer. In fact, he doesn't focus on Quebec, but compares several other partitions of states. Since the outcome is almost always unfortunate, we think separatists ought to consider the historical record, of which Schaeffer is the leading expert. His views are not balanced here by nationalist arguments, but we expect some reader to come back with a letter or a counter-article, to which we remain open despite our own obvious convictions. Please pass this article on to your Québec friends if you find it valuable.

Finally, an appeal. We want to build a photo archive. Our needs are unpredictable: famous faces, interesting foreign places, even Quebec flag wavers, as you see this time. But the cost of using photo services is high and takes away from other areas where our resources could be put to better use. So, may we have your black-and-white or color prints (no slides), with identifying blurbs? Many thanks!