Despite a lack of empirical verification, research analysts and populist commentators have long assumed that a key factor in explaining anti-scientific attitudes among women is their greater disinterest and ignorance of scientific developments. Using nationally representative Anglo-American data from the 1993 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) Environment Survey, the results of this analysis question that assumption. Women in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and New Zealand are indeed less knowledgeable and hold less favorable attitudes toward science than men. However, in all but the United States, these gender differences in scientific attitudes are due to male-female disparities in educational background and religious belief, not to variations in scientific knowledge. Thus, in Canada, Great Britain and New Zealand, it is not gender per se but rather differences in social background that explain citizens' views. A somewhat different pattern emerges in the United States. Here, it is differences in levels of scientific knowledge and not demographic background, including gender, which explains public variation in attitudes toward science. The implications of these findings for both research analysts and policy makers are briefly discussed.

While much attention has been devoted to political efforts to solve the Northern Ireland problem, less attention has been given to the role of political violence in sustaining the conflict. We argue that one of the reasons for the intractability of the conflict is widespread exposure to political violence among the civil population. By 1998, thirty years after the conflict started, one in seven of the population reported being a victim of violence; one in five had a family member killed or injured; and one in four had been caught up in an explosion. Such widespread exposure to violence exists alongside latent support for paramilitarism among a significant minority of both communities. Using 1998 survey data, we show that exposure to violence serves to enhance public support for paramilitary groups, as well as to reduce support for the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons. Overall, the results suggest that only a lengthy period without political violence will undermine support for paramilitarism and result in the decommissioning of weapons.These creatures Aeetes ordered him to yoke and to sow dragon's teeth; for he had got from Athena half of the dragon's teeth which Cadmus sowed in Thebes … And when he had sowed the teeth, there rose armed men from the ground … Jason and the ArgonautsThe most visible and dramatic manifestation of the post-1968 Northern Ireland conflict has been political violence. Comparative studies show that Northern Ireland is easily the most intense violent conflict in Europe, accounting for the majority of terrorist incidents in Europe (US Secretary of State, 2001). The various paramilitary organizations that operate in the province are the most highly organized and equipped in Europe, particularly on the republican side. The statistics of violence suggest that in its duration and intensity relative to population size, the conflict approaches that of a war rather than a local insurgency, with substantial numbers of the population being exposed to many aspects of the violence, from intimidation and physical injury, to being caught up in a bomb explosion or riot.Most of the research on the Northern Ireland problem has assumed that the violence is a consequence of the political problem; once a permanent settlement between the communities is reached, violence will become irrelevant and swiftly disappear. Less attention has been given to analysing how public exposure to violence serves to mould popular attitudes towards the use of violence as a political POLITICAL STUDIES: 2001 VOL 49, 901-922

As of yet, relatively little information exists regarding gender differences in attitudes toward the environment. This is particularly the case when countries besides the United States and Canada are considered. Further-more, the information available has proved to be inclusive, with some studies indicating that men are more concerned about the environment than women, others indicating that women are more concerned but only in relation to a narrow range of risk-related environmental issues, and still others finding no significant differences. Using nationally representative survey data from the United States, Great Britain, Norway, the Netherlands, West Germany, East Germany, and Japan, this study investigates gender differences in levels of scientific knowledge and its consequences for attitudes toward general environmental issues. The results suggest that although men and women do differ in terms of their knowledge of scientific matters, this has little or no effect on their attitudes toward the environment. Across a majority of nations, women are not more concerned about environmental issues than men and this lack of relationship holds whether or not differences in levels of scientific knowledge are controlled for in the analysis.

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