| Abstrakt: |
In this paper I consider the effects of history on political events through a comparative analysis of the development of the abortion conflict, from the 1960s through the 1990s, in state capital areas in two different parts of the country (Albany-Troy-Schenectady, New York, and Columbus, Ohio). I try to account, in particular, for the development of a more violent abortion conflict in Central Ohio, with its two waves of anti-abortion provider arson and bombings and a suspicious killing, but not in the Albany area. An analysis of the histories of the two areas and events during the study period shows that--thanks to different economic and cultural histories--the two cities developed very different political cultures. More threatened by a fundamental Anglo Protestant Republican vs. Irish- and Italian-American Roman Catholic working-class Democrat cleavage, Albany developed partly grassroots mechanisms to mediate conflict. As the 1960s unfolded and the abortion conflict developed, these mechanisms fell short, but Albany coped by innovating and developing new institutional mechanisms. These new institutions I label: the town meeting and the mass-mobilized court battle. More dominated by Protestant Republican elites who have owned local businesses and less fractured by fundamental conflict, Columbus developed private roundtable discussions among business elites as a key conflict-mediation mechanism. Central Ohio leaders turned to private roundtables among leading abortion activists as a key mediation mechanism for the abortion conflict. The additional anti-abortion provider violence was one of the results. Implications for the study of public debate, social conflict, and democracy are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
