THERE is not a lot that instantly stands out about Yoshihiko Noda, who was chosen in an internal ruling-party election on August 29th to become Japan's seventh prime minister in only five years.
Neoliberalism, however, requires more than the internal realignment of a national ruling class.
The ruling states that the ban cannot be directed at headscarves explicitly but must be part of an internal rule requiring all employees to "dress neutrally".
Though the roots of the case are internal, the ruling is the latest example of the separation of consulting units from accounting firms.
But White House officials expressed concern this month when Mr. Ashcroft seemed poised to declare the internal legal ruling as administration policy before fully reviewing the plan and its potential fallout with White House policy and political aides.
Internal opposition to the ruling Baath Party remains weak.
"The BA will not tolerate our leaders being victimised as the scapegoat of the ruling parties' internal problems," said Chua Tian Chan, another Keadilan vice-president.
In Brazil you need to understand Congress's multi-party alliances; in China the power dynamics of the Communist Party; in Saudi Arabia the internal relations of the ruling family.
He will tack further to the centre than his outgoing colleague, José Mujica, but will face internal fights in the ruling Broad Front coalition.
Rotimi Amaechi, the powerful governor of Rivers state, defected to the opposition after a series of internal squabbles with the ruling party spilled over into the public limelight.
But, within a few years, the group was waging a bloody internal war with the ruling clerics, and, in 1997, it was listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department.
