On the most volatile controversies, like abortion and gun control, he took stands that put his conservative constituents at ease and then shifted positions as he moved from Tennessee politics to the national arena.
The great majority of restoration projects put a high priority on the biological requirements of endangered species, often drawing ecologists into volatile political controversies over the rights of humans versus those of wildlife.
Now oil prices are lower, but remain volatile.Controversy over the environmental impact of fossil-fuel use has added an extra layer of complication.
But that is not the only historical resonance of the piece, whose premiere on Thursday looms as one of the major orchestral events of the season, and one with rare potential for controversy in this volatile political moment.
The controversy has grown even more volatile in the past week, since the reformist cleric and presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi first raised accusations that some male and female prisoners had been raped.
After months of strife among Republicans, hours of volatile testimony, and an onslaught of nationwide controversy, all proposals to enact a "bathroom bill" in Texas died quietly Tuesday night.
Plans to link Europe to what would be the world's biggest hydroelectric dam project in the volatile Democratic Republic of Congo have sparked fierce controversy.
The controversy over the documents has been propelled by a volatile mix of fierce election-year rancor, daily disclosures pointing to potential weaknesses in CBS's report and the network's steadfast refusal to explain how it got the documents.
The leadership of both major American political parties, the Democrats and the Whigs, strenuously objected to introducing Texas, a vast slave-holding region, into the volatile political climate of the pro- and anti-slavery sectional controversies in Congress.
Whitaker may be "placating a volatile President by officially not recusing, but trying to avoid risk and controversy by not actually doing anything," said Kris, founder of the Culper Partners consultancy.
