Mr Menem, whose political astuteness is unquestioned, would now appear to have two options.

ECONOMIST: Menem forswears a third term, for 1999 anyway | The

In her working paper, Winning Legally: The Value of Legal Astuteness, Yale School of Management Professor Constance E.

FORBES: Legally Astute Resolutions

But they are appalled by the prime minister's lack of political astuteness.

ECONOMIST: Japan: Sorry Mori | The

Pre-electoral calculation had certainly seemed to be the context for Mr Fabius's tax proposals, which deserve more praise for political astuteness than for economic boldness.

ECONOMIST: Contradictory France | The

What really distinguished her was a strength of character and political astuteness that enabled her to reform the Carmelite Order and found 17 convents across Spain.

ECONOMIST: Christian believers

Time after time, through a combination of histrionics, sarcasm and political astuteness, he outmanoeuvred the philistines to get the work of young colleagues over the hurdles and on to the screen.

ECONOMIST: Soviet cinema

So far, winning deals in the Middle East seems to depend in larger part on the political astuteness and lobbying skills of oil bosses than on the size of their capital base.

ECONOMIST: Oil��s well that ends well