Russia has relied on Kadyrov, a ruthless former rebel, to bring a degree of stability to Chechnya in recent years.

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Whatever his faults, Mr Berlusconi has brought a degree of stability to Italian government, which, since the restoration of democracy after the second world war, has been prone to weak and unstable coalitions.

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Mr Mbai said he believed the aim of the attacks was to embarrass Indonesia's government at a time when the country was enjoying a greater degree of stability than it had in the past.

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"There is a high degree of stability in what most people think are the most problematic places to get sued, " said Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of The Rule of Lawyers.

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It could save lives and provide families of athletes a degree of emotional stability, since symptoms of CTE may appear within months or many decades after the trauma.

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On one point, there is consensus: there will be no recovery without a degree of currency stability.

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But given the pressure that the Bush administration put on Musharraf when he declared his state of emergency at the end of last year, I think they're very worried about the degree of American commitment to their stability and to their regimes.

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Now they say they will support the coalition if it can prove that it will provide stability and some degree of development as well.

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Technology like electronic traction control and electronic stability control also add a degree of safety when putting high-powered vehicles like these on the street.

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Like skiing, it requires a certain degree of mastery, a countervailing ability to contend with the panic and reassert a measure of stability.

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