Some scholars argue that opposition to stabilization may be overcome through authoritarian governments as they are not as accountable and sensitive to social and political pressures (Olson 1982; O'Donnell, Schmitter, and Whitehead 1986; Whitehead 1989; Haggard and Kaufman 1992, Oatley 2004).
Some scholars have pointed out that the characteristics of the democratic system may matter when it comes to implementing stabilization plans successfully.
This study argues that a strong unified government is neither a sufficient nor a necessary condition for successful stabilization. No matter how unified and strong a government is, it still needs to work on raising wide political support for stabilization and reconciling different interests in the society.
Coopting working classes to stabilization would limit economic populism that would cause stabilization to falter.
Political support for stabilization also depends on whether the losers of stabilization are somehow compensated in the plan or with other policies that accompany the plan (Cornia, Jolly, and Stewart 1987).
This study argues that in some cases skillful political leaders may determine the fate of stabilization, because they can help persuasion, cooptation and coordination of different stakeholders, and thus successful implementation of even the most difficult economic policies.
Moreover, this paper suggests that political support needs to remain intact for a while in order for the stabilization plan to succeed in the long term.
Therefore, the critical issue is not much which economic policies to follow for stabilization, but rather how these policies will become politically acceptable.
The use of ammonia/oxygen ([NH.sub.3]/[0.sub.2]) mixture during the thermal stabilization has been found to significantly reduce the stabilization time of polyacrylonitrile copolymer fibers which do not possess acidic comonomer in its polymer structure (22-24).
The results suggest much faster stabilization and the strength of the carbon fibers are found to be 25% higher than those prepared by the conventional air-stabilization treatment (20).
Thermal stabilization can also be accelerated using UV-irradiation followed by a thermal stabilization for the melt-processable PAN terpolymer incorporating acryloyl henzophenone (ABP) comonomer sensitive to UV-irradiation (27-29).
Pretreatment with [gamma]-irradiation prior to thermal stabilization is claimed to minimize the weight losses during the stabilization stage which should lead to higher carbon yield.
PAN precursor fibers modified by various chemical treatments are also reported to modify the structure of the stabilized fiber and accelerale the stabilization rate.
Therefore, a detailed investigation was necessary to carry out further research on the use of guanidine carbonate as a possible chemical post treatment route with the aim of accelerating thermal stabilization prior to the carbonization stage.
The aim of the present investigation was to investigate the effect of pretreatment with guanidine carbonate on the thermal stabilization of polyacrylonitrile fibers and to follow and understand the structural changes taking place at a molecular level using a combination of density, thermal analysis, infra-red spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and X-ray diffraction measurements.
