Parties in chains: do ethnic party bans in Africa promote peace?

Since the sweeping (re)introduction of multiparty systems in the early 1990s, almost all sub-Saharan countries have introduced legal provisions to ban ethnic or other identity-based particularistic parties. Altogether, 12 countries have actually banned political parties on these grounds. In theoretical terms, such bans can exclude particularism from politics but - contrary to public discourse - also run the risk of forcing groups to resort to violent means or of becoming an object of conflict themselves. Empirically speaking, hardly any general patterns in the effects of bans can be detected. A closer look at 12 politically relevant bans in six countries reveals an initially stabilizing impact in one case (Rwanda in 1994). A ban on a religious party in Kenya in 1993 triggered violent conflict. In cases such as Equatorial Guinea (1994) and Rwanda (2001, 2003), this regulatory measure, allegedly designed to promote peace, seems to be part of the 'menu of manipulation' and is abused to suppress the opposition

The Churches' Bans on Consanguineous Marriages, Kin-Networks and Democracy

This paper highlights the role of kin-networks for the functioning of modern societies: countries with strong extended families as characterized by a high level of cousin marriages exhibit a weak rule of law and are more likely autocratic. To assess causality, I exploit a quasi-natural experiment. In the early medieval ages the Church started to prohibit kin-marriages. Using the variation in the duration and extent of the Eastern and Western Churches' bans on consanguineous marriages as instrumental variables, reveals highly significant point estimates of the percentage of cousin marriage on an index of democracy. An additional novel instrument, cousin-terms, strengthens this point: the estimates are very similar and do not rest on the European experience alone. Exploiting within country variation of cousin marriages in Italy, as well as within variation of a 'societal marriage pressure' indicator for a larger set of countries support these results. These findings point to a causal effect of marriage patterns on the proper functioning of formal institutions and democracy. The study further suggests that the Churches' marriage rules - by destroying extended kin-groups - led Europe on its special path of institutional and democratic development

MAPK Regulation of Sclerotial Development in \u3ci\u3eSclerotinia sclerotiorum\u3c/i\u3e Is Linked with pH and cAMP Sensing

Sclerotial development is fundamental to the disease cycle of the omnivorous broad host range fungal phytopathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. We have isolated a highly conserved homolog of ERK-type mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) from S. sclerotiorum (Smk1) and have demonstrated that Smk1 is required for sclerotial development. The smk1 transcription and MAPK enzyme activity are induced dramatically during sclerotiogenesis, especially during the production of sclerotial initials. When PD98059 (a specific inhibitor of the activation of MAPK by MAPK kinase) was applied to differentiating cultures or when antisense expression of smk1 was induced, sclerotial maturation was impaired. The smk1 transcript levels were highest under acidic pH conditions, suggesting that Smk1 regulates sclerotial development via a pH-dependent signaling pathway, involving the accumulation of oxalic acid, a previously identified pathogenicity factor that functions at least in part by reducing pH. Addition of cyclic AMP (cAMP) inhibited smk1 transcription, MAPK activation, and sclerotial development. Thus, S. sclerotiorum can coordinate environmental signals (such as pH) to trigger a signaling pathway mediated by Smk1 to induce sclerotia formation, and this pathway is negatively regulated by cAMP