The fall of the Latvian government after the Riga supermarket tragedy has exposed deep divisions in the country’s political system

The Riga supermarket tragedy in November prompted the resignation of the Latvian prime minister and the fall of the country’s government. As Licia Cianetti writes, the resignation was largely rooted in party political and ethnic divisions within Latvia, rather than in the tragedy itself. She argues that the upcoming European Parliament and Latvian Parliament elections in 2014 will test whether Latvian politics will remain ethnically divided, or whether the country can make a transition into a stronger left-right political system

The governing parties survived Latvia’s election, but the issue of the country’s Russian-speaking minority remains centre-stage

Latvia held parliamentary elections on 4 October. Licia Cianetti writes that while the elections saw Harmony – the centre-left party representing the country’s Russian-speaking minority – win the most seats, the results will likely see the incumbent government led by the centre-right Unity party continue in power. The steady fall in turnout experienced in recent elections also suggests that despite backing the ruling parties, Latvian citizens are far from content with the status quo

Why 'trickle down' approaches to the social inclusion of minorities are unlikely to produce real change

Ethnic minority groups tend to have lower salaries and higher rates of unemployment in European countries, but how can this disparity be addressed through public policy? Licia Cianetti highlights that efforts to tackle the issue across Europe have come to be dominated by 'trickle down' approaches which view economic growth and job creation as the ultimate solution. She argues that such approaches are at odds with the evidence on social exclusion and are unlikely to produce genuine change

Latvia’s European Parliament elections will be a key battleground in the run up to the general election in October

Latvia’s government collapsed at the end of 2013, with new elections scheduled to be held in October this year. Licia Cianetti writes that the country’s European Parliament elections are likely to be dominated by the national situation, with the results potentially giving an indication of where parties stand in the run up to October. She notes that the key issue for voters has been the legacy of austerity policies implemented by Latvia in the wake of the financial crisis, but that the campaign is also being fought against the backdrop of the Ukraine crisis given the large Russian population living in the country

We must go beyond the backsliding paradigm to understand what’s happening to democracy in Central and Eastern Europe

The issue of democratic backsliding in Central and Eastern Europe has received substantial attention in recent years, and many observers are now concerned the coronavirus crisis could exacerbate the problem. Licia Cianetti and Seán Hanley write that while there are genuine threats to democracy in countries like Hungary and Poland, viewing the entire region through the lens of ‘backsliding’ may obscure more than it reveals

The End of the Backsliding Paradigm

Debates about democratic decline are now dominated by the notion that many democracies might be undergoing a process described as democratic backsliding. While the concept can play its part, the emergence of a backsliding paradigm risks reproducing, in reverse, the intellectual constraints of the transition paradigm of the 1990s, famously critiqued by Thomas Carothers. The complex, halting trajectories of troubled democracies today may be hidden behind a one-size-fits-all paradigm. Drawing lessons from East-Central Europe, we propose a broader focus that also encompasses intermediate patterns, often more faithful to realities on the ground

Small towns and cities must be given a greater voice in efforts to increase urban inclusion

A number of EU initiatives have been implemented to help make Europe’s urban areas more inclusive spaces for the people who live in them. Yet as Claudio Tocchi, Luciano Scagliotti and Licia Cianetti explain, the bulk of attention has so far focused on large cities. They argue that if the EU is serious about improving inclusion, it must better integrate the voices of small and midsize towns and cities

numerical evaluation of internal heat generation of roller coaster polyurethane wheels

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parametric finite elements model of slm additive manufacturing process

Abstract An obstacle to the diffusion of additive technology is the difficulty of predicting the residual stresses introduced during the fabrication process. This problem has a considerable practical interest as evidenced by the abundant literature on residual stresses and distortion induced by the SLM (Selective Laser Melting) and EBAM (Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing). The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effect of different process parameters on the heat distribution and residual stresses in components made with SLM technique. Three aspects are developed and illustrated: a) thermomechanical modeling of the growth process, based on Finite Elements (FE), which considers changes in the behavior of the material (powder→liquid→solid) through the finite element "birth" and "death" technique that enables the progressive activation of the elements as the component grows; b) sensitivity analysis of the model to the physical characteristics of the material (conductivity, specific heat capacity, Young's modulus). This is an important aspect allowing to focus on the most significant parameters to be determined experimentally with high reliability; c) evaluation of the effects of different process parameters (laser power, scan speed, overlap between adjacent paths) on the process. The article illustrates the theoretical thermal model and the detail of the strategy used in the FE analysis. The most influential characteristics of the material are highlighted and, finally, general criteria for choosing the optimal combination of process parameters to limit the residual stresses are provided