31 research outputs found
DEMOCRATIC DECONSOLIDATION IN DEVELOPED DEMOCRACIES, 1995-2018. CES Open Forum Series 2018-2019
Until recently, many political scientists had believed that the stability of democracy is
assured once certain threshold conditions – prosperity, democratic legitimacy, the
development of a robust civil society – were attained. Democracy would then be
consolidated, and remain stable. In this article we show that levels of support for
democratic governance are not stable over time, even among high-income democracies,
and have declined in recent years. In contrast to theories of democratic consolidation, we
suggest that just as democracy can come to be “the only game in town” through processes
of democratic deepening and the broad-based acceptance of democratic institutions, so
too a process of democratic deconsolidation can take place as citizens sour on democratic
institutions, become more open to authoritarian alternatives, and vote for anti-system
parties. Public opinion measures of democratic deconsolidation are strongly associated
with subsequent declines in the actual extent of democratic governance and predict not
only recent democratic backsliding in transitional democracies, such as Venezuela or
Russia, but also anticipated the downgrades in Freedom House scores occurring across a
range of western democracies since 2016
Subjective well-being during the 2020-21 global coronavirus pandemic: Evidence from high frequency time series data.
We investigate how subjective well-being varied over the course of the global COVID-19 pandemic, with a special attention to periods of lockdown. We use weekly data from YouGov's Great Britain Mood Tracker Poll, and daily reports from Google Trends, that cover the entire period from six months before until eighteen months after the global spread of COVID-19. Descriptive trends and time-series models suggest that negative mood associated with the imposition of lockdowns returned to baseline within 1-3 weeks of lockdown implementation, whereas pandemic intensity, measured by the rate of fatalities from COVID-19 infection, was persistently associated with depressed affect. The results support the hypothesis that country-specific pandemic severity was the major contributor to increases in negative affect observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that lockdowns likely ameliorated rather than exacerbated this effect
Multiple Myeloma Treatment in Real-world Clinical Practice : Results of a Prospective, Multinational, Noninterventional Study
Funding Information: The authors would like to thank all patients and their families and all the EMMOS investigators for their valuable contributions to the study. The authors would like to acknowledge Robert Olie for his significant contribution to the EMMOS study. Writing support during the development of our report was provided by Laura Mulcahy and Catherine Crookes of FireKite, an Ashfield company, a part of UDG Healthcare plc, which was funded by Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc, and Janssen Global Services, LLC. The EMMOS study was supported by research funding from Janssen Pharmaceutical NV and Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Funding Information: The authors would like to thank all patients and their families and all the EMMOS investigators for their valuable contributions to the study. The authors would like to acknowledge Robert Olie for his significant contribution to the EMMOS study. Writing support during the development of our report was provided by Laura Mulcahy and Catherine Crookes of FireKite, an Ashfield company, a part of UDG Healthcare plc, which was funded by Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc, and Janssen Global Services, LLC. The EMMOS study was supported by research funding from Janssen Pharmaceutical NV and Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Funding Information: M.M. has received personal fees from Janssen, Celgene, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sanofi, Novartis, and Takeda and grants from Janssen and Sanofi during the conduct of the study. E.T. has received grants from Janssen and personal fees from Janssen and Takeda during the conduct of the study, and grants from Amgen, Celgene/Genesis, personal fees from Amgen, Celgene/Genesis, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, and Glaxo-Smith Kline outside the submitted work. M.V.M. has received personal fees from Janssen, Celgene, Amgen, and Takeda outside the submitted work. M.C. reports honoraria from Janssen, outside the submitted work. M. B. reports grants from Janssen Cilag during the conduct of the study. M.D. has received honoraria for participation on advisory boards for Janssen, Celgene, Takeda, Amgen, and Novartis. H.S. has received honoraria from Janssen-Cilag, Celgene, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, and Takeda outside the submitted work. V.P. reports personal fees from Janssen during the conduct of the study and grants, personal fees, and nonfinancial support from Amgen, grants and personal fees from Sanofi, and personal fees from Takeda outside the submitted work. W.W. has received personal fees and grants from Amgen, Celgene, Novartis, Roche, Takeda, Gilead, and Janssen and nonfinancial support from Roche outside the submitted work. J.S. reports grants and nonfinancial support from Janssen Pharmaceutical during the conduct of the study. V.L. reports funding from Janssen Global Services LLC during the conduct of the study and study support from Janssen-Cilag and Pharmion outside the submitted work. A.P. reports employment and shareholding of Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) during the conduct of the study. C.C. reports employment at Janssen-Cilag during the conduct of the study. C.F. reports employment at Janssen Research and Development during the conduct of the study. F.T.B. reports employment at Janssen-Cilag during the conduct of the study. The remaining authors have stated that they have no conflicts of interest. Publisher Copyright: © 2018 The AuthorsMultiple myeloma (MM) remains an incurable disease, with little information available on its management in real-world clinical practice. The results of the present prospective, noninterventional observational study revealed great diversity in the treatment regimens used to treat MM. Our results also provide data to inform health economic, pharmacoepidemiologic, and outcomes research, providing a framework for the design of protocols to improve the outcomes of patients with MM. Background: The present prospective, multinational, noninterventional study aimed to document and describe real-world treatment regimens and disease progression in multiple myeloma (MM) patients. Patients and Methods: Adult patients initiating any new MM therapy from October 2010 to October 2012 were eligible. A multistage patient/site recruitment model was applied to minimize the selection bias; enrollment was stratified by country, region, and practice type. The patient medical and disease features, treatment history, and remission status were recorded at baseline, and prospective data on treatment, efficacy, and safety were collected electronically every 3 months. Results: A total of 2358 patients were enrolled. Of these patients, 775 and 1583 did and did not undergo stem cell transplantation (SCT) at any time during treatment, respectively. Of the patients in the SCT and non-SCT groups, 49%, 21%, 14%, and 15% and 57%, 20%, 12% and 10% were enrolled at treatment line 1, 2, 3, and ≥ 4, respectively. In the SCT and non-SCT groups, 45% and 54% of the patients had received bortezomib-based therapy without thalidomide/lenalidomide, 12% and 18% had received thalidomide/lenalidomide-based therapy without bortezomib, and 30% and 4% had received bortezomib plus thalidomide/lenalidomide-based therapy as frontline treatment, respectively. The corresponding proportions of SCT and non-SCT patients in lines 2, 3, and ≥ 4 were 45% and 37%, 30% and 37%, and 12% and 3%, 33% and 27%, 35% and 32%, and 8% and 2%, and 27% and 27%, 27% and 23%, and 6% and 4%, respectively. In the SCT and non-SCT patients, the overall response rate was 86% to 97% and 64% to 85% in line 1, 74% to 78% and 59% to 68% in line 2, 55% to 83% and 48% to 60% in line 3, and 49% to 65% and 36% and 45% in line 4, respectively, for regimens that included bortezomib and/or thalidomide/lenalidomide. Conclusion: The results of our prospective study have revealed great diversity in the treatment regimens used to manage MM in real-life practice. This diversity was linked to factors such as novel agent accessibility and evolving treatment recommendations. Our results provide insight into associated clinical benefits.publishersversionPeer reviewe
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Creating an Inclusive Society: Evidence from Social Indicators and Trends
In recent years, there has been a proliferation of attempts to account for the role of social factors within broader processes of economic and human development. Among the most important of these is social inclusion, understood as the removal of barriers to the participation of minorities in economic and political institutions. In order to analyse latent barriers to the inclusion of vulnerable minority groups, this paper examines trends in discrimination across the world over the past three decades, using data from comparative public opinion surveys. Using data from comparative social surveys such as the World Values Survey and the Global Barometer surveys, the article examines change across generations and over time in scores of societies around the world, and presents cross-national and longitudinal evidence from an unprecedentedly broad range of countries. Taking four categories of social minority – ethnic minorities, immigrants, lifestyle minorities and the aged – it examines regional and longitudinal variation in ethnic inclusion, and the reasons for the observed changes. While social inclusion has increased in some areas, and in particular in regards to lifestyle tolerance, this paper shows that there is widespread discrimination against migrants and ethnic minorities, in response to tensions arising from international migration and the increasing salience of religious tensions, and persistent discrimination against the elderly in many countries and regions
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Indices of Social Development – Research Applications
The Indices of Social Development combine over 200 variables from 25 sources, providing the most comprehensive database showing the variation of social institutions – understood as the informal norms and behaviors that pattern social interaction – across countries and over time. Based on these sources, progress on five areas, civic activism, clubs and associations, interpersonal safety and trust, intergroup cohesion, and gender equity, is reported from 1995 to the present. This paper demonstrates the applicability of the indices in contributing to outstanding research questions in the development literature, including the determinants of economic growth, quality of governance, and the causes of violent conflict
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Social Institutions and Human Development
For almost two decades, development theorists and practitioners have drawn attention to the importance of social institutions or ‘social capital’ as a means of enhancing human capabilities and freedoms. However, empirical testing has been inhibited by the absence of cross-country measures. Drawing on a set of 25 data sources, this paper attempts to provide the first worldwide indices of social institutions, understood as the informal norms that pattern human interaction.Six indices are presented corresponding to the following dimensions: (1) inclusion of minorities,(2) gender equity, (3) inter-group cohesion, (4) clubs and associations, (5) interpersonal safety and trust and (6) civic activism. In accordance with a growing literature on the links from institutions to development outcomes, this article provides empirical evidence of the relationship between social institutions, such as social inclusion and norms of non-discrimination, and human development outcomes such as equal access to health, fair government, and a better income
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Civil Society and Democracy in Post-Authoritarian and Post-Totalitarian Regimes
20 years have now passed since the democratic revolutions of Latin America, East Asia, and Eastern Europe. In most cases, the transition has been sustained, with only a small number of reversions from democratic rule. However, while military, business, and political elites have generally respected democratic norms of political competition, disillusionment with mainstream political parties, corruption, failure to control organized crime, declines in voter turnout, and withdrawal from civic life all present challenges for democratic governance (Howard 2003, Ramet 1999, Beetham 2004; Diamond and Morlino 2005; Mainwaring and Hagopian 2005; O ́Donnell 2004a and 2004b; Powell 2004; Rueschemeyer 2004). As the consolidation of democracy ultimately depends upon democratic legitimacy, some see in these trends the risk of a more widespread appeal for demagogic populism or electoral authoritarianism, citing cases such as Venezuela and Russia as examples (Gershman 2007). This paper examines a neglected difference in the analysis of civil society trajectories: whether a society transitioned from authoritarian or totalitarian rule
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The Role of Social Institutions in Determining Aid Effectiveness
In recent years, scholars and policymakers have placed growing attention on the issue of aid effectiveness, that is, the efficiency of donor assistance in achieving stated economic and human development objectives. While research has tended to highlight the need for greater capacity building and improved governance as mechanisms to make aid 'effective', the social origins of such mechanisms have not been thoroughly examined. Using the latest cross-country indicator series on aid effectiveness from the OECD and the Indices of Social Development, hosted at the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague, this paper examines the determinants of effective aid spending, and finds a significant effect linking the quality of aid assistance to social institutions relating to public order and trust. These effects are verified when instrumenting social institutions by measures of state history, suggesting that long-term political development is the main source of public order and the presence of state institutions capable of effective management of aid flows.World Bank Grou
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Social and Governance Dimensions of Climate Change : Implications for Policy
This paper addresses two vital concerns in the debate on adaptation to climate change. First, how can countries prepare to manage the impact of climate-change induced natural disasters? Second, how can countries ensure that they have the governmental institutions required to manage the phenomenal challenge of adaptation to climate change? A range of economic and institutional measures are tested for their potential effects on natural disaster resilience and the quality of environmental governance. The findings suggest an important role is played by social and political institutions in determining the ability of countries to adapt to climate change and respond to natural disasters, in particular in the degree to which countries have succeeded in gender empowerment and the development of a robust civil society and nonprofit sector. As the climate change challenge moves from that of "proving the facts" to that of "implementing change," the authors suggest that international policymakers, donors, and activists must increasingly focus on building domestic policy environments that are conducive to the delivery of more effective environmental legislation, for example through implementation of gender quotas and provision of support to civil society groups.World Bank Grou