Party Membership and Intra-Party Democracy: How Do Members React to Organizational Change within Political Parties? The Case of Belgium

Facing a crucial legitimacy crisis, many Western European political parties have recently undergone various forms of organizational changes by adopting procedures for increasing intra-democracy: internal ballots, internal referenda, primary elections and so on. Direct democracy is now used in a wide range of decision-making procedures such as candidate and leadership selection (Cross and Katz, 2013). These reforms have pro-vided new opportunities for participation to party members. What happens to more traditional elements of party internal structures when such instruments of intra-party democracy are adopted? And more specifically, how are such changes perceived by the party base? This paper explores the attitudes and behaviors of members with regard to intra-party democracy procedures. On the basis of a case study (Belgium) and of an original dataset, the paper explores the political consequences of intra-party democracy. We show that members’ satisfaction with the party and their degree of previous internal activism affect the level of involvement in intra-party democracy activities. However, the dissatisfaction of the party base vis-à-vis of the membership role is growing. Intra-party democratization seems to limit the organizational function of the grass-roots membership to a ‘cheerleading’ role

Juntos pero no revueltos. Miembros, simpatizantes, y el Partido Democrático en Italia

In this article, we investigate the case of the Italian Democratic Party (Partito Democratico - PD). We look at how members and sympathizers are integrated within the party and their respective role in selecting the leader. The PD applies a two-step procedure for selecting its party leaders. First, enrolled members are able to screen the candidates running for party leadership, so that only three candidates are entitled progress to the following step. Second, the party leader is selected via open primaries where all electors are admitted. We aim to assess if these highly inclusive procedures allowing party members and sympathizers to have a say together in leader selections may breed any strain between the two selectorates. To do so, we separately focus on the level of competitiveness of the races successively involving members and then sympathizers. We rely on four different datasets including aggregate data at the regional level about selections for the party leader organized in 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2019. Results show that the two selectorates have only partially converged along the same lines. In fact, a downward trend affects both closed and open primaries; instead, the vote by party members often results in competitive closed primaries, while open primaries are more likely to generate plebiscitary results. This may produce important consequences on the different role of members and sympathizers within the party.En este artículo investigamos el caso del Partido Demócrata en Italia (Partito Democratico - PD). Observamos cómo los miembros y simpatizantes se integran dentro del partido y su papel respectivo en la selección del líder. El PD aplica un procedimiento de dos pasos para seleccionar a los líderes. Primero, los afiliados seleccionan a los candidatos que se postulan para el liderazgo del partido, de modo que solo tres candidatos tienen derecho a pasar a la siguiente etapa. En segundo lugar, el líder se selecciona mediante primarias abiertas en las que se admite el voto de todos los electores. Nuestro objetivo es evaluar si estos procedimientos altamente inclusivos que permiten a afiliados y simpatizantes tener voz y voto en la selección de líderes pueden generar alguna tensión entre los dos electorados. Para ello, nos centramos en el nivel de competitividad de las primarias que involucran, sucesivamente, a afiliados y simpatizantes. Nos basamos en cuatro conjuntos de datos diferentes que incluyen datos agregados a nivel regional sobre los procesos de selección del líder nacional del partido organizados en 2009, 2013, 2017 y 2019. Los resultados muestran que los dos procesos solo han convergido parcialmente. De hecho, tanto las primarias cerradas como las abiertas se caracterizan por una tendencia a la baja; en cambio, el voto de los afiliados a menudo permite primarias cerradas competitivas, mientras que las primarias abiertas tienen más probabilidades de generar resultados plebiscitarios. Esto puede producir importantes consecuencias sobre el papel diferente de los miembros y simpatizantes dentro del partido

How to address the study of open primary elections: insights from the Italian case

International audienceThis case presents the research design used by Candidate and Leader Selection, a standing group of the Italian Political Science Association, for investigating open primary elections held to select candidates and party leaders in Italy. The lack of a legal framework that rules primaries raised several research challenges for studying participation in primary elections and for clarifying the features and attitudes of primary voters. A brief introduction summarizes the main research questions concerning the study of primary elections, providing a theoretical framework and empirical definitions as well. The peculiarities of the Italian case study are then detailed, while the core of the piece is devoted to the research protocol description. In particular, this case presents the research strategies implemented for addressing the study of participation in open primary elections by means of exit polls. In particular, this case details the research procedures adopted for the sampling procedures and the coordination of the research teams at the regional level, the training of interviewers for face-to-face interviews, the drafting of the questionnaire, and the practical solution implemented for administering the survey at polling stations

La représentation politique des minorités linguistiques

Le Südtiroler Volkspartei en Haut Adige, l’Union Valdôtaine en Vallée d’Aoste et le Partito Sardo d’Azione en Sardaigne sont les principaux exemples de partis ethnorégionalistes historiques en Italie. Ces acteurs ont joué un rôle politique principalement au niveau régional, bien qu’ils aient tous obtenu à maintes reprises une représentation au sein du parlement national. Dans le cadre de cette représentation politique à multiples niveaux, cette étude vise à analyser les spécificités des systèmes de représentations disponibles pour chacune de ces trois principales communautés linguistiques minoritaires en Italie: celle parlant la langue sarde en Sardaigne, celle germanophone dans la région italienne du Trentin-Haut Adige et la communauté francophone au Vallée d’Aoste. Le rôle de la langue en tant que vecteur identitaire qui permet de renforcer la cohésion des groupes minoritaires qui se mobilisent est examiné ici. L’étude vise aussi à analyser dans quelle mesure la langue est un objectif politique qui guide l’action des trois groupes en question et des partis qui les représentent.The Südtiroler Volkspartei in South Tyrol, the Union Valdôtaine in the Aosta Valley and the Partito Sardo d’Azione in Sardinia are the main examples of historical ethno-regionalist parties in Italy. These political actors have played a central role mainly within regional party and political systems, but they all have also obtained representation in the national parliament several times. Within the framework of the multi-level institutional setting of the Italian State, this study aims at investigating the patterns of political representation of the three mentioned linguistic minorities: the Sardinian-speaking linguistic minority within the Sardinia region, the German-speaking one in South Tyrol and the French-speaking one in the Aosta Valley. The role of language as an identity catalyst, which can enhance the internal cohesion of the mobilized minority groups, is examined here. This study aims also at assessing to what extent the language represents a political goal of the three mobilized groups and of the parties that claim to represent them

Multiphoton Label-Free ex-vivo imaging using a custom-built dual-wavelength microscope with chromatic aberrations compensation

Label-Free Multiphoton Microscopy is a very powerful optical microscopy that can be applied to study samples with no need for exogenous fluorescent probes, keeping the main benefits of a Multiphoton approach, like longer penetration depths and intrinsic optical sectioning, while opening the possibility of serial examinations with different kinds of techniques. Among the many variations of Label-Free MPM, Higher Harmonic Generation (HHG) is one of the most intriguing due to its generally low photo-toxicity, which enables the examination of specimens particularly susceptible to photo-damages. HHG and common Two-Photon Microscopy (TPM) are well-established techniques, routinely used in several research fields. However, they require a significant amount of fine-tuning in order to be fully exploited and, usually, the optimized conditions greatly differ, making them quite difficult to perform in parallel without any compromise on the extractable information. Here we present our custom-built Multiphoton microscope capable of performing simultaneously TPM and HHG without any kind of compromise on the results thanks to two, separate, individually optimized laser sources with full chromatic aberration compensation. We also apply our setup to the examination of a plethora of ex vivo samples in order to prove the significant advantages of our approach

Open versus laparoscopic splenectomy a meta-analysis of larger series

Background: Minimally invasive surgery for elective splenectomy has become a routine procedure in all laparoscopic centers. After first case series, many groups has published comparative studies between open and laparoscopic approach. For this purpose, a meta-analysis investigating comparative studies of open versus laparoscopic approach for splenectomy was performed.Methods: All kinds of manuscripts were reviewed, and we included the only studies with a laparoscopic group number >= 50 cases.Results: The literature search, performed until December 31, 2019, identified a total of 564 records. After full-text analysis, twelve studies were included in the meta-analysis. Operative time was higher for the laparoscopic group in all but one study. The length of stay, morbidity and mortality were less frequent in the laparoscopic group.Conclusions: The gain of shorter hospital-stay associated with the good outcomes suggests performing splenectomy by a laparoscopic procedure

Challenges of political participation and intra-party democracy: Bittersweet symphony from party membership and primary elections in Italy

In this article, we explore the impact of intra-party democratization processes on party membership. We analyze the opinions and attitudes of enrolled members on intra-party democracy instruments and on the use of open primaries. We investigate, with original data sets on Italy, the relationship between primaries and party members. How do enrolled members perceive internal democratization and primaries? Which factors contribute to explaining grassroots members’ opinion on primaries? We use the case of the Italian Democratic Party (PD) to argue that different subsets of the party membership (divided into new-style and old-style members, on the basis of their relationship with the party and their participatory style) have different views on primaries. Quantitative analysis of survey data on party members reveals two main findings. Our first result is that members approve and positively assess the adoption of new procedures of intra-party democracy. Second, membership style matters: old-style members react to the adoption of primary elections differently than new-style members. Indeed, old-style members understand primaries as a renovated chance of participating in the party’s activities, whereas for new-style members primaries give the opportunity for a new mode of participation. Our findings contribute to the existing empirical research on intra-party democracy and party membership, and have important implications for the triangular link between parties, members and primaries

“Urinalysis, urinary proteome and metabolome of zoo-housed giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) through noninvasive sampling method”.

The study of non-domestic animals withholds more difficulties compared to the domestic counterpart, thus using noninvasive techniques to collect biological samples might play an important role in assessing the health status of wild animals. 1 The present study established the reliability of urine sampling from the ground. A preliminary study was run with 10 urine samples of 10 cows (Bos taurus) housed in a dairy farming in Northern Italy. Urine samples, collected both in sterile cups and from the ground, were analyzed and compared. Results revealed no statistical differences in the variables investigated (p > 0.05, dipstick parameters and USG, protein quantification and UPC and protein electrophoresis), which proved the reliability of this noninvasive sampling method. This method was used for sampling 103 urine samples from 44 zoo-housed giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) of four Italian zoos. Urine samples were used to establish the urinalysis reference values in this species and to study the urinary proteome for the first time. The urinary reference values reported as median (lower and upper limit) were: urine specific gravity (USG), 1.030 (1006 - 1.049); urine total proteins (uTP), 17.58 (4.54 – 35.31) mg/dL; urine creatinine (uCr), 154.62 (39.59 – 357.95) mg/dL; urine protein: creatinine ratio (UPC), 0.11 (0.07 – 0.16). In giraffes, most urinary proteins had a low molecular mass (MM) and were present in low quantities. Proteomics disclosed fifteen different proteins, which were involved in the defense against microbes and in the ability of giraffes to concentrate urine. Albumin, lysozyme C, and ubiquitin were the most represented urinary proteins in giraffes. In addition, to define the urinary metabolome profile, 35 urine samples from 35 zoo-housed giraffes of five Italian zoos were used. Metabolomics allowed to identify and quantify 39 molecules and the most represented metabolites were hippurate, creatinine and phenylacetylglycine. This analysis provided information on physiological adaptations of giraffes. Besides, urinary metabolites were influenced by sex: urinary metabolome profile of female showed higher level of acetate, succinate, and lactate, conversely hippurate, phenylacetylglycine, and thymine were more concentrated in male urines. Similarly, the age affected the concentration of three urinary metabolites, namely formate, alanine, and valerate

From open government to open parties in Europe. A framework for analysis

Open government (OG) is an increasingly used management model among the public administrations of European countries and of the European Union, which is currently working on The Path to the Digital Decade. This supposes the application of measures to promote proximity and citizenship's prominence in many public policies, leading to improved quality of democracy. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to a forced digitalization of many public services. Despite the fact that studies on OG do not usually focus on them, political parties are essential actors for the success or failure of OG measures, both from a bottom-up and a top-down perspective, on public administration transformation. Moreover, political parties are transforming themselves into more open organizations at the same time. We define open parties as political parties with high standards in transparency, participation, and collaboration. They also feature high degrees of organizational digitalization. This article proposes a framework for analyzing political parties' openness and explores available empirical data on different aspects related to OG in the European context. We have found that most parties possess a good level of local organizational strength but still need to reach better levels of anticorruption commitment, to form stronger ties with affiliated organizations, and especially to improve the participation of members and activists in their decision-making. Furthermore, elitism, clientelism, and populistic rhetoric represent significant obstacles that could hinder the party reform process