Leaving the Minors : The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand and the 2011 General Election

The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand has emerged as a successful environmentally focused party with a solid base. The 2011 General Election represented a high-point for the party, distancing it from the other minor parties. This article explores examples of factors affecting the success of Green parties, and examines the strategy of the New Zealand Green Party prior to the 2011 election. The findings indicate that the party has developed stable support through the development of a consistent policy base and pragmatic approach to its role in parliament. This has allowed the Greens to establish a position following the 2011 election as the third party in New Zealand politics

SPO11-Independent DNA Repair Foci and Their Role in Meiotic Silencing

In mammalian meiotic prophase, the initial steps in repair of SPO11-induced DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are required to obtain stable homologous chromosome pairing and synapsis. The X and Y chromosomes pair and synapse only in the short pseudo-autosomal regions. The rest of the chromatin of the sex chromosomes remain unsynapsed, contains persistent meiotic DSBs, and the whole so-called XY body undergoes meiotic sex chromosome inactivation (MSCI). A more general mechanism, named meiotic silencing of unsynapsed chromatin (MSUC), is activated when autosomes fail to synapse. In the absence of SPO11, many chromosomal regions remain unsynapsed, but MSUC takes place only on part of the unsynapsed chromatin. We asked if spontaneous DSBs occur in meiocytes that lack a functional SPO11 protein, and if these might be involved in targeting the MSUC response to part of the unsynapsed chromatin. We generated mice carrying a point mutation that disrupts the predicted catalytic site of SPO11 (Spo11YF/YF), and blocks its DSB-inducing activity. Interestingly, we observed foci of proteins involved in the processing of DNA damage, such as RAD51, DMC1, and RPA, both in Spo11YF/YFand Spo11 knockout meiocytes. These foci preferentially localized to the areas that undergo MSUC and form the so-called pseudo XY body. In SPO11-deficient oocytes, the number

Ecological Restoration, Environmentalism and the Dutch Politics of 'New Nature'

'New nature' refers to the current practice in which ten thousands of hectares of superfluous agricultural lands are 'given back to nature', compensating for the loss of 'old nature' in other parts of the Netherlands. Around the issue of 'new nature' two discourses have emerged. In each discourse different environmental values are emphasised: about what nature is or could be; about the relationship between nature, agriculture and development; about ecological mitigation, and so on. Whereas the Dutch branch of WWF is the most active promoter of the sectorial nature development discourse, environmental groups like Friends of the Earth try to weigh these sectorial interests against the background of increasing environmental degradation.Environmentalism, nature development, ecological restoration, WWF