Between Governance-Driven Democratisation and Democracy-Driven Governance: explaining changes in Participatory Governance in the Case of Barcelona

Scholars of participatory democracy have long noted dynamic interactions and transformations within and between political spaces that can foster (de)democratisation. At the heart of this dynamism lie (a) the processes through which top‐down “closed” spaces can create opportunities for rupture and democratic challenges and (b) vice‐versa, the mechanisms through which bottom‐up, open spaces can be co‐opted through institutionalisation. This paper seeks to unpick dynamic interactions between different spaces of participation by looking specifically at two forms of participatory governance, or participatory forms of political decision making used to improve the quality of democracy. First, Mark Warren's concept of ‘governance‐driven democratization’ describes top‐down and technocratic participatory governance aiming to produce better policies in response to bureaucratic rationales. Second, we introduce a new concept, democracy‐driven governance, to refer to efforts by social movements to invent new, and reclaim and transform existing, spaces of participatory governance and shape them to respond to citizens’ demands. The paper defines these concepts and argues that they co‐exist and interact in dynamic fashion; it draws on an analysis of case study literature on participatory governance in Barcelona to illuminate this relationship. Finally, the paper relates the theoretical framework to the case study by making propositions as to the structural and agential drivers of shifts in participatory governance

Wettbewerb und Regulierung

Wettbewerb und Regulierung werfen sowohl aus einer wirtschafts- als auch aus einer politikwissenschaftlichen Perspektive interessante Fragestellungen auf und haben daher in beiden Disziplinen umfangreiche Beachtung gefunden. Der vorliegende Beitrag gibt eine Übersicht über beide Herangehensweisen. Dabei wer-den zunächst die grundlegenden Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten offengelegt (Abschnitt 2), bevor die disziplinären Schwerpunkte in der Analyse vorgestellt, und aus Sicht der jeweils anderen Disziplin kommentiert werden (Abschnitte 3 und 4). Wir kommen zu dem Ergebnis, dass beide Sichtweisen in erster Linie komplementär sind und sich gegenseitig befruchten können

Diastereoselektive Synthesen epiallo-konfigurierter Indolochinolizidine

SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: DB 4100 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

Antihypertensive and laxative effects by pharmacological inhibition of sodium-proton-exchanger subtype 3-Mediated sodium absorption in the gut

High intestinal sodium absorption is one mechanism of hypertension and constipation. The sodium-proton-exchanger subtype 3 (NHE3) is an important mediator of sodium absorption in the gut. SAR218034 (SAR) is an orally nonabsorbable specific NHE3 inhibitor. The effect of SAR (1 mg/kg per day in chow) on feces sodium excretion, systolic blood pressure via tail cuff, and gene expression of NHE3 in the gut were studied in senescent lean hypertensive rats (spontaneously hypertensive rats-lean, loaded with NaCl 0.7% in drinking water) and in hypertensive, obese, and hyperinsulinemic rats (spontaneously hypertensive rats-obese, not loaded with NaCl). In spontaneously hypertensive rats-lean, inhibition of intestinal NHE3 by SAR increased feces sodium excretion and reduced urinary sodium excretion, whereas absolute sodium balance and serum sodium concentration were not changed. This suggests reduced intestinal sodium absorption in SAR-treated animals and was associated with increased feces water content (58% versus 42% in placebo treated animals; P=0.0001) and reduction in systolic blood pressure from 222 ± 7 to 198 ± 2 mm Hg (P=0.0001). Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition by ramipril plus NHE3 inhibition resulted in an additive blood pressure-lowering effect. In spontaneously hypertensive rats-obese, SAR lowered systolic blood pressure but did not modify serum insulin or cholesterol levels. Gene expression of NHE3 was upregulated in the ileum and colon but not in the jejunum of SAR-treated rats. Reduction of intestinal sodium absorption by selective NHE3 inhibition in the gut reduces high blood pressure and increases feces water excretion. Intestinal NHE3 blockade could be a new treatment strategy for elderly patients suffering from high blood pressure and constipation.Dominik Linz, Klaus Wirth, Wolfgang Linz, Hubert O. O. Heuer, Wendelin Frick, Armin Hofmeister, Uwe Heinelt, Petra Arndt, Uwe Schwahn, Michael Böhm, Hartmut Ruette

Understanding sustainability policy: Governance, knowledge and the search for integration

The EU, through the Cardiff and the Gothenburg strategies, sought to counter what was seen as fragmented and uncoordinated environmental policy development by promoting a broad and integrated approach to sustainability. This article seeks to assess two recently implemented EU directives on environmental issues in light of this aim, namely the directives on Air Quality Management and Strategic Environmental Assessment. Drawing on theoretical foundations and empirical evidence from the EU FP6 project 'Governance for Sustainability', this article seeks to understand how policy integration is a matter of knowledge use, which is again related to the governance arrangements in which implementation takes place. Drawing on a total of 15 case studies in nine countries, the article finds that actual decision-making practice varies a lot albeit based on the same directives. In many cases, the directives were viewed as a sectoral 'environmental tools', and these cases were often dominated by expert knowledge being funnelled through relatively closed, hierarchical governance arrangements. In other cases, however, the directives were viewed as opportunities for politicians to cultivate a network mode of governance that 'aspired' to arguing and sometimes opened up for competing knowledge claims. © 2011 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC