Do populist parties increase electoral participation?

While many observers view the rise of populism as a negative development for democracy, other authors have suggested populist parties might boost political participation by attracting disaffected citizens who do not normally vote. Drawing on a new study, Arndt Leininger and Maurits J. Meijers find evidence that in Central and Eastern Europe the presence of populist parties is associated with a rise in turnout. However, in Western Europe, there is no such effect, indicating that context matters for the impact populism has on democracy

The role of ADAMTS13 in acute myocardial infarction:cause or consequence?

ADAMTS13, a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with a thrombospondin type 1 motif, member 13, is a metalloprotease that cleaves von Willebrand factor (VWF). There is considerable evidence that VWF levels increase and ADAMTS13 levels decrease in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients. It is unclear whether this contributes to no reflow, infarct size, and intramyocardial haemorrhage (IMH). We aimed to determine the role of ADAMTS13 in STEMI patients and to investigate the benefits of recombinant ADAMTS13 (rADAMTS13) in a porcine model of myocardial ischaemia-reperfusion. In 49 consecutive percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)-treated STEMI patients, blood samples were collected directly after through 7 days following PCI. Cardiac magnetic resonance was performed 4-6 days after PCI to determine infarct size and IMH. In 23 Yorkshire swine, the circumflex coronary artery was occluded for 75 min. rADAMTS13 or vehicle was administered intracoronary following reperfusion. Myocardial injury and infarct characteristics were assessed using cardiac enzymes, ECG, and histopathology. In patients with IMH, VWF activity and VWF antigen were significantly elevated directly after PCI and for all subsequent measurements, and ADAMTS13 activity significantly decreased at 4 and 7 days following PCI, in comparison with patients without IMH. VWF activity and ADAMTS13 activity were not related to infarct size. In rADAMTS13-treated animals, no differences in infarct size, IMH, or formation of microthrombi were witnessed compared with controls. No correlation was found between VWF/ADAMTS13 and infarct size in patients. However, patients suffering from IMH had significantly higher VWF activity and lower ADAMTS13 activity. Intracoronary administration of rADAMTS13 did not decrease infarct size or IMH in a porcine model of myocardial ischaemia-reperfusion. These data dispute the imbalance in ADAMTS13 and VWF as the cause of no reflow

The euro-crisis as a catalyst of the Europeanization of public spheres? A crosstemporal study of the Netherlands and Germany

In this paper it is analysed whether the euro-crisis has induced a change in the degree of Europeanization of national public spheres. It is argued that ‘mediatizing politics’ on TV is a prerequisite for the accountability structures of liberal democracies. Examining the degree of Europeanization of public broadcaster news in Germany and the Netherlands in 2008 and 2011 this paper gauges the changes in terms of visibility of European issues and in terms of salience of items on European issues. Moreover it is analysed which news categories predominate, the tone of news items on European issues, and which explicit evaluations of European integration appear – and how these elements are affected by the euro-crisis. Finally, it is shown that although the Europeanization of public spheres increased as the euro-crisis developed, the EU was mostly portrayed negatively, focused predominantly on economic issues and political contestation was hardly visible

Contagious Euroscepticism. The Impact of Eurosceptic Challenger Parties on Mainstream Party Attitudes toward European Integration

This project argues that Eurosceptic challenger parties can affect mainstream parties’ attitudes toward European integration in Western Europe. Defined as anti-European parties without governing experience, Eurosceptic challengers have become a pervasive electoral phenomenon. On the backdrop of both spatial theory and issue saliency theory of party competition, this project argues that Eurosceptic challenger parties can influence mainstream parties’ positions on as well as emphasis of the European integration issue. After comparative overview of party-based Euroscepticism, a historical and descriptive quantitative analysis of mainstream EU positions and EU issue salience demonstrates that mainstream party attitudes vary significantly over time – an important precondition for Eurosceptic challengers’ programmatic influence.(...

Has Eurosceptic Mobilization Become More Contagious? Comparing the 2009 and 2014 EP Election Campaigns in The Netherlands and France

With the lingering Euro crisis, personalized competition for the Commission presidency, and a surge of Eurosceptic parties, the 2014 European Parliament elections took place against an unknown level of European Union politicization. How does this changing context affect the supply side of party competition on European issues in EP election campaigns? This article compares the 2014 and 2009 EP elections in two EU founding members with high electoral support for radical left and radical right Euroscepticism - France and the Netherlands. We study publically visible patterns of partisan mobilization in the written news media with semi-automated content analyses. The data indicate that visible party mobilization on EU issues was on average not significantly higher in 2014. While particularly mainstream and especially incumbent parties publically mobilize on European issues during both campaigns, the radical right's mobilization efforts have become more visible during the 2014 elections. Examining the temporal dynamics within electoral campaigns, we show that the Eurosceptic fringes exhibit significant contagion effects on the mainstream parties, but that the extent of this contagion was surprisingly lower in the 2014 campaign. As a result, the increasing EU politicization between the 2009 and 2014 electoral contests has not resulted in an enhanced and more interactive supply of partisan debate about Europe. (author's abstract

Public Perceptions of Grassroots Minority Organizations: Unpacking Public Prejudice Toward Community Education

Both in academic discourse and public debate, the desirability of grassroots ethnic minority initiatives and spaces has been a subject of contention in the European context. While critics point to the risks of in-group bonding for social integration, others argue that separate minority spaces are sources of minority empowerment. Yet, we know little about the public perceptions of grassroots minority organizations, how they are structured, and what explains public opposition to certain minority grassroots initiatives, but not others. Focusing on supplementary educational initiatives by ethnic minorities, we examine public perceptions of grassroots ethnic minority initiatives in the case of Flanders, Belgium with two unique studies. Using new observational survey data, Study 1 examines descriptively the levels of public support and opposition for community schools, and studies the individual-level determinants of public support and opposition. Yet, it is commonly assumed that the acceptance of minority initiatives varies across ethnic minority groups. In Study 2, we therefore examine whether the community of origin (Chinese, Italian, or Moroccan) and the intended purpose (heritage-language training or math tutoring) of the school drive opposition using a unique survey experiment. This allows us to tease out whether support and opposition are steered by general segregation fears or, instead, are driven by ethnic prejudice. Varying the educational initiatives’ intended purpose allows us to examine whether emphasis on ethno-cultural differences steers opposition. Our findings will improve our understanding of public preferences for migrant integration and can guide future policymaking