Fresh pipes with dirty water: How quality of government shapes the provision of public goods in democracies

A large strand of research holds that democracy with its broad representation and electoral accountability is beneficial for the provision of public goods. Yet, there is a large variation in how democracies perform, indicating that democratic institutions alone do not suffice for securing citizens’ wellbeing. Recent studies have stressed the equal importance of state capacity for public goods delivery. These studies, however, rarely investigate how the lack of state capacity mutes the effects of democratic institutions on public goods provision. This article addresses this gap by using a mixed methods design. First, the conditional effects of democracy and quality of government (QoG) are tested on the previously under‐researched domain of the provision of clean water. The results show that democracy is associated with higher water quality only in countries where QoG is high. If QoG is low, more democracy is even related to lower water quality. The second stage of the analysis proceeds by examining how poor QoG disrupts the effects of democracy on public access to safe drinking water using interview data from a typical case of Moldova. The analysis illustrates that democracy has a number of positive effects and incentivises politicians to focus on the visible aspects of water provision, including the expansion of the water pipe network. However, low QoG hampers adoption and implementation of long‐term policies necessary for securing an aspect of water provision that is harder to achieve – namely water quality. This leaves the fresh pipes with dirty water

NANOGAP ELECTRICAL DETECTION OF SINGLE MOLECULES TRANSLOCATING THROUGH A NANOCHANNEL WITH TRANSVERSE NANOELECTRODES AND FUNNELS POPULATED WITH AN ARRAY OF NANOPILLARS

We are developing techniques for the fabrication of mixed-scale systems (nm to mm) used for the molecular-scale sensing of single-molecules (DNAs, RNAs, peptides and proteins). The system consists of microchannels and nanochannels (10-100 nm) with integrated electrodes of similar dimensions for transducing single molecules. The system is applicable for the rapid and efficient sequencing of biopolymers by measuring flight-times of monomer units clipped from a single polymer. Preliminary results from calculations and Molecular Dynamic (MD) simulations have supported the viability of our system

Reforming Moldovan social assistance: Poor Laws for the European fringe?

The small south-eastern European Republic of Moldova is often referred to as 'the poorhouse of the continent'. During its transition from a communist to a market economy, inequality and poverty rose exponentially - with the latter reaching a peak of 70% in 1999. Thus, a new social contract between state and society had to be fabricated. The Soviet social protection system, designed around the needs of the workforce and specific groups, was unable to meet the challenges posed by transition. A reform seemed inevitable, re-targeting resources at the most needy. However, Western means-tested models could not be simply transferred; path-dependencies along with donor interventions shaped and altered the policy process

Referendums in Russia, the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe

No abstract available