Johannes Althusius on public administration

After centuries of neglect, the political thought of Johannes Althusius (1557-1638) is receiving renewed scholarly attention. His thinking about administration, however, has so far been hardly considered, even though more than half of his most important work (Politica Methodice Digesta) is devoted to it. This article explores Althusius's discussion of administration and its relation to his views on politics and communication. In particular, it discusses what (public) administration actually is, according to Althusius, who exercises it, and how it should be performed. Although Althusius's Calvinist approach is clearly at odds with some basic tenets of modern thinking, it can foster a better understanding of public administration's role in the present-day situation of diffusing state sovereignty. Moreover, he reminds us that public administration is a mandate from the people and needs to be exercised with prudence

Perception of typical migraine images on the internet: Comparison between a metropolis and a smaller rural city in Germany

The medial portrayal of migraine is often stereotypical and inaccurate but reflects how society perceives migraine. The discrepancy between others' views and the reality of affected individuals may negatively affect access to treatment and the disease course of patients with migraine. This study aimed to investigate whether images presented in the media as typical migraine attacks are perceived as realistic and representative by migraine patients in Rostock, a smaller town in rural Germany, and compare the results to those from Berlin, a large metropolis. We performed an online survey in Rostock. Migraine patients were shown ten images of migraine attacks, which were among the most downloaded stock pictures on the internet under the search term "migraine". They rated on a scale of 0-100 to what extent the pictures were realistic for migraine attacks (realism score), representative of their own migraine (representation score), or the society's view of migraine (society score). In addition, we compared our results with a recently published study from the metropolitan region of Berlin. A total of 174 migraine patients completed our survey. Mean (SD) realism, representation, and society scores were 59.9 (17.5), 56.7 (18.3), and 58.4 (17.1) respectively. Images of older patients were perceived as significantly more realistic and representative than those of younger patients (P < .001). Patients in Rostock (rural region) rated the images as significantly more realistic and representative than survey participants in Berlin (metropolis). Migraine patients in a rural region found typical migraine images only moderately realistic and representative but to a higher degree than their counterparts from a metropolis