Is Informal Politics Undemocratic? Trilogues, Early Agreements and the Selection Model of Representation

Over the last two decades, the European Parliament (EP) has been empowered to make European Union (EU) legislation more inclusive, transparent and accountable. Yet, co-legislation has increased informalization and seclusion, as an ever-larger proportion of legislative acts is pre-agreed between Parliament and Council prior to first reading. This article asks under which conditions informalization is democratically problematic or tenable. So far, ‘early agreements’ have been criticized for their lack of transparency and accountability, their challenge to deliberation and inclusiveness, and their differential empowerment of ‘relais actors’. Little attention has been paid, however, to the representation of the parliamentary principal in trilogues. This article draws on Jane Mansbridge's selection model of representation to fill the gap; it argues that representation with a strong ‘selection core’ and a weak ‘sanction periphery’ is, prudentially, best-suited for bicameral bargaining, and it introduces normative standards that make the selection model democratically tenable. A close analysis of codecision's current practices and institutions shows that these fall short of ‘good deliberation at initial selection’ and of ‘narrative accountability’; ‘ease of maintenance and de-selection’ is approximated and ‘transparency in rationale’ is strengthened in the EP's 2012 Rules of Procedure. Future reform should, therefore, introduce two democratically crucial, yet hitherto neglected, measures: open deliberation about the appointment of rapporteurs; and reason-giving and justification (in addition to reporting back) by trilogue negotiators

Risks of Tailings Dams Failure

Risk and Reliability in Geotechnical Engineerin

Pulmonary giant cells and their significance for the diagnosis of asphyxiation

This study was performed to prove whether the detection of polynuclear giant cells in lungs is useful for the diagnosis of asphyxiation due to throttling or strangulation. Therefore, lung specimens of 54 individuals with different natural and unnatural causes of death were investigated. In most lungs examined numerous alveolar macrophages with 1-2 nuclei were found. Polynuclear giant cells, which were arbitrarily defined as alveolar macrophages containing 3 or more nuclei, were observed in all groups investigated except in the cases of hypoxia due to covering the head with plastic bags. Apparent differences between the other groups in particular an increased number in cases of throttling or strangulation, could not be observed. Immunohistochemical investigations confirmed the hypothesis that the observed polynuclear giant cells were derived from alveolar macrophages. The immunohistochemical analysis of the proliferation marker antigen Ki 67 revealed no positive reaction in the nuclei of polynuclear giant cells indicating that these cells had not developed shortly before death by endomitosis as an adaptative change following reduction in oxygen supply. The results provide evidence that the detection of pulmonary polynuclear giant cells cannot be used as a practical indicator for death by asphyxiation due to throttling or strangulation

Introduction: Meeting in the Middle

Compromise is routinely evoked in everyday language and in scholarly debates across the social sciences. Yet, it has been subjected to relatively little systematic study. The introduction to this inter-disciplinary volume addresses the research gap in three steps. First, we offer three reasons for the study of compromise: its empirical omnipresence in politics, its theoretical potential to bridge the rationalist-constructivist divide, and its normative promise to recognize the plurality of society. Second, we introduce different approaches to the coherence, legitimacy and limits of compromise found in the existing explanatory and normative literatures. We discuss why these literatures need to speak to one another, and identify possible applications in empirical research. Third, we conceptualize compromise as one possible solution to a conflict. Distinct from both dissensus and consensus, all compromises share three characteristics: concessions, non-coercion and continued controversy. However, different types of compromise can be distinguished by how mutual, costly and painful concessions are; by whether all forms of coercion are absent; and by the degree to which the relevant parties’ grounds for conflict are transformed. We conclude by discussing the challenge and appeal of ‘politics as compromise’ in plural and complex societies

The Informal Politics of Legislation: Explaining Secluded Decision-Making in the European Union

This article investigates a widespread yet understudied trend in EU politics: the shift of legislative decision making from public inclusive to informal se- cluded arenas and the subsequent adoption of legislation as “early agree- ments.” Since its introduction in 1999, “fast-track legislation” has increased dramatically, accounting for 72% of codecision files in the Sixth European Parliament. Drawing from functionalist institutionalism, distributive bargain- ing theory, and sociological institutionalism, this article explains under what conditions informal decision making is likely to occur. The authors test their hypotheses on an original data set of all 797 codecision files negotiated between mid-1999 and mid-2009. Their analysis suggests that fast-track leg- islation is systematically related to the number of participants, legislative workload, and complexity. These findings back a functionalist argument, emphasizing the transaction costs of intraorganizational coordination and in- formation gathering. However, redistributive and salient acts are regularly decided informally, and the Council presidency’s priorities have no significant effect on fast-track legislation. Hence, the authors cannot confirm explana- tions based on issue properties or actors’ privileged institutional positions. Finally, they find a strong effect for the time fast-track legislation has been used, suggesting socialization into interorganizational norms of cooperation

Differential pH-dependent cellular uptake pathways among foamy viruses elucidated using dual-colored fluorescent particles

Background: It is thought that foamy viruses (FVs) enter host cells via endocytosis because all FV glycoproteins examined display pH-dependent fusion activities. Only the prototype FV (PFV) glycoprotein has also significant fusion activity at neutral pH, suggesting that its uptake mechanism may deviate from other FVs. To gain new insights into the uptake processes of FV in individual live host cells, we developed fluorescently labeled infectious FVs. Results: N-terminal tagging of the FV envelope leader peptide domain with a fluorescent protein resulted in efficient incorporation of the fluorescently labeled glycoprotein into secreted virions without interfering with their infectivity. Double-tagged viruses consisting of an eGFP-tagged PFV capsid (Gag-eGFP) and mCherry-tagged Env (Ch-Env) from either PFV or macaque simian FV (SFVmac) were observed during early stages of the infection pathway. PFV Env, but not SFVmac Env, containing particles induced strong syncytia formation on target cells. Both virus types showed trafficking of double-tagged virions towards the cell center. Upon fusion and subsequent capsid release into the cytosol, accumulation of naked capsid proteins was observed within four hours in the perinuclear region, presumably representing the centrosomes. Interestingly, virions harboring fusion-defective glycoproteins still promoted virus attachment and uptake, but failed to show syncytia formation and perinuclear capsid accumulation. Non-fused or non-fusogenic viruses are rapidly cleared from the cells by putative lysosomal degradation. Monitoring the fraction of viruses containing both Env and capsid signals as a function of time demonstrated that PFV virions fused within the first few minutes, whereas fusion of SFVmac virions was less pronounced and observed over the entire 90 minutes measured. Conclusions: The characterized double-labeled FVs described here provide new mechanistic insights into FV early entry steps, demonstrating that productive viral fusion occurs early after target cell attachment and uptake. The analysis highlights apparent differences in the uptake pathways of individual FV species. Furthermore, the infectious double-labeled FVs promise to provide important tools for future detailed analyses on individual FV fusion events in real time using advanced imaging techniques

Structural basis for stable DNA complex formation by the caspase-activated DNase

We describe a structural model for DNA binding by the caspase-activated DNase (CAD). Results of a mutational analysis and computational modeling suggest that DNA is bound via a positively charged surface with two functionally distinct regions, one being the active site facing the DNA minor groove and the other comprising distal residues close to or directly from helix α4, which binds DNA in the major groove. This bipartite protein-DNA interaction is present once in the CAD/inhibitor of CAD heterodimer and repeated twice in the active CAD dimer. © 2005 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc

Texts as Data I : Document Analysis

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