Statehood, secularization, cooperation: explaining democratic survival in Inter-War Europe ; Stein Rokkan's conceptual map revisited

Der vorliegende Beitrag analysiert die Krise der Demokratie im Mittel- und Osteuropa der Zwischenkriegszeit, in der ein demokratisches Regime nach dem anderen bis auf die Tschechoslowakei gescheitert ist. Geprüft werden soll dabei der begrifflich-theoretische Bezugsrahmen von Stein Rokkan, der die Prozesse der Nationenbildung und Demokratisierung für Europa zu erklären versucht hat. Rokkan unterscheidet zwei Dimensionen nach denen sich die politische Landschaft in Europa unterscheiden läßt: (1) Eine Ost-West-Achse, auf der nach dem Grad der Verstädterung und der Bildung von politischen Zentren differenziert wird und (2) eine Nord-Südachse, auf der nach dem Grad der Integration zwischen Staat und Kirche differenziert wird. Die Interpretation der Daten von 18 europäischen Staaten zeigt das Paradox, daß der beste Indikator für das Überleben demokratischer Regime in einer starken staatlichen Tradition und einem hohen Grad der Säkularisierung der Gesellschaft liegt. (pmb)'This article addresses itself to the crisis of democracy in inter-war Europe which saw the breakdown of one democratic regime after the other with Czechoslovakia as the only survivor case in Eastern and Central Europe by the end of the period. It is cast within the framework of Stein Rokkan's seminal conceptual map of Europe which is expanded in order to account for countries and variables originally not included in his analytical scheme. The analysis leads to the following conclusion: where the state building was weak and the legacy of empire strong, or where secular nation building was still impaired by deeply rooted religious sentiments, or where significant segments representing major cleavages where not coopted into a constitutional compromise, the chances for democratic survival in inter-war Europe were slim indeed. The conclusion applies to the inter-war era alone, but it clearly has implications for contemporary Europe. Noting that statehood and secularization ranked high on the agenda of communist Eastern Europe, the authors raise the paradoxical question if the success of democracy in this part of the world may in fact be a byproduct of the extent to which the now defunct communist regimes were successful in promoting their pet goals.' (author's abstract

Europeizacija i izazov demokracije

This article sets out to clarify the complex relationship between Europeanisation and democracy. In the process we will get a better understanding of what the EU is, what it is not, and what it might become in the shadow of the ongoing Eurozone crisis. Organisationally, the EU is a hybrid between intergovernmentalism and statehood. It has an ideological commitment to democracy and European integration. It has done more to promote democracy in Europe than anyone else, but it cannot practice all that it teaches. It is not – and cannot develop into – a full-blown democracy on a par with its member states as long as European state and nation building remains incomplete.Članak objašnjava kompleksan odnos između europeizacije i demokracije. Nudi se dublje razumijevanje same Europske Unije te njene transformacije u svjetlu krize Eurozone. Organizacijski, EU je hibrid interguvernmentalizma i državnosti. Posjeduje ideološku predanost demokraciji i europskoj integraciji. Imala je presudnu ulogu u promicanju demokracije u Europi, iako ne može uvijek ispuniti ideal koji zagovara. Nije – i ne može biti – punokrvna demokracija na istoj razini sa svojim članicama dokle god izgradnja europske države i nacije ostaje nedovršena

TOWARDS PRESIDENTIAL RULE IN UKRAINE: HYBRID REGIME DYNAMICS UNDER SEMI-PRESIDENTIALISM

ABSTRACT the president-parliamentary system in 2010 -the constitutional arrangement with the most dismal record of democratisation -was a step in the wrong direction. The premierpresidential regime was by no means ideal, but it had at least two advantages. It weakened the presidential dominance and it explicitly anchored the survival of the government in parliament. The return to the 1996 constitution ties in well with the notion that President Viktor Yanukovych has embarked on an outright authoritarian path

Data evaluation and numerical modeling of hydrological interactions between active layer, lake and talik in a permafrost catchment, Western Greenland

SummaryThis study investigates annual water balance conditions and their spatiotemporal variability under a wide variety of atmospheric driving conditions in the periglacial permafrost catchment of Two Boat Lake in Western Greenland. The study uses and combines a comprehensive hydrological multi-parameter dataset measured at the site with site conceptualization and numerical model development, application and testing. The model result reproduces measured lake and groundwater levels, as well as observations made by time-lapse cameras. The results highlights the importance of numerical modeling that takes into account and combines evapotranspiration with other surface and subsurface hydrological processes at various depths, in order to quantitatively understand and represent the dynamics and complexity of the interactions between meteorology, active layer hydrology, lakes, and unfrozen groundwater below permafrost in periglacial catchments. Regarding these interactions, the water flow between the studied lake and a through talik within and beneath it is found to be small compared to other water balance components. The modeling results show that recharge and discharge conditions in the talik can shift in time, while the lake and active layer conditions in the studied catchment are independent of catchment-external landscape features, such as the unfrozen groundwater system below the permafrost and the nearby continental-scale ice sheet

A carbon mass-balance budget for a periglacial catchment in West Greenland - Linking the terrestrial and aquatic systems

Climate change is predicted to have far reaching consequences for the mobility of carbon in arctic landscapes. On a regional scale, carbon cycling is highly dependent on interactions between terrestrial and aquatic parts of a catchment. Despite this, studies that integrate the terrestrial and aquatic systems and study entire catchments using site-specific data are rare. In this work, we use data partly published by Lindborg et al. (2016a) to calculate a whole-catchment carbon mass-balance budget for a periglacial catchment in West Greenland. Our budget shows that terrestrial net primary production is the main input of carbon (99% of input), and that most carbon leaves the system through soil respiration (90% of total export/storage). The largest carbon pools are active layer soils (53% of total carbon stock or 13 kg C m (2)), permafrost soils (30% of total carbon stock or 7.6 kg C m (2)) and lake sediments (13% of total carbon stock or 10 kg C m (2)). Hydrological transport of carbon from the terrestrial to aquatic system is lower than in wetter climates, but the annual input of 4100 kg C yr (1) (or 3.5 g C m (2) yr (1)) that enters the lake via runoff is still three times larger than the eolian input of terrestrial carbon. Due to the dry conditions, the hydrological export of carbon from the catchment is limited (5% of aquatic export/storage or 0.1% of total export/storage). Instead, CO2 evasion from the lake surface and sediment burial accounts for 57% and 38% of aquatic export/storage, respectively (or 0.8% and 0.5% of total export/storage), and Two-Boat Lake acts as a net source of carbon to the atmosphere. The limited export of carbon to downstream water bodies make our study system different from wetter arctic environments, where hydrological transport is an important export pathway for carbon. (C) 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V

Stosowanie Konstytucji RP z 1997 roku - doświadczenia i perspektywy : międzynarodowa konferencja naukowa

Sprawozdanie z Międzynarodowej Konferencji Naukowej, która odbyła się w Krakowie w dniach 24-27 września 2006Prowadzone w latach 2002-2005 przez kilkudziesięciu specjalistów z całej Polski, pod kierownictwem prof. dr hab. Kazimierza Działochy, badania nad stosowaniem Konstytucji RP z 1997 r. przyniosły nie tylko bogaty dorobek liczący dziesięć tomów studiów i raport końcowy, ale znalazły swój finał w pracach Międzynarodowej Konferencji Naukowej, która odbyła się w Krakowie w dniach 24-27 września 2006 r. Konferencja zorganizowana została przez Polskie Towarzystwo Prawa Konstytucyjnego, Katedrę Prawa Ustrojowego Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego oraz Katedrę Prawa Konstytucyjnego Krakowskiej Szkoły Wyższej im. Andrzeja Frycza Modrzewskiego. Wybitne osobistości ze świata nauki i praktyki politycznej - zwłaszcza współtwórcy Konstytucji - oraz osoby zajmujące najwyższe stanowiska państwowe, które stosowały ją bezpośrednio, tworzyły Komitet Honorowy Konferencji pod przewodnictwem pana Prezydenta Aleksandra Kwaśniewskiego

Decreased Th1-Type Inflammatory Cytokine Expression in the Skin Is Associated with Persisting Symptoms after Treatment of Erythema Migrans

Background: Despite the good prognosis of erythema migrans (EM), some patients have persisting symptoms of various character and duration post-treatment. Several factors may affect the clinical outcome of EM, e. g. the early interaction between Borrelia (B.) burgdorferi and the host immune response, the B. burgdorferi genotype, antibiotic treatment as well as other clinical circumstances. Our study was designed to determine whether early cytokine expression in the skin and in peripheral blood in patients with EM is associated with the clinical outcome. Methods: A prospective follow-up study of 109 patients with EM was conducted at the A land Islands, Finland. Symptoms were evaluated at 3, 6, 12 and 24 months post-treatment. Skin biopsies from the EM and healthy skin were immunohistochemically analysed for expression of interleukin (IL)-4, IL-10, IL-12p70 and interferon (IFN)-gamma, as well as for B. burgdorferi DNA. Blood samples were analysed for B. burgdorferi antibodies, allergic predisposition and levels of systemic cytokines. Findings: None of the patients developed late manifestations of Lyme borreliosis. However, at the 6-month follow-up, 7 of 88 patients reported persisting symptoms of diverse character. Compared to asymptomatic patients, these 7 patients showed decreased expression of the Th1-associated cytokine IFN-gamma in the EM biopsies (p = 0.003). B. afzelii DNA was found in 48%, B. garinii in 15% and B. burgdorferi sensu stricto in 1% of the EM biopsies, and species distribution was the same in patients with and without post-treatment symptoms. The two groups did not differ regarding baseline patient characteristics, B. burgdorferi antibodies, allergic predisposition or systemic cytokine levels. Conclusion: Patients with persisting symptoms following an EM show a decreased Th1-type inflammatory response in infected skin early during the infection, which might reflect a dysregulation of the early immune response. This finding supports the importance of an early, local Th1-type response for optimal resolution of LB.Original Publication: Johanna Sjöwall, Linda Fryland, Marika Nordberg, Florence Sjögren, Ulf Garpmo, Christian Jansson, Sten-Anders Carlsson, Sven Bergstrom, Jan Ernerudh, Dag Nyman, Pia Forsberg and Christina Ekerfelt, Decreased Th1-Type Inflammatory Cytokine Expression in the Skin Is Associated with Persisting Symptoms after Treatment of Erythema Migrans, 2011, PLOS ONE, (6), 3, 0018220. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0018220 Copyright: Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://www.plos.org

Demokrati och byråkrati i utrikes- och inrikespolitik: Medborgarundersökningen

In this study the respondent had to answer questions about interest in politics, party preference, party most disliked, actual vote in the 1979 election and voting intention at a hypothetical election on the day of answering the questionnaire. There were also a number of questions on the opinion of the parties regarding: employment, equality between men and women, wage-earners´ investment fund, energy and nuclear power, schools and education, defence, taxes, aid to developing countries, child care, state control of private enterprises, and foreign affairs. The respondents had to give their opinion on different statements regarding foreign affairs, defence policy, and school issues, and also to give their idea of the opinion of the political parties regarding the same statements. In addition the study deals with the respondents opinion on how to influence political decisions, and opinion on the influence different groups and organizations have on foreign affairs, defence policy, and school issues.Vid de statsvetenskapliga institutionerna ivid Stockholms och Umeå universitets genomfördes i slutet av 1970-talet ett projekt där syftet var att undersöka åsiktsöverensstämmelsen mellan väljare och partier i ett antal frågor. Denna delundersökning tar upp allmänhetens syn på politik och de olika parterna. I centrum för undersökningen står tre sektorer - skol-, försvars- och utrikespolitik. Frågeformuläret innehöll frågor om respondentens intresse för politik och åsikter om politik i allmänhet; hur mycket man gillar/ogillar respektive parti; hur man placerar respektive parti på en vänster-högerskala; bästa och sämsta parti; hur man röstade i riksdagsvalet 1979 och hur man skulle rösta om det vore val idag; partier som fört bra respektive dålig politik när det gäller: sysselsättningsfrågor, frågor som rör jämställdhet mellan män och kvinnor, frågor som rör löntagarafonder, energi- och kärnkraftsfrågor, skol- och utbildningsfrågor, försvarsfrågor, skattefrågor, u-hjälpsfrågor, frågor som rör barnomsorg, frågor som rör statens inflytande över näringslivet, utrikespolitiska frågor. Därutöver ställdes frågor om den egna och de politiska partiernas inställning i ett antal utrikes-, försvars- och skolpolitiska frågor: u-landsbistånd, frihandel, Norden en kärnvapenfri zon, nedrustningsfrågor, svenskt militärt flygplanssystem, försvarets storlek, skolans mål, betyg, privata skolor, kränkningar av svenskt område. Respondenterna fick också ange hur effektiva de trodde olika aktiviteter var att påverka politiska beslut och hur man själv skulle agera för att påverka beslut i skol-, försvars- och utrikespolitiska frågor