When will parties comply with electoral results? Political institutions and strategic choices of political parties following electoral defeat

This study examines the electoral compliance of political parties. In recent decades the number of countries holding multi-party elections has increased dramatically. Often times, however, one or more of the parties participating in the election refuse to comply with the announced results and frequently resort to extra-legal strategies to dispute electoral outcomes. I develop and test a model of electoral compliance based on both election-level and party-level factors. I model the decisions of political parties to reject electoral outcomes as well as their selection of post-electoral strategies, taking into account legal and extra-legal tactics. The analysis focuses on post-electoral strategies of political parties in elections held in the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union between 1990 and 2009. My findings indicate that political parties likely employ several types of strategic calculations when deciding how to respond to electoral defeat. Most prominently, political parties take into account their chances of winning in the future electoral cycles when responding to current electoral outcomes. Moreover, the characteristics of individual political parties, including their political histories and ideology, play an important role in their decision to reject electoral results. This study shows that approaching the phenomenon of electoral compliance from both the election- and the party-level offers a more accurate perspective of, and new insights into, the questions of post-electoral compliance

Commitment and Diffusion: How and Why National Constitutions Incorporate International Law

Drafters of new constitutions face a bewildering array of choices as they seek to design stable and workable political institutions for their societies. One such set of choices concerns the status of interna- tional law in the domestic legal order. In a global era, with an ex- panding array of customary and treaty norms purporting to regulate formerly domestic behavior, this question takes on political salience. This paper seeks to describe the phenomenon of constitutional incor- poration of international law in greater detail and provide a prelimi- nary empirical test of the competing explanations for it. First, the dis- cussion focuses on the concepts of monism and dualism, which have become conventional terms used by lawyers to describe the interac- tion of domestic and international legal systems. Second, a theory of commitments as well as the advantages and disadvantages of interna- tional law are set forth. Third, empirical implications are developed for the precommitment and diffusion theories, which are then tested. Findings show that adopting international law is a useful strategy for democracies to lock in particular policies, encourage trust in govern- ments and state regimes, and bolster global reputations.Governmen

The new water-soluble thermosensitive star-like copolymer as a promising carrier of the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin

A new water-soluble thermosensitive star-like copolymer, dextran-graft-poly-N-iso-propilacrylamide (D-g-PNIPAM), was created and characterized by various techniques (size-exclusion chromatography, differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and dynamic light scattering (DLS) spectroscopy). The viability of cancer cell lines (human transformed cervix epithelial cells, HeLa) as a model for cancer cells was studied using MTT and Live/Dead assays after incubation with a D-g-PNIPAM copolymer as a carrier for the drug doxorubicin (Dox) as well as a D-g-PNIPAM + Dox mixture as a function of the concentration. FTIR spectroscopy clearly indicated the complex formation of Dox with the D-g-PNIPAM copolymer. The size distribution of particles in Hank’s solution was determined by the DLS technique at different temperatures. The in vitro uptake of the studied D-g-PNIPAM + Dox nanoparticles into cancer cells was demonstrated by confocal laser scanning microscopy. It was found that D-g-PNIPAM + Dox nanoparticles in contrast to Dox alone showed higher toxicity toward cancer cells. All of the aforementioned facts indicate a possibility of further preclinical studies of the water-soluble D-g-PNIPAM particles’ behavior in animal tumor models in vivo as promising carriers of anticancer agents

Uplifting manhood to wonderful heights? News coverage of the human costs of military conflict from world war I to Gulf war Two

Domestic political support is an important factor constraining the use of American military power around the world. Although the dynamics of war support are thought to reflect a cost-benefit calculus, with costs represented by numbers of friendly war deaths, no previous study has examined how information about friendly, enemy, and civilian casualties is routinely presented to domestic audiences. This paper establishes a baseline measure of historical casualty reporting by examining New York Times coverage of five major wars that occurred over the past century. Despite important between-war differences in the scale of casualties, the use of conscription, the type of warfare, and the use of censorship, the frequency of casualty reporting and the framing of casualty reports has remained fairly consistent over the past 100 years. Casualties are rarely mentioned in American war coverage. When casualties are reported, it is often in ways that minimize or downplay the human costs of war

Coalitional presidentialism and legislative control in post-Soviet Ukraine

Two political scientists explore the significance of pro-presidential legislative coalitions in Ukrainian politics since 2000. They draw on an original survey of MPs and cabinet data to engage with the extant analysis of coalitional politics in Ukraine. Using the framework of "coalitional presidentialism," which was first developed in the study of Latin American presidential systems, they find evidence to suggest that legislative coalitions are a meaningful feature of Ukrainian legislative life, and point to the tools that presidents use to maintain them