AQUAPOL-project: Model applications and comparison in the Kapos catchment, Hungary

AQUAPOL is a project funded by The Research Council of Norway (RCN) under the EU Candidate Countries Programme. The project has carried out a pilot study in the Kapos catchment in Hungary, with the overall aim to develop tools facilitating the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in Hungary. This report describes the application and inter-comparison of tools for the quantification of nutrient fluxes in the Kapos catchment. 4 different approaches were tested in the Kapos catchment; Source Apportionment (SA), TEOTIL, INCA-P and SWAT, listed from simple to complex. The study showed that each approach has different strengths and weaknesses. The simpler approaches are quick and very useful for screening purposes. The more complex models provide deeper insight into the catchment processes, provide results on a finer time resolution and, at least to some extent, support scenario analysis for management purposes. The project has been carried out as a close co-operation between VITUKI CONSULT Rt and the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA)

Party systems and cleavage structures revisited : a sociological explanation of party system institutionalization in East Central Europe

First published on 14 February 2012.Since Lipset and Rokkan (1967) published their seminal work on the importance of social cleavages for the ‘freezing’ of party systems more than forty years ago, much has been written on the field demonstrating or discrediting the original hypothesis. In the current article, I examine how cleavage formation and development have influenced the different levels of institutionalization in four new post-communist party systems (i.e. Visegrad). Analysing distinct hypotheses, I arrive at the conclusion that neither the number nor the type nor the strength of a cleavage is associated with the degree of party system institutionalization in East Central Europe. On the contrary, the main conclusion is that party system institutionalization in these democracies has been determined by the way cleavages are structured. In particular, the process of party system institutionalization is found to be hindered when cleavages cross-cut, while fostered in cases where they cumulate (i.e. coincide)