Testing Ronald Inglehart’s ‘value change’ theory with the manifestos of western European parties

Ronald Inglehart’s ‘value change’ theory states that as countries develop and meet the material needs of their citizens, the views of their voters should increasingly come to be shaped by ‘postmaterial’ concerns. Using manifesto data from 1990 to 2019, Federico Trastulli tests whether this principle also holds for the platforms of political parties. He finds that with the exception of green parties, western European parties still place substantially more emphasis on material issues in their manifestos

More Left or Left No More? An in-depth analysis of Western European social democratic parties’ emphasis on traditional economic left goals (1944-2021)

The ideological evolution of Western European social democratic parties has received considerable scholarly attention over the decades. The most widespread view concerns the alleged programmatic moderation and convergence with the mainstream right of this party family. However, recent empirical investigations based on electoral manifestos come to different conclusions, highlighting an increase over time in Western European social democratic parties' emphasis on traditional economic left goals, especially in recent years. Hence, this article analyses the evolution of the social democratic programmatic outlook with regard to traditional economic left issues. It does so by relying on Manifesto Project (MARPOR) data about such formations in 369 general elections across 20 Western European countries between 1944 and 2021, employing different indicators of economic left emphasis and time to ensure the robustness of the findings. The analysis shows how, at the aggregate level, social democracy increases its emphasis on traditional economic left issues over time, with the effect driven entirely by the recent post-Great Recession years. However, once disaggregating the results, a more differentiated picture emerges, pointing towards potential causes of concern in terms of measurement validity within the MARPOR data. The article discusses the substantive and, especially, methodological implications of its findings in detail

Two is Better than One? Testing a Deductive MARPOR-based Left-Right Index on Western Europe (1999-2019)

Most of the existing indexes measuring parties’ left-right positions through Manifesto Project (MARPOR) data, including the ‘RILE’, share a partially or fully inductive nature and an underlying assumption of left-right unidimensionality. However, as the structure of party competition in contemporary Western Europe has been recently moving away from traditional ‘left-libertarian/right-authoritarian’ patterns, the inductive and unidimensional characteristics of such instruments may hinder the quality of their measurements. In this article, I introduce and develop a new left-right instrument, which is wholly deductive and relies on an explicit linkage with theoretical sources in the conceptualisation of economic and cultural left and right as the basis for the subsequent index operationalisation through the justified selection of MARPOR items. After deriving the individual deductive economic and cultural left-right scores and employing them in the mathematical formalisation of a synthetic left-right measure to be compared with existing unidimensional instruments, I perform a comparison between the new left-right index and the RILE. Both instruments are empirically tested on a dataset made covering the 20-year period between 1999 and 2019 in 16 Western European countries, for a total of 72 elections and 474 party-election combinations. More specifically, the statistical probes take the form of rank correlation analyses between the election-specific left-right rankings of each index and those provided by the external benchmark of the “Chapel Hill Expert Survey” (CHES). Results are mixed and indicate that, whilst more traditional patterns of competition seem to still apply across the board in pre-Great-Recession years, the new left-right index is a more valid measure of parties’ left-right positions both in the ‘turbulent times’ of the 2010s and in the vast majority of the areas across the region. This is especially true in Southern Europe, for which the RILE is known to be particularly problematic. Hence, this work calls for further discussion on the different patterns of Western European party competition across space and time, as well as differentiated and context-specific deductive left-right measurement

Beyond electoral performance: reviewing and advancing the literature on LGBTIQ+ political careers

In recent years, the rising number of LGBTIQ+ politicians across the world has been matched by an increase in academic attention on which factors foster or hinder their careers. Here, we provide a comprehensive analytical review of the relevant literature, with the goal of illustrating both its synergies and imbalances. We show that most of the existing evidence specifically concerns LGBTIQ+ politicians' electoral performance. Moreover, this knowledge has largely been produced in very similar contexts politically and socioculturally. Finally, we highlight the potential of investigating a number of additional factors that may impact LGBTIQ+ political careers, such as intersectional dynamics that may have a differentiated impact within this population. Future works could expand the scope of this literature by considering these elements and focussing more on the direct experience of LGBTIQ+ politicians

What's new under the sun? A corpus linguistic analysis of the 2022 Italian election campaign themes in party manifestos

In this article, we introduce an innovative approach to examining campaign themes in Italy, by performing an original corpus linguistic analysis of the party manifestos related to the crucial 2022 election. Through its systematicity and flexibility, our approach allows us to gauge theory-driven propositions using a large amount of so far unexplored textual data. As anticipated, the 2022 Italian party manifestos are characterised by a somewhat balanced configuration of emphasis across a variety of themes, of which some are more controversial and others more widely shared among voters and parties. Further, we also corroborate that parties primarily focus on those themes that historically fit them best, ideologically and in terms of perceived competence. Lastly, salient ‘issues of the day’ are differently emphasised by Italian parties, which particularly avoid devoting considerable attention to the highly sensitive Russian-Ukrainian war

What's new under the sun? A corpus linguistic analysis of the 2022 Italian election campaign themes in party manifestos

Con questo lavoro introduciamo un approccio innovativo allo studio dei temi che caratterizzano le campagne elettorali in Italia. Facciamo ciò attraverso una corpus linguistic analysis originale dei manifesti elettorali relativi alle cruciali elezioni del 2022. Tramite la sua sistematicità e flessibilità, il nostro approccio ci permette di valutare delle proposizioni deduttive impiegando un'estesa mole di dati testuali fin qui inesplorati. Come anticipato, i manifesti elettorali italiani del 2022 sono caratterizzati da una configurazione di enfasi piuttosto bilanciata tra una varietà di temi, dei quali alcuni sono più controversi mentre altri più condivisi sia tra gli elettori che tra i partiti. Inoltre, i partiti si concentrano in primo luogo su quei temi che storicamente gli appartengono di più, da un punto di vista ideologico e di competenza percepita. Infine, i principali ‘temi caldi’ del dibattito pubblico durante la campagna elettorale sono enfatizzati in modo differenziato dai partiti italiani, i quali in particolare evitano di concentrarsi oltremodo sul tema spinoso della guerra tra Russia e Ucraina.In this article, we introduce an innovative approach to examining campaign themes in Italy, by performing an original corpus linguistic analysis of the party manifestos related to the crucial 2022 election. Through its systematicity and flexibility, our approach allows us to gauge theory-driven propositions using a large amount of so far unexplored textual data. As anticipated, the 2022 Italian party manifestos are characterised by a somewhat balanced configuration of emphasis across a variety of themes, of which some are more controversial and others more widely shared among voters and parties. Further, we also corroborate that parties primarily focus on those themes that historically fit them best, ideologically and in terms of perceived competence. Lastly, salient ‘issues of the day’ are differently emphasised by Italian parties, which particularly avoid devoting considerable attention to the highly sensitive Russian-Ukrainian war

Robotic double-loop reconstruction method following total gastrectomy

Minimally invasive surgery for gastric cancer is a challenge. The reconstructive time is a particular issue and researchers have adopted a large variety of solutions and produced heterogeneous data. The reconstructive phase can be divided into two major categories based on the approach adopted: the execution of extracorporeal versus intracorporeal anastomosis. In turn, the surgical team can perform the latter with laparoscopic or robotic assistance. However, the question is, how should a robotic esophagojejunal anastomosis be performed after total gastrectomy? Most articles in the literature have reported the execution of mechanical anastomoses [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6], especially with circular staplers via the creation of a manual purse-string around the anvil. Other solutions have described the use of the Orvil or the overlap technique. Only three authors have reported intracorporeal sutures with a completely robotic-sewn anastomosis [7] [8] [9]. A new robotic technique (the Parisi technique) was developed and adopted at St. Mary’s Hospital, Terni, Italy. A double-loop reconstruction method with an intracorporeal robot-sewn anastomosis is performe

New totally intracorporeal reconstructive approach after robotic total gastrectomy. Technical details and short-term outcomes

AIM: To show outcomes of our series of patients that underwent a total gastrectomy with a robotic approach and highlight the technical details of a proposed solution for the reconstruction phase. METHODS: Data of gastrectomies performed from May 2014 to October 2016, were extracted and analyzed. Basic characteristics of patients, surgical and clinical outcomes were reported. The technique for reconstruction (Parisi Technique) consists on a loop of bowel shifted up antecolic to directly perform the esophago-enteric anastomosis followed by a second loop, measured up to 40 cm starting from the esojejunostomy, fixed to the biliary limb to create an enteroenteric anastomosis. The continuity between the two anastomoses is interrupted just firing a linear stapler, so obtaining the Roux-en-Y by avoiding to interrupt the mesentery. RESULTS: Fifty-five patients were considered in the present analysis. Estimated blood loss was 126.55 ± 73 mL, no conversions to open surgery occurred, R0 resections were obtained in all cases. Hospital stay was 5 (3-17) d, no anastomotic leakage occurred. Overall, a fast functional recovery was shown with a median of 3 (3-6) d in starting a solid diet. CONCLUSION: Robotic surgery and the adoption of a tailored reconstruction technique have increased the feasibility and safety of a minimally invasive approach for total gastrectomy. The present series of patients shows its implementation in a western center with satisfying short-term outcomes

Laparoscopic peritoneal lavage. Our experience and review of the literature

NTRODUCTION: Over the years various therapeutic techniques for diverticulitis have been developed. Laparoscopic peritoneal lavage (LPL) appears to be a safe and useful treatment, and it could be an effective alternative to colonic resection in emergency surgery. AIM: This prospective observational study aims to assess the safety and benefits of laparoscopic peritoneal lavage in perforated sigmoid diverticulitis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We surgically treated 70 patients urgently for complicated sigmoid diverticulitis. Thirty-two (45.7%) patients underwent resection of the sigmoid colon and creation of a colostomy (Hartmann technique); 21 (30%) patients underwent peritoneal laparoscopic lavage; 4 (5.7%) patients underwent colostomy by the Mikulicz technique; and the remaining 13 (18.6%) patients underwent resection of the sigmoid colon and creation of a colorectal anastomosis with a protective ileostomy. RESULTS: The 66 patients examined were divided into 3 groups: 32 patients were treated with urgent surgery according to the Hartmann procedure; 13 patients were treated with resection and colorectal anastomosis; 21 patients were treated urgently with laparoscopic peritoneal lavage. We had no intraoperative complications. The overall mortality was 4.3% (3 patients). In the LPL group the morbidity rate was 33.3%. CONCLUSIONS: Currently it cannot be said that LPL is better in terms of mortality and morbidity than colonic resection. These data may, however, be proven wrong by greater attention in the selection of patients to undergo laparoscopic peritoneal lavage