Democratic accountability and the changing European political order

Este artigo aborda o tema da accountability democrática e de uma Europa lutando para encontrar respostas viáveis para as questões de quem e o que deve constituir a "Europa" e como desenvolver instituições políticas legítimas para governá-la. O artigo trata dos problemas relacionados à ordem e à mudança políticas; às regras para a convivência; ao papel da política democrática na sociedade; às relações entre a organização política e a convivência civilizada; e ao estudo político. As democracias modernas convivem com conflitos não resolvidos e os regimes de accountability fazem parte de um arranjo institucional para preservar a ordem e a continuidade e também para criar dinâmicas de mudança. Os processos de responsabilização ocorrem dentro de ordens estabelecidas e não estabelecidas, e elas afetam e são afetadas pelas ordens existentes. Sem negar a importância dos interesses contundentes, das lutas de poder, do comportamento estratégico, dos jogos não cooperativos e das batalhas (re)distributivas, a atenção é direcionada para a busca da unidade, coesão política e solidariedade, com base no consentimento informado e voluntário das pessoas por meio da reflexão e deliberações fundamentadas entre indivíduos com diferentes valores, interesses, entendimentos e recursos.Este artículo trata sobre la rendición de cuentas democrática y una Europa que lucha por encontrar respuestas viables a las preguntas de quién y qué constituirá “Europa” y cómo desarrollar instituciones políticas legítimas para gobernarla. El artículo es, sin embargo, sobre el orden político y el cambio, las reglas para vivir juntos, el papel de la política democrática en la sociedad y las relaciones entre organización política y coexistencia civilizada, y el estudio político. Las democracias modernas conviven con conflictos no resueltos y los regímenes de rendición de cuentas forman parte de un arreglo institucional para preservar el orden y la continuidad y también para crear dinámicas y cambios. Los procesos de rendición de cuentas tienen lugar dentro de las órdenes resueltas y no resueltas, y afectan y son afectados por las órdenes existentes. Sin negar la importancia de los intereses, las luchas por el poder, los comportamientos estratégicos, los juegos no cooperativos y las batallas (redistributivas), la atención está dirigida a la búsqueda de la unidad, la cohesión política y la solidaridad basada en el consentimiento informado y voluntario del pueblo mediante la reflexión y la deliberación razonada entre individuos con diferentes valores, intereses, entendimientos y recursos.This article is about democratic accountability and a Europe struggling to find viable answers to the questions of who and what shall constitute “Europe” and how to develop legitimate political institutions for governing it. The article is, nevertheless, first and foremost about political order and change, rules for living together, the role of democratic politics in society and the relations between political organization and civilized coexistence, and the study of the political. Modern democracies live with unresolved conflict, and accountability regimes are part of an institutional arrangement for preserving order and continuity and also for creating dynamics and change. Accountability processes take place within settled and unsettled orders, and they affect and are affected by existing orders. Without denying the importance of contending interests, power struggles, strategic behavior, noncooperative games, and (re)distributional battles, attention is directed towards the search for unity, political cohesion and solidarity based upon the informed voluntary consent of the people through reflection and reasoned deliberation among individuals with different values, interests, understandings and resources.Revista do Serviço Público - RSP, v. 68, n. 4, p. 745-784Accountability. Prestação de contasISSN eletrônico: 2357-8017; ISSN impresso: 0034-9240

Accountability democrática, ordem política e mudança: explorando processos de accountability em uma era de transformação europeia

Este livro, apresentando uma abordagem institucional à accountability democrática, visava dar uma contribuição modesta à nossa compreensão do papel das instituições, processos e atores da accountability nas transformações que a Europa enfrenta atualmente. No entanto, o livro também aspirava a dizer algo mais geral sobre o papel da accountability democrática na manutenção ou mudança da ordem política, além de lançar alguma luz sobre a vida político-administrativa em geral, além do contexto europeu. As questões centrais são como a accountability democrática interage com os diferentes tipos de comunidade política, a organização das instituições políticas e a agência. Como os processos de accountability 12 Johan P. Olsen funcionam de maneira diferente em ordens estáveis ou em processos de transformação. Como eles podem ajudar a manter, bem como transformar as ordens estabelecidas. Como envolvem a construção de sentidos e a tomada de decisões, e como falar e agir, sob certas condições, são separados. Como eles às vezes funcionam abaixo do radar público e outras vezes envolvem mobilização em massa. Como os processos de accountability podem, ou não, fomentar a democracia e/ou afetar o que a democracia significa e implica no futuro.330 p.Accountability. Prestação de contasGestão PúblicaDemocratic Accountability, Political Order, And Change: Exploring Accountability Processes In An Era Of European Transformatoation, First Edition foi originalmente publicado em inglês em 2017. Esta Tradução é publicada por um contrato com a Oxford University Press. A Enap é responsável por esta tradução do trabalho original e a Oxford University Press não se responsabiliza por quaisquer erros, omissões ou imprecisões ou ambiguidades em tal Tradução ou por quaisquer perdas causadas pela dependência.Número de Controle da Biblioteca do Congresso: 2016954544ISBN 978–0–19–880060–

NEO-INSTITUCIONALISMO: FATORES ORGANIZACIONAIS NA VIDA POLÍTICA

As teorias políticas contemporâneas tendem a retratar a política como um reflexo da sociedade; os fenômenospolíticos como as conseqüências agregadas do comportamento individual; a ação como o resultado deescolhas baseadas no interesse pessoal calculado; a história como sendo eficiente no alcance de desfechossingulares e adequados e a tomada de decisões e a alocação de recursos como os focos centrais da vidapolítica. Entretanto, um pensamento teórico recente na Ciência Política combina elementos desses estilosteóricos com uma preocupação mais antiga a respeito das instituições. Esse neo-institucionalismo enfatizaa autonomia relativa das instituições políticas, as possibilidades de ineficiência na história e a importânciada ação simbólica para um entendimento da política. Tais idéias possuem uma razoável base empírica,mas não se caracterizam por formas teóricas poderosas. Entretanto, pode-se identificar algumas direçõespara a pesquisa teórica nas concepções institucionalistas da ordem política: esse é o nosso objetivo nesteartigo

Deglaciation of Fennoscandia

To provide a new reconstruction of the deglaciation of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet, in the form of calendar-year time-slices, which are particularly useful for ice sheet modelling, we have compiled and synthesized published geomorphological data for eskers, ice-marginal formations, lineations, marginal meltwater channels, striae, ice-dammed lakes, and geochronological data from radiocarbon, varve, optically-stimulated luminescence, and cosmogenic nuclide dating. This 25 is summarized as a deglaciation map of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet with isochrons marking every 1000 years between 22 and 13 cal kyr BP and every hundred years between 11.6 and final ice decay after 9.7 cal kyr BP. Deglaciation patterns vary across the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet domain, reflecting differences in climatic and geomorphic settings as well as ice sheet basal thermal conditions and terrestrial versus marine margins. For example, the ice sheet margin in the high-precipitation coastal setting of the western sector responded sensitively to climatic variations leaving a detailed record of prominent moraines and ice-marginal deposits in many fjords and coastal valleys. Retreat rates across the southern sector differed between slow retreat of the terrestrial margin in western and southern Sweden and rapid retreat of the calving ice margin in the Baltic Basin. Our reconstruction is consistent with much of the published research. However, the synthesis of a large amount of existing and new data support refined reconstructions in some areas. For example, we locate the LGM extent of the ice sheet in northwestern Russia further east than previously suggested and conclude that it occurred at a later time than the rest of the ice sheet, at around 17-15 cal kyr BP, and propose a slightly different chronology of moraine formation over southern Sweden based on improved correlations of moraine segments using new LiDAR data and tying the timing of moraine formation to Greenland ice core cold stages. Retreat rates vary by as much as an order of magnitude in different sectors of the ice sheet, with the lowest rates on the high-elevation and maritime Norwegian margin. Retreat rates compared to the climatic information provided by the Greenland ice core record show a general correspondence between retreat rate and climatic forcing, although a close match between retreat rate and climate is unlikely because of other controls, such as topography and marine versus terrestrial margins. Overall, the time slice reconstructions of Fennoscandian Ice Sheet deglaciation from 22 to 9.7 cal kyr BP provide an important dataset for understanding the contexts that underpin spatial and temporal patterns in retreat of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet, and are an important resource for testing and refining ice sheet models

Convergence towards a European strategic culture? A constructivist framework for explaining changing norms.

The article contributes to the debate about the emergence of a European strategic culture to underpin a European Security and Defence Policy. Noting both conceptual and empirical weaknesses in the literature, the article disaggregates the concept of strategic culture and focuses on four types of norms concerning the means and ends for the use of force. The study argues that national strategic cultures are less resistant to change than commonly thought and that they have been subject to three types of learning pressures since 1989: changing threat perceptions, institutional socialization, and mediatized crisis learning. The combined effect of these mechanisms would be a process of convergence with regard to strategic norms prevalent in current EU countries. If the outlined hypotheses can be substantiated by further research the implications for ESDP are positive, especially if the EU acts cautiously in those cases which involve norms that are not yet sufficiently shared across countries

The Generation R Study Biobank: a resource for epidemiological studies in children and their parents

The Generation R Study is a population-based prospective cohort study from fetal life until young adulthood. The study is designed to identify early environmental and genetic causes of normal and abnormal growth, development and health from fetal life until young adulthood. In total, 9,778 mothers were enrolled in the study. Prenatal and postnatal data collection is conducted by physical examinations, questionnaires, interviews, ultrasound examinations and biological samples. Major efforts have been conducted for collecting biological specimens including DNA, blood for phenotypes and urine samples. In this paper, the collection, processing and storage of these biological specimens are described. Together with detailed phenotype measurements, these biological specimens form a unique resource for epidemiological studies focused on environmental exposures, genetic determinants and their interactions in relation to growth, health and development from fetal life onwards

The implication of identifying JAK2V617F in myeloproliferative neoplasms and myelodysplastic syndromes with bone marrow fibrosis

The myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) occasionally demonstrate overlapping morphological features including hypercellularity, mild/nonspecific dysplastic changes and variable bone marrow fibrosis. Thus, when the associated bone marrow fibrosis results in a suboptimal specimen for morphological evaluation, the descriptive diagnosis “fibrotic marrow with features indeterminate for MDS versus MPN” is often applied. The JAK2V617F mutation was recently shown to be frequently identified in MPN, but it is rarely present in other myeloid disorders. However, the diagnostic utility of JAK2V617F screening in hypercellular bone marrow specimens with fibrosis has not been previously investigated. Using a real-time polymerase chain reaction melting-curve assay capable of detecting JAK2V617F in archived fixed materials, we retrospectively studied JAK2V617F in 45 cases with fibrotic hypercellular bone marrow at initial presentation, including 19 cases initially described as “with features indeterminate for MDS versus MPN”. These 19 cases were reclassified into more specific categories of MDS (n = 14) or MPN (n = 5) based on the availability of subsequent clinical data and/or bone marrow examinations. The JAK2V617F allele was identified in 17 out of 18 BCR/ABL gene-negative MPN cases with marrow fibrosis, whereas only wild-type alleles were identified in the remaining non-MPN cases. Importantly, JAK2V617F alleles were seen in all five cases of “with features indeterminate for MDS versus MPN” at initial presentation that were later determined to be MPN, but they were absent in the 14 cases later determined to be MDS. Our results suggest that JAK2V617F allele evaluation can be a useful ancillary test for discriminating MDS from MPN in specimens with bone marrow fibrosis

Genetic association study of QT interval highlights role for calcium signaling pathways in myocardial repolarization.

The QT interval, an electrocardiographic measure reflecting myocardial repolarization, is a heritable trait. QT prolongation is a risk factor for ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death (SCD) and could indicate the presence of the potentially lethal mendelian long-QT syndrome (LQTS). Using a genome-wide association and replication study in up to 100,000 individuals, we identified 35 common variant loci associated with QT interval that collectively explain ∼8-10% of QT-interval variation and highlight the importance of calcium regulation in myocardial repolarization. Rare variant analysis of 6 new QT interval-associated loci in 298 unrelated probands with LQTS identified coding variants not found in controls but of uncertain causality and therefore requiring validation. Several newly identified loci encode proteins that physically interact with other recognized repolarization proteins. Our integration of common variant association, expression and orthogonal protein-protein interaction screens provides new insights into cardiac electrophysiology and identifies new candidate genes for ventricular arrhythmias, LQTS and SCD