Italy’s new electoral law proposal is unlikely to make Italian governments more democratic or stable

Proposals to reform Italy’s electoral system and alter the balance of power between the country’s two parliamentary chambers are currently being considered by a parliamentary committee. Giulia Pastorella gives an overview of the proposals, arguing that while the new electoral law would generate some benefits, it would be no more democratic than the current version, and is unlikely to solve the key problem of party system instability

Technocratic governments: power, expertise and crisis politics in European democracies

The aim of my thesis is to investigate the reasons for the appointment of technocratic governments in Europe. In order to do this, I conceptualise what technocratic governments are, both in terms of their own characteristics and in comparison with party governments. I problematize classic elements, such as independence, neutrality and expertise of ministers, and add further ones including the relation to electoral outcomes, their particular type of agenda, and the echo they have in the media. Having established that technocratic governments require a shift in politicians’ preferences away from typical office-seeking behaviour, I proceed to enquire as to the situations that make their appointment more likely. Through a statistical analysis on all European cabinets from 1977 to 2013, I identify situations of economic and political crises – in particular scandals - as the main variables influencing the likelihood of technocratic government appointments. I further examine how these crises have lead to these appointments by exploring cases of over 25 technocratic governments in a range of countries and years. The qualitative illustrative evidence highlights the importance of institutional characteristics of the given political system in which such governments were appointed. The status of the party system, the role of the Head of State and external pressures coming from international or supranational institutionas are thus shown to be important in technocratic cabinet appointments. Finally, I assess whether technocratic governments fit within the European democratic standards and conclude that technocratic governments are symptoms of the decline of party democracy, identifiable in the loosening of delegation and accountability ties between parties and cabinets, increasing external pressures on domestic political actors, and the weakening of partisan ideology-based politics. The thesis adds further elements to reinforce the already vast literature on the crisis of – especially party – democracy in Europe

Technocratic attitudes: a citizens’ perspective of expert decision-making

Despite repeated appointments of technocratic governments in Europe and increasing interest in technocracy, there is little knowledge regarding citizens’ attitudes towards technocracy and the idea of governance by unelected experts. This article revisits normative debates and hypothesises that technocracy and democracy stand in a negative relationship in the eyes of European citizens. It tests this alongside a series of hypotheses on technocratic attitudes combining country-level institutional characteristics with individual survey data. While findings confirm that individual beliefs about the merits of democracy influence technocratic attitudes, two additional important factors are also identified: first, levels of trust in current representative political institutions also motivate technocratic preferences; second, historical legacies, in terms of past party-based authoritarian regime experience, can explain significant cross-national variation. The implications of the findings are discussed in the broader context of citizen orientations towards government, elitism and the mounting challenges facing representative democracy

Valutazione della crescita scheletrica nei pazienti con malocclusione di III classe non trattata ortodonticamente

Il dott. Edward Angle, all’inizi del secolo scorso, si cementò nello studio dei rapporti che intercorrono fra le arcate, osservate in proiezione laterale, quando i denti si trovano in contatto occlusale. Basandosi sulle posizioni relative dei primi molari permanenti inferiori e superiori, individuò tre principali modelli di occlusione, delle quali una (I classe molare) può essere considerata normale, mentre le altre due (II classe e III classe molare) descrivono rapporti non corretti (in visione laterale) fra mascellare superiore e mandibola. La malocclusione di classe III rappresenta una deformità dento-facciale che riguarda i mascellari in direzione antero-posteriore (sagittale); è caratterizzata da una protrusione mandibolare e da una retrusione del mascellare superiore. La sua prevalenza varia molto tra e all'interno di diverse razze, gruppi etnici e regioni geografiche. La malocclusione di III classe ha un'eziologia multifattoriale: numerosi fattori interagiscono fra loro per portare a uno scorretto sviluppo di uno o di entrambi i mascellari. E’ una malocclusione molto invalidante, poco accettata e che da un aspetto aggressivo al paziente. Soprattutto quando è scheletrica la risoluzione è al 99% è ortodonticachirurgica. In questa tesi verrà affrontata la terza classe scheletrica nella sua interezza: partendo dalla sua descrizione, passando alla terapia intercettiva, alla terapia ortodontica nell’adolescente e ai vari interventi chirurgici a cui può essere soggetto il paziente. Vedremo anche come cresce l’osso mandibolare in un paziente che decide di non sottoporsi a terapia e le differenze che ci sono con pazienti che invece decidono di intraprendere un trattamento ortodontico-chirurgico

La valoración de los servicios ecosistémicos en los ecosistemas forestales: Un caso de estudio en Los Alpes Italianos

The values of goods and services by natural resources are not included in the political decision making process concerning natural resources management. This gap is due to the fact that many ecosystem services are not marketed. In order to overcome this gap in the management of natural resources, it is necessary to apply some environmental economic methods to capture the total economic value of marketed and non-marketed ecosystem services. Ecosystem services are not homogeneous across landscapes but they are heterogeneous in space. Consequently, mapping ecosystem services is considered as a fundamental requirement for landscape planning. The aim of this paper is to show a method for the economic valuation and mapping of the forest ecosystem services. The method was applied to a case study characterized by a high importance of ecosystem services and involved in the recharge.green project (Alpine Space Programme): the Gesso-Vermenagna valley in Italy. Results show that the highest economic values are for regulating services (from 11 € ha-1to 4.300 € ha-1per year) and for provisioning services (from 6 € ha-1to 1.980 € ha-1per year), while the lowest values are for cultural services (from 6 € ha-1to 627 € ha-1per year). This study can provide useful information to decision makers in order to improve the management of natural resources at local level