Anomalous authoritarianism: what,which, why?

Research on autocracies has gained new momentum in the last decade. One element of this research is the observation that some autocracies are characterised by structural conditions that are normally conducive for democracy. These ‘anomalous autocracies’ have high levels of socioeconomic development and democratic neighbour countries. The study of these cases might expose factors that are decisive for autocratic stability and studying them might give us a better understanding of barriers towards democratisation. This paper contributes to the growing literature on autocracies by mapping anomalous autocracies during the third wave of democratisation, thereby paving the way for systematic case selection in future studies. A large-N analysis of 159 cases (1975–2008) identifies Belarus, Chile, China, Cuba, Morocco, North Korea, Peru, Singapore, Swaziland, Togo and Zimbabwe. In a second step, the paper lays out a theoretical framework that centres on actors and institutions. Rulers must establish elite–elite and elite–mass interaction, and this papers argues that they can do so through quasi-compliance of elites and the masses based on traditional institutions woven into a dominant party. The paper uses the framework to tentatively examine the resilience of authoritarian rule in Swaziland and Morocco, two most-different anomalous cases. In both cases, an elaborate traditional institution has co-opted government, business and rural elites and coordinated interaction within elite circles and with the masses, in turn enabling the remarkable regime resilience.     

安徽不同产地野生丹参性状与脂溶性成分相关性研究

目的 探索安徽省不同产地野生丹参花、叶、根的颜色与其脂溶性成分含量的相关性。方法 采用野外调查和样本采集方式,对安徽省14个产地野生丹参性状特征进行观察;利用高效液相色谱法测定各地区丹参脂溶性成分含量。结果 安徽不同产地丹参在花冠颜色、复叶颜色及根皮颜色上存在明显的差异,表现为花淡紫、紫红、深紫,叶黄绿、绿色、深绿,根皮棕褐、砖红、赤红。以花深紫、叶深绿、根皮赤红的丹参脂溶性成分含量高,以花淡紫、叶黄绿、根皮棕褐者为低。结论 安徽不同产地野生丹参的性状特征和脂溶性成分存在一定差异,性状特征与脂溶性成分含量高低紧密相关。     

Validation studies of the ParaDNA® Intelligence System with artificial evidence items

Short tandem repeat (STR) profiling is one of the mostly used systems for forensic applications. In certain circumstances, STR profiling is time-consuming and costly, which potentially leads to delays in criminal investigations. LGC (Laboratory of the Government Chemist, UK) Forensics has developed a robust STR profiling platform called the ParaDNA^® Intelligence Test System which can provide early tactical intelligence and aid investigators in making informed decisions on sample prioritization for detection. Here, we validated the ParaDNA intelligence test for its application in forensic cases using a range of mock evidence items following guidelines set by the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM). Specifically, we tested the sensitivity and accuracy of the ParaDNA intelligence test, as well as the success rates for detecting mock samples and for use in case scenarios. Our findings demonstrate that the ParaDNA intelligence test generates useful DNA profiles, especially for samples such as blood, saliva, and semen that contain ample DNA, indicating the benefits of including ParaDNA as a prior step in forensic STR profiling pipelines.     

Dis-Assembly Lines: gestures,situations, and surveillances

In “Americanism and Fordism,” Antonio Gramsci offers a brief meditation on the gestural performances of assembly-line workers who, rather than become subordinate to the disciplinary flow of the machine, cultivate perfectly timed gestures that allow workers to hide in plain sight: or, in other words, to inhabit the scene of management otherwise. Rather than extend Gramsci's investment in virtuosic, masterful performances of gesture, this article considers the potentiality of gesture through Lucille Ball's and Tehching Hsieh's performances of bad timing. As different as these performances are in terms of genre and historical situation, each uses gesture as a technique to performatively divide the labor process, producing fleeting temporalities of waste within rhythms marshaled toward production and accumulation. While it tracks the effects of these itinerant gestures, this article reconsiders the oppositions between productive and reproductive work, rationality and emotionality, and work and home that sustain Gramsci's theory, as well as how the collapse of such oppositions introduces alternative historical and artistic trajectories into theories of precariousness.     

North Korea and diversion: A quantitative analysis (1997–2011)

In this research I propose that the concept of diversionary theory provides at least a partial explanation for North Korea's conflict activities. I examine and analyze the country's data on diplomatic and military activities from 1997 to 2011 and argue that North Korea's domestic conditions influence its willingness to engage in external conflict. I also examine the impact of such external influences as UN sanctions, leadership changes in the region, national capacities of the US, South Korea and Japan, and strategic military exercises on DPRK-initiated conflicts. This study provides insight into the activities of this reclusive state and also demonstrates useful techniques that can be applied to analyze other similarly closed nations. The findings suggest that there are identified links between internal conditions and the Kim regime's aggressive actions between 1997 and 2011 in support of the diversionary argument. Concurrently, there is less evidence that North Korea's hostile diplomatic and military activities are based on external pressures.     

检察机关廉政文化建设的路径探索

检察机关廉政文化建设是一项系统性工程。目前,检察机关的廉政文化建设在工作机制、工作载体等方面相对薄弱,因此,应借鉴国内外廉政文化建设的先进经验,围绕廉政文化建设的量化指标,探索一条适合检察机关廉政文化建设的具体路径。     

论我国中小企业界定标准的完善

为了扶植中小企业发展，各国均制定有促进中小企业发展的法律政策，这些法律政策首先要解决的问题就是对扶持对象——中小企业进行科学的界定。我国目前中小企业划分标准在实施中遇到了一些问题，应该采取定性和定量标准相结合的方式，重新界定小企业的内涵，简化中小企业的划分指标，细化中小企业划分标准，并将中小企业界定标准覆盖到全部第三产业。     

Rhetorical citizenship: studying the discursive crafting and enactment of citizenship

This article argues for the relevance of a rhetorical approach to the study of citizenship, proposing the concept of rhetorical citizenship as a term for a fourth dimension of citizenship and as a scholarly approach to the topic in addition to the dimensions of status, rights, and identity commonly recognized in the literature. We show how this view aligns with current views of the multidi Citizenship Studies mensionality of citizenship, explain our use of the term rhetoric, and illustrate the usefulness of a rhetorical approach in two examples. In close textual readings both examples – one vernacular, one elite – are shown to discursively craft and enact different notions of citizenship vis-a-vis the European refugee crisis. We conclude that a rhetorical perspective on public civic discourse is useful in virtue of its close attention to discursive creativity as well as to textual properties that may significantly, but often implicitly, affect citizens’ understanding of their own role in the polity, and further because it recognizes deep differences as inevitable while valorizing discourse across them.     

The political and economic causes of satisfaction with democracy in Spain – a twofold panel study

This study tests the links between political and economic performance and satisfaction with democracy (SWD) in Spain. Contrary to the dominant theoretical paradigm that explains the aggregate evolution of and the individual-level differences in SWD mainly by means of economic factors, the article presents evidence that evaluations of the political process are equally relevant to account for both changes in individuals’ SWD over time and the evolution of SWD at the national level. Unlike most existing literature, this study supports its argument by combining analyses of a micro-level panel dataset (CIUPANEL) and of a pooled aggregate-level panel dataset based on the Spanish samples in the Eurobarometer and the Latinobarómetro between 1986 and 2014.     

公众参与环境影响评价机制研究

以"圆明园铺膜事件"为契机,在全国范围掀起的"环评风暴",加深了公民对于环境影响评价的认识.对比欧美国家,我国公众参与环境影响评价机制存在明显的缺陷,研究者提出了相应的改进措施和建议.