Pathways to democratization in personalist dictatorships

Personalist dictatorships make up an increasingly large proportion of the world's dictatorships. Moreover, they tend to be particularly resistant to democratization. Understanding the conditions that increase the likelihood of democratic transitions in personalist contexts, therefore, is critical for the study and practice of democratization in the contemporary era. This study argues that political party creation is a key factor. Though personalist dictators typically create parties to offset immediate threats to their power posed by the elite – and particularly the military – doing so encourages peaceful mass mobilization and a realignment of elite networks. These dynamics, in turn, enhance prospects of democratization. Using cross-national empirical tests that address the potential endogeneity of this relationship, we find support for the argument that personalist dictators who create their own political party are more likely to democratize than those who ally with a pre-existing party or rule without one.     

The New Defenders of Human Rights? How Radical Right-Wing TNGOs are Using the Human Rights Discourse to Promote their Ideas

Generation Identity (GI) is at the centre of right-wing politics across Europe. Yet, it does not present itself as a right-wing organisation. In contrast, GI seeks to move from the margins into the centre of civil society. Based on the literature on transnational NGOs’ action repertoires and by situating the discourse of GI with respect to a traditional human rights TNGO, Amnesty International, my qualitative content analysis of the frames of both organisations shows that GI uses the vague language of human rights to formulate its radical right-wing positions in ways that sound familiar with accepted human rights claims. While using similar language, symbols, emotions and performances than Amnesty, GI at the same time promotes an exclusive understanding of human rights based on identity. This allows for a discretionary understanding and application of human rights and, hence, potentially challenges established human rights organisations such as Amnesty because the latter's ability to influence state actors relies on a powerful and strong transnational discourse of human rights as being non-negotiable, indivisible and non-transferable.     

The Role of Land Certification in Reducing Gaps in Productivity between Male- and Female-Owned Farms in Rural Ethiopia

This paper analyses the impact of a low-cost land certification programme on the productivity of female-headed households. The hypotheses tested in the paper emphasise on the interaction between the constraints that female-headed households face in terms of insecure land tenure, lack of productive resources and suboptimal land market participation, on the one hand, and the tenure security benefits of certification on the other. Our findings show that land certification has a positive effect on land market participation and productivity. Our analysis also suggests higher marginal effects of certification on female-headed households’ productivity, compared to the male ones.     

From Media Attention to Negotiated Peace: Human Rights Reporting and Civil War Duration

Violations of human rights in the context of a conflict have in recent years received an increasing amount of attention from the international media. Yet how such media attention influences conflict remains understudied and, a priori, uncertain. On the one hand, media coverage of human rights abuses may constitute “naming and shaming” that might temper hostilities. On the other hand, such coverage might spark intransigence and complicate negotiations among conflicting parties, thereby hindering rather than hastening peace. This article tries to adjudicate among these and other possibilities by exploring how media reporting on human rights abuses influences the development of conflicts. The analysis reveals that such reporting is associated with shorter conflicts and negotiated agreements between fighting parties.     

Renal Tubular Epithelial Vacuoles—A Marker for Both Hyperlipidemia and Ketoacidosis at Autopsy

Review of 15 cases of nephrotic syndrome found that eight had significant hyperlipidemia with serum cholesterol levels ranging between 10.59 and 18.60 mmol/L (mean 12.88) and serum triglyceride levels between 2.30 and 9.92 mmol/L (mean 4.58); all of these cases displayed basal lipid vacuolization. Seven of the 15 study cases had normal–mild hyperlipidemia with serum cholesterol levels ranging between 4.71 and 7.54 mmol/L (mean 6.02) and serum triglyceride levels between 0.65 and 4.1 mmol/L (mean 1.57). Six of the seven cases had basal lipid vacuoles (86%). Of these, five cases were hyperlipidemic and one case had borderline hyperlipidemia with a serum cholesterol level of 4.71 mmol/L. Although hyperlipidemia was associated with renal tubular epithelial vacuolization, the vacuoles appeared morphologically different to those found in ketoacidosis. This study has shown that while hyperlipidemia in isolation may result in basal lipid vacuolization within renal tubular epithelial cells, the phenotype differs from that observed in ketoacidosis.     

Navigating the job search after incarceration: the experiences of work-release participants

When prisoners return to the community they often strive to obtain immediate employment. However, finding work after being released from prison is one of the major challenges returning prisoners face. With few employment prospects due to legal restrictions, discrimination from prospective employers, and multiple individual and community barriers offenders often end up accepting low-skilled work with little opportunity for growth. This qualitative study examines the job searching process for women residing in a community correction work-release facility. The researcher identified several barriers to securing employment, as well as many factors that facilitated the process. Sources of help, types of jobs secured, and experiences with stigma and discrimination are discussed. Implications for improving the job searching process for this population are discussed.     

Toga Party: The Political Basis of Judicial Investigations against MPs in Italy (1983–2013)

Scholars agree that ideology affects judicial decision-making. We demonstrate that this proposition holds true even when the judiciary is independent of political control. Focusing on Italy (1983–2013), where the politicisation of the judiciary was an issue well before the entry of Berlusconi into politics, we estimate judicial orientations according to the support for factions within the National Judiciary Association. The results show that ideology affects trial court activity against deputies. As the support for left-wing factions increases, prosecutors are more likely to investigate right-wing parties. Conversely, as the share of right-leaning factions grows, investigations of moderate or rightist parties decrease.     

The Settings of Adolescent Alcohol and Drug Use

The current study examined the settings in which adolescents use alcohol and drugs, emphasizing sex and peer group differences in where substance use occurs, settings associated with more problematic substance use, and settings potentially serving as sites of initiation of adolescent substance use. Subjects were 449 juniors and seniors attending two Midwestern high schools (51% male; aged 16–19) who completed in-class surveys. Few sex differences in settings of substance use were found, although girls were more likely than boys to drink in family settings. More severe substance use was associated with a higher likelihood of drinking at school. Moreover, alcohol users were more likely to report drinking in their own homes and at their friends' homes than abstainers were to indicate selecting these settings to use alcohol if they were to do so. Drug users were more likely to report substance use outdoors, at their friends' homes, at social parties, and at school than were abstainers to indicate selecting these settings to use drugs if they were to do so. Implications of these findings for understanding the epidemiology of substance use and high-risk settings for the initiation and escalation of substance using behaviors are discussed.