Career politicians a dozen years after regionalisation of the Czech Republic (2000–13)

This study compares three groups of full-time politicians in the Czech Republic. Two of these – MPs and mayors – came into existence in the early 1990s immediately after the fall of the communist regime, and the third, here referred to as county full-time politicians, appeared only at the turn of the millennium. To investigate their profiles and careers, a database was created from a wide range of sources, such as election results, county council meeting reports, county and personal websites, media databases and similar. Analysis of the database showed that establishing a second tier of local government (counties) opened up career opportunities primarily for members of the main political parties who had ambitions to become full-time politicians but did not want to disengage from the local network on which their political capital often rested. Like other politicians, those in the counties are predominantly middle-aged men with higher education. Furthermore, the party selectorates prefer candidates with experience in other elected positions. However, the ‘professional’ political career frequently starts at the county level. So far, the most typical have been county politicians who hold paid positions for one or two election terms. Transitions from or to other levels of government are often discrete. With the exception of the entry of municipal professionals into county politics, these transitions involve a small circle of people. The most visible part of county politicians is formed of the county presidents and those related with national politics. Moreover, these people often serve as the regional officials of political parties and play an important role in the recruitment of parliamentary politicians. Therefore, the effect of the newly established regional political elite on party politics should be examined in more depth. It is argued that the ‘invisible majority’ of full-time county politicians deserves scientific interest too, because it can have a major influence on shaping the policies and specific features of each region.     

The trust deficit in Sino-Japanese relations

Abstract

Recent years have seen a deterioration in political relations between China and Japan, in particular over the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu islands and history-related problems. Commentators have noted an attendant decline in trust between the two sides and have stressed the need for confidence-building measures in order to address the trust deficit. This article explores the origins of declining trust between the Chinese and Japanese leaderships. It argues that attempts to build a friendly and trusting relationship in the early post-war and post-normalisation periods began to fail in the 1980s, and have been in a gradual state of decline ever since. Using the concepts of trust and friendship, the article suggests that the lack of trust properties such as empathy, bonding, reliability and predictability have contributed to the deterioration of trust at both elite and popular levels.     

Fatal falls from heights in and around Diyarbakir, Turkey

Falls from high places, such as from a building, are frequently encountered in suicides, in some accidents, and sometimes in homicides. In this study, we evaluated the demographic data, mortality rates, fall causes, and post-mortem findings of individuals who fell from heights. Our cases were collected retrospectively from the files of the Branch of the Council of Forensic Medicine in Diyarbakir between 1996 and 2001. There were 431 accidental and 53 suicidal deaths due to blunt injury resulting from falls. Of the victims, 188 were female and 296 were male. The average age of the 484 victims was 27.05 years (range: 4 months-100 years). For buildings, the height ranged from 3 to 8 stories for suicides and from 1 to 8 stories for accidents. We proceeded to analyse the characteristics of accidental falls as follows. The majority of falls were from balconies or rooftops due to the tendency of people to sit and sleep on these places during the hotter months of the year. Some 54.5% of all falls occurred in May-August. The 53 suicidal jumps all occurred off buildings. The victims ranged in age from 15 to 70 years, and comprised 29 women and 24 men. One of the deceased jumped from the roof of a school in which he was boarding, and another from the seventh story of a hospital in which he was receiving treatment. The remaining 51 jumped from heights ranging from 3 to 8 stories. Psychiatric illness was reported in 18 (33.9%) of the suicide deaths, while 10 (18.8%) of the 53 suicides were single women. The results of this study were at variance with literature data with respect to the following: falls from heights were most common in the 0-5 year age group, females had a higher suicide rate than males, and the majority of accidental falls occurred at home rather than in the workplace.