Victims of ETA’s terrorism as an interest group: Evolution,influence, and impact on the political agenda of Spain

This article responds to the following research questions: How and why have victims of ETA’s terrorism in Spain become an interest group with significant influence on the political and legislative agenda of the country. The evolution of the associative movement of victims of terrorism is assessed in order to explain the process by which their influence and impact on the political agenda has gradually grown throughout the years. It analyzes the transition from the isolation suffered by victims of terrorism in the early days of ETA’s campaign to the prominent social and political role played at later stages. The factors that motivate and explain their active role as interest groups are looked into, demonstrating different claims and interests with varying degrees of coherence and leverage. The relevancy of victims of terrorism within the anti-terrorist policies of various Spanish governments will be established, as well as the achievements and limitations of such a significant interest group.     

Spain: No Country for the Populist Radical Right?

Although there is growing research interest in populist radical right (PRR) parties in Western Europe, little attention has been paid to the case of Spain – a country where these parties are almost non-existent or irrelevant from an electoral and political point of view. In a nutshell, we maintain that in contemporary Spain there is real demand for PRR parties, but three supply-side factors are impeding their electoral breakthrough and persistence: the cleavage structure of the country, the strategy of competition of the mainstream right and the electoral system. At the same time, we postulate that at least in the case of Spain the Great Recession has not improved the electoral odds of the PRR as such but rather facilitated the emergence of leftist populist forces.     

Colonisation,Institutions and Development: New Evidence

This article analyses current attempts to identify the factors underlying long-term economic growth. The author criticises some of the arguments and historical evidence on which the two main explanations that dominate recent literature are based: the institutional approach and the approach focusing on the importance of geographical factors. Using an approach which is deliberately eclectic, the author considers the role of geography, international trade, human capital and institutional quality in explaining development. A new estimation is carried out through Two Stages Least Squares (TSLS) with instrumental variables. The results of the empirical model confirm the central role of institutions in long-term economic growth. However, certain geographical conditions also seem to have influenced countries' chances of progress. The human capital is a less robust factor in explaining economic growth and trade openness does not seem significant in any estimation. Nevertheless, several questions remain to be answered, suggesting that cross-country estimations need to be complemented with a deeper historical analysis.     

Biological variability of the minutiae in the fingerprints of a sample of the Spanish population

The minutiae, a term coined by Galton to refer to the small peculiarities present along the length of every isolated ridge, or characteristic points, a term used primarily by the Spanish Police Scientists, have an inter- and intrapopulation variability which has not been extensively studied. However, these peculiarities constitute the bases for the fingerprint identification of individuals in the field of criminology. Using the adhesive paper and graphite method, the fingerprints of 200 students, 100 males and 100 females, with ages ranging between 20 and 35, have been taken at the University of Alcala (Madrid). From this sample, the distal phalanx of the index finger of the right hand has been studied. The total count of the minutiae, as well as that of each different type, was made of the entire print area, and inside and outside of a circle with a radius of 18 ridges. The highest frequencies were of ridge endings, followed by bifurcations and convergences, all others appearing with frequencies of lower than 5%. The distribution of the minutiae was not homogeneous for the area of the fingerprint (inside and outside the circle). In the study of minutiae statistically significant differences were found between the sexes, and between the different types of general pattern (arches, loops, and whorls).     

Allele frequencies of six miniSTR loci (D10S1248, D14S1434, D22S1045, D4S2364, D2S441 and D1S1677) in a Spanish population

Allele frequencies and forensic parameters for six miniSTR autosomal loci (D10S1248, D14S1434, D22S1045, D4S2364, D2S441 and D1S1677) were obtained from a sample of 264 unrelated individuals from Spain. No significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg expectations were found. Due to the small PCR products (<125 bp), the use of these non-CODIS (NC) miniSTRs can increase the probability that a degraded sample can be typed. Additionally, these systems can be used in routine paternity analyses where more markers are needed to increase the power of exclusion or in complex paternity cases (e.g. involving closely related individuals).     

Analysis of body fluid mixtures by mtDNA sequencing: An inter-laboratory study of the GEP-ISFG working group

The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) working group of the GEP-ISFG (Spanish and Portuguese Group of the International Society for Forensic Genetics) carried out an inter-laboratory exercise consisting of the analysis of mtDNA sequencing patterns in mixed stains (saliva/semen and blood/semen). Mixtures were prepared with saliva or blood from a female donor and three different semen dilutions (pure, 1:10 and 1:20) in order to simulate forensic casework. All labs extracted the DNA by preferential lysis and amplified and sequenced the first mtDNA hypervariable region (HVS-I). Autosomal and Y-STR markers were also analysed in order to compare nuclear and mitochondrial results from the same DNA extracts. A mixed stain prepared using semen from a vasectomized individual was also analysed. The results were reasonably consistent among labs for the first fractions but not for the second ones, for which some laboratories reported contamination problems. In the first fractions, both the female and male haplotypes were generally detected in those samples prepared with undiluted semen. In contrast, most of the mixtures prepared with diluted semen only yielded the female haplotype, suggesting that the mtDNA copy number per cell is smaller in semen than in saliva or blood. Although the detection level of the male component decreased in accordance with the degree of semen dilution, it was found that the loss of signal was not consistently uniform throughout each electropherogram. Moreover, differences between mixtures prepared from different donors and different body fluids were also observed. We conclude that the particular characteristics of each mixed stain can deeply influence the interpretation of the mtDNA evidence in forensic mixtures (leading in some cases to false exclusions). In this sense, the implementation of preliminary tests with the aim of identifying the fluids involved in the mixture is an essential tool. In addition, in order to prevent incorrect conclusions in the interpretation of electropherograms we strongly recommend: (i) the use of additional sequencing primers to confirm the sequencing results and (ii) interpreting the results to the light of the phylogenetic perspective.     

Evaluating the forensic informativeness of mtDNA haplogroup H sub-typing on a Eurasian scale

The impact of phylogeographic information on mtDNA forensics has been limited to the quality control of published sequences and databases. In this work we use the information already available on Eurasian mtDNA phylogeography to guide the choice of coding-region SNPs for haplogroup H. This sub-typing is particularly important in forensics since, even when sequencing both HVRI and HVRII, the discriminating power is low in some Eurasian populations. We show that a small set (eight) of coding-region SNPs resolves a substantial proportion of the identical haplotypes, as defined by control-region variation alone. Moreover, this SNP set, while substantially increasing the discriminating efficiency in most Eurasian populations by roughly equal amounts, discloses population-specific profiles.