Population genetics of Y-chromosome STRs in a population of Podlasie, Northeastern Poland

Haplotype and allele frequencies for the 12 Y-STRs were determined in a population sample of 186 Polish males. Five of the haplotypes were encountered in duplicate, while 176 haplotypes were unique. The overall gene diversity was 0.9973. This database study provides an essential precondition for applying Y-chromosomal STRs estimates in forensic identification of male DNA and tracing of paternal lineages.     

Allele distribution of 15 STR loci in a population sample of the Lithuanian minority residing in the Northeastern Poland

Allele frequencies for the 15 STRs included in the AmpFlSTR Identifiler kit were determined in a population sample of 140 unrelated individuals of the Lithuanian minority residing in the Northeastern Poland. Departure from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for loci VWA, TPOX and D7S820 did not sustain after applying Bonferroni correction for multiple testing. Exact tests disequilibrium analysis revealed five departures from independence out of 105 pair-wise comparisons. The combined MP and PE for all 15 loci are 5.00 x 10(-17) and 0.9999, respectively.     

Authority,Self-Determination,and Community in Cosmopolitan War

This paper examines Cécile Fabre’s cosmopolitan reductionist approach to war. It makes three main points. First, I show that Fabre must ‘thin down’ justice’s content in order to justify the cosmopolitan claim that the same rights and duties bind people everywhere. Second, I investigate Fabre’s account of the values at stake in national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Can cosmopolitanism explain why it is permissible to fight in defense of one’s political community? I doubt it. I argue that Fabre’s reductionist approach cannot justify national self-defense in many cases. Finally, I explore the role that authoritative institutions play in specifying the rights and duties we have under cosmopolitan justice. I believe Fabre takes an overly simple view of the relationship between rights, duties, and authoritative institutions. A more complex account may leave less space for private war on the part of individuals than she does.     

The German “Wutbürger”: How Justice Sensitivity Accounts for Individual Differences in Political Engagement

Perceived injustice can trigger strong emotional reactions and motivate political protest. Although there is vast empirical evidence for this chain of reactions, we know little about individual differences in how perceived injustice can motivate people to engage in political actions. In a survey study with 1,005 German participants, we investigated how justice sensitivity as a personality disposition accounts for individual differences in political engagement. Regression analyses revealed that justice sensitivity from an observer perspective promotes political engagement, whereas justice sensitivity from a victim perspective is not related to political engagement . In the concrete case of a political decision regarding the public transport project “Stuttgart 21” in Germany, our data indicated that perceived procedural injustice of the decision process and moral outrage mediated the relation of justice sensitivity from an observer perspective and political protest. The present findings are in line with research on the behavioral outcomes of justice sensitivity and contribute to the understanding of individual differences in political engagement and its underlying motivational processes.     

The EU’s Multilevel Parliamentary (Battle)Field: Inter-parliamentary Cooperation and Conflict in Foreign and Security Policy

The Treaty of Lisbon has been dubbed ‘the Treaty of Parliaments’, as it upgraded the position of both the European Parliament and of national parliaments within the institutional system of the EU. However, the implementation of the new Treaty also brought to the surface the uneasy relationship between the European and national parliamentary spheres in a number of domains. Drawing on the notion of ‘parliamentary field’, this article accounts for this growing divide by highlighting the competitive dynamics that may emerge from a mismatch between formal constitutional authority and the actual parliamentary capital that parliaments enjoy. The article examines this proposition within the domain of foreign and security policy, where the process of establishing a new inter-parliamentary mechanism for scrutinising policy has placed the European Parliament and the national parliaments visibly at odds.     

Public affairs in the Czech Republic: an exploratory study of the current situation

The main goal of our research study was to describe and analyse the state of the field of public affairs (PA) in the Czech Republic. So far, PA has been outside the scope of academic interest, and no study has yet analysed the issues or development of PA in the Czech Republic. Therefore, this study not only brings a unique insight into the practice of PA professionals but is also the first of its kind. Our main focus was to describe the current situation and build a solid background of the profession and emerging field for further research: firstly, we characterise professionals working in the field (what is their professional background, education, income and goals); secondly, we want to define what are the main issues they deal with professionally (such as politics, lobbying and the energy sector); thirdly, we will describe the market itself and the level of professionalisation and institutionalisation; and finally, we wanted to analyse how PA as a field is understood and perceived by professionals. In our conclusion, we also state openly a few challenges we met during our research, and we set the next goals. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Book reviews

Edward F. Mickolus, Terrorism, 1988–1991: A Chronology of Events and Selective Annotated Bibliography, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993, Pp.916, index. $125. ISBN 0–313–28970–0

Anna Geifman, Thou Shalt Kill: Revolutionary Terrorism in Russia, 1894–1917, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993. Pp. xii + 376, notes, 22 photos, biblio., index. $39.50/£32.50. ISBN 0–691–08778–4

Walter Laqueur, Black Hundred: The Rise of the Extreme Right in Russia, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993. Pp.318, photos, biblio note. $27.50. ISBN 0–06‐

Robert W. White, Provisional Irish Republicans: An Oral and Interpretive History, Westport, CT, and. London: Greenwood Press, 1993. Pp.206, biblio, index. $55. ISBN 0–313–28564–8     

Consistency in constitutional design and its effect on democracy

ABSTRACT

Does the art of crafting and amending a constitution lead to an internal consistency among constitutional provisions, and if so, what effect does that have on countries’ democratic performance? Drawing from theoretical claims on the separation of power and electoral legitimacy, this article develops a concept that identifies the institutional characteristics of consistency and inconsistency in the constitutional design with the example of the presidency. Empirically, this concept is focused on aligning or counterbalancing the mode of presidential election and the de jure power of the president. Based on a comparative perspective of republican parliamentary and semi-presidential systems, the article focuses on the empirical trends of consistent and inconsistent design and addresses their effect on democratic development. The findings show a balance between consistent and inconsistent design in terms of quantity. The influence on democratization varies considerably across different measures but I find significant support for a positive effect of inconsistency on liberal democracy, freedom, horizontal accountability and the rule of law.