Government termination in multilevel settings. How party congruence affects the survival of sub-national governments in Germany and Spain

ABSTRACT

Past studies on government survival in parliamentary democracies have been limited to national governments. However, most societies live in a multilevel polity where different policies are decided at distinct governmental layers. So far, the conditions triggering sub-national governments’ termination have remained unexplored. Our paper makes a twofold contribution to the literature. First, we explicitly focus our analysis on the sub-national government level. Second, we expand the analytical scope by assuming a multilevel setting, in which the survival of sub-national governments is dependent on both the party composition of the national government (vertical congruence) and their sub-national peers (horizontal congruence). We test the impact of both congruence measures on the early termination risk of regional governments. Our analysis is complemented by including “traditional” factors from national government termination literature, such as structural attributes of governments and their bargaining environment, into empirical modelling. Analysing a novel dataset on 494 regional governments in Germany and Spain we find that the risk of sub-national government termination is related to varying levels of vertical congruence. Furthermore, we find interesting explanatory variation between the two countries with regard to the effect size of economic performance, regional authority and congruence.     

The politics of judicial review in Chile in the era of democratic transition, 1990–2002

The study addresses the politics and effects of judicial review in Chile. It concludes that by and large the Chilean courts have refused to exercise their constitutional review powers in defence of individual rights. Although this suggests that Chile represents a ‘negative model’ of judicial review in transitional democracies, the author argues that such an understanding would be simplistic. The Chilean courts' reluctance to exercise their review powers represents the continuation of a long-held strategic stance of avoiding politically controversial cases. This in turn has contributed to the preservation of the autonomy and political independence that has historically allowed the Chilean judiciary to play a crucial role in the promotion and maintenance of the legality that characterises this country. Merging the insights of two academic fields that rarely communicate – democratization studies and public law and courts – the author proposes that prematurely introducing judicial review of the constitution in non-consolidated democracies could actually make things worse. This, because it introduces irresistible incentives for government intervention in the work of the courts, thus destroying a sine qua non of the rule of law: judicial independence.     

Age estimation through histological study of trabecular volume and cortical bone width of the iliac crest

There have been many methods proposed to estimate the age of human bones in forensic medicine or in forensic anthropology, including those that assess histological structures. In this study, age was evaluated through the histomorphometric study of trabecular volume and cortical width of the right iliac crest. A total of 25 samples A total of 66 samples (42 male and 24 female) were obtained from necropsies of judicial cases, with ages ranging from 13 to 58years, who had died a sudden or violent death. The samples were obtained using Bordier's trocar for bone biopsy, in a period not exceeding 24h after death. The samples were examined without decalcification, with 96° alcohol dehydration, embedding in methyl methacrylate, and sectioned with a microtome Reichert (3μm). The sections were fixed on microscope slides and stained using toluidine blue, Goldner trichrome and hematoxylin-eosin methods. The samples were studied under a Leica DM LB microscope and the images were digitally captured. The digital images were processed using an image analysis program and data were analyzed using the SPSS statistical package. The results demonstrated that the combination of the trabecular volume and cortical width acted as predictors of the age in subjects which did not suffer from any deterioration of bone and/or mineral metabolism.     

Arthropods of Forensic Importance on Pig Carrion in the Coahuilan Semidesert,Mexico

Abstract: This is the first report of an ongoing research to establish a sarcosaprophagous arthropod database in the Coahuilan semidesert. Seven pigs (Sus scrofa L.) were used as human models to determine succession in an open urban area during the 2007 winter–spring period. Arthropods were collected manually and from pitfall traps. Carcass biomass loss, as well as arthropod colonization, was recorded during 71 days postmortem. Five decomposition stages were identified during which most abundant orders were found to be Diptera, Coleoptera, and Hymenoptera. Lucilia sericata (Meigen), Chrysomya rufifacies (Macquart), Necrobia rufipes (DeGeer), Dermestes maculatus (DeGeer), Pheidole hyatti Emery, and Pogonomyrmex rugosus Emery stood out as dominant species.     

Supply or Demand? Migration and Political Manipulation in Mexico

Collective remittances are the money flows sent by hometown associations (HTAs) of migrants from the USA to their communities of origin. In Mexico, the 3?×?1 Program for Migrants matches by three the amounts that HTAs send back to their localities to invest in public projects. In previous research, we found that municipalities ruled by the party of the federal government were more likely to participate in the Program. The political bias in participation and fund allocation may stem from two possible mechanisms: HTAs?? decisions to invest in some municipalities but not in others may reflect migrants?? political preferences (a demand-driven bias). Alternatively, government officials may use the Program to finance their own political objectives (a supply-driven bias). To determine which of these two mechanisms is at work, we studied a 2?×?2 matrix of statistically selected cases of high-migration municipalities in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. We carried out over 60 semistructured interviews with state and municipal Program administrators, local politicians, and migrant leaders from these municipalities. Our qualitative study indicates that migrant leaders are clearly pragmatic and that the political bias found is driven by elected officials strategically using the Program. The bias in favor of political strongholds is reinforced by the Program??s requirements for cooperation among different levels of government. This study casts doubt about the effectiveness of public?Cprivate partnerships as valid formulas to reduce political manipulation. It also questions the ability of matching grant programs to reach the areas where public resources are most needed.     

Alcohol,illicit drugs and medicinal drugs in fatally injured drivers in Spain between 1991 and 2000

The aim of this study was to assess the presence of alcohol, illicit drugs and medicinal drugs among Spanish drivers involved in fatal road accidents between 1991 and 2000. Samples were obtained for 5745 drivers killed in road accidents from January 1991 to December 2000. Of the samples, 91.7% represented males and 8.3% females; 40.7% were under 30 years of age, 31.9% were under 31-50 years of age, 19.5% were over 51 years of age, and for 7.9% the age was unknown. Between 1991 and 2000, some type of psychoactive substance was detected among 50.1% of those drivers killed in road accidents, this being mainly alcohol (43.8%) and, less frequently, illicit drugs (8.8%) and medicinal drugs (4.7%). In all the cases, in which alcohol was detected, combined use with other substances accounted for only 12.5%, whilst in the case of illicit and medicinal drugs, figures representing combined use with other substances were 75.6% for the former and 65.8% for the latter. For one in every three cases (32.0%), a blood alcohol level over 0.8 g/l was recorded; cocaine (5.2%), opiates (3.2%) and cannabis (2.2%) were the three illicit drugs most frequently detected. Among medicinal drugs, were benzodiazepines (3.4%), anti-depressant drugs (0.6%) and analgesics (0.4%). The results show the frequent presence of psychoactive substances, particularly alcohol, among Spanish motor vehicle users involved in fatal road accidents. It should be pointed out that illicit and medicinal drugs in combination with other substances were a common feature.     

Chronic intoxication by heroin; histopathological effects on seminiferous tubules

Seminiferous tubules from heroin abusers and from rats chronically intoxicated by heroin samples presented a striking reduction in the thickness of the germinal epithelium. Light and electron microscopical studies showed a considerable increase of lipids and phagosomes in Sertoli cells, disorganization of their junction complexes, detachment of immature germ cells which appeared free in the tubular lumen, and formation of giant multinucleate spermatids. These alterations point out that Sertoli cells could be the target element for the toxic effect of heroin samples on the seminiferous epithelium.     

Latin America's Neocaudillismo: Ex‐Presidents and Newcomers Running for President… and Winning

Latin Americans have been voting for a surprisingly large number of ex‐presidents and newcomers in presidential elections since the late 1980s. This article looks at both the demand and supply sides of this phenomenon by focusing on economic anxieties and party crises as the key independent variables. Sometimes the relationship between these variables is linear: economic anxieties combined with party crises lead to rising ex‐presidents and newcomers. At other times the relationship is symbiotic: the rise of ex‐presidents leads to party crises, economic and political anxieties, and thus the rise of newcomers. This article concludes that the abundance of ex‐presidents and newcomers in elections—essentially, the new face of Latin America's caudillismo—does not bode well for democracy because it accelerates de‐institutionalization and polarizes the electorate.     

Chinese Foreign Direct Investment and Argentina: Unraveling the Path

This article explores the political economy of Chinese outward foreign direct investment (FDI) in Argentina during the reign of Nestor Kirchner and Cristina Fernandez. Among other things, it contemplates possible links between Chinese outward FDI (OFDI) volumes and Argentina’s domestic and foreign policies. It also analyses a mixture of successful and unsuccessful Chinese investment cases in the agricultural, chemical, and banking sectors in order to engage the debate about the drivers of Chinese OFDI (COFDI), with some stressing business and economic factors and others emphasizing the primacy of political factors. In regards to the former, my study shows that Argentine policymakers did not offer special accommodations to Chinese investors despite the pro-China proclivities of Argentine leaders and their country’s economic and political need for China. Moreover, at the local level, Argentine politics actually proved to be an obstacle to successful Chinese deals. As for the latter issue, Chinese companies were not inclined to invest in Argentina because of the China stance of the Argentine government, but rather because they saw opportunities to exploit fertile agricultural soil, special tax regimes for investors, and opportunities to integrate into global value chain. My findings have a number of important theoretical and policy implications.