Political support through representation by the government. Evidence from Dutch panel data

Research on political support demonstrates that satisfaction with democracy is higher among electoral winners than losers, and that it is higher for citizens who are ideologically more congruent with the government. In this paper, I analyze how support for the political system is affected by representation by the government. Expanding on previous studies, I leverage long-run panel data from the Dutch LISS panel spanning over several electoral cycles. Drawing on various measures that go beyond the distinction between election winners and losers and also measure how close citizens are to the government coalition as a whole, I show that being well represented by the government has a wide-ranging positive relationship with satisfaction with democracy, external efficacy and trust in political institutions. While this relationship is mostly short-run, political support can decline substantially if non-representation persists in the long-run. This highlights the relevance of long-run panel data for studying the consequences of representation.     

Science wars—How much risk should soldiers be exposed to in military experimentation?

With the threat of biological war becoming a more and more distinct possibility, there is a growing need for vaccines and cures for diseases. As warfare moves from the battlefield to the laboratory, the military must adapt its tactics in order to preserve national security. At the moment, soldiers consent to the risk associated with combat, but with the changing nature of war, the need may arise for soldiers to put themselves at risk not only through combat, but also through scientific experimentation, in order to produce vaccines or cures and ultimately maintain national security. By allowing soldiers to trade risk on the battlefield with risk in the laboratory, deeper research can be made into diseases and biological agents, and this would therefore lessen the threat of biological war or terrorism.     

Combination of Face Regions in Forensic Scenarios

This article presents an experimental analysis of the combination of different regions of the human face on various forensic scenarios to generate scientific knowledge useful for the forensic experts. Three scenarios of interest at different distances are considered comparing mugshot and CCTV face images using MORPH and SC face databases. One of the main findings is that inner facial regions combine better in mugshot and close CCTV scenarios and outer facial regions combine better in far CCTV scenarios. This means, that depending of the acquisition distance, the discriminative power of the facial regions change, having in some cases better performance than the full face. This effect can be exploited by considering the fusion of facial regions which results in a very significant improvement of the discriminative performance compared to just using the full face.     

论高等医学院校的人文素质教育

1999年6月公布的《中共中央国务院关于深化教育改革,全面推进素质教育的决定》明确指出,应“普遍提高大学生的人文素养和科学素养”。尤其是医学领域中科学精神和人文精神融合的趋势越来越明显,决定了人文素质教育在医学教育中的重要地位。因而,研究探讨高等医学院校加强人文素质教育的问题,对于更有效的培养优秀医学人才,具有十分重要的现实意义和实用价值。     

Alternatives for Youth's Advocacy Program: Reducing Minority Youth Incarceration Placements in Cleveland,Ohio

Detaining and incarcerating juvenile delinquents is ineffective and costly juvenile justice policy. These placements, indicative of the “tough on crime” approach, become problematic for many of these youths who do not have the advantage of legal counsel because they waive this right. In addition, a majority of these youths have a mental health or special education disability that does not get addressed in correctional facilities. Alternatives for Youth's Advocacy Program (AFY) in Cleveland, Ohio (Cuyahoga County) is addressing these issues using a holistic approach that includes the provision of civil legal representation to assist youths in accessing disability services and defense attorney support in dispositional planning to reduce juvenile offender placements. This article reports the results of an experimental design pilot study evaluation of AFY that randomly referred and evaluated 82 felony‐offending youths over 21 months. This initial review of the AFY program found it reduced detention center placement days by 47% and decreased state facility incarceration days by 74% (total cost savings $625,898). With 3,000 youths detained in the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Detention Center and 1,800 incarcerated in Ohio state facilities annually, policy implications and recommendations are set forth.     

Pakistan: the political economy of militarism

Ahmad Faruqui is an economist, who serves as a fellow with the American Institute of International Studies. He is the author of Rethinking the National Security of Pakistan. Julian Schofield is an assistant professor in political science at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. His research examines the effects of arms races, particularly in relation to South Asia.     

Mediators of male violence toward female intimates

The purpose of this study was to compare perceived life stressors, alcohol usage, and perceived quality of the intimate relationship of a group of males who have abused their female intimate with a group who have no history of abuse toward their partner. Interviews were conducted with 42 men who were defined as violent and 50 men who were defined as nonviolent. Interviews consisted of various demographic and health questions as well as standardized instrumentation (Michigan Alcoholism Screen Test, Autonomy/Relatedness Scale, Life Experiences Survey, and Conflict-Tactics Scale). Student's t tests indicated that the two groups differed as a function of perceived life Stressors, perceived quality of the intimate relationship, race, and depression. Stepwise logistic regression indicated that higher perceived quality of the intimate relationship, black race, and greater depression were significant predictors of male violence toward female intimates.     

How has Radical Right Support Transformed Established Political Conflicts? The Case of Austria

In many European party systems, the radical right has challenged established patterns of political competition. This article studies the consequences of this by using the case of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and data from Austria’s first national election study (AUTNES). It is found that the FPÖ has weakened Austria’s previously highly stable system of socio-structural and ideological divisions as expressed by the two mainstream parties, the People’s Party and the Social Democrats. In socio-structural terms, the FPÖ has undermined the Social Democrats’ support base. In ideological terms, FPÖ voters have distinct views on newer issues such as immigration, European integration and dissatisfaction with the political system, but its supporters’ views on Austria’s traditional conflicts surrounding the economy and social and religious values cannot explain the party’s success. These findings further our understanding of the transformation of political conflicts not just in Austria, but in Western Europe in general.