Negative Issue Ownership

Existing research considers issue ownership to be a positive attribute of political parties, which are seen as ‘owning’ those policy areas where they are particularly competent and engaged. However, for some citizens a party may also be a negative issue owner if it has a particularly bad reputation for its handling of an issue. This article describes and explains aggregate and individual-level patterns of negative issue ownership using a survey-based measure of handling perceptions from the 2013 Austrian National Election Study (n = 3,266). Naming a particular party as a negative issue owner is affected by partisanship, but also by policy preferences and government performance evaluations. The effects of issue importance vary across issues. These findings lay the groundwork for more research on negative attributions of issue ownership and their empirical consequences on vote choice.     

What Actually Matters? Understanding Attitudes toward Immigration in Switzerland

On 9 February 2014, the Swiss people accepted the popular initiative “against mass immigration” launched by the national‐conservative Swiss People's Party (SVP). This voting outcome has triggered wide‐ranging debates about both the policy on immigrants as well as the future of Switzerland within the European context. Against this background, we evaluate attitudes toward immigration in Switzerland. Using hitherto unexplored survey data of MOSAiCH, our empirical analyses show that already in the year 2013, before the debate about the initiative on mass immigration was in full swing, roughly 53 percent of the 1011 interviewed Swiss citizens stated that immigration should be reduced. Moreover, our estimations indicate that the threats and fears induced by immigration and the will to maintain sovereignty and autonomy are particularly relevant for attitudes toward immigration. By contrast, education and national or personal economic conditions are only weakly related to the immigration issue.     

“One size fits all”? Convergence in international corporate social responsibility communication—A comparative study of CSR mission statements in the United States and India

So far, no study has investigated determinants that shape corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication in mission statements, as previous studies have focused on CSR reports and homepages. Our study, which is based on institutional theory, fills this gap. By conducting a directed content analysis of the statements of 200 listed companies in the United States and India, we examine the content conveyed with respect to 5 CSR dimensions, the 5 most prominent stakeholder groups, and additional components of CSR mission statements. Moreover, we examine whether Unted States and Indian companies' CSR communication varies according to their (a) home country, (b) industry affiliation, (c) degree of internationalization, (d) company size, (e) profitability, (f) founding year, (g) length of the CSR mission statement, and (h) compliance with the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative. Whereas the findings reveal that the companies' home country, degree of internationalization, and size have no considerable bearing on their CSR communication, we evidence that their communication can be explained by their industry affiliation, the profitability ratio return on assets, founding year, length of the statement, and compliance with the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. Moreover, we explain the cross-country conformity of CSR communication by a convergence towards global and universal CSR communication approaches.     

How extensive can injury of the larynx in self-choking be?]

Is it possible to distinguish between suicidal and homicidal strangulation by the extent of the injuries of the larynx if the results of the police investigations are uncertain? Therefore evaluation of the German publications (115 reported cases of suicidal strangulation) and our own cases (17 cases). Hereafter more intensive injuries of the neck are extremely rare in cases of self-strangulation. Casuistic: Body of a 40 years old woman with signs of strangulation. The husband declared his wife strangulated herself in the bathtub with the belt of a bathrobe. Autopsy: Typical findings of drowning, intensive injuries of the neck tissues and the larynx. Kind and extent of the findings are speaking well for an assault mainly by manual strangulation. Undepending of the medical findings the police investigations are almost excluding a suicide. Condemnation of the husband.     

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.     

African agency and global orders: the demanding case of nuclear arms control

Abstract

How much agency do African states have to shape global orders? This study puts the global nuclear order under scrutiny to answer this question. It amounts to a demanding case. Arms control is something that global great powers take very seriously, and there is no weapons category that they take more seriously than nuclear weapons. My findings provide a nuanced picture. Although often outflanked and frustrated by nuclear weapon states, the nuclear order would look different without African actors exerting their agency. They successfully shaped background and foreground institutions constituting the global nuclear order by building advocacies for new institutions upon already existing ones, reaching out to state and non-state actors outside of Africa, and channelling communication through African states with authority in global fora. This study makes three contributions: First, it underlines the key finding of recent literature on African agency that African actors are more to be reckoned with than often assumed. Second, it provides novel evidence about the diplomatic mechanisms through which they come to make a difference. Third, it adds to our grasp of the constitution of global orders as well as the processes through which they come to be made, re-made and unmade more generally.     

India Inc. and globalization: The rise of neo-liberalism and a transnational managerial elite?

ABSTRACT

In our paper, we present an empirical study that tests claims regarding the purported impact of economic globalization on business elites, namely that elites become increasingly transnational in their careers and life style and neo-liberal in their action orientations. We draw upon the results of a study that (a) tapped life course data for 100 current top managers in India and (b) implemented a collective mindset analysis using in-depth interviews that were conducted in India with retired and serving senior business managers. Our findings indicate that endogenous institutions have an important and enduring role to play in the shaping of careers, as well as generating embedded cognitive frameworks. Drawing from this exploratory study, we propose a set of hypotheses and a research agenda to argue that socio-cultural mechanisms of selection and socialization must be taken into account in discussions regarding the emergence of a global corporate elite.     

Ethyl sulphate and ethyl glucuronide in vitreous humor as postmortem evidence marker for ethanol consumption prior to death

To clarify the circumstances of death, the degree of inebriation is of importance in many cases, but for several reasons the determination of the ethanol concentration in post-mortem samples can be challenging and the synopsis of ethanol and the direct consumption markers ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and ethyl sulphate (EtS) has proved to be useful. The use of a rather stable matrix like vitreous humor offers further advantages. The aim of this study was to determine the concentrations of ethanol and the biomarkers in the robust matrix of vitreous humor and to compare them with the respective levels in peripheral venous blood and urine. Samples of urine, blood from the femoral vein and vitreous humor were taken from 26 deceased with suspected ethanol consumption prior to death and analyzed for ethanol, EtS and EtG. In the urine samples creatinine was also determined. The personal data, the circumstances of death, the post-mortem interval and the information about ethanol consumption prior to death were recorded. EtG and EtS analysis in urine was performed by LC-ESI-MS/MS, creatinine concentration was determined using the Jaffé reaction and ethanol was detected by HS-GC-FID and by an ADH-based method. In general, the highest concentrations of the analytes were found in urine and showed statistical significance. The mean concentrations of EtG were 62.8mg/L (EtG100 206.5mg/L) in urine, 4.3mg/L in blood and 2.1mg/L in vitreous humor. EtS was found in the following mean concentrations: 54.6mg/L in urine (EtS100 123.1mg/L), 1.8mg/L in blood and 0.9mg/L in vitreous humor. Ethanol was detected in more vitreous humor samples (mean concentration 2.0g/kg) than in blood and urine (mean concentration 1.6g/kg and 2.1g/kg respectively). There was no correlation between the ethanol and the marker concentrations and no statistical conclusions could be drawn between the markers and matrices.     

Representative misconduct,voter perceptions and accountability: Evidence from the 2009 House of Commons expenses scandal

This paper examines electoral accountability after the 2009–10 UK expenses scandal. Existing research shows that Members of Parliament (MPs) implicated in the scandal fared only marginally worse in the election than non-implicated colleagues. This lack of electoral accountability for misconduct could have arisen either because voters did not know about their representative's wrongdoing or because they chose not to electorally sanction them. We combine panel survey data with new measures of MP implication in the expenses scandal to test where electoral accountability failed. We find that MP implication influenced voter perceptions of wrongdoing more than expected. In contrast, constituents were only marginally less likely to vote for MPs who were implicated in the scandal. Electoral accountability may therefore be constrained even when information about representative misconduct is easily available and clearly influences voter perceptions.