Putting power into practice: Administrative and political capacity building in the European Parliament's Committee for International Trade

As the formal powers of the European Parliament have increased with successive treaty changes, its committees' administrations have seen a parallel growth. We argue that such administrative capacity is necessary but not sufficient for acting on formal treaty powers. Administrative capacity has to be combined with political capacity in order to muster policy impact in European Union decision‐making. By differentiating between intra‐institutional administrative and inter‐institutional political capacity, we offer a fine‐grained conceptualization of policy capacity while broadening the theoretical and empirical understanding of the European Parliament's administration as an organizational structure of formal and informal working practices, intra‐institutional coordination and inter‐institutional relations. Based on expert interviews, document analysis and participant observation, the case of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership illustrates how societal politicization of a specific policy issue triggered the European Parliament to exploit the latent potential of its post‐Lisbon administrative capacity by transforming it into a more readily deployable political capacity.     

Polymorphism of four X-chromosomal STR loci in Belarusians and Slovaks

We have investigated four X-chromosomal STR loci (a tetranucleotide repeat marker HPRTB, DXS7423 and trinucleotide repeat systems DXS101, DXS8377) in population samples of unrelated Belarusian and Slovak males (N = 180 and 116, respectively).Markers were amplified in a multiplex PCR reaction with primers labeled with fluorescent dyes 5-FAM and 5-JOE (dye set F). The separation and detection of PCR products were performed by capillary electrophoresis on a 3130 Genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystems), using positive controls (K562 and NA9947A) and the GeneScan-500 ROX internal lane standard. Allele designation was based on comparison with the constructed allelic ladder. We performed statistical analysis estimating power of discrimination for males (PD_male). Our data was compared with European populations from Poland and Germany. The obtained data are useful in forensic practice and they contribute to creation of national X-STR databases in Belarus and Slovakia.     

Polish martial law of 1981 in Polish post-communist films: Between romanticism and postmodernism

This essay discusses representations of Polish martial law of 1981 in Polish feature films made after communism collapsed. It considers them against the political history of Poland over the last thirty years, especially the history of Solidarity and the shift from communism to post-communism. It argues that the way martial law is portrayed changed over the years. While initially, as represented by Kutz's Death as a Slice of Bread, the aim was to commemorate the victims of martial law and condemn the authorities, in later films we observe more complex portrayals that reflect the growing erosion of the myth of Solidarity and the Church.     

Laetitia Guerlain et Nader Hakim (éds.): Littératures populaires du droit. Le droit à la portée de tous

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique -     

A case of failed interregionalism? Analyzing the EU-ASEAN free trade agreement negotiations

In 2007, the European Union (EU) and the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) started interregional negotiations on a free trade agreement, which failed 2 years later. Relying on document analysis and elite interviews with officials from the EU and ASEAN’s members, this article addresses why and the extent to which the interregional negotiations failed. By rooting the theoretical model in a power-based approach, the analysis demonstrates that the EU has attempted to secure its economic and regulatory power in Southeast Asia. In striving for such power, interregionalism was initially the intuitive way because the EU perceived ASEAN as a cohesive bloc. However, the EU’s ambitious vision for comprehensive agreements clashed with the actual heterogeneity of ASEAN member states. The failure of the interregional approach is, thus, a result of the EU’s delicate balance between political and economic interests in Southeast Asia, which it pursues with trade-specific issues.     

Quantification of mitochondrial DNA in human blood cells using an automated detection system

The 4977 bp deletion of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) accumulates in postmitotic tissues with advancing age. The purpose of our study was to detect and quantify these deletion even in blood cells with a high turnover activity. Whole venous blood, isolated human platelets and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were collected from 10 unrelated donors aged 20-71 years and total DNA was extracted. PCR was performed for total and mutated mtDNA using two different primer pairs and two fluorogenic probes labeled with the fluorescent dyes FAM and VIC. Specific PCR products were generated, detected and quantified in a real-time PCR. The amplification products of total and deleted mtDNA could be detected in each sample and did not exhibit any differences in the amount of the deleted mtDNA in whole blood, human platelets or PBMCs. Our data did not show any accumulation of the 4977 bp deletion with increasing age as it was observed for several other tissues.     

On the looting of nations

We develop a dynamic discrete choice model of an unchecked ruler making decisions regarding the development of a resource rich country. Resources serve as collateral and facilitate the acquisition of loans. The ruler chooses either to stay in power while facing the risk of being ousted, or loot the country??s riches by liquefying the resources through lending. We show that unstructured lending from international credit markets can create incentives to loot the country; and an enhanced likelihood of looting causes greater political instability, and diminishes growth. Using a treatment effects model, we find evidence that supports our predictions.     

Allele frequencies for 10 STR loci in a population from central Poland

Allele frequencies of 10 STR loci included in the AmpFlSTR SGM Plus Kit (PE Applied Biosystem) was obtained a simple of 222 unrelated individuals residing in Warsaw (Poland) region.     

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.