Ceremonial regionalism,institutions and integration in the Americas

Latin America's recent integrationist proposals have been presented as part of a new commitment to increasing living standards and international competitiveness. However, the frustrating results of integration in the past three decades should caution us against placing excessive emphasis on the technical aspects of trade. The author argues that important lessons can be learned from previous attempts to promote integration in this region while neglecting the political dimensions of integration. Inadequate organizational forms, weak institutional arrangements ruled by technocratic elites, may be more helpful as ceremonial devices in the legitimation of those elites than in advancing the substance of the integration project. Verónica Montecinos is assistant professor of sociology at The Pennsylvania State University, McKeesport Campus. She has researched the consequences of economic reforms on women as well as the growing involvement of professional economists in government and party politics. Her book on the economic bureaucracy in Chile is forthcoming.     

Genetic profile of a multi-ethnic population from Guiné-Bissau (west African coast) using the new PowerPlex 16 System kit

Allele and haplotype frequencies of 15 chromosome STR loci included in the kit PowerPlex16 System from Promega, were determined in a sample of unrelated males from Guiné-Bissau, a country from the west African coast. All individuals were subjected to an interview in order to make sure that their ancestors belonged to the same ethnic group. This way we intended to look for possible inter-ethnic differences. PowerPlex 16 includes STRs not studied before in any multi-ethnic population. The kit includes two new allele markers (Penta D and Penta E), which are very useful either in forensics or population genetic studies. The Guinean population presents significant differences when compared with other African populations.     

Public procurement as a means to achieving social gains – progress and challenges in European legislation and standards for accessible information and communication technology

This article explores the European Commission goal of improving the quality and level of accessibility in mainstream information and communication technology (ICT) goods and services available in Member States through the use of public procurement legislation and performance standards. Over the past two decades, the Commission has encouraged Member States to adopt common requirements for accessibility and to strengthen efforts to use these requirements in public procurement. In the absence of significant improvements in the level of accessibility over this time, the Commission has more recently committed to bringing forward legislative proposals to harmonize the accessibility requirements used by Member States. A new procurement directive package contains stronger obligations on public bodies to include accessibility as mandatory requirements in Technical Specifications. In parallel to this, a standardization mandate by the Commission to the European Standards Organizations (ESOs) concluded in March 2014 with the publication of the first European standard on ICT accessibility. In light of these developments, this article analyses the trajectory of European policy in the field of accessibility over the last two decades, and the interplay between European public procurement, standardization and law. It examines how far these developments have succeeded in bringing into being a public procurement eco-system that will nudge the market in Europe to producing affordable and accessible ICT products and services for persons with disabilities.     

Profile of Men Who Are Victims of Physical Violence by an Intimate Partner

The objective of this study was to characterize the profile of men who are victims of interpersonal physical violence (IPV) by an intimate partner. This study is a retrospective analysis of suspected cases of male victims of IPV by an intimate partner, aged 18 years or older, treated at a Forensic Medicine and Dentistry Center in Brazil. Sociodemographic variables of the victims, the types of violence and the patterns of injuries were evaluated. Over this period, 1520 suspected victims of IPV by an intimate partner were examined; 14.6 % (n = 222) of them were men. Based on Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) two dimensions were formed: the first dimension (internal reliability = 0613) was primarily formed by the relationship between aggressor and victim, the marital status and the type of IPV, and the second dimension (reliability = 0509) by the day of week, the period of day and the marital status.     

Residence patterns of the elderly in early eighteenth-century Iceland

In this article the 1703 Icelandic census is used to shed light on the living arrangements of the elderly during a period of harsh climatic and social conditions. The census is unique in the sense that it includes an entire population of a country at an early date. It was taken on the initiative of the authorities in Denmark with the objective of examining the dire conditions of the Icelandic population and, in particular, assessing the number of paupers and vagrants. The census therefore provides interesting possibilities to analyse the situation of the most vulnerable groups of the society. In a society with low nuptiality rates and a low sex ratio, the risk of becoming dependent on poor relief increased with age. Elderly persons who were not able to retire in the household of an offspring ran the risk of spending their last years as paupers. In the 75 and older age group, no less than 43.5% of women were in the position of a pauper. In line with other recent studies on intergenerational co-residence, this study indicates that the elderly preferred to co-reside with their offspring. Even though elderly couples preferred to remain in the position of head of household, most would co-reside with their children. As regards widowed persons, there were noticeable differences between elderly men and women. Elderly widows were thus more likely than widowers to resign from headship on entering widowhood in order to retire in the household of one of an offspring.     

Economic Crisis and Support for Democracy in Europe

The study of the impact of the economic crisis on attitudes toward democracy tends to be focused on satisfaction with specific democratic institutions. This article expands upon previous research to explore how the current economic crisis can affect core support for democracy as a regime. Based on European Social Survey data for the Eurozone countries, the findings are twofold. It is shown, firstly, that perceptions of the state of the economy have an impact both on satisfaction with and support for democracy, and, secondly, that citizens’ support for democracy is greater in bailed-out countries. In countries that have experienced intervention, the more critical citizens and those less satisfied with the outputs of democracy are the stronger advocates of democracy. The article argues that this is connected with the tendency of critical citizens in bailed-out countries to blame external agents for the economic situation while increasing the saliency of democratic rules as a reaction to the imposition of unpopular measures.