Survival Rates in Bankruptcy Systems: Overlooking the Evidence

Extensive research on bankruptcy still has not made it possible to end the efficiency discussion concerning the need for a reorganization provision in bankruptcy laws. In this paper, I discuss the pervasiveness of asset sales in bankruptcy procedures and the effect it has on survival rates. Without these figures on going concern asset sales Western countries show astonishingly low firm survival rates. In addition, it becomes clear that the bankruptcy system in the US may be under-researched to such an extent that it seriously confounds our view of bankruptcy resolution.     

How platforms facilitate collaboration across organizational boundaries: fighting human trafficking in Sweden

Policy Sciences - The use of collaborations and partnerships that engage a variety of actors from both the public and private spheres has drawn attention during the last decade as a promising...     

Constructing and Conceptualizing“Interdependent Hegemony”in an Era of the Rise of the BRICS and Beyond

The paper aims to provide a framework for understanding the global impactof the rise of the “Second World” (emerging powers, such as BRICS) brought aboutby globalization and the transformation of international relations and internationalpolitical economy. The paper takes the point of departure from one of Gramsci’s keyconceptual categories and analytical apparatus, e.g. “hegemony,” to explore the extentthat the upsurge of the emerging powers has reshaped the terrain and parameters ofsocial, economic and political relations both at the national and global levels, and hasexerted pressure on the existing international order in terms of both opportunities andconstraints. The paper intends to examine the dialectical nexus between the role of theemerging powers as a counter-hegemonic, socio-economic and socio-political forcefor a new world order. The paper’s analytical approach is to combine neo-Gramscianhegemony theories with critical post-hegemony theories. The conclusion of thepaper is to suggest that in an era of globalization and transformational capitalism it isimpossible for the emerging powers to establish an alternative independent hegemony;rather, the world will witness a new era of “interdependent hegemony,” in whichboth the “First World” and the “Second World” are intertwined in a constant processof shaping and reshaping the world order in the nexus of national interest, regionalorientation, common economic and political agendas, security alliance and potentialconfl icts.     

The social factory of democracy in underdeveloped Spain

This article aims to analyse the contribution made by Christian movements towards constructing a democratic citizenship in an authoritarian context in the backward province of Albacete. Our study attempts to analyse the efforts made by grassroots Catholic sectors to foster democratic enclaves free from the interference of the Francoist state in 1960s and 1970s Spain. These alternative social spaces enabled new habits of civil resistance that confronted the socio-cultural hegemony of authoritarian values. As a result, throughout these years, various social groups started to challenge the sense of the regime's impregnable unity. This grassroots experience with the “power of the powerless” laid the foundations for negotiations among the political elites during the transition to democracy in Spain.     

The Outcry of the Periphery? An Analysis of Ticino's No to Immigration

When the popular initiative “against mass immigration” was accepted by the Swiss people and cantons on 9 February 2014, Ticino had by far the highest approval rate. The Italian‐speaking canton thus once more confirmed its singular position, assumed since the 1990s, on popular votes regarding immigration and foreign policy. This seems to be indicative of wider crises and changes in both the economic and political spheres that have favoured the emergence of a political opposition between centre and periphery. The results of a survey among 1400 citizens of Ticino after the vote of 9 February confirm this. In essence, on top of the question of immigration, the vote was influenced by a fearful perception of Ticino as a “double periphery” vis‐à‐vis both Berne and Lombardy.     

Assessment of exposure to opiates and cocaine during pregnancy in a Mediterranean city: preliminary results of the "Meconium Project"

For the first time in Europe, the "Meconium Project" aimed to estimate the prevalence of drug use by pregnant women and the effects of exposure to illicit drugs during pregnancy on the fetus and infant. Between October 2002 and February 2004, 1151 (79%) dyads among the 1439 mother-infant dyads from the Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain, met eligibility criteria and agreed to participate in the study. We present preliminary results on the first 830 meconium samples and 549 mother-infant dyads, for which statistical analysis of socio-economic and demographic characteristics and newborn somatometry was completed. The meconium analysis showed an overall 7.9% positivity for drugs of abuse, with 6-monoacetylmorphine and cocaine being the analytes, most frequently found in samples positive for opiates and cocaine. Structured interview disclosed 1.3, 1.8 and 1.3% of mothers exposed to opiates, cocaine and both drugs, while only one mother declared ecstasy consumption. Meconium analysis showed that prevalence of opiates, cocaine and combined drugs exposure was 8.7, 4.4 and 2.2%, respectively, and confirmed the case of ecstasy use. Arecoline, the main areca nut alkaloid, was found in meconium specimens from four Asiatic newborns, whose mothers declared beetle nut consumption during pregnancy. Parental ethnicity was not associated with drug use, nor was the social class, although a higher tendency toward drug consumption was observed in professional and partly skilled mothers. Drug consuming mothers showed a higher number of previous pregnancies and abortions (p<0.05) when compared to non-consumer mothers (meconium negative test), probably due to a lack of family planning. Consumption of opiates and cocaine during pregnancy was associated with active tobacco smoking, a higher number of smoked cigarettes and cannabis use. Exposure status and smoking behavior correlated with significantly lower birth weight in newborns from mothers exposed only to cocaine and to opiates and cocaine simultaneously. Of the four newborns exposed to arecoline, one showed a low birth weight, low intrauterine growth, hyporeflexia and hypotonia.     

La Lega dei Ticinesi: Vers l'intégration?

L'objectif de cet article est de rendre compte du processus d'intégration de la Lega dei Ticinesi dans la démocratie de concordance. Le processus d'intégration de ce mouvement populiste se manifeste au niveau organisationnel, des formes d'action, mais aussi sur le plan de la participation au système politique et des rapports qu'elle établit avec le premier parti du canton. Ainsi, à l'intérieur de la Ligue, une aile pragmatique s'est développée à côté de l'aile radicale originaire. Toutefois, ce processus d'intégration présente ses limites dans la structure du parti qui laisse toujours beaucoup de marge d'action au président de la Lega, dans la nature de la coalition gouvernementale et dans les incertitudes liées à perception de la crise économique du canton.