Ideological proximity and voter turnout in multi-level systems: evidence from Spain

ABSTRACT

Does ideological proximity between the individual and political parties determine electoral participation in regional elections, as much as in national elections? Does the degree of self-rule of a region affect the interplay between ideological distance and turnout? This article addresses these questions and provides empirical evidence drawing upon individual-level and regional-level data from 53 regional elections and 4 national elections in Spain. Results indicate that citizens are more likely to vote when they perceive there is at least one congruent policy option among the party supply, and this happens at both regional and national levels. However, whether the closest party is in national government or whether it is a regionalist organization has a dissimilar impact on turnout in different tiers. This relationship between the type of party which is most ideologically proximate and electoral participation is partially affected by the degree of regional autonomy of the territory.     

Marie Corelli's British new woman: A threat to empire?

At the height of the British Empire, England was in the midst of major social, economic and moral upheaval. The roles and status of middle-class women were particularly affected by many of these changes. In turn, as the gap between idealism and ‘reality’ grew, the validity or usefulness of Victorian notions or ideals of womanhood increasingly came under attack. Arising from this commotion was the figure of the late Victorian and Edwardian ‘New Woman.’ Her appearance provoked further confusion and ambiguity about gender that had repercussions for empire. This paper addresses the way in which the role of English women in sustaining the British Empire intensified the social pressures on them in the metropole. It examines the threat to nation and empire represented by the New Woman by looking at how she was presented to the rapidly growing general reading public at the end of the nineteenth- and beginning of the twentieth century. This is achieved by looking at the bestselling novels of Marie Corelli, a phenomenally popular turn-of-the-century author. Corelli's novels repeatedly affirm that the New Woman represented the threat of ‘modernity,’ that she was a danger to ‘civilisation’ and therefore to British imperialism.     

The software patent debate

Legal context. This article has practical application for thoseworking in the patent field, particularly with regards to thefiling of software patent applications. Key points. The article provides a detailed explanation of thestate of the art with regards to the legal protection of software,and describes the latest legal developments in the area, includingthe failed Directive on Computer Implemented Inventions andsome recent cases that may shed more light on some of the technicalissues involved in the area of software. The paper also exploressome of the arguments put forward by those in favour and opposedto software patents, in order to ascertain their validity. Practical significance. Existing case law may provide help tosolve the problem of patentability, but it might also be a goodidea to resurrect the idea that there should be a sui-generissoftware right.     

From Suicide and Strain to Mass Murder

Mass media explanations and criminological profiles of mass shootings focus on the perpetrator’s individual psychological traits in their search for motive and meaning behind such horrific events. We consider the broader social context to better understand mass shootings. We focus on three recent high profile mass shootings in the United States – Aurora, CO, Newtown, CT, and Santa Barbara, CA as examples of people responding to various experienced strains with violence, and conclude with some ideas to help prevent such occurrences from happening again.     

Public policy measures in support of knowledge transfer activities: a review of academic literature

Despite the wealth of academic studies that analyze different policy measures and initiatives implemented by national or regional governments to support knowledge transfer from academia to industry, scant systematization efforts seek to integrate these disparate lines of research. The systematic review of academic studies on public policy measures in support of technology transfer presented by this article suggests a literature classification based on two dimensions: the type of policy measure analyzed, and the focus of the study (i.e., policy design vs. impact assessment). On the basis of this comprehensive review, we summarize the lessons learned thus far, identify research gaps that continue to limit insights into public policy measures for technology transfer, and highlight directions for further research.