Turkey’s struggle with the PKK and civilian control over the Turkish Armed Forces

Although most scholars of Turkey’s civil-military relations argue that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) insurgency has led to a decrease in civilian control over the Turkish military from the 1980s onwards, this has not always been the case. This article argues that the presence or the degree of the PKK threat is not sufficient to explain the civil-military balance of power in Turkey throughout the 1980s and the 1990s. Instead, the article shows that in the face of the PKK threat, three major factors have influenced the behaviours of both civilian and military policy-makers in Turkey and shaped the level of civilian control. These factors are first, the Turkish political leaders’ control over their political parties and these parties’ control of a majority of seats in the parliament; second, how negatively or positively the military perceives the political leadership; and third, European Union pressures for democratisation.     

Turkey's Military Victory over the PKK and Its Failure to End the PKK Insurgency

This article explores the major reasons why Turkey could not end the PKK insurgency despite its military defeat in the late 1990s. It argues that Turkish governments have failed to sufficiently address two key aspects of their low-intensity conflict with the PKK, namely the fact that the PKK is not just a group of armed militants, but rather a complex insurgent organization and that it appeals to a large number of Kurds. Turkey's inability to definitively quell the PKK insurgency raises significant questions regarding the justification and effectiveness of the use of military force in dealing with insurgencies.     

Testing the Impact of Political Generations: The Class of 94 and Pro‐feminist Ideas in the Swedish Riksdag

How can one explain the transformation of elected assemblies like national parliaments? In this study it is argued that much can be gained from taking the assumption of political generations more seriously when trying to explain transformations of the political agenda – for example, of themes and topics brought up in the parliamentary process. More specifically, the article expands on previous research in three ways: first, it launches the concept of ‘parliamentary political generation’ where the core element is the combination of an influx of large numbers of newcomers into the elected assembly and an electoral context that is formative – that is, that exhibits characteristics that distinguish the election from other elections. Second, an empirical test is conducted where other factors such as party affiliation and social background characteristics are controlled for. Finally, the test on the impact of parliamentary political generations is conducted in a context – the Swedish Riksdag – where parliamentary party groups are strong. The data used is the Parliamentary Surveys 1985–2010 conducted at the Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The political generation in focus is the ‘Class of 94’. The results show that the Class of 94 distinguish themselves by being more feminist than their senior colleagues and other groups of newcomers in Swedish elections. This is the feminist generation in Swedish politics.     

Policy Congruence and Style of Representation: Party Voters and Political Parties

This article focuses on whether styles of representation influence policy congruence. Style of representation is defined at the party level as the proportion of representatives within parties who are partisans, delegates or trustees. Policy congruence refers to how close on the left–right scale the mean position of a party as placed by its candidates is compared to that of party voters. The article concludes that where there are higher proportions of trustees within parties, there is a greater degree of policy congruence, whereas a higher proportion of partisans results in less policy congruence. The proportion of delegates has no significant impact on congruence after taking account of other party and country measures. This indicates that party constraints on representatives are applied at the cost of congruence with voters, and that when representatives enjoy more flexibility to follow their own opinions, the party displays greater congruence with its own voters.     

Modernisation and Political Management Arrangements: The Case of Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council

In the United Kingdom the Labour government has placed considerable emphasis on the need to modernise public services. In the case of local government, Labour's belief in the need for modernisation has resulted in radical measures to change local authorities' political management arrangements designed, in part, to achieve greater efficiency, transparency and accountability. In its response to the Labour government's agenda, Redcar &; Cleveland Borough Council established interim political management arrangements in May 2000 prior to the establishment of permanent arrangements. The permanent arrangements were to be decided upon following public consultation and a review of the interim arrangements. This article reports the outcomes and, in doing so, provides evidence of the impact of Labour's measures to achieve change in local government.     

Constructing Crime against the Elderly in Swedish Crime Prevention Campaigns

The study investigates how crime prevention activities frame the problem of crime against the elderly, regarding character, causes, effects and solutions. Data was collected through participant observations, interviews and analysis of a film produced by a local crime prevention council in Sweden. It is concluded that crime prevention for seniors produces complex and contradicting images of the problem. In situational crime prevention seniors are warned to look out for strangers stalking them or trying to access their homes. Statements that victimization is uncommon among the old are combined with warnings that invoke images of mysterious ever-present perpetrators. In social crime prevention, where causes and interventions of crime are discussed, crime prevention officers link the problem to established social problems such as drug abuse and juvenile delinquency. This way of framing the problem is typical for a Swedish Social Democratic perspective, where lack of community and integration are defined as causes of social problems. It is concluded that warnings to look out for strangers who ask for help may be at odds with this striving towards community.     

The Europeanization process and Kurdish nationalism in Turkey: the case of the Democratic Society Party

This study aims at analyzing the impact of the European integration process on Kurdish nationalism in Turkey by focusing on the Democratic Society Party (Demokratik Toplum Partisi, DTP) as the major pro-Kurdish political party in Turkey between 2005 and 2009. It argues that the Europeanization process in Turkey, which accelerated in the post-Helsinki period, has brought about some important consequences concerning the recognition and expression of Kurdish identity. The study examines Europe's impact on the DTP through analysis of party documents and interviews with party representatives, in order to investigate the meaning and use of the European integration process in the DTP's sub-state nationalist ideology. This analysis shows that, although the Europeanization process in Turkey has somewhat broadened opportunity structures for Kurdish sub-state nationalist politics, overall the EU's impact on the DTP's nationalist politics has remained indirect and limited.     

Turkey in Somalia: challenging North/Western interventionism?

Turkey’s humanitarian and development intervention in Somalia is unusually illuminating as a case study to investigate the relations between emerging and conventional interveners in conflict zones since, in this case, Turkey’s intervention carries adequate impetus to resist assimilation with conventional North/Western counterparts. Our starting point is the observation that Turkish and conventional humanitarian and development interveners have struggled to coordinate or cooperate in Somalia. This article investigates what this uncooperative and uncoordinated organisational behaviour means, and we root our investigation in 21 face-to-face interviews with officials working inside the Turkish and conventional intervention in Mogadishu and Nairobi to inquire about how they understand and theorise this discordant behaviour. We use a parsimonious analytical framework of trustworthiness that questions the ‘ability’ and ‘integrity’ of counterpart organisations to explore the intentions behind organisational behaviours. Our analysis of interview narratives evidences challenges to conventional methods of intervention by Turkish organisations and the protection of the same by North/Western organisations. Our concluding discussion interprets these findings in relation to consequences for the status quo hierarchy of global governance and its promotion of liberal intervention norms, and for the utilisation of securitised and remote-control intervention methodologies in conflict zones such as Somalia.     

副鸡嗜血杆菌基因文库的构建与筛选

为了筛选副鸡嗜血杆菌的体内表达基因,提取了副鸡嗜血杆菌的全基因组,构建了副鸡嗜血杆菌基因组的pET系统表达文库。运用PCR及核酸内切酶(SalⅠ+NdeⅠ)鉴定基因文库,并以病原菌吸附后的康复血清作为探针,采用菌落原位杂交的方法对基因文库进行筛选。结果显示,重组质粒中有0.5～2kb的片段插入,99%的基因包含在基因文库中;重复筛选后得到的阳性克隆再经过PCR与SalⅠ+NdeⅠ酶切鉴定后定向测序,并对测序结果在NCBI上进行分析后发现筛选获得的基因中,有1个表达为转运谷氨酰还原酶、1个表达为转录终止因子,1个表达为荚膜合成域2,还有2个表达为保守假想蛋白。结果表明,本研究应用体内诱导抗原技术(IVIAT)筛选到了一些副鸡嗜血杆菌体内诱导表达基因,并对基因的功能做了初步探讨,在找寻副鸡嗜血杆菌在体内生存以及致病关键基因的道路上前进了一步,为传染性鼻炎的预防和治疗积累了有价值的资料。     

旋毛虫ES抗原对小鼠巨噬细胞TLR2/4mRNA表达的影响

为探讨旋毛虫ES抗原对RAW264.7细胞TLR2/4mRNA表达的影响,分别取经0、2、5、15、30、45μg/mL ES抗原作用24h的RAW264.7细胞和用15μg/mL ES抗原作用0、3、6、12、18、24h后的RAW264.7细胞,采用半定量PCR方法检测TLR2和TLR4mRNA的表达水平变化。结果显示,随着ES抗原浓度的升高,TLR2/4mRNA的表达量逐渐上升,15μg/mL ES抗原组与空白对照组相比差异显著(P<0.05)。在15μg/mL ES抗原作用24h内,随着作用时间的延长,TLR2/4mRNA的表达量逐渐上升,作用18h后的表达水平升高,且与空白对照组差异显著(P<0.05)。证实,ES抗原可刺激RAW264.7细胞表面受体TLR2/4表达升高,且存在一定的剂量和时间效应。