Populism in election times: a comparative analysis of 11 countries in Western Europe

Abstract

The article comparatively examines the levels of populism exhibited by parties in Western Europe. It relies on a quantitative content analysis of press releases collected in the context of 11 national elections between 2012 and 2015. In line with the first hypothesis, the results show that parties from both the radical right and the radical left make use of populist appeals more frequently than mainstream parties. With regard to populism on cultural issues, the article establishes that the radical right outclasses the remaining parties, thereby supporting the second hypothesis. On economic issues, both types of radical parties are shown to be particularly populist. This pattern counters the third hypothesis, which suggests that economic populism is most prevalent among the radical left. Finally, there is no evidence for the fourth hypothesis, given that parties from the south do not resort to more populism on economic issues than those from the north.     

Birth order and youth delinquent behaviour testing the differential parental control hypothesis in a french representative sample

Studies on delinquent behaviour have frequently shown that firstborn children are less involved in delinquency than middle-born children. We suggest that differential parental control of the children depending on their ordinal position might account for this phenomenon. The study, carried out with a French representative sample (n=1129), indicated that firstborns were more supervised than middle-borns. Firstborns reported less minor offences and serious offences than middle-born children. However, when sibship size and parental supervision were controlled in a subsequent analysis of covariance, the effect of ordinal position on serious offences disappeared, whereas the birth-order effect on minor offences declined but remained significant. It is concluded that ordinal position plays a moderate role in delinquent behaviour and that this effect is partly induced by differential parental control.     

The free French secret services: Intelligence and the politics of republican legitimacy

The improvised nature of the French political and military entities established in London in 1940 makes the study of relations between the Free French military secret services and political leadership particularly delicate. After initially attempting to respect the traditional separation between military and political authority that had prevailed under the Third Republic, the role of the Free French secret services was progressively politicised by the exigencies of a clandestine war. Moreover, increasingly tense relations between certain leaders of the Resistance inside France and the leadership of the Gaullist secret services, along with preparations for the political reconstruction of France after the war, resulted in a war of successive decrees pertaining to the place of the intelligence services within the government hierarchy. The end result was that the secret services were placed under true direct civilian control. This marked a radical modification of the traditional system which had prevailed during the Third Republic. Free French leader Charles de Gaulle approved of this modification but never appeared to attach great importance to matters relating to the organisation and functioning of the intelligence services.     

The Determinants of Trade Credit in Transition Countries

The paper investigates the determinants of trade credit in transition countries. Traditional theories of trade credit extension suggest that both financial and commercial motives may induce non-financial companies to assume a role of financial intermediation. Furthermore, specific conditions of financing for companies in transition countries may reserve to trade credit an important role in financial structure. We test the determinants of accounts receivable and accounts payable on a sample of about 9300 companies from nine Central and Eastern European Countries. Results suggest that both financial and commercial motives explain the credit behaviour of firms. However, we do not find generalised patterns in the use of trade credit among all transition countries.     

Is France adopting trusts wholesale? The answer is no, but ...

The French Government has been considering the introductionof a fiduciary trust-like relationship into the Civil Code.Thirty new Articles were inserted into the Civil Code as a consequenceof the adoption on 19 February 2007 of the fiduciary law institutingthe fiducie. In the author's view, this has generated turmoil.The impact of this new law, with the translation of the newArticles, is discussed in detail.     

Copiepresse SCRL & alii v. Google Inc. – In its decision of 5 May 2011, the Brussels Court of Appeal confirms the prohibitory injunction order banning Google News and Google’s “in cache” function

In 2003, Google made available in Belgium its online free service “Google News”, which consisted in offering Internet users a computer-generated press review. In his orders of 5 September 2006 (previously commented in [2007] 23 CLSR 82–85) and of 13 February 2007 (previously commented in [2007] 23 CLSR 290–293) the President of the High Court of Brussels found that, by offering this service, Google infringed the copyrights of Belgian press editors and authors. On 5 May 2011, the Brussels Court of Appeal upheld to a very large extent the first instance decision. The Court confirmed that Google’s “cache” function and its “Google News” service were infringing the claimants’ copyrights and that Google could not rely on any copyright limitation (such as the exceptions for quotation or for report on news events), legislation or fundamental right.     

Detection of amitriptyline, nortriptyline and bromazepam in liver, CSF and hair in the homicidal poisoning of a one-month-old girl autopsied 8 months after death

We reported on the death by poisoning of a one-month-old baby that had followed the death of one of her sister (due to cyamemazine overdose). Exhumation of the corpse was done 8 months after burial and revealed the presence of amitriptyline. Parent drug and its metabolite were analysed by HPLC-MS/MS in positive ionisation mode on a C(18) analytical column using a gradient of acetonitrile and 2mM formate buffer at pH=3. Quantification is based on the main ion m/z=233, the common product ion of nortriptyline (MH(+), m/z 264), amitriptyline (MH(+), m/z 278) and nortriptyline D3 used as internal standard (MH(+), m/z 267). Amitriptyline and nortriptyline in the liver were measured at a concentration of 29.8 and 3.6 μg/g, respectively. Hair analyses revealed the presence of amitriptyline and nortriptyline at concentrations of 1811 and 43 pg/mg, respectively, while complementary analyses showed the presence of bromazepam in the hair at a concentration of 740 pg/mg, thus documenting previous administrations. The mother confessed later having used the drinkable form of the pharmaceutical LAROXYL(?) by pouring the content of a 20 ml bottle (at 40 mg/ml) into the feeding-bottle of her child. The milk was sweet but still bitter and following the testimony of a close relative, the whole family helped to feed the crying baby.     

A one-year monitoring of nicotine use in sport: frontier between potential performance enhancement and addiction issues

Tobacco consumption is a global epidemic responsible for a vast burden of disease. With pharmacological properties sought-after by consumers and responsible for addiction issues, nicotine is the main reason of this phenomenon. Accordingly, smokeless tobacco products are of growing popularity in sport owing to potential performance enhancing properties and absence of adverse effects on the respiratory system. Nevertheless, nicotine does not appear on the 2011 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List or Monitoring Program by lack of a comprehensive large-scale prevalence survey. Thus, this work describes a one-year monitoring study on urine specimens from professional athletes of different disciplines covering 2010 and 2011. A method for the detection and quantification of nicotine, its major metabolites (cotinine, trans-3-hydroxycotinine, nicotine-N'-oxide and cotinine-N-oxide) and minor tobacco alkaloids (anabasine, anatabine and nornicotine) was developed, relying on ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography coupled to triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UHPLC-TQ-MS/MS). A simple and fast dilute-and-shoot sample treatment was performed, followed by hydrophilic interaction chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HILIC-MS/MS) operated in positive electrospray ionization (ESI) mode with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) data acquisition. After method validation, assessing the prevalence of nicotine consumption in sport involved analysis of 2185 urine samples, accounting for 43 different sports. Concentrations distribution of major nicotine metabolites, minor nicotine metabolites and tobacco alkaloids ranged from 10 (LLOQ) to 32,223, 6670 and 538 ng/mL, respectively. Compounds of interest were detected in trace levels in 23.0% of urine specimens, with concentration levels corresponding to an exposure within the last three days for 18.3% of samples. Likewise, hypothesizing conservative concentration limits for active nicotine consumption prior and/or during sport practice (50 ng/mL for nicotine, cotinine and trans-3-hydroxycotinine and 25 ng/mL for nicotine-N'-oxide, cotinine-N-oxide, anabasine, anatabine and nornicotine) revealed a prevalence of 15.3% amongst athletes. While this number may appear lower than the worldwide smoking prevalence of around 25%, focusing the study on selected sports highlighted more alarming findings. Indeed, active nicotine consumption in ice hockey, skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, skating, football, basketball, volleyball, rugby, American football, wrestling and gymnastics was found to range between 19.0 and 55.6%. Therefore, considering the adverse effects of smoking on the respiratory tract and numerous health threats detrimental to sport practice at top level, likelihood of smokeless tobacco consumption for performance enhancement is greatly supported.     

Fatal intoxication due to ackee (Blighia sapida) in Suriname and French Guyana. GC-MS detection and quantification of hypoglycin-A

Between 1998 and 2001 the deaths of 16 Surinamese children were recorded along the Maroni River, which forms the border between Suriname and French Guyana. After a metabolic origin was eliminated, ethnobotanical research in the field led to a hypothesis of intoxication through the ingestion of ackee. Ackee (Blighia sapida) is a large green leafy tree of West African origin. Its unripe fruit contains large quantities of two toxic molecules: hypoglycin-A and hypoglycin-B, the former being the more toxic. We have developed a GC-MS procedure allowing us to demonstrate the presence of hypoglycin-A in the gastric fluid of one of the deceased children, and to compare the content of hypoglycin-A in fruit collected on the road to Paramaribo in Suriname (5.1mg/g) with samples from Burkina Faso (8.1mg/g) and Jamaica (9.2mg/g). Field research showed the misuse of this little-known plant by Maroon witch doctors. The Bushinengue witch doctors were informed about the dangers of ackee, and no new cases have been reported to date.