Media in the Western Balkans: who controls the past controls the future

ABSTRACT

The contribution assesses the role of the media in respect to democratization and EU accession in the countries of the Western Balkans (WB) and the development of press freedom over the long run. The author closely analyses the legislative framework and its implementation in practice and focuses in particular on the economic and political pressure on the media in the region. The article offers three arguments to explain the bad shape of media freedom in the Balkans: structural factors (state advertisements as the main source of income, economic tycoons close to incumbents as media owners), proximate or external factors (the deteriorating level of media freedom in some EU countries and the whole WB region, with an accent on stability rather than democracy) and political-societal dynamics (defamation and libel as means to punish journalists, verbal and physical assaults on journalists). The media in the WB region do not serve as the watchdog of democracy but are instead used as a means to reinforce illiberal regimes.     

Population frequency distribution of HumF13A01, HumFXIIIB, and HumLIPOL loci in the Basque Country (Northern Spain)

A population study of unrelated individuals from the Basque Country (Northern Spain) was carried out using the GenePrint STR System. The PCR products were separated on denaturing polyacrylamide gels and visualized by silver staining. Three tetrameric loci were evaluated: HumF13A01, HumFXIIIB, and HumLIPOL. All loci fit Hardy-Weinberg expectations, and independence of alleles was found between these STR loci. A comparison with other population groups indicated allele frequencies are well conserved in Caucasians, but differ from other racial groups. The calculated parameters a priori probability of exclusion (Pex) and "power of discrimination" (PD) show how informative these loci are for the determination of identity and relatedness of individuals.     

Distribution of Y-chromosome STR defined haplotypes in Iberia

Seven Y-specific STR loci (DYS19, DYS389I, DY5389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392 and DYS393) were studied in five populations from the Iberian Peninsula: Andalusia, Valencia, Basque Country, Galicia and Northern Portugal. Haplotype and allele frequencies of these seven Y-chromosome STRs were estimated. Observed haplotype diversities are in a range between 0.96 (Basque Country) and 0.99 (Valencia and Andalusia). Significant population differentiation was registered between Basques and all the other Iberian populations and also between Valencia and Northern Portugal.     

Drugs in prehistory: chemical analysis of ancient human hair

Concern about drug abuse in modern populations has led to the development of specific methods for identification of cocaine, opiates and cannabis in human hair. Drug use in prehistory can provide indirect evidence of interpopulational contact and social stratification. This paper reports drug evaluation in nineteen ancient hair samples from archaeological sites in northern Chile. Each sample was tested for the presence of traces of cocaine, opiates and cannabis, in order to establish a standard methodology for studies of drug use among prehistoric groups. Although results are negative, this absence of evidence could be due to two main causes: (1) the individuals evaluated did not use any drugs, which does not mean that other members of their cultural group did, or (2) the wide range of known drugs studied did not consider some group specific drugs, derived from local or imported plants, thus meaning that a greater drug range must be tested. In any case, our study confirms that drug testing in prehistoric samples is viable. However, in order to determine what kind of substances were used in prehistoric times new patterns that incorporate all drugs which are not part of the western pharmacopeia must be created. Finally, a methodology for the study of drug use among prehistoric groups using ancient hair samples is described.     

Public policies against criminal assets in mexico: challenges and opportunities from the north border states

Crime, Law and Social Change - Given its vast border with the United States, Mexico is a strategic trade and economic development region, which creates significant challenges in combating crime and...     

The Impact of Mixed‐member Districts on Legislators' Behavior: The Case of Bolivia

Many studies suggest that mixed‐member electoral systems produce different attitudes and behaviors among representatives. This article assesses how this type of electoral system shapes Bolivian legislators' perceptions of their roles as representatives, their district activities, and their relationships with their political parties. It examines these dimensions using elite survey data and interviews with legislators and their personal assistants. The results show that the electoral system does not produce a uniform impact. It shapes how legislators perceive their role as representatives and the nature of the relationship they build with their political parties, but it does not produce differences in the kinds of activities that both types of legislators carry out in their districts.     

An Objective Corruption Risk Index Using Public Procurement Data

In order to address the lack of reliable indicators of corruption, this article develops a composite indicator of high-level institutionalised corruption through a novel ‘Big Data’ approach. Using publicly available electronic public procurement records in Hungary, we identify “red flags” in the public procurement process and link them to restricted competition and recurrent contract award to the same company. We use this method to create a corruption indicator at contract level that can be aggregated to the level of individual organisations, sectors, regions and countries. Because electronic public procurement data is available in virtually all developed countries from about the mid-2000s, this method can generate a corruption index based on objective data that is consistent over time and across countries. We demonstrate the validity of the corruption risk index by showing that firms with higher corruption risk score had relatively higher profitability, higher ratio of contract value to initial estimated price, greater likelihood of politicians managing or owning them and greater likelihood of registration in tax havens, than firms with lower scores on the index. In the conclusion we discuss the uses of this data for academic research, investigative journalists, civil society groups and small and medium business.