The grey area between nationality and citizenship: an analysis of external citizenship policies in Latin America and the Caribbean

Literature on diaspora engagement policies, transnational and extra-territorial citizenship has painted the increasing recognition of dual nationality and the extension of state policies to the diaspora as a signal of states leaving behind the paradigms of exclusive nationality and residence as conditions to exercise citizenship. In doing this, this literature tends to treat citizenship and nationality as synonyms. By analysing the citizenship policies of 22 Latin American and Caribbean states towards their nationals who reside abroad and/or acquire another nationality, we add key nuances to such consideration: nationality and citizenship may relate to different legal statuses – with important consequences for migrants – and there might be differences also between the citizen rights of nationals by origin and of nationals by naturalization. In particular, we show that citizenship and nationality interact in different ways when it comes to the preservation of rights for emigrants: the distinctions allow restricting the portability of citizenship rights for nationals by birth, and other groups of nationals, depending on the exclusivity, and origin, of their national belonging. These distinctions tell a potentially different story of how citizenship is conceived of by states as they approach the challenges of membership and participation posed by emigration, and paint a less rosy picture with regard to the demise of exclusive nationality.     

Determination of phenol and o-cresol by GC/MS in a fatal poisoning case

A fatality due to the ingestion of solution containing phenol and o-cresol is described. The pathological findings were typical of acute substantial poisoning. Blood, urine and stomach content were obtained during post mortem examinations. Phenol and o-cresol were identified using GC/MS. The extractions from autopsy materials were obtained as follows: by gel permeation with cyclohexane/dichloromethane from stomach content, by solid phase extraction (SPE) from urine and by deproteinization with acetonitrile from blood. The phenol and o-cresol concentrations in the samples were found, respectively, as follows: 115.0 and 5.0 microg/g in the stomach contents, 58.3 and 1.9 microg/ml in the blood, 3.3 and 20.5 microg/ml in the urine. Distributions of phenol in fatal poisonings have been reported, but, usually, colorimetry was used as the analytical method and it cannot exclude the interference of other phenolic compounds.     

Decentralisation and regional cabinet size: the Spanish case (1979–2015)

This article explores under what conditions regional governments tend to have larger or smaller cabinets. The main contention is that cross-regional variation in cabinet size is partly explained by the dynamics set up by the multilevel system of government, mainly territorial decentralisation, multilevel government (in)congruence or the existence of nationally distinct regions. The hypotheses are tested with a new and original dataset built upon the Spanish case (1979–2015). Findings show that regions with more welfare state policies, especially when the region’s economic capacity is high, and nationally distinct regions tend to have bigger executives. In contrast, decentralisation in the form of basic state functions and government incongruence do not have a significant effect. Results have important implications for our understanding of sub-national territorial institutions and their interaction with decentralisation dynamics.     

The Heritability of Palatal Rugae Morphology Among Siblings*†

Although there is clinical applicability of the palatal rugae as an identification tool in forensic odontology, controversy exists whether the palatal rugae patterns are stable or variable. The greater the genetic component, the higher the probability that palatal rugae patterns are stable. The aim of this study was to compare the palatal rugae morphology between full siblings and the proportion of variability due to genetic component. This cross-sectional study was conducted on digital models of 162 siblings aged 15–30 years old. The palatal rugae patterns were assessed with Thomas and Kotze (1983) classification using Geomagic Studio software (3D Systems, Rock Hill, SC). The palatal rugae morphology between siblings showed significantly similar characteristics for total number of left rugae (p = 0.001), left primary rugae (p = 0.017), secondary rugae for right (p = 0.024) and left sides (p = 0.001), right straight rugae (p = 0.010), and right convergent rugae (p = 0.005) accounting for at least 6.25%-12.8% of the variability due to heredity. Despite the similarities found, the palatal rugae patterns showed significant differences between siblings of at least 46.9% (p = 0.001). Zero heritability was found in 9 of the 14 rugae patterns. Meanwhile, total number of rugae, primary, backward, and convergent rugae showed moderate heritability (h² > 0.3) and total number of secondary rugae showed high heritability (h² > 0.6). In conclusion, despite the individuality characteristics, an appreciable hereditary component is observed with significant similarities found between sibling pairs and the palatal rugae patterns were both environmentally and genetically influenced.     

Passed,regulated, or applied? The different stages of emigrant enfranchisement in Latin America and the Caribbean

ABSTRACT

When are emigrants really enfranchised? Lengthy lags exist between some reforms that de jure introduced external voting and their application. In the blooming literature on emigrant enfranchisement, these lags remain unexplained. We argue that this hampers our understanding of enfranchisement processes as having different legal and political stages. With data on Latin American and Caribbean states since 1965 until the present, we investigate why some states in this region have delayed the regulation and application of external franchise while others have implemented it right after enactment. We propose hypotheses to understand these reforms as episodes marked by different contexts, engineered by different agent coalitions and embedded into larger processes of political change. In particular, we suggest that enfranchisement processes are composed of three stages: enactment, regulation, and first application. Our findings suggest that the process of adoption of external voting is shaped by the legal mechanism of enactment and the stability of political coalitions.