Comparative Perspectives on Inequality and the Quality of Democracy in the United States

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 841-856 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred Stepan ◽  
Juan J. Linz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Science ◽  
American Politics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
The World ◽  
Splendid Isolation

When Jeffrey Isaac approached us to review some recent works in American politics from a comparative perspective, we gladly accepted the task, believing it important to help overcome what some see as the “splendid isolation” of American politics. Indeed, the invitation arrived at a propitious time because, after completing our most recent book, we critically reflected on the fact that we had unfortunately written almost nothing on the oldest, and one of the most diverse, democracies in the world, the United States. We thus agreed to contribute some thoughts on the matter, recognizing the limits of our knowledge of the entire field of American politics, but acknowledging, too, our belief that the current distancing of the study of America from the analysis of other democracies impoverishes modern political science.

scholarly journals Effects of Social Determinants of Health in Progression to Type 2 Diabetes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Folabi Ariganjoye ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
United States ◽  
Type 2 Diabetes ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
The United States ◽  
Effective Management ◽  
The World ◽  
Longitudinal Association

The prevalence of prediabetes and diabetes in the United States and around the world has increased faster than expected in the last 30 years. The economic burden this costs a nation can be astronomic both in terms of expense and loss in productivity. One-third of U.S. adults, 86 million people, have prediabetes. Effective management is needed that can reach these 86 million, and others at high risk, to reduce their progression to diagnosed Type 2 diabetes. After the literature review, there was not enough literature to support how these led to the progression to diabetes. The abundant literature is centered on how to prevent complications and improve the quality of life of those living with type 2 diabetes. This paper will focus on the longitudinal association between these social determinants and how they may predispose to the progression to Type 2 diabetes.

scholarly journals The Future of Clinical Islet Transplantation in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael F Knoll ◽  
Carmela A Knoll ◽  
Rita Bottino ◽  
Massimo Trucco ◽  
Suzanne Bertera ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
United States ◽  
Type 1 Diabetes ◽  
Islet Transplantation ◽  
Drug Administration ◽  
The United States ◽  
Clinical Islet Transplantation ◽  
The World

Clinical islet transplantation was first realized over four decades ago at the University of Minnesota. Autologous islet transplantation is now widely recognized as a treatment to prevent diabetes in patients after pancreas excision and is offered at major transplant centers throughout the United States and the world. Type 1 diabetes represents a much larger demographic in which islet transplantation may benefit patients. Allogeneic islet transplantation can now offer similar outcomes to pancreas transplantation in a subset of patients with labile type 1 diabetes with less risk than whole organ transplantation. It is recognized as a standard of care in nations around the world but not in the United States, despite the important developmental role US scientists and physicians have played. Early reports of islet transplantation focused on insulin independence that proved to diminish over time. However, regardless of insulin status, islet transplantation provides benefits ranging from improved quality of life to reduction in diabetic complications. A National Institutes of Health sponsored multi-center Phase 3 Clinical Trial (CIT-07) demonstrated safety and efficacy, although the Food and Drug Administration chose to consider islets as a biologic that requires licensure, which makes offering the procedure in the clinic very challenging. Until regulations can be brought into communion with international standards, allogeneic islet transplantation in the United States is unlikely to match international levels of success and once promising programs are left to wither on the vine. Food and Drug Administration approval would open the door for third party medical reimbursement and allow many patients the opportunity to enjoy better health and quality of life. Establishment of clinical islet transplantation for type 1 diabetes would lead to optimizations in procedures making it more efficacious and cost effective while offering support for ongoing islet xenotransplantation studies that could bring islet transplantation to even more patients.

Freedom, Equality and the Quality of Democracy

2015 ◽  
pp. 1778-1804
Author(s):  
Thorsten D. Barth
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Research Question ◽  
The United States ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
Democratic Development ◽  
Quintuple Helix ◽  
Essential Questions ◽  
Democratic Life

Freedom and equality are the content, the substance and the tension in a liberal democracy of today. Freedom and equality describe the design, stability and the quality of a democracy. Especially in a Quintuple Helix Model, the quality of democracy and sustainable development are closely related, because a high-quality democracy is a prerequisite for promoting sustainability in democracies. By investigating the quality of democracy this article develops two theses: 1.) Democracy with their quality rises or falls with the expression of freedom and/or equality; 2.) Democracy generates its stability from a balanced interaction between freedom and equality. With the concept of Democratic Life this article examines these two theses: Democratic Life as newly developed concept measures the quality of democracy with providing information about the type of a democracy and an approach to measure a democracy´s democratic development for the top 20 of the Democracy Ranking (2009). The central keys of the Democratic Life concept are the ‘Index of Classification' and the ‘Democratic-Life-Index', which are formed from an ‘Index of Freedom' and an ‘Index of Equality'. By empirical examination of the research question of Democratic Life two essential questions in the modern democratic theory can be investigated: 1.) How democratic is a democracy? 2.) How much freedom and equality does a liberal democracy need? The countries analyzed for the Democratic Life concept in this article are the United States, Australia, Sweden and Germany in comparison between 1995 and 2008. This degree of democratic quality will create a lot of problems towards developing sustainability in a democracy, because in the United States there is currently a big disparity between freedom and equality.

A Republic, If You Can Keep Its Elections Secure, Accurate, and Fair

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 667-669
Author(s):  
Martha Kropf
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
The United States ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face

We have kept our republic through a variety of localized disasters and various problem elections. The research presented here highlights the field of “Election Science and Administration” (ESA). Research in our field maximize our probability of continuing to keep our republic—even in the face of a pandemic which is a national—and international challenge. As the United States and the world deal with the specter of a pandemic election, the growth of the scholarly field designed to advocate for transparency in data collection and to improve the quality of elections is more important than ever.

Teacher Effectiveness in Canada

2021 ◽  
pp. 29-55
Author(s):  
Rodney A. Clifton ◽  
Masha V. Krylova
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Quality Of Education ◽  
Considerable Variability ◽  
Canadian Education ◽  
The World ◽  
Education Statistics ◽  
National Governments

There are only a few countries in the world in which education is not the responsibility of national governments but the responsibility of smaller units—provinces and territories in Canada and states in Australia and the United States. Canada has 10 provinces and three territories; hence, there are 13 systems of public education with about 5.5 million students and over 450,000 teachers (Canadian Education Statistics Council, 2020). Consequently, there is considerable variability across the country in the quality of education and in the way it is managed and delivered.

scholarly journals Health issues of incarcerated women in the United States

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 2051-2060 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia Mignon
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Care ◽  
The United States ◽  
Psychological Needs ◽  
Incarcerated Women ◽  
Female Inmates ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Trauma History ◽  
The World

Abstract Health care within jails and prisons in the United States is typically insufficient to meet the medical and psychological needs of female inmates. Health services are often of low quality, especially in the areas of reproductive medicine. Mental illness, substance abuse, a trauma history, and sexual victimization while incarcerated can predict a more difficult adjustment to a correctional environment. Incarcerated women who are able to maintain contact with family members, especially children, can have a better prison adjustment. Recommendations are made to improve the types and quality of health care delivered to women in jails and prisons in countries around the world.

Freedom, Equality and the Quality of Democracy

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thorsten D. Barth
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Research Question ◽  
The United States ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
Democratic Development ◽  
Essential Questions ◽  
Democratic Life

Freedom and equality are the content, the substance and the tension in a liberal democracy of today. Freedom and equality describe the design, stability and the quality of a democracy. Especially in a Quintuple Helix Model, the quality of democracy and sustainable development are closely related, because a high-quality democracy is a prerequisite for promoting sustainability in democracies. By investigating the quality of democracy this article develops two theses: 1.) Democracy with their quality rises or falls with the expression of freedom and/or equality; 2.) Democracy generates its stability from a balanced interaction between freedom and equality. With the concept of Democratic Life this article examines these two theses: Democratic Life as newly developed concept measures the quality of democracy with providing information about the type of a democracy and an approach to measure a democracy´s democratic development for the top 20 of the Democracy Ranking (2009). The central keys of the Democratic Life concept are the ‘Index of Classification’ and the ‘Democratic-Life-Index’, which are formed from an ‘Index of Freedom’ and an ‘Index of Equality’. By empirical examination of the research question of Democratic Life two essential questions in the modern democratic theory can be investigated: 1.) How democratic is a democracy? 2.) How much freedom and equality does a liberal democracy need? The countries analyzed for the Democratic Life concept in this article are the United States, Australia, Sweden and Germany in comparison between 1995 and 2008. This degree of democratic quality will create a lot of problems towards developing sustainability in a democracy, because in the United States there is currently a big disparity between freedom and equality.

European Energy Alternatives and Turkey's Compatibility

2019 ◽  
pp. 96-121
Author(s):  
Selma Aytüre
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
European Union ◽  
Energy Policy ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Complementary Role ◽  
Strategic Location ◽  
The World

Energy is an issue of strategic importance to the European Union and Turkey. Both are dependent to the outside. EU is the world's largest energy importer and second largest energy consumer after the United States. Turkey's alignment with the EU's energy policy is extremely important for EU in terms of increasing the diversity and quality of its energy resources. Turkey's strategic location makes Turkey a land of passage for transporting oil and gas to Europe. This geopolitical importance is an important opportunity for both sides. In this chapter, EU's position on energy in the world has been explained first. Then the energy situation and energy policy in EU has been examined. Secondly, Turkey's energy policy and compatibility to EU together with complementary role to EU on Energy has been presented.

What is the Meaning of Meaning in Paul Tillich's Theology?

2018 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-332
Author(s):  
Steven Cassedy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Person ◽  
The United States ◽  
English Word ◽  
Existential Philosophy ◽  
Verbal Noun ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Ultimate Concern ◽  
The World

AbstractOne of the most frequently occurring terms in Paul Tillich's theology is meaning (in his English writings) or Sinn (in his German writings). But Tillich used both in multiple senses, without acknowledging or even appearing to be aware that he was doing so. He wrote only in German till he immigrated to the United States at the age of forty-seven. He used the German Sinn abundantly in his native tongue, and with a variety of meanings: a universal medium for understanding the world; “sense,” as in “making sense” or what is missing in “senseless” (sinnlos) statements; “the unconditional” (“das Unbedingte”); a “thing pointed at” (in Tillich's theory of symbols and signs); a grand metaphysical quality of some undefined sort; the object-correlate of an act of cognition; and “God.” He drew on the German Sinn when he began to write in English but, because of the grammatical status of meaning as a verbal noun, the English term allowed Tillich to ascribe agency to things that in his view bear meaning, for example the thing that grasps us when we are in the state of faith. In addition, the English word meaning for Tillich meant “comprehensibility,” “value,” “direction,” from existential philosophy (what is missing when life is meaningless); “ultimate concern” (the “meaning which gives meaning to all meanings”); in the plural, something undefined that the human person “lives in”; and “God.” The change from German to English accompanied a change in his conception of faith, raising the possibility that the new language moved Tillich's theology in a new direction.

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