Evaluating electoral management body capacity

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly Ann Garnett

Electoral management bodies (EMBs) perform many functions crucial to promoting electoral integrity, from registering voters to resolving post-election disputes. The capacity of an EMB to perform its tasks, however, is difficult to measure in cross-national perspective. Data on resources and personnel provide only a partial picture of EMB capacity and expert surveys are limited in their comparability. This article presents a new proxy for measuring EMB capacity. It employs a content analysis of EMB websites in 99 countries to measure the presence of indicators of their major functions. It assesses the measurement validity of this new measure of capacity and conducts a small-scale test to determine whether EMBs that score highly do actively communicate with their citizens. An application of this new measure of EMB capacity demonstrates its importance in predicting overall electoral integrity, indicating its importance for future scholarly and policy research.

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon La Follett ◽  
John Stroud ◽  
Pat Malvoso ◽  
Joseph Lopes ◽  
Raymond Lim ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Koen Damhuis

Trump, Wilders, Salvini, Le Pen—during the last decades, radical right-wing leaders and their parties have become important political forces in most Western democracies. Their growing appeal raises an increasingly relevant question: who are the voters that support them and why do they do so? Numerous and variegated answers have been given to this question, inside as well as outside academia. Yet, curiously, despite their quantity and diversity, these existing explanations are often based on a similar assumption: that of homogeneous electorates. Consequently, the idea that different subgroups with different profiles and preferences might coexist within the constituencies of radical right-wing parties has thus far remained underdeveloped, both theoretically and empirically. This ground-breaking book is the first one that systematically investigates the heterogeneity of radical right-wing voters. Theoretically, it introduces the concept of electoral equifinality to come to grips with this diversity. Empirically, it relies on innovative statistical analyses and no less than 125 life-history interviews with voters in France and the Netherlands. Based on this unique material, the study identifies different roads to the radical right and compares them within a cross-national perspective. In addition, through an analysis of almost 1,400 tweets posted by Geert Wilders and Marine Le Pen, the book shows how the latter are able to appeal to different groups of voters. Taken together, the book thus provides a host of ground-breaking insights into the heterogeneous phenomenon of radical right support.


Toxins ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 646 ◽  
Author(s):  
García-Díaz ◽  
Patiño ◽  
Vázquez ◽  
Gil-Serna

Aflatoxin (AF) contamination of maize is a major concern for food safety. The use of chemical fungicides is controversial, and it is necessary to develop new effective methods to control Aspergillus flavus growth and, therefore, to avoid the presence of AFs in grains. In this work, we tested in vitro the effect of six essential oils (EOs) extracted from aromatic plants. We selected those from Satureja montana and Origanum virens because they show high levels of antifungal and antitoxigenic activity at low concentrations against A. flavus. EOs are highly volatile compounds and we have developed a new niosome-based encapsulation method to extend their shelf life and activity. These new formulations have been successfully applied to reduce fungal growth and AF accumulation in maize grains in a small-scale test, as well as placing the maize into polypropylene woven bags to simulate common storage conditions. In this latter case, the antifungal properties lasted up to 75 days after the first application.


2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Ciricosta ◽  
L. Labate ◽  
S. Atzeni ◽  
A. Barbini ◽  
D. Batani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

2010 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Haller ◽  
Victor Roudometof

Author(s):  
Richard Clements ◽  
Andrew D. Ethridge

This paper describes further investigations, utilising small scale test cells, into the general corrosion which can occur on wires within the inherent annulus space in a flexible pipe, particularly, and for the first time, in a sour service (H2S containing) environment. The work enhances data presented previously in 2002. Tests have been performed in cells specifically designed to simulate, as closely as possible, the environment and confines of a flexible pipe annulus, using solutions of both deionized water and seawater (to represent seawater flooding and condensed water). The systems were saturated with CO2 and H2S to simulate permeation of gases through the polymer pressure sheath (as predicted by validated permeation models). Weight loss measurements were undertaken in order to quantify the corrosion rate in these simulated annulus environments and metallography was undertaken to characterise the corrosion and check for HIC/SOHIC.


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