Why Low Levels of Democracy Promote Corruption and High Levels Diminish It

2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 893-907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly M. McMann ◽  
Brigitte Seim ◽  
Jan Teorell ◽  
Staffan Lindberg
Keyword(s):  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Collective Impact ◽  
Curvilinear Relationship ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Freedom Of Association ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Concepts Of Democracy ◽  
Negative Linear Relationship

Theory predicts democracy should reduce corruption. Yet, scholars have found that while corruption is low at high levels of democracy, it is high at modest levels, as well as low when democracy is absent. A weakness of studies that aim to explain this inverted curvilinear relationship is that they do not disaggregate the complex concepts of democracy and corruption. By contrast, this paper disaggregates both. We demonstrate that the curvilinear relationship results from the collective impact of different components of democracy on different types of corruption. Using Varieties of Democracy data, we examine 173 countries from 1900 to 2015, and we find freedom of expression and freedom of association each exhibit an inverted curvilinear relationship with corruption—both overall corruption and four different types. The introduction of elections and the quality of elections each act in a linear fashion—positively and negatively with corruption, respectively—but jointly form a curvilinear relationship with both overall corruption and many of its types. Judicial and legislative constraints exhibit a negative linear relationship with executive corruption. We offer a framework that suggests how these components affect costs and benefits of engaging in different types of corruption and, therefore, the level of corruption overall.

Quota Women Are Threatening to Men

2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 107-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klea Faniko ◽  
Till Burckhardt ◽  
Oriane Sarrasin ◽  
Fabio Lorenzi-Cioldi ◽  
Siri Øyslebø Sørensen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Perceived Threat ◽  
Preferential Treatment ◽  
Public Sector Employees ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Women In Decision Making ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Two studies carried out among Albanian public-sector employees examined the impact of different types of affirmative action policies (AAPs) on (counter)stereotypical perceptions of women in decision-making positions. Study 1 (N = 178) revealed that participants – especially women – perceived women in decision-making positions as more masculine (i.e., agentic) than feminine (i.e., communal). Study 2 (N = 239) showed that different types of AA had different effects on the attribution of gender stereotypes to AAP beneficiaries: Women benefiting from a quota policy were perceived as being more communal than agentic, while those benefiting from weak preferential treatment were perceived as being more agentic than communal. Furthermore, we examined how the belief that AAPs threaten men’s access to decision-making positions influenced the attribution of these traits to AAP beneficiaries. The results showed that men who reported high levels of perceived threat, as compared to men who reported low levels of perceived threat, attributed more communal than agentic traits to the beneficiaries of quotas. These findings suggest that AAPs may have created a backlash against its beneficiaries by emphasizing gender-stereotypical or counterstereotypical traits. Thus, the framing of AAPs, for instance, as a matter of enhancing organizational performance, in the process of policy making and implementation, may be a crucial tool to countering potential backlash.

Enumeration of Cryptosporidium oocysts from surface water concentrates by laser-scanning cytometry

2000 ◽  
Vol 41 (7) ◽  
pp. 197-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Zanelli ◽  
B. Compagnon ◽  
J. C. Joret ◽  
M. R. de Roubin
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Water Samples ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Immunomagnetic Separation ◽  
Entire Surface ◽  
Cryptosporidium Oocysts ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Laser Scanning Cytometry ◽  
Direct Microscopic Observation

The utilization of the ChemScan® RDI was tested for different types of water concentrates. Concentrates were prepared by cartridge filtration or flocculation, and analysed either without purification, or after Immunomagnetic separation (IMS) or flotation on percoll-sucrose gradients. Theenumeration of the oocysts was subsequently performed using the ChemScan® RDI Cryptosporidium application. Enumeration by direct microscopic observation of the entire surface of the membrane was carried out as a control, and recoveries were calculated as a ratio between the ChemScan® RDI result and the result obtained with direct microscopic enumeration. The Chemscan enumeration technique proved reliable, with recoveries yielding close to 100% in most cases (average 125%, range from 86 to 467%) for all the concentration/purification techniques tested. The quality of the antibodies was shown to be critical, with antibodies from some suppliers yielding recoveries a low as 10% in some cases. This difficulty could, however, be overcome by the utilization of the antibody provided by Chemunex. These data conclusively prove that laser scanning cytometry, which greatly facilitates the microscopic enumeration of Cryptosporidium oocysts from water samples and decreases the time of observation by four to six times, can be successfully applied to water concentrates prepared from a variety of concentration/purification techniques.

Bicameralism

2019 ◽  
pp. 60-71
Author(s):  
Cecilia Testa
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Social Cleavages ◽  
Constitutional Choice ◽  
Legislative Power ◽  
Pressure Groups ◽  
Important Purpose ◽  
Two Bodies

In modern democracies, the legislative power is vested in parliaments with diverse organizational structures. Bicameral legislatures, requiring concurrent deliberation by two bodies, are present in about one-third of the world’s countries. Bicameralism typically serves the important purpose of accommodating the representation of heterogeneous interests from distinct social cleavages or geographic entities, but it is also associated with advantages such as greater stability of policies, increased accountability, and better quality of legislation. These benefits, however, only arise under specific circumstances, and the greater procedural complexity brought about by two chambers is not without costs. Disagreement between the two chambers often leads to costly legislative gridlock. Bicameralism can also open the door to pressure groups advancing their requests for favorable legislation when the chambers do not have time to carefully consider its consequences. The constitutional choice of bicameralism and its optimality ultimately rest on the subtle balance between its costs and benefits.

Different Types of Auricular Keloids and Treatment by Intralesional Cryosurgery: Best Practice for Obtaining Long-Lasting Clinical Results

Dermatology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Yaron Har-Shai ◽  
Lior Har-Shai ◽  
Viktor A. Zouboulis ◽  
Christos C. Zouboulis
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Body Image ◽  
Recurrence Rate ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Clinical Results ◽  
Psychosocial Impact ◽  
Aesthetic Outcome ◽  
The Past ◽  
Different Types

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Auricular keloids belong to the most perplexing medical conditions, which have significant psychosocial impact on the patient’s body image and quality of life. <b><i>Summary:</i></b> The article is purposed to provide dermatologists and plastic surgeons with the best proven practice using intralesional cryosurgery for the treatment of the different auricular keloid types in order to obtain superior clinical results by minimizing the probability of recurrence. In the past 20 years, the authors have developed novel procedures in order to increase the effectiveness of intralesional cryosurgery on auricular keloids, including hydrodissection, warm gauze technique, and excision of dangling skin. Long-lasting clinical results with a low recurrence rate and a satisfactory aesthetic outcome are achieved with no deformation of the ear framework.

Profiles of Citizenship Orientations Among Youth

Young ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 110330882110086
Author(s):  
Iana Tzankova ◽  
Gabriele Prati ◽  
Elvira Cicognani
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Adolescents And Young Adults ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Late Adolescents ◽  
Institutional Politics ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Political Activist ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Citizenship Orientations

Prior studies revealed that low levels of youth political activity are not necessarily indicative of complete disengagement from societal affairs but could be accompanied by interest and latent involvement stemming from a standby or monitorial attitude. However, no prior study has investigated patterns of citizenship orientations including both manifest and latent engagement defined by one’s position towards institutional politics, according to different forms of participation. A questionnaire was filled out by 1,732 late adolescents and young adults in Italy (15–30 years old, M = 19.73, 60.7% female). Cluster analysis identified six profiles of citizenship orientations across different types of participatory activities (political, activist, political online and civic): active trustful, active distrustful, standby trustful, standby distrustful, unengaged trustful and unengaged distrustful. The results showed that each level of engagement—active, standby and unengaged—could be further differentiated between trustful and distrustful based on their attitude towards institutions and the electoral process.

FREE EXPRESSION OR EQUAL SPEECH?

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-169
Author(s):  
Teresa M. Bejan
Keyword(s):  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Free Expression ◽  
Freedom Of Association ◽  
Classical Liberal ◽  
Freedom Of Thought ◽  
The Right ◽  
Equal Right ◽  
To Receive ◽  
The Ideal

AbstractThe classical liberal doctrine of free expression asserts the priority of speech as an extension of the freedom of thought. Yet its critics argue that freedom of expression, itself, demands the suppression of the so-called “silencing speech” of racists, sexists, and so on, as a threat to the equal expressive rights of others. This essay argues that the claim to free expression must be distinguished from claims to equal speech. The former asserts an equal right to express one’s thoughts without interference; the latter the right to address others, and to receive a hearing and consideration from them, in turn. I explore the theory of equal speech in light of the ancient Athenian practice of isegoria and argue that the equality demanded is not distributive but relational: an equal speaker’s voice should be counted as “on a par” with others. This ideal better captures critics’ concerns about silencing speech than do their appeals to free expression. Insofar as epistemic and status-harms provide grounds for the suppression and exclusion of some speech and speakers, the ideal of equal speech is more closely connected with the freedom of association than of thought. Noticing this draws attention to the continuing—and potentially problematic—importance of exclusion in constituting effective sites of equal speech today.

scholarly journals Threat or Corrective? Assessing the Impact of Populist Parties in Government on the Qualities of Democracy: A 19-Country Comparison

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Davide Vittori
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Country Comparison ◽  
Democratic Regimes ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Scholars have long debated whether populism harms or improves the quality of democracy. This article contributes to this debate by focusing on the impact of populist parties in government. In particular, it inquires: (1) whether populists in government are more likely than non-populists to negatively affect the quality of democracies; (2) whether the role of populists in government matters; and (3) which type of populism is expected to negatively affect the quality of liberal-democratic regimes. The results find strong evidence that the role of populists in government affects several qualities of democracy. While robust, the findings related to (2) are less clear-cut than those pertaining to (1). Finally, regardless of their role in government, different types of populism have different impacts on the qualities of democracy. The results show that exclusionary populist parties in government tend to have more of a negative impact than other forms of populism.

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