scholarly journals Who Is Purged? Determinants of Elite Purges in North Korea

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 73-96
Author(s):  
Taekbin Kim

The existing literature on elite purges in dictatorships claims that the risk of coups to replace dictators is the main cause of the dictator’s choice of purge strategy. Why then do elite purges occur even in well-established dictatorships with a consistently low risk of coups? This article argues that elite purges in consolidated dictatorships have a different purpose and logic. Dictators, who have consolidated their position, seek to maximize the efficiency of rule by making the elite obedient through purges. For this purpose, dictators carefully select the purge target by considering various factors. To test this theory, the article examines the pattern of elite purges in North Korea based on an original individual-level dataset, which contains the personal background of 367 North Korean elites and their purge records between 1948 and 2019. The result of survival analysis shows that the purge risk of the elite is not significantly associated with their military background but is associated with the characteristics of the institution to which the individual elite member belongs. Other individual factors, including the elite’s educational background, the experience of studying abroad, and the career path, are also significantly related to the probability of being purged. The finding suggests that coup-proofing is not the only purpose of elite purges but that ensuring the leader’s political superiority is another purpose of elite purges in consolidated dictatorships.

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 525-549
Author(s):  
Iryna Kyzyma

Abstract This paper contributes to the literature by analysing how poor the income poor are in European countries. Using data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions, I go beyond average estimates of the intensity of poverty and analyse the distribution of individual-level poverty gaps in each country of interest. As a next step, I identify which personal and household characteristics predict how far away incomes of the poor fall from the poverty line. The results indicate that, in most European countries, half of the poor have income shortfalls not exceeding 30% of the poverty line whereas only a few percent of the poor have income deficits of 80% and more. The results also suggest that traditional poverty correlates (e.g. age, gender, educational background) are not always significantly associated with the size of normalised poverty gaps at the individual level, or the nature of these associations differs as compared to when the same characteristics are linked to the probability of being poor.


2021 ◽  
pp. 146144482199155
Author(s):  
Yilang Peng ◽  
Tian Yang

While partisan selective exposure could drive audience fragmentation, other individual factors might also differentiate news diets. This study applies a method that disentangles the differential contributions of the individual characteristics to audience duplication networks. By analyzing a nationally representative survey about US adults’ media use in 2019 ( N = 12,043), we demonstrate that news fragmentation is driven by a myriad of individual factors, such as gender, race, and religiosity. Partisanship is still an important driver. We also distinguish between media exposure and media trust, showing that many cross-cutting ties in co-exposure networks disappear when media trust is considered. We conclude that audience fragmentation research should extend beyond ideological selectivity and additionally investigate how and why other individual-level preferences differentially contribute to fragmentation both in news exposure and in news trust.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco-Jose Borrego-Utiel ◽  
Rafael Jose Esteban de la Rosa ◽  
Enoc Merino Garcia ◽  
Aurora Polo Moyano ◽  
Clara Moriana Dominguez ◽  
...  

Abstract Background and Aims The Mayo Clinic classification (MCC) is used in patients with ADPKD to identify those who may experience a more rapid deterioration of glomerular filtration rate (GFR). It has been developed in the American population but has not been validated in other populations. Our objective was to analyze whether the CCM predictive model is valid in an ADPKD population from southern Spain and whether it can identify populations with different renal survival. Method We selected patients with ADPKD with measurements of height-adjusted total renal volume (HtTKV) performed with CT or MR and with GFR CKD-EPI> 15 mL / min / 1.73 m2. We estimated the GFR at the end of the follow-up using the Irazábal equation and the rate of GFR deterioration, bias and precision were calculated. We analyzed the predictive power of BC using survival analysis using the Kaplan-Meier technique and using Cox regression models. Results We included 128 patients, aged 44 ± 13 years and a follow-up time of 79 ± 45 months (median 88), at the end of which 22 (17.2%) patients had a GFR <10 mL / min / 1.73 m2 or were included in renal replacement therapy. The distribution of patients according to the CM classification was: 1A 4.7%, 1B 28.1%, 1C 33.6%, 1D 22.7%, 1E 10.9%. Age decreased progressively: 1A 58 ± 11, 1B 48 ± 14, 1C 46 ± 13, 1D 40 ± 8, 1E 30 ± 7 (p <0.001). In contrast, HtTKV increased significantly: 1A 275 ± 52, 1B 486 ± 191, 1C 887 ± 410, 1D 1222 ± 510, 1E 1324 ± 800 mL / m (p <0.001). While the initial GFR was not different between classes, the GFR at the end of the follow-up decreased significantly: 1A 59 ± 36, 1B 63 ± 29, 1C54 ± 35, 1D 48 ± 26, 1E 44 ± 33 mL / min / 1.73 m2 (p <0.001). The GFR variation rate was significantly different according to the MCC classes: 1A 1.31 ± 6.80, 1B -2.48 ± 3.12, 1C -4.13 ± 4.33, 1D -4.70 ± 2.66, 1E -6.18 ± 3.03 mL / min / 1.73 m2 / year (p = 0.008). The final GFR predicted with the Irazábal equation was not significantly different from the real one. The absolute bias of the final GFR estimated with the MC equation was 2.6 ± 16.0 mL / min / 1.73 m2 and the relative bias was 38.7 ± 110, and it was not significantly different in the MCC classes. The P10 precision was low, with values of 65.1%, 51.7% and 50% for classes 1C, 1C and 1E respectively. The rate of deterioration of the GFR was underestimated in classes 1C, 1D and 1E. In the renal survival analysis with the Cox regression analysis, we found that the MCC classification is a predictor of survival, with classes 1D and 1E having the worst prognosis. Conclusion The MCC classification is capable of identifying populations that will suffer a more rapid deterioration of the GFR and constitutes a marker of renal survival in a Spanish population of patients with ADPKD. The prediction of future GFR with the Irazábal equation is acceptable as a group, although it shows a loss of precision at the individual level, especially in patients with higher GFR at baseline.


2009 ◽  
Vol 87 (12) ◽  
pp. 1129-1137 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Tolon ◽  
S. Dray ◽  
A. Loison ◽  
A. Zeileis ◽  
C. Fischer ◽  
...  

Predators generate a “landscape of fear” within which prey can minimize the risk of predation by selecting low-risk areas. Depending on the spatial structure of this “landscape”, i.e., whether it is coarse- or fine-grained, prey may respond to increased risk by shifting their home ranges or by fine-scale redistributions within these ranges, respectively. We studied how wild boar ( Sus scrofa L., 1758) responded to temporal changes in risk in hunted areas (risky habitat) surrounding a nature reserve (refuge habitat). Animals with home ranges “in contact” with the reserve during the low-risk season were the only ones to shift toward the refuge when the risk increased. These shifts occurred at two temporal scales in response to the increased risk during the daytime and during the hunting season. Whereas animals not influenced by the reserve found food and shelter in forest during the hunting season, shifts to the refuge area were detrimental to the rather scarce forest areas in the reserve. This confirms that spatiotemporal changes in risk are major drivers of animal distribution when predation strongly limits their fitness. Their response is, however, scale-dependent and reflects at the individual level the perceived structure of their “landscape of fear”.


2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 183-198
Author(s):  
Wiktor Soral ◽  
Mirosław Kofta

Abstract. The importance of various trait dimensions explaining positive global self-esteem has been the subject of numerous studies. While some have provided support for the importance of agency, others have highlighted the importance of communion. This discrepancy can be explained, if one takes into account that people define and value their self both in individual and in collective terms. Two studies ( N = 367 and N = 263) examined the extent to which competence (an aspect of agency), morality, and sociability (the aspects of communion) promote high self-esteem at the individual and the collective level. In both studies, competence was the strongest predictor of self-esteem at the individual level, whereas morality was the strongest predictor of self-esteem at the collective level.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-34
Author(s):  
Edward C. Warburton

This essay considers metonymy in dance from the perspective of cognitive science. My goal is to unpack the roles of metaphor and metonymy in dance thought and action: how do they arise, how are they understood, how are they to be explained, and in what ways do they determine a person's doing of dance? The premise of this essay is that language matters at the cultural level and can be determinative at the individual level. I contend that some figures of speech, especially metonymic labels like ‘bunhead’, can not only discourage but dehumanize young dancers, treating them not as subjects who dance but as objects to be danced. The use of metonymy to sort young dancers may undermine the development of healthy self-image, impede strong identity formation, and retard creative-artistic development. The paper concludes with a discussion of the influence of metonymy in dance and implications for dance educators.


Author(s):  
Pauline Oustric ◽  
Kristine Beaulieu ◽  
Nuno Casanova ◽  
Francois Husson ◽  
Catherine Gibbons ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher James Hopwood ◽  
Ted Schwaba ◽  
Wiebke Bleidorn

Personal concerns about climate change and the environment are a powerful motivator of sustainable behavior. People’s level of concern varies as a function of a variety of social and individual factors. Using data from 58,748 participants from a nationally representative German sample, we tested preregistered hypotheses about factors that impact concerns about the environment over time. We found that environmental concerns increased modestly from 2009-2017 in the German population. However, individuals in middle adulthood tended to be more concerned and showed more consistent increases in concern over time than younger or older people. Consistent with previous research, Big Five personality traits were correlated with environmental concerns. We present novel evidence that increases in concern were related to increases in the personality traits neuroticism and openness to experience. Indeed, changes in openness explained roughly 50% of the variance in changes in environmental concerns. These findings highlight the importance of understanding the individual level factors associated with changes in environmental concerns over time, towards the promotion of more sustainable behavior at the individual level.


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