Democracy As Failure

2020 ◽  
pp. 11-49
Author(s):  
Aziz Z. Huq
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Political Psychology ◽  
Sound Design ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Democratic Values ◽  
State Equilibrium ◽  
The Public

The theory and the practice of democracy alike are entangled with the prospect of failure. This is so in the sense that a failure of some kind is almost always to be found at democracy’s inception. Different kinds of shortfalls also dog its implementation. No escape is found in theory, which precipitates internal contradictions that can only be resolved by compromising important democratic values. The nexus of democracy and failure elucidates the difficulty of dichotomizing democracies into the healthy and the ailing. It illuminates the sound design of democratic institutions by gesturing toward resources usefully deployed to mitigate the costs of inevitable failure. Finally, it casts light on the public psychology best adapted to persisting democracy. To grasp the proximity of democracy’s entanglements with failure is thus to temper the aspiration for popular self-government as a steady-state equilibrium, to open new questions about the appropriate political psychology for a sound democracy, and to limn new questions about democracy’s optimal institutional specification.

Principles Matter

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos A. Ball
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Democratic Values ◽  
Short Term ◽  
White House ◽  
Rule Of Thumb ◽  
Constitutional Principle ◽  
Long Run

Progressives who opposed the Trump administration’s policies found themselves repeatedly relying on constitutional principles grounded in federalism, separation of powers, and free speech to resist the federal government. Although many progressives had either criticized or underemphasized those principles before Trump, the principles became vital to progressive causes after Trump was elected. Using dozens of examples from the ways in which Trump abused presidential powers, this book explains how the three sets of principles can help mitigate the harms that autocratic leaders in the Trump mold can inflict on both democratic institutions and vulnerable minorities. In doing so, the book urges progressives to follow this rule of thumb in the post-Trump era: if a constitutional principle was worth deploying to resist Trump’s harmful policies and autocratic governance, then it is likely worth defending in the post-Trump era even if it makes the short-term attainment of progressive objectives more difficult. This type of principled constitutionalism is essential not only because being principled is good in and of itself, but also because being principled in matters related to federalism, separation of powers, and free speech will help both advance progressive causes over the long run and reduce the threats posed by future autocratic leaders in the Trump mold to our system of self-governance, to our democratic values, and to traditionally subordinated minorities. Going forward, progressives should promote and defend constitutional principles grounded in federalism, separation of powers, and free speech regardless of whether they have an ally or an opponent in the White House.

Evidence for a nuclear passage of nascent polypeptide-associated complex subunits in yeast

2001 ◽  
Vol 114 (14) ◽  
pp. 2641-2648
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Franke ◽  
Barbara Reimann ◽  
Enno Hartmann ◽  
Matthias Köhler ◽  
Brigitte Wiedmann
Keyword(s):  
Transcriptional Regulation ◽  
Steady State ◽  
Fluorescence Microscopy ◽  
Nuclear Import ◽  
Cell Fractionation ◽  
Active Process ◽  
Ribosomal Subunits ◽  
State Equilibrium ◽  
Nascent Polypeptide ◽  
Ribosome Binding

The nascent polypeptide-associated complex (NAC) has been found quantitatively associated with ribosomes in the cytosol by means of cell fractionation or fluorescence microscopy. There have been reports, however, that single NAC subunits may be involved in transcriptional regulation. We reasoned that the cytosolic location might only reflect a steady state equilibrium and therefore investigated the yeast NAC proteins for their ability to enter the nucleus. We found that single subunits of yeast NAC can indeed be transported into the nucleus and that this transport is an active process depending on different nuclear import factors. Translocation into the nucleus was only observed when binding to ribosomes was inhibited. We identified a domain of the ribosome-binding NAC subunit essential for nuclear import via the importin Kap123p/Pse1p-dependent import route. We hypothesize that newly translated NAC proteins travel into the nucleus to bind stoichiometrically to ribosomal subunits and then leave the nucleus together with these subunits to concentrate in the cytosol.

scholarly journals THE RICH AND THE POOR IN A SIMPLE MODEL OF GROWTH AND DISTRIBUTION

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 1934-1952 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirill Borissov
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Steady State ◽  
Simple Model ◽  
Disposable Income ◽  
State Equilibrium ◽  
Positional Concerns ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Intertemporal Equilibrium ◽  
Unique Steady State

We consider a model of economic growth with altruistic agents who care about their consumption and the disposable income of their offspring. The agents' consumption and the offspring's disposable income are subject to positional concerns. We show that, if the measure of consumption-related positional concerns is sufficiently low and/or the measure of offspring-related positional concerns is sufficiently high, then there is a unique steady-state equilibrium, which is characterized by perfect income and wealth equality, and all intertemporal equilibira converge to it. Otherwise, in steady-state equilibria, the population splits into two classes, the rich and the poor; under this scenario, in any intertemporal equilibrium, all capital is eventually owned by the households that were the wealthiest from the outset and all other households become poor.

Restitution and Democracy in Germany after Two World Wars

1995 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael L. Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Federal Republic ◽  
Weimar Republic ◽  
Great Difficulty ◽  
Authoritarian Regime ◽  
New Democracies ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Democratic Values ◽  
Political Values

As Central and East Europeans (including Germans) strive to build new democracies on the ruins of old dictatorships, they seek to establish democratic values as well as democratic institutions. They know that democratic institutions alone were not able to save democracy in Germany's Weimar Republic, which had also risen out of the collapse of an authoritarian regime. West Germans, though, later built a viable democracy, the Federal Republic, from even more devastated and authoritarian remnants. To help explain such differing outcomes, historians have posited changes in political values, arguing that West Germans developed a democratic political culture to replace the authoritarian values many Germans had held earlier. As illuminating as such arguments could be, historians have had great difficulty finding evidence on just what political values Germans, especially common citizens, have in fact held at various times.

Threats, Harms, and Benefits

2020 ◽  
pp. 167-182
Author(s):  
Crime Coverage
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Presumption Of Innocence ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Journalism Ethics ◽  
The Public ◽  
Professional Duty ◽  
Economic Foundation ◽  
Mixed Blessing ◽  
Official Information

Democratic institutions in Portugal, Spain, and Italy are younger than those in the Protector and Watchdog countries, thus journalism ethics and professionalism are less established. Journalists’ eagerness to tell crime stories even when official information is unavailable indicates a leaning toward Watchdog values: seeing their primary professional duty as informing the public and keeping a wary eye on the criminal justice. However, reporters’ faith in protecting accused persons’ presumption of innocence by shielding their identities signals a sympathy with Protector countries’ codes. Their “ambivalence” may allow journalists to embrace aspects of both Watchdog and Protector systems and create something new. However, news practices are still deeply rooted in a partisan past. Autonomy is receding further as layoffs and newsroom closings make employment more precarious. In this environment, the Internet is a mixed blessing. It opens up new opportunities for expression even as it undermines the news media’s traditional economic foundation.

scholarly journals Granulocytopoiesis. II. Emergence and Pattern of Labeling of Neutrophilic Granulocytes in Humans

Blood ◽  
1964 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 683-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. M. FLIEDNER ◽  
E. P. CRONKITE ◽  
S. Å. KILLMANN ◽  
V. P. BOND
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Peripheral Blood ◽  
Bacterial Infections ◽  
Neutrophilic Granulocytes ◽  
Constant Input ◽  
State Equilibrium ◽  
Nuclear Maturation ◽  
Myelocytic Leukemia ◽  
Sample Interval ◽  
Cytoplasmic Maturation

Abstract 1. Following administration of H3-thymidine to 15 patients with a variety of hemopoietic conditions, the emergence and the pattern of labeling of neutrophilic granulocytes were studied in peripheral blood leukocytic concentrates. The hematologic diagnosis included five in which the hemopoiesis appeared to be in a steady state equilibrium at the time of study, three with various types of leukemia, one with lymphosarcoma, two with multiple myeloma, one with myelofibrosis, two with pernicious anemia (once before and once after therapy) and two with bacterial infections. 2. The emergence time of neutrophilic segmented granulocytes (time from H3-thymidine injection to the first appearance of labeled segmented forms in the peripheral blood) was found to vary in steady state equilibrium from 96 to 144 hours. It was shortened to 48 hours in two instances with bacterial infection. This was interpreted as indicating a faster than normal nuclear maturation with normal or delayed cytoplasmic maturation (dissociation in nuclear and cytoplasmic maturation). 3. The number of segments of neutrophilic granulocytes was found to be unrelated to cell age as had been hypothesized by Arneth many years ago. However, bandforms were found in the circulation about 24 hours earlier than segmented forms, suggesting that they are younger and that some are acceptable to the blood while others continue to mature to segmented forms. Pelgeroid cells with round or bilobed nuclei found in one case of subleukemic myelocytic leukemia were found to emerge simultaneously 132 hours after H3-thymidine injection. This suggests that both types are identical in their degree of maturation. Thus the cells with round nuclei are not band forms but result possibly from a delayed nuclear maturation. 4. In patients studied for at least 2 weeks, characteristic undulations of the labeling indices of the segmented granulocytes were found. If the sampling intervals were 24 hours, peaks were found 6 days apart, the second peak being about half of the labeling index of the first. If the sample interval was shorter, a finer structure was observed with undulations showing peak intervals of 2-3 days. Although the significance is obscure at present, the constancy of the findings suggest that there may be a constant input of cells with the index of labeling varying due to some synchrony of the precursor population(s). Alternative explanations are discussed.

Social Critiques of Electronic Voting

2011 ◽  
pp. 1460-1465
Author(s):  
A. O’ Baoill
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Voting ◽  
Voting Systems ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Electoral Process ◽  
Punch Card ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Nature ◽  
The Impact

The use of computers in the electoral process—to count punch-card ballots, or to maintain a register of voters—has been in place in many countries for some time. We now see many countries move to more thoroughly integrate computers into the voting experience, by introducing what are commonly known as “electronic voting” systems. The use of such systems in public elections combined with the role of voting in creating and maintaining democratic institutions requires that we pay attention to the impact that changes to the electoral process have on the construction of the public nature of elections.

scholarly journals Nagar Panchayat Hospital

2001 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-82
Author(s):  
M S Sriram
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Financial Autonomy ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Elected Representatives ◽  
Institutional Mechanism

The case discusses the issues of autonomy and accountability in the healthcare division of a local self-government. It highlights the underlying tension between the elected representatives' need to control the division and the executive's need for basic functional and financial autonomy in developing and maintaining the division as a useful and responsive facility to the public. It raises questions as to the concept of cost and responsibility centres in local self-governments and what happens when one of the responsibility centres starts generating revenue and becomes a truly profit centre. Since the basic nature of the service is more of a responsibility — do the surpluses generated by the new profit centre get ploughed back to the same facility or should it get into the general pool of the Panchayat? If the argument is that it should be ploughed back to the responsibility centre to improve the overall facilities of the division, then should the objectives of the division be redefined and what should be the most appropriate institutional mechanism to grant autonomy for a division that is doing well? How would these mechanisms work in the long run? The case tries to sensitize the discussants to the issues and tensions that emerge in a well-managed division of a local-self-government. It also raises the larger issue of autonomy and accountability in democratic institutions.

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