Electoral Processes: Navigating and Emerging from Crisis (Global State of Democracy Thematic Paper 2021)

Elections that take place regularly and provide for the orderly transition of power from one elected government to another are the cornerstone of democratic governance and political stability. During 2020–2021, the Covid-19 pandemic profoundly affected the conduct and integrity of elections worldwide. This paper notes a decline in clean elections across both democratic and non-democratic (hybrid and authoritarian) regimes that has been exacerbated by the pandemic. At the same time, there are important cases of electoral resilience displayed by democratic institutions and civil society. The paper offers policy recommendations for national governments, parliaments, electoral management bodies and international development organizations, and makes forward-looking conclusions.

Intrinsic S phase checkpoint enforced by an antiproliferative oncosuppressor cytokine

The cell cycle is strictly programmed with control mechanisms that dictate order in cell cycle progression to ensure faithful DNA replication, whose deviance may lead to cancer. Checkpoint control at the G1/S, S/G2 and G2/M portals have been defined but no statutory time-programmed control for securing orderly transition through S phase has so far been identified. Here we report that in normal cells DNA synthesis is controlled by a checkpoint sited within the early part of S phase, enforced by the βGBP cytokine an antiproliferative molecule otherwise known for its oncosuppressor properties that normal cells constitutively produce for self-regulation. Suppression of active Ras and active MAPK, block of cyclin A gene expression and suppression of CDK2-cyclin A activity are events which while specific to the control of a cell cycle phase in normal cells are part of the apoptotic network in cancer cells.

Systemwide Considerations for Electrification of Transportation in Islands and Remote Locations

Electric vehicles (EVs) represent an important socio-economic development opportunity for islands and remote locations because they can lead to reduced fuel imports, electricity storage, grid services, and environmental and health benefits. This paper presents an overview of opportunities, challenges, and examples of EVs in islands and remote power systems, and is meant to provide background to researchers, utilities, energy offices, and other stakeholders interested in the impacts of electrification of transportation. The impact of uncontrolled EV charging on the electric grid operation is discussed, as well as several mitigation strategies. Of particular importance in many islands and remote systems is taking advantage of local resources by combining renewable energy and EV charging. Policy and economic issues are presented, with emphasis on the need for an overarching energy policy to guide the strategies for EVs growth. The key conclusion of this paper is that an orderly transition to EVs, one that maximizes benefits while addressing the challenges, requires careful analysis and comprehensive planning.

Decolonization and the aesthetics of disorder: Naipaul, Evaristo, Boland

Decolonization is presented in dominant accounts as an orderly transition and not the culmination of anticolonial resistance movements. This in turn contributes to what Paul Gilroy terms an endemic “post-imperial melancholia” across contemporary European nations and the removal of empire and its demise from understandings of European history. Drawing on Bill Schwarz’s reconceptualization of a Fanonian commitment to disorder, this article focuses on Britain’s history of colonialism and post-imperial immigration and argues for the mapping of a disorderly aesthetics in works by V. S. Naipaul, Bernardine Evaristo, and Eavan Boland. The three formal features of non-linearity, polyvocality, and environmental imagery enable these writers to bear witness to the complex histories of empire, transatlantic slavery, decolonization, and immigration from the colonial “margins”. These “aesthetics of disorder” counter a dominant narrative of decolonial order and challenge conceptions of British exceptionalism that were reinforced at the moment of imperial decline.

Factors Influencing Orderly Transition to Online Deliveries during COVID19 Pandemic Impact

With the spread of COVID 19, almost every higher educational entity initiated online delivery whereby teaching is undertaken remotely on digital platform. A massive shift like this arises an onslaught of questions. A case study was conducted in March and April 2020 to determine the challenges affecting the adoption of e-learning in 6 university colleges in Sri Lanka. A comprehensive literature survey was carried out. A questionnaire survey was administered to 90 teachers and 650 students and analyzed through the use of simple descriptive statistics. Besides, a narrative analysis was undertaken to identify shared views expressed in a series of telephonic inquiries. It was found that data as it is a survey based paper. The paper concludes with some solutions implementable in three stages. The findings of the study will help work out a digital policy, revisit the existing educational taxonomies and enhance the effectiveness of online delivery particularly in a future context similar to COVID 19.

Focus will shift to orderly transition in Argentina

Headline ARGENTINA: Focus will shift to orderly transition

PRDM1 controls the sequential activation of neural, neural crest and sensory progenitor determinants by regulating histone modification

ABSTRACTDuring early embryogenesis, the ectoderm is rapidly subdivided into neural, neural crest and sensory progenitors. How the onset of lineage-specific determinants and the loss of pluripotency markers are temporally and spatially coordinated in vivo remains an open question. Here we identify a critical role for the transcription factor PRDM1 in the orderly transition from epiblast to defined neural lineages. Like pluripotency factors, PRDM1 is expressed in all epiblast cells prior to gastrulation, but lost as they begin to differentiate. We show that, unlike pluripotency factors, PRDM1 is initially required for the activation of neural, neural crest and sensory progenitor specifiers and for the downregulation of pluripotency-associated genes. In vivo chromatin immunoprecipitation reveals stage-specific binding of PRDM1 to regulatory regions of neural and sensory progenitor genes, PRDM1-dependent recruitment of the histone demethylase Kdm4a to these regions and associated removal of repressive histone marks. Once lineage determinants become expressed, they repress PRDM1, and our data suggest that PRDM1 downregulation is required for cells to maintain their identity. Thus, PRDM1 mediates chromatin modifications that directly control neural and sensory progenitor genes, and its activities switch from an activator at early stages to a repressor once neural fates have been established.

The Trump presidency, climate change, and the prospect of a disorderly energy transition

This article reflects on the implications of the Trump presidency for global anthropogenic climate change and efforts to address it. Existing commentary, predicated on liberal institutionalist reasoning, has argued that neither Trump’s promised rollback of domestic climate-related funding and regulations, nor withdrawal from the Paris framework, will be as impactful as often feared. While broadly concurring, I nonetheless also in this article take a wider view, to argue that the Trump administration is likely to exacerbate several existing patterns and trends. I discuss four in particular: the general inadequacy of global greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets and implementation efforts; the inadequacy of contemporary climate financing; the embrace between populist conservatism and opposition to action on climate change; and not least, the current global oil and gas boom which, crucially, is being led by the US. I submit that these patterns and trends, and the Trump administration’s likely contributions to them, do not augur well for climate change mitigation, let alone for an orderly transition to a low-carbon global economy. Given current directions of travel, I suggest, this coming transition is likely to be deeply conflict-laden – probably violently so – and to have consequences that will reverberate right across mid-twentieth-century international order.

Vietnam anti-corruption drive may have limited success

Subject Vietnam's corruption crackdown. Significance Vietnam’s latest anti-corruption drive is set to target more high-profile figures. The country has a long-standing problem with institutional corruption, but critics of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) see its crackdowns as politically motivated. Impacts Improvements in corruption indices may convince credit rating agencies to edge Vietnam closer to investment-grade status. Greater CPV discipline may help General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong engineer an orderly transition of leadership at the 2021 party congress. Vietnam is likely to face greater international criticism over human rights violations.