The far right vote in France:from consolidation to collapse?

The presidential and legislative elections of 2007 are widely seen to have marked the end of the far right as a major political force in France. How could this occur only five years after Le Pen’s qualification for the presidential run-off, and with his party seemingly in the ascendant? This article discusses recent fluctuations in far-right electoral performance in France. It focuses largely on the presidential elections of 2002 and 2007, re-examining the (supposed) upswell of far-right support in 2002 and its (supposed) subsidence in 2007. Both elections require nuanced interpretation. Both confounded poll predictions, which in 2007 failed to measure the effect of Sarkozy’s hard-right campaign and, crucially, the extent to which the border between “mainstream right” and “far right” had shifted since 2002. This allowed Sarkozy to drain part of Le Pen’s electorate, and raises questions over the longer-term impact of Le Pen and the FN on the political agenda in France.

Joseph Mainzer (1801-1851) and the popularisation of choral singing in Britain

Singing master Joseph Mainzer came to England in 1841 as a political refugee from Germany. Through his music schools, his textbook Singing for the Million, and his journal Mainzer’s Musical Times (today The Musical Times) he contributed significantly to the popularisation of choral singing in Britain. This essay takes Mainzer’s political background as a starting point to investigate the complex relationship between refuge and artistic production. It is argued that the latter was deeply informed by the former. Mainzer not only transferred choral traditions but also a politicised concept of popular culture which started to take hold in pre-revolutionary Vorma¨rz-Germany. The case study is integrated into the larger framework of Anglo-German cultural relations and political refuge in mid-nineteenth century Britain.

Optimal input/output reduction in production processes

While conventional Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models set targets for each operational unit, this paper considers the problem of input/output reduction in a centralized decision making environment. The purpose of this paper is to develop an approach to input/output reduction problem that typically occurs in organizations with a centralized decision-making environment. This paper shows that DEA can make an important contribution to this problem and discusses how DEA-based model can be used to determine an optimal input/output reduction plan. An application in banking sector with limitation in IT investment shows the usefulness of the proposed method.

Alzheimer's disease, a shifting paradigm in Spanish film:¿Y tú quién eres? And Amanecer de un sueño

In the last fifteen years Alzheimer's disease (AD) has changed the way in which developed countries have tended to perceive and deal with ageing. It has also become the main health problem needing to be resolved in both financial and social terms. If cancer was considered and labelled as the epidemic of the twentieth century, AD has soon been designated as the epidemic of the twenty-first century. This article analyses how AD is perceived and represented in two films, Amanecer de un sueño, directed in 2008 by Freddy Mas Franqueza, and ¿Y tú quién eres?, directed in 2007 by Antonio Mercero. As for ageing, questions of stigmatization and stereotyping around AD are discussed, and special consideration is given to the manner in which medical, social and political institutions in Spain have created a monolithic view of AD with the purpose of shaping a homogeneous social response to the disease. Current debates between those who perceive the disease as a social burden for the State and the family, and those who defend centring the discussion on the persons diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and their personhoods frame the analysis of these two films. © W. S. Maney & Son Ltd 2013.

The micro-politics of operational adjustment:veto players and the consolidation of demand in the NHS

Recent reports about procurement within the NHS have been highly critical. One problem identified in the reports is the fragmentation of NHS demand across an unnecessarily large number of suppliers. This fragmentation is said to increase transaction costs, reduce opportunities for scale economies and reduce NHS leverage over suppliers. It has been suggested, therefore, that an important way of improving procurement in the NHS is the better consolidation of demand with a lower number of preferred suppliers. However, such a policy, because it will create ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ within NHS organisations, has political as well as technical and practical ramifications. In this article, the authors present a model, the Veto Players Model, in order to assist managers to address these political ramifications. In the article, the authors not only demonstrate the utility of this model with regard to demand consolidation policies, but also argue that the model provides useful lessons for change management initiatives more generally.

Input/output deterioration in production processes

In many real applications of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), the decision makers have to deteriorate some inputs and some outputs. This could be because of limitation of funds available. This paper proposes a new DEA-based approach to determine highest possible reduction in the concern input variables and lowest possible deterioration in the concern output variables without reducing the efficiency in any DMU. A numerical example is used to illustrate the problem. An application in banking sector with limitation of IT investment shows the usefulness of the proposed method. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Patient involvement in primary care mental health:a focus group study

Background: Patient involvement in health care is a strong political driver in the NHS. However in spite of policy prominence, there has been only limited previous work exploring patient involvement for people with serious mental illness. Aim: To describe the views on, potential for, and types of patient involvement in primary care from the perspectives of primary care health professionals and patients with serious mental illness. Design of study: Qualitative study consisting of six patient, six health professional and six combined focus groups between May 2002 and January 2003. Setting: Six primary care trusts in the West Midlands, England. Method: Forty-five patients with serious mental illness, 39 GPs, and eight practice nurses participated in a series of 18 focus groups. All focus groups were audiotaped and fully transcribed. Nvivo was used to manage data more effectively. Results: Most patients felt that only other people with lived experience of mental illness could understand what they were going through. This experience could be used to help others navigate the health- and social-care systems, give advice about medication, and offer support at times of crisis. Many patients also saw paid employment within primary care as a way of addressing issues of poverty and social exclusion. Health professionals were, however, more reluctant to see patients as partners, be it in the consultation or in service delivery. Conclusions: Meaningful change in patient involvement requires commitment and belief from primary care practitioners that the views and experiences of people with serious mental illness are valid and valuable.

Regional interests in Europe:Wales and Saxony as modern regions in Europe

The question of how to organize and manage sustainable regional development has recently come to the fore in many places across the industrialized countries of Central and Western Europe, and especially within the European Union (EU).This book looks at the home-grown natural, economic and social, socio-political, political and administrative conditions which policy makers face, while also being subjected to numerous external influences. Political actors in less important EU regions The question of how to organize and manage sustainable regional development has recently come to the fore in many places across the industrialized countries of Central and Western Europe, and especially within the European Union (EU).This book looks at the home-grown natural, economic and social, socio-political, political and administrative conditions which policy makers face, while also being subjected to numerous external influences. Political actors in less important EU regions attempt to create and implement strategies of regional development in the context of regional policy-making by EU institutions, national governments and the globalization process

Political leadership and the politics of performance:France, Syria and the chemical weapons crisis of 2013

This article draws upon developments in UK research on political rhetoric and political performance in order to examine the incident in 2013 when French President François Hollande committed French forces to a US-led punitive strike against Syria, after the use of chemical weapons in a Damascus suburb on 21 August. The US-led retaliation did not take place. This article analyses Hollande's declaration on 27 July and his TV appearance on 15 September. His rhetoric and style are best understood as generic to the nature of the presidential office of the Fifth Republic. The article concludes by appraising how analysis of the French case contributes to the developing literature on rhetoric, celebrity and performance.

Moral hazard, dividends, and risk in banks

In non-financial firms, higher risk taking results in lower dividend payout ratios. In banking, public guarantees may result in a positive relationship between dividend payout ratios and risk taking. I investigate the interplay between dividend payout ratios and bank risk-taking allowing for the effect of charter values and capital adequacy regulation. I find a positive relationship between bank risk-taking and dividend payout ratios. Proximity to the required capital ratio and a high charter value reduce the impact of bank risk-taking on the dividend payout ratio. My results are robust to different proxies for the dividend payout ratio and bank risk-taking. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Professional football in apartheid South Africa:leisure, consumption and identity in the national football league, 1959-1977

A growing body of academic and popular literature considers the history of South African football. These and existing publications pay little or no attention to the emergence of white professional football in apartheid South Africa. The National Football League (NFL) challenged the amateur game and introduced professional football to the country. During its 17-year existence, the NFL grew each season with large attendances until its demise in 1977. In addition, the NFL imported a range of international players, invited foreign teams and actively engaged in the political debates in South African sport at the time. The NFL was instrumental in popularising the game across the country for all South Africans. The NFL became the most popular sports entertainment of choice for South Africans during this period. Finally, the NFL actively engaged in a campaign of destroying rival non-racial anti-apartheid leagues while simultaneously co-opting less progressive organisations. © 2013 Taylor and Francis.

The new institutionalism in the context of Kosovo's transition:regulatory institutions in contested states

This article explores the new institutionalist literature in political economy in the context of Kosovo's contested statehood, focusing on institutional arbitrage and legitimacy. This article considers both the consequences of institutions for actors' behaviour and the norms that shape this, as well as the factors determining the legitimacy of institutions. In doing so, it combines the new institutionalist theory with documentary and interview material collected during research on energy regulation in one contested state, Kosovo. Rather than singling out one particular variety of "new institutionalism", the article attempts to blend insights from historical (or "political"), rational choice, and sociological institutionalism. © 2014 © 2014 Taylor & Francis.

Solidifying system of democracy in the Central and Eastern European new EU members

The paper examines the requirements of an effective and legitimized democratic political system in the process of transition. The analysis and the conclusions are based on the Hungarian experience, which can carefully be applied to all Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. Special focus is given to the relationship of legal certainty and the efficiency of the democratic system, to the tension between legalism and managerialism and to the characteristics of civil society organizations. In the conclusion special features of the transitional countries are pointed out.

Designed for Patience. The Significance of International Factors in the Ukrainian and Belarusian Transitions

This paper focuses on Belarus in order to find explanation as to why could Lukashenko remain the authoritarian leader of Belarus, while in Ukraine the position of the political elite had proved less stable and collapsed in 2004. We seek to determine whether the internal factors (macroeconomic conditions, standard of living, the oppressive nature of the political system) play a significant role in the operation of the domino effect. This article emphasises the determining role of immanent internal factors, thus the political stability in Belarus can be explained by the role of the suppressing political regime, the hindrance of democratic rights and the relatively good living conditions that followed the transformational recession. Whilst in Ukraine, the markedly different circumstances brought forth the success of the Orange Revolution.