The EU and democratic leverage:are there still lessons to be learnt from the Spanish transition to democracy?

The issue of conditionality and how the EU should seek to influence positive transformations in its periphery is as relevant today as it was in the early 1990s. There are some important lessons that can still be learned from the Spanish transition to democracy in this respect. By combining strict conditionality with its ‘normative power’, the European Community managed to shape—if not make—the Spanish transition to democracy. The consensus surrounding European integration worked as a unifying factor amongst all of the elite groups by giving them a common goal. This broad consensus ensured that no elite group could act in the sort of irresponsible way that could jeopardise the democratisation process and, by inference, the integration of Spain with the Community. At the same time, the EC worked as a sort of moderating force. Neither of these positive effects would have occurred had the EC not used its leverage potential and remained firmed in its stance of conditioning accession to Spain taking clear steps towards democratisation.

Internationalisation as a democratic tool:revisiting Mexico's double transition

Mexico's double transition—democratisation and internationalisation—offers a good case study to analyse the interaction between internationalisation processes and domestic developments during transitions to democracy. This article explains how the specific way in which Mexico linked with North America worked as a causal mechanism during the country's democratisation. In the end, an inadequate project of internationalisation—spearheaded by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)—failed to fulfill its democratising potential.

Elections and Democracy in Brazil: Victor Nunes Leal and the 1945 Transition

This article discusses the necessary conditions for a democratic government to prevail, with the study Coronelismo: the Municipality and Representative Government in Brazil as the point of departure. The article seeks to identify the book's causal explanations for the emergence of democracy, and more precisely for regimes in which governments lose elections. Why were elections not truly competitive over the course of the Empire and the First Republic? Why did they change after the fall of the Estado Novo? Nunes Leal was one of the few Brazilian authors to explicitly tackle this challenge.

Liberalism, Marxism and Democratic Theory Revisited: Proposal of a Joint Index of Political and Economic Democracy

Liberalism and Marxism are two schools of thought which have left deep imprints in sociological, political and economic theory. They are usually perceived as opposite, rival approaches. In the field of democracy there is a seemingly insurmountable rift around the question of political versus economic democracy. Liberals emphasize the former, Marxists the latter. Liberals say that economic democracy is too abstract and fuzzy a concept, therefore one should concentrate on the workings of an objective political democracy. Marxists insist that political democracy without economic democracy is insufficient. The article argues that both propositions are valid and not mutually exclusive. It proposes the creation of an operational, quantifiable index of economic democracy that can be used alongside the already existing indexes of political democracy. By using these two indexes jointly, political and economic democracy can be objectively evaluated. Thus, the requirements of both camps are met and maybe a more dialogical approach to democracy can be reached in the debate between liberals and Marxists. The joint index is used to evaluate the levels of economic and political democracy in the transition countries of Eastern Europe.

From Elitism through Corporatism to Pluralism? The Role of Elites in the Political Transition of Ukraine

The group set out to analyse the dynamics of elite groups in Ukraine today, both internal and inter-group, and their ideas on major socio-economic, political and foreign policies, in order to identify the degree of competitiveness between groups, methods of elite recruitment and the degree of elite response, which influence both the political agenda and the results of political activity. Having observed the contemporary debate and identified the pre-eminence of various elite groups in the decision-making process at the regional and state levels, they also sought to determine the type and degree of elite consensus which might be achieved in contemporary Ukraine. They also considered the extent of concealed power, in terms of covert interaction more characteristic of corporate societies, which might allow for the abuse of authority within a technically democratic system. The group then went on to consider the stages of counter-elite transformation and the continuing importance of the communist elite, as well as the issue of rivalry versus consensus. They see their findings as relevant not only to the Central and Eastern European context but also to the situation in Latin America today.

The ‘Lisbonisation’ of the European Parliament: Assessing progress, shortcomings and challenges for democratic accountability in the area of freedom, security and justice. CEPS Paper on Liberty and Security in Europe No. 58, September 2013

This paper examines the performance of the European Parliament in EU AFSJ law and policy-making from the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty until the end of the first half of 2013. The paper situates the EP in the new post-Lisbon institutional setting, documenting its transition to ‘AFSJ decision-maker’, and its new powers to shape and make policy covering the EU’s internal and external security agenda. While the paper finds that the EP has become an active co-owner of the EU AFSJ post-Lisbon, with the Parliament demonstrating a dynamic adjustment to its new post-Lisbon role and powers, the authors identify a set of new developments and challenges that have arisen in the conduct of democratic accountability by the EP in the AFSJ since 2009, which call for critical reflection ahead of the new parliamentary term 2014-2019 and the post-2014 phase of the EU’s AFSJ.

Inequality, democracy and taxation:lessons from the post-Communist transition

Using data for the period 1989 – 2002, we examine the determinants of income inequality in post-communist economies. We find a strong positive association between equality and tax collection but note that this relationship is significantly stronger under authoritarian regimes than under democracies. We also discover that countries introducing sustainable democratic institutions early are characterised by lower inequality. We also confirm that education fosters equality and find that larger countries are prone to higher levels of inequality.

Mesmerized by enlargement:the EU’s Eastern Neighborhood Policy and New Member State transition experience

The accession of the East-Central European (ECE) countries carried a promise of enhancing and enriching the EU’s Eastern policy. The new member states had the strongest interests among EU member states to ensure that countries in the East are prosperous, stable and democratic. Yet, EU’s Eastern policy has been largely criticised for its ineffectiveness. So why have they not been able to address the shortcomings in the EU’s Eastern policies? The article argues that the ECE countries supported the way the EU’s Eastern policies were conceived and implemented because they saw it as a potent vehicle to promote their own transition experience not only in the region but also within the EU. We argue that the ECE states have experienced three types of challenges when promoting their transition experience. First, uploading to the EU level remained largely at a rhetorical level. Second, there are conceptual and practical difficulties in defining what constitutes transition experience and harnessing it, as well as coordinating its transfer between the ECE states. Finally, while using transition experience as the basis for their development assistance strategies, the ECE countries actually insufficiently conceptualised the ‘development’ aspect in these policies. Being so driven by their own experience, they have not drawn the lessons from enlargement to use in a non-accession context, especially by incorporating the broader lessons with regard to development.

A mérsékelt iszlamista mozgalmak szerepe az "arab tavaszt" követő politikai átmenetben (The Role of Moderate Islamist Movements in the Political Transition Following the Arab Spring)

Up to January 2011 authoritarian political regimes in the Middle East had widely been considered stable due to the armed forces, the underdeveloped political institutions, the economic embeddedness of the regimes, the neo-patrimonial structure of the Arab societies and, eventually the characteristics of Islam. Middle Eastern political systems are often considered to belong to a special sub-group of non-democratic regimes called “liberalized autocracies”. The 2011 events show that there is a new, as yet non-defined political structure emerging. Although there are different interpretations of the developments, there is a consensus on the determinant role of the Islamist organizations in the development of the new political structure. The results of the Egyptian and Tunisian parliamentary elections show that the secular political parties could not attract the public, while in Tunisia the long forbidden Hizb an-Nahda could form a government. In Egypt Hizb al-Hurriya established by the Muslim Brotherhood in 2011 won almost half of the parliamentary mandates, and to a great surprise, the Salafi Hizb an-Nour also received 24.3% of the votes. On the basis of the above developments the thesis of the Islamist re-organization of the Middle East, i.e. of a new wave of Islamism was elaborated, according to which the main political winners of the revolts in the Arab countries are the Islamist organizations, which could step in and fill in the political vacuum. While some speak of an Islamist autumn or Islamist winter as the result of the Arab Spring, others prefer the term Islamic revolutions.

The (ab)use of politics and eroticism in the culture of the Spanish Transition to democracy (1975–1982)

This dissertation analyzes the (ab)use of politics and eroticism within the framework of the Transition to democracy in Spain, its social and cultural impact—on literature, film, music, and popular media—, and its consequences. After a period of nearly four decades, when the country was subjected to a totalitarian regime, Spanish society underwent a process of democratic restoration. As a result, the two topics considered taboo during almost forty years of repression—i.e., politics and sexuality/eroticism—, gushed out fiercely. Every aspect of culture was influenced by and intrinsically linked to them. However, while we have been offered a more or less global approach to the Transition—the Transition as a whole—, and some studies have focused on diverse areas, no research to date has covered in depth the significance of those issues during that historical moment. Considering the facts stated above, it was imperative to conduct a more detailed analysis of the influence of both eroticism and politics on the cultural production of the Transition from different perspectives. Although the academic intelligentsia has often rejected them as expressions of mass culture, we must consider Pierre Bourdieu’s theories—in line with the tradition of classical sociology, that includes science, law, and religion, together with artistic activities—, Michel Foucault’s ideas on sexuality, and New Historicism, examining texts and their contexts. This work concludes that the (ab)use of both subjects during the Spanish Transition was a reaction to a repressive condition. It led to extremes, to societal transgression and, in most cases, to the objectification of women because of the impositions of a patriarchal society. It was, however, part of a learning and, in a sense, cathartic process that led, eventually, to the reestablishment of the status quo, to a more equitable and multicultural society where men, women, and any political or sexual tendencies are respected—at least, in theory.

Beyond the Spanish classics - The ephemeral awakening of the history of international law in pre-democratic Spain

Cuadernos para el Diálogo (1963-1978) played a key-role in nurturing the intellectual soil for the Spanish Transition to democracy and it has spawned an extensive amount of literature among historians. This work links for the first time the course of this emblematic monthly journal with the short-lived period of methodological and historiographical innovation of Revista Española de Derecho Internacional under the direction of the international jurist Mariano Aguilar Navarro.

The Cratylia Mollis Seed Lectin Induces Membrane Permeability Transition In Isolated Rat Liver Mitochondria And A Cyclosporine A-insensitive Permeability Transition In Trypanosoma Cruzi Mitochondria.

Previous results provided evidence that Cratylia mollis seed lectin (Cramoll 1,4) promotes Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes death by necrosis via a mechanism involving plasma membrane permeabilization to Ca(2+) and mitochondrial dysfunction due to matrix Ca(2+) overload. In order to investigate the mechanism of Ca(2+) -induced mitochondrial impairment, experiments were performed analyzing the effects of this lectin on T. cruzi mitochondrial fraction and in isolated rat liver mitochondria (RLM), as a control. Confocal microscopy of T. cruzi whole cell revealed that Cramoll 1,4 binding to the plasma membrane glycoconjugates is followed by its internalization and binding to the mitochondrion. Electrical membrane potential (∆Ψm ) of T. cruzi mitochondrial fraction suspended in a reaction medium containing 10 μM Ca(2+) was significantly decreased by 50 μg/ml Cramoll 1,4 via a mechanism insensitive to cyclosporine A (CsA, membrane permeability transition (MPT) inhibitor), but sensitive to catalase or 125 mM glucose. In RLM suspended in a medium containing 10 μM Ca(2+) this lectin, at 50 μg/ml, induced increase in the rate of hydrogen peroxide release, mitochondrial swelling, and ∆Ψm disruption. All these mitochondrial alterations were sensitive to CsA, catalase, and EGTA. These results indicate that Cramoll 1, 4 leads to inner mitochondrial membrane permeabilization through Ca(2+) dependent mechanisms in both mitochondria. The sensitivity to CsA in RLM characterizes this lectin as a MPT inducer and the lack of CsA effect identifies a CsA-insensitive MPT in T. cruzi mitochondria.

Oxidative Stress And Susceptibility To Mitochondrial Permeability Transition Precedes The Onset Of Diabetes In Autoimmune Non-obese Diabetic Mice.

Beta cell destruction in type 1 diabetes (TID) is associated with cellular oxidative stress and mitochondrial pathway of cell death. The aim of this study was to determine whether oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction are present in T1D model (non-obese diabetic mouse, NOD) and if they are related to the stages of disease development. NOD mice were studied at three stages: non-diabetic, pre-diabetic, and diabetic and compared with age-matched Balb/c mice. Mitochondria respiration rates measured at phosphorylating and resting states in liver and soleus biopsies and in isolated liver mitochondria were similar in NOD and Balb/c mice at the three disease stages. However, NOD liver mitochondria were more susceptible to calcium-induced mitochondrial permeability transition as determined by cyclosporine-A-sensitive swelling and by decreased calcium retention capacity in all three stages of diabetes development. Mitochondria H2O2 production rate was higher in non-diabetic, but unaltered in pre-diabetic and diabetic NOD mice. The global cell reactive oxygen species (ROS), but not specific mitochondria ROS production, was significantly increased in NOD lymphomononuclear and stem cells in all disease stages. In addition, marked elevated rates of 2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein (H2DCF) oxidation were observed in pancreatic islets from non-diabetic NOD mice. Using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry (MS) and lipidomic approach, we identified oxidized lipid markers in NOD liver mitochondria for each disease stage, most of them being derivatives of diacylglycerols and phospholipids. These results suggest that the cellular oxidative stress precedes the establishment of diabetes and may be the cause of mitochondrial dysfunction that is involved in beta cell death.

Transition From Glass To Digital Slide Microscopy In The Teaching Of Oral Pathology In A Brazilian Dental School.

Several medical and dental schools have described their experience in the transition from conventional to digital microscopy in the teaching of general pathology and histology disciplines; however, this transitional process has scarcely been reported in the teaching of oral pathology. Therefore, the objective of the current study is to report the transition from conventional glass slide to virtual microscopy in oral pathology teaching, a unique experience in Latin America. An Aperio ScanScope® scanner was used to digitalize histological slides used in practical lectures of oral pathology. The challenges and benefits observed by the group of Professors from the Piracicaba Dental School (Brazil) are described and a questionnaire to evaluate the students' compliance to this new methodology was applied. An improvement in the classes was described by the Professors who mainly dealt with questions related to pathological changes instead of technical problems; also, a higher interaction with the students was described. The simplicity of the software used and the high quality of the virtual slides, requiring a smaller time to identify microscopic structures, were considered important for a better teaching process. Virtual microscopy used to teach oral pathology represents a useful educational methodology, with an excellent compliance of the dental students.

Key Participants Of The Tumor Microenvironment Of The Prostate: An Approach Of The Structural Dynamic Of Cellular Elements And Extracellular Matrix Components During Epithelial-stromal Transition.

Cancer is a multistep process that begins with the transformation of normal epithelial cells and continues with tumor growth, stromal invasion and metastasis. The remodeling of the peritumoral environment is decisive for the onset of tumor invasiveness. This event is dependent on epithelial-stromal interactions, degradation of extracellular matrix components and reorganization of fibrillar components. Our research group has studied in a new proposed rodent model the participation of cellular and molecular components in the prostate microenvironment that contributes to cancer progression. Our group adopted the gerbil Meriones unguiculatus as an alternative experimental model for prostate cancer study. This model has presented significant responses to hormonal treatments and to development of spontaneous and induced neoplasias. The data obtained indicate reorganization of type I collagen fibers and reticular fibers, synthesis of new components such as tenascin and proteoglycans, degradation of basement membrane components and elastic fibers and increased expression of metalloproteinases. Fibroblasts that border the region, apparently participate in the stromal reaction. The roles of each of these events, as well as some signaling molecules, participants of neoplastic progression and factors that promote genetic reprogramming during epithelial-stromal transition are also discussed.