bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Austria: From Consensus to Competition and
Participation?
Authors: Fallend Franz 
Published: January 2011

Abstract
Austria is a democratic republic wherein constitutionally, state power is federalized into nine provinces and 357 municipalities which are organized as self-governing bodies. However, in reality, major political parties and their predecessors have dominated Austrian politics. As a result, neither federalism nor local government have been fully developed. This article discusses the political structure of Austria. It focuses on the democracy of the nation which is marked by highly congruent structures and processes at all territorial levels. All the territorial levels are marked by parliamentary system dominated by the national state; consensus policy-making within the elite; elite-centred politics; and underdeveloped participatory democracy. All of this holds true despite changes in globalization and in national state requirements for a new differentiation. At the turn of the century, a new differentiation emerged wherein an agreement-based model of administration shifted towards a conflict- and competition-oriented based model. This shift caused municipalities to move away from the inherited and inflexible corporatism and towards a more open and flexible network structure. Although these new instruments have opened avenues for citizens, the Austrian people have used such instruments only reluctantly. At the same time political elites have also strived to maintain their grip on their dominating role in politics. Despite criticisms on the undemocratic nature and liability of internal blocking, the Proporz governments are still institutionalized in five provinces and the new regional development organizations which have been created to catalyze economic impulses have only coordinating and consultative functions. This suggests time will have to pass before changes will penetrate the deeply imbedded state traditions of Austria.
Switzerland: Subsidiarity, Power‐Sharing,
and Direct Democracy
Authors: Ladner Andreas 
Published: January 2011

Abstract
This article discusses the Swiss political system which is marked by symmetric federalism. In Switzerland, subnational democracy is accorded with the same value and importance as national democracy. Following the principle of subsidiarity, cantons and municipalities have a high level of autonomy. They create their own political institutions, they control their finances, they provide public facilities and services, and they possess competence to fix the tax rate on income and property. In terms of politics, the subnational level is marked by power-sharing, multi-party executives, and far-reaching means of direct democracy.
Norway: The Decline of Subnational
Democracy?
Authors: Baldersheim Harald , Rose Lawrence E. 
Published: January 2011

Abstract
The narrative of Norway is often narrated as series of national liberations culminating recently in deliverance from Nazi occupation. Another strand of the story is that of progressive social equalization resulting in the present welfare state and one of the most egalitarian societies in Europe. These stories have engendered a ‘freedom, equality, and peace’ syndrome in Norway which is a source of tension in central-local relations as well as in internal relations. Fear of losing control has resulted in a lack of constitutional protection for local self-government and two ‘No’ outcomes in referendums on Norwegian EU membership. This article discusses Norway and its assumed declining subnational democracy. Norway is a decentralized welfare state which belongs to the Scandinavian state tradition with distinctly cooperative central-local relations. Whereas local government is legally free to engage in tasks that are not explicitly granted to other public bodies or prohibited by law, in practice most important local functions are seen as joint responsibilities shared by the local and central government. Although decentralization and the transfer of functions were dominant in the early 1990s, these changed in the recent years as the state required the transfer of several functions of the local government to the state. There is also a parallel trend of more active central government intervention in local affairs. This indicated the diminishing tolerance of variation in levels and manners of local governance and local service provision.
Italy: The Subnational Dimension to Strengthening Democracy Since the 1990s
Authors: Piattoni Simona , Brunazzo Marco 
Published: January 2011

AbstractThis article discusses Italy and its efforts to strengthen democracy in a nation marked with bargained pluralism. Italy was founded in 1860. From its inception, it has been informed by the Napoleonic tradition of centre-periphery relations. With the Napoleonic tradition as a framework, Italy has had a strong and technocratic central apparatus which controlled the territory through its deconcentrated offices placed at the provincial level, with self-government circumscribed to the municipal level. The municipalities were both the traditional locus of self-government and the terminals of the central government, on whose behalf they carried out a number of security and public health tasks. In the elite states of Italy, the Napoleonic tradition was adopted because it was already familiar to them. The remaining municipalities adhered to the German type because of the contention that it would aid in curbing the centripetal forces that were still at work underneath the surface of the unitary rhetoric. In the 1980s, a debate was introduced in Italy on the need for institutional reforms that would lead to the stability and effectiveness of the local governments. At the beginning of the 1990s, the Italian political class officially embraced the need to reform the subnational level of government to permit the creation of an authentic system of political preference formation. In this article, the electoral and territorial reforms, which formed part of the single reformist effort to modernize Italian democracy, are discussed. Included as well are the reforms made in centre-periphery relations to achieve long-coveted political goals.
Poland: Europeanization of Subnational
Governments
Authors: Swianiewicz Paweł 
Published: January 2011

Abstract
The traditions of Polish democracy date back to the First Republic. However, eventually Poland suffered collapse due to the relative weakness of the Polish central authorities. Furthermore, the partition of Poland among Russia, Prussia, and Austrian Habsburg Empire in the nineteenth century created a challenge for the unification of the country after it gained its independence in 1918. All of these factors contributed to a fear of radical decentralization and strong regional autonomy. This article discusses the Europeanization of the subnational governments of Poland. In the accession of Poland to the European Union in 2004, the democratic and decentralization processes of the country moved forward. While the accession of Poland into the EU seemed like it had little to do with the subnational government, its accession fundamentally changed the environment with which local and regional governments operated including the balance of political power in all the tiers of the Polish government. Europeanization of the Polish subnational governments led to changes in the internal politics of Poland, the balance of power-play among the tiers in the government, and the efficient and effective mobilization of state funds.
The Czech Republic: Local Government in the Years
after the Reform
Authors: Illner Michal 
Published: January 2011

Abstract
From 1620 to 1918, the Czech Kingdom was under Austrian rule and later the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. As such, it shared some of the features of the constitutional system of the Austrian and Austro-Hungarian monarchy. During the second half of the nineteenth century, Czech political representation demanded federalization from the monarchy. The failure to fulfil Czech ambitions led to the alienation of Czech society. In 1918, after the First World War, the new Czechoslovakia was established on the ruins of the old monarchy. The country became a parliamentary democracy, and this promulgated a controversial notion of a ‘Czechoslovak nation’ which neglected to consider the ethnic diversity of the population and which caused inter-ethnic tensions. Communist ruling dominated the nation from 1948 to 1989; and in 1989, communist rule collapsed which allowed for reforms. This article discusses the Czech Republic and the reforms that followed after the eradication of communist rule. During the fourteen years after the collapse of the communist regime, democratizing and decentralizing reforms were introduced. These series of reforms introduced a new system of subnational government on the municipal and local levels. The main aims of the reform were fulfilled in 2003, and since then, the new system has been settling down. Problems and challenges have been emerging but none of them necessitated a fundamental revision of the system.
Hungary: Remarkable Successes and Costly Failures: An
Evaluation of Subnational Democracy
Authors: Soós Gábor , Kákai László 
Published: January 2011

Abstract
This article focuses on Hungary, a unitary state with a local government system founded close to the Germanic state tradition and infused with some Napoleonic elements. Various forms of local and regional autonomy existed in the history of Hungary, however they were destroyed in the communist period. In the new political system of Hungary, the fundamental elements were based on considerations and interactions of participants. The outcome was not determined by any of the state traditions but rather by the cultural kit available to actors and limited by the path dependency of existing institutions, the self-interest of the old and new elites, the symbolically and economically powerful external influence, and the public mood. External pressure more than the state tradition has shaped the political system of Hungary. The local democratization yielded a mixed outcome. On the one hand, local governments were able to successfully replace the old system of communist councils, and became the basis of the functioning system of public administration and legal autonomy. However, the subnational system now has to overcome four challenges, all of which have roots in the various aspects of democratization: the democratic deficit; the highly fragmented local government system with a high cost of local administration and services; the lack of consensus on the powerful meso-governmental level; and the weakness of the societal autonomies.
Slovakia: Local Government: Establishing Democracy at
the Grassroots
Authors: Čapková Soňa 
Published: January 2011

Abstract
The Slovak Republic or Slovakia came into being after the dissolution of the Czechoslovak Federation which split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Since gaining the status of an independent republic, Slovakia has adopted a parliamentary democracy system. And it has been regarded as one of the fastest reformers in the world, introducing ambitious reforms in all aspects of political and social strata. This article discusses the formation of Slovak subnational governments. In the 1990s, the decentralization of the Slovak government was introduced. This move of delegating public administration and of restoring autonomy in the local and municipal governments was faced with different dynamic changes. The principal aim of the public administration reform wherein the state power was distributed territorially and functionally between the state, the regional level, and the municipalities was spurred by the desire to establish an efficient and effective government close to the people. The decentralization of Slovakia provided local governments with additional flexibility in the policy processes. This flexibility proved to be instrumental in the facilitation of coordination with other policies, adaptation to local conditions, and participation in decision-making. Decentralization has allowed the local governments to improve quality of life for the citizens, influence changes in the law, improve the quality of government-provided goods and services, and enhance the representation of the interests of the people. In sum, subnational governments in the Slovakian context represented a substantial force in improving the quality of government in Slovakia.
Estonia: Challenges and Lessons of the Development
of Local Autonomy
Authors: Sootla Georg , Kattai Kersten 
Published: January 2011

Abstract
This article focuses on the development of local autonomy in Estonia. Estonia emerged as a result of the collapse of the Russian empire in 1918. The emergence of Estonian democracy was guided by the values of national liberation. After the defeat of Soviet Russia, independence was reasserted through the Tartu Treaty. In 1920, the first constitution of Estonia was drafted and a liberal version of parliamentary republic was established. However, the imbalance of the party system in the parliamentary system of Estonia caused instability in the executive of the Estonian government. In the 1930s, the Great Depression reached Estonia and caused political crisis which eroded the democratic regime. In 1934 Estonia through the Päts regime introduced a new constitution that established an authoritarian and corporatist regime. Estonia lost its independence in 1940 after its annexation to the Soviet Union. However, under Soviet Union rule, Estonia slowly began to gain a strong position in the 1960s onwards when the Soviet central administration began to collapse. And in 1991, Estonia ratified its own constitution after its independence from the Soviet Union. This new constitution departed from the principle of the legal consistency of the Russian empire and with the constitution enforced by the authoritarian regime in 1937. This new constitution allowed democratic elections and established democratic self-government institutions. After twenty years of reforms, the Estonian local and regional government today is still in a state of transition. For this reason, current configurations of local governance as well as intergovernmental relations could change drastically in the future. Although there are serious conceptual and political disagreements about the concrete direction of institutional design, there is a general consent that qualitative changes in local governance are inevitable in Estonia.
Lithuania: Brave Enough to Implement Daring Democratic
Reforms?
Authors: Vaiciuniene Jolanta , Nefas Saulius 
Published: January 2011

Abstract
This article discusses the transition of Lithuania after its freedom from annexation to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The tradition of local democracy and parliamentarism in Lithuania developed during the Middle Ages. However, this formation was interrupted by two occupations. When the country sought to re-established its independence, first at the beginning and then at the end of the twentieth century, the achievements of the neighbouring countries were followed by Lithuania hence no specific Lithuanian model emerged. The system of democracy at the central government level is founded on a semi-presidential management model, although there are several claims that is has a dominating role of the parliament. In practice, power is divided, which is crucial in a democratic state. While Lithuania has a decentralized law on self-government at the local level, this is restricted and controlled by a central government unable to develop local self-government and by local politicians who cling to their deemed valuable links with the central government hence unable to resist when their powers of self-government become weakened. And while Lithuania is in the process of developing into a modern democratic state, the nation is still on its way to maturity where more challenges and difficulties will arise.
European Subnational Democracy: Comparative
Reflections and Conclusions
Authors: Hendriks Frank , Loughlin John , Lidström Anders 
Published: January 2011

Abstract
This concluding article gives an overview of the main contents of this book. This book, it states, has surveyed a wide range of European countries, the members of the European Union as well as Switzerland and Norway as all these democratic countries present a rich and varied experience of democracy. The primary intellectual quest of this book has been to explore the meaning of democracy itself. The article further goes on to explore the idea of subnational democracy in Europe.
Alcohol's harm to others: reduced wellbeing and health status for those with heavy drinkers in their lives
Authors: Casswell Sally , You Ru Quan , Huckle Taisia 
Published: January 2011

ABSTRACTAims  The impact of alcohol on those other than the drinker is an under‐researched area with important policy implications. This study is a first step in investigating relationships between exposure to heavy drinkers in respondent's lives with measures of health status and wellbeing.Design setting and participants  A cross‐sectional general population survey was carried out among 3068 New Zealand residents aged 12–80 years (response rate 64%) using an in‐house computer‐assisted telephone interviewing system.Measurements  Respondents' estimates of health status (European Quality of Life–5 Dimensions) and subjective wellbeing (Personal Wellbeing Index) were measured along with self‐reports of heavy drinkers in their lives, demographic variables and own drinking.Findings  More than one in four of the sample had experienced someone they considered to be a heavy drinker in their environment in the past 12 months. An index of exposure to heavy drinkers, reflecting numbers of heavy drinkers and cohabitation, predicted lower health status and personal wellbeing while controlling for demographic variables and respondent's own drinkingConclusions  Cross‐sectional data from a general population sample suggest that there is a relationship between exposure to heavy drinkers and reduced personal wellbeing and poorer health status. Exposure to heavy drinkers may have negative impacts for others.
Employment‐based abstinence reinforcement as a maintenance intervention for the treatment of cocaine dependence: post‐intervention outcomes
Authors: DeFulio Anthony , Silverman Kenneth 
Published: January 2011

ABSTRACTAims  Due to the chronicity of cocaine dependence, practical and effective maintenance interventions are needed to sustain long‐term abstinence. We sought to assess the effects of long‐term employment‐based reinforcement of cocaine abstinence after discontinuation of the intervention.Design  Participants who initiated sustained opiate and cocaine abstinence during a 6‐month abstinence reinforcement and training program worked as data entry operators and were randomly assigned to a group that could work independently of drug use (control, n = 24), or an abstinence‐contingent employment (n = 27) group that was required to provide cocaine‐ and opiate‐negative urine samples to work and maintain maximum rate of pay.Setting  A non‐profit data entry business.Participants  Unemployed welfare recipients who persistently used cocaine while in methadone treatment.Measurements  Urine samples and self‐reports were collected every 6 months for 30 months.Findings  During the employment year, abstinence‐contingent employment participants provided significantly more cocaine‐negative samples than controls (82.7% and 54.2%; P = 0.01, OR = 4.61). During the follow‐up year, the groups had similar rates of cocaine‐negative samples (44.2% and 50.0%; P = 0.93) and human immunodeficiency virus risk behaviors. Participants' social, employment, economic and legal conditions were similar in the two groups across all phases of the study.Conclusions  Employment‐based reinforcement effectively maintains long‐term cocaine abstinence, but many patients relapse to use when the abstinence contingency is discontinued, even after a year of abstinence‐contingent employment. Relapse could be prevented in many patients by leaving employment‐based abstinence reinforcement in place indefinitely, which could be facilitated by integrating it into typical workplaces.
The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) transcription factor regulates megakaryocytic polyploidization
Authors: Lindsey Stephan , Papoutsakis Eleftherios T. 
Published: January 2011

SummaryWe propose that the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is a novel transcriptional regulator of megakaryopoietic polyploidization. Functional evidence was obtained that AHR impacts in vivo megakaryocytic differentiation and maturation; compared to wild‐type mice, AHR‐null mice had lower platelet counts, fewer numbers of newly synthesized platelets, increased bleeding times and lower‐ploidy megakaryocytes (Mks). AHR mRNA increased 3·6‐fold during ex vivo megakaryocytic differentiation, but reduced or remained constant during parallel isogenic granulocytic or erythroid differentiation. We interrogated the role of AHR in megakaryopoiesis using a validated Mk model of megakaryopoiesis, the human megakaryoblastic leukaemia CHRF cell line. Upon CHRF Mk differentiation, AHR mRNA and protein levels increased, AHR protein shifted from the cytoplasm to the nucleus and AHR binding to its consensus DNA binding sequence increased. Protein and mRNA levels of the AHR transcriptional target HES1 also increased. Mk differentiation of CHRF cells where AHR or HES1 was knocked‐down using RNAi resulted in lower ploidy distributions and cells that were incapable of reaching ploidy classes ≥16n. AHR knockdown also resulted in increased DNA synthesis of lower ploidy cells, without impacting apoptosis. Together, these data support a role for AHR in Mk polyploidization and in vivo platelet function, and warrant further detailed investigations.
Diagnostic efficacy of myeloperoxidase for the detection of acute coronary syndromes
Authors: Sawicki Marcin , Sypniewska Grazyna , Kozinski Marek , Gruszka Marzenna , Krintus Magdalena , Obonska Karolina , Pilaczynska‐Cemel Marta , Kubica Jacek 
Published: January 2011

Eur J Clin Invest 2011; 41 (6): 667–671AbstractBackground  Early diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is frequently a challenging task, while immediate risk stratification remains crucial for the prompt implementation of appropriate therapy in this setting. Employing markers that increase rapidly after the symptom onset may enhance triage and therapeutic decision‐making in patients suspected for ACS. Myeloperoxidase (MPO) exerting proinflammatory and pro‐oxidative properties is suggested as a reliable early marker for ACS associated with unfavourable clinical outcome. We assessed the diagnostic efficacy of plasma MPO alone or in combination with cardiac troponin I (cTnI) for detecting ACS in patients presenting with chest pain initiating within 6 h before the hospital admission.Material and methods  A study group consisted of 253 patients diagnosed with ACS and 47 subjects having other heart disease or unspecified chest pain. Clinically healthy volunteers (n = 124) served as controls. MPO concentration was measured in plasma (Abbott Diagnostics, USA), while serum was assayed for cTnI, creatine‐kinase MB, lipids, glucose, creatinine, brain natriuretic peptide type B and C‐reactive protein.Results  Both MPO and cTnI values were significantly lower in non‐ACS subjects than in patients with ACS. At 97·5th percentile as cut‐off, the superiority of MPO over cTnI was observed in patients with unstable angina and non‐ACS subjects. Considerably higher MPO concentrations were demonstrated in the troponin‐negative ACS patients on admission who became troponin‐positive after 6 h. Combined evaluation of MPO and cTnI possessed remarkably higher sensitivity than assessment of cTnI alone in all patients with ACS.Conclusions  Myeloperoxidase substantially facilitates the early diagnosis of ACS.