Suchergebnisse

ABSTRACTThis article explores the role of perceptions in donor-African relations and the extent to which donor 'images' of African governments can be managed by these same governments to their advantage. The article focuses on donor views of 'reliability' in the Global War on Terror (GWOT) and compares differing international perceptions of Kenya and Uganda through this lens. Arguing that donors have an exaggerated sense of Ugandan 'compliance' or reliability and Kenyan unreliability in fighting terrorism, it explains this by examining the two governments' international 'image management' strategies, or lack thereof. The analysis contends that Uganda's success at promoting itself as a major donor ally in the GWOT, compared with Kenya's general reluctance to do the same, has played a significant role in building and bolstering these differing donor perceptions. This, the article suggests, raises important questions about the nature of African agency in the international system.

Exploring the story of Africa's contemporary history and politics through the lens of peacekeeping, this concise and accessible book, based on over a decade of research across ten countries, focuses not on peacekeeping in Africa but, rather, peacekeeping by Africans. Going beyond the question of why post-conflict states contribute troops to peacekeeping efforts, Jonathan Fisher and Nina Wilén demonstrate how peacekeeping is – and has been – weaved into Africa's national, regional and international politics more broadly, as well as what implications this has for how we should understand the continent, its history and its politics. In doing so, and drawing on fieldwork undertaken in every region of the continent, Fisher and Wilén explain how profoundly this involvement in peacekeeping has shaped contemporary Africa.

Money power in politics has been bolstered over the last thirty years thanks to Supreme Court decisions that hinder the Federal Election Commission's ability to regulate financial influences on campaigns. Increases in corporate ability to impact campaigns through independent expenditures are principally against democratic values as they create a political climate of inequality favoring wealthy speakers. Additionally, money power's influences on campaigns lead to impacting policy both directly through access to politicians and indirectly through the broad success of pro-contributor candidates. With an inability to govern over money power in elections comes a trend of anti-majoritarian policies that are inherently undemocratic in their favoritism of corporate agendas and goals.

I examine the influence of neighbors on the consumer bankruptcy decision using administrative bankruptcy records linked to the 2000 Decennial Census. Two empirical strategies remove unobserved common factors that affect identification. The first strategy uses small geographical areas to isolate neighborhood effects, and the second strategy identifies the effect using past bankruptcy filers who moved states. The findings from both strategies reinforce each other and confirm the role of social influence on the bankruptcy decision. Having a past bankruptcy filer move into the block from a different state increases the likelihood of filing by 10%. (JEL D12, K35)

Artículo científico indizado ; Glyphosate is the active ingredient of some of the most highly produced and used herbicides worldwide. The intensive applications of glyphosate-based herbicides and its half-life in water lead to its presence in many aquatic ecosystems. Whereas recent studies have reported neurotoxic effects of glyphosate including autism- related effects, most of them used extremely high (mg/L to g/L) concentrations, so it is still unclear if chronic, low environmentally relevant concentrations of this compound (ng/L to μg/L) can induce neurotoxicity. In this study we analyzed the neurotoxicity of glyphosate in adult zebrafish after waterborne exposure to environmentally relevant concentrations (0.3 and 3 μg/L) for two weeks. Our data showed that exposed fish presented a significant impairment of exploratory and social behaviors consistent with increased anxiety. The anterior brain of the exposed fish presented a significant increase in dopamine and serotonin levels, as well as in the DOPAC/dopamine and homovanillic acid/dopamine turnover ratios. Moreover, the expression of genes involved in the dopaminergic system, as th1, th2, comtb, and scl6a3 was downregulated. Finally, the brain of exposed fish presented a significant increase in the catalase and superoxide dismutase activities, with a concomitant decrease of glutathione stores. These changes in the antioxidant defense system are consistent with the observed increase in oxidative stress, reflected by the increase in the levels of lipid peroxidation in the brain. The presented results show that current glyphosate concentrations commonly found in many aquatic ecosystems may have detrimental consequences on fish survival by decreasing exploration of the environment or altering social interactions. Furthermore, as zebrafish is also a vertebrate model widely used in human neurobehavioral studies, these results are relevant not only for environmental risk assessment, but also for understanding the risk of chronic low-dose exposures on human health. ; This work was supported by the Spanish Government with FEDER Funds (CTM2017-83242-R; D.R.) and the network of recognized research groups by the Catalan Government (2017 SGR_902). J.B. was supported by a Spanish fellowship PRE2018-083513. Mention of spe- cific products or trade names does not indicate endorsement by the US federal government.