Suchergebnisse

Electoral Systems and Political Transformation in Post-Communist Europe assesses the influence of electoral systems on political change in 20 post-communist European states. The main finding is that electoral institutions have systematic effects on the formation of representative structures. 'Party-enabling' aspects of electoral laws such as list proportional representation tend to foster popular inclusion in politics and institutionalized party systems, whereas 'politician-enabling' rules such as single-member districts and ballots that allow voters to select individuals often favour the development of weakly structured systems and high levels of popular exclusion from the representative process.

On 31 Mar 2002, Ukraine held its third parliamentary election as an independent state. Since the previous election, in 1998, the Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada) had become increasingly riven by divisions between the parliamentary deputies who supported the president, Leonid Kuchma, & those who opposed him. There were serious concerns that Kuchma & his administration would seek to undermine the integrity of the electoral process to secure a parliament more to their liking. The electoral results provided little clear indication of change, however. The established patterns of support for the Left, center, & Right were in evidence, & as in previous elections, there was no overall winner. For overviews of trends in Ukrainian voting behavior, see Wilson & Birch (1999) & Birch (2000). 1 Table, 13 References. Adapted from the source document.

This article assesses the differences in the design of electoral institutions & electoral outcomes in 20 Eastern & 20 Western European democracies. It finds broad similarities between the types of electoral systems that have been adopted in the two parts of the continent. The size & shape of the party systems that have been generated by these systems are also similar overall. Yet statistical analysis demonstrates that the electoral systems of Eastern Europe are doing far more 'work' than their Western counterparts to reduce the size of party systems, & that they are more likely to use exclusionary thresholds to achieve this end than manipulation of constituency size. Possible reasons for these differences are discussed with reference to the factors that impinge on electoral system design. Adapted from the source document.

THE AUTHOR ENDEAVORS TO IDENTIFY THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF ELECTORAL BEHAVIOR IN WESTERN UKRAINE IN NATIONAL ELECTIONS AND REFERENDUMS BETWEEN 1989 AND 1991. THROUGHOUT THE PERESTROIKA PERIOD, WESTERN UKRAINE'S REGIONAL CENTER L'VIV WAS THE MAIN BASE OF DEMOCRATICALLY MINDED NATIONALIST GROUPS WHO SAW INDEPENDENCE AS THE WAY TO POLITICAL REFORM AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY. BECAUSE THE REGION WAS THE MOST POLITICALLY MOBILIZED PART OF THE COUNTRY AT THAT TIME, ELECTORAL CLEAVAGES IN WESTERN UKRAINE WERE PARTICULARLY WELL DEFINED. THUS, THE ANALYSIS OF ELECTORAL BEHAVIOR IN WESTERN UKRAINE REPRESENTS A VALUABLE CASE STUDY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLITICAL ALLEGIANCES DURING THE CRUCIAL INITIAL PHASE OF ELECTORAL LIBERALIZATION.

THE AUTHORS GIVE AN OVERVIEW OF UKRAINE'S ELECTION LAW AND BRIEFLY PROFILE THE MAIN GROUPS CONTESTING UKRAINE'S 1998 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS. THEN THEY DESCRIBE A VOTER SURVEY CONDUCTED DURING THE LAST TWO WEEKS OF THE CAMPAIGN AND USE THE POLL DATA TO CONSTRUCT A MODEL OF PARTY SUPPORT. FINALLY, THEY ANALYZE THE RESULTS OF THE ELECTION AND THE FORMATION OF FACTIONS IN PARLIAMENT.

Cover -- Contents -- List of Tables -- List of Party Acronyms -- Preface -- 1 Explaining the Design and Redesign of Electoral Systems -- 2 Poland: Experimenting with the Electoral System -- 3 Hungary: the Politics of Negotiated Design -- 4 The Czech and Slovak Republics: the Surprising Resilience of Proportional Representation -- 5 Romania: Stability without Consensus -- 6 Bulgaria: Engineering Legitimacy through Electoral System Design -- 7 Russia: the Limits of Electoral Engineering -- 8 Ukraine: the Struggle for Democratic Change -- 9 Conclusion: Embodying Democracy -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Glossary -- Index.

Background: Acupuncture has one of the fastest developing evidence bases in Complementary Medicine and is one of the leading therapies included within integrative health care. This narrative review includes two separate parts: the first is about evaluation of the current evidence status in reviews on acupuncture and the second examines and gives examples of available recommendations on acupuncture in treatment guidelines from health care experts and public health organizations recommending acupuncture as a viable treatment in patients in palliative care. Methods: Electronic searches were performed in Pubmed using the terms 'acupuncture' + 'palliative' and adding the term 'safety' to find review articles documenting safety and evidence of effectiveness of acupuncture for treatment of symptoms in palliative care patients. Treatment guidelines that recommend use of acupuncture for symptom control in palliative care were found by searching through a database currently under construction by the lead author. Results: Acupuncture shows emerging evidence for 17 indications in palliative care. Examples were found and presented of publications recommending acupuncture for treatment of symptoms for patients in palliative care from Government, public health, oncology and medical expert sources. The most publications are in oncology, but other conditions were found and a number were found in paediatric care. Conclusions: While the evidence for use of acupuncture to treat symptoms in palliative care patients is relatively weak, the evidence base is growing. Experts worldwide are also increasingly recommending acupuncture as a treatment for symptoms in palliative care. Since acupuncture is a safe, non-pharmacological treatment but with small, clinically significant effects, these recommended uses appear as pragmatic efforts to bridge the gap of treatment options available to this patient group.