| 1. |
- Edgell, Amanda B, et al.
(författare)
-
Democratic Legacies: Using Democratic Stock to Assess Norms, Growth, and Regime Trajectories
- 2020
-
Ingår i: SSRN Electronic Journal. - Göteborg : Göteborgs universitet. - 1556-5068.
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- While social scientists often theorize about the enduring effects of past regime characteristics, conceptual issues and data limitations pose real challenges for assessing these legacies empirically. This paper introduces a new measure of democratic stock, conceptualized as the accumulated experience of democratic rule within a polity. Using a weighted sum of past values on the Electoral Democracy Index from the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute, we capture variation in past experiences with democratic institutions and practices in 199 political units from 1789 to 2019. This measure of democratic stock provides additional information on a country's political history that is not captured by its present level of democracy or regime type. To illustrate this, we highlight several cases and revisit prominent theories about democratic norms, economic growth, and democratic decline. These applications encourage scholars to think more about political outcomes as legacies of democracy.
|
|
| 2. |
|
|
| 3. |
- Grahn, Sandra, et al.
(författare)
-
Civil Society and Post-Independence Democracy Levels
- 2020
-
Ingår i: SSRN Electronic Journal. - Göteborg : Göteborgs universitet. - 1556-5068.
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The role of civil society for the consolidation of democracy is contested. Some argue that Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are important “schools of democracy” and may foster democratic consolidation. Others emphasize that anti-democratic CSOs may undermine democracy. This debate is particularly relevant in the context of newly independent states. At this critical juncture, both democratic and authoritarian regime trajectories seem possible. Societal preconditions – such as the state of civil society – are highly relevant for the way forward. To what extent does the strength and the nature of civil society organizations (CSOs) prior to independence have an impact on the consolidation of democracy? We argue that the existence of democratic CSOs prior to democratic transition strengthen post-independence democracy whereas non-democratic CSOs have a detrimental effect. For the first time, this argument is empirically tested, using data from the Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem) on 92 cases of independence since 1905. The results of this study show that the presence of democratic CSOs prior to independence is important for the consolidation of democracy, the presence of non-democratic CSOs before independence is negatively correlated to democracy levels of the new state following independence.
|
|
| 4. |
- Grahn, Sandra, et al.
(författare)
-
Good seed makes a good crop? The relationship between civil society and post-independence democracy levels
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Journal of Civil Society. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1744-8689 .- 1744-8697. ; 17:3-4, s. 297-322
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The impact of civil society on democracy is contested. Some argue that Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are important 'schools of democracy' and may foster democratic consolidation. Others emphasize that antidemocratic CSOs may undermine democracy. This debate is particularly relevant in the context of newly independent states. At that critical juncture, both democratic and authoritarian regime trajectories are possible. Societal preconditions - such as the state of civil society - can therefore be particularly relevant for the way forward. To what extent does the nature of CSOs prior to independence has an impact on the subsequent level of democracy? We argue that the existence of democratic CSOs prior to independence strengthens post-independence democracy whereas non-democratic CSOs have a detrimental effect. For the first time, this argument is empirically tested, using Varieties of Democracy (VDem) data on 91 cases of independence since 1905. The empirical results demonstrate that the presence of democratic CSOs prior to independence is positively correlated, whereas non-democratic CSOs are negatively correlated to democracy levels following independence.
|
|
| 5. |
|
|
| 6. |
- Hellmeier, Sebastian, 1989, et al.
(författare)
-
State of the world 2020: autocratization turns viral
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Democratization. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1351-0347 .- 1743-890X. ; 28:6, s. 1053-1074
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article analyses the state of democracy in 2020. The world is still more democratic than it was in the 1970s and 1980s, but a trend of autocratization is ongoing and affecting 25 countries in 2020, home to 34% of the world's population. At the same time, the number of democratizing countries has dwindled by nearly half, reducing to 16 countries, home to a mere 4% of the global population. Freedom of expression, deliberation, rule of law and elections show the most substantial net declines in the last decade. A major change is that India, formerly the world's largest democracy, turned into an electoral autocracy. The V-Dem data suggests that direct effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on levels of liberal democracy were limited in 2020. Still, the longer-term consequences may be worse and must be monitored closely. Due to the pandemic and state restrictions on the freedom of assembly, mass mobilization declined to its lowest level in over a decade, yet the decline in pro-democracy protests in 2020 may well prove to be short-lived once the pandemic subdues.
|
|
| 7. |
- Hoznak, Ali, et al.
(författare)
-
Låt de afghanska flyktingarna stanna. Bevilja dem amnesti.
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Sydsvenska dagbladet.
-
Tidskriftsartikel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- Det är ovärdigt ett välfärdssamhälle att motvilligt stoppa utvisningarna tillfälligt, bara för att sedan låta människor svälta i hemlöshet eller tvingas in i exploatering för att överleva i Sverige, skriver fem personer som arbetar med frågor som rör välfärd och migration.
|
|
| 8. |
- Lührmann, Anna, et al.
(författare)
-
State of the world 2018: democracy facing global challenges
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Democratization. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1351-0347 .- 1743-890X. ; 26:6, s. 895-915
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article analyses the state of democracy in the world in 2018, and recent developments building on the 2019 release of the V-Dem dataset. First, the trend of autocratization continues and 24 countries are now affected by what is established as a "third wave of autocratization". Second, despite the global challenge of gradual autocratization, democratic regimes prevail in a majority of countries in the world (99 countries, 55%) in 2018. Thus, the state of the world is unmistakably more democratic compared to any point during the last century. At the same time, the number of electoral authoritarian regimes had increased to 55, or 31% of all countries. Third, the autocratization wave is disproportionally affecting democratic countries in Europe and the Americas, but also India's large population. Fourth, freedom of expression and the media, and the rule of law are the areas under attack in most countries undergoing autocratization, but toxic polarization of the public sphere is a threat to democracy spreading across regimes. Finally, we present the first model to predict autocratization ("adverse regime transitions") pointing to the top-10 most at-risk countries in the world.
|
|
| 9. |
- Maerz, Seraphine, 1982, et al.
(författare)
-
State of the world 2019: autocratization surges - resistance grows
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Democratization. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1351-0347 .- 1743-890X. ; 27:6, s. 909-927
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article analyses the state of democracy in the world in 2019. We demonstrate that the "third wave of autocratization" is accelerating and deepening. The dramatic loss of eight democracies in the last year sets a new record in the rate of breakdowns. Exemplifying this crisis is Hungary, now the EU's first ever authoritarian member state. Governmental assaults on civil society, freedom of expression, and the media are proliferating and becoming more severe. A new and disturbing trend is that the quality of elections is now also deteriorating in many countries. Nevertheless, there are also positive signs: pro-democracy protests reached an all-time high in 2019. People are taking to the streets to protest the erosion of democracies and challenge dictators. Popular protests have contributed to substantial democratization in 22 countries over the last ten years - including Armenia, Tunisia, and Ecuador. This was before the Covid-19 pandemic. Responses to the crisis, including many states of emergencies, risk further accelerating autocratization.
|
|
| 10. |
- Ratke, Christine, et al.
(författare)
-
Downregulating aspen xylan biosynthetic GT43 genes in developing wood stimulates growth via reprograming of the transcriptome
- 2018
-
Ingår i: New Phytologist. - : Wiley. - 0028-646X .- 1469-8137. ; 219:1, s. 230-245
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Xylan is one of the main compounds determining wood properties in hardwood species. The xylan backbone is thought to be synthesized by a synthase complex comprising two members of the GT43 family. We downregulated all GT43 genes in hybrid aspen (Populus tremulaxtremuloides) to understand their involvement in xylan biosynthesis.All three clades of the GT43 family were targeted for downregulation using RNA interference individually or in different combinations, either constitutively or specifically in developing wood.Simultaneous downregulation in developing wood of the B (IRX9) and C (IRX14) clades resulted in reduced xylan Xyl content relative to reducing end sequence, supporting their role in xylan backbone biosynthesis. This was accompanied by a higher lignocellulose saccharification efficiency. Unexpectedly, GT43 suppression in developing wood led to an overall growth stimulation, xylem cell wall thinning and a shift in cellulose orientation. Transcriptome profiling of these transgenic lines indicated that cell cycling was stimulated and secondary wall biosynthesis was repressed. We suggest that the reduced xylan elongation is sensed by the cell wall integrity surveying mechanism in developing wood.Our results show that wood-specific suppression of xylan-biosynthetic GT43 genes activates signaling responses, leading to increased growth and improved lignocellulose saccharification.
|
|
