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Ecologies of ideologies: Explaining party entry and exit in West-European parliaments, 1945-2013.

ABSTRACT: This study introduces a population-ecological approach to the entry and exit of political parties. A primary proposition of population ecology is that organizational entry and exit depends on the number of organizations already present: that is, density. We propose that political parties mainly experience competition from parties in the same ideological niche (left, centre, right). Pooled time-series analyses of 410 parties, 263 elections and 18 West-European countries largely support our expectations. We find that political parties are more likely to exit when density within their niche increases. Also there is competition between adjacent ideological niches, i.e. between centrist and right-wing niches. In contrast to our expectations, neither density nor institutional rules impact party entry. This raises important questions about the rationale of prospective entrants.

SUBMITTER: van de Wardt M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5632956 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Ecologies of ideologies: Explaining party entry and exit in West-European parliaments, 1945-2013.

van de Wardt Marc M Berkhout Joost J Vermeulen Floris F

European Union politics 20161004 2

This study introduces a population-ecological approach to the entry and exit of political parties. A primary proposition of population ecology is that organizational entry and exit depends on the number of organizations already present: that is, density. We propose that political parties mainly experience competition from parties in the same ideological niche (left, centre, right). Pooled time-series analyses of 410 parties, 263 elections and 18 West-European countries largely support our expect ...[more]

PMID: 29046613

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Project description:BackgroundEarly exit (drop-out) from drug treatment can mean that drug users do not derive the full benefits that treatment potentially offers. Additionally, it may mean that scarce treatment resources are used inefficiently. Understanding the factors that lead to early exit from treatment should enable services to operate more effectively and better reduce drug related harm. To date, few studies have focused on drop-out during the initial, engagement phase of treatment. This paper describes a mixed method study of early exit from English drug treatment services.MethodsQuantitative data (n = 2,624) was derived from three English drug action team areas; two metropolitan and one provincial. Hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) was used to investigate predictors of early-exit while controlling for differences between agencies. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 53 ex-clients and 16 members of staff from 10 agencies in these areas to explore their perspectives on early exit, its determinants and, how services could be improved.ResultsAlmost a quarter of the quantitative sample (24.5%) dropped out between assessment and 30 days in treatment. Predictors of early exit were: being younger; being homeless; and not being a current injector. Age and injection status were both consistently associated with exit between assessment and treatment entry. Those who were not in substitution treatment were significantly more likely to leave treatment at this stage. There were substantial variations between agencies, which point to the importance of system factors. Qualitative analysis identified several potential ways to improve services. Perceived problems included: opening hours; the service setting; under-utilisation of motivational enhancement techniques; lack of clarity about expectations; lengthy, repetitive assessment procedures; constrained treatment choices; low initial dosing of opioid substitution treatment; and the routine requirement of supervised consumption of methadone.ConclusionEarly exit diminishes the contribution that treatment may make to the reduction of drug related harm. This paper identifies characteristics of people most likely to drop out of treatment prematurely in English drug treatment services and highlights a range of possibilities for improving services.

Project description:The recently determined crystal structure of the human beta(2)-adrenergic (beta(2)AR) G-protein-coupled receptor provides an excellent structural basis for exploring beta(2)AR-ligand binding and dissociation process. Based on this crystal structure, we simulated ligand exit from the beta(2)AR receptor by applying the random acceleration molecular dynamics (RAMD) simulation method. The simulation results showed that the extracellular opening on the receptor surface was the most frequently observed egress point (referred to as pathway A), and a few other pathways through interhelical clefts were also observed with significantly lower frequencies. In the egress trajectories along pathway A, the D192-K305 salt bridge between the extracellular loop 2 (ECL2) and the apex of the transmembrane helix 7 (TM7) was exclusively broken. The spatial occupancy maps of the ligand computed from the 100 RAMD simulation trajectories indicated that the receptor-ligand interactions that restrained the ligand in the binding pocket were the major resistance encountered by the ligand during exit and no second barrier was notable. We next performed RAMD simulations by using a putative ligand-free conformation of the receptor as input structure. This conformation was obtained in a standard molecular dynamics simulation in the absence of the ligand and it differed from the ligand-bound conformation in a hydrophobic patch bridging ECL2 and TM7 due to the rotation of F193 of ECL2. Results from the RAMD simulations with this putative ligand-free conformation suggest that the cleft formed by the hydrophobic bridge, TM2, TM3, and TM7 on the extracellular surface likely serves as a more specific ligand-entry site and the ECL2-TM7 hydrophobic junction can be partially interrupted upon the entry of ligand that pushes F193 to rotate, resulting in a conformation as observed in the ligand-bound crystal structure. These results may help in the design of beta(2)AR-targeting drugs with improved efficacy, as well as in understanding the receptor subtype selectivity of ligand binding in the beta family of the adrenergic receptors that share almost identical ligand-binding pockets, but show notable amino acid sequence divergence in the putative ligand-entry site, including ECL2 and the extracellular end of TM7.

Project description:As a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, several governments adopted disease containment measures limiting individual freedom, especially freedom of movement. Our contribution aims at studying the role played by party preferences in explaining attitudes towards those freedom limitations during the pandemic, taking into account the moderating role played by confidence in institutions and collectivist-individualistic orientations. Focussing on Italy, as the first western democracy to be hit by Covid-19 and to adopt harsh restrictive measures, we analyse data coming from the ResPOnsE COVID-19 project. Our study initially investigates whether attitudes towards freedom restrictions are associated with the dynamics of the pandemic and the institutional responses to it. Then, through multilevel regression models, we test several hypotheses about the relationship between party preferences, confidence in institutions, collectivistic orientations and public acceptance of Covid-19 containment measures limiting individual freedom. Findings show that party preferences are associated with different attitudes towards freedom restrictions to contain the pandemic, but this occurs only if people have individualistic orientations. Collectivistic orientations and confidence in institutions are positively associated with acceptance of freedom restrictions, regardless of party preferences. As regards the latter, neither a classical ideological explanation (conservative people more inclined to accept limitations to personal freedoms) nor a government-opposition explanation (supporters of government parties more inclined to accept freedom restrictions) seems to be adequate to fully account for the mechanisms behind acceptance of Covid-19 harsh containment measures. Thus, we offer an alternative ideological explanation by pointing out the ambiguous nature of contemporary right-wing populisms.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11135-022-01436-3.

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Ecologies of ideologies: Explaining party entry and exit in West-European parliaments, 1945-2013.

Publications

Ecologies of ideologies: Explaining party entry and exit in West-European parliaments, 1945-2013.

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