TY - JOUR A1 - Franzke, Jochen T1 - Rezension zu: The Routledge handbook of international local government / edited by Richard Kerley, Joyce Liddle and Pamela T. Dunning. - London: Routledge, 2018. - 528 pp. - ISBN: 978- 11-3823-472-7, ISBN: 978-1-31530-627-8 JF - Local government studies N2 - When I took up the task of writing a review of the Routledge handbook of international local government, it occurred to me, as a member of the generation of the 1950s, that I had not even considered whether such compendiums were even necessary in times of easy internet searching. This review will look at whether that is indeed the case. Social-science handbooks naturally are very broad. This also applies to the particular handbook under review. It comprises six content-thematic parts with 33 chapters by 73 authors from 21 countries, with the UK and USA dominant. The focal points, discussed in more detail below, are local elections and local governance, local governments in different jurisdictions, the challenges of local government services, citizen engagement in local affairs, and local authorities in multi-level finance systems that shape how municipal governments ‘get and spend’ public money. These are exactly the topics actually discussed in the international community of political scientists. As a preliminary, the editors work out the theoretical-methodological foundations of the topic. They define ‘the local’ as ‘geographically defined sub-national state administrative or political divisions’ (p. 3). As next steps, they analyse the difference between government and governance, and investigate whether local government is globally important and relevant. Fortunately, they conclude that this is indeed the case. Part I of the handbook illustrates ‘substantive variations’ in the local electoral systems and ‘notable divergences in the values and assumptions of local governance among democratic countries’ (p. 23). That topic is indeed central to local authorities’ legitimacy in democratic political systems. The focus of this part of the handbook is on current research and debates around local electoral systems, the challenges of local political leadership and the councillor’s role in modern local policy. Current trends at the local level are analysed from the actors’ perspectives or from an economic point of view by comparing institutionalised differences in city managers, mayors and council members across different jurisdictions. Sections that investigate traditional leadership and local government in Pacific Island countries are of particular interest to most Western readers, because in Europe and North America we know too little about such issues in that part of the world. Part II of the handbook presents current development processes and challenges in various local government systems. The chapters are territorially oriented around nation states or sub-national regions. This part of the handbook deal with local government in the Pacific Islands, Latin America, and New Zealand and in the Caribbean. However, the rationale behind country selection is not always clear; important countries like China, India and Nigeria, just to name a few, are absent. Unfortunately, there is no summary article highlighting similarities and differences, as well as the challenges in local government, relating to the countries studied in the book. The development of local services is the focus of Part III of the handbook, however, the definition of local services remains highly controversial and their scope varies widely between the countries. From the 1980s onwards, there was a long-term trend towards the marketisation and economisation of local politics, but since the turn of the millennium, there has been a counter-trend of the return of municipalities and third sector in the fields of local public services (Wollmann 2018). The book analyses the US and Georgia as case studies for development trends, finding that local government entrepreneurship remains an important factor in promoting economic development and strengthening capacities. I was pleased to see that Part IV, the next and most extensive part of the handbook, deals with citizen engagement, because the future of local self-government across the world depends not only on top down activities by local governing elites, but above all on the commitment of the inhabitants of cities and municipalities. Practices and challenges of citizen participation in local government are analysed in inspiring case studies of mid-sized cities in Russia and the United States. The contribution on urban governance of austerity in Europe is also of particular interest. The 2008 global financial crash and the subsequent severe budgetary pressure on municipalities in many countries was a key event in the history and development of local self-government, confronting municipalities with ‘the harsh realities of political economy’ (p. 293). Several articles analyse the causes of the declining confidence of the citizens in local authorities in some countries. In contrast, the open budget tool in Brazil is as a positive example of collaborative stakeholder engagement. Part V deals with multi-level governance. With the exception of Australia, it is all about Europe, especially the role of municipalities in the EU’s multilevel system. The authors conclude that ‘local authorities are essential for executing EU legislation, and this turn allows them to shape EU policies’ (p. 401). This part of the handbook includes the issue of local territorial reforms, which are central to local autonomy, combined with analyses of redesigning regional government and local-level Europeanisation. Subsequently, by comparing the local government systems of Southern Europe (France, Italy, Portugal and Spain), the authors underline convincingly the role of traditions, identity, legal frameworks and institutions in local government. Part VI of the book deals with the financial dimension of local self-government under the heading ‘Getting and spending’. This is indeed the ‘key source of dispute between local and central government’ (p. 467) and the crucial factor shaping true local autonomy. Meritoriously, this part also contains a chapter on the fight against corruption and unethical behaviour by public servants. Based on research linking corruption to transparency and accountability, two case studies describe how Tbilisi (Georgia) and Lviv (Ukraine) try to reduce corruption in government budgeting and procurement. Enhancing Value-For-Money audit in local government highlights another important side of local finance. An interesting comparison reveals significant differences in local government revenues in European Union member states between 2000 and 2014. Of course, even in a 530-page book, some important aspects remain underexposed. Above all, I would have liked more attention on some of the enormous future challenges facing democratic systems and with them local governments all over the world, such as digitisation (e.g. in smart cities), the integration of migrants or climate change. The international networking of municipalities should also be given greater prominence. To sum it up, The Routledge Handbook on International Local Government is indeed ‘ambitiously titled’ as the editors underline. Yet, despite my critical objections about its focus on current issues rather than future challenges, they largely fulfil this promise and their general approach has worked well. Across continents and political-administrative cultures, illustrated with many new research findings, they have created an outstanding publication focusing on the challenges and policy of local self-governmental authorities and other local stakeholders. There is a good chance that this handbook will belong in future to the social science standard works on local issues, and be included in academic political science teaching. May the publisher’s wish come true; that this book stimulates its readers to develop further research ideas. Finally, I come back to my initial question. ‘Old fashioned’ printed handbooks like these continue to make sense, even in modern digital times. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2020.1702771 SN - 0300-3930 SN - 1743-9388 VL - 46 IS - 1 SP - 163 EP - 165 PB - Routledge CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Philipp, Rebecca A1 - Kriston, Levente A1 - Lanio, Jana A1 - Kühne, Franziska A1 - Härter, Martin A1 - Moritz, Steffen A1 - Meister, Ramona T1 - Effectiveness of metacognitive interventions for mental disorders in adults-A systematic review and meta-analysis (METACOG) JF - Clinical psychology & psychotherapy N2 - We evaluated the effectiveness and acceptability of metacognitive interventions for mental disorders. We searched electronic databases and included randomized and nonrandomized controlled trials comparing metacognitive interventions with other treatments in adults with mental disorders. Primary effectiveness and acceptability outcomes were symptom severity and dropout, respectively. We performed random-effects meta-analyses. We identified Metacognitive Training (MCTrain), Metacognitive Therapy (MCTherap), and Metacognition Reflection and Insight Therapy (MERIT). We included 49 trials with 2,609 patients. In patients with schizophrenia, MCTrain was more effective than a psychological treatment (cognitive remediation, SMD = -0.39). It bordered significance when compared with standard or other psychological treatments. In a post hoc analysis, across all studies, the pooled effect was significant (SMD = -0.31). MCTrain was more effective than standard treatment in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (SMD = -0.40). MCTherap was more effective than a waitlist in patients with depression (SMD = -2.80), posttraumatic stress disorder (SMD = -2.36), and psychological treatments (cognitive-behavioural) in patients with anxiety (SMD = -0.46). In patients with depression, MCTherap was not superior to psychological treatment (cognitive-behavioural). For MERIT, the database was too small to allow solid conclusions. Acceptability of metacognitive interventions among patients was high on average. Methodological quality was mostly unclear or moderate. Metacognitive interventions are likely to be effective in alleviating symptom severity in mental disorders. Although their add-on value against existing psychological interventions awaits to be established, potential advantages are their low threshold and economy. KW - mental disorders KW - meta-analysis KW - metacognition KW - psychotherapy KW - systematic review Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.2345 SN - 1063-3995 SN - 1099-0879 VL - 26 IS - 2 SP - 227 EP - 240 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dietrich, Stefan A1 - Jacobs, Simone A1 - Zheng, Ju-Sheng A1 - Meidtner, Karina A1 - Schwingshackl, Lukas A1 - Schulze, Matthias Bernd T1 - Gene-lifestyle interaction on risk of type 2 diabetes BT - A systematic review JF - Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity N2 - The pathophysiological influence of gene-lifestyle interactions on the risk to develop type 2 diabetes (T2D) is currently under intensive research. This systematic review summarizes the evidence for gene-lifestyle interactions regarding T2D incidence. MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Web of Science were systematically searched until 31 January 2019 to identify publication with (a) prospective study design; (b) T2D incidence; (c) gene-diet, gene-physical activity, and gene-weight loss intervention interaction; and (d) population who are healthy or prediabetic. Of 66 eligible publications, 28 reported significant interactions. A variety of different genetic variants and dietary factors were studied. Variants at TCF7L2 were most frequently investigated and showed interactions with fiber and whole grain on T2D incidence. Further gene-diet interactions were reported for, eg, a western dietary pattern with a T2D-GRS, fat and carbohydrate with IRS1 rs2943641, and heme iron with variants of HFE. Physical activity showed interaction with HNF1B, IRS1, PPAR gamma, ADRA2B, SLC2A2, and ABCC8 variants and weight loss interventions with ENPP1, PPAR gamma, ADIPOR2, ADRA2B, TNF alpha, and LIPC variants. However, most findings represent single study findings obtained in European ethnicities. Although some interactions have been reported, their conclusiveness is still low, as most findings were not yet replicated across multiple study populations. KW - diet KW - gene-lifestyle interaction KW - incident type 2 diabetes KW - physical activity KW - weight loss intervention Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12921 SN - 1467-7881 SN - 1467-789X VL - 20 IS - 11 SP - 1557 EP - 1571 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schumacher, Reinhard T1 - Rezension: Shigeyoshi Senga, Masatomi Fujimoto, Taichi Tabuchi (Eds.).: Ricardo and International Trade. - London: Routledge, 2017. - x, 276 S. - ISBN: 978-1-138-12245-1 JF - Journal of the History of Economic Thought Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1017/S1053837218000317 SN - 1053-8372 SN - 1469-9656 VL - 41 IS - 3 SP - 435 EP - 438 PB - Cambridge Univ. Press CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wulff, Dirk U. A1 - De Deyne, Simon A1 - Jones, Michael N. A1 - Mata, Rui A1 - Austerweil, Joseph L. A1 - Baayen, R. Harald A1 - Balota, David A. A1 - Baronchelli, Andrea A1 - Brysbaert, Marc A1 - Cai, Qing A1 - Dennis, Simon A1 - Hills, Thomas T. A1 - Kenett, Yoed N. A1 - Keuleers, Emmanuel A1 - Marelli, Marco A1 - Pakhomov, Serguei A1 - Ramscar, Michael A1 - Schooler, Lael J. A1 - Shing, Yee Lee A1 - da Souza, Alessandra S. A1 - Siew, Cynthia S. Q. A1 - Storms, Gert A1 - Veríssimo, Joao Marques T1 - New Perspectives on the Aging Lexicon JF - Trends in cognitive science N2 - The field of cognitive aging has seen considerable advances in describing the linguistic and semantic changes that happen during the adult life span to uncover the structure of the mental lexicon (i.e., the mental repository of lexical and conceptual representations). Nevertheless, there is still debate concerning the sources of these changes, including the role of environmental exposure and several cognitive mechanisms associated with learning, representation, and retrieval of information. We review the current status of research in this field and outline a framework that promises to assess the contribution of both ecological and psychological aspects to the aging lexicon. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2019.05.003 SN - 1364-6613 SN - 1879-307X VL - 23 IS - 8 SP - 686 EP - 698 PB - Elsevier CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Spahn, Hannah T1 - Rezension zu: Peter S.Onuf, Jefferson and the Virginians: Democracy, Constitutions, and Empire. (Walter Lynnwood Fleming Lectures in Southern History). - Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, 2018 JF - The American historical review Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/rhz985 SN - 0002-8762 SN - 1937-5239 VL - 124 IS - 5 SP - 1889 EP - 1890 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wong, Kevin A1 - Mason, Emily A1 - Brune, Sascha A1 - East, Madison A1 - Edmonds, Marie A1 - Zahirovic, Sabin T1 - Deep Carbon Cycling Over the Past 200 Million Years: A Review of Fluxes in Different Tectonic Settings JF - Frontiers in Earth Science KW - deep carbon cycle KW - carbonate assimilation KW - solid Earth degassing KW - plate reconstructions KW - carbon dioxide KW - subduction zone Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2019.00263 SN - 2296-6463 VL - 7 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hudson, Paul A1 - Botzen, W. J. Wouter T1 - Cost-benefit analysis of flood-zoning policies: A review of current practice JF - Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews : Water N2 - One commonly proposed method to limit flood risk is land-use or zoning policies which regulates construction in high-risk areas, in order to reduce economic exposure and its vulnerability to flood events. Although such zoning regulations can be effective in limiting trends in flood risk, they also have adverse impacts on society, for instance by limiting local development of areas near the water. In order to judge whether proposed land-use or zoning policies are a net benefit to society, they should be accepted or rejected based on a societal cost-benefit analysis (CBA). However, conducting a CBA of zoning regulation is complex and comprehensive guidelines of how to do such an analysis are lacking. We offer guidelines for good practice. In order to assess the costs and benefits of zoning as a climate change adaption strategy, they should be assessed at a societal level in order to account for public good features of flood risk reduction strategies, and because costs in one area can be benefits in another region. We propose a multistep process: first, determine the spatial extent of the zoning policy and how interconnected the zoned area is to other locations; second, conduct a CBA using monetary costs and benefits estimated from an integrated hydro-economic model to investigate if total benefits exceed total costs; third, conduct a sensitivity analysis regarding the main assumptions; fourth, conduct a multicriteria analysis (MCA) of the normative outcomes of a zoning policy. A desirable policy is preferred in both the CBA and MCA. This article is categorized under: Engineering Water > Planning Water Human Water > Value of Water Science of Water > Water Extremes Human Water > Methods KW - climate change adaptation KW - cost-benefit analysis KW - flood KW - risk reduction KW - spatial planning KW - zoning Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1387 SN - 2049-1948 VL - 6 IS - 6 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zupok, Arkadiusz A1 - Iobbi-Nivol, Chantal A1 - Mejean, Vincent A1 - Leimkühler, Silke T1 - The regulation of Moco biosynthesis and molybdoenzyme gene expression by molybdenum and iron in bacteria JF - Metallomics : integrated biometal science N2 - Bacterial molybdoenzymes are key enzymes involved in the global sulphur, nitrogen and carbon cycles. These enzymes require the insertion of the molybdenum cofactor (Moco) into their active sites and are able to catalyse a large range of redox-reactions. Escherichia coli harbours nineteen different molybdoenzymes that require a tight regulation of their synthesis according to substrate availability, oxygen availability and the cellular concentration of molybdenum and iron. The synthesis and assembly of active molybdoenzymes are regulated at the level of transcription of the structural genes and of translation in addition to the genes involved in Moco biosynthesis. The action of global transcriptional regulators like FNR, NarXL/QP, Fur and ArcA and their roles on the expression of these genes is described in detail. In this review we focus on what is known about the molybdenum- and iron-dependent regulation of molybdoenzyme and Moco biosynthesis genes in the model organism E. coli. The gene regulation in E. coli is compared to two other well studied model organisms Rhodobacter capsulatus and Shewanella oneidensis. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c9mt00186g SN - 1756-5901 SN - 1756-591X VL - 11 IS - 10 SP - 1602 EP - 1624 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo T1 - Rezension: Gary D. Farney, Guy Bradley (Eds.), The Peoples of Ancient Italy. - Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2017. - ISBN 978-1-61451-520-3 JF - Historische Zeitschrift Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1515/hzhz-2019-1458 SN - 2196-680X SN - 0018-2613 VL - 309 IS - 3 SP - 709 EP - 711 PB - Berlin CY - Oldenbourg ER -