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Within the last decades, western democracies have experienced a rise of inequality, with the gap between lower and upper class citizens steadily increasing and a widespread sentiment of growing inequalities also in the political sphere. Against this background, and in the context of the current “crisis of democracy”, democratic innovations such as direct democratic instruments are discussed as a very popular means to bring citizens back in. However, research on direct democracy has produced rather inconsistent results with regard to the question of which effects referenda and initiatives have on equality. Studies in this field are often limited to single countries and certain aspects of equality. Moreover, most existing studies look at the mere availability of direct democratic instruments instead of actual bills that are put to a vote. This paper aims to take a first step to fill these gaps by giving an explorative overview of the outputs of direct democratic bills on multiple equality dimensions, analyzing all national referenda and initiatives in European democracies between 1990 and 2015. How many pro- and contra-equality bills have been put to a vote, how many of those succeeded at the ballot, and are there differences between country groups? Our findings show that a majority of direct democratic bills was not related to equality at all. Regarding the successful bills, we detect some regional differences along with the general tendency that there are more pro- than contra-equality bills. Our paper sheds new light on the question if direct democracy can serve as an appropriate means to complement representative democracy and to shape democratic institutions in the future. The potential of direct democracy in fostering or impeding equality should be an important criterion for the assessment of claims to extend decision-making by citizens.
A twentieth century-long coupled atmosphere-ocean regional climate simulation with COSMO-CLM (Consortium for Small-Scale Modeling, Climate Limited-area Model) and NEMO (Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean) is studied here to evaluate the added value of coupled marginal seas over continental regions. The interactive coupling of the marginal seas, namely the Mediterranean, the North and the Baltic Seas, to the atmosphere in the European region gives a comprehensive modelling system. It is expected to be able to describe the climatological features of this geographically complex area even more precisely than an atmosphere-only climate model. The investigated variables are precipitation and 2 m temperature. Sensitivity studies are used to assess the impact of SST (sea surface temperature) changes over land areas. The different SST values affect the continental precipitation more than the 2 m temperature. The simulated variables are compared to the CRU (Climatic Research Unit) observational data, and also to the HOAPS/GPCC (Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data, Global Precipitation Climatology Centre) data. In the coupled simulation, added skill is found primarily during winter over the eastern part of Europe. Our analysis shows that, over this region, the coupled system is dryer than the uncoupled system, both in terms of precipitation and soil moisture, which means a decrease in the bias of the system. Thus, the coupling improves the simulation of precipitation over the eastern part of Europe, due to cooler SST values and in consequence, drier soil.
Natural history collections are fundamental for biodiversity research as well as for any applied environment-related research. These collections can be seen as archives of earth´s life providing the basis to address highly relevant scientific questions such as how biodiversity changes in certain environments, either through evolutionary processes in a geological timescale, or by man-made transformation of habitats throughout the last decades and/or centuries. A prominent example is the decline of the European flat oyster Ostrea edulis Linneaus, 1758 in the North Sea and the concomitant invasion of the common limpet slipper Crepidula fornicata, which has been implicated to have negative effects on O. edulis. We used collections to analyse population changes in both species in the North Sea. In order to reconstruct the change in distribution and diversity over the past 200 years, we combined the temporal and spatial information recorded with the collected specimens contained in several European natural history collections. Our data recover the decline of O. edulis in the North Sea from the 19th century to the present and the process of invasion of C. fornicata. Importantly, the decline of O. edulis was nearly completed before C. fornicata appeared in the North Sea, suggesting that the latter had nothing to do with the local extinction of O. edulis in the North Sea.
Despite the popularity of direct democracy in recent decades, research on the actual output effects of popular decision-making is rare. This is especially true with regard to equality, where there are at least three major research gaps: 1) a lack of cross-national analyses; 2) insufficient investigation of the differential effects of different direct democratic instruments on equality; and 3) a failure to distinguish between different aspects of equality, i.e., socioeconomic, legal and political equality. This article takes a first step to tackle these shortcomings by looking at all national referenda in European democracies between 1990 and 2015, differentiating between mandatory, bottom-up and top-down referenda. We find that a large majority of successful direct democratic bills—regardless of which instrument is employed—are not related to equality issues. Of the remaining ones, there are generally more successful pro-equality bills than contra-equality ones, but the differences are rather marginal. Mandatory referenda tend to produce pro-equality outputs, but no clear patterns emerge for bottom-up and top-down referenda. Our results offer interesting, preliminary insights to the current debate on direct democracy, pointing to the conclusion that popular decision-making via any type of direct democratic instrument is neither curse nor blessing with regard to equality. Instead, it is necessary to look at other factors such as context conditions or possible indirect effects in order to get a clearer picture of the impacts of direct democracy on equality.
Prioritization of introduction pathways is seen as an important component of the management of biological invasions. We address whether established alien plants, mammals, freshwater fish and terrestrial invertebrates with known ecological impacts are associated with particular introduction pathways (release, escape, contaminant, stowaway, corridor and unaided). We used the information from the European alien species database DAISIE (www.europe-aliens.org) supplemented by the EASIN catalogue (European Alien Species Information Network), and expert knowledge. Plants introduced by the pathways release, corridor and unaided were disproportionately more likely to have ecological impacts than those introduced as contaminants. In contrast, impacts were not associated with particular introduction pathways for invertebrates, mammals or fish. Thus, while for plants management strategies should be targeted towards the appropriate pathways, for animals, management should focus on reducing the total number of taxa introduced, targeting those pathways responsible for high numbers of introductions. However, regardless of taxonomic group, having multiple introduction pathways increases the likelihood of the species having an ecological impact. This may simply reflect that species introduced by multiple pathways have high propagule pressure and so have a high probability of establishment. Clearly, patterns of invasion are determined by many interacting factors and management strategies should reflect this complexity.
The adoption of a consistent alien species pathways categorization, hierarchy and terminology is crucial for increasing the interoperability of different online databases. In the present paper the European Alien Species Information Network (EASIN) classification system of pathways is compared and discussed with the classification scheme recently published by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Although the main pathway categories of the two classifications overall match, there are substantial differences in their subcategorization, with EASIN including 20 pathway subcategories while CBD considers 44 subcategories. In most cases, each EASIN subcategory pathway can correspond to two or more CBD subcategories. About 5,500 species listed in EASIN do not match directly with the CBD pathway subcategories, most of which are terrestrial invertebrates. Aiming at achieving synchronization between the two classification systems and at facilitating the access to information to researchers and policy makers, EASIN is trying to align with the CBD pathway classification scheme. This alignment process requires the involvement of a large number of experts, especially from the terrestrial realm, and the adoption of commonly accepted definitions of the CBD pathways.
Thirty-seven alien plant species, pre-identified by horizon scanning exercises were prioritised for pest risk analysis (PRA) using a modified version of the EPPO Prioritisation Process designed to be compliant with the EU Regulation 1143/2014. In Stage 1, species were categorised into one of four lists – a Residual List, EU List of Minor Concern, EU Observation List and the EU List of Invasive Alien Plants. Only those species included in the latter proceeded to the risk management stage where their priority for PRA was assessed. Due to medium or high spread potential coupled with high impacts twenty-two species were included in the EU List of Invasive Alien Plants and proceeded to Stage 2. Four species (Ambrosia trifida, Egeria densa, Fallopia baldschuanica and Oxalis pes-caprae) were assigned to the EU Observation List due to moderate or low impacts. Albizia lebbeck, Clematis terniflora, Euonymus japonicus, Lonicera morrowii, Prunus campanulata and Rubus rosifolius were assigned to the residual list due to a current lack of information on impacts. Similarly, Cornus sericea and Hydrilla verticillata were assigned to the Residual List due to unclear taxonomy and uncertainty in native status, respectively. Chromolaena odorata, Cryptostegia grandiflora and Sphagneticola trilobata were assigned to the Residual List as it is unlikely they will establish in the Union under current climatic conditions. In the risk management stage, Euonymus fortunei, Ligustrum sinense and Lonicera maackii were considered a low priority for PRA as they do not exhibit invasive tendencies despite being widely cultivated in the EU over several decades. Nineteen species were identified as having a high priority for a PRA (Acacia dealbata, Ambrosia confertiflora, Andropogon virginicus, Cardiospermum grandiflorum, Celastrus orbiculatus, Cinnamomum camphora, Cortaderia jubata, Ehrharta calycina, Gymnocoronis spilanthoides, Hakea sericea, Humulus scandens, Hygrophila polysperma, Lespedeza cuneata, Lygodium japonicum, Pennisetum setaceum, Prosopis juliflora, Sapium sebiferum, Pistia stratiotes and Salvinia molesta).
Within the central European opilionid fauna the widely used species names Leiobunum rupestre Herbst, 1799 and Leiobunum tisciae Avram, 1968 pose taxonomic and distributional problems. In addition, Nelima apenninica Martens, 1969 is close to L. tisciae in terms of external and genital morphology, but is specifically distinct. While coxal denticulation is largely lacking in N. apenninica, the validity of the genus Nelima Roewer, 1910 is questioned again. In addition, Leiobunum subalpinum Komposch, 1998, a recently described novelty from the eastern Alps, is closely related to L. rupestre. The four species are combined as the morphologically defined Leiobunum rupestre species group. Except for L. subalpinum, they were found to be allopatrically distributed from the Carpathians across central and Northwest Europe to the south-western Alps. The latter species is locally sympatric and partly elevationally parapatric to L. rupestre. Leiobunum tisciae is a recently introduced name and here recognized as a junior synonym of a number of taxa described much earlier, of which L. gracile Thorell, 1876 is re-introduced as oldest available name. Detailed morphological and distributional data for all taxa are presented.
The studies of Cyclops O.F. Müller, 1776 have more than two centuries of tradition in Fenno- Scandinavia, yet, basic taxonomic questions remain unresolved and the limits of the distributional area are very poorly understood in the majority of the taxa (11+) occurring in the region. Based on the types and other materials we redescribe two species, C. lacustris G.O. Sars, 1863 and C. bohater Koźmiński, 1933, the latter being reported here for the first time from Fenno-Scandinavia; lectotypes of both species have been designated herein. Setulation characters of the antennal coxobasis- and maxillulary palp setae and P1 medial spine, as well as the spine formula of the terminal exopodal segments of the swimming legs (3433) in the adult female distinguish C. lacustris and C. bohater from their congeners. An identification key is provided to the Cyclops species of Fenno-Scandinavia, including information about both the female and male morphology. Although the limited material does not allow us to define the species range limits, our data nevertheless support a Northern European distribution in C. lacustris, and Northern and Central European distribution in C. bohater, while the records from the southern Palearctic need further verification.
Background: Published estimates of mortality and progression to AIDS as children with HIV approach adulthood are limited. We describe rates and risk factors for death and AIDS-defining events in children and adolescents after initiation of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) in 17 middle- and high-income countries, including some in Western and Central Europe (W&CE), Eastern Europe (Russia and Ukraine), and Thailand.
Methods and findings: Children with perinatal HIV aged <18 years initiating cART were followed until their 21st birthday, transfer to adult care, death, loss to follow-up, or last visit up until 31 December 2013. Rates of death and first AIDS-defining events were calculated. Baseline and time-updated risk factors for early/late (≤/>6 months of cART) death and progression to AIDS were assessed. Of 3,526 children included, 32% were from the United Kingdom or Ireland, 30% from elsewhere in W&CE, 18% from Russia or Ukraine, and 20% from Thailand. At cART initiation, median age was 5.2 (IQR 1.4–9.3) years; 35% of children aged <5 years had a CD4 lymphocyte percentage <15% in 1997–2003, which fell to 15% of children in 2011 onwards (p < 0.001). Similarly, 53% and 18% of children ≥5 years had a CD4 count <200 cells/mm3 in 1997–2003 and in 2011 onwards, respectively (p < 0.001). Median follow-up was 5.6 (2.9–8.7) years. Of 94 deaths and 237 first AIDS-defining events, 43 (46%) and 100 (42%) were within 6 months of initiating cART, respectively. Multivariable predictors of early death were: being in the first year of life; residence in Russia, Ukraine, or Thailand; AIDS at cART start; initiating cART on a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI)-based regimen; severe immune suppression; and low BMI-for-age z-score. Current severe immune suppression, low current BMI-for-age z-score, and current viral load >400 c/mL predicted late death. Predictors of early and late progression to AIDS were similar. Study limitations include incomplete recording of US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) disease stage B events and serious adverse events in some countries; events that were distributed over a long time period, and that we lacked power to analyse trends in patterns and causes of death over time.
Conclusions: In our study, 3,526 children and adolescents with perinatal HIV infection initiated antiretroviral therapy (ART) in countries in Europe and Thailand. We observed that over 40% of deaths occurred ≤6 months after cART initiation. Greater early mortality risk in infants, as compared to older children, and in Russia, Ukraine, or Thailand as compared to W&CE, raises concern. Current severe immune suppression, being underweight, and unsuppressed viral load were associated with a higher risk of death at >6 months after initiation of cART.
Background: Malaria remains one of the most serious infections for travellers to tropical countries. Due to the lack of harmonized guidelines a large variety of treatment regimens is used in Europe to treat severe malaria.
Methods: The European Network for Tropical Medicine and Travel Health (TropNet) conducted an 8-year, multicentre, observational study to analyse epidemiology, treatment practices and outcomes of severe malaria in its member sites across Europe. Physicians at participating TropNet centres were asked to report pseudonymized retrospective data from all patients treated at their centre for microscopically confirmed severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria according to the 2006 WHO criteria.
Results: From 2006 to 2014 a total of 185 patients with severe malaria treated in 12 European countries were included. Three patients died, resulting in a 28-day survival rate of 98.4%. The majority of infections were acquired in West Africa (109/185, 59%). The proportion of patients treated with intravenous artesunate increased from 27% in 2006 to 60% in 2013. Altogether, 56 different combinations of intravenous and oral drugs were used across 28 study centres. The risk of acute renal failure (36 vs 17% p = 0.04) or cerebral malaria (54 vs 20%, p = 0.001) was significantly higher in patients ≥60 years than in younger patients. Respiratory distress with the need for mechanical ventilation was significantly associated with the risk of death in the study population (13 vs 0%, p = 0.001). Post-artemisinin delayed haemolysis was reported in 19/70 (27%) patients treated with intravenous artesunate.
Conclusion: The majority of patients with severe malaria in this study were tourists or migrants acquiring the infection in West Africa. Intravenous artesunate is increasingly used for treatment of severe malaria in many European treatment centres and can be given safely to European patients with severe malaria. Patients treated with intravenous artesunate should be followed up to detect and manage late haemolytic events.
Das Konzept der Biodiversity Hotspots, das Ende der 1980er Jahre von Norman Myers entworfen wurde, gehört derzeit zu den wichtigen forschungsleitenden Ansätzen globaler Naturschutzstrategien. In der vorliegenden Arbeit geht es in erster Linie um die Frage, ob und inwiefern dieses Konzept auf die regionale und lokale Dimension Europas übertragen werden kann. Es wird ein Vorschlag unterbreitet, wie europäische Biodiversity Hotspots definiert und identifiziert werden können. Bei der Erforschung von Biodiversity Hotspots spielt die Lokalisierung endemischer Sippen und die Erforschung der ökologischen Bedingungen von Arten- und Endemitenvielfalt eine wesentliche Rolle. Wenig produktive Grünland-Ökosysteme i.w.S. sind in Europa einerseits häufig sehr artenreich und beherbergen viele für Europa endemische Sippen. Andererseits sind diese Lebensräume europaweit durch Intensivierung und Nutzungsaufgabe existenziell bedroht. Ein Rückgang der Gesamtfläche sowie ein schleichender Wandel und Rückgang der lokalen und regionalen Artenvielfalt sowie eine Zersplitterung von Populationen sind die Folge. Die entsprechenden Pflanzengesellschaften und Landschaften repräsentieren vielfach Biodiversity Hotspots innerhalb Europas oder haben maßgeblichen Anteil an diesen.
Es wird eine kurze Einführung zu den folgenden Publikationen in Tuexenia 24 über sommergrüne Laubwälder Europas gegeben. Die syntaxonomische Übersicht vermittelt einen Rahmen der weit gefassten Klasse Querco-Fagetea mit 8 Ordnungen und 38 Verbänden. Grundlage bilden syntaxonomische Listen der Arbeitsgruppe European Vegetation Survey und neuere Literatur.
Parietaria judaica ist eine nitrophile Art von hoher phänotypischer Plastizität. Unter günstigen Wachstumsbedingungen erreicht sie wesentlich größere Sproßlängen (ca. 110 cm) und Blattgrößen (max. ca. 6 cm) als in der mitteleuropäischen Bestimmungsliteratur angegeben. Zur Unterscheidung von der oft mit ihr verwechselten Parietaria officinalis eignen sich am besten das postflorale Wachstum der hermaphroditischen Blüten sowie das Samengewicht. Als sciophile Art mit vergleichsweise zarten Blättern zeigt Parietaria judaica keine besonderen Anpassungen an den Mauerstandort. Während sich in den Mauerritzen zumeist nur kleinwüchsige Streßformen finden, wurden Saumgesellschaften mit Parietaria judaica bislang kaum beachtet. Aufnahmen aus Deutschland, Frankreich, Portugal, Spanien, Italien, Tunesien sowie von verschiedenen Mittelmeerinseln belegen jedoch, daß es sich keinswegs um seltene Erscheinungen handelt. Je nach Standort und Region kann Parietaria judaica in beschatteten Ruderalfluren und nitrophilen Säumen (v.a. Stellarietea), an Flußufern, in bewässerten Baumkulturen sowie in Mauerspalten wachsen. Das Konzept einer Klasse Parietarietea judaicae ist daher nicht mehr aufrechtzuerhalten. Parietaria judaica ist dem derzeitigen Stande unserer Kenntnisse nach Differentialart in sciophilen Stellarietea- bzw. Artemisietea-Gesellschaften, ebenso differenziert sie innerhalb der Klasse Asplenietea siedlungsnahe Gesellschaften und Ausbildungen, die relativ gut mit Wasser und Nährstoffen versorgt sind.
Interest to become a data scientist or related professions in data science domain is rapidly growing. To meet such a demand, we propose a novel educational service that aims to provide tailored learning paths for data science. Our target user is one who aims to be an expert in data science. Our approach is to analyze the background of the practitioner and match the learning units. A critical feature is that we use gamification to reinforce the practitioner engagement. We believe that our work provides a practical guideline for those who want to learn data science.
Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine the time to, and risk factors for, triple-class virological failure (TCVF) across age groups for children and adolescents with perinatally acquired HIV infection and older adolescents and adults with heterosexually acquired HIV infection.
Methods: We analysed individual patient data from cohorts in the Collaboration of Observational HIV Epidemiological Research Europe (COHERE). A total of 5972 participants starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) from 1998, aged < 20 years at the start of ART for those with perinatal infection and 15–29 years for those with heterosexual infection, with ART containing at least two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) and a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) or a boosted protease inhibitor (bPI), were followed from ART initiation until the most recent viral load (VL) measurement. Virological failure of a drug was defined as VL > 500 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL despite ≥ 4 months of use. TCVF was defined as cumulative failure of two NRTIs, an NNRTI and a bPI.
Results: The median number of weeks between diagnosis and the start of ART was higher in participants with perinatal HIV infection compared with participants with heterosexually acquired HIV infection overall [17 (interquartile range (IQR) 4–111) vs. 8 (IQR 2–38) weeks, respectively], and highest in perinatally infected participants aged 10–14 years [49 (IQR 9–267) weeks]. The cumulative proportion with TCVF 5 years after starting ART was 9.6% [95% confidence interval (CI) 7.0−12.3%] in participants with perinatally acquired infection and 4.7% (95% CI 3.9−5.5%) in participants with heterosexually acquired infection, and highest in perinatally infected participants aged 10–14 years when starting ART (27.7%; 95% CI 13.2−42.1%). Across all participants, significant predictors of TCVF were those with perinatal HIV aged 10–14 years, African origin, pre-ART AIDS, NNRTI-based initial regimens, higher pre-ART viral load and lower pre-ART CD4.
Conclusions: The results suggest a beneficial effect of starting ART before adolescence, and starting young people on boosted PIs, to maximize treatment response during this transitional stage of development.
Objectives: This study explores whether and how self-management support (SMS), a key element of well-coordinated chronic care, is integrated into existing chronic care approaches in 13 European countries.
Methodology: An expert review was conducted using a data template informed by the Chronic Care Model. Key informants (researchers and policymakers) from the 13 countries presented a sample of exemplary chronic care approaches and related SMS strategies. This was complemented by interviews with 27 Dutch care professionals investigating SMS implementation in practice.
Results: SMS remains relatively underdeveloped in Europe. Country-specific strategies are similar in involved providers (nurses) and settings (primary care), yet differ considerably in mode, format and materials used. SMS focuses mainly on patients medical and behavioral management, and less on emotional management. According to Dutch providers, barriers in financing and medical culture (e.g. length of consultation, patient-doctor communication) hamper implementation of SMS as an integral part of chronic care.
Conclusion: While Europe might increasingly be talking the talk of patient participation in chronic care, it appears far from walking the walk. Care professionals experience difficulties in operationalizing SMS in their daily routines. Stronger integration with the health promotion field may help patients and professionals to engage in productive partnerships.
This revision concerns a small group of Western Palaearctic Copris species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea:
Scarabaeidae) distinguished by having three lateral teeth on the foretibae. According to the literature, this group consists of four taxa: Copris armeniacus Faldermann, 1835, C. felschei Reitter, 1892, C. pueli Mollandin de Boissy, 1905 and C. umbilicatus Abeille de Perrin, 1901. Copris armeniacus is herein deemed a species inquirenda, and C. felschei, for which a neotype is designated, is deemed valid. Copris umbilicatus is recorded for the fi rst time from Turkey. A key to all species of the genus Copris known from the Western Palaearctic is provided. Variability of the cephalic and pronotal armature, and morphology of the parameres are illustrated.
In this study we investigate the scaling of precipitation extremes with temperature in the Mediterranean region by assessing against observations the present day and future regional climate simulations performed in the frame of the HyMeX and MED-CORDEX programs. Over the 1979–2008 period, despite differences in quantitative precipitation simulation across the various models, the change in precipitation extremes with respect to temperature is robust and consistent. The spatial variability of the temperature–precipitation extremes relationship displays a hook shape across the Mediterranean, with negative slope at high temperatures and a slope following Clausius–Clapeyron (CC)-scaling at low temperatures. The temperature at which the slope of the temperature–precipitation extreme relation sharply changes (or temperature break), ranges from about 20 °C in the western Mediterranean to <10 °C in Greece. In addition, this slope is always negative in the arid regions of the Mediterranean. The scaling of the simulated precipitation extremes is insensitive to ocean–atmosphere coupling, while it depends very weakly on the resolution at high temperatures for short precipitation accumulation times. In future climate scenario simulations covering the 2070–2100 period, the temperature break shifts to higher temperatures by a value which is on average the mean regional temperature change due to global warming. The slope of the simulated future temperature–precipitation extremes relationship is close to CC-scaling at temperatures below the temperature break, while at high temperatures, the negative slope is close, but somewhat flatter or steeper, than in the current climate depending on the model. Overall, models predict more intense precipitation extremes in the future. Adjusting the temperature–precipitation extremes relationship in the present climate using the CC law and the temperature shift in the future allows the recovery of the temperature–precipitation extremes relationship in the future climate. This implies negligible regional changes of relative humidity in the future despite the large warming and drying over the Mediterranean. This suggests that the Mediterranean Sea is the primary source of moisture which counteracts the drying and warming impacts on relative humidity in parts of the Mediterranean region.
This is the 27. and final article in our series Trouble on the Far-Right.
Trouble on the far right has become troubling for Europe. Not only do right-wing motivated attacks occur regularly against Roma camps, ethnic minorities, LGBTQI people and Jewish institutions. At the same time, a xenophobic discourse on refugees has gained momentum in politics and society and further blurred the lines between far right agitation and mainstream politics. In order to classify these events adequately, far right activism should not just be regarded as a security issue that can be eliminated by force, but as a threat that threatens the foundations of open, democratic and pluralist societies. Hence, we should be aware that far right politics are neither a new nor an isolated phenomenon but often bank on existing cultures of (gender, competitive, nativist) domination in capitalist societies.1
Certain developments have recently accelerated a radicalization of the political mainstream in terms of rhetoric, demands and policy outcomes and transformed the institutional landscape. The Slovakian parliamentary elections and the fateful presidential elections in Austria are central events during our 10-week blog series that prove the inherent dynamic. The right-wing government in Poland that has started removing fundamental rights and facilitated the spread of nationalist values is another example.
Contrary to the one-sided academic focus on elections, far right influence on European societies should be measured on three further levels: Massive street mobilizations epitomized by Pegida in Germany (and beyond) and the Italian Stop Invasione rallies, clandestine organizing such as the British far right militants and prospering relations between state authorities and far right movements, for example in Turkey, testify a growing diversification of far right activism. These scenarios demand methodologically and theoretically innovative perspectives. Our blog series Trouble on the Far Right has provided them with an international forum.