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Internal network structures as opportunity structures: control and effectiveness in the European Competition Network.
No full textEuropean Administrative Networks (EANs) are well-studied platforms of collaboration between national authorities. To understand EANs, the literature typically relies on few explanatory variables: network origins, objectives, and outputs. This external view of EANs leaves important questions unanswered, notably concerning power redistribution and regulators’ perception of EANs. This article highlights the importance of network internal structures as an explanatory variable for understanding EANs. We contend that internal structures are ‘opportunity structures’ for regulators to set agendas and share resources. We investigate the case of the European Competition Network (ECN) – a highly structured, hierarchical and formalised enforcement network – drawing on structured interviews with 15 National Competition Agencies (NCAs) carried out in 2014. We find that the ECN’s formal internal structures afford all NCAs access to the agenda, foster perceptions of effectiveness, and promote informal sharing of expertise outside the network. Future research should incorporate internal structures into analyses of administrative networks
Confessio philosophi
No full textThe “Confessio philosophi” is an early dialogue in which Leibniz engages with what he takes to be the central task of theodicy: to uphold the justice of God. It evinces his commitment to the claim that ours is the best possible world, and offers an account of how such a world could include damnation. Various answers to the question why God is justified in permitting sin are suggested in the dialogue. These are addressed in this chapter, which also highlights a threat to God’s justice raised by the doctrine of eternal damnation which is given surprisingly little attention. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the place of the “Confessio philosophi” in Leibniz’s lifelong theodicy project
Statius' Capaneus and Virgil’s Laocoon
No full textThis paper argues for a strong connection between the disparaging words of the notoriously anti-divine Capaneus at Thebaid 3.604-05 and those of the ill-fated priest Laocoon at Aeneid 2.42-49. The elements of the intertextual connection are found to be multiple, and embrace intermediaries such as Statius’ Tydeus and Virgil’s Tarchon. Tarchon and Tydeus’ more obviously martial context acts to overlay the home-front with the immediacy of the battlefield, allusively capturing the duality of that contested space occupied at Troy. Internal spaces, namely the chthonic space Capaneus describes and the internal workings of the Horse are also examined, with the ramifications of a shift in tenor from the model’s attitude to these explored. The paradoxical alignment of a strident theomach with a priest is argued to feed into the Thebaid’s wider interest in breaking down boundaries between identities, as well as its darker take on impending war, and the way it ‘reads’ the Aeneid. Indeed, Capaneus’ taking on of a prophetic voice also encompasses Helenus, and his future-facing turn to the chthonic is therefore set in dialogue with Aeneas’ own immediate descent into the Underworld
COVID-19 Vaccination In Autoimmune Diseases (COVAD) Study:Vaccine Safety In Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies
No full textIntroduction/ AimsLack of COVID-19 vaccine safety data in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs) may have contributed to vaccine hesitancy. We studied COVID-19 vaccination related adverse drug events (ADEs) 7 days post vaccination in IIMs and systemic autoimmune and inflammatory disorders (SAIDs).MethodsThe COVID-19 Vaccination in Autoimmune Diseases (COVAD) study is an international patient self-reported e-survey, conducted in early 2021. Demographics, SAID details, COVID-19 vaccination details, and 7-day vaccine ADEs were collected. Descriptive statistics and multivariable regression with baseline adjustment were performed.Results10,900 respondents [median age 42 (IQR 30-55) years, 74% female, 45% Caucasian, 69% completely vaccinated] were analysed. 1227 had IIMs, 4640 had other SAIDs, and 5033 were healthy controls (HCs). 76.3% IIMs patients reported minor ADEs, while 4.6% experienced major ADEs. Patients with active IIMs reported more frequent major [OR 2.7 (1.04-7.3)] and minor [OR 1.5 (1.1-2.2)] ADEs than inactive IIMs. Among IIMs rashes were more frequent [OR-2.3(1.2-4.2)] than in HCs. Notably ADEs were not impacted by the steroid dose, although patients on intravenous/subcutaneous (Iv/sc) immunoglobulins were at a higher risk of minor ADEs [OR 2.2 (1.1-4.3)]. Overall, ADEs were less frequent in inclusion body myositis (IBM) and BNT162b2 (Pfizer) vaccine recipients.DiscussionShort term post COVID-19 vaccination related ADEs and hospitalisations are comparable in patients with IIMs, other SAIDs, and HCs, except a higher risk of rashes in IIMs. DM subgroup and patients with active disease at vaccination may be predisposed to specific ADEs while IBM subgroup may be at a lower risk. Considering the potentially severe consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection, this study adds to the growing body of evidence indicating that the benefit of preventing severe COVID-19 through vaccination likely outweighs the risk of post vaccination ADE
Between Virtue and Knavery:Hume and the Politics of Moderation
No full textHume is widely believed to have held that constitutional stability depends entirely on institutional design predicated on the assumption that every person is a knave. His famous statement to this effect has been enormously influential, both historically and amongst contemporary scholars. It may come as a surprise, therefore, to learn that Hume did not think institutional design on the assumption of universal knavery was enough if seeking to establish long-term constitutional order. This was due to the ongoing threat posed by faction, and its capacity to subvert even the best-designed constitutions. The knave maxim was thus a necessary, yet not sufficient, condition for political stability. To see this, we must locate Hume's knave maxim in the wider context of his critique of parties, and especially his narrative construction in the History of England as centred around the difficulties of cultivating attitudes and dispositions of moderation amongst political actors, and his exploration of the limits of political science in ‘The Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth’
