Political representation of medical doctors in Switzerland's executive and legislative branches in 2023.

Background: Healthcare policy is an important societal concern in Switzerland, often dominating the national agenda. In other countries, studies have explored the influence of physicians in public office on healthcare policies, but little is known about the representation of medical doctors in Switzerland's political structures, despite ongoing health-related debates.   Methods: In January 2023, we examined the proportion of registered doctors currently serving in Swiss governmental branches: the executive (the Federal Council) and the legislative (the Council of States and the National Council, together the United Federal Assembly). We used publicly available information to demarcate Federal, State, and National Councillors with professional medical backgrounds. We subsequently verified physician registrations using the Federal Office of Public Health's "Register of Medical Professionals" (MedReg) Results: Six physicians registered in MedReg were identified across the Federal Council and the United Federal Assembly in 2023, equivalent to 2.37% of the total number of Councillors in these chambers. This corresponds to 14.20% of members in the Federal Council (the executive chamber) and 2.03% of members in the United Federal Assembly (the legislative chamber). Conclusions: Rates of physicians sitting in Switzerland's Federal Council and United Federal Assembly are higher than general population trends for doctors per person. Nonetheless, physicians in Swiss legislative positions are proportionally lower than comparative data from the United States. We highlight how existing professional frameworks may already ensure medical doctors are sufficiently participating in Swiss healthcare debates outside of formal roles. We also suggest that more international evidence is needed to determine the benefits of physicians serving in public office.

Politics of COVID-19 vaccination in Japan: how governing incumbents' representation affected regional rollout variation.

BACKGROUND: Despite initial delay, Japan's COVID-19 vaccination accelerated remarkably from May to September 2021 under the leadership of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. His "campaign" for vaccination, however, did not yield uniform results nationwide. METHODS: To highlight political determinants for the regional variation, we employ ordinary least squares regression analyses to investigate how the share/presence of incumbent politicians belonging to the governing parties, the Liberal Democratic Party and Komei Party, influenced the varying progress of rollouts across prefectures as well as across cities/towns/villages. The data on the vaccination rate for all 47 prefectures was obtained from Government Chief Information Officer (CIO)'s Portal, Japan (GCPJ) approximately one month prior to the anticipated general election, the national election for the more important House of Representatives of Japan's bicameral parliament (Diet). The data for lower administrative units, though its availability was limited to only three prefectures, was obtained from the respective governments of Kagawa and Ehime and from a local newspaper in Gifu. RESULTS: The findings reveal that at both prefectural and sub-prefectural administrative levels, the share/presence of the governing parties' representation in the national parliament had a positive and statistically significant effect on the region's vaccination progress, after controlling for the local proliferation of COVID-19 and demographic characteristics. CONCLUSION: Our findings contribute insights into the understudied area of the contemporary COVID-19 health environment, namely how the political dynamics of democracy affect the pattern of vaccine dissemination in Japan. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not applicable.

Immigrants Serving in Local Government: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Factors Affecting Candidacy and Election.

Descriptive representation, the extent to which politicians reflect the descriptive characteristics (e.g., ethnicity or gender) of their constituents, has been studied at various scales since it was first introduced in Hanna Pitkin's seminal work several decades ago. In recent years, scholars have also begun to investigate immigrant representation in politics, including at the local, state, and national levels of government. This study evaluates the current research on the factors affecting the election of immigrant candidates to municipal government. In addressing the lack of data-driven reviews in this type of research, the paper employs a scoping review methodological framework. Fifty-six distinct factors are identified as important for immigrants' electoral fortunes. The factors are classified under: Macro-level electoral structures and situational elements, meso-level immigrant group dynamics, and micro-level individual candidate characteristics. The most salient factors are elaborated on, together with a discussion on policy implications and future potential areas of inquiry.

The impact of women's political representation on child health outcomes during 1990-2020: Evidence from a global dataset.

This study investigates the impact of women's political representation on children's health outcomes from 1990 to 2020 using a global dataset comprising 162 countries. The child health outcomes studied are infant and neonatal mortality rates and vaccination coverage for measles and diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus (DPT). We apply an event study and panel data instrumental-variable fixed-effects regression analysis for data analysis. The timing of the introduction of a gender quota in a country is used as an instrument to address endogeneity bias commonly associated with women's political participation. We find evidence of a positive impact of increasing women's representation in national legislatures on all child health outcomes studied. In particular, our study reports a significant negative effect of women's political participation on neonatal mortality which was not reported by any previous research. We also find evidence to support hypotheses related to several potential pathways that connect women's political representation with child health outcomes, including health expenditure, female labor force participation, skilled birth attendance, and adolescent fertility rate. Also novel in our findings is a heterogeneity analysis which reveals that reserved seat quota boosted child health outcomes more than candidate quota, with strong geographical variation in the relationship. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia benefited the most in terms of child health outcomes due to an increase in women's political representation among all regions. Our findings reinforce the significance of women's greater political empowerment for child health-a crucial development outcome-particularly in regions characterized by the poor quality of early childhood health conditions and survival rates.

The Unequal Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Political Interest Representation.

The COVID-19 pandemic is viewed by many as the biggest global crisis since WWII and had profound effects on the daily lives of people and decision-making worldwide. Using the pandemic as a system-wide agenda shock, we employ a difference-in-differences design to estimate its causal effects on inequalities in political access, and social media prominence among business interests and NGOs. Our argument is twofold. First, the urgency and uncertainty of crises incentivized decision-makers to privilege providing access to business groups over securing inclusivity in the types of interests consulted. Second, NGOs compensated by increasing prominence in public communications. Our analysis of data from over 10,000 interest groups from over 100 countries registered in the European Union supports these hypotheses. Business interests successfully capitalized on the crisis in insider access, while NGOs increased prominence on social media. The results have wider implications for understanding how large-scale crises affect inequalities in representation. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11109-022-09842-x.

Produtos legislativos propostos por Rosalda Paim / Legislative products proposed by Rosalda Paim / Productos legislativos propuestos por el Rosalda Paim

Objetivo: Analisar a frequência de produtos legislativos propostos pela Dra. Enf. Rosalda Paim, enquanto Deputada Estadual junto à Assembléia Legislativa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (ALERJ), entre os anos de 1983 a 1987. Método: Estudo documental e de abordagem quantitativa. Os dados foram adquiridos junto a Câmara dos Deputados (CD) e da ALERJ. Resultados: Foram identificados 363 produtos legislativos, sendo os mesmos constituídos por 30% (n=109) projetos de lei, 29,2% (n=106) indicações legislativas, 17,1% (n=62) monções, 6,3% (n=23) requerimentos sem número, 6,1% (n=22) leis estaduais, 5,8% (n=21) projetos de resolução, 5% (n=18) requerimentos, 0,3% (n=1) proposta de emenda constitucional e 0,3% (n=1) projeto de lei complementar. Considerações finais: No decurso da legislatura analisada, se constituiu enquanto profícua a elaboração de produtos legislativos pela Dra. Rosalda Paim, sendo a mesma intimamente responsável pela elaboração da Lei do Exercício Profissional de Enfermagem (LEPE) de número 7.498/86.

Objective: To analyze the frequency of legislative products proposed by Dr. Enf. Rosalda Paim, as State Deputy with the Legislative Assembly of the State of Rio de Janeiro (ALERJ), between 1983 to 1987. Method: Study classified as documentary and with a quantitative approach. The data were acquired from the Chamber of Deputies (CD) and ALERJ. Results: 363 legislative products were identified, the same being constituted by 30% (n=109) bills, 29.2% (n=106) legislative indications, 17.1% (n=62) monsoons, 6.3 % (n=23) unnumbered requirements, 6.1% (n=22) state laws, 5.8% (n=21) draft resolutions, 5% (n=18) requirements, 0.3% (n=1) proposed constitutional amendment and 0.3% (n=1) complementary bill. Final considerations: In the course of the analyzed legislature, the elaboration of legislative products by Dr. Rosalda Paim constituted itself as fruitful, being the same one intimately responsible for the elaboration of the Law of Professional Nursing Practice (LEPE) number 7.498/86.

Objetivo: Analizar la frecuencia de los productos legislativos propuestos por el Dr. Enf. Rosalda Paim, como Diputada de Estado de la Asamblea Legislativa del Estado de Rio de Janeiro (ALERJ), entre 1983 a 1987. Método: Estudio clasificado como documental y con enfoque cuantitativo. Los datos fueron adquiridos de la Cámara de Diputados (CD) y ALERJ. Resultados: Se identificaron 363 productos legislativos, los mismos constituidos por 30% (n=109) proyectos de ley, 29,2% (n=106) indicaciones legislativas, 17,1% (n=62) monzones, 6,3 % (n=23) requisitos no numerados, 6.1% (n=22) leyes estatales, 5.8% (n=21) proyectos de resolución, 5% (n=18) requisitos, 0.3% (n=1) propuesta de reforma constitucional y 0,3% (n=1) proyecto de ley complementario. Consideraciones finales: Durante la legislatura analizada, la elaboración de productos legislativos por parte de la Dra. Rosalda Paim se constituyó como fructífera, siendo la misma íntima responsable de la elaboración de la Ley de Práctica Profesional de Enfermería (LEPE) número 7.498/86

#VoteLGBT e o ciberativismo em prol da representação política no Brasil / #VoteLGBT and cyberactivism to political representation in Brazil / #VoteLGBT y el ciberactivismo en favor de la representación política en Brasil

Este artigo discute a emergência de iniciativas ciberativistas centradas na representação política LGBT, assim como a sua contribuição para a consolidação das demandas do movimento e para o aprofundamento da democracia. Com abordagem qualitativa e procedimento monográfico, objetiva-se compreender a atuação da campanha #VoteLGBT, desenvolvida nas redes de comunicação digital distribuída nas eleições de 2014 e 2016. Delimitam-se, como corpus, as ferramentas sociais digitais utilizadas e os conteúdos das publicações realizadas no Facebook. Conclui-se que a iniciativa #VoteLGBT produz uma tripla visibilização (das candidaturas para os eleitores; dos eleitores para os candidatos; das demandas e temáticas para os candidatos e eleitores); expõe desigualdades políticas veladas no próprio regime democrático; cumpre a função, ao usar ferramentas digitais, de aproximar as dimensões civil e política em uma mesma ambiência; busca, ao produzir conteúdo, sensibilizar e convocar os eleitores, demonstrando a legitimidade das pautas e a importância da participação e da representação política.

This article discusses the emergence of cyberactivist initiatives centered on LGBT political representation and its contribution to the consolidation of demands required by that movement and to deepen the democracy. With a qualitative approach and monographic procedure, the objective of this study is to understand the performance of the #VoteLGBT campaign, developed in distributed digital communication networks before the Brazilian elections in 2014 and 2016. It was delimited as corpus the digital social tools used to those campaigns and the contents of the information posted in Facebook. We concluded that the #VoteLGBT initiative produces a triple visibility (of candidates to voters, of voters to candidates, of demands and themes to candidates and voters); exposes veiled political inequalities in the democratic regime itself; in using digital tools, it fulfills the function of approaching the civil and political dimensions in the same environment; in producing content, it seeks to sensitize the voters to LGBT's issues and to choose their representant, demonstrating the legitimacy of those issues and the importance of political participation and representation.

Este artículo discute la emergencia de iniciativas ciberactivistas centradas en la representación política LGBT y su contribución para la consolidación de las demandas del movimiento y para la profundización de la democracia. Con un enfoque cualitativo y un procedimiento monográfico, el objetivo del estudio es comprender la actuación de la campaña #VoteLGBT, desarrollada en redes de comunicación digital distribuida antes de las elecciones brasileñas de 2014 y 2016. Delimitamos como corpus las herramientas sociales digitales utilizadas en las campañas y los contenidos de las informaciones publicadas en Facebook. Concluimos que la iniciativa #VoteLGBT produce una triple visibilidad (de candidatos para votantes, de votantes para candidatos, de demandas y temas para candidatos y votantes); expone desigualdades políticas veladas en el proprio régimen democrático; al emplear herramientas digitales, cumple la función de acercar las dimensiones civil y política en el mismo ambiente; al producir contenido, busca sensibilizar los votantes para las cuestiones LGBT y para elegir sus candidatos , demostrando la legitimidad de los temas y la importancia de la participación y representación política.

A conjuntura após junho de 2013: olhares cruzados sobre participação política e resistência / La situation après Juin 2013: Crossed semble sur la participation politique et resistánce / La coyuntura después de junio de 2013: miradas cruzadas sobre participación política y Resistencia / The scenario after June 2013: crossed perspectives on political participation and resistance

Resumo Buscamos compreender o que pensam jovens sobre a conjuntura, especialmente no Brasil, após as chamadas manifestações de junho. Em um cenário marcado pela crise social e econômica do capitalismo, quisemos entender como estudantes universitários e de um cursinho popular relacionam-se com o contexto político atual. Foram realizadas entrevistas e o conteúdo foi interpretado com base no materialismo histórico e dialético. Com isto, notamos que os participantes não enxergam um caminho concreto para superação dos problemas identificados nesta conjuntura, a saber: a existência de uma onda conservadora e corrupção, associados à retirada de direitos sociais. Em geral, partidos e movimentos sociais não estão no horizonte de participação, assim como as eleições não foram citadas como um caminho para alcançar demandas populares, corroborando a existência de uma crise de representatividade política, que é reforçada pela falta de alternativa política ao que está posto.

Résumé Nous cherchons à comprendre ce qu'ils pensent les jeunes au sujet de la situation actuelle, en particulier au Brésil, après les appels de manifestations Juin. Dans un scénario marqué par la crise sociale et économique du capitalisme, nous voulions comprendre comment les étudiants et un cours préparatoire populaire sont liés au contexte politique actuel. Des entrevues ont été menées et le contenu a été interprété sur la base du matérialisme historique et dialectique. Avec cela, nous notons que les participants ne voient pas de façon concrète pour surmonter les problèmes identifiés dans la situation à l'heure actuelle, à savoir l'existence d'une vague conservatrice et la corruption associée à la suppression des droits sociaux. En général, les partis et les mouvements sociaux ne sont pas à l'horizon de la participation, ainsi que les élections ne sont pas cités comme un moyen d'atteindre les revendications populaires, ce qui confirme l'existence d'une crise politique de représentation, qui est renforcé par l'absence d'une véritable alternative politique.

Resumen Buscamos comprender lo que piensan jóvenes sobre la coyuntura actual, especialmente en Brasil, después de las llamadas manifestaciones de junio. En un escenario marcado por la crisis social y económica del capitalismo, quisimos entender cómo estudiantes universitarios y de un cursillo popular se relacionan con el contexto político actual. Se realizaron entrevistas y el contenido fue interpretado con base en el materialismo histórico y dialéctico. Con esto, notamos que los participantes no ven un camino concreto para superar los problemas identificados en la coyuntura en la actualidad, a saber: la existencia de una onda conservadora y corrupción, asociados a la retirada de derechos sociales. En general, partidos y movimientos sociales no están en el horizonte de participación, así como las elecciones no fueron citadas como un camino para alcanzar demandas populares, corroborando la existencia de una crisis de representatividad política, que se ve reforzada por la falta de una alternativa política concreta.

Abstract We investigate young people's views on the political situation, especially in Brazil, after the so-called June protests. In a scenario marked by the social and economic crisis of capitalism, we wanted to understand how students of a working-class university preparatory course related to the current political context. Interviews were carried out and interpreted based on dialectical and historical materialism. We noticed that participants do not see a concrete path to overcoming the problems of the present conjuncture, namely: the existence of a conservative wave and government corruption; both associated to attacks on social rights. Generally speaking, political parties and social movements do not appear on the horizon of participation. Similarly, elections were not seen as a path to achieving popular demands, corroborating the notion of a crisis of political representation, aggravated by the lack of alternatives to the political establishment.

The Struggle Over Political Power: Evaluating Immigrants' Political Party Representation.

Demographic changes lead to growing political power of immigrants and their children, which raises important social psychological questions. In a survey experimental study among a national sample of the native Dutch, feelings toward Muslim immigrants' political party representation were examined. The strategy of group representation (participate in the existing political system with a Muslim party) elicited the strongest feelings of power threat and therefore was evaluated most negatively. Compared to group representation, the descriptive representation strategy (participate as Muslims in existing political party) and the strategy of disengagement (reject political representation) were evaluated less negatively but more negatively compared to a situation in which politics was not mentioned. Furthermore, participants who more strongly endorsed ethnic national belonging had more negative feelings but not in the disengagement condition.

Residential segregation, political representation, and preterm birth among U.S.- and foreign-born Black women in the U.S. 2008-2010.

Although racial residential segregation is associated with preterm birth (PTB) among non-Hispanic black (NHB) women in the U.S., prior work suggests that increased black political power arising from segregation may be protective for infant health. We examined associations between residential segregation, black political representation, and preterm birth (PTB) among U.S- and foreign-born NHB women in major U.S. cities using birth certificate data from 2008 to 2010 (n=861,450). Each 10-unit increase in segregation was associated with 3-6% increases in odds of PTB for both U.S.- and foreign-born NHB women. Black political representation was not associated with PTB and did not moderate the association between residential segregation and PTB.

Political gender inequality and infant mortality in the United States, 1990-2012.

Although gender inequality has been recognized as a crucial factor influencing population health in the developing world, research has not yet thoroughly documented the role it may play in shaping U.S. infant mortality rates (IMRs). This study uses administrative data with fixed-effects and random-effects models to (1) investigate the relationship between political gender inequality in state legislatures and state infant mortality rates in the United States from 1990 to 2012, and (2) project the population level costs associated with women's underrepresentation in 2012. Results indicate that higher percentages of women in state legislatures are associated with reduced IMRs, both between states and within-states over time. According to model predictions, if women were at parity with men in state legislatures, the expected number of infant deaths in the U.S. in 2012 would have been lower by approximately 14.6% (3,478 infant deaths). These findings underscore the importance of women's political representation for population health.

The Greatest Right of Them All: The Debate on the Right to Petition in the Netherlands from the Dutch Republic to the Kingdom (c. 1750-1830).

Between 1750 and 1830 the Dutch state developed from an oligarchic republic into an enlightened autocratic monarchy via a brief experiment with representative democracy. During this period, there was an ongoing debate about the right to petition. Political actors and opinion-makers addressed the questions to what and to whom this right extended, and what it meant to have such a right. While theorists of the different types of government had sharply contrasting views on the place of the people in the political process, ideas about petitioning, which throughout the period under discussion remained the principal instrument for popular involvement in politics, stayed remarkably stable. Through an investigation of the debate on the right to petition in the crucial transitional phase from the Dutch Republic to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, this article contributes to bridging the divide between petition research of the early modern period and that of the modern era.

Female political representation and child health: Evidence from a multilevel analysis.

This article explores the impact of female political representation in national parliaments on child health through a multilevel analysis. Using available Demographic and Health Surveys, we employ both cross-sectional data for 51 low- and middle-income countries and longitudinal data for 20 countries with multiple surveys. For both the cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, female representation is negatively related to infant mortality and positively related to measles vaccination status. To explore potential mechanisms, we control for state spending on health and analyze whether the impact of female representation depends on a critical mass of female representatives. The analysis offers evidence that state spending accounts for some of the mediation effect and that the impact of female representation on infant death depends on a critical mass.

Women's Political Empowerment and Investments in Primary Schooling in India.

Using a national district-level dataset of India composed of information on investments in primary schooling (data from the District Information Survey for Education [DISE, 2007/8]) and information on demographic characteristics of elected officials (data from the Election Commission of India [ECI, 2000/04]), we examined the relationship between women's representation in State Legislative Assembly (SLA) seats and district-level investments in primary schooling. We used OLS regressions adjusting for confounders and spatial autocorrelation, and estimated separate models for North and South India. Women's representation in general SLA seats typically was negatively associated with investments in primary-school amenities and teachers; women's representation in SLA seats reserved for under-represented minorities, i.e., scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, typically was positively associated with investments in primary schooling, especially in areas addressing the basic needs of poor children. Women legislators' gender and caste identities may shape their decisions about redistributive educational policies.