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The article focuses on surprising element of democracy which is designed to allow the voters regular opportunities to thumb their noses at their masters, by returning them answers. It mentions modern representative democracy also requires some degree of consistency and predictability in order to function effectively. It also mentions outcome of the general elections and the Brexit referendum and levels of education attainment.

The article discusses how political theorists who self-identify as realists seek to position themselves who either support moralism or international relations (IR) realism. Topics discussed include the blind spot for current varieties of realism; conceptions of power and legitimacy in early twenty-first century political theory (PT) realism; and power and legitimacy in the age of the Internet.

The referendum result, David Runciman suggests, was won by those who feel excluded from modern, highly networked forms of economy and society. The tragedy, he argues, is that the elites on the losing side will be able - and likely - to respond not by re-engaging with national politics but by distancing themselves even further from it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The IT revolution is transforming politics and opening up a new dimension of inequality. The Labour party can be as technologically savvy as it likes, argues David Runciman, but it cannot become a vote-winning machine again until it sets out a role for the state in the political economy of the digital age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today's politicians start and exit politics younger; they lack heft, stature and outside interests; they are bred into an ever-narrower political class; and they preside over tame and depleted political parties. Should we be waiting for another Churchill, asks David Runciman, or are we measuring today's politicians against the wrong yardsticks? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Extraction of targeted endocardial leads can lead to inadvertent damage or dislodgement of nontargeted leads, though the frequency of this has not been reported in pediatrics and congenital heart disease (CHD). Methods This is a retrospective review of lead extraction procedures from 2002 to 2010 from two pediatric and CHD centers evaluating unplanned interventions on nontargeted leads during the extraction of one or more targeted leads. Results Nontargeted leads were present in the 22 lead extraction procedures performed on 20 patients with median age 15 years (interquartile range, 11.5-18.5 years): 11 (55%) with structurally normal hearts and nine (45%) with CHD. Twenty of 23 targeted leads (86%) were extracted with complete success. Of the 22 nontargeted leads, including 17 atrial leads and five ventricular leads, seven (32%) required further intervention including: five extracted due to damage, dislodgement, or change in device location; one abandoned due to damage; and one dislodged requiring a second procedure for repositioning. The remaining 15 nontargeted leads (68%) were unharmed. Nontargeted leads requiring further intervention had a shorter lead duration in situ (median 2 years, interquartile range 0.5-3.5 years) than unharmed nontargeted leads (median 6.6 years, interquartile range 4.1-9.1 years; P = 0.01). Age at extraction, CHD, implantable cardioverter defibrillator leads, atrial lead position, or primary extraction modality did not predict further intervention for nontargeted leads. Major complications occurred in one procedure (4.5%) with no deaths. Conclusions In pediatrics and CHD, nontargeted leads are frequently damaged or dislodged during the extraction of targeted leads. The risk of lead damage or dislodgement has implications for procedural planning and counseling for patients and families of pediatric and CHD patients requiring lead extraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Crises can transform politics; scandals rarely do.' Drawing a contrast with the ructions of the 1970s, David Runciman argues that British democracy is suffering from a permanent state of scandal which obscures the underlying crisis of elitist managerial politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the study of politics, Cambridge is sometimes associated with a school of political philosophical 'realism.' This article discusses what realism in political philosophy might mean, by examining first what might count as 'unrealistic' political philosophy (looking at Sidgwick and Rawls), and then some recent attempts to identify a more realistic philosophical approach to politics. It argues that realistic political philosophy tends to emerge as a thin account of politics that falls between the stools of either more philosophical (i.e., more idealistic) or less philosophical (i.e., more historical) accounts. It illustrates this in relation to Sidgwick and also Hobbes, who is often held up as the quintessential realist in the history of political philosophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success story of democracy over the twentieth century has given way to doubts in the twenty-first, as democracies struggle to cope with difficult wars, mounting debts, climate change and the rise of China. This essay uses intellectual history to explain the link between long-term democratic success and short-term democratic failure. It distinguishes three distinct views of what can go wrong with democracy, and identifies the third (which I call 'the confidence trap', an idea that originates with Tocqueville) as the key to understanding our present predicament. Democratic success creates blind spots and a reluctance to tackle long-term problems. I use this idea to explain and put in context Fukuyama's claims about the end of history, and to examine the link between democratic failure and market failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the paradox of political representation. According to the author, since things cannot be present and absent at the same time, there is a tension built into the idea of representation and a possible fundamental incoherence. The formal paradoxes of democracy are the paradoxes that have captured the attention of Anglo-American political theorists.

Temporal and geographic variation of acoustic signals can provide insights into dispersal patterns, population history and speciation. Vocalizations that are transmitted from one generation to the next are of particular value in this respect because they can reveal patterns of gene flow, effectively behaving as population markers. The male zebra finchTaeniopygia guttatadistance call is one such vocalization; sons learn their father's distance call in the first 40 d of life and it is individually stereotyped thereafter. We investigated geographic variation in the zebra finch by comparing the structure of distance calls recorded from 61 males from six populations across the continent-wide range of the Australian subspeciesT. g. castanotis. Intra-population variation was high, in many cases greater than the variation among all males recorded, possibly because of population interchange. However, three of six call variables measured, including the newly discovered modulated element, varied geographically although the pattern of distance call variation did not agree with that of geographic proximity of populations. The proportion of calls with a modulated element increased dramatically over 7 yr in central Australia but there was no change over a similar period of time in south-eastern Australia where no calls contained the element. The findings suggest that interchange among widely separated populations may be commonplace in Australian zebra finches, with the possible exception of those from south-eastern Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a reply regarding the theory of persons and state of philosopher Thomas Hobbes. Accounts on the theory of state in the book `English Leviathan'; Distinction between persons and nonpersons; Representation of a person by fiction; Complications of the concept of state.

Membership of three permanent breeding colonies of Zebra Finches Taeniopygia guttata studied in farmland changed continually due to arrival and departure of birds from distant colonies. Sixty-six percent of adults stayed for less than 1 month, and many that stayed longer disappeared for extended periods. Over 78% of adults captured were hatched in other colonies and only 23% made a breeding attempt in their natal colony. There was no sex-biased natal dispersal or philopatry, but there were sex differences in the timing of dispersal. Sex ratios at the end of parental care were variable and may depend on food resources. Adult ratios were slightly male-biased. Annual losses of adults ranged from 72 to 82% across colonies, but mortalities and dispersal were heavily confounded by high adult mobility. The oldest bird was more than 5 years old. A total of 67% of young were lost between fledging and nutritional independence at 35 days of age, and only 20% of fledglings survived to day 80, the age of first breeding. Artificial supplies of seed at baited walk-in traps prolonged the stay of dispersing adults from other colonies, enhanced the survivorship of young hatched in the colony and possibly affected the secondary sex ratio. In this southeast part of their Australia-wide distribution, Zebra Finch populations appear to be highly mobile over a very large home range with extensive free interchange of members among a number of permanent breeding colonies. High mobility may be adaptive for exploiting patches of seed and water in a highly erratic environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]