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Copyright of Al-Adab / Al-ādāb is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

For decades scholars and pundits alike have been interested in questions about divisive presidential primaries. However, most analyses examine how campaigns cause these effects after the field has been winnowed – the implicit assumption is that negativity via events and advertising is consequential. While campaigns are likely the proximate cause of divisive primary effects, we argue that the behaviors involved—allowing displeasure with one election outcome to affect behavior in a subsequent election—demands attention to individual dispositions. Thus, we take a step back to consider what we miss when we overlook what is happening at the time of the large field, shining a spotlight on the mindsets of primary voters at the start of the process. To do so, we identify individuals who possess what we call the "divisive primary mindset," which consists of two traits: (1) the degree to which they prefer one candidate over all others ("preference exclusivity"), and (2) the extent to which their affect for a candidate is indistinguishable from their assessment of that candidate's electability ("wish fulfillment"). Using an original, nation-wide panel following Democratic voters from the 2020 primaries through the general election, we find that individuals with both these traits were more likely to be late deciders in the general, less likely to participate in activities outside of voting, and more likely to defect from Biden. We test the robustness of these findings to candidate-centric explanations and discuss the importance of understanding campaign dynamics in an era of hyper-partisanship and nationalized politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some mainstream political scientists apply the trilogy of exit, voice and loyalty in studying intra-party cohesion. This approach applies more neatly in liberal than in repressive contexts. I therefore make three modifications to enhance the trilogy's descriptive and explanatory power in an authoritarian context using the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) after Robert Mugabe. First, there is need to integrate non-voluntary exit as party members are mostly expelled against their will in a context where there are limited livelihood opportunities outside party-state patronage and defection is ruthlessly punished. Second, voice should be understood as predominantly expressed over preferences for personalities in internal power distribution rather than over policies. Third, loyalty is not always to the party institution to promote unity but to individuals or factions. From this positioning, ZANU PF is predominantly a non-cohesive party characterised by ephemerally organised leader-follower groups largely seeking power and patronage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The military coup in Myanmar on February 1, 2021 unleashed massive popular uprising against military rule, which was met with heavy handed military violence. Less than a month after the coup the first soldiers joined the civil disobedience movement (CDM) along with many civil servants who refused to work under the military. The resistance to the military was soon named the Spring Revolution, with calls for pervasive transformation of Myanmar's political structures and security forces. Military defections gradually developed into a "revolutionary strategy." This article explores how this development evolved and how defectors were transformed into "revolutionary actors" during the ongoing revolutionary situation. The analysis is based on the personal narratives and collective activities of those soldiers who became active in the CDM. Applying a conversion narrative approach, the article traces the processes of defection from individual disaffection with military violence to the formation of CDM soldier groups and the personal transformation of soldiers. Adding to existing literature on military defections during popular uprisings against authoritarian regimes, the article demonstrates that defection holds significance not only for the outcomes of revolutions, but also for the shaping of revolutionary ideas and practices during revolutionary situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars are increasingly aware of the ways in which popular culture, particularly spy fiction and film, mediates public understanding of the clandestine world of espionage and intelligence. This article uses the 1954 Petrov Affair as a case study to argue that spy fiction and representations of espionage performed a mediating and framing process for the Australian public during the early Cold War. The events surrounding the defection of Soviet embassy Third Secretary Vladimir Petrov and his wife, Evdokia, to Australia in April 1954 were shocking and unprecedented; with little experience of the extraordinary events beyond the thrilling espionage narratives of popular culture, the Australian media began to frame the event using the familiar formula of spy fiction. By making the “story” of the Petrov Affair a recognisable narrative, rendering the events understandable and the mysteries decipherable, the media transformed Australia’s unsettling involvement in the world of international espionage into entertainment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnic defection has been identified as a potential game changer in conflicts. However, the factors that enable this process require further study. One factor that has been often overlooked is that of social identity and, more particularly, identity leadership. Ethnic defection is a social as much as it is a political process. Incumbents who can utilize this element may be more successful in encouraging a continuous and more persistent process of ethnic defection. A particularly useful tool for counterinsurgency (COIN) leaders to function as identity leaders is that of militias. Traditionally perceived in the literature as ad hoc outcomes of defection, this article demonstrates how militia recruitment can serve as a platform for recruiters to serve as identity leaders and create among recruits a distinct sense of identity that further distances them from other group members and strengthens their group identity. Success in enabling this group categorization could pave the way for more defectors to switch to the government side in a way less relevant than material incentives. The article illustrates this process by employing the case of Israel's recruitment of Shi'a defectors into pro‐Israel militias in South Lebanon and the Security Belt during the 1980s and 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis article explores the use of smuggled Chinese smartphones in North Korea as a means of communication that can bypass government-imposed censorship and prohibitions. Adopting the theoretical framework of mobility regimes, we argue these smartphones represent a crack in the authoritarian mobility regime of North Korea and seeks to examine how this mediated practice of resistance interactions with a more traditional mode of resistance, namely defection. Drawing from ten in-depth interviews with North Korean defectors in South Korea, the paper demonstrates that smuggled smartphones and defection work together to reinforce each other and normalize resistance against the North Korean mobility regime. Most importantly, the findings show that the smuggled smartphones affectively assist defection by giving defectors the certainty that they would be able to contact their family even after defecting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a popular application, social question-and-answer (Q&A) platforms have similar functions and it is relatively easy for users to switch from a platform to another one. This may lead to users' defection. From a push–pull-mooring perspective, this work examined the determinants of user switching between social Q&A platforms. We found that both push factors (dissatisfaction and fatigue) and pull factors (content quality and user experience) positively affect switching intention, which leads to switching behavior. The mooring factor (switching cost) has a negative moderation effect on switching intention. These results suggest that social Q&A platforms can improve content quality and users' experience, and reduce their dissatisfaction and fatigue, thus preventing users' switching and retaining them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the role of regime types and political leadership in influencing regional integration in the East African Community (EAC). Although the EAC is one of the most highly integrated Regional Economic Communities in Africa, and there are many instances where member states cooperate with decisions made at the EAC level to strengthen integration, in other instances members choose to defect from regional commitments. The study used secondary data sources to determine why this is so and employed game theory to understand the game of cooperation and defection among the players, who are the member states of the EAC. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania were selected as case studies because they are the founding members of the EAC and are assumed to be most invested in deeper cooperation within the EAC. The study found that member states make conscious, calculated decisions to cooperate or defect on specific issues after gauging the costs and payouts associated with each action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do some armed forces remain loyal to the regime while others switch sides during nonviolent uprisings? The existing research predominantly focuses on the roles of domestic actors and dynamics in explaining security defections. We extend this line of research by exploring external factors that might potentially affect troops' decision to defect. In particular, we suggest a combined effect of U.S. military training and external support for campaigns on defection decisions. Our findings show that substantial Western power involvement in support of campaigns might induce security defections in militaries with which the U.S. military has established ties. We further probe this relationship by disaggregating Western power support into its constituents and find that security defections are most likely to occur when a campaign is backed by both the U.S. and at least one other Western power. This study contributes to an understudied aspect of security force defections during nonviolent campaigns, highlighting how external dynamics might shape militaries' decisions regarding loyalty and defection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article challenges conventional accounts of the Tunisian and Egyptian militaries' role in the Arab Spring, emphasizing the very different bargaining versus containing logic through which the countries' autocrats maintained political control of the military. Whereas traditional approaches emphasize the common outcome that neither military fired on protesters, this article highlights three areas of difference in military behavior: the militaries' role in repression (beyond nor firing on protesters); managing the regime crises; and removing or sustaining the regime. In so doing, it also argues against interpretations of the Tunisian military that it remained loyal or passive. To the contrary, the article shows how the Tunisian military was a decidedly political actor, playing a profound role in ending the regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the United States' asylum-seeking process and the support provided by Casa de Paz to those released from detention. Topics include the lengthy and challenging process asylum seekers face after arriving in the U.S; the lack of resources provided upon their release; and the mission and efforts of Casa de Paz to assist these individuals.

Copyright of Africa Spectrum is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Within comparative constitutional law, there is an emerging consensus that political fragmentation has weakened political parties and hindered the functioning of legislative bodies. This article examines legal efforts to curb fragmentation in parliamentary systems by prohibiting floor crossing, or "defections"—a constitutional approach that concentrates power within party leaders. It conducts a detailed case study of India, exploring what is arguably the most extensive experiment in anti-defection law and its impact on accountability and representation. The article goes on to analyze similar laws in Israel and South Africa, highlighting the challenges of self-regulation. After evaluating the limitations of narrow anti-defection laws—such as the one in Pakistan—it proposes that the drawbacks of legislating party unity through formal defection regulation may prompt a reconsideration not only of legislatures but also political parties and political polarization. While some scholars have viewed attempts to stem fragmentation as a solution for limiting polarization, this article suggests the opposite: sharpening polarization, when coupled with norm-based internal party controls, may well tame the excesses of fragmentation, especially in non-programmatic multiparty systems. Although there are difficult tradeoffs here, as polarization can have independent (adverse) effects, the broader lessons of anti-defection laws deserve to be reckoned with. Ultimately, however, what the widespread adoption of anti-defection laws might primarily reveal is the nature of our faith—or lack thereof—in the promise of a certain form of parliamentary politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The public goods game is a broadly used paradigm for studying the evolution of cooperation in structured populations. According to the basic assumption, the interaction graph determines the connections of a player where the focal actor forms a common venture with the nearest neighbors. In reality, however, not all of our partners are involved in every game. To elaborate this observation, we propose a model where individuals choose just some selected neighbors from the complete set to form a group for public goods. We explore the potential consequences by using a pair-approximation approach in a weak selection limit. We theoretically analyze how the number of total neighbors and the actual size of the restricted group influence the critical enhancement factor where cooperation becomes dominant over defection. Furthermore, we systematically compare our model with the traditional setup and show that the critical enhancement factor is lower than in the case when all players are present in the social dilemma. Hence, the suggested restricted interaction mode offers a better condition for the evolution of cooperation. Our theoretical findings are supported by numerical calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: While they were once viewed as largely local or candidate‐centered contests, recent American elections have come to be dominated by national forces such as presidential politics and partisanship. Prior research on voter behavior in this new era of nationalized politics, however, has largely focused on more high‐profile contests and has not examined voter decision making across multiple levels of government. Methods: Our study uses cross‐sectional (2006–2020) survey data from the Cooperative Election Study to explore the determinants of partisan loyalty and defection across both national and subnational American elections. Results: We find consistent evidence that citizens increasingly rely upon national forces—specifically partisan‐ideological sorting and presidential approval—to make decisions about candidates up and down the ballot. We also find mixed evidence that evaluations of the national economy inform defection behavior. Conclusion: These findings indicate that the national political forces shape voter behavior in national and subnational contests in effectively identical ways. Thus, the evidence supports the notion that all (electoral) politics are now national. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on non-democratic regimes has accelerated in the post-Cold War world, but inordinate attention paid to procedural definitions of regime type and democratization has reduced the study of utilitarian components in assessing cases of political transition. We utilize two frameworks oft-cited within the comparative authoritarianism literature to evaluate our claim that Turkey has moved from a dominant-party system to one resembling a personalist regime while arguing that elite defection and institutional degradation may catalyse political centralization. In doing so, we refocus evaluative attention on the substantive content of the regime rather than mere modes of perpetuation while reasserting the value of the literature's diagnostic frameworks to empirically place Turkey's subtype of authoritarianism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important research projects in the recent years is strengthening structures. The significance of these studies was to modify the ability of buildings to withstand high loads without utilizing materials that hurt the environment. Six one-way ribbed slabs were experimentally tested in the present study to determine the effect of carbon fiber reinforcement polymer sheets on the structure. One of the specimens, used as a reference, was unstrengthen. Two specimens were strengthened with carbon sheets on 50% and 100% of the rib width. To prevent sheet debonding, two others used 50-mm-wide U-shaped strips. A complete rib wrap served as the final method of strengthening. All the specimens underwent concentrated load testing to investigate the ultimate capacity, deflection, stiffness, and ductility. According to the findings, all specimen’s deflection decreased in a ratio ranging from 4% in whole rib wrap to 46%. Also, the stiffness increased in all specimens, and the width of the carbon sheet insignificantly affected the stiffness, while the way of strengthening did. In the end, strengthening with 50% width has no discernible effect on the ultimate load (3%), whereas strengthening with 100% width raised by 41%, while adding U-shaped stripes increased the ultimate load capacity by 74% and completely wrapping the ribs increased by 132%.

While actors in a population can interact with anyone else freely, social relations significantly influence our inclination toward particular individuals. The consequence of such interactions, however, may also form the intensity of our relations established earlier. These dynamical processes are captured via a coevolutionary model staged in multiplex networks with two distinct layers. In a so-called relationship layer, the weights of edges among players may change in time as a consequence of games played in the alternative interaction layer. As an reasonable assumption, bilateral cooperation confirms while mutual defection weakens these weight factors. Importantly, the fitness of a player, which basically determines the success of a strategy imitation, depends not only on the payoff collected from interactions, but also on the individual relationship index calculated from the mentioned weight factors of related edges. Within the framework of weak prisoner's dilemma situation, we explore the potential outcomes of the mentioned coevolutionary process where we assume different topologies for relationship layer. We find that higher average degree of the relationship graph is more beneficial to maintain cooperation in regular graphs, but the randomness of links could be a decisive factor in harsh situations. Surprisingly, a stronger coupling between relationship index and fitness discourage the evolution of cooperation by weakening the direct consequence of a strategy change. To complete our study, we also monitor how the distribution of relationship index vary and detect a strong relation between its polarization and the general cooperation level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting cooperation in the network has always been a focus of evolutionary game dynamics research. In this paper, a three-strategy local decision model is designed to promote cooperative behavior between agents. The hide right is introduced to accurately describe the agents which tend to choose conservative strategy to achieve stable payoffs. Agents only consider their own and non-defective neighbors' payoffs information to make their decisions for next move. According to the adaptive dynamics, the equilibrium states under different conditions have been studied. It is found that the introduction of hide strategy helps to reduce the occurrence of defection. The conclusion of this paper will provide a reference for the cooperation promotion mechanism of selfish agents that are closer to the actual situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do people punish others for defecting or for failing to conform to the majority? In two experiments, we manipulated whether the participants' partners cooperated or defected in the majority of the trials of a Prisoner's Dilemma game. The effects of this base-rate manipulation on cooperation and punishment were assessed using a multinomial processing tree model. High compared to low cooperation rates of the partners increased participants' cooperation. When participants' cooperation was not enforced through partner punishment, the participants' cooperation was closely aligned to the cooperation rates of the partners. Moral punishment of defection increased when cooperation rates were high compared to when defection rates were high. However, antisocial punishment of cooperation when defection rates were high was much less likely than moral punishment of defection when cooperation rates were high. In addition, antisocial punishment was increased when cooperation rates were high compared to when defection rates were high. The latter two results contradict the assumption that people punish conformity-violating behavior regardless of whether the behavior supports or disrupts cooperation. Punishment is thus sensitive to the rates of cooperation and defection but, overall, the results are inconsistent with the idea that punishment primarily, let alone exclusively, serves to enforce conformity with the majority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Looking at the recent cases of security force defection in Belarus and Venezuela, this paper develops a theory of security force "confidence" to supplement the existing literature on security force defection. Security forces' confidence (or lack thereof) in the regime, other security forces, the opposition, and their future prospects in a transition help to explain why security forces in both countries have stayed cohesive and loyal to the regime during crisis. Our research found little data to support some of the other arguments that are popularly used to explain these cases, namely external support, differences in protester tactics, and counterbalancing by the regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the welfare effect of increasing competition in an anonymous two–sided matching market, where matched pairs play an infinitely repeated Prisoner's Dilemma. Higher matching efficiency is usually considered detrimental as it creates stronger incentives for defection. We point out, however, that a reduction in matching frictions also increases welfare because more agents find themselves in a cooperative relationship. We characterize the conditions for which increasing competition increases overall welfare. In particular, this is always the case when the incentives for defection are high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2023, Myanmar faced a deepening crisis as the anti-junta resistance, alongside ethnic armed groups, made territorial gains, leading to intense clashes with the military. Civilian deaths exceeded 4,000, revealing the impact of the Tatmadaw's operations on non-combatants. These casualties highlighted the indiscriminate nature of some of the military's actions. Ethnic armed groups played pivotal roles in anti-junta operations, and launched an unprecedented offensive from late October that led to the seizure of several towns and strategic junta bases in the northern region. Cases of military surrenders and defections coupled with the complex Rakhine State crisis added to the turmoil. The outlook remains bleak, underscoring the urgent need for international assistance to address the growing humanitarian crisis and seek a path to stability and reconciliation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates Republic of China Navy (ROCN) 'defection mutinies' during the Chinese Civil War where mutineers seized ROCN vessels and defected to the Chinese Communists. Examining the memoirs of defection mutiny ringleaders and participants, this paper postulates the determinant that enabled ROCN defection mutinies was Chinese Communist covert action that capitalised on ROCN internal conflicts, weakened the collective action problem's effect on pre-empting mutinies and provided the necessary support to conspirators that led to defection mutinies based on Communist preferences. This research contributes to the military studies sub-field by exposing the intersection between covert action and wartime military unrest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we present a detailed study of the reach distance‐layer structure of the De Bruijn and Kautz digraphs, and we apply our analysis to the performance evaluation of deflection routing in De Bruijn and Kautz networks. Concerning the distance‐layer structure, we provide explicit polynomial expressions, in terms of the degree of the digraph, for the cardinalities of some relevant sets of this structure. Regarding the application to defection routing, and as a consequence of our polynomial description of the distance‐layer structure, we formulate explicit expressions, in terms of the degree of the digraph, for some probabilities of interest in the analysis of this type of routing. De Bruijn and Kautz digraphs are fundamental examples of digraphs on alphabet and iterated line digraphs. If the topology of the network under consideration corresponds to a digraph of this type, we can perform, in principle, a similar vertex layer description. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The evolution of cooperation in microbes is a challenge to explain because microbes producing costly goods for the benefit of any strain types (cooperators) often withstand the threat of elimination by interacting with individuals that exploit these benefits without contributing (defectors). Here we developed an individual-based model to investigate whether partial privatization via the partial secretion of goods can favor cooperation in structured, surface-attaching microbial populations, biofilms. Whether partial secretion can favor cooperation in biofilms is unclear for two reasons. First, while partial privatization has been shown to foster cooperation in unstructured populations, little is known about the role of partial privatization in biofilms. Second, while limited diffusion of goods favors cooperation in biofilms because molecules are more likely to be shared with genetically-related individuals, partial secretion reduces goods that could have been directed towards genetically related individuals. Our results show that although partial secretion weakens the role that limited diffusion has on fostering cooperation, partial secretion favors cooperation in biofilms. Overall, our results provide predictions that future experiments could test to reveal contributions of relatedness and partial secretion to the social evolution of biofilms.

This study examines patterns of voter defection from Turkey's incumbent AKP amid major economic and democratic decline. As in other electoral autocracies, defectors constitute a small but politically significant group in Turkey, where the opposition's ability to secure a transition from authoritarianism depends on reducing the incumbent's vote share. Based on survey data gathered in November 2021 and February 2022, we find that while the high level of partizanship among AKP voters hinders defection, persistent economic and democratic decline still reduces incumbent support. We also found that defections are higher outside of the lowest income group. Our findings have important implications for opposition strategies in electoral autocracies. Directing public debate away from identity issues to economic and democratic problems increases the likelihood of defection. In addition, offering voters clear superior alternatives decreases the cost of uncertainty that comes with change and increases the likelihood of defection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The military collaboration between Romania and Turkey became imperative, especially after 1933, when the general revisionist trend became apparent. In broad terms, the course of the discussions in that regard was intricate, beginning with talks for a bilateral military arrangement, followed by joint negotiations with other partners in the Balkan Pact, during which bilateral discussions between Romanian and Turkish military planners continued, and concluding with bilateral support commitments after Yugoslavia's defection and the outbreak of war in September 1939. Both parties had their own objective defence needs, but also shared goals such as discouraging revisionist tendencies in the Balkan region or beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are there electoral consequences for elected politicians who switch from one party to another? Existing research on this question discovered that switchers often perform worse in elections than non-switchers because voters are suspicious of their intentions, especially in older democracies. Nonetheless, few robust studies have been conducted on this in Africa amidst concerns of weak party institutionalization and voters' passivism, despite the prevalence of switching on the continent and copious existing research on the issue on other continents. I conducted a nationwide representative survey gauging voters' response to party switching and analysed an original dataset on party switching among African MPs, using Nigeria with over 200 cases of party defection within eight years as a case study. I discovered party switchers in Nigeria, Africa's biggest democracy, performed worse in elections compared to non-switchers, with significant implications for our understanding of voting behaviour in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influences of bubble defects on the bond strengths of externally bonded fiber-reinforced polymer (EB-FRP) concrete joints were investigated using numerical method in this research. Studies of the influences of increasing bubble defect areas on interfacial bonding performance were first conducted. It was observed that the influence of a bubble deficiency located in the middle of the bond region is not significant when the size of the bubble area is less than 2.5% of the effective bond area. Then, further investigation was conducted on the influences of the distances between the bubble and the loaded end, as well as the distance between the bubble and the side of the FRP, the ratio of the bubble's width to the width of the FRP, the number of bubbles with a fixed total area and the distribution of multiple bubbles. It was found that the distances of the bubble to the loaded end and different numbers of bubbles distributed within a fixed area do not significantly affect the bond strength. When the bubble is positioned closer to the side of the FRP, a decrease in load capacity tends to occur earlier, and the amount of decrease also slightly increases. The bond capacity can be influenced by the shapes of the bubbles, and as the bubble width in the lateral direction increases while keeping the bubble areas constant, the load capacity decreases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ideological research links liberal and conservative orientations to variations in genetic, psychological, and physiological factors. Yet, while a knowledge of the mechanistic causes of ideologies are advancing quickly, we know less about their potential functional causality. Here, we ask what the social functions of ideologies are and investigate whether the behaviors associated with different ideological orientations are consistent with different strategies for social interactions. We recruit an American sample of (N = 454) liberals and conservatives to complete two rounds of an iterated prisoner's dilemma. Using a three-wave design, we obtain a sample of each ideological group that is comparable on multiple demographic factors. We hypothesize that a liberal orientation is underpinned by an approach-oriented social strategy that is directed towards pursuing cooperative opportunities, while a conservative orientation is underpinned by a social strategy directed towards avoiding loss. On multiple measures of ideology, we find evidence that liberals and conservatives differ in their: (1) initial cooperativeness; (2) overall cooperation; and, (3) forgiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans form and maintain friendships across long distances, which can provide access to non-local resources and support against large shocks that affect the entire local community. However, there may be a greater risk of defection in long-distance friendships, as monitoring for defection is more difficult at greater distances; accordingly, help between long-distance friends may be more explicitly contingent than between close-distance friends. We interviewed 918 participants from 21 fishing villages in Tanzania about whether they had received help in the form of a gift or loan from a friend living in their village and a friend living in a neighboring village. As there are local expectations that loans will be repaid but gifts will not, we predicted that close-distance friends would be more likely to help with gifts, whereas long-distance friends would be more likely to help with loans. Contrary to our predictions, gifts and loans between close- and long-distance friends were similar in kind and amount, though close-distance friends provided help more frequently, possibly because close-distance friends are more likely to meet frequently and belong to the same religious congregation. These results indicate that long-distance friendships are an important, and likely robust, strategy for managing risk and accessing more resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the defection background and experience of staying in a third country of an unaccompanied female adolescent North Korean refugee, 'Mi-Hyang', and the study investigates the human rights violations in the border area between North Korea and China. Qualitative research was conducted. The analysis focused on the significant events that influenced Mi-Hyang's decision to defect and her eventual immigration to South Korea. Mi-Hyang's story illustrates the phenomenon of the feminisation of survival, global care chains, and the human trafficking of minors. The results of the study help to understand the characteristics of unaccompanied female adolescent NKRs and provide primary data for preparing policies and services that support their resettlement in South Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

North Korean Refugees (NKRs) undergo defection, and this has been shown to impact their current health status in South Korea. However, little is understood about how the defection process is related to metabolic syndrome (MetS). This study regarded the defection process to be a quasi-measurement of traumatic experience and investigated whether defection was a risk factor for MetS among NKRs living in South Korea. This cross-sectional study obtained data from the Korea University Anam Hospital in Seoul. NKRs (N = 847) voluntarily completed questionnaires and underwent at least one medical examination between October 2008 and July 2021. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to evaluate whether the number of countries transited by NKRs was associated with MetS by controlling for covariates. The prevalence of MetS among male and female NKRs in South Korea was 12.3% and 13.3%, respectively. The highest prevalence of MetS (33.4%) was among NKRs who had transited two countries. The number of months in transit countries (mean: 49.9 ± 51.7) and period of residence in South Korea (mean: 40.9 ± 40.9 months) were also considered. NKRs who transited three countries had a higher probability of MetS (odds ratio [OR] 2.660, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.161–6.097) than those who travelled directly to South Korea. NKRs who transited three countries and had only resided in South Korea for a short period had a higher probability of MetS (OR 3.424, 95% CI 1.149–10.208) than those who have lived in South Korea for a longer period. Considering the social vulnerability of NKRs and consequential health problems, there is an urgent need for appropriate support from the government and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A historical perspective aids our understanding of the present and capacity to anticipate the future. Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but particularly its brutality and policy of "constructive destruction," was shocking and unexpected, but faced with Russia's relegation from superpower status, it was always a possibility that Putin would emulate Stalin's determination to maintain Russian influence in the world and challenge the West's dominance. The risk of recurrent totalitarianism borne of the fear, distrust, and mutual demonization which characterized the ideological rivalry of the early Cold War years has led to a search for historical analogies of relevance to the growing East/West tensions of today that threaten to bring about a second Cold War or limited nuclear conflict. The motivating ideology for Russian expansionism is no longer Communism, but a mythical narrative that promotes Russian nationalism, patriotism, and exceptionalism. Putin's authoritarian state with its concentration of power and recourse to propaganda, disinformation, and lies is daily looking more Stalinesque and the Cold War question—how to contain Russian ambition—remains to be answered. While the focus has so far been on Stalin's geopolitical strategy regarding Russia's near neighbors, two books about the first post–World War II defection in 1945 merit re-visiting for the in-depth analysis and insights they provide into the period and the mindset of participants caught up in that affair. The defector, Igor Gouzenko, a Russian cyber clerk, insisted that Russia was preparing for a Third World War. His revelations precipitated the start of the Cold War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we examine the problem of predicting customer defection in a noncontractual setting. Motivated by recent work on machine learning using multiple time slices, we develop a novel training and testing framework, the sliding multi-time slicing (SMTS) method. We apply this method to data from the largest marketplace in Greece, namely, Skroutz, considering the standard features that account for the important characteristics of customer activity and custom performance metrics aimed at capturing business-related goals established by the company. The dataset comprises customers over a relatively short period, since April 2018, the number of which has also exhibited a significant increase in recent months. Despite these difficulties and the inherent seasonality of customer defection, our results demonstrate that, with SMTS, developing models that outperform previous approaches and optimize decision-making is possible. We validate the approach to a benchmark dataset from the commerce sector and discuss the practical considerations and requirements of the proposed method.

Traditional studies of swing voters in American politics typically focus on general attributes of a monolithic group. More recent analyses of "partisan defection," address the partisan direction of swing voting but often limit analysis to a single election or a single direction of defection. I seek to expand upon this research by examining multidirectional partisan defection across successive presidential elections. Using ANES and CCES 2012 and 2016 presidential election data, I test individual correlates of self-reported major party vote switching for presidential-candidates in both directions. Results suggest one the strongest correlates of defection has been underappreciated in recent defection studies: self-identified ideology. More conservative past Democratic voters and more liberal past Republican voters are more likely to defect than voters whose ideology is more consistent with their past voting patterns. The two groups of defectors are also vastly different from one another with Whites more likely to defect to Republicans and African Americans more likely to defect to Democrats. Less progressive racial attitudes and financial hardship are also both associated with increased odds of defecting from Democrats but decreased odds of defecting from Republicans. Finally, results show intra-defector group similarity across both elections, suggesting consistent partisan defection trends, irrespective of candidates. Overall, these results call for a reexamination of voter defection to consider distinct partisan directionality, secular trends in defection, and further exploration of the role of self-identified ideology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do people leave the world's largest far-right organisation? In this article, we analyse six autobiographical defection accounts of ex-members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the apex organisation of the Indian Hindu nationalist movement. Compiled here for the first time, an analysis of these accounts reveals that even the most disciplined and ideologically coherent far-right organisations suffer from internal organisational messiness and attrition. These accounts challenge the unique mythology that surrounds the RSS and gesture towards the methodological possibilities of discarding the ideology-driven analyses of the far right in favour of material analyses of the lives of far-right organisational members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we concentrate on the question whether candidate selection mechanisms affect the propensity of members of parliament (MPs) to defect from party line. Literature suggests that MPs selected by more inclusive procedures (i.e. party primaries) are more likely to be rebels than legislators nominated directly by party leaders. Despite the increasing attention that scholars devote to candidate selection methods, empirical evidences are still limited and they are inconsistent, especially for as to concern the Italian case. Empirically, we focus our attention on the Democratic Party (Partito Democratico—PD) during the XVII legislature in Italy. The PD is an ideal laboratory to test whether candidate selection affects MPs' propensity to vote against party line because PD's legislators are both selected by party primaries and appointed by party leader. Our results suggest, in contrast to previous findings, that candidate selection is a strong predictor in explaining voting defection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are anti-defection laws efficient? Many parliamentary democracies have enacted anti-defection laws to prevent frequent government collapses and political instability. Using the anti-defection law in India as a reference, I argue that the party-based anti-defection laws enacted in many Westminster-style Parliamentary democracies do not achieve their goals, yet drastically impact representative decision-making. I show how the entitlements and protections granted by anti-defection laws to political parties and legislators do not achieve the purpose of maintaining government stability and suggest two options to improve it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When new threats arise, how do weaker partners allied with great powers choose among loyalty (remaining allied to their great power patrons), hedging (improving political relations with the challenger, or – in the nuclear age – pursuing nuclear weapons), and exit (leaving the alliance by declaring neutrality or defecting to the rising challenger)? We argue that, in general, as protégés come to doubt the ability or willingness of patrons to defend them, they are likely to shift away from loyalty and towards exit. Where they end up on this alliance spectrum, however, depends on additional factors that we identify, including signals of commitment from patrons and the territorial claims of challengers against protégés. We illustrate our argument and these conditions in three cases from interwar and early Cold War Europe and draw implications for U.S. alliances today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey has experienced a heterogeneous collection of social movements and protests. While scholars have given substantial attention to coups in this context, it remains unclear if the Turkish Armed Forces have ever defected in favour of civilian mobilization during periods of political instability. In large-N databases on defection, cases in Turkey are either disproportionately skewed towards coups or are fully absent of observations on defection during resistance campaigns. In this study, we analyse cases spanning 1959–2017 to trace patterns of defection. Through triangulating qualitative evidence from memoirs of former military officers, media reports, and interviews carried out with multi-generational political actors, our analysis reveals that three instances of defection occurred in times of mass mobilization, two of which were vertical and one horizontal. Alongside three other instances of defection that occurred during coup attempts, these results illustrate the highly dynamic nature of defection in the Turkish context through interrelated processes of mobilization, defection, and coups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the phenomenon of defections in political parties through a case study that focuses on Québécois elected representatives. Interviews with former parliamentarians and an analysis of media discourse about their departure document the motivations for leaving a party or joining another one. This research proposes two innovative typologies: the first identifies the types of defections, and the second explores the motivations for leaving. The analyses show that Quebec elected representatives leave mainly because of value and policy conflicts and very little for prestige. A dialogue with Hirshman's work also illustrates the role of speaking and listening in the decision to leave or stay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Military defections during major anti-authoritarian protests have received significant attention. Yet instances of military disloyalty, commonly termed defections, often actually involve different parts of the military organization. Middle- and high-ranking officers may unite to defect, or they may fragment, with some defecting and others remaining loyal. In this article, I draw on the existing scholarship's insights to argue that a dictator that uses control of internal security forces marginalizes all officers and increases the likelihood of united defections, whereas a dictator that uses military politicization marginalizes only some officers and increases the likelihood of fragmented defections. I assess and find support for these relationships statistically, using data on types of defections across a large N sample of all major anti-authoritarian protests from 1960 to 2011. I also illustrate the relationships using two brief comparative cases, Chile (1988) and El Salvador (1979). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of our study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of temporary bilateral uterine artery blockage for cesarean scar defects when combined with laparoscopy and hysteroscopy. Methods: We evaluated 126 patients who had one or more cesarean deliveries with abnormal uterine bleeding (12–20 days). All eligible women were informed of the potential complications, benefits, and alternatives, for each approach before they were assigned into one of two treatment groups. Group A received temporary bilateral uterine artery occlusion and vasopressin injection while Group B received vasopressin injection only. Results: Mean blood loss was 54.70 ± 13.01 mL and 190.82 ± 15.72 mL in Groups A and B (p < 0.001). By the final evaluation, the mean duration of menstruation had reduced to 6.92 ± 2.16 and 7.16 ± 2.25 days in Group A and Group B; these values were significantly different than the pre-operative values (p < 0.001 respectively). The mean thinnest residual myometrium was 5.39 ± 0.77 and 5.28 ± 1.25 mm in Group A and Group B, respectively. These values were thicker than pre-operative values (p < 0.001 respectively). The efficacy of anatomic correction was 96.88% (62/64) and 96.77% (60/62) (p > 0.999) in Groups A and B, respectively. Overall, 58 of the 64 (90.63%) patients in Group A and 57 of the 62 (91.94%) patients in Group B reported an improved menstrual cycle following surgery (p = 0.794). Conclusions: The combination of laparoscopy, hysteroscopy, temporary bilateral uterine artery occlusion, and the injection of vasopressin, offers an effective measure to reduce blood loss effectively.