Search

Reducing fracture risk is the objective of osteoporosis treatment. Bone-forming osteoporosis drugs increase bone mass, restore bone microarchitecture, and reduce fracture risk more effectively than oral bisphosphonates, providing strong justification for the use of these agents as the initial therapy or after anti-remodeling agents in patients at very high risk of fracture. At the end of a 12-to-24-month course of osteoanabolic therapy, transitioning to a potent anti-remodeling agent maintains and enhances the treatment benefit. This review describes the clinical applications of osteoanabolic therapy for osteoporosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of the relationship of political parties to the European Community/Union (EC/EU) increasingly use the perspective of ‘Europeanisation’ to measure such relationships. There is also a case, however, for looking at Europe from the perhaps narrower but no less necessary point of view of intra-party dynamics: in particular, what kinds of challenge does ‘Europe’ represent to party managers and how do they deal with it? By analysing the relationship of the Socialist Party to the EC/EU at three key moments in the history of European integration, the author identifies some common tropisms which continue to operate even as the effects of ‘Europeanisation’ increase. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Parties are reluctant to change and will do so only under pressure, such as repeated electoral defeat. The response of the French Socialist Party to its ongoing crisis is analysed in terms of possible changes to its ideology, structures, leadership and alliances. The overall finding is that on any one of these axes movement is likely to be minimal, of pragmatic adaptation rather than ambitious attempts at wholesale renewal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-level governance has affected political parties as much as other institutions. Created within nation-states as the latter developed democratic structures, they sought to represent the interests of groups deriving from the societal cleavages found everywhere as modernization occurred across Europe. At the same time they developed material bases and interests of their own. To enhance these and to continue representing their core supporters, they have always been ready to move into new arenas, first the sub-national and latterly the EU level. The transnational parties (TNP) created by all political families at this level are vehicles for seeking new influence. But just as national governments have yielded sovereignty only with reluctance, so the national parties that run the TNP have kept for themselves most of the main facets of party activity. The main functions devolved to the TNP would seem to be elite networking, identity building and the socialization/induction of new members from enlargement states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The designer of the French presidency intended it as a supra-partisan office. Yet this ambition was thwarted by the institutional requirement for a majority in the National Assembly, in order to pass legislation. Today, parties control the presidential function, acting as gatekeepers and enablers; their role has not been usurped by media-promoted personalities. But the presidency has its own dynamic effects on party structures, beyond the mere obligation to produce a plausible candidate. A presidential campaign is the high point of party activity, and the 2007 exercise showed a wide range of effects, according to whether parties are viable candidates for government or pure protesters, or whether they fit uneasily between these positions. This article explores some of these dynamic effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jacques Chirac was re-elected president in May 2002 with a huge majority. Principally this was due to the impressive showing of Jean-Marie Le Pen as a presidential candidate in the first-round vote. This article, by examining the results and studying the nature of the campaign and the personalities involved, provides an overview of both the presidential and the general (legislative) elections. Although, on the surface, it might have appeared that the French political system had reverted to type -- a strong right-wing president combined with a right-wing government -- careful analysis allows a number of structural problems to be highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a series of related processes, all bearing on the political autonomy of nation states, globalisation has clear implications for parties, historically accustomed to acting within the framework of the nation state. Yet little has been written on French political parties in this context. This survey of their understanding of and responses to globalisation finds a highly differentiated pattern, in accord with old ideological traditions, with the most articulate critiques coming from the liberal Right and the communists. Europe is seen as the major site of resistance to globalisation, but not by the most ideological forces (Greens and national-populists). Generally the parties' discourse needs further development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European elections in France in June 1999 were held in a context dominated by the confused state of national political parties, and against the background of the continuing Kosovo crisis. The elections reflected to a considerable degree the fragmentary nature of party politics in France. The Left is composed of a coalition of diverse parties, including the Greens (Verts), while the Right is in disarray, both in the mainstream and on the margins. This article provides an analytical overview of the campaign and results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the economic and financial crisis in Europe, the history of British Conservative Party and the changing pattern of political involvement that identify political crisis.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various topics featured within the issue including the role of Great Britain in debates on the European League for Economic Co-operation, dialectic between centralisation and decentralisation, and political implication of economic policy.