Focus
on Research
Penn State Intercom......April
11, 2002
Democracies can be undermined
by elites who prefer dictators
By Paul Blaum
Public Information
Many democracies worldwide, especially in Eastern Europe and Latin America, have socioeconomic and political elements, such as the continued presence of the military or ex-communist bureaucrats, that sometimes retard or disrupt full democratization.
Nations facing this dilemma, particularly new democracies, might benefit from the lessons of Germany during the 1920s, when a initial brave attempt at democratization was ultimately brought down by the voting power of entrenched elites who preferred Adolf Hitler to the rule of law, according to a University political scientist in a new study.
The post-World War II Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) has generally been considered the first successful experiment in German democracy, made possible in large part by the Allied victory and the subsequent military occupation of western Germany by the Allied powers. Had western Germans alone cast the votes, democracy might have taken permanent root in Germany prior to World War II and perhaps even forestalled the Nazi takeover, according to Michael H. Bernhard, associate professor of political science.
Democratic institutions and attitudes were surprisingly strong in the western sections of Germany during the 14 years the country was governed by the Weimar Republic (1919-33), Bernhard noted. He pointed out that support for Hitler and the Nazis was much more pronounced in eastern Germany, which was traditionally dominated by the semi-feudal landed aristocracy and their allies in the military-industrial complex.
"The Weimar Republic gave way to the Third Reich when the Weimar president Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor on Jan. 30, 1933," Bernhard said. "In the election of March 5, Hitler, using strong-arm tactics against his political opponents and the suspension of civil liberties, orchestrated a decisive coalition between the Nazis and the ardently nationalist and anti-democratic German National People's Party. This allowed him to achieve a nationwide majority in the Reichstag, which immediately approved the Enabling Act allowing Hitler to ignore the Reichstag and the Weimar constitution and legalize Nazi dictatorship."
Bernhard coded each electoral district depending on whether it became part of West Germany, pro-Soviet East Germany, Poland or the Lithuanian or Russian Soviet Republics after World War II. He then tabulated votes for all eight of the Weimar Republic elections between 1920 and 1933, comparing votes cast in the western and eastern parts of pre-World War II Germany. The researcher employed a conversion formula that demonstrated how the voting system transformed the percentage of votes into the percentage of mandates. He used the same formula to produce the hypothetical percentage of mandates that parties would have commanded in the Reichstag based on the basis of separate party vote totals in western and eastern Germany.
"Weimar's electoral system was highly proportional, so there are only minor differences between the raw percentages of votes and the representation figures generated by the conversion formula," Bernhard said.
Prior to the postwar division of Germany, its political system was dominated by an alliance between the leaders of German heavy industry and the Junkers, an agricultural elite which made its money through the production of rye. Both Junkers and industrialists sought to protect their commercial interests by a joint tactic of imposing high tariffs and holding down domestic wages. They collaborated in a policy of imperialism and militarism that benefited both Junkers, who dominated the office corps of the military, and the industrialists, who received lucrative contracts to supply the military.
"During the early 1920s, unlike the country as a whole, western Germany exhibited robust democratic potential," Bernhard notes. "Here, votes for pro-democratic parties such as the Social Democrats and the Catholic Center Party (Zentrum) exceeded 50 percent until 1930 and approached 50 percent in the 1930 election despite the onset of the Great Depression and high unemployment levels."
By 1932, with the Depression growing more severe, support for the democratic parties declined noticeably even in western Germany.
Paul Blaum can be reached at pab15@psu.edu.
Tea, chocolate in moderation
can be heart-healthy
A University-led review of the available evidence from 66 published studies, supports the view that consuming flavonoid-rich tea and/or chocolate, in moderation, can be associated with reduced risk for cardiovascular disease. Penny Kris-Etherton, distinguished professor of nutrition and lead author of the review, said, "Since tea, without milk or sugar, contains no calories, it's an ideal way to add antioxidant flavonoids to your diet without increasing your weight. Having a chocolate cookie that also contains fruit and nuts along with the tea, if consumed in moderation, can be a heart-healthy snack."
She added, "No single food will confer immunity from illness. But both tea and chocolate, which are plant foods, can be components of a healthy diet if eaten in moderation along with other flavonoid-rich plant foods, such as fruits and vegetables. It's important to include a wide variety of plant foods in your diet everyday."
The review was co-authored by Carl L. Keen, head of the Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis.
The authors noted that, currently, there is not enough information on which to base specific recommendations on the amount of flavonoids to eat on a daily basis to trigger positive effects. The studies reviewed indicate that 150 mg of flavonoids produce an immediate (acute) effect and 500 mg seem to cause a continuing (chronic) effect. The average cup of tea brewed for two minutes contains about 172 mg of flavonoids. Drinking one cup could be expected to cause an immediate (acute) effect and about three and a half cups could possibly produce a continuing (chronic) effect.
The information on chocolate is even less generalizable since commercially available chocolate varies widely in flavonoid content.
Idea Development
Award goes
to researcher
Nadine Smith, assistant professor of bioengineering, has received an Idea Development Award from the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Prostate Cancer Research Program.
The $521,000 award will fund "Optimized Hyperthermia Treatment of Prostate Cancer using a Novel Intracavity Ultrasound Array" over a period of three years.
Smith's work is studying the use of ultrasonic wavefields to treat prostate cancer. In a process called ultrasonic hyperthermia, prostate cancer is treated with therapeutic heating through high-frequency sound waves.
She is hoping to design a two-dimensional intracavity array transducer capable of causing uniform heating within the prostate.
When performed in conjunction with chemotherapy or radiotherapy, hyperthermia increases damage to cancer cells caused by radiation and prevents subsequent repair of cancerous tumors. Hyperthermia also can kill malignant tumors without additional treatments.
EPA grant benefits
nanoparticle
research
Darrell Velegol, assistant professor of chemical engineering, and Kristen Fichthorn, professor of chemical engineering, have obtained a three-year, $370,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency for nanoparticle research.
The grant is for "Green Engineering of Dispersed Nanoparticles: Measuring and Modeling Nanoparticle Forces."
One limitation of nanotechnology is stability -- particles tend to cluster together making it difficult to maintain dispersions of distinct nanoparticles. Certain types of particles may be stabilized by adding polymers or surfactants to the mixture, but as nanoparticles begin to be produced in large quantities, these polymers or surfactants sometimes end up as waste.
The team's research seeks to understand why nanoparticles cluster together so that solution conditions can be altered to maintain stable dispersions without additives.