(English) Cosmopolitan democracy: paths and ways (Italiano) Cosmopolitan democracy: paths and ways
(English) One of the recurrent criticisms to the cosmopolitan democracy project has been that it has not highlighted which are the political and social forces that will have an interest to pursue this agenda. This criticism is addressed in this paper, showing that there are a variety of actions that, in its own right, will contribute to more democratic global governance. The paper also identifies the political and social agents that may have an interest and contribute to the pursuit of each of these actions. (Italiano) One of the recurrent criticisms to the cosmopolitan democracy project has been that it has not highlighted which are the political and social forces that will have an interest to pursue this agenda. This criticism is addressed in this paper, showing that there are a variety of actions that, in its own right, will contribute to more democratic global governance. The paper also identifies the political and social agents that may have an interest and contribute to the pursuit of each of these actions.
Bringing the State Back into Cosmopolitanism: The Idea of Responsible Cosmopolitan States
When surveying the cosmopolitan literature one is often struck by the ease with which the state is rendered morally and empirically otiose and by resulting ambiguities about the role states could play in creating a cosmopolitan condition. In response to these ambiguities, the purpose of this article is to examine some recent cosmopolitan arguments and to see what answers, if any, they have for bridging the gap between cosmopolitan theory and state practice. By doing so, this article will map out the recent relationship between cosmopolitanism and the state while also suggesting that cosmopolitans should reconsider a research agenda based on the idea of responsible cosmopolitan states as a means to create stronger links between cosmopolitan theory and contemporary international practice.
A single amino acid substitution in elongation factor Tu disrupts interaction between the ternary complex and the ribosome
Elongation factor Tu (EF-Tu).GTP has the primary function of promoting the efficient and correct interaction of aminoacyl-tRNA with the ribosome. Very little is known about the elements in EF-Tu involved in this interaction. We describe a mutant form of EF-Tu, isolated in Salmonella typhimurium, that causes a severe defect in the interaction of the ternary complex with the ribosome. The mutation causes the substitution of Val for Gly-280 in domain II of EF-Tu. The in vivo growth and translation phenotypes of strains harboring this mutation are indistinguishable from those of strains in which the same tuf gene is insertionally inactivated. Viable cells are not obtained when the other tuf gene is inactivated, showing that the mutant EF-Tu alone cannot support cell growth. We have confirmed, by partial protein sequencing, that the mutant EF-Tu is present in the cells. In vitro analysis of the natural mixture of wild-type and mutant EF-Tu allows us to identify the major defect of this mutant. Our data shows that the EF-Tu is homogeneous and competent with respect to guanine nucleotide binding and exchange, stimulation of nucleotide exchange by EF-Ts, and ternary complex formation with aminoacyl-tRNA. However various measures of translational efficiency show a significant reduction, which is associated with a defective interaction between the ribosome and the mutant EF-Tu.GTP.aminoacyl-tRNA complex. In addition, the antibiotic kirromycin, which blocks translation by binding EF-Tu on the ribosome, fails to do so with this mutant EF-Tu, although it does form a complex with EF-Tu. Our results suggest that this region of domain II in EF-Tu has an important function and influences the binding of the ternary complex to the codon-programmed ribosome during protein synthesis. Models involving either a direct or an indirect effect of the mutation are discussed.