Political Studies

vLex
Publisher:
Sage Publications, Inc.
Publication date:
2021-09-06
ISBN:
0032-3217

Issue Number

Latest documents

  • Well-Being, Harmony, and Deference: Toward a Confucian Case for Empowered Mini-Publics

    Nearly all debates within contemporary Confucian political theory regarding the full or partial adoption of democracy have understood democracy as electoral representative democracy. Almost no attention has then been paid to how Confucian democracy or Confucian meritocracy would relate to randomly selected deliberative bodies increasingly considered by democratic theorists amid an ongoing reconceptualization of democracy. In this article, I explore such a relationship by presenting a Confucian case for empowered mini-publics. My central claim is that the adoption of this institution can be interpreted in Confucian terms and embraced by Confucian democrats as well as Confucian meritocrats, on the basis of several key Confucian values which they have already employed in defending their respective political proposals. By making this claim, I also demonstrate that one of central institutional innovations originally proposed to alleviate ills facing Western liberal democracies has a broader application and appeal than it has been assumed.

  • Civility and Environmental Politics

    In this article, we offer a normative analysis of environmental politics through the lens of civility. First, we explain what civility is by identifying its three key dimensions: civility as politeness, moral civility and justificatory civility. We then examine various instances of environmental politics and activism through the lens of civility, by focusing on the complex intersections between its three dimensions as well as the hierarchical relationship that exists between them, with moral civility taking precedence over justificatory civility and the latter over civility as politeness. This analysis, we argue, can help us to formulate more nuanced judgements about the desirability of different instances of civil and uncivil environmental politics and activism, and to develop educational strategies for preparing policymakers, environmental activists and citizens more generally to be civil participants in environmental politics.

  • ‘No Participation Without Representation’: The Impact of Descriptive and Substantive Representation on the Age-Related Turnout Gap

    Previous studies have extensively demonstrated that young people vote less than older ones. However, the magnitude of this age-related gap varies across different contexts: While in some countries, the gap is remarkable and increasing over time, in others, it is quite modest, and it has remained constant. This article investigates some of the factors that might explain this variability. In particular, it examines the impact of different types of representation (descriptive and substantive) on the age-related gap in turnout. It does so by relying on a dataset that combines individual-level data with information concerning the age composition of national parliaments and party system emphasis on specific issues. Overall, the dataset covers 57 elections and 19 West European countries. Results show that when young people are descriptively represented, the age-related gap in turnout is significantly reduced. The same effect occurs when party systems place relatively more emphasis on postmaterialist issues.

  • Does Populism Fuel Affective Polarization? An Individual-Level Panel Data Analysis

    Populism and affective polarization speak of a bisected society, and scholars have linked them at the party level. While the relationship between populism and affective polarization can be reciprocal, this article leverages panel data to delve into the causal relationship between populism and affective polarization. First, I posit individuals who become identified with populist parties will hold higher levels of affective polarization. Second, I expect increases in levels of populist attitudes to heighten affective polarization, and this is explained by both the increase of affect towards the ingroup and the decrease of affect towards the outgroup. Using nine waves of a panel survey, results show the importance of differentiating between measures of populism at the individual level, as the increase in populist attitudes appears to fuel affective polarization, symmetrically increasing affect towards the ingroup and decreasing affect towards the outgroup, while the effect of becoming a populist party supporter is more nuanced, as it is different for populist left and right parties.

  • Must Refugees Be Grateful?

    The idea that refugees should be grateful is pervasive in popular culture and is also evident in political theory, most notably in discussing whether refugees have an obligation to obey the law in their state of asylum. We examine the normative argument that refugees have a duty to be grateful to their host society, arguing that when the workings of the system of refugee protection are examined, it becomes clear that no such duty exists. Our main concern is that state-imposed barriers and hardships that refugees must endure to access asylum undermine any gratitude to the asylum state. Indeed, if any gratitude duties are owed by refugees, it is to those social actors who help them evade state restrictions. We conclude by suggesting that, once we take account of those features, resentment rather than gratitude often seems a more apt response by refugees to their asylum state.

  • Take Five? Testing the Cultural and Experiential Theories of Generalised Trust Against Five Criteria

    Is generalised trust stable or changeable? The ‘cultural’ theory argues that trust is a relatively fixed personality trait, while the ‘experiential’ theory contends that life experiences can alter trust during adulthood. But these two theories have been tested using a variety of different criteria whose differences have seemingly never been acknowledged explicitly. In this article, I map out these five different criteria, formulating specific hypotheses for each one and test them on a large and representative longitudinal data set from Australia. As expected, both the cultural and experiential theories appear broadly correct: trust is affected by both early-life factors and adult experiences, but the impact of adult experiences is usually transitory. A broad range of adult experiences seem to affect trust, and trust exhibits high rank-order but low mean-level stability. I conclude by suggesting some new directions for the study of generalised trust.

  • What Drives Opposition to Social Rights for Immigrants? Clarifying the Role of Psychological Predispositions

    Why do people oppose granting social rights to immigrants? Previous research indicates that psychological predispositions such as authoritarianism or ethnocentrism are strong drivers, but our understanding of their roles is still incomplete. This is in part because studies have not yet systematically tested different psychological variables against other, but also in part because some other potentially important predispositions such as implicit bias and social dominance orientation have so far been overlooked. We address this gap using original data from survey experiments conducted in six countries (Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States). We find consistent effects of ethnocentrism and social dominance orientation, a less robust effect of authoritarianism and no effect of implicit bias. In substantive terms, we find that a belief in ethnocentric stereotypes and a desire for dominance are the central factors driving opposition to immigrants’ social rights.

  • Editor’s Introduction
  • Foreign Agents? Public Attitudes Toward Nongovernmental Organizations in a Backsliding Democracy

    In a backsliding democracy, antidemocratic politicians often vilify nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and impose restrictions that make it harder for them to form, advocate, or obtain funding. Do citizens consider NGOs as a threat? Do they support regulatory measures to restrict NGO activities? We focus on two factors that may influence citizens’ attitudes toward NGOs: these groups’ reliance on foreign funding and their ideological leaning. In a preregistered survey experiment in Israel, we find that citizens perceive foreign-funded NGOs as slightly more threatening, but they are not more likely to support restrictions on these groups than on groups relying on local funding. The ideological bent of the NGOs has a much stronger effect: People perceive NGOs on the other side of the political aisle as more threatening and support restrictions on their activity. Antidemocratic leaders might exploit this type of partisan-motivated reasoning to silence civil society.

  • Reassessing the Role and the Benefits of Junior Ministers in Coalition Governments

    Junior ministers are very common in coalition governments. Existing research argues that parties assign junior ministers to satisfy the office goals of coalition partners or as a mechanism to manage delegation costs. This article aims to reassess this argument. Using interviews, personal calendars, coalition agreements and an original data set on junior ministers in Israel, it finds that junior ministers are engaged in policymaking either on general issues under the ministry’s jurisdiction or issues that are salient to their party. Although rival junior ministers have the capacity and the incentive to monitor the minister, they do so only on the margins, either because they do not need to, or because they focus on safeguarding their policymaking autonomy. Finally, all junior ministers assist the minister and represent the ministry.

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