Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Loyalty and Secret Intelligence: Anglo‒Dutch Cooperation during World War II
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1556
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i4.1556
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 4
Pages: 159-167
Author-Name: Eleni Braat
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of History and Art History, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Abstract: Secrecy and informal organisation produce, sustain, and reinforce feelings of loyalty within intelligence and security services. This article demonstrates that loyalty is needed for cooperation between intelligence partners as well as within and between services. Under many circumstances, loyalty plays a larger role in the level of internal and external collaboration than formal work processes along hierarchical lines. These findings are empirically based on the case study of Anglo‒Dutch intelligence cooperation during World War II. By demonstrating that ‘loyalty’ critically affects the work of intelligence communities, this article contributes to current and future research that integrates history, intelligence studies, and research on emotions.
Keywords: emotions; history; informal organization; intelligence; international relations; loyalty; secrecy; World War II
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:4:p:159-167

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: The Map to the Heart: An Analysis of Political Affectivity in Turkey
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1576
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i4.1576
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 4
Pages: 144-158
Author-Name: Tereza Capelos
Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Conflict, Cooperation and Security, University of Birmingham, UK
Author-Name: Stavroula Chrona
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of European and International Studies, King’s College London, UK
Abstract: This study examines the complexity of citizens’ political affectivity in Turkey. Drawing from componential models of affect, we rely on situational (motive consistent versus inconsistent) and motivational state (gain or loss) appraisals to test hypotheses on systematic differences in the clusters of political affect that span beyond the traditionally measured discrete emotional reactions of anger, hope, pride and fear. Using qualitative interview data from 2012, we develop a topography of affect clusters and systems of associations between political concepts. We find citizens express their emotionality in rich terms. They are linked to appraisals of multiple political objects, they reflect aversive, anxious, loss and gain oriented emotional responses, and they are guided by citizens’ ideological orientations. This study is valuable as it addresses a significant gap in the study of political affect going beyond their discrete categorizations. It introduces a mapping methodology as an effective way of capturing the complexity of affect systems, and it reveals powerful insights into the depth and richness of emotions based on appraisal dimensions, enriching our understanding of political tensions and developments in Turkish politics and beyond.
Keywords: affect; appraisals; cognitive affective maps; emotions; ideology; interviews; political affectivity; Turkey
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:4:p:144-158

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Interwar Blueprints of Europe: Emotions, Experience and Expectation
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1522
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i4.1522
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 4
Pages: 135-143
Author-Name: Trineke Palm
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of History and Art History, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Abstract: The notion of European integration has been contested from its very start. In the interwar period many ideas were floating around on how to shape European unity. These interwar Blueprints for Europe have to be understood in the context of conflicting and contradictory emotions of enmity and amity. This article looks at the emotive vocabulary of the canonical text of Coudenhove-Kalergi’s <em>Pan-Europa. </em>It applies an emotion discourse analysis, using Koselleck’s notion of “space of experience” and “horizon of expectation”. As such it shows the connection between the understanding and use of time and emotions in discourse—thereby demonstrating the necessity of “reading” the blueprints of European integration as highly normative and moral claims on the design of this European order.
Keywords: Coudenhove-Kalergi; discourse; European integration; emotion; interwar; pan-Europa
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:4:p:135-143

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Appropriately Upset? A Methodological Framework for Tracing the Emotion Norms of the Transatlantic Security Community
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1501
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i4.1501
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 4
Pages: 125-134
Author-Name: Simon Koschut
Author-Workplace-Name: Otto Suhr Institute for Political Science, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Abstract: Emotions have been found to underpin the moral hierarchy of values and beliefs within and among groups by restraining undesirable attitudes and behavior. As such, emotions serve as potential indicators for analyzing whether or not certain norms are still deemed relevant. As Jon Mercer puts it: “One way to test for the presence of norms is to look for emotion”. While the literature in International Relations (IR) generally accepts the emotional underpinnings of norms, there has been strikingly little elaboration of appropriate methods and criteria for studying the link between emotion and norms in IR. In this contribution, I suggest that socialization processes in a security community involve the internalization of appropriate rules of emotional expression or, in short, emotion norms. I propose that emotion norms can be historically traced via the emotional vocabulary and expressive rules derived from the production of texts. To do this, I searched for documents and treaties that serve as canonical texts for the collective self-conception and self-image of the transatlantic security community. As I hope to show, in these texts one can find substantial evidence of emotion norms, which designates these documents as ‘emotional landmarks’ that embody the emotional construction of the transatlantic emotional (security) community.
Keywords: emotions; methodology; norms; security community; transatlantic security community
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:4:p:125-134

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Friendship and Positive Peace: Conceptualising Friendship in Politics and International Relations
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1728
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i4.1728
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 4
Pages: 115-124
Author-Name: Yuri van Hoef
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of History and Art History, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Author-Name: Andrea Oelsner
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Social Sciences, University of San Andrés, Argentina
Abstract: In recent years, the study of friendship has gained traction in political science. The aim of this article is threefold: (1) to offer an overview of the status of friendship studies and how it relates to the emotional turn in international relations, (2) to present a wide variety of different approaches to studying friendship, and (3) to highlight the contribution that a friendship perspective can make to other fields, such as Peace and Conflict Studies. From Aristotle and Plato onwards, we trace the development of the concept of friendship, and present several theoretical conceptualisations and methodological approaches that can be readily applied when making sense of friendship, both on a personal level between elite actors, and on the international level between states. We end by drawing attention to the merit of the study of friendship specifically for the field of Peace and Conflict Studies, where it helps to address the lacuna of research on positive peace.
Keywords: affect; emotions; friendship; international relations; Johan Galtung; peace and conflict studies; peace research; politics; positive peace; state leaders
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:4:p:115-124

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: The Advocacy of Feelings: Emotions in EU-Based Civil Society Organizations’ Strategies
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1505
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i4.1505
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 4
Pages: 103-114
Author-Name: Rosa Sanchez Salgado
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Abstract: European Union (EU)-based Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are usually pictured as well-established professionalized actors basing their advocacy strategies on the provision of expertise. Does the focus on expertise imply the removal of emotions and feelings from political communication? Following the emotion turn in social movement and collective action studies, this article investigates how and why EU-based CSOs use emotions in their advocacy strategies. The article shows first how CSOs use rhetorical appeals to emotions and rhetorical appeals to reason in their communication. Secondly, the focus is directed to emotion-inspired advocacy strategies, namely blaming and shaming, fear-mongering and boosting. The choice of rhetorical appeals and strategies is mainly explained by three different inter-related factors: the logics of influence, the logics of membership and media logics. Empirical data is drawn from a content analysis of press releases and policy documents of environmental (climate change) and human rights (refugee crisis) CSOs active at the EU level and from semi-structured interviews with key CSO representatives.
Keywords: civil society organizations; emotions; European Union; feelings; interest groups
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:4:p:103-114

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Understanding Emotions in Policy Studies through Foucault and Deleuze
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1528
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i4.1528
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 4
Pages: 95-102
Author-Name: Anna Durnová
Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Advanced Studies, Austria
Abstract: Discussing Foucault’s and Deleuze’s work on meaning-making, the article argues that we might make better use of the intersubjectivity of a meaning when interpreting emotions. Interpreting emotions in texts remains complicated because discussion on the ontological character of emotions sustains an opposition of emotion to meaning structures. Both Foucault and Deleuze conceive meaning-making through permanent oscillation between the subjective accounts of a meaning and its collective interpretation. These two dimensions are not in conflict but create meaning through their interdependence. On the basis of this interdependence, we can conceive of an interpretive analysis of emotions as a way to study language means that label particular emotions as relevant, legitimized, or useful. This shift of the debate on emotions away from what emotions <em>are</em> and toward what they <em>mean</em> enhances the critical shape of interpretive analysis of emotions because it uncovers conflicts hidden behind the veil of allegedly neutral policy instruments.
Keywords: Deleuze; emotion; Foucault; interpretation; interpretive analysis; knowledge; meaning; policy studies
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:4:p:95-102

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Getting the Story Right: A Constructivist Interpretation of Storytelling in the Context of UK Parliamentary Engagement
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1580
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i4.1580
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 4
Pages: 83-94
Author-Name: Alex Michael Prior
Author-Workplace-Name: School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds, UK
Abstract: This article examines Parliament’s use of storytelling techniques as a means of representing itself to citizens, and representing citizens to themselves. It does so with reference to the ‘constructivist turn’ in representation literature—particularly its emphasis on co-constitutive meaning-making—which, as this article shows, is also applicable to studies of engagement and narrative. Storytelling constitutes a vital means of engagement, yet has hitherto received insufficient scholarly attention within a parliamentary context. This lacuna is all the more significant when considering the emotional and often informal means of participation that increasingly characterise the UK’s political landscape. In relating storytelling to parliamentary engagement (and emphasising the co-constitutive qualities of both), an innovative visual analogy (based on fractals) will illustrate the conductivity of storytelling to two pursuits: Parliament’s attempts to represent itself within the political sphere, and its claims to be relevant to citizens. Both of these pursuits represent key tenets of Parliament’s responsibility to engage, and to mediate between citizens and governance. Through the theoretical lens presented here, Parliament’s attempts to engage through storytelling will be examined according to the techniques used, and their likelihood of reaching an audience that, in constructivist terms, is created through this act of representation.
Keywords: constructivist turn; emotions; engagement; narrative; parliament; participation; representation; storytelling
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:4:p:83-94

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Emotional Interest Representation and the Politics of Risk in Child Protection
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1521
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i4.1521
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 4
Pages: 73-82
Author-Name: Jo Warner
Author-Workplace-Name: School of Social Policy, Sociology & Social Research, University of Kent, UK
Abstract: This article explores the emotional dimensions of political representation by British Members of Parliament (MP) in relation to child protection. The public speech acts and first-hand accounts of three MPs are drawn upon as examples. These highlight different forms of emotional interest representation that arise following the death of a local child from severe abuse or neglect and in response to anxieties in the community about risk. Firstly, I examine the role of the MP in seeking to embody their constituency in the public expression of collective emotional responses and to defend it from feelings of guilt and shame. Personal feelings of guilt and a consciousness of the politician’s role in attributing blame are then considered. Thirdly, I explore the role of the MP as trusted envoy for anxieties about risk to individual children within their constituencies. The article draws on Berezin’s concept of the secure state and Hochschild’s notion of politicians as feeling legislators, and is based on qualitative documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews with MPs. It is argued that the emotional processes outlined are central to understanding the problematic relationship between politics and state social work that fuels the cycle of crisis and reform in children’s services in the UK.
Keywords: child protection; emotion; Members of Parliament; representation; risk; social work
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:4:p:73-82

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Emotions and Political Narratives: Populism, Trump and Trade
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1574
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i4.1574
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 4
Pages: 62-72
Author-Name: Amy Skonieczny
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of International Relations, San Francisco State University, USA
Abstract: In 2016, a wave of American populism triggered emotional reactions to issues like trade and immigration, and dramatically impacted the Obama administration’s plans to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) during President Obama’s final year in office. This article asks how do emotions infuse populism with political power, and why was populism effective in sparking American economic nationalism and retreat from free trade during the 2016 presidential campaign? Drawing on a psychoanalytic, narrative framework, the article argues that populist narratives deployed by US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders characterized the American economy as a story of the people versus corrupt elites offering greater audience resonance that ultimately derailed President Obama’s plan to pass the TPP and ushered in an era of economic nationalism under President Trump. The article contributes to the literature on emotions and foreign policy and explores the under-studied <em>emotional</em> features of populism as a discursive narrative.
Keywords: economic nationalism; emotions; identity; narratives; populism; trade; Trans-Pacific Partnership; Trump; US foreign policy
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:4:p:62-72

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: The Pitfalls of “Love and Kindness”: On the Challenges to Compassion/Pity as a Political Emotion
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1393
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i4.1393
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 4
Pages: 53-61
Author-Name: Anne-Kathrin Weber
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Giessen, Germany
Abstract: Martha Nussbaum’s political theory of compassion offers an extensive and compelling study of the potential of employing compassionate emotions in the political realm to further social justice and societal “love”. In this article, two pitfalls of Nussbaum’s affirming theory of a politics of compassion are highlighted: the problem of a dual-level hierarchisation and the “magic” of feeling compassion that potentially removes the subject of compassion from reality. I will argue that Hannah Arendt’s thoughts on pity provide substantial challenges to a democratic theory of compassion in this respect. Following these theoretical reflections, I will turn to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 US-American presidential election campaign, to her video ads “Love and Kindness” in particular, in order to provide fitting illustrations from current realpolitik for these specific pitfalls of the political employment of compassionate emotions.
Keywords: compassion; emotions; Hannah Arendt; Hillary Clinton; Martha Nussbaum; pity
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:4:p:53-61

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Emotions in Politics and International Relations
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1822
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i4.1822
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 4
Pages: 48-52
Author-Name: Alex Prior
Author-Workplace-Name: School of Politics and International Studies, Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law, University of Leeds, UK
Author-Name: Yuri van Hoef
Author-Workplace-Name: History of International Relations, Department of History and Art History, Faculty of Humanities, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Abstract: The ‘emotional turn’ within the social sciences and humanities attracts increasing scholarly attention. Political Science, traditionally emphasising the ‘rational’ public sphere rather than the ‘emotional’ private sphere, has increasingly questioned this dichotomisation, identifying broader political concepts and practices. The international political process—frequently characterised by widespread distrust, populist campaigns and extreme rhetoric—necessitates addressing and examining its underlying emotions. Informal, affective manifestations of politics are enormously influential, profoundly shaping inter- and intra-national democracy; they accordingly require interdisciplinary study. This thematic issue of <em>Politics and Governance</em> includes disciplines as diverse as education, history, international relations, political theory, psychology, and sociology. In doing so, we illustrate that emotions are cross-disciplinary concerns, relevant beyond the study of politics.
Keywords: affect; emotions; friendship; individualisation; interdisciplinary; international relations; narratives; political history; political science
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:4:p:48-52

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Cloud Computing in Singapore: Key Drivers and Recommendations for a Smart Nation
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1757
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i4.1757
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 4
Pages: 39-47
Author-Name: Reuben Ng
Author-Workplace-Name: Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Abstract: Cloud computing adoption enables big data applications in governance and policy. Singapore’s adoption of cloud computing is propelled by five key drivers: (1) public demand for and satisfaction with e-government services; (2) focus on whole-of-government policies and practices; (3) restructuring of technology agencies to integrate strategy and implementation; (4) building the Smart Nation Platform; (5) purpose-driven cloud applications especially in healthcare. This commentary also provides recommendations to propel big data applications in public policy and management: (a) technologically, embrace cloud analytics, and explore “fog computing”—an emerging technology that enables on-site data sense-making before transmission to the cloud; (b) promote regulatory sandboxes to experiment with policies that proactively manage novel technologies and business models that may radically change society; (c) on the collaboration front, establish unconventional partnerships to co-innovate on challenges like the skills-gap—an example is the unprecedented partnership led by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy with the government, private sector and unions.
Keywords: big data; cloud computing; public management; psychomics; public policy; Singapore; smart city
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:4:p:39-47

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Big Data under Obama and Trump: The Data-Fueled U.S. Presidency
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1565
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i4.1565
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 4
Pages: 29-39
Author-Name: Barbara Trish
Author-Workplace-Name: Political Science Department, Grinnell College, USA
Abstract: The much-heralded use of data, analytics, and evidence-based decisions marks the U.S. presidency, wherein many processes and decisions are structured by the analysis of data. An approach with historical precedent, reliance on data was prominent under Obama, and is even under Trump, despite signals to the contrary. This article examines three cases from the Obama era: microtargeting in electoral campaigns, performance management in government, and signature drone strikes employed by the national security apparatus. It also reflects on the early Trump administration. The processes described are highly dependent on data, technically big data in two instances. The article examines the cases both on their own terms and in the context of a critical lens that directs attention to the political economy of the data. The analysis helps unpack the allure of data and analytics as well as the challenges in structuring an environment with a measured approach to data and big data, which would examine both their potential and drawback.
Keywords: analytics; big data; data; drone strikes; evidence-based; microtargeting; Obama; performance management; president; Trump
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:4:p:29-39

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Realising the Benefits of Integrated Data for Local Policymaking: Rhetoric versus Reality
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1586
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i4.1586
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 4
Pages: 18-28
Author-Name: Hannah Durrant
Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath, UK
Author-Name: Julie Barnett
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Psychology and Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath, UK
Author-Name: Emily Suzanne Rempel
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Psychology and Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath, UK
Abstract: This article presents findings from local government projects to realise the benefits of big data for policy. Through participatory action research with two local statutory authorities in the South West of England, we observed the activities of identifying, integrating and analysing multiple and diverse forms of data, including large administrative datasets, to generate insights on live policy priorities and inform decision-making. We reveal the significance of both data production and policymaking contexts in explaining how big data of this kind can be called upon and enacted in policy processes.
Keywords: big data; integrated data; local government; policymaking
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:4:p:18-28

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: The Limits of Policy Analytics: Early Examples and the Emerging Boundary of Possibilities
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1561
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i4.1561
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 4
Pages: 5-17
Author-Name: Justin Longo
Author-Workplace-Name: Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Regina, Canada
Author-Name: Alan Rodney Dobell
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for Global Studies, University of Victoria, Canada
Abstract: Policy analytics has emerged as a modification of traditional policy analysis, where the discrete stages of the policy cycle are reformulated into a continuous, real-time system of big data collection, data analytics, and ubiquitous, connected technologies that provides the basis for more precise problem definition, policy experimentation for revealing detailed insights into system dynamics, and ongoing assessment of the impact of micro-scale policy interventions to nudge behaviour towards desired policy objectives. Theoretical and applied work in policy analytics research and practice is emerging that offers a persuasive case for the future possibilities of a real-time approach to policymaking and governance. However, policy problems often operate on long time cycles where the effect of policy interventions on behaviour and decisions can be observed only over long periods, and often only indirectly. This article surveys examples in the policy analytics literature, infers from those examples some characteristics of the policy problems and settings that lend themselves to a policy analytics approach, and suggests the boundaries of feasible policy analytics. Rather than imagine policy analytics as a universal replacement for the decades-old policy analysis approach, a sense of this boundary will allow us to more effectively consider the appropriate application of real-time policy analytics.
Keywords: adaptive management; agency; big data; data analytics; governance; nested institutions; nudging; policy analysis; policy analytics
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:4:p:5-17

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Big Data Applications in Governance and Policy
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1810
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i4.1810
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 4
Pages: 1-4
Author-Name: Sarah Giest
Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Public Administration, Leiden University, The Netherlands
Author-Name: Reuben Ng
Author-Workplace-Name: Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Abstract: The editorial sets the scene for this thematic issue on big data applications in governance and policy. It highlights the lack of engagement in the current literature with the application of big data at the cross-section of governance of data and its utilization in the policy process and draws out aspects related to its definition and future research agenda. The contributions highlight several aspects related to big data in different contexts, such as local and national government as well as a variety of policy areas. They converge on the idea that big data applications cannot overcome existing political and structural limitations that exist in government. This leads to a future research agenda that looks at the disconnect between data production and usage as well as identifying policy issues that are more or less suitable for data analytics.
Keywords: big data; governance; policy analytics; policymaking; politics
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:4:p:1-4

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Healthcare Reform Repeal Efforts in the United States in 2017: An Inquiry into Public Advocacy Efforts by Key Interest Groups
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1507
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i3.1507
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 3
Pages: 190-204
Author-Name: John Hoornbeek
Author-Workplace-Name: Center for Public Policy and Health, College of Public Health, Kent State University, USA
Author-Name: Bethany Lanese
Author-Workplace-Name: College of Public Health, Kent State University, USA
Author-Name: Mutlaq Albugmi
Author-Workplace-Name: Center for Public Policy and Health, College of Public Health, Kent State University, USA
Author-Name: Joshua Filla
Author-Workplace-Name: Center for Public Policy and Health, College of Public Health, Kent State University, USA
Abstract: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was subjected to repeated repeal and replace efforts in the United States Congress in 2017. Attempts to repeal and replace the law failed, but penalties for not complying with its mandate that individuals purchase health insurance were removed in tax legislation passed late in the year and administrative actions taken by President Trump yielded additional concerns about the stability of the law’s reform approach and the expanded health insurance access that it created. This article explores public advocacy efforts by key interest groups from three major policy sectors—health providers, the insurance industry, and the business community—that had served as an “axis of opposition” to past American healthcare reform efforts. It identifies resource and incentive policy feedback effects that appear likely to influence these groups due to design features of the ACA and assesses whether patterns of advocacy efforts in 2017 are consistent with what might be expected if these design features had their predicted effects. Our assessment reveals patterns of interest group advocacy that are consistent with what might be expected to arise from resource and incentive based policy feedback effects, and interest group political dynamics that differ from what was in place prior to passage of the ACA. It also reveals advocacy patterns that are not well explained by resource and incentive based policy feedback effects, and—in so doing—yields insights that are relevant to the design of policy reforms and future research.
Keywords: Affordable Care Act; Obamacare; policy feedback; policy design; policy reform; resource-incentives; resource effects; sustainability of policy reforms
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:3:p:190-204

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Disaster Risk Governance in Indonesia and Myanmar: The Practice of Co-Governance
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1598
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i3.1598
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 3
Pages: 180-189
Author-Name: Annisa Gita Srikandini
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of International Relations, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia
Author-Name: Dorothea Hilhorst
Author-Workplace-Name: International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Author-Name: Roanne van Voorst
Author-Workplace-Name: International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Abstract: This article discusses the discourse and practice of co-governance in disaster risk reduction (DRR). It is based on an extensive ethnographic study of DRR at global level and in two disaster-prone countries in Southeast Asia: Indonesia and Myanmar. These country cases were selected not only because of their similarly high vulnerability to disasters, but also because the overlaps and differences between them in disaster governance allowed for a comparative study of the impacts of co-governance in DRR. Indonesia is characterised by a longer history with democratic governance institutions and a largely national-led response to disasters; Myanmar has only started to develop DRR in the last 10 years, and its policies are still largely led by international actors. In both countries, disaster response has shifted from being top-down and state-centred to following a co-governance approach. This reflects a worldwide trend in DRR, the idea being that co-governance, where different state and non-state stakeholders are involved in governance networks, will lead to more inclusive and effective DRR. Our findings suggest that, in Myanmar and Indonesia, DRR has indeed become more inclusive. However, at the same time, we find that DRR in both countries has remained highly hierarchical and state-centred. Although the possible gains of encouraging future initiatives among different actors negotiating disaster response is under-explored, we find that, to date, the multiplication of actors involved in DRR, especially within the state, has led to an increasingly complex, competitive system that negatively affects the ability to conduct DRR.
Keywords: disaster risk reduction; Indonesia; governance; Myanmar; Sendai Framework
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:3:p:180-189

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Dependent, Deprived or Deviant? The Case of Single Mothers in Denmark
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1436
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i3.1436
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 3
Pages: 170-179
Author-Name: Martin Bak Jørgensen
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Culture and Global Studies, Aalborg University, Denmark
Abstract: The article explores how categories of deserving and undeserving groups are established in policy designs and how social target groups are constructed according to such distinctions. Institutionalised systems of exclusion and inclusion have a profound impact on citizenship and substantial democracy. Neoliberalist political ideas and attitudes have strengthened the focus on deserving and undeserving groups over the last years and spurred a popular belief that welfare fraud is rampant. This tendency has led to a retrenchment of established rights and increasing use of illiberal means to further punish the undeserving. This article discusses these issues further by looking at the position of lone mothers in Denmark and how they constitute a social target group defined by their class, gender, ethnic, and religious differences. Categories of deservingness are also framed in national narratives and politics of belonging.
Keywords: Denmark; deservingness; single mother; social exclusion; welfare state; women
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:3:p:170-179

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Scrutinizing Virtual Citizen Involvement in Planning: Ten Applications of an Online Participatory Tool
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1481
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i3.1481
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 3
Pages: 159-169
Author-Name: Mattias Hjerpe
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research, Department of Thematic Studies―Environmental Change, Linköping University, Sweden
Author-Name: Erik Glaas
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research, Department of Thematic Studies―Environmental Change, Linköping University, Sweden
Author-Name: Sofie Storbjörk
Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research, Department of Thematic Studies―Environmental Change, Linköping University, Sweden
Abstract: How to organize citizen participation in planning is continuously debated. The amount of Online Participatory Tools (OPTs) to facilitate inclusive and efficient participation has increased. While studies have assessed their functionality, usability and effectiveness in planning, they have rarely analyzed OPTs beyond single-cases, targeted tools that are widely used or assessed how OPTs affect broader values of participation. Targeting this absence, this study analyzes how ten applications of a widely used OPT, CityPlanner™, affect the normative, substantive and instrumental values of citizen participatory planning in Swedish cities. By analyzing 1,354 citizen proposals and interviewing urban planners, we find that citizens more extensively submit proposals and initiate debates on planning when using the OPT. Results suggest a more even age and gender distribution among proposal users than with conventional methods, facilitating normative values of participation. The OPT was generally applied early in planning and generated high-quality inputs. Our results, however, nuance previous analyses by also emphasizing the importance of place-specificity of OPT applications and of joint participation strategies among departments. Key for OPT development includes the need to improve their ability to analyze overarching trends among inputs.
Keywords: citizen participation; governance; online participatory tools; planning; visualization
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:3:p:159-169

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Applying a Typology of Governance Modes to Climate Change Adaptation
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1432
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i3.1432
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 3
Pages: 147-158
Author-Name: Danny Bednar
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Geography, Western University, Canada
Author-Name: Daniel Henstra
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Waterloo, Canada
Abstract: Climate change adaptation is a complex field of public policy that requires action by multiple levels of government, the private sector, and civil society. In recent years, increasing scholarly attention has been focused on the governance of adaptation, which has included exploring alternatives to state-centric models of decision-making and identifying appropriate roles and responsibilities of multiple actors to achieve desired outcomes. Scholars have called for greater clarity in distinguishing between different approaches to adaptation governance. Drawing on the rich scholarship about public governance, this article articulates and applies a typology of four modes of governance by which adaptation takes place (hierarchy, market, network, and community). Using examples of initiatives from across Canada, the article offers a framework for describing, comparing, and evaluating the governance of adaptation initiatives.
Keywords: climate change; adaptation; governance; typology; Canada
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:3:p:147-158

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Patterns of Conflict and Mobilization: Mapping Interest Group Activity in EU Legislative Policymaking
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1267
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i3.1267
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 3
Pages: 136-146
Author-Name: Arndt Wonka
Author-Workplace-Name: Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences, University of Bremen, Germany
Author-Name: Iskander De Bruycker
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Antwerp, Belgium
Author-Name: Dirk De Bièvre
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Antwerp, Belgium
Author-Name: Caelesta Braun
Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Public Administration, University of Leiden, The Netherlands
Author-Name: Jan Beyers
Author-Workplace-Name: University of Antwerp
Abstract: Contemporary studies on interest group politics have mainly used single interest organizations as their central objects of study. This has led to a rich body of knowledge on the motivations of interest group mobilization, strategy development and even policy access and influence. The focus on single interest groups, however, has resulted in limited knowledge on aggregate patterns of interest groups’ activity. This article seeks to address this lacuna, by examining patterns of mobilization and conflict of interest groups’ activity in EU legislative policymaking. To do so, it adopts a unique policy-centred research design and an empirical assessment of policy mobilization for a sample of 125 EU legislative proposals based on extensive media coding as well as structured elite interviews. We find that levels of policy mobilization vary substantively across different legislative proposals and that political conflict between interest groups is remarkably low. This suggests that interest group conflict and mobilization contribute little to EU politicization and that in cases where interest groups voice opposing positions, conflicts do not occur between business and non-business groups. Our findings have important implications for our understanding of interest groups in EU legislative policymaking.
Keywords: European Union; interest groups; legislative policy-making; mobilization; political conflict
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:3:p:136-146

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Transnational Municipal Climate Networks and the Politics of Standardisation: The Contested Role of Climate Data in the New Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1111
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i3.1111
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 3
Pages: 126-135
Author-Name: Friederike Gesing
Author-Workplace-Name: artec Sustainability Research Center, University of Bremen, Germany
Abstract: This article analyses the formation of a new global network, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate &amp; Energy (GCoM), by two existing initiatives, the EU-based Covenant of Mayors and the UN-supported Compact of Mayors. While this merger of two transnational networks provides evidence for the increased coordination and standardisation of transnational municipal climate action, this remains a contentious and incomplete process. The article identifies different modes of transnational climate governance that have contributed to conflict between the founding networks and zooms in on the role of municipal climate data. Using empirical evidence, it analyses the contested politics of municipal climate data, including the role of the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC) as a standard tool, the definition of a common target, and the inclusion of financial actors. Concerns over the reshaping of public-private boundaries and the possible commodification of public data are identified as major obstacles for the (EU) Covenant of Mayors, which consequentially seeks to remain as independent as possible within the new GCoM. Data politics emerges as a crucial factor for the future direction of transnational municipal climate policy and the ongoing processes of standardisation and coordination.
Keywords: cities and climate change; Compact of Mayors; Covenant of Mayors; Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy; Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories; multi-level governance; municipal climate data
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:3:p:126-135

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Plea for an Emic Approach Towards ‘Ugly Movements’: Lessons from the Divisions within the Italian Pro-Life Movement
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1479
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i3.1479
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 3
Pages: 112-125
Author-Name: Martina Avanza
Author-Workplace-Name: Institut d'Etudes Politiques, Historiques et Internationales-CRAPUL, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Abstract: Studies of the pro-life movement have invariably been undertaken in relation to the pro-choice movement. The stress on comparison has tended to homogenize the two sides, thus understating their internal differences. This article extends beyond an analysis bounded by a movement―countermovement dichotomy. Based on ethnographic data and on the Italian case, it considers several questions that arise from revealing the intramovement divisions at various levels. First, there are tensions relating to the relationship between orthodoxy and institutionalized politics: how far, if at all, should there be doctrinal compromises in exchange for influence over public policy? Secondly, the conflicts over modes of action. In this respect, should protests be visible in public spaces, and if so how? These two issues govern the tense relationship between the <em>Movimento per la Vita</em> and more radical groups. Thirdly, the issue that divides the <em>Movimento </em>itself; the ongoing dialogue over the attitude to be taken towards contraception, and thus sexuality. At the heart of these intramovement struggles is the definition of what a ‘real’ pro-life movement is, and how a ‘real’ pro-life movement should mobilize. This article reveals a complex and highly fragmented image of the pro-life movement that, like every social movement of a certain size, is heterogeneous in its demographic composition, objectives and strategies. To show this complexity, the article adopts an emic approach that does not limit itself to a reading of conservative movements through the eyes of progressive movements.
Keywords: abortion; anti-feminism; countermovement; emic; ethnography; intramovement conflicts; Italy; pro-life; ‘ugly movements’
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:3:p:112-125

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Gendered Strategies between Democratization and Democratic Reversal: The Curious Case of Turkey
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1423
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i3.1423
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 3
Pages: 101-111
Author-Name: Hürcan Asli Aksoy
Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Political Science, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
Abstract: The processes of democratization or democratic reversal have serious implications for gender equality regimes. Although the gender and transition literature has extensively examined the relation between democratization and gender, it only recently began to question how the changing dynamics of democratic reversal influence gender politics and policies. While women’s participation and representation in the formal arena of politics has been the primary object of theoretical discussions, the research rediscovers the power of the informal arena. To find tentative answers to the newly developing research agenda, this article employs the case of Turkey. To this end, the article examines the gendered strategies of four groups of organized women (feminist, Kurdish, Islamist, and Kemalist women’s organizations) engaged in strengthening women’s rights and gender equality. It first questions how, and to what extent, organized women en<em>gendered </em>democratization process and then sheds lights on the shift in their strategies to respond to the increasingly authoritarian and conservative Islamist political agenda of the ruling Justice and Development Party. Drawing on empirical findings, the article aims to inform the theoretical debates on the analytical relation between democratic reversals and gender rights regimes.
Keywords: democratic reversal; democratization; gender politics; Justice and Development Party; organized women; Turkey
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:3:p:101-111

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Towards a Conceptual Framework for Struggles over Democracy in Backsliding States: Gender Equality Policy in Central Eastern Europe
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1414
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i3.1414
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 3
Pages: 90-100
Author-Name: Andrea Krizsan
Author-Workplace-Name: Center for Policy Studies, Central European University, Hungary
Author-Name: Conny Roggeband
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Abstract: Trends of de-democratization across Europe and the Americas are emerging, along with opposition to gender equality and threats to previous gender equality policy gains. Yet de-democratization has been barely analysed through the lens of gender equality, and so far, efforts to systematically analyse the implications for inclusive democracy and the representation of gender interests are lacking. Backsliding in gender policies, and new forms of feminist engagement with hostile states and publics, also raise new challenges to the literature on gender and politics. In this article we explore gender equality policy backsliding in fragile democracies. Backsliding and de-democratization processes in these contexts pose a series of important challenges to how we have thought about gender policy change in progressive, mainly Western democratic contexts until now. We propose a conceptual framework discussing these two conceptually interesting realms: backsliding in gender equality policies, and feminist responses to backsliding. We illustrate our framework with empirical observations from four backsliding or temporarily backsliding Central and Eastern European countries: Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Romania. With our article we aim to contribute to the understanding of gendered aspects of de-democratization both in gender and politics literature and in mainstream democratization literature.
Keywords: backsliding; Central and Eastern Europe; democracy; feminism; fragile democracy; gender; resilience; women’s movements
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:3:p:90-100

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Gender Equality and De-Democratization Processes: The Case of Spain
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1419
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i3.1419
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 3
Pages: 78-89
Author-Name: Alba Alonso
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science and Sociology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Author-Name: Emanuela Lombardo
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science and Administration, Madrid Complutense University, Spain / Instituto de Investigaciones Feministas, Madrid Complutense University, Spain
Abstract: Democracy is an ally of the feminist project and a necessary condition for its success. The European post-crisis context shows evidence of de-democratization processes that represent a remarkable challenge. This article investigates gender equality and processes of de-democratization in Spain in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis. It argues that neoliberalism, authoritarian shifts, and political corruption are three key dimensions of the processes of de-democratization in Spain that contribute to oppose gender equality. However, political contestation and feminist collective agency both in movements and institutions have played a key role in counteracting these dynamics. Civil society and feminist movements’ struggles for democracy, equality and social justice, the role of new populist left parties in channeling some of the protesters’ demands, gender equality institutions keeping gender on the agenda despite austerity cuts, and new local governments emerging from civic platforms after the 2015 elections have been effective in resisting attacks to Spanish democracy. A thorough revision of academic literature and other secondary sources helps to capture the specificities of this complex political setting.
Keywords: gender equality; de-democratization; Spain; feminist project
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:3:p:78-89

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Is Europe Cascading into Fascism? Addressing Key Concepts including Gender and Violence
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1438
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i3.1438
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 3
Pages: 67-77
Author-Name: Sylvia Walby
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
Abstract: Is Europe cascading into fascism? The answer to this question matters for understanding the opposition to gender equality projects in Europe. The article addresses some of the key concepts needed to answer this question. Is ‘fascism’ or ‘authoritarian neoliberalism’ or just ‘neoliberalism’ the most appropriate concept to capture the turn to the right? The article compares the extent to which these concepts encompass ‘violence’ and ‘gender’. ‘Fascism’ is an important benchmark from European history, but Europe has not yet reached its levels of violence. The qualifier ‘authoritarian’ is not needed for ‘neoliberalism’ since it generates a trajectory towards violence. Some conceptual work is required in order to develop ‘neoliberalism’ to encompass ‘gender’ and ‘violence’, but there are bodies of work that support such a development. Including gender in analyses of the macro level changes occurring in Europe requires the concept of ‘varieties of gender regime’, which enables the conceptualisation of neoliberalism as gendered.
Keywords: Europe; fascism; gender; violence
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:3:p:67-77

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: A Foe of Democracy, Gender and Sexual Equality in Macedonia: The Worrisome Role of the Party VMRO-DPMNE
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1415
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i3.1415
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 3
Pages: 55-66
Author-Name: Ana Miškovska Kajevska
Author-Workplace-Name: Political Science Department, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Abstract: Between 2006 and 2017, the political power in the Republic of Macedonia was predominantly held by the Christian-democratic party VMRO-DPMNE. Its increasing opposition to gender and sexual equality manifested, inter alia, in the imposition of an antidiscrimination law, which did not explicitly recognise sexual orientation as a ground of discrimination, the replacement of the rather liberal abortion law with a restrictive one, and the two attempts to constitutionally define marriage as a heterosexual union. Building upon earlier inquiries into the development of the LGBT movement in Macedonia and the introduction of the new abortion law, I examine here the discourse which the ruling coalitions used to justify the removal of the term ‘sexual orientation’ from the antidiscrimination law, and the need for a constitutional definition of marriage. I explore further how the authorities pushed their conservative agenda by undermining democracy through infringement of the official legislative procedures and suppression of dissent. In closing, I underline the retrograde impact of de-democratisation on the already and the yet to be attained progressive legislation and practices in the realm of gender and sexual equality.
Keywords: Between 2006 and 2017, the political power in the Republic of Macedonia was predominantly held by the Christian-democratic party VMRO-DPMNE. Its increasing opposition to gender and sexual equality manifested, inter alia, in the imposition of an antidiscri
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:3:p:55-66

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Antifeminist and “Truly Liberated”: Conservative Performances of Gender by Women Politicians in Hungary and Romania
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1417
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i3.1417
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 3
Pages: 43-54
Author-Name: Ov Cristian Norocel
Author-Workplace-Name: Atelier Genre(s) et Sexualité(s), Institut de Sociologie, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Abstract: This article employs a two-level analysis to compare the discursive performance of gender on social media in Hungary and Romania; the two countries with the lowest percentage of women in politics in the European Union (EU). First, by revealing the tension between conservative views about gender roles, and social and political specificities in the two countries, the research illustrates how various parties on the conservative right ideological continuum―from the center-right to right-wing populism―relate to the feminist project. Secondly, it analyzes how selected women politicians within this continuum negotiate their ideological beliefs about gender roles with their political career interests, by means of social media (Facebook). The analytical constructs of idealized motherhood and feminine toughness are employed to examine a period of intensive political campaigning in 2014 in both Hungary and Romania. The study triangulates the multi-layered discursive circumstances (the historical, contextual, and social media contexts) in Hungary and Romania, and maps out the similarities and differences that are disclosed when comparing the selected women politicians. The article makes a significant theoretical and empirical contribution to scholarship on gender and conservatism in particular and raises questions for the wider study of gender, politics, and social media in general.
Keywords: conservatism; Eastern Europe; Facebook; feminism; gender; ideological continuum; politics; right-wing populism; social media; women
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:3:p:43-54

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: The Dark Side of Descriptive Representation: Bodies, Normalisation and Exclusion
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1412
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i3.1412
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 3
Pages: 31-42
Author-Name: Petra Meier
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Antwerp, Belgium
Author-Name: Eline Severs
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
Abstract: This contribution elaborates on the role model function of descriptive representatives. We seek to elaborate on potentially negative effects of role models, as we think they can endanger a feminist project of dismantling hierarchical power relations. When society attributes descriptive representatives the position of role models, the former no longer simply stand for their groups in a socio-demographic manner. Role models also stand for them in an exemplary manner, allowing them to prescribe a set of appropriate or desirable traits and behaviours. The presence and performance of role models, thus, powerfully shapes the context to the representation of disadvantaged groups. Because of their exemplary function, the personal experiences and life trajectory of descriptive representatives may be elevated to a standard; potentially causing the interests and demands of other group members to be considered abnormal or marginal. Also, role models may, paradoxically, promote exclusion. Representatives’ social differences provide them with powerful symbolic resources to speak on behalf of their group. While such authority may help them put previously overlooked interests on the agenda, their personal take on things may limit the terms of the debate, as it cuts out alternative intersections of social positions; making it difficult to voice alternative group perspectives. In this regard, role models may hamper the feminist project which precisely implies giving voice to excluded groups so as to broaden the range of voices articulated.
Keywords: alternative voices; descriptive representation; feminism; political role models; symbolic representation
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:3:p:31-42

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Gender Knowledge, and Opposition to the Feminist Project: Extreme-Right Populist Parties in the Netherlands
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1456
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i3.1456
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 3
Pages: 20-30
Author-Name: Mieke Verloo
Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Management Research, Radboud University, the Netherlands
Abstract: This article aims to better understand current opposition to feminist politics by analyzing positions of extreme-right populist parties on gender knowledge, “explicit and implicit representations concerning the differences between the sexes and the relations between them, the origins and normative significance of these, the rationale and evidence underpinning them and their material form” (Cavaghan, 2017, p. 48). These understandings contribute to constructing a societal truth on gender and/or to setting the terms of the political debate about gender issues. This article introduces and uses the theoretical concept of episteme to highlight the systematic nature of discursive institutional settings, and the role knowledge and truth production plays in processes reproducing or countering gender inequality. The article analyzes the positions of extreme-right populist parties in the Netherlands and their discursive attacks on the feminist project in the Netherlands, in which these opponents use a redefined concept of ‘cultural Marxism’. Through this analysis, the article illustrates the theoretical argument that epistemic dynamics play a strong role in opposition to feminist politics, that the shifting epistemic framing of science is important in these oppositions and that more comprehensive attention for the epistemic dimension is needed.
Keywords: episteme; Europe; extreme right; sciences; gender equality; gender knowledge; political party; sexual equality; social complexity theory; the Netherlands
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:3:p:20-30

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Disentangling and Locating the “Global Right”: Anti-Gender Campaigns in Europe
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1557
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i3.1557
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 3
Pages: 6-19
Author-Name: David Paternotte
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Author-Name: Roman Kuhar
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Abstract: This article examines the development of campaigns against “gender ideology” in Europe, leading to the emergence of a specific family of mobilizations that we call anti-gender campaigns. These campaigns, started in the mid-1990s as a Catholic project in reaction to the results of the UN conferences of Cairo and Bejing, but developed significantly in several European countries after crucial encounters with right-wing populism. While recognizing the importance of these crossovers, we contend the interpretation that mobilizations against “gender ideology” and right-wing populism are the two faces of the same coin, and we plead for a more complex understanding of the ways in which distinct—and sometimes competing—projects can converge in specific settings. We argue that research on the “Global Right Wing” should therefore disentangle the various components of this phenomenon, and locate them in concrete settings. We show that this research strategy allows us to better grasp the specificities of each project and the ways in which they interact. Opening our eyes on crucial developments in contemporary Europe, this strategy also prevents researchers from falling into the trap of a global and unqualified backlash against everything achieved in terms of gender and sexuality in the last decades.
Keywords: anti-gender campaigns; anti-gender movement; Europe; gender ideology; global right; populism
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:3:p:6-19

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: The Feminist Project under Threat in Europe
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1736
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i3.1736
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 3
Pages: 1-5
Author-Name: Mieke Verloo
Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Management Research, Radboud University, the Netherlands
Author-Name: David Paternotte
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Abstract: Is the feminist project under threat in Europe? This thematic issue addresses the question in both theoretical and empirical ways, focusing on the various ways in which feminist politics are opposed and why, on what the impact of such opposition is, and how to improve our theoretical understanding of this particular manifestation of gender and politics. The issue addresses three major challenges: a need to reflect on the most suited concepts and theories in political and social sciences to understand what is at stake in Europe today; a need to vernacularize existing knowledge while forging global frames of analysis; and a need to avoid the risk of reifying oppositional forces and of reiterating dichotomous frames and categories. The responses to these challenges are: to analyse the threats to the feminist project as parts of larger projects against social justice and equality; to contrast macro narratives by engaging with the microlevel of the anti-feminist project, enabling a critique of mainstream scholarship; to analyse the threats to the feminist project as related to processes of changes to democracy, such as democratic backsliding; to give prominent attention to discursive, epistemic and symbolic processes; and finally to include studies on the response of feminist actors to the threats experienced. This collection of articles offers a variety of perspectives on the various threats to the feminist project in Europe today.
Keywords: abortion politics; anti-gender campaigns; democratic backsliding; discursive politics; Europe; feminism; LGBT politics; opposition; populism; sexual politics
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:3:p:1-5

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Authoritarian Norms in a Changing International System
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1474
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i2.1474
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 2
Pages: 120-123
Author-Name: Thomas Ambrosio
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Criminal Justice and Political Science, North Dakota State University, USA
Abstract: The normative structure of the international system is changing, driven by the logics of effectiveness and appropriateness. Whereas the balance between democracy and autocracy had clearly favored the former, this appears to no longer be the case. Not only are authoritarian methods spreading because they have been found to be successful, but democracy’s very legitimacy has been eroded from self-doubt and as a consequence of rising and increasingly confident authoritarian great powers. This commentary provides an overview of these trends.
Keywords: authoritarianism; China; democracy; diffusion; Russia
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:2:p:120-123

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: What Do We Know about Hybrid Regimes after Two Decades of Scholarship?
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1400
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i2.1400
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 2
Pages: 112-119
Author-Name: Mariam Mufti
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Waterloo, Canada
Abstract: In two decades of scholarship on hybrid regimes two significant advancements have been made. First, scholars have emphasized that the hybrid regimes that emerged in the post-Cold War era should not be treated as diminished sub-types of democracy, and second, regime type is a multi-dimensional concept. This review essay further contends that losing the lexicon of hybridity and focusing on a single dimension of regime type—flawed electoral competition—has prevented an examination of extra-electoral factors that are necessary for understanding how regimes are differently hybrid, why there is such immense variation in the outcome of elections and why these regimes are constantly in flux. Therefore, a key recommendation emerging from this review of the scholarship is that to achieve a more thorough, multi-dimensional assessment of hybrid regimes, further research ought to be driven by nested research designs in which qualitative and quantitative approaches can be used to advance mid-range theory building.
Keywords: authoritarianism; classification of regimes; Cold War; dictatorships; elections; hybrid regime
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:2:p:112-119

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: The Meaning of ‘Limited Pluralism’ in Media Reporting under Authoritarian Rule
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1238
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i2.1238
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 2
Pages: 103-111
Author-Name: Andreas Heinrich
Author-Workplace-Name: Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen, Germany
Author-Name: Heiko Pleines
Author-Workplace-Name: Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen, Germany
Abstract: Research on mass media in authoritarian regimes focuses more on state mechanisms of control than on actual media reporting and on moments of crises much more than on times of stable functioning of the regime. In order to shed more light on the role of journalistic mass media in authoritarian regimes, this article deals with the actual limits of pluralism in media reporting regarding policy issues in ‘ordinary’ authoritarian politics. Looking at pluralism in sources (i.e., actors being quoted) and pluralism in opinion, the article also deals with the often assumed increasing degree of pluralism from TV over print media to the Internet. This study is based on a qualitative content analysis of media reporting on export pipelines in three post-Soviet authoritarian regimes (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan). The text corpus comprises 3,618 media reports from 38 different journalistic media outlets published between 1998 and 2011. Two major results of the study are, first, that concerning the degree of pluralism, the differences between types of media are country specific, and, second, that ‘limited pluralism’ seems to be a misnomer, as the political opposition—at least in our cases—regularly does not have a voice at all.
Keywords: authoritarian regimes; authoritarianism; internal pluralism; mass media reporting; media content analysis
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:2:p:103-111

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Voting and Values: Grassroots Elections in Rural and Urban China
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1331
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i2.1331
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 2
Pages: 90-102
Author-Name: John James Kennedy
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Kansas, USA
Author-Name: Haruka Nagao
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Kansas, USA
Author-Name: Hongyan Liu
Author-Workplace-Name: School of Economics, Northwest University of Political Science and Law, China
Abstract: Authoritarian leaders often claim that they promote democratic institutions such as elections and democratic values. In China, the central propaganda often promotes the right and duty of citizens to vote in local elections as well as the importance of citizens’ input into the policy making process. However, there is often a gap between government rhetoric and reality. In this article, we use the China General Social Survey (CGSS) 2013 to evaluate the determinants of voting in local elections and democratic values (attitudes) in rural and urban China. The results show that respondents with higher education tend to have lower levels of democratic values and participate less in local elections, but respondents with only compulsory education are more likely to display democratic orientations and vote. This suggests the relative success as well as the limits of authoritarian democratic propaganda.
Keywords: China; democratic values; education; grassroots elections; voting
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:2:p:90-102

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Authoritarian Politics: Trends and Debates
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1498
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i2.1498
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 2
Pages: 87-89
Author-Name: Erica Frantz
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Michigan State University, USA
Abstract: In the past two decades, the field of authoritarian politics has grown substantially. This commentary surveys the major findings in the field, how it is has evolved, and key debates that have emerged in response.
Keywords: authoritarian politics; authoritarian regimes; autocracies; dictatorships
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:2:p:87-89

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Authoritarianism in the 21st Century
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1610
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i2.1610
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 2
Pages: 83-86
Author-Name: Natasha Ezrow
Author-Workplace-Name: Government Department, University of Essex, UK
Abstract: This introduction offers an overview of the key works in this edited volume on authoritarian regimes. This edited volume explains how authoritarian regimes were studied in the past and how this may contrast with how authoritarian regimes are studied today. This compilation also examines the newest trends in authoritarianism in the 21st century and showcases interesting works on elections, media pluralism and regime hybridity. The volume also highlights the challenges posed by authoritarian regimes to the international order and the growing influence of authoritarian regimes.
Keywords: authoritarian elections; authoritarian regimes; hybrid regimes; totalitarian regimes
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:2:p:83-86

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Crossing the Digital Divide: Monism, Dualism and the Reason Collective Action is Critical for Cyber Theory Production
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1338
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i2.1338
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 2
Pages: 73-82
Author-Name: Christopher Whyte
Author-Workplace-Name: L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA
Abstract: In studying topics in cyber conflict and cyber-security governance, scholars must ask—arguably more so than has been the case with any other emergent research agenda—where the epistemological and ontological value of different methods lies. This article describes the unique, dual methodological challenges inherent in the multifaceted program on global cyber-security and asks how problematic they are for scholarly efforts to construct knowledge about digital dynamics in world affairs. I argue that any answer to this question will vary depending on how one perceives the social science enterprise. While traditional dualistic perspectives on social science imply unique challenges for researcher, a monistic perspective of Weberian objectivity does not. Regardless of one’s perspective, however, the most important steps to be taken at the level of the research program are clearly those focused on constructing the trappings of community. To this end, I outline steps that might be taken to develop a range of community-building and -supporting mechanisms that can simultaneously support a micro-foundational approach to research and expose community elements to one another. Doing this stands to better opportunities for the production of knowledge and direct researchers towards fruitful avenues whilst shortening gaps between the ivory tower and the real world.
Keywords: cyber; dualism; epistemology; monism; ontology; philosophy of science
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:2:p:73-82

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Fear, Uncertainty, and Dread: Cognitive Heuristics and Cyber Threats
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1279
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i2.1279
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 2
Pages: 61-72
Author-Name: Miguel Alberto Gomez
Author-Workplace-Name: Center for Security Studies, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Author-Name: Eula Bianca Villar
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Business and Technology, La Salle Universitat Ramon Llull, Spain
Abstract: Advances in cyber capabilities continue to cause apprehension among the public. With states engaging in cyber operations in pursuit of its perceived strategic utility, it is unsurprising that images of a “Cyber Pearl Harbor” remain appealing. It is crucial to note, however, that the offensive action in cyberspace has only had limited success over the past decade. It is estimated that less than 5% of these have achieved their stated political or strategic objectives. Moreover, only five states are thought to have the capabilities to inflict or threaten substantial damage. Consequently, this raises the question of what accounts for the continued sense of dread in cyberspace. The article posits that this dread results from the inappropriate use of cognitive shortcuts or heuristics. The findings herein suggest that the lack of experience in dealing with cyber operations encourages uncertainty, which motivates decision-makers to base their judgements on pre-existing, and possibly incorrect, conceptions of cyberspace. In response, the article segues into potential solutions that can mitigate unsubstantiated dread towards cyberspace by peering into the role that attributes at the organizational level can play in tempering the position of individuals. The suggested considerations are rooted in the interactions between the micro and macro level processes in forming judgments, sensemaking, and ultimately, mobilizing actions.
Keywords: cybersecurity; cyber threats; dread; experiment; heuristics
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:2:p:61-72

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: How We Stopped Worrying about Cyber Doom and Started Collecting Data
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1368
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i2.1368
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 2
Pages: 49-60
Author-Name: Brandon Valeriano
Author-Workplace-Name: Donald Bren Chair of Armed Politics, Marine Corps University, USA
Author-Name: Ryan C. Maness
Author-Workplace-Name: Defense Analysis Department, Naval Postgraduate School, USA
Abstract: Moderate and measured takes on cyber security threats are swamped by the recent flood of research and policy positions in the cyber research field offering hyperbolic perspectives based on limited observations. This skewed perspective suggests constant cyber disasters that are confronting humanity constantly. The general tone of the debate argues that cyber war is already upon us and our future will only witness more cyber doom. However, these hyperbolic perspectives are being countered by empirical investigations that produce the opposite of what is to be expected. It is generally observed that limited cyber engagements throughout the geopolitical system are the dominant form of interaction. Our task here is to offer a different path forward. We first posit what can be known about cyber security interactions with data as well as what cannot. Where is the water’s edge in cyber security research? We then examine the known works in the field that utilize data and evidence to examine cyber security processes. Finally, we conclude with an offering of what types of studies need to be done in the future to move the field forward, away from the prognostication and generalizations so typical in the discourse in this constantly changing and growing field.
Keywords: cyber conflict; cyber security; cyber strategy; data collection; quantitative methods
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:2:p:49-60

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Why Should I? Cybersecurity, the Security of the State and the Insecurity of the Citizen
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1333
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i2.1333
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 2
Pages: 41-48
Author-Name: Lizzie Coles-Kemp
Author-Workplace-Name: Information Security Group, Royal Holloway University of London, UK
Author-Name: Debi Ashenden
Author-Workplace-Name: School of Computing, University of Portsmouth, UK
Author-Name: Kieron O'Hara
Author-Workplace-Name: Electronics & Computer Science, University of Southampton, UK
Abstract: Assumptions are made by government and technology providers about the power relationships that shape the use of technological security controls and the norms under which technology usage occurs. We present a case study carried out in the North East of England that examined how a community might work together using a digital information sharing platform to respond to the pressures of welfare policy change. We describe an inductive consideration of this highly local case study before reviewing it in the light of broader security theory. By taking this approach we problematise the tendency of the state to focus on the security of technology at the expense of the security of the citizen. From insights gained from the case study and the subsequent literature review, we conclude that there are three main absences not addressed by the current designs of cybersecurity architectures. These are absences of: consensus as to whose security is being addressed, evidence of equivalence between the mechanisms that control behaviour, and two-way legibility. We argue that by addressing these absences the foundations of trust and collaboration can be built which are necessary for effective cybersecurity. Our consideration of the case study within the context of sovereignty indicates that the design of the cybersecurity architecture and its concomitant service design has a significant bearing on the social contract between citizen and state. By taking this novel perspective new directions emerge for the understanding of the effectiveness of cybersecurity technologies.
Keywords: cybersecurity; cyberspace; power; social contract; sovereignty
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:2:p:41-48

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Enacting Expertise: Ritual and Risk in Cybersecurity
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1329
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i2.1329
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 2
Pages: 31-40
Author-Name: James Shires
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford, UK
Abstract: This article applies the concept of ritual to cybersecurity expertise, beginning with the cybersecurity “skills gap”: the perceived lack of suitably qualified professionals necessary to tackle contemporary cybersecurity challenges. It proposes that cybersecurity expertise is best understood as a skilled performance which satisfies decision-makers’ demands for risk management. This alternative understanding of cybersecurity expertise enables investigation of the types of performance involved in key events which congregate experts together: cybersecurity conferences. The article makes two key claims, which are empirically based on participant observation of cybersecurity conferences in the Middle East. First, that cybersecurity conferences are ritualized activities which create an expert community across international boundaries despite significant political and social differences. Second, that the ritualized physical separation between disinterested knowledge-sharing and commercial advertisement at these conferences enacts an ideal of “pure” cybersecurity expertise rarely encountered elsewhere, without which the claims to knowledge made by cybersecurity experts would be greatly undermined. The approach taken in this article is thus a new direction for cybersecurity research, with significant implications for other areas of international politics.
Keywords: conference; cybersecurity; expertise; Middle East; performance; skills gap
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:2:p:31-40

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Cybersecurity Research Meets Science and Technology Studies
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1385
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i2.1385
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 2
Pages: 22-30
Author-Name: Myriam Dunn Cavelty
Author-Workplace-Name: Center for Security Studies, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
Abstract: This article sets out to show how different understandings of technology as suggested by Science and Technology Studies (STS) help reveal different political facets of cybersecurity. Using cybersecurity research as empirical site, it is shown that two separate ways of understanding cybertechnologies are prevalent in society. The primary one sees cybertechnologies as apolitical, flawed, material objects that need to be fixed in order to create more security; the other understands them as mere political tools in the hands of social actors without considering technological (im)possibilities. This article suggests a focus on a third understanding to bridge the uneasy gap between the two others: technology defined as an embodiment of societal knowledge. The article posits that in line with that, the study of cyberpolitics would benefit from two innovations: a focus on cybersecurity as social practice―enacted and stabilized through the circulation of knowledge about vulnerabilities―and a focus on the practices employed in the discovery, exploitation and removal of those vulnerabilities.
Keywords: actor-network theory; cybersecurity; cyberwar; science and technology studies; sociology of knowledge
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:2:p:22-30

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Cyber Security Assemblages: A Framework for Understanding the Dynamic and Contested Nature of Security Provision
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1324
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i2.1324
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 2
Pages: 13-21
Author-Name: Jamie Collier
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford, UK, and Centre for Doctoral Training in Cyber Security, University of Oxford, UK
Abstract: In the context of globalisation and privatisation, an emerging body of literature has applied the concept of an ‘assemblage’ to international relations and security studies. This article will argue that an assemblage framework provides the best means for understanding the complex configuration of cyber security actors, given that contemporary cyber security practices do not conform to the traditional public-private and global-local distinctions used in security studies and International Relations literature. With the configuration of cyber security actors, and the relationships between them in constant flux, an assemblage framework provides a means for understanding the contested, dynamic and diachronic nature of contemporary cyber security provision. While the concept of security assemblages is favoured in this article, the process and context in which the term has traditionally been used cannot be blindly imposed on the issue of cyber security. This article will therefore propose a different model of how cyber security assemblages have developed and explain the implications this has on contemporary security dynamics.
Keywords: assemblages; cyber security; private security; state power
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:2:p:13-21

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Privatizing Political Authority: Cybersecurity, Public-Private Partnerships, and the Reproduction of Liberal Political Order
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1335
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i2.1335
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 2
Pages: 5-12
Author-Name: Daniel R. McCarthy
Author-Workplace-Name: School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia
Abstract: Cybersecurity sits at the intersection of public security concerns about critical infrastructure protection and private security concerns around the protection of property rights and civil liberties. Public-private partnerships have been embraced as the best way to meet the challenge of cybersecurity, enabling cooperation between private and public sectors to meet shared challenges. While the cybersecurity literature has focused on the practical dilemmas of providing a public good, it has been less effective in reflecting on the role of cybersecurity in the broader constitution of political order. Unpacking three accepted conceptual divisions between public and private, state and market, and the political and economic, it is possible to locate how this set of theoretical assumptions shortcut reflection on these larger issues. While public-private partnerships overstep boundaries between public authority and private right, in doing so they reconstitute these divisions at another level in the organization of political economy of liberal democratic societies.
Keywords: capitalism; critical infrastructure protection; critical theory; cybersecurity; public-private partnerships
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:2:p:5-12

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Global Cybersecurity: New Directions in Theory and Methods
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1569
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i2.1569
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 2
Pages: 1-4
Author-Name: Tim Stevens
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of War Studies, King’s College London, UK
Abstract: This thematic issue advocates a range of novel theoretical and methodological directions applicable to cybersecurity studies. Drawing on critical International Relations theory, Science and Technology Studies, participant observation, quantitative political science, and other social science methods and theory, the contributors advance modes of invigorating the exploration of cybersecurity as an assemblage of sociotechnical practices. In so doing, this issue seeks to enhance understanding of the politics and strategies of cybersecurity, one of the most complex and diverse technical and political challenges of our contemporary world.
Keywords: assemblage; critical infrastructures; critical theory; cybersecurity; ethnography; power; science and technology studies; security; security politics; sociotechnical systems
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:2:p:1-4

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Governance Lessons from Urban Informality
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1169
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i1.1169
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 1
Pages: 199-202
Author-Name: Hugo Sarmiento
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Urban Planning, University of California, USA
Author-Name: Chris Tilly
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Urban Planning, University of California, USA
Abstract: We locate this issue’s papers on a spectrum of radicalism. We then examine that spectrum, and the governance mechanisms described, through the lens of a significant arena of urban counter-planning: the urban informal economy. Drawing on our own research on self-organization by informal workers and settlers, as well as broader literatures, we suggest useful lessons for reinventing urban governance.
Keywords: bottom-up; counter-planning; governance; informal economy; informality; radicalism; social movements; top-down; urban planning
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:1:p:199-202

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Organising for Co-Production: Local Interaction Platforms for Urban Sustainability
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1228
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i1.1228
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 1
Pages: 189-198
Author-Name: Beth Perry
Author-Workplace-Name: Urban Institute and Urban Studies and Planning, University of Sheffield, UK
Author-Name: Zarina Patel
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Author-Name: Ylva Norén Bretzer
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Public Administration, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Author-Name: Merritt Polk
Author-Workplace-Name: School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Abstract: Urban sustainability is a wicked issue unsuited to management through traditional decision-making structures. Co-productive arrangements, spaces and processes are inscribed in new organisational forms to bridge between diverse forms of knowledge and expertise. This article suggests that <em>local interaction platforms </em>(LIPs)<em> </em>are innovative responses to these challenges, developed in two African and two European cities between 2010 and 2014. Through elaborating the design and practice of the LIPs, the article concludes that the value of this approach lies in its context-sensitivity and iterative flexibility to articulate between internationally shared challenges and distinctive local practices. Six necessary conditions for the evolution of LIPs are presented: anchorage, co-constitution, context-sensitivity, alignment, connection and shared functions. In the context of increased uncertainty, complexity and the demand for transdisciplinary knowledge production, the <em>platform</em> concept has wider relevance in surfacing the challenges and possibilities for more adaptive urban governance.
Keywords: boundary spaces; co-production; collaborative governance; hybridization; local interaction platforms; Mistra Urban Futures; transdisciplinarity; urban experimentation; urban sustainability
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:1:p:189-198

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Counter-Governance: Citizen Participation Beyond Collaboration
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1221
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i1.1221
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 1
Pages: 180-188
Author-Name: Rikki John Dean
Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Political Sciences, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany
Abstract: The theory and practice of urban governance in recent years has undergone both a collaborative and participatory turn. The strong connection between collaboration and participation has meant that citizen participation in urban governance has been conceived in a very particular way: as varying levels of partnership between state actors and citizens. This over-focus on collaboration has led to: 1) a dearth of proposals in theory and practice for citizens to engage oppositionally with institutions; 2) the miscasting of agonistic opportunities for participation as forms of collaboration; 3) an inability to recognise the irruption of agonistic practices into participatory procedures. This article attempts to expand the conception of participatory urban governance by adapting Rosanvallon’s (2008) three democratic counter-powers—prevention, oversight and judgement—to consider options for institutionalising agonistic participatory practices. It argues that these counter-governance processes would more fully realise the inclusion agenda that underpins the participatory governance project.
Keywords: agonism; collaborative governance; counter-democracy; counter-governance; participation; participatory governance; urban governance
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:1:p:180-188

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Self-Organisation and the Co-Production of Governance: The Challenge of Local Responses to Climate Change
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1210
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i1.1210
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 1
Pages: 169-179
Author-Name: Rob Atkinson
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of the West of England, UK
Author-Name: Thomas Dörfler
Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Geographical Sciences, Free University Berlin, Germany
Author-Name: Eberhard Rothfuß
Author-Workplace-Name: Geographical Institute, University of Bayreuth, Germany
Abstract: The arena of locally embedded and engendered responses to climate change offers a particularly fruitful and challenging space in which to scrutinise the encounters between established forms of governance and knowledge as they become entwined with locally generated forms of self-organisation. The issue of climate change offers a particularly fertile case for study because to date it has largely been dominated by state and market-based responses and associated forms of governance selectively articulated with knowledge generated through scientific and expert modes of knowledge. The central focus of the article is on identifying the variegated forms of understanding associated with the groups we researched and how they drew upon/utilised knowledge (knowledge-in-action) vis-à-vis the governance of ecological politics and environmental governance. The article draws on case studies of self-organising locally based groups in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom that are addressing climate change, in a broad sense, within their locality. These groups represent a range of responses to the issue and associated modes of action, exhibit different levels and forms of ‘organisation’ and may challenge more established forms of governance and knowledge in different ways.
Keywords: climate change; comparative; governance; Q-Sort method; self-organisation; urban; urban governance
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:1:p:169-179

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Everyday Radicalism and the Democratic Imagination: Dissensus, Rebellion and Utopia
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1213
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i1.1213
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 1
Pages: 161-168
Author-Name: Daniel Silver
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Politics, University of Manchester, UK
Abstract: The prevalence of social injustice suggests the need for radical transformation of political economy and governance. This article develops the concept of ‘everyday radicalism’, which positions the everyday as a potential site of social change. Everyday radicalism is based on three main elements: dissensus and a rupture with dominant practices; collective rebellion and the creation of alternatives on a micro-scale; and the connection of these practices with utopian ideas to be able to develop strategies for social justice. The potential application of everyday radicalism is illustrated through a case study of a women’s social intervention in Manchester. The article aims to show how everyday radicalism has the potential to contribute knowledge towards the transformation of everyday life and the institutions that govern society.
Keywords: democracy; governance; political economy; prefigurative; radical; utopia
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:1:p:161-168

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: The Precarious Politics of Public Innovation
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1275
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i1.1275
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 1
Pages: 150-160
Author-Name: Hendrik Wagenaar
Author-Workplace-Name: The Policy Institute at King’s, King’s College London, London, UK
Author-Name: Matthew Wood
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Politics, University of Sheffield, UK
Abstract: This article argues that debates about public innovation among governance scholars risk essentialising the concept. Rather than recognise the inherently normative content of public innovation, some scholars have created taxonomies that conflate very different forms of ‘innovation’ in the public and private sectors, the latter of which is deeply contradictory to public values. We re-think public innovation as both a pragmatic process, a way of responding to developments in contemporary governance, and an inherently public and democratic practice. Our analysis addresses three points: who innovates; what is the object of innovation, and what are the effects of innovation? From this analysis we specify public innovation as both inescapable and democratically necessary to safeguard and promote the important values of public life.
Keywords: collaborative governance; democracy; essentialism; new public management; public innovation; unintended consequences
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:1:p:150-160

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Coproducing Urban Governance
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1485
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i1.1485
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 1
Pages: 145-149
Author-Name: Liz Richardson
Author-Workplace-Name: Politics Department, University of Manchester, UK
Author-Name: Catherine Durose
Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Local Government Studies, University of Birmingham, UK
Author-Name: Beth Perry
Author-Workplace-Name: Urban Institute and Urban Studies and Planning, University of Sheffield, UK
Abstract: There are many critiques of existing forms of urban governance as not fit for purpose. However, what alternatives might look like is equally contested. Coproduction is proposed as a response to address complex wicked issues. Achieving coproduction is a highly complex and daunting task. Bottom up approaches to the initiation of coproduced governance are seen as fruitful, including exemplification of utopian alternatives though local practices. New ways of seeing the role of conflict in participation are needed, including ways to institutionalise agonistic participatory practices. Coproduction in governance drives demands for forms of knowledge production that are themselves coproductive. New urban governing spaces need to be coproduced through participative transformation requiring experimentation and innovation in re-designing urban knowledge architectures. Future research in this field is proposed which is nuanced, grounded in explicit weightings of different democratic values, and which mediates between recognition of contingency and the ability to undertake comparative analysis.
Keywords: coproduction; knowledge production; participation; urban governance
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:1:p:145-149

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Does the Conceptualization and Measurement of Democracy Quality Matter in Comparative Climate Policy Research?
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1187
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i1.1187
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 1
Pages: 117-144
Author-Name: Romy Escher
Author-Workplace-Name: Department for Political Science Research Methods, Institute of Political Science, University of Regensburg, Germany
Author-Name: Melanie Walter-Rogg
Author-Workplace-Name: Department for Political Science Research Methods, Institute of Political Science, University of Regensburg, Germany
Abstract: Previous <em>empirical</em> research on democracy and global warming has mainly questioned whether democracy contributes to climate protection. However, there is no consensus in the <em>theoretical</em> literature on what institutional traits of democracy are crucial for climate policy. Thus, results based on indices that summarize multiple democracy quality dimensions could be misleading, as their effects could balance each other out or hide the relative importance of each institutional trait. This article examines whether the analysis of the effects of democracy quality dimensions, measured by separate indicators, contributes to a better understanding of cross-national variance in climate policy compared to the focus on the regime type difference, measured by democracy quality measures. Compared to earlier research, the results indicate that the positive effect of democracy on commitment to climate cooperation depends on the realization of political rights. We find little to support the claim that democracy quality dimensions matter for climate policy outcomes. The main implication of our findings is that it could be fruitful to use more disaggregated democracy measures for the analysis of substantive research questions.
Keywords: climate change policy; democracy; democracy quality; environmental policy; measures of democracy
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:1:p:117-144

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Different Types of Data and the Validity of Democracy Measures
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1183
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i1.1183
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 1
Pages: 105-116
Author-Name: Svend-Erik Skaaning
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Denmark
Abstract: Different measures of democracy rely on different types of data. Some exclusively rely on observational data, others rely on judgement-based data in the form of in-house coded indicators or expert surveys. A third set of democracy measures combines information from indicators based on different types of data, some of them also data from representative surveys of the mass public. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of these different types of data for the measurement of electoral and liberal democracy. The discussion is based on the premise that the main priorities must be to establish a high degree of concept-measure consistency, i.e. indicators capture relevant aspects of the core concept of interest in a precise and unbiased manner, and to provide high coverage. The basic argument of the article is that no type of data is superior to others in all respects. The article draws on examples from extant datasets to illustrate the tradeoffs and it offers suggestions about how to reduce some of the potential drawbacks.
Keywords: democracy; measuring democracy; reliability; types of data; validity
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:1:p:105-116

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Method Factors in Democracy Indicators
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1235
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i1.1235
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 1
Pages: 92-104
Author-Name: Martin Elff
Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Political & Social Sciences, Zeppelin University, Germany
Author-Name: Sebastian Ziaja
Author-Workplace-Name: Research Center for Distributional Conflict and Globalization, Heidelberg University, Germany
Abstract: Method factors represent variance common to indicators from the same data source. Detecting method factors can help uncover systematic bias in data sources. This article employs confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to detect method factors in 23 democracy indicators from four popular data sources: The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Freedom House, Polity IV, and the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project. Using three different multi-dimensional concepts of democracy as starting points, we find strong evidence for method factors in all sources. Method-specific factors are strongest when yearly changes in the scores are assessed. The sources find it easier to agree on long-term average scores. We discuss the implications for applied researchers.
Keywords: confirmatory factor analysis; democracy; democracy indicators; measurement; method bias
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:1:p:92-104

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Making Trade-Offs Visible: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations about the Relationship between Dimensions and Institutions of Democracy and Empirical Findings
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1200
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i1.1200
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 1
Pages: 78-91
Author-Name: Hans-Joachim Lauth
Author-Workplace-Name: Chair of Comparative Politics and German Government, University of Wuerzburg, Germany
Author-Name: Oliver Schlenkrich
Author-Workplace-Name: Chair of Comparative Politics and German Government, University of Wuerzburg, Germany
Abstract: Whereas the measurement of the quality of democracy focused on the rough differentiation of democracies and autocracies in the beginning (e.g. Vanhanen, Polity, Freedom House), the focal point of newer instruments is the assessment of the quality of established democracies. In this context, tensions resp. trade-offs between dimensions of democracy are discussed as well (e.g. Democracy Barometer, Varieties of Democracy). However, these approaches lack a systematic discussion of trade-offs and they are not able to show trade-offs empirically. We address this research desideratum in a three-step process: Firstly, we propose a new conceptual approach, which distinguishes between two different modes of relationships between dimensions: mutual reinforcing effects and a give-and-take relationship (trade-offs) between dimensions. By introducing our measurement tool, Democracy Matrix, we finally locate mutually reinforcing effects as well as trade-offs. Secondly, we provide a new methodological approach to measure trade-offs. While one measuring strategy captures the mutual reinforcing effects, the other strategy employs indicators, which serve to gauge trade-offs. Thirdly, we demonstrate empirical findings of our measurement drawing on the Varieties of Democracy dataset. Incorporating trade-offs into the measurement enables us to identify various profiles of democracy (libertarian, egalitarian and control-focused democracy) via the quality of its dimensions.
Keywords: control-focused democracy; democracy; Democracy Matrix; egalitarian democracy; libertarian democracy; measurement of democracy; profile of democracy; quality of democracy; trade-off; Varieties of Democracy
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:1:p:78-91

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Regimes of the World (RoW): Opening New Avenues for the Comparative Study of Political Regimes
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1214
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i1.1214
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 1
Pages: 60-77
Author-Name: Anna Lührmann
Author-Workplace-Name: V-Dem Institute, Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Author-Name: Marcus Tannenberg
Author-Workplace-Name: V-Dem Institute, Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Author-Name: Staffan I. Lindberg
Author-Workplace-Name: V-Dem Institute, Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Abstract: Classifying political regimes has never been more difficult. Most contemporary regimes hold <em>de-jure</em> multiparty elections with universal suffrage. In some countries, elections ensure that political rulers are—at least somewhat—accountable to the electorate whereas in others they are a mere window dressing exercise for authoritarian politics. Hence, regime types need to be distinguished based on the<em> de-facto</em> implementation of democratic institutions and processes. Using V-Dem data, we propose with Regimes of the World (RoW) such an operationalization of four important regime types—closed and electoral autocracies; electoral and liberal democracies—with vast coverage (almost all countries from 1900 to 2016). We also contribute a solution to a fundamental weakness of extant typologies: The unknown extent of misclassification due to uncertainty from measurement error. V-Dem’s measures of uncertainty (Bayesian highest posterior densities) allow us to be the first to provide a regime typology that distinguishes cases classified with a high degree of certainty from those with “upper” and “lower” bounds in each category. Finally, a comparison of disagreements with extant datasets (7%–12% of the country-years), demonstrates that the RoW classification is more conservative, classifying regimes with electoral manipulation and infringements of the political freedoms more frequently as electoral autocracies, suggesting that it better captures the opaqueness of contemporary autocracies.
Keywords: autocracy; democracy; democratization; regime; typology
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:1:p:60-77

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Democracy and Human Rights: Concepts, Measures, and Relationships
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1186
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i1.1186
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 1
Pages: 48-59
Author-Name: Todd Landman
Author-Workplace-Name: School of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham, UK
Abstract: The empirical literature on democracy and human rights has made great strides over the last 30 years in explaining (1) the variation in the transition to, consolidation of, and quality of democracy; (2) the proliferation and effectiveness of human rights law; and (3) the causes and consequences of human rights across many of their categories and dimensions. This work has in many ways overcome the ‘essentially contested’ nature of the concepts of democracy and human rights conceptually, established different measures of both empirically, and developed increasingly sophisticated statistical and other analytical techniques to provide stronger inferences for the academic and policy community. This article argues that despite these many achievements, there remain tensions between conceptualisations of democracy and human rights over the degree to which one includes the other, the temporal and spatial empirical relationships between them, and the measures that have been developed to operationalize them. These tensions, in turn, affect the kinds of analyses that are carried out, including model specification, methods of estimation, and findings. Drawing on extant theories and measures of both, the article argues that there must be greater specificity in the conceptualisation and operationalization of democracy and human rights, greater care in the development and use of measures, and greater attention to the kinds of inferences that are made possible by them.
Keywords: administrative data; big data; democracy; events data; human rights; measurement; socio-economic; standards data; statistics; survey data
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:1:p:48-59

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Don’t Good Democracies Need “Good” Citizens? Citizen Dispositions and the Study of Democratic Quality
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1216
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i1.1216
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 1
Pages: 33-47
Author-Name: Quinton Mayne
Author-Workplace-Name: Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA
Author-Name: Brigitte Geißel
Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Political Science, Goethe University, Germany
Abstract: This article advances the argument that quality of democracy depends not only on the performance of democratic institutions but also on the dispositions of citizens. We make three contributions to the study of democratic quality. First, we develop a fine-grained, structured conceptualization of the three core dispositions (democratic commitments, political capacities, and political participation) that make up the citizen component of democratic quality. Second, we provide a more precise account of the notion of inter-component congruence or “fit” between the institutional and citizen components of democratic quality, distinguishing between static and dynamic forms of congruence. Third, drawing on cross-national data, we show the importance of taking levels of inter-dispositional consistency into account when measuring democratic quality.
Keywords: citizens; democracy; democratic commitments; political capacity; political participation; quality of democracy
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:1:p:33-47

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Conceptualizing and Measuring the Quality of Democracy: The Citizens’ Perspective
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1188
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i1.1188
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 1
Pages: 22-32
Author-Name: Dieter Fuchs
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Social Science, University of Stuttgart, Germany
Author-Name: Edeltraud Roller
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany
Abstract: In recent years, several measurements of the quality of democracy have been developed (e.g. Democracy Barometer, Varieties of Democracy Project). These objective measurements focus on institutional and procedural characteristics of democracy. This article starts from the premise that in order to fully understand the quality of democracy such objective measurements have to be complemented by subjective measurements based on the perspective of citizens. The aim of the article is to conceptualize and measure the subjective quality of democracy. First, a conceptualization of the subjective quality of democracy is developed consisting of citizens’ support for three normative models of democracy (electoral, liberal, and direct democracy). Second, based on the World Values Survey 2005–2007, an instrument measuring these different dimensions of the subjective quality of democracy is suggested. Third, distributions for different models of democracy are presented for some European and non-European liberal democracies. They reveal significant differences regarding the subjective quality of democracies. Fourth, the subjective quality of democracy of these countries is compared with the objective quality of democracy based on three indices (electoral democracy, liberal democracy and direct popular vote) developed by the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project. Finally, further research questions are discussed.
Keywords: democracy; measuring democracy; models of democracy; political culture; quality of democracy; social science concepts; subjective quality of democracy; varieties of democracy
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:1:p:22-32

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Four Parameters for Measuring Democratic Deliberation: Theoretical and Methodological Challenges and How to Respond
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1199
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i1.1199
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 1
Pages: 11-21
Author-Name: Dannica Fleuß
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg
Author-Name: Karoline Helbig
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg
Author-Name: Gary S. Schaal
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg
Abstract: Although measuring democratic deliberation is necessary for a valid measurement of the performance of democracies, it poses serious theoretical and methodological challenges. The most serious problem in the context of research on democratic performance is the need for a theoretical and methodological approach for “upscaling” the measurement of deliberation from the micro and meso level to the macro level. The systemic approach offers a useful framework for this purpose. Building on this framework, this article offers a modular approach consisting of four parameters for conceptualization, measurement, and aggregation which can be adjusted to make the measurement of democratic deliberation compatible with the various general measurement approaches adopted by different scholars.
Keywords: deliberation; democracy; democratic performance; measurement of democracy; systemic approach
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:1:p:11-21

Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Title: Why Choice Matters: Revisiting and Comparing Measures of Democracy
File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1428
File-Format: text/html
DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i1.1428
Journal: Politics and Governance
Volume: 6
Year: 2018
Issue: 1
Pages: 1-10
Author-Name: Heiko Giebler
Author-Workplace-Name: WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Germany
Author-Name: Saskia P. Ruth
Author-Workplace-Name: German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Germany
Author-Name: Dag Tanneberg
Author-Workplace-Name: Chair of Comparative Politics, University of Potsdam, Germany
Abstract: Measures of democracy are in high demand. Scientific and public audiences use them to describe political realities and to substantiate causal claims about those realities. This introduction to the thematic issue reviews the history of democracy measurement since the 1950s. It identifies four development phases of the field, which are characterized by three recurrent topics of debate: (1) what is democracy, (2) what is a good measure of democracy, and (3) do our measurements of democracy register real-world developments? As the answers to those questions have been changing over time, the field of democracy measurement has adapted and reached higher levels of theoretical and methodological sophistication. In effect, the challenges facing contemporary social scientists are not only limited to the challenge of constructing a sound index of democracy. Today, they also need a profound understanding of the differences between various measures of democracy and their implications for empirical applications. The introduction outlines how the contributions to this thematic issue help scholars cope with the recurrent issues of conceptualization, measurement, and application, and concludes by identifying avenues for future research.
Keywords: application; conceptualization; democracy; democratic quality; measurement
Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:1:p:1-10