Scholars and practitioners are increasingly questioning formal disaster governance (FDG) approaches as being too rigid, slow, and command-and-control driven. Too often, local realities and non-formal influences are sidelined or ignored to the extent that disaster governance can be harmed through the efforts to impose formal and/or political structures. A contrasting narrative emphasises so-called bottom-up, local, and/or participatory approaches which this article proposes to encapsulate as Informal Disaster Governance (IDG). This article theorises IDG and situates it within the long-standing albeit limited literature on the topic, paying particular attention to the literature’s failure to properly define informal disaster risk reduction and response efforts, to conceptualise their far-reaching extent and consequences, and to consider their ‘dark sides.’ By presenting IDG as a framework, this article restores the conceptual importance and balance of IDG vis-à-vis FDG, paving the way for a better understanding of the ‘complete’ picture of disaster governance. This framework is then considered in a location where IDG might be expected to be more powerful or obvious, namely in a smaller, more isolated, and tightly knit community, characteristics which are stereotypically used to describe island locations. Thus, Svalbard in the Arctic has been chosen as a case study, including its handling of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, to explore the merits and challenges with shifting the politics of disaster governance towards IDG.
Keywords: Arctic; climate change; disaster governance; disaster risk reduction; policy change Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:375-385 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: The Politics of the Multi-Local in Disaster Governance File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3174 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3174 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 366-374 Author-Name: Samantha Melis Author-Workplace-Name: International Institute of Social Studies, The Netherlands Author-Name: Raymond Apthorpe Author-Workplace-Name: Royal Anthropological Institute, UK Abstract: ‘Localisation’ became the new buzzword after the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016. However, the nature of the commitment to localisation since has been questioned. What is ‘the local’? How does localisation work in practice? With little empirical research, generalities in theory and practice have prevailed, preventing a nuanced approach to conceptualising the local. This study aims to build a foundation for the understanding of connotative, nuanced ‘locals’ and to explore the multiple dimensions of the local in both theory and practice. The methodology of a case study research, with a semi-structured and flexible approach, facilitated the identification of different elements of a locally led response that resounded in each of the cases. Combined with a literature review, this article aims to answer the questions: What underlying assumptions regarding the local are found in localisation rhetoric, and how do multi-local dynamics challenge locally led disaster response in practice? Answering this question necessitates deconstructing the multi-local in theory and critically examining expressions concerning the local in practice. In this study, one dimension of the local that was observed was ‘the local as locale,’ with the local describing primarily national actors as opposed to the international, without taking local power dynamics into account. The local was also seen in terms of governance, where local–national relations and intranational strife characterised locally led responses, and the national focus excluded local actors who were not usually involved in governance. The local also became a source of legitimation, with local, national and international actors all using the discourse of ‘the state in charge’ and ‘the community knows best’ to legitimise their own role as response actors while disputing others’ capacities. The multi-local lens provides a perspective with potential to change current practices and contribute to a more transformative agenda. Keywords: disaster governance; disaster response; humanitarian; localisation; post-conflict Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:366-374 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Caught between Paper Plans and Kashmir Politics: Disaster Governance in Ladakh, India File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3143 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3143 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 355-365 Author-Name: Jessica Field Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, University College London, UK / Jindal School of International Affairs, O.P. Jindal Global University, India Abstract: Disaster governance encompasses the responsibility and management of disaster mitigation, relief and recovery as well as power and politics around these areas of action. Research on disaster governance focuses on various scales of action when examining the implications of disaster governance frameworks for particular populations and there is growing scholarship on the impacts that national politics and programmes have on local efforts. Under-represented in these discussions is an engagement with the relationality of disaster governance within national boundaries, not just vertically (i.e., the local in relation to the national) but horizontally—the local in relation to other locals. Through an examination of Ladakh in relation to neighbouring Kashmir, this article shows how local efforts to enhance disaster governance have been stymied both by the vertical (local-centre) politics of border security and conflict, as well as by the material effects that politics and violence in neighbouring Kashmir Valley have on Ladakh. Keywords: conflict; disaster governance; Ladakh; local; Kashmir Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:355-365 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Disaster Governance in Conflict-Affected Authoritarian Contexts: The Cases of Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Zimbabwe File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3127 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3127 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 343-354 Author-Name: Isabelle Desportes Author-Workplace-Name: International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands Author-Name: Dorothea Hilhorst Author-Workplace-Name: International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands Abstract: Disaster governance in conflict areas is of growing academic concern, but most existing research comprises either single case studies or studies of a variety of country contexts that group all types of conflict together. Based on three case studies, this article offers a middle-ground scenario-based approach, focusing on disaster governance in authoritarian contexts experiencing low-intensity conflict. Low-intensity conflict is characterized by intense political tensions and violence that is more readily expressed in ways other than direct physical harm. Inspired by Olson’s (2000) maxim that disasters are intrinsically political, this article explores the politics of disaster response by asking what is at stake and what happened, unpacking these questions for state, civil society, and international humanitarian actors. Using data from a total of one year of qualitative fieldwork, the article analyzes disaster governance in 2016 drought-ridden Ethiopia, marked by protests and a State of Emergency; 2015 flooded Myanmar, characterized by explosive identity politics; and 2016–2019 drought-ridden Zimbabwe, with its intense socioeconomic and political turbulence. The study’s findings show how framing and power processes in disaster governance—comprising state and non-state actors—largely lean toward the state, with the consequence that political interests, rather than needs assessments, steer who and what will be protected from disaster impact. Keywords: authoritarianism; conflict; disaster response; Ethiopia; governance; humanitarian; Myanmar; politics; Zimbabwe Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:343-354 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Blurred Responsibilities of Disaster Governance: The American Red Cross in the US and Haiti File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3094 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3094 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 331-342 Author-Name: Eija Meriläinen Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, University College London, UK / Institute for Global Health, University College London, UK / Hanken School of Economics, Finland Author-Name: Jukka Mäkinen Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Marketing and Communication, Estonian Business School, Estonia / Department of Management Studies, Aalto University School of Business, Finland Author-Name: Nikodemus Solitander Author-Workplace-Name: Hanken School of Economics, Finland Abstract: The influence of private actors, such as non-profit organizations (NPOs) and firms, has been increasing in disaster governance. Previous literature has interrogated the responsibilities of states towards citizens in disasters, but the roles of private actors have been insufficiently challenged. The article politicizes the entangled relations between NPOs, states, and disaster-affected people. It proposes the Rawlsian division of moral labor as a useful, normative framework for interrogating the justice of disaster governance arrangements in which ‘liberal’ states are involved. Liberal states have two types of responsibilities in disasters: humanitarian and political. The humanitarian responsibilities imply provision of basic resources needed for the capacity to make autonomous choices (domestically and abroad), while the political responsibilities imply provision of the institutions needed for the liberal democratic citizenship (domestically). Through this analytical lens and building on the wealth of existing scholarship, we illustrate the disaster governance role of the American Red Cross in the United States (a 2005 hurricane) and in Haiti (the 2010 earthquake). Where, in Rawlsian terms, United States is interpreted as a ‘liberal’ society, Haiti is framed as a ‘burdened’ society. The article proposes five points to consider in analyzing disaster governance arrangements under neoliberal regimes, structured around the division of humanitarian and political responsibilities. The article illustrates how NPOS are instrumental in blurring the boundaries between humanitarian and political responsibilities. This might result ultimately in actual vulnerabilities remaining unaddressed. While the Rawlsian approach challenges the privatization and lack of coordination in disaster governance, it is limited in analyzing the political construction of ‘burdened’ societies. Keywords: American Red Cross; disaster governance; disaster politics; division of moral labor Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:331-342 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Expert-Led Securitization: The Case of the 2009 Pandemic in Denmark and Sweden File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2982 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.2982 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 319-330 Author-Name: Olivier Rubin Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Social Sciences and Business, Roskilde University, Denmark Author-Name: Erik Baekkeskov Author-Workplace-Name: School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Australia Abstract: This article goes beyond the study of speech acts to investigate the process of securitization during a health crisis. The article introduces the concept of ‘expert-led securitization’ to account for situations when experts dominate the administrative process that translates a securitizing speech act into extraordinary public policy. Expert-led securitization was particularly salient during the 2009 pandemic flu in Denmark and Sweden. Autonomous public health expert agencies led the national securitization processes, and these never included intense political battles or extensive public debates. In turn, the respective processes resulted in different policies: Sweden’s main response to the pandemic was an extraordinary push to vaccinate its whole population, while Denmark’s was a one-off offer of vaccination to about twenty percent of its people. Hence, the 2009 pandemic example illustrates the added value of investigating the administrative dynamics of securitization when seeking to understand differences in extraordinary policies. Keywords: Copenhagen School; Denmark; evidence; experts; extraordinary responses; H1N1; health crisis; pandemic; securitization; Sweden Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:319-330 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Regulating Humanitarian Governance: Humanitarianism and the ‘Risk Society’ File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3130 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3130 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 306-318 Author-Name: Stuart Gordon Author-Workplace-Name: Department of International Development, London School of Economics, UK Abstract: This research advances the critical literature of humanitarian governance by demonstrating how ‘risk management’ is reproduced within the governance and regulatory structures of humanitarian institutions and, crucially, how it distorts patterns of emergency assistance coverage. Focusing on the impact of post-disciplinary forms of control, it reveals how humanitarian resources are disciplined by banks’ responses to regulatory changes initiated by the adoption of counter-terrorist financing legislation designed to counter flows of money to terrorists. This has resulted in the systematic shedding of NGO customers and the routine blocking of their international transactions—known as derisking. In an effort to limit this, NGOs have adopted a ‘precautionary approach’ to managing risk in their own activities, limiting their ability to reach some of the most vulnerable populations and curtailing innovation. Furthermore, the impact of this on the governance and structure of the humanitarian system has spread beyond contexts of conflict into situations more conventionally labelled as natural disasters such as drought, enabling the exercise of new techniques of power over significant parts of the humanitarian system. Keywords: banking regulation; governance; humanitarian; risk; Syria; terrorism Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:306-318 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Resilience in Practice: Responding to the Refugee Crisis in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3090 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3090 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 294-305 Author-Name: Rosanne Anholt Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands Abstract: Little is known about how the idea of ‘resilience’ translates into practice. It has nonetheless emerged as a dominant theme in the governance of crises, such as political instability, armed conflict, terrorism, and large-scale refugee movements. This study draws on interviews with humanitarian and development practitioners in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon working under the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan to explore how resilience is interpreted and translated on the ground. Results suggest that resilience is translated as the economic self-reliance of refugees, and the capacity for crisis management of refugee-hosting states, enacted through ‘localization’ and strengthening the ‘humanitarian-development nexus.’ The prominence of the political and economic context and the power relations between crisis response actors that it generates reveals the limits of what a buzzword like resilience can achieve on the ground. The findings highlight the need for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to engage in continuous critical reflection on whether the ways in which resilience policies and programmes are implemented actually improve the ability of systems and vulnerable populations to recover from crisis, as well as on the validity of the assumptions and interpretations on which such policies and programmes are built. Keywords: crisis governance; development; humanitarianism; resilience Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:294-305 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: The Problem of Fit in Flood Risk Governance: Regulative, Normative, and Cultural-Cognitive Deliberations File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3059 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3059 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 281-293 Author-Name: Per Becker Author-Workplace-Name: Division of Risk Management and Societal Safety, Lund University, Sweden / Risk and Crisis Research Centre, Mid Sweden University, Sweden / Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, South Africa Abstract: Flood risk is a growing global concern that is not only affecting developing countries, but also the sustainable development of the most affluent liberal democracies. This has attracted attention to the systems governing flood risk across administrative levels, which vary between countries, but are relatively similar in the Nordic region, with both responsibilities and resources largely decentralized to the municipal level. However, floods tend not to be bounded by conventional borders but demand attention to the catchment area as a whole. Influential voices have long argued the importance of fit between the biophysical basis of an issue and the institutional arrangements of actors engaging in its governance. The article investigates such institutional fit in flood risk governance, based on a case study of flood risk mitigation in the Höje Å catchment area in Southern Sweden. Analyzing a unique dataset comprising 217 interviews with all individual formal actors actively engaged in flood risk mitigation in the catchment area illuminates a ‘problem of fit’ between the hydrological system behind flood risk and the institutional arrangements of its governance. This ‘problem of fit’ is not only visible along the borders of the municipalities composing the catchment area, but also of the spatial planning areas within them. The article deliberates on regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive elements that align to lock flood risk governance into a regime of practices that, if not addressed, continues to undermine society’s ability to anticipate and adapt to the expected escalation of flood risk in a changing climate. Keywords: flood risk; governance; governmentalization; institutional fit; institutionalism; mitigation; problem of fit; Sweden Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:281-293 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Disaster, Displacement and International Law: Legal Protections in the Context of a Changing Climate File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3311 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3311 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 270-280 Author-Name: Miriam Cullen Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Abstract: As the number of people displaced by disaster reaches record highs, this article describes how international law is relevant to disaster displacement, how refugee law is probably not the answer, and synthesises recent developments into contemporary application. New interpretations of international human rights law have advanced legal protections such that planning and preparedness to address future disasters now form an express component of states’ international legal obligations. At the same time, climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, exacerbating factors that cause disaster and displacement and rendering the effective implementation of international law more difficult. The further ‘othering’ of migrants during the Covid-19 pandemic could stymie the realisation of protections as national governments close borders, anti-immigration sentiment is stoked, and economies decline. Keywords: climate change; disaster; displacement; international law; migration Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:270-280 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Drivers of Change in National Disaster Governance under the Hyogo Framework for Action File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3062 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3062 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 256-269 Author-Name: Maximilian S. T. Wanner Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Government, Uppsala University, Sweden / Centre of Natural Hazards and Disaster Science, Uppsala University, Sweden Abstract: Many suggestions have been made on what motivates countries to expand their measures for disaster risk reduction (DRR), including the frequency and severity of natural hazards, accountability mechanisms, and governance capacity. Despite the fact that theoretical arguments have been developed and evidence collected from small-scale case studies, few studies have attempted to explain the substantial variation in the adoption of DRR measures across countries. This study combines available data on DRR measures, natural hazard events, governance, and socioeconomic characteristics to provide a systematic assessment of the changes that have occurred in the state of DRR at the national level. In line with theoretical explanations, there are indeed associations between several measures of frequency and severity and the development of DRR status. Additionally, voice and accountability mechanisms, as well as development aid, might facilitate positive change. Although these first results of a global comparative study on change in DRR have to be taken cautiously, it is a step forward to understanding the drivers of change at the national level. Keywords: accountability mechanisms; climate change adaptation; disaster governance; disaster risk reduction; Hyogo Framework for Action; policy change; punctuated equilibrium Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:256-269 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Planning for Exclusion: The Politics of Urban Disaster Governance File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3085 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3085 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 244-255 Author-Name: Ricardo Fuentealba Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Human Geography, Planning and International Development, Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Author-Name: Hebe Verrest Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Human Geography, Planning and International Development, Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Author-Name: Joyeeta Gupta Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Human Geography, Planning and International Development, Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Abstract: Many disaster risk reduction (DRR) initiatives, including land use planning, tend to ignore existing long-term inequalities in urban space. Furthermore, scholars working on urban disaster governance do not adequately consider how day-to-day DRR governing practices can (re)produce these. Hence, following a recent interest in the political dimensions of disaster governance, this article explores under what conditions the implementation of DRR land uses (re)produce spatial injustice on the ground. We develop a theoretical framework combining politics, disaster risk, and space, and apply it to a case study in Santiago, Chile. There, after a landslide disaster in the city’s foothills in 1993, a multi-level planning arrangement implemented a buffer zone along the bank of a ravine to protect this area from future disasters. This buffer zone, however, transformed a long-term established neighbourhood, splitting it into a formal and an informal area remaining to this day. Using qualitative data and spatial analysis, we describe the emergence, practices, and effects of this land use. While this spatial intervention has proactively protected the area, it has produced further urban exclusion and spatial deterioration, and reproduced disaster risks for the informal households within the buffer zone. We explain this as resulting from a governance arrangement that emerged from a depoliticised environment, enforcing rules unevenly, and lacking capacities and unclear responsibilities, all of which could render DRR initiatives to be both spatially unjust and ineffective. We conclude that sustainable and inclusive cities require paying more attention to the implementation practices of DRR initiatives and their relation to long-term inequities. Keywords: Chile; disaster risk reduction; land use planning; post-disaster; spatial injustice; urban disaster; urban governance Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:244-255 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Barriers to Enhancing Disaster Risk Reduction and Community Resilience: Evidence from the L’Aquila Disaster File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3179 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3179 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 232-243 Author-Name: Angelo Jonas Imperiale Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, The Netherlands Author-Name: Frank Vanclay Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, The Netherlands Abstract: Building sustainable and resilient societies is a multidimensional challenge that affects achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In crises and disasters, civil protection authorities typically use emergency powers and a command-and-control approach to manage resources and to design and implement disaster management interventions. They centralise knowledge, technologies and responsibilities for prevention, mitigation and monitoring, while stifling the capacities of local communities to reduce disaster risks and impacts. The mechanism they enact leads to a poor understanding of the capacities of local people to learn and transform, and of how community wellbeing, vulnerabilities, and resilience influence disaster risks. The mechanism does not strengthen the role of local communities in disaster risk reduction. Instead, it facilitates disaster capitalism at all levels of society. Drawing on the disaster risk reduction and resilience paradigm and on our analysis of the disaster management interventions conducted before and after the 6 April 2009 earthquake in L’Aquila, Italy, we discuss the main constraints to implementing the four Priority Areas in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction: (1) Understanding risk in its multiple dimensions; (2) strengthening disaster risk governance; (3) investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience; and (4) enhancing preparedness and build back better in response, recovery and reconstruction. We discuss how top-down, emergency-centred civil protection approaches create second disasters, and fail in all four priorities. We suggest that shifts in paradigm and investment are required in disaster management and development practice from centralised civil protection systems to decentralised, socially sustainable community empowerment systems. Keywords: community development; community wellbeing; corruption; disaster capitalism; disaster governance; elite capture; prevention; reconstruction; social learning; social sustainability; social transformation Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:232-243 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: The Politics of Disaster Risk Governance and Neo-Extractivism in Latin America File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3147 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3147 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 220-231 Author-Name: Andrés Pereira Covarrubias Author-Workplace-Name: Research Center for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (CIGIDEN), Chile Author-Name: Emmanuel Raju Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Denmark / Copenhagen Centre for Disaster Research, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Abstract: Latin America is one of the regions facing many disasters with some of the worse impacts. The current governance model has not proven successful in disaster risk reduction. This article aims to theoretically analyse the relationship between ideal regional disaster risk governance (DRG) and the actual production of disaster risk in Latin America. From the so-called ‘vulnerability paradigm’ and a regional standpoint, this analysis contributes to the debate with a specific focus on ‘neo-extractivism.’ Pointing mainly to sociopolitical processes triggered as of the early 2000s in Latin America, ‘neo-extractivism’ relates to a regional ecological-political pattern of intensive natural resource exploitation. The first part of this article presents a regional overview of DRG and its scope in disaster risk reduction, analysing its ineffectiveness through the lens of the neoliberal governmentality problem. The second part deals with the issue of ‘neo-extractivism’ to outline the actual links between the political arena, the development discourse, and the creation of vulnerability and new hazards in the region’s contemporary social processes. We show a correlation between political arrangements and environmental degradation that brings about both disasters and an increase in disaster risk. ‘Neo-extractivism’ foregrounds the political conditions for the implementation of regional DRG and reveals how its projections within the development discourse relate incongruously with the essential factors of disaster risk. Keywords: disaster risk creation; disaster risk governance; disaster risk reduction; Latin America; natural resources; neo-extractivism; vulnerability Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:220-231 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Research on Politics of Disaster Risk Governance: Where Are We Headed? File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3843 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3843 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 214-219 Author-Name: Dorothea Hilhorst Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University, The Netherlands Author-Name: Kees Boersma Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Organization Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands Author-Name: Emmanuel Raju Author-Workplace-Name: Copenhagen Centre for Disaster Research, Global Health Section, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Abstract: This thematic issue aims at unravelling how the global consensus towards a shift to risk reduction and inclusive disaster governance evolves in everyday governance practices, where roles and responsibilities are evolving and negotiated, permeated by politics of power and legitimacy. It identifies three different dimensions of disaster governance. The first is the formal dimension: the way governance arrangements are designed or meant to work. The second is ‘real’ governance: the way in which formal governance arrangements manifest and evolve in actual practice. The third is invisible governance: an amalgam of household and neighbourhood-level activities and networks for disaster response that happen outside of the gaze of the formalized governance arrangements. The 21 articles in this issue address the politics of governance based on thorough empirical work, while theoretically contributing to several themes relating to the politics of disaster governance. The outcomes of the thematic issue are: 1) The three governance dimensions are useful to reveal what the roles and room for manoeuvre is of different actors, including governments, international community, experts, non-state actors and affected communities; 2) Technical solutions for risk reduction and disaster response crucially rely on socio-technical, political, and administrative systems and processes and hence need to be adjusted to the specific context; and 3) The political nature of disaster governance calls for a deeper understanding to advance accountability to affected populations. Keywords: disaster governance; formal governance; inclusive disaster governance; invisible governance; politics of disaster governance Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:214-219 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Leadership, Identity and Performance: The Nature and Effect of ‘Prototypicality’ in Indonesia File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3553 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3553 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 201-213 Author-Name: David Hudson Author-Workplace-Name: International Development Department, School of Government, University of Birmingham, UK Author-Name: Claire Mcloughlin Author-Workplace-Name: International Development Department, School of Government, University of Birmingham, UK Author-Name: Anna Margret Author-Workplace-Name: Cakra Wikara Indonesia, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social and Political Science, University of Indonesia, Indonesia Author-Name: Yolanda Pandjaitan Author-Workplace-Name: Cakra Wikara Indonesia, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social and Political Science, University of Indonesia, Indonesia Abstract: What makes a leader worthy of support? The article uses novel survey and experimental data from Indonesia to test the proposition that identity trumps performance for citizens perceptions of their political leaders. The results confirm theories of ‘prototypicality’—leaders that best reflect and represent the identity of the group tend to be more trusted and have a licence to fail. We argue and show that the dimensions of identity that matter most varies and is context specific. In the Indonesian context religious identity is most important. But the data also suggest that this varies across space, time, and follower identity: We show that gender matters, as women are less easily persuaded by prototypicality. We conclude by reflecting on the implications for leaders, politics and support for leadership development. Keywords: Indonesia; leadership; prototypicality; social identity theory; women in politics Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:201-213 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Local Participation or Elite Capture in Sheep’s Clothing? A Conundrum of Locally Led Development File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3343 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3343 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 191-200 Author-Name: Aidan Craney Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Social Inquiry, La Trobe University, Australia Abstract: This article discusses concepts of legitimacy and elite capture in locally led development through a case study of the Pacific-based Green Growth Leaders’ Coalition (GGLC). GGLC is a fellowship of persons identified for their developmental leadership potential on issues of sustainability and economic growth. Members are recruited into an exclusive grouping dedicated to influencing positive developmental change through informal networks and political backchannels. With their membership representing people who both self-identify and are locally recognised as leaders, queries exist to the extent to which their efforts represent a shift towards greater ownership of developmental processes at local levels or simply reinforce elite capture of ‘local voice’ in the most aid-dependent region in the world. Rather than necessarily offering straightforward answers to questions of legitimacy and elite capture, the example of GGLC demonstrates how complex the notion of locally led development can be in practice. Keywords: development; diplomacy; elite capture; local leadership; locally led development; Pacific Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:191-200 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Transformative Grassroots Leadership: Understanding the Role of Rojiroti’s Women Leaders in Supporting Social Change File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3560 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3560 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 180-190 Author-Name: Rebecca Gordon Author-Workplace-Name: International Development Department, University of Birmingham, UK / Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, UK Abstract: Many have argued that supporting women’s leadership is an important pathway to women’s empowerment. However, there is still a need for better understanding of how women become leaders, particularly at the grassroots level, and how they support social change. This article explores women’s leadership as part of a grassroots microfinance organisation, Rojiroti. Through interviews and focus group discussions, it finds that Rojiroti’s women leaders were motivated to become leaders to create better opportunities for their families and communities, and that they lead in line with frameworks of transformative leadership by supporting relationship building, by facilitating and guiding knowledge transfer and by providing space for reflection and skills for action (Wakefield, 2017). In particular, their situated knowledge was essential for inspiring shared vision for challenging unequal power relations. Overall, better understanding their leadership, that particularly nurtures relationships and collaboration, due to their position as being from the social groups they sought to support, is critical to the current challenges facing interventions and activism that seek to promote women’s empowerment and contribute to social change. Keywords: gender; grassroots; India; inequality; leadership; power relations; Rojiroti; social change Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:180-190 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Locating Leadership and Political Will in Social Policy: The Story of India’s MGNREGA File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3342 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3342 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 168-179 Author-Name: Ujjwal Krishna Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Human Security and Social Change, La Trobe University, Australia Author-Name: Chris Roche Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Human Security and Social Change, La Trobe University, Australia Abstract: The term ‘political will’ is often conveniently used to explain the success or failure of any policy or programme. It has emerged as the “sine qua non of policy success which is never defined except by its absence” (Hammergren, 1998, p. 12). Therefore, a structured examination of the term is necessary to analyse social policy and programming. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), enacted by India’s United Progressive Alliance government in 2005, offers a compelling case to examine the role of ‘political will’ in the formulation of a major programme. The evolution of the MGNREGA, which has been described by the World Bank as the largest antipoverty state-run employment-generation scheme anywhere in the world (Dutta, Murgai, Ravallion, & van de Walle, 2014), depended significantly on leadership and political commitment in the legislature and the executive, as well as their coordination and substantive engagement with civil society, represented through non-governmental organisations and activists. We explore the complex power relations between the diverse range of actors involved in the MGNREGA, and gauge the role of leadership and political will in the formulation of the MGNREGA, as carried out by the United Progressive Alliance government between 2005 and 2014, in contrast to the manner in which it was reframed and retained by its successor dispensation, the National Democratic Alliance from 2014 onwards. We then examine the MGNREGA, utilising a framework which expands our understanding of political will as being contingent upon leadership at the individual, collective and societal levels (Hudson, Mcloughlin, Roche, & Marquette, 2018), thereby providing us with greater explanatory power. Keywords: coalitions; developmental leadership; employment; framing; India; leadership; MGNREGA; policy formulation; political leadership; social policy Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:168-179 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: The Rise of Technocratic Leadership in the 1990s in the People’s Republic of China File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3328 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3328 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 157-167 Author-Name: Rongrong Lin Author-Workplace-Name: Research Center of CPC Rules and Regulations, Institute of Urban Governance, Shenzhen University, China Abstract: The transformation of China’s political elite provides important insights into the nation’s political metamorphosis and the changes in cadre selection criteria. The current literature explains the composition of Chinese political elites by referencing cross-sectional biographic data and describing how the revolutionary veterans stepped down and were replaced by the technocrats who emerged in the 1980s and 1990s. However, explanations for the rise of the technocrats have largely been limited to socioeconomic factors. By analyzing the longitudinal data of Chinese provincial leaders during the period of 1990–2013, this article shows the rise of technocrats in Chinese politics in the 1990s but also provides an explanation for it from the perspectives of individuals’ career paths and the contemporaneous political and policy landscapes. These explanations were drawn from analyses of the expansion of higher education and faculty restructuring in the 1950s, graduate job assignments, the recruitment and promotion of young and middle-aged cadres, and the cadre policy known as the Four Modernizations of the early 1980s. This article presents the interactions among individuals’ career opportunities, group composition characteristics, and socioeconomic and macropolitical dynamics. It also reveals how the Chinese Communist Party legitimizes its ruling power and maintains state capacity and political order through elite recruitment. Keywords: China; education reform; elites; Four Modernizations; technocrats Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:157-167 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Alliances of Instrumental Advantage: Supporting Women’s Agency in Civil Society Organisations in Indonesia File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3347 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3347 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 147-156 Author-Name: Stephen Sherlock Author-Workplace-Name: School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, Australia Abstract: This article examines how Indonesian civil society organisations (CSOs) working for women’s empowerment and gender equality have worked together with members of parliament (MPs) to support processes of developmental change. Examples are taken from initiatives supported by MAMPU, an Australian government funded project that promotes gender equality and women’s empowerment in Indonesia, describing ways in which gender-focused organisations have engaged with, and had an impact upon, the actions of political leaders in parliament. The article focuses on interaction between institutions and the agency exercised by individuals within institutions. MPs act within a structure of institutional and political incentives, but they also have the power to make choices about how they respond to incentives. Moreover, the leaders of outside actors such as CSOs can modify the structure of incentives by both applying pressure on MPs and providing opportunities for legislators to make different choices. One of MAMPU’s tools for targeting MPs has been political economy analysis. Having correctly understood the pressures and incentives facing MPs, CSOs can target their actions to bring about outcomes favourable to both sides in what the article calls ‘alliances of instrumental advantage.’ Organisations supported by MAMPU achieved success where relationships were forged between the organisations and politicians based on the identification of mutual advantage. Keywords: civil society organisations; Indonesia; political change; political economy; women’s empowerment Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:147-156 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: The Characteristics of Locally Led Development in the Pacific File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3551 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3551 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 136-146 Author-Name: Chris Roche Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Human Security and Social Change, La Trobe University, Australia Author-Name: John Cox Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Human Security and Social Change, La Trobe University, Australia Author-Name: Mereani Rokotuibau Author-Workplace-Name: Balance of Power Program, Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development, Fiji Author-Name: Peni Tawake Author-Workplace-Name: Australia Pacific Training Coalition, Fiji Author-Name: Yeshe Smith Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Human Security and Social Change, La Trobe University, Australia Abstract: There is a growing recognition of the effectiveness of locally led processes of social change and development. However, most of the case studies that have been discussed in the literature are focused on programs run by international development agencies. This article examines three locally led processes of change in the Pacific. These include the Simbo for Change Initiative in the Solomon Islands, the Voice in Papua New Guinea and a regional process led by the Green Growth Coalition. We explore how local understandings of leadership, preferences for informal ways of working, holistic ways of thinking, the importance placed upon maintaining good relationships and collective deliberation fundamentally shaped each of the cases. We note how these preferences and ways of working are often seen, or felt, to be at odds with western modes of thought and the practice of development agencies. Finally, we conclude by exploring how these initiatives were supported by external agencies, and suggest further research of this type might provide benchmarks by which Pacific citizens can hold their governments and development agencies to account. Keywords: coalitions; development; developmental leadership; livelihoods; local development; Pacific; politics Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:136-146 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Leadership and Change in Asia-Pacific: Where Does Political Will Come From? File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3831 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3831 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 131-135 Author-Name: David Hudson Author-Workplace-Name: International Development Department, School of Government, University of Birmingham, UK Author-Name: Nicolas Lemay-Hébert Author-Workplace-Name: Department of International Relations, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, Australian National University, Australia Author-Name: Claire Mcloughlin Author-Workplace-Name: International Development Department, School of Government, University of Birmingham, UK Author-Name: Chris Roche Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Human Security and Social Change, La Trobe University, Australia Abstract: We introduce this thematic issue by exploring the role of leadership in social and political change. In current times, the importance of leadership and choice has proved as important as ever. Leadership is often the critical variable separating success or failure, legitimacy and sustainability or collapse. This thematic issue explores a range of in-depth case studies across the Asia-Pacific region that help illustrate the critical elements of leadership. Collectively they demonstrate that leadership is best understood as a collective process involving motivated agents overcoming barriers to cooperation to form coalitions that have enough power, legitimacy and influence to transform institutions. Five themes emerge from the thematic issue as a whole: leadership is political; the centrality of gender relations; the need for a more critical localism; scalar politics; and the importance of understanding informal processes of leadership and social change. Keywords: Asia-Pacific region; China; Covid-19; developmental leadership; Fiji; India; Indonesia; Papua New Guinea; political will; Solomon Islands Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:131-135 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Public Administration and the Study of Political Order: Towards a Framework for Analysis File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3264 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3264 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 120-130 Author-Name: Jarle Trondal Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science and Management, University of Agder, Norway / ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, Norway Abstract: The contribution of this study is two-fold: First, it outlines a conceptual framework on political order; and secondly, it offers empirical illustrations on the case of Nordic cooperation. Taken together, the article makes a plea for public administration scholarship in the study of political order. Political order consists of a relatively stable arrangement of institutions that are fairly formalized and institutionalized. A common political order, moreover, entails that relevant institutions: (i) are fairly independent of pre-existing institutions; (ii) are relatively integrated and internally cohesive; and (iii) are reasonably able to influence governance processes within other institutions. The article empirically suggests that Nordic-level institutions are less likely to act relatively integrated and independently of member-state governments as well as being able to wield significant influence on public governance processes within member-state institutions. Keywords: multilevel administration; multilevel governance; Nordic cooperation; organizational approach; political order; public administration Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:120-130 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: The Nordic Balance Revisited: Differentiation and the Foreign Policy Repertoires of the Nordic States File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3380 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3380 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 110-119 Author-Name: Kristin Haugevik Author-Workplace-Name: NUPI—Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Norway Author-Name: Ole Jacob Sending Author-Workplace-Name: NUPI—Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Norway Abstract: Nordic governments frequently broadcast their ambition to do more together on the international stage. The five Nordic states (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Norway) also share many basic goals as foreign policy actors, including a steadfast and vocal commitment to safeguarding the ‘rules-based international order.’ Why then, do we not see more organized Nordic foreign policy collaboration, for example in the form of a joint ‘grand strategy’ on core foreign policy issues, or in relation to great powers and international organizations? In this article, we draw on Charles Tilly’s concept of ‘repertoires’ to address the discrepancy between ambitions and developments in Nordic foreign policy cooperation, highlighting how the bundles of policy instruments—repertoires—that each Nordic state has developed over time take on an identity-defining quality. We argue that the Nordic states have invested in and become attached to their foreign policy differences, niches, and ‘brands.’ On the international scene, and especially when interacting with significant other states, they tend not only to stick to what they know how to do and are accustomed to doing but also to promote their national rather than their Nordic profile. While Nordic cooperation forms part of all the five states’ foreign policy repertoire in specific policy areas, these are marginal compared to the distinctive repertoires on which each Nordic state rely in relation to more powerful states. It is therefore unlikely that we will see a ‘common order’ among the Nordic states in the foreign policy domain in the near future. Keywords: cooperation; foreign policy; identity; Nordic region; repertoires Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:110-119 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Nordic Security and Defence Cooperation: Differentiated Integration in Uncertain Times File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3338 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3338 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 100-109 Author-Name: Rikard Bengtsson Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Lund University, Sweden Abstract: A decade ago, Nordic cooperation on security and defence matters gained momentum, having been largely absent from the map of Nordic cooperation during the Cold War and its aftermath. This article analyses developments along three dimensions of Nordic cooperation: military defence (focusing on the Nordic Defence Cooperation), civil security (in the form of the ‘Haga’ process), and political cooperation (through the implementation of the Stoltenberg report). Three observations stand out as a result: First, that the three dimensions are intimately related against the background of a common Nordic conceptualization of security; second, that there is simultaneously variation in significant respects (such as driving forces, scope, and degree of institutionalization); and third, that Nordic security and defence cooperation has developed in the context of European and transatlantic security dynamics and cooperation. The second part of the analysis seeks to interpret this picture from the analytical perspective of differentiated integration. The article ends with a set of reflections on the future of Nordic security and defence cooperation in light of the Coronavirus pandemic. Keywords: civil security; cooperation; defence; differentiated integration; Haga process; NORDEFCO; Nordic; security; Stoltenberg Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:100-109 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Party Positions on Differentiated European Integration in the Nordic Countries: Growing Together, Growing Apart? File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3353 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3353 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 89-99 Author-Name: Benjamin Leruth Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen, The Netherlands Author-Name: Jarle Trondal Author-Workplace-Name: ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, Norway / Department of Political Science and Management, University of Agder, Norway Author-Name: Stefan Gänzle Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science and Management, University of Agder, Norway Abstract: The Nordic countries constitute an interesting laboratory for the study of differentiated European Integration. Even though Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden share some historical, cultural, socio-economic and political characteristics, all those countries have ultimately opted for a different kind of relationship with the EU. Whereas Finland, a member of the Eurozone since its inception in 1999, has been considered to be part of the Union’s ‘inner core’ for quite some time, Iceland and Norway, in contrast, have opted to remain outside the EU albeit closely associated via the European Economic Area Agreement. The variation of relationships has also been reflected in Nordic parties’ positioning vis-à-vis European integration in general and differentiation of European integration in particular. Broadly speaking, party families can be distinguished along traditional (e.g., agrarian, Christian democratic, conservative, and social democratic) and modern (e.g., socialist left, green, and populist radical right) ideological orientations. Although political parties belonging to both the traditional and modern Nordic party families have adopted different stances on European differentiated integration, we would assume—against the backdrop of Nordic cooperation—higher levels of transnational cooperation in European matters. Consequently, this article examines the similarities and differences between parties belonging to the same ideological family, and the extent of transnational party cooperation in the Nordic countries. Drawing on a series of interviews conducted with party representatives as well as on official party documents, this article shows that although institutionalized party cooperation mostly reflects divisions between party families, such institutionalization does not include a common vision for European integration. We conclude that the low level of partisan Nordic integration is primarily caused by domestic-level factors, such as intra-party divisions, government participation and public opinion. Keywords: democratic values; differentiation; European Union; Nordic cooperation; party politics Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:89-99 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: New Alliances in Post-Brexit Europe: Does the New Hanseatic League Revive Nordic Political Cooperation? File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3359 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3359 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 78-88 Author-Name: Daniel F. Schulz Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science and Management, University of Agder, Norway Author-Name: Thomas Henökl Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science and Management, University of Agder, Norway Abstract: As Brexit removes the Nordic countries’ most powerful ally from the EU, what does this imply for their approach to European affairs? The literature on small states within the EU suggests that they can counterbalance limited bargaining capacities by entering two types of alliances: strategic partnerships with bigger member states and institutionalised cooperation on a regional basis. Against this backdrop we ask whether, by significantly raising the costs of non-cooperation for Nordic governments, the Brexit referendum has triggered a revival of Nordic political cooperation. We scrutinise this conjecture by analysing Nordic strategies of coalition-building on EU financial and budgetary policy, specifically looking at attempts to reform Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union and proposals to strengthen the EU’s fiscal powers. We find that Nordic governments have successfully collaborated on these issues in the context of new alliances such as the ‘New Hanseatic League’ or the ‘Frugal Four.’ Yet, their coalition-building strategies rely on relatively loose and issue-specific alliances rather than an institutionalisation of Nordic political cooperation, implying that this revival of Nordic political cooperation hardly involves the institutions of ‘official’ Nordic cooperation. We argue that this reflects lasting differences among the Nordics’ approach to the EU as well as electorates’ scepticism about supranational institution-building, implying that ‘reluctant Europeans’ are often also ‘reluctant Scandinavians.’ Keywords: Brexit; budgetary politics; Economic and Monetary Union; fiscal integration; intergovernmentalism; Nordic cooperation; small states Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:78-88 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Going Nordic in European Administrative Networks? File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3259 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3259 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 65-77 Author-Name: Reini Schrama Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Author-Name: Dorte Sindbjerg Martinsen Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Author-Name: Ellen Mastenbroek Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Public Administration, Radboud University, The Netherlands Abstract: The integration and policymaking of the European Union (EU) are claimed to challenge Nordic cooperation as a separate ‘common order.’ Increasing interdependencies in the EU have forced all EU member states to collaborate and share sovereignty in an increasing number of policy areas. This article studies the coexistence of Nordic cooperation and European integration by taking a network approach. It analyses the extent to which Nordic members of European Administrative Networks ‘go Nordic’ to solve problems or exchange advice, information and best practices. Based on unique survey data on interactions related to the implementation of EU policies in Social Policy, Health and the Internal Market by national governmental organisations across the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA), we use social network analysis to test for distinguishable patterns of Nordic cooperation. We find evidence to suggest that Nordic cooperation in the EU and EEA is best characterised by differentiated integration. The Nordic states tend to form a separate community for problem-solving and exchanging best practices, advice and information in Health and Social policy networks, but less so in SOLVIT, a network related to the Internal Market. Keywords: European administrative networks; European integration; EU internal market; EU health policy; EU social policy; Nordic cooperation; policy networks; social network analysis; SOLVIT Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:65-77 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Adapting to a Global Health Challenge: Managing Antimicrobial Resistance in the Nordics File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3356 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3356 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 53-64 Author-Name: Martin Stangborli Time Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science and Management, University of Agder, Norway Author-Name: Frode Veggeland Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Health Management and Health Economics, University of Oslo, Norway Abstract: This article explores the adaptation of Norway and Sweden to one of the major challenges to global public health, antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Guided by assumptions derived from institutional theory, the article investigates whether, and, if so, how the AMR problem has affected the two Nordic countries’ administrative systems and frameworks for Nordic cooperation. The article builds on selected literature, expert interviews, and public documents. The findings suggest that the international impact on Norway and Sweden’s managerial adaptation to AMR is limited. Instead, adaptation takes place through incremental change within existing structures for disease prevention and control and follows traditional ways of organizing political and administrative systems. Keywords: antimicrobial resistance; disease control; disease prevention; Europeanization; Nordic cooperation; Norway; public administration; Sweden Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:53-64 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Developing Nordic Cooperation in Renewable Electricity Policy: Exploring Views from Finland and Sweden File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3408 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3408 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 44-52 Author-Name: Sarah Kilpeläinen Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Management and Business, Tampere University, Finland Abstract: Calls for extending Nordic cooperation in the energy sector consider increased cooperation to be a tool to further support the creation of a smart Nordic energy system and realize the sustainable energy transition. To enhance our understanding of the state of Nordic energy cooperation, this article focuses on renewable electricity policy development in Finland and Sweden against the backdrop of facilitating and accelerating the Nordic energy transition. Building on previous research, the respective policy landscapes in Finland and Sweden will be scrutinized with insights from expert interviews, allowing the highlighting of the role of the actors in shaping the national and international energy transition policy. Ultimately, the article will explore the possibilities to enhance Nordic cooperation and question a possible future institutionalization of Nordic energy cooperation from the perspectives of Finland and Sweden. The aims of the article are twofold. First, to analyze the current policy mixes in Finland and Sweden with a special focus on bottlenecks and development needs and, second, to explore the viewpoints of the stakeholders from these two countries regarding potential and bottlenecks for developing Nordic energy cooperation. Keywords: energy policy; energy transition; Finland; Nordic; renewable electricity; renewables; Sweden Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:44-52 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Nordic Cooperation in the Nuclear Safety Sector: High, Low, or Differentiated Integration? File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3292 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3292 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 33-43 Author-Name: Kjerstin Kjøndal Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science and Management, University of Agder, Norway Abstract: Nordic cooperation has been depicted as eroding due to the increased importance of EU-related cooperation and integration. However, scholars propose that longstanding Nordic networks, grounded in professions and located in the state administration, may prove to be more robust toward external changes. This article discusses this proposal by looking at Nordic cooperation between the national radiation protection and nuclear safety authorities in Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. The article maps behavioural perceptions of agency staff based on a dataset of 37 interviews to illustrate if the cooperation between the Nordic authorities is characterized by high integration, low integration, or differentiated integration within the nuclear safety sector. The study finds that the cooperation is differentiated between the highly integrated areas of radiation protection and emergency preparedness, and the less integrated areas of nuclear security and safeguards. To account for variation, the data indicates the importance of path dependency and portfolio. Keywords: historical institutionalism; integration; Nordic cooperation; nuclear safety; nuclear security; organization theory; radiation protection; safeguards Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:33-43 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Nordic Administrative Collaboration: Scope, Predictors and Effects on Policy Design and Administrative Reform Measures File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3281 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3281 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 21-32 Author-Name: Per Lægreid Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Administration and Organization Theory, University of Bergen, Norway Author-Name: Lise H. Rykkja Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Administration and Organization Theory, University of Bergen, Norway Abstract: This article examines whether Nordic administrative collaboration is still ‘alive and kicking,’ or whether it has been marginalized by increased integration into Europe and strong international reform trajectories. We analyse the scope and intensity of Nordic administrative collaboration from a structural perspective based on the perceptions of civil servants in the Norwegian central government. We also address the implications of Nordic collaboration for policy design and reform measures. The main conclusion is that Nordic administrative collaboration can best be described as differentiated integration. The scope of Nordic administrative collaboration is rather broad, and its internal structural features vary significantly. Nordic collaboration is perceived to have more of an effect on policy design than on specific administrative reform means and measures. However, structural features also matter. Keywords: administrative collaboration; administrative reforms; civil service; differentiated integration; Nordic countries; Norway; policy design; public policy Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:21-32 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: The Nordic Council of Ministers: Aspirations for More Political Relevance File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3381 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3381 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 11-20 Author-Name: Tobias Etzold Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Historical and Classical Studies, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway Abstract: Due to changing circumstances and new challenges, the Nordic Council of Ministers underwent an incremental process of change and some modest transformation since the 1990s. However, there has never been a major overhaul of structures and contents owing to considerable inertia. The most recent modernisation process, aiming at more political relevance and flexibility, has been ambitious but whether it has been a success remains unclear thus far. Weaknesses and limits in cooperation in the Nordic Council of Ministers are obvious, i.e., no majority voting or ‘opting-out’ system, a lack in supra-national structures and policies and no common immigration, foreign, security and EU policies. Nonetheless, the organisation has at least some relevance and meaning for the Nordic countries and the potential to promote and facilitate cooperation in policy areas in which common interests exist, such as environment, climate, research and social affairs. Therefore, rather than constituting a common political order of its own, Nordic cooperation, as it is conducted within the Nordic Council of Ministers, is best characterized by differentiated integration, promoting full integration only to a limited extent but respecting integration to different extents and speeds by fostering cooperation and coordination of certain policies where possible and desired. Keywords: modernization; Nordic cooperation; Nordic Council of Ministers; political reform; political relevance Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:11-20 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Introducing the Study of Nordic Cooperation File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3726 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i4.3726 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 4 Pages: 1-10 Author-Name: Anne Elizabeth Stie Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science and Management, University of Agder, Norway Author-Name: Jarle Trondal Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science and Management, University of Agder, Norway / ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, Norway Abstract: To rediscover Nordic cooperation this article develops a ‘conceptual grammar’ that provides general theoretical ‘images’ of cooperation that are systematically applied. Being supplementary analytical constructs, moreover, these images capture great variety and differentiation in Nordic cooperation. Next, this article provides a review of two sets of literature that are of particular relevance to this thematic issue. The first is a broader literature on European integration. The second is studies of Nordic cooperation. The article closes with an overview of the contributions to this thematic issue. Keywords: differentiation; disintegration; integration; Nordic cooperation; Nordic Council; Nordic Council of Ministers Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:1-10 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Displacing the Gender Binary Through Modes of Dis/Organizing: Sex Toys, Sexuality and Trans Politics File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3016 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.3016 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 321-331 Author-Name: Ludovico V. Virtù Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Management Research, Radboud University, The Netherlands Abstract: Scholars in sexuality and organization studies have highlighted the centrality of sexuality in organizational power and the ways in which sexuality is in/visibilized, controlled, violently exercised, normativized, and/or resisted in organizations. However, there is still little empirical research focusing on social-movement organizations that promote political change in transgender sexual cultures. With this article, I contribute a qualitative case study of a trans and non-binary do-it-yourself (DIY) sex-toy workshop. Drawing on organization, social-movement, and transgender studies, I develop the notion of ‘trans-organizing’ as a specific mode of organizing and ask: How does trans-organizing around sexuality displace the gender binary in the context of a DIY sex-toy workshop? My findings hint at three dis/organizing processes: dis/organizing language, embodiment, and knowledge sharing. Keywords: dis/organizing; do-it-yourself; gender; organization studies; sex toys; sexuality; social movement studies; trans politics; transgender studies; trans-organizing Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:321-331 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Trans* Politics and the Feminist Project: Revisiting the Politics of Recognition to Resolve Impasses File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2825 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2825 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 312-320 Author-Name: Zara Saeidzadeh Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Gender Studies, Örebro University, Sweden Author-Name: Sofia Strid Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Gender Studies, Örebro University, Sweden Abstract: The debates on, in, and between feminist and trans* movements have been politically intense at best and aggressively hostile at worst. The key contestations have revolved around three issues: First, the question of who constitutes a woman; second, what constitute feminist interests; and third, how trans* politics intersects with feminist politics. Despite decades of debates and scholarship, these impasses remain unbroken. In this article, our aim is to work out a way through these impasses. We argue that all three types of contestations are deeply invested in notions of identity, and therefore dealt with in an identitarian way. This has not been constructive in resolving the antagonistic relationship between the trans* movement and feminism. We aim to disentangle the antagonism within anti-trans* feminist politics on the one hand, and trans* politics’ responses to that antagonism on the other. In so doing, we argue for a politics of status-based recognition (drawing on Fraser, 2000a, 2000b) instead of identity-based recognition, highlighting individuals’ specific needs in society rather than women’s common interests (drawing on Jónasdóttir, 1991), and conceptualising the intersections of the trans* movement and feminism as mutually shaping rather than as trans* as additive to the feminist project (drawing on Walby, 2007, and Walby, Armstrong, and Strid, 2012). We do this by analysing the main contemporary scholarly debates on the relationship between the trans* movement and feminism within feminist and trans* politics. Unafraid of a polemic approach, our selection of material is strategic and illuminates the specific arguments put forward in the article. Keywords: antagonism; coalitional intersectionality; feminist politics; identity; misrecognition; status; trans* politics Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:312-320 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Trans* Identities and Politics: Repertoires of Action, Political Cleavages, and Emerging Coalitions File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2927 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2927 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 301-311 Author-Name: Gustavo Santos Elpes Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal Abstract: The current political landscape provides collective actors with new strategies to articulate individual interests, hardships, identities, critiques, and solutions, engage with social mobilisation’s conflictual demands, and move towards sustainable practices of collective actions. This article will focus on theoretical challenges surrounding the political action and organization of feminist and trans* identities in order to provide situated knowledge about the dynamics of the transfeminist activism in the Madrilenian geopolitical context. Throughout LGBT*Q+ activists’ integrated forms of doing politics along different axes of oppression (e.g., class, migration, racialisation, disability, ethnicity, gender diversity), new visibility regimes are trying to expand the repertoires of action by nurturing emerging coalitions and agencies among a variety of hybrid political subjects. This article thus argues that trans* politics, through nonbinary activism and a new intersectional feminist praxis, may expand the political subject of feminism and our understanding of identity politics and embodied action. Keywords: activism; disability; intersectionality; social mobilisation; Spain; transfeminism Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:301-311 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: From Medical to Human-Rights Norms: Examining the Evolution of Trans Norms in the Netherlands File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2880 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2880 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 290-300 Author-Name: Melisa Soto-Lafontaine Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Management Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands Abstract: Examining the dynamics underpinning the evolution of trans norms in the Netherlands, from their emergence there in 1952 up until 2019, this article traces their development through four historical phases, each marked by notable milestones and supported by different sets of frames, actors, and norm-change mechanisms. My analysis shows that the normative profile of trans issues in the Netherlands has long been ruled by medical frames, but the last decades have also witnessed the emergence and establishment of a new set of frames rooted in human-rights discourses. By tracing the trajectory of trans norms in the Netherlands and examining the mechanisms underlying the emergence and changes of frames, this article contributes to the theoretical body of studies on norm diffusion by introducing the role of hybrid entrepreneurs, the dynamic co-assembling of medical and legal domains and the self-lead trans emancipation as a social entrepreneurial strategy. Keywords: human rights; medical norms; non-state actors; norm entrepreneurship; norm diffusion; norm emergence; trans* rights; transgender politics; the Netherlands Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:290-300 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Contestations of Transgender Rights and/in the Strasbourg Court File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2876 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2876 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 278-289 Author-Name: Anna van der Vleuten Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Radboud University, The Netherlands Abstract: Transgender rights are a highly contested issue, upsetting the ‘normal’ ordering of society. In Europe, transgender persons continue to suffer discrimination and harassment, and their rights are contested time and again. Eventually they can turn to the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) in Strasbourg. In such politically sensitive matters, how do judges in Strasbourg decide? Do they set European norms bolstering transgender rights, or do they refrain from interference in state affairs? Testing expectations based on rational and sociological institutionalism, this article analyses all 33 Court cases on transgender issues since 1980. As a judge’s low score on trans rights in their home country does not mean that they vote against trans rights, and as judges do no defend their home country but vote with the ‘pro-state’ or ‘pro-trans’ majority, rationalist expectations were not confirmed. Sociological institutionalist processes of widening and narrowing tell us more about the hesitant and uneven strengthening of transgender rights, if within the limits of binary thinking as regards the transgender body, marriage and family. Keywords: European Court of Human Rights; gender identity; human rights; transgender Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:278-289 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Now You See Me? The Visibility of Trans and Travesti Experiences in Criminal Procedures File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2804 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2804 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 266-277 Author-Name: Lorena Sosa Author-Workplace-Name: Netherlands Institute of Human Rights, Utrecht University, The Netherlands Abstract: In 2012, after decades of trans and travesti activism in Argentina, the law on gender identity was finally adopted. Travesti activists Diana Sacayán and Lohana Berkins were at the forefront of these efforts. The same year, after the long struggle of the feminist movement, ‘femicide,’ understood as the murder of women by men in the context of gender-based violence, was incorporated into the Criminal Code as aggravated murder. This legal amendment also criminalized hate crime based on the sexual orientation or gender identity of the victim. Mobilized by Sacayán’s murder in 2015, the trans and travesti collective sought to make the experiences of exclusion and marginalization of the travesti collective visible by coining the notion of ‘travesticide,’ and demanded it to be used in the ensuing criminal trial that followed her death. Constrained by the legal notions of femicide, gender-based violence, and hate crimes, the Tribunal introduced ‘travesticide’ in their decision, yet questions on how to properly operationalize this notion in criminal law remain. Each notion offers opportunities and poses difficulties in making the murder of travestis politically visible and accounted for. By a detailed analysis of the final judgment, this article reflects on the implications of the notions used in the trial and the possible lessons for future interactions with the criminal justice system. Keywords: Argentina; criminal procedures; femicide; gender identity; hate crime; transgender; travesti; travesticide Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:266-277 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Redistribution and Recognition in Spanish Transgender Laws File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2856 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2856 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 253-265 Author-Name: R. Lucas Platero Author-Workplace-Name: Social Psychology Department, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain Abstract: Since 2012, 16 laws granting rights to trans individuals have been passed in Spanish regions. How can we assess the quality of these laws? Do they all profoundly and positively transform trans people’s well-being? Do they tackle the economic marginalization of trans people? Do they have a symbolic impact? Using multidimensional criteria, I analyze trans-specific and LGBTI+ antidiscrimination policies to define trans-positivity in policymaking. This article uses feminist theory to judge this legislation’s value, contrasting that with the insights of activists and policymakers interviewed for this purpose. Benefiting from the discussion between Nancy Fraser (1995) and Judith Butler (1997), the quality of trans legislation can be assessed by looking at both cultural recognition and economic redistribution. In addition, following Andrea Krizsan and Emanuela Lombardo (2013), I also analyze these laws through the lens of empowerment and transformation. Having made the elusive relationship between sexuality and political economy in trans laws in Spain visible, I call for greater imagination to envisage other sorts of political actions for trans people. Keywords: policymaking; recognition; redistribution; Spain; transgender Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:253-265 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Trans Laws and Constitutional Rulings in Belgium: The Ambiguous Relations between Sex and Gender File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2851 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2851 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 242-252 Author-Name: Petra Meier Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Antwerp, Belgium Author-Name: Joz Motmans Author-Workplace-Name: Transgender Infopunt, Ghent University Hospital, Belgium / Centre for Research on Culture and Gender, Ghent University, Belgium Abstract: In this article we reflect upon the evolution from the Belgian trans law of 2007 to those of 2017 and beyond, giving adult citizens the possibility to have their self-determined gender legally recognised. The 2019 ruling of the Belgian Constitutional Court, condemning the Belgian State for being discriminatory against gender fluid and gender non-binary persons regarding their legal gender recognition, requires the Belgian government to either add a third legal option or to abolish gender registration altogether. We analyse the definitions of sex and gender that underlie the two trans laws of 2007 and 2017 and the Constitutional Court ruling of 2019 and then confront them with the experiences of trans people based on a national transgender survey (Motmans, Wyverkens, & Defreyne, 2017). The confrontation between legal texts and lived experiences clearly shows the promises and pitfalls states face when striving for gender recognition procedures. Keywords: Belgium; gender; law; recognition; sex; transgender Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:242-252 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Gender in a Box? The Paradoxes of Recognition beyond the Gender Binary File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2820 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2820 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 231-241 Author-Name: Sofia Aboim Author-Workplace-Name: Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal Abstract: The growing visibility of trans and gender-nonconforming individuals paved the way for a novel politics of transgender recognition in the legal sphere and state-governed public policies. Considering that the possibilities for registering multiple genders beyond male or female are taking effect in several countries, this article examines recent developments and claims that recognition is complicit with misrecognition for two main reasons. Firstly, because models of recognition tend to equalize all the interactions and all the fields of social life. Drawing on Axel Honneth’s notion of spheres of recognition, I argue that inasmuch as different forms of recognition (legal, moral, affective) are governed by different norms and gender regimes, the dynamics of recognition produce misrecognition. Secondly, because legal and institutional recognition tends to reify individual identity. Drawing on Nancy Fraser’s critique of the identity model of recognition, I contend that the identity recognition model tends to impose a norm rather than recognizing diversity. Therefore, gender identity categories can—through a process of reification—block the entitlement to affirm one’s self-determined gender identity. The paradoxical dynamics of recognition are empirically illustrated through an analysis of third-gender markers and their effects upon the lives and narratives of trans and gender-nonconforming individuals. By examining the case of Nepal in comparative perspective with other developments in Asia and South America, it is demonstrated that the identity model of recognition is complicit with feelings and practices of misrecognition. Keywords: gender; identity politics; misrecognition; Nepal; non-binary genders; third-gender markers; trans Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:231-241 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Trans* Politics: Current Challenges and Contestations Regarding Bodies, Recognition, and Trans* Organising File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3651 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.3651 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 223-230 Author-Name: Mieke Verloo Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Radboud University, The Netherlands Author-Name: Anna van der Vleuten Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Radboud University, The Netherlands Abstract: This thematic issue analyses trans* politics, and the problems and policies articulated by societal, political and legal actors in national and international contexts in Europe and Latin America. Trans* issues are at the heart of politics concerning sex and gender, because the sex binary ordering is producing the categories, identities, and related social relationships around which gender inequalities are constructed. Scholarship on trans* politics promises to bring more fundamental knowledge about how the gender binary organisation of our societies is (dis)functional, and is therefore relevant and beneficial for all gender and politics scholarship. Contestations around trans* issues continue developing, between state and non-state actors, transgender people and medical professionals, and also among and between social movements. This thematic issue is our contribution to dimensions of trans* politics that revolve around the issue of sexed and gendered bodies (the making and unmaking of “deviant” bodies, non-binary language about bodies, and voice given in bodily re/assignments), the limits of recognition (undermining of trans* agency, persistent binary thinking, and disconnect with material dimensions of gender justice), and the potential of trans* movements (processes and practices through which political claims are generated in the movement, a more forward looking and pro-active perspective on the possibility of alliances between the feminist and the trans* projects, and between the trans* project and the disability project, and alliances of movement actors with institutional power holders such as international courts). Keywords: binary; sex; sexuality; social movements; trans*; transgender; transgender recognition; transgender politics Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:223-230 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Cross-Scale Linkages of Centralized Electricity Generation: Geothermal Development and Investor–Community Relations in Kenya File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2981 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2981 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 211-222 Author-Name: Britta Klagge Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Geography, University of Bonn, Germany Author-Name: Clemens Greiner Author-Workplace-Name: Global South Studies Center, University of Cologne, Germany Author-Name: David Greven Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Cologne, Germany Author-Name: Chigozie Nweke-Eze Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Geography, University of Bonn, Germany Abstract: Based on a study of Kenya’s geothermal-energy development in Baringo-Silali, we explore how and with whom government actors and local communities in rural and peripheral areas interact when planning and implementing large-scale power plants. Starting from a comparison of decentralized and centralized energy systems, we demonstrate that the development of this large-scale infrastructure project and the associated investor-community relations are governed by various cross-scale linkages. To this end, we adapt the concept of cross-scale linkages from the literature on natural-resource governance to explore actors, rules, and practices at local, regional, national, and international levels. Keywords: Baringo; centralized electricity generation; corporate social responsibility; cross-scale linkages; geothermal development; governance; infrastructure; investor–community relations; Kenya Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:211-222 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Geostrategic Renewable Energy Transition in Turkey: Organizational Strategies Towards an Energy Autonomous Future File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2968 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2968 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 199-210 Author-Name: Özge Dolunay Author-Workplace-Name: Chair of Social and Population Geography, University of Bayreuth, Germany Abstract: The geographical location of Turkey in the Asia Minor places the country in a delicate geostrategic position determined by its history, ideological structure, politics and energy economy. The Turkish government has defined its main energy strategies with the goal of reaching 30% renewables by 2023. Key strategies declared are the prioritization of energy supply security, the consideration of environmental concerns, and an increase in efficiency and productivity through the establishment of transparent and competitive market conditions through reform and liberalization. This article analyses the renewable energy (RE) transition of Turkey from a fully centralised energy management model towards a system of partially centralization through the unbundling of utility companies. Analysis will utilize Michael Mann’s theory on the four sources of social power as an alternative organizational means of social control and the interrelations of ideological, economic, political and military power. The recent history of Turkey’s RE transition and government plans for sector development will be investigated from a socio-spatial and organizational perspective. Furthermore, the way in which these socio-spatial relations have been shaping electricity market liberalization and the preparedness of the state to share its power with non-state actors is discussed. The potential of a centralised RE management model to inspire ‘decentralised’ RE management in other geographies is considered. In conclusion, key factors in the organisation of the (de)centralised electricity transitions are found to be dependent on history, geography, and overlapping relations of social power. Keywords: decentralization; development; electricity market; energy transition; renewable energy; social power; Turkey Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:199-210 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Prioritizing the Chicken or Egg? Electric Vehicle Purchase and Charging Infrastructure Subsidies in Germany File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3025 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.3025 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 185-198 Author-Name: Roland Zink Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Applied Informatics, Deggendorf Institute of Technology, Germany Author-Name: Javier Valdes Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Applied Informatics, Deggendorf Institute of Technology, Germany Author-Name: Jane Wuth Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Applied Informatics, Deggendorf Institute of Technology, Germany Abstract: To meet current targets for greenhouse gas emissions in Europe, emissions, especially those originating from the road transport sector, need to be reduced. Plans are to achieve this goal by substituting fossil fuel vehicles with electric vehicles (EVs). This article first discusses conceptually the impact of an increasing share of EVs on the electricity grid and suitable locations for charging stations with examples from a Case Study in Lower Bavaria. Secondly, the impact of purchase subsidies on EV purchases in Germany, a high-income country characterized by an important automotive industry and an increasing share of private vehicles is examined. To achieve this, yearly information on EV purchases were analyzed by applying the Synthetic Control Method. Combining data from different sources including the European Alternative Fuels Observatory, Eurostat, and the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, an overall picture was developed. Results indicate a difference between private, semi-public, and public charging infrastructures. Its spatial distribution does not correspond to a specific development strategy. Moreover, EV subsidies have a limited effect in Germany when controlling for market size. Limiting the discussion to a trade-off between subsidizing infrastructures or EV purchases obviates the multidimensionality of the problem as neither of them may be sufficient to accelerate the transition per se. Furthermore, if electricity provided for EVs comes mainly from fossil carriers, the changes in the road transport sector will not yield the expected emission reductions. The transition towards renewables is directly intertwined with the effects of EVs on emission reductions in the road transport sector. Keywords: electric vehicles; energy policy; fossil fuels; Germany; green energy; subsidies; transportation Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:185-198 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Centrally Decentralising? Analysing Key Policies and Pathways in Norway’s Electricity Transitions File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2874 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2874 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 173-184 Author-Name: Tor Håkon Jackson Inderberg Author-Workplace-Name: Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway Abstract: With national electricity systems, ‘transition’ may involve decentralising production and ownership, and digitalising the system. These processes are facilitated by smart metering, ‘prosuming,’ and changes in consumer behaviour. Driving factors may be national steering, or the process can be left to the market. In Norway, the government has opted for tightly steered national coordination of three key areas: national smart-meter implementation (since 2011), prosumer regulation (since 2016), and a national end-user demand flexibility regulation (expected to be adopted in 2020). These regulations influence production patterns, energy flows and grid activities. Drawing on organisational fields theory, this article asks: Why was it decided to adopt these policies centrally? Which actors have had greatest influence on policy outputs? And, finally, what of the possible implications? The regulations, developed in a sector in a state of field crisis, have generally been supported by the relevant actors. The Norwegian case can help to explain incumbent roles and field crisis, as well as nuanced drivers in complex transitions, beyond decarbonisation. Keywords: decentralised energy system; energy transition; organisational field Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:173-184 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Politics and (Self)-Organisation of Electricity System Transitions in a Global North–South Perspective File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3636 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.3636 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 162-172 Author-Name: Eberhard Rothfuß Author-Workplace-Name: Chair of Social and Population Geography, University of Bayreuth, Germany Author-Name: Festus Boamah Author-Workplace-Name: Chair of Social and Population Geography, University of Bayreuth, Germany Abstract: Dominant electricity systems are inevitably transitioning into new forms in terms of power generation mix, mode of energy system governance and vested interests, the extent of state and consumer/citizen participation in the energy system, and energy justice expectations in different geographies in the Global North and Global South. In this editorial to the thematic issue entitled Politics and (Self-)Organisation of Electricity System Transitions in a Global North–South Perspective, we discuss politics and (self)-organisation of (just) energy transitions to expose how messy, convoluted, and fluid future electricity system transitions can be in both the Global North and Global South. Keywords: decarbonisation; energy transition; global north; global south; Paris climate agreement; solar photovoltaic systems Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:162-172 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Three Types of Denial: Think Tanks as a Reluctant Civil Society Elite File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3015 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.3015 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 152-161 Author-Name: Katarzyna Jezierska Author-Workplace-Name: Division of Law, Politics and Economics, University West, Sweden Abstract: Think tanks, or policy advice institutions, are civil society organizations producing and delivering social analysis to policymakers and the wider public. Their aim is to influence policy in a given direction. Compared to most other civil society organizations, they hold relatively privileged positions, both in terms of wealth (on average bigger budgets and staffs), political influence (their very raison d’être), knowledge (educational level of the staff), and social networks. Thus, it seems beyond dispute that think tanks adhere to the elite of civil society. This article focuses on think tanks’ negative self-identification, on their reluctance to accept labels. Not only are think tanks unwilling to take on the elite designation, some of them also deny being part of civil society, and some go one step further in denying identification with the think tank community. These multiple denials are expected if we recall Pierre Bourdieu’s observation that “all aristocracies define themselves as being beyond all definition” (Bourdieu, 1996, p. 316). The analysis focuses on how this definitional ambiguity is discursively constructed. Think-tankers are often described as situated in an interstitial space between such fields as politics, civil society, media, market, and academia. While this intermediary position is the source of their unique role as converters of various forms of capital, it also complicates the identity formation of think tanks. The argument is illustrated by Polish think tanks and the data consists of original interviews with think tank leaders. The article provides a novel perspective on think tanks and on civil society elites. Keywords: Bourdieu; civil society; elite; Poland; think tanks Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:152-161 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Organizational Identity of Think Tank(er)s: A Growing Elite Group in Swedish Civil Society File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3086 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.3086 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 142-151 Author-Name: Pelle Åberg Author-Workplace-Name: Center for Civil Society Research, Ersta Sköndal Bräcke University College, Sweden Author-Name: Stefan Einarsson Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Management and Organization, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden Author-Name: Marta Reuter Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Stockholm University, Sweden Abstract: Think tanks, defined as organizations that produce policy research for political purposes (McGann, 2007; Medvetz, 2008), are an increasingly ubiquitous type of policy actor world-wide. In Sweden, the last 20 years’ sharp increase in think tank numbers (Åberg, Einarsson, & Reuter, 2019) has coincided with the decline of the traditional Swedish corporatist model based on the intimate involvement of the so-called ‘popular movements’ in policy-making (Lundberg, 2014; Micheletti, 1995). Contrary to the large, mass-membership based and democratically organized movement organizations, think tanks are small, professionalized, expert-based, and seldom represent any larger membership base. Their increasingly important role as the ideological greenhouses in Swedish civil society might, therefore, be interpreted as an indication of an increasingly elitist and professionalized character of the latter. But what is a think tank? The article explores how a shared understanding of what constitutes a think tank is constructed by think-tankers themselves. In the study, interviewed think tank executives and top-level staff reflect upon their own organizations’ missions and place in the Swedish policy system. Keywords: civil society; elites; social movements; Sweden; think tanks Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:142-151 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Business Elite as Elected Representatives in Voluntary Organizations in Norway File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2994 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2994 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 130-141 Author-Name: Trygve Gulbrandsen Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Social Research, Norway Abstract: Little is known about the links between the business sector and civil society in Norway. To address the lack of knowledge, this study focused on members of the business elite who are elected representatives in voluntary organizations. Information about these representatives was obtained from a national survey of Norwegian elites and used to examine to what extent voluntary organizations are integrated into the business community’s network of institutions and organizations outside the corporate world. The analyses demonstrate that voluntary organizations are well placed within this network. Moreover, business leaders who are elected representatives are well-connected. Several of them serve on state boards and have frequent contact with politicians and state administrators. Business leaders who have experienced pronounced social mobility seem to be more attracted to being involved in the governance of voluntary organizations than their colleagues with a more privileged background. Keywords: business elite; civil society; elected representatives; Norway; voluntary organizations Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:130-141 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Boundary Crossers: The Transformation of Civil Society Elites in Indonesia’s Post-Authoritarian Era File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3011 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.3011 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 120-129 Author-Name: Haryanto Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Politics and Government, Faculty of Social and Political Science, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia Abstract: This article discusses the strategies used by the leaders of civil society organisations (CSOs) to cross the boundary between the field of civil society and the field of the state. Moreover, it examines the implications of this boundary crossing for post-authoritarian politics in Indonesia. In doing so, it tries to answer two questions: First, what are the strategies used by CSO leaders in boundary crossing? Second, what are the political implications of this boundary crossing for Indonesia’s post-authoritarian politics? Using Bourdieu’s field theory as its conceptual framework and drawing on qualitative interviews with CSO leaders, this article scrutinises the mobility of CSO leaders in different sectors: agrarian, anti-corruption, law, and human rights. It identifies two main strategies used in boundary crossing: direct and indirect strategies. Such strategies tend to be individual rather than organisational. Neither strategy is exclusive; CSO leaders do not limit themselves to particular strategies but may combine them and use them simultaneously. Another finding is that, when crossing to the state field, CSO leaders may increase or reduce their capital, or even lose it. Furthermore, boundary crossing has several significant implications for post-authoritarian politics in Indonesia: it generates sectoral policies; it creates political linkages; and finally, it leads CSO leaders to exert political control within the state field. Keywords: boundary crosser; boundary strategies; Bourdieu; civil society elites; civil society organisations; Indonesia; political implications Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:120-129 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Pathways to Leadership within and beyond Cambodian Civil Society: Elite Status and Boundary-Crossing File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3020 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.3020 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 109-119 Author-Name: Astrid Norén-Nilsson Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University, Sweden Author-Name: Netra Eng Author-Workplace-Name: Cambodia Development Resource Institute, Cambodia Abstract: Elitisation in Cambodian civil society and how such processes relate to holding elite status in the state, electoral politics, and economic fields, is poorly understood. This article seeks to identify different pathways to becoming an elite within and beyond Cambodian civil society. We focus on four case studies, representing different forms of organisations within the sectors of agriculture and youth. Three main questions are explored. Firstly, we identify different forms of capital needed to reach elite status in civil society. Secondly, we explore how elite status within civil society is related to elite status within other fields, by identifying three pathways of boundary-crossing (Lewis, 2008a) from civil society into the state, electoral politics, and economic fields. Thirdly, we map the perceived possibilities and limitations of each field. In exploring these questions, this article argues for a reappraisal of Cambodian civil society, shifting attention to the networks and platforms that fall outside of the dominant focus on professional NGOs. By empirically tracing how elites move between fields, it aspires to provide a better understanding of the contours of, and relations between, civil society and other fields (including government, electoral politics, and business), including in terms of what particular forms of power pertain to each. Keywords: boundary-crossing; Cambodia; civil society; elites; leadership Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:109-119 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: State Regulations and Elitisation: A Study of Civil Society Elites in Indonesia and Cambodia File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3005 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.3005 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 97-108 Author-Name: Cornelis Lay Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Politics and Government, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia Author-Name: Netra Eng Author-Workplace-Name: Cambodia Development Resource Institute, Cambodia Abstract: This article analyses how and to what extent state regulation of civil society organisations (CSOs) have resulted in elitisation, i.e., the process of obtaining elite status within and beyond civil society. This is studied in the context of emerging democracy in Indonesia and shrinking civic space in Cambodia. Combining Bourdieu’s concepts of field and elite with strategic action fields, the article uses data from interviews with civil society leaders. It finds different patterns. In Indonesia, elitisation occurs through a process of CSO formalisation and bureaucratisation, with elites gaining legitimacy owing to their formal offices. As a result, competition for formal positions intensifies: This is particularly notable among national CSO leaders, who may shift their activities to the grassroots level to seek further empowerment and other capitals to legitimise their elite status, facilitate the rise of leaders in existing fields, and create pluralistic forms of elites. Regulations have also resulted in the marginalisation of non-formal elites and shifted the locus of legitimacy from activism to formalism. Meanwhile, in Cambodia, regulatory formalisation and bureaucratisation has not only reduced the space for elite competition and level of competitiveness, but also created ‘most dominant actors’ or ‘hyper-elites’ who are loyal to and support the regime and its priorities while punishing those who do not. This has resulted in a monolithic form of elites. Keywords: Cambodia; civil society organisations; elitisation; Indonesia; state regulations Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:97-108 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Can EU Civil Society Elites Burst the Brussels Bubble? Civil Society Leaders’ Career Trajectories File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2995 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2995 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 86-96 Author-Name: Jayeon Lindellee Author-Workplace-Name: School of Social Work, Lund University, Sweden Author-Name: Roberto Scaramuzzino Author-Workplace-Name: School of Social Work, Lund University, Sweden Abstract: The Brussels-based civil society organizations (CSOs) have been conceived by the EU to act as a bridge between the bureaucratic elites and the citizens of Europe. The institutionalized presence of the major EU-based CSOs has, however, called their legitimacy into question, as exemplified by notions such as ‘revolving doors’ implying homogeneous social, educational, and professional backgrounds shared by both EU officials and CSO leaders. This article therefore asks the following questions: To what extent do the leaders of EU-based CSOs merely reproduce the types of capital that mirror those of the political elites in the so-called ‘Brussels bubble’? To what extent do the CSO leaders bring in other sets of capital and forms of recognition that are independent of the Brussels game? How can we explain differences in the salience of EU capital found across policy areas, types of leadership positions, and types of organizations? Empirically, this article qualitatively analyzes the career trajectories of 17 leaders of EU-based peak CSOs that are active in social and environmental policy areas. Despite the highly integrated and institutionalized characteristics shared by all organizations, we find diversity in the composition of the leaders in terms of the extent to which their career trajectories are embedded in the EU arena. Keywords: capital; career trajectory; civil society organizations; EU institutions; EU Policies; political elites Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:86-96 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Civil Society Elites: A Research Agenda File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3572 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.3572 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 82-85 Author-Name: Håkan Johansson Author-Workplace-Name: School of Social Work, Lund University, Sweden Author-Name: Anders Uhlin Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Lund University, Sweden Abstract: This editorial introduces the thematic issue on ‘civil society elites,’ a topic that has been neglected in elite research as well as civil society studies. It elaborates on the concept of ‘civil society elites’ and explains why this is an important emerging research field. By highlighting different methodological approaches and key findings in the contributions to the thematic issue, this article aims at formulating an agenda for future research in this field. Keywords: capital; civil society; civil society elite; elites Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:82-85 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: When Populist Leaders Govern: Conceptualising Populism in Policy Making File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2922 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2922 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 71-81 Author-Name: Attila Bartha Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence, Hungary / Department of Public Policy, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary Author-Name: Zsolt Boda Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence, Hungary Author-Name: Dorottya Szikra Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence, Hungary Abstract: The rise of populist governance throughout the world offers a novel opportunity to study the way in which populist leaders and parties rule. This article conceptualises populist policy making by theoretically addressing the substantive and discursive components of populist policies and the decision-making processes of populist governments. It first reconstructs the implicit ideal type of policy making in liberal democracies based on the mainstream governance and policy making scholarship. Then, taking stock of the recent populism literature, the article elaborates an ideal type of populist policy making along the dimensions of content, procedures and discourses. As an empirical illustration we apply a qualitative congruence analysis to assess the conformity of a genuine case of populist governance, social policy in post-2010 Hungary with the populist policy making ideal type. Concerning the policy content, the article argues that policy heterodoxy, strong willingness to adopt paradigmatic reforms and an excessive responsiveness to majoritarian preferences are distinguishing features of any type of populist policies. Regarding the procedural features populist leaders tend to downplay the role of technocratic expertise, sideline veto-players and implement fast and unpredictable policy changes. Discursively, populist leaders tend to extensively use crisis frames and discursive governance instruments in a Manichean language and a saliently emotional manner that reinforces polarisation in policy positions. Finally, the article suggests that policy making patterns in Hungarian social policy between 2010 and 2018 have been largely congruent with the ideal type of populist policy making. Keywords: congruence; Hungary; policy making; political parties; populism; social policy Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:71-81 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: The Effect of Parties on Voters’ Satisfaction with Democracy File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2916 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2916 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 59-70 Author-Name: Miroslav Nemčok Author-Workplace-Name: University of Helsinki, Finland Abstract: Electoral ‘winners’ (i.e., voters casting a ballot for a party included in the post-electoral government) are acknowledged to be more satisfied with democracy than supporters of opposition parties. However, little is known about the influence of parties and their specifics on the boost in satisfaction with democracy experienced by their voters. To address this question, the research utilizes 17 surveys from 12 countries included in the European Social Survey rounds 1–8, for which a government replacement took place during the survey period. This allows this research to employ discontinuity design and examine the effect of two attributes related to parties—differences in party vote shares, and voters’ feeling of closeness to a party. The findings suggest that these factors have a negligible influence on voters’ satisfaction with democracy and only scant evidence is found that closeness to a party tends to increase their satisfaction. When voters’ attitudes from before and after a government replacement are compared, changes in government do not seem to strike voters as a surprise and thus they do not cause any sudden and lasting changes in the general attitudes of electorates. Nevertheless, this indicates a novel contribution to the literature: the effect of losing needs some time to fully develop until it results in a decrease in satisfaction level. Based on these findings, the research concludes that when it comes to parties’ characteristics, it is primarily the government/opposition status which determines voters’ degree of satisfaction with democracy. Keywords: democracy; democratic quality; electoral behaviour; European Social Survey; government; political parties Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:59-70 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Rebuilding Trust in Broken Systems? Populist Party Success and Citizens’ Trust in Democratic Institutions File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2896 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2896 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 45-58 Author-Name: Marlene Mauk Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Knowledge Transfer, GESIS—Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany Abstract: What effect does the recent rise of populist parties harnessing an anti-system rhetoric have on political trust? Will citizens become disenchanted with and lose trust in the political system, or could populist party success even stimulate a growth of political trust? Arguing that populist parties may well be conceived as a corrective force giving voice to and addressing citizen concerns about the established political system, this contribution hypothesizes that populist party success will increase political trust among the general public, especially in countries lacking democratic quality, with weak corruption control, and meagre government performance. Empirically, it combines ParlGov data with survey data from the European Social Survey (2002–2016) as well as aggregate data from the Varieties-of-Democracy project and the World Development Indicators to investigate how political trust has changed in relation to the growing success of populist parties and how democratic quality, corruption control, and government performance have moderated this relationship in 23 European democracies. Its main findings indicate that, at least in the short run, political trust increases rather than decreases following populist party success and that this increase in trust is most pronounced in political systems that lack democratic quality, struggle with corruption, and deliver only meager government performance. Keywords: corruption control; democratic quality; economic performance; government performance; political trust; populism Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:45-58 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Disentangling How Populism and Radical Host Ideologies Shape Citizens’ Conceptions of Democratic Decision-Making File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2915 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2915 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 32-44 Author-Name: Reinhard Heinisch Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Salzburg, Austria Author-Name: Carsten Wegscheider Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Salzburg, Austria Abstract: In this article, we aim to disentangle the extent to which citizens’ conceptions of democratic decision-making are shaped by populist attitudes or rather by radical left and right host ideologies. Following recent work by Landwehr and Steiner (2017), we distinguish four modes of decision-making embedded in different conceptions of democracy: trusteeship democracy, anti-pluralism, deliberative proceduralism, and majoritarianism. Drawing on data from Austria and Germany, we show that populism and radical host ideologies tap into different dimensions of democracy. While populism is primarily directed against representative forms of democratic decision-making, preferences for deliberative procedures and majority decisions appear entirely shaped by radical left and right host ideologies. Populism thus views decision-making based on the general will of the people as the only legitimate democratic procedure, whereas radical left and right host ideologies aim at involving the relevant group(s) of citizens. Further analyses of the interactions between populist attitudes and radical host ideologies confirm that the effects of populism remain robust and thus independent of the specific manifestations of radical host ideologies. These findings help to disentangle the causes of democratic discontent and to develop possible responses through democratic reforms that specifically and separately aim to mitigate populism and radical host ideologies. Keywords: Austria; democratic decision-making; democracy; Germany; host ideology; populism; populist attitudes Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:32-44 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: How Elite Politicization of Terror Impacts Sympathies for Partisans: Radical Right versus Social Democrats File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2919 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2919 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 19-31 Author-Name: Lars Erik Berntzen Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen, Norway Abstract: The populist radical right is frequently engaged in intense political and normative conflict with their political opponents. Does this have a spillover effect on citizens’ sympathies for populist radical right voters and the voters of their political antagonists, and if so, why? This is a study of citizens’ affective evaluation of radical right and social democratic voters when exposed to intense conflict between the two parties at the elite level. It zooms in on the conflict between the Norwegian Progress Party and the Labour Party that revolves around the trauma of the 22 July 2011 terror attacks, in which a former Progress Party member committed two devastating attacks against the Labour government and Labour Youth summer camp. This is studied using a survey experimental approach, relying on panel data from the Norwegian Citizen Panel. Drawing on the authoritarian dynamics’ literature, it incorporates the four-item child-rearing values index measure of authoritarian predispositions which offers a personality-based explanation for why people react differently to threat. In contrast to the authoritarian dynamics’ literature, which has found that it is either authoritarians or non-authoritarians who react, this study finds that both authoritarians and non-authoritarians simultaneously respond to high-intensity political conflict. Whereas non-authoritarians rally in support of social democratic voters, authoritarians rally in support of radical right voters. Further differentiating between those with low and high authoritarianism scores, we see that low-authoritarians also become more hostile to social democratic voters. This indicates that conflict involving populist radical right parties is a driver of personality-based, affective sorting of citizens. Since personality is relatively stable, the resulting state of polarization is also likely to be quite durable. Keywords: authoritarianism; partisanship; political conflict; political polarization; populism; radical right; social democrats; terrorism Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:19-31 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Who Uses Right-Wing Alternative Online Media? An Exploration of Audience Characteristics File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2925 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2925 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 6-18 Author-Name: Heidi Schulze Author-Workplace-Name: GESIS—Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany Abstract: Accompanying the success of the radical right and right-wing populist movements, right-wing alternative online media have recently gained prominence and, to some extent, influence on public discourse and elections. The existing scholarship so far focuses primarily on the role of content and social media distribution and pays little attention to the audiences of right-wing alternative media, especially at a cross-national level and in the European context. The present paper addresses this gap by exploring the characteristics of the audiences of right-wing alternative online media. Based on a secondary data analysis of the 2019 Reuters Digital News Survey, this article presents a cross-national analysis of right-wing alternative media use in Northern and Central Europe. The results indicate a comparatively high prevalence of right-wing alternative online media in Sweden, whereas in Germany, Austria, and Finland, these news websites seem to be far less popular. With regard to audience characteristics, the strongest predictors of right-wing alternative online media use are political interest and a critical stance towards immigration, accompanied by a skeptical assessment of news quality, in general, and distrust, especially in public service broadcasting media. Additionally, the use of social media as a primary news source increases the likelihood of right-wing alternative news consumption. This corroborates the high relevance of social media platforms as distributors and multipliers of right-wing alternative news content. The findings suggest that right-wing alternative online media should not be underestimated as a peripheral phenomenon, but rather have to be considered influential factors for center-right to radical right-leaning politics and audiences in public discourse, with a high mobilizing and polarizing potential. Keywords: alternative online media; hyperpartisan media; immigration-critical; news distrust; populist communication; right-wing media; right-wing populist Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:6-18 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: How Populism and Polarization Affect Europe’s Liberal Democracies File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3460 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.3460 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 3 Pages: 1-5 Author-Name: Heidi Schulze Author-Workplace-Name: GESIS—Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany Author-Name: Marlene Mauk Author-Workplace-Name: GESIS—Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany Author-Name: Jonas Linde Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen, Norway Abstract: In recent years, two phenomena have put Europe’s liberal democracies under strain: populism and polarization. The rise of populist parties, the increasing radicalization of publics and political discourse, as well as the expansion of hyperpartisan media have caused concern among observers and citizens alike. While lively academic discussions have revolved around the causes of these phenomena, research regarding their real-world consequences has been sparse. This thematic issue wants to address this gap in the literature and contribute to developing strategies for mitigating potential threats populism and polarization may pose to liberal democracies. To this end, it examines how populism and polarization affect citizens across Europe. It links research on audiences of hyperpartisan media with work on elite-induced polarization, populist conceptions of democracy, election results and support for the democratic system, and policy-making by populist governments. Keywords: democracy; hyperpartisan media; polarization; political support; populism Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:3:p:1-5 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Integrating Manual and Automatic Annotation for the Creation of Discourse Network Data Sets File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2591 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2591 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 326-339 Author-Name: Sebastian Haunss Author-Workplace-Name: Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy, University of Bremen, Germany Author-Name: Jonas Kuhn Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Natural Language Processing, University of Stuttgart, Germany Author-Name: Sebastian Padó Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Natural Language Processing, University of Stuttgart, Germany Author-Name: Andre Blessing Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Natural Language Processing, University of Stuttgart, Germany Author-Name: Nico Blokker Author-Workplace-Name: Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy, University of Bremen, Germany Author-Name: Erenay Dayanik Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Natural Language Processing, University of Stuttgart, Germany Author-Name: Gabriella Lapesa Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Natural Language Processing, University of Stuttgart, Germany Abstract: This article investigates the integration of machine learning in the political claim annotation workflow with the goal to partially automate the annotation and analysis of large text corpora. It introduces the MARDY annotation environment and presents results from an experiment in which the annotation quality of annotators with and without machine learning based annotation support is compared. The design and setting aim to measure and evaluate: a) annotation speed; b) annotation quality; and c) applicability to the use case of discourse network generation. While the results indicate only slight increases in terms of annotation speed, the authors find a moderate boost in annotation quality. Additionally, with the help of manual annotation of the actors and filtering out of the false positives, the machine learning based annotation suggestions allow the authors to fully recover the core network of the discourse as extracted from the articles annotated during the experiment. This is due to the redundancy which is naturally present in the annotated texts. Thus, assuming a research focus not on the complete network but the network core, an AI-based annotation can provide reliable information about discourse networks with much less human intervention than compared to the traditional manual approach. Keywords: annotation; automation; discourse networks; machine learning; migration discourse Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:326-339 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Discourse Networks and Dual Screening: Analyzing Roles, Content and Motivations in Political Twitter Conversations File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2573 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2573 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 311-325 Author-Name: Felix Bossner Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Konstanz, Germany Author-Name: Melanie Nagel Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Konstanz, Germany Abstract: The increasing relevance of social networking platforms is accompanied by a growing number of studies using digital trace data. However, most studies still lack further understanding of the data-generating process. This analytical gap can be directly attributed to the prevalence of quantitative approaches, as only qualitative work is able to generate these insights. The broad methodological toolset of Discourse Network Analysis addresses this shortcoming as it combines both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The present study therefore employs Discourse Network Analysis in order to (1) determine different user groups’ varying role as senders and recipients of targeted online conversations, (2) identify and compare Twitter users’ (simultaneous) reference to different forms of conversational Twitter content, and to (3) asses the motivation of @message authors to direct particular tweets at particular user groups. To this end, this study analyzes @messages during the BBC program ‘Question Time’ on 2nd of June 2017—the final media encounter of Prime Minister Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn in the context of the 2017 UK election campaign. We draw on the theoretical background of Maarten Hajer’s discourse coalitions approach in order to investigate the preconditions for the formation of discourse coalitions in new and emerging virtual discourse arenas. Thus, our work not only mirrors the focus in existing literature on Twitter usage during high-profile political media events, but also emphasizes Twitter’s unique features for interactive exchange. This article identifies different forms of meta-talk and policy issues, which vary in both their general popularity with Twitter users as well as their interconnectedness. Furthermore, our analysis uncovers the motivation behind the decisions of @message authors to send particular @messages to certain groups of Twitter users. Finally, we could establish that media events only temporarily affect the topical foci of @message authors. Keywords: Discourse Network Analysis; Jeremy Corbyn; political campaigns; Theresa May; TV debate; Twitter; UK elections Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:311-325 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Media Coverage and Perceived Policy Influence of Environmental Actors: Good Strategy or Pyrrhic Victory? File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2595 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2595 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 298-310 Author-Name: Adam C. Howe Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Sociology, University of British Columbia, Canada Author-Name: Mark C. J. Stoddart Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Sociology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada Author-Name: David B. Tindall Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Sociology, University of British Columbia, Canada Abstract: In this article we analyze how media coverage for environmental actors (individual environmental activists and environmental movement organizations) is associated with their perceived policy influence in Canadian climate change policy networks. We conceptualize media coverage as the total number of media mentions an actor received in Canada’s two main national newspapers—the Globe and Mail and National Post. We conceptualize perceived policy influence as the total number of times an actor was nominated by other actors in a policy network as being perceived to be influential in domestic climate change policy making in Canada. Literature from the field of social movements, agenda setting, and policy networks suggests that environmental actors who garner more media coverage should be perceived as more influential in policy networks than actors who garner less coverage. We assess support for this main hypothesis in two ways. First, we analyze how actor attributes (such as the type of actor) are associated with the amount of media coverage an actor receives. Second, we evaluate whether being an environmental actor shapes the association between media coverage and perceived policy influence. We find a negative association between media coverage and perceived policy influence for individual activists, but not for environmental movement organizations. This case raises fundamental theoretical questions about the nature of relations between media and policy spheres, and the efficacy of media for signaling and mobilizing policy influence. Keywords: climate change; discourse networks; environment; media coverage; policy networks; social movements Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:298-310 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Business Power in Noisy Politics: An Exploration Based on Discourse Network Analysis and Survey Data File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2580 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2580 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 286-297 Author-Name: Adrian Rinscheid Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Economy and the Environment, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland Abstract: This study links voter-centred and interest group perspectives to assess the role structurally powerful businesses can play in contested political issues. Revisiting the literature on business influence in politics, incumbent businesses are theorised to strategically use their structural power to influence voters’ preferences. The conceptual framework is illustrated with a case study of a direct democratic vote related to Swiss energy policy. To empirically trace the role incumbent businesses played in the run-up to the vote, the study employs a two-step approach. First, it uses Discourse Network Analysis (DNA) to examine arguments and actor coalitions in the public debate preceding the vote. Second, the DNA results inform a statistical analysis of survey data on voting behaviour. The findings suggest that incumbent businesses can use their structural power strategically to shape voting behaviour. The study stimulates the discussion about political power relationships in societies and enriches the nascent debate about phasing out unsustainable energy infrastructure. Importantly, it opens up ways to combine DNA with other methods, an avenue that shows promise for use and further refinement in future applications. Keywords: business; Discourse Network Analysis; direct democracy; energy; energy policy; nuclear power; phase-out; preference formation; structural power; Switzerland Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:286-297 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Incumbents’ Strategies in Media Coverage: A Case of the Czech Coal Policy File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2610 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2610 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 272-285 Author-Name: Ondřej Černý Author-Workplace-Name: Department of International Relations and European Studies, Masaryk University, Czech Republic Author-Name: Petr Ocelík Author-Workplace-Name: Department of International Relations and European Studies, Masaryk University, Czech Republic Abstract: Transitioning to a decarbonized economy is a crucial part of climate change mitigation, with the phasing-out of coal, as the most significant source of carbon dioxide emissions, being the centerpiece of this effort. In the European context, the increasing pressures exerted especially on the basis of the European Union’s energy and climate policy, coupled with the inherent uncertainty of the transition process, encourage various struggles among the involved policy actors over the setting of specific transition pathways. One site of such contestation is media discourse, which may facilitate or limit policy change through agenda-setting, framing, and other processes. Importantly, discursive struggles also include industry incumbents, who have a vested interest in preserving the existing sociotechnical regime. This article focuses on the position of incumbents in terms of their relationship with governing political parties and the discursive strategies they employ. It explores the policy debate on coal mining expansion which took place in 2015 in the Czech Republic, a post-communist country with a coal-dependent economy, a skeptical position on energy transition, and a powerful energy industry. The research employs discourse network analysis to examine a corpus compiled from daily newspapers and applies block modeling techniques to analyze patterns of relationships within and between actor groups. The results show that incumbents successfully prevented policy change in the direction of rapid coal phase-out by exploiting discourse alignment with governing parties and efficiently employing discursive strategies based primarily on securitization of socioeconomic issues. Keywords: coal; Czech Republic; energy; discourse network analysis; media discourse; newspapers; public policy Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:272-285 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Solidarity in the Public Sphere: A Discourse Network Analysis of German Newspapers (2008–2017) File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2609 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2609 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 257-271 Author-Name: Stefan Wallaschek Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Social Sciences, University of Hildesheim, Germany Author-Name: Christopher Starke Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Social Sciences, University of Düsseldorf, Germany Author-Name: Carlotta Brüning Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Social Sciences, University of Düsseldorf, Germany Abstract: Multiple crises in the EU have sparked a renaissance of the concept of solidarity. However, discursive approaches to solidarity and the public understanding of solidarity have hardly received scholarly attention. Empirical research on solidarity is rather centered on welfare institutions as well as on individual attitudes and behavior. To shed new light on solidarity in public discourse, we investigate in which policy fields the term is most often used, which actors refer to it and how different types of solidarity are covered in the German public discourse. We investigate the coverage of solidarity in four German newspapers (Die Welt, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die Tageszeitung) from 2008 to 2017. By deploying the discourse network methodology with 306 claims in 230 news articles, we analyze the co-occurrence of actors and issues over time. Our results indicate a varying set of issues in which solidarity occurs, a rather stable actor visibility, across time and a context-dependent use of different types of solidarity. Government actors, civil society actors as well as citizens drive the solidarity discourse showing that institutional as well as non-institutional actors make use of solidarity in their public actions regarding political protest, financial issues and migration. The study provides novel insights into the interdependence of actor and issue visibility and sheds new light on solidarity in media discourses. Keywords: discourse network analysis; Germany; newspapers; public discourses; public sphere; solidarity Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:257-271 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Us vs. Them as Structural Equivalence: Analysing Nationalist Discourse Networks in the Georgian Print Media File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2605 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2605 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 243-256 Author-Name: Nino Abzianidze Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Central European University, Hungary Abstract: Nationalist discourse has been identified as a driving factor in the causal chain linking democratization to the likelihood of ethnic conflicts, due to its nature of polarizing us against others along ethnic lines. However, we lack systematic knowledge of the structure and dynamics of this polarization. Adding to the established practices of analysing in-group/out-group divisions in ideological and political discourses, this article proposes an innovative way of measuring the divisiveness of nationalist discourse using social network analysis. Instead of looking at direct nationalist interaction between actors, deeper discursive structures are found by analysing indirect relationships across actors, based on their nationalist interaction with third parties. In this manner, it is possible to identify whether certain actors form structurally similar clusters, based on whom they direct their nationalist appeals to, how intense these appeals are towards specific actors, and what other groups they are targeted by themselves. By applying the measure of Structural Equivalence to the original data on nationalist appeals obtained from the quantitative content analysis of the Georgian print media across the 20 years of its democratization (1991–2012), this article shows that the actor structure of nationalist discourse conveys information on group polarization. Further, it demonstrates that the divisiveness of this discourse in Georgia became sharper during electoral periods, with the first two elections after independence being particularly dangerous in this regard. Keywords: democratization; discourse network analysis; Georgia; nationalism; polarization; print media; structural equivalence Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:243-256 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Gatekeeping the Plenary Floor: Discourse Network Analysis as a Novel Approach to Party Control File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2611 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2611 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 229-242 Author-Name: Caroline Bhattacharya Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political and Economic Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland Abstract: In the German parliament, the Bundestag, floor time is a scarce resource and is allocated to MPs by leaders of their respective parliamentary party groups. Previous research indicates that highly salient plenary debates tend to be dominated by party leaders and other loyal frontbenchers. Plenary speeches can therefore offer only limited insights into party unity. Any MP can give a so-called ‘explanation of vote’ (EoVs) to justify their voting decision and/or express their point of view. These written statements provide a more accurate depiction of the range of viewpoints present within legislative parties. In order to assess the effect of party control on observed party unity and parliamentary contestation, discourse network analysis has been employed in this study to compare legislative speech with EoVs in debates on the Greek crisis between 2010 and 2015. Discourse network analysis combines content analysis with an actor-centred approach, and this is the first time this method has been used to study party control and (dis)unity. Bundestag debates on the Greek crisis present an interesting case study, as the issue became increasingly controversial over time, both in the public and the legislature. While this became evident in declining voting unity and individual-level mobilisation through EoVs, the extent to which gatekeeping impedes contestation on the plenary floor needs to be assessed. In terms of representation, it is important that European Union issues not only make it to the plenary agenda but that these debates also reflect the different viewpoints of MPs. Keywords: Bundestag; Christian Democrats; discourse network analysis; euro crisis; Germany; legislative behaviour; party politics; political discourse; social networks Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:229-242 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: The Political Debate on Climate Change in Italy: A Discourse Network Analysis File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2577 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2577 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 215-228 Author-Name: Stefano Ghinoi Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics and Management, University of Helsinki, Finland Author-Name: Bodo Steiner Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics and Management, University of Helsinki, Finland Abstract: Climate change is considered by policymakers as one of the most pressing global issues of our time. International institutions and national governments are, to varying degrees, committed to tackling climate change, but it has only been possible to define a shared system of collective goals across countries through the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21). A growing interest in climate change policy has been present in the Italian political debate, yet we have little evidence regarding the nature of related climate change debates across Italian policymakers. By using Discourse Network Analysis (DNA) to investigate Italian policymakers’ discourses in the Chamber of Deputies during the 17th Italian Legislature (2013–2018), this study shows that debates on climate change-related strategies are largely unpolarized, except for certain issues, and that coalitions emerge over time around core strategies. Groups of policymakers with similar policy beliefs emerge independently from their political affiliations. Our analysis is thus the first to apply DNA to provide empirical evidence of the convergence across Italian policymakers and the potential for the bridging of political discourses on climate change. Keywords: climate change; discourse network analysis; Italy; Paris COP21 Agreement; policy coalitions Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:215-228 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: The Science–Policy Interface as a Discourse Network: Finland’s Climate Change Policy 2002–2015 File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2603 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2603 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 200-214 Author-Name: Anna Kukkonen Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland Author-Name: Tuomas Ylä-Anttila Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland / Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science, University of Helsinki, Finland Abstract: In this article, we argue that the science–policy interface can be understood as a discourse network constituted by discursive interaction between scientific organizations and other actors that both use scientific arguments in conjunction with other policy arguments. We use discourse network analysis to investigate the climate change policy process in Finland between 2002 and 2015, focusing on the role of and relationships between scientific actors and arguments in the discourse networks. Our data consist of policy actors’ written testimonies on two law proposals, the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol (2002) and the enactment of the Finnish Climate Law (2015). Our results show that two competing discourse coalitions have influenced the development of climate change policy in the 2000s. In 2002, the dominant coalition was economic, prioritizing economic growth over climate change mitigation. In 2015, the climate coalition that argued for ambitious mitigation measures became dominant. The majority of scientific actors were part of the dominant economy coalition in 2002 and part of the dominant ecology coalition in 2015. The centrality of scientific arguments increased over time, and both discourse coalitions used them progressively more. These developments reflect the increasingly central position of science in Finnish climate policymaking. We contribute to the literature on the science–policy interface by operationalizing the interface as a set of connections in a discourse network and by showing how the analysis of discourse networks and their properties can help us understand the shifts in the role of science in policymaking over time. Keywords: climate change; economy; Finland; public policy; science–policy interface Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:200-214 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Comparing Discourse and Policy Network Approaches: Evidence from Water Policy on Micropollutants File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2597 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2597 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 184-199 Author-Name: Simon Schaub Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Political Science, Heidelberg University, Germany Author-Name: Florence Metz Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Political Science, University of Bern, Switzerland / Department of Governance & Technology for Sustainability, University of Twente, The Netherlands Abstract: To understand how actors make collective policy decisions, scholars use policy and discourse network approaches to analyze interdependencies among actors. While policy networks often build on survey data, discourse networks typically use media data to capture the beliefs or policy preferences shared by actors. One of the reasons for the variety of data sources is that discourse data can be more accessible to researchers than survey data (or vice versa). In order to make an informed decision on valid data sources, researchers need to understand how differences in data sources may affect results. As this remains largely unexplored, we analyze the differences and similarities between policy and discourse networks. We systematically compare policy networks with discourse networks in respect of the types of actors participating in them, the policy proposals actors advocate and their coalition structures. For the policy field of micropollutants in surface waters in Germany, we observe only small differences between the results obtained using the policy and discourse network approaches. We find that the discourse network approach particularly emphasizes certain actor types, i.e., expanders who seek to change the policy status quo. The policy network approach particularly reflects electoral interests, since preferences for policies targeting voters are less visible. Finally, different observation periods reveal some smaller differences in the coalition structures within the discourse network. Beyond these small differences, both approaches come to largely congruent results with regards to actor types, policy preferences and coalition structures. In our case, the use of discourse and policy network approaches lead to similar conclusions regarding the study of policy processes. Keywords: agenda-setting; discourse network analysis; micropollutants; policy change; policy network analysis; risk governance; water policy Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:184-199 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Policy Debates and Discourse Network Analysis: A Research Agenda File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3249 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.3249 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 180-183 Author-Name: Philip Leifeld Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Government, University of Essex, UK Abstract: Discourse network analysis (DNA) is a combination of network analysis and qualitative content analysis. DNA has been applied to various policy processes and debates to show how policy actors are related at the discursive level, complementing coordination relations among them that are often analysed in the application of the policy networks approach. This editorial takes stock of the theoretical and methodological research frontiers in DNA and summarises the contributions of the eleven articles in the thematic issue on “Policy Debates and Discourse Network Analysis” in Politics and Governance. Keywords: content analysis; discourse network analysis; policy debate; policy process; public policy; social network analysis Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:180-183 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Corruption Risks in Renewable Resource Governance: Case Studies in Iceland and Romania File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2713 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2713 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 167-179 Author-Name: Johanna Gisladottir Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Political Science, University of Iceland, Iceland / Institute of Earth Science, University of Iceland, Iceland Author-Name: Sigurbjörg Sigurgeirsdottir Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Political Science, University of Iceland, Iceland Author-Name: Ingrid Stjernquist Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, Sweden Author-Name: Kristin Vala Ragnarsdottir Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Earth Science, University of Iceland, Iceland Abstract:In this research, we attempt to shed light on the question of where corruption risks in the governance of renewable resources are located and how they have been addressed in European countries that have different levels of corruption. A comparative case study design was chosen, looking into the fisheries sector in Iceland and the forestry sector in Romania. We conducted 25 semi-structured interviews with various stakeholders sampled through a snowball method. Qualitative coding and systems analysis were used to analyse the interviews. The results indicate that comprehensive and ambitious legislation does not necessarily translate into successful resource governance systems. In general, the institutions that were put in place to enforce and monitor the legal codes and regulations did not have the capacity to carry out their role. Additionally, interviewees were generally found to have a widespread perception of there being a corrupt relationship between politics and big companies operating in their sectors. Our findings suggest that when people hold such perceptions, it undermines anti-corruption policy efforts in the resource sectors, which can then impede sustainable resource management.
Keywords: anti-corruption; corruption; enforcement mechanisms; governance; monitoring; natural resources; renewable resources Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:167-179 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Corruption and the Network Structure of Public Contracting Markets across Government Change File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2707 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2707 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 153-166 Author-Name: Mihály Fazekas Author-Workplace-Name: School of Public Policy, Central European University, Hungary / School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, UK Author-Name: Johannes Wachs Author-Workplace-Name: Chair of Computational Social Sciences and Humanities, RWTH Aachen University, Germany Abstract: Corruption is thought to affect developed economies to a greater degree than developing countries. However, given our limited capacity to detect corruption, it may simply be harder to detect it in countries with stronger institutions. This article sets out to address this measurement challenge and to offer a tailored approach to one particular type of corruption: high-level corruption in government contracting. We describe a recently developed method to score procurement contracts for corruption risk. Then, using micro-level data from Hungary and the Czech Republic we analyze how corruption can distort public procurement markets, mapped as networks of buyers and suppliers. Proxying for corruption using a composite index of red flags derived from contract awards, we find that public sector buyers with high corruption risk have sparser network neighborhoods, meaning that they contract with fewer suppliers than expected. We interpret our results as evidence that corruption in procurement markets is fundamentally about the exclusion of non-favored firms. Political change has a significant effect on corrupt relationships: High corruption risk buyers with sparse neighborhoods rewire their contracting relationships roughly 20–40% more extensively than other buyers across years with government turnover. The article demonstrates how the political organization of corruption distorts market competition in OECD countries. Keywords: corruption; government change; markets; networks; political turnover Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:153-166 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Oversee and Punish: Understanding the Fight Against Corruption Involving Government Workers in Brazil File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2716 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2716 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 140-152 Author-Name: Fernanda Odilla Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy, King’s College London, UK Abstract: This exploratory study leverages a major dataset of official penalties against Brazilian bureaucrats enforced between January 2003 and November 2014, when 5,005 expulsive sanctions were enforced, 68.5% of which concerned acts of corruption. The analysis and discussion also integrate qualitative data gathered through 24 semi-structured interviews with civil servants who were integrity enforcers. Despite the rapid increase in the number of penalties enforced over the years, the creation of a robust set of disciplinary norms and an anti-corruption agency have not secured a fully operational horizontal accountability system within the executive. A great variance of corruption control was observed across agencies, manifested through disproportionate enforcement, not only of overall sanctions but also of corruption and non-corruption-related penalties. In light of the self‐protective behaviour of civil servants, who openly say they do not feel comfortable in the role of corruption fighters, the article advances an argument on ‘convenient accountability’—a kind of institutional abdication combined with a reluctance for peer monitoring, with outcomes that can be described as satisficing for integrity agents. This institutional aspect poses a risk to internal disciplinary systems and increases dependence upon external actors of accountability, compromising the efficiency of both. Keywords: accountability; Brazil; bureaucracy; civil service; corruption; punishment Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:140-152 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Islands of Good Government: Explaining Successful Corruption Control in Two Spanish Cities File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2730 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2730 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 128-139 Author-Name: Eliška Drápalová Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden Author-Name: Fabrizio Di Mascio Author-Workplace-Name: Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning, University of Turin, Italy Abstract: Between 2012 and 2018, Spanish public opinion has been shaken by a seemingly endless series of corruption scandals, to the point that corruption has become one of the main long-term concerns of the Spanish population, according to nation-wide surveys. Despite the sharp rise in corruption scandals within local authorities, there are Spanish cities that have managed to limit corruption and build a transparent and efficient government, which stand out as islands of integrity and good governance. This article qualitatively investigates two cities in Spain—Alcobendas and Sant Cugat del Vallès—which, despite being in a region with comparatively lower quality of government, have managed to successfully control corruption. We argue that the key to success is the administrative reorganization prompted by the appointment of city managers that institutionalized professional management. Findings also have implications for practitioners, meaning that complex anti-corruption legislative frameworks will not work within an overburdened administration unless the administrative structure is reformed. Keywords: corruption; quality of government; integrity; political competition; Spain; transparency Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:128-139 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: How Does Corruption Affect the Adoption of Lobby Registers? A Comparative Analysis File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2708 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2708 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 116-127 Author-Name: Fabrizio De Francesco Author-Workplace-Name: School of Government and Public Policy, University of Strathclyde, UK Author-Name: Philipp Trein Author-Workplace-Name: Department for Actuarial Sciences, University of Lausanne, Switzerland / Institute of Political Studies, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Lausanne, Switzerland Abstract: Recent research has demonstrated that some governments in developed democracies followed the OECD and the EU recommendations to enhance transparency by adopting lobby registers, whereas other countries refrained from such measures. We contribute to the literature in demonstrating how corruption is linked to the adoption of lobbying regulations. Specifically, we argue that governments regulate lobbying when they face the combination of low to moderate levels of corruption and a relatively well-developed economy. To assess this argument empirically, we compare 42 developed countries between 2000 and 2015, using multivariate logistic regressions and two illustrative case studies. The statistical analysis supports our argument, even if we include a number of control variables, such as the presence of a second parliamentary chamber, the age of democracy, and a spatial lag. The case studies illustrate the link between anti-corruption agenda and the adoption of lobby registers. Keywords: corruption; interest groups; international norm emergence; lobbying Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:116-127 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Press Freedom and Corruption Perceptions: Is There a Reputational Premium? File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2697 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2697 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 103-115 Author-Name: Michael Breen Author-Workplace-Name: School of Law and Government, Dublin City University, Ireland Author-Name: Robert Gillanders Author-Workplace-Name: Business School, Dublin City University, Ireland / Department of Economics, Hanken School of Economics, Finland Abstract: Many studies find a strong association between press freedom and corruption perceptions (Adsera, Boix, & Payne, 2003; Brunetti & Weder, 2003; Freille, Haque, & Kneller, 2007). However, it is possible that this relationship is driven by experts’ belief that limits on press freedom are associated with corruption. This article tests the association between press freedom and corruption perceptions using objective measures of corruption from the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys, a series of representative surveys of the owners and top managers of private firms in the manufacturing and service sectors. Our findings suggest that there is a reputational premium associated with press freedom: Holding corruption experiences constant, corruption perceptions are improved by greater press freedom. Moreover, we find that the developed world is best placed to avail of this premium, as it is most evident in countries with low to moderate levels of corruption by global standards. Keywords: corruption; corruption perception; press freedom; media freedom; premiums Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:103-115 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Do Men and Women Perceive Corruption Differently? Gender Differences in Perception of Need and Greed Corruption File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2701 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2701 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 92-102 Author-Name: Monika Bauhr Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden / QoG—Quality of Government Institute, University of Gothenburg, Sweden / Center for European Studies, Harvard University, USA Author-Name: Nicholas Charron Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden Abstract: Do men and women perceive corruption differently? While evidence suggest that there is a strong link between gender and corruption, and that gender differences can at least partly be derived from men and women having different attitudes towards corruption, most studies to date focus on gender differences in perceptions of the scale or severity of the corruption in general, rather than its different forms. However, we argue that factors such as role socialization, social status and life experiences may make men and women perceive different kinds of corruption. Drawing on the distinction between ‘need’ and ‘greed’ corruption, we suggest that women are more likely than men to perceive that corruption is driven by need rather than greed. In particular, women may be more likely to be exposed to need corruption because of their greater care taking responsibilities both in the professional and private sphere, and, much in line with marginalization theory, have easier access to forms of corruption that are less dependent upon embeddedness in collusive networks. Using unique survey data, we show that women and men indeed differ in their perceptions of need vs. greed, and that women perceive more need corruption, while men perceive more greed corruption. This suggests that perceptions of different forms of corruption are indeed gendered and we discuss the implication of this for anti-corruption policy. Keywords: corruption; gender; greed; need; socialization Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:92-102 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Does Changing Electoral Systems Affect (Corrupt) Particularistic Exchanges? Evidence from the Italian Case File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2913 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2913 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 78-91 Author-Name: Simona Piattoni Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento, Italy Author-Name: Matteo Fabio Nels Giglioli Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy Abstract: The literature on forms of particularism explores the impact of institutional variables on what is denoted, alternatively, as constituency service, pork-barrel politics, or corruption. Attention has mostly been given to electoral systems, but other institutional provisions and political factors, such as party strength, are also relevant. The present contribution investigates the likely effects of electoral reforms on corruption control and seeks confirmation of the hypothesis that single member plurality (even within mixed member) systems are conducive to a type of particularism that might help fight corruption, taking Italy as a case. We test the impact of two electoral reforms and three electoral systems enacted in Italy between 1996 and 2016, whose primary aim was bolstering enfeebled party leaderships and facilitating the formation of durable governments, and we compare the effort at corruption control of the Italian governments born under these different electoral systems with those of other European democracies. Keywords: corruption; electoral reforms; Italy; particularism; personalism Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:78-91 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Corruption Control in the Developed World File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3274 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.3274 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 72-77 Author-Name: Fabrizio Di Mascio Author-Workplace-Name: Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning, University of Turin, Italy Author-Name: Simona Piattoni Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento, Italy Abstract: Conventionally considered a developmental trait that would tend to disappear with the increase of wealth and the stabilization of democracy, corruption is rampant not just among developing countries and recent democracies, but also in mature democracies and developed countries. This editorial introduces the thematic issue and considers what the contributions tell us about new approaches to corruption control in the developed world. It also outlines avenues for future research in the field of corruption control. Keywords: corruption; good governance; public integrity; quality of government; transparency Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:72-77 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Governance by Numbers: A Panopticon Reversed? File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2991 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2991 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 68-71 Author-Name: Julian Hamann Author-Workplace-Name: Leibniz Center for Science and Society, Leibniz University Hannover, Germany Abstract: This commentary is concerned with a specific form of power and discipline that is exerted through governance by numbers. Because of its many parallels to classical Foucauldian panopticism, governance based on numbers can be coined ‘numerocratic panopticism.’ Yet, going beyond similarities between classical and numerocratic panopticism, the commentary suggests three features specific to numerocratic panopticism that actually reverse characteristic traits of classical panopticism: In contrast to classical panopticism, numerocratic panopticism is multi-centered, non-spatial and open-purpose. Research on governance by numbers can benefit from a heuristic of panopticism if it considers both similarities and differences between classical and numerocratic panopticism. Keywords: discipline; dispositif; Foucault; numerocracy; panopticon; power; quantification; surveillance Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:68-71 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Quantification 2.0? Bibliometric Infrastructures in Academic Evaluation File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2575 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2575 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 58-67 Author-Name: Anne K. Krüger Author-Workplace-Name: Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Germany / Department of Science Studies, Humboldt University Berlin, Germany Abstract: Due to developments recently termed as ‘audit,’ ‘evaluation,’ or ‘metric society,’ universities have become subject to ratings and rankings and researchers are evaluated according to standardized quantitative indicators such as their publication output and their personal citation scores. Yet, this development is not only based on the rise of new public management and ideas on ‘the return on public or private investment.’ It has also profited from ongoing technological developments. Due to a massive increase in digital publishing corresponding with the growing availability of related data bibliometric infrastructures for evaluating science are continuously becoming more differentiated and elaborate. They allow for new ways of using bibliometric data through various easily applicable tools. Furthermore, they also produce new quantities of data due to new possibilities in following the digital traces of scientific publications. In this article, I discuss this development as quantification 2.0. The rise of digital infrastructures for publishing, indexing, and managing scientific publications has not only made bibliometric data become a valuable source for performance assessment. It has triggered an unprecedented growth in bibliometric data production turning freely accessible data about scientific work into edited databases and producing competition for its users. The production of bibliometric data has thus become decoupled from their application. Bibliometric data have turned into a self-serving end while their providers are constantly seeking for new tools to make use of them. Keywords: bibliometrics; big data; digital infrastructures; higher education; quantification Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:58-67 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Keeping One’s Shiny Mercedes in the Garage: Why Higher Education Quantification Never Really Took Off in Germany File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2584 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2584 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 48-57 Author-Name: Maarten Hillebrandt Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki, Finland Abstract: The cybernetic dream of regulatory ‘dashboard control’ has taken off in the German higher education system. Both government regulators and university managers are engaged in the creation of waves of increasingly fine-grained quantitative data. Yet a wide range of recent case studies of the German higher education sector attest that in spite of this ‘datafication’ frenzy, the impact of the collected data mass on regulatory and managerial decision-making capacities seems to have remained relatively limited. This article explores why, in spite of the considerable investment in quantitative data infrastructures in the German higher education sector, this did not result in significant overt analytical capacity building. It explores three hypotheses: 1) a legal hypothesis according to which quantification is curbed by legal protections under the Rechtsstaat; 2) a dysfunctionality hypothesis which holds that decision makers reject quantification as a flawed and impracticable pursuit; and 3) an egalitarian federalism hypothesis which argues that Germany’s federal states seek to prevent commensurability to avoid comparison and competition. The article finds that, in spite of its inconspicuousness, quantification indeed does inform various central decision-making processes. However, different legal, political, and relational factors prompt decision makers to engage in a hybrid, tempered and, overall, untransparent application of numerical data. Keywords: administrative capacity; data; education; Germany; quantification Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:48-57 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: The Organizational Engine of Rankings: Connecting “New” and “Old” Institutionalism File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2576 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2576 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 36-47 Author-Name: Leopold Ringel Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University, Germany Author-Name: Jelena Brankovic Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University, Germany Author-Name: Tobias Werron Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University, Germany Abstract: When explaining the ubiquity of rankings, researchers tend to emphasize macro or contextual phenomena, such as the power of or the trust in numbers, neoliberal forces, or a general spirit of competition. Meanwhile, the properties of rankers are rarely, if at all, taken into account. In contrast to the received wisdom, we argue that the institutionalization of rankings in different fields is also contingent upon another, often-neglected factor: Over time, rankers have become increasingly more organized. To investigate the role of ranking organizations, we look into the distinct properties of present-day rankings and highlight three dimensions along which rankings have evolved over the course of the twentieth century, namely, publication frequency, handling complex tasks, and audience engagement. On this basis, we argue that these dimensions have to a large extent been affected by formal organization and we show how ranking organizations have over time developed capacities to: (a) publish rankings on a continual basis; (b) handle the often complex production process by means of division of labor; and (c) generate considerable degrees of attention by addressing large and diverse audiences. On a more general note, we argue that accounting for the role of organization in the instutionalization of rankings requires a combination of insights from both “old” and “new” strands of thinking in institutional theory. Keywords: audiences; institutions; organizations; quantification; rankings Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:36-47 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Steered by Numbers: How Quantification Differentiates the Reform of a German University File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2582 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2582 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 26-35 Author-Name: Michael Huber Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Sociology, Bielefeld University, Germany Abstract: Quantification theories assume that numbers govern and steer a policy field or an organisation. In order to steer successfully, however, the local interpretation of numbers takes centre stage as the meaning of numbers—and thus the way how actors respond to them—varies between systems or sectors. Empirically, this article reviews how a German university makes sense of political numbers and their implicit steering signals, and how quantification alters its organisational structures and reshapes the roles of academics. The article analyses the translation process distinguishing between three levels: the political discourse on university reform; the organisational adaptations; and the effects they have on the professional academic role. The article finds that the university has highly differentiated strategies to respond to the ‘governance by numbers,’ and that it has established independent number-based steering systems. We also find that such differentiation of programmes makes the university management more flexible, helping it deal with anticipated goal conflicts and unwanted allocative effects, but it also places serious strain on—and potentially overburns—the coordination provided by the university’s central administration. We also find that academics have started to align their behavioural strategies towards fulfilling their organisational goals and that they tend to deviate from professional expectations. Discussing these differentiated strategies, this article shows how the differentiation of governance approaches also contributes to the university becoming an ‘organisational actor.’ These preliminary findings suggest the need for and potential direction of further investigations. Keywords: organizational reform; quantification; university management; university studies Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:26-35 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Algorithmic Allocation: Untangling Rival Considerations of Fairness in Research Management File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2594 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2594 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 15-25 Author-Name: Guus Dix Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University, The Netherlands Author-Name: Wolfgang Kaltenbrunner Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University, The Netherlands Author-Name: Joeri Tijdink Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Medical Humanities, AmsterdamUMC, The Netherlands / Department of Philosophy, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands Author-Name: Govert Valkenburg Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway Author-Name: Sarah de Rijcke Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University, The Netherlands Abstract: Marketization and quantification have become ingrained in academia over the past few decades. The trust in numbers and incentives has led to a proliferation of devices that individualize, induce, benchmark, and rank academic performance. As an instantiation of that trend, this article focuses on the establishment and contestation of ‘algorithmic allocation’ at a Dutch university medical centre. Algorithmic allocation is a form of data-driven automated reasoning that enables university administrators to calculate the overall research budget of a department without engaging in a detailed qualitative assessment of the current content and future potential of its research activities. It consists of a range of quantitative performance indicators covering scientific publications, peer recognition, PhD supervision, and grant acquisition. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and document analysis, we contrast the attempt to build a rationale for algorithmic allocation—citing unfair advantage, competitive achievement, incentives, and exchange—with the attempt to challenge that rationale based on existing epistemic differences between departments. From the specifics of the case, we extrapolate to considerations of epistemic and market fairness that might equally be at stake in other attempts to govern the production of scientific knowledge in a quantitative and market-oriented way. Keywords: algorithmic allocation; higher education; marketization; performance indicators; quantification; resource allocation Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:15-25 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Quantifying Learning: Measuring Student Outcomes in Higher Education in England File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2564 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2564 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 6-14 Author-Name: Camille Kandiko Howson Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship, Imperial College London, UK Author-Name: Alex Buckley Author-Workplace-Name: Learning and Teaching Academy, Heriot-Watt University, UK Abstract: Since 2014, the government in England has undertaken a programme of work to explore the measurement of learning gain in undergraduate education. This is part of a wider neoliberal agenda to create a market in higher education, with student outcomes featuring as a key construct of value for money. The Higher Education Funding Council for England (subsequently dismantled) invested £4 million in funding 13 pilot projects to develop and test instruments and methods for measuring learning gain, with approaches largely borrowed from the US. Whilst measures with validity in specific disciplinary or institutional contexts were developed, a robust single instrument or measure has failed to emerge. The attempt to quantify learning represented by this initiative should spark debate about the rationale for quantification—whether it is for accountability, measuring performance, assuring quality or for the enhancement of teaching, learning and the student experience. It also raises profound questions about who defines the purpose of higher education; and whether it is those inside or outside of the academy who have the authority to decide the key learning outcomes of higher education. This article argues that in focusing on the largely technical aspects of the quantification of learning, government-funded attempts in England to measure learning gain have overlooked fundamental questions about the aims and values of higher education. Moreover, this search for a measure of learning gain represents the attempt to use quantification to legitimize the authority to define quality and appropriate outcomes in higher education. Keywords: accountability; education; governance; learning; quality assurance Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:6-14 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Editorial: Quantifying Higher Education: Governing Universities and Academics by Numbers File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2585 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i2.2585 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 2 Pages: 1-5 Author-Name: Maarten Hillebrandt Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki, Finland Author-Name: Michael Huber Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University, Germany Abstract: Over the past decades, ‘governing by numbers’ has taken a flight in the higher education sector. Performance-based budgeting and quality assurance schemes orient universities to new objectives, while rankings have globalised the metrified observation of higher education at large. Where previously no indicators existed, they are being introduced; where indicators already existed, they are being standardised for purposes of comparison. This thematic issue aims to work towards a more comprehensive understanding of the growing diversity of quantification-based instruments in higher education sectors in three European countries. The effects of quantification are noticed at all levels of the higher education system, from policy makers at the top of the regulatory pyramid down to students and academic staff. Yet even quantifiers outside of the regulatory system, such as ranking and metrics organisations, may have an important bearing on the operation of the university organisation and the sector at large. Thus, an entire governance landscape emerges in which actors at various levels turn to numbers for guidance. The articles in this thematic issue analyse the life cycle of such numbers, from their origins, through to their production and finally, their consequences. This editorial outlines the central questions and overarching issues addressed by the thematic issue and introduces its various contributions. Keywords: comparative policy studies; higher education governance; managerialism; performance indicators; quantification; regulation Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:2:p:1-5 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Slow Rise of Trade Politicisation in the UK and Brexit File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2737 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2737 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 348-359 Author-Name: María García Author-Workplace-Name: Politics, Languages and International Studies, University of Bath, UK Abstract: Since the Brexit referendum, the UK government has deployed a vision of ‘Global Britain’ revolving around trade agreements, yet, this was not a key issue in the referendum. Drawing on politicisation literature, we explore the absence of visible activism around future trade policy, in contrast to moderate activity around the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). We identify actors in UK TTIP mobilisation and trace their actions post-referendum, revealing politicisation as campaigners participate in channels for attempting to influence future UK trade policy. In the presence of these channels and lack of full clarity on future policy, to date, recourse to visible mobilisation in the public space has not yet occurred. Tracing this dynamic process, intertwining Brexit and trade policy, enables us to understand how politicisation of one process affects another. Crucially, given the context of re-nationalisation of trade policy, it allows us to explore how politicisation is operationalised in the absence of one of the key conditions for politicisation suggested in the literature: the transfer of authority to a more remote level of governance. Keywords: Brexit; contestation; media; politicisation; trade; Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:348-359 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: ‘Authority Shifts’ in Global Governance: Intersecting Politicizations and the Reform of Investor–State Arbitration File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2651 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2651 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 336-347 Author-Name: Anna Herranz-Surrallés Author-Workplace-Name: Politics Department, Faculty of Arts and Social Science, Maastricht University, The Netherlands Abstract:The global investment regime is a prime example of the so-called ‘politicization beyond the state.’ Investment agreements with an Investor–State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism have become contested in several corners of the globe, triggering a widespread reform process encompassing national, regional and multilateral levels. This article examines the consequences of this confluence of politicization processes, focusing on the European Union (EU) and two key venues of ISDS reform: the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). Combining different strands of politicization literature in International Relations and Political Science, the article advances a nuanced conceptualisation of the institutional consequences of politicization that goes beyond a deepening/decline dichotomy. Instead, the article examines whether and how politicization generates ‘authority shifts,’ either through a vertical move between international and national levels; and/or through a horizontal recalibration between public and private forms of governance. The article argues that although the EU’s initiative for global ISDS reform intended to rebalance public and private authority while strengthening its international character, the on-going reform processes at the UNCITRAL and the ECT may eventually lead to a (partial) dismantling of international authority.
Keywords: authority; Energy Charter Treaty; European Union; global governance; investment; Investor–State Dispute Settlement; politicization; United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:336-347 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: The Selective Politicization of Transatlantic Trade Negotiations File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2608 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2608 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 325-335 Author-Name: Aukje van Loon Author-Workplace-Name: Chair of International Politics, Faculty of Social Science, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany Abstract: European Union (EU) trade policy is in the spotlight. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations triggered substantial public mobilization which emerged in a surge of literature on trade politicization. Notwithstanding politicization’s topicality and significance, it varies considerably over time, across trade agreements negotiations as well as across EU member states. By picking up on the latter, this article examines why, despite similar economic benefits potentially to be gained from trade liberalization, TTIP negotiations revealed striking differences in politicization in Germany and the UK. Understanding this variation is illustrated by highlighting the impact of some of TTIPs’ substantial issues mobilizing a range of materially and ideationally motivated stakeholders, who in turn shaped diverging governments’ trade positions of the countries under scrutiny. In explaining this selective politicization across two European countries, focus is on three explanatory variables, domestic material interests (business associations and trade unions), societal ideas (voters and non-governmental organizations [NGOs]) dominant in these countries’ domestic politics, as well as their interaction with national institutions. For this reason, the societal approach to governmental preference formation is employed which provides a detailed exploration of these three domestic factors, as well as the importance of their interdependence, in shaping the TTIP positions of the UK and German governments. Keywords: domestic politics; European Union; Germany; investment; politicization; trade policy; Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership; United Kingdom Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:325-335 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Missing in Action? France and the Politicization of Trade and Investment Agreements File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2616 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2616 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 312-324 Author-Name: Sophie Meunier Author-Workplace-Name: Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, USA Author-Name: Christilla Roederer-Rynning Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science and Public Management, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark Abstract: Negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) and for the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada have provoked massive mobilization throughout Europe, both on the streets and online. Yet France, long at the epicenter of anti-globalization and anti-Americanism, has played a surprisingly modest role in the mobilization campaign against these agreements. This article asks why France did not contribute to anti-TTIP mobilization and, more broadly, how patterns of French mobilization over trade have changed over the past two decades. Using comparative-historical analysis, we explore to what extent this puzzling French reaction can be traced to changing attitudes towards the US, agenda-shaping by the French government, and transformations in the venues and techniques of social mobilization. We thus contribute to the growing literature on the politicization of trade agreements and offer insights into the links between domestic and international politics. Keywords: Common Commercial Policy; Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement; European Union; France; investment; multilateral investment agreement; politicization; trade; Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:312-324 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Huddle Up! Exploring Domestic Coalition Formation Dynamics in the Differentiated Politicization of TTIP File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2588 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2588 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 301-311 Author-Name: Niels Gheyle Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Ghent University, Belgium Abstract: The politicization of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has manifested itself to different extents across EU Member States. In some countries, conflicting interpretations about the deal were highly visible in public and political debates, while in others there was hardly any awareness. To further understand this phenomenon, trade scholars have to date not yet deepened nor leveraged the insights of the ‘differentiated politicization’ and social movement literature, which both point to coalition formation as an important trigger of politicization processes. This article contributes to our understanding of variation in politicization across EU Member States, by exploring coalition formation dynamics in differentiated politicization processes, in order to identify the factors facilitating successful domestic coalition formation. Through an exploratory case study design, I focus on three countries that exemplify high, middle, and low politicization cases: Germany, Belgium, and Ireland. By relying on the testimonies of campaigners active during the TTIP episode, I identify three elements that facilitated the formation of a diverse domestic coalition, which subsequently played an important role in pushing for a broad-based debate about the implications of TTIP: (i) an expert ‘mesomobilization’ link with a transnational advocacy network, (ii) the prior availability of domestic alliances, and (iii) an inclusive framing approach in order to establish a diverse coalition. The findings also underline the importance of timing in the unfolding of (successful) politicization processes. Keywords: alliances; coalition formation; contestation; European Union; networks; politicization; trade; Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:301-311 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Managed Globalization 2.0: The European Commission’s Response to Trade Politicization File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2567 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2567 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 290-300 Author-Name: Patricia Garcia-Duran Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economic History, University of Barcelona, Spain Author-Name: Leif Johan Eliasson Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science and Economics, East Stroudsburg University, USA Author-Name: Oriol Costa Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Political Science and Sociology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain Abstract: Several studies have sought to explain the politicization of European Union’s (EU) trade policy during negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the EU and Canada (CETA). This article contributes to the literature on the politicization of trade by assessing how politicization is addressed by those tasked with the content and implementation of trade policy, namely the European Commission (hereafter Commission). We identify the origin and definition of managed globalization (MG), and thereafter identify, through a qualitative content analysis of EU Trade Commissioners’ speeches from 2013 to late 2017, how the doctrine re-emerged as the leitmotif of EU trade policy. The Commission’s initial response to civil society organizations’ contestation over TTIP and CETA was to insist on the economic benefits of the agreements. As contestation intensified, we find indirect references to MG, as the Commission focused on clarifying that upholding European values was equally important to market access in EU trade policy. Then, from late 2016 until late 2017, the Commission’s messaging was directed primarily at populist fears of trade and globalization; emphasizing that protectionism was unnecessary, and that globalization could be controlled, culminating in the emergence of explicit references to MG. The article expands on existing research on MG by identifying trade politicization as a factor that prompted a modification and expansion of the MG doctrine and its use, while also discussing some accompanying policy changes. Keywords: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement; European Commission; managed globalization; politicization; trade; trade policy; Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:290-300 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: National Autonomy or Transnational Solidarity? Using Multiple Geographic Frames to Politicize EU Trade Policy File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2649 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2649 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 277-289 Author-Name: Gabriel Siles-Brügge Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick, UK Author-Name: Michael Strange Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Global Political Studies, Malmö University, Sweden Abstract: The article contributes to our understanding of how trade is politicized and how civil society activists manage the tensions between multiple collective action frames in a complex political context. When viewed alongside the Brexit referendum and Trump’s US Presidency, it is easy to see the 2013–2016 campaign against a European Union–US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership as a further example of an apparently growing populist ‘nationalism.’ Yet, in the European context—where campaigning was most visible—there was in fact extensive reliance on, and re-iteration of, a transnational ‘European’ frame, with antecedents in the 1999–2006 campaign against General Agreement on Trade in Services negotiations. As the article argues, transnational campaigning operates within a nexus of multiple, and sometimes conflicting, geographic frames. In both campaigns discussed here, activists typically engaged with the wider public via the national context and, sometimes, with allusions to ‘national autonomy.’ However, their activism was dependent upon a frame espousing ‘transnational solidarity.’ Developed over time, this structured their transnational relations with other groups and more full-time activists. Keywords: civil society; General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS); local government; petitions; politicization; trade policy; Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:277-289 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Politicisation ‘Reversed’: EU Free Trade Negotiations with West Africa and the Caribbean File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2680 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2680 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 266-276 Author-Name: Anke Moerland Author-Workplace-Name: Department of International and European Law, Maastricht University, The Netherlands Author-Name: Clara Weinhardt Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Maastricht University, The Netherlands Abstract: The politicisation of recent European Union (EU) trade negotiations such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement suggests that the more negotiations focus on deep integration issues, the higher the potential for polarization of values and interests. Yet, as we argue, this pattern does not necessarily hold true in EU trade negotiations with the developing world. In the case of the Economic Partnership Agreements with West Africa and the Caribbean region, the pattern of politicisation was ‘reversed’: Politicisation remained low in the Caribbean region, despite the inclusion of deep integration issues. To the contrary, negotiations became highly politicised in West Africa, where negotiations focussed on the traditional realm of trade in goods. Combining the insights from the literature on the role of non-state actors (NSAs) in trade policy-making in developing countries and on politicisation, we show that limited pre-existing mobilisation resources of NSAs, and few opportunities to engage with the political level of negotiations, imply that those affected by the inclusion of deep integration issues hardly mobilise. We also find that lack of technical expertise and the significance of traditional trade areas pre-empts NSAs from engaging in emotive framing on deep integration issues. This helps us to unpack the different patterns of politicisation across both regions: Politicisation in West Africa was facilitated by civil society actors who—in contrast to the Caribbean region—could draw on pre-existing networks, expertise, and direct access to the regional negotiation level. Keywords: deep integration; European Union; EU trade policy; Free Trade Agreement; non-state actors; politicisation; trade negotiations; West Africa Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:266-276 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Politicization and Regional Integration in Latin America: Implications for EU–MERCOSUR Negotiations? File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2598 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2598 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 254-265 Author-Name: Andrea C. Bianculli Author-Workplace-Name: Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals, Spain Abstract: Regional integration in Latin America has experienced different periods of politicization. The most recent goes back to the 2000s and is related to the domestic political changes resulting from the so-called ‘left turn’ which sought alternative economic and development policies to neoliberalism as the state regained centrality. These transformations led to a broad process of politicization of regionalism which changed the terms of the debate surrounding whether regional integration and free trade are the only way for these countries to integrate regionally and internationally. Analyses have thus underscored the postliberal character of this phase of regionalism as reflected in the greater weight of social and political agendas at the expense of economic and trade issues. The Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) was no exception to this trend. However, in 2010 the bloc rather surprisingly agreed to relaunch negotiations with the European Union (EU). Why did MERCOSUR decide to resume these negotiations—stalled since 2004—in a context of high politicization of regional integration? This article argues that internal politicization did not lead to a paralysis of the international agenda. Moreover, internal politicization, coupled with external pressures and the demand for group-to-group negotiations by the EU, drove and supported the conduct of international negotiations. In so doing, this article also contests the idea that after the 2000s, MERCOSUR moved inexorably towards a postliberal model, thus rejecting any trade component. Findings suggest that these accounts may have overemphasized change and underestimated continuities in regional integration dynamics as the case of the external agenda shows. Keywords: civil society; European Union; external agenda; Latin America; MERCOSUR; polarization; politicization; regional cooperation; trade negotiations Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:254-265 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Towards Explaining Varying Degrees of Politicization of EU Trade Agreement Negotiations File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2686 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2686 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 243-253 Author-Name: Dirk De Bièvre Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Antwerp, Belgium Author-Name: Arlo Poletti Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento, Italy Abstract: Over the last decade, European Union (EU) trade agreement negotiations in the form of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada have been strongly contested. By contrast, many other EU trade negotiations have sailed on with far less politicization, or barely any at all. In this contribution, we assess a series of plausible explanation for these very varying degrees of politicization across EU trade agreement negotiations—conceived of as the combination of polarization of opinions, salience given to them in public debate, and the expansion of the number of societal actors involved therein. Through a review of existing explanations, we show how each of these explanations faces a set of challenges. In the third section, we argue it is useful to conceive of these existing explanations as structural background conditions enabling agency on the part of interest group and civil society organizations. We therefore close by sketching how literature on the relationship between interest group mobilization and public opinion could inform further comparative research on trade policy negotiations, and on politicization of EU policy making in general. Keywords: European Union; interest groups; mobilization; negotiations; politicization; public opinion; trade policy Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:243-253 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Editorial: Politicization of EU Trade Policy Across Time and Space File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3055 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.3055 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 239-242 Author-Name: Dirk De Bièvre Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Antwerp, Belgium Author-Name: Patricia Garcia-Duran Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economic History, University of Barcelona, Spain Author-Name: Leif Johan Eliasson Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science and Economics, East Stroudsburg University, USA Author-Name: Oriol Costa Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Political Science and Sociology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain Abstract: This editorial provides an introduction to the thematic issue “Politicization of EU Trade Policy Across Time and Space.” The academic editors place the issue in the context of the current literature, introduce the contributions, and discuss how the articles, individually and jointly, add to the state of the art. Keywords: European Union; institutions; politicization; trade negotiations; trade policy Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:239-242 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Populism and Political Knowledge: The United States in Comparative Perspective File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2560 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2560 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 226-238 Author-Name: Henry Milner Author-Workplace-Name: Chair in Electoral Studies, Department of Political Science, University of Montreal, Canada Abstract: This article addresses the link between political knowledge and populist attitudes in the United States (US) in comparative perspective. At the beginning of the new decade, populism in the US is associated with support for the Republican party and Donald Trump in particular, and that is how I address it here. Using secondary data from a number of related studies, we find that, overall, support for Trump is not only negatively related to political knowledge, but also to other factors that make his supporters unaware of their being misinformed. This is because, more than for others, partisan cues serve them as a basis for their factual beliefs about political actors and events and assessments of the beliefs of others. While political knowledge has long been comparatively low in the US, as I show in the early part of the article, the relationship between misinformation and populism (i.e., support for Trump) is seen as a new and especially worrisome element. In the concluding section I address what, if anything, could be done to address this situation. Keywords: Donald Trump; political knowledge; political misinformation; populism; tribalism; United States Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:226-238 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Veridiction and Leadership in Transnational Populism: The Case of DiEM25 File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2539 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2539 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 217-225 Author-Name: Evangelos Fanoulis Author-Workplace-Name: Department of International Relations, Xi’an Jiaotong–Liverpool University, China Author-Name: Simona Guerra Author-Workplace-Name: School of History, Politics and International Relations, University of Leicester, UK Abstract: While research tends to explore questions of power and leadership at the national level, populism in Europe has moved beyond national borders, with an increasing number of transnational movements and organizations. This article investigates the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25) and its leadership’s main speeches. Informed by both discourse theory and Michel Foucault’s work on parrhesia (veridiction), the analysis draws on readings of transnational Euroalternativism and populism, pointing out the conflicting logic of bringing them together at the transnational level. Our findings thus stress the increasing politicization of European integration as an opportunity to mobilize transnational activities, which are based on the populist ‘people vs. the elites’ dichotomy and against Brussels’ unaccountable elites (see FitzGibbon & Guerra, 2019), while indicating the limits of leadership in a populist transnational movement (de Cleen, Moffitt, Panayotu, & Stavrakakis, 2019; Marzolini & Souvlis, 2016). Keywords: discourse analysis; Euroalternativism; leadership; parrhesia; power relations; transnational populism Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:217-225 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Revisiting the Inclusion-Moderation Thesis on Radical Right Populism: Does Party Leadership Matter? File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2515 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2515 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 206-216 Author-Name: Laurent Bernhard Author-Workplace-Name: Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences, University of Lausanne, Switzerland Abstract: This article reflects on the inclusion-moderation thesis, which asserts that parties from the radical right become like mainstream parties once they move from the opposition to government. This mainstreaming primarily occurs through the moderation of issue positions and the decline of populism. In this article, I focus on populism and consider the role of party leadership for government parties. I distinguish between traditional and managerial leadership. While traditional leadership employs an adversarial strategy toward mainstream parties, managerial leadership adopts an accommodative strategy. This article looks at three phases: 1) the opposition period; 2) in office under traditional party leadership; 3) in office under managerial party leadership. I expect that, compared to the second phase when the party is in office under traditional party leadership, levels of populism are higher during the opposition period and lower when it is in office under managerial party leadership. The empirical part of this article conducts a quantitative content analysis on the populist communication of the Geneva Citizens’ Movement, a radical right party from Switzerland. The findings tend to support my theoretical argument. Keywords: government participation; party leadership; populism; radical right; Switzerland Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:206-216 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Charting Putin’s Shifting Populism in the Russian Media from 2000 to 2020 File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2565 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2565 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 193-205 Author-Name: Tina Burrett Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Liberal Arts, Sophia University, Japan Abstract: This article analyses the changing themes of Vladimir Putin’s populist messaging during his almost 20 years at the apex of Russian politics. To reveal shifts in Putin’s populist rhetoric, the article examines Russian media framing of his four presidential-election campaigns and of Russia’s relations with China and the United States (U.S.). Public opinion data is used to assess the impact of Putin’s populist propaganda. The article begins by assessing to what degree Putin can be considered a populist politician, concluding that while his rhetoric is populist his rule is largely not. The article further finds that Putin has maintained his populist appeal by turning his ire from domestic economic elites to international political enemies, specifically by positioning himself as the main challenger to U.S. hegemony in the global system. Putin’s control of the Russian media, co-opting of opposition populist causes and geopolitical victories in Syria and Crimea have helped him maintain his populist connection with Russian voters. But, the article concludes, growing access to anti-Kremlin online media, the pain of economic sanctions, botched social welfare reforms, and the presence of effective opposition movements are causing Putin’s populism to lose its lustre. Keywords: international relations; populism; Russia; Russian media; Russian politics; Vladimir Putin Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:193-205 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Leadership as Interpreneurship: A Disability Nonprofit Atlantic Canadian Profile File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2505 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2505 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 182-192 Author-Name: Mario Levesque Author-Workplace-Name: Politics & International Relations, Mount Allison University, Canada Abstract: The entrenchment of the neoliberal state and rise of populist leaders has marginalized the role of voluntary organizations in society. This presents significant challenges for nonprofit leaders in economically challenged areas as it erodes their ability to protect and serve vulnerable populations. Attention turns to maintaining hard fought gains at the expense of making progress. Yet doing so requires new skills and leadership styles to manage organizational change where innovation and transformation are key. Based on 42 qualitative interviews with disability nonprofit leaders in Atlantic Canada, our study aims to characterize this transformation. Using Szerb’s (2003) key attributes of entrepreneurship that distinguish between entre-, intra-, and interpreneurs, we find disability leaders have become interpreneurs. We find a strong emphasis on networked service delivery underscoring shared goals, risks and responsibilities, and resources. For disability leaders, cultivating relationships and strong communication skills are essential. In the face of populist desires for state retrenchment, we question how long this collective response can hold given ongoing economic challenges. Keywords: Atlantic Canada; disability nonprofits; interpreneur; leadership Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:182-192 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: The People’s Champ: Doug Ford and Neoliberal Right-Wing Populism in the 2018 Ontario Provincial Election File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2468 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2468 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 171-181 Author-Name: Brian Budd Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Guelph, Canada Abstract: The 2018 Ontario provincial election marked a decisive shift in the political direction of Canada’s most populous province. The election brought an end to the long reign of the Ontario Liberal Party (2003–2018), whose government devolved into a series of scandals that resulted in a third-place finish. The Liberal’s defeat came at the hands of the Progressive Conservative Party led by former Toronto city councillor, Doug Ford. The Progressive Conservative’s victory was propelled on the back of Ford’s deeply populist campaign where he promised to reassert the interests of ‘the people,’ expel the influence of elites and special interests, and clean up government corruption. This campaign discourse led many political opponents and media pundits to accuse Ford of importing the nativist, xenophobic, and divisive rhetoric of other radical right-wing populist leaders. This article advances the argument that rather than representing the importation of ‘Trumpism’ or other types of radical right-wing populism, Ford’s campaign is better understood within the tradition of Canadian populism defined by an overarching ideological commitment to neoliberalism. In appealing to voters, Ford avoided the nativist and xenophobic rhetoric of populist leaders in the United States and Western Europe, offering a conception of ‘the people’ using an economic and anti-cosmopolitan discourse centred upon middle class taxpayers. This article makes a contribution to both the literatures on Canadian elections and populism, demonstrating the lineage of Ford’s ideological commitment to populism within recent Canadian electoral history, as well as Ford’s place within the international genealogy of right-wing populism. Keywords: Canada; neoliberalism; political leadership; populism; right-wing politics Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:171-181 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Tweeting Power: The Communication of Leadership Roles on Prime Ministers’ Twitter File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2530 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2530 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 158-170 Author-Name: Kenny William Ie Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Simon Fraser University, Canada Abstract: This article examines the communication of leadership roles by prime ministers Justin Trudeau and Theresa May on Twitter. I argue that tweets from prime ministers implicitly communicate information about how prime ministers lead and what their job entails: what I call role performance and function. I develop an inductive typology of these leadership dimensions and apply this framework to Trudeau and May’s tweets in 2018 and 2019. I find first that Trudeau is a much more active Twitter user than Theresa May was as prime minister, attesting to different leadership styles. Second, both use Twitter primarily for publicity and to support and associate with individuals and groups. Trudeau is much more likely to use Twitter to portray himself as a non-political figure, while May is more likely to emphasize the role of policy ‘decider.’ Both prime ministers are framed much more often as national legislative leaders rather than party leaders or executives. Finally, May’s tweets reflect her position as an international leader much more than Trudeau’s. Assessing how prime ministers’ tweets reflect these dimensions contributes to our understanding of evolving leader–follower dynamics in the age of social media. While Twitter has been cited as conducive to populist leaders and rhetoric, this study shows how two non-populist leaders have adopted this medium, particularly in Trudeau’s case, to construct a personalized leader–follower relationship. Keywords: leadership roles; political communication; political leadership; prime ministers; Twitter Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:158-170 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Populist Disinformation: Exploring Intersections between Online Populism and Disinformation in the US and the Netherlands File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2478 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2478 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 146-157 Author-Name: Michael Hameleers Author-Workplace-Name: Amsterdam School of Communication Research, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Abstract: The discursive construction of a populist divide between the ‘good’ people and ‘corrupt’ elites can conceptually be linked to disinformation. More specifically, (right-wing) populists are not only attributing blame to the political elites, but increasingly vent anti-media sentiments in which the mainstream press is scapegoated for not representing the people. In an era of post-truth relativism, ‘fake news’ is increasingly politicized and used as a label to delegitimize political opponents or the press. To better understand the affinity between disinformation and populism, this article conceptualizes two relationships between these concepts: (1) blame attributions to the dishonest media as part of the corrupt elites that mislead the people; and (2) the expression of populist boundaries in a people-centric, anti-expert, and evidence-free way. The results of a comparative qualitative content analysis in the US and Netherlands indicate that the political leaders Donald Trump and Geert Wilders blame legacy media in populist ways by regarding them as part of the corrupt and lying establishment. Compared to left-wing populist and mainstream politicians, these politicians are the most central players in the discursive construction of populist disinformation. Both politicians bypassed empirical evidence and expert knowledge whilst prioritizing the people’s truth and common sense at the center stage of honesty and reality. These expressions resonated with public opinion on Facebook, although citizens were more likely to frame mis- and disinformation in terms of ideological cleavages. These findings have important implications for our understanding of the role of populist discourse in a post-factual era. Keywords: disinformation; fake news; misinformation; populism; social networks Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:146-157 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: How Do Populist Voters Rate Their Political Leaders? Comparing Citizen Assessments in Three Jurisdictions File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2540 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2540 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 133-145 Author-Name: Gerard Seijts Author-Workplace-Name: Ivey Business School, Western University, Canada Author-Name: Cristine de Clercy Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Western University, Canada Abstract: Drawing from the field of management studies, we explore how a sample of voters in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom use a leader character framework to judge political leadership. We ask, how do voters actually assess the character of their current leaders? And, in light of the populist zeitgeist, do people who hold a populist attitude differ markedly in how they judge the character of political leaders? Our results show that voters generally consider character important. However, voters who lean toward populism believe character matters less in political leadership than individuals who scored low on the populism indicator. This durable difference merits more exploration in a political context marked by populism. Our findings about the factors that influence vote choice contribute to this conversation and to extant research that reports that some voters pay greater attention to leader characteristics than do others. Keywords: Canada; leaders; leadership; politics; populism; United Kingdom; United States Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:133-145 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: The Trump Paradox: How Cues from a Disliked Source Foster Resistance to Persuasion File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2428 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2428 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 122-132 Author-Name: Alessandro Nai Author-Workplace-Name: Amsterdam School of Communication Research, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Abstract: We usually reject information from sources we dislike. But what if those same sources explicitly disagree with that information? Are we more likely to be persuaded by information that is opposed by someone we dislike? We present results from an experimental study with a convenience sample of 199 Dutch students. Respondents were exposed to counter-attitudinal information on climate change in an attempt to generate persuasion, and in a second time exposed to a tweet from the current US president, Donald J. Trump, as a positive or negative endorsement of the counter-attitudinal. Results show that positive endorsements reduce the persuasive power of counter-attitudinal information, whereas negative endorsements (marginally) increase its persuasive power. These results have important implications in today’s politics, where “disliked” figures—most of the time referred to as “populists”—play an increasingly central role in framing the terms of the debate on the most salient issues. Keywords: Donald Trump; political persuasion; populism; Twitter Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:122-132 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: The Populist Radical Right in the US: New Media and the 2018 Arizona Senate Primary File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2508 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2508 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 111-121 Author-Name: Jeremy C. Roberts Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Western University, Canada Abstract: This article analyzes the appeal of populist radical right (PRR) politics in the US after the election of Donald Trump. Specifically, I seek to explain how new media helps politicians representing the PRR secure support in Republican primaries. Using an online survey of 1052 Arizona Republicans in the lead-up to the August 2018 Senate primary, I evaluate support for three candidates: Rep. Martha McSally, former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and Kelli Ward, a physician. The findings highlight a bifurcation in the drivers for support of PRR candidacies: Skepticism of immigration drives the Arpaio vote, while use of social media news and belief in party convergence mobilize Ward’s support. The results demonstrate that support for PRR politicians in the Arizona primary is concentrated in two groups, anti-immigrant and anti-establishment, and that the anti-establishment voters are more likely to access news on social media. These findings indicate that social media news consumption does shape voter perceptions about mainstream parties favorably for the PRR. Keywords: convergence; Donald Trump; new media; populism; populist radical right Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:111-121 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: On the Intersection of Leadership and Populism in North America and Europe File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2946 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2946 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 107-110 Author-Name: Cristine de Clercy Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, Western University, Canada Abstract: This editorial introduces the thematic issue and considers what the articles tell us about new approaches to studying political leadership and populism. The editorial surveys the set of eleven articles by referring to their geographic concentration (North America and Europe), along with methodological and thematic similarities. In conclusion, the set of articles displays the diverse theoretical and methodological approaches currently employed in cutting-edge research on populism and political leadership. Keywords: leadership; party leaders; populism; presidents; prime ministers; social media; Trump Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:107-110 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Politicized Transnationalism: The Visegrád Countries in the Refugee Crisis File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2419 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2419 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 95-106 Author-Name: Michael Koß Author-Workplace-Name: Center for the Study of Democracy, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany Author-Name: Astrid Séville Author-Workplace-Name: Geschwister-Scholl-Institute of Political Science, LMU Munich, Germany Abstract: Existing research on the evolution of European integration has pitted economic against identity issues. In the economic sphere, governments are arguably able to pursue their preferences more independently. If, however, identity issues become politicized this is supposed to suggest that governments lose their dominant position in integration and gradually become agents of Eurosceptic parties and/or electorates. This article looks at a phenomenon neither the intergovernmentalist nor the postfunctionalist perspective can fully explain: the emergence of the Visegrád Group (V4) as a collective actor in European politics in early 2016. This emergence occurred in the wake of the refugee crisis during which the identity issue of migration was politicized. However, there was no coherent partisan composition uniting V4 governments. Based on a sequence elaboration of all press statements of meetings of the V4 Prime Ministers since their EU-accession in 2004, we show that what at first sight appears to be informed by anti-immigrant and Eurosceptic sentiments may in fact display a more ambivalent position towards regional integration. The post-refugee crisis V4 appears as a case of politicized transnationalism—that is, cooperation to achieve transnational interests under the condition of politicization. This transnational interest not only comprised opposition to a relocation of migrants, but also the maintenance of a core transnational freedom within the EU, namely free movement under the Schengen acquis. We conclude that, under the condition of increasing politicization, identity issues help to forge government alliances of governments pursuing economic preferences. Keywords: European integration; politicization; refugee crisis; transnational cleavage; transnationalism; Visegrád Group Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:95-106 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: The EU Multi-Level System and the Europeanization of Domestic Blame Games File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2522 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2522 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 85-94 Author-Name: Tim Heinkelmann-Wild Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, LMU Munich, Germany Author-Name: Lisa Kriegmair Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, LMU Munich, Germany Author-Name: Berthold Rittberger Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, LMU Munich, Germany Abstract: Blame games between governing and opposition parties are a characteristic feature of domestic politics. In the EU, policymaking authority is shared among multiple actors across different levels of governance. How does EU integration affect the dynamics of domestic blame games? Drawing on the literatures on EU politicisation and blame attribution in multi-level governance systems, we derive expectations about the direction and frequency of blame attributions in a Europeanized setting. We argue, first, that differences in the direction and frequency of blame attributions by governing and opposition parties are shaped by their diverging baseline preferences as blame avoiders and blame generators; secondly, we posit that differences in blame attributions across Europeanized policies are shaped by variation in political authority structures, which incentivize certain attributions while constraining others. We hypothesize, inter alia, that blame games are “Europeanized” primarily by governing parties and when policy-implementing authority rests with EU-level actors. We test our theoretical expectations by analysing parliamentary debates on EU asylum system policy and EU border control policy in Austria and Germany. Keywords: blame attribution; blame-shifting; European Union; multi-level governance; parliamentary debates Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:85-94 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Candidate Selection and Parliamentary Activity in the EU’s Multi-Level System: Opening a Black-Box File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2553 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2553 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 72-84 Author-Name: Eva-Maria Euchner Author-Workplace-Name: Geschwister-Scholl Institute for Political Science, LMU Munich, Germany Author-Name: Elena Frech Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Geneva, Switzerland Abstract: Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have a multitude of parliamentary duties and, accordingly, have to prioritize some parliamentary activities over others. So far, we know comparably little about this prioritization process. Based on principal–agent theory, we argue first, that MEPs’ parliamentary activities are systematically determined by the “visibility” and usefulness of parliamentary instruments for their key principal; second, we expect the exclusiveness of candidate selection procedures of an MEP’s national party—the nomination and the final list placement—to determine her/his key principal (i.e., elites or members of national parties). Combining multi-level mixed effects linear regression models and expert interviews, we show that MEPs who are nominated and whose final list placement is decided by an exclusive circle of national party elites prioritize speeches, whereas MEPs who are nominated or whose final list placement is decided by more inclusive procedures prioritize written questions and opinions or reports. In other words, speeches seem particularly useful to communicate with national party elites, while other activities are used to serve larger groups of party members. These findings open up the black-box of the “national party principal” and illustrate how a complex principal–agent relationship stimulates very specific parliamentary activity patterns in the EU’s multi-level system. Keywords: candidate selection; European Parliament; multi-level system; principal–agent relationship; parliamentary activity Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:72-84 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Interest Groups in Multi-Level Contexts: European Integration as Cross-Cutting Issue in Party-Interest Group Contacts File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2516 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2516 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 61-71 Author-Name: Joost Berkhout Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Author-Name: Marcel Hanegraaff Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Author-Name: Patrick Statsch Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Abstract: Policy-specific actor-constellations consisting of party- and group-representatives commonly drive the effective establishment of new policy programmes or changes in existing policies. In the EU multi-level system, the creation of such constellations is complicated because it practically requires consensus on two dimensions: the European public policy at stake and the issue of European integration. This means that, for interest groups with interests in particular policy domains, and with limited interest in the actual issue of European integration, non-Eurosceptic parties must be their main ally in their policy battles. We hypothesise that interest groups with relevant European domain-specific interests will ally with non-Eurosceptic parties, whereas interest groups whose interests are hardly affected by the European policy process will have party-political allies across the full range of positions on European integration. We assess this argument on the basis of an elite-survey of interest group leaders and study group-party dyads in several European countries (i.e., Belgium, Lithuania, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, and Slovenia) in a large number of policy domains. Our dependent variable is the group-party dyad and the main independent variables are the European policy interests of the group and the level of Euroscepticism of the party. We broadly find support for our hypotheses. The findings of our study speak to the debate concerning the implications of the politicisation of European integration and, more specifically, the way in which party-political polarisation of Europe may divide domestic interest group systems and potentially drive group and party systems apart. Keywords: European integration; Euroscepticism; interest groups; political parties Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:61-71 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Living Apart Together? The Organization of Political Parties beyond the Nation-State: The Flemish Case File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2458 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2458 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 50-60 Author-Name: Gilles Pittoors Author-Workplace-Name: Ghent Association for the Study of Parties and Representation, Department of Political Science, Ghent University, Belgium Abstract: This article aims to contribute both theoretically and empirically to the study of political parties in the EU context, focusing on party organisation. Theoretically, it draws on insights from various literatures to develop a novel typology of multilevel party organisation specific to the EU context. It argues that parties are goal-seeking actors that choose their organisation based on a cost-benefit analysis, involving both party characteristics and the institutional context. Empirically, the article applies this framework on the Flemish political parties. It finds that rational goal-seeking behaviour cannot fully account for parties’ organisational choices. Results show that normative and historical considerations play a crucial role in parties’ cost-benefit analysis. It therefore calls upon future research to expand the number of comparative studies and to further assess parties’ goal-seeking behaviour regarding their multilevel organisation. Keywords: European Union; multilevel democracy; political parties; vertical integration Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:50-60 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Competition in the European Arena: How the Rules of the Game Help Nationalists Gain File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2517 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2517 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 41-49 Author-Name: Zoe Lefkofridi Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science and Salzburg Center of European Studies, University of Salzburg, Austria Abstract: Why does the European election fail to produce competition between European policy alternatives despite the increased politicization of European integration and efforts to connect election results to the Commission Presidency via the Spitzenkandidaten process? In this article I theorize the European arena’s incentive structure for political competition by synthesizing Strøm’s (1990) behavioral theory of competitive parties (votes, office, policy) and Bartolini’s (1999, 2000) four dimensions of electoral competition (contestability, availability, decidability, and incumbent vulnerability). I model EU decidability (party differentials on EU policy) and formulate specific expectations about party differentiation by considering parties’ vote-, office-, and policy-seeking motives under the European arena’s specific conditions. How parties behave under the specific incentive structure of the European arena matters for the EU’s development as a polity. Keywords: dimensions of competition; European election; European Parliament; European Union; political parties; party goals Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:41-49 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Electoral Behaviour in a European Union under Stress File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2510 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2510 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 28-40 Author-Name: Daniela Braun Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, LMU Munich, Germany Author-Name: Markus Tausendpfund Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Hagen, Germany Abstract: Is electoral behaviour affected by the current challenges of the EU and, if it is, through which channels and mechanisms? This study offers a cross-national analysis together with a broad understanding of both the crisis phenomenon and electoral behaviour. To investigate this research question appropriately, we first distinguish at the most general level between the two main behavioural alternatives at play when it comes to electoral behaviour, namely abstention and vote choice. Second, and no less important, we differentiate between the mechanisms that mediate the relationship between the ‘EU under stress’ and electoral behaviour, namely egocentric and sociotropic economic voting motivations. Drawing on data from the European Election Study 2014, our article provides important insights into the study of electoral behaviour in an EU under stress. First, we are able to show that the multiple crises that have hit the EU have the potential to determine both turnout and the decision to vote for a Eurosceptic party. Second, different mechanisms are in play for each of the two behavioural alternatives: Turnout is clearly related to egocentric determinants and thus depends on individuals’ personal exposure to the financial crisis. Conversely, the decision to vote for a Eurosceptic party is based on a different mechanism. Voters—without necessarily being personally affected by the crisis—have a higher propensity to vote for a Eurosceptic party if they perceive their country to be threatened by such an EU under stress. These findings add to a better understanding of the EU’s multi-level democracy. Keywords: economic voting; electoral behaviour; European crises; European Parliament elections; Eurosceptic parties; multi-level analysis; multi-level system Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:28-40 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Democracy or Oligarchy? Unequal Representation of Income Groups in European Institutions File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2526 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2526 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 19-27 Author-Name: Zoe Lefkofridi Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, University of Salzburg, Austria Author-Name: Nathalie Giger Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Geneva, Switzerland Abstract: In this study we examine the representation of income groups in two EU-level institutions, the Council and the European Parliament. We find that the political positions of these institutions, and especially of the Council, are always on the right compared to European citizens, though closer to the wealthy among them. However, a more systematic analysis of congruence between different income groups and the Council reveals that while the poor are systematically underrepresented, the rich are not systematically over-represented. This holds both when we examine the poor and the rich across the EU as a whole and when we cluster them according to their respective member states. Keywords: congruence; Council of the European Union; European Parliament; European Union; inequality; representation Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:19-27 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: It All Happens at Once: Understanding Electoral Behaviour in Second-Order Elections File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2513 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2513 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 6-18 Author-Name: Hermann Schmitt Author-Workplace-Name: MZES, Universität Mannheim, Germany / Faculty of Humanities, University of Manchester, UK Author-Name: Alberto Sanz Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, EDEM University Center, Spain / Department of Operations Management, IE University, Spain Author-Name: Daniela Braun Author-Workplace-Name: Geschwister-Scholl Institute for Political Science, LMU Munich, Germany Author-Name: Eftichia Teperoglou Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece Abstract: The second-order election (SOE) model as originally formulated by Reif and Schmitt (1980) suggests that, relative to the preceding first-order election result, turnout is lower in SOEs, government and big parties lose, and small and ideologically extreme parties win. These regularities are not static but dynamic and related to the first-order electoral cycle. These predictions of the SOE model have often been tested using aggregate data. The fact that they are based on individual-level hypotheses has received less attention. The main aim of this article is to restate the micro-level hypotheses for the SOE model and run a rigorous test for the 2004 and 2014 European elections. Using data from the European Election Studies voter surveys, our analysis reveals signs of sincere, but also strategic abstentions in European Parliament elections. Both strategic and sincere motivations are also leading to SOE defection. It all happens at once. Keywords: electoral cycle; second-order elections; sincere voting; strategic voting; turnout; vote switching Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:6-18 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Political Behavior in the EU Multi-Level System File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/2706 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2706 Journal: Politics and Governance Volume: 8 Year: 2020 Issue: 1 Pages: 1-5 Author-Name: Daniela Braun Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, LMU Munich, Germany Author-Name: Martin Gross Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, LMU Munich, Germany Author-Name: Berthold Rittberger Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Political Science, LMU Munich, Germany Abstract: Together with its further widening and deepening, the character of the EU has changed fundamentally during the last two decades. Acknowledging this development, the politics-dimension has become visibly more relevant in research on the EU. This “politics turn” is accompanied by an increased interest in research on political behavior of individual and collective actors—voters, parties, interest groups, executive agencies, mass and social media—in the EU multi-level system. The objectives of this thematic issue are to conceptually, empirically, and methodologically capture the different facets of this newly emerged interest in actors’ political behavior in the EU multi-level system. To this end, the thematic issue strives to highlight the connections between political processes and behavior at the European level and other political layers in the EU Member States’ multi-level systems. In particular, we aim to broaden the scope of research on political behavior in the EU and its strong focus on electoral politics across multiple levels of government. To this end, the thematic issue links research on voting behavior with work on party competition, electoral campaigns, public opinion, protest politics, responsiveness, (interest group) representation, government and opposition dynamics, and parliamentary behavior more broadly to the multi-layered systems within EU Member States. Keywords: European elections; European Union; multi-level system; parties; political behavior; politics; voters Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:1-5