Institution, network and elites’ political attitudes: An analysis of the “Wen Jiabao Phenomenon”

2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 105-115
Author(s):  
Sangkuk Lee
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
Political Reform ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Standing Committee ◽  
Political Views ◽  
Policy Work

Unlike China’s other top leaders, PremierWen Jiabao has presented his political views after the 17th CCP Congress. Wen’s assertive attitude for further political reform has attracted attention from international as well as domestic media. This article utilizes both institutionalism and network analysis to explain this uncommon political phenomenon, while it illuminates the drawback of the attribute perspective which has been used popularly to infer the attitudes of China’s political elites. This study argues that Wen’s attitude with personality has been produced by some institutional and network factors. They include: the decline of a powerful rival, different functions of the party and state in China’s policy-making and implementation, division of policy work among Politburo Standing Committee leaders.

Insights from Network Analysis in Somalia

2019 ◽  
pp. 489-499
Author(s):  
Mircea Gherghina ◽  
Sandra McNeill ◽  
Khadir Abdi
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Power Network ◽  
Holding Power ◽  
Armed Actors

This chapter uses network analysis to reveal the dynamics and intricate relationships between business, political elites, and armed actors in Somalia. The prolonged civil war has fostered cooperation, in the form of loose networks between the private sector and those holding power. Network analysis could help uncover informal relationships not necessarily otherwise exposed. By modelling an interpretation of the information which can be generated in this way, it considers the interactions between key actors and shows how network analysis can map a topology of those interactions to unravel how groups interact or diverge in terms of ideological positions or different interests. Through the modelling of an anonymized network, the chapter first assesses the method itself and the often-concealed ties as they exist or otherwise. Then, adding context and analysis from qualitative methods, it considers the implications and applications of the data; finally, it recommends to apply the findings to policy-making.

Political and corporate elites and localised educational policy-making: the case of Kingswood Academy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth McGinity
Keyword(s):  
Educational Policy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Single Case Study ◽  
The North ◽  
Corporate Elites ◽  
Thinking Tools ◽  
Important Site

This chapter reports on data and analysis to theorise the role that both corporate and political elites played in the development and enactment of localised policy-making at Kingswood Academy; a secondary school in the North of England. The analysis offered reveals how a single case-study school provides an important site to explore the ways in which the educational policy environment provides the conditions for elites to play a significant role in the development and delivery of localised policy processes in England. Bourdieu (1986; 1992) provides the thinking tools to undertake this theoretical and intellectual work, and I deploy his conceptualisation of misrecognition as a means of interrogating how the involvement of corporate and political elites in the processes of localised policy-making reproduces the hierarchised power of particular networks, which ultimately contribute to the privatisation of educational ‘goods’ as marketised commodities.

scholarly journals State Boards of Education: Lesser Known Policy Actors

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 205-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle D. Young ◽  
Bryan A. VanGronigen ◽  
Amy Luelle Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Boards Of Education ◽  
Policy Actors ◽  
Policy Work ◽  
Over Time

Few scholars have engaged in close examinations of state boards of education (SBOEs), their make-up, or the broader implications of their influence over time. SBOE membership, authority, and impact differ significantly across the 50 states. This article reports findings from an exploratory study of three SBOEs and their role as policy actors. Thinking about SBOEs as policy actors focuses attention not only on the power, authority, and policy-making functions of SBOEs, but also on the individuals who serve on SBOEs, their actions, and the discourses constructed through the performance of their policy work.

Who Does What Work in a Ministerial Office: Politically Appointed Staff and the Descriptive Representation of Women in Australian Political Offices, 1979–2010

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 463-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marija Taflaga ◽  
Matthew Kerby
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Career Paths ◽  
Descriptive Representation ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Systematic Data ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Policy Work ◽  
First Time

Women are underrepresented within political institutions, which can (negatively) impact policy outcomes. We examine women’s descriptive representation as politically appointed staff within ministerial offices. Politically appointed staff are now institutionalised into the policy process, so who they are is important. To date, collecting systematic data on political staff has proved impossible. However, for the first time we demonstrate how to build a systematic data set of this previously unobservable population. We use Australian Ministerial Directories (telephone records) from 1979 to 2010 (a method that can notionally be replicated in advanced democratic jurisdictions), to examine political advising careers in a similar manner as elected political elites. We find that work in political offices is divided on gender lines: men undertake more policy work, begin and end their careers in higher status roles and experience greater career progression than women. We find evidence that this negatively impacts women’s representation and their later career paths into parliament.

scholarly journals Are Echo Chambers Based on Partisanship? Twitter and Political Polarity in Poland and Hungary

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630511983767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paweł Matuszewski ◽  
Gabriella Szabó
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Political Information ◽  
Heterogeneous Clusters ◽  
Political Messages ◽  
Political Views ◽  
Computer Aided ◽  
Echo Chambers ◽  
Hungarian Case ◽  
Point Of Departure

In this study, we investigate how Twitter allows individuals in Hungary and Poland to experience different political views. To comprehend citizens’ exposure to political information, “who’s following who?” graphs of 455,912 users in Hungary (851,557 connections) and 1,803,837 users in Poland (10,124,501 connections) are examined. Our conceptual point of departure is that Twitter follower networks tell us whether individuals prefer to be members of a group that receives one-sided political messages, or whether they tend to form politically heterogeneous clusters that cut across ideological lines. Methodologically, such connections are best studied by means of computer-aided quantitative research complemented by the sociocentric approach of network analysis. Our data date from September 2018. The findings for Poland do not support the hypothesis of clusters emerging along partisan lines. Likewise, the Hungarian case reveals sharp group divisions on Twitter, the nodes however are diverse and overlapping in terms of political leaning. The data suggest that exposure and segregation in follower networks are not necessarily based on partisanship.

scholarly journals Political Responses to Economic Shocks

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 277-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yotam Margalit
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Job Loss ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
Economic Shocks ◽  
Transient Effect ◽  
Sharp Drop ◽  
Political Views

How does the experience of economic shocks affect individuals' political views and voting behavior? Inspired partly by the fallout of the financial crisis of 2008, research on this question has proliferated. Findings from studies covering a broadening range of countries and economic contexts highlight several notable patterns. Economic shocks—e.g., job loss or sharp drop in income—exert a significant and theoretically predictable, if often transient, effect on political attitudes. In contrast, the effect on voting behavior is more limited in magnitude and its manifestations less understood. Negative economic shocks tend to increase support for more expansive social policy and for redistribution, strengthening the appeal of the left. But such shocks also tend to decrease trust in political institutions, thus potentially driving the voters to support radical or populist parties, or demobilizing them altogether. Further research is needed to detect the conditions that lead to these distinct voting outcomes.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document