Comparing democratic performance of semi-presidential regimes in the post-communist region: Omnipotent presidents and media control

2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 263-275
Author(s):  
Huang-Ting Yan
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Media Control ◽  
Causal Mechanisms ◽  
Explanatory Factors ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Democratic Performance ◽  
The Media ◽  
Comparative Case Studies ◽  
Presidential Regimes

The article attempts to identify common explanatory factors and internal causal mechanisms behind the poor democratic performance of post-communist semi-presidential regimes. It attributes poor democratic performance to constitutionally powerful presidents supported by single-party-majority cabinets. Under this situation, omnipotent presidents enact media-related law unhindered, tightly regulate the media, prevent the opposition from disseminating election information, and thus increase the ruling party’s probability of winning elections. Through quantitative analysis and comparative case studies of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, this paper verifies the convergent pathway from powerful presidents’ media control to poor democratic performance. In conclusion, powerful post-communist presidents endanger democracy via media control.

scholarly journals The Rhetoric of Recessions: How British Newspapers Talk about the Poor When Unemployment Rises, 1896–2000

Sociology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (6) ◽  
pp. 1005-1025 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel McArthur ◽  
Aaron Reeves
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
Media Discourse ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Economic Crises ◽  
High Unemployment ◽  
Economic Context ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Media ◽  
Unique Dataset

Recessions appear to coincide with an increasingly stigmatising presentation of poverty in parts of the media. Previous research on the connection between high unemployment and media discourse has often relied on case studies of periods when stigmatising rhetoric about the poor was increasing. We build on earlier work on how economic context affects media representations of poverty by creating a unique dataset that measures how often stigmatising descriptions of the poor are used in five centrist and right-wing British newspapers between 1896 and 2000. Our results suggest stigmatising rhetoric about the poor increases when unemployment rises, except at the peak of very deep recessions (e.g. the 1930s and 1980s). This pattern is consistent with the idea that newspapers deploy deeply embedded Malthusian explanations for poverty when those ideas resonate with the economic context, and so this stigmatising rhetoric of recessions is likely to recur during future economic crises.

Russian Media in the Digital Age: Propaganda Rewired

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 398-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Oates
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Information Control ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
Media Control ◽  
Russian Media ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Russian Federation

This article reflects on the role of media in the Russian Federation through the concept of “rewired propaganda.” The approach highlights how the Russian regime copes with challenges to its information hegemony in the digital age. The study employs two critical case studies to examine the Russian political communication sphere: the 2011–12 election protests and the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 by a Russian missile in 2014. The article argues that a key vector of analysis is understanding strategic narrative as the critical measurement of media control. The findings suggests that it is not so much who owns or controls the media that is key to understanding information control; rather, it is knowing who is constructing and disseminating the most compelling national narrative that holds the key to power in Russia. This focus on rewired propaganda and recasting of the debate will permit an analysis of the role of the media in the post-Soviet state even as the overall media environment has shifted with the advent of the digital age. On balance, the two case studies demonstrate that Russian elites have continued to adapt to growing challenges, showing an ability to use many facets of communication to consolidate an information dominance over citizens.

scholarly journals The Rhetoric of Recessions: How British Newspapers Talk about the Poor When Unemployment Rises, 1896–2000

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Reeves ◽  
Daniel McArthur
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
Media Discourse ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Economic Crises ◽  
High Unemployment ◽  
Economic Context ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Media ◽  
Unique Dataset

Recessions appear to coincide with an increasingly stigmatising presentation of poverty in parts of the media. Previous research on the connection between high unemployment and media discourse has often relied on case studies of periods when stigmatising rhetoric about the poor was increasing. We build on earlier work on how economic context affects media representations of poverty by creating a unique dataset that measures how often stigmatising descriptions of the poor are used in five centrist and right-wing British newspapers between 1896 and 2000. Our results suggest stigmatising rhetoric about the poor increases when unemployment rises, except at the peak of very deep recessions (e.g. the 1930s and 1980s). This pattern is consistent with the idea that newspapers deploy deeply embedded Malthusian explanations for poverty when those ideas resonate with the economic context, and so this stigmatising rhetoric of recessions is likely to recur during future economic crises.

Magnetic Current Imaging Techniques: Comparative Case Studies

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Crépel ◽  
Philippe Descamps ◽  
Patrick Poirier ◽  
Romain Desplats ◽  
Philippe Perdu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Integrated Circuits ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Flip Chip ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Optimal Domain ◽  
Magnetic Current ◽  
Comparative Case Studies ◽  
Current Flows

Abstract Magnetic field based techniques have shown great capabilities for investigation of current flows in integrated circuits (ICs). After reviewing the performances of SQUID, GMR (hard disk head technologies) and MTJ existing sensors, we will present results obtained on various case studies. This comparison will show the benefit of each approach according to each case study (packaged devices, flip-chip circuits, …). Finally we will discuss on the obtained results to classify current techniques, optimal domain of applications and advantages.

Understanding Populism and Why It Matters

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D. Kenny
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Political Movement ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
The Media ◽  
Or Organization ◽  
Populist Party

This chapter discusses the concept of populism in greater detail and also describes how party systems are measured and classified. Rather than conceive of populism as a type of thin political ideology, this book understands populism as a distinctively personalistic type of political movement or organization in which charismatic leaders look to directly mobilize mass constituencies through the media and other means. The chapter next distinguishes between programmatic, patronage, and populist party systems, based on which type of party is most common. Finally, the chapter provides a quantitative analysis of the consequences of populist electoral success for democracy across a number of indicators. It shows that populist rule has generally negative consequences for the functioning of liberal democracy, which makes the effort to understand populist electoral success all the more pressing.

Testing the Causal Mechanisms in Additional Cases

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D. Kenny
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Party System ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
System Stability ◽  
Relative Autonomy ◽  
Causal Mechanisms ◽  
Liberal Democratic

Case studies of Indonesia and Japan illustrate that party-system stability in patronage democracies is deeply affected by the relative autonomy of political brokers. Over the course of a decade, a series of decentralizing reforms in Indonesia weakened patronage-based parties hold on power, with the 2014 election ultimately being a contest between two rival populists: Joko Widodo and Subianto Prabowo. Although Japan was a patronage democracy throughout the twentieth century, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) remained robust to outsider appeals even in the context of economic and corruption crises. However, reforms in the 1990s weakened the hold of central factional leaders over individual members of the LDP and their patronage machines. This was instrumental to populist Junichiro Koizumi’s winning of the presidency of the LDP and ultimately the prime ministership of Japan. This chapter also reexamines canonical cases of populism in Latin America.

Patents and Development in the New Global Economy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth C. Shadlen
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
World Order ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
Pharmaceutical Patents ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Comparative Case Studies ◽  
Privately Owned

The concluding chapter reviews the main findings from the comparative case studies, synthesizes the main lessons, considers extensions of the book’s explanatory framework, and looks at emerging challenges that countries face in adjusting their development strategies to the new global economy marked by the private ownership of knowledge. Review of the key points of comparison from the case studies underscores the importance of social structure and coalitions for analyses of comparative and international political economy. Looking forward, this chapter supplements the book’s analysis of the political economy of pharmaceutical patents with discussion of additional ways that countries respond to the monumental changes that global politics of intellectual property have undergone since the 1980s. The broader focus underscores fundamental economic and political challenges that countries face in adjusting to the new world order of privately owned knowledge, and points to asymmetries in global politics that reinforce these challenges.

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