The legislative representation of public opinion policy priorities in Italy

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Visconti

Normative democratic theory requires political actors in parliament and government to represent not only the citizens’ policy preferences, but also their issue priorities. This article investigates Italian dynamic agenda representation – the transmission of public priorities into the policy priorities of the Italian political system. To assess the public’s policy priorities, data on the Most Important Problem from the Eurobarometer polls are used, while the legislative agendas of the members of parliament (MPs) and government are built following the rules of the Comparative Agendas Project. The results of longitudinal analyses across 10 policy areas and 20 semesters (2003–13) suggest a persistent link between the public’s agenda and the prioritization of legislation by the Italian parliament, majority MPs, and government. Contrary to expectations, the opposition does not seem to be responsive to public opinion policy problems when introducing bills.


Sílex ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-50
Author(s):  
Edwin Cohaila

El Perú ha atravesado, en este período gubernamental que empezó el 2016, diferentes situaciones políticas, la renuncia del presidente Kucyznski, la asunción al mando por parte de su vicepresidente Martín Vizcarra, el cierre del Congreso, la prisión preventiva de muchos actores políticos; sin embargo, se continuó con el régimen democrático, lo que podría suponer que la población mantiene un apoyo al sistema político y una tolerancia política, puesto que todo se encauzó dentro del marco constitucional. Para averiguar esta situación, se analizará la data que provee el Barómetro de las Américas (LAPOP) para los años 2016/2017 y 2018/2019 para el caso peruano, pero haciendo notar si existe alguna diferencia entre ambos periodos según la identidad étnica. El análisis manifiesta que el apoyo al sistema político se ha mantenido sin variación, mientras que la tolerancia política se ha incrementado; no obstante, al interior de la identidad étnica no todos los grupos se han mantenido bajo esa misma línea, ya que se observan diferencias significativas en especial en el grupo étnico quechua y mestizo. Peru has gone through this governmental period that began in 2016 with different political situations, resignation of President Kucyznski, assumption of command by his vice president Martín Vizcarra, closure of Congress, preventive detention of many political actors; however, the democratic regime continued, which could suppose that the population maintains support for the political system and political tolerance, since everything was channeled within the constitutional framework. To find out this situation, the data provided by the Latin American Public Opinion Project for the years 2016/2017 and 2018/2019 will be analyzed for the Peruvian case, but noting if there is any difference between the two periods according to ethnic identity. The analysis shows that support for the political system has remained unchanged, while political tolerance has increased, although within ethnic identity not all groups have remained along the same line, since there are significant differences especially in the quechua and mestizo ethnic group.



2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-68
Author(s):  
Devi Rahma Fatmala ◽  
Amanda Amelia ◽  
Fitri Agustina Trianingsih

Today’s political discourse can’t be disattached from the usage of social media. There are plenty of political actors using it to campaign their issues and attack their political rival in order to influence public opinion. One of the instruments used by the political actor in using the social media is bot accounts. Bot accounts are an automated online account where all or substantially all of the actions or posts of that account are not the result of a person. The usage of bot accounts are viewed as harmful for democracy by many experts on law and democracy. However, a lot of states have no regulation regarding the usage of bot accounts, including Indonesia. This article is intended to bring legal review on the usage of bot accounts to influence public opinion in Indonesia. Using deliberative democratic theory, this article views that the usage of bot accounts could prevent the objective achievement of democracy based on UUD 1945. The authors recommend the regulation of bot accounts through the revision of UU No. 19 Tahun 2019 about Informasi dan Transaksi Elektronik with bringing up various important argumentations regarding the law implementation. Keywords : Bot Accounts; Social Media; Public Opinion; Democracy; Legal Review.



2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Devi Rahma Fatmala ◽  
Amanda Amelia ◽  
Fitri Agustina Trianingsih

Today’s political discourse cannot be separated from the usage of social media. There are plenty of political actors using it to campaign their issues and attack their political rivals to influence public opinion. One of the instruments used by the political actor in using social media is bot accounts. Bot accounts are an automated online account where all or substantially all of the actions or posts of that account are not the result of a person. The usage of bot accounts is viewed as harmful for democracy by many experts on law and democracy. However, lots of states have no regulation regarding the usage of bot accounts, including Indonesia. This article intends to bring legal review on the usage of bot accounts to influence public opinion in Indonesia. By using deliberative democratic theory, this article views that the usage of bot accounts could prevent the objective achievement of democracy based on the 1945 Constitution. The authors recommend the regulation of bot accounts through the revision of Law Number 11 of 2008 concerning Electronic Information and Transactions with bringing up various notable arguments regarding the law implementation.



Sílex ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-50
Author(s):  
Edwin Cohaila

El Perú ha atravesado, en este período gubernamental que empezó el 2016, diferentes situaciones políticas, la renuncia del presidente Kucyznski, la asunción al mando por parte de su vicepresidente Martín Vizcarra, el cierre del Congreso, la prisión preventiva de muchos actores políticos; sin embargo, se continuó con el régimen democrático, lo que podría suponer que la población mantiene un apoyo al sistema político y una tolerancia política, puesto que todo se encauzó dentro del marco constitucional. Para averiguar esta situación, se analizará la data que provee el Barómetro de las Américas (LAPOP) para los años 2016/2017 y 2018/2019 para el caso peruano, pero haciendo notar si existe alguna diferencia entre ambos periodos según la identidad étnica. El análisis manifiesta que el apoyo al sistema político se ha mantenido sin variación, mientras que la tolerancia política se ha incrementado; no obstante, al interior de la identidad étnica no todos los grupos se han mantenido bajo esa misma línea, ya que se observan diferencias significativas en especial en el grupo étnico quechua y mestizo. Peru has gone through this governmental period that began in 2016 with different political situations, resignation of President Kucyznski, assumption of command by his vice president Martín Vizcarra, closure of Congress, preventive detention of many political actors; however, the democratic regime continued, which could suppose that the population maintains support for the political system and political tolerance, since everything was channeled within the constitutional framework. To find out this situation, the data provided by the Latin American Public Opinion Project for the years 2016/2017 and 2018/2019 will be analyzed for the Peruvian case, but noting if there is any difference between the two periods according to ethnic identity. The analysis shows that support for the political system has remained unchanged, while political tolerance has increased, although within ethnic identity not all groups have remained along the same line, since there are significant differences especially in the quechua and mestizo ethnic group.



Author(s):  
Jeremy Horder

The criminal law has the resources to address corruption in politics, if prosecutors are willing to use it, and if courts are willing to interpret it so that it provides adequate coverage of wrongdoing, particularly wrongdoing in the form of personal corruption engaged in by Members of Parliament. There needs to be a greater willingness to expose the worst corrupt wrongdoers in high office to the risk of judgment at the bar of public opinion, in the form of jury trial. The offence of misconduct in office provides the most appropriate means of doing this. This is not just because it is likely to provide the most appropriate label, but because the offence highlights the constitutionally fundamental bond of trust between the citizen and the state that is broken when officials indulge in corruption.



2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Ghani Imad

The problematic addressed in this article is the challenge initiated by the Arab revolutions to reform the Arab political system in such a way as to facilitate the incorporation of ‘democracy’ at the core of its structure. Given the profound repercussions, this issue has become the most serious matter facing the forces of change in the Arab world today; meanwhile, it forms the most prominent challenge and the most difficult test confronting Islamists. The Islamist phenomenon is not an alien implant that descended upon us from another planet beyond the social context or manifestations of history. Thus it cannot but be an expression of political, cultural, and social needs and crises. Over the years this phenomenon has presented, through its discourse, an ideological logic that falls within the context of ‘advocacy’; however, today Islamists find themselves in office, and in a new context that requires them to produce a new type of discourse that pertains to the context of a ‘state’. Political participation ‘tames’ ideology and pushes political actors to rationalize their discourse in the face of daily political realities and the necessity of achievement. The logic of advocacy differs from that of the state: in the case of advocacy, ideology represents an enriching asset, whereas in the case of the state, it constitutes a heavy burden. This is one reason why so much discourse exists within religious jurisprudence related to interest or necessity or balancing outcomes. This article forms an epilogue to the series of articles on religion and the state published in previous issues of this journal. It adopts the methodologies of ‘discourse analysis’ and ‘case studies’ in an attempt to examine the arguments presented by Islamists under pressure from the opposition. It analyses the experiences, and the constraints, that inhibit the production of a ‘model’, and monitors the development of the discourse, its structure, and transformations between advocacy, revolution and the state.



2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dagmar Radin ◽  
Aleksandar Džakula

Over the past decade, public opinion surveys have shown that Croats are deeply dissatisfied with their health care system and asses it to be one of the most important issues. However, health care hardly makes it into any political discourse in Croatia. This study analyzes the results of a public opinion survey conducted before the 2007 parliamentary elections to find out what the public sentiment on health care performance in Croatia is and to analyze the reasons why health care is not addressed by political actors. Evidence suggests that while health care is the most salient issue today, the public often understands it poorly. Thus, in a political environment of competing issues, and given the complexity of tacking health care in the policy arena, politicians strategically avoid discussing the issue.



2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-28
Author(s):  
Catharina Vögele ◽  
Ursula Alexandra Ohliger

This study analyzes how German political actors at the federal and state levels perceive the opportunities and risks of political poll reporting . A quantitative online survey of Members of the Bundestag and all German state parliaments shows that their perceptions are ambiva­lent: Although they all express great or very great interest in opinion polls, they have ambivalent views on how useful opinion research is for their political activities . With regard to the perceived benefit of poll reporting, the commissioning of opinion polls, and the desired frequency of media poll reporting, differences between the members of parliament surveyed are evident . When analyzing the internal and external use of the results of opinion polls our findings suggest that they are primarily used to strategically plan election cam­paigns and to identify popular topics . A large majority of members of parliament agree on the possible effects of poll reporting on voters . They view these effects predominantly criti­cally and are in favor of legal restrictions on publishing election polls .



1974 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 79-96
Author(s):  
Samuel H. Beer

It is appropriate that an American should address himself to the subject of public opinion. For, in terms of quantity, Americans have made the subject peculiarly their own. They have also invested it with characteristically American concerns. Most of the work done on the subject in the United States is oriented by a certain theoretical approach. This approach is democratic and rationalist. Both aspects create problems. In this paper I wish to play down the democratic problem, viz., how many of the voters are capable of thinking sensibly about public policy, and emphasize rather the difficulties that arise from modern rationalism. Here I take a different tack from most historians of the concept of public opinion, who, taking note of the origin of the term in the mid-eighteenth century, stress its connection with the rise of representative government and democratic theory.



2007 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anja Kruke

From the beginning of the West German state, a lot of public opinion polling was done on the German question. The findings have been scrutinized carefully from the 1950s onward, but polls have always been taken at face value, as a mirror of society. In this analysis, polls are treated rather as an observation technique of empirical social research that composes a certain image of society and its public opinion. The entanglement of domestic and international politics is analyzed with respect to the use of surveys that were done around the two topics of Western integration and reunification that pinpoint the “functional entanglement” of domestic and international politics. The net of polling questions spun around these two terms constituted a complex setting for political actors. During the 1950s, surveys probed and ranked the fears and anxieties that characterized West Germans and helped to construct a certain kind of atmosphere that can be described as “Cold War angst.” These findings were taken as the basis for dealing with the dilemma of Germany caught between reunification and Western integration. The data and interpretations were converted into “security” as the overarching frame for international and domestic politics by the conservative government that lasted until the early 1960s.



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