Information Manipulation and Reform in Authoritarian Regimes

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jidong Chen ◽  
Yiqing Xu

We develop a theory of how an authoritarian regime interactively uses information manipulation, such as propaganda or censorship, and policy improvement to maintain social stability. The government can depict the status quo policy more popularly supported than it actually is, while at the same time please citizens directly by enacting a costly reform. We show that the government’s ability of making policy concessions reduces its incentive to manipulate information and improves its credibility. Anticipating a higher chance of policy concessions and less information manipulation, citizens are more likely to believe the government-provided information and support the regime. Our model provides an explanation for the puzzling fact that reform coexists with selective information disclosure in authoritarian countries like China.

1988 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 831-851 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Quinault

1848 has gone down in history – or rather in history books – as the year when England was different. In that year a wave of revolution on the Continent overthrew constitutions, premiers and even a dynasty but in England, by contrast, the middle classes rallied round the government and helped it preserve the status quo. This interpretation of 1848 has long been the established orthodoxy amongst historians. Asa Briggs took this view thirty years ago and it has lately been endorsed by F. B. Smith and Henry Weisser. Most recently, John Saville, in his book on 1848, has concluded that events in England ‘demonstrated beyond question and doubt, the complete and solid support of the middling strata to the defence of existing institutions’. He claims that ‘the outstanding feature of 1848 was the mass response to the call for special constables to assist the professional forces of state security’ which reflected a closing of ranks among all property owners. Although some historians, notably David Goodway, have recently stressed the vitality of Chartism in 1848 they have not challenged the traditional view that the movement failed to win concessions from the establishment and soon declined. Thus 1848 in England is generally regarded as a terminal date: the last chapter in the history of Chartism as a major movement. Thereafter Britain experienced a period of conservatism – described by one historian as ‘the mid-Victorian calm’–which lasted until the death of Palmerston in 1865.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Yifan Wang

 Against the backdrop of growing national strength and rapid economic development, the government has placed more emphasis on education. In recent years, remarkable achievements have been registered in terms of education in China, which lays a solid foundation for cultivating comprehensive professionally-trained personnel in the new era. However, the current education system is ridden with many setbacks and problems. This paper conducts an analysis of the specific conditions of education both at home and abroad, status quo of education in China, makes some reflections on the direction and measures of China's education reform based on the practical reality of education in China. Measures should be taken to inject personalities into the traditional, exam-oriented education system, which keeps pace with the new era. As is known to all, it's important to strike a balance between public education and non-government funded education in a scientific and reasonable manner. The overhauling of traditional education policies will pave the way for China's educational renaissance and realize the great blueprint of the Chinese dream. 


2012 ◽  
Vol 424-425 ◽  
pp. 179-183
Author(s):  
Li Ping Zhou

Emission trading means that, on the premise that environment and resources belongs to the nation and the total amount of emission is under regulation, the government sells the permit of a certain amount of emission to the polluter by issuing tradable emission licences. This paper discusses the emission trading in China in the recent 30 years. By reviewing the research field,research orientation and the status quo, this paper aimed at do some fundamental theoretical research on the application of the emission trading theory and the establishment of the emission trading market in China


Subject Importance of social media in the United Arab Emirates. Significance The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is among the most connected countries in the Middle East, with one of the highest rates of social media penetration. Compared with Western countries, UAE consumers are more likely to engage with brands and to be less worried about issues of privacy and tracking. The government engages in extensive monitoring, surveillance and censorship of social media and apps. Impacts Both global brands and local businesses have additional scope to develop social media strategies to capitalise on rising usage. Content with the status quo and tight monitoring will prevent activists from leveraging social media platforms to bring about change. Extraterritorial aspects of the cybercrime law could be applied to non-residents and travellers in transit. Non-renewal of visas could become a more common, low-profile way to exclude expatriates who transgress on social media.


2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 360-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron C. Kay ◽  
Justin Friesen

More than a decade of research from the perspective of system-justification theory (Jost & Banaji, 1994) has demonstrated that people engage in motivated psychological processes that bolster and support the status quo. We propose that this motive is highly contextual: People do not justify their social systems at all times but are more likely to do so under certain circumstances. We describe four contexts in which people are prone to engage in system-justifying processes: (a) system threat, (b) system dependence, (c) system inescapability, and (d) low personal control. We describe how and why, in these contexts, people who wish to promote social change might expect resistance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-25
Author(s):  
Christina Maya Indah S ◽  
Teguh Prasetyo

It is argued in this article that a study on the law reform of a country is the study which related to understanding of a scientific paradigm which made up of the basic idea of a country’s legal system. The main argument in this article is that the basic idea ofma legalmrefom on a legal system must be build upon the enforcement of the juridical principles found and developed in the system. This is derived from a postulate of the Dignified Justice teory perspective.In this view legal virtues underpinning a legal system are examined together as one system of principles and rules or a legal system. Philosophically, or it is a theoretical and a paradigm that law is believed as inseparable from the legal science itself. This philosophy has been developed to make a correction to the sociological jurisprudence perspective, which mainly argued that each occurence of social changes in a legal system cannot be answered by regulation alone. The sociological jurisprudence point of view argues that law is confined to the status quo of a society. Many has argued that this sociological indicative has occurred in many civil law systems, in particular Indonesia, to be used as its best prototype. In the Indonesian legal system, law is positioned as rules and regulations made by the legislative branch of the government. In this perspective laws has been excluded from humanity almost altogether. This article argues that Pancasila as the Indonesia Legal System is the way to solve this problem. Since Pancasila is used as the basis of the State and the source of all legal sources. For this reason, it is interesting to examine how the Pancasila actually became a basis of values in initiating the project of law reform in Indonesia.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 171-181
Author(s):  
Upul Abeyrathne

There is a voluminous literature on poverty alleviation efforts of Sri Lanka. The present engagement with discourse on evolving political discourse on poverty alleviation touches a different aspect, i.e. instrumental utility of policy in keeping and maintaining the status quo. The study is based on examination of the content of public policies depending on the major strand of thought associated in different eras since colonial presence in Sri Lanka. It helps to identify the continuities and discontinuities of policy discourse. The discussion on the evolution of public policy on poverty alleviation revealed that issues of the poor has occupied a priority in the political agenda of the government whenever a political movement is active in politicizing the poor. However, the very objective of such policies were not aimed at empowering the poor but keeping them subordinated. The study concludes that poverty remains unresolved due to poverty of politics.


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