scholarly journals Adjusting to austerity: the public spending responses of regional governments to the budget constraint in Spain and Italy

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Simon Toubeau ◽  
Davide Vampa
Keyword(s):  
Health Sector ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Regional Office ◽  
The Public ◽  
Important Variation ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Regional Deficits ◽  
Regional Governments

Abstract What are the effects of fiscal imbalances, and austerity, on regional-level spending? To answer this question, we examine an original dataset of yearly spending decisions of regional governments in Italy and Spain between 2003 and 2015. We find that the rise in regional deficits has an important negative effect on regional governments’ spending. The strength of this effect is, however, mitigated by the presence of a left-wing party in regional office. In addition, we uncover an important variation in the extent of cutbacks across policy sectors: regional governments tend to protect the health sector and focus their retrenchment efforts on social assistance and running of public institutions. Partisanship matters here too, as left-wing parties tend to protect healthcare more than their right-wing rivals. These findings bear relevance for understanding the role of partisanship and policy sector in the process of public retrenchment in multi-level states.

scholarly journals You are fake news: political bias in perceptions of fake news

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 460-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sander van der Linden ◽  
Costas Panagopoulos ◽  
Jon Roozenbeek
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Fake News ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Fox News ◽  
The Us ◽  
News Effect

Although the rise of fake news is posing an increasing threat to societies worldwide, little is known about what associations the term ‘fake news’ activates in the public mind. Here, we report a psychological bias that we describe as the ‘fake news effect’: the tendency for partisans to use the term ‘fake news’ to discount and discredit ideologically uncongenial media sources. In a national sample of the US population ( N = 1000), we elicited top-of-mind associations with the term ‘fake news’. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find evidence that both liberals and conservatives freely associate traditionally left-wing (e.g. CNN) and right-wing (e.g. Fox News) media sources with the term fake news. Moreover, conservatives are especially likely to associate the mainstream media with the term fake news and these perceptions are generally linked to lower trust in media, voting for Trump, and higher belief in conspiracy theories.

Democratic Like Us? Political Orientation and the Effect of Making Democracy Salient on Anti-Israel Attitude

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-107
Author(s):  
Yphtach Lelkes ◽  
Ariel Malka ◽  
Penelope Sheets
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Theory ◽  
Strategic Communication ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
The Public ◽  
Western Democracy ◽  
Arab Muslim ◽  
The Right

AbstractIsrael is viewed unfavorably among wide segments of the public within several European democracies, despite being regarded itself as a Western democracy. Does drawing attention to Israel's democratic attributes improve views toward Israel? In two surveys with Dutch national samples, anti-Semitic affect, low anti-Arab/Muslim affect, and left-wing political orientation independently predicted anti-Israel sentiment. However, in experiments embedded within the surveys, making salient Israel's democratic attributes had opposite effects on Israel attitude across those on the right and the left – slightly decreasing anti-Israel sentiment among those with a right-wing orientation but slightly increasing anti-Israel sentiment among those with a left-wing orientation. We discuss potential explanations grounded in social psychological theory as well as implications for the strategic communication efforts of groups seeking to influence attitudes toward Israel.

The Partisan Politics of Counterterrorism: Reputations, Policy Transparency, and Electoral Outcomes

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Livio Di Lonardo
Keyword(s):  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Partisan Politics ◽  
Theoretic Model ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
The Public ◽  
Electoral Outcomes ◽  
Important Concern ◽  
Game Theoretic ◽  
Counterterrorism Policy

The prevention of terrorist attacks is an important concern for many governments. In democracies, officials also fear the electoral consequences of successful attacks. As a result, counterterrorism policy-making and electoral concerns are tightly intertwined. To understand the implications of this link, I develop a game-theoretic model and show that left-wing incumbents respond to terror threats more aggressively than their right-wing counterparts in order to convince voters that they can be trusted in fighting terrorism. Terrorist attacks improve right-wing incumbents’ reputation, while they worsen the reputation of left-wing incumbents. When the terrorist threat is high, voters ignore right-wing incumbents’ reputation, reelecting them independently of their performance. Finally, I consider the strategic consequences of maintaining counterterrorism policies hidden from the public eye.

scholarly journals The public safety policy in Brazil: Analyzing public spending (1999–2010)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iris Gomes dos Santos ◽  
José Geraldo Leandro Gontijo ◽  
Ernesto F. L. Amaral
Keyword(s):  
Multivariate Regression ◽  
Public Safety ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Public Spending ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Safety Policy ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Right

Title in Portuguese: A política de segurança pública no Brasil: uma análise dos gastos estaduais (1999-2010)Abstract: This article analyzes the public spending on public safety policy in Brazil in the period of 1999-2010, noting particularly its relations with the ideological perspectives of the parties elected to the Executive (state governments). It was tested especially the hypothesis that spending on public safety policy would be greater in states ruled by right-wing parties, as part of the national literature points to the existence of most concern this political-ideological spectrum with the function social control. We used multivariate regression models and the main findings were: a) increased spending in left-wing and center-wing parties, compared to the right-wing parties; and b) approximation of the percentages of the collection invested in safety policy in the states, regardless of the incumbent parties.Resumo: Este artigo analisa os gastos estaduais em segurança pública no período de 1999 a 2010, observando principalmente suas relações com as perspectivas ideológicas dos partidos eleitos para o Poder Executivo (governador). Testou-se, sobretudo, a hipótese de que o gasto com a política de segurança pública seria maior em estados governados por partidos de direita, uma vez que parte da literatura nacional aponta para a existência de maior preocupação desse espectro político-ideológico com a função de controle social. Foram utilizados modelos de regressão multivariada que indicaram os seguintes achados: a) variação positiva dos gastos quando os partidos são de esquerda e centro, comparados aos partidos de direita; e b) relativa aproximação dos percentuais de arrecadação investidos em segurança nos estados, independentemente dos partidos nos governos.

scholarly journals The Inter-Communal Talks and Political Life in Cyprus: 1974-1983

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 400
Author(s):  
Şevki Kıralp
Keyword(s):  
Central Government ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Greek Cypriot ◽  
Turkish Cypriot ◽  
Regional Governments

<p>This paper conducts historical research on the inter-communal talks and the political life in the two communities of Cyprus from 1974 to 1983. The period covered by the research commenced with the creation of the bi-regional structure on the island in 1974 and ceased with the declaration of Turkish Cypriot Independence in 1983. As this period constitutes an important threshold in the history of Cyprus, it might be argued that observing the political developments it covers is likely to be beneficial for the literature. The research focused on the two communities’ positions in negotiations as well as their elections and political actors. It utilized Turkish, Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot newspapers (and official press releases), political leaders’ memoirs, national archives of USA (NARA) as well as official online documents. Its findings indicate that the two sides could not reach to a settlement mainly due to their disagreements on the authorities of central and regional governments. While the Turkish Cypriot side promoted broader authorities for the regional governments, the Greek Cypriot side favoured broader authorities for the central government. On the other hand, while Turkish Cypriot leader Denktaş had managed to unite the majority of Turkish Cypriot right-wing voters, the Greek Cypriot right-wing was divided among supporters of Makarios and Clerides. On the other hand, while the Greek Cypriot left-wing was in cooperation with Makarios, the Turkish Cypriot left-wing opposed Denktaş’s policies.  </p>

Le immagini vaganti. Migrazioni iconografiche tra destra e sinistra

2013 ◽  
pp. 121-146
Author(s):  
Luciano Cheles
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
The Public ◽  
War Propaganda ◽  
Post War ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
The Right

Parties frequently appropriate propaganda images from other movements, which all too often belong to the opposite end of the political spectrum. This article considers the main forms of visual appropriation and illustrates them with examples drawn from Italian and French post-war propaganda. It argues that the phenomenon is widespread especially among right-wing parties, which tend to adopt the imagery created by well-established political organisations to legitimate themselves, to present themselves to the voters in a more modern and appealing way or to attempt a dialogue with them. The technique of imitation may also be used to create a sense of confusion with the ultimate aim of neutralising the messages of other parties, or to steal votes from their natural constituencies. Left-wing parties too at times mimic the images (and slogans) of the right, but usually with parodying intentions which can escape the public at large.

Windows of opportunity: legislative fragmentation conditions the effect of partisanship on product market deregulation

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael G. Smith ◽  
Johannes Urpelainen
Keyword(s):  
Product Market ◽  
Market Regulation ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Windows Of Opportunity ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Product Market Regulation ◽  
The Government ◽  
Industrialised Countries

AbstractPrevious research on deregulation in industrialised countries emphasises differences between left-wing and right-wing parties, but data on product market regulation (PMR) indicate that these differences have been modest. If partisan preferences on the merits of deregulation differ sharply, why such modest differences? We argue that partisan differences only become pronounced when the government is strong and rules a relatively unified legislature. Thus, legislative fragmentation should reduce the left-right difference in PMR. We test this theory against PMR data in 29 industrialised countries, 1978–2007. We find that right-wing governments only have a strong negative effect on regulation if the legislature and the government are not fragmented.

Is economic inequality a universal evil?

2019 ◽  
pp. 91-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rostislav I. Kapeliushnikov
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
The State ◽  
Fair Play ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
The Public ◽  
Discursive Power ◽  
A Current

Using published estimates of inequality for two countries (Russia and USA) the paper demonstrates that inequality measuring still remains in the state of “statistical cacophony”. Under this condition, it seems at least untimely to pass categorical normative judgments and offer radical political advice for governments. Moreover, the mere practice to draw normative conclusions from quantitative data is ethically invalid since ordinary people (non-intellectuals) tend to evaluate wealth and incomes as admissible or inadmissible not on the basis of their size but basing on whether they were obtained under observance or violations of the rules of “fair play”. The paper concludes that a current large-scale ideological campaign of “struggle against inequality” has been unleashed by left-wing intellectuals in order to strengthen even more their discursive power over the public.

Right-Wing Authoritarians Aren't Very Funny: RWA, Personality, and Creative Humor Production

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Silvia ◽  
Alexander P. Christensen ◽  
Katherine N. Cotter
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Latent Variable ◽  
Latent Variable Models ◽  
Openness To Experience ◽  
Rasch Models ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Right Wing Authoritarianism ◽  
Humor Appreciation ◽  
Negative Effect

Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) has well-known links with humor appreciation, such as enjoying jokes that target deviant groups, but less is known about RWA and creative humor production—coming up with funny ideas oneself. A sample of 186 young adults completed a measure of RWA, the HEXACO-100, and 3 humor production tasks that involved writing funny cartoon captions, creating humorous definitions for quirky concepts, and completing joke stems with punchlines. The humor responses were scored by 8 raters and analyzed with many-facet Rasch models. Latent variable models found that RWA had a large, significant effect on humor production (β = -.47 [-.65, -.30], p &lt; .001): responses created by people high in RWA were rated as much less funny. RWA’s negative effect on humor was smaller but still significant (β = -.25 [-.49, -.01], p = .044) after controlling for Openness to Experience (β = .39 [.20, .59], p &lt; .001) and Conscientiousness (β = -.21 [-.41, -.02], p = .029). Taken together, the findings suggest that people high in RWA just aren’t very funny.

Corrupt Practices in the Public Health Sector: A Focus on Metropolitan Local Government Areas of Kano State, Nigeria

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 149
Author(s):  
Mohammed Mustapha Namadi
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Healthcare Provision ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Sector ◽  
The Government

Corruption is pervasive in Nigeria at all levels. Thus, despite recent gains in healthcare provision, the health sector faces numerous corruption related challenges. This study aims at examining areas of corruption in the health sector with specific focus on its types and nature. A sample size of 480 respondents aged 18 years and above was drawn from the eight Metropolitan Local Government Areas of Kano State, using the multistage sampling technique. The results revealed evidence of corrupt practices including those related to unnecessary-absenteeism, diversion of patients from the public health facilities to the private sector, diverting money meant for the purchase of equipment, fuel and diesel, bribery, stealing of medications, fraud, misappropriation of medications and unjustifiable reimbursement claims. In order to resolve the problem of corrupt practices in the healthcare sector, the study recommended the need for enforcement of appropriate code of ethics guiding the conduct of the health professionals, adoption of anti-corruption strategies, and strengthening the government monitoring system to check corruption in public health sector in order to ensure equitable access to healthcare services among the under-privileged people in the society.

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