Modeling Public Policy: Influences on Terrorism and Public Opinion

Author(s):  
Omi Hodwitz ◽  
Steff King
Keyword(s):  
2016 ◽  
Vol 226 ◽  
pp. 456-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Stepan ◽  
Enze Han ◽  
Tim Reeskens

AbstractEver since the introduction of the national political programme of “Building a new socialist countryside” (BNSC) in the early 2000s, renewed focus has been cast on how the Chinese government manages the gap between its rural and urban areas in the new millennium. Previous research has mostly studied the social and political consequences of the BNSC initiative without paying particular attention to its effects on public opinion. In this article, we present an analysis of the 2002 and 2008 waves of the mainland China subset of the Asian Barometer. Our results show a significant shift in the perceptions of the rural population in respect to how much impact government policies have on daily life. This shift brings rural perceptions more in line with those of the urban population in 2002. The paper concludes with the implications of our findings for the study of the relations between public opinion and public policy in China.


1972 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 404-405
Author(s):  
W. P. Davison ◽  
H. D. Lasswell ◽  
D. Lerner

1974 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 626-649 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. Pierce ◽  
Douglas D. Rose

This paper utilizes the 1956–58–60 SRC panel study to examine the degree to which Americans hold attitudes on issues of public policy. The conclusions reject the thesis that only 20 to 30 per cent of the American public have true attitudes and that the remainder either refuse to take a position or respond randomly. The nonattitude thesis is rejected on the basis of: (1) a conceptualization of attitudes which allows for variation in responses through time without necessarily indicating the absence of attitudes or their random fluctuation; (2) an evaluation of the major statement of the nonattitude thesis; (3) a probability model for measuring attitudes in a panel study based on the assumption of twin samples, i.e., a sample of the population at one point in time, and a sample of the individual's attitude through time; and (4) the application of the probability model, leading to the conclusion that the number of individuals with attitudes has been severely underestimated. The implications of that finding are drawn for the relation of responses to attitudes and for democratic elitism.


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.


Author(s):  
Christopher Wlezien

The representation of public opinion in public policy is of obvious importance in representative democracies. While public opinion is important in all political systems, it is especially true where voters elect politicians; after all, opinion representation is a primary justification for representative democracy. Not surprisingly, a lot of research addresses the connection between the public and the government. Much of the work considers “descriptive representation”—whether the partisan and demographic characteristics of elected politicians match the characteristics of the electorate itself. This descriptive representation is important but may not produce actual “substantive representation” of preferences in policy. Other work examines the positions of policymakers. Some of this research assesses the roll call voting behavior of politicians and institutions. The expressed positions and voting behavior of political actors do relate to policy but are not the same things. Fortunately, a good amount of research analyzes policy. With but a handful of exceptions noted below, this research focuses on expressed preferences of the public, not their “interests.” That is, virtually all scholars let people be the judges of their own interests, and they assess the representation of expressed opinion no matter how contrary to self-interest it may seem.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (8) ◽  
pp. 1163-1185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Kyle Cook ◽  
Henry H. Brownstein

Virginia, much like other states, has experienced unprecedented rates of heroin and prescription opioid abuse, overdoses, and deaths. Given the wide range of competing voices concerning drug policy and the complicated situation of the contemporary opioid epidemic, this study examines whether public opinion is reflected in public policy toward illicit involvement with opioids. The 2016 Commonwealth Public Policy Survey, a statewide representative sample of 1,000 Virginia residents, found that Virginians are supportive of treatment over arrest for heroin and prescription pill abusers and factors such as race, education, and political affiliation are predictive of support for treatment over arrest. More importantly, the results of this poll converge with legislative policies of the 2017 General Assembly, supporting the notion that public support can have an influence on the policymaking process. Policy implications are discussed.


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