Persuasion and Ballot Propositions

2019 ◽  
pp. 884-903
Author(s):  
Shaun Bowler ◽  
Stephen P. Nicholson
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Ballot Measures ◽  
The Us ◽  
Counter Argument

A long-standing criticism of voters in direct democracy elections is that they lack informed and stable opinions on policy issues and are therefore highly susceptible to campaigns. Voters are therefore not so much persuaded by substantive arguments to vote in a way that is consistent with fixed policy views but instead are pushed and pulled to vote for and against ballot measures since the foundations of their preferences rest on inconsistent and incomplete ideologies. Voters in ballot proposition contests are, in other words, persuaded all too easily to change their views. This chapter reviews that argument and presents evidence for a counter-argument that voters—at least in the US setting—are less open to persuasion than the literature often suggests.

Still the American Century

1999 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 271-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRUCE CUMINGS
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Federal Budget ◽  
The United States ◽  
Surprising Result ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
American Century ◽  
The Us ◽  
Year 2000

At the inception of the twenty-first century—not to mention the next millennium—books on ‘the American Century’ proliferate monthly, if not daily. We now have The American Century Dictionary, The American Century Thesaurus, and even The American Century Cookbook; perhaps the American Century baseball cap or cologne is not far behind. With one or two exceptions, the authors celebrate the unipolar pre-eminence and comprehensive economic advantage that the United States now enjoys. Surveys of public opinion show that most people agree: the American wave appears to be surging just as the year 2000 beckons. Unemployment and inflation are both at twenty-year lows, sending economists (who say you can't get lows for both at the same time) back to the drawing board. The stock market roars past the magic 10,000 mark, and the monster federal budget deficit of a decade ago miraculously metamorphoses into a surplus that may soon reach upwards of $1 trillion. Meanwhile President William Jefferson Clinton, not long after a humiliating impeachment, is rated in 1999 as the best of all postwar presidents in conducting foreign policy (a dizzying ascent from eighth place in 1994), according to a nationwide poll by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. This surprising result might also, of course, bespeak inattention: when asked to name the two or three most important foreign policy issues facing the US, fully 21 per cent of the public couldn't think of one (they answered ‘don't know’), and a mere seven per cent thought foreign policy issues were important to the nation. But who cares, when all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds?

scholarly journals The integrative force of political institutions? Direct democracy and voter turnout across ethnic and nativity groups

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Manatschal
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
First Generation ◽  
The Us ◽  
Alternative Measures ◽  
Hispanic Voters ◽  
Democratic Elections ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Shed Light

AbstractMuch has been written on the positive effect of direct democracy (initiatives, referendums) on voter turnout. However, we have limited knowledge about potential differential effects on voters belonging to various ethnic groups. The paper argues that depending on a group’s responsiveness to the political context, direct democracy can (dis-)integrate voters (from) into the electorate. Empirical analysis of Current Population Survey (CPS) voting supplement survey data, together with data on the absolute use of direct democracy across US states, corroborates this theoretical expectation, however lending more support for the disintegrating assumption. Frequent direct democratic elections further widen the negative voting gap between first-generation Asian voters and voters living in the US for three generations or longer, whereas they tend to diminish this voting gap for first-generation Hispanic voters. The disintegrative pattern for first-generation Asian voters remains even significant when excluding California from the state sample, yet not the integrative tendency for first-generation Hispanics. Additional analyses using alternative measures of direct democracy and voting, and applying statistical adjustments to address causality concerns, confirm the robustness of these findings, which shed light on the so-far underexplored (dis-)integrative potential of political institutions.

scholarly journals Policy Issues, Direct Democracy, and Party Politics:

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 1_82-1_105
Author(s):  
Yoshiaki Kubo ◽  
Isamu Okada ◽  
Itaru Yanagi
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
Policy Issues

Direct Democracy and LGBT Politics

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel C. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Lgbt Rights ◽  
Direct Role ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
The Public ◽  
Ballot Measures ◽  
Lgbt Politics ◽  
Lgbt Community

While many landmark policies affecting LGBT rights have been determined by legislatures and courts, voters have also often played a more direct role in LGBT politics through direct democracy institutions, such as the initiative and referendum. For example, in 2008 California voters approved Proposition 8, barring same-sex marriage in the state and setting the stage for a key federal court decision in Hollingsworth v. Perry (2013). This followed on the heels of 31 ballot measures to ban same-sex marriage in the previous decade. Direct democracy has also been employed frequently to consider a range of other important issues relevant to the LGBT community, including bans on same-sex couple adoptions, nondiscrimination policies, education policies, and employment benefits. Further, as issues addressing transgender right have emerged on the political landscape, local referendums have addressed public accommodation discrimination, including so-called “bathroom bills,” like the high-profile Houston referendum in 2014. Most of these prominent direct democracy contests have resulted in negative outcomes for the LGBT community, spurring concerns about subjecting the rights of marginalized groups to a popular vote. However, some ballot measures, such as Washington’s 2012 vote to legalize same-sex marriage, have expanded or protected LGBT rights. Yet the effects of direct democracy institutions extend beyond the direct policy outcomes of elections and have been shown to shape the decision-making of elected officials as well. Still, studies of both the direct and indirect effects of direct democracy on LGBT rights reveal mixed results that are contingent upon public attitudes and how the issues are framed. When the public is supportive of LGBT rights and views them through a civil right frame, direct democracy has been used to expand and protect these rights. However, when the public views the LGBT community more negatively and views the issues through a morality or safety lens, LGBT rights are put at risk by direct democracy. As such, direct democracy institutions function as a double-edged sword for the LGBT community, simultaneously offering an opportunity to elevate LGBT rights issues onto the public agenda with a civil rights frame and posing a threat to the community when these issues are viewed in a more hostile manner.

scholarly journals Hijacked Direct Democracy: The Instrumental Use of Referendums in Romania

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 778-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergiu Gherghina
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
National Level ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Electoral Strategies ◽  
The Relationship

This article is part of the special cluster titled Political Parties and Direct Democracy in Eastern Europe, guest-edited by Sergiu Gherghina. The relationship between political parties and referendums has been receiving increased attention in the literature. While most research has focused on the challenges faced by political parties, little attention is dedicated to the ways in which they can use referendums to serve their purposes. This article analyzes the seven national-level referendums organized in post-communist Romania between 1991 and 2012 and shows how referendums were not used primarily as a means to reflect citizens’ opinions on policy issues. Instead, they were primarily used as electoral strategies for legitimacy purposes or to augment the popularity of the initiators or main supporters. In isolated instances, they were oriented against other competitors.

scholarly journals The counter argument against environmental reductionism in Latinx immigration debates: Tracking the discussion and empirical evidence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina Velandia Hernandez
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Environmental Movement ◽  
Social Darwinism ◽  
Scientific Validity ◽  
Main Claim ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Us ◽  
Counter Argument

This article discusses the debate and empirical bases of the environmental argument against Latinx immigration to the United State (US) since the 1980s decade. The environmental argument against immigration states that the level of immigration (undocumented and legal) has a statistical impact on the CO2 emissions, quality of air, and pollution. The argument also declares that immigrants exceed the emissions if they remained in their country of origin since the 1980s decade, and that immigration rapidly consumes environmental resources such as water, air, land, and increases biodiversity loss. This argument has neo-Malthusian, social Darwinism, and racist biases. This paper presents the core debates around the primary premises, the evolution inside the environmental movement in the US. This paper argues that the environmental argument against Latinx immigration lacks generalizable studies, objective data, and scientific validity. The environmental argument evolution has not present enough academic to support to its main claim that connects immigration with environmental degradation. Instead, we argue that immigration it is not the only cause of population growth, the environmental argument denies the strong evidence and studies that linkage environmental degradation with industrialization levels, emissions, economic development, and consumption levels of the US citizens.

scholarly journals The U.S. Congress position on the nuclear policy issues in 2020

2021 ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Olesia Gretskaia
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
Arms Control ◽  
Focus Of Attention ◽  
Control Area ◽  
Nuclear Program ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Nuclear Policy ◽  
The Us ◽  
Legislative Initiative ◽  
The U.S

Due to the pandemic and the acute social crisis in the US such nuclear policy issues as the New START extension, the Iranian nuclear program limitation, the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula were not in the focus of attention of Congress in 2020. Although Democrats, unlike Republicans, regularly took the legislative initiative in the arms control area. The 2020 presidential election outcome has led to the change of the US nuclear policy course. That means increased bipartisan confrontation on the arms control issues.

Can the People Rule?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James S. Fishkin
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Ballot Measures ◽  
The People ◽  
Popular Control

Four criteria must be satisfied for popular control: inclusion (the opportunity for everyone to participate), choice (there must be different options to choose from), deliberation (so that the people think about the choices and their implications), and impact (the choices must have an effect, either on the choice of policies or of office holders). What forms of democracy can be used, either by themselves or in combination, to satisfy these four criteria? The book distinguishes four: competitive democracy (popular elections via political parties), elite deliberation (by representatives), participatory democracy (forms of direct democracy as with ballot measures), and deliberative democracy (deliberation by the people themselves). None of these methods is self-sufficient but how might they work in combination? Other topics include manipulation, the “realist” argument for the lack of popular control via elections, and the Athenian system of popular control, especially in the fourth century BC.

US vice president to take more active foreign role

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Trade Policy ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Vice President ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
China Trade ◽  
Secretary Of State ◽  
The Us

Significance The investigations relate to concerns that Trump abused his office by seeking to have a political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, investigated by Ukraine, which Trump denies. It has brought into the spotlight the conduct of US policy towards Ukraine, and that has seen criticism of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. It also comes as the Trump administration’s senior foreign policy team has seen personnel shifts. Impacts Pence will focus on foreign policy issues that resonate with evangelical voters, notably Israel and Middle Eastern Christians. Pence will also focus on promoting security and human rights abroad, leaving trade policy to Trump and trade officials. Pence will throw his support and influence behind getting the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement passed, and a US-China trade deal.

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