scholarly journals The Ideological Landscape of Twitter: Comparing the Production versus Consumption of Information on the Platform

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subhayan Mukerjee ◽  
Kokil Jaidka ◽  
Yphtach Lelkes
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Information Environment ◽  
Opinion Leaders ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Small Populations ◽  
Information Production ◽  
Weighted Estimates ◽  
Echo Chambers

There are mounting concerns that the information environment on Twitter isfragmented along ideological lines, with users ensconced into echo chambers withlimited exposure to cross-cutting views. Previous studies have typically relied on small populations of political elites or opinion leaders to appraise this level of fragmentation.This study makes two main advancements over the existing body of literature. First, itidentifies the need to make the distinction between information production andconsumption. Second, it proposes weighted estimates of ideology, based on active use, to better assess the extent of polarization on the platform. Our analyses find little evidence that Twitter, at least in the United States, is polarized based on howinformation is produced by opinion leaders. While partisan opinion leaders are certainly polarized, centrist or non-political voices are much more likely to produce the most visible information on the platform. Analysis of co-exposure networks of how ordinary Americans follow these opinion leaders similarly reveals little evidence of echo-chambers in consumption. However, while the extent of ideological selective consumption is low, there does exist a small but dedicated audience for conservative opinion leaders on the platform.

The Lebanese Civil War 1975–90

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 105-124
Author(s):  
Jamal Wakim
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Working Class ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Economic Role ◽  
Lebanese Civil War ◽  
Organized Violence ◽  
State And Society ◽  
Leftist Parties

This article argues that the Lebanese Civil War (1975–90) was in essence a terror of state directed by mercantile economic and political elites (the comprador class) controlling the Lebanese state and society against the middle and poorer classes (the working class). The aim of this terror or organized violence was to subdue the subordinate classes, which in the late 1960s and early 1970s rebelled against the confessional system that operated for the benefit of the comprador class. The rebellion was expressed by members of the working-class joining cross-confessional nationalist and leftist parties. Hence, violence was aimed at reestablishing the confessional order as a means to restore a hegemonic system that served the interests of the comprador class at a time when this class was rehabilitating its economic role by resurrecting the financial system, which had received a severe blow in the late 1960s. It effected this rehabilitation through the Taif Agreement signed between Lebanese parliamentarians in 1989, under the auspices of Syria, Saudi Arabia, and the United States, to favor the new mercantile elite led by Rafiq Hariri.

Democratic Resilience

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Behavior ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Checks And Balances ◽  
The Face ◽  
Distinguished Group

Politics in the United States has become increasingly polarized in recent decades. Both political elites and everyday citizens are divided into rival and mutually antagonistic partisan camps, with each camp questioning the political legitimacy and democratic commitments of the other side. Does this polarization pose threats to democracy itself? What can make some democratic institutions resilient in the face of such challenges? Democratic Resilience brings together a distinguished group of specialists to examine how polarization affects the performance of institutional checks and balances as well as the political behavior of voters, civil society actors, and political elites. The volume bridges the conventional divide between institutional and behavioral approaches to the study of American politics and incorporates historical and comparative insights to explain the nature of contemporary challenges to democracy. It also breaks new ground to identify the institutional and societal sources of democratic resilience.

Why Politicians Are More Tolerant: Selective Recruitment and Socialization Among Political Elites in Britain, Israel, New Zealand and the United States

1993 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Sullivan ◽  
Pat Walsh ◽  
Michal Shamir ◽  
David G. Barnum ◽  
James L. Gibson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Political Tolerance ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
Members Of Parliament

In this article, we present data showing that national legislators are more tolerant than the public in Britain, Israel, New Zealand and the United States. Two explanations for this phenomenon are presented and assessed. The first is the selective recruitment of Members of Parliament, Knesset and Congress from among those in the electorate whose demographic, ideological and personality characteristics predispose them to be tolerant. Although this process does operate in all four countries, it is insufficient to explain all of the differences in tolerance between elites and the public in at least three countries. The second explanation relies on a process of explicitly political socialization, leading to differences in tolerance between elites and their public that transcend individual-level, personal characteristics. Relying on our analysis of political tolerance among legislators in the four countries, we suggest how this process of political socialization may be operating.

scholarly journals Large Business in Higher Levels of US Authority Example of D. Trump

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 226-238
Author(s):  
Daria V. Stanis ◽  
Konstantin P. Kurilev
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Science ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Resource Base ◽  
Political Status ◽  
Ruling Elites ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Historical Methods

This article discusses one of the key components of the mechanism of formation of the ruling elites in the United States - economic. Representatives of large business, financial circles and political clans, capable of fighting for power and possessing the necessary resource base and tools, form elite groups. The authors focus on the study of US large business as a supplier of cadres for the American political elites that determine US domestic and foreign policy. In their work, the authors set the following tasks: to analyze the mechanism of the formation of political elites in the USA; to consider the experience of Trump Organization in the context of the acquisition by her leader of the highest political status in the USA in 2016 and the prospects for his re-election to this post in 2020; to assess the role of large business in the formation of political elites in the United States. To achieve the objectives, the authors used a few methods of political science: structural, systemic, functional, comparative and historical methods. The methodology of economic science was also involved: the method of scientific abstraction, the method of normative and functional analysis. The study, in its conceptual basis, is based both on the theory of political elites and on the economic theory of competition.

scholarly journals Novel Coronavirus, Old Partisanship: COVID-19 Attitudes and Behaviours in the United States and Canada

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 357-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Pickup ◽  
Dominik Stecula ◽  
Clifton van der Linden
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Early Response ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Us ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
American Case ◽  
Conservative Media ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

The novel coronavirus reached the United States and Canada almost at the same time. The first reported American case was January 20, 2020, and in Canada it was January 15, 2020 (Canada, 2020; Holshue et al., 2020). Yet, the response to this crisis has been different in the two countries. In the US, President Donald Trump, prominent Republicans, and conservative media initially dismissed the dangers of COVID-19 (Stecula, 2020). The pandemic became politicized from the early days, and even though Trump and Republicans have walked back many of their initial claims, there continue to be media reports of partisan differences in public opinion shaped by that early response. At the same time, the response in Canada has been mostly characterized by across-the-board partisan consensus among political elites (Merkley et al., 2020).

Do Elites Discriminate against Female Political Aspirants? Evidence from a Field Experiment

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Kostanca Dhima
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Gender Bias ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Recruitment Process ◽  
Political Recruitment ◽  
Group Attachment ◽  
Female Legislators

Abstract Do elites exhibit gender bias when responding to political aspirants? Drawing on theories of gender bias, group attachment, and partisan identity, I conduct the first audit experiment outside the United States to examine the presence of gender bias in the earliest phases of the political recruitment process. Based on responses from 1,774 Canadian legislators, I find evidence of an overall gender bias in favor of female political aspirants. Specifically, legislators are more responsive to female political aspirants and more likely to provide them with helpful advice when they ask how to get involved in politics. This pro-women bias, which exists at all levels of government, is stronger among female legislators and those associated with left-leaning parties. These results suggest that political elites in Canada are open to increasing female political representation and thus should serve as welcome encouragement for women to pursue their political ambitions.

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