Gays and lesbians in the democratic process: public policy, public opinion, and political representation

2000 ◽  
Vol 37 (11) ◽  
pp. 37-6537-37-6537 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
Gays And Lesbians

Research Frontier Essay: When Are Interests Interesting? The Problem of Political Representation of Women

1981 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 701-716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia Sapiro
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Political Research ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Increasing Demand

Recent years have witnessed an increasing demand by women for political representation of women. This demand points the way toward a number of important problems for political research, many of which remain unsolved primarily because of the segregation of women's studies from the dominant concerns of political science. This discussion focuses on the problem of group interests and representation, drawing on and suggesting further research on public opinion, interest groups, social movements, international politics, political elites, and public policy.

scholarly journals Public Opinion and Public Policy

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Wlezien ◽  
Stuart N. Soroka
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Public Preferences ◽  
The Public ◽  
Basic Model ◽  
Policy Representation

The link between the public opinion and public policy is fundamental to political representation. The current empirical literature tests a general model in which policy is considered to be a function of public preferences. The mechanics by which preferences are converted to policy are considered along with extensions of the basic model - extensions through which the magnitude of opinion representation varies systematically acorss issues and political institutions. Thus, public opinion is an independent variable - an important driver of public policy change. With the consideration of 12/1 opinion as a dependent variable, specifically, its responsiveness to policy change - the ongoing existence of both policy representation and public responsiveness is critical to the functioning of representative democracy.

Realignment and Beyond

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell J. Dalton
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Economic Issues ◽  
Societal Changes

Affluent democracies have experienced tremendous socio-economic changes since the mid- twentieth century, which has reshaped public opinion, party programs, and electoral choices. This chapter first summarizes the societal changes that have been a driving force behind the political changes described in this study. One pattern involves the longstanding economic issues of contemporary democracies, and shifting social positions on these issues. In addition, an evolving cultural cleavage and its ties to broader attitudes toward social change have altered citizen policy preferences. In most affluent democracies, the parties’ responses to these changing citizen demands have produced a realignment to represent both economic and cultural positions. The chapter concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for the working of electoral systems and the democratic process more broadly.

scholarly journals Soft Law Engagements and Hard Law Preferences: Comparing EU Lobbying Positions between UN Global Compact Signatory Firms and Other Interest Group Types

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Onna van den Broek
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Policy Preferences ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Global Compact ◽  
Un Global Compact ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Although corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gone “mainstream,” the relationship between CSR and corporate political activities (CPA) has received little scholarly attention. This is problematic because firms potentially have a more sizable impact through their lobbying activities for socially and environmentally beneficial (or unbeneficial) public policies than through their own operations. This paper investigates if, and how, UN Global Compact signatory firms differ in their policy preferences on key EU proposals compared to other interest groups. To capture state-of-the-art data on firms’ policy preferences, I draw from the INTEREURO database, which includes firms’ lobbying positions on forty-three directives and twenty-seven regulations covering 112 public policy issues in the European Union. Statistical results show that Global Compact signatory firms significantly lobby for stricter regulation than non-signatory firms and industry associations, however, their positions are still lower than nonbusiness groups. These results are similar across various public policy issues and suggest that the regulatory preferences of firms’ participating in soft law CSR initiatives are more aligned with stakeholders' interests. This paper contributes to public policy literature exploring the relationship between hard and soft law as well as literature studying the political representation of divergent interest.

Building the New Socialist Countryside: Tracking Public Policy and Public Opinion Changes in China

2016 ◽  
Vol 226 ◽  
pp. 456-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Stepan ◽  
Enze Han ◽  
Tim Reeskens
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Significant Shift ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
The Social

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.

PUBLIC OPINION IN PERSPECTIVE: COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH AND PUBLIC POLICY: DISCUSSION

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

Nonattitudes and American Public Opinion: The Examination of a Thesis

1974 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 626-649 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. Pierce ◽  
Douglas D. Rose
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Probability Model ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Random Fluctuation ◽  
Number Of Individuals

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.

Understanding Change and Stability in Party Ideologies: Do Parties Respond to Public Opinion or to Past Election Results?

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 589-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES ADAMS ◽  
MICHAEL CLARK ◽  
LAWRENCE EZROW ◽  
GARRETT GLASGOW
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Decision Rules ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Post War ◽  
Election Strategies ◽  
West European

Previous research explains the evolution of parties' ideological positions in terms of decision rules that stress the uncertainty of the political environment. The authors extend this research by examining whether parties adjust their ideologies in response to two possible influences: shifts in public opinion, and past election results. Their empirical analyses, which are based on the Comparative Manifesto Project's codings of parties' post-war programmes in eight West European nations, suggest that parties respond to shifts in public opinion, but that these effects are only significant in situations where public opinion is clearly shifting away from the party's policy positions. By contrast, no evidence is found here that parties adjust their ideologies in response to past election results. These findings have important implications for parties' election strategies and for models of political representation.

Two Models of Public Opinion: Bacon's ‘New Logic’ and Diotima's ‘Tale of Love’ (The Prothero Lecture)

1974 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 79-96
Author(s):  
Samuel H. Beer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Theoretical Approach ◽  
Democratic Theory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Representative Government ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Work Done

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.

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