Digitalization and Political Extremism

Information and communication technologies shape, direct, and deter political behaviour and institutions as the increase in internet usage regulate our daily lives. The advance of internet and digital media also shape political involvement, partisanship, and ideology. Internet, as the new media, is an important information source that shapes political behaviour along with other effects on societal layers. The new technologies provide a platform for the voices of minorities and disadvantaged communities, therefore urging a pluralist agenda. They are also blamed for the recent rise of populism and polarisation by creating echo-chambers, filter-bubbles, and the “fake news.” In this study, the authors analyse the possible effects of internet usage on political polarisation and ideological extremism by utilising World Values Survey Wave 7 Data for 40 countries. The findings show that internet usage and education level decrease extremism, while safety, work anxiety, and religiosity drive people to the extreme.

On the Problem of Mediatization of Intra-Territorial Conflicts in China: A Historiographic Aspect

This article explores the role of the media in covering the conflict potential of mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The aim of the study is to analyze the media’s influence on the transformation of public opinion on issues of ethnic or territorial identity. Based on Chinese and Western media coverage, the reasons for unbalanced coverage of intra-territorial conflicts as well as the impact of stereotypes on political behaviour are identified. On the basis of the analysis the role of specific media in neutralizing the intra-regional conflict potential is determined, as well as the peculiarities of the technology of public opinion molding on the part of mainland China.

British Politics

British Politics provides an introduction to British politics with an emphasis on political science to analyse the fundamental features of British politics, and the key changes post-Brexit. Part A looks at constitutional and institutional foundations of the subject. Chapters in this part look at leadership and debating politics and law creation. The second part is about political behaviour and citizenship. Here chapters consider elections, the media, agenda setting, and political turbulence. The final part is about policy-making and delegation. The chapters in this part examine interest groups, advocacy, policy-making, governing through bureaucracy and from below, delegating upwards, and British democracy now.

Hashtag NZPol: New Zealand Women Twitter Users and Political Participation Construction

<p>This dissertation addresses the research question of “How do women Twitter users in New Zealand construct political participation?” On the issue of the potential of the online spaces as political spaces, historical research has tended to be technologically deterministic, and dichotomous. Further, contemporary quantitative research into the impact of online politics on offline political participation has identified a gap: that the qualitative particularities of political participation online have not been sufficiently researched to provide a more nuanced and complete understanding. In a New Zealand context, what little empirical research there has been on online politics has taken a top-down approach. With a focus on political parties, political figures, and campaigning, there has been almost no research into bottom-up citizen-focused online politics, nor political participation construction more widely in New Zealand. It is in these gaps that this research is positioned. Methodologically, 25 unstructured interviews were conducted using prompt-style questions, either in person or via video-call software, with women based in New Zealand who were active Twitter users. Selective snowball sampling was used as a recruitment strategy, providing a range of participants from different ethnic backgrounds, locations around New Zealand, and levels of political involvement. Interviews were transcribed and then thematically coded from themes based both from the literature and emergent from the interviews themselves. A theoretical framework of narrative analysis was used during this analysis to look for the understandings and social meanings that the participants were invoking in their constructions. The findings were grouped largely into four areas: 1) a propensity towards prioritising primary relationships in political behaviour rooted in experience, the everyday, the personal, and understandings of social location and relationality; 2) an issue-based approach to being political and how discussion, listening, reading, and engagement are foregrounded over traditional political forms, including forefronting an empathetic imperative; 3) specifically online political behaviour that prioritised impact (but indirect rather than direct), complicated simplistic ‘echo chamber’ conceptions of online groupings and different social media platforms, as well as how negativity and diversity was managed; and 4) understandings of what might be a particularly ‘New Zealand’ articulation of political participation that centred a lack of size, being conflict-averse, and a less party-political culture negotiating between global and local political narratives, concluding with an introduction of whakawhanaungatanga. Chapter 9 analyses the critical findings of this thesis: the centrality of primary relationships and relationality, indirect impact, how an issue-based approach to politics is negotiated, and the emphasis on personal experience and emotion. Further, it examines the priority of discursive forms of political participation over traditional forms, and the location of such in the everyday, both in topic and embedding. This is all analysed using Sociology of Space, looking to constructions of political space, place, and boundaries. The conclusion summarises these contributions, suggesting that New Zealand policy around online politics requires understanding of how New Zealanders conceptualise bottom-up political participation.</p>

Hashtag NZPol: New Zealand Women Twitter Users and Political Participation Construction

<p>This dissertation addresses the research question of “How do women Twitter users in New Zealand construct political participation?” On the issue of the potential of the online spaces as political spaces, historical research has tended to be technologically deterministic, and dichotomous. Further, contemporary quantitative research into the impact of online politics on offline political participation has identified a gap: that the qualitative particularities of political participation online have not been sufficiently researched to provide a more nuanced and complete understanding. In a New Zealand context, what little empirical research there has been on online politics has taken a top-down approach. With a focus on political parties, political figures, and campaigning, there has been almost no research into bottom-up citizen-focused online politics, nor political participation construction more widely in New Zealand. It is in these gaps that this research is positioned. Methodologically, 25 unstructured interviews were conducted using prompt-style questions, either in person or via video-call software, with women based in New Zealand who were active Twitter users. Selective snowball sampling was used as a recruitment strategy, providing a range of participants from different ethnic backgrounds, locations around New Zealand, and levels of political involvement. Interviews were transcribed and then thematically coded from themes based both from the literature and emergent from the interviews themselves. A theoretical framework of narrative analysis was used during this analysis to look for the understandings and social meanings that the participants were invoking in their constructions. The findings were grouped largely into four areas: 1) a propensity towards prioritising primary relationships in political behaviour rooted in experience, the everyday, the personal, and understandings of social location and relationality; 2) an issue-based approach to being political and how discussion, listening, reading, and engagement are foregrounded over traditional political forms, including forefronting an empathetic imperative; 3) specifically online political behaviour that prioritised impact (but indirect rather than direct), complicated simplistic ‘echo chamber’ conceptions of online groupings and different social media platforms, as well as how negativity and diversity was managed; and 4) understandings of what might be a particularly ‘New Zealand’ articulation of political participation that centred a lack of size, being conflict-averse, and a less party-political culture negotiating between global and local political narratives, concluding with an introduction of whakawhanaungatanga. Chapter 9 analyses the critical findings of this thesis: the centrality of primary relationships and relationality, indirect impact, how an issue-based approach to politics is negotiated, and the emphasis on personal experience and emotion. Further, it examines the priority of discursive forms of political participation over traditional forms, and the location of such in the everyday, both in topic and embedding. This is all analysed using Sociology of Space, looking to constructions of political space, place, and boundaries. The conclusion summarises these contributions, suggesting that New Zealand policy around online politics requires understanding of how New Zealanders conceptualise bottom-up political participation.</p>

Political Context and Political Participation Across the Lifespan in Africa

Gerontologists have long documented how age is associated with political participation. However, few studies have considered how macrocontextual factors shape participation across the life span. Moreover, very few studies have dealt with political engagement and aging in emerging democracies, including those in Africa. This study addresses those gaps, integrating the most recent three waves of Afrobarometer survey data (2011–2018) with country-level data from the freedom house (i.e. freedom index). Findings reveal that, at the individual level, an age gap widens for engagement in protests and shrinks for electoral and non-electoral political participation. When the political context is considered, however, we find that political freedom softens the drop-off of protest behavior at later ages. For electoral and non-electoral political participation, we find that freer countries lessen the expected growth in engagement across the life span. The study implies that political oppression shapes the links between age and political behaviour, but the processes seem different depending on whether they are engaging in risky (where the age gap widens) or non-risky (where the age gap shrinks) political forms of engagement.

Tiền là Tiên là Phật: Investigating the persistence of corruption in Vietnam

<p>This research aims to examine the persistence of corruption in the public sector in Vietnam and explain why anti-corruption measures have been unsuccessful. It seeks to capture people’s lived experience of corruption in Vietnamese society and their perception of the failure of anti-corruption measures. It demonstrates what government officials and ordinary citizens think about corrupt practices and how they explain corrupt behaviour. The research also draws a clearer picture of Vietnam’s anti-corruption system, the weaknesses of the Anti-Corruption Law (ACL) and its implementation, from insiders’ perspectives. The research illuminates some factors identified in the literature that need to be better understood when dealing with corruption: historical, cultural, economic, administrative and political factors. This project situated Vietnam’s anti-corruption strategy within Jon Quah’s analytical framework, which identifies elements he argues are needed for an effective anti-corruption strategy in any country. Those elements include a set of formal, legal, and institutional instruments, and the need for political will, especially from governmental leaders. A qualitative approach is applied to examine corruption in the public sector in Vietnam. The main data was gathered by in-depth, semi-structured interviews and from official documents. Different groups of participants - specialists in the anti-corruption field including politicians, high-ranking government officials, journalists, academics, international organisations, and NGOs - were interviewed. Vietnamese citizens also were interviewed; all had experienced corruption in their daily life. The findings suggest an institutional anti-corruption framework, while necessary, cannot adequately deal with the multi-factor causes of corruption in Vietnam. Moreover, “political will” is not only about providing Anti-Corruption Agencies with enough resources, nor about their institutional arrangements, but also about politicians being willing to support the institutions they have created and to reinforce their effectiveness by making hard political decisions. The essential elements of political will in fighting corruption involve not only the institutional framework (the top-down approach) but also society as a whole (the bottom-up approach). The thesis concludes that corruption in the public sector in Vietnam is the product of a complex mix of state institutions, elite political behaviour, social, cultural, economic and management factors. These are at the root of the corruption problem in the country, but they have not been seriously addressed. The current anti-corruption system needs to be reformed if it is to become more effective. Policy attention also needs to shift to the design of effective incentives for the populace to resist succumbing to bribe demands. This “citizen resistance” will, in fact, make governments more accountable for taking effective action against both grand and petty corruption.</p>

Tiền là Tiên là Phật: Investigating the persistence of corruption in Vietnam

<p>This research aims to examine the persistence of corruption in the public sector in Vietnam and explain why anti-corruption measures have been unsuccessful. It seeks to capture people’s lived experience of corruption in Vietnamese society and their perception of the failure of anti-corruption measures. It demonstrates what government officials and ordinary citizens think about corrupt practices and how they explain corrupt behaviour. The research also draws a clearer picture of Vietnam’s anti-corruption system, the weaknesses of the Anti-Corruption Law (ACL) and its implementation, from insiders’ perspectives. The research illuminates some factors identified in the literature that need to be better understood when dealing with corruption: historical, cultural, economic, administrative and political factors. This project situated Vietnam’s anti-corruption strategy within Jon Quah’s analytical framework, which identifies elements he argues are needed for an effective anti-corruption strategy in any country. Those elements include a set of formal, legal, and institutional instruments, and the need for political will, especially from governmental leaders. A qualitative approach is applied to examine corruption in the public sector in Vietnam. The main data was gathered by in-depth, semi-structured interviews and from official documents. Different groups of participants - specialists in the anti-corruption field including politicians, high-ranking government officials, journalists, academics, international organisations, and NGOs - were interviewed. Vietnamese citizens also were interviewed; all had experienced corruption in their daily life. The findings suggest an institutional anti-corruption framework, while necessary, cannot adequately deal with the multi-factor causes of corruption in Vietnam. Moreover, “political will” is not only about providing Anti-Corruption Agencies with enough resources, nor about their institutional arrangements, but also about politicians being willing to support the institutions they have created and to reinforce their effectiveness by making hard political decisions. The essential elements of political will in fighting corruption involve not only the institutional framework (the top-down approach) but also society as a whole (the bottom-up approach). The thesis concludes that corruption in the public sector in Vietnam is the product of a complex mix of state institutions, elite political behaviour, social, cultural, economic and management factors. These are at the root of the corruption problem in the country, but they have not been seriously addressed. The current anti-corruption system needs to be reformed if it is to become more effective. Policy attention also needs to shift to the design of effective incentives for the populace to resist succumbing to bribe demands. This “citizen resistance” will, in fact, make governments more accountable for taking effective action against both grand and petty corruption.</p>

Interesting discussion or tiresome bluster? Exploring the social norms of politics among young people on social media

<p>This thesis explores the extent to which talking about politics on Facebook and Twitter is acceptable among young New Zealanders. To investigate the social norms of political discussion on social media, this research has utilised synchronous online focus groups with 27 young New Zealanders aged 16–24. Participants were positive about the presence of politics on Facebook and Twitter, viewing the platforms as a good way of learning more about politics, although they held quite strong views about the way in which people expressed political views. Through utilising the features of social media platforms, participants had a number of ways of dealing with political material on social media they did not agree with or found offensive. Participants also said they sometimes complained about other people's online political behaviour, primarily offline to people who were not involved in the political conversation. In investigating both Facebook and Twitter, this research has attempted to tease out differences between the norms of political talk on social media generally, versus the norms specific to each platform. Twitter was seen by participants as a more appropriate place for politics than Facebook, mostly because people's audiences on the respective platforms were very different. This research has contributed towards a better understanding of an area which has not been well studied, especially outside of North America and Europe. It will be of interest to groups who want to engage young people on social media regarding political issues.</p>

Interesting discussion or tiresome bluster? Exploring the social norms of politics among young people on social media

<p>This thesis explores the extent to which talking about politics on Facebook and Twitter is acceptable among young New Zealanders. To investigate the social norms of political discussion on social media, this research has utilised synchronous online focus groups with 27 young New Zealanders aged 16–24. Participants were positive about the presence of politics on Facebook and Twitter, viewing the platforms as a good way of learning more about politics, although they held quite strong views about the way in which people expressed political views. Through utilising the features of social media platforms, participants had a number of ways of dealing with political material on social media they did not agree with or found offensive. Participants also said they sometimes complained about other people's online political behaviour, primarily offline to people who were not involved in the political conversation. In investigating both Facebook and Twitter, this research has attempted to tease out differences between the norms of political talk on social media generally, versus the norms specific to each platform. Twitter was seen by participants as a more appropriate place for politics than Facebook, mostly because people's audiences on the respective platforms were very different. This research has contributed towards a better understanding of an area which has not been well studied, especially outside of North America and Europe. It will be of interest to groups who want to engage young people on social media regarding political issues.</p>