Belief in conspiracy theories and attitudes toward political violence

In the last decade, political protest events have been rising in Western democracies. At the same time, there has been a steady increase in the diffusion of conspiracy theories in political communication, a phenomenon that has captured the interest of scholars for its growing political relevance. However, while most research focuses on the reasons why citizens believe in conspiracies, studies looking at the political-behavioral implications of such beliefs, in particular their connection to political radicalism, have been more limited. In this paper, we investigate the association between people's belief in conspiracies and their propensity to endorse political violence or to legitimate radical political action. Building on pathway theories of radicalization, we argue that conspiracy theories provide narratives that might help people channel their feelings of resentment toward political targets, fueling radical attitudes. We provide some correlational evidence using survey data of US respondents collected on MTurk. We observe attitudes toward political violence using two multi-item batteries, one developed by us. Our results show that people who score higher on a scale of generic conspiracy belief are also more likely to endorse violent political actions.

Multi-objective optimization identifies trade-offs between self-sufficiency and environmental impacts of regional agriculture in Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Regional food supply, organic farming, and changing food consumption are three major strategies to reduce the environmental impacts of the agricultural sector. In the German Federal State of Baden-Württemberg (population: 11 million), multiple policy and economic incentives drive the uptake of these three strategies, but quantitative assessments of their overall impact abatement potential are lacking. Here, the question of how much food can be produced regionally while keeping environmental impacts within political targets is tackled by comparing a scenario of maximum productivity to an optimal solution obtained with a multi-objective optimization (MO) approach. The investigation covers almost the entirety of productive land in the state, two production practices (organic or conventional), four environmental impact categories, and three demand scenarios (base, vegetarian, and vegan). We present an area-based indicator to quantify the self-sufficiency of regional food supply, as well as the database required for its calculation. Environmental impacts are determined using life cycle assessment. Governmental goals for reducing environmental impacts from agriculture are used by the MO to determine and later rate the different Pareto-efficient solutions, resulting in an optimal solution for regional food supply under environmental constraints. In the scenario of maximal output, self-sufficiency of food supply ranged between 61% and 66% (depending on the diet), and most political targets could not be met. On the other hand, the optimal solution showed a higher share of organic production (ca. 40%–80% com¬pared to 0%) and lower self-sufficiency values (between 40% and 50%) but performs substantially better in meeting political targets for environmental impact reduction. At the county level, self-sufficiency varies between 2% for densely populated urban districts and 80% for rural counties. These results help policy-makers benchmark and refine their goalsetting regarding regional self-sufficiency and environmental impact reduction, thus ensuring effective policymaking for sustainable community development.

Belief in conspiracy theories, aggression, and attitudes towards political violence

In the last decade, political protest events have been rising in Western democracies. At the same time, there has been a steady increase in the diffusion of conspiracy theories in political communication, a phenomenon that has captured the interest of scholars for its growing political relevance. However, while most research focuses on the reasons why citizens believe in conspiracies, studies looking at the political-behavioral implications of such beliefs, in particular their connection to political radicalism, have been more limited. In this paper we investigate the association between people's belief in conspiracies and their propensity to endorse political violence and to legitimate radical political action. We propose a model in which belief in conspiracies mediates the impact of dispositional aggression on radical attitudes, and test it empirically on an online sample of US residents collected on Amazon Mechanical Turk. Our results suggest that conspiracy theories partially channel individuals' aggression towards political targets.

Sustainable Urban Air Mobility Supported with Participatory Noise Sensing

In about 15 years, there is likely to be urban air mobility (UAM) in larger cities across the globe. Air taxis will provide on-demand transportation for individual needs. They will also connect important transportation nodes, such as airports and city centers, as well as providing quick transfers between train stations or a convenient option for crossing rivers and lakes. It is hoped that UAM will help meet today’s political targets of sustainability and decarbonization. However, there are certain threats that could impede the sustainable and thus successful introduction of UAM to our cities, with noise being a prominent limitation. This paper argues that citizens have to be viewed as stakeholders in urban air transportation, regardless of whether they or not intend to use it, and that a concept of resident participatory noise sensing (PNS) will be beneficial to the implementation of UAM. Web-based services and smartphones facilitate the access and updating of current information about local noise distributions, thus enabling them to be used to foster UAM in smart cities.

A Comparative Analysis of House Owners in Need of Energy Efficiency Measures but with Different Intentions

Existing private homes in Germany and throughout Europe often are in need of energy efficient refurbishment measures (EERMs). However, these EERMs are not realized on the required level in order to achieve environment-related political targets. Therefore we investigate, based on an online survey of 1085 German owner-occupiers, the factors that differentiate two groups of single- and two-family house owners in need of EERM. Using an extended version of the Theory of Planned Behavior as a research framework, the performed logistic regression analysis shows that e.g., behavioral beliefs are significant factors for differentiating “Future-Refurbishers” from “Non-Refurbishers”. Based on our results we suggest an enhancement of practice-orientated initiatives, e.g., refurbishment workshops or best-practice presentations. By presenting the aesthetic appearance of refurbished buildings or providing knowledge, other owner-occupiers could be motivated to engage in EERM. In addition to funding programs, initiatives like this can be used to increase the general energy efficiency of buildings and specifically of those in cities and urban districts, where a high share of the mentioned houses is located and greenhouse gas emissions are caused to a great extent.

Contempt of congress: Do liberals and conservatives harbor equivalent negative emotional biases towards ideologically congruent vs. incongruent politicians at the level of individual emotions?

Prior research suggests that conservatives are more fear-motivated, disgust-sensitive, and happy than liberals. Yet when it comes to political targets (e.g., politicians), both liberals and conservatives can get very emotional. We examined whether the ideological differences in emotion seen in past research apply to emotions towards specific ideologically similar vs. dissimilar targets, or whether these emotions are instead equivalent between liberals and conservatives. Across two studies, liberals and conservatives rated their anger, contempt, disgust, fear, and happiness towards Democratic and Republican congresspersons. We compared participants’ levels of each emotion towards their respective ideologically dissimilar and ideologically similar congresspersons. Liberals and conservatives both experienced stronger negative emotions towards ideologically dissimilar congresspersons than they did towards ideologically similar ones. Neither liberals nor conservatives differed in negative emotions towards politicians overall (i.e., on average). However, there were ideological differences in emotional bias. In Study 1, liberals exhibited a greater contempt bias (i.e., a larger gap in contempt ratings between ideologically similar and ideologically dissimilar politicians) than conservatives did. In Study 2, liberals exhibited greater contempt, anger, disgust, and happiness biases than conservatives did. The need to consider context in the study of ideological differences in emotion is discussed.

Security

This chapter provides general precautions and guidance based on sound practices, including procedures and protection measures, which serve to keep humanitarian workers and operations safe. With serious incidents on the rise in humanitarian operations and with humanitarian workers increasingly viewed as political targets, this chapter providers an overview of security theory and applications, including essential operative elements such as field communications, operational guidelines, and evacuation procedures. It also includes practical guidance on scenarios such as road safety, kidnaping and hostage taking, sexual harassment and assault, landmines, unexploded ordnances, political instability, and evacuation procedures.

War in Peace

The American Legion emerged in March 1919, in the immediate aftermath of world war, a point at which the focus of conservative discourse and government policy shifted from overseas campaigns to domestic threats, from military to political targets. This chapter, by Tom Rice, examines the myriad ways in which the hugely influential American Legion used film at this critical juncture, extending military activities and imperatives into the postwar nation. Whether appropriating wartime government films; becoming an influential and respected voice on film reform; or—after the establishment of a designated film service in 1921—producing, distributing, and exhibiting movies, the American Legion used film to mold American citizens and to visualize, project, and shape the postwar nation. The American Legion’s initial uses of film reveal an industry—and a nation—challenged and torn apart by anxieties about immigration and foreign threats and by a wider battle over American national identity.

Teacher Unions and the American Political Imagination

This chapter documents the reasons for the diminished number of teacher strikes in the US since 1981. It also argues that while teacher strikes have declined, the two national teacher unions, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, have become major political targets of Republicans and even some Democrats. The chapter offers the book’s conclusion: that struggles over public education were fundamental in the demise of labor liberalism and the rise of neoliberalism. It also chronicles how continued market reforms have undercut public education in the years after the 1980s and asks what can be done to revitalize social democracy in the US.