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To receive asylum in the United States, persons must show that they are "refugees." They do so by demonstrating fear of persecution on account of political opinion, race, religion, nationality, or social group membership. The most common basis for an asylum claim is political opinion. However, there is no consistently applied interpretation of "persecution on account of political opinion" in United States law. An appropriate construction of the term would consider its development in the historical context of refugee law. This Comment explores the spirit of international instruments and interpretive materials, as well as United States legislative history behind the Refugee Act of 1980. An analysis of these materials will provide a more accurate interpretation of "persecution on account of political opinion" and present a clearer picture of a "refugee."

To receive asylum in the United States, persons must show that they are "refugees." They do so by demonstrating fear of persecution on account of political opinion, race, religion, nationality, or social group membership. The most common basis for an asylum claim is political opinion. However, there is no consistently applied interpretation of "persecution on account of political opinion" in United States law. An appropriate construction of the term would consider its development in the historical context of refugee law. This Comment explores the spirit of international instruments and interpretive materials, as well as United States legislative history behind the Refugee Act of 1980. An analysis of these materials will provide a more accurate interpretation of "persecution on account of political opinion" and present a clearer picture of a "refugee."

AbstractTo the degree that public opinion, as domestic variable, influences a leaders decision-making in the area of foreign affairs is significant. Political leaders use public opinion polling to support government position or in attempts to mold policy position(s) in the affirmative. The following article investigates how public opinion affects U.S. presidential foreign policy decisions and to the degree those decisions are the base for political legacy. The theoretical argument is that domestic variables and leaders decisions often act in mutual support of each others in complementary interests and when not the case, it is the leader whose agenda setting or creating a frame impacts public opinion.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how public opinion research can aid political parties in adopting sound policies and wise courses of action. In view of the crisis brought to a climax by events in Korea, the analysis is confined to how current public opinion research can be used immediately and to how public opinion methodology can be adapted now for more extensive practical application. In addition, since public opinion research throws into focus the critical problems facing political parties, certain of these problems are noted to show the limitations of public opinion research as it can now be used.Before the 1948 polling difficulties, research in the form of questionnaires showed that politicians had a high regard for public opinion polls. Although apparently no comparable research has been conducted since then on their attitude toward polls, statements of individual politicians have shown that polls have dropped sharply in prestige. At present, public opinion research techniques are perhaps undervalued, as they were once overvalued.There is a primary misconception about polls which has been fostered in part by the pollsters themselves. Polls are not accurate to a percentage point or within an artificial "margin of error" under certain circumstances.

The type of comprehensive conceptual scheme presented by Professor Smith in the foregoing paper is, in the writer's opinion, the most useful framework currently available for studying the relationship between opinions and personality. The paper draws upon a major work by Smith and his colleagues, Opinions and Personality, which has not only been greeted as a "pattern-setter for a new phase of attitude research" but is already having an important impact on political behavior studies.That political scientists should find the pluralistic theory proposed by Smith congenial, cannot be explained merely by the fact that it is accompanied by an emphatic rejection of the type of simplistic theorizing about personality and opinion already in disfavor with most of them. Rather, its appeal is solidly intellectual, deriving from the fact that it stems from a general (and long awaited!) movement of convergence within the field of psychology.

Little is known about political polarization in German public opinion. This article offers an issue-based perspective and explores trends of opinion polarization in Germany. Public opinion polarization is conceptualized and measured as alignment of attitudes. Data from the German General Social Survey (1980 to 2010) comprise attitudes towards manifold issues, which are classified into several dimensions. This study estimates multilevel models that reveal general and issue- as well as dimension-specific levels and trends in attitude alignment for both the whole German population and sub-groups. It finds that public opinion polarization has decreased over the last three decades in Germany. In particular, highly educated and more politically interested people have become less polarized over time. However, polarization seems to have increased in attitudes regarding gender issues. These findings provide interesting contrasts to existing research on the American public.

Little is known about political polarization in German public opinion. This article offers an issue-based perspective and explores trends of opinion polarization in Germany. Public opinion polarization is conceptualized and measured as alignment of attitudes. Data from the German General Social Survey (1980 to 2010) comprise attitudes towards manifold issues, which are classified into several dimensions. This study estimates multilevel models that reveal general and issue- as well as dimension-specific levels and trends in attitude alignment for both the whole German population and sub-groups. It finds that public opinion polarization has decreased over the last three decades in Germany. In particular, highly educated and more politically interested people have become less polarized over time. However, polarization seems to have increased in attitudes regarding gender issues. These findings provide interesting contrasts to existing research on the American public.

This PhD dissertation is interested in the mass-elite linkages in the context of the immigration issue. It examines, on the one hand, factors likely to influence party responsiveness to public opinion (bottom-up connection) and, on the other hand, the impact of party stances and policies on public preferences in this policy area (top-down connection). Two chapters are dedicated to analysing the bottom-up process. Here, I examine to what extent party characteristics and party system features influence the responsiveness of parties to public opinion on immigration. The third chapter analyses the degree to which individual attitudes toward immigration are influenced by party positions and by immigration policies and policy outcomes (top-down process). The results indicate that parties do not track changes over time in the preferences of their party supporters. There is weak evidence that mainstream parties and parties with low distinctiveness in their immigration-emphasis profile are more sensitive to temporal changes in the mean voter's preferences. In addition, mainstream parties tend to be more responsive to changes in public opinion and in the objective migration context when they face a strong radical right party. Finally, there is evidence of weak but predictable impacts of party positions and immigration policies on individual attitudes toward immigration. ; Esta tesis doctoral se centra en la conexión entre ciudadanos y elites en el tema de la inmigración. Esa cxamina, por un lado, factorcs que pueden influir en la reccptividad dc los partidos políticos hacia la opinión pública sobre el terna dc la inmigración (conexión bottom-up) y, por otro lado, el impacto dc los posicionamientos de Ios partidos políticos y de las políticas en materia de inmigración sobre las prefercncias de los ciudadanos en esta área (conexión top-down). Dos capítulos de la tesis se dedican al análisis del proceso bottom-up. Aquí, examino la medida en que las características de los partidos y de los sistemas de partidos influyen en la ...

In many high-income countries today, scholarly interest in the politics of class has coincided with growing economic inequality, rising support for nonmainstream political parties and candidates, and increasing flows of immigration. We review social science research on the views of different class segments vis-à-vis economic, political, and sociocultural issues, finding greater scholarly attention to the interdependence of economic, social, and political concerns and preferences than arguably was the case even a few years ago. Our main aim is to synthesize and critically evaluate this rapidly expanding literature, but we also provide empirical data on class differences and similarities in political opinion across 18 countries, and we pinpoint several areas of research that are in need of further empirical, methodological, and theoretical inquiry.

In many high-income countries today, scholarly interest in the politics of class has coincided with growing economic inequality, rising support for nonmainstream political parties and candidates, and increasing flows of immigration. We review social science research on the views of different class segments vis-à-vis economic, political, and sociocultural issues, finding greater scholarly attention to the interdependence of economic, social, and political concerns and preferences than arguably was the case even a few years ago. Our main aim is to synthesize and critically evaluate this rapidly expanding literature, but we also provide empirical data on class differences and similarities in political opinion across 18 countries, and we pinpoint several areas of research that are in need of further empirical, methodological, and theoretical inquiry.

PO polls have been an important element in democratic politics for many years. How PO is to be defined has been a matter of controversy at times, but the use of PO data has gained increasing acceptance. Unfortunately, users often fail to recognize the complexity & changeability of expressed opinions. Moreover, PO revealed by surveys often differs from that expressed in public forums & political movements, due partly to differential mobilization of different opinion groups. It is difficult to assess the impact of PO surveys on policy, but at least they help encourage policy that takes account of the opinion of all the people. 11 References. W. H. Stoddard