Suchergebnisse

Do party policy offerings simply reflect public opinion or do parties shape public demand for policies? Theories of party position-taking and the operation of democracy expect parties to track their supporters' positions, while scholarship of public opinion has shown voters often adopt the position of their preferred parties. We apply both of these theoretical expectations to the relationship between citizen polarization and party polarization and additionally argue that the relationship between them should be stronger among politically more engaged and sophisticated citizens. We draw on aggregated survey data from 174 cross-national and national election studies from 19 established democracies, to assess the extent to which citizen polarization responds to party polarization, the extent to which parties respond to changes in citizen polarization, and whether these relationships differ across different groups of citizens. We estimate seemingly unrelated error-correction models employing data on party and citizen positions from 1971 to 2019. Our findings suggest that citizen polarization follows party polarization and also that politically engaged and sophisticated citizens are more responsive to changes in party polarization than the politically less engaged and unsophisticated. In contrast, we find little evidence that party polarization responds to changes in citizen polarization.

In the wake of 9/11, Africa was securitised in a new way by the United States (US): weak states were believed to pose an existential threat to the US. American aid to Africa consequently more than tripled in the years following 9/11. Using the Copenhagen School's securitisation theory, we investigate the interaction between the executive branch as claimant and the US Congress as legitimiser. The factors of political agency and context are accentuated in our use of securitisation theory. Yet, the evidence also points to structural forces, especially the unequal relationship between executive and legislature.

Defining new directions in the anthropology and psychology of dreaming / Jeannette Mageo -- The anthropology of dreaming in historical perspective / Robin E. Sheriff -- Metaphors we dream by : on the nature of dream cognition / Jeannette Mageo -- Identity and memory in Germany : the defensive role of dreams / Matthew D.Newsom -- Dreaming bloody murder : women's dreams of mortal threat, true crime culture, and metonyms of gendered vulnerability / Robin E. Sheriff -- Dream sharing, play, and cultural creativity / Kelly Bulkeley -- Out-of-body on the happy hunting road : dialogues between dreaming and culture in Papua New Guinea / Roger Ivar Lohmann -- Taking dreams seriously : an ontological-phenomenological approach to Tzotzil Maya dream culture / Kevin P. Groark -- Godly dreams : Muslim encounters with the divine / Amira Mittermaier -- Life is but a dream : culture and science in the study of Tibetan dream yoga / Bruce M. Knauft -- Afterword : on the varieties and particularities of dreaming / Douglas Hollan.

AbstractBackgroundEmployment is often central to individuals' lives. However, individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities are often absent from the workplace, and little research has examined their interest in working.AimsThis study examined whether people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities want jobs; why they do or do not want jobs; and, if they want to work, what types of jobs they would like to have.Materials and MethodsOur analyses consisted of 629 participants (379 male, 248 female, 2 unspecified) who participated in an interview.ResultsResults suggested that many individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities want jobs. Our study identified gender differences in vocational interests and motivation for employment. There were no significant differences between age groups.Discussion and ConclusionIn the future, research could expand upon these findings by exploring how various factors, such as other social identities, affect vocational interests of individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

Third-party participation in plurality elections should be rare, given the low probability of electoral success. In the United States, the entrenched two-party system makes third-party candidacies especially puzzling. We develop a general theory of these candidacies based on the electoral context, focusing on electoral competition and volatility. When electoral competition is either low or high we expect the number of third-party candidates to be high, due to the opportunities to raise attention to policy issues or affect the election outcome. Moderate levels of competition will produce low levels of third-party candidate participation, as there are fewer prospects of drawing votes or attention. Volatility is expected to have a positive effect, since high volatility signals a de-aligned electorate. We evaluate our claims using US gubernatorial elections, 1977-2005. The results support our claims, suggesting that third-party candidacies are shaped by the degree of electoral volatility and competition. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd., copyright holder.]

Third-party participation in plurality elections should be rare, given the low probability of electoral success. In the United States, the entrenched two-party system makes third-party candidacies especially puzzling. We develop a general theory of these candidacies based on the electoral context, focusing on electoral competition and volatility. When electoral competition is either low or high we expect the number of third-party candidates to be high, due to the opportunities to raise attention to policy issues or affect the election outcome. Moderate levels of competition will produce low levels of third-party candidate participation, as there are fewer prospects of drawing votes or attention. Volatility is expected to have a positive effect, since high volatility signals a de-aligned electorate. We evaluate our claims using US gubernatorial elections, 1977—2005. The results support our claims, suggesting that third-party candidacies are shaped by the degree of electoral volatility and competition.