Suchergebnisse

Can simply talking about policy strengthen democracy? Drawing on data collected for case studies of one Canadian and two U.S. grassroots organizations, we demonstrate that taking part in policy dialogues hosted by grassroots organizations enables participants to gain greater clarity regarding policy issues, policy processes, and citizens' perspectives and enhances some participants' ability to take direct action in policy processes. These outcomes, and the opportunities for authentic engagement in policy processes offered by grassroots policy dialogues, can help challenge contemporary policy processes characterized as political spectacle, and, ultimately, enhance democracy in education. Implications of the findings for grassroots organizations and the field of community organizing are also discussed.

The transnational partnership "Strategies for inclusion - co-ordinated approaches for quality employment" was created through the Community Action Programme to Combat Social Exclusion 2002-2006. In only nine months various organisations from seven countries found a common ground to exchange experience and good practice with pathways to obtain and keep employment. The handbook describes good practice examples and the policy background for the partnership.

Using digital text analysis methods, we analyze over 3800 newspaper articles covering U.S. Supreme Court judicial appointments between 1981 and 2009 to measure the level of (in)congruence between the Court's agenda and the issues emphasized by the media. We find that newspapers highlight "culture war" issues at the expense of other important issues addressed much more frequently by the Court. Moreover, abortion in particular receives attention in more articles and in much greater depth than any other issue. With a few minor deviations, these patterns are consistent across nominations. These findings raise normative concerns regarding the didactic function of the print media in American democracy and shed empirical light on positive theories of media behavior.