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To express attitudes and act according to their self-interest, citizens need relevant, up-to-date information about current affairs. But has the increased commercialization in the media market increased or decreased the flow of political information? Hallin and Mancini stress that the existing empirical evidence is fragmented and that this question therefore has been difficult to answer. In this article the authors present new data that allow them to systematically examine how the flow of political information on TV occurs across six Western countries during a thirty-year period. The authors find that the flow of political information through TV varies according to the degree of commercialization. The flow of news and current affairs is lowest in the most commercially oriented television system and among the commercial TV channels. There is however important cross-national variation even within similar media systems. The authors' data do not suggest a convergence toward the liberal system when it comes to the political information environment on TV. Rather, what strikes them is how strongly resistant some European countries have been to subordinating the needs of democracy to profit making.

An analysis by all (7) Flemish universities of the 2006 Belgium municipal council elections, using the Mediargus database containing articles from all Flemish newspapers (no journals included). Elections for which Belgium counties had unprecedented authority to organize their local government & local elections, & which were marked by arguments within local political parties, belated legislative changes & belated campaigning. Figures. Adapted from the source document.

Although the 2006 local elections can hardly be described as 'historical,' there is sufficient evidence to distinguish remarkable characteristics associated with this elections. For the first time in decades, turnout has been growing. This evolution can be explained by several factors. This article emphasizes besides the impact of changes in the electoral rules, transformations in demographic structure of the population & the stake of the elections the importance of the media campaign surrounding the elections. However, in spite of this (national) campaigns, there are more than enough indications that local politics keeps its local 'nature.' Secondly, the 2006 elections were the first ones organized after the transfer of the responsibility for municipality legislation from the federal state to the regions. This means that each region designed its own local government architecture & electoral rules. Yet, in practice, the consequences of this transformation seem to be very limited. Thirdly, & particular in the Flemish region, 'strong mayors' arose from the ballot stations (with the Antwerp mayor as the most spectacular case). The consequences of this trend will in the future be the issue of a new debate concerning the relations between council, board of alderman & mayor. Adapted from the source document.

Although transnational political institutions have been around for decades, it is only recently that the wave of protest against neoliberal globalization has successfully mobilized on a transnational scale. Nevertheless, barriers to transnational participation in protests are especially difficult to overcome. By means of a survey conducted with protesters from all over Europe during the 2001 anti-neoliberal globalization demonstrations at the EU summit in Brussels, we explore the specific impediments to transnational mobilization in the European context. How do anti-neoliberal globalization movement organizations manage to overcome obstacles while other movements are only able to coordinate collective action on a national level? Special attention is given to the impact these difficulties have on the motivation & profile of foreign versus local protesters. Are foreign protesters more radical in their actions than the local participants? Do they take a stronger stance towards their protest actions against globalization? We close by speculating on the future of this movement & on transnational collective action in general. 2 Tables, 1 Appendix, 42 References. Adapted from the source document.

The 1990s in Belgium were characterised by many more demonstrations than in the decennia before. Do these demonstrations signal a democratic malaise, or are they, oppositely, signs of a regained democratic vitality that drives citizens to enhance their participation through taking part in a rising number of collective actions? Putnam spoke of the relation between a crisis in democratic legitimacy and the level of social trust in a society, Using surveys taken on four national demonstrations we have tried to describe the trust in democratic institutions and in politics - or more simply put: the democratic capital - of demonstrators. The level of political distrust among demonstrators was high but supposedly not higher as that of the average Citizen. It is clear that distrust is not the only motivation for the demonstrators to take to the streets, as the belief in change and the subjective personal political ability are both relatively strong.

Previous scholarship has neglected to fully explore the dynamic nature of international news flow over time. This study uses content analysis to track foreign nation visibility on a yearly basis in two major U.S. news outlets: the New York Times (1950-2006) and NBC Nightly News (1968-2006). Time-series analysis is used to evaluate the influence of five contextual factors on foreign nation visibility in the news: (a) geographic proximity, (b) bilateral trade flow, (c) U.S. troop deployment, (d) GDP per capita, and (e) population. The research findings build on earlier news flow studies by adding a longitudinal dimension that has been absent from previous news "flow" scholarship.