Suchergebnisse

One of the most striking findings in political science is the democratic peace: the absence of war between democracies. Some authors attempt to explain this phenomenon by highlighting the role of public opinion. They observe that democratic leaders are beholden to voters and argue that voters oppose war because of its human and financial costs. This logic predicts that democracies should behave peacefully in general, but history shows that democracies avoid war primarily in their relations with other democracies. In this article we investigate not whether democratic publics are averse to war in general, but whether they are especially reluctant to fight other democracies. We embedded experiments in public opinion polls in the United States and the United Kingdom and found that individuals are substantially less supportive of military strikes against democracies than against otherwise identical autocracies. Moreover, our experiments suggest that shared democracy pacifies the public primarily by changing perceptions of threat and morality, not by raising expectations of costs or failure. These findings shed light on a debate of enduring importance to scholars and policy makers.

AbstractIf citizens pay insufficient attention to tax policies or cannot figure out how they are taxed, politicians may raise taxes more than is desired by the public, with few electoral repercussions. This scenario is central to the notion of "fiscal illusion" and is potentially problematic from a democratic point of view. In this article, I argue that payday is an opportunity for citizens to update their tax preferences. When people are paid and taxed, they are likely to think more about personal consumption relative to public consumption and be more aware of how the current tax system affects their personal finances, leading to increased tax skepticism. Studying this in Denmark, where payday falls on the same day for most people, and using a temporal regression discontinuity design, I find that support for tax cuts goes up by approximately 10 percentage points at payday. Further analyses suggest that this result is not driven by narrow economic self-interest, because the effect does not systematically vary across income groups. Rather, payday seems to mobilize ideological predispositions, as the effect is largest among rightists, for whom taxes are an especially strong political symbol. The implications for opinion formation and democratic accountability are discussed.

THIS ARTICLE PRESENTS AN INITIAL STEP TOWARD INTEGRATING CULTURAL BELIEFS INTO THE EMPIRICAL STUDY OF PUBLIC OPINION AND MASS BELIEF SYSTEMS. THE SPECIFIC FOCUS OF THE ANALYSIS IS ECONOMIC INDIVIDUALISM-BELIEFS IN THE WORK ETHIC AND QUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY. AFTER A SHORT THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL DISCUSSION, A MEASUREMENT STRATEGY IS PROPOSED AND EXPLORED USING THE CENTER FOR POLITICAL STUDIES 1972 NATIONAL ELECTION STUDY. THE EFFECTS OF THESE TWO BELIEFS ON ATTITUDES TOWARD SOCIAL WELFARE AND BLACK WELFARE ISSUES ARE THEN EXAMINED. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE STRUCTURE OF BELIEF SYSTEMS AND PATTERNS OF PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR VARIOUS POLICIES ARE DISCUSSED.

Funktionen und Aufgaben des Staates.

Themen: 1.) Bürgerrechte: Einstellung zur Gesetzestreue und zu
ausgewählten Protestformen gegen die Regierung; Meinungsfreiheit und
Pressefreiheit auch für Revolutionäre und Rassisten; polizeiliche
Eingriffe in die Privatsphäre zur Verhinderung von Straftaten;
Rechtsstaatprinzip; Haltung zu Demonstrationsteilnehmern, Rassisten und
Revolutionären. 2.) Staatliche Eingriffe: Steuerprogression und
Einkommensumverteilung durch die Regierung; Regierungsmaßnahmen
hinsichtlich der Kontrolle von Löhnen, Gehältern und Preisen sowie der
Reduzierung von Staatsausgaben; staatliche Arbeitsbeschaffungsmaßnahmen,
Wirtschaftsförderungsmaßnahmen und Subventionen; Präferenz für eine
reduzierte staatliche Wirtschaftskontrolle; Arbeitszeitverkürzung versus
Schaffung neuer Arbeitsplätze; Präferenz für eine Zu- bzw. Abnahme von
Staatsausgaben; Inflations- versus Arbeitslosigkeitsbekämpfung; Einfluß
von Gewerkschaften, Industrie und Regierung; Stellung der Regierung in
der Elektrizitätsversorgung, Stahlindustrie sowie im Bank- und
Versicherungswesen; Einstellung zu staatlicher Arbeitsplatzgarantie,
Preiskontrolle, staatlicher Krankenversorgung, Aufrechterhaltung eines
angemessenen Lebensstandards für alte Menschen und Arbeitslose,
Verringerung der Einkommensunterschiede, Unterstützung von Studenten aus
ärmeren Familien und zur Bereitstellung von Wohnmöglichkeiten für Arme;
Politikinteresse.

Because PO has been considered as enlightened PO as distinct from 'public clamour', it has been associated with Mc rule. With the idea of such rule there has also been associated the doctrine of progress, parliamentarism, the liberal or antiChristian conception of ethics &, in times of crisis, the principle of dictatorship. Today, Mc rule is being challenged by mass rule & the associated doctrines increasingly rejected. If balance & moderation is to be attained, then parliamentary gov must be replaced by some form of gov by groups. A Christian, rather than a Utilitarian, ethic may be the means of fostering such group gov in which free group opinion might form the basis of free mass opinion. (IPSA).

Theoretisch