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Using insights from the psychology literature, this article introduces and operationalises the concept of 'democratic frustration' to shed new light on the pathologies of democratic crises. While political scientists have devoted ample attention to democratic crises and dissatisfaction, this article suggests that citizens&rsquo ; frequent references to their &ldquo ; frustration&rdquo ; should be taken more literally. Specifically, it suggests that citizens become frustrated when a perceived democratic delivery deficit interacts with a strong democratic expectation or desire. The article tests this model using two original surveys run in the UK during the 2017 General Election and 2019 European Parliament elections. By measuring expectations and delivery deficit separately, the article maps democratic frustration vis-à ; -vis alternative concepts such as apathy, criticality, and cynicism, and shows that it is more widespread as an expectation&ndash ; deficit combination than any of them. It suggests that democratic frustration comprises of three dimensions: ideological, institutional and political. Adapting insights from the psychology of frustration that show it usually results in expressions of withdrawal, anger, or aggression, the article then explores how the three dimensions of frustration typically result in different pathologies. Ideological frustration leads to abstention (withdrawal), institutional frustration to peaceful demonstrations or radical vote (anger) and to envisage leaving one&rsquo ; s country, whilst political and institutional frustrations combine and lead citizens to consider taking part in violent demonstrations or even joining a revolution (aggression).

Using insights from the psychology literature, this article introduces and operationalises the concept of 'democratic frustration' to shed new light on the pathologies of democratic crises. While political scientists have devoted ample attention to democratic crises and dissatisfaction, this article suggests that citizens' frequent references to their "frustration" should be taken more literally. Specifically, it suggests that citizens become frustrated when a perceived democratic delivery deficit interacts with a strong democratic expectation or desire. The article tests this model using two original surveys run in the UK during the 2017 General Election and 2019 European Parliament elections. By measuring expectations and delivery deficit separately, the article maps democratic frustration vis-à-vis alternative concepts such as apathy, criticality, and cynicism, and shows that it is more widespread as an expectation–deficit combination than any of them. It suggests that democratic frustration comprises of three dimensions: ideological, institutional and political. Adapting insights from the psychology of frustration that show it usually results in expressions of withdrawal, anger, or aggression, the article then explores how the three dimensions of frustration typically result in different pathologies. Ideological frustration leads to abstention (withdrawal), institutional frustration to peaceful demonstrations or radical vote (anger) and to envisage leaving one's country, whilst political and institutional frustrations combine and lead citizens to consider taking part in violent demonstrations or even joining a revolution (aggression).

Presents some of the preliminary findings from research which has sought to identify performance drivers in manufacturing cells. A medium‐sized UK automotive component supplier which operates on a JIT basis was used for the research which has also examined the perceived and actual inter‐relationships between cell drivers and the effect of these on goal congruence. The results illustrate a fundamental difference in perception between production manager and the shop floor together with a shared misconception regarding perceived driver interactions. The result is a disjointed performance measurement system which fails to drive the continuous improvement required in the manufacturing cells.

We investigated whether imagining contact with an outgroup member would change intergroup behaviour. Participants who had imagined a positive interaction with an outgroup member or an unspecified stranger were told that they were about to take part in a discussion task with an outgroup member. They were taken to a room and asked to set out two chairs ready for the discussion while the experimenter left, ostensibly to find the other participant. The distance between the two chairs was then measured. Undergraduate students who imagined talking to an obese individual (Experiment 1) or a Muslim individual (Experiment 2) placed the chairs significantly closer than those in the control condition. They also reported more positive feelings and beliefs regarding Muslims. These findings highlight an important practical application of imagined contact: preparing people for successful face-to-face contact.

Presented at the Pathways to Prosperity National Conference - Shaping Immigration to Canada: Learning from the Past and a Vision for the Future, 2018, Ottawa, Ontario. In the second workshop, "Public Perceptions of Refugees: Contexts and Response": While Canada's overall commitment to resettling refugees is admirable, there are those within Canadian society who view such arrivals with apprehension. When politicians, pundits, media, and the broader public express disparaging views or opinions about refugees, the result, whether intentional or not, is the reinforcing of negative prejudices and stereotypes. The goal of this session is to assess the opinions and views of the broader public and media towards refugees while examining the impact that such perspectives may have on refugees in Canada. (From original website)

This study expands our knowledge about public service motivation in the context of politics as a concept defined by self‐interested and other‐interested motives. Current research shows the importance of other‐interested public interest as a person–environment fit variable. We test the assumption that self‐interested motives differ in regard to behavioural outcomes of local councillors when compared to other‐interested motives. Using a dataset of 8,111 local government councillors in Switzerland, our analysis reveals that self‐ and other‐interested motives have different behavioural outcomes, and that the rational motive of attraction to policy‐making acts solely as a moderator between resistance within council and seeking re‐election. The utility of these findings for the further development of theory on public service motivation and implications for future research are also discussed.

This paper explores the proposition that IT-driven provision of open data may have unanticipated consequences. Transparency is normally considered desirable: knowledge is "power", the "oxygen of democracy" and so on. Accordingly there has been a trend towards greater freedom of information, with citizens given access to an increasing diversity of datasets. For many years, governments have produced one particular type of data specifically for public consumption: performance data, such as hospital waiting list statistics, figures on crime, and school performance league tables. Having more information is usually considered beneficial, particularly when there is little available. But when the information supply becomes plentiful, it is not clear that benefits continue to accrue in a simple way. Some apparently negative repercussions are being observed from the publication of performance data. For example, in education the use of league tables seems unable to correct performance problems in some schools, and may even depress performance. Similar effects are observed in other spheres. Data reporting a decreasing threat of crime may be linked with a widespread sense of heightened danger. In the private sector, publication of CEO salaries seems to have fuelled rampant salary inflation. These effects are to do with the cumulative impact of individual behaviours when people respond en masse to information. Individuals react according to their environment, which includes data, creating a complex system with potentially unpredictable and non-intuitive behaviour. We may hope that increased access to data will create net benefits, but evidence suggests that we cannot assume this will always be true. This paper reviews the results of research into this phenomenon from theoretical and empirical perspectives. Results indicate that the publication of performance data can affect the behaviour of service providers, the media, and service consumers, and that the effects are heavily situation-dependent and by no means universally benign. An agenda for further research is outlined, which may help to guide the formulation of policies regarding the publication of government performance data in particular and open data provision in general.