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Independent media constitute a crucial component of a liberal democracy, especially for the critical role they can play in advancing the pace of democratization. In the late Soviet era, after Gorbachev lifted state control of the media as part of his glasnost policy, they helped release the hold of communist ideology on society & then went on in the 1990s to mobilize public support for democratic development. Essentially the media constituted the "engine for democratization." More recently, however, the media have become less influential. This chapter focuses on why this has happened & what its implications are for the future of democracy in Russia. J. Stanton

Attempts to understand violence, both before & after September 11 (2001), have excluded cultural & psychological elements from their political analysis. The effects of culture & psychology can create a situation where violence, normally constrained by society, erupts into episodes of conflict & war, particularly when influenced by external economic & political pressures. Social & religious movements resulting from this confluence cannot be understood through an appeal to traditional logic, but must be considered through the lens of psychosexual analysis. Similarly, episodes of political & social violence must be understood within the culture that created them. It is concluded that the studies of culture & psychology must be reincorporated into political analyses & that the US must treat culture as a political matter & not shy away from cultural conflicts to protect its own psychological comfort zone. T. Foster

Attempts to understand violence, both before & after September 11 (2001), have excluded cultural & psychological elements from their political analysis. The effects of culture & psychology can create a situation where violence, normally constrained by society, erupts into episodes of conflict & war, particularly when influenced by external economic & political pressures. Social & religious movements resulting from this confluence cannot be understood through an appeal to traditional logic, but must be considered through the lens of psychosexual analysis. Similarly, episodes of political & social violence must be understood within the culture that created them. It is concluded that the studies of culture & psychology must be reincorporated into political analyses & that the US must treat culture as a political matter & not shy away from cultural conflicts to protect its own psychological comfort zone. T. Foster

Explores efforts to widen citizen participation in elections & ponders whether increasing voter turnout is a worthwhile event. It is possible that such efforts might simply attract the marginal voter, who may be poorly informed or take a random approach to voting, in which case, perhaps voting should not be made easier or more participatory. Alternative suggestions are evaluated, including the enhancement of incentives for voters to become engaged, informal discouragement of unthoughtful participation, & name order rotations. L. Collins Leigh

"This chapter discusses the state of the art in research on the interplay between mass mediated and interpersonal political communication. After giving basic definitions, direct and mediated effects of political talk on various outcomes (e.g., knowledge, attitudes, participation) are discussed on the basis of several key models (e.g., mediation model, O-S-R-O-R model). Generally, it is argued that the Internet has renewed scholarly interest in the issue but that most studies still investigate interpersonal or mass communication separately, largely neglecting the other mode of communication. Only recently researchers have begun to more explicitly address the interplay between interpersonal and mass mediated political communication. Therefore, the chapter calls for a more thorough theoretical and empirical integration of interpersonal and mass communication perspectives in political communication research." (publisher's description)

The role of transnational media organizations in influencing diplomacy, foreign affairs, & security has increased in the post-Cold War era. The media has evolved from domestic agencies into interdependent transnationals, as evidenced by CNN's role in the Gulf War. The evolution, structure, & operation of the two major global media players -- CNN & BCC News -- are charted. The media are involved in promoting government activities, but at the same time, need to be harnessed for national security. A "CNN effect" is disputed -- the immediacy of the new media does not necessarily underlie a loss of policy-making control in government. Media issues related to war coverage, military operations, & humanitarian missions are discussed. Traditional barriers to the flow of information will be further dissolved by new technologies, so security policy needs to stay on the cutting edge to address these. M. Pflum

Traces the prevalent stereotypes of African Americans in the US media culture & discusses the antiracist responses. It is contended that the expansion of US popular culture to the global community raises moral questions regarding the spread of US racist stereotypes to the rest of the world. Antiracist activity in film is traced to the organized political pressure & protests by African Americans & progressive whites against the film The Birth of a Nation (1915). Other antiracist activity examined includes: the US government's encouragement to Hollywood to portray blacks in a dignified manner during WWII years; & the call by the American Civil Liberties Union Art Division, led by writers & producers as well as prominent actors, for a boycott of production companies that maintained policies of discrimination. The 1970s produced the advent of "blaxploitation" TV & movies, but also positive antiracist events including Roots & The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. It is argued that the overwhelmingly biased images of African Americans being exported around the globe speaks volumes for what it says about the producers & consumers of such ideas. 87 References. M. Greenberg

"This chapter reviews the major lines of research on five prominent concepts of political communication research linked to the cognitive effects of political mass media: Knowledge gains and gaps, cultivation, agenda setting, priming, and framing. Basic ideas, typical methodologies, key findings and the cognitive processes behind the concepts are discussed in detail, common conceptual roots are identified, and key methodological challenges are highlighted. Finally, some of the overlaps and differences between the approaches are discussed in order to take a step toward a more integrative and coherent view of cognitive media effects in political communication. The chapter argues that both empirical and theoretical advances are needed to get to a better and less fragmented understanding of cognitive media effects in political communication." (publisher's description).

"This chapter reviews the major lines of research on five prominent concepts of political communication research linked to the cognitive effects of political mass media: Knowledge gains and gaps, cultivation, agenda setting, priming, and framing. Basic ideas, typical methodologies, key findings and the cognitive processes behind the concepts are discussed in detail, common conceptual roots are identified, and key methodological challenges are highlighted. Finally, some of the overlaps and differences between the approaches are discussed in order to take a step toward a more integrative and coherent view of cognitive media effects in political communication. The chapter argues that both empirical and theoretical advances are needed to get to a better and less fragmented understanding of cognitive media effects in political communication." (publisher's description)

Compares cosmopolitan versus communitarian issue positions by mass publics and elites across our study. We investigate whether there is an attitude gap between elites, who tend to adhere to cosmopolitan positions, and mass publics with more communitarian leanings. Contrasting mass opinion surveys with results from our own elite survey, we show that the mass-elite divide on globalization issues is indeed pervasive and found in all five countries of study. We consider both economic causes in the shape of diverging material interests and cultural ones, the latter pointing towards cultural capital and symbolic boundaries defining transnational cosmopolitan class consciousness. The results align more with the cultural than with the economic explanation. Political elites in the five countries display convergent cosmopolitan positions across issues as varied as international trade, climate change, migration and supranational integration. Mass publics are much more divided on these issues. Also, education alone does not explain the mass-elite gap because the elites are still significantly more cosmopolitan than highly educated members of mass publics, even within the same country.

It is argued that forces of globalization have exacerbated the Rwandan interethnic conflict. An overview of Belgium's colonization of Rwanda & of late-20th-century violence between the Hutus & Tutsis is provided. Several factors that contributed to genocide in Rwanda are identified, eg, the redefinition of Hutu & Tutsi identity & the introduction of global markets. However, two principal factors deemed largely responsible for genocide are distinguished: the loss of legitimacy by Juvenal Habyarimana's regime & the interference of the global banking community, especially the International Monetary Fund & the World Bank. Specifically, the promise of economic growth entailed in the introduction of markets to Rwanda has not been delivered; in fact, globalization processes ultimately drove Rwanda to genocide. It is concluded that further mass killings can be prevented if the Rwandan people, in conjunction with neighboring African peoples, work together to resist the forces of globalization. J. W. Parker