Suchergebnisse

"Fake news" was chosen in 2017 as the word of the year by the Collins Dictionary and the American Dialect Society, due to its extraordinary popularity. However, its relevance has been called into question due to its controversy and ambiguity. We have compiled herein 30 definitions from selected dictionaries, academic papers, news agencies, influential media observatories, and independent, certified fact-checkers over the last six years and have carried out a manual relational content analysis on them. We also collected data from four bibliometric studies from academic literature and five surveys on how the general public perceived fake news. In keeping with this three-level systematic review (lexicography, bibliometrics, and public perception) we detected some trends, including a growing drift towards a post-truth-driven conceptualization of fake news. Results also show that the "viral" and "memetic" quality of a rumor prevail over the demonstrable credibility of a source and even the factuality of a reported event; the element of surprise or outrage in the heat of the moment is more powerful than the ironic detachment elicited by news satire and parody; and sharing motivations are definitely less concerned with perceived accuracy than with partisan support, community sentiment, emotional contagion, and a taste for the sensational or bizarre.

This book features new perspectives on the ethics and politics of free speech. Contributors draw on insights from philosophy, psychology, political theory, journalism, literature, and history to respond to pressing problems involving free speech in liberal societies.

Recent years have seen an explosion of academic interest in free speech. However, most recent work has focused on constitutional protections for free speech and on issues related to academic freedom and campus politics. The chapters in this volume set their sights more broadly on the non-state problems that we collectively face in attempting to realize a healthy environment for free discourse. The volume's contributors share the assumption that threats to free speech do not come exclusively from state sources or bad actors, but from ordinary strategic situations in which all may be acting in good faith. Contributors take seriously the idea that our current cultural moment provides plenty of reason to be concerned about our intellectual climate and offer new insights for how to make things better.

New Directions in the Ethics and Politics of Speech will be of interest to researchers and students working in ethics, political philosophy, social theory, and law.

Democratic theory and electoral behavior / Ian McAllister -- The sociological and social-psychological approaches / Vincent Hutchings and Hakeem Jefferson -- Rational choice theory and voting / Keith Dowding -- Institutions and voting behavior / B. Guy Peters -- The big picture : turnout at the macro level / Jack Vowles -- Demographic and the social bases of voter turnout / Eric Plutzer -- Turnout and the calculus of voting : recent advances and prospects for integration with theories of campaigns and elections / John Aldrich and Libby M. Jenke -- Voting and the expanding repertoire of participation / Jan van Deth -- The acquisition of voting habits / Elias Dinas -- Long-term factors : class and religious cleavages / Geoff Evans and Ksenia Northmore-Ball -- Ideology and electoral choice / Martin Elff -- Party identification / Shaun Bowler -- Trends in partisanship / Oliver Heath -- Politics, media and the electoral role of party leaders / Anthony Mughan and Loes Aaldering -- Preferences, constraints, and choices : tactical voting in mass elections / R. Michael Alvarez, D. Roderick Kiewiet and Lucas Núñez -- Economic voting / Marianne Stewart and Harold Clarke -- Electoral systems / Iain McLean -- Electoral integrity / Pippa Norris -- Voting behavior in multi-level electoral systems / Hermann Schmitt and Eftichia Teperoglou -- Local context, social networks and neighbourhood effects on voter choice / Ron Johnston and Charles Pattie -- Voting behavior in referendums / Michael Marsh -- Networks, contexts, and the process of political influence / Robert Huckfeldt, Matthew T. Pietryka and John B. Ryan -- Persuasion and mobilization effects by parties and candidates / Justin Fisher -- Campaign strategies, media and voters : the fourth era of political communication / Holli Semetko and Hubert Tworzecki -- The role of mass media in shaping public opinion and voter behaviour / Susan Banducci -- Digital campaigning / Stephen Ward, Rachel Gibson and Marta Cantijoch -- Attitudes, values and belief systems / Oddbjørn Knutsen -- The stability of political attitudes / Robert Erikson -- Political knowledge: measurement, misinformation and turnout / Jennifer Hudson -- Is there a rational public? / Jørgen Bølstad -- The geometry of party competition. parties and voters in the issue space / Lorenzo de Sio -- The thermostatic model : the public, policy and politics / Christopher Wlezien -- Regime support / Pedro Magalhaes -- Generational replacement : engine of electoral change / Wouter van der Brug and Mark Franklin -- The dependent variable in election studies : studying respondents or responses as units of analysis / Cees van Der Eijk -- The quest for representative survey samples / Laura Stoker and Andrew McCall -- Horses for courses : using internet surveys for researching public opinion and voting behaviour / Edward Fieldhouse and Chris Prosser -- The use of aggregate data in the study of voting behavior : ecological inference, ecological fallacy and other applications / Luana Russo -- Election forecasting / Stephen Fisher -- Field experiments in political behavior / Donald Green and Erin A. York -- Making inferences about elections and public opinion using incidentally collected data / Jon Mellon

Democratic theory and electoral behavior / Ian McAllister -- The sociological and social-psychological approaches / Vincent Hutchings and Hakeem Jefferson -- Rational choice theory and voting / Keith Dowding -- Institutions and voting behavior / B. Guy Peters -- The big picture : turnout at the macro level / Jack Vowles -- Demographic and the social bases of voter turnout / Eric Plutzer -- Turnout and the calculus of voting : recent advances and prospects for integration with theories of campaigns and elections / John Aldrich and Libby M. Jenke -- Voting and the expanding repertoire of participation / Jan van Deth -- The acquisition of voting habits / Elias Dinas -- Long-term factors : class and religious cleavages / Geoff Evans and Ksenia Northmore-Ball -- Ideology and electoral choice / Martin Elff -- Party identification / Shaun Bowler -- Trends in partisanship / Oliver Heath -- Politics, media and the electoral role of party leaders / Anthony Mughan and Loes Aaldering -- Preferences, constraints, and choices : tactical voting in mass elections / R. Michael Alvarez, D. Roderick Kiewiet and Lucas Núñez -- Economic voting / Marianne Stewart and Harold Clarke -- Electoral systems / Iain McLean -- Electoral integrity / Pippa Norris -- Voting behavior in multi-level electoral systems / Hermann Schmitt and Eftichia Teperoglou -- Local context, social networks and neighbourhood effects on voter choice / Ron Johnston and Charles Pattie -- Voting behavior in referendums / Michael Marsh -- Networks, contexts, and the process of political influence / Robert Huckfeldt, Matthew T. Pietryka and John B. Ryan -- Persuasion and mobilization effects by parties and candidates / Justin Fisher -- Campaign strategies, media and voters : the fourth era of political communication / Holli Semetko and Hubert Tworzecki -- The role of mass media in shaping public opinion and voter behaviour / Susan Banducci -- Digital campaigning / Stephen Ward, Rachel Gibson and Marta Cantijoch -- Attitudes, values and belief systems / Oddbjørn Knutsen -- The stability of political attitudes / Robert Erikson -- Political knowledge: measurement, misinformation and turnout / Jennifer Hudson -- Is there a rational public? / Jørgen Bølstad -- The geometry of party competition. parties and voters in the issue space / Lorenzo de Sio -- The thermostatic model : the public, policy and politics / Christopher Wlezien -- Regime support / Pedro Magalhaes -- Generational replacement : engine of electoral change / Wouter van der Brug and Mark Franklin -- The dependent variable in election studies : studying respondents or responses as units of analysis / Cees van Der Eijk -- The quest for representative survey samples / Laura Stoker and Andrew McCall -- Horses for courses : using internet surveys for researching public opinion and voting behaviour / Edward Fieldhouse and Chris Prosser -- The use of aggregate data in the study of voting behavior : ecological inference, ecological fallacy and other applications / Luana Russo -- Election forecasting / Stephen Fisher -- Field experiments in political behavior / Donald Green and Erin A. York -- Making inferences about elections and public opinion using incidentally collected data / Jon Mellon

Democratic theory and electoral behavior / Ian McAllister -- The sociological and social-psychological approaches / Vincent Hutchings and Hakeem Jefferson -- Rational choice theory and voting / Keith Dowding -- Institutions and voting behavior / B. Guy Peters -- The big picture : turnout at the macro level / Jack Vowles -- Demographic and the social bases of voter turnout / Eric Plutzer -- Turnout and the calculus of voting : recent advances and prospects for integration with theories of campaigns and elections / John Aldrich and Libby M. Jenke -- Voting and the expanding repertoire of participation / Jan van Deth -- The acquisition of voting habits / Elias Dinas -- Long-term factors : class and religious cleavages / Geoff Evans and Ksenia Northmore-Ball -- Ideology and electoral choice / Martin Elff -- Party identification / Shaun Bowler -- Trends in partisanship / Oliver Heath -- Politics, media and the electoral role of party leaders / Anthony Mughan and Loes Aaldering -- Preferences, constraints, and choices : tactical voting in mass elections / R. Michael Alvarez, D. Roderick Kiewiet and Lucas Núñez -- Economic voting / Marianne Stewart and Harold Clarke -- Electoral systems / Iain McLean -- Electoral integrity / Pippa Norris -- Voting behavior in multi-level electoral systems / Hermann Schmitt and Eftichia Teperoglou -- Local context, social networks and neighbourhood effects on voter choice / Ron Johnston and Charles Pattie -- Voting behavior in referendums / Michael Marsh -- Networks, contexts, and the process of political influence / Robert Huckfeldt, Matthew T. Pietryka and John B. Ryan -- Persuasion and mobilization effects by parties and candidates / Justin Fisher -- Campaign strategies, media and voters : the fourth era of political communication / Holli Semetko and Hubert Tworzecki -- The role of mass media in shaping public opinion and voter behaviour / Susan Banducci -- Digital campaigning / Stephen Ward, Rachel Gibson and Marta Cantijoch -- Attitudes, values and belief systems / OddbjØrn Knutsen -- The stability of political attitudes / Robert Erikson -- Political knowledge: measurement, misinformation and turnout / Jennifer Hudson -- Is there a rational public? / JØrgen BØlstad -- The geometry of party competition. parties and voters in the issue space / Lorenzo de Sio -- The thermostatic model : the public, policy and politics / Christopher Wlezien -- Regime support / Pedro Magalhaes -- Generational replacement : engine of electoral change / Wouter van der Brug and Mark Franklin -- The dependent variable in election studies : studying respondents or responses as units of analysis / Cees van Der Eijk -- The quest for representative survey samples / Laura Stoker and Andrew McCall -- Horses for courses : using internet surveys for researching public opinion and voting behaviour / Edward Fieldhouse and Chris Prosser -- The use of aggregate data in the study of voting behavior : ecological inference, ecological fallacy and other applications / Luana Russo -- Election forecasting / Stephen Fisher -- Field experiments in political behavior / Donald Green and Erin A. York -- Making inferences about elections and public opinion using incidentally collected data / Jon Mellon

Democratic theory and electoral behavior / Ian McAllister -- The sociological and social-psychological approaches / Vincent Hutchings and Hakeem Jefferson -- Rational choice theory and voting / Keith Dowding -- Institutions and voting behavior / B. Guy Peters -- The big picture : turnout at the macro level / Jack Vowles -- Demographic and the social bases of voter turnout / Eric Plutzer -- Turnout and the calculus of voting : recent advances and prospects for integration with theories of campaigns and elections / John Aldrich and Libby M. Jenke -- Voting and the expanding repertoire of participation / Jan van Deth -- The acquisition of voting habits / Elias Dinas -- Long-term factors : class and religious cleavages / Geoff Evans and Ksenia Northmore-Ball -- Ideology and electoral choice / Martin Elff -- Party identification / Shaun Bowler -- Trends in partisanship / Oliver Heath -- Politics, media and the electoral role of party leaders / Anthony Mughan and Loes Aaldering -- Preferences, constraints, and choices : tactical voting in mass elections / R. Michael Alvarez, D. Roderick Kiewiet and Lucas Núñez -- Economic voting / Marianne Stewart and Harold Clarke -- Electoral systems / Iain McLean -- Electoral integrity / Pippa Norris -- Voting behavior in multi-level electoral systems / Hermann Schmitt and Eftichia Teperoglou -- Local context, social networks and neighbourhood effects on voter choice / Ron Johnston and Charles Pattie -- Voting behavior in referendums / Michael Marsh -- Networks, contexts, and the process of political influence / Robert Huckfeldt, Matthew T. Pietryka and John B. Ryan -- Persuasion and mobilization effects by parties and candidates / Justin Fisher -- Campaign strategies, media and voters : the fourth era of political communication / Holli Semetko and Hubert Tworzecki -- The role of mass media in shaping public opinion and voter behaviour / Susan Banducci -- Digital campaigning / Stephen Ward, Rachel Gibson and Marta Cantijoch -- Attitudes, values and belief systems / Oddbjørn Knutsen -- The stability of political attitudes / Robert Erikson -- Political knowledge: measurement, misinformation and turnout / Jennifer Hudson -- Is there a rational public? / Jørgen Bølstad -- The geometry of party competition. parties and voters in the issue space / Lorenzo de Sio -- The thermostatic model : the public, policy and politics / Christopher Wlezien -- Regime support / Pedro Magalhaes -- Generational replacement : engine of electoral change / Wouter van der Brug and Mark Franklin -- The dependent variable in election studies : studying respondents or responses as units of analysis / Cees van Der Eijk -- The quest for representative survey samples / Laura Stoker and Andrew McCall -- Horses for courses : using internet surveys for researching public opinion and voting behaviour / Edward Fieldhouse and Chris Prosser -- The use of aggregate data in the study of voting behavior : ecological inference, ecological fallacy and other applications / Luana Russo -- Election forecasting / Stephen Fisher -- Field experiments in political behavior / Donald Green and Erin A. York -- Making inferences about elections and public opinion using incidentally collected data / Jon Mellon

Democratic theory and electoral behavior / Ian McAllister -- The sociological and social-psychological approaches / Vincent Hutchings and Hakeem Jefferson -- Rational choice theory and voting / Keith Dowding -- Institutions and voting behavior / B. Guy Peters -- The big picture : turnout at the macro level / Jack Vowles -- Demographic and the social bases of voter turnout / Eric Plutzer -- Turnout and the calculus of voting : recent advances and prospects for integration with theories of campaigns and elections / John Aldrich and Libby M. Jenke -- Voting and the expanding repertoire of participation / Jan van Deth -- The acquisition of voting habits / Elias Dinas -- Long-term factors : class and religious cleavages / Geoff Evans and Ksenia Northmore-Ball -- Ideology and electoral choice / Martin Elff -- Party identification / Shaun Bowler -- Trends in partisanship / Oliver Heath -- Politics, media and the electoral role of party leaders / Anthony Mughan and Loes Aaldering -- Preferences, constraints, and choices : tactical voting in mass elections / R. Michael Alvarez, D. Roderick Kiewiet and Lucas Núñez -- Economic voting / Marianne Stewart and Harold Clarke -- Electoral systems / Iain McLean -- Electoral integrity / Pippa Norris -- Voting behavior in multi-level electoral systems / Hermann Schmitt and Eftichia Teperoglou -- Local context, social networks and neighbourhood effects on voter choice / Ron Johnston and Charles Pattie -- Voting behavior in referendums / Michael Marsh -- Networks, contexts, and the process of political influence / Robert Huckfeldt, Matthew T. Pietryka and John B. Ryan -- Persuasion and mobilization effects by parties and candidates / Justin Fisher -- Campaign strategies, media and voters : the fourth era of political communication / Holli Semetko and Hubert Tworzecki -- The role of mass media in shaping public opinion and voter behaviour / Susan Banducci -- Digital campaigning / Stephen Ward, Rachel Gibson and Marta Cantijoch -- Attitudes, values and belief systems / OddbjØrn Knutsen -- The stability of political attitudes / Robert Erikson -- Political knowledge: measurement, misinformation and turnout / Jennifer Hudson -- Is there a rational public? / JØrgen BØlstad -- The geometry of party competition. parties and voters in the issue space / Lorenzo de Sio -- The thermostatic model : the public, policy and politics / Christopher Wlezien -- Regime support / Pedro Magalhaes -- Generational replacement : engine of electoral change / Wouter van der Brug and Mark Franklin -- The dependent variable in election studies : studying respondents or responses as units of analysis / Cees van Der Eijk -- The quest for representative survey samples / Laura Stoker and Andrew McCall -- Horses for courses : using internet surveys for researching public opinion and voting behaviour / Edward Fieldhouse and Chris Prosser -- The use of aggregate data in the study of voting behavior : ecological inference, ecological fallacy and other applications / Luana Russo -- Election forecasting / Stephen Fisher -- Field experiments in political behavior / Donald Green and Erin A. York -- Making inferences about elections and public opinion using incidentally collected data / Jon Mellon.

This thesis starts with a simple research question, asking why parliaments that share the same level of functions and competencies produce different results in terms of the level of development of their websites. The research is divided into three stages: comparative website analysis, quantitative analysis and case studies. Looking at 93 state Legislatures in Brazil, Spain and the United States, each of the stages of the research presents findings that contribute to the literature on e-democracy and open government. The comparative website analysis shows a varying degree of development amongst state Legislature websites. This heterogeneous level of development is contrasted with a common denominator amongst most websites: while the majority of efforts are towards the provision of Legislative information, the prospects for participation and deliberation are extremely limited. Standing out against these rather predictable results, findings also suggest that certain institutional traits such as electoral systems may influence the design of websites in terms of both their content and features. The quantitative analyses single out a number of factors that influence the differences in levels of development of Legislative websites. First of all, contrary to what has been suggested by a portion of the e-democracy literature, neither resources nor partisanship seem to matter for the development of Legislative websites. Conversely, the quantitative findings suggest that matters of institutional design (e.g. parliaments' autonomy) and demand (e.g. Internet access, population) may play a significant role in the performance of Parliamentary websites. The case studies - the core of this research - follow an institutional approach to the process of ICT usage within public organizations, through a detailed analysis of the inner workings of three different Legislatures in Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul, Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Norte). This analysis evinces the role played by factors largely ignored by the majority of the e-democracy research until now. It shows how the different institutional arrangements ultimately shape the very configuration of websites, impacting each of them in terms of their features and contents. By reversing this interpretation, we surmise, the configuration of Legislative websites per se may provide external observers with information regarding institutional arrangements and policy-innovation cycles and processes within a Legislature. iv Finally, the comparative perspective taken sheds light on the role played by civil servants in the technological enactment process within Legislatures. All other things being equal, it is the relationships among civil servants and MPs, and the relationships between the two groups - mediated by institutional arrangements - that will ultimately affect the level of development of parliamentary websites.

This thesis inquires into the political influences upon the recent tax reform process in Australia. Ananalysis of interest groups, public opinion and voting in relation to tax issues is carried out, usingstatistical analyses of behavioural evidence taken from the National Tax Summit, public opinion polls1982-1998, and the 1990, 1993 and 1996 federal elections. The direction of tax reform in Australia isalso compared with that of other OECD nations, using data collected by the OECD. The analysis ofinterest groups compares incremental pluralist, corporatist and rational predictions of the way in whichinterest groups are thought to influence tax policy. The investigation of public opinion uses evidencefrom opinion polls to test a number of competing hypotheses drawn from the theory of tax aversion,which proposes that individuals are not averse to all forms of taxation equally, but are rather averse tosome aspects of taxation more than others. The inquiry into voting in relation to taxation issuesinvestigates a number of complementary proposals: that voters are as influenced by permanent changemicroeconomic issues as they are by cyclical change macroeconomic issues, that voters wereparticularly influenced by the issue of the GST in 1993, and that voters' attitudes towards this issuedisplayed a measure of self interest, as well as partisanship. Finally, a comparative analysis indicateswhether the attempted tax reforms in Australia are taking place within the context of OECD countriesrelying less upon income taxes, and more upon broad based indirect taxes. The main findings of thethesis are that the reforms of the National Tax Summit were neither incrementalist, nor pluralist innature, falsifying the most important interest group theory of tax policy making. Nor was onehypothesis of tax aversion more successful than any other in describing voter opinion about taxreform, although the overall impression is that voters rationally oppose higher burdens of taxation. Itis clear that Australian voters are more heavily influenced by issues of change in the micro economythan by issues of change in the macro economy. However, although the GST was an important issuein the 1993 election, this election cannot be described as a referendum on this issue. Finally, it isapparent that the proposals for tax reform in Australia are taking place within the context of taxconvergence among comparable OECD nations in the direction of reduced reliance upon income taxesand narrowly based indirect taxes, and increased reliance upon broad based indirect taxes. In theconclusion, I suggest that over the period studied by this thesis, the influence of interest groups,public opinion and voters has declined, and the influence of other tax reforming nations has probablyincreased as taxation policy has moved from the politics of consensus to the politics of conviction.

The foreign commentator does not always view America as a student bent on understanding the country & the American people on their own terms & for their own sake. 'More often, in fact, the perspective is one of partisanship with regard to issues in the commentator's own country or beliefs in his personal philosophy; in some cases his interpretation of America is but a convenient language in which extraneous views & prejudices can be expressed with impunity.' Themes in the writings of A. de Tocqueville, J. Bryce & M. Weber are explored. De Tocqueville eloquently pleaded in favor of the decentralization he saw in America, while not anticipating the growth of the nation into a great military power. His criticism of candidates for public offices was concerned mainly with the technical efficiency & intellectual standard inherent in US administrative practices, rather than problems of political ethics, & his principal criticism of 'the tyranny of the majority' is discussed. Bryce, like Tocqueville, decried that the best talent does not enter the field of public affairs & 'in consequence government in all its branches is below the level to be expected in a nation like the US.' Bryce points to 2 defects of US democracy that received little or no attention from Tocqueville: the corrupt & unethical party-politics practices, also prevalent in city gov'ts; & the formidable power of wealth in America. Unlike Tocqueville, Bryce did not consider a `tyranny of the majority' a danger inherent in US democracy. 'The relative freedom from the bureaucratically formalized type of administration was, to Weber, one of the most valuable aspects of US democracy.' He clearly foresaw the ascent of the US as a world power, & long viewed the US & Russia as the two great centers of gravitation in the modern world. Presented is a brief report of a direct interview survey among leaders from Europe, Asia, & Africa, bringing out 4 grand themes in their images of US: world power, bigness & wealth, technology, & big heart. 'In the political image there was, for instance, 'young & forceful nation' as well as 'young & inexperienced nation', democracy as well as `race relations impair democracy', & 'the civil liberties issue endangers democracy'.' Econ'ly, there were themes like 'opportunity' as well as `insecurity', 'maldistribution', & 'small-group rule (Wall Street)'. In the social & cultural image there was stress on such themes as 'technical skill & efficiency', 'well-integrated multinational society', 'materialism', 'competitiveness', 'success orientation', 'hard work', & 'violence'. In the image of Americans as human beings the main theme was 'friendliness & openness in HR's with such collateral themes as 'strong', 'youthful', 'juvenile', 'skillful', 'active', & 'insensitive to nontechnologicai cultural values'. (See also SA 2685 2734, 2735, 2738, 2739, 2740, 2742, 2744, 2745, 2746, 2748) P. Widem.

Currently, the transformations occurring in media systems (especially those relating to technologies, the Internet and social networks) have led to a renewed interest in analysing the conditions that potentially foster selective exposure and, specifically, politically-oriented selection. As a result, that theory is now among the 21st century's top eight most used approaches (Bryant & Miron, 2004, p. 696). This thematic issue addresses some of the key questions about selective exposure and associated phenomena by means of two comment articles and three research articles.

A central frustration of recent political discourse is the consistent reduction of politically relevant factual and critical speech to mere expression of partisan commitment. Partisans of "the other side"—members of the other tribe—are viewed as de facto wrong, because partisans, even when their speech invokes mere facts or purportedly shared political principles. Ideally, democratic political discourse operates along at least two central dimensions: a dimension of shared factual, historical, and political assumptions, and a more contested dimension of interpretation, prioritization, and evaluation that results in diverse and often competing understandings of what is good, and so of what is best to collectively pursue. Debates among advocates of competing conceptions of the good and partisans of diverse world views identifiable in terms of the second dimension are, on this picture, constrained and grounded by the shared factual and political commitments of the first, thus ensuring a meaningful basis for ongoing political engagement. While there is little reason to think this ideal has ever been perfectly realized, in recent political discourse statements that events have occurred, drugs are effective, or transparency is important in political conduct cannot seem to get uptake except as mere expressions of political partisanship any more than an actor on stage trying to convince her audience of the danger of a real fire that has broken out in the theater can get uptake for this claim except as an expression in a theatrical performance. In both cases, the real content and discursive intent of speech is undermined by the context in which it occurs. In the case of the actor on stage, the appropriate rules for uptake and interpretation are being followed, just to unfortunate effect. However, in the case of political discourse something seems to be wrong with the rules for uptake and interpretation that have come to dominate in many quarters. This essay relies on recent discussions of silencing and epistemic injustice to introduce the ideas of partisan silencing and hyper-partisan silencing in an attempt to say more precisely what has gone wrong with the rules for uptake and interpretation in political discourse. It then relies on Hannah Arendt's analyses of truth and lies in politics to connect these phenomena to underlying features of political action and speech. Conditions of partisan and hyper-partisan silencing turn out to be a natural, if not inevitable, consequence of the relationship of truth-telling and deception to political action itself as Arendt understands this. Finally, the essay elaborates on two suggestive passages from Arendt's 1967 essay "Truth and Politics" to propose potential strategies for resisting conditions of hyper-partisan silencing. Because hyper-partisan silencing itself imposes a certain discursive logic, there are kinds of political speech and action that might succeed in being understood as sincere and so in being persuasive—even in the face of hyper-partisan silencing—precisely because they challenge the assumptions that underpin this discursive logic itself. ; A central frustration of recent political discourse is the consistent reduction of politically relevant factual and critical speech to mere expression of partisan commitment. Partisans of "the other side"—members of the other tribe—are viewed as de facto wrong, because partisans, even when their speech invokes mere facts or purportedly shared political principles. Ideally, democratic political discourse operates along at least two central dimensions: a dimension of shared factual, historical, and political assumptions, and a more contested dimension of interpretation, prioritization, and evaluation that results in diverse and often competing understandings of what is good, and so of what is best to collectively pursue. Debates among advocates of competing conceptions of the good and partisans of diverse world views identifiable in terms of the second dimension are, on this picture, constrained and grounded by the shared factual and political commitments of the first, thus ensuring a meaningful basis for ongoing political engagement. While there is little reason to think this ideal has ever been perfectly realized, in recent political discourse statements that events have occurred, drugs are effective, or transparency is important in political conduct cannot seem to get uptake except as mere expressions of political partisanship any more than an actor on stage trying to convince her audience of the danger of a real fire that has broken out in the theater can get uptake for this claim except as an expression in a theatrical performance. In both cases, the real content and discursive intent of speech is undermined by the context in which it occurs. In the case of the actor on stage, the appropriate rules for uptake and interpretation are being followed, just to unfortunate effect. However, in the case of political discourse something seems to be wrong with the rules for uptake and interpretation that have come to dominate in many quarters. This essay relies on recent discussions of silencing and epistemic injustice to introduce the ideas of partisan silencing and hyper-partisan silencing in an attempt to say more precisely what has gone wrong with the rules for uptake and interpretation in political discourse. It then relies on Hannah Arendt's analyses of truth and lies in politics to connect these phenomena to underlying features of political action and speech. Conditions of partisan and hyper-partisan silencing turn out to be a natural, if not inevitable, consequence of the relationship of truth-telling and deception to political action itself as Arendt understands this. Finally, the essay elaborates on two suggestive passages from Arendt's 1967 essay "Truth and Politics" to propose potential strategies for resisting conditions of hyper-partisan silencing. Because hyper-partisan silencing itself imposes a certain discursive logic, there are kinds of political speech and action that might succeed in being understood as sincere and so in being persuasive—even in the face of hyper-partisan silencing—precisely because they challenge the assumptions that underpin this discursive logic itself.

Defence date: 31 March 2017 ; Examining Board: Professor Pepper Culpepper, formerly EUI/University of Oxford (Supervisor); Professor Hanspeter Kriesi, EUI (Co-Supervisor); Professor Ferdinand Müller-Rommel, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg; Professor Maurits Van der Veen, College of William & Mary ; This dissertation deals with the question of how the partisan nature of government still matters in the current globalized and post-industrial world. In particular, it compares the representativeness of two contemporary centre-left governments with that of two centre-left executives from the 1970s in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. According to the more provocative theories about the state of contemporary representative democracy, these countries should be forerunners of a general European trend in which governments care more about technical competence rather than political representation and responsiveness. These tendencies are expected to particularly affect the partisanship of Labour ministers. In order to test these theories, I do a comparative content analysis of how Labour finance ministers/Chancellors justify the yearly government budget in front of the parliament. The justifications are divided into those that characterize the government as representative of the partisan redistributive preferences (input-justifications) VS those that profile it as a competent caretaker of public finances (output-justifications). Following the above-mentioned theories, the hypothesis is that today the output-justifications are more important than in the past. As this approach is relatively novel with regards to the study of responsiveness, the thesis also dedicates one chapter to the justification strategies of a technical and a neoliberal government. The purpose of this extra comparison is to have more empirical evidence of what renders an output-justification different from an input-justification. By incorporating these two cases, thus, I get a deeper comparative insight into what is a typical left-wing/partisan discourse characteristic and what constitutes governmental/institutional talk. This extra comparison, consequently, allows me to reflect more deeply on the findings emerging from the overtime comparison of Labour governments. The findings of my research tell a two-sided story. On the one hand, contrary to my hypothesis, the contemporary cases feature slightly more input-justifications than the governments from the 1970s. On the other, the logic of the discourses suggests that, while in the 1970s the responsiveness to social needs was presented as a policy goal per se, today the input-justifications tend to be more subordinated to justifications about economic and financial considerations. The findings thus speak both to theories according to which today we are not witnessing a decline of political representation, but simply a change in kind, as well to the theories speaking of a gradual hollowing out of political competition. In the iv conclusion of my dissertation I reflect on what is right and wrong on the two sides of the debate.

Defence date: 2 October 2013 ; Examining Board: Professor Alexander H. Trechsel (EUI, Supervisor) Professor Giovanni Sartor, EUI Professor Leonardo Avritzer, Federal University of Minas Gerais Professor Graham Smith, University of Westminster ; First made available online 5 December 2016 ; This thesis starts with a simple research question, asking why parliaments that share the same level of functions and competencies produce different results in terms of the level of development of their websites. The research is divided into three stages: comparative website analysis, quantitative analysis and case studies. Looking at 93 state Legislatures in Brazil, Spain and the United States, each of the stages of the research presents findings that contribute to the literature on e-democracy and open government. The comparative website analysis shows a varying degree of development amongst state Legislature websites. This heterogeneous level of development is contrasted with a common denominator amongst most websites: while the majority of efforts are towards the provision of Legislative information, the prospects for participation and deliberation are extremely limited. Standing out against these rather predictable results, findings also suggest that certain institutional traits such as electoral systems may influence the design of websites in terms of both their content and features. The quantitative analyses single out a number of factors that influence the differences in levels of development of Legislative websites. First of all, contrary to what has been suggested by a portion of the e-democracy literature, neither resources nor partisanship seem to matter for the development of Legislative websites. Conversely, the quantitative findings suggest that matters of institutional design (e.g. parliaments' autonomy) and demand (e.g. Internet access, population) may play a significant role in the performance of Parliamentary websites. The case studies - the core of this research - follow an institutional approach to the process of ICT usage within public organizations, through a detailed analysis of the inner workings of three different Legislatures in Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul, Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Norte). This analysis evinces the role played by factors largely ignored by the majority of the e-democracy research until now. It shows how the different institutional arrangements ultimately shape the very configuration of websites, impacting each of them in terms of their features and contents. By reversing this interpretation, we surmise, the configuration of Legislative websites per se may provide external observers with information regarding institutional arrangements and policy-innovation cycles and processes within a Legislature. iv Finally, the comparative perspective taken sheds light on the role played by civil servants in the technological enactment process within Legislatures. All other things being equal, it is the relationships among civil servants and MPs, and the relationships between the two groups - mediated by institutional arrangements - that will ultimately affect the level of development of parliamentary websites.

Is it possible to explain all political behavior in terms of self-interest? If we interpret self-interest as narrow, direct and short-term, the answer is obviously no. Things that we might call culture, ideology, ideas and moral principles clearly affect individual choices, and, thereby, political outcomes. But inquiries into the the logic behind these other forces often bring us back to interest. Much behavior that appears at odds with self-interest can be "rationalized" by considering long time horizons and the complexities of social interaction. In acting against my short-term self-interest, I may be building a useful reputation, winning and maintaining allies, making credible commitments, or establishing a focal point. Recent game theoretic work has shown how patterns of behavior that we might attribute to culture (Kreps 1990, Fearon and Laitin, 1996), partisanship (Aldrich 1995), ideology (Bawn 1999) or ideas (Garret and Weingast 1993, Weingast 1995, Bates, de Figueiredo and Weingast 1998) can arise endogenously in models with no causal force other than self-interest. The seemingly non-interest based behavior arises as the result of long time horizons, uncertainty and complex social interaction. The success of the rational choice paradigm in explaining seemingly non-interest-based behavior motivates my initial question. What are the limits of self-interest explanations? While this paper cannot offer a comprehensive answer, it explores a particular alternative to interest, moral principle. I will focus here on a case in which the role played by interest seems to be quite small, and the role played by moral principle seems quite large – the abolitionist movement in the United States. The seemingly straightforward claim that the abolitionist movement was motivated by principle begs many questions. Under what circumstances are people motivated by principle? When does principle override interest? Why is a given principle important to one person and not another? Does the "success" of a principle in motivating behavior depend on the logical force of its content, or simply on the social context in which it is invoked? The argument developed here is that social context matters a lot. Specifically, in some social contexts, some individuals can benefit by taking modestly costly action in defense of a principle that has no direct link to their self-interest. They benefit because by defending the principle, they give a credible signal of their own trustworthiness. The idea that behavior contrary to one's short-term self interest can act as an effective signal is not new to game theoretic political science. Nor is it novel to claim that abolitionism sprang from a particular vision of social order held by evangelical communities in the early-to-mid 19th century. This paper's contribution is to show that this vision of social order created an unusual need for individuals to be able signal good intentions to their fellow community members.