Opinion og meningsmålinger

Der Band ist dem Verhältnis von Informationen, Wahlen und Demokratie gewidmet. Deutschland, aber auch andere Länder in den Blick nehmend, widmen sich die Autor:innen vor allem den Bürger:innen, ihren Einstellungen, Interessen und Wahlentscheidungen. Auch die Rolle von Kontexten wird beleuchtet, insbesondere von Informationskontexten: Wie und mit wem sprechen Menschen über Politik, wie informieren sie sich über neue und alte Medien, welche Rollen spielen intermediäre Instanzen?Mit Beiträgen vonO. Appiah | K. Armingeon | Paul A. Beck | T. Bräuninger | P. Darius | M. Debus | B. Ebbinghaus | S. Ellerbrock | W. Eveland | Th. Faas | S. Huber | M. Jiménez-Buedo | R. Johnston | S. Kleinman | H.-D. Klingemann | K.-R. Korte | P. Kraft | M. Krewel | S. Liebig | J. Long | O. Lup | L. Morales | M. Neuman | F. Pappi | J. Partheymüller | M. Peffley | L. Ramiro | A. Roemmele | R. Rohrschneider | S. Roßteutscher | A. Schäfer | C. Schnaudt | J. van Deth | K. Voltmer | S. Walter | K. Weissenbach | B. Weßels | C. Wolf | A. Wolsing

A burgeoning literature studies compulsory voting and its effects on turnout, but we know very little about how compulsory voting works in practice. In this Element, the authors fill this gap by providing an in-depth discussion of compulsory voting rules and their enforcement in Australia, Belgium, and Brazil. By analysing comparable public opinion data from these three countries, they shed light on citizens' attitudes toward compulsory voting. The Element examines citizens' perceptions, their knowledge of the system, and whether they support it. The authors connect this with information on citizens' reported turnout and vote choice to assess who is affected by mandatory voting and why. The work clarifies that there is no single system of compulsory voting. Each country has its own set of rules, and most voters are unaware of how they are enforced.

"At the conclusion of WWII, no part of the world experienced a more dramatic transformation than East Asia. The region's political stability throughout the postwar period prompted exponential economic growth that ultimately established South Korea, Japan, and China as East Asia's most important powers. While many citizens of these nations now live in a time of unprecedented prosperity, the arrangement that supported this region's transformation is fragile. With the second largest economy and a burgeoning military sector, China is widely acknowledged as the preeminent rising world power. The onus of maintaining balance in the region now rests primarily with South Korea and Japan in partnership with the United States. However, because of long-standing weaknesses in South Korea-Japan relations and an inconsistent US commitment to the region, the possibility that China could usher in a more uncertain era of revisionism has never been more likely. In Strengthening South Korea-Japan Relations: East Asia's International Order and a Rising China, Dennis Patterson and Jangsup Choi address the historical roots of this weak alliance. Combining decades of research with current public opinion data, the authors warn that the tendency of these nations to rely on the United States to maintain the status quo has become dangerously unstable. A new strategy, one of cooperation and collaboration, is needed to prevent China from upending the region's current liberal international order"--

Incumbents enjoy many advantages when they seek reelection, but their distinct disadvantages (such as not fulfilling promises or staying within the status quo) are ripe weaknesses for opposing candidates to knock them down. Studying the US's Barack Obama, Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, and France's Emmanuel Macron, among many other candidates, political strategist Louis Perron, PhD, describes tactics to assess the strength of the incumbent, the quality of the challenger, and how to control and win a campaign. Readers interested in running for office or in assisting a political campaign will learn how to build a top-notch team, define your target audience, increase your media presence, develop your message, advertise effectively, deliver great speeches, and prepare to win debates. For relatively new challengers, Perron demonstrates how lack of experience has become less important and how these weaknesses can be neutralized. When campaigns turn ugly and play dirty, he instructs candidates how to combat against character attacks and how they can make a comeback if they lose the election. With over a decade of experience orchestrating political campaigns around the globe, Perron's Beat the Incumbent is the essential step-by-step guide for any level of political office to challenge an incumbent and, once victory is claimed, how you can avoid the same traps to effect change and win reelection.

From fake news to infringement of privacy in digital spheres, the changing landscapes of media and public communication have completely transformed contemporary democracies in recent decades. Disruptions of media functioning can be seen as evidence for a transition from democracy to post-democracy, but how plausible is this scenario? Using empirical evidence, the author asks how imminent the threat of the end of democracy is, and how it can be restored. Exploring the creative and destructive ways individuals and groups make use of new digital and social media in democratic societies across the world, the book presents a much-needed critical theory of the public sphere as we enter the new digital age.

"Danielle Allen revisits Rawls' landmark A Theory of Justice to make the case that justice, which she defines as the necessary conditions for human flourishing, requires the protection of political equality or the ability of all people who wish to participate in the political process, to do so on an equal footing. She argues that Rawls, and other thinkers in his wake who focused on protection of individuals from intrusion of the state, as well as many economists with their focus on utilitarian approaches to public policy, have neglected political equality which has led to the denial of justice to many in our society. At a time when economic and political inequality have increased dramatically, and political inequality is threatened by efforts to limit the ability of many to engage in the most basic political right, voting, this book could not be timelier. This book builds on Allen's Berlin Lectures on COVID that we just published in arguing that policymaking fails when it excludes whole communities from participation in the political process. This manuscript is based on the Berlin Lectures that Allen originally intended to deliver in 2020. Allen substituted the lectures on policymaking for COVID given the urgency of the pandemic"--

Written in a spirit of forward-looking, pragmatic optimism, Gradual is a call to arms for the millions of Americans who are turned off by the overheated rhetoric, gloomy outlook, and unrealistic aspirations that characterize so much of political discourse in the social media era. Based on the authors' real-world experience reforming the criminal justice system, Gradual makes the case that, even in an age of radical rhetoric, the best way to help the United States live up to its highest ideals is a commitment to continuous, incremental change.

Nicht erst im Zuge der CoVid19-Pandemie und ihrer Auswirkungen auf die Lebens- und Arbeitswirklichkeit vieler Menschen wird in der Öffentlichkeit die Idee eines bedingungslosen Grundeinkommens diskutiert. Begründungen sind vielfältig und reichen von Ideen zur Armutsprävention über Entwürfe eines guten Lebens und feministische Gesellschaftskritiken bis zu wirtschaftsliberalen Verweisen auf die zunehmende Digitalisierung der Arbeitswelt. Ebenso pointiert ist die Kritik, die vor der Unmöglichkeit der Finanzierbarkeit oder - gerade auch aus Sicht theologischer Sozialethik - vor dem Ende des Wohlfahrtsstaats warnt. Ist das bedingungslose Grundeinkommen also problematische Utopie, sozialpolitisch begründbares Instrument oder sogar moralisch begrüßenswerte Forderung? Interdisziplinäre Beiträge diskutieren im Gespräch mit der theologischen Sozialethik Konzepte, Chancen und Grenzen der Idee eines Bedingungslosen Grundeinkommens.

In this brief introduction, Lakoff and Wehling reveal how cognitive science research has advanced our understanding of political thought and language, forcing us to revise common folk theories about the rational voter.

In What Should We Do?, Peter Levine explores how to organize individuals to act in concert, how to talk and think well about contentious matters, and how to address exclusion. In the broadest available theory of civic engagement and civic life, he analyzes the work of major thinkers, including Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Jürgen Habermas, and Elinor Ostrom. He also provides many practical examples of successful civic action and principles that are useful for real-world civic action.