bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Churches and Devotional Practice
Authors: Clarke Martin V.
Published: August 2020

This chapter discusses the contribution of hymnology to nineteenth-century intellectual culture. It demonstrates how clergy and musicians engaged in scholarly writing and debate concerning the history, context, practice, and spirituality of congregational song. Using a diverse range of sources, including journal articles, lectures, sermons, and hymnals, it argues that hymnology was recognized as an important area of scholarship that drew on a range of musical and religious perspectives. Interest in it extended across denominational and national boundaries, and was characterized by professional and amateur participation. The key to understanding hymnology’s centrality in intellectual culture lies in the pervasiveness of church music in nineteenth-century cultural practice and experience.
Emotions
Authors: Spitzer Michael
Published: August 2020

This chapter contextualizes nineteenth-century music within the history, theory, and aesthetics of emotion, especially within Romantic compositional style. As well as being a time when music was adjudged to be especially emotional, the nineteenth century was the point where emotion as a conceptual category was properly defined. The chapter explores the tensions and contradictions of musical emotion as it played out between “wave” and “particle” models (emotion as process; emotion as stimulus) and between inwardness and basic categories of experience. It ranges over idealist and empiricist approaches across four main national contexts: Austro-Germany, France, Italy, and Britain, concluding with the aftermath of Darwinism and the dawn of phenomenology.
Science and Religion
Authors: Zon Bennett
Published: August 2020

While nineteenth-century science and religion are commonly portrayed as being at war, this chapter uses musical contexts to test an alternative hypothesis: that science and religion were in fact compatible. It does that by tracking Anglo-European ideological changes in scientific and religious discourse, and explaining how music absorbed and reflected those changes across intellectually reciprocal environments. An introductory section outlines key scientific and religious changes from pre- and post-Darwinian evolutionary formulations to nineteenth-century theologies of divine emotion. Three further sections investigate the relationship of science and religion to the musical body, mind, and soul, emphasizing concepts of sensation and the voice; consciousness and feeling; and mystery and emotion.
Fiction and Poetry
Authors: Halliwell Michael
Published: August 2020

The rise of the European novel reached its zenith during the nineteenth century. One can hardly turn on the TV without seeing an adaptation of a novel from this period in a classically sumptuous BBC-TV production. The depiction of music-making in a variety of forms is a significant feature of many of the works of literature and poetry of the period, as the professional evaluation of music performance became part of a broader critical discourse. Poetry found an ever-growing mode of dissemination through the commercial performance of the art song—the work of many, mostly forgotten poets of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries lives on in the German Lied, the French mélodie and the English art song.
Attitudes toward Immigration
Authors: Dinesen Peter Thisted , Hjorth Frederik
Published: August 2020

This chapter reviews key themes and trends in the study of immigration attitudes in the political science literature spanning two decades. It begins with a data-driven examination of key trends in studies of attitudes toward immigration in top political science journals from 1996 to 2020, showing trends in terms of the quantity of studies, theoretical perspectives, empirical settings, and methodological approaches. The chapter then presents a narrative review of the literature, highlighting theoretical and methodological innovations as well as identifying gaps and pertinent questions to be addressed. It concludes by pointing to some promising directions for future research in the study of immigration attitudes.
Executive Function in Down Syndrome: Links to Adaptation and Treatment Implications
Authors: Fidler Deborah J. , Daunhauer Lisa A. , Schworer Emily , Patel Lina
Published: August 2020

This chapter presents a review of existing research regarding the presentation of executive function in persons with Down syndrome. Contemporary scientific work regarding the development of executive function in persons with Down syndrome is reviewed, with an emphasis on profiles associated with childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. The valid assessment of executive function and methodological considerations are also discussed, including the importance of developing phenotype-sensitive and reliable measures of executive function that account for the broader profile of strengths and challenges associated with Down syndrome. Future areas of research are identified that can inform intervention approaches to target the development of goal-directed behavior and adaptation in this population.
Relation Between Full-Scale and Model Data
Authors: Hangan Horia , Refan Maryam , Romanic Djordje
Published: August 2020

This chapter introduces recent results aiming to compare full-scale data and simulations of tornadoes and to establish a framework through which simulations of tornado-like vortices (both physical and numerical) can be compared to full-scale data. Physical and sometimes numerical simulations of non-synoptic winds such as tornadoes and downbursts are performed at a reduced (model) scale (Λl) compared to reality (prototype). That approach implies that there is also a timescale (Λt) and a velocity scale (Λv) involved, and the three of them are interlinked. The proper determination of these scales is critical in the process of translating results from model simulations to reality. This chapter discusses the state of the art of determining these scales for two types of non-synoptic winds—tornadoes and downbursts.
Toward a Sociology of the Body
Authors: Mason Katherine , Boero Natalie
Published: August 2020

This essay is designed to establish the theoretical framework and goals for The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Body and Embodiment, foremost of which is delineating what a sociology of the body must entail. Critically, a sociology of the body must recognize bodies as both cause and consequence of societal forces. It must also investigate how bodies change in response to their surroundings: not just through the centuries-long process of evolution but within a single individual’s lifetime. We also suggest not only a sociology of the body but also the body in sociology. This approach holds that consideration of bodies—including both the body of the researcher as well as that of the researched—can help to enrich sociological understandings of a wide range of social dynamics and institutions. In sociological subfields ranging from law to labor, and from medicine to migration, attending to the social body has the potential to newly illuminate the mechanisms that underlie our social institutions. This handbook’s early chapters focus primarily on method, debating and elaborating the method(s) that the authors find most useful for studying the body in society. Subsequent chapters shift focus toward the presentation of empirical findings and analysis, but with a continuing focus on detailing their methodological choices and innovations. A detailed outline exploring the twenty-seven chapters of the handbook is provided in this essay.
The Sociology of Crime and Violence in Latin America
Authors: Alvarado Arturo
Published: August 2020

This section presents an overview on criminality and violence in Latin America from three analytical dimensions: (1) the attitudes toward and public perception of crime in the region, (2) some relevant crime trends in the region, and (3) social responses to violence, including victims’ efforts to prevent violence and the existence of widespread public insecurity. In addition, this section presents the state of affairs on crime analysis and prevention. It highlights various contributions from different countries and academics with an emphasis on some specifics from each subregion, considering various academic traditions, social and political conditions, and local criminal characteristics. Each author will contribute with a significant overview of the main criminal trends.
Central America and the United States
Authors: Gobat Michel
Published: August 2020

Central America has endured more US interventions than any other region in the world. This history reflects the long-standing belief of US officials that their country’s global aspirations hinged on its control of an interoceanic canal cutting across the isthmus. Yet geography alone does not explain the fixation with Central America. Ever since Manifest Destiny expansion of the mid-nineteenth century, the region has also served as a proving ground for new forms of US power such as overseas settler colonialism, dollar diplomacy, and counterinsurgency strategies. Central America’s lengthy encounter with the United States has generally been viewed by scholars in dichotomous terms: Central Americans either abetted US impositions or bravely rejected them. These Manichean images of accommodation and resistance have also served as political weapons for Central Americans and foreigners alike. In reality, such images obscure the ambiguities that not only define the region’s history with the northern “colossus” but also best capture the limits of US power.
Nicaragua
Authors: Charlip Julie A.
Published: August 2020

Nicaragua’s history has been shaped by violent political conflict, individual ambition, and US intervention. The idea of a unified polity has proved elusive as narrow factions have fought for power and privilege. Unity has come less from ideological positions than from opportunistic pacts. The constant quest for prosperity has depended on foreign investment and turned repeatedly to the chimera of a transisthmian canal route. While these conflicts are deeply rooted in domestic divisions, they have been exacerbated by the most destructive US intervention in Latin America. The US pursuit of its own goals, however, has always relied on local actors with their own agendas and claims to national power, leading repeatedly to dictatorship.
ESRC Review
Authors: Yates Simeon J. , Hepburn Paul , Rice Ronald E. , Wessels Bridgette , Carmi Elinor
Published: August 2020

This chapter describes the analyses and results for the ESRC Economy and Organizations domain, guided by two main questions: How do we construct the digital to be open to all, sustainable, and secure? And what impacts might the automation of the future workforce bring? The chapter first provides an initial overview of the major insights from the literature review and analysis, the Delphi surveys, and workshop discussions about the relevant range of the concepts of economy and organization (initially, economy and sustainability). Four main topics emerged: digital technology uptake by both business and consumers; social and economic capital of citizens; digital skills; and economic growth and change. Analysis of a specially curated set of 1900 articles over the 2000-2016 period showed perhaps the greatest change in focus over time of all the domains. The earlier literature emphasized information as a product (involving property rights, markets, law), and some technologies. The later literature highlighted knowledge seeking, skills, communication, and uses. The analyses also identified the roles of theory (rather under-utilized but, when used, were primarily from sociology) and methods (the most common being literature reviews) in this domain. The chapter ends with a discussion of future research directions (e.g., the shaping and development of the digital economy while also fostering sustainability and participation, and impacts of digital labor on people’s life experiences) and research challenges (e.g., measuring overall impact of a digital technology on a business, and measuring new ways of working and consuming).
ESRC Review
Authors: Yates Simeon J. , Blejmar Jordana
Published: August 2020

Two workshops were part of the final steps in the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) commissioned Ways of Being in a Digital Age project that is the basis for this Handbook. The ESRC project team coordinated one with the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (ESRC-DSTL) Workshop, “The automation of future roles”; and one with the US National Science Foundation (ESRC-NSF) Workshop, “Changing work, changing lives in the new technological world.” Both workshops sought to explore the key future social science research questions arising for ever greater levels of automation, use of artificial intelligence, and the augmentation of human activity. Participants represented a wide range of disciplinary, professional, government, and nonprofit expertise. This chapter summarizes the separate and then integrated results. First, it summarizes the central social and economic context, the method and project context, and some basic definitional issues. It then identifies 11 priority areas needing further research work that emerged from the intense interactions, discussions, debates, clustering analyses, and integration activities during and after the two workshops. Throughout, it summarizes how subcategories of issues within each cluster relate to central issues (e.g., from users to global to methods) and levels of impacts (from wider social to community and organizational to individual experiences and understandings). Subsections briefly describe each of these 11 areas and their cross-cutting issues and levels. Finally, it provides a detailed Appendix of all the areas, subareas, and their specific questions.
Conclusion
Authors: Rice Ronald E. , Yates Simeon J. , Blejmar Jordana
Published: August 2020

We conclude the Handbook of Digital Technology and Society by identifying topics that appear in multiple chapters, are more unique to some chapters, and that represent general themes across the material. Each of these is considered separately for the ESRC theme chapters and the non-ESRC chapters. In the ESRC theme chapters, cross-cutting research topics include digital divides and inequalities; data and digital literacy; governance, regulation, and legislation; and the roles and impacts of major platforms. Cross-cutting challenges include methods; theory development, testing, and evaluation; ethics; big data; and multi-platform/holistic studies. Gaps include policy implications, and digital culture. In the non-ESRC chapters, more cross-cutting themes include future research and methods; technology venues; relationships; content and creation; culture and everyday life; theory; and societal effects. More unique, these were digitization of self; managing digital experience; names for the digital/social era; ethics; user groups; civic issues; health, and positive effects. The chapter also shows how the non-ESRC chapters may be clustered together based on their shared themes and subthemes, identifying two general themes of more micro and more macro topics. The identification of both more and less common topics and themes can provide the basis for understanding the landscape of prior research, what areas need to be included in ongoing research, and what research areas might benefit from more attention. The chapter ends with some recommendations for such ongoing and future research in the rich, important, and challenging area of digital technology and society.
Digital Engagement and Class
Authors: Yates Simeon J. , Lockley Eleanor
Published: August 2020

This chapter focuses on a central and enduring issue in digital studies: digital inequalities, exclusion, or divides, with their changing emphases on access, use, skills, and positive and negative outcomes. However, it extends that literature by looking at how patterns of digital media access, skills, uses, and practices are related to overall systems of social inequality and distinction—that is, social class. Thus, how does social class influence digital inequalities, and, in turn, how do digital technologies mediate access to other social and community realms? Seven outcomes of digital inequalities stand out: material implications for people’s lives; growth of “digital by default” and “digital only” service delivery; centrality of digital to education; centrality of digital tow work; growth in digital culture and leisure; workplace automation and the digital economy; and fairness. The chapter examines key concepts such as social capital, cultural capital (embodied, objectified, institutionalized), habitus, fields of social exclusion, and doxa (Bourdieu; Helsper; Putnam). The chapter critiques the notions of “digital capital” or “information capital” as distinct forms of capital, instead arguing that digital has become crucial to, economic, cultural, and social capital in contemporary society. Results from analyses of national UK data show how eight categories of new media use (associated with digital aspects of habitus) are significantly associated with age, different economic or social classes, different network patterns reflecting social capital, and with different patterns of cultural consumption. Thus differential use of new media by different categories and social classes of users can lead to differential access to skills, resources, and opportunities in society. These inequalities lead to different educational and life opportunities that have the potential to underpin long-term variations in outcomes.
Digital Inclusion and Women’s Health and Well-Being in Rural Communities
Authors: Wagg Sharon , Cooke Louise , Simeonova Boyka
Published: August 2020

This review explores the role of digital inclusion in women’s health and well-being in rural communities. This involves reviewing existing research that focuses on the information experiences of women, specifically those who were digitally excluded or limited users of the Internet, who have benefitted from the support of digital inclusion initiatives and technology. There is a global gender digital divide in which more women than men often lack access to information and digital skills, particularly in rural areas. Digital inclusion initiatives are attempting to close this divide and to enable women to make informed decisions about their health and well-being and their families. The review also identifies that digital inclusion is a complex situation of enquiry; there is limited, fragmented research in which the concepts of information literacy and digital inclusion have been brought together; and significant tensions and contradictions exist within digital inclusion practice. The review also highlights the opportunity for further research and theory development.
Digital Technology for Older People
Authors: Petrie Helen , Darzentas Jenny S.
Published: August 2020

This chapter reviews recent research on digital technology to support older people. The review concentrates on research emphasizing the design and evaluation of technologies used by older people, rather than the technical implementation of the technologies. Such papers provided insight into the needs and interests for this group, how older people were involved in the research, and what outcomes were achieved. 407 papers were identified and grouped into 16 major topics of research. Four of these topics are discussed in detail, as well as several of the general themes that emerged from the research.
Media Mastery by College Students
Authors: Rice Ronald E. , Zamanzadeh Nicole , Hagen Ingunn
Published: August 2020

The continuing evolution and use of a wide array of digital media represents challenges to understand and learn new features and applications, as well as manage the contradictions and paradoxes of both positive and negative implications, often simultaneously. This chapter explicates the concept of media mastery, the more or less conscious and more or less successful ongoing process of how people master (understand, manage, make sense of, cope with, and use) one or more new media in their everyday lives, as well as how media in turn master (manage, control, or affect) individuals and their social relations. Based on extensive and iterative analyses of transcripts of focus groups with college students in Norway and the United States and several rounds of reviewing research literature about college students’ use of new media, we develop a typology of three sets of contextual factors or occasions for media mastery (Technology, Social Aspects, and Individual Aspects), and a set of Media Mastery factors (access, boundaries, constraints, managing content, obstacles, and use awareness). We use this typology to produce a focused literature review of 218 articles from 2010 to 2018. One implication is that the concept of media mastery appears to underlie a variety of theoretical approaches to understanding uses and effects of new media.
Alternative Routes Toward Literacy for Individuals With Deafblindness
Authors: Argyropoulos Vassilios , Nikolaraizi Magda , Papazafiri Maria
Published: August 2020

The aim of the current chapter is to describe alternative ways that can enhance literacy development for persons with deafblindness. The conventional concept of literacy, which concerns reading and writing, excludes persons with deafblindness from literacy experiences. Therefore, a broadened and more contemporary concept is supported, which incorporates communication. Within this broader concept, assistive technology can play an important role in the development of literacy and therefore facilitate the access of individuals who are deafblind in different domains of life. Furthermore, the paper emphasizes the critical role of teachers and the importance of training that will enable them to exploit assistive technology in order to enhance the literacy skills of persons who are deafblind.
The Development and Evaluation of Literacy Interventions for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children
Authors: Dostal Hannah M. , Lederberg Amy R.
Published: August 2020

Literacy intervention research tests our best ideas about instruction and forges a pathway forward toward deeper and more nuanced understandings of how children think, communicate, and learn. This chapter describes the components of the development of literacy interventions, explaining how to construct and evaluate each component in sequence to generate robust, reliable evidence for practice. In doing so, the chapter discusses some of the specific contexts of, and challenges for, literacy intervention research in deaf education. In order to illustrate important considerations for designing and interpreting literacy intervention studies in this context, two case studies of interventions developed or applied with deaf and hard-of-hearing children are included.
‘As it was bodily, so it is politically’: Prostitutes, Wives, and Political Power in Zimbabwe
Authors: Mudiwa Rudo
Published: August 2020

This chapter argues that the term ‘prostitute’ is part of the political grammar in Zimbabwe, used to discipline women’s participation in party politics. Rather than approaching the use of this term as an unfortunate but prosaic aspect of politics, it situates the term in the now well-documented history of colonial policing and administration. ‘Out of place’ black women were linked to chaos and social breakdown, spurring attempts to control their visibility and mobility. The chapter argues that in likening politicians to prostitutes, women who monetize their own sexual labour, the term reveals the extent to which the control of women’s bodies, sexuality, and labour remains a key focus of the post-independence state. Moreover, it examines the use of this term alongside the growing visibility and tacit acceptance of sex work in Zimbabwe’s cities. Drawing from media coverage and interviews, this chapter examines the careers of four Zimbabwean female political figures, Joice Mujuru and Grace Mugabe from ZANU-PF, along with Thabitha Khumalo and Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga from the MDC factions. It examines how these differently situated women have managed their public visibility under such constraints by deploying, rebuffing, or reappropriating the term prostitute.
Presidential Pathways and Profiles
Authors: Inácio Magna , Llanos Mariana
Published: August 2020

This chapter brings together different strands of literature to, first, analyse the procedures and pathways followed for the selection of chief executives in democratic regimes with directly elected presidents; and, second, the attributes of those who are elected. Presidential elections are an electorally challenging and politically strategic contest shaped by different institutional, partisan, and contextual factors. We show that the parties’ and candidates’ moves in the selection process particularly depend on whether it occurs in one or in several stages and on which selection method is used. We identify candidate-centered and party-centered nominations as well as situations of self-recruitment. We analyse how the interaction of legal and party variables explain different outcomes in terms of candidate profile. Three distinctive aspects are highlighted in the literature when we come to presidential profiles: the extent to which the candidate is a party-loyal person; what kind of previous political experience he or she has; and what his or her typical social background is.
Judicialization and the Political Executive
Authors: Vanberg Georg
Published: August 2020

Recent decades have witnessed a ‘global expansion of judicial power’ (Tate and Vallinder 1995) as courts have increasingly taken on issues traditionally reserved for elected policy-makers. Such judicialization often appears to come at the expense of executives and legislative majorities whose scope for policy-making is constrained by judges. This chapter provides an overview of the scholarly literature on judicialization and its impact on executive-judicial relations. The central conclusion that emerges is that judicialization—while a significant development—is driven by complex political processes beyond unilateral judicial action. Most importantly, judicialization is more likely to occur in fragmented political environments, and in the presence of well-organized interests that perceive opportunities to pursue political goals through the courts rather than the ordinary political process. Moreover, judicialization often occurs with the tacit complicity and even active encouragement of political executives.
Women and Executive Politics
Authors: O’Brien Diana Z. , Reyes-Housholder Catherine
Published: August 2020

We address the origins and consequences of male dominance over—and women’s entrance into—executive politics. The executive branch is gendered masculine, perpetuating men’s overrepresentation as cabinet ministers and heads of government. Scholars have shown that women’s inclusion in these posts is explained by institutional factors, rather than cultural and developmental variables. Studies addressing policy and audience effects, however, are fewer and less conclusive. Building on existing work, future scholarship should clarify how and why women’s presence in executive posts enhances modern democracies. New research should also integrate more insights from executive politics research. Scholars must propose and test conditional hypotheses to account for the mixed impact of women’s inclusion. Finally, researchers should explore how gender affects pathways to power, incentives to govern differently, and public approval. Though much work remains, it is already clear that executive politics cannot be fully understood in the absence of a gendered perspective.
Inside the Coordination Paradigm
Authors: Chaisty Paul , Cheeseman Nic , Power Timothy J.
Published: August 2020

In this chapter, we examine the shift in presidentialism studies away from Linzian questions of conflict towards questions of coordination in executive-legislative relations. This change of focus has brought presidential studies into line with the research on parliamentary systems, generating a more unified literature on comparative executive politics. Focusing specifically on minority presidents and issues of coalition management, we explore how a conceptual vocabulary familiar to students of parliamentarism has shaped the emerging research agenda. We consider the phenomenon of ‘coalitional presidentialism’, which has become the modal form of minority presidential rule in modern democracies facing higher levels of party fragmentation. We discuss why coalitional presidentialism ‘matters’ for both empirical and theoretical reasons, and review the state of the literature on coalition management. Finally, we identify areas of future research in this field.
Executive Politics of Multi-Level Systems
Authors: Tömmel Ingeborg
Published: August 2020

Within the realm of multi-level systems, the European Union (EU) constitutes a unique case characterized by a compound executive order which might serve as a template for building similar systems worldwide. This chapter examines the literature on the EU executive. Theoretically inspired mainly by neo-institutionalism, this literature revolves around four basic themes: the institutional structure and the powers of the EU’s executive(s); the performance of and the interactions among executive institutions; the exercise of political leadership; the democratic legitimacy and accountability of the executive(s). Despite ongoing research and debate, scholars agree that EU executive power is widely dispersed among various institutions and that their performance and interactions are characterized by cooperation and conflict. Furthermore, they see leadership in this context faced with limited opportunities and multiple constraints and the democratic legitimacy and accountability of EU executives as poorly developed. The chapter concludes that many research lacunae remain.
Political Executives in Autocracies and Hybrid Regimes
Authors: LaPorte Jody
Published: August 2020

This chapter assesses the state of knowledge about political executives in non-democratic regimes. The chapter starts by examining what distinguishes executives in non-democracies from those in democracies, as well as how executives in non-democratic regimes vary from one another other. It then turns to the key questions and findings in this field, including how authoritarian governments maintain power and ensure regime stability and how executive coalitions affect policy outcomes. The third section lays out some avenues for future research, including further exploration of the formal organization of authoritarian executives, intra-executive politics, and the decision-making processes in non-democratic regimes.
Political Executives in Authoritarian Monarchies
Authors: Sunik Anna
Published: August 2020

In spite of a long-term general trend of monarchic disappearance, a small group of authoritarian monarchies have proven resilient. This chapter defines monarchies and monarchs, problematizes both the Eurocentric and Arabocentric bias in current monarchy research and provides typologies of different subtypes and an overview of monarchy research. After democratization made the study of the monarch as a good ruler obsolete, current research is now focused on monarchic resilience and resistance to democratization, and the question what distinguishes monarchies and republics. Other areas worth of further exploration relate to foreign policy behaviour, amalgamation processes of monarchies and republics and the study of non-Middle Eastern and formal authoritarian monarchies.
Political Executives in Military Regimes
Authors: Lindstaedt Natasha
Published: August 2020

Military executives often seize power because the military sees itself as the best institution to lead the country. Yet the track record of military executives paints a very different picture. This chapter explains the consequences of military rule. In doing so, this chapter justifies why military executives need to be studied as a separate category from other types of authoritarian rule, and how the evolution of the study of military rule has changed over time. Countries ruled by military executives are more likely to commit human rights abuses and become embroiled in civil wars than are civilian executives. In spite of this, military executives have been able to construct the myth that they are better at ruling than civilians. This chapter explains how military executives actually govern and what the future is for the study of military executives.
Interest Groups and Lobbying in Political Executives
Authors: Kanol Direnç
Published: August 2020

Political executives and interest groups need each other to accomplish their political and policy goals. Important actions taken by top-level bureaucrats, ministers, and heads of states might be influenced by interest groups. Interest groups, in return, might serve as soldiers for the executives, gathering information or helping them implement policies. Without studying the connections between interest groups and political executives, one cannot paint a complete picture of how any political executive work. By reviewing the research on interest groups and lobbying in political executives, this chapter offers avenues for future research about the relationship between interest groups and different political executive types, and interest groups’ impact on policy outcomes. These are not merely theoretical issues. They have implications for institutional and policy design and are of utmost importance for practitioners.
Ethnographic Approaches to the Study of Political Executives
Authors: Rhodes R. A. W. , Corbett Jack
Published: August 2020

This chapter answers five straightforward questions about an ethnographic approach to the study of the political executive: What is ethnography? Why does it matter? Who does ethnography? What is the research agenda? What are the limits to an ethnographic approach?

In answering these questions, there are few ethnographic studies of the political executive that we can draw on. The main tools are participant observation and elite interviewing but they need to be supplemented by other ways of ‘being there’. The chapter discusses three key topics for future research; quantitative or qualitative analysis, bricolage, and the network analysis of court politics. It summarizes briefly the limits of an ethnographic approach. The chapter concludes that the approach is edifying even though its potential has not been realized.
Processing Fluency
Authors: Forster Michael
Published: August 2020

This chapter presents an overview of the concept of processing fluency in aesthetic processing. In its most general form higher ease of processing, i.e., higher fluency, is said to lead to higher liking. The chapter shows that this claim is hardly tenable in aesthetics. Absolute higher fluency leads to higher liking in only a few limited settings. It is rather the experience of a relative increase in fluency, or decrease in disfluency, that affects our appreciation of aesthetic stimuli. Thus, the dynamics of visual processing and the resulting effect can help explain our reactions to aesthetic stimuli. This chapter presents three main theories that try to model these dynamics of visual processing and explain the resulting influence on our aesthetic responses.
Mandate Versus Accountability
Authors: Powell G. Bingham
Published: August 2020

Electoral mandates and retrospective government accountability are two vital processes through which elections can connect the preferences and interests of citizens with the policies of representative governments. Large political science literatures explicate the complexities and limitations of each. An increasingly globalized international setting further complicates the tasks of both citizens and policymakers. However, in some contexts the two processes reinforce an equilibrium of responsive ideological correspondence, one element in good representation. This chapter discusses national contextual features, such as concentrated or dispersed policymaking power, and convergent or polarized party alternatives, that can induce them to coincide or collide.
The Formation and Development of Liberal Democracies
Authors: Boix Carles , Horne Will , Kerchner Alex
Published: August 2020

We examine the modern spread of liberal democracy, a phenomenon that was accompanied by unprecedented levels of economic development. We outline two differing accounts of the relationship between the two: one in which democratization is driven primarily by changes in normative beliefs, and another in which changes in payoffs to political actors produce democracy as a political equilibrium. The relationship between democracy and development is examined with updated panel data, covering a period from the early nineteenth century through the first decade of the twenty-first century. The analysis demonstrates a positive impact of economic development on subsequent democratic transitions, but no apparent effect of democracy on subsequent economic growth. We conclude by discussing the current literature and potential directions for research, including recent efforts to ascertain the preferences of political elites towards democracy more precisely.
Referendums and Direct Democracy
Authors: Colombo Céline , Kriesi Hanspeter
Published: August 2020

We start by tracing the origins of modern-day direct democracy back to the ideas of participatory democrats, and we give a systematic overview of the different forms of direct democratic practices existing today, as well as of the main criticisms of direct democracy. Next, we review existing empirical evidence on some of the crucial debates surrounding direct democracy: Does direct democracy lead to systematically different policy outcomes and to a better representation of voters? Do popular votes hurt minority rights? To what extent does direct democracy undermine the relevance of, and participation in, elections? Are citizens competent enough to decide over policy at the ballot box? What is the role of the elite and of campaigns in direct democracy? Finally, we discuss the controversial relation between direct democracy and populism.
Non-electoral Participation
Authors: van Deth Jan W.
Published: August 2020

Does the rise of non-electoral forms of participation affect the functioning of liberal democracies and institutionalized representation? Because every form of participation is biased against less privileged parts of the population the main aspects of unequal political participation are considered. Are participants the better democrats? The findings suggest that the rising levels and expanding repertoires of non-electoral participation do not provide a cure for biased representation. Yet the politically active parts of the population consistently show much higher levels of support for core principles of representative democracy than found among citizens who only cast a vote or do not participate at all.
Dynamic Representation
Authors: Wlezien Christopher
Published: August 2020

This chapter considers what we have learned—and still have to learn—from research on dynamic representation in the United States and other countries. To begin with, it provides a basic theoretical exposition and then traces the previous research, organized based on the dependent variables that the scholarship has employed: the priorities and positions of elected officials, legislative votes, and policy decisions. There is substantial evidence that changing public opinion matters for all of these but that the effect does not hold universally. Issues matter and institutions do too, and under the best of circumstances, the public is just one of many factors that matter to policymakers. Indeed, we sometimes observe little impact of public opinion at all, and this is in large part because of the public’s own inattention to policy actions themselves.
Non-majoritarian Institutions and Representation
Authors: Bovens Mark , Schillemans Thomas
Published: August 2020

Many public policies are delivered by non-majoritarian institutions (NMIs) in which sometimes powerful policy actors may take major decisions, decoupled from traditional democratic procedures of representation, scrutiny, and accountability. NMIs have to strike a balance between independence and democratic accountability. This chapter traces the evolution of NMIs in our time, discusses their ‘counter-majoritarian difficulties’, and various ensuing strategies to enhance their representational nature. From the perspective of democratic governance, many scholars have been concerned about the democratic deficits relating to NMIs. However, NMIs fit much better in more liberal, monitory notions of democracy. They can provide a series of checks and balances that prevent corruption, abuse of power, and protect the rights of minorities. In that sense, NMIs are often seen as challenges to democracy while they, simultaneously, may help to safeguard democracies and to sanitize the behaviours of elected officials.
The Populist Challenge to Liberal Democracies
Authors: Norris Pippa
Published: August 2020

The rise of authoritarian populism has aroused considerable concern for the potential consequences. To understand the consequences of these developments for political representation in liberal democracies, Section I outlines the core concept of populism, understood minimally as a rhetorical appeal to ‘the people’ against established sources of power, and the key differences between authoritarian and libertarian versions. Section II considers the challenge of populism for liberal-democratic regime institutions. Section III turns to the influence of populist parties on their signature issues on the public policy agenda, notably immigration and Europe. The conclusion in Section IV summarizes the main findings and considers their broader implications for political representation.
The Rise of Populism in Modern Democracies
Authors: Meyer Thomas M. , Wagner Markus
Published: August 2020

This chapter examines the causes of the rise of populism and its consequences for political representation in modern democracies: why have populist parties gained ground in so many liberal democracies? And how does their emergence and continuing success affect the way political representation works in these systems? We aim to provide answers to these questions by reviewing the extensive (and growing) literature on populism. In so doing, we identify findings where there is broad consensus in the scientific debate so far, but also controversies that have not been resolved yet. We conclude with a summary of our analysis and some reflections about future research on populism.
Globalization, Electoral Change, and Representation
Authors: Hellwig Timothy
Published: August 2020

Both the political consequences of market integration and the workings of representation in liberal democracies have received a good deal of attention. But if the contours of debates within these two research traditions are well defined, the linkages between them are not. This chapter takes a step towards establishing these connections. Organized about the chain of representation, this chapter makes three claims. First, that globalization is associated with changing social cleavages, and these changes are mainly in the realm of non-material, or cultural values. Second, that globalization matters for how voters decide by decoupling policy responsibility from elected representatives. And third, that globalization and economic crisis have reduced party and government responsiveness to public opinion.
Globalization and Representative Democracy
Authors: Bellamy Richard
Published: August 2020

Globalization has typically been regarded as challenging representative democracy at the state level. This chapter outlines four of these challenges—that of democratic externalities, of transnational global processes and supranational organizations, of cosmopolitan norms, and of effective and justified representation at the global level. It then explores three solutions that have been put forward to meet them: scaling up to a supra-national regional or even a global democracy for certain issues; creating a trans-national network of democratic bodies that address different issues and functions; or having inter-national associations of representative states under the equal control of their elected representatives. Whilst the first and second solutions are shown to create problems of both representation surpluses and deficits—some groups get over-represented and other groups under-represented, it is argued that the third solution can avoid both these difficulties and that it addresses the challenges more directly.
The Institutional Framework of Representative Democracy
Authors: Andeweg Rudy B. , Louwerse Tom
Published: August 2020

Although the literature shows a bewildering variety of typologies of representative democracy, the most important distinctions can be subsumed under a basic dichotomy with, on the one hand, a populist-majoritarian model, and on the other hand a liberal/consensual model. That latter model comes in two varieties: a liberal model based on the division of power, and a consensual model based on the sharing of power. The search for the best model is hampered by the fact that so many criteria are biased in favour of a particular model, and by the ambition to find a universally valid answer, ignoring the interaction of the institutional architecture with the structure and culture of society.
Roll-call Voting Behaviour in Legislatures
Authors: Hug Simon
Published: August 2020

Roll call votes offer rich behavioural information on individual members of parliament (MPs) and have been used to study many important research questions, also dealing with issues of representation. With the help of such votes MPs (and/or their parties) can be held to account. Thus, scholars have assessed broadly whether political parties act in a disciplined fashion and what affects the voting behavior of individual MPs, thus covering both processes of collective and individual accountability. The literature finds that evidence for such accountability relationships, is, however, also hampered by different uses of roll call votes across time and space.
Constituency Candidates and Political Representation
Authors: Zittel Thomas
Published: August 2020

Candidates in constituency campaigns are important agents in the representative process. This chapter surveys the state of the literature that relates to the extent to which and how constituency candidates facilitate accountable and responsive government. Particularly, it asks about who candidates are, how they campaign, and how this affects the representative process. Furthermore, it explores the sources of individual level variance with regard to campaign effort and style. Our literature survey indicates the existence of pronounced variance in constituency level campaign effort and candidate behaviour that results from electoral incentives but also from individual and party level factors. It stresses the consequential nature of such differences since they determine what voters learn about politics in election campaigns and what policies parliaments pursue beyond Election Day.
Corruption and Bureaucratic Reforms
Authors: Frisk Jensen Mette , Tinggaard Svendsen Gert
Published: August 2020

In 2018, Denmark was the least corrupt country worldwide according to Transparency International. Such absence of corruption is an important ingredient in ‘Getting to Denmark’ and achieving well-functioning institutions. It is, however, a puzzle how a state can reach such a situation. Recent studies have suggested that critical junctures in the evolution of today’s levels of corruption can be traced through early and pragmatic bureaucratic reforms that efficiently fought corruption, thus preceding the onset of the modern welfare state. The question we raise is whether historical bureaucratic reforms can explain today’s low level of corruption in Denmark. We argue that the sum of eleven main bureaucratic reforms from 1660 to 1866 increased the costs of being corrupt among civil servants to an extent that exceeded their private benefits. Such historical lessons point to an ‘institutions matter’ model that may guide future anti-corruption efforts worldwide and probably lead to more social trust and socio-economic benefits.