Policy Transfer of Branding and Reputation Management: Motivations,Challenges, and Opportunities for a Small Rural Municipality

Abstract

This paper seeks to convey a broader understanding of policy transfers between different sectors, focusing on transfers from the for-profit sector to local government. Specifically, we study the reasoning in a transfer process of branding and reputation management policy. Our case is a rural Norwegian municipality struggling to combat depopulation. This study is longitudinal. We discover that some original program elements cannot easily be transferred to the democratic context of local government. The transfer involves both interpretations and adjustments of the policy because of municipal institutional characteristics and values. The success of transfer depends here on the ability to balance the original policy with practices widely valued within the new setting.     

The bear and the EU-China-US triangle: transatlantic and Russian influences on EU’s “pivot to Asia”

Asia Europe Journal - This chapter argues that in the case of the EU’s efforts to undertake a “Pivot to Asia”, added explanatory salience can be achieved by recognising firstly...     

India and the responsibility to protect

‘Responsibility to protect’ (R2P) is an ‘emerging norm’ of international relations, which has been invoked with the intervention in Libya in 2011. Even though this intervention was demanded by several Third World countries and organisations, these have subsequently had second thoughts about the matter and have come to regard R2P as Western neo-imperialism. This article seeks to explain this apparent paradox, with a special focus on India. It also identifies possible compromises by advocating a broader approach to R2P, stressing the responsibility to prevent and to rebuild. It also draws attention to ‘R2P lite’, including the protection of civilians in armed conflicts.     

STR data for the AmpFlSTR Profiler Plus loci from Murcia region (SE Spain)

Frequency data of the nine STRs included in the AmpFlSTR Profiler Plus Kit were determined in a sample of 114 unrelated individuals from Murcia region (SE Spain).     

Norwegian Shelters for Victims of Domestic Violence in the COVID-19 Pandemic – Navigating the New Normal

Journal of Family Violence - This study elucidates the responses of shelters and their adaptations to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the effects on their services to victims of violence, as well as how...     

Election Campaigns,Issue Focus and Voting Intentions: Survey Experiments of Norwegian Voters

This article investigates whether and how changes in issue focus in election campaigns affect voting intention, even if no preference change takes place, and whether such effects vary systematically across different groups of voters. Evidence is reported from two survey experiments of Norwegian voters, where respondents were treated with information drawing their attention towards issues pertaining either to immigration or the environment. Although irrelevant for policy learning or persuasion, this information strongly increased the support of particular parties. More specifically, parties with ‘ownership’ of the issues involved gained votes. Certain types of voters were more likely to change voting intentions post‐treatment than others, but which types crucially depended on the issue area under focus. Nevertheless, the results indicate that the issue focus of campaigns is very important for vote choice. Hence, one should expect that, for instance, even ‘neutral’ political news coverage at or close to election day could affect voters in predictable ways. Furthermore, one should expect different parties to fight hard to steer the focus of campaigns towards issues where they have ownership.     

Blame attribution and guilt feelings in violent offenders

Offenders with high psychopathic traits and/or antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) are hypothesised to experience less guilt and less responsibility for their actions than offenders without these problems. These hypotheses were tested and partly substantiated. The study investigates blame attributions and guilt feeling using Gudjonsson Blame Attribution Inventory–Revised (GBAI-R) for 177 young male violent offenders. GBAI scores were compared to ASPD and psychopathy according to the Psychopathy Checklist–Revised. Results showed that individuals with ASPD and those with higher degrees of psychopathy tended to report significantly less guilt and higher degree of mental control than other subjects. Another finding was a weak relationship between ASPD, high scores on psychopathic traits and external attribution. We suggest these results might be explained by admitting poor mental control may be extra difficult for individuals belonging to either of these groups and that the external attribution items do not separate causal from moral responsibility.     

The Rise of the Sun: Legal Arguments in Outer Continental Margin Delimitations

Netherlands International Law Review -     

The Electoral Effect of Party Leader Approval in Norway

This article deals with the relationship between leader approval and party support. Despite an unmistakable trend towards stronger "personalization" of politics, the relationship is seen as conditional, dependent upon the particular parties and leaders as well as the political system that surrounds them. The author tries to make explicit the daunting specification and measurement problems involved in this type of analysis. A simple version of the Granger causality test and simultaneous equation models based on Norwegian panel and cross-sectional data identify leaders who appear uncompromising and adamant as the most successful vole getters.