Public Opinion, Public Policy and the Welfare State

A recurring problem in political analysis is to link public opinion to public policy. Public opinion has often come to mean the replies to structured questions in representative surveys. The task of connecting opinion and policy is complicated by the difficulty in interpreting replies to these surveys. The burgeoning literature on public opinion and the crisis of the welfare state has failed to provide a consistent account of what aspects of policy might be driven by public demand or vice versa. The interpretations of survey data are either misleading or highly selective. This applies to two crucial areas, attitudes towards poor minorities and opinions about state and private welfare. In order to provide a better understanding of the problems of linking policy and opinion and to offer some guiding principles for research in this area, this paper attempts to clarify some of these difficulties.     

Influencing Public Opinion of Space Policy: Programmatic Effects Versus Education Effects

The public is generally supportive of space policy, but less supportive of spending for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) compared to other government programs. Previous research has helped identify who is more likely to be supportive of NASA spending, but not why. This study seeks to understand the causal mechanisms that influence support for NASA. Using natural between-survey and induced within-survey experiments, this study attempts to identify factors influencing changes in public support for NASA spending. Short-term programmatic and related media effects appear to have no influence on public support for NASA spending. However, correcting information asymmetries in regard to NASA's budget appears to have a significant positive effect on public support for NASA spending. The findings speak to the importance of the public being well informed on policy issues in order to make a correct policy choice, and demonstrate that individual programmatic aspects may not be as important as overall agency direction.     

民意的形成与政治社会化

在政治生活中,几乎每一个领域和具体问题上都充斥着各种各样的态度和意见.这些态度和意见从哪里来,是民意研究领域的一个常见问题,而从政治社会化的视角寻找民意来源,则是民意研究的一个重要内容.其中,家庭、学校、时代与生命周期的影响,既代表着不同的民意来源,也反映了早期社会化阶段民意形成过程中情感变量与信息变量的不同影响.在民意的形成过程中,情感变量与信息变量在持续产生影响,其影响在生命周期的不同阶段也在持续发生变化.     

Public Opinion, Political Communication and the Internet

In contemporary society public opinion is generally mediated by the mass media, which has come to encompass the Habermasian 'public sphere'. This arena is now characterised by the conflict between market and democratic principles, by competing interests of politicians and the media. The presentation of information for debate becomes distorted. The opinion of the 'public' is no longer created through deliberation, but is constructed through systems of communication, in conflict with political actors, who seek to retain control of the dissemination of information. The expansion of the internet as a new method of communication provides a potential challenge to the primacy of the traditional media and political parties as formers of public opinion.     

Political Culture and State Development Policy

Economic development has become a prominent issue for stategovernments. Nevertheless, states vary in the economic policiesthey choose. Two general approaches to the issue are discussed:the maintenance/attraction strategy and the creation strategy.Factor analysis allows us to gauge state effort on these twocriteria. Regression analysis shows that political culture isan important factor in predicting which approach a state chooses,with traditionalistic states favoring the maintenance/attractionstrategy, and moralistic states favoring the creation alternative.Other predictors of state policy choices include the conditionof the economy and the diffusion of innovations. Also discussedis the interaction of political culture with other relevantvariables in shaping state policies.     

Australia's Political Institutions and the Corruption of Public Opinion1

This article explores structural causes for the decline in the quality of Australia's political and policy conversations. Three are nominated. The first concerns the changing role of the major party organisations. These no longer contribute to agenda setting; they are no longer forums for activist and interest mobilisation; they no longer mobilise and cue a mass base. The second structural change concerns the rise in the role of the media. This is now the primary bridge between the formal political system and the surrounding society, a role for which it is singularly ill‐equipped. The third change concerns the misalignment between the formal political system and Australian society. The formal system was formed in the early twentieth century when Australian society was broadly divided by class allegiance. Those days are long gone. Class has decomposed. A variety of new concerns differentiate and pluralise social attitudes. Possible remedies are then discussed.     

Political Culture, Political System Characteristics, and Public Policies Among the American States

Daniel Elazar's typology of political culture is updated forall states for 1980 using religious affiliation data. On average,the political culture indices do not vary much from simitarmeasures constructed for 1906–1936. The effects of politicalculture on state politics and policy are tested in two ways:(1) by calculating partial correlation coefficients for tendependent variables holding four environmental variables constant(affluence, industrialization, fertility, and liberal politicalideology), and (2) by estimating regression equations withintwo categories of political culture (individualistic and traditionalistic)to gauge the indirect or contextual effects of culture. Thepartial correlation analysis yields the expected outcome—moralisticstates have more interparty competition, higher voter turnout,more policy-relevant parties, and more liberal and innovativepolicies; traditionalistic states show the opposite result.The attempt to assess the contextual effects of political cultureproves less satisfactory. No such effects appear for about halfthe dependent variables, and the contextual effects that arefound correspond only in part to expectations.     

Environmental Policy,Public Interest and Political Market

In this paper, we highlight the factorswhich influence governments in theirdecision to implement environmentalpolicies of varying degrees of severity. Wesubstantiate our arguments with analyticalevidence from the public interest theoryand the economic theory of regulation(``interest group theory''). We show, throughempirical analysis based on the policies of22 OECD countries, that pressure groupshave sufficient impact on environmentalregulation so that the economic theorypredominates over the public interesttheory.     

Political Institutions, Public Policy and Economic Growth

The argument of the Rise and Decline of Nulions (RADON) opens up a new area of important social science research: to understand the social and political setting of economic growth. The paper tests the argument that institutionalization leads fo the decline of nafions slowing down the rate of economic growth. Employing several indicators on economic growth and controlling for a number of factors the finding with regard to the OECD-nations is that the Olson emphasis on institutionalization is confirmed.     

对公共政策制定的政治哲学思考

公共政策制定是社会政治生活中公共决策系统的经常性活动。在现代社会,由于公共政策的巨大作用和影响,公共政策制定问题引起了广泛的关注。从政治哲学的角度审视,以公意为价值取向、以政治权力为基本依托,以政治秩序为最终归宿,才能建立起人民期待的合理、公正、有效的公共政策,从而进一步推进决策的科学化、民主化。     

Political Choice, Public Policy, and Distributional Outcomes

I address the functioning of the U.S. governing system by analyzing distributional outcomes from 1947 to 2000. The key question is whether public policy influences distributional outcomes. The macropolitics model and power resource theory suggest that left policies should equalize the distribution of income. I utilize single equation error correction models to assess the impact of policy on income inequality through two mechanisms—market conditioning and redistribution. Since nearly every government action influences markets in some way, I examine policy in the aggregate rather than focusing only on policies explicitly designed to redistribute income. The analysis indicates that policy influences inequality through both mechanisms, with left policy producing more equality. The results are consistent with power resource theory and strongly support the macropolitics model. Furthermore, I find that market conditioning is as important as, and works in tandem with, explicit redistribution.     

Effects of Constitutional and Political Controls on State Expenditures

State governments have employed various statutory and constitutionaldevices to limit government spending. Many of these devicesare intended to increase executive control over expenditures.The research design employed here suggests that such effortsare ineffective or counterproductive. However, this researchindicates that state legislatures controlled by a single partyare more likely than divided legislatures to limit governmentspending and minimize debt. Thus, political and electoral influencesappear to explain state expenditures belter than legal restrictionson the appropriations process. This study adds to the literatureby simultaneously analyzing multiple restraints on state governmentspending and debt.     

Political Cultural Variations in State Economic Development Policy

The impact of political culture on state politics has been investigatedwidely, but little is known about the relationship between politicalculture and economic development policy, even though such policiesplay a prominent role in contemporary state politics. DrawingonDanielJ. Elazar's analysis of American political subcultures,I suggest that moralistic, individualistic, and traditionalisticvalues imply quite different strategies for promoting economicgrowth Empirical evidence shows that moralistic states pursuestrategies that emphasize solidarity, while individualisticstates employ policies that confer particularistic benefitson investors. For their part, policymakers in traditionalisticstates prefer exclusionary incentives that tend to reinforceexisting patterns of domination. Whether any of these strategiessucceed in realizing their cultural objectives remains to beseen; however, actions that positively affect economic performancemay lead to the erosion of cultural values by triggering migrationsthat bring new values into play.     

公共管理与公众舆论

自18世纪开始兴起的公众舆论推动了近代西方民主思想的形成,而20世纪公共管理的勃兴正是这种民主思想体制化的必然结果。对于公众舆论的理性与非理性认识分野,受制于背后复杂的权力博弈。在近代公众舆论观向现代公众舆论观转型的过程中,公众权力论逐渐让位于管理控制论。由于国家-市场-市民社会的关系失衡,当代公众舆论面临着环境危机。在目前善治的要求下,公共管理从公共利益出发,必须以保护公众舆论的自由和多元为己任,确立自身被监督者、反馈者和配给者的多重角色,做到有所为和有所不为。     

论网络舆情对政府制定公共政策的影响

当前我国处于网络信息新时代,网络舆情是政府了解民意的重要渠道和方法,对于民意的征求也应适当地采取网络投票、提问等方式。网络传播方式已成为我国公众表达利益诉求、维护自身权益的重要公共平台。因此,网络舆情对政府制定决策有着重要的影响,同时伴随着很大的压力,并且网络舆情的积极作用与消极作用并存,所以网络舆情状态下政府如何制定好公共政策成为考验政府能力的一个挑战。