It's (Change in) the (Future) Economy,Stupid: Economic Indicators,the Media,and Public Opinion

Economic perceptions affect policy preferences and government support. It thus matters that these perceptions are driven by factors other than the economy, including media coverage. We nevertheless know little about how media reflect economic trends, and whether they influence (or are influenced by) public economic perceptions. This article explores the economy, media, and public opinion, focusing in particular on whether media coverage and the public react to changes in or levels of economic activity, and the past, present, or future economy. Analyses rely on content‐analytic data drawn from 30,000 news stories over 30 years in the United States. Results indicate that coverage reflects change in the future economy, and that this both influences and is influenced by public evaluations. These patterns make more understandable the somewhat surprising finding of positive coverage and public assessments in the midst of the Great Recession. They also may help explain previous findings in political behavior.     

Recognition,reification and (dis)respect

Abstract

Axel Honneth Honneth, A. 1982. Moral consciousness and class domination: Some problems in the analysis of hidden morality. Praxis International, 2(1): 12–24.  [Google Scholar] was already recognized as the leading figure in the ‘third generation’ of critical theory, long before he took up, in 1996, Habermas's chair in philosophy at Frankfurt and the directorship of the Institut für Sozialforschung. He has for a long time been reconceptualizing Frankfurt critical theory in terms of an originally Hegelian conception of recognition, and associated notions of respect and disrespect – a model which brings out a concern with human suffering which was a strong feature of the first generation of critical theorists. This volume of translated essays, together with a recent volume in German and his 2005 Tanner Lectures on reification, provides a good opportunity to triangulate Honneth's developing work.     

The Big (Data) Bang: Policy,Prospects, and Challenges

Big data is increasingly the cornerstone on which policy making is based. However, with potential benefits and applications come challenges and dilemmas. In this set of symposium articles, authors examine the promise and problems of big data, exploring associated prospects, risks, parameters, and payoffs from a variety of perspectives. The articles address myriad challenges in the handling of big data sets, such as collection, validation, integrity, and security; ontological issues attending data analytics and conceptual transformations; the foundations of big data collection for social science research; the gap between the acquisition of data and its use to advance discovery and innovation; the costs and benefits of using big data in decision making and analysis; and, finally, related problems of privacy, security, and ethics. Issues such as these will continue to arise with increased use of big data as fundamental to policy making and governance in today's growing information society.     

Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA) : Origins, Evolution, and Future Directions

The technique of environmental impact analysis (EIA) was developed initially in the United States in response to a requirement of the National 15nvironmental Policy Act of 1969. Now adopted with variations in at least 3 0 countries antf by the European Community, EIA has proved to be a va1ua't)le component of a group of related techniques for discovering and projectirig the probable consequences of proposed action. In pursuit of iriprovenicnt in analytic technique, however, the policy rationale for EIA has too oftcii been obscured. EIA depends for full effectiveness upon in- tcgration into the policy-making process. Separated from commitment to environmental policy objectives, El.4 IS at risk of becoming redundant paperwork.     

State Violence and Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (lgbt) Rights

Most societies, and the governments that represent them, regard lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (lgbt) people to be immoral, decadent, and a threat to public order. Throughout the world, this homophobia long has caused lgbt people to be subject to ''legal'' violence made up of discriminatory laws and practices by state agencies, ''semi-legal'' violence of killing, torture, and harassment by police forces, and extra-judicial violence by individuals and groups in society. Yet as an unprecedented number of countries democratize, they adopt constitutions that prohibit and prosecute such practices. At the same time, rapidly growing lgbt organizations are using newfound freedoms to demand an end to abuse. Most of these democracies have proven unwilling or unable to enforce legal protections, however, while the economic and political uncertainties accompanying democratization often incite further violence. After examining the forms and patterns of anti-lgbt violence, this paper will analyze why democratic transitions have not led to its elimination.     

The Tragedy of Liberal Diplomacy: Democratization,Intervention, Statebuilding (Part I)

Since the end of the Cold War, democracy promotion, intervention and statebuilding have once again been explicit features of American foreign policy. Current assessments of this return, however, overlook both their longer term history and their roots in liberal (and not just American) ideology. The contradictions and dynamics entailed in the liberal philosophy of history have already played themselves out once before, in the modernization theories and policies of the early Cold War period. Despite their academic and political failures at the time, the same assumptions now underpin democracy promotion in the post-Cold War period and show signs of the same dynamics of failure. In this two part essay, I argue that the repetition of such counterproductive policies constitutes a recurring ‘tragedy of liberal diplomacy’ in which the shaping of US foreign policy by assumptions deeply rooted in the liberal philosophy of history plays a central part in producing the very enemies that policy is designed to confront and transform.