‘Bridging the differences’: political communication experts in Germany

A process of modernisation and professionalisation has been affecting the political communication culture in Germany. The emergence and rise of the so-called ‘spin doctors’ particularly symbolises this trend. But how do the numerous political communication experts in Germany bridge the differences between the diverging objectives of the political and media realms? By what means do they link political issues and images to anticipated media logics? And how successful are their efforts in agenda- and image-building? To answer these questions, first, a contextual framework is provided identifying political communication experts as dually conditioned linking pins. Second, a hermeneutic content analysis of 63 interviews with high-ranked German ‘spin doctors’ gives some empirical evidence of the practical relevance of widely discussed communicative strategies. The longitudinal perspective provides insights into an enormous and expanding set of communicative strategies. Here, the cultivation of interpersonal networks is most promising, although it is a rather shaky tool of modern political communication in Germany. Overall, the new myth of the ‘powerful spin doctor’ has to be modified since their ‘success’ is contingent on individual variables.     

Learning from the “Milwaukee challenge”

The consequences of administering welfare-to-work programs through county-level agencies may be the most important issue omitted from current discussions of welfare reform. An administrative geography of county welfare agencies fragments metropolitan labor markets, consigning central county residents to job-poor areas and isolating them from job-rich suburban counties. This paper illustrates this effect by mapping employment/population shifts and administrative boundaries in metropolitan Milwaukee. The paper ends with the suggestion that county agencies be allowed to play variable rather than fixed functional roles in a labor exchange process that must now accommodate a metropolitan scale.     

我国公务员道德建设现状调查

公务员应当是道德的先行者,其德行操守对整个社会的精神文明建设起到至关重要的作用。本调查分析了我国公务员道德建设的现状,并提出了相关建议。建议包括:创新道德知识开发方法,加大政府信息公开力度,将平衡记分卡引入道德评价体系等。     

Anthony King: His Intellectual Legacy. Introduction

The Department of Government at Essex University provided a favourable environment for the development of Anthony King's work. While his primary interest was the UK, his intellectual interests were far broader in scope and informed by comparative insights. His key work was on political leadership, but he also made crucial contributions on other issues such as ungovernability. He had a particular concern with the quality of government, reflected in the Blunders book he wrote with Ivor Crewe.     

Whole-person health and development: two South Indian initiatives

ABSTRACT

In responding to the 2016 reformulation of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, the development community’s efforts are focused on a sweep of initiatives aiming to promote whole-society, sustainable development. The ambition of the SDGs is inspiring, but also daunting, and does not always sit easily within national models of economic development. This viewpoint profiles two organisations in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, that have decades of experience in whole-person development among scheduled tribes and disability communities. Both organisations serve as timely examples of ongoing holistic, whole-person health and development in the context of new ideals and economic realities.     

中国沿海外商直接投资外移趋势分析

受外商投资区位优势加速变迁,国际经济环境剧烈变动,尤其是全球金融危机冲击实体经济,各国对国际直接投资(FDI)的争夺日趋激烈等因素影响,中国沿海地区劳动密集型制造业的FDI大量外移。减少FDI向国外转移,促进其向内地转移,既有利于沿海发达地区经济结构升级,又有利于推动内地经济发展和对外开放,加快中国工业化进程,增加国内就业机会。促进沿海劳动密集型制造业的FDI内移,必须正视中国二元经济结构的现实,避免工业化进程中好高骛远,选择内地区域中心,形成产业集群效应,拓展产业链条,降低外商投资内地的综合成本。     

The Case of Nord-Ost: Dubrovka and the Search for Answers

The paper reviews the experience of the group Nord-Ost (The Regional Social Organisation for Assistance and Defence of the Victims of Terrorist Acts) as an example of an NGO that has taken a rights advocacy position which has led it into confrontation with the state. Nord-Ost demands the state's accountability for the consequences of its response to the 2002 Dubrovka terrorist attack. Thus, it confronts challenges common to other rights advocacy groups in Russia today.     

#Democracy: social media use and democratic legitimacy in Central and Eastern Europe

Since 1989, many of the former communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have made the dramatic change from communist regimes to democratic nations that are integrated in the European sphere. While these sweeping changes have given rise to a successful transition to democracy unlike any the world has ever seen, there remain issues with governance as well as citizen support for the regime. While other studies have shown that mass media can influence a person's attitudes and opinions in the region, none has explored what effect social media can have on orientations toward democracy in the region. In the following paper, I build several hypotheses based on previous studies of media effects and democratic survival. I then employ survey data to empirically test whether social media increases support for democracy. The study finds that not only does using social media increase support for democracy, but also simple usage rather than information seeking provides more consistent effects on a person's support for democracy in CEE.     

Indigenous Land Policies,Culture and Resistance in Latin America

Considered here are three edited collections about Latin America that address a wide variety of key rural development issues arising from landholding. The latter include not just methodological approaches (anthropology, political economy) but also questions of identity (gender, indigenous) and sustainability (the environment). Two seemingly antithetical interpretations of the impact of neoliberal project on indigenous populations are in evidence: as economically disempowering, but as politically empowering. A possible synthesis of these contrasting positions is suggested.