A question of species Astonishment at the beginning of the human being

The decoding of the human genome, aswell as current research on human stem cellsand early embryos, demands new legal andpolitical definitions of the human species.Both the act of limiting research on humanembryos, because they are themselves human, orthe act of permitting such research since theyare not human at all, entail a very newdefinition of the human species. Where politicsis confronted with the task of defining theessence and the anthropos of the human beingand of transforming this definition intolegitimated social actions, we must admit of anincrease in civil procedures. This debate isconstantly pushing at the borders of thedefinition of `humanness'; borders which bothlimit its definition and scope. The biosciencesnot only transgress such borders but alsosubstantially damage them; concerned subjectscannot proceed against such violations of theborders of `humanness'. The transposition of adistinct non-human life form into a human oneis endangering the human being as a distinctspecies. In this case, however, Carl Schmitt'stheory of politics, as an opposition to theenemy, becomes relevant to the human organismitself as it is challenged by the appearance ofnon-human forms of life within it.     

Sub-National Election Campaigns: The Danish Local Elections of November 1989*

Electoral campaigning is studied almost without exception at the national level. This article has chosen another road, claiming that electoral campaigning can also be studied at the local election level. Campaigning before the Danish local elections of 21 November 1989 is studied. The design permits comparisons between the two levels (national/local) as well as between different units at the local level. It furthermore provides an opportunity for studying the influence of local party systems as well as local mass media on election campaigning. A substantial part of the article discusses the institutional frameworks surrounding electoral campaigning in the municipalities studied and in general. It is maintained that the electoral system, the mass media structure, and the (local) party system are important contextual factors or frameworks. Given this, it is argued that organization, past performance, and campaign focus as a mix of policy proposals and leader image are paramount in affecting the local election vote. The main conclusions are: local election campaigning differs from national election campaigning; local election campaigning matters, i.e. it has a direct effect on the vote; and the functions of local party organizations in connection with local elections and local performance make them less vulnerable to organizational decline, which most mass membership political parties are experiencing at the national level.     

Land governance as grey zone: the political incentives of land reform implementation in Africa

Weak state capacity has often been in focus when explaining why land reform in sub-Saharan Africa is not implemented. However, an analysis of the deeper politics of land reform brings our attention to a set of incentives which allow rules governing land to be open to interpretation. This article demonstrates that in Uganda, the need to maintain the ruling coalition in a clientelist political settlement to build electoral support, and the desire to attract economic investors, constitute political incentives to maintain land governance as a grey zone, even if there is apparent political will to implement land reforms.     

Embodying ‘the Nordic race’: imaginaries of Viking heritage in the online communications of the Nordic Resistance Movement

ABSTRACT

Kølvraa’s article focuses on the cultural imaginary of the Scandinavian extreme right by analysing the online presence of the so-called Nordic Resistance Movement. He seeks to show how the cultural imaginaries of this National Socialist organization make use of the Scandinavian Viking heritage in three distinct ways. First, to produce a distinctly Nordic form of National Socialism and thus potentially make this ideology palatable to Nordic publics. Second, to differentiate their racially oriented political project from a wider far-right or populist right concern with the defence of European Christian heritage and/or civilization against Islam. And, third, to thematize and perform a certain hyper-masculine identity, especially in the context of martial and sporting competitions arranged by the organization.     

Three Forms of Interpersonal Trust: Evidence from Swedish Municipalities

Social trust is usually treated as a dichotomy between particularized and generalized trust. In this article it is argued that a third distinct form, community trust, is neither particularized nor generalized and bounded in space rather than persons. Factor analysis of survey data from 33 Swedish municipalities (N = 6,453) distinguishes between particularized, generalized and community trust. Furthermore, regression analyses show that the three trust forms have partly distinct antecedents and linked to different types of behaviours. While generalized trust best predicts leaps of faith in relation to strangers, community trust is the only trust form significantly predicting taking part in local problem solving. Finally, multilevel analysis shows that community trust is the trust form most vulnerable to changes with respect to ethnic diversity and socioeconomic equality.     

Democracy Interrupted: The Anti-Social Side of Intensified Policing

In 2015 and 2016, France was hit by some severe terror attacks. Following these attacks, the country experienced increased xenophobia in the form of anti-Muslim actions (anti-social peer punishment), and the French government reacted by declaring a state of emergency and intensifying policing activities such as house searches and police stops. Here, I analyze these reactions and show that intensified policing, even though well intended, can be associated with considerable anti-social effects. Furthermore, I will show that the state of emergency was associated with some dynamics that are worrisome for a democracy. Lastly, I will situate the findings in the conceptual distinction between institutional and peer punishment of behavioral science.     

Priming citizens to think about public participation initiatives: Does it impact their view of government?

Prior research has shown that public participation initiatives may have positive effects on how participating citizens view government. However, little is known about whether and how priming citizens to think about such initiatives influences the view of government among the larger public. Using a survey experiment, we find that the effect of priming citizens to think of a public participation initiative that includes a small group of citizens on their view of government is conditional on how proximate the service, which the initiative resolves around, is to citizens. Notably, across outcome measures we a find a negative priming effect among those for which the service is not proximate. These results are highly important, as they suggest that among the larger public, public participation initiatives—that involve few citizens—may have mixed results on the view of government, thus questioning the legitimacy of decisions reached by such initiatives.