Hong Kong's Elite Structure,Legislature and the Bleak Future of Democracy under Chinese Sovereignty

A decade after retrocession to China, Hong Kong still has limited democracy. Only half of the legislature is directly elected by the people, and the Chief Executive – the leader of Hong Kong government – is chosen by an election committee of 800 people, most of them loyal to Beijing. In December 2007, the Chinese Central Government announced that the direct election of the Chief Executive and the whole legislature may be implemented from 2017 and 2020, respectively. Still, in this paper it is suggested that real democracy in the foreseeable future is unlikely. This paper demonstrates the existence of a “power elite” of tightly knit business-state networks in Hong Kong society and argues that this constitutes a systemic barrier against further democratic development. Central to the discussion is an analysis of the formation and composition of the legislature and the relations to the elite-interlocks among influential organisations in society. Mainly based on 2006‐07 data, the Elite Database which is subject to network analyses is composed of 1531 individuals holding 1854 seats from 40 listed corporations, 27 government committees, 20 non-governmental organisations, and eight universities.     

The Effects of Political Talk Radio On Political Attitude Formation: Exposure Versus Knowledge

The effects of political news on the mass audience are usually difficult to establish empirically. Recent models of mass communication effects have held that political knowledge is a better indicator of media reception than traditional measures of exposure. This claim is tested in two studies of attitudes toward Democratic and Republican leaders during the 1996 U.S. presidential primary campaigns. The impact of messages from three types of political talk radio (PTR) is examined: Rush Limbaugh, other conservative hosts, and liberal/moderate hosts. Political knowledge and exposure to talk radio are found to be equally good predictors of attitudes toward political leaders when studied separately. However, when tested against one another, exposure is the more effective measure. Agreement between Rush Limbaugh's messages and his audience's attitudes toward political figures is consistent and strong. Biased processing of PTR content by audience members with partisan predispositions contrary to those of the host is also examined.     

Risky business: Covering slow‐onset hazards as rapidly developing news

The emerging field of risk communication has yet to thoroughly grapple with how the mass media report risk. Through a content analysis of five newspapers noted for their science reporting, newspaper coverage of four environmental hazards is compared to media coverage of more traditional risky events. In general, these slow‐to‐develop stories are reported in much the same way as more traditional disaster stories. News accounts emphasized an event orientation, framed risks in terms of human activity rather than social and political contexts, described risk in terms of harms and benefits, and relied on traditional sources. The authors then explore how this version of mass‐mediated risk might change current definitions of risk communication and how a mediated construction of risk may influence public perception of the political choices these issues raise.     

Notes on recent articles

An increasing number of studies in political communication focus on the “sentiment” or “tone” of news content, political speeches, or advertisements. This growing interest in measuring sentiment coincides with a dramatic increase in the volume of digitized information. Computer automation has a great deal of potential in this new media environment. The objective here is to outline and validate a new automated measurement instrument for sentiment analysis in political texts. Our instrument uses a dictionary-based approach consisting of a simple word count of the frequency of keywords in a text from a predefined dictionary. The design of the freely available Lexicoder Sentiment Dictionary (LSD) is discussed in detail here. The dictionary is tested against a body of human-coded news content, and the resulting codes are also compared to results from nine existing content-analytic dictionaries. Analyses suggest that the LSD produces results that are more systematically related to human coding than are results based on the other available dictionaries. The LSD is thus a useful starting point for a revived discussion about dictionary construction and validation in sentiment analysis for political communication.     

mtDNAprofiler: A Web Application for the Nomenclature and Comparison of Human Mitochondrial DNA Sequences,

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is a valuable tool in the fields of forensic, population, and medical genetics. However, recording and comparing mtDNA control region or entire genome sequences would be difficult if researchers are not familiar with mtDNA nomenclature conventions. Therefore, mtDNAprofiler, a Web application, was designed for the analysis and comparison of mtDNA sequences in a string format or as a list of mtDNA single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (mtSNPs). mtDNAprofiler which comprises four mtDNA sequence‐analysis tools (mtDNA nomenclature, mtDNA assembly, mtSNP conversion, and mtSNP concordance‐check) supports not only the accurate analysis of mtDNA sequences via an automated nomenclature function, but also consistent management of mtSNP data via direct comparison and validity‐check functions. Since mtDNAprofiler consists of four tools that are associated with key steps of mtDNA sequence analysis, mtDNAprofiler will be helpful for researchers working with mtDNA. mtDNAprofiler is freely available at http://mtprofiler.yonsei.ac.kr .     

High‐Throughput STR Analysis for DNA Database Using Direct PCR,

Since the Korean criminal DNA database was launched in 2010, we have focused on establishing an automated DNA database profiling system that analyzes short tandem repeat loci in a high‐throughput and cost‐effective manner. We established a DNA database profiling system without DNA purification using a direct PCR buffer system. The quality of direct PCR procedures was compared with that of conventional PCR system under their respective optimized conditions. The results revealed not only perfect concordance but also an excellent PCR success rate, good electropherogram quality, and an optimal intra/inter‐loci peak height ratio. In particular, the proportion of DNA extraction required due to direct PCR failure could be minimized to <3%. In conclusion, the newly developed direct PCR system can be adopted for automated DNA database profiling systems to replace or supplement conventional PCR system in a time‐ and cost‐saving manner.     

Analysis and counter‐policies on elderly criminals in Korea

The second counter‐policy is an establishment of a proper network of legal systems, including the establishment of accurate statistical data and well‐structured criminal law and defense systems for the elderly — comparable to the currently operative systems established to process and to deal with crimes of teenage and female offenders.

Research on indigence, health, recreation, housing and other welfare areas of the elderly is common in Korea, but research on elderly criminals is rare. Projecting that their crime rates will rise, this preliminary research was conducted in order to understand their crime status and to establish proper counter‐policies.

This research focuses on the analysis of the present elderly population and changes of their status, in addition to criminal theories and criminal trends. Analysis on criminal statistics is done through classifying criminal offenses and special offenses according to the present governmental criminal classification methods of Korea. Criminal offenses are further separated into serious and estate‐related offenses.

The result of analysis on elderly criminals in Korea indicates that the most common crimes are assaults and related offenses, including battery and bodily injuries. Most assaults or related charges were, however, not decidedly serious. Among estate‐related offenses, misappropriation and property‐damage were the most common. Among special offenses, constructional violations have the highest rate. The majority of estate related offenses were less serious and produced less than W‐ 1,000,000 (approximately $1150 US dollars) in damages.

Destruction of traditional society is the major source of criminal activities. While younger generations demand less authoritarian and more interdependent relationships, the elderly insist upon adhering to their traditional ways of thinking. The elderly commit crimes out of the animosity and exasperation created from a perceived incompatibility with modern society. Their diminishing social and family hierarchies, along with carelessness and lack of recreation, lead the elderly into feeble or fatuous life styles, eventually leading to various offenses.

There is no simple solution to prevent the elderly from committing crimes since complex social and/or personality problems cause these deviant behaviors. The government needs to understand the overall problems and establish necessary counter‐policies with regard to the elderly. Even if their present crime rates seem insignificant now, the numbers are growing rapidly.

Conclusively, the first counter‐policy is to eliminate the source of the problems. Some specific policies that can be adopted to eliminate these sources include the expansion of employment and related educational opportunities to improve their economic conditions; realignment of medical benefit systems; broader access to effective recreational activities through volunteer and other civic programs; and social adjustment programs that can guide the elderly to better adjust to the evolving social changes.     

Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors Among Adolescents

The purpose of this article is to examine the self-reported sexual attitudes and behaviors of adolescents living in the Midwest. A survey was administered to 463 African American youths ages 11–19. The results indicate that intent to have sexual intercourse, reported likelihood toward having sexual intercourse, and whether participants felt that they would have sex in the next 3 months were predictors of whether they had sexual intercourse at the 3-month follow-up. The results also revealed that the opinions of referent others did not predict sexual intercourse at 3 months. Negative attitudes toward condoms did predict condom use at 3 months and the opinions of referent others also predicted condom use at 3 months. Limitations as well as future research are also discussed.     

China in the North Korean Nuclear Crises: ‘interest’ and ‘identity’ in foreign behavior

China reacted very differently to the first and second North Korean nuclear crisis: engaging in passive and ‘behind-the-scenes’ diplomacy in the first and choosing more proactive and ‘stage-managing’ diplomacy in the second. This article has sought to explain this striking contrast in China's foreign behavior. Though most studies tend to rely on Chinese strategic and security interests in explaining China's proactive diplomacy as demonstrated in the six-party talks, those strategic and security interests do not explain directly the contrasting foreign behavior of China. China faced basically equal strategic and security concerns and equally dangerous potential military conflict between the US and North Korea through the first and the second nuclear crises. This article, then, argues that ‘same interests, but different behaviors’ should be explained not by China's external interest calculus but by internal changes within China itself. By the turn of the new millennium, China had undergone an evolutionary change of state identity from a cautious accommodator to an active constructor, or from a state of ‘taoguang yanghui’ to a state of ‘fuzeren daguo’. The contrasting foreign behaviors in the first and second nuclear crises are profoundly reflective of this identity shift of China.