When do people pay attention? Violence and non-violence in political movements and the differential media attention provided

Media can dictate what people see, but an individual’s choice in media consumption can also determine what stories the media report. This paper demonstrates that people show a greater interest in large-scale protests when the use of violence is employed, though this trend does not strongly hold in every case. Google search Trend data are analysed across five recent political movements to determine at which points in a movement media attention peaks. The data are compared to the timelines of these protests with a specific emphasis on when major violent events occurred. The level of violence that occurs in a movement is potentially correlated with how many times the region experiencing the movement is searched. Some movements however do a good job at generating attention without violence, and violence does not guarantee a large audience. The Google Trend data provide valuable information about what causes people to pay attention to world events and can be used to analyse political movements and potentially make predictions about violent and non-violent conflict.     

Forms of Bail in Common Law Systems

Although the system of commercial bail bonding which prevails in most jurisdictions in the United States has been condemned by scholars for over fifty years, little awareness exists in this country about the alternative forms of pre-trial release practiced in the other common law countries. Nevertheless, these countries share a common origin of their bail systems in that found in England in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. This common root renders their respective practices mutual alternatives to each other.

Only one of these countries has followed the American example of a commercialized system. The systems employed by the other countries can be classified into one of four types depending on the principal means used to secure the appearance of the accused in court. Each type is examined through a study of a jurisdiction providing a typical example of the type. The recognizance based systems are represented by India. The criminalization systems are typified by the English example. The state of New South Wales in Australia exemplifies the non-financially based systems. Finally, the Union of South Africa provides an illustration of the non-commercial cash deposit alternative. Reference is made to other countries sharing each type where possible.     

Pussy Riot and feminist cultural criminology: a new ‘Femininity in Dissent’?

This comment considers the mainstream, online Western news media’s reaction to the imprisonment of three members of the Russian feminist punk band, Pussy Riot, in August 2012. Of particular concern is the band’s style of feminist political protest; it argues that their case is of significance to feminist cultural criminology. Drawing on Young’s analysis of media censuring of feminist political protest as deviance, the contrasting, positive representation in this case of Pussy Riot as dissidents is explored. This positive representation can be understood with regard to Western geopolitical concerns, but also stresses the effectiveness of Pussy Riot in communicating their political message.     

Testing for sources of electoral competition under authoritarianism: an analysis of Russia’s gubernatorial elections

What drives electoral competition in competitive authoritarian regimes? Most scholarship has assumed that the outcome of these elections is decided by regime manipulation alone. Using three rounds of newly reinstated gubernatorial elections in Russia’s regions, I test this assumption. I identify three distinct measures of competition calibrated to authoritarian elections and assess whether voter preferences or regime manipulation best explain the degree of electoral competition. Relying on new data on protests across Russia’s regions, I find that regions with high protest activity have more contested elections with narrower margins of victory. The results also confirm recent scholarship highlighting the importance of voter turnout for delivering pro-regime victories.     

Voting for Movement Parties in Southern Europe: The Role of Protest and Digital Information

In recent years ‘movement parties’ such as Syriza in Greece, the Movimento 5 Stelle in Italy, Podemos in Spain and—to a lesser extent—Bloco de Esquerda in Portugal shook national party systems, breaking the consolidated dynamics of political competition. Despite growing interest in movement parties, there has been scant attention to the role of citizens adopting unconventional forms of action and using digital media in accounting for their electoral performance. To fill this gap, four original internet-based post-electoral surveys are employed showing that protesters and digital media users are more likely to vote for these parties, despite important country differences.     

Individual Differences and Political Contexts –The Role of Personality Traits and Direct Democracy in Explaining Political Protest

Building on a growing literature concerned with the link between psychological dispositions and political protest behavior, we argue that this relationship is not universal, but rather depends on contextual factors. Political context factors are able to alter the meaning and understanding of participatory repertoires. This, in turn, leads to differential effects of personality on participation. We argue that direct democracy constitutes such a political context that can act as moderating factor with regard to protest participation. In order to test this interaction between person and situation empirically, we conduct a subnational comparative analysis of the Swiss cantons. Hierarchical regression models reveal that the personality traits openness to experience and extraversion affect protest behavior directly. Most importantly, however, the link between openness to experience and protest participation is significantly moderated by direct democracy. This provides evidence for variance in the situational expression of personality traits.     

高校“QQ空间文化”流行趋势研究

"QQ空间文化"是一种以QQ空间为载体形成的时尚流行文化,当代大学生是"QQ空间文化"的创造者,也是其消费者,进而在高校形成了特有的"QQ空间文化"流行现象,对大学生价值观有着重要的导向作用。高校思想政治教育和管理工作需要立足大学生自主发展趋向、情感需求趋向、价值追求趋向等方面探究"QQ空间文化"流行趋势,注重道德生活化价值、社会核心价值以及大学生自主发展的价值等方面把握高校"QQ空间文化"流行趋势的价值导向,引导大学生创造有内涵、有个性、有品质的"QQ空间文化"个性网络家园。     

需要理论在马克思主义大众化实践中的应用

通过关注人的物质生活需要、精神需要、发展需要以及需要的不同层次逐步解决,在马克思主义大众化过程中实现群众对主流意识的认同与信仰,是实现马克思主义大众化的根本所在,也是中国特色社会主义理论体系的客观要求。     

民事抗诉制度研究

民事诉讼法确立了民事抗诉制度 ,但其规定十分笼统。实践中 ,检法两家常常各执己见 ,争论不休 ,严重削弱了检察监督的力度。本文认为 ,在抗诉案件的审级上 ,应确立“抗同级、同级审”原则 ;在审限上 ,应从接到人民检察院抗诉书的次日算起 ,在再审中检察机关的地位、任务及权限方面 ,立法均应予以具体规定。此外 ,对检察机关启动抗诉程序的权力应予以必要限制 ,以避免检察权与审判权的无谓冲突。