Voice in the Classroom: How an Open Classroom Climate Fosters Political Engagement Among Adolescents

Does civics instruction have an impact on the political engagement of adolescents? If so, how? Analysis of data from CIVED, a major study of civic education conducted in 1999, finds that an open classroom climate has a positive impact on adolescents’ civic knowledge and appreciation of political conflict, even upon controlling for numerous individual, classroom, school, and district characteristics. Furthermore, an open classroom environment fosters young people’s intention to be an informed voter. Results further show that exposure to an open classroom climate at school can partially compensate for the disadvantages of young people with low socioeconomic status.     

Elite communication and affective polarization among voters

How does elite communication influence affective polarization between partisan groups? Drawing on the literature on partisan source cues, we expect that communication from in- or outgroup party representatives will increase affective polarization. We argue that polarized social identities are reinforced by partisan source cues, which bias perceptions of elite communication and result in increased intergroup differentiation. Further, we expect that the effect of such source cues is greater for voters with stronger partisan affinities. To evaluate our hypotheses, we performed a survey experiment among about 1300 voters in Sweden. Our analyses show that individuals who received a factual political message with a source cue from an in- or outgroup representative exhibited higher affective polarization, especially when they already held strong partisan affinities. This suggests that political elites can increase affective polarization by reinforcing existing group identities, and that this occurs in conjunction with biased interpretation of elite communication. The results improve our understanding of how political elites can influence affective polarization and add to previous research on party cues and attitude formation by demonstrating that such source cues can also increase intergroup differentiation.     

Mixed evidence for a relationship of cognitive fatigue to political engagement

Daily cognitive fatigue is widespread, yet we are still learning about its influence on political behavior. Existing research suggests fatigue will reduce consumption of politics at the margin. Moreover, when fatigued individuals do engage with political material, they should be more likely to choose content and decision rules that require minimal effort. We find mixed empirical evidence for these claims. In observational data, we find a negative relationship between fatigue and engagement, on average, but the coefficients are typically small and statistically insignificant and we find substantial variation across different measures of fatigue. In three experiments, we find mixed evidence that manipulated fatigue reduces the demand for political content over sports and other non-political entertainment. In a fourth experiment, we find no evidence that manipulated fatigue shapes heuristic versus systematic processing. We discuss the limitations of our study, its relationship to existing work, and avenues for future research.     

The effect of socioeconomic policy and competence messages on populist radical right support: Evidence from a pre-election survey experiment

Does highlighting socioeconomic policy considerations or mainstream parties’ government competence reduce support for populist radical right (PRR) parties? Such “defuse” messages may attract PRR voters without alienating mainstream parties’ core electorate and thus, have advantages over an accommodative strategy. This study tests four “defuse” messages in an original survey experiment on a sample of 1,786 likely PRR voters in the context of the 2017 German federal election. The findings show that potential PRR voters are hardly swayed by these messages. This result is in notable contrast to findings from prior experimental studies about the malleability of PRR support. Exploratory analyses suggest that some of these null findings may mask heterogeneities. Both respondents who were surveyed during the first days of fieldwork and those with less political knowledge responded to some treatments in the expected way. Overall, these findings point to a limited responsiveness of PRR voters to “defuse” messages.     

Does the procedural act of electing leaders enhance cooperation in divided societies? Experimental evidence from Lebanon

Studies suggest that the procedural act of participating in an election in homogenous communities enhances social cooperation and compliance with policies proposed by the elected leader by making the leader more legitimate. In this study, we implement a lab-in-the-field experiment among Shia and Sunni Muslims in Lebanon to test whether participating in the procedural act of electing a leader increases cross-group cooperation also in ethnically heterogeneous communities. We find that participation in leader election fails to increase inter-group cooperation in a heterogeneous setting. In contrast, an appeal to a common ingroup identity successfully increases cooperation. When appeal to a supraordinate identity is combined with leader elections, cooperation increases only when out-group leaders are elected and among voters who value democratic procedure. Our findings suggest that in ethnically divided societies elections can lead to cooperation only if the dominant social norms are consistent with democracy and supraordinate group identity is salient.     

多焦视觉诱发电位在客观视野评估的研究现状

视野检查是法医临床学视功能评估的重要指标之一。多焦视觉诱发电位(mVEP,multi-focalvisuale-vokedpotential)技术能精确、敏感、快速、客观地检测视野。笔者结合国内外文献,对mVEP的刺激、记录、分析方法及其在视野评定中的研究现状进行综述。     

Myanmar and the argument for engagement: A clash of contending moralities?

Through an analysis of Myanmar’s history, together with the instability that arose in consequence of it, this paper argues that the international community needs to overcome its policy divide by embracing a combination of diplomatic pressure and targeted engagement designed to enhance, in the long-term, the security and stability, of Myanmar and its people. While the idea of even limited engagement may be repugnant to some, the analysis will show that the ‘middle path’ advocated by this paper represents the best sustainable option to resolve the crisis in Myanmar.     

重塑心灵:救助中心内流浪儿童的心理干预实践

流浪儿童作为特殊群体,近些年来得到了社会各界的普遍关注。由于流浪儿童自身特殊的心理问题和行为特点,需要中心在救助过程中建立心理干预机制,借助社会力量并运用专业的工作方法帮助流浪儿童改变不良的心理状况,为流浪儿童最终回归家庭、回归社会提供条件。     

宪政视野中的责任政府建设

责任政府建设对宪政建设具有极为重要的意义,它是宪政建设的题中之义,是宪政建设的基本要求和根本的保障.在宪政视野中,责任政府建设就是要使政府成为民主政府、法治政府、有限政府、服务政府,从而防止政府腐败、保障政府服务人民.实现这些目标,需要加速政府理念更新、深化政府职能转变、加强政府权力规制、完善政府责任制度.     

陕西农地流转的特点、问题及其对策建议

多年来,全国大部分地区农村土地使用权流转市场极不活跃而且很不平衡。陕西农村土地使用权流转总体上表现为规模小、数量少,且地区间有较大差异。农地使用权流转不仅有赖于市场化流转机制的建立和完善,更有赖于农业外部环境的不断改善。当前在欠发达地区并不具备农地使用权流转市场供求平衡的情况下,更为重要的是要在确实保证农户拥有完整的土地使用权基础上,通过市场规则建立确保农户独享收益权的机制。