Auditee Strategies: An Investigation of Auditees’ Reactions to the Norwegian State Audit Institution’s Performance Audits

This article contributes to theory on accountability—how it is played out and responded to. It uses the Norwegian State Audit Institution as an illustration. The responses of the audited entities to the SAI’s institutional pressure were identified through an analysis of four different cases. Four auditee strategies were identified. They indicate that the performance audit has impact when the auditees agree with the conclusions of the SAI. Sanctions from the control committee and the Parliament are equally important. Even though the extent of sanctions and conflict of opinion matter for the auditees’ responses, the effects are context dependent.     

Bringing the Sociology of Media Back In

In political communication research, news media tend to be studied more as a dependent than independent variable. That is, few studies link structural characteristics of media systems to the production of journalistic discourse about politics. One reason for this relative silence is the inadequacy of prevalent theories. Influential scholars in sociology and political communication such as Jürgen Habermas, Manuel Castells, and William Gamson provide only sketchy, institutionally underspecified accounts of media systems. Likewise, models in the sociology of news have tended to either aggregate societal level influences (chiefly political and economic) that are analytically and often empirically quite distinct or overemphasize micro-level influences (news routines, bureaucratic pressures). In between such micro- and macro-influences, the mezzo-level "journalistic field" represents an important shaping factor heretofore largely ignored. As path-dependent institutional logics, fields help ground cultural analysis; as interorganizational spatial environments varying in their level of concentration, they explain heretofore undertheorized aspects of news production. Drawing on the sociology of news and field theory (Bourdieu and American new institutionalism), this essay offers a series of hypotheses about how variable characteristics of media systems shape news discourse. Since variation at the system level is most clearly seen via cross-national comparative studies, international research is best positioned to build more generalizable theory about the production of journalistically mediated political discourse.     

Louder than words: Tacit communication in international crises

Clear communication is generally viewed as requisite to the peaceful resolution of international crises. The success of bargaining, deterrent, and compellent strategies hinges on the credibility afforded by unambiguous signals exchanged between opponents. Despite the acknowledged importance of this ‘communication factor,’ little effort has been made to evaluate the relative effectiveness of the various modes of communication that may be employed in crisis. By means of theoretical and comparative case analysis, this study finds a substantial difference between the efficacy of traditional diplomatic negotiation and tacit measures, such as the deployment and/or exercise of military forces near the scene of crisis. Where negotiation alone often fails, backing, preceding, or, at times, replacing diplomacy with tacit measures affords the greatest chances for success. The policy implications of this finding are explored, particularly as they apply to U.S. regional ‘extended deterrent’ strategies for protecting geographically distant friends and interests.     

Forming Political Culture and Marketing Strategies in a Central-European Setting

ABSTRACT

Having analyzed the different strategies used in the 1998 and 2002 parliamentary election campaigns with reference to the 1990 and 1994 campaigns, we can conclude that the Hungarian election conventions and culture are still in a state of experimentation and exploration. In contrast with American election traditions, in Hungary, not the individual (with the exception of the Alliance of Young Democrats), but the party image is what counts, though, in this respect, considerable changes could be observed during the last few years. The Hungarian political palette is much too fragmented, and this sets a barrier to the necessary desire for creating a suitable forum for the debate of the party leaders and for the declaration of party politics. At present, the party programme reaches the citizens just in implicit, hidden, often symbolic forms of messages.

While the symbols of the left-wing parties were sketchy, unskillful, too rational, and not giving much space for emotional influence, the right-wing parties gave too large of a dose of different symbols, which were emotional rather than rational. This lack of balance made the campaigns superficial, irrational, sometimes misleading, and abnormal. This feeling of abnormality was strengthened by the fact that the overdose on the part of the right wing was not limited to the campaign period, but the emotional shocking started much earlier. The state of excitement, which was spread in time, actually started in the spring of 1998, and even if there were fluctuations, the general mood of the last four years was characterised by the dug-out hatchet. The political opinion of the Orbán party was clearly expressed by their metaphors. The message of the sentences like 'it is more than change of government, less than change of regime,' 'attacking on the whole field,' 'we change the telephone directories,' etc., was unambiguous: combative four years are coming. During their campaign, 'setting up a record' was realized between the two rounds after the failure in the first round and was still going on showing the election failure, which came about in democratic circumstances (Galló Béla, 2002, 93).

One could hardly judge the effectiveness of agenda building, though some of the crucial social questions appeared as cue words and sentences in the mediated messages of parties (for example, family, health care, education, joining the European Union). Hungarian campaigning, compared to the American presidential election campaign, is colorless and rife with technical and rhetorical errors, and it is a competition without any coherence where the citizen is very often just a means of, but not the goal in, the struggle of the parties.     

被忽视儿童的社会技能特点与辅导策略

被忽视儿童是指那些只得到同伴很少注意或几乎得不到注意的儿童。被忽视儿童在社会技能的某些方面存在着自己的特点和不足。家长和教师如果在了解被忽视儿童社会技能和被忽视原因的基础上,对其采取切实有效的针对性教育干预措施,那么其同伴地位就会得到逐渐改变。     

浅谈企业商业秘密的保护

商业秘密作为现代企业重要的无形资产之一,内含极高的市场价值和潜在利润,可以给企业带来市场上的竞争优势。文章从商业秘密的一般问题、相关法律规定以及商业秘密保护战略等几方面进行了初步探讨。     

关于中国禁赌新思维的理性思考

赌博作为一种源于游戏的社会现象,它的盛行与泛滥是由多种因素共同作用所致。长期以来,我们查禁赌博的思维简单化,方式过于单一,效果并不理想。转变禁赌思维方式就是要求我们站在全社会和公众生活的立场上,从赌博本身的特性和存在的多种根源出发,严格界定赌博罪、赌博违法及带彩头的群众娱乐活动的界限,分层分类、抓大放小,打击体现层次性,并辅之以经济、法律、行政和教育等多种手段,标本兼治、疏堵结合、打防并举,来达到遏制赌博泛滥的目的。     

侦察谋略假设

侦察谋略主体在运筹谋略过程中，根据掌握敌情信息或事实材料，运用以往的对敌斗争谋略经验，充分发挥思维的想象力和创造力，提出实施侦察活动的策略和方法。侦察谋略假设的特征、意义、方法及验证。     

大学生“网络成瘾”问题的成因及对策探析

“网络成瘾”是一种心理障碍,它不利于大学生个体的身心健康发展,影响他们的学业,有时甚至还会危及他们的生命。“网络成瘾”问题的形成既有网络媒体特性的因素,也有大学生个体自身人格缺陷和现实社会生活压力的因素。本文从探讨大学生“网络成瘾”的成因着手,提出了预防和治疗大学生“网络成瘾”问题的有效对策。     

冷战后韩国的东北亚安全战略构想

自朝鲜战争结束以来,韩国安全政治中一直面临着严重的安全困境问题。韩国认为,周边强国之间的均衡关系是韩国生存与繁荣的保障。从现实情况看,韩国的力量难以同周边大国中的任何一个进行抗衡,归根结底,只有在大国间的力量取得平衡并相互制约的前提下,韩国的活动范围才能得以扩大。所以,推动东北亚多边安全机制的建立,维持当前的地区力量均衡,防止因为周边大国实力的强弱变化导致的地区秩序瓦解,对于韩国意义重大。冷战后,韩国所提出的东北亚多边安全战略构想无疑将对维持该地区长期和平发挥关键性作用,韩国也能从中获得可观的和平红利。但由于其内在缺陷,这一构想并不能一劳永逸地化解韩国长期所面临的安全困境。