Hungary’s radical right 2.0

In the digital age, the Internet is an important factor in the emergence and success of political parties and social movements. Despite growing evidence that extremists of all stripes use the virtual world for their purposes, research on this topic still lacks a wide array of empirical data, case studies, and theoretical background. In particular, Facebook, as the most important social networking site, is a new tool for political parties and movements to mobilize followers. The article explores how the extreme-right party Jobbik uses this tool more successfully than other Hungarian parties or Western European extreme-right parties. Comparing the growth in followers highlights this success, and a look at how it generates likes helps to explain it. The article argues that Jobbik uses Facebook in a sophisticated way and suggests that this “likable” attitude helps to attract young and first-time voters.     

Literatures at the intersections of national territories: Iranian-Azerbaijani ethnic entrepreneurs in a transnational historical space

This article is an attempt to explore the territoriality of languages in the context of ethno-national mobilizations. It maps the transnational interplay between linguistic spaces that overlap national frameworks. This makes it possible to scrutinize the horizontal and vertical differentiation processes that contribute to the definition of a distinctive literary field. In order to study these processes, we favor a strong empirical anchorage by referring to the notion of transnational historical space, defined as a configuration which covers both spatial and temporal dimensions, bringing territories into contact and linking various temporalities. Our case presents a large geographic space formed by Turkey, the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Iranian Azerbaijan. This unusual scale of analysis helps in understanding how ethnic entrepreneurs can capitalize symbolic resources in their strategies to make their ethnic idiom into a national language and to invest the political field with ethnonational claims.     

社区居民自治项目的运作机制及绩效检视——基于湖北四届社区公益创投(项目)的分析

项目制在基层自治领域中的运作机制不同于传统的分级运作。通过对湖北社区公益创投(项目)的研究发现,居民自治项目历经"项目创意-项目申报-项目审定-创投大赛-项目督导-项目评估"六个阶段,遵循自上而下的制定机制、供需适配的购买机制以及过程导向的评估机制。整个项目运作过程都十分尊重居民意愿。上级政府不再是利用项目控制基层,而是利用项目赋权社区。这种"以居民为中心"的项目制有利于促进政府职能转型,提高社区居委会的专业化程度,实现居民的组织化和常态化参与。深入探究社区居民自治项目的运作机制,对于推进居民自治以及拓展项目制研究具有重要的意义。     

The Impact of the European Union on Sub-National Mobilization in A Unitary State: The Case of Estonia

The discussion of multi-level governance and sub-national mobilization has become a critical case for those concerned with the political and institutional consequences of European integration. The evidence so far indicates that the EU impact on the empowerment of the sub-national level has not been as uniform within member states as the multi-level governance concept traditionally would assume. This article explores the Europeanization impact on sub-national mobilization in Estonia. The results of the study address the factors affecting the emergence of multi-level governance and provide a foundation for the analysis of the possible wider applicability of these manifestations to a wider set of countries with similar territorial and political structures.     

Social networks and mass media as mobilizers and demobilizers: A study of turnout at a German local election

This paper explores the impact of informal communication in voters’ social networks and the formal communication of the mass media on individuals’ propensity to take part in elections. Analyzing survey data from a recent local election in Germany it shows how both forms of communication may not only mobilize, but also demobilize voters. On the whole, personal communication appears more influential than mass communication. The media’s effects are generally weaker than those of social networks. Moreover, they are mediated by attitudes, while social networks have strong direct effects. These originate mainly from information conveyed through personal contact with voters and abstainers in one’s immediate social environment. Social voting norms are only influential, if they originate from persons’ families and are in favor of electoral participation.     

Jānis Gaigulis,in retrospect

This article offers a reassessment of the All-Estonian Congress, held in Tartu in November 1905, focusing on the background to this key event during the Russian Revolution of 1905, the most controversial aspects of the Congress itself, and its immediate as well as long-term significance. The split of the Congress into two wings reflected the fragmentation of Estonian political and social thought in the heated atmosphere of 1905, with one side calling for an evolutionary solution to the crisis facing the Russian state while the other demanded revolutionary change. In the longer perspective the Congress must be seen as a key element in the first broadly based political mobilization of the Estonian population in modern times, laying the groundwork for more sweeping change after 1917.     

Social pressure, surveillance and community size: Evidence from field experiments on voter turnout

Citizens participate in elections, at least partly, because they perceive voting as a social norm. Norms induce compliance because individuals prefer to avoid enforcement mechanisms—including social sanctions—that can be activated by uncooperative behavior. Public visibility, or surveillance, increases the likelihood of norm-compliant behavior and applies social pressure that impels individuals to act. Some scholars have linked social pressure to community size, advancing the notion that pressure to conform to social norms is heightened in smaller, less populous communities in which citizens interact frequently and where monitoring behavior is less onerous. Others argue that even highly-populated communities can exhibit “small world” properties that cause residents to be sensitive to social pressure. In this paper, I analyze data from a recent field experiment designed to test the impact of social pressure on voting taking interactions with community size into account. The findings I report suggest community size does not moderate the impact of social pressure.     

Staatsbürgerverständnis und politische Mobilisierung: Einbürgerungen in Schweizer Gemeinden

Seit längerer Zeit kommt es in der Schweiz immer wieder zu heftigen Debatten über das schweizerische Einbürgerungsverfahren und die Diskriminierung gegenüber Gesuchstellern aus gewissen Herkunftsländern. Dieser Artikel präsentiert erste Resultate einer Umfrage in 207 Schweizer Gemeinden zu den Ursachen unterschiedlicher Ablehnungsquoten von Ein­bürgerungsgesuchen auf lokaler Ebene. In der Schweiz spielen die Gemeinden eine zentrale Rolle im Einbürgerungswesen. Es soll aufgezeigt werden, dass die jeweils verfolgte lokale Einbürgerungspolitik auf kulturelle und politische Faktoren zurückgeführt werden kann. Die zentralen Hypothesen besagen, dass Einbürgerungsverfahren politische Entscheidungspro­zesse darstellen und sowohl von kulturellen und institutionellen Strukturen wie dem vorherr­schenden Staatsbürgerverständnis und den Entscheidungsmodi wie auch von mobilisierenden politischen Akteuren abhängt. Die Erteilung der Staatsbürgerschaft soll dabei als Instrument sozialer Schliessung betrachtet werden, welches in den Gemeinden unterschiedlich eingesetzt wird und das dominierende Verständnis der Staatsbürgerschaft sowie aktuelle politische Kräfteverhältnisse widerspiegelt     

协同理论视角下突发自然灾害社会动员研究

中国是世界上突发自然灾害经常发生的国家之一,社会动员作为一种有效应对突发自然灾害的方式日益受到人们关注。本文从突发自然灾害的内涵和特征出发,阐述了社会动员在应对突发自然灾害中的重要性以及社会动员的问题,为了克服社会动员中的问题,协同治理就成为检验突发自然灾害背景下社会动员是否有效的关键因素。     

论全球化背景下的民族主义社会动员

在全球化背景下,民族主义社会动员日益彰显。民族主义社会动员的方式主要有教育动员、传媒动员、政治参与动员。在全球化时代背景下民族主义社会动员具有正负两极走向,全球化时代应引导民族主义社会动员走上理性、健康的发展之路。