The Effects of Media and their Logic on Legitimacy Sources within Local Governance Networks: A Three-Case Comparative Study

Although theoretical and empirical work on the democratic legitimacy of governance networks is growing, little attention has been paid to the impact of mediatisation on democracies. Media have their own logic of news-making led by the media’s rules, aims, production routines and constraints, which affect political decision-making processes. In this article, we specifically study how media and their logic affect three democratic legitimacy sources of political decision-making within governance networks: voice, due deliberation and accountability. We conducted a comparative case study of three local governance networks using a mixed method design, combining extensive qualitative case studies, interviews and a quantitative content analysis of media reports. In all three cases, media logic increased voice possibilities for citizen groups. Furthermore, it broadened the deliberation process, although this did not improve the quality of this process per se, because the media focus on drama and negativity. Finally, media logic often pushed political authorities into a reactive communication style as they had to fight against negative images in the media. Proactive communication about projects, such as public relation (PR) strategies and branding, is difficult in such a media landscape.     

The ontic interconnectedness and interdependence of language and communicative actions

Abstract

An analysis of the interconnectedness of different functional domains within reality opens up the possibility to account for the multivocality of terms and for an analysis of the multifaceted meaning of language and communicative actions – their intertwinement with the integral meaning-coherence of reality. Therefore, the focus of this follow-up article is directed at the interdependent nature of communicative (i.e., socially disclosed) language use. Reflection on the problem of unity and diversity guides the discernment of the dualism present in Habermas's view and the assessment of the definition of communication in terms of the idea of a transition and/or sharing of meaning. Crucial ideas of Saussure, Derrida and Habermas are related to the mutability and immutability of the sign before the significance of the distinction between entity and function is applied to the conditions for and inter-functional connections of language and communicative actions. A discussion of the multifaceted coherence in which communicative actions are embedded subsequently receives attention. Finally, in view of the distinction between principles and their application (form-giving, positivisation) conventions, construction and the idea of autonomy are briefly assessed.     

Who is (South) African? A re-reading of Thabo Mbeki's ‘I am an African’ speech in the context of the banned (later unbanned) Nando's ‘diversity’ television commercial

Abstract

In 2012 flame-grilled chicken company, Nando's, released a 52-second advert showing people of various races and ethnicities vaporising into thin air, one after the other, leaving a lone San Bushman wearing a xai who declares: ‘I'm not going anywhere. You f*#@ng found us here.’ Broadcasters SABC, DStv and etv initially banned the advert, citing fears of a xenophobic backlash. In 1996, former South African president, Thabo Mbeki, who was deputy president at the time, delivered what has become known as the ‘I am an African’ speech at the adoption of the South Africa Constitution Bill. In the speech Mbeki appears to codify ‘Africanness’ into a consciousness not just of history, but a shared history. The conceptual reach of his speech seems to imply that everyone who may share South Africa's history is somehow South African and African. This article argues that the Mbeki speech and the Nando's advert, taken together, draw attention to the simultaneous richness and poverty of citizenship in South Africa, and the potential benefits and contradictions of claiming citizenship in the sense preferred by the two texts. The context is supplied by a sampling of 22 randomly selected online comments centering on the censored advert.     

Policing and the Feeling of Safety: the Rise (and Fall?) of Community Policing in the Nordic Countries

A major trend in the Nordic countries is the increasing focus on citizens' perceptions of safety, the enhancement of which is seen as a task for the police. One way to accomplish this has been the introduction of proximity policing. Existing research on the subject from all the Nordic countries is evaluated, with special focus on a comprehensive evaluation of a Danish experiment. The evaluations demonstrate that the concept of proximity policing has had limited success, and it has been abandoned in Finland and Norway. The article concludes by offering some explanations for the lack of success, among these the high level of perceived safety already present in the Nordic countries, the lack of causal relation between police visibility and citizens' perception of safety, and the lack of tradition for citizen involvement in the Nordic welfare states.     

现代公民文化引领下的我国民族认同与国家认同探析

民族认同与国家认同是一对矛盾,既对立又统一,在一定条件下还可以相互转化,而“冲突论”和“一致论”在界定民族认同与国家认同关系上无疑都具有片面性,基建与此基础上的“同质化”与“异质化”两种整合思路也只能是一种理想状态。文化与公民文化具有内在的粘合作用,因而在现代公民社会中培育新的公民文化应当是解决民族认同与国家认同问题的契合点。     

边缘与边缘化:城市化进程中失地农民的生活——基于浙江长兴县的实证调查

文章选取浙江长兴县两个具有代表性的拆迁自然村,进行调研与实证性分析,认为失地农民的社会角色从农民转换到城市居民,居住形态、就业方式、消费方式、社交方式、休闲方式等都发生了明显变化。失地农民存在被边缘与边缘化的现实困境,"新市民"的角色确定需要一个较长的过程。提出政府应为失地农民的可持续生计提供政策支持;加强对新市民迁居前后社会安全管理;构建和谐人居环境增强新市民社区归属感等建议。     

Presupuesto público sin participación ciudadana. La necesidad de un cambio institucional en México para la consolidación democrática

Over the last thirty years, Mexico has undergone an important consolidation of its institutional framework, focused primarily on the electoral and political system. This process of political change was accompanied by a significant transformation and liberalization of the financial and economic system. Mexico’s current situation proves that both processes do not yield satisfactory results when social problems are left unattended. In fact, the transition from a noncompetitive political system to a more democratic one, has not guaranteed better living conditions for most of the population, in part because there is practically no participation in public life on behalf of most of the citizenry. This article reflects on the fundamental importance of citizens’ participation in democracy. Particular attention is paid to public participative budgets as factors which may contribute to democracy’s consolidation and quality, but which have had negligible impacts thus far as is illustrated by public participative budgets initiatives that have been held in Mexico City.     

公共政策视角下的城市土地利用规划

城市土地利用规划在决策过程中,规划价值主体、决策主体与实施主体间有着不同的利益诉求。要实现城市土地利用规划决策权力制衡,扩大和完善公民参与;通过制度加强规划决策过程中决策格局的协调与均衡;加强对政府部门和规划机构的监督,促进政府信息公开。     

论民主科学决策与公民参与的互动

民主、科学是公共决策的生命线。公共决策的民主化、科学化有利于促进社会和谐,增强公民共同体意识,维护公共政策合法性,营造良好的外部环境。但在实际工作中,公共决策权过于集中党委一把手,制度化缺失,公民参与公共决策程度有限,缺乏普遍性,因此需要健全党内民主决策机制,提高党的执政能力,同时积极促进公民参与公共政策,提高公共政策决策水平,形成党内民主、科学决策与公民参与的良性互动,进而优化我国公共决策机制。     

THE DIVIDED WORLD OF THE CHILD: DIVORCE AND LONG‐TERM PSYCHOSOCIAL ADJUSTMENT

This study evaluated the extent to which divorce creates the “divided world of the child,” as well as consequences of this “divided world” for long‐term adjustment. An ethnically diverse sample of 1,375 young‐adult university students completed retrospective measures of parental nurturance and involvement, and current measures of psychosocial adjustment and troubled ruminations about parents. Results indicated that reports of maternal and paternal nurturance and involvement were closely related in intact families but uncorrelated in divorced families. Across family forms, the total amount of nurturance or involvement received was positively associated with self‐esteem, purpose in life, life satisfaction, friendship quality and satisfaction, and academic performance; and negatively related to distress, romantic relationship problems, and troubled ruminations about parents. Mother‐father differences in nurturance and involvement showed a largely opposite set of relationships. Implications for family court practices are discussed.