Toward Conflict or Compromise? How Violent Metaphors Polarize Partisan Issue Attitudes

We know much about how opinion leaders drive mass partisan polarization with position-taking cues but little on how different message types polarize citizens, and who responds most to those messages attributes. This article contributes new insights by investigating how exposure to common violent metaphors interacts with audience personality traits to polarize partisans on issues. Building from research on conflict orientations, we theorize that aggressive rhetoric primes aggression in aggressive partisans, motivating greater intransigence on party positions. As a consequence, aggressive partisans are pulled further apart on issues, thereby reducing prospects for compromise. We find support for our predictions in two large nationally diverse survey experiments conducted in very different political contexts. Our results demonstrate the subtle power of aggression in public opinion and highlight the important moderating role of individual differences in the communication of partisan conflict.     

How economic crises affect political representation: declining party‒voter congruence in times of constrained government

How do economic crises affect political representation in times of constrained government? Our paper shows that among voters salience of economic issues increases during economically harsh times. However, parties respond only to a limited degree to economic shocks, with the result that congruence between parties and voters decreases. We theorise the incentives and disincentives different political parties have in choosing a saliency strategy and we provide evidence on the extent to which congruence depends on the severity of economic shocks and the government/opposition status of the party. We draw on cross-national data to measure issue salience for parties (CMP) and voters (CSES). While our findings clearly indicate a decline of congruence in times of economic crisis, we also find that it remains best for government and office-seeking opposition parties. We substantiate this finding by unpacking the ways in which incumbent and office-seeking opposition parties address the economy in their manifestos.     

对使用网络“人肉搜索”引擎的法学思考

“人肉搜索”。—-一个令人不寒而栗的名词,而“人肉搜索”这种网络活动,正在成为中国互联网的“亲宠”。“人肉搜索”的初衷大多是好的,一般都是为求助者提供帮助成为弱者打抱不平,但个别“人肉搜索”事件结局却酷似私刑,游走于暴力与道德的边缘,发人深省。应从“人肉搜索第一案”入手,对“人肉搜索”现象引起的法律问题进行探讨,并就该种现象的立法规制提出一些设想,以期对我国的立法完善有所裨益。     

Making sense of party strategy innovation: challenge to ideology and conflict-mobilisation as dimensions of party competition

Abstract

This article develops a pooled comparative analysis aimed at addressing two of the three overarching research questions of the special issue. It first discuss an ‘end of ideology’ research question: that is, whether party constituencies and party strategy show clear challenges to classic twentieth century ideological alignments. Second, it investigates the type of issue strategy that parties employ in this new ideological environment, expecting mainstream parties to stress a problem-solving approach, while challenger parties should favour a conflict-mobilisation strategy. Finally, the article combines these two fundamental dimensions (ideological consistency; reliance on problem-solving vs. conflict-mobilisation strategies) in order to identify party strategy innovations in current West European elections.     

欧共体特定海关事项案述评

2006年11月13日,WTO公布了欧共体特定海关事项案的上诉机构报告。本案是关于贸易法规的执行争议,相关法律条款为GATT1994第10条第3款和DSU第6条第2款。美国在本案中控诉的是欧共体对海关法律的执行不统一。上诉机构最终判定欧共体对带数字视频接口的液晶数字显示器的海关归类违反了GATT1994第10条第3款a项。本案上诉机构对“职权范围”和“系争措施”的分析具有典型意义。