Political Confidence Research Articles

Social Trust in China

This article provides a comprehensive examination of social trust in China. It addresses ongoing debates about how much people trust, whether there is a trust crisis, and where trust comes from. Analyzing extensive harmonized data from the Chinese General Social Survey (2003–2021) and the World Values Survey (1990–2018) spanning three decades, we find that Chinese people have high levels of general trust in others; this high social trust has been largely stable over the last three decades; and political confidence and perceived fairness are two key drivers of trust. On the other hand, we see marked low trust toward several groups, such as strangers, businessmen, and religious individuals. Potential explanations are discussed. This study contributes to key trust debates and identifies novel trust patterns that can serve as valuable subjects for future research.

What encourages the pro-equality norms? A Global Economic Perspective

The main objective is to investigate pro-equality norms and the influence of significant elements that might contribute towards it globally. We aim to explore whether pro-equality norms lead towards a greater percentage of female employment and better self-reported health, as well as the influence of political confidence on gender equality attitudes, using the world value survey (wave 7). The following variables are measured in our model: age, marital status, highest level of education acquired, subjective health status, employment status, confidence in political parties, and attitudes toward gender parity in job opportunities. We demonstrate that human capital, measured by education and health, has a positive effect on pro-equality norms globally. Employment indicates a positive relationship, illustrating that employed individual tend to be more supportive of pro-equality norms on a global scale. Individuals who are affiliated with political parties are more likely to endorse pro-equality principles. Interestingly, aging has a negative association with pro-equality norms, with the elderly being less supportive of them. Furthermore, using logistic regression (since our dependent variable is categorical), we discovered that married people exhibited less support for pro-equality standards. These findings shed light on the factors influencing pro-equality norms and underscore the importance of education and political affiliation in promoting such norms. Valuable intuitions may be offered by results towards the advancement of pro-equality ideals for policymakers.

Society and Nuclear Energy: What Is the Role for Radiological Protection?

The harm that society expects from ionizing radiation does not match experience. Evidently there is some basic error in this assumption. A reconsideration based on scientific principles shows how simple misunderstandings have exaggerated dangers. The consequences for society are far-reaching. The immediate impact of ionizing radiation on living tissue is destructive. However, this oxidative damage is similar to that produced during normal metabolic activity where the subsequent biological reaction is not only protective but also stimulates enhanced protection. This adaptation means that the response to oxidative damage depends on past experience. Similarly, social reaction to a radiological accident depends on the regulations and attitudes generated by the perception of previous instances. These shape whether nuclear technology and ionizing radiation are viewed as beneficial or as matters to avoid. Evidence of the spurious damage to society caused by such persistent fear in the second half of the 20 th century suggests that these laws and attitudes should be rebased on evidence. The three stages of radiological impact-the initial physical damage, the subsequent biological response, and the personal and social reaction-call on quite different logic and understanding. When these are confused, they lead to regulations and public policy decisions that are often inept, dangerous, and expensive. One example is when the mathematical rigor of physics, appropriate to the immediate impact, is misapplied to the adaptive behavior of biology. Another, the tortured historical reputation of nuclear technology, is misinterpreted as justifying a radiological protection policy of extreme caution.Specialized education and closed groups of experts tend to lock in interdisciplinary misperceptions. In the case of nuclear technology, the resulting lack of independent political confidence endangers the adoption of nuclear power as the replacement for fossil fuels. In the long term, nuclear energy is the only viable source of large-scale primary energy, but this requires a re-working of public understanding.

The Impact of Objective Social and Demographic Respondent Characteristics on Confidence Rate: Findings of Sociologic Survey

The article provides findings of a sociologic survey dealing with the rate of various types of confidence in the present day Russian society. The author studied the impact of 5 objective characteristics (gender, age, principle occupation, content of principle occupation and region of living) of respondents on the rate of 4 types of confidence, such as inter-personal, generalized, institutional and political. The article draws conclusions about the impact of respondent’s belonging to certain groups, identified on the basis of 5 objective characteristics both on the general rate of confidence and the rate of each types of confidence. In analyzing respondents’ answers a number of paradoxes were found. For instance, a high rate of institutional confidence went with a low rate of political confidence in selected groups of respondents. The author highlighted objective characteristics that exercised the strongest influence on respondents’ answers. Volatility of respondents’ answers was estimated both by groups identified on the basis of objective characteristics and by types of confidence. The most volatile were the answers received from respondents depending on their principle occupation and the most volatile type of confidence was inter-personal. Apart from that, conclusions were made about possible interactions between objective characteristics and the rate of confidence and nature of these interactions.

The role and impact of lobbying on society (as perceived by the people of the FRG)

The article considers the modern perception of the phenomenon of lobbyism, states the influence of interest groups on political processes in the countries of the European continent. The authors emphasize the relevance of the study of lobbyism, which is determined by the processes of political change and integration of the national and international economic space of the European Union and the Federal Republic of Germany. On the basis of secondary interpretation of sociological data the researchers reveal the problems of public assessment of lobbyism, its influence on political processes in the EU countries. Attention is emphasized on the importance of society's requirements to the transparency of interest groups and lobbying. The position of the respondents regarding the maintenance of a register of lobbyists at the level of Germany and the EU as a necessary tool of public control is seen as important. Based on the results of the research, a conclusion was made about the influence of interest groups on the lobbying process. The basis of modern interpretations of lobbying is not the theory of pluralism or corporatism, but the theory of network management. According to the respondents, industrial corporations and the leading sectors of the German and EU economy, rather than politicians and political parties, benefit more from lobbying in the Federal Republic of Germany. These surveys suggest a dominance of lobbyists from the economic sphere of the industrial sectors, which, according to the respondents, gain an economic advantage when working in markets. At the same time, it is the authorities that receive a positive effect from lobbying in terms of expert information support of political activity. The authors conclude that it is necessary to further study the influence of interest groups and lobbyists on political processes and further deepen the transparency of the lobbying process, more detailed disclosure of administrative and tax reporting in order to increase public confidence in politicians, business and government.

Exploring Reasons for Japans Post-War Political Stagnation

After the Second World War, the militarist, corporatist system of the imperial Japan had collapsed. Since then, Japan adopted a democratic system centered around the Liberal Democratic Party. This paper analyzed the political situation of Japan after the Second World War by exemplifying and investigating Japans political Stagnation. By analyzing the political situation of Japan, this research reveals the significance of political reformation and progression. This study selected and analyzed 15 different sources including books, articles and videos Economically, post-war Japan had a heavy reliance on the United States since the Korean War. Although the bubble economy of Japan through the 1970s provided the Japanese population with political confidence to an extent, The collapse of the bubble economy stopped Japans economic growth. Since then, Japan had entered the lost thirty years. In addition to the reasons aforementioned, political bureaucratization, lack of actual changes and powerful implicit order caused changing the status quo harder. These are the main factors working behind Japans political stagnation.

A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF THE KEY STEREOTYPING ELEMENTS THE MALAYSIAN JOURNALISTS WRITE AGAINST A FEMALE POLITICIAN

Abstract: The representation of female politicians in media is an ongoing issue that reflects the larger problem of gender imbalance in politics and the media. The representation of women in political leadership roles and in media coverage of politics is improving along with recent awareness on this issue. Thus, this study aims to investigate the key stereotyping elements on Malaysian journalists who write against a female politician. This study employed a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews to extract information by interviewing 11 Malaysian journalists. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the findings. Based on the findings, Malaysian journalists develop the key stereotyping elements in writing against female political leaders based on their respective reporting styles. Besides, most informants in this study realise and acknowledge that female politicians are being underrepresented. This has become one of the key stereotyping elements that Malaysian journalists practice when writing about female politicians. It is not surprising that the informants acknowledge that men always have the upper hand, especially in politics. Hence, one of the key stereotyping elements that Malaysian journalists write against female politicians is revolved on the male dominance and male confidence in politics. Lastly, nature of politics is identified as one of the key stereotyping elements that Malaysian journalists write against female political leaders. This stems from the mixed reactions from the politicians regardless of gender and the fact that politicians are politicians.
 Keywords: Media; Stereotyping Elements; Malaysian Journalists, Female Politician; Qualitative Study

Mummy’s girls, daddy’s boys: the gendered transmission of political engagement in families

Despite gains in women’s education, workforce participation, and leadership roles, a gender gap in political self-efficacy persists across European nations. Women consistently report lower confidence in their ability to participate in and understand politics compared to their male counterparts. This study posits that, although society inherently signals to boys their place in politics, a politically engaged mother can counteract this by providing her daughter with a positive role model and fostering her interest in politics, thereby bolstering the daughter’s political self-efficacy. Drawing from survey data of 15–16-year-old Finnish students (n = 5220) from 2021, the findings reveal two critical insights: fathers tend to boost political self-efficacy more in sons than in daughters. In contrast, the political engagement of mothers has a stronger positive association with their daughters’ confidence in politics. Moreover, parents’ political involvement fosters political interest in their children, which then enhances the latter’s sense of political self-efficacy.

Transitions in modes of coastal adaptation: addressing blight, engagement and sustainability

Coastal defences have long provided protection from erosion and flooding to cities, towns and villages. In many parts of the world, continued defence is being questioned due to both environmental, sustainability and economic considerations. This is exemplified in England and Wales, where strategic Shoreline Management Plans envisage realignment of many protected coasts, often with low population densities, over the coming decades. The policy transition from protection to realignment is often resisted by affected communities and can have high political costs. Whilst some preparations for such transitions have been made, the communities affected are often not fully aware of the implications of policy change, and this brings the potential for blight. In this paper, we investigate the challenges of implementing transitions in coastal policy within England and Wales. The analysis is based on data obtained from three workshops held in 2019 that were attended by council members, engineers, planners, scientists and other relevant professionals. Five conditions are found to promote contention: (i) policy actors with competing priorities and different decision making time frames (immediate to decadal to a century); (ii) divergence between regulations and ad hoc political decisions (e.g. in relation to the demand for new housing); (iii) limited or non-existent funding to support policy transition; (iv) community expectation that protection is forever; and (v) a disconnection between people and ongoing coastal change. Our research indicates that transitions can be better supported through: (1) integrated multi-scalar preparedness for coastal change; (2) an accessible evidence base and future vision to nurture political confidence in adaptation; and (3) defined, time-bound and accessible diverse funding streams to achieve transitions. Critically, these generic actions need to be embedded within the local political and planning system to facilitate transition to more sustainable coasts and their communities.

Sociopolitical polarization small political confidence and boom to conspiracy theories—are there sociometric answers?

Sociopolitical polarization small political confidence and boom to conspiracy theories—are there sociometric answers?

Challenges and Political Communication Strategies to Win Elections: Ethnographic Studies on Women DPD RI Members

Women's political participation faces various societal challenges, such as patriarchal culture and the politicians' internal challenges. Even though there is a minimum quota of 30% women's representation, many regions cannot meet this quota. The members of Indonesian senates (after this referred to as DPD RI) from South Sumatra Province are an exception. All four members are women. Therefore, there is an opportunity to design women's political communication to win elections from the examples provided by DPD RI South Sumatra Province members. This research aims to understand the challenges women politicians face, design women's political communication strategies to win elections and formulate women's political communication models in winning the election for DPD RI members. The research method was conducted through interviews with women DPD RI members who won elections in South Sumatra Province, Indonesia. Researchers investigated the challenges faced by these winners and how they were able to overcome them. The challenges found included physical challenges, external challenges from the community, and internal challenges from DPD RI members. At the same time, the strategies used were the target, symbol, communication, and media strategies. This research identifies many political communication strategies that broaden the theoretical framework. Included in the strategies proposed are symbolic interaction-based communication and stereotype-based strategies. Both types of planning increase political confidence and voting decisions if adequately implemented, accompanied by steps to overcome the obstacles that impede women's political participation.

Legislative Resources, Corruption, and Incumbency

AbstractMembers of some legislatures enjoy long political careers, whereas elsewhere turnover is rampant. This variation is consequential since high-incumbency assemblies may facilitate legislative expertise at the expense of social representation. We explore cross-national differences in re-election (incumbency) rates by identifying ‘supply’ conditions such as legislative resources that benefit incumbents as well as ‘demand’ conditions such as political corruption that affect voters' willingness to re-elect incumbents. We hypothesize that legislative perquisites help incumbents win re-election, but only if there is relatively high public confidence in politics, as reflected in low corruption levels. We tested our argument using OLS and instrumental variable regression and new global data on sixty-eight democracies (2000–18) covering 288 elections and over 55,000 legislators. We found that legislative resources help incumbents get re-elected only under relatively low levels of political corruption. In contrast, under severe corruption, such resources can depress re-election rates.

A safety net against populism? An investigation of the interaction effect of political efficacy and democratic capacities on populist attitudes

ABSTRACT The paper interprets populism as a symptom of a mismatch between how the democratic polity operates and how citizens conceive their own aspirations, needs and identities vis-à-vis the polity. However, democracy requests certain attitudes and skills from citizens: political engagement, a reflective attitude, scrutiny of the power holders and balancing trust-based cooperation with critical reactions towards political authorities. In line with this, we investigate how external and internal political efficacy are associated with populist attitudes in the case of people who have and who do not have certain democratic capacities. Our findings drawing upon an original survey covering 15 European countries show that higher internal political efficacy is associated with more populist attitudes in the case of people with incomplete democratic capacities, but complete democratic capacities yield a ‘safety net’ against this effect. However, the negative relationship between external political efficacy and populist attitudes does not depend on these capacities: stronger dissatisfaction with the responsiveness of political elites leads to more populist attitudes irrespective of people’s democratic background. Nonetheless, our findings imply that a stronger emphasis on certain democratic practices and values in political socialization or civic education could prevent stronger political confidence would turn into populist views about politics.

The utilization of special forces in peace missions: perspectives from South Africa

ABSTRACT The fascination with special forces could be ascribed to the prominence of their use in contemporary conflicts across the globe. There is, however, a paradox of employing such a highly lethal force in order to pursuit peace. With peacekeeping evolving parallel with the strategic environment, especially in Africa, the trend towards more robust interventions has become prevalent since the end of the Cold War. As such, the requirement for accurate and timely intelligence in peace missions has become crucial. Admittedly, special forces would not necessarily be the soldiers expected to wear blue berets and participate in peace missions. It may come as a surprise to the uninformed, though, to learn that special forces have indeed participated, and are still involved, in peace missions across the globe. Drawing from a case study where special forces have been involved in peace missions under the umbrella of the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this article investigates the utilization of special forces and the role they could play in peace missions in Africa.

Knowledge acquisition and precautionary behaviors for individual resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic: A study of rural Latin America

The concept of resilience gains prominence as human society faces more frequent and impactful shocks and disturbances. This study seeks to investigate how rural populations build resilience amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A simple theoretical model is presented to illustrate the determinants of knowledge acquisition and precautionary behaviors among rural residents. Based on a High Frequency Phone Survey of 10,583 Latin American adults, this study found that rural residents were less capable of using informal channels (e.g., the internet) to collect COVID-19 information. Younger generations were generally less likely to adopt precautionary behaviors than the elderly. The age disparity, however, was relatively minor for rural populations. Costly preventive measures such as staying at home are less affordable for rural residents. Meanwhile, confidence in government ensures better compliance to ensure public health guidelines. We argue that internet skills, prosociality, and political confidence are necessary to build rural residents' resilience during the pandemic.

Dampak Pembatasan Kampanye Bagi Pemilih Pemula dalam Mendapatkan Informasi Kepemiluan di Masa Pandemi

The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of campaign restrictions for novice voters to obtain electoral information in the 2020 local elections in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic. The research method uses descriptive qualitative research. There are 21 research informants taken from representatives of BEM administrators throughout Bengkulu city, in selecting informants using purposive sampling technique, data obtained through interviews and documentation. The results of the study show a) In limited meetings, one of which is the lack of political education in the community; b) Regarding the rights and disclosure of information, namely: millennial voters are involved in the socialization process, through social media; c) Regarding voter participation, there are assumptions of millennial voters who are still apathetic towards the candidate pair and have an impact on the political confidence of millennial voters. The conclusion of this research is that campaign restrictions will cause limitations in obtaining information about election organizers, election participants, voters and even information about the vision, mission and work program plans offered by pairs of candidates for Pilkada candidates.
 
 Keywords: Election Campaign, Election Information, Novice Voters, Pandemic. 

Self-Regulation of Ethical Behavior: The Case of Political Parties and Parliament in Spain

Spanish politicians have attempted to respond to the growing concern about declining trust in representative institutions through ethical self-regulation and meta-regulation instruments. This article focuses on a study of Parliament and the six major political parties with parliamentary representation. It attempts to explain the reasons for adopting these new regulations and proceeds with an in-depth analysis of the existing rules, oversight, and enforcement methods in Parliament and within party organizations. As a result of European pressure, Spanish Parliament has developed a new code of ethics, but it has not strengthened internal procedures and mechanisms to bring them into compliance with the standing rules. Furthermore, political parties have developed an entire set of basic compliance measures influenced by the law on the criminal liability of legal persons. In both cases, oversight and enforcement are exceedingly weak. None of these measures has improved confidence in politicians in Spain. Two lessons can be learned. First is that without politicians’ commitment, ethical reforms do not work. Secondly, today’s new technologies, linked to a social network society, make window-dressing deception more difficult.

The Re-exploration of Democracy Index

The third wave of democratisation has been sweeping the world since the beginning of the 21st century, and with the expansion of internet applications and the spread of big data algorithms, the term 'democracy' has gradually moved from a definitional distinction to a new form of scientific measurement. A large number of scholars have become interested in measuring the extent of democracy, not only in what democracy is, but also in what constitutes a good democracy. In this paper, we attempt to construct a new index model for measuring the degree of democracy by statistically analysing the data from the World Values Survey, and explore its impact on the degree of democracy in terms of political confidence, political participation, political rights, civil liberties, the rule of law and the level of society.

Президентство Э. Макрона во Франции: итоги первого пятилетия (2017–2022)

The article analyzes the results of the first Emmanuel Macron’s presidential five-year term. The authors highlight that the period 2017–2022 proved to be a time of ambitious undertakings and difficult trials for France. The young president sensitively caught the French desire for change and set about solving urgent problems. The improvement of public finances and reboot of the economy, modernization of the administration of the Republic with expansion of “social lifts”, the return of France’s leadership in the European Union and strengthening of the EU’s position in the world – these were the main goals of Macron. Nevertheless, these plans ran into serious objections: inside the country – via the mass protests of working classes defending social guarantees and the opposition of parliamentarians facing the strengthening of presidential power, in the international arena – due to the EU problems and the rivalry of France with a number of other powers. The COVID‑19 pandemic has become a real “black swan” for the president, forcing him to adjust the initial settings. However, E. Macron had some achievements on his way – such as the Labor Code reform, political confidence laws, transformation of the ENA, development of the European Union initiatives, especially the Franco-German plan to save the EU economy during the 2020 pandemic. The authors conclude that despite Macron’s re-election, his second term will become very difficult: the loss of an absolute majority in the National Assembly in the June 2022 elections showed that a tripolar system has been formed in France, so the centrist Macron will have to take the positions of the extreme right and left forces into account when building his economic and domestic policy. As for his foreign policy, the main troubles lie in the serious aggravation of the international situation in Europe.

A Chinese Perspective on Public Cyber Attribution

Public cyber attribution has gone far beyond a technical issue and has escalated into political warfare. Nowadays, various attributors (government agencies, tech companies, and consulting firms) are publishing attribution reports for many purposes, creating confusion in attribution operations. When it comes to attribution disputes between China and the United States, things are more complicated. Public attribution carried out by the United States against China not only deviates from reasonable range and track but also causes a great negative impact on the US–China cyber interactions. On the one hand, this problem is due to the perceptional differences between the two countries on public attribution. On the other hand, it is also due to the dislocation of attribution procedures. Also, deliberate intervention at the political level cannot be ignored. Building political confidence, achieving mutual understanding of procedures, and bridging perceptional gaps in public attribution have become key steps toward closer Sino-US cooperation in cyberspace. Washington and Beijing need to reconsider the effectiveness of public attribution and its wider implications for bilateral relations, take cautious, responsible, and mutually agreed public attribution operations, establish a regime within the United Nations framework, and increase dialogue and communication on public attribution.