Political Bias Research Articles

Insecurity and Communal Conflicts in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Communal Conflicts is a social problem that affects a significant number of communities in Akwa Ibom States and Nigeria in general. Some lingering Communal Conflicts have affected the past generations, present generation and also attempting to affect future generations if not properly resolved. Most communal conflicts in Akwa Ibom State are direct consequences of the lack of proper demarcation of the boundaries between these communities. The main objective of the study was to investigate the factors that necessitate communal conflicts among communities in Akwa Ibom State. The study adopted a survey design. Data were obtained from two sources; Primary Source and Source. Primary data were obtained through interviews and participant observation, while secondary data were obtained from extant literature. Respondents were selected using multiple sampling techniques, this includes purposive, Snowball and random sampling techniques. Two Sociological theories were used to explain the study these include, the Human Need Theory and the Frustration-Aggression Theory. The study recommends (amongst others) that the government should constitute a Panel that would fix Proper boundary demarcation between these communities. The reports of a panel of inquiry "White paper" should be properly implemented to forestall future communal conflicts in Akwa Ibom State. Government should do away with every form of political interest and bias to ensure that Peace is restore among the warring Communities.

Does the Media’s Partisanship Influence News Coverage on Artificial Intelligence Issues? Media Coverage Analysis on Artificial Intelligence Issues

This study aims to analyze news coverage on artificial intelligence (AI) issues and highlight the characteristics and differences in reporting based on media partisanship. By examining AI-related news in the South Korean media, this study reveals how conservative and progressive outlets frame the issue differently. The analysis found that conservative media coverage predominantly focuses on positive aspects, emphasizing development value frames such as the benefits and societal progress brought by AI. In contrast, progressive media often highlight crisis value frames, focusing on issues like side effects, ethical concerns, and legislation surrounding AI. These partisan differences reflect fundamental societal priorities and influence public discourse and policy agendas. Understanding media framing is crucial for fostering informed public dialogue on the societal significance of AI and promoting evidence-based decision-making. By recognizing partisan biases and critically evaluating media coverage, citizens can engage in constructive discourse beyond ideological divides. This study underscores the role of the media in promoting interdisciplinary discussions about the future trajectory of AI and in preparing society for its impacts. Ultimately, evidence-based public discourse is essential for shaping responsible AI policies and mitigating potential risks in the digital age.

Effects of Gerrymandering on State Social Policy

Partisan bias occurs when one party gets something the other party does not. If a given district map results in one party gleaning a higher proportion of the legislative seats than the proportion of votes cast for that party, since this effect is only possible for one party, then partisan bias has occurred. It can be strategically produced via gerrymandering and is thought by many to circumvent the basic principles of democracy. This study uses recent state election results to compute a measure of partisan bias, as well as secondary data measuring the levels of five state social policies, to assess the effect of gerrymandering on those policies. It also tests whether the state’s redistricting method is related to partisan bias. Partisan bias correlated with, and explained significant variance in, all five social policies measured. The redistricting method was related to the direction and intensity of partisan bias. The results indicate gerrymandering of state districts results in more extreme social policies than preferred by the majority of voters.

Health Insurance, Medicine, and Society in Taiwan: Chinese Authoritarianism, Taiwanese Ethnicities, and Global Actuarial Science

This article explores the history of the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang KMT) government’s expansion of health insurance in Taiwan from 1950 to the 2010s through the lens of ethnicity, politics and medicine. I argue that the KMT party-state’s expansion of health insurance privileged government employees who were the core supporters of the ruling party. By comparing the history of the insurance programs for government employees and laborers, the article makes the case that KMT provided better coverage, lower premiums, and less medical gatekeeping for Chinese waisheng government employees who fled to Taiwan with the KMT than for ordinary Taiwanese bensheng laborers. Global actuarial science experts from the United Nations International Labor Organization also buttressed such a discriminatory process. This China-centered approach towards universalizing healthcare on the island became increasingly challenged by provincial legislators, labor activists, and the emerging political opposition that promoted local Taiwanese concerns on healthcare equity and access. This article concludes that this dual process of KMT’s population management and leveraging of United Nations actuarial expertise as the Republic of China became symbolic of the bio-geopolitics that animated the history and development of health insurance in Taiwan.

Not our kind of crowd! How partisan bias distorts perceptions of political bots on Twitter (now X).

Social bots, employed to manipulate public opinion, pose a novel threat to digital societies. Existing bot research has emphasized technological aspects while neglecting psychological factors shaping human-bot interactions. This research addresses this gap within the context of the US-American electorate. Two datasets provide evidence that partisanship distorts (a) online users' representation of bots, (b) their ability to identify them, and (c) their intentions to interact with them. Study 1 explores global bot perceptions on through survey data from N = 452 Twitter (now X) users. Results suggest that users tend to attribute bot-related dangers to political adversaries, rather than recognizing bots as a shared threat to political discourse. Study 2 (N = 619) evaluates the consequences of such misrepresentations for the quality of online interactions. In an online experiment, participants were asked to differentiate between human and bot profiles. Results indicate that partisan leanings explained systematic judgement errors. The same data suggest that participants aim to avoid interacting with bots. However, biased judgements may undermine this motivation in praxis. In sum, the presented findings underscore the importance of interdisciplinary strategies that consider technological and human factors to address the threats posed by bots in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Partisan bias in securities enforcement

Abstract In this article, I present a partisan theory of agency enforcement and empirically investigate the possibility of partisan bias in the enforcement of the federal securities laws. Leveraging plausibly exogenous shocks to partisan control of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), I find evidence that a firm’s partisan alignment with the SEC substantially reduces the likelihood of enforcement. For a firm that is ex ante equally likely to be targeted for enforcement or not, my estimates indicate that a typical increase in partisan alignment following a change in party control of the SEC reduces the likelihood of enforcement by over 19%. Partisan alignment also appears to reduce aggregate monetary sanctions, though these estimates are less certain. By contrast, I find little evidence of partisan bias in the initial opening of investigations. These findings suggest there may be meaningful partisan bias in SEC enforcement and have important implications for democratic governance. (JEL D73, K22, K23, K41, K42, P00)

Barking up the wrong tree? Voter bias and female underrepresentation in Japanese politics

Abstract Previous studies on gender bias in the evaluation of politicians by voters have reported mixed results. We seek to understand these mixed findings by focusing on Japan, where female political representation is the lowest among advanced democracies and gender stereotypes are prevalent. We consider that gender stereotypes and the dearth of women in politics affect the evaluation of politicians via two distinct mechanisms: biased beliefs and weak priors. The two mechanisms are assumed to run counter to each other, thus leading to the null or mixed findings for gendered evaluation reported by previous studies. To test our argument, we conduct a series of survey experiments in Japan. Our findings conform to neither of the two mechanisms. Even in a society with low female political representation, we find no evidence of the gendered evaluation of candidates by voters. We suggest that rather than biasing voters’ evaluation of candidates, gender stereotypes dissuade women from aspiring to a political career and elite electoral gatekeepers from selecting female candidates.

Assessing the Relationship between Political Financing and Policy Bias in B40 Welfare Policies during COVID-19

This conceptual paper delves into the intricate relationship between political financing and policy bias in the implementation of welfare policies for the B40 (Below 40 is the 40% of the total population that earns the lowest tier of household income compared to the first group of T20-Top 20% and second category M40-Middle 40%) cluster in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The B40 cluster comprises the most economically vulnerable segment of the population residing in public housing (the heavily subsidized government-owned residential areas for underprivileged citizens with certain household income categories). This study aims to unravel how political financing influences the formulation and execution of welfare policies, potentially leading to bias in resource allocation and support provision. Through an exhaustive review of existing scholarly literature and analysis of pertinent case studies, this paper embarks on examining the degree to which political financing impacts the decision-making process concerning welfare policies. The analysis focuses on identifying potential biases in policy formulation that may favor the interests of political entities providing financial backing to policymakers. Furthermore, the study also explores the implications of such biases on the equitable distribution of resources to the B40 cluster during the global COVID-19 crisis. The conceptual framework employed in this paper draws from theories of political economy, corruption, and public policy. By dissecting the extant body of literature, the paper aims to offer a nuanced comprehension of the dynamics between political financing and policy bias in the realm of welfare policies for the B40 cluster. The eventual findings are poised to enrich the theoretical understanding of the influence exerted by political financing on the formulation and execution of welfare policies, particularly during periods of global crisis. By identifying policy biases stemming from political financing, this study aspires to catalyze critical discussions on the imperative of transparent and accountable decision-making processes. Such deliberations are vital to ensuring the fair and effective implementation of welfare policies for the B40 cluster in Kuala Lumpur amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper thus serves as a clarion call for enhanced governance mechanisms and institutional reforms to uphold the principles of fairness, equity, and social justice in welfare policy formulation and implementation. This study contributes to the existing literature by shedding light on the nexus between political financing and policy bias in the context of welfare policies for vulnerable populations. It underscores the importance of addressing systemic flaws in governance and decision-making processes to mitigate the adverse effects of political influence on welfare policy outcomes. Moreover, the findings of this study have practical implications for policymakers, advocacy groups, civil society organizations and other stakeholders involved in shaping welfare policy agendas and advocating for reform initiatives. In conclusion, this paper calls for a concerted effort to promote transparency, accountability, and integrity in the formulation and implementation of welfare policies. By fostering a culture of ethical governance and democratic participation, policymakers can ensure that welfare programs serve the interests of the most vulnerable members of society and contribute to equitable and sustainable development outcomes.

Un-layering Greece: imagined classical heritages in French nationalist travel writing

ABSTRACT This article looks at the ways Ancient Greece was received by Charles Maurras and Maurice Barrès, two important French nationalist figures of the turn of the twentieth century. It argues that, whilst often taken for granted, the valorisation of classicism by French nationalist movements (as a political heritage to reclaim or as an aesthetic reaction against turn-of-the-century avant-gardes) also represents a challenge to nationalist narratives. Both authors’ reception of Antiquity was shaped by their travels to Greece. This article thus focuses on the texts they brought back from their respective journeys, Anthinéa (1901) by Maurras and Le Voyage de Sparte (1906) by Barrès, to understand how their ideological development was informed by their perception of Ancient Greece, as well as, reciprocally, how Greece was constructed through their particular political lens. Travel writing offers a particularly relevant corpus to study the role of material experience in the perception of Classical Antiquity, as a genre that overwhelmingly purports to offer its readers a testimonial of things seen and experienced by its authors. Drawing from Shane Butler’s ‘Deep Classics’ theory of reception, this article shows how visions of intellectual and cultural heritage(s) as well as shared identities are complicated by material experiences of historical alterity.

Political Dichotomy and Disciplinary Processes of Employees in Local Government Administration, A Case of Ba-Phalaborwa Local Municipality, in Mopani District of Limpopo Province in South Africa

Political dichotomy in the disciplinary processes of local government employees has significant implications for governance and service delivery. This study focuses on the Ba-Phalaborwa Local Municipality in the Mopani District of Limpopo Province, South Africa, to explore how political affiliations and influences shape disciplinary outcomes. Using qualitative research methods, including interviews and document analysis, the study uncovers the extent to which political considerations override procedural fairness, leading to inconsistent disciplinary measures. The findings emphasize the need for depoliticized disciplinary frameworks to enhance administrative efficiency and integrity in local governance. Political patronage and interference have been shown to affect employee morale and organizational culture negatively. In the Ba-Phalaborwa Local Municipality, specific cases of political favouritism and bias have resulted in either undue leniency or harsh disciplinary actions. This study contributes to the understanding of the intricate relationship between politics and administration, highlighting the detrimental effects of political influence on the principles of accountability and transparency in local government. This research is unique in its detailed case study approach, providing a micro-level analysis that offers insights into broader national and regional trends in local government administration. It also proposes practical recommendations to mitigate political interference in disciplinary processes. By ensuring fair and consistent application of disciplinary procedures, local municipalities can improve service delivery and foster a more positive work environment.

The political preferences of LLMs.

I report here a comprehensive analysis about the political preferences embedded in Large Language Models (LLMs). Namely, I administer 11 political orientation tests, designed to identify the political preferences of the test taker, to 24 state-of-the-art conversational LLMs, both closed and open source. When probed with questions/statements with political connotations, most conversational LLMs tend to generate responses that are diagnosed by most political test instruments as manifesting preferences for left-of-center viewpoints. This does not appear to be the case for five additional base (i.e. foundation) models upon which LLMs optimized for conversation with humans are built. However, the weak performance of the base models at coherently answering the tests' questions makes this subset of results inconclusive. Finally, I demonstrate that LLMs can be steered towards specific locations in the political spectrum through Supervised Fine-Tuning (SFT) with only modest amounts of politically aligned data, suggesting SFT's potential to embed political orientation in LLMs. With LLMs beginning to partially displace traditional information sources like search engines and Wikipedia, the societal implications of political biases embedded in LLMs are substantial.

Bangers and cash: partisan bias in local government grant allocations across Great Britain

ABSTRACT This article examines partisan bias in local government grants across Great Britain, testing whether grant-awarding governments allocate more resources to local authorities controlled by their own party. The results suggest substantial pork-barrelling in grant allocations: the UK government allocates more in grant funding to English local authorities after they become politically aligned. A weaker partisan bias is also found in Wales. In Scotland, there is no evidence of such bias, a result which may be explained by a lesser reliance on more easily targetable specific grants, different electoral systems or the intergovernmental frameworks characterising local government grants in Scotland.

The Corrective Effect of Fact-Checking and Hostile Media Perceptions: A Three-Way Interaction Model between Social Media News Usage and Political Misperceptions

With the proliferation of fake news and misinformation, fact-checking journalism is booming worldwide. However, whether its corrective effect is still valid and generalizable in daily news consumption settings outside the laboratory requires further inves­tigation. In addition, some partisans argue that the content of fact-checking news has a partisan bias that makes it unfavorable to particular political figures or parties. This perceived bias is beginning to take root in some citizens’ minds. Using data from a national survey during the 2022 Korean presidential election (N = 948), we explore whether hostile media perception theory extends to biased perceptions of fact-checking news and affects its corrective effect. The results of the three-way interaction model indicate that exposure to fact-checking news helps reduce citizens’ belief in political misinformation when using social media news. However, perceived hostility to fact-checking news reduces the corrective effect of fact-checking. Specifically, those who are frequently exposed to fact-checking news but have a strong hostile media perception related to fact-checking news are less likely to assess misinformation more accurately than those with low perceived hostility when using social media news. The implications and limitations of this study are discussed.

Rural Development Projects in Latin America: The Need to Integrate Socio-Economic, Political, and Empowerment Lenses for Sustained Impact

Latin America has witnessed a significant influx of foreign aid aimed at fostering development, particularly in rural areas, over recent decades. Despite these considerable investments, persistently high levels of poverty endure, and rural communities have not consistently witnessed improvements in livelihoods. Rural development initiatives frequently achieve their inherent objectives at the output level but less frequently attain the intended outcomes and are seldom successful in establishing the prerequisites for enduring impact over the long term. The existing literature on this topic is extensive but often fragmented, with some scholars examining the context through socio-economic and political lenses, others scrutinizing the intrinsic characteristics of projects, and still others emphasizing levels of empowerment and local participation. This paper synthesizes and critically evaluates key aspects that influence the sustained impact of rural development projects across these three analytical streams. Through an integrative compilation of insights from these disparate perspectives, this work lays the foundation for a comprehensive analysis, shedding light on crucial considerations that may have previously “fallen into the cracks” through an examination of the segmented discourse.

Bilateralism vs. multilateralism: Role of political economy for the prospect of multilateral free trade

AbstractIn this paper, we use a unified framework of competing exporters and competing importers models where political biases in both exporting and import‐competing sectors influence governments' decisions in trade agreement formation and external tariff setting. Using an endogenous trade agreement formation model, we show that the relative strength of political biases in import‐competing and exporting sectors are pivotal in determining the free‐riding incentives, exclusion incentives and whether the ability to form free trade areas acts as building or stumbling blocks towards multilateral free trade. When the political biases toward exporting and import‐competing sectors are sufficiently weak, the ability to form free trade agreements acts as strong building blocks toward free trade. However, when the political bias towards exporting sectors is at the intermediate range and political bias towards import‐competing sectors is sufficiently strong, the ability to form free trade agreements acts as strong stumbling blocks.

The Effectiveness of a Critical Literacy Model to Improve Students’ Critical Literacy Skills

In the current era of media saturation, the emphasis on teaching reading is on cultivating students' critical literacy abilities. This enables them to examine the specific social and political biases conveyed by an author and form a critical perspective on the topics addressed in a text. The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of a critical literacy model in enhancing students' critical literacy abilities during English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Reading classes. A quantitative analytic method was employed for experimental study. The study was conducted in the English Language Education Study Program at a private university situated in Yogyakarta. There were 20 students in the sampling. The individuals in question were students in their fifth semester who enroll in the Critical Reading Class during the Odd Semester of the Academic Year 2022/2023. The data were acquired through the methods of observation, questionnaire administration, interviews, and reading assessments. The study's findings showed that the model was effective, as evidenced by the results of the independent T test indicate a statistically significant difference, with a significance level (two-tailed) below 0.05. In addition, the scores of the pre-test and post-tests in the experimental class surpassed those in the control class. The experimental group demonstrated a substantial improvement in their post-test score, achieving a gain of 3.64 points. In summary, the implementation of the critical literacy framework yielded significant improvements in students' critical literacy skills across various dimensions, including precision, coherence, profundity, analysis, and the identification of latent implications.

A Textual Analysis of Media Frames Toward Environmental Issues in India

Environmental sustainability and climate change are major geopolitical challenges today. Environmental protection is a global and local issue with few solutions. As governments around the world struggle with environmental politics, mass media organizations inform, advocate, and persuade for positive environmental change. Media reports, facts, and opinions on environmental issues shape public perceptions, so it’s important to evaluate their contexts. This paper examines how Indian news, documentaries, and social media frame environmental issues and how framing affects public perception. Study methods include qualitative comparative and thematic analysis. The environmental topics chosen for study are megacity air quality and pollution and, coastal city natural disasters and climate change. Language, image, and visual selection are evaluated in media frame construction. The study shows that cultural, political, and ideological biases shape these stories. The effectiveness and reach of different media, especially new media, can be compared. The report recommends several media strategies to improve environmental communication and eliminate fallacies like biased frames.

Reflection on the Teaching Path of International Law under the Background of “Anti-globalization”

The main goal of international law teaching is to help students improve their ability to understand the connotation of macro international law, understand the historical evolution of middle international law system, grasp the norms of micro international law and analyze international affairs. Under the background of “anti-globalization”, although the content of international law curriculum has not changed substantially, its value is easily alienated by external influences. On the one hand, “anti-globalization” will intensify the political bias of international law, weaken its legal attribute, cause students to question the effectiveness of international law, and then generate the “useless” attitude of international law; On the other hand, “anti-globalization” ignores the multi-value connotation of international law, tends to emphasize the instrumental value of international law, and imperceptibly affects students’ cognition of the value of international law, and reduces the positive effect of international law teaching. Based on this, this paper holds that, teachers should actively innovate the teaching path of international law, and under the guidance of the concept of multilateralism, increase the theoretical output in the teaching of international law, help students further acknowledge the multilateral characteristics of international law, thus overcoming the negative influence brought by “anti-globalization”.

Power and place: Uncovering the politics of global medical education.

Politics is characterised by power relations, and the deployment of power is inescapably political. In an increasingly globalised and interconnected modern world, politics is shaping the field of medical education more than ever before. Global frameworks that classify peoples and places are political tools that are fundamentally shaped by hegemonic knowledge systems. Despite this, they continue to form the basis for global thinking and practices, including in medical education. Political analysis can help to expose and challenge such thinking. To better understand impacts of globalisation in medical education, we explore the previously under-examined political dimensions that underpin it, focusing particularly on deconstructing power relations. We situate our analysis of global medical education in political terms, including through examination of ideology, economics, market and the enduring effects of colonialism. We interrogate the construct of the Global South (GS), considering the geopolitical and historical ideas that have enabled it to be widely propagated. We go on to examine the consequences of the GS construct in medical education and consider what this tells us about how power is enacted in the field. In analysing the politics of global medical education, we shed light on how power is exerted and draw attention to forces that permit and enable trends, policies and positions. Notwithstanding the emancipatory rhetoric that has been associated with the GS construct, we highlight its reductive potential and argue that it can lead to an oversimplification of power relations and vested interests. Given the growing recognition that educational approaches do not transfer well across countries and cultures, we encourage the medical education community to consider why ideas from more dominant countries continue to be imitated so routinely. In doing so, we urge them to use political lenses to recognise the influence of multiple complex and interconnected forces of global power that shape all aspects of medical education.

How do social media users and journalists express concerns about social media misinformation? A computational analysis

This article describes partisan-based, accuracy-based, and action-based discussions through which U.S. social media users and journalists express concerns about social media misinformation. While platform policy stands out as the most highly discussed topic by both social media users and journalists, much of it is cast through a party politics lens. The findings call for shifting the news frame around misinformation for collective problem-solving. At the same time, discussions about user agency are more prevalent on social media than in news, offering hope for platforms and educators to empower social media users to engage in discussions and actions about addressing misinformation.