Political Bias Research Articles

MODERNIZATION CONCEPT AND SOCIAL IMAGINATION: METHODOLOGICAL NOTES

Since its inception, the theory of modernization has undergone so many transformations that it makes sense to speak of a «modernization discourse» rather than a theory and to consider the concept itself from the point of view of social epistemology in conjunction with social imagination. This paper is devoted to substantiating this approach. The concept of modernization is interesting in this regard because it contains not only hermeneutic but also prescriptive elements: by placing society in a broader historical framework of past, present and future, it creates a normative horizon for self-understanding and social transformation. It allows us to imagine our society as a historical whole, to imagine a social ideal and social development as a path towards it. At the same time, it appeals to the images of the social imagination - the social imaginary, depending on the context. A separate question, therefore, is what semantic load this concept receives when it is adopted by a different socio-cultural and political context. Such research could help to understand the internal logic of political processes in a society and its destiny. The paper consists of three subsections: the first is devoted to an overview of theories of modernization and their transformation under the influence of social epistemology; the second deals with the imagination as an anthropological a priori for considering social imagination; finally, the last subsection, which also serves as a conclusion, justifies why, given the purpose of the study, it is more appropriate to consider the concept of modernization in the context of the social imagination rather than as an ideology. The concept of ideology refers to political bias, to the question of truth and a critique of power discourse. In contrast, the concept of social imagination is politically neutral and refers to a cultural background of politics. It thus circumvents Man nheim’s paradox by being conceptualized as constitutive of a political order.

Failing to Promote Competition: From the Inaction of the Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum to the 2018 Brazil Truckers' Strike

This article seeks to clarify the political reasons and behavioral biases that led the Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum (ANP) to fail in its institutional mission to promote competition in the refinery sector, which was one of the leading causes of the Brazilian truckers' strike in 2018. Following the steps of Hood (1974), who differentiates internal and external problems in the organization, five hypotheses were formulated to identify the causes of this regulatory failure. These hypotheses allow us to recognize the conflicts that emerge from the relationship between the ANP and its external stakeholders and the internal organizational factors that cause coordination problems and attention bias in the institution's daily decision-making process. Based on interviews conducted with former ANP directors and the application of a questionnaire to employees of that institution, it was found that the agency's lack of independence from the Federal Government made the institution not strive for a more competitive refinery sector. Furthermore, several internal coordination problems and bad decisions by political bureaucrats were also crucial factors in the regulatory inefficiency, making the promotion of competition in the refinery sector outside the institution's priorities. Analyzing the causes of this regulatory failure in Brazil is essential because the global regulatory system has several structural flaws that only become apparent when high-impact events appear. Therefore, this study can provide insights into different regulation domains, allowing countries to assess their regulatory systems to perceive the need for change, preventing their population from suffering from the dysfunctions of public administration.

Analyzing pre and post Israel Anti-Zionism in the Backdrop of Road to Mecca and Journey into Europe

This study underscores analytical interrelationship of prejudiced West based upon economic, political and territorial biases which affects Jews as well as Muslim world in different genres. The study entails intertextuality between Akbar S. Ahmed’s Journey into Europe and M. Asad’s Road to Macca and compares Ibn Khauldunian tribalism that bedunis are inheritors of a very ancient civilization to Webarian colonism. It keeps its focus that politically, historically as well as post structurally each text is an intersection of other texts. The writing’s purpose is to touch the ground roots of Arab civilization and it also highlights Western contribution to territorial conflicts between Arab and Israel. The Jewish enmity in general and more specifically the Western biased attitude against Palestinians can be analyzed under the paradigm of Anti-Semitism in a befitting manner as well as to clarify that Arab Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism are two different ideologies. This study signifies the role of Saud Bin Abdul Aziz (1953-1964) and his successor Shah Faisal Bin Abdul Aziz (1964-1975) against Israel and compares it with the Western plotted Crown prince M. Bin Salman (2017-so on) implementing theory of asabiyyah. It is also highlighted that in present times the uprising anti-American feelings among Muslims are due to the unjust and unlawful migration of Jews to Arab and biased territorial division of Palestine. The targeted Muslims in the West are prejudiced just for having Muslim identity and the ratio of attacks on Muslim mosques increased after 9/11. Psychologically, socio-culturally, socio-politically and socio-religiously, this historical study examines the ideology of the Muslim world that gives new identity and direction to the West as well as their misconceptions.

Understanding belief in political statements using a model-driven experimental approach: a registered report

Misinformation harms society by affecting citizens' beliefs and behaviour. Recent research has shown that partisanship and cognitive reflection (i.e. engaging in analytical thinking) play key roles in the acceptance of misinformation. However, the relative importance of these factors remains a topic of ongoing debate. In this registered study, we tested four hypotheses on the relationship between each factor and the belief in statements made by Argentine politicians. Participants (N = 1353) classified fact-checked political statements as true or false, completed a cognitive reflection test, and reported their voting preferences. Using Signal Detection Theory and Bayesian modeling, we found a reliable positive association between political concordance and overall belief in a statement (median = 0.663, CI95 = [0.640, 0.685]), a reliable positive association between cognitive reflection and scepticism (median = 0.039, CI95 = [0.006, 0.072]), a positive but unreliable association between cognitive reflection and truth discernment (median = 0.016, CI95 = [− 0.015, 0.046]) and a positive but unreliable association between cognitive reflection and partisan bias (median = 0.016, CI95 = [− 0.006, 0.037]). Our results highlight the need to further investigate the relationship between cognitive reflection and partisanship in different contexts and formats.Protocol registrationThe stage 1 protocol for this Registered Report was accepted in principle on 22 August 2022. The protocol, as accepted by the journal, can be found at: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/EBRGC.

Disentangling the effects of message content and message sharer on students' views of political misinformation.

A consistent finding in fake news research is that people are more likely to believe content in favor of their political views. Unclear, however, is whether this political bias is moderated by contextual effects, such as politicians sharing content on their social media accounts. The present study investigated how both message content and sharer affect views of political misinformation. Participants (N = 164) evaluated eight news messages. Message content (pro-left/pro-right misinformation) and sharer (left-wing/right-wing/unknown politician) were manipulated within subjects. As expected, participants agreed more with concordant misinformation (aligned with their political orientation) and perceived it as more accurate than discordant misinformation. There was an additional, smaller effect of politician: Participants agreed more with discordant misinformation when shared by a politician representing their political viewpoint than when shared by others. Furthermore, left-oriented participants' agreement with concordant misinformation was hardly affected by message sharer, whereas right-oriented participants' agreement with concordant misinformation was-unexpectedly-positively affected by the left-wing politician. Irrespective of their political orientation, participants perceived misinformation from the left-wing politician as more accurate than misinformation from other politicians. Our findings suggest that both message content and sharer affect views of misinformation and interact in doing so, which is important for designing interventions on recognizing misinformation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Differing Local Political News Media’s Framing of Austin Homelessness in 2021

In 2021, the Austin homeless frequented the local newspaper headlines due to the wide controversy they faced throughout the year, specifically with the renewal of the camping ban that discriminated against the population. Additionally, much of the Austin public significantly relied on the news reports provided by the Austin leading news media to stay up to date on the controversy taking place. However, despite major social and political action in that calendar year, little research has been conducted on Austin news media’s representation of the homeless during this year and its effect on the public. In this paper, the author reviews literature exploring news media depictions of homelessness through the construction of media framing, media influence on the public, and the differing political views on the topic of homelessness. A retrospective quantitative content analysis was conducted to measure the different media frames included within four politically differing Austin news stations’ 2021 homeless news reports. The research design pursues to identify (a) the overall coverage of mainstream news media on Austin homelessness in 2021; (b) the different types of thematic and episodic frames frequently used when presenting the homeless population of Austin; and (c) how the utilization of these frames varied between differing political biases. Together, the research findings concluded that within the local Austin news reportings on homelessness in 2021, key events drew out more coverage from larger news stations, and left-leaning news stations saw more episodic framing, while right-leaning news stations saw more thematic framing.

The “Us vs. Them” Mentality: The Role of Affective Polarization in Deepening the Partisan Divide in Media Bias Perception

This study examines how affective polarization impacts the partisan divide in perceptions of cable news networks’ political biases. Results from a 2016 U.S. presidential election survey show that affective polarization deepens this divide, even after controlling for election involvement, partisanship strength, and cable news usage. Partisanship strength is more closely associated with in-party love than out-party hate, but out-party hate has a stronger association with media bias perception, indicating that out-group hate is more influential in shaping partisans’ media bias perception.

Politics of expertise in the European Parliament: discursive constructions and contestations of expertise by party-political actors

ABSTRACT This article analyses the politics of expertise in the European Parliament (EP). We aim to understand how MEPs and political group staff discursively construct expertise, its role in parliamentary work, and how expertise is politicized in the EP. The qualitative analysis is based on an extensive interview dataset (n = 133) from the 8th and 9th legislative terms. It builds on a constructivist approach that sees expertise as constructed, legitimized, and institutionalized in discourses and practices and shaped by struggles and power relations. The article shows that expertise in the EP is a political rather than a technical question. Understandings of expertise and its role are constituted and contested, and political ideologies shape understandings of expertise. Although the role of technical policy expertise in the EP is broadly accepted, it is approached through a political lens, and political groups value and use expertise in different ways in internal policymaking.

Political action and inaction. Identity co-construction in the face of modern crises

The purpose of this research is to examine how the topic of migration is viewed under the political lenses of the European Parliament, and how the identity of both the in-group (characterized by the European Community) and the out-groups (represented by Ukrainian and Syrian refugees) are negotiated in parliamentary discourse. The corpus comprises 20 follow-up interventions dealing with the refugee crisis (from 2015 to 2023). To address these aspects, the paper is based on a multidisciplinary approach rooted in fields such as Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and pragma-rhetoric. Looking at how collective identities are projected through pronominal references provides a better understanding of the plurality of voices that shape the process of identity formation. Based on the findings, the last part of the research will draw a comparison between how the identities of the in-group and out-group are discursively constructed and co-constructed and will draw attention to the subsequent strategic effects of group categorizing.

Is fair representation good for children? effects of electoral partisan bias in state legislatures on policies affecting children's health and well-being

Increasing evidence suggests that state policies impact constituents' health, but political determinants of health and health inequities remain understudied. Using state and year fixed-effects models, we determined the extent to which changes in electoral partisan bias in lower chambers of U.S. state legislatures (i.e., discrepancy between statewide vote share and seat share) were followed by changes in five state policies affecting children and families (1980–2019) and a composite of safety net programs (1999–2018). We examined effects on each policy and whether the effect was modified when bias was accompanied by unified party control. Next, we determined whether the effect differed depending on which party it favored. Less bias resulted only in higher AFDC/TANF benefits. Both pro-Democratic and pro-Republican bias was followed by decreased AFDC/TANF benefits and increased Medicaid benefits. AFDC/TANF recipients, unemployment benefits, minimum wage, and pre-K-12 education spending increased following pro-Democratic bias and decreased following pro-Republican bias. Estimated effects on the composite measure of safety net policies were all close to null. Some effects were modulated by unified party control. Results demonstrate that increasing fairness in elections is not a panacea by itself for increasing generosity of programs affecting children's well-being. Indeed, bias can be somewhat beneficial for the expansiveness of some policies. Furthermore, with the exception of unemployment benefits and AFDC/TANF recipients, Democrats have not been using the additional power that comes with electoral bias to spend more on major programs that benefit children. Finally, after decades in which electoral bias was in Democrats' favor, bias has started to shift toward Republicans in the last decade. This trend forecasts more cuts in almost all the policies in this study, especially education and AFDC/TANF recipients. There is a need for more research and advocacy emphasis on the political determinants of social determinants of health, especially at the state level.

The Use of Punishment as a Way to Relization Political Goals in International Relations (Theoretical Study)

The problem of the application of punishment to realization political goals in international relations is considered. The author characterizes the social institution of punishment, indicates its place and role in the structure of social relations. The political and legal component of punishment is analyzed in the context of unilateral sanctions of some sovereign states against others. The main forms and content of the influence of political goals on the institution of international legal sanctionspunishments are determined. The author’s vision of such specific phenomena as “self-punishment” and “political engagement” is substantiated. An algorithm for identifying the political bias of decisions on the imposition of international legal penalties, as well as possible ways to develop an adequate response to them from the “punished” subjects (target states) is formulated. The empirical base of the study includes materials on the application of punishments by individual and collective subjects of international relations against the Russian Federation, including the geopolitical consequences of the relevant sanctions decisions.

Role of Civil Society in Community Development of Nepal

This study is based on the role of civil society in community development in Nepal. It is mainly prepared by using secondary sources. Data is obtained through articles/newspapers/clubs of the organization. The role of civil society in training and skill development, group formation and mobilization is assessed to be satisfactory. In the areas of health and hygiene, education, drinking water, transport and communication too, the role is likely to improve in the coming days. The relationship between groups and individuals in the community has appeared to be good. Most civil societies agree on good relationships between groups and individuals. The main problems of civil society are issues of the sustainability of their activities and political bias. Organizations depend on donor funds and activities as they propose; so there is duplication of programs and activities in the community. The activities are very short and do not have a fixed duration required by the community; it is due to the dependence of the donor for the fund. Civil society is the main subject and agent of community development. It knows the cultural, social, political and geographical situation. The process of social mobilization and mobilization of resources is the pioneering path of civil development. Group training and mobilization are found to be very good in the community. Therefore, this study shows a great need for civil society in community development. The function of civil society is very respectable. People want to expand their activities but the civil society cannot expand because of lack of funds. The ground of honor developed by civil societies in terms group formation, social mobilization, resource mobilization, and saving habits in groups is remarkable. Civil society (CS) in Nepal has played an important role in the economic and political transformation of the country over the past three decades. As Nepal changes into a three-tier federal government system, the environment in which civil society organizations (CSOs) operate is also changing.

Framing the Pandemic on Persian Twitter: Gauging Networked Frames by Topic Modeling

This study makes a dual contribution to the current literature. First, it examines how Iranian Twitter users framed the COVID-19 crisis in collaborative practice, networked framing. Second, it explores the potential for topic modeling in automated frame identification. The study analyzes a dataset of 4,165,177 tweets collected from Iranian Twittersphere between January 21, 2020 and April 29, 2020. The results indicate that Iranians predominantly framed the pandemic through a political lens and utilized anti-regime networked frames to contest the political system in general and during the pandemic. Furthermore, the study finds that while Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) can accurately identify the most significant networked frames, it may overlook less prominent frames. The research also suggests that LDA performs better with larger datasets and lexical semantics. Lastly, the implications and limitations of the investigation are discussed.

Neoconservatives’ Reading of Catholic Social Teaching The political debate over the encyclical Centesimus Annus

Pope John Paul II’s 1991 publication of the encyclical Centesimus Annus sparked a lively debate that lasted for years. Neoconservative Catholics promptly showed great enthusiasm for the encyclical, which they saw as the Church finally embracing economic liberalism. On the other hand, progressive Catholics rejected the neoconservative analysis and put an entirely different interpretation on the encyclical. This article examines some of the main neocon interpretations of John Paul II’s social thinking, primarily focusing on the encyclical Centesimus Annus. We consider the analyses of Michael Novak and Richard Neuhaus, who show partisan bias in their interpretation of Centesimus Annus. John Paul II’s encyclical soon became a battlefield on which the conflict between neoconservative and progressive Catholics was played out, and a landmark in the debate on Catholic social teaching and its various interpretations.

Revisiting the political biases of ChatGPT

Although ChatGPT promises wide-ranging applications, there is a concern that it is politically biased; in particular, that it has a left-libertarian orientation. Nevertheless, following recent trends in attempts to reduce such biases, this study re-evaluated the political biases of ChatGPT using political orientation tests and the application programming interface. The effects of the languages used in the system as well as gender and race settings were evaluated. The results indicate that ChatGPT manifests less political bias than previously assumed; however, they did not entirely dismiss the political bias. The languages used in the system, and the gender and race settings may induce political biases. These findings enhance our understanding of the political biases of ChatGPT and may be useful for bias evaluation and designing the operational strategy of ChatGPT.

Unfit to Bounce Back: On the Martial Politics of Resilience in WWI-Weimar Germany and Austerity Britain

Abstract Resilience discourse, with its implicit assumption of a return to health and productivity following a crisis, is often mobilized to target disabled people. Yet while resilience scholarship has rapidly expanded and become prevalent in various fields over recent decades, it has largely failed to analyze the multiple connections between resilience, disability, and eugenics. This article argues that resilience discourse is a form of martial politics, wielded against disabled people to protect the health and prosperity of the political community. A martial politics of resilience works through three registers, responsibilizing disabled subjects by withdrawing state support, dehumanizing them as unproductive and a burden, and exposing these subjects to abandonment/death through medical and policy interventions. I use the lens of martial politics to think through relationships between resilience, disability, and security in Germany and Britain in the early twentieth and twenty-first centuries, respectively, focusing on psychiatric treatment of trauma in the former and the implementation of austerity policies in the latter. The article thus expands our understanding of relationships between resilience, subjectivity, and security by highlighting the ableist and lethal contours of resilient subjects, polities, and economies.

Mapping as a Critical Making Practice in International Relations

Abstract How “critical” is mapping as a method in international relations (IR)? Critical approaches have fundamentally changed the practices of mapmaking in IR. They have replaced geopolitical representations of a world divided into territorial states with notions of fields, networks, flows, rhizomes, and assemblages. This shift is both conceptual and methodological: It has led to the introduction of new methods of representation, such as multiple correspondence analysis and network analysis. These new methods have, however, been subjected to a strong critique. They are accused of reproducing the very logics of power that they aim to question, and flatten the knowledge they aim to represent. There would be, as the argument goes, an inescapable theoretical and political bias embedded in these methods. This article engages with this debate, which is ultimately about the ontological and epistemological status of mathematical methods of visual representation and, more broadly, about the role of “making” in IR. It argues that practices of mapmaking can still be designed to function as critical tools. To illustrate this argument, this article draws on ongoing research on biometric mass surveillance as part of the Security Vision project.

Corporate fraud, political connections, and media bias: Evidence from China

AbstractThis article empirically examines how political connections (PCs) affect a firm's media reaction after corporate fraud. Using data for Chinese listed companies from 2008 to 2021, we find that the media reports more positively for firms with PCs than for others that do not possess such advantages after the enforcement against fraud. The results are robust to a series of robustness checks and endogeneity corrections. When decomposing media reports, we find that PCs only facilitate positive media coverage but do not impede negative media coverage, which is more pronounced in state‐controlled media. This suggests that PCs protect firms’ branding by facilitating positive media reports rather than withholding bad news. Moreover, we find this protective effect is more pronounced in firms with stronger PCs, weaker anti‐corruption regulation, lighter punishment for fraud, private ownership, and more donations. Further, the consequences analysis shows that this kind of protective effect significantly increases the probability of future fraud and stock price crashes. Our findings present a new perspective on the role of PCs and provide evidence for political bias in media coverage.

Показатели и рейтинги в глобальном управлении: новые тенденции

Numerous indicators and ratings aimed at assessing and comparing states based on different criteria, such as volume of gross domestic product (GDP), freedom of speech, gender equality, or attractiveness of local cuisine, have become an integral part of contemporary communications and international relations. Country rankings can be used as a basis for agenda setting, political influence, or developing approaches to global governance. National governments sometimes use rankings developed by international intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, or in some cases by business entities, as benchmarks for their countriesʼ development and national scorecards and indexes. Or, if the ratings are considered unsatisfactory, governments can distance themselves from such reports, accusing their authors of political bias. Lately, the phenomena of international indicators and ratings, the principles behind their development, and their influence and usage in the context of global governance have attracted attention of researchers specializing in international relations and other social science disciplines. This article examines different theoretical approaches to analyzing the phenomena of indexes and ratings and provides evaluation of the phenomena. The author focuses on the premises for the increasing interest in comparative approaches and emergence of newly developed ratings and indexes, highlights limitations and weaknesses of such approaches, and examines new trends in the field and possible scenarios of its future development in the context of current global transformations.

Political bias in evidence for policymaking and the knowledge work of civil servants: the case of the ongoing digitalization of the Norwegian school

ABSTRACT This article engages in evidence-based policymaking by addressing (a) how civil servants endeavor to link evidence and policy and (b) examining how political bias influences this knowledge work in the ongoing digitalization of the Norwegian school. More specifically, it looks at the uncertainties civil servants encounter in their ambition to use evidence in policymaking relating to different definitions of knowledge, a lack of the desired knowledge, or incomplete or conflicting scientific findings. The study finds that evidence must meet high academic standards and be useful within a national context to be considered relevant. However, the political decision to digitalize the school, despite limited or conflicting evidence in support of this process, influences the definition of relevant evidence and hinders alternative perspectives and critical research from being heard.