Public Debate Research Articles

Enlivening Wit

The birth of such innovative newspapers as The Tatler and The Spectator enables the readers to observe and join the public debate through a new intellectual lens. The use of Latin epigrams opening every issue of The Spectator emphasizes not only the close interest in classical literature and culture, but also the communicative strategy focused on the celebration of wit through the moral paradigms of ancient Roman poets, at a time of the rise of modern public opinion. The poetical and rhetorical choices of Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, along with other Latin poetry enthusiasts such as Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope, bitingly denounce social hypocrisies and contradictions through parody and mockery. Their purpose was to rebut conventional behavior through the permeating force of Enlightenment wit inspired by cleverness, satire and sarcasm.

From Moors to Muslims: evolution of the Spanish public debate

From Moors to Muslims: evolution of the Spanish public debate

Gender, religion and politics: a qualitative analysis on the role of women to a sustainable quality of work-life (QWL)

Purpose Employability skills have transformed from the acquisition of university degrees to possessions of cognate skills other than only degrees that can help employees secure employment in contemporary work environments. This study evaluates essential skills that will prepare millennia of youths and graduates for employment in the present job market. The study investigated four major hypotheses to underscore the employability opportunities of graduates in challenging 21st-century work environments.Design/methodology/approach To clearly gain an understanding of women’s disparity in society, the study employed a qualitative approach to evaluate the incidence of gender prejudice in a men’s dominant world. The study utilised two distinguished sampling strategies, purposive and snowballing sampling techniques, which were deemed suitable and useful due to the nature of the study. The study recruited 42 participants by conducting semi-structured interview sessions for the study. The study employed a deductive approach to analyse the data obtained from participants. A thematic content analysis was used to take away prejudice and establish an overarching impression of the interviewed data. Atlas.ti was used to analyse the transcribed interview data from the participants to establish common themes from the surveyed informants.Findings The results of this investigation indicated that there is a deep-rooted trend of institutionalised men’s dominance in politics and religious leadership. Women perceived less representation and men dominated the two domains of existence in their local environment. The study established that women are optimistic about a turnaround narrative on gender equality in politics and religious leadership. They expressed their concern about strengthened public debate and campaigns on women’s representation, and against gender discrimination. The study further shows that women are influencing the ethical and moral sense for change against women’s neglect in society. They expressed their concerns against the selection of people into political offices for elected political posts and observed the peculiarity of political godfathers fixing their favourite men into those offices.Originality/value The study discovered that women are leading campaigns for their representation in politics as well as church leadership today. The novelty of this study bothering around two domains of women’s lives – politics and religion, in particular, church leadership. These have not been evidence before in a study.

Seachange Migration, Outer Metropolitan Suburbanisation, and Marginality: The Electoral Politics of the Central Coast of New South Wales, 1949–2001

Seachanging and the expansion of suburbia led to important changes in Australia's human geography during the second half of the twentieth century. However, the implications of domestic migration on electoral politics have received only limited study. The Central Coast of New South Wales was one place where these two patterns of movement converged and which came to be routinely identified in public debate as electorally marginal. In reviewing this discursive positioning across both federal and state politics over several decades, the article examines how the region's marginality was often linked to the social mix created by migration primarily from Sydney, among which retirees and long distance commuters received particular attention as cohorts of voters. The analysis then turns to electoral competition in what was thus seen as a contestable space. This spanned national, state, and local issues and the major parties sometimes pre‐selected candidates offering very distinct value propositions. Overall, the Central Coast's regional political discourse reflected wider understandings of voting realignment seen around Australia, including changing perspectives on class, but also highlights how migration created new, formative communities where marginality was viewed as an important part of local political identity and practice.

Exploring the accessibility of primary health care data in Europe's COVID-19 response: developing key indicators for managing future pandemics (Eurodata study)

BackgroundPrimary Health Care (PHC) plays a crucial role in managing the COVID-19 pandemic, with only 8% of cases requiring hospitalization. However, PHC COVID-19 data often goes unnoticed on European government dashboards and in media discussions. This project aims to examine official information on PHC patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, with specific objectives: (1) Describe PHC’s clinical pathways for acute COVID-19 cases, including long-term care facilities, (2) Describe PHC COVID-19 pandemic indicators, (3) Develop COVID-19 PHC activity indicators, (4) Explain PHC’s role in vaccination strategies, and (5) Create a PHC contingency plan for future pandemics.MethodsA mixed-method study will employ two online questionnaires to gather retrospective PHC data on COVID-19 management and PHC involvement in vaccination strategies. Validation will occur through focus group discussions with medical and public health (PH) experts. A two-wave Delphi survey will establish a European PHC indicators dashboard for future pandemics. Additionally, a coordinated health system action plan involving PHC, secondary care, and PH will be devised to address future pandemic scenarios. Analysis: Quantitative data will be analysed using STATA v16.0 for descriptive and multivariate analyses. Qualitative data will be collected through peer-reviewed questionnaires and content analysis of focus group discussions. A Delphi survey and multiple focus groups will be employed to achieve consensus on PHC indicators and a common European health system response plan for future pandemics. The Eurodata research group involving researchers from 28 European countries support the development.DiscussionWhile PHC manages most COVID-19 acute cases, data remains limited in many European countries. This study collects data from numerous countries, offering a comprehensive perspective on PHC’s role during the pandemic in Europe. It pioneers the development of a PHC dashboard and health system plan for pandemics in Europe. These results may prove invaluable in future pandemics. However, data may have biases due to key informants’ involvement and may not fully represent all European GP practices. PHC has a significant role in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic, as most of the cases are mild or moderate and only 8% needed hospitalization. However, PHC COVID-19 activity data is invisible on governments’ daily dashboards in Europe, often overlooked in media and public debates.

The propensity for negative media reporting of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in Australia

The Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) Plan, or simply ‘Basin Plan’, represents one of the world's largest returns from consumptive (irrigation) water extraction to environmental use. The Plan has been mired in controversy from when its first draft was burned by irrigators in 2010, and as such has been a source of extensive media reporting. Given the ability of journalism in both informing and influencing public debates, as well as the political deliberation process, we sought to understand the themes and representation of the Plan in media newspapers. This study analysed 6694 media articles referring to the Basin Plan, across 135 outlets, from 2008 to 2022. All articles were sentiment coded using four different natural language processing (NLP) models, with additional manual coding of randomly selected 552 articles. Three-quarters of the total articles were coded as negative using the best-fitting DistilBERT NLP sentiment analysis, while the manual coding suggested almost half were negative in tone. Both methods found that negative stories far outweighed positive stories, suggesting very little ‘balance’ in media Basin Plan reporting. A regression analysis found that rural media outlets were more likely to report negative MDB stories, and that the states of South Australia and Queensland were more likely to report positive stories. Themes of irrigator victimisation and community economic decline dominated news articles (especially negative stories); followed by Basin Plan process, outcomes and governance issues; fights between states; and environmental issues. Environmental themes were relatively less discussed, and Indigenous issues were only referred to in a tiny fraction of all media stories. The study's results provide evidence that the media plays critical roles in water policy debates, giving prominent coverage - with little critical discernment of actual economic impacts - to certain actors with clear ideological and vested interests in the outcomes. Far less media coverage was given to more complex issues such as climate change, long-term structural change for irrigation communities, ecological crises, and sharing water with those who have little.

Data localization as contested and narrated security in the age of digital sovereignty: the case of Switzerland

ABSTRACT The construction and effects on national boundaries have become central topics in public and academic debates on digital sovereignty. Both state and non-state actors increasingly consider jurisdictions and traditional governing structures as means to capture and regulate digital data flows. This article delves into the intricate phenomenon of ‘data localization’, conceptualizing it as a socio-technical assemblage reflecting the evolving expectations surrounding Internet architecture and national boundaries. Interviewing the users of Threema – a Swiss secure messaging app – this study unravels data localization practices as a hybrid black box, intertwining technical changes, political discourses, socio-technical imaginaries, and shifting social norms. Drawing on the field of Science and Technology Studies, we mobilize the analytical tools of controversy and discourse to highlight data localization as a locus of political contestation in Switzerland, where imaginaries of national boundaries are often mobilized to symbolize security and reliability. The article provides three key contributions to the discourse on digital sovereignty, fragmentation, and governance. Firstly, it argues for the usefulness of Science and Technology Studies in understanding Internet governance, emphasizing the need for analyses grounded in specific socio-technical contexts. Secondly, it advocates for a social perspective on digital sovereignty, emphasizing user agency, social movements, and collective action as crucial factors shaping the governance of data flows. Lastly, the article sheds light on users resorting to state jurisdictions as a means to reinforce control over data flows, exploring the discursive mobilization of national boundaries in the digital public sphere.

‘But it’s really about …’

This article examines the Norwegian media coverage of and public debate about a series of anti-Muslim demonstrations in which Qur’ans were burned in Sweden and Norway over the Easter of 2022. Conceptualizing Qur’an burnings and the ensuing riots in Sweden and Norway as a media event, the article explores how different actors manage, negotiate, and use the mediated attention constituting such an event. The empirical material consists of all articles published by ten selected Norwegian newspapers between 14 and 30 April 2022, as well as interviews with seven journalists from these newspapers. A key point the article makes is that news journalists are mindful of how they cover and frame such an event. They take steps to ensure that their coverage accords with professional journalistic standards. The analysis shows, however, that the media coverage is complex and multi-layered, and that news journalists’ managing strategies only influence a small part of the total coverage and debate. A media event is by its nature discursive, and the article discusses how the event’s ‘real meaning’ is contested as various actors within and outside the media reframe it to fit already established discourses.

The Mediating Effect of Managerial Competencies in the Relationship between Corporate Governance and Financial Performance of Companies in Uganda: A Multi-Theoretic Approach

Purpose: The dwindling financial performance of companies has attracted enormous attention globally for many years, and corporate governance remains a matter of public and academic debate. This study aimed to establish the mediating role of managerial competencies in the relationship between corporate governance and the financial performance of companies in Uganda. Materials and Methods: The study applied a positivist paradigm and a cross-sectional design. Data were obtained from a sample of 394 private companies drawn from central and western Uganda. Companies were stratified by region, sectors, and subsectors; and then selected using simple random sampling from each stratum. A structured questionnaire was distributed to board members, Chief Executive Officers, accountants, Internal Auditors, and managers who were selected purposively. Principle Component Analysis and varimax rotation were employed for data extraction and reduction. The hierarchical regression technique was employed for data analysis. Findings: The study results confirmed managerial competencies to be a partial mediator, of the relationship between corporate governance and financial performance of companies in Uganda. Implications to Theory, Practice and Policy: Building on a multi-theoretical approach, the study advocates for the revision of corporate governance and recommends private companies prioritize managerial competencies in their recruitment processes and training programs to enhance their financial performance.

Public Opinions on Freedom of Speech and Prohibited Hate Speech against Islam and Muslims

This article scrutinizes the public debate in Sweden that followed the heated riots that took place with the burning of the Quran that were conduct by Rasmus Paludan in spring 2022. The Easter holiday in 2022, that coincided with Ramadan, served as the backdrop for the Danish-Swedish provoker Rasmus Paludan. Our study is based on a close reading of 71 public opinion articles that were published during April and May 2022, i.e., just after the so-called Easter riots. We argue that the discussion that followed Paludan’s public rallies in Sweden unfolds a dilemma between on the one hand freedom of speech and freedom of religion on the other. By deploying a critical discourse analyses this study helps us to notice the discursive orders that regulated the debate but more over toward what new interdiscursive patterns it was moving. The overall results indicates that the riots are mainly viewed as a result of a failed multicultural policy in which Islam is talked about as an obstacle for liberal democracy and thus freedom of speech. For example, material reasons, poverty, unemployment, racism is largely left out of the debate.

Kan en politisk næse være lang?

This article examines the special political-administrative sense of the word næse ‘nose’ in Danish, designating formal public reprimand. A næse is frequently given through a majority vote in the Danish Parliament to members of the government as a culmination of political controversy over e.g. administrative errors or failure to govern in compliance with rules or agreements. However, the article shows that in public debate and media representations, the political næse tends to achieve satire and caricature rather than serious criticism, owing in part to its bodily association. It is even perceived by some as a symbol of democratic decline, directly compromising its official purpose. On the other hand, the political næse is explicitly assumed across Danish media and on the official website of the Danish Parliament to derive historically from a lexeme unrelated to the smelling organ, viz. the obsolete Middle Danish noun nesæ, designating ‘shame’/‘dishonour’. To shed light on these contradictory interpretations, previous etymological treatments are consulted and discussed, establishing that there is little authoritative support for the standard etymological explanation given by Danish media and the Danish Parliament. However, certain Danish dialect features are discussed as they seem to add complexity to the general picture. Finally, a sample of written media representations of political næse cases is explored through the lens of framing analysis, to illustrate how the fuzzy etymology and semantics of the political næse reflect its usage and understandings in current news media.

The mediated construction of “woke”: Emerging discourses and primary definers in the Flemish press

From 2021, “woke” became an omnipresent term in Flemish public debate. In this paper, we explore how the mainstream press contributed to the emergence and construction of discourses on wokeness. First, we ask how the topic of “woke” reached the media agenda in Flanders. Second, we analyze the respective role of journalists and their sources in constructing discourses on “wokeness”, drawing on the notions of “primary” and “secondary definers” . We collected all newspaper articles mentioning “woke” in four newspapers for 6 months from 2021 to 2023. After a preliminary quantitative content analysis, we conducted a discourse analysis to identify the themes and terminology associated with woke as well as the key (journalistic and non-journalistic) actors talking about it. This allowed us to, first, reconstruct a timeline of the emerging discourses on woke; and second, to identify underlying discursive and journalistic patterns. The chronological analysis disclosed how a few “critical discourse moments” put woke on the media agenda. In each instance, an elite person created a stir, drawing attention to the (supposed) threat of “wokeness”. Woke was generally framed negatively as a “movement” threatening freedom of speech. Although journalists aimed to provide a balanced view and many op-eds offered counterarguments, the mainstream press did give a broad platform to actors deliberately instrumentalizing woke for (often political) purposes. By responding to anti-woke voices and not taking a side, most journalists did take over and reconfirm the framing of “woke” as a movement and threat proposed by elite primary definers.

Aggression and disagreement in public communication

Abstract The persuasive effectiveness of implicit strategies, associated with reduced epistemic vigilance, may lead to their exploitation in conveying doubtful information in advertisement and propaganda. In political communication, presuppositions tend to specialize for the conveyance of questionable opinions and self-praise, while implicatures reveal a preferential association with face-threatening contents in general, where implicitness can allow speakers to count less evidently as offenders, at the same time being able to convey contents that can discredit the opponent. In public debates, speakers do not necessarily aim at convincing the opponent, but at shaping the beliefs of the public at home. In Italian broadcast political debates, implicatures and presuppositions are used exactly with this function. Confirming this pattern, participants in public debates often “intercept” the opponent’s implicatures and make them explicit in order to reduce the persuasiveness effected by their being implicit. Sometimes this also offers the opportunity to provide explicitations that are different from the original implicature, caricaturizing the position of the opponent with a strawman effect.

Longtime nemeses or cordial allies? How individuals mentally relate science and religion.

Science and religion are influential social forces, and their interplay has been subject to many public and scholarly debates. The present article addresses how people mentally conceptualize the relationship between science and religion and how these conceptualizations can be systematized. To that end, we provide a comprehensive, integrative review of the pertinent literature. Moreover, we discuss how cognitive (in particular, epistemic beliefs) and motivational factors (in particular, epistemic needs, identity, and moral beliefs), as well as personality and contextual factors (e.g., rearing practices and cross-cultural exposure), are related to these mental conceptualizations. And finally, we provide a flowchart detailing the psychological processes leading to these mental conceptualizations. A comprehensive understanding of how individuals perceive the science-religion relationship is interesting in and of itself and practically relevant for managing societal challenges, such as science denial. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The gray zone: How not imposing a strict lockdown at the beginning of a pandemic can cost many lives

The public debate on the effectiveness of lockdown measures is far from being settled. We estimate the impact of not having implemented a strict lockdown in the Bergamo province, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite observing an infection rate in this area similar to the one observed in nearby municipalities where a strict lockdown was instead promptly implemented. We estimate the causal effect of this policy decision on daily excess mortality using the synthetic control method (SCM). We find that about two-thirds of the reported deaths could have been avoided had the Italian government declared a Red Zone in the Bergamo province. We also clarify that, in this context, SCM and difference-in-differences implicitly restrict effect heterogeneity. We provide a way to empirically assess the credibility of this assumption in our setting.

The Interface Between Patents and Regulatory Exclusivities and the View on the New EU Proposals Concerning Patent Compulsory Licensing and Regulatory Exclusivities

Abstract Exclusivity rights such as patents have gained special attention in the post-pandemic period. Patents are intended to be a tool to prevent potential market failure in intangible goods and encourage investment in innovation. At the same time, recently they have been accused of blocking access to COVID-19 vaccines and have even fuelled public debate on the introduction of various measures to limit the exclusivity rights arising from the grant of a patent. However, patents are not the only exclusivity available to (bio)pharmaceuticals. Regulatory exclusivities, though less well-known to broader society, are no less important than patents and no less relied on by the pharmaceutical industry. A fortiori, de lege lata regulatory exclusivities have no exceptions, which means they are more robust than patents and can potentially provide even stronger protection than that afforded by patents. This contribution provides a comparative view on patents and the less explored ‘8+2+1’ regulatory exclusivities, outlining common and distinctive features and the interaction between the two regimes. Some preliminary reflections are made on potential legislative adjustments, without which the much-debated compulsory licensing may prove to be of little use. Finally, insights are provided into the European Commission’s proposals of spring 2023 for general pharmaceutical legislation and compulsory licensing. Some preliminary insights into the proposed changes to the regulatory exclusivity system are also provided. Special attention is paid to the proposal aimed to reach compatibility between regulatory exclusivities and compulsory licensing.

Toward the Formation of the Public in a Marginalized Communicative Culture: Analyzing The Long Road of Woman's Memory

Abstract This study analyzes Jane Addams’ contribution to an enduring topic: how marginalized people join the public from beyond political, socioeconomic, cultural, and gendered barriers. I study Addams’ book, The Long Road of Woman's Memory (1916), which discusses the seemingly irrational devil baby case in Chicago. Using the concept of public and hidden transcripts and the method of cultural discourse analysis, I contextualize the book within the theorizing around the concept of the public by Addams’ contemporaries, Gabriel Tarde and Robert E. Park. The analysis shows that Addams’ discussion aligns with three conceptual aspects of the formation of the public. First, Addams describes the awakening of consciousness about a collectively relevant concern, and second, the emergence of interaction about the topic. Third, Addams constructs a conceptual distinction between two functions of memory, highlighting independent critical judgment as the divider between the two, which is the decisive factor that Park argues distinguishes the public from the crowd. Addams’ writing contains an unusual perspective in that she discusses development toward the formation of something like the public in a marginalized communicative culture. Instead of focusing on performative and dramatic public debate, Addams addresses discreet genres of communication and illustrates their public relevance.

(UN)EINIG? GENERATIONEN VON SCHRIFTSTELLERINNEN IM DIALOG ÜBER DIE EMANZIPATION VON FRAUEN: HELMINA VON CHÉZY, AMALIA SCHOPPE UND AMALIE STRUVE*

AbstractIn addition to her literary activities, the writer Helmina von Chézy (1783–1856) was committed to the emancipation of women throughout her life. She took a public stand on women's literary activity, participated in anthology and journal projects and wrote portraits of women in various genres. Among her correspondents was Amalie Struve (1824–62), a writer of the 1848/49 revolution who was two generations younger and who came into contact with the women's rights movement in America during her exile. The article explores the extent to which Chézy's Nachlass in the Varnhagen Collection provides new insights into the emancipation of women before and immediately after the revolution. Chézy's previously unpublished portrait of Amalia Schoppe (1783–1858), who also belonged to her network, is examined more closely. To what extent can conclusions be drawn from these texts about the state of the public debate on women writers in Germany? What is innovative about their contribution? The second part deals with Amalie Struve's letters to Chézy from the time of her move to the USA. To what extent do they shed new light on Chézy as a writer of radical change as well as on Struve's emancipatory commitment? To what extent does a generational transition become clear here?

‘Everyday talk’ about working-from-home: How the affordances of Twitter enable ambient affiliation but constrain political talk

How do the affordances of microblogging platforms, such as visibility to imagined audiences, shape the nature of ‘everyday talk’? Drawing on a qualitative study of tweets posted during the COVID-19 pandemic and containing the acronym WFH (working-from-home), we draw on Habermasian theorisation of deliberative democratic systems to show how Twitter (X) can act as a third space in which everyday talk about socio-political issues emerges alongside relational talk seeking ambient affiliation. Our analysis shows that tweets expressing already-established political positions that are amenable to reductive symbolism—using memes, images and shorthand stories—gain ‘likes’ and are amplified on Twitter. However, we argue that the desire for ambient affiliation combined with the imperative of reductive symbolism has a constraining effect on public debate, by encouraging the reproduction of established political tropes at the expense of ideas that are novel, controversial or require more complex exposition.

‘I Have a Folder in My Email Called Hate Mail’: Academic Public Engagement, Digital Hate and the Unequally Distributed Risks of Visibility

Public engagement through ‘traditional’ and social media is an increasingly important way for scholars to communicate research with wider audiences, with academics encouraged to maintain a public profile to disseminate work. This has important activist potential for radical knowledge production, but only if all voices can participate on equal, safe terms. Existing work on digital hate rarely accounts for the diversity of the academic community, and therefore we cannot adequately account for how certain voices are being excluded from public debate. Drawing on data from eighty-five survey responses and thirteen in-depth interviews with UK academics across disciplines, this article argues that the risks of visibility are unevenly distributed in ways that exacerbate harm to already marginalised groups. Our data challenges popular notions that visibility is its own reward. We demonstrate how visibility exposes academics to the kinds of online misogyny, racism, ableism, classism, xenophobia, homophobia, fatphobia and transphobia that characterise cultures of online hate. We reflect upon how academics in the ‘wrong’ body are denied intellectual authority in public debate through abuse targeting their intersectional identities and right to belong. Our data finds that digital hate not only affects academics’ careers, but also causes significant physical and mental harms that seep into academics’ personal lives. There cannot be meaningful, radical potential in public knowledge sharing if we cannot protect those most at risk of harm in the process.