Role Of Public Opinion Research Articles

The Separation of Powers, Court Curbing, and Judicial Legitimacy

A major focus of judicial politics research has been the extent to which ideological divergence between the Court and Congress can explain variation in Supreme Court decision making. However, conflicting theoretical and empirical findings have given rise to a significant discrepancy in the scholarship. Building on evidence from interviews with Supreme Court justices and former law clerks, I develop a formal model of judicial‐congressional relations that incorporates judicial preferences for institutional legitimacy and the role of public opinion in congressional hostility towards the Supreme Court. An original dataset identifying all Court‐curbing legislation proposed between 1877 and 2006 is then used to assess the influence of congressional hostility on the Court's use of judicial review. The evidence indicates that public discontent with the Court, as mediated through congressional hostility, creates an incentive for the Court to exercise self‐restraint. When Congress is hostile, the Court uses judicial review to invalidate Acts of Congress less frequently than when Congress is not hostile towards the Court.

SUSPENDED SENTENCES – A JUDICIAL PERSPECTIVE

The suspended sentence is a widely used but often misunderstood sentencing disposition. This article presents the findings of in-depth interviews with Tasmanian judges and magistrates on their use of suspended sentences. These interviews provide an invaluable source of information on judicial views on a range of issues pertaining to the use of such sentences. The findings reveal inconsistent views on the main objective of suspended sentences and the difficulty experienced in applying the two-stage process for suspending the sentence. Issues with explaining and communicating the sentence and the role of public opinion and the media are explored. The appropriate response to breaches of sentences is discussed and the policy and reform implications of the research are considered.

Attitudes towards forest, biomass and certification – A case study approach to integrate public opinion in Japan

The purpose of this study was to contribute to filling the knowledge gap in public opinion and knowledge about forest and its certification in Japan, as well as to identify key elements and the possible role of public opinion within integrated bottom-up policies, bridging the sectors of forest, environment and energy. For the study 1930 questionnaires were disseminated in a small town in early 2007. Results from the statistical analysis indicated that forest was perceived as an ecosystem with a protective function against e.g. soil erosion or flooding, rather than a place that might serve for wood production and providing jobs. Forest certification and bioenergy from forest were identified as key elements for future integrated bottom-up policies that need to concentrate on facilitating the linkage between forestry and renewable energy as well as on promoting environmentally sound management and forest certification.

Trans‐Subsystem Dynamics: Policy Topography, Mass Opinion, and Policy Change

We argue that the treatment of trans‐subsystem change, and particularly the role of public opinion in fostering such change, within the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) has been underspecified. We propose a model of “policy topography” that combines the concepts of public opinion, clusters of linked subsystems, and policy issue venues. While the ACF has characterized subsystems as relatively self‐contained, we argue that they are more usefully understood as operating in a relatively permeable fashion among evolving clusters of subsystems linked together by networked relations, strategically overlapping policy considerations, and public opinion disruptions. The “policy topography” model offers opportunities to assess the relationships across policy subsystems, and to better specify the critical relationship between public policy and mass opinions. We offer examples, and suggest hypotheses along with avenues for appropriate empirical analysis.

Public Support for Democratic Governance in Southeast Asia

The transition and consolidation of democracy in Southeast Asia has proven fragile and tenuous some 30 years after the current wave of democratization began. A critical ingredient in the process of democratization is the role of public opinion and the extent that the public supports the democratic ‘rules of the game’. This study uses 2006 and 2007 public opinion data from the AsiaBarometer Survey of six Southeast Asian countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia and Singapore) to examine popular perceptions of democracy and democratic principles and practices. Specifically, it seeks to shed light on the following interrelated questions: Do democratic institutions in Southeast Asia work well in the short and long term? To what extent are citizens in these countries satisfied with various political and civil freedoms? Do citizens trust specific institutions to operate in the best interests of their society? Does the current political system and government perform well?

Visions of republicanism in the writings of Giuseppe Mazzini

Starting from vantage points that are both English and French, Mazzini connects the concepts of nationality and democracy: individuals are citizens to the extent that they belong to a free nation. The ‘European’ scope of Mazzini's thinking emerges through the network of relationships that he develops in his London exile. The intent is to establish a democracy that equates ‘republic’ and ‘public good’. The demise of the Second Republic in France changed republican attitudes toward public institutions, creating the premises for a form of ‘radical politics’ intended to promote civil and democratic gains under non-republican forms of government. After Italy was unified in 1861, Mazzini assigned to republicans a primarily patriotic, educational and moral role, while radicals who had formerly followed Mazzini looked above all to Anglo-Saxon democracies and the merits of their practices (voluntary association, freedom of the press, role of public opinion) and of their institutions (administrative decentralization).

Japan and the Iraq War: cultural and theoretical perspectives

With critical input from Japan's culture and guidance from theories of international relations, this article addresses in a limited way some of the issues in the current debate about Japan's foreign policy by examining how its major assumptions fared under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (200106) who, in the post-September 11 setting, presided over the government during the US invasion and occupation of Iraq. The widely known assumptions about the foreign policy model of Japan, examined in this essay, pertain to decision-making by consensus; pacifism and anti-militarism; centrality of the United Nations; and the role of public opinion. I argue that the foreign policy of Japan has undergone major changes during this period, and that the significance of the changes, inspired by domestic and external variables, lies in the far-reaching implication they carry for the Japanese state.

Vote Fraud in the Eye of the Beholder: The Role of Public Opinion in the Challenge to Voter Identification Requirements

I. THE FAMILIAR PLACE OF PERCEPTIONS IN THE DEBATE OVER ELECTION FRAUD 1740 II. SURVEY METHODOLOGY 1742 III. BELIEFS IN THE FREQUENCY OF VOTER FRAUD, VOTER IMPERSONATION, AND VOTE THEFT 1744 IV. PERCEPTIONS OF FRAUD AND THE LIKELIHOOD OF VOTING 1750 V. VOTER IDENTIFICATION AND FEARS OF FRAUD 1754 VI. CONCLUSIONS 1758 APPENDICES 1761 APPENDIX A 1761 APPENDIX B 1765 APPENDIX C 1768 APPENDIX D 1770 APPENDIX E 1772 APPENDIX F 1773 The current debate over the constitutionality of laws mandating photo identification for voters presents a series of largely unanswered, and in some respects, unanswerable, empirical questions. For the most part, the parties to the litigation culminating in the case currently before the Supreme Court, Crawford v. Marion County Elections Board, (2) have speculated about the number of illegal votes cast and the number of legal voters who would be prevented from voting were voting conditioned on the production of a driver's license or some other form of state-issued voter identification. When critics of voter ID requirements point to the lack of prosecutions or reported incidences of voter impersonation fraud, defenders of such laws reply, in part, that successful fraud goes undetected. When defenders of voter ID argue that such laws lead to very few people being turned away from the polls or having their votes go uncounted, critics respond that even a violation of the voting rights of a few is constitutionally impermissible, and that precious little data exist to assess the impact of such laws on the currently voting population or the deterrent effect it might have on future voters. With the scarcity of empirical findings to settle some of the factual issues central to this debate, (3) there is great risk that the Court will resign itself--as it hinted it might in Purcell v. Gonzalez, (4) quo-ted above--to its intuition that of election fraud drives honest citizens out of the democratic process. This intuition, however, presents a testable empirical proposition, which this Essay attempts to evaluate based on new survey data that assess the popular perception of election fraud and the likelihood that such beliefs lead to voter disengagement. We begin this Essay in Part I by situating the argument about fears of fraud within the debate over voter identification requirements and election law more generally. The argument follows a path familiar to campaign finance law, in which the Court elided difficult questions about the empirics of campaign contributions and corruption by relying on the prevention of the appearance of corruption as a state interest sufficient to justify restrictions on campaign contributions and expenditures. (5) Part II describes the unique national survey we conducted to assess how widespread popular fear of two different types of election fraud is, and the relationship between such fear and the likelihood of people turning out to vote. Part III discusses our findings about the prevalence of perceptions of vote fraud and how those perceptions vary among political, racial, and other demographic subgroups. In Part IV, we present findings suggesting that such fears of fraud, while held by a sizable share of the population, do not have any relationship to a respondent's likelihood of intending to vote or turning out to vote. …

Vote Fraud in the Eye of the Beholder: The Role of Public Opinion in the Challenge to Voter Identification Requirements

In the current debate over the constitutionality of voter identification laws, both the Supreme Court and defenders of such laws have justified them, in part, as counteracting a widespread fear of voter fraud that leads citizens to disengage from the democracy. Because actual evidence of voter impersonation fraud is rare and difficult to come by if fraud is successful, reliance on public opinion as to the prevalence of fraud threatens to allow courts to evade the difficult task of balancing the actual constitutional risks involved. In this short Article we employ a unique survey to evaluate the causes and effects of public opinion regarding voter fraud. We find that perceptions of fraud have no relationship to an individual's likelihood of turning out to vote. We also find that voters who were subject to stricter identification requirements believe fraud is just as widespread as do voters subject to less restrictive identification requirements.

European Public Opinion on Security Issues

Interest in the role of public opinion in foreign policy has grown steadily since the end of the Second World War. We distinguish at least three different waves of research on this topic and examine two main components of the present policy debate: the need for an Atlantic community and agreement on the means to reach common goals. As to the first issue, we explore the extent to which Atlanticism—defined as the willingness to cooperate among European partners and the US on problems perceived as common—is still high in the 2000s. We find considerable variation between European countries and the US. The left–right cleavage is still relevant in explaining attitudes toward collaboration across the Atlantic both in the US and in several European countries. As to the means, we look at the issue of support for the use of military force in Europe and the United States. On the basis of the available data, support for the use of force is much higher, across the board, in the US than in Europe. On the other hand, the contextual conditions under which force will be used seem to make a significant difference, albeit in different ways, in Europe and the US.

The role of public opinion in European Union policy making: The case of European Union enlargement

The present paper addresses the role of public opinion in shaping EU foreign policies through a case study of EU enlargement. Analysing the theoretical reasons that may explain public attitudes towards EU expansion: Economic (cost – benefit analysis) and post-materialist (identity-based) motives, on the basis of Eurobarometer surveys 2000 – 2005, the work highlights several factors that explain the existing discordance between EU public and elite opinion on enlargement policy. It suggests that a consensus between EU public and elite attitudes towards the future of enlargement policy can be achieved if a broad informational campaign is started in every member state on the implications of EU enlargement. The political elites should ‘re-sell’ the benefits of the process of European integration within the last 30 years. Concomitantly, the recent enlargement crisis should not lead the EU to close its institutions to those countries willing to join it and the EU should fulfil its promises towards the applicant states from Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.

The differing perspectives of road users and service providers

A survey of almost 3000 people gathered evidence on their experiences of problems on Britain's roads, their level of support for potential solutions, and on the different perspectives of transport professionals. An assessment was made of the steps required to reduce gaps between users' expectations and their current experience. Questions raised by the findings include: the likelihood that current policy priorities are influenced by inaccurate assumptions about what the public would find acceptable; the potentially misleading impressions created by vicarious opinions; the need to re-weight survey responses to correct for differential response rates; and the role of public opinion, media pressure and professional judgement in the political decision-making process.

A Question of Retaliation? The Internment of British Civilians in Germany in November 1914

In early November 1914 the German military authorities ordered the internment of all British male civilians aged between 17 and 55 then still resident in Germany. Over four thousand British subjects were affected by this measure. This article examines the domestic political background to the decision in favour of internment, focusing on the role of public opinion and of competing voices within the German war leadership. It also looks at attempts to negotiate the release and exchange of civilian prisoners after 1914. Internment was supported by the military and by most sections of the middle-class press. While partly a reaction to similar measures against Germans in Britain, it also reflected the government's growing frustration at the failure to achieve victory in the opening months of the war.

The Role of Public Opinion in Policy Argument: An Examination of Public Opinion Rhetoric in the Federal Budget Process

Public opinion plays a vital role in a democracy. Scholars have yet to explore how public opinion is constructed in policy argument in many significant policy areas. Through an examination of budget rhetoric over a three-year period, this study uncovers several argument patterns that incorporate public opinion. These patterns, in their totality, yield two major conclusions. First, public opinion arguments rarely surface in budget rhetoric. Second, in budget debates politicians construct a discursive conception of public opinion. The revealed relationship between public opinion and public argument has both helpful and harmful implications for the public sphere and democratic governance.

James Madison's Political Theory: Hostage to Democratic Fortune

Professor Alan Gibson's insightful article contains much that is admirable. He is, in my view, correct in calling scholars' attention—particularly political scientists—to James Madison's often neglected views in his National Gazette essays and the foundational role of public opinion on all governments. In addition, Gibson asserts several claims hoping to establish Madison's credentials as a democratic theorist that should be of interest as well. Specifically, he seeks to accomplish four tasks: (1) “to clarify the enduring debate over the credibility of Madison's democratic credentials”; (2) to “examine Madison's role in justifying, popularizing, and understanding… public opinion”; (3) to “highlight some of Madison's neglected insights into democratic theory, especially his understanding of the problem of collective action, and thereby establish him as a prescient democratic theorist”; and (4) to argue the case that Madison “contributed to a developing tradition of political thought in America upon a broad-based conception of freedom of speech and on the belief that political truths best emerge from the full flow of ideas.”While I concur with much of Gibson's position—especially his fourth, indisputable point—I also disagree with him on at least one significant position: James Madison was not a democrat.

Madison v. Hamilton: The Battle Over Republicanism and the Role of Public Opinion

This article examines the causes of the dispute between James Madison and Alexander Hamilton in the early 1790s. Though Hamilton initially believed that Madison's opposition to the Federalist administration was probably motivated by personal animosity and political advantage, in later years he concluded what Madison had long argued: the controversy between Republicans and Federalists stemmed from a difference of principle. For Madison, republicanism meant the recognition of the sovereignty of public opinion and the commitment to participatory politics. Hamilton advocated a more submissive role for the citizenry and a more independent status for the political elite. While Madison did not deny to political leaders and enlightened men a critical place in the formation of public opinion, he fought against Hamilton's thin version of public opinion as “confidence” in government. In 1791–92 Madison took the Republican lead in providing a philosophic defense for a tangible, active, and responsible role for the citizens of republican government.

J. M. Clark and the Economics of Responsibility

In his 1930 essay, Socializing of Theoretical Economics, John Maurice Clark criticized orthodox economics, or, as he termed it, (Clark 1921, 132 ff.). He believed that the treatment of business under orthodox economics-which asserted the primacy of individualism, free contract, and laissez-faire-produced an of irresponsibility. By this he meant excessive individualism and a denial of any for the public interest. In its place, he proposed an of responsibility in which business recognized and accepted its for the public interest and in which the rest of society worked toward that same end (29). In the first part of this paper, we sketch out Clark's critique of Euclidean economics and his economics of responsibility. The second part is devoted to a brief discussion of the various options for social control of business which Clark believed to be necessary for an economics of responsibility. In the third part, we consider the role of public opinion in potentially bringing about corporate responsibility.

Examining and Explaining the Northern League's ‘U-Turn’ from Europe

AbstractSet in the context of the larger literature on regionalist parties and specifically on the Italian Northern League, this paper examines and explains why the party moved from Euro-positivism to Euroscepticism. Drawing on concepts raised in the larger comparative politics literature, five explanations of this U-turn towards Europe are evaluated. It is argued that, despite the strength of explanations that focus on the desires of party supporters, the role of public opinion, the potential influence of economic investors or the role of EU-level institutions in shaping party preferences, a more cogent explanation focuses on domestic-level developments. The conclusions will underscore the general implications of this research for the study of parties, particularly regionalist ones in the EU, highlighting that a party's changing stance towards supranational integrationist polices can be best understood as a consequence of its experience in a political system's electoral system.

The Role of Public Opinion in the Implementation of International Juvenile Justice Standards

The Role of Public Opinion in the Implementation of International Juvenile Justice Standards

From the Field: THE GROWING SIGNIFICANCE OF PUBLIC OPINION FOR DEATH PENALTY JURISPRUDENCE

ABSTRACT After examining historical interpretations of the eighth amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishments, this paper focuses on recent changes in death penalty attitudes in the United States. Recent decisions by the Supreme Court are discussed that appear to broaden and strengthen the role ofpublic opinion in determining the constitutionality of various aspects of capital punishment. At the same time, several recent public opinion polls document declining support for the death penalty, and find only minority support given the option of life-without-parole (an alternative already available in 35 of the 38 death penalty states in the U.S.). Should these trends continue, the Supreme Court may be receptive to broader challenges to the constitutionality of all death penalty statutes.