Support For Specific Policies Research Articles

Procedural Justice in Online Deliberation: Theoretical Explanations and Empirical Findings

This article reviews extant conceptualizations of procedural justice and reports the results of an empirical study testing the effects of fair deliberation. From a communicative action perspective, we argue that Habermas’s conceptions of speech conditions and validity conditions can be used to evaluate the discursive and substantive dimensions of procedural justice in deliberation. That is, fair deliberation is built on the fulfillment of discourse norms and the communicativeness of dialogic interactions. The communicative measures are compatible with extant procedural justice measures and provide a communication-centered ground for evaluating deliberative outcomes related to procedural justice. The case study involves public discussion of the Singaporean government’s population policies on an online deliberative platform. The results show that when procedural justice is presented in the realization of both speech conditions and validity conditions, it fosters participants’ beliefs in the rightfulness of deliberative policymaking. Additionally, speech conditions play a more important role than validity conditions in predicting citizens’ specific policy support after online deliberation. The findings illustrate one instance of how communicative norms are prioritized in different deliberative settings and what deliberative benefits a fair procedure can achieve. The results shed light on the theorization of procedural justice and advance the extant knowledge of evaluating procedural justice in deliberation.

How to incentivise hydrogen energy technologies for net zero: Whole-system value chain optimisation of policy scenarios

Policy intervention is essential for enabling energy decarbonisation, and historic examples such as wind and solar power show how well-designed policy can lead to long term system benefits. Hydrogen technologies are emerging technologies that, with sufficient policy support, can also become established and provide valuable energy services. In this study, the policies available for supporting emerging energy technologies and encouraging system decarbonisation are analysed, and their relevance to hydrogen technologies is considered. Value chain optimisation is used to assess the effectiveness of these policies in a system undergoing transition to net-zero emissions. The optimisation results show that both carbon budgets and carbon taxation approaches can be effective in achieving net-zero emissions, but that the details of the policy design can significantly influence overall costs and emissions. The results also show that in a net-zero energy system, hydrogen technologies have a role in industry without needing specific policy support, but policy intervention is needed for hydrogen to become established in other sectors (such as domestic and commercial heating). Both feed-in tariffs and obligations for hydrogen injection were found to be effective at increasing hydrogen uptake, although with an increase in overall system cost of £11–14 for each additional MWh of hydrogen in the system. This study shows the benefits of using value chain optimisation to analyse energy policies and technologies. It also emphasises the importance of careful policy design in order to achieve the best overall system outcomes.

Public information, public learning and public opinion: democratic accountability in education policy

AbstractTheories of political accountability assume citizens use information about the performance of government to hold public officials accountable, but whether citizens actually use information is difficult to directly examine. We take advantage of the importance of citizen-driven, performance-based accountability for education policy in Tennessee to conduct a survey experiment that identifies the effect of new information, mistaken beliefs and differing considerations on the evaluation of public officials and policy reforms using 1,500 Tennesseans. Despite an emphasis on reporting outcomes for school accountability policies in the state, mistaken beliefs are prevalent and produce overly optimistic assessments of the institutions responsible for statewide education policy. Moreover, individuals update their assessments of these institutions in an unbiased way when provided with objective performance data about overall student performance. Providing additional information about race-related performance differences does not alter this relationship, however. Finally, support for specific policies that are intended to improve student performance is unchanged by either type of performance information; opinions about policy reforms are instead most related to race and existing partisan commitments.

The Impact of ‘Food Addiction’ on Food Policy

As research on food and addiction evolves, it is important to consider how evidence for the addictive potential of certain foods could change public support for various food policies designed to promote healthier choices. We draw lessons from the framing of addiction in the contexts of tobacco and alcohol to discuss how an addiction frame for food might influence public perceptions and support for specific policies. We then evaluate the regulatory landscape in tobacco and alcohol control to determine which policies may be effective to protect the public against foods that may be harmful. We highlight several viable policy options that could be implemented to protect public health from unhealthy food, even in the absence of a strong scientific foundation that such food is also addictive.

Views of alcohol control policies in the 2000 National Alcohol Survey: What news for alcohol policy development in the US and its States?

This article examines public opinion in US alcohol policies during the 1990s and their correlates in 2000, using five national telephone surveys. Trend analyses of public opinion on 11 common alcohol policies is presented and factor‐based policy scales, based on 14 items in 2000, are used to examine demographic correlates of support for various policy areas, using bivariate, linear (OLS) and logistic regression analyses. With the exception of the alcohol warning label policy, national support for alcohol policies declined (eight policies) or was unchanged in the 1990s for 11 measured policies. In 2000, four meaningful policy opinion factors were found with adequate reliabilities (αs 0.65–0.75) for three of four derived scales. In 2000, support for specific policies varies. Warnings on labels and advertisements have highest support (>90%), then interventions like prevention, treatment, and responsible beverage service at 70% (with similar levels seen for improving access to treatment). Alcohol controls show varied, but lower support from 25% (raising minimum drinking age further), to above 60% for banning sales in corner stores; only about a third favor higher alcohol taxes (35%) and more restrictive hours of sale (32%). In general, women and those with lower socio‐economic status show higher alcohol policy support. Multivariate results show heavier drinkers are least supportive of alcohol policy, while ethnic minorities, especially Hispanics are more favorable to alcohol controls and raising alcohol taxes. Since evidence‐based alcohol control policies show mixed, but lower public support than treatment, prevention and consumer warnings, there is a need for community‐based strategies to increase awareness of environmentally orientated alcohol policies and their public health benefits.

Integration and Arms Control in the European Political Environment: A Summary Report

At the heart of our research was a single basic question: What arms control and disarmament measures might be acceptable to Europeans in 1966, in 1971, and in 1976? And differently put: What would be Europe's attitude in those years either to arms competition or to arms control, and what particular policies would be most popular or least popular in Europe in this respect?This basic question implied four more detailed questions. The first, What is Europe now, in 1966, and where is it going for the 1971 to 1976 period? Is it going to be a Europe of nation-states with only marginal common functional arrangements on matters not central in importance to the concerns of its citizens? Or will it be to some extent substantially integrated, with some major policy decisions made by common institutions? Or will it be a common body politic, speaking with a single voice and developing common institutions for a wide range of decisions?Second, do Europeans in general approve or disapprove of arms control? Do they welcome the relaxation of tensions between America and Russia and between the East and West, or do they fear such relaxation?Third, what specific arms control measures are likely to be most acceptable to Europeans, and which arms control measures are likely to be least acceptable?And fourth, what are the strength, location, and time aspects of political support for specific policies, such as the policies of France and its President de Gaulle vis-à-vis the NATO Alliance and the United States?