Guns,Hollywood, and School Safety: Defining the School‐Shooting Problem Across Public Arenas*

Objective. Research in agenda setting has demonstrated that dramatic news events can drive particular issues to the top of the media and governmental agendas. The objective of this study is to analyze how different aspects of an event‐driven problem compete for attention in those arenas. Methods. The method is content analysis of media coverage and congressional legislative activity following the 1999 Columbine High School shootings. Results. The results show that while both agendas converged on the gun‐control aspect of the problem, they substantially diverged on other understandings of what kind of problem the Columbine shooting represented and how to address it. Conclusions. We conclude that the differing institutional structure and incentives of the news media and Congress can create or inhibit interinstitutional positive feedback in the problem‐defining process. Agenda divergences are amplified when prominent politicians cue the media to follow particular story lines that depart from actual legislative activity.     

The long and winding road to assisted dying in Australia

Public opinion polling shows that Australians have long supported legalising assisted dying, but this has not generally led to legislative success. Since 1993, Australian parliament have considered legalising assisted dying over 50 times, with only two attempts being successful: Northern Territory in 1995 and Victoria in 2017. This paper describes the Northern Territory and Victorian legislation and the processes associated with the passage of the legislation in both jurisdictions. It suggests that one of the factors that contributed to the Victorian outcome was the extensive consultation involved prior to the introduction of the legislation into parliament. Political factors – including government support – also facilitated the legislation's passage.     

The “Congressionalization” of state legislative races

This paper examines the phenomenon of the “Congressionalization” of state legislative races. That is, as state legislative campaigns become more expensive, use more mass media, polling, and professional political consulting, these races are looking more and more like Congressional campaigns. Although others have pointed toward a “Congressionalization” trend, there is little concrete support to prove such a trend. We provide a detailed case study of the characteristics of state legislative races in a single state in the mid-1990s. We find that although there is indeed support for the view that these races are looking more and more Congressional-like, state legislative races are still distinctive in a number of important ways.     

Presidential Direct Action and Policy Continuity: The Case of U.S. International Population Policy*

Objectives. The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze the modern practice of unilateral presidential policy making in the area of U.S. international population policy. The analysis focuses on the implications of this practice in a constitutional system intended to limit and constrain direct presidential action in policy making. Methods. The authors conduct their analysis using a variety of qualitative sources, including leading studies on the topics of presidential direct action and U.S. international population policy, and government documents. Conclusions. Policy development in this area has been marked by dramatic back‐and‐forth shifts due to the modern practice of presidents making many decisions without legislative involvement. Although not the only policy area in which this practice has become the norm, the case study of U.S. international population policy reveals the pitfalls of deviating from the constitutional design of a system of balanced and constrained powers.     

信息能力与压力型立法(英文)

基于媒体话语的压力型立法是立法者信息能力不足的产物。如果立法者的信息能力不能有效应对现代法律规制活动的知识挑战,那么将无法抵御媒体话语过度渗透,导致立法与媒体之间的关联过于紧密,形成一旦媒体热议、立法就积极跟进的压力型立法现象。法律制度是具有恒常性的规则,而压力型立法往往失却应有的冷静、客观、慎重与全面,展现出背离理性立法的内在机理的决策特点,引发一系列既不公平、也无效率的再分配效应。压力型立法凸显了信息在公共政策选择和制度设计中的重要性,应当实施立法绩效评估制度,以此为立法者重塑信息能力提供充分的激励,确保立法的科学性与合理性。     

Coordination of legislative speech in times of crisis: Youth unemployment and debates on redistributive policies in the Swedish Riksdag, 1994–2014

Parliamentary debates and the discussion on different law proposals are a key part of the process of policy making. We argue in this article that a high economic problem pressure in the region an MP represents will affect the MP’s legislative speechmaking. We also hypothesise that parties tend to coordinate their speakers in parliament to display a cohesive profile in the domain of labour, employment and immigration issues, i.e., in issue areas which reflect redistributive policies that are highly salient for almost all parties. We evaluate our expectations based on an analysis of Swedish parliamentary debates on labour, employment and immigration policy during the period between 1994 and 2014. The findings show that parliamentary parties coordinate speechmaking: Those MPs who represent economically troubled districts are less likely to appear in plenary debates, as well as MPs who deviate programmatically from the party line.     

SCHOOL DISCIPLINE: IS THERE A CRISIS IN OUR SCHOOLS?

Discipline ranks as one of the major concerns expressed by the public about schools and the education system. These concerns are mirrored in the often dramatic coverage by the media of stories about unruly students, bullying and violence in classrooms and on playgrounds around the country. Many are left with the impression that schools are in a state of crisis and teachers are losing a battle to maintain order. This paper examines the question of whether there is a crisis of discipline in Australian schools. It does so within the context of an international perspective on discipline in schools, and with particular attention to the role of the media in creating and fostering a distorted view of the situation.     

英国议会监督预算制度及借鉴

监督政府预算是议会的重要职能。英国作为议会之母,其预算监督制度在世界上较为完善,梳理和回顾英国的预算监督制度将为我国人大预算监督工作提供重要的启示。在系统地总结英国议会监督预算的主体、内容和程序以及审批的基础上,分析了可供我国借鉴的议会监督预算的做法。     

When Does the Public's Issue Agenda Affect the Media's Issue Agenda (and Vice-Versa)? Developing a Framework for Media-Public Influence*

Objective. The agenda-setting literature has demonstrated the media's ability to set the issue agenda for the public. One byproduct of this work is that researchers have produced some evidence suggesting that the audience will, on occasion, set the issue agenda for the media. Given disparate sets of findings, researchers do not have a framework to better understand on which issues the media will set the agenda for the public and on which issues the public will set the agenda for the media. It is the goal of this article to provide empirical support for a framework suggesting that the events comprising issue areas predetermine the direction of influence between the media's and the public's issue agendas. Methods. I construct a historical data set comprised of 35,000 stories from the nightly network news and responses to Gallup's Most Important Problem question. I look for evidence of causal influence between news issue content and public issue concerns using Granger analysis and vector autoregression. Results. Issue areas comprised of spectacular events, such as defense, will be reported by the media and subsequently affect the salience the audience assigns to those issues. In issues not normally comprised of spectacular and singular events, such as energy and environment, public issue concerns appear to drive issue coverage in the news. Issues such as transportation and education, which comprise few spectacular events and little public concern, will receive sparse coverage in the media. Conclusion. The findings provide support for a framework based on events; the types of events that typically comprise issue areas will affect the likelihood of those issues coming on the news agenda. This then affects the direction of influence between the public and the media. The framework supported here allows for the integration of the media effects and media content literatures. This has implications for understanding how the news agenda is constructed and how the commercial media meets democratic ideals.     

Agenda Setting and State Policy Diffusion: The Effects of Media Attention,State Court Decisions,and Policy Learning on Fetal Killing Policy*

Objectives. This study combines theories on agenda setting, policy innovation, and policy learning to develop an improved model of state policy change. The case of fetal killing policy change in the states is used to develop a model that incorporates national media attention and the decisions of state courts, in addition to policy learning variables that account for the policy changes of neighboring states and the passage of time. Methods. I test the effect of national media attention, decisions by the courts, and the actions of neighboring states on the likelihood that states will change their fetal homicide policies. Using time‐series cross‐sectional data from 1970 to 2002, the model is tested using logistic regression analysis. In addition to testing the theories mentioned above, control variables in the model include citizen and government ideology and the percentage of state residents who are fundamentalist Protestants. Results. Three of the four research hypotheses are supported by the statistical analysis. The results demonstrate that increased media attention to fetal homicide in a given year increases the likelihood that a state will change its policy the next year. Support is also found for the hypothesis that state court decisions will affect policy change. One of the control variables, government liberalism, is also found to decrease the likelihood that states will change their fetal homicide policies. Conclusions. This study lends insight into why states change their policies by including agenda‐setting variables such as media attention and decisions made by the courts. States do react to the actions of the courts by making changes to policies affected by the decisions.     

Computable General Equilibrium assessment of mega-events: Issues and possible solutions

Mega-events are often perceived as opportunities to foster regional development. To assist policy makers in deciding whether to host such events, Computable General Equilibrium models are increasingly used. The literature has recently begun reviewing these studies and has shown that they are at risk of providing misleading policy recommendations if they do not pay more attention to the various specificities of mega-events. This paper identifies 13 modelling issues, examines their implications and discusses how they could be overcome. Fostering a discussion of these issues among scientists could be beneficial for the progress of policy modelling in this specific area.     

Living in the Moment: Lags,Leads, and the Link Between Legislative Agendas and Interest Advocacy*

Objectives. Based on sharply divergent interpretations about the nature of the politics of organized interests, three competing perspectives imply that organized interests variously lead, lag, or are contemporaneous with legislative agendas. Methods. We contribute to this debate by presenting data using a short‐term timeframe to assess the sequence of the relationship between legislative agendas and lobbying activity; we examine the lags and leads in the relationship between legislative agendas in 1995, 1997, and 1999 and the density of state lobbying communities in 1997 using Gray and Lowery's (1996) energy, stability, area (ESA) model of interest system density. Results. The analysis provides little support for the lagging and leading hypotheses and strong support for the contemporaneous hypothesis. Conclusions. Although this analysis will not end all debates over the sequential relationship between legislative agendas and lobbying activity, it suggests that legislative agenda and interest system density are largely governed by within‐session dynamics.     

回族非物质文化遗产保护立法思想研究

当前无论从国际还是从国内的立法背景来看,对回族非物质文化遗产法律保护的研究都是十分必要的。确立科学的立法思想是制定具体和切实可行的法律规则的前提与基本保障。该立法思想应以现行国家制定法为渊源,在其框架内寻求立法空间;充分尊重伊斯兰教法的精神;对回族习惯法的认可应成为立法的主要方式;将和谐作为终极的价值目标。     

‘The confidence to know I can survive’: resilience and recovery in post-quake Christchurch

This paper explores the relevance of terms such as resilience and recovery when analysing earthquake stories recorded for the Women's Voices/Ngā Reo o Ngā Wahine Project after the sequence of earthquakes and aftershocks in Christchurch, New Zealand's second-largest city, in 2010–2011. While the media focused on stories of victims, the heroic work of rescue teams, policy, army and firefighters, or the deliberations of national and local politicians, the National Council of Women of New Zealand wanted to ensure that women's everyday quake experiences were recorded for posterity. The outcome was an oral history project that documented the stories of women all over the city, both beneficiaries of earthquake support and those active in assisting others. Their narratives illustrate how resilience in the face of natural hazard events, such as this earthquake sequence, requires effort, ingenuity and imagination, but also the activation of multiple actor networks and relevant technologies. These ‘insider stories’ also highlight the ways in which expectations of ‘resilience’ can obscure vulnerability after natural hazard events and the complex and uneven processes associated with ‘recovery’. The relevance of critical reflections on discourses of resilience is explored through attention to the stories of specific women.     

Needs, norms, and food policy in the U.S. House of Representatives

This article investigates the influence of partisanship, religion, and district need on legislative behavior pertaining to food policy. Historically, policymaking is this area has been decidedly bipartisan, because it provided opportunities for logrolling among legislators. As the parties became more ideologically polarized and as budget pressures mounted, some suggested the food coalition would break down. To test this argument, this article analyzes legislative behavior on food and agriculture measures in the U.S. House of Representatives in 106th Congress. The findings indicate that while party, ideology, religion, and district need all affect legislative behavior, there is still a bipartisan majority coalition of legislators that supports food assistance.     

The Changing Nature of Rape: The New South Wales (Sexual Offences) Amendment Act 1981

The new legislation introduced in New South Wales in July 1981 is a dramatic evolution of the law regarding rape, one which is intended to render the law more flexible in terms of penalties, broader in the definition of the offence, and fairer in the provision on trial procedure. Through a consideration of some of the provisions of the Act, the argument is developed that while some of these aims are met, the law is, in places, less than ideal. An attempt is made to determine the shortcomings of the law, the conclusion involving both the provisions themselves and the proposition that attitudes and prejudices cannot be eliminated by the legislative pen.     

西方国家政党与议会立法的运行机制分析

西方国家政党与议会立法的运行机制包括两个方面：一方面,是政党对议会立法的影响或控制。首先,通过政党组织———议会党团实现对议会的影响或控制,议会党团是政党影响或控制立法机关的组织形式。其次,充分发挥政党领袖和督导员的作用,他们往往通过职权、威望影响本党党员的投票行为。另一方面,是议会对政党的监督和制约。根据监督路径的不同,可以分为直接监督和间接监督。     

引领农民进书屋策论

农家书屋建成后,后续发展的任务将更加艰巨,有的地方屋空书闲,作用打折。这一瓶颈必须突破。具体举措为:开展阅读演讲、书刊朗读、知识竞赛、读书征文、时事点评、信息发布、书屋讲座等系列化活动,点燃农民的阅读欲望;通过地方媒体开办专栏、权威媒体强势引领、深度报道担当主力、网络媒体广为利用等立体化宣传,助推农民阅读浪潮;实行藏书内容扼要导读、提供网络阅读条件与方法、严格书屋开放服务管理、强化设备配置完善功能、开展屋际资源协作共享、整合其他资源综合利用等多样化服务,搭建农民阅读阶梯。     

北京奥运文化传播与中国国家形象塑造

北京奥运会作为全球性的媒介事件聚焦了全球的关注,因此成为提升中国国家形象的良好契机。北京奥运文化传播作为一种文化传播、媒介变迁与文明演进的共时性过程,它实质上是一种透过传播认知体育文化、认知社会发展和人自身的过程,具有跨文化传播和数字媒介传播等性质。国家形象的塑造和传播以综合国力为基础,在很大程度上也来源于该国的文化影响力。北京奥运文化传播对提升中国文化影响力,塑造和平崛起的中国国家形象产生着重要而积极的影响。     

State of the Union addresses and presidential position taking: Do presidents back their rhetoric in the legislative arena?

Politicians and presidents are routinely criticized for the mismatch between their policy statements and their legislative actions. While a few studies explore presidents’ support for policy commitments made during their election campaigns, no study systematically examines this relationship for presidents throughout their terms. To determine whether presidents follow through on their policy statements, I examine presidential mentions of three policy areas in State of the Union addresses from 1953 to 2000 and presidents’ subsequent positions on floor votes in Congress. The results indicate that rhetorical attention to economic policy and foreign relations in these speeches increases the chances that presidents will take positions on legislation in these same areas, but there is a disconnect between the rhetoric and their actions on health and social welfare policy. I suggest that this difference can be attributed to their anticipation of success in each policy area because presidents do not want to attach themselves to legislative defeats.