Disability and democracy in Cambodia: an integrative approach to community building and civic engagement

The political framework through which the various communities of disabled persons in Cambodia advocate for and claim their rights is complex and confusing. Both governmental and non‐governmental actors engage this political framework through the mobilization of persons from the various disabled communities, competing in the civic sphere through issue‐oriented advocacy in ways that seek to influence the process of democratic governance. While the status of disabled rights in Cambodia is still comparatively weak, it is argued here that this civic engagement has allowed disabled communities to find common cause with non‐disabled persons and groups in the project of deepening the roots of democracy in Cambodia. This article discusses the demographic composition of disability, the framework of political action that addresses disability issues and the practice of civic engagement and activism by disabled and non‐disabled communities in Cambodia.     

The Role of Community Assessments,Place, and the Great Recession in the Migration Intentions of Rural Americans

Many rural areas of the United States are experiencing population decline due to out‐migration. However, others—especially those places rich in natural amenities and recreational opportunities—are attracting new residents and losing less of their native population. In this article we investigate the predictors of rural Americans' migration intentions by examining how individual‐level community assessments, including community attachment and perceptions of community‐level problems, shape rural Americans' migration decision making while controlling for individual and place effects. Drawing on survey data from 17,000 residents in 11 different rural areas around the United States, we find that community attachment is a key predictor of rural migration, even during periods of economic recession, and regardless of individual and place characteristics or perceptions of community‐level problems. We also find that multiple dimensions of community attachment (e.g., practical, natural, family, community trust) have independent effects on the propensity of rural residents to migrate. Our research contributes to knowledge on migration trends among rural Americans by exploring the complicated reasoning behind why people stay in, or move to, certain rural communities and not others.     

Inoperative Community in Post‐Authoritarian South Korea: Football Fandom,Political Mobilization and Civil Society

South Korea’s dynamic civil society developed from the democratic struggle against the military dictatorship in the 1980s and early 1990s. The period of political liberalisation that began in 1992 saw the emergence of new voices and social forces, and a new “netizen” culture of Internet users. This article explores the new social, cultural and political landscapes of the country that were made possible by self‐organising communities of the public actualising their potential for occasions of collective mobilisation and subverting the powers of dominant authorities. The empirical focus is on two events that marked the post‐authoritarian political culture of South Korea: the Red Devil phenomenon during the 2002 football World Cup, characterised by passionate support, civic pride and a rudimentary cosmopolitanism, and the anti‐impeachment protests of 2004. These key examples of mass voluntary organisation and mobilisation, founded on the desire for association and enactment of the sense of civil sovereignty, and borrowing from decades of popular struggle and resistance against the state, have expressed the love of community, the intimate communication and the being‐together of what Nancy calls inoperative community. Standing in opposition to the overarching authority of the state, inoperative communities emerge through the self‐actualisation of new subjectivities. This article investigates how, through play, transgression and protest, these inoperative communities have reshaped the culture and society of South Korea in the post‐authoritarian era.     

Social capital online: Collective use of the Internet and reciprocity as lubricants of democracy

This article puts the democratic potential of using the Internet into perspective through an analysis of how collective uses of the Internet promote social capital. Research results reveal that social capital online (i.e. trust and reciprocity) is enhanced by involvement in collective use of the Internet such as participation in online communities and use of the Internet among informal groups in everyday life. This process could counter negative aspects of Internet use. Further, accumulated online social capital can be a powerful predictor of online political participation, i.e. online reciprocity has a positive effect on intention to participate in online civic discussion. Finally, the authors' analyses indicate the possibility of a spillover of online social capital into offline arenas. It is concluded that collective use of the Internet can be a lubricant for democracy.     

From democratic participation to civic resistance: the loss of institutional trust as an outcome of activism in the refugee solidarity movement

Adding to the literature on non‐institutional political action and trust, this article argues that the loss of institutional trust is not only a cause but also an outcome of political activism. Studying the Danish refugee solidarity movement in a mixed‐methods research design including survey and qualitative interview data, the article shows that three kinds of activism – political activism, humanitarian activity, and civil disobedience – relate differently to the loss of trust in the institutions of the Parliament, the legal system, and the police. Political activism primarily affects a loss of trust in the Parliament due to low external efficacy and a closed political opportunity structure. Civil disobedience affects a loss of trust in the legal system and the police due to a perceived lack of procedural justice. Humanitarian activity does not affect a loss of institutional trust because it does not imply interaction with the institutions to the same extent as the other kinds of activism. The consequence of losing trust in the political institutions is not an abandonment of democratic values, nor political apathy, but rather a change in civic engagement from a mode of democratically legitimizing participation in the institutions to a mode of contending and questioning the legitimacy of the political institutions. This finding indicates that in turn loss of institutional trust may cause an increase in extra‐institutional political action which is consistent with the commonly assumed causality in the literature. This leads to a final integrating argument for conceptualizing activism and loss of institutional trust as reinforcing factors in a process where, in line with the main finding of this study, activism may cause a loss of institutional trust which, in turn, may cause additional activism, as argued in the existing literature.     

Social media use and democratic engagement: a comparative study of Hong Kong,Taiwan, and China

Recent studies in political communication have found a generally positive role of social media in democratic engagement. However, most research on youth’s social media use in relation to their political engagement has been conducted in the context of American and European democracies. This study fills a gap in the literature by examining the effects of the uses and structural features of social media on democratic engagement in three different Asian political systems: Taiwan (young liberal democracy); Hong Kong (partial democracy); and China (one-party state). The findings showed that sharing political information and connections with public actors consistently predicted offline participation (i.e., civic and political participation) and online participation (i.e., online political expression and online activism) in the three political systems. Although social media use for news, network size, and network structure did not consistently predict political outcomes, they played significant roles in influencing different engagement in the three political systems. The comparative approach used in this study helped to demonstrate the role of social media in the democratic engagement of youth in three places with similar cultures but different political contexts.     

Public Sector Management and the Democratic Ethos: A 5-Year Study of Key Relationships in Israel

This article deals with the nexus between bureaucracy and democracyin a management-oriented public sector. The article developsthe idea that public administration plays a major role in determiningcitizens’ political attitudes and behaviors. A theoreticalmodel is suggested to examine the relationship among citizens’perceptions of involvement and participation in administrativedecision making, perceived managerial quality, perceived publicsector performance, and democratic participatory behavior (i.e.,trust in administrative agencies, political participation, andcommunity involvement). A sample of 2,281 Israeli citizens providedinformation on the research variables over a 5-year period (2001–05).Findings reveal that citizens’ perceptions of involvementand participation in administrative decision making are positivelyrelated with perceived managerial quality but are not relatedwith perceived public sector performance. In addition, perceivedmanagerial quality is positively related with trust in administrativeagencies as well as with political participation and communityinvolvement. Finally, public sector performance is a mediatorin this relationship. These findings lead to a discussion aboutthe linkage between the bureaucratic and the democratic ethosin modern managerial governance, theoretical and practical implications,as well as suggestions for future studies.     

“People Will Bury Their Guns before They Surrender Them”: Implementing Domestic Violence Gun Control in Rural,Appalachian versus Urban Communities

Though gun violence is a global issue, the risk of firearm death is substantially higher in the United States than in other high‐income nations. Guns are deeply rooted within American culture; however, different subcultures exist along the urban‐rural divide. Such differences between urban and rural communities related to gun culture have been dubbed “firearm localism.” We investigated firearm localism in a state that has the highest proportion of firearm‐related domestic violence homicide and a large rural area representing a subgroup of rural culture: Appalachia. Specifically, key professionals reported issues related to domestic violence gun control in their communities. We conducted phone and in‐person surveys with a sample of community professionals (N = 133) working in victim services and the justice system in urban and Appalachian communities. Despite evidence of a strong gun culture in the rural communities, both urban and rural professionals estimated that about two‐thirds of their community would support restricting abusers' firearm access. Additionally, rural professionals were more likely to show concern for abusers' Second Amendment rights when discussing unintended negative consequences of gun confiscation; urban professionals were more likely to point out that gun confiscation can provide a false sense of security for victims. Policy implications are discussed.     

Ownership and Incentives in Joint Forest Management: A Survey

The relationship between the state and communities has been an overriding issue in the development of forestry institutions globally. In many countries, the trend is for communities to become co‐managers of public forests. Meanwhile, in development co‐operation both poverty and multiple rural livelihoods have received increased attention. In this article, the potential of joint community‐state management of forests is discussed. Forest production has several characteristics that make it suitable for joint management where both parties benefit. Involving communities in management decreases the state's monitoring costs, while communities benefit from better access to market information. For this to take place, however, the state forest apparatus needs to be free from undue rent‐seeking. The most advantageous solutions are case‐ and context‐specific.     

The contribution of media consumption to civic participation

A national UK survey (N = 1017) examined the association between media consumption and three indicators of civic participation - likelihood of voting, interest in politics, and actions taken in response to a public issue of concern to the respondent. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the variance explained by media use variables after first controlling for demographic, social and political predictors of each indicator of participation. Media use significantly added to explaining variance in civic participation as follows. In accounting for voting, demographic and political/social factors mattered, but so too did some media habits (listening to the radio and engagement with the news). Interest in politics was accounted for by political/social factors and by media use, especially higher news engagement and lower media trust. However, taking action on an issue of concern was accounted for only by political/social factors, with the exception that slightly fewer actions were taken by those who watched more television. These findings provided little support for the media malaise thesis, and instead were interpreted as providing qualified support for the cognitive/motivational theory of news as a means of engaging the public.     

Support for Waste Facility Siting: Differences between Community Leaders and Residents

Abstract Decisions regarding hazardous waste facility siting are now open to extensive public debate. Efforts on the part of public officials and private companies to site waste management facilities have been thwarted by public opposition. Using survey data from leaders and residents in communities which are hosting or siting facilities, this study examines their sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge, levels of trust, perceptions of risk, perceptions of economic impacts, perceptions of equity issues and the differential effects of these factors on acceptance of local waste facility siting. Leaders in these communities were more supportive of local waste facility siting than were other community residents. The major determinant of leaders' acceptance of waste siting was their perceptions of the economic benefits of a facility to the community. Although this was also important to residents, perceptions of health, safety, and environmental contamination risks had larger effects on their acceptance of such facilities.     

Thirty‐Year Trends in U.S. Adolescents' Civic Engagement: A Story of Changing Participation and Educational Differences

Using annual cross‐sectional data from Monitoring the Future, the present study examined trends in high school seniors' current and anticipated civic participation and beliefs over a 30‐year period. We examined overall trends and patterns based on youths' post‐high school educational plans. Findings point to declines in recent cohorts' involvement in conventional and alternative forms of engagement but greater involvement in community service. Regardless of period, the majority of youth said they intended to vote when eligible, but few expressed trust in the government or elected officials. All civic indicators showed significant differences based on youths' college aspirations: Youth who planned to graduate from a 4‐year college were more civically inclined than their peers with 2‐year or no college plans.     

Community Economic Development Strategies in Rural Washington: Toward a Synthesis of Natural and Social Capital*

Abstract Routes to economic development attract considerable attention in community and rural sociology. Social scientists draw increasingly on studies of social capital and environmental surroundings as they examine the factors that facilitate and inhibit economic development. However, few empirical analyses exist that analyze the impact of the combination of social infrastructure and natural capital on different forms of economic development such as on industrial recruitment and self‐development. Using data collected from six communities in Washington State, the interaction of a community's social infrastructure and natural capital on industrial recruitment and self‐development efforts is examined. Results suggest that while natural capital positively impacts a community's successful recruitment of outside industries, it is not significant for a community's level of self‐development. However, a community's social infrastructure, measured by the existence of active civic organizations, local businesses that support local community projects, community‐wide fund‐raising capacity, and extra‐local linkages to nearby communities, state, and national agencies, positively affects both industrial recruitment and self‐development. These findings illustrate the need for communities and local activists to carefully weigh their advantages and potential shortcomings when deciding on an economic development strategy.     

The Decline of Orthodoxy among the Amish

Abstract

For the past decade, the study of social capital and civic involvement has been of primary importance to sociologists and other social scientists. Concern over perceived declines in civic participation has troubled many, since such participation has been linked to a variety of positive outcomes both for the individual and the broader social groups in which the person takes part. To date, most research on the factors influencing participation has focused on structural or community-level measures, such as state structure, increased suburbanization and changes in community institutional structures. We contribute to this literature by highlighting the important role of the family as a context for the transmission of civic skills, involvement, and knowledge between parent and child. This study draws upon theoretical and conceptual insights from the literature on social capital and civic involvement, as well as from earlier work on inter-generational status attainment and political socialization. We build an explanatory framework that traces the inter-generational transmission of civic involvement, skills, and action. We test this framework using data from the 1996 National Household Education Survey. Results indicate that both adult political and school involvement have a positive impact upon the level of child political interest, and that adult community and school involvement have a positive impact upon the level of child civic activities.     

Contradictory tendencies in the political culture of Croatian youth: unexpected anomalies or an expected answer to the social crisis?

A successful democratic consolidation of post-socialist societies depends, among other things, on their citizens’ political culture, younger generations included. Moreover, youth civic engagement today and in the future is a guarantee of the continuity and development of democracy, which means that scientists need to gain insight into young people’s political culture. In this paper we look at political values, institutional trust and participation as relevant components of the civic political culture. The analysis is based on quantitative data collected in the empirical studies of Croatian youth, carried out between 1999 and 2013. Based on longitudinal study results, a downward trend is identified regarding selected political culture indicators: acceptance of liberal-democratic values, trust in social and political institutions, interest in politics and party preference. However, there is a simultaneous increase in participation in various types of organizations, especially political parties. The interpretation of established tendencies is placed in a broader context of an inherited democratic deficit, economic recession and social crisis. Current trends are both indicators and consequences of young people’s inadequate political socialization as well as weaknesses of political institutions and various actors during the transition and consolidation period.     

Youth participation in ‘post‐secular’ times: young Muslim and Buddhist practitioners as religious citizens

Recently there has been renewed interest in the role of religion in the public sphere in the context of a ‘post‐secular’ age characterized by the resurgence of religious identities and communities in increasingly diverse, multi‐faith societies. Young people's active political and civic engagement has also emerged as a core challenge for robust democracies. While an interesting body of current research suggests that religious commitment may cultivate participation amongst youth by acting as an incubator of civic and political engagement, such literature often positions religiosity as outside of, and consequently at odds with participation in a secular public sphere. We suggest that while religiosity may indeed act as an incubator for civic and political engagement, we propose greater attention to an emergence of alternative, entwined conceptualizations of religious citizenship evident in the practices, performances and dispositions of young Muslim and Buddhist religious practitioners in Australia, whereby processes of individuation contribute to greater fluidity within and across the domains of the religious and the civic.     

Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual,and Transgender Communities’ Readiness for Intimate Partner Violence Prevention

Efforts to address intimate partner violence (IPV) in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities often rely on identifying what service providers can do to better reach and serve these populations. However, assessing a community's readiness in response to the issue of IPV in LGBT communities locates the issue where outcry is most likely to occur. Utilizing the Community Readiness Model in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities in two rural and two urban communities, this study revealed a low level of community readiness to address IPV. Only vague awareness of IPV exists in these sexual orientation, gender identity, and geographic communities. The study suggests specific next steps tailored to raise LGBT communities’ readiness to address IPV from within their own communities, starting at the current low level.     

Poverty Catchments: Migration,Residential Mobility,and Population Turnover in Impoverished Rural Illinois Communities

Abstract Research has thoroughly documented how out‐migration of the educated and skilled from rural areas leaves behind a poorer population and creates pockets of rural poverty. Recently, studies have recognized that the poor are also geographically mobile and that poverty migration patterns can reinforce rural poverty concentrations. In this process, certain impoverished rural communities in economically depressed regions receive a disproportionate share of poverty migrants, concentrating poverty in certain locations. This paper examines the conditions and processes through which poor rural communities become likely destinations for a highly mobile segment of the rural poor and near‐poor. Utilizing case studies of depressed rural Illinois communities, it investigates how the interplay of community factors and the behavior of migrants transforms rural communities from residentially stable to highly mobile, impoverished places.     

The Influence of Value Orientations,Personal Beliefs,and Knowledge about Resource Extraction on Local Leaders' Positions on Shale Development

Unconventional shale oil and gas production plays a prominent role in boosting economic growth and stimulating wealth creation in many communities. However, because of potential social and environmental drawbacks, including a lack of affordable housing and groundwater contamination from drilling, unconventional shale development is highly contentious in many areas and has resulted in many community conflicts. Hydraulic fracturing, which is a specific technology utilized in unconventional shale development, has proved especially contentious because of concerns about its long‐term environmental consequences. Given the fast pace of shale development, coupled with the controversy that surrounds it, we seek to understand what factors affect a local government official's stance on shale development and hydraulic fracturing. To do this we draw from value‐belief‐norms theory while additionally examining knowledge and community‐level factors that can influence an official's position. In this study, we survey 308 local government officials across six shale plays in the United States to examine local officials' positions on shale development and hydraulic fracturing. We find that the more positively officials perceive the consequences of shale development, the less likely they are to support banning hydraulic fracturing. Additionally, we find that networks to other shale communities are positively associated with favoring a ban. Further, leaders with a bachelor's degree or higher are more likely to favor a ban than those with lower than a bachelor's degree.