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This article aims to examine the rhetorical strategies employed by interviewers and interviewees to understand how adversarialism unfolds in television broadcasts. While most studies to date analyze a single interview or compare how the same interviewer confronts several interviewees, we capture how different panels of interviewers address adversarial questions in the same program format. We use mixed methods to assess nine interviews with Brazilian presidential candidates on the Roda Viva program aired during the 2018 elections. The results reveal that the structural characteristics of Roda Viva reduce the opportunities for equivocation gaps. In addition, while media professionals adopt a more assertive stance toward candidates (seeking to deauthenticate them), some interviewers from outside journalism offered the interviewees moral support. In turn, politicians avoided tricky questions and criticized the media coverage when placed in "embarrassing" situations. We also discuss how adversarial questions may help populist candidates since they use such opportunities to play the victim's role and attack the interviewers' credibility. Besides scrutinizing the media's performance in a non-Western setting, the paper contributes to the work of journalists, candidates, and political consultants by highlighting which rhetorical elements favor or harm the efficiency of those participating in such interviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of partisan media presents new challenges for political consultants. Informed by social identity theory and truth-default theory, this paper examines how U.S. voters react to politicians in combative news interviews. Experiment 1 (N = 320) establishes that an ingroup politician gains more trust among ingroup voters when interviewed by cross-partisan media accusing the politician of deception than when interviewed more congenially by co-partisan media. Experiment 2 (N = 131) finds that perceived media hostility increases Democrats' and Republicans' trust in a politician regardless of whether the interviewer accuses the politician of deception or is congenial. Experiment 3 (N = 126) replicates the findings when a Democrat is accused of deception on Fox News. The study tested a moderated mediation model, finding that Republican and Democratic voters do not react differently in the process. The discussion highlights the practical and theoretical implications of hostile media perceptions and ingroup–outgroup partisan bias in a polarized media environment with conflicting exposure to live fact-checking and deception detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to understand to what extent the actual priority setting in the municipalities of Türkiye as a developing country aligns with idealised rational models based on theoretical principles and successful cases in developed countries. For that purpose, the study examines the cases of priority‐setting process of service provision in Turkish municipalities through an exploratory qualitative research method involving focus group meetings with the representatives of 30 municipalities and field observation in two municipalities. The findings reveal key aspects of the prioritisation process, including approaches taken by the municipalities, citizen and stakeholder engagement, the role of managers, criteria used for the assessment of alternatives, and evaluation methods. The analysis identifies two distinct patterns, that is the idealised rationalist versus pragmatic, in all the key aspects examined. These findings contribute to a better understanding of what aspects of idealised rationalist and pragmatical decision‐making processes are distinct from each other, and to a more comprehensive international perspective in public organisations, especially in which top manager such as the mayor is elected into office in developing countries. The study cautions against uncritical acceptance of oversimplified rationalistic as well as universalistic assumptions behind priority‐setting models and advocates for a more substantiated and contextualised understanding of decision‐making processes. Points for practitioners: Adopting a priority‐setting approach (technique, method, or criteria) necessitates considering the unique conditions and challenges of one's organisation and the local context. It is imperative to blend theoretical principles with practical realities to achieve optimal decision‐making and superior outcomes.Priority setting in public organisations of developing countries diverges from idealised rational models used in developed countries due to contextual factors like culture and limited resources. Policy advisors from international organisations and developed countries should endorse knowledge and experience sharing that acknowledges both ideal and practical realities. Concurrently, practitioners in developing countries must critically assess the applicability of advised models to their specific context before adoption.If the mayor takes a dominant role in the priority setting that outweighs institutional strategies and priorities, effective prioritisation among alternatives may be hindered. To rebalance power, it is crucial to foster an organisational culture that embraces participative decision‐making and professionalism and implements mechanisms such as auditing, transparency, and accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nested within the crisis of our attention economy, the siren is undergoing a profound transformation, prompted by our ongoing alarm fatigue and noise pollution, as well as the near-obsolescence and inefficiency of public sound system broadcasts. Employing an interdisciplinary approach from specialists in the field of sound studies, behavioural psychology, policy advisors and creative practitioners, this roundtable article aims to unpack the critical potential of reimagining sirens, extending physically beyond ear-centred listening, conceptually beyond immediate timeframes, and opening up to new collaborative methodologies across academia, industry, artistic networks and more, to tackle today's urgent need to recalibrate emergency signals for the immediate and the distant future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relevance and impact of political scientists' professional activities outside of universities has become the focus of public attention, partly due to growing expectations that research should help address society's grand challenges. One type of such activity is policy advising. However, little attention has been devoted to understanding the extent and type of policy advising activities political scientists engage in. This paper addresses this gap by adopting a classification that distinguishes four ideal types of policy advisors representing differing degrees of engagement. We test this classification by calculating a multi-level latent class model to estimate key factors explaining the prevalence of each type based on an original dataset obtained from a survey of political scientists across 39 European countries. Our results challenge the wisdom that political scientists are sitting in an "ivory tower": the vast majority (80%) of political scientists in Europe are active policy advisers, with most of them providing not only expert guidance but also normative assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the importance of accelerating the development of the hydrogen economy, focusing on UFI Hydrogen, a subsidiary of the UFI Group. UFI Hydrogen is at the forefront of green hydrogen production, offering innovative solutions such as catalyst-coated membranes for various applications. The company is expanding globally, with plans to establish production facilities in Italy and China, aiming to meet the growing demand for their technology. Additionally, UFI Hydrogen is seeking strategic partnerships and considering the possibility of going public in the future to further advance their presence in the hydrogen sector. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Although there are many proven effective physical activity (PA) interventions for older adults, implementation in a real world setting is often limited. This study describes the systematic development of a multifaceted implementation intervention targeting the implementation of an evidence-based computer-tailored PA intervention and evaluates its use and feasibility. Methods: The implementation intervention was developed following the Intervention Mapping (IM) protocol, supplemented with insights from implementation science literature. The implementation intervention targets the municipal healthcare policy advisors, as an important implementation stakeholder in Dutch healthcare system. The feasibility of the implementation intervention was studied among these stakeholders using a pretest–posttest design within 8 municipal healthcare settings. Quantitative questionnaires were used to assess task performance (i.e. achievement of performance objectives), and utilization of implementation strategies (as part of the intervention). Furthermore, changes in implementation determinants were studied by gathering quantitative data before, during and after applying the implementation intervention within a one-year period. Additionally, semi-structured interviews with stakeholders assessed their considerations regarding the feasibility of the implementation intervention. Results: A multi-faceted implementation intervention was developed in which implementation strategies (e.g. funding, educational materials, meetings, building a coalition) were selected to target the most relevant identified implementation determinants. Most implementation strategies were used as intended. Execution of performance objectives for adoption and implementation was relatively high (75–100%). Maintenance objectives were executed to a lesser degree (13–63%). No positive changes in implementation determinants were found. None of the stakeholders decided to continue implementation of the PA intervention further, mainly due to the unforeseen amount of labour and the disappointing reach of end-users. Conclusion: The current study highlights the importance of a thorough feasibility study in addition to the use of IM. Although feasibility results may have demonstrated that stakeholders broadly accepted the implementation intervention, implementation determinants did not change favorably, and stakeholders had no plans to continue the PA intervention. Yet, choices made during the development of the implementation intervention (i.e. the operationalization of Implementation Mapping) might not have been optimal. The current study describes important lessons learned when developing an implementation intervention, and provides recommendations for developers of future implementation interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article features a leaked WhatsApp message to the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. It was written by Mark E Avelli, a political consultant who sets out what has happened recently in the UK and how he suggests Sunak should act if he wants to remain unsuccessful. That sounds counter-intuitive but not when framed by the revolutionary political theory embraced by the consultant: success is rooted in understanding that victory is not to be acquired by saying and doing the right thing, but the opposite. Only when we understand that nobody actually wants political power and the responsibility that inevitably comes with it, do the actions of politicians make any kind of sense. Or for those keen on a short consulting takeaway to use in teaching political leadership: 'fail fast and keep failing'. The focus here is obviously on the UK, but for readers in other countries that are led or used to be led by similar leaders, this article provides an explanation for why we keep electing people who appear to have no idea what they're doing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, multilingualism has become a subject of interest in academic, social and political spheres. In addition, there is consensus among academics as well as politicians regarding the transformation of the linguistic landscape across the world. The common consent is based on the fact that multilingualism has become a norm, especially in the Global North countries that had been declared monolingual societies due to various political considerations. Research has shown that most countries that have been promoting a monolingual ideology have accepted the multilingual state of affairs in most communities and effort is being made to promote multilingualism. However, multilingualism as a concept is understood differently in different parts of the world. Therefore, multilingualism from the Global South perspective should be viewed differently from the Global North perspective. The study was qualitative, therefore, for data collection, a focus group discussion was conducted with four medical students who took the two modules during their first year at a selected South African university. These participants were willing to participate in the research. The results show that languages cannot be separated as standalone entities and should be considered individually. Besides, students use their already existing language practices in order for them to acquire the target languages, a remarkable quality of multilingualism where students can tap into their existing language practices in order to enhance their learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the global social context for the insertion of kleptocratic elites into the putatively liberal international order? Drawing on cases from our work on Eurasia and Africa, we sketch a concept of 'transnational uncivil society', which we contrast to 'transnational activist networks'. While the latter denotes the liberalizing practices of global civil society, the former suggests a specific series of clientelistic relations across borders, which open space for uncivil elites. This distinction animates a growing line of conflict in global politics. These kleptocrats eject liberal activists from their own territories and create new spaces to whitewash their own reputations and build their own transnational networks. To do so, they hire political consultants and reputation managers, engage in public philanthropy and forge new relationships with major global institutions. We show how these strategies of reputation-laundering are neither illicit nor marginal, but very much a product of the actors, institutions and markets generated by the liberal international order. We compare and contrast the scope and purpose of civil and uncivil society networks, we explore the increasing globalization of Eurasian and African elites as a concerted strategy to distance themselves from associations with their political oppression and kleptocracy in their home countries, and recast themselves as productive and respected cosmopolitans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the establishment and work of the Policy-Law-Science Nexus (PoLSciNex) Action Group under the Standing Committee on Humanities and Social Sciences (SC-HASS) to examine the interplay between policy, law, and science within the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS). The group aims to provide new insights into how these disciplines operate together to ensure a sustainable future in the region. By focusing on organizational levels and relationships with external institutions, PoLSciNex seeks to bridge gaps between policy, law, and science for effective protection of the Antarctic environment and responses to climate change impacts. The group also prioritizes engaging early-career researchers to establish lasting connections in the Antarctic research community and academia. [Extracted from the article]

Michael Smith's book, "The Real Special Relationship: The True Story of How the British and US Secret Services Work Together," provides a comprehensive history of the relationship between British and American intelligence agencies. The book covers significant events such as the Suez crisis, the Falklands War, and the UK's decision to leave the European Union. Smith explores the differences in intelligence practices between the two countries, highlighting the British emphasis on intelligence and diplomacy. While the book is written from a British perspective, it offers a balanced view of the partnership. [Extracted from the article]

The COVID‐19 pandemic showed that new digital tools played a major role in the design, implementation, and evaluation of policies aimed at containing and defeating the virus. However, relying on digital tools should not undermine the role of experts in the policy process. This paper answers the following question as means of examing the relationship between technology and expertise: To what extent has the introduction of technology‐assisted tools complemented and empowered health experts to provide more effective policy advice? By answering this question, the paper investigates the opportunities and challenges of technology‐backed sources of 'policy knowledge' as 'advisory assistants' of conventional expert communities in the policy processes. Drawing on a case study from a developing country, I demonstrate how the introduction of the 'Wiqaytna' mobile application in Morocco facilitated reporting of higher risk locations and provided operational feedback for 'the scientific committee' enabling them to deliver more efficient and effective actions against COVID‐19, despite the underlying technical and ethical problems associated with the use of such tools. Points for practitioners: Increasing interest and deployment of technology tools, such as artificial intelligence in the public policy and administration, means that a proper understanding and use of technology assisted tools is crucial for the delivery of smooth and effective public policy.The role of human experts remains indispensable in the policy process, but technology assisted tools can be utilised to speed up implementation processes and help give policy feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Necmettin Erbakan University Journal of the Faculty of Political Science / Necmettin Erbakan Üniversitesi Siyasal Bilgiler Fakültesi Dergisi is the property of Necmettin Erbakan University Journal of The Faculty of Political Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The so-called Cercle, Cercle Pinay or Cercle Violet emerged in the 1960s as an informal discussion group of senior politicians, publicists, businessmen and intelligence officers from France, Germany and other Western European countries. A secret meeting place for conservative elites, the Cercle was initially based on the transnational network of the French lawyer, political advisor and anti-communist activist Jean Violet. In the second half of the 1970s, in reaction to Détente, the Cercle turned into a transatlantic forum with close personal ties to Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. The Cercle thus became both a catalyst and a typical example of a 'neo-conservatism' that combined classical conservative positions with neoliberal principles. What was 'new' about this 'neo-conservatism' was above all that it overcame the contradictions between different national currents of conservatism. Its representatives saw themselves as part of a transnational community and emphasized the global dimension of their political thought and action. Within this transatlantic conservative alliance, the fight against communism served as both a means of integration and an overarching goal. Nevertheless, the Cercle survived the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War. It has remained a transnational meeting place for conservative elites to this day, although its focus seems to have shifted from anti-communism to anti-terrorism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dr. Rama Mani and Professor Alexander Schieffer are embarking on a 7-year journey called the One Home Journey, with the aim of promoting interconnectedness and regeneration. They will visit every country on Earth, guided by grassroots organizations and local hosts, to restore faith in humanity and live in harmony with nature. The journey will focus on planetary regeneration, Indigenous knowledge, Earth Artists, and working with youth and women change-makers. The Home for Humanity movement, founded by Mani and Schieffer, seeks to create a space for diverse backgrounds to come together and imagine a better future. Art, particularly Earth Artistry, will play a central role in this vision. The journey will begin on April 22, 2024, and people are invited to join and support the movement through the One Home UnivEARTHsity. [Extracted from the article]

"Efficiency" in economics can be employed in two distinct ways: as a statement about the class of policies that all policy advisors would agree to, regardless of their views about distributional preferences; or as something valuable that policy advisors potentially need to trade-off against equity goals. This distinction can be safely put to the side in some settings, for instance when information is symmetric, individuals have linear-in-consumption preferences, and the planner can implement person-specific taxes and transfers. In asymmetric information settings like insurance markets, it cannot. The efficiency notion employed by Einav and Finkelstein (J Econ Perspect 25(1):115–138, 2011) for studying competitive insurance markets (EF-efficiency) can therefore only be understood in the second way, and policy recommendations based on EF-efficiency alone thus amount to a tacit expression of indifference to distributional concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the issue of whether politicians should be exempt from fact-checking on social media platforms. It examines the reasons given for this exemption, such as free expression and respect for the democratic process, and argues that these reasons are not sufficient. The authors believe that politicians should be subject to fact-checking like other users, as it does not impede their freedom of expression and platforms have a responsibility to help citizens stay informed. They argue that fact-checking can be done without limiting political speech and that platforms should actively fact-check politicians' speech, even when it involves falsehoods. [Extracted from the article]

This article is a case study of the creation of the Department of Education. President Jimmy Carter promised to create a separate Department of Education during his 1976 campaign. The National Education Association (NEA) provided the impetus for the legislation but it was the White House Domestic Policy staff and OMB Director that guided the bill through by working to narrow the scope of the conflict over the proposed legislation to ensure passage. Using both primary and secondary sources I explore the methods the Carter administration used to advance passage of the bill. Carter domestic policy advisor Elizabeth Abramowitz noted that, "if we get the Department, it will be a good example of the President's ability to get something through Congress nobody especially cared about" (Abramowitz 1979). As a result, a new cabinet agency was created with little broad-based political support and substantive policy change, creating a Department that continues to be vulnerable to calls for abolishment partially due to a lack of broad public support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important but understudied factor influencing strategic decisions of farmers is policy uncertainty. Increased policy uncertainty may expedite the timing of investments in expansion, a phenomenon that has been observed in the Dutch dairy sector in recent years. Using a participatory Bayesian network, we aimed to identify and assess the farm, farmer, and environmental characteristics that explain and predict investment strategies. The variable policy uncertainty is modeled as a multidimensional concept that is a function of objective and subjective variables. We found that the most important variables influencing investment timing are succession, risk attitude, perceived policy uncertainty, and earning capacity. The insights derived from this study are useful for policy advisors, finance providers, farm advisors, and also farmers themselves to enhance their understanding of why and when farm investments are likely to occur despite the high level of policy uncertainty. [EconLit Citations: Q180 Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy G410 Behavioral Finance: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making in Financial Markets]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Around 700,000 people die by suicide each year. While the global number of suicides declined over the last decade, the rates remained unchanged in the Netherlands. With this study, we aimed to provide guiding principles for the implementation of a national standardized psychological autopsy to better understand and prevent suicide, by exploring stakeholder perceptions and needs, and barriers to implementation. Methods: We interviewed 47 representative stakeholders from various fields (e.g., mental healthcare professionals, policy advisors, researchers). A semi structured interview design was used, based on the RE-AIM and Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) theoretical frameworks. Results: Themes relating to stakeholder perceptions and needs for a standardized psychological autopsy included valorization, accountability, integrability and the needs of the bereaved. Stakeholders believed that participation in a psychological autopsy can help bereaved in their process of grief but noted that evidence to frame the psychological autopsy as postvention is insufficient. The primary focal point should accordingly be to better understand and prevent suicide. Several key limitations of the proposed psychological autopsy approach were detailed, both methodological and implementational. Conclusion: The stakeholder analysis delineates guiding principles for implementation. Stakeholders believe that a standardized psychological autopsy has merit, provided that key considerations, including valorization and accountability, are integrated in its design. Routine evaluation should be ensured. The findings may guide policy makers and researchers in their endeavors to support a learning, community-based approach for suicide prevention based on a standardized psychological autopsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The delegitimization of policy advice has generated a defensive response that combines an assertion of the superior scientific character of expertise with a forthright affirmation of social and political values. This more value-driven discourse of policy expertise is examined with the case study of the Global Solutions Summit/World Policy Forum, launched in 2017 to support the Think20 network of global policy advisors supporting the G20 meetings under the German presidency. The Global Solutions Summit has evolved into a more policy-wonkish version of the World Economic Forum held annually in Davos and now is a switching point of global policy advice for the G7 as well. Through participant observation and an analysis of the proceedings of the annual summits since 2017, the article shows a distinctive configuration of normatively framed policy advice designed to overcome the social and political pathologies that have been the foundation of populist critiques of policy expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the extent to which the professionalization of Lithuanian political campaigns has changed over the last 30 years. To achieve this, the article employs two main methods. First, it reviews existing research on election campaign professionalization. Second, it presents the findings from a case study of Lithuanian political campaigns. The analysis draws on data from interviews with PR professionals and politicians conducted over the past two decades (46 interviews). The analysis also includes a data review of party spending in parliamentary campaigns. Through these methods, the analysis finds that both candidates and professional political consultants increasingly view political campaigns as important. Professional consultants play a significant role in campaign preparation and management in all parties, with major functions implemented by external campaign professionals being related to marketing strategies and communication management. Furthermore, contemporary Lithuanian political campaigns are often permanent and centralized, using a variety of marketing tools and instruments to research the electorate and prepare advertising campaigns and messages. The study concludes that Lithuanian election campaigns are gradually becoming more professionalized across all parties. However, the degree of professionalization varies depending on the financial and human resources available to specific party campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]