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Previous research on political representation mainly focused on representatives but has overlooked individuals' sense of inclusion within the greater group: the nation. Building on narrative theory, we propose a novel mechanism that fosters a feeling of political representation—a similarity between individuals' personal-national stories and the collective-national metanarrative of the polity. Metanarratives are shared dominant stories that present a community with desirable social conventions. While they seek to represent the nation, metanarratives are not entirely inclusive and do not appeal to all citizens. We argue that individuals who do internalize the metanarrative feel more represented. To demonstrate our theoretical expectations, we use election surveys and constitutive texts to capture national stories and metanarratives. We find that indeed respondents whose national story is closer to a nation's metanarrative feel more represented by the political system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covid-19 has shocked governance systems worldwide. Legislatures, in particular, have been shut down or limited due to the pandemic, yet with divergence from one country to another. In this article, we report results from a cross-sectional quantitative analysis of legislative activity during the initial reaction to this shock and identify the factors accounting for such variation. Exploring legislatures across 159 countries, we find no relation between the severity of Covid-19 and limitations on legislatures' operation, thus suggesting that legislatures are at risk of being shut down or limited due to policy "overreaction" and that a health risk may serve as an excuse for silencing them. However, we find that legislatures in democratic countries are relatively immune to this risk, while those in frail democracies are more exposed. In partially free countries, the use of technology can mitigate this risk. We also find that the coalitional features of the government may lead to legislatures' closing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea that the success of media personae in attracting audiences and maintaining their loyalty depends on the creation of a pseudo-friendship, known as para-social relationships, has been a mainstay of mass media research for more than half a century. Expanding the scope of para-social relationship research into the political realm, the notion that political support could be predicted based on the intensity of para-social relationships between voters and political figures was demonstrated in a recent study. The current exploration tests the predictive power of Political Para-Social Relationship (PPSR) in the context of the April and September 2019 Israeli election campaigns. Findings from online panel data (n = 1,061) demonstrate that PPSR toward Netanyahu was a positive predictor of voting for Netanyahu's Likud party and a negative predictor of voting for opposition leader Benny Gantz's Blue and White party in both campaigns. The opposite was true for PPSR toward Benny Gantz. The PPSR constructs also predicted shifts in party support from the February to October (post-election) waves of the study, and loyalty toward the parties. In all models, the PPSR constructs were among the strongest predictors of political support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corruption is a complex, widespread phenomenon with harmful economic and societal effects. Drawing upon theories in social psychology, political science, and communication, this study examines the direct and joint effects of mediated exposure to grand corruption and the presence of monetary incentives on people's likelihood to engage in dishonest behavior. In a 2 × 2 factorial design (N = 404), half of all participants were exposed to a newscast about political corruption and one half was offered a reward for correctly answering questions about the newscast. Findings suggest that incentivizing was highly effective in predicting chances of cheating while news exposure to corruption was not. The data also indicate cheating is more common among certain sociodemographic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00317.x Byline: Dietram A. Scheufele (1), Bruce W. Hardy (2), Dominique Brossard (1), Israel S. Waismel-Manor (3), Erik Nisbet (4) Abstract: This study explores the direct and indirect links between structural heterogeneity, network heterogeneity, and political participation. We review the often conflicting scholarship on discussion network heterogeneity and political participation and place it within a multilevel conceptual framework of heterogeneity. Based on this integrated theoretical model, our study uses a combination of macro-level and individual-level survey data from various sources. First, we use a cross-sectional national data set, based on a telephone survey with a probability sample of almost 800 adults. Second, we combine these individual-level data with county-level data on religious, political, and racial heterogeneity. Based on these data sets, we develop a path model linking structure, context, and networks into an integrated pathway to evaluate the direct and indirect effects of heterogeneity on political participation. Our results show positive links between structural and network heterogeneity that are both direct and indirect, that is, mediated through various communication processes. Author Affiliation: (1)School of Journalism & Mass Communication, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 (2)Annenberg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (3)School of Political Science, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel (4)Department of Communication, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 Article note: Dietram A. Scheufele; e-mail: scheufele@wisc.edu.

ABSTRACT For all of the concern over the role of money in American politics, President Clinton's Legal Expense Trust, created to ease the burden of the President's legal expenses, has [...]

During the 2016 US presidential election, Americans were exposed to an onslaught of disinformation on social media. Many of the most viral posts originated from Veles, a small town in central Macedonia. During fieldwork in Veles, where we interviewed several residents and disinformation creators, we found that the epicenter of this viral phenomenon was Mirko Ceselkoski, an autodidact social media expert, teacher, and mentor to Veles' fake news operators. We interviewed Ceselkoski and registered and attended his online course—the same course numerous Veles residents took offline. Our research confirms (1) the pivotal role Ceselkoski had in the creation of this industry; (2) the economic motivation driving the fake news disseminators; and (3) the manner in which the mostly young people in their early twenties with little English fluency were able to generate so much traffic and disseminate so much disinformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers of the baby-face stereotype maintain that having a more adult-looking face contributes to success in the political arena. However, this hypothesis has not been confirmed in previous research. This study suggests that more mature faces will be beneficial only for left-wing politicians whose public perception suffers from the appearance of a lack of dominance. Furthermore, with regard to only left-wing politicians, we also hypothesized that the maturity of their faces would indirectly lead to greater intentions to vote for them and acceptance of their attitudes. An experiment conducted in the context of municipal elections in Israel confirms these hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do cyberattacks fuel the politics of threat? By what mechanism does it do so? To address these questions, we employ a technological and physiological experiment (2 × 2) involving a simulated cyberattack. Participants were randomly assigned to 'cyberattack' (treatment) or 'no attack' (control) conditions. We find that cyber-attacks make people more likely to express threat perceptions; we suggest salivary cortisol, a measure of stress, as the mechanism bridging cyber and the politics of threat. Contrary to existing evidence, salivary cortisol is the mechanism that translates simulated exposure to cyberattacks into political threat perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the relations between Israel and Iran. Topics discussed include the similarities between the two countries, their relations with other countries, particularly with the U.S., the concerns of secular democrats in Israel over the possibility that the country's future will be similar to the past of Iran and the cultural and demographic shift in Iran.