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Athletes have again started to take a visible stance on various political and social issues, which has stirred fierce controversies. Existing research has a strong US bias, and, to extend the range of research, we conducted a German survey on the perceived legitimacy of athletes' political activism. The evidence suggests that the US debate cannot simply be transferred to other political and cultural contexts. The German respondents did not generally disapprove of athletes employing sporting venues as political stages. However, they are primarily willing to accept political activism in cases where the claims made are congruent with their political beliefs and with hegemonic political values. The perceived legitimacy of more controversial forms of athletes' political activism depends on political ideology, political activism and political tolerance. For international sport governing bodies, the results indicate a dilemma: western audiences approve of athletes' political activism, which is congruent with their own political values, but seem unwilling to accept activism making other claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic and the intensified digitalization of life-worlds has especially affected younger generations, also in Austria. In this paper, we approach digital practices of 43 young adults between 16 and 18 years in a frame-analytical perspective to understand forms of politicization during the Covid-19 pandemic. We analyze memes in order to make sense of youth's life-worlds during the pandemic. The memes were created by youth as a result of a workshop series with the researchers. Our research shows that memes have provided a means for engaging and dealing digitally and emotionally with Covid-19-related problems. We show that the respective youth address educational, social and democratic issues by problematizing 'homeschooling as overburdening', a 'lack of planning' and 'social divisions'. Moreover, meme-creation offers a perspective on how youth express and create a 'sense of community' through digital practices. During the pandemic youth have increasingly come to understand and represent themselves as a group with shared experiences in digital space, going along with a positioning as 'younger generation' vis-à-vis older generations. We argue that the fact that the pandemic has affected youth heavily and the fact that they do not see their issues and needs represented by political representatives or media shows the potential and limits of digital spaces for younger generations to connect (politically). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research, using the cultural-identity-protective cognition theory and focusing on China as a case study, aims to identify influencers, track information dissemination processes, and recognize the patterns of information and emotional flows within Twitter conversations related to the politicization of the COVID-19 pandemic. 5.3 million Twitter posts were collected related to the coronavirus using keyword searches such as #Wuhan and #Chinesevirus. Out of these, 17,964 tweets were selected as a sample from the most commented tweets by top users. A qualitative textual analysis revealed that Twitter users' attitudes toward the coronavirus disease and governments' policies were highly politicized and polarized. Both influencers and general users had the capacity to steer Twitter conversations into the political realm, thus contributing to the politicization and polarization of discussions during the information flow. Notably, opinion leaders, especially among influencers, could politicize and polarize a conversation by initially indicating their political standing in the tweet. In general, Twitter users had the ability to make neutral and objective news information go viral if a large number of Twitter users continue the politicization and polarization processes. Group membership—specifically, political standing—and cultural identities played significant roles in perpetuating a vicious cycle of anger. This cycle amplified identity threats for Twitter users and prompted more prejudicial and polarized comments, especially when China, Chinese people, and the Chinese government were the subjects of blame in the Twitter community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shift towards human rights is a cornerstone of contemporary labour law scholarship. However, the debate primarily follows a naturalistic approach, heavily reliant on an orthodox account of human rights as universal moral claims for all individuals. This article challenges this approach, arguing that it frames the debate in an antagonistic and compartmentalized manner, where the two legal domains are seen as distinct and homogeneous. By adopting a political approach, the article proposes framing the interactions between these legal realms through the notion of legal-conflict constellations, wherein labour-capital conflicts manifest as specific social problems that may be addressed, wholly or partially, through rights discourse. These legal-conflict constellations are built around three interconnected processes: politicization, recentring class and the formation of productive resistance alliances. The article makes the following contributions. First, it situates the debate within the broader context of the reshaping of labour law under neoliberalism. Second, it sheds light on the prevailing naturalistic approach and its shortcomings. Third, it proposes a political approach to the debate, advancing a framework to explore the intricate links between these legal fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article adopts a Durkheimian perspective and employs a socio-pragmatic method of inquiry, with a specific focus on analyzing "scandals" as critical junctures and the interpretations provided by social actors. The aim is to explore the development of corruption as a social issue in Romania over the past four decades. In contrast to two prevailing explanatory approaches in Romania, labeled here as fatalistic and voluntarist, we propose a more reflective approach. This perspective illustrates how the increasing division of labor and the subsequent rise in individualization within social relations have progressively influenced the tendencies and sensitivities of various social groups in Romanian society, particularly regarding what this study refers to as "illegal personal enrichment" (IPE). By focusing on discourse analysis of debates on corruption, this study analyses the evolution of the politicization of corruption--a subject still largely unexplored but highly prevalent in the public sphere--in conjunction with the structural changes in Romanian society. Consequently, three stages can be identified: IPE as a discursive tool for denouncing political adversaries, IEP as a generator of political conflicts, and IEP as a public issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Democratic legitimacy is essential for democratic stability, as democracies rely on citizen support to survive. However, perceived legitimacy gaps can also be an important catalyst for change and potential democratic renewal, begging the question when challenges to legitimacy become problematic for democratic survival. Easton distinguished between citizen support for political authorities and the political system, and argued that if support for political authorities declined, such declining support could either be resolved by the current political authorities changing course, or by citizens electing new political authorities at the next elections. However, if dissatisfaction with political authorities would not be resolved, lacking support had the potential to eventually "spill-over" and undermine support for the political system as a whole. In most empirical research on legitimacy, the assumption is that such "spill-over" is visible only if declining levels of political trust and satisfaction with democracy start to undermine support for democracy as a political system. In this paper, we argue that "spillover" can also manifest in a different way: through the politicization of political support. When politics is no longer (only) about substantive policy decisions, but rather (increasingly) about the system itself, agreement on the rules of the game, or even on democracy as "the only game in town", is no longer self-evident. In this paper we further develop our theoretical argument about the connection between legitimacy and politicisation, and argue that European democracies appear to experience growing politicization of political support, in terms of the association of political support with citizens' substantive issue positions and voting behaviour. The paper demonstrates empirical evidence of such politicization of political support in 17 European democracies with European Social Survey data from 2002-2022. The paper concludes by reflecting on the implications of the politicization of political support for democratic stability and renewal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A politicization of diplomacy weakens the professionalism of the foreign service and arguably endangers the external relations of states. Yet, this phenomenon has largely escaped scholarly scrutiny. Public administration research on politicization usually overlooks the foreign service, whereas diplomacy scholars have focused almost exclusively on the United States. Our exploratory study of ambassador appointments compares the levels and modes of politicization (through politically connected professionals, or political appointees) of 669 ambassadors in 2019, across seven countries and three administrative traditions. The analysis is guided by three expectations: 1) countries that are more politicized overall appoint more non-career ambassadors; 2) patronage recruitment of political appointees focuses on low-hardship postings; and 3) politically connected professionals are used to control politically important foreign missions. We find that states politicize their foreign services to a varied degree and in different ways. Appointing politically connected professionals instead of political appointees is the most common way of politicization among our cases. In this regard, the US is an outlier, which also points to the need of studying politicization of diplomacy comparatively. This article thus makes an important contribution by setting the agenda for future research on this hitherto underexplored topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How we have come to think about climate futures has predominantly been shaped by science- and expert-driven assessments. As research turns to the role of future visions as a driver of social change and overcoming political gridlock, political struggles are understood as conflicts over making (alternative) desirable futures socially performative. The recent advent of the new climate movements (NCMs) has given rise to the assumption that they could contribute to a re-politicization of climate politics by introducing alternative future visions. Their names and slogans articulate future expectations, such as futures "worth studying for" (Fridays for Future) or averting extinction (Extinction Rebellion). Yet, research on the politicizing qualities of the NCMs is inconclusive. I use a new framework for examining (de-)politicization dynamics to study public communication of German factions of both movements from 2019 to 2022. The results underscore climate movements' strong affiliation to science from their inception, yet over time, increasing attempts to adhere to principles of climate justice. However, climate movements still struggle to re-politicize climate futures beyond dominant positive visions of modernization and negative visions of collapse. I argue that this bounded politicization is indicative of the broader discursive dynamics that have weakened the ability to formulate alternative visions and discuss to what extent the centrality of scientific imaginative logics and understandings of the science-policy interface act to inhibit the articulation of alternative visions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines processes of (de-) politicization among Egyptian student activists in the post-2011 context. Based on ethnographic observation, interviews and focus groups, I argue that the rapid and successive political changes – with the revolution in 2011 then the coup d’état in 2013 – made the boundaries separating institutional, contentious and prefigurative politics fluid. As student activists debated if their claims and activities were ‘student-related’ or ‘political’, several conceptions of politics and political action coexisted among them and their understanding of politics fluctuated. These evolving conceptions created gaps and contradictions allowing for the negotiation of the meaning of their various activities. The negotiation of politics is a collective pattern but was also reflected in, and reflective of evolving individual subjectivities. As young students lived through the revolution, entered university and joined or left a group, their perceptions of their roles and of the political meaning of their present and past activities changed. The rising repression in 2013/14 shaped the activists’ tactics, as well as their perceived priorities and the meaning of activities, thus amplifying the negotiation of politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research contributes to the study of populist radical right parties' (PRRPs) role in gendered democratic backsliding by analyzing their articulation and symbolic representation of gender issues. We compare the politicization of gender issues across three European PRRPs, examining how context-specific gendered opportunity structures – the level of contestation of gender issues in their country, the resonance of antigenderism among their electorate, and their issue repertoire and historical trajectory – shape the extent and ways in which the German AfD, the Italian Lega and the Sweden Democrats politicize gender issues. We conduct a quantitative content analysis of PRRPs' framing of gender issues and construct topic networks based on the parties' Facebook and Twitter posts during the European Parliament election campaign 2019. We analyze the salience of gender issues, the broader topical context in which they are embedded, the specific gender issues addressed, and the parties' positions on these issues. Our results show how context-specific gendered opportunities shape PRRPs' national gender discourses: A low level of contestation, evidenced by a high public recognition and legal protection of gender and sexual equality, seems to foster a femonationalist framing, while antigenderist discourse is less pronounced in such a context. Instead, a higher level of contestation, expressed in a lower public recognition and legal protection of gender and sexual equality, seems to foster antigenderist discourse. A transnational femonationalist framing, shared by all analyzed parties, relates to a common nativist ideological core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Spanish Constitutional Court has occupied a central position in the Spanish political system since the Transition. Its decisions have completed, and still complete, the articles of the 1978 Constitution. Nevertheless, despite its intense activity in civil and administrative issues, this institution has progressively lost support among public opinion. To a large extent, the Court is now considered a politicized organization serving the interests of Conservative political forces. The growing intrusion of the judiciary in Spanish politics has increased this feeling. How to explain this biased viewpoint? In this paper, we argue that there are two reasons for this declining trust. On the one hand, the Court is the collateral victim of party politics which forced it to take sides. The Court is subject to a process of polarization affecting the whole Spanish political system. On the other hand, the Court has interfered regularly in the political debate by imposing its view, up to blocking parliamentary debates in late 2022. This double process is analysed from a new institutional perspective. We identified four critical junctures involving the Court and political parties, namely the delaying of decisions, the veto on governmental policy, the recusing of justices, and the blockade of appointments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates how the systemic politicization of the EU is associated with support for different political parties. We argue that, while politicization involves actions by both Eurosceptic and Europhile parties, it does not affect parties at both extremes of the continuum in the same way. To investigate these differentiated effects, we leverage data from the European Elections Study and the Chapel Hill expert survey covering two decades (1999 to 2019). The evidence supports the hypothesis that, when it comes to voters' preferences, politicization strongly favours Eurosceptic parties. We conclude that the systemic politicization of European issues is thus a one-way street leading to the reinforcement of the constraining dissensus on the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that schooling's driving purpose should be to educate. Given heightening global crises and the potential of education to respond, we agree with the spirit and focus of UNESCO's (2021) A new social contract for education intervention. Education/schooling should be motivated by progressive, critical visions to contribute to more sustainable and just human and planetary futures. Embodied-affective-cognitive technologically-mediated processes of becoming educated, however, are not a force that can smash injustice or ecologically destructive capitalism. Educationally speaking, there is no shortcut to cultivating students as "change agents" for sustainable futures. Hannah Arendt's essay "The crisis in education" (2006) is instructive in clarifying the function of schooling and in categorically distinguishing adults from children, education from politics, and education from learning. While human learning proliferates in multiple ways independent of existential/ethical mooring, education ultimately requires committed adults spending time with, and socioemotionally and intellectually supporting, children to deepen their understanding of the world and others, giving meaning and significance to their/our lives as part of larger collectives called upon to sustain and renew a common world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

#MeToo sought to combat sexual violence but evolved into a polarizing movement in the United States. Using a random sample of 5,153 tweets with #MeToo posted between 2017 and 2019 to explore the language and themes individuals use to polarize conversations around sexual violence, we find that MeToo supporters used rights-and-justice-focused language to advocate for survivors. In contrast, MeToo detractors employed legal and violent language to victimize the alleged perpetrators and villainize victims of sexual violence and their supporters. This demonstrates how "linguistic hijacking" unfolded online, with movement opponents co-opting key terms (like "victim") to undermine movement supporters' goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we propose a reading of the philosophical thought of Ignacio Ellacuría, from the Zubirian influence and the diagnosis made by this author of the dehumanizing condition that affected the popular majorities in El Salvador. Firstly, under the scope of some fundamental characterizations about its notion of historical reality, based on the Zubirian anthropological conception. Secondly, we will argue in favor of the realization of the sense of this reality in the process of humanization. And lastly, we will propose the minimum conditions for the politicization of this historical reality based on the process of humanization in the thought of Ignacio Ellacuría. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sri Lanka's postindependence history suggests that continuous efforts by the Sinhala‐Buddhist politicians to reject decentralization created anxiety and distrust among minorities. The state used both Sinhala language and Buddhism to accommodate Sinhala‐Buddhist interests and provide cultural security to Sinhala‐Buddhists who feared that the Sinhala race, Buddhism, and heritage would be threatened with destruction by the Tamil and Muslim separatists and extremists. The state forced the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which demanded a separate state for North and Eastern Tamils, to silence its guns in May 2009. The military defeat of the LTTE did not produce any democratization of the island. Sinhala‐Buddhist extremist forces turned their eyes on Sri Lankan Muslims, whose elites attached to major political parties supported the war against the LTTE. This study examines the politicization of the Sinhala language and Buddhism in Sri Lanka before and after the civil war between the LTTE and the state dominated by the Sinhala‐Buddhists. It argues that Sinhala political elites willingly took measures to centralize power. The major result of centralization is the birth of the state‐seeking, but authoritarian LTTE. It will also provide some useful analysis to examine post‐war tensions between the Muslims and the Sinhala‐Buddhist extremists. Finally, I discuss some solutions to fight the rising authoritarianism to help Sri Lanka enjoy the fruits of modernization and democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both proponents and critics of the regulatory state thesis view the creation of non-majoritarian institutions, such as independent regulatory agencies, as a process of 'depoliticisation'. This article problematises this assumption by proposing an analytical framework for better understanding the link between politicisation, depoliticisation, and the delegation of powers to non-majoritarian institutions, based on a study of drug rationing policies in England and France. A greater delegation of decision-making powers to a regulator enables policy decisions that are likely to prove politically costly, but such decisions are also likely to attract greater counter-mobilisation, undermining policy stability over time. By contrast, in a less delegated setting, elected politicians can prevent unpopular policy choices from being taken, which contributes to policy continuity. The article further argues that, where decision-making powers are highly delegated, the regulator's autonomy and the visibility of losses imposed by policy decisions condition the politicisation process. These findings suggest that, far from depoliticising policy problems, delegated policymaking insulated from politics can undermine itself by becoming a source of subsequent politicisation; they thus question the prevailing notion that delegation to non-majoritarian institutions contributes to policy stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faced with the challenge of thinking about communication towards the year 2030, the text reflects on how we inhabit our Latin American territories communicatively. With this question as a guide, it proposes a journey that dwells on the historical and narrative evolution of communicative practices, on the extension and hybridity of the current public space and on the political potential of communicational experiences. We propose the complementarity between what is diverse and what unites us for a greater exercise of communicative citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we argue that the entourage of ministerial advisers available to prime ministers and other ministers is an institutional power resource that can serve as a useful indicator to measure the changing nature of the political executive. Two novel contributions are made utilising four new datasets on ministerial advisers coupled with a comparative analysis of 21 governments in Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand, in varying dates between 1997 and 2020. First, by using ministerial advisers as a proxy indicator, we chart how the offices of executive politicians can either expand, remain stable or contract. As a corrective to the general long-term narrative that ministers' offices continually expand, our evidence shows this expansion has in some cases been interrupted and more generally manifests in different patterns from one government to the next. Second, we interrogate these patterns against the background of four typical assumptions from the party family, government tenure, parliamentary control and leadership stability literature. The new datasets, typology and analysis provide fresh comparative insights to advance our understanding about the evolving nature of the political executive in the four classic Westminster family countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to identify the patterns of populists' tactics in foreign policy and to propose actionable recommendations to minimize the impacts of populism in Pakistan's foreign policy. International politics witnessed a surge in the rise of populist leaders all across the globe. The rise of populism is a new phenomenon with profound implications for state relations, and Pakistan is not an exception. This is non-experimental exploratory research employing qualitative data collection and analysis techniques. In line with Michael Zurn's analysis, this article assesses Pakistan's Foreign Policy in populist leaders' tenures. This paper delves into exploring the populism of Bhutto and Khan, and its impacts on Pakistan's foreign policy. The paper finds that Bhutto and Khan follow centralized foreign policy decision-making, employ populist Islamic and anti-west rhetoric, and poised foreign policy with their notorious political agendas. The paper recommends increasing public awareness and strengthening foreign policy-making institutions to minimize populist elements in foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Climate change has emerged as a critical global challenge, recognized for its significant impact on the environment and societies worldwide. Nonetheless, for a long time, the Italian political system has devoted limited attention to climate change issues. Within such a framework, this article aims to answer the main research question addressed in the contributions of this special issue: is the politicization of climate change taking place in contemporary Italy? We answer this question by analyzing the three dimensions of politicization – salience, actors’ expansion, and polarization - in light of the contributions to the special issue. These studies investigate whether climate change is becoming a politicized issue by analyzing Italian parties, media, social movements, interest groups, and public opinion. Overall, the findings suggest that we are observing a partial politicization of the climate change issue in Italy. Indeed, there is evidence of an increase in salience over time in the spheres analyzed and an expansion of actors involved. Also, there are some signals of polarization, and consistent with previous research, the climate change issue largely appears positional. Nonetheless, the number of protests has substantially decreased in comparison with 2019, the approach of some actors tends to depoliticize the issue, and patterns of polarization are not unanimously detected.

This article adopts a Durkheimian perspective and employs a socio-pragmatic method of inquiry, with a specific focus on analyzing “scandals” as critical junctures and the interpretations provided by social actors. The aim is to explore the development of corruption as a social issue in Romania over the past four decades. In contrast to two prevailing explanatory approaches in Romania, labeled here as fatalistic and voluntarist, we propose a more reflective approach. This perspective illustrates how the increasing division of labor and the subsequent rise in individualization within social relations have progressively influenced the tendencies and sensitivities of various social groups in Romanian society, particularly regarding what this study refers to as “illegal personal enrichment” (IPE). By focusing on discourse analysis of debates on corruption, this study analyses the evolution of the politicization of corruption—a subject still largely unexplored but highly prevalent in the public sphere—in conjunction with the structural changes in Romanian society. Consequently, three stages can be identified: IPE as a discursive tool for denouncing political adversaries, IEP as a generator of political conflicts, and IEP as a public issue.

Democratic legitimacy is essential for democratic stability, as democracies rely on citizen support to survive. However, perceived legitimacy gaps can also be an important catalyst for change and potential democratic renewal, begging the question when challenges to legitimacy become problematic for democratic survival. Easton distinguished between citizen support for political authorities and the political system, and argued that if support for political authorities declined, such declining support could either be resolved by the current political authorities changing course, or by citizens electing new political authorities at the next elections. However, if dissatisfaction with political authorities would not be resolved, lacking support had the potential to eventually “spill-over” and undermine support for the political system as a whole. In most empirical research on legitimacy, the assumption is that such “spill-over” is visible only if declining levels of political trust and satisfaction with democracy start to undermine support for democracy as a political system. In this paper, we argue that “spill-over” can also manifest in a different way: through the politicization of political support. When politics is no longer (only) about substantive policy decisions, but rather (increasingly) about the system itself, agreement on the rules of the game, or even on democracy as “the only game in town”, is no longer self-evident. In this paper we further develop our theoretical argument about the connection between legitimacy and politicisation, and argue that European democracies appear to experience growing politicization of political support, in terms of the association of political support with citizens’ substantive issue positions and voting behaviour. The paper demonstrates empirical evidence of such politicization of political support in 17 European democracies with European Social Survey data from 2002–2022. The paper concludes by reflecting on the implications of the politicization of political support for democratic stability and renewal.

In contemporary media environments, mainstream news media have become increasingly challenged by political alternative media. Even though research on how political alternative media cover politics and society has increased, there is still limited research comparing how political alternative media and mainstream news media cover key political events, such as election campaigns. To fill this gap, the purpose of this study is to compare election news coverage in political alternative and mainstream news media, drawing theoretically on theories related to mediatization and structural bias on the one hand, and politicization and political bias on the other. Empirically, the overarching research question is how election coverage in left- and right-wing political alternative and mainstream media differs. Findings suggest that political alternative media do function as an alternative to mainstream news media in that they offer more politicized coverage of election campaigns. However, left-wing, and right-wing political alternative media also constitute alternatives to each other in how the election campaigns are covered.

AbstractFree trade agreement (FTA) negotiators increasingly face pressure from domestic interest groups, including environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil activists and labor unions. As a result of the growing scrutiny on the content of FTAs, we are now witnessing a proliferation of instruments accompanying FTAs, which we group under the label of flanking measures. In this article, we argue that flanking measures can serve two main non-exclusive purposes: Increasing aggregate social welfare by mitigating the negative spillovers of FTAs on society (the substantive dimension) and helping to build domestic coalitions in support of trade liberalization (the political dimension). Despite the relevance and growing empirical importance of the concept, flanking remains largely overlooked in the International Political Economy (IPE) literature. This essay seeks to fill this gap by discussing the scope, purposes and timing of flanking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study delves into the intricate relationship between the state and government, with a specific focus on bureaucracy as a pivotal component of government policy. Against the backdrop of political science, the article investigates the politicization of bureaucracy during the 2024 elections in Indonesia. By tracing the historical trajectory of bureaucratic politicization from the New Order to Reformasi, the research sheds light on the evolution of this phenomenon. Emphasizing bureaucratic neutrality as a cornerstone of good governance, the study employs a qualitative- critical descriptive approach through literature reviews. Qualitative data, derived from expert statements and scientific perspectives, undergoes rigorous analysis using discourse and content analysis methods. The historical analysis exposes the enduring link between bureaucracy and politics, notably during the New Order era, characterized by Golkar's absolute dominance. Despite post-1998 bureaucratic reforms, the persistent challenge of bureaucratic politicization looms large, especially in anticipation of the 2024 elections. The research underscores that achieving bureaucratic neutrality encounters obstacles rooted in the political system and socio-political conditions. Conceptual and theoretical discussions, though robust, falter in implementation. Effectuating bureaucratic neutrality mandates stringent adherence to rules, commitment from all bureaucracies, and robust supervision and law enforcement. The imperative for bureaucratic neutrality in the 2024 elections necessitates comprehensive socialization across bureaucracies and active stakeholder engagement, particularly from political parties. Fostering awareness of bureaucratic integrity and neutrality is indispensable for upholding public service duties and advancing the principles of good governance in Indonesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic was uniquely challenging for public health workers charged with enforcing recommendations. In the United States, media reports highlight frequent outbursts and threats from community members and elected officials regarding masking protocols, vaccine mandates, and other public health measures such as isolation/quarantining recommendations. Given this backdrop, the purpose of this study was to better understand the lived experiences of this critical workforce in the context of COVID-19. We conducted in-depth phone interviews with public health workers in Ohio (N = 11). Questions were designed to illicit workers' experiences and sense-making of the pandemic experience. We analyzed results using the techniques of interpretive phenomenological analysis. Five major themes focused on how workers experienced public perceptions of COVID-19 and the public health response. Three themes highlight the role of media and social media in polarizing public perceptions. These we note as: Dealing with Deadlock, Feeling Misunderstood and Misrepresented, and The Rollercoaster of Public Opinion. Getting on With the Work reveals strategies used to navigate public perceptions and misperceptions. This ranged from aggressive education and information sharing, to setting boundaries around the controversial or disputed aspects of the pandemic. Finally, After the Dust Settles comments on hopes for postpandemic transformations of public health and public perceptions thereof. These results can inform new pathways for public health. Paramount among these are effective strategies that address public knowledge, values, and worldviews. Such messaging must promote nuanced understanding and customized approaches for local realities, rather than relying on rigid dichotomies that further polarization and distrust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The war between Russia and Ukraine is one of the most serious crises that the European Union has faced after World War II. This war has affected all political, economic, social and security sectors of this union. As a buffer country with a geopolitical and geostrategic position between three powers, namely the European Union, Russia and the United States, Ukraine is of great importance and any action and movement requires the sensitivity of these three powers and their mutual reactions. According to John Mearsheimer, the moves made by the United States to expand NATO to the east are the main reason for Russia's attack on Ukraine. This war, with the asymmetric pressure of the crisis on the member states of this union, has increased the platform for the politicization of national identities and the combination of these two factors, along with the low competence of transnational institutions, has caused differences in the views of European countries to reach a common policy. Research question: The main question of this article is what will be the consequences of the Ukrainian war crisis on the European Union? Methodology and theoretical framework: The current research has used the method of future research and scenario writing. Scenario writing is one of the basic techniques of future research method that focuses on creating and reconstructing future events and trends based on the collected evidence, data and information. In scenario-based planning, several distinct scenarios must be prepared in order to cover a wide range of different futures and obtain a reliable approximation of future trends and realities. The existing limitations on the number of scenarios are mostly due to the perceptual, analytical and cognitive limitations of humans and not the limitations related to the complexities of the real world. Scenarios always contain some contents that challenges our worldview and mental structure, otherwise we will remain locked in the same old mental structure and have to face its unfortunate consequences. Results and discussion: This invasion is considered to be the largest conventional military attack on European soil since World War II and it is referred to as the new crisis of the European Union. This crisis has revealed most of the realities and weaknesses of this union in political, economic, social and security fields. The European Union is a united body in the form of economic-political regionalism and multilevel governance consisting of 27 European countries. The initiators of the European Union integration plan claimed that the national sovereignty of the governments would be replaced by collective decision-making and the independent role of the Parliament, the Commission and other EU institutions. In the past decades, this union has faced crises such as economic crisis, debt, immigration, Brexit, Corona, the discussion of the limits of the powers, competences of the European Union and its institutions towards the member states has been one of the basic issues. Although according to some experts, the emergence of challenges and crises helps to transform and strengthen the unity in this union, but the war in Ukraine and its political, economic, security and social consequences, not only did not help this process, but also highlighted the role of the state over national differences and led to the divergence of the European Union. The findings of the research indicate that the war between Russia and Ukraine and its consequences, the imposition of Western economic sanctions against Russia, have stopped the export of oil and gas to Europe and reduced the economic growth of the member countries and due to the increase in energy prices and the inability to provide energy resources and the creation of a gap between the members of this union in the way of dealing with Russia, it has led to public protests. In addition, the war in Ukraine and its consequences have changed the swing of the pendulum of this union towards statists (against transnationalists) and led to the divergence of this union. Conclusion: The findings of this article are that the crisis of the war in Ukraine has had many consequences on the European Union which has led to the divergence of this institution and as a result, the reduction of its power in the international system. This problem was caused by the deepening of the differences within this union, the vacuum of powerful leadership and the different positions of the member states after the war. In this article, an attempt has been made to investigate the causes and factors of the war in Ukraine by using the scenario writing method in order to examine the consequences of the Ukraine crisis in creating differences between the members of the European Union and weakening the position of this institution in the international scene. The Ukraine crisis has increased the differences among the EU member states with the three sides of asymmetric distribution of the crisis pressure, the politicization of national identities and the low competence of European Union institutions. This crisis has increased the differences between the member states of the Union so that the crisis management policy has been reduced from the transnational level to the national level and this issue is defined as divergence. In fact, the emergence of factors such as the emergence of monopolist nationalism, the expansion of far-right political parties or TAN (Traditional-Authoritarian-Nationalist), war and the trend towards geopolitics have challenged the process of European integration. This retreat in the process of convergence and as a result divergence at the level of the European Union has brought different scenarios and consequences. The possible future scenario of the European Union is its transformation into a confederation group with veto power for each country and one of the most important consequences is the change of the European center of gravity, the destruction of the idea of independent European defense, the dominance of the United States in the Trans-Atlantic relations and the weakening of the position of the European Union in the game of power and global leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work analyzes the turnover of civil servants occupying senior management and advisory positions (called DAS 4, DAS 5, and DAS 6 in the Brazilian public bureaucracy) in the Ministry of Finance departments between 1996 and 2020. The theoretical reference is studies on the politicization of high-level state bureaucracy. The data analyzed indicates a disparity between the turnover rate of Finance Ministers (which is low) and the turnover rate of those occupying DAS positions (which is high). The article explores explanations for this difference, considering the distinctive characteristics of this ministry in relation to others: it is more insulated, the profile of its staff is more technical, and its area of activity (fiscal and economic management) affects the interests of specific groups in society, private market agents. The results indicate that political-economic crises are important factors in DAS turnover alongside presidential and ministerial turnovers. The politicization of the high-level bureaucracy of the Ministry of Finance is not as strong as pointed out in the literature but is characterized by the preservation of the minister at the expense of his team, whose members are changed in response to political crises and generated by national and international economic instabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What was the extent of the Brazilian president's politicization space within the structure of the federal public bureaucracy from 1999 to 2021? The extent of this space is related to the importance of politicization as a strategy for controlling the bureaucracy, monitoring partners, and political accommodation, following the logic of coalition presidentialism. Thus, this article sought to measure it using a descriptive methodology based on data collected from the Federal Government's Painel Estatístico de Pessoal, encompassing positions and functions within the government throughout the period. By considering all possibilities of appointments and designations made by the president for high-level positions, this article presented an innovative approach compared to previous Brazilian Political Science studies assessing politicization in the federal government. This approach led to the conclusion that the extent of the politicization space did not substantially decrease despite the reduction in senior management and advisory positions (known in Brazil as Cargos de Direção e Assessoramento Superior - DAS), in addition to revealing a new pattern of politicization characterized by increased use of funções de confiança exclusively held by career public servants and the valorization of these servants even in DAS positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic quickly became a political and health communication crisis whose impact varied by geographic location in the United States. Although local television is known to be an important source of public information, little is known about how it covered the pandemic. We analyze the volume and content of local TV coverage of masks from 758 stations across all 210 U.S. media markets in the first 22 months of the pandemic to assess how often news mentions masks and the extent to which mask wearing is framed as a contentious issue by highlighting controversy and partisan cues. Overall, we find widespread but variable attention to masks throughout the pandemic at levels frequently matching or exceeding the initial coverage of the CDC recommendation to wear face coverings. Controversial coverage of face masks peaks in late summer 2021 at roughly 23%, amid the rise of the new Delta variant, although partisan controversy comprises a relatively small portion of mask-related television news. Case rates, population size and density of the market, and partisanship of the local area are associated with volume and content of mask coverage, but these relationships vary over time. We also find evidence that stations owned by the Sinclair Broadcasting Group air fewer stories about masks and more controversy including partisan conflict in their mask coverage. The results add further support to the notion that the messaging surrounding COVID-19 on television varies in part based on geographic location and corresponding demographics but may also vary based upon ideological commitments of station owners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated reasoning explains how climate change deniers can maintain their beliefs in the face of disconfirming evidence, suggesting that, compared to believers, the online comments of climate change deniers are more likely to (a) reference independent and social media websites advocating ideologically congruent positions, (b) politicize the issue, and (c) use intensifiers (e.g., definitely, undoubtedly). Automated text analysis of 156,844 comments from subreddit communities with opposing perspectives on climate change identified the internet domains associated with hyperlinks and the frequencies of political terms and intensifiers in user comments. Results were consistent with motivated reasoning by climate change deniers. In addition, climate change believers were more likely than deniers to use qualifiers in their comments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By drawing on a Critical Discourse Studies perspective, we analyze language and discursive strategies used by 36 Italian populist right-wing politicians in constructing the narration of immigration during the covid-19 period on their Facebook pages, combining Corpus Linguistics and the analysis of the discursive argumentation. The main aim is to verify a potential discursive construction between immigration and the spread of the virus also considering the change of the government and the role assumed by different parties. Results suggest that the connection between migration and pandemic has not been traduced in a discourse able to systematically blame migrants as vehicles for the virus, rather politicians operated a re-contextualization of past discursive strategies based on the 'us' versus 'them' dichotomy. Moreover, lexicon and argumentative analysis identified interesting differences between parties especially with the change of government and the new conformation of the alliance. The article shows elements of continuity concerning the political discourse on immigration, but it also stressed important outputs concerning the politicization process showing that pandemic constitutes a critical 'politicizing moment' that operated as a mechanism of further normalization of anti-immigration discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic had a severe impact on the long-term care system in Spain, particularly affecting the care homes for the elderly. According to experts, care homes were politically and epidemiologically left aside, severely affecting the human rights of residents. In this context, their families/relatives reacted by organizing mobilizations and lawsuits against care homes managers and the government. This article deals with the care homes crisis in Spain from the perspective of the elderly residents' relatives. It focuses on their claims for justice, which led to meaningful processes of political subjectivation. In line with the theoretical debate on politics and care in feminist theory, and from an ethnographical approach, it reveals how relatives emerged as main agents of a politicization of care, insofar as their demands challenged public policies on care, they showed the excluding and discriminatory effects of inefficient measures to respond to the pandemic, and called for an urgent and necessary transformation of the long-term care system in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the evolution of long-term trends in the prioritization of environmental protection in Britain over a period of four decades. It does so by compiling comparable questions tapping into the same underlying environmental dimension from a range of sources, including historical polling data that has only recently been made available to the research community. At the aggregate level, prioritization largely tracks changing economic conditions as well as key environmental events, with the winter of 2019 showing the highest recorded levels. Furthermore, trends in individuals' willingness to prioritize the environment may not always go in tandem with trends in environmental salience. At the individual level, educational attainment is the only consistently significant demographic correlate over time. However, there is evidence of increasing politicization of the environment, with left–right orientations only becoming an important correlate of environmental prioritization in recent years, in line with rising divergence on the issue at the elite level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wallonia demonstrated the importance of regional actors for EU trade policy. What remains, however, of regional involvement when politicization subsides, as after CETA and TTIP? Our paper provides a framework that allows a prediction of involvement after politicization. It posits that the interaction of three factors is decisive: politicization (short-term), preferences (medium-term), institutions (long-term). The more regional actors dispose of institutionalised channels of voice and the more they develop endogenous preferences, the less impact for politicization. We demonstrate this interplay in the cases of Austria, Germany, Belgium, Spain, and Italy. Whereas regional involvement in Spain and Italy is driven near-exclusively by politicization, the German and Austrian Länder will remain cooperatively involved even in its absence. The Belgian regions, in turn, are in a process of gradual institutionalization. Our study demonstrates that regional actors remain a force to be reckoned with in EU trade policy, but some more so than others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Which factors drive support of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) for trade liberalisation? The literature suggests that economic factors, ideology, and politicization shape MEP voting behaviour. Drawing on a new dataset encompassing all trade-related MEP votes (2009-2019), this study offers a quantitative assessment of the determinants of MEP support for trade liberalisation. It finds that ideological factors have the strongest and most persistent effect on MEP support for trade liberalisation. The economic competitiveness of MEPs' home regions, in turn, has only a limited effect. Politicization, lastly, has an unclear effect on its own and mostly influences MEP voting behaviour through interactions with ideological and economic factors. The study offers the first comprehensive assessment of the determinants of MEP voting on trade liberalisation and contributes to political economy research on electoral institutions and trade, the European Parliament's role in trade policy and the effects of politicization on policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since Huntington's seminal work The Soldier and the State, the scholarship on civil–military relations in the American context has often emphasized the need for a professional military to maintain an apolitical stance and let the civilian principals lead. In this article, we ask, what can we learn about civil-military relations by seeking to better understand the relationship between political institutions and the politicization of the military? We argue that this literature insufficiently accounts for the perils that exist within separation of powers (i.e., presidential) systems. Consequently, the existing scholarship cannot distinguish when politicization happens because of or despite civilian principals. We use long-standing arguments from Comparative Politics to explain why problems of separation of powers systems are endemic to these institutions. We then present five questions and two examples to facilitate a theoretical reframing of the subject. Our argument suggests more work is needed to understand how American political institutions shape civil–military relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]