This chapter focuses on the concept of civil society, along with interest groups and the media. It first provides a background on the evolution of civil society and interest groups before discussing corporatism. In particular, it examines the ways in which civil society responds to state actors and tries to manoeuvre them into cooperation. This is politics from below. The chapter proceeds by considering the notion of ‘infrapolitics’ and the emergence of a school of ‘subaltern’ studies. It also explores the role of the media in political life and the impact of new communication technologies such as the Internet and mobile phones on politics. Finally, it evaluates some of the challenges presented by new media to civil society.
Chapter
14. Civil Society, Interest Groups, and the Media
Peter Ferdinand
Chapter
6. Identity and Attitudes Towards Trade
Guisinger Alexandra
International trade shapes everyday lives and life chances the world over. Trade also can strengthen global cooperation or create conflict. Although trade policy is often considered within the purview of domestic and international elites, the public’s attitudes towards trade have both shaped and stymied elite behaviour. Understanding how individuals develop preferences about trade policy is challenging but can help explain when and how the public matters. Economic explanations based on individuals’ employment and consumption patterns underpin most scholarly work in this area but such models fall short in predicting individuals’ stated preferences and voting patterns. This work considers alternative explanations, rooted in race and gender, for individuals’ preferences for trade policy. It concludes by showing that political and media messaging serve to highlight and replicate gender- and race-based biases in trade.
Chapter
1. Introduction: US foreign policy—past, present, and future
Michael Cox and Doug Stokes
This work examines how domestic politics and culture shape US foreign policy, with particular emphasis on the role of institutions and processes. It considers the ways in which pressure groups and elites determine influence what the United States does abroad, the importance of regional shifts and media and their impact on the making of US foreign policy, and US relations with Europe, the Middle East, Russia, the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America, and Africa. The text also discusses key issues relevant to American foreign policy, such as global terrorism, the global environment, gender, and religion. It argues that whoever resides in the White House will continue to give the military a central role in the conduct of US foreign policy, and that whoever ‘runs’ American foreign policy will still have to deal with the same challenges both at home and abroad.
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11. Media and US foreign policy
Piers Robinson
This chapter examines the academic debates over the relationship between US public opinion, media, and foreign policy. It first considers the nature of US media and public opinion, including democratic expectations of mass media and public opinion, before discussing pluralist and elite approaches to understanding the links between media, public opinion, and foreign policy. It then explores the role of propaganda and persuasion with respect to US power projection, with particular emphasis on the ways in which public opinion and media can be understood as a source of power for — and as a constraint upon — US foreign policy. It also reviews contemporary debates regarding the impact of technological developments, such as the emergence of global media like the internet and social media, upon US power and influence.
Book
British Politics provides an introduction to British politics with an emphasis on political science to analyse the fundamental features of British politics, and the key changes post-Brexit. Part A looks at constitutional and institutional foundations of the subject. Chapters in this part look at leadership and debating politics and law creation. The second part is about political behaviour and citizenship. Here chapters consider elections, the media, agenda setting, and political turbulence. The final part is about policy-making and delegation. The chapters in this part examine interest groups, advocacy, policy-making, governing through bureaucracy and from below, delegating upwards, and British democracy now.
Chapter
6. The Media and Agenda-Setting
Political Turbulence
This chapter addresses media in politics, including newspapers, television, the internet, and social media. It seeks to answer the question of how influential the media is over politics, in areas such as voting behaviour. This discussion gives a broad overview of politics and the media, about the agenda of politics and its framing, and what shapes it. The chapter then covers the classic question of the influence of the media in British politics. It also considers the importance of social media, and how it is now part of all media today, especially in relation to elections and referendums. Finally, the chapter looks at media and social media campaigning in elections. It introduces the concept of chaotic pluralism as a way of characterizing today's social media-dominated and fluid political environment.
Chapter
15. Media and Politics
This chapter explores the link between media and politics. It first considers the more general relationship between the media and governmental organizations, and more specifically the overlap of governmental and media functions, and how dramatic representation influences our understanding of political life. It then examines the ways in which journalists and media organizations make news, along with the role of political journalism in political life, especially in democracies. It also discusses the globalization of media and the convergence of styles of news presentation and reporting on television around the world. Finally, it analyses the implications of the Internet and social media for political life, from potentially promoting democracy to accusations of false narratives and ‘fake’ news.
Chapter
19. Political communication
Frank Esser and Barbara Pfetsch
In order to examine political communication comparatively, this chapter argues for a dynamic–systemic perspective. For this purpose, it outlines the model of a political communication ecosystem. On this basis, the chapter first explains (1) institutional country differences in the relationship between politics and the media and (2) cultural country differences in the relationship between politicians and journalists. It then goes on to explain how prototypical styles and message types of (1) politicians as communicators and (2) media as communicators differ in a cross-country comparison. Finally, it explains the differences between countries in (1) the news consumption of national audiences and (2) the impact of political communication on these audiences. Taking into account recent research findings on social media, populism, disinformation, and the Ukraine invasion, the chapter concludes with implications for comparative political communication from Western and non-Western perspectives.
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16. The Media
Katrin Voltmer and Gary Rawnsley
This chapter examines the role of the media in processes of democratization. It considers the media’s political, economic, and social environment both in their domestic and international contexts. It also explains how new communications technologies have made it increasingly difficult for authoritarian regimes to hermetically seal their borders to prevent the flow of information in and out of the country. The most noticeable influence of international communications in the process of democratization is the ‘demonstration effect’. The chapter also discusses media-state relations, how market conditions and commercialization affect the media’s ability to fulfil their democratic role, and issues of journalistic professionalism and the quality of reporting. It argues that democracy and the media need each other.
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10. The role of media and public opinion
Piers Robinson
This chapter examines the relevance of media and public opinion to our understanding of foreign policy and international politics. It first considers whether public opinion influences foreign policy formulation, as argued by the pluralist model, or whether the public are politically impotent, as argued by the elite model. It then explores whether the media can influence foreign policy formulation, as argued by the pluralist model, or whether the media are fundamentally subservient to the foreign policy process, as argued by the elite model. It also integrates these competing arguments with theoretical frames used in the study of international relations: namely, realism, liberalism, and critical approaches (including constructivism and post-structuralism). The chapter concludes by discussing contemporary debates concerning organized persuasive communication and the ‘war on terror’.
Book
Edited by Steve Smith, Amelia Hadfield, and Tim Dunne
This text provides an introduction to the ever-changing field of foreign policy. Combining theories, actors, and cases, chapters provide an interesting introduction to what foreign policy is and how it is conducted. With an emphasis throughout on grounding theory in empirical examples, the text features a section dedicated to relevant and topical case studies where foreign policy analysis approaches and theories are applied. Chapters clearly convey the connection between international relations theory, political science, and the development of foreign policy analysis, emphasizing the key debates in the academic community. New chapters focus on such topics as public diplomacy, and media and public opinion. A new case study on Syria examines the forms of intervention that have and have not been adopted by the international community.
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15. Humanitarian Intervention and Peace Operations
Sheena Chestnut Greitens
This chapter analyses the dynamics of humanitarian intervention and peace operations. It begins with a discussion of the changing nature of peacekeeping since the cold war and how peacekeeping expanded in the post-cold war period, creating demand, opportunities, and incentives for intervention that resulted in an unprecedented increase in the number and scale of military interventions by United Nations forces. Today, humanitarian interventions are larger, more complex affairs. The chapter goes on to examine how post-cold war operations shaped peacekeeping debates; peacekeeping since 2000; the benefits and challenges of the regionalization of peacekeeping; and evolving norms in contemporary peacekeeping. It also considers the politics of humanitarian intervention, especially at the UN Security Council, and how public opinion of humanitarian intervention is shaped by media coverage and casualties. Finally, it describes the military character of peace operations as well as problems and prospects surrounding humanitarian intervention and peace operations.
Book
Peter Ferdinand, Robert Garner, and Stephanie Lawson
Politics offers an introduction to political studies. It combines accessibility and an analytical approach, encouraging critical study and engaged debate. Alongside coverage of concepts, approaches, and ideologies, the text features chapters on all crucial elements of political studies, from institutions and states to security, political economy, civil society and the media, making it an ideal text for a broad range of modules. Current debates and key developments in contemporary politics are taken into account, with coverage of the rise of populism, Brexit, and the presidency of Donald Trump, as well as a broad range of international case studies and examples.
Chapter
10. Media and US foreign policy
Piers Robinson
This chapter examines the influence of media and public opinion on U.S. foreign policy and vice versa. It considers the extent to which the media and public have been manipulated by the government, and the extent to which public opinion and media have shaped foreign policy during tumultuous times such as the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. It also explores the consequences of public opinion and media for U.S. power in the twenty-first century. The chapter describes pluralist and elite models of the public opinion/ media/foreign policy nexus, long with public and media diplomacy. It concludes with a discussion of the extent to which developments in communication technology have empowered U.S. public opinion and media, as well as the impact of this technology on global U.S. power and influence, in particular in the context of the current war on terror.
