scholarly journals Celebrity Politics and Democratic Elitism

Topoi ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred Archer ◽  
Amanda Cawston
Keyword(s):  
Good Reason ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Valuable Resource ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Celebrity Politics

AbstractIs there good reason to worry about celebrity involvement in democratic politics? The rise of celebrity politicians such as Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky has led political theorists and commentators to worry that the role of expertise in democratic politics has been undermined. According to one recent critique (Archer et al. 2020), celebrities possess a significant degree of epistemic power (the power to influence what people believe) that is unconnected to appropriate expertise. This presents a problem both for deliberative and epistemic theories of democratic legitimacy, which ignore this form of power, and for real existing democracies attempting to meet the standards of legitimacy set out by these theories. But do these critiques apply to democratic elitism? In this paper, we argue that recognition of celebrity epistemic power in fact represents a valuable resource for supporting the legitimacy and practice of democratic elitism, though these benefits do come with certain risks to which elite theories are particularly vulnerable.

The role of cultural production in celebrity politics: Comparing the campaigns of Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura (1999) and Donald Trump (2016)

Politics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-153
Author(s):  
David S Moon
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Production ◽  
The Body ◽  
Cultural Value ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Political Protest ◽  
Political Campaign ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Celebrity Politics

This article draws out the significant similarities between the political insurgencies of Jesse Ventura in 1999 and Donald Trump in 2016, charting their own premillennial political collaborations as members of the Reform Party, before identifying wider lessons for studies of contemporary celebrity politicians through a comparison of their individual campaigns. Its analysis is based upon the concept of the ‘politainer’, introduced by Conley and Schultz, into which it incorporates Mikhail Bakhtin’s conception of the carnival fool. The heterodox nature of both Ventura and Trump’s political campaign styles, it argues, is in part explained by the nature of the cultural spheres within which their public personas were produced; specifically, the fact that these personas, which they carried over from the entertainment to political spheres, were produced within genres of popular culture generally positioned as having ‘low’ cultural value. This, it argues, furnished both with an anti-establishment ethos as ‘no bullshit’ straight-talkers, marking them as outsider candidates able to act as conduits for political protest by an electorate alienated from mainstream political elites. It concludes by emphasising the potential importance that political celebrities’ specific cultural production can play in shaping a subsequent political campaign in general.

The Role of National Constitutional Courts in European Democracy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieter Grimm
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Economic Liberalization ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
European Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Constitutional Courts ◽  
European Court ◽  
European Democracy ◽  
And Function

This chapter examines the role of national constitutional courts in European democracy. It first provides an overview of national constitutional courts in Europe, focusing on the requirements that they impose on national institutions and the consequences of those requirements at the treaty level—i.e., transferring national powers to the European Union and regulating how these powers are exercised; at the level of the EU’s exercise of these powers; and at the level of implementing European law within national legal systems. The chapter also discusses how the European Court of Justice’s jurisprudence enabled the European treaties to function as a constitution; the non-political mechanism of EU decisions and how it promotes economic liberalization; and how the design and function of European primary law undermine democracy. The chapter suggests that the democratic legitimacy imparted to the EU’s decisions by its citizens can only develop within the framework of the European Parliament’s powers.

scholarly journals Changes in perceptions of media bias

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 205316802098744
Author(s):  
Kirby Goidel ◽  
Nicholas T. Davis ◽  
Spencer Goidel
Keyword(s):  
Attitude Change ◽  
Media Bias ◽  
Congressional Election ◽  
Election Study ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Change Perceptions ◽  
Individual Perceptions ◽  
2016 Election ◽  
The Media

In this paper, we utilize a module from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study to explore how individual perceptions of media bias changed over the course of the 2016 presidential campaign. While previous literature has documented the role of partisan affiliation in perceptions of bias, we know considerably less about how these perceptions change during a presidential election. Consistent with existing theories of attitude change, perceptions of bias polarize with strong Democrats moving toward believing the media were biased against Hillary Clinton (and in favor of Donald Trump) and independent-leaning Republicans moving toward believing the media were biased against Donald Trump. At the end of the 2016 election, more individuals believed the media were biased against their side. These effects were moderated by how much attention individuals paid to the campaign.

Presence through absence? Understanding the role of capital in the African Human Rights Action Plan

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 579-600
Author(s):  
Obiora Chinedu Okafor ◽  
Sanaa Ahmed ◽  
Sylvia Bawa ◽  
Ibironke Odumosu-Ayanu
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Universal Declaration ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Significant Extent ◽  
Global Capital ◽  
Market Practices

AbstractThis study examines the African Human Rights Action Plan (AHRAP) through the lens of Upendra Baxi's germinal theory on the emergence in our time of a ‘trade-related, market-friendly human rights’ (TREMF) thesis that is challenging the specific understandings of ‘people-centric’ human rights that are predicated in the letter and spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDH). Baxi contends, instead, that the dominant strands of the contemporary understandings of human rights are – for the most part – designed to protect the interests of global capital. That said, human rights frameworks in low-income countries need to be studied with a view to what they say and don't say about global capital. Despite its attempt to facilitate a progressive realisation of human rights in Africa, the AHRAP does not rise far enough above the TREMF paradigm to re-locate itself within the UDH one. This is due to the AHRAP not adequately theorising and analysing the role of capital in the (non)realisation of human rights in Africa. By allowing trade and market practices to slip to a significant extent beyond its purview, the AHRAP privileges – to a significant degree – the needs/interests of capital over the human rights of ordinary Africans. That is, the victims of the excesses of capital in Africa are reincarnated in the AHRAP document by the fact of their exclusion from it.

Masks and Emasculation: Populist Crisis Rhetoric and the 2020 Presidential Election

2021 ◽  
pp. 000276422110112
Author(s):  
Meredith Neville-Shepard
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
Rhetorical Analysis ◽  
Presidential Campaign ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Preventative Measure ◽  
Litmus Test

This essay illustrates how Donald Trump engaged in what I call “populist crisis rhetoric” throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and coinciding 2020 U.S. presidential campaign cycle. By performing a critical rhetorical analysis of textual fragments surrounding how Trump addressed the preventative measure of mask-wearing, I show how he rejected the role of comforter-in-chief and instead opted for the role of victim-in-chief. Specifically, turning the bare face into a litmus test of Trump loyalism, his rhetoric suggested that masks threatened masculinity and functioned as a form of anti-choice bodily oppression.

scholarly journals Cervantes, the Journey, and What it Tells Us About Becoming a Writer

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 391-394
Author(s):  
Lania Knight
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Henry James ◽  
Confirmation Bias ◽  
Helene Cixous ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Fiction Writing ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Fiction Writers

Abstract The article traces the notion of empathy in fiction writing and how Cervantes’s treatment of characters in Don Quixote initiated a tradition which is ongoing in literature even today. The path of the writer is examined as a means for understanding how a writer must develop empathy for others, beginning with quotes from writers Helene Cixous and Henry James. Next, within the current political context of global upheaval and shift following on from the election of Donald Trump as president of the U.S.A. as well as the vote for Brexit in the U.K., the article argues for the relevance of Cervantes’s novel, not as a dated work of fiction, but as a text relevant both in form and in content for the modern political climate. Finally, the connection is made between fiction writers’ ability to feel empathy for others and create characters which readers will feel empathy for. The article follows on to proclaim the revolutionary and timely role of the fiction writer to help save us from ourselves in a tumultuous political landscape made unpredictable by social media-generated confirmation bias and insularity.

Determining the Role of Customer Satisfaction in Gaining Customer Loyalty among Cafés

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-85
Author(s):  
Allen Joshua P. Cuñado ◽  
Cathlyn Mae Painagan ◽  
Jeshnin Ann L. Cuñado ◽  
Ella Marie D. Palmada ◽  
Zenar Jane A. Mumar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
Customer Loyalty ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Business Success ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Chi Square Test

Café as an establishment primarily sells refreshing drinks, snacks, and light meals, with coffee being their flagship product. This type of business is steadily multiplying around the city of Tagbilaran, Bohol, Philippines. Customers have linked to business success as well as customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. This study was implemented to analyze the role of customers’ satisfaction in gaining customers’ loyalty, specifically among purposively selected cafés. The quantitative method of research approach was used with the aid of questionnaires. The data gathered were statistically treated making use of frequency, composite means, weighted mean, chi-square test, and Pearson correlation coefficients. The respondents included 210 customers from the purposively selected cafés. Results showed respondents to be very satisfied (VS) for the Product; for the price; for the place; for the service quality; and moderately satisfied (MS) for promotion. Results further showed that there is a significant degree of relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.

The Ethical Limits of Global Democracy

2018 ◽  
pp. 413-426
Author(s):  
Eva Erman
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Global Democracy ◽  
International Political Theory ◽  
Moral Constraint

This chapter discusses the ethical limits of global democracy, which are here understood as the conditions under which global democracy should be construed (formulated and justified) and promoted in real politics. The aim is not to develop and defend a substantive account of global democracy, but to bring up some basic concerns that are essential to address when analysing the limits of global democracy as well as to suggest some fruitful ways to approach them. The chapter focuses on two types of moral constraint on construing and promoting global democracy. The first type of constraint is set by empirical concerns, which highlights central methodological discussions of the role of ideal and non-ideal theorizing in International Political Theory (IPT). The second type of constraint is set by normative concerns, which highlights questions about the role of principles of democratic legitimacy and their applicability.

Hyperpartisan Sports Media in Trump’s America: The Metapolitics of Breitbart Sports

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 588-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Falcous ◽  
Matthew G. Hawzen ◽  
Joshua I. Newman
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Sexual Politics ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Sports Media ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Political Ideologies ◽  
News Website ◽  
American Society

The rise of Donald Trump has widely been seen as concurrent to the emergence of the “Alt-Right” that coalesces around intersecting themes of conservativism: White ethno-nationalist “race realism,” populism, misogyny, evangelical theocracy, border protectionism, and anti-liberalism. Media has been a key site of struggle in these developments, with attacks on mainstream media bringing into focus wider questions of truth and legitimacy in journalism. In particular, Trump’s rise has been synonymous with the heightened profile of the Breitbart News website, a purveyor of hyperpartisan, conservative political ideologies. In this article, we consider the place of Breitbart Sports within this dynamic political and media order. Our analysis of the lead-up to the 2016 Presidential election reveals the extent to which Breitbart Sports conveyed a vision of U.S. sport that promoted hard-right agendas in relation to U.S. global stewardship, veiled “race” reclamation discourses, media, immigration, social criticism, policing, sexual politics, and party politics. Breitbart Sports framing casts sport as a liberally infested cultural battleground, where conservativism is under threat. We conclude with a brief discussion about the role of new media in framing political exigencies and the role of sport in contemporary American society.

scholarly journals On the Role of Learning Theories in Furthering Software Engineering Education

2011 ◽  
pp. 1645-1666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Oh Navarro
Keyword(s):  
Software Engineering ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Learning Theories ◽  
Valuable Resource ◽  
Software Engineering Education ◽  
Role Learning ◽  
How People Learn

Learning theories describe how people learn. There is a large body of work concerning learning theories on which to draw, a valuable resource of which the domain of software engineering educational research has thus far not taken full advantage. In this chapter, we explore what role learning theories could play in software engineering education. We propose that learning theories can move the field of software engineering education forward by helping us to categorize, design, evaluate, and communicate about software engineering educational approaches. We demonstrate this by: (1) surveying a set of relevant learning theories, (2) presenting a categorization of common software engineering educational approaches in terms of learning theories, and (3) using one such approach (SimSE) as a case study to explore how learning theories can be used to improve existing approaches, design new approaches, and structure and guide the evaluation of an approach.

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