- puts forward the most comprehensive assessment of the relationship between mass shootings and background checks to date. -While scholars have carried out both quantitative analyses and case studies of mass shootings on this topic, no books exist on this topic and peer reviewed articles have thus far failed to account for why a historical increase in societal armament arose in the first place, have not fully identified causal mechanisms and pathways that link mass shootings to gun purchases, and have treated the proposed causal relationship as being linear in nature. - takes a multi-methodological approach comprised of case studies, quantitative analysis, and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to offer a transparent, well rounded inquiry on the mass shootings-background check nexus,. -provides readers with several different perspectives through which to consider the prominence of this vastly important empirical trend, and importantly, classifies the pathways, processes, and mechanisms that link mass shootings to post-shooting increases in gun purchases

This book critically analyses the important role of radio in public life in post-apartheid South Africa. As the most widespread and popular form of communication in the country, radio occupies an essential space in the deliberation and the construction of public opinion in South Africa. From just a few state-controlled stations during the apartheid era, there are now more than 100 radio stations, reaching vast swathes of the population and providing an important space for citizens to air their views and take part in significant socio-economic and political issues of the country. The various contributors to this book demonstrate that whilst print and television media often serve elite interests and audiences, the low cost and flexibility of radio has helped it to create a 'common' space for national dialogue and deliberation. The book also investigates the ways in which digital technologies have enhanced the consumption of radio and produced a sense of imagined community for citizens, including those in marginalised communities and rural areas. This book will be of interest to researchers with an interest in media, politics and culture in South Africa specifically, as well as those with an interest in broadcast media more generally.

This book explores how gender equality, a central part of the Nordic imaginary, is used in the political communication of Nordic states. The analyses presented move beyond conventional images and discourses of Nordic gender- and women-friendliness by critically investigating how and to what extent gender equality serves nation-branding in the Nordic region. Nation-branding is an unescapable part of globalisation, which is a market-oriented process dominated by the West and predicated on the creation of winners and losers. Hence, efforts to strengthen the national brand or reputation of specific Nordic countries with the aid of gender equality as a political and symbolic value inevitably help to reinforce already established global hierarchies where the Nordics play the role of moral superpower. This book comprises scholars from various fields of specialisation, and provides evidence and understanding for the growing interaction between gender-equality policies and nation-branding in all five Nordic countries. It does so by exploring a variety of policy fields and issues including women's rights, foreign policy, rape and legislation, female quotas and business policies, in addition to the index industry. The rise of the global indexes has reproduced forceful images of the Nordic countries as frontrunners of gender equality, which indeed help the Nordic countries to further position themselves as 'best at being good'. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of Nordic gender equality in political science, sociology, law, criminology, political psychology and history, as well as those interested in nation branding, Nordic studies and exceptionalism. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781003017134, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

What is the role of popular culture in shaping our discourse about the multifaceted system of material things, subjects and causal agents that we call "environment"? Ecocritical Geopolitics offers a new theoretical perspective and approach to the analysis of environmental discourse in popular culture. It combines ecocriticial and critical geopolitical approaches to explore three main themes: dystopian visions, the relationship between the human, post-human, and "nature" and speciesism and carnism. The importance of popular culture in the construction of geopolitical discourse is widely recognized. From ecocriticism, we also appreciate that literature, cinema, or theatre can offer a mirror of what the individual author wants to communicate about the relationship between the human being and what can be defined as non-human. This book provides an analysis of environmental discourses with the theoretical tools of critical geopolitics and the analytical methodology of ecocriticism. It develops and disseminates a new scientific approach, defined as "ecocritical geopolitics", to offer an idea of the power of popular culture in the realization of environmental discourse. Referencing sources as diverse as The Road, The Shape of Water, Lady and the Tramp, and TV cooking shows, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of geography, environmental studies, film studies, and environmental humanities.

This book argues that recent developments in contemporary comedy have changed not just the way we laugh but the way we understand the world. Drawing on a range of contemporary televisual, cinematic and digital examples, from Seinfeld and Veep to Family Guy and Chappelle's Show, Holm explores how humour has become a central site of cultural politics in the twenty-first century. More than just a form of entertainment, humour has come to play a central role in the contemporary media environment, shaping how we understand ideas of freedom, empathy, social boundaries and even logic. Through an analysis of humour as a political and aesthetic category, Humour as Politics challenges older models of laughter as a form of dissent and instead argues for a new theory of humour as the cultural expression of our (neo)liberal moment.

This book examines the effects of media interventions in the global South, and argues for a more adaptive and context-sensitive media development. The work investigates media development as part of statebuilding and the effects that Western-led media has in, and on, a newly built state. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, including interviews, observations and social surveys, it analyses the effect media interventions has on global South countries, from the population's point of view. The findings show that in practice media development can be alien to the societies in which a free press is implemented, which can lead to unintended and negative consequences for social relations in a country. While the book uses South Sudan as a case study, it also presents different perspectives and shows that local views on the media are different from those of Western experts and policymakers. Therefore, the book advocates taking local views seriously and an adaptive media development that is sensitive to the context in which it is set up. This book will be of much interest to students of statebuilding, media studies, development studies and international relations in general.

In this highly relevant work, Dr. Michael Hameleers illuminates the role of traditional and social media in shaping the political consequences of populism and disinformation in a mediatized era characterized by post-factual relativism and the perseverance of a populist zeitgeist. Using comparative empirical evidence collected in the US, the UK, and the Netherlands, this book explores the politics and discursive construction of populism and disinformation, how they co-occur, their effects on society, and the antidotes used to combat the consequences of these communicative phenomena. This book is an essential text for students and academics in communication, media studies, political science, sociology, and psychology.

Social media technology is having a dramatic impact on social and political dynamics around the world. The contributors to this book document and illustrate this "techtonic" shift on violent conflict and democratic processes. They present vivid examples and case studies from countries in Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Latin America as well as Northern Ireland. Each author maps an array of peacebuilding solutions to social media threats, including coordinated action by civil society, governments and tech companies to protect human minds, relationships and institutions. Solutions presented include inoculating society with a new digital literacy agenda, designing technology for positive social impacts, and regulating technology to prohibit the worst behaviours. A must-read both for political scientists and policymakers trying to understand the impact of social media, and media studies scholars looking for a global perspective.

Grassroots activism is essential to the success of the contemporary environmental movement, which depends on the organization of local activists as well as state, national, and international organizations. Yet grassroots activists confront numerous challenges as they attempt to organize diverse participants and devise fresh strategies and tactics. Drawing on more than seven years of fieldwork following diverse organizations in Pittsburgh over time, this book sheds light on the struggles that activists face and the factors that sustain movements. Suzanne Staggenborg examines individual motivations and participation, organizational structures and cultures, relationships in movement communities, and strategies and tactics, including issue framing. The book shows that collective action campaigns and tactics generate solidarity, maintain involvement, and bring in new participants even as organizers struggle to devise effective new types of actions.

In modern politics as well as in historical times, character attacks abound. Words and images, like symbolic and psychological weapons, have sullied or destroyed numerous reputations. People mobilize significant material and psychological resources to defend themselves against such attacks. How does character assassination "work," and when does it not? Why do many targets fall so easily when they are under character attack? How can one prevent attacks and defend against them? The Routledge Handbook of Character Assassination and Reputation Management offers the first comprehensive examination of character assassination. Moving beyond studying corporate reputation management and how public figures enact and maintain their reputation, this lively volume offers a framework and cases to help understand, critically analyze, and effectively defend against such attacks. Written by an international and interdisciplinary team of experts, the book begins with a theoretical introduction and extensive description of the "five pillars" of character assassination: (1) the attacker, (2) the target, (3) the media, (4) the public, and (5) the context. The remaining chapters present engaging case studies suitable for class discussion. These include: Roman emperors; Reformation propaganda; the Founding Fathers; defamation in US politics; women politicians; autocratic regimes; European leaders; celebrities; nations; Internet campaigns. This handbook will prove invaluable to undergraduate and postgraduate students in communication, political science, history, sociology, and psychology departments. It will also help researchers become independent, critical, and informed thinkers capable of avoiding the pressure and manipulations of the media.

This book offers new ways of constellating the literary and cinematic delineations of Indian and Pakistani Muslim diasporic and migrant trajectories narrated in the two decades after the 9/11 attacks. Focusing on four Pakistani English novels and four Indian Hindi films, it examines the aesthetic complexities of staging the historical nexus of global conflicts and unravels the multiple layers of discourses underlying the notions of diaspora, citizenship, nation and home. It scrutinises the "flirtatious" nature of transnational desires and their role in building glocal safety valves for inclusion and archiving a planetary vision of trauma. It also provides a fresh perspective on the role of Pakistani English novels and mainstream Hindi films in tracing the multiple origins and shifts in national xenophobic practices, and negotiating multiple modalities of political and cultural belonging. It discusses various books and films including The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Burnt Shadows, My Name is Khan, New York, Exit West, Home Fire, AirLift and Tiger Zinda Hai. In light of the twentieth anniversary of 9/11 attacks, current debates on terror, war, paranoid national imaginaries and the suspicion towards migratory movements of refugees, this book makes a significant contribution to the interdisciplinary debates on border controls and human precarity. A crucial work in transnational and diaspora criticism, it will be of great interest to researchers of literature and culture studies, media studies, politics, film studies, and South Asian studies.

A timely volume on a much-needed topic, given the rise of hate speech alongside the rise of social media use over the past decade Offers a comprehensive and rigorous overview of the role of communication in the construction of hate speech and polarization The book uses focused case studies to understand how we can overcome the risks and threats stemming from the past decade's defining communicative phenomena The book brings together an international team of experts, enabling a broad, multidisciplinary approach to the topic of hate speech and polarization The book suggests an academic frame of reference for examining this emerging phenomenon within the field of communication studies This collection will be of great interest to scholars and students working in communication studies, media studies, journalism, sociology, political science, political communication, and cultural industries

How do nations come to shape our collective imagination so profoundly? This book argues that the power of national identity and national belonging stems, in part, from the ways in which nationalism is embedded in popular culture. Comprised of chapters covering a wide range of cases from both the Global North and Global South (including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Europe, Israel, Pakistan, and the United States), the text unpacks the connections between nationalism and film, television, music, and other facets of everyday culture. In doing so, it demonstrates that popular culture can help us understand why and how nationhood has become so deeply entrenched in modern society. This book will be of interest to scholars of political science, nationalism, sociology, history, media studies, and cultural studies.

A diverse body of research exists to explain why eligible voters don't go to the polls on election day. Theories span from the psychological (nonvoters have limited emotional engagement with politics and therefore lack motivation), to the social (politics is inherently social and nonvoters have limited networks), and the personal (nonvoters tend to be young, less educated, poor, and highly mobile). Other scholars suggest that people don't vote because campaigns are uninspiring. This book poses a new theory: uncertainty about the national context at the time of the election. During times of national crisis, when uncertainty is high, citizens are motivated to sort through information about each candidate to figure out which would best mitigate their uncertainty. When external uncertainty is low, however, citizens spend less time learning about candidates and are equally unmotivated to vote. The American Nonvoter examines how uncertainty regarding changing economic conditions, dramatic national events, and U.S. international interventions influences people's decisions whether to vote or not. Using rigorous statistical tools and rich historical stories, Lyn Ragsdale and Jerrold G. Rusk test this theory on aggregate nonvoting patterns in the United States across presidential and midterm elections from 1920 to 2012. The authors also challenge the stereotype of nonvoters as poor, uneducated and apathetic. Instead, the book shows that nonvoters are, by and large, as politically knowledgeable as voters, but see no difference between candidates or view them negatively.

This book provides one of the first looks at the political expression of Generation Z as it comes of political age, yet since generational dividing lines blur we examine 18 to 25 year-olds in 2018 and 2020, capturing those in Generation Z who have reached voting age along with the youngest Millennials, who share similarities both in their place in the life cycle and in their experiences of potentially defining events. The book applies insights from diverse theoretical perspectives to better understand political expression related to five issues and movements that featured prominently in recent politics including MeToo, March for our Lives, and Black Lives Matter, and answers a series of empirical questions about young adult political behavior that carry important consequences for democratic responsiveness moving forward. The book uses sophisticated matching methods that enable causal inference with observational data, yet describes findings in ways accessible to scholars, practitioners, and students alike. In addition to helping older generations better understand the political expression of Generation Z, the book can be used to teach this generation a variety of important concepts and theories regarding political behavior set in the context of their own activism. Through examining some movements led by young adults and some led by older generations as well as issues with varying salience, core theories are tested in a variety of contexts showing that when young adults protest or post about movements they align with, whether those movements are led by their own generation or older ones, they become mobilized to participate in other ways, too, including contacting elected officials, which heightens the likelihood of their voices being heard in the halls of power.

The struggle between the defenders of America as an exceptional nation and the forces of anti-Americanism is reaching a fever pitch. These forces have grown so large, so well-financed, so entrenched and aggressive that they must be studied closely and understood completely if America is to survive this imminent civil war. In Beyond Biden, bestselling author Newt Gingrich brings together the various strands of the movement seeking to destroy true, historic American values and replace this country with one that's imposed on us by the combined power of government and social acceptance. Now a National Bestseller!

The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Politics presents the first comprehensive, state of the art overview of the multiple ways in which 'politics' and 'translation' interact. Divided into four sections with thirty-three chapters written by a roster of international scholars, this handbook covers the translation of political ideas, the effects of political structures on translation and interpreting, the politics of translation and an array of case studies that range from the Classical Mediterranean to contemporary China. Considering established topics such as censorship, gender, translation under fascism, translators and interpreters at war, as well as emerging topics such as translation and development, the politics of localization, translation and interpreting in democratic movements, and the politics of translating popular music, the handbook offers a global and interdisciplinary introduction to the intersections between translation and interpreting studies and politics. With a substantial introduction and extensive bibliographies, this handbook is an indispensable resource for students and researchers of translation theory, politics and related areas.

This edited collection brings together scholarly works of both a theoretical and empirical nature to critically analyse the forms and functions of the contemporary celebrity activist and to examine how these intersect with the political economic structures in which celebrity activists operate. Collectively, the volume illuminates some of the inherent tensions between the ethos of solidarity and compassion that the celebrity activist works to generate on the one hand and the processes of corporate sponsorship and discourses of individualism upon which the celebrity often depends, on the other. By offering empirical case studies that situate instances of celebrity activism within specific political contexts, the collection highlights how celebrity activism intersects with some of the underlying structures of gender politics and political discourses such as neoliberalism. In addition, the volume discusses how the tensions between, for example, individualism and solidarity can raise important questions about the authenticity of individual celebrity activists and how individual celebrity activists work, with varying degrees of success, to obfuscate such tensions and obscure the potential contradictions of their work. This book will be of great interest to students and academics within the fields of politics, international development, political communication, social movements, activism studies, and celebrity culture.

How can we promote people-centered governance in Africa? Cell phones/ information and communications technology (ICT) are shown to be linked to neoliberal understandings of more democratic governance structures, defined by the Worldwide Governance Indicators as: the rule of law, corruption-control, regulation quality, government effectiveness, political stability/no violence, and voice and accountability. However, these indicators fall short: they do note emphasize gender equity or pro-poor policies. Writing from an African feminist scholar-activist perspective, Assata Zerai emphasizes the voices of women in two ways: (1) she examines how women's access to ICT makes a difference to the success of people-centered governance structures; and (2) she demonstrates how African women's scholarship, too often marginalized, must be used to expand and redefine the goals and indicators of democratice governance in African countries. Challenging the status quo that praises the contributions of cell phones to the diffusion of knowledge and resultant better governance in Africa, this book is an important read for scholars of politics and technology, gender and politics, and African Studies.

This book expands on and complements the burgeoning Brexit literature by placing the UK's vote to leave the EU in its longer historical and discursive contexts. It examines the embedded Euroscepticism, which has dominated British political discourse on the European project and the role of the UK within it for at least the last three decades. Brexit was the consequence of a consistent denigration of the European integration project in the public sphere in which the terrain, and the conceptual vocabulary, of debate were set by a dominant, right-wing Eurosceptic discourse. This framed the EU as inherently heterogeneous and antagonistic to the UK. The book examines how ideas of British exceptionalism, which underpin Eurosceptic discourses, are sustained and reproduced and offers an account of their enduring, affective power amongst the British population. It is in this context that it was possible for pro-Brexit campaigners to assemble and enthuse a new coalition of voters sufficient to deliver a 'leave' majority on 23 June 2016. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of British, EU and European politics, the media and press, public opinion, political behaviour and nationalism studies.

Inside the Bubble: Campaigns, Caucuses, and the Future of the Presidential Nomination Process is a behind-the-scenes look at the 2020 Democratic nomination process focusing on the Iowa caucuses and the campaign workers who located there. For decades, Iowa held the first contest in the presidential nomination process and individuals interested in campaign work considered it a "holy grail." But in 2020, a record number of Democrats seeking to unseat President Trump - and the hundreds of young campaign workers who located to Iowa - created a political event unmatched in scope and scale. Those workers, embedded in the caucus bubble, focused for months on finding supporters for their candidate and ensuring they attended their precinct event - the first step in selecting delegates to the national convention. And then Caucus Day came, and with it a technology-driven fiasco that seemed to foreshadow a year of pandemic and protest. The lessons learned in 2020 underscored the importance of local staff who organize and mobilize supporters for a candidate in whom they believe. And those lessons are applicable to any race of any party in any state. For students of US politics as well as aspiring candidates, political journalists, and campaign professionals, this book captures the drama and human perspective of campaigns and elections in America.

Twenty-Five Years of GOP Presidential Nominations examines the recent presidential nominees of the Republican Party. The author explores the idea that the presidential defeats of Republican nominees begin with the primary election choice of a moderate candidate in hopes that the chosen candidate's conservative rhetoric will translate into a general election victory. Written in a unique and dynamic style, this book details the recent history of the party's successes and failures through notable figures such as George H.W. Bush and Bob Dole.

Google is synonymous with searching, but in this innovative new research volume, Micky Lee explores how the Alphabet Corporation, now the parent company of Google, is more than just a search engine. Using a political economic approach, Lee draws on the concept of networks to investigate the growth of this key media player. The establishment of the parent company, Alphabet, shows the company is expanding to other industries from equity investment to self-driving cars. This book first examines this history of expansion, before delving into the economic, political, and cultural profiles of the corporation. Lee ultimately finds that what makes Google powerful is not one genius idea, but rather networks of people, places, and capital. Alphabet: The Becoming of Google is a compelling dive into the sometimes inscrutable world of Google, ideal for students, scholars, and researchers interested in the fields of digital media studies, the politics and economies of online media, and the history of the internet.

This book examines how China's international political communication of the Belt and Road Initiative comprises narratives about infrastructure and the Silk Road. By carefully selecting infrastructure modalities and Silk Road representations, it is argued that China's aesthetic production of the Belt and Road Initiative advances China's image as an infrastructure and standards-setting power, conjures up a historical continuation of friendly and cooperative relations, and forges China's identity as good neighbor, good friend, and good partner. Using a multiple-case study approach, this book analyses China's communication of the Second Belt and Road Forum, the Alternative North-South Road in Kyrgyzstan, the Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya, and the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge. Detailed literary analyses of the Travels of Marco Polo and the Travels of Ibn Battutah further elucidate China's selective uses of history. Chapters highlight spatial, temporal, political, economic, technological, and perceptual modalities in infrastructure narratives, and reveal the composition of Silk Road narratives, contributing to key debates about Chinese discourse, media strategy and infrastructure communication. China's Communication of the Belt and Road Initiative will appeal to students and scholars of politics, international relations, communication, and Asian studies globally.

This edited volume affords conceptual and analytical convergence in the study of political incivility by bringing together theoretical and empirical work of scholars from various (sub)disciplines studying political incivility within European countries and the USA. It addresses the needs and challenges of comparative research, adding to a more generic theory on political incivility. Recent years have witnessed growing attention to issues of political incivility in the parliamentary, electoral and media arenas, with rudeness, hostility and vulgarity being highly prevalent in interactions between politicians, journalists and citizens. This book analyses what constitutes this political incivility, its occurrence, causes and effects in these various arenas, using several country-specific contexts, and presenting a cohesive edifice of knowledge on political incivility. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of parliamentary studies, political behaviour, political communication and political psychology, as well as more broadly to political science, communication science, media studies, psychology, sociology and to (non-) governmental institutions and those that are concerned about the quality of democracy or public debate.