Stupidity permeates our perception and practice of politics. We frequently accuse politicians, bureaucrats, journalists, voters, "elites," and "the masses" for their stupidities. In fact, it is not only "populist politicians," "sensational journalism," and "uneducated voters" who are accused of stupidity. Similar accusations can be, and in fact have been, made concerning those who criticize them as well. It seems that stupidity is ubiquitous, unable to be contained within or attributed to one specific political position, personal trait, or even ignorance and erroneous reasoning Undertaking a theoretical investigation of stupidity, this book challenges the assumption that stupidity can be avoided. Otobe argues that the very ubiquity of stupidity implies its unavoidability-that we cannot contain it in such domains as error, ignorance, or "post-truth." What we witness is rather that one's reasoning can be sound, evidence-based, and stupid. In revealing this unavoidability, he contends that stupidity is an ineluctable problem not only of politics, but also of thinking. We become stupid because we think: It is impossible to distinguish a priori stupid thought from upright, righteous thought. Moreover, the failure to address the unavoidability of stupidity leads political theory to the failure to acknowledge the productive moments that experiences of stupidity harbor within. Such productive moments constitute the potential of stupidity-that radical new ideas can emerge out of our seemingly banal and stupid thinking in our daily political activity.

This book demonstrates how infrastructure projects and the communications thereof are strategized by rising powers to envision progress, to enhance the actor's international identity, and to substantiate and leverage the actor's vision of international order. While the physical aspects of infrastructure are important, infrastructure communication in international relations demands more scholarly attention. Using a case-study approach, Carolijn van Noort examines how rising powers communicate about infrastructure internationally and discusses the significance of these communication practices. The four case studies include BRICS's summit communications about infrastructure, Brazil's infrastructure promises to Africa, China's communication of the Belt and Road Initiative in East Africa, and Kazakhstan's news media coverage of China's Belt and Road Initiative. Van Noort highlights the fact that the link between infrastructure, identity, and order-making is arbitrary and thus contested in practice, with rising powers operationalizing infrastructure communication in international relations in varied ways. She argues that both communication organization and the visuality of strategic narratives on infrastructure influence the international communication of infrastructure vision and action plans, with different levels of success. Infrastructure Communication in International Relations is a welcome and timely book of interest to students and scholars in the fields of international relations, global communications, and the politics of infrastructure.

With this book, Clarissa Peterson and Emmitt Y. Riley, III dive into how racial attitudes change and inform political decisions. Peterson and Riley use racial resentment, black blame, and racial identity to investigate the extent to which racial attitudes influence vote choice, evaluations of Black Lives Matter, and attitudes toward public policies. Moving the conversation beyond the study of Blacks and Whites, the authors unpack the potency of racial attitudes among Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites. In doing so, they challenge our understanding of how racial attitudes are central to political decision making in an environment that is inundated with anti-Blackness. The book reframes discussions of racial attitudes to propose that, like White people, some racial minorities in the United States harbor negative attitudes toward Black people. The authors suggest that while White political attitudes are significantly explained by racial resentment, the overall influence of racial resentment on political decision making among some racial groups, may be mitigated by racial identity. At a time when White supremacists walk unhooded in the streets of America, Racial Attitudes in America Today is essential reading for educators wanting to fully engage with and understand racial resentment in America and undergraduate students in the fields of political science, sociology, history, and psychology.

* This book explores the issues and controversies revolving around the National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizenship (NRC) in India, through the lens of ethnicity and religion * It examines the linkages between census enumeration, counting, and classification of population * Will be useful for students, researchers, and teachers of population studies, population geography, migration studies, sociology, political geography, and legal journalism across UK and US. It will also be of interest to political geographers, policymakers, legal journalists, political parties NGOs, and civil societies.

Sweden has often been described as a democratic forerunner, with one of the world's most stable party systems and with a well-functioning parliamentary system. However, the political landscape in Sweden has undergone a rapid change in recent years. The institutions of the political system - not least political parties - appear from a historical perspective to have become partly dysfunctional. The previously stable party system has become unstable. Consequently, it has become more difficult to form governments, and more difficult for governments to govern. The famous culture of consensus has been replaced by a harsher and more confrontational political climate; the tone in political debate has become more aggressive. During the so-called `golden age' of the party system, which lasted for a few decades from the middle of the twentieth century, parties could successfully mobilize broad and well-defined social interests with strong collective identities. Now, other conditions apply that have dramatically changed the role of parties in the democratic process. Parties have gone from being member-based popular movements to becoming professionalized voter-orientated campaign machines. Short-sightedness and a focus on median voters mean that the established parties have become increasingly similar, and populist parties have had great success in recent decades as a consequence. This volume, aimed at political scientists and those interested in discussion and analysis of Swedish political party dynamics, focuses on political parties in Sweden, how they have changed and what the changes mean in a wider sense.

This volume examines the effects of Donald Trump's presidency on journalistic practices, rhetoric, and discourses. Rooted in critical theory and cultural studies, it asks what life may be like without Trump, not only for journalism but also for American society more broadly. The book places perspectives and tensions around the Trump presidency in one spot, focusing on the underlying ideological forces in tensions around media trust, Trumpism, and the role of journalism in it all. It explores how journalists dealt with racist rhetoric from the White House, relationships between the Office of the President and social media companies, citizens, and journalists themselves, while questioning whether journalism has learned the right lessons for the future. More importantly, chapters on liberal media "bias," the First 100 Days of the Biden Presidency, gender, and race, and how journalists should adopt measures to "reduce harm" hint as to where politics and journalism may go next. Reshaping the scholarly and public discourse about where we are headed in terms of the presidency and publics, social media, and journalism, this book will be an important resource for scholars and graduate students of journalism, media studies, communication studies, political science, race and ethnic studies and sociology.

This book draws on a broad spectrum of environmental communications and related cross-disciplinary literature to help students and scholars grasp the interconnecting key concepts within this ever-expanding field of study. Aligning climate change and environmental learning through media and communications, particularly taking into account the post-COVID challenge of sustainability, remains one of the most important concerns within environmental communications. Addressing this challenge, Essential Concepts for Environmental Communication synthesises summary writings from a broad range of environmental theorists, while teasing out provocative concepts and key ideas that frame this evolving, multi-disciplinary field. Each entry maps out an important concept or environmental idea and illustrates how it relates more broadly across the growing field of environmental communication debates. Included in this volume is a full section dedicated to exploring what environmental communication might look like in a post-COVID setting: * Offers cutting-edge analysis of the current state of environmental communications. * Presents an up-to-date exploration of environmental and sustainable development models at a local and global level. * Provides an in-depth exploration of key concepts across the ever-expanding environmental communications field. * Examines the interaction between environmental and media communications at all levels. * Provides a critical review of contemporary environmental communications literature and scholarship. With key bibliographical references and further reading included alongside the entries, this innovative and accessible volume will be of great interest to students, scholars and practitioners alike.

This book draws on a broad spectrum of environmental communications and related cross-disciplinary literature to help students and scholars grasp the interconnecting key concepts within this ever-expanding field of study. Aligning climate change and environmental learning through media and communications, particularly taking into account the post-COVID challenge of sustainability, remains one of the most important concerns within environmental communications. Addressing this challenge, Essential Concepts for Environmental Communication synthesises summary writings from a broad range of environmental theorists, while teasing out provocative concepts and key ideas that frame this evolving, multi-disciplinary field. Each entry maps out an important concept or environmental idea and illustrates how it relates more broadly across the growing field of environmental communication debates. Included in this volume is a full section dedicated to exploring what environmental communication might look like in a post-COVID setting: * Offers cutting-edge analysis of the current state of environmental communications. * Presents an up-to-date exploration of environmental and sustainable development models at a local and global level. * Provides an in-depth exploration of key concepts across the ever-expanding environmental communications field. * Examines the interaction between environmental and media communications at all levels. * Provides a critical review of contemporary environmental communications literature and scholarship. With key bibliographical references and further reading included alongside the entries, this innovative and accessible volume will be of great interest to students, scholars and practitioners alike.

Chinese leaders have long been fascinated by the United States, but have often chosen to demonize America for perceived cultural and military imperialism. Especially under Communist rule, Chinese leaders have crafted and re-crafted portrayals of the United States according to the needs of their own agenda and the regime's self-image -- often seeing America as an antagonist and foil, but sometimes playing it up as a model. In China Looks at the West, Christopher A. Ford investigates what these depictions reveal about internal Chinese politics and Beijing's ambitions in the world today. In particular, Ford emphasizes the importance of China's "return" to global preeminence in state images, which has become an essential concept in the regime's self-image and legitimacy. He also examines the history of Chinese intellectual engagement with America, surveying the ways in which Chinese elites have manipulated attitudes toward the United States, and revealing how leaders from Qing dynasty officials to Mao Zedong and from to Hu Jintao to Xi Jinping have altered and reconstructed this narrative to support their own political agendas. Ford concludes the volume with a series of scenario-based alternatives for how China's approaches to understanding itself and other nations may evolve in the future. Based on extensive research, including interviews with Chinese scholars and researchers, this groundbreaking study is essential reading for policymakers and readers seeking to understand current and future Sino-American relations.

Very topical, hoping to publish not long after the anniversary of the Capitol Riots. Offers multiple readings of a single event, and a variety of methodologies. Offers a strong balance between well-established paradigms for analyzing political contexts and recent theorizations of new/social media.

This innovative book presents a theory of tax defiance, integrating five years of research on people's hopes, fears and expectations of the tax system and the authority that administers it. Valerie Braithwaite makes a major contribution to regulatory theory by mapping the psychological processes of defiance. At the heart of the analysis is the concept of motivational posturing - signals sent to indicate how favourably an authority is viewed and readiness to defer to an authority's demands. The author explains how resistant defiance expresses disapproval of the way an authority operates and signals to government the need to improve performance to win back public confidence. Resistance weakens as the authority claws back its institutional integrity. Dismissive defiance, on the other hand, is challenging and undermining, and is not so responsive. The book argues for institutional reforms that are both mindful of grievance and of alternative authorities that challenge power. It illustrates that in delivering institutional reform, commitment to democratic principles and integrity of government will enable authorities to argue their case for community co-operation where appropriate. Finally, the book goes on to show that power sharing is likely to be a more apt remedy when dismissive defiance is entrenched. Safeguarding these deliberations in mature democracies are moral obligation and social capital, both of which are likely to erode when authorities show neither justice nor wisdom in handling defiance. This unique and innovative example of how psychology can be integrated into new institutional theory and public policy practice will prove an interesting read for scholars, students and researchers in the fields of regulatory studies, economics, public policy and public finance, politics and psychology.

ON THE NIGHT TRAINS, THE LAST STOP WAS ALWAYS HELL.

The price exacted from across the African subcontinent for South Africa's stalled 20th-century industrial revolution is, in human terms, still largely hidden from history. For half a century, up to the mid-1950s, privately operated trains travelled by night between Ressano Garcia, on the Mozambique border, and Booysens station, in Johannesburg. The night trains carried Mozambicans recruited to work in the mines of the booming Witwatersrand. The up-trains disgorged their human cargo into the maw of the great Rand mining machine, while the down-trains whisked away the time-expired miners - often ill, broken or insane, and preyed on by con men, petty criminals and corrupt officials. While mine labour was recruited from all over southern Africa, Mozambican migrants made up the largest component, and they paid the highest price.

Charles van Onselen clinically reconstructs the world of the night trains, which were run as a partnership between the mining houses and the railways. By tracing the up and down rail journeys undertaken by black migrants over half a century it is possible to discern how racial thinking, expressed logistically, reflected South Africa's evolving systems of segregation and apartheid. Mirroring the brutal logic of industrial capitalism, this was a system of transport designed to maximise profit at the expense of the health, well-being and even the lives of those it conveyed.

The story of the night trains echoes today through songs such as 'Stimela' and 'Shosholoza'. But the experience of the poverty-stricken Mozambicans who travelled on the trains has never been told. THE NIGHT TRAINS lays bare this hellish world.

This book is written for contemporary students, translating difficult theoretical and empirical insights into language they can understand. It clearly demonstrates the application of theory to the analysis of contemporary digital media and politics. Suitable for both undergraduate and graduate courses and modules in media and communication studies, cultural studies, sociology, and political science. Clear two part structure with chapters first addressing 'Theories' of fascism, followed by 'Applications', which includes case studies on Trump's Twitter use and far-right digital media communication.

Extremely well written and organized in an accessible way without talking down to the reader, drawing the reader in with its conversational, exploratory style. Provides a unique, brief set of conceptual tools (the five principles) that is pulled through the entire text to help make sense of the broader field of political communication. Excellent use of examples and case studies that illustrate major concepts, including framing and media effects. A multi-perspective approach (political elites, journalists, etc.), valuable for analyzing power dynamics in various media environments. Deals extensively with the role of media in war, peace, and terrorism, adding important international coverage alongside domestic media politics in elections. Integrates discussion of new media alongside coverage of traditional media for a comprehensive understanding of contemporary political communication. * Puts forth a balanced argument that prompts students to stay focused on the political context in which the media is operating. New to the Second Edition Up-to-date coverage of major political events in the last decade, including the landmark US elections of 2016 and 2020. Devotes more attention to the "hybrid media system" that has developed over the last decade, providing a greater balance between traditional "news" and social media in particular. Includes more cross-national research, especially in non-Western and non-democratic countries. Refines the five principles of political communication to better reflect contemporary media trends. Covers key emerging topics including misinformation and threats to democratic institutions, new forms of political engagement, and the economic base of the various forms of media.

This book is written for contemporary students, translating difficult theoretical and empirical insights into language they can understand. It clearly demonstrates the application of theory to the analysis of contemporary digital media and politics. Suitable for both undergraduate and graduate courses and modules in media and communication studies, cultural studies, sociology, and political science. Clear two part structure with chapters first addressing 'Theories' of fascism, followed by 'Applications', which includes case studies on Trump's Twitter use and far-right digital media communication.

This book examines the psychology behind micro-targeted tactics used in election campaigning and the advent of increasingly sophisticated dynamic Agent-Based Models (ABMs). It discusses individual profiling, how data and modelling are deployed to enhance the effectiveness of persuasion and mobilization efforts in campaigns, and the potential limitations of these approaches. Madsen particularly explores how psychological insight and personal data are used to generate individualised models of voters and how these in turn are applied to optimise persuasion strategies tailored to a specific person. Finally, the book considers the broader democratic dilemmas raised by the introduction of these tactics into politics and the critical civic importance of understanding how these campaigns function.This timely work offers fresh insights for students and scholars of political psychology, philosophy, political marketing, media, and communications.

In Discursive Disruption, Populist Communication and Democracy, Elena Block explores the links between declining democratic discourses, populist communication, and reflects on the communicative and moral dimensions of populism. Block proposes the concept of discursive disruption to help to identify, analyze and understand the disruptive power of populist speech, turning to the communicative styles of Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez and the US's President Donald J. Trump to illustrate and support this new conceptual and analytical tool. While the mainstream political class and media traditionally sought to manage the processes of political communication, the book contends that they have now been displaced and their role has been undermined. Middle ground politics and journalism have been substituted by the adversarial rhetorical styles of populists, multiplied through multi-fragmented channels, texts and voices. With this book, Block continues her introspection in the conceptual, communicative and mediatic dimensions of populism by adding a perspective that draws on democratic and discursive theories. Discursive Disruption, Populist Communication and Democracy is ideally designed for scholars and professional communicators in political science and communication studies eager to understand the connection between weakening discourses of modern democracy and the pervasiness of confrontational styles of populist communication in contemporary political exchanges.

Journalism Research in Practice: Perspectives on Change, Challenges, and Solutions is a unique collection of research on journalism written for journalists and wider audiences. Based on scholarship previously published in Journalism Practice, Journalism Studies, and Digital Journalism, authors have updated and rewritten their works to make connections to contemporary issues. These 28 studies include perspectives on modern-day freelancing, digitization, and partisan influences on the press. They appear in four distinct sections: * Addressing Journalism in Times of Social Conflict * Advancements in New Media and Audience Participation * Challenges and Solutions in a Changing Profession * Possibilities for Journalism and Social Change This book is a collection by leading scholars from the field of Journalism Studies who have revisited their previous work with the intent of asking more questions about how journalism looks, works, and is preparing for the future. From coverage on Donald Trump and alt-right media to media trust, verification, and social media, this volume is relevant for practicing journalists today who are planning for tomorrow, students learning about the field and its debates, and scholars and educators looking for approachable texts about complex issues.

Introduces the basic theories and analyses the cultural construction of populism regarding radical democratic theory and empirical studies. The author builds a bridge between radical democratic and ideational approaches on populism with examples and studies that emphasise European radical right populism, alongside US, Latin American and Asian cases. The future of populism is discussed in regard to Covid-19 pandemic and Donald Trump's fall in the US presidential elections in 2020 that together with above-mentioned global megatrends and with the development of media and communication environment set conditions for the 2020s populism.

How and why does a catastrophic disaster change public discourse and social narratives? This is the first book to comprehensively investigate how Japanese newspapers, TV, documentary films, independent journalists, scientists, and intellectuals from the humanities and social sciences have critically responded to the Fukushima nuclear disaster over the last decade. In Japan, nuclear power consistently had more than 70% support in opinion polls. However, the Fukushima disaster of 2011 has caused a shift in public opinion, and the majority of the population now desires an end to nuclear power in Japan. Alternative energy and countermeasures against climate change have thus become hot-button issues in public discourse. Moreover, topics previously left undiscussed have become common talking points among journalists and intellectuals: Concealed power structural dynamics that work upon Japan's politics, bureaucracy, industry, academia, and media; Japan's peculiar, strong support for nuclear power, despite being a nation subjected to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and its latent ability to develop nuclear weapons by utilizing the plutonium generated by its power plants; and Japan's dependence on the US' nuclear umbrella. These discussions have often evolved into macro-level controversies over 'Japan' and its 'modernity'. In this book, Hidaka critically evaluates how the Fukushima disaster has shaken hegemonic public discourse and compares it to the impact of previous moments of 'disaster culture' in modern Japanese history, such as The Great Kanto Earthquake and the Pacific War. Offers vital insights into contemporary Japanese culture and social discourse for students and scholars alike.

This book explores and interrogates a diverse variety of popular and culturally relevant American science fiction films made in the first two decades of the new millennium It offers a ground-breaking investigation of the impactful role of genre cinema in the modern era The book interrogates some of the defining critical debates of the era via an in-depth analysis of a range of important films It places one of the most popular and culturally resonant American film genres broadly within its rich social, historical, industrial, and political context, Brings together an international team of authors Offering new insights and perspectives on the cinematic science fiction genre, this volume will appeal primarily to scholars and students of film, television, culture and media studies, as well as anyone interested in science fiction and speculative film

This book presents a new perspective on how Russia projects itself to the world. Distancing itself from familiar, agency-driven International Relations accounts that focus on what 'the Kremlin' is up to and why, it argues for the need to pay attention to deeper, trans-state processes over which the Kremlin exerts much less control. Especially important in this context is mediatization, defined as the process by which contemporary social and political practices adopt a media form and follow media-driven logics. In particular, the book emphasizes the logic of the feedback loop or 'recursion', showing how it drives multiple Russian performances of national belonging and nation projection in the digital era. It applies this theory to recent issues, events, and scandals that have played out in international arenas ranging from television, through theatre, film, and performance art, to warfare.

This book critically examines the role and politics of humour and the performance of power in South Asia. What does humour do and how does it manifest when lived political circumstances experience ruptures or instability? Can humour that emerges in such circumstances be viewed as a specific narrative on the nature of democracy in the region? Drawing upon essays from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, this volume discusses many crucial historical and contemporary themes, including dance-drama performances in northern India; caste and stand-up comedy in India; cartoon narratives of citizens' anxieties; civic participation through social media memes in Sri Lanka; media, politics and humorous public in Bangladesh; the politics of performance in India; and the influence of humour and satire as political commentaries. The volume explores the impact of humour in South Asian folklore, ritual performances, media and journalism, and online technologies. This topical and interdisciplinary book will be essential for scholars and researchers of cultural studies, political science, sociology and social anthropology, media and communication studies, theatre and performance studies, and South Asian studies.

This book critically examines the role and politics of humour and the performance of power in South Asia. What does humour do and how does it manifest when lived political circumstances experience ruptures or instability? Can humour that emerges in such circumstances be viewed as a specific narrative on the nature of democracy in the region? Drawing upon essays from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, this volume discusses many crucial historical and contemporary themes, including dance-drama performances in northern India; caste and stand-up comedy in India; cartoon narratives of citizens' anxieties; civic participation through social media memes in Sri Lanka; media, politics and humorous public in Bangladesh; the politics of performance in India; and the influence of humour and satire as political commentaries. The volume explores the impact of humour in South Asian folklore, ritual performances, media and journalism, and online technologies. This topical and interdisciplinary book will be essential for scholars and researchers of cultural studies, political science, sociology and social anthropology, media and communication studies, theatre and performance studies, and South Asian studies.

Politicised Cinema demonstrates how taking a collection of seemingly apolitical films and using them as an instrument for serving explicit political aims can be used as a force for good. Through an analysis of Orient: A Survey of Films Produced in Countries of Arab and Asian Culture, a film catalogue published by UNESCO and the BFI in 1959 to promote intercultural understanding between the East and the West, this book argues for the importance of studying the ways the interpretation of films can be guided to serve a specific political agenda, even when the films themselves were originally produced with very different aims in mind. The author focuses on how the catalogue positions culture and its cinematic representations as a marker of difference between the Eastern and Western worlds, and shows that even major cultural conflicts such as the Cold War and the decolonisation process can be reframed in service of UNESCO's cultural diplomatic agenda. The book explores the ways in which the catalogue of Eastern films deemed suitable for Western audiences became a weapon to fight against prejudice, intolerance, and bigotry in a politicised battle over dismantling the proclaimed link between difference and conflict. This book will be of interest to students, researchers, and academics in visual politics, cinematic international relations, cultural diplomacy, global governance, and international cultural politics, as well as film studies, Asian studies, and cultural studies. In addition, policymakers and practitioners in the fields of cultural diplomacy and cultural policy will find the empirical case study to be of use in practical work.