A comparison of political,cultural, and economic indicators of access to information in Arab and non-Arab states

As more and more countries adopt access-to-information (ATI) laws to advance economic development and democratic self-governance, efforts are under way to foster ATI movements in the Arab world. While one nation in that region already has adopted the legislation, the likelihood of adoption in other Arab states is unknown. This comparative study analyzed 12 quantitative indicators measuring political, cultural, and economic factors associated with access to information. Results indicate that Arab countries, as a whole, contrast sharply in nearly all areas with non-Arab countries that have ATI laws and are consistent with non-Arab countries that do not have ATI laws. However, the study also found that the most recent ATI law adopters had weaker political, cultural, and economic enabling environments for government information access, which may portend a global phenomenon that will continue and could explain the interest in adopting the legislation in the Arab world. Findings also suggest that while a handful of Arab countries might have the wealth to effectively implement ATI laws, political and cultural conditions may be substantial obstacles for greater government transparency. Other results regarding the use of quantitative indicators of ATI adoption, particularly structural pluralism, are discussed.     

Perceptions of transparency of government policymaking: A cross-national study

In the past two decades, governments from around the world have adopted access-to-information laws at a rate unlike any other time in history. This reform in government information policy parallels a global movement of intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, which have pressed countries to advance the norm of transparency. Competition in the global economy has also provided a strong incentive for governments to show openness, as business leaders and donor nations contend that access-to-information is critical for efficient markets. Given the growing interaction between governments and transnational firms, and the global emphasis on access-to-information, this cross-national study examines the relationship between business executives' perceptions of transparency in government policymaking, and several indicators suggested in the literature as means to advance the flow of information about government. The study found countries that respondents ranked as ‘most transparent’ had significantly higher levels of access-to-information laws, telecommunication infrastructure, E-Government, free press, and higher income levels, than countries with low transparency levels. Our regression findings indicate that telecommunications infrastructure and free press influenced the perceptions of government transparency in a positive and significant way. The evidence indicates that democracy did not contribute toward the perceptions of transparency. The findings also suggest that nations aiming for openness by adopting access-to-information laws and engaging in E-Government may signal to businesses that their governments are aware of the international norm of transparency—though these conditions are not necessarily sufficient to advance the perceptions of government transparency.     

Removing Incivility from Google: What determines the number of government content take-down requests?

Requesting Internet platform providers to remove content is one of the common approaches for government worldwide to regulate online incivility. This study investigates the driving forces behind the variation in the number of uncivil content removal requests across countries. By connecting data from the 2017 Google transparency report to a host of societal level indicators, this study finds that the quantity of uncivil content removal requests is related to both social reality and political value factors. Countries with high levels of social vulnerability and low levels of freedom of speech tend to send more requests to Google for removing online incivility. However, democratic and non-democratic societies show different patterns: social reality and political values play important roles in democratic societies while in non-democratic societies, social reality is the only determining factor.     

Freedom of information legislation and its impact on press freedom: A cross-national study

This empirical study examines the effect of the Freedom of Information legislation on press freedom by analyzing cross-sectional data at the national level of aggregate indicators across 191 countries in 2010. The prediction by two-stage least square regression found that the impact of the legislation on press freedom is determined by control of corruption, the type of political regime (democratic or authoritarian regime), and the level of national economy. For recent adopters of the legislation, it could be no more than a legislative luxury. As the legislative effect on press freedom is mostly limited to less corrupt, advanced industrial democracies, the workings of the legislation require political and economic prerequisites.     

社会转型中的新闻评论与社会规范

在社会转型中以习惯、道德、法律为表现形态的社会规范,仍然应该是言论的准则,对于新闻评论产生重要的影响。新闻评论的一般性规范包括自由民主法治开放的精神,提倡自由民主的讨论,为受众提供表达不同意见的机会;坚持国家利益原则;坚持公平正义平等的原则;坚持公共利益原则;坚持理性客观的原则;坚持以人为本的原则,尊重基本人权。     

Joining the open government partnership initiative: An empirical analysis of diffusion effects

Prior empirical studies of the Open Government Partnership have failed to take into account possible diffusion mechanisms contributing to the expansion in the number of countries joining the partnership since its beginning in 2010. Notwithstanding the increase in the study of open government policies over the past decade across multiple levels of government, the factors influencing the decision to join multilateral initiatives like the Open Government Partnership are still under-researched. Using data from 175 countries and covering a period that goes from the year prior to the establishment of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) until the year when the latest current members have joined the partnership (2010–2018), this article examines the diffusion mechanisms affecting a country's decision to participate in the OGP. Based on binary response logit regression models, this study analyses the effects of key diffusion variables while controlling for the countries' internal determinants of participation. The findings indicate that diffusion of the OGP takes place through regional proximity, common cultural and system of government traits, and membership in international organization. While democratic countries are more likely to join, autocracies also join conditional on other countries in the same group joining. This suggests further research is needed to uncover the way countries with different regime traits design and implement transparency and open government policies under the banner of this multilateral initiative.     

The changing world of international protection of intellectual property

Economic and ideological motives underpin differing positions on the protection of intellectual property, with the strongest divisions running between developed and less developed countries. Protection for intellectual property rests on international treaties and agreements, regional arrangements, bilateral agreements, and unilateral actions. In recent years, nations that have been notorioushavens for piracy have sought to bring their laws and enforcement more into line with international standards.     

Predictors of on-line services and e-participation: A cross-national comparison

Effective e-government creates an environment for citizens to have greater access to their government and, in theory, makes citizen-to-government contact more inclusive. Our research examines two distinct but related measures of e-government effectiveness, namely the online service index and the e-participation index, both reported in the 2010 e-government survey conducted by the United Nations. We analyze the impact of political structure, public sector performance and policy initiatives on both indices in more than 150 countries. Our multiple regression analysis shows that there is greater e-government capability in countries that have more effective public sector governance and administration, and policies that advance the development and diffusion of information and communication technologies. More democratic institutions and processes, however, appear to have a negative impact on e-government. In addition, countries that practice effective governance and promote competition in the telecommunications sector demonstrate more extensive provision of e-participation. These results suggest that the path to e-government leverages different strategies depending on a nation's political structure, and that authoritarian countries may be utilizing e-government to maintain the status quo.     

Understanding the rise of e-participation in non-democracies: Domestic and international factors

While it has often been suggested that information and communication technologies (ICTs) provide an important means of increasing citizen participation (which is at the core of democratic government), few commentators have expected non-democracies to create online environments in which citizens can take an active part in political processes. In recent years, however, some non-democracies have begun to outperform countries with long-standing democratic traditions in terms of e-participation development. According to the 2010 United Nations (UN) e-government survey, Bahrain outranks France, Kazakhstan beats Sweden and Malaysia ranks higher than Germany. This article sets out to understand the recent rise of e-participation initiatives in non-democracies. Drawing on comparative longitudinal data from the UN e-government surveys, we tested the assertion that international drivers of change are competing with the dominant focus on domestic factors, especially in the non-democratic world, and are influencing the patterns of reform. The empirical analysis demonstrated important differences between the drivers of change in democratic and non-democratic countries and found economic globalization to be the strongest predictor of e-participation initiatives in non-democratic countries. In conclusion, we argue that economic globalization alters the context of e-participation and necessitates a re-examination of many of its premises and tenets.     

Who pays the piper? The political economy of freedom of information

If freedom of information is fundamental to contemporary democracy, why have democratic countries differed so markedly in their willingness to pass laws enshrining formal rights of access to government files? This article demonstrates that an analysis grounded in comparative political economy can provide a compelling answer to this question. Specifically, it demonstrates that the more highly coordinated a country's economy, the less transparent it is likely to be. Through a comparison of the United States and Germany, this article argues that in coordinated market economies, ongoing negotiations between the state and the peak representative bodies provide privileged access to information about the government, and indeed privileged channels of influence over government action. Public access to official files threatens this privileged access. In less coordinated economies, however, firms lack this privileged access; they are likely to favor access laws as a partial substitute, especially since such laws are more consistent with the highly fragmented and competitive environment in which they operate. By further comparing Sweden and the United Kingdom, it also demonstrates the limits of this explanation, suggesting that historical sequences and classic political variables should also be taken into account.     

A FORGE OF CONSENSUS

The Spanish transition to democracy constituted an exceptional journalistic period which started with the death of the dictator Franco in 1975 and finished in 1978, the year in which a new democratic Constitution, currently in force, was approved by referendum. During those years, the Spanish political system changed radically from a dictatorship to a full democracy similar to the democracies enjoyed by Western European countries. This article proves the hypothesis that the majority of newspapers supported the main guidelines of political reform and the strategy of consensus led firstly by the francoist reformist elite and by the opposition political parties afterwards. The research method is a content analysis focused on the introduction of democratic values in newspaper editorials and applied to twelve newspaper titles which covered the ideological spectrum within the Spanish journalistic scene. This piece of research could be likewise considered as a contribution to the particular histories of the analysed dailies during those critical years.     

跨地域科研协作模式分析

在系统调研跨地域科研协作现状基础上,本研究提出跨地域科研协作模式分析框架,以信息搜寻与信息检索融合（IS&R）等为测试主题,构建跨地域科研协作网络;计算无向加权科研协作网络节点中心性,发现各主题研究热点国家、城市和机构;模拟有向加权科研协作网络连接强度,描绘科研协作关系中知识流动方向;识别科研协作过程中节点角色,发掘城市科研协作主流模式;通过QAP分析,测度地理距离对节点间科研协作强度的影响,剖析节点科研实力与节点间科研协作强度的相关关系;借助演化分析,厘清科研协作网络发展历程及节点角色迁移情况。结果显示,上述主题在跨地域科研协作过程中既存在共性的节点分布、网络连接和扩展模式,又表现出一定的学科差异。图5。表11。参考文献23。     

The business of international broadcasting cultural bridges and barriers

The advent of international satellite television broadcasting, including the satellite‐to‐cable services which are now proliferating in several countries of the world, represents a qualitative leap in the nature of broadcasting. Satellite distribution is a literally ‘international’ medium in which signals can not only spill across neighbouring borders, but reach audiences spread over entire world regions and even link diasporic communities on different continents. The concerns raised by various countries about national sovereignty and their attempts to control reception are well‐known, but dishes and cable systems have flourished, and international and regional services are leasing new transponder capacity faster than operators can get their satellites into orbit. In this new satellite business, language and culture are emerging as powerful forces in making and breaking world‐regional markets. Thus, in contrast to the large degree of regional integration in Latin America, thanks to its linguistic and cultural similarities, service providers in Asia have soon found that they have to take account of linguistic and other cultural differences in establishing their markets, which therefore have more of a national than a regional character. This article reviews these trends and outlines how the technological potential to integrate regional markets via satellite broadcasting across borders has been attenuated at least as much by cultural as political resistance. Evidence of the effectiveness of such resistance, it is argued, raises questions about the validity of the rhetoric of ‘cultural imperialism’ now being heard again in Asia.     

Effects of Predictors of Citizens' Attitudes and Intention to Use Open Government Data and Government 2.0

This research proposes a holistic and integrative theoretical model to discuss the effects of eight predictors of citizens' attitudes towards open government and Government 2.0, and whether these attitudes influence their intention to use open government data in Brazil, one of the founding countries of the Open Government Partnership (OGP). Findings show the effects of six predictors of citizens' attitudes towards open government and government 2.0. In essence, these predictors are ease of use, usefulness, intrinsic motivation, political satisfaction, government trust, and intensity of internet use. This study also indicates that education, income, and region influence the ease of use and usefulness of open data. These findings also mean that public managers and political parties still have “homework’ to do to stimulate citizens' behavior towards open government and government 2.0. These initiatives encompass the government portals quality and data transparency improvement through less restrictive laws. Also, improve politicians' job performance.     

国际竞争背景下关键小国优势领域科技人才研究——以新加坡人工智能领域为例

[目的/意义]在日益激烈的国际竞争背景下,探索具有国际合作优势的关键小国,分析其科技人才的分布及特征对我国开拓国际合作伙伴具有重要意义。[方法/过程]通过构建关键小国优势领域科技人才分析框架,以新加坡人工智能领域为实例,从科技人才分布、国际合作态势两个方面对科技人才进行分析。[结果/结论]结果显示,新加坡人工智能领域科技人才主要分布在南洋理工大学与新加坡国立大学,代表性学者有Huang Guang-Bin、Cambria Erik、Lin Zhiping等。新加坡国际合作对象分布广泛,通过与新加坡开展合作可以间接促成中国与他国产生联系。     

试论伊朗“Twitter革命”中社会媒体的政治传播功能

本文试图通过伊朗Twitter革命的个案研究,来观察和分析社会媒体在国家危机中发挥的政治传播功能与效用,特别是在发达国家具有先发技术优势的背景下,社会媒体与国际政治力量结合对发展中国家可能产生的消极影响。     

Out of the Stack and into the Net

Summary

The transition of academic library reference resources from print to electronic format has been characterised by a growing level of strategic decision making by librarians, as mediated searches were replaced by end-user CD-ROM formats, only to be superseded by online user access. The experience of Australian university libraries, which were early adopters of these changes, is outlined. Particular factors which impacted on this transition in other English-speaking countries (the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and South Africa) are also described. The formation of purchasing consortia has been crucial in all countries in facilitating this transformation of reference collections.     

Opportunity for renewal or disruptive force? How artificial intelligence alters democratic politics

The increasing adoption of AI profoundly changes the informational foundations of societies. What does this mean for the functioning of liberal democracy, specifically in terms of responsiveness and accountability? The present paper addresses this question by discussing how capabilities of AI affect the informational requirements of the democratic process. Based on a systems theory perspective, the consequences of AI are shown to be wide-ranging. AI can reduce or increase information deficits of both citizens and decision-makers on the input, throughout, and output level of the political system. While the challenges that AI creates for democratic responsiveness and accountability have a novel technological dimension, they are nonetheless in continuity with existing transparency and accountability problems. Avoiding a negative impact will require institutionalizing suitable governance mechanisms – a task that is challenging already at the throughout and output level, but particularly difficult, and important, at the input level of politics.     

Participatory Populism: Online Discussion Forums on Mainstream News Sites During the 2014 European Parliament Election

ABSTRACT

Online media have transformed the political news landscapes, changing not only professional journalistic practices but also the way in which citizens participate in political communication. In the debate about the impact of the Internet on democratic practices, some scholars emphasize the potential of digital media platforms to establish a medium for deliberative and inclusive democratic participation, whereas others underline the development of fragmented “echo chambers” driven by the interests of mainstream news organizations. We point to an alternative scenario in which online political communication develops in the direction of “participatory populism”, involving an unrepresentative group of users actively engaging in the delegitimization of democratic institutions. This engagement results in a collective voice that expresses high levels of negativity towards mainstream democratic politics. Through a study of user comments relating to the 2014 European Parliament election in Germany and the UK, we show how commenters express predominantly negative views towards not just the EU but also national government and mainstream opposition parties. We find, however, that the relationship between user comments and news platforms is highly contextualized. The nature of the relationship between comments and news platforms across countries thus warrants further investigation.