The Relationship between Ethno-Linguistic Composition of Social Networks and Activity Space: A Study Using Mobile Phone Data

This study is a contribution to the discussion on the ethnic segregation cycle, through the examination of individuals’ activity spaces—including residence and workplace—and from the perspective of social networks. Bridging social ties can be a key factor in higher minority inclusion and in breaking the vicious circle of segregation. We compare the spatial behaviour of two ethno-linguistic population groups living in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital city (Estonian-speaking majority and Russian-speaking minority), each of which have co- and interethnic social networks, through the use of mobile positioning (call detail records) and call-graph data. Among our main findings, we show firstly that interethnic social networks are more common for the Russian-speaking minority population. The probability of having an interethnic network is related to the ethno-linguistic composition of the residential district concerned; districts with a higher proportion of residents from another ethnic group tend to favour interethnic networks more. Secondly, the activity space is related to the ethno-linguistic composition of the social networks. Spatial behaviour is most expansive for Estonian speakers with co-ethnic networks, and most constrained for Russian speakers with co-ethnic networks. At the same time, speakers of Estonian and Russian with interethnic networks show rather similar spatial behaviours: They tend to visit more districts where the proportion of people from the other ethno-linguistic group is higher. Interethnic networks are therefore related to spatial behaviour, which can indicate interethnic meeting points and locations, something that is regarded as being important in assimilation and segregation cycle theories

“Chuck Norris, Please Help!” Transnational Cultural Flows in the 2017 Anti-Corruption Protests in Romania

This study examines the meaning-making work of transnational cultural references in protest. Whether using the image of the superhero or re-mixing a famous painting, the presence of such references in home-made protest placards was a striking feature of the 2017 anti-corruption protests in Romania. By means of a qualitative analysis of 58 such signs, this study identifies five types of transnational cultural resources co-opted in the local protest: politics, high and popular culture, brand names, computer culture, and other motivational slogans and protest symbols. Such references are appropriated in local protest for their recognizability potential, their generic interpretive frames, or their usefulness in generating surprising re-iterations of the political cause. Yet, the use of such references remains interwoven with the symbolic and political capital of professional, middle-class elites. In the Romanian case, the use of these transnational cultural references also constructs the protesters as cosmopolitan and aligned with Western cultural consumption and political practices. In turn, this frames political opponents as backwards, parochial, and unfit for democratic politics

Reactionary Politics and Resentful Affect in Populist Times

This thematic issue brings together ten articles from political psychology, political sociology, philosophy, history, public policy, media studies, and electoral studies, which examine reactionary politics and resentful affect in populist times

Accountability in EU Economic Governance: European Commissioners in Polish Parliament

This article analyses the interactions between the members of the Polish parliament with the European commissioners in the context of the European Semester, the annual cycle of economic coordination. The Commission drafts crucial documents in this process which assess the implementation of the Country Specific Recommendations (CSRs): the Annual (Sustainable) Growth Survey and the Country Reports. The goal of this article is to assess how the Commission is held to account by a national parliament and how this affects the level of implementation of CSRs. The findings suggest that the Commission is accountable to this national parliament, even if the form of accountability taken is rather innovative and its policy impact limited, at both the EU (the CSRs tend to be immune to Members of [national] Parliament’s contestation) and the national level, as the implementation of CSRs seems to be independent of the level of their scrutiny

The European Semester and Parliamentary Oversight Institutions Inside and Outside of the Euro Area

The European Semester is a challenge for national parliaments but also an opportunity to reform domestic oversight institutions. Drawing on data from all member states, this study examines the conditions under which national parliaments use this opportunity. Is Euro area membership a prerequisite for parliamentary adaptation to the European Semester and, if so, which further combinations of conditions account for variation among Euro area countries? The analysis suggests that membership in or close ties with the Euro area and institutional strength constitute necessary conditions for parliamentary adaptation. Combined with other factors—in particular, public debt exceeding the Maastricht criteria—these conditions explain reform in many cases. National parliamentary adaptation to the European Semester thus follows existing institutional divisions constituted by differentiated integration in the Euro area and uneven national parliamentary strength

European Financial Governance: FTT Reform, Controversies and Governments’ Responsiveness

The Eurozone crisis exposed the incompleteness of the Economic and Monetary Union’s governance framework thereby prompting the promotion of a multitude of reform packages and proposals. This simultaneously induced conflict among EU governments on both design and content of such reforms. In case of the financial transaction tax (FTT) proposal, which failed to garner consensus among member governments, it illustrates Ireland’s disapproval clashing with favorable German and French stances. While these governments aligned on the necessity to reform, the process of harmonizing EU financial governance proved rather difficult. In analyzing governments’ variation of reform support or opposition, the societal approach to governmental preference formation is employed. This is considerably conducive in directing academic attention to the role of two explanatory variables, domestic material interests and value-based ideas, in shaping governments’ reform positions. This article encompasses a comprehensive comparative account of domestic preference formation and responsiveness of three EU governments (France, Germany and Ireland), in the case study of the FTT, and demonstrates that the two societal dynamics are prone to have played a role in shaping financial reform controversies. By building on and contributing to Eurozone crisis literature, this approach seems appropriate in analyzing financial governance reform due to the crisis’ domestic impact resulting in increased public salience, issue politicization and an advanced role of elected politicians

Election Reform and Women’s Representation: Ranked Choice Voting in the U.S.

Ranked choice voting first gained a foothold in the U.S. during the Progressive Movement in the 20th century as calls for electoral reforms grew. Ranked choice voting was implemented in many cities across the U.S. in both single- and multi-seat districts. But, by the 1940s it became a victim of its own success, turning the tides of the hegemonic white male leadership in U.S. legislative bodies with the election of women. Since the 1990s, ranked choice voting has once again gained traction in the U.S., this time with the focus on implementing single seat ranked choice voting. This article will build on the existing literature by filling in the gaps on how ranked choice voting—in both forms—has impacted women’s representation both historically and in currently elected bodies in the U.S

Energy Security in Turbulent Times Towards the European Green Deal

This article presents a theoretical approach to energy security. It incorporates the concept of governing through turbulence as both a response to crisis onset and a source of long-term policy adaptation. The article applies this framework to an empirical analysis of the energy and climate policy of the EU through a review of policy documents in the period between 1995 and 2020. The article presents the evolution in the conceptualization of energy security in EU policy from a narrow definition restricted to characteristics of energy supply to an expanded conception that integrates additional elements from associated policy areas. The article argues that the European Green Deal represents the culmination of this process and concludes that the convergence of energy and climate policy objectives reinforces the trend towards the widened conceptual scope of energy security

Reimagining the Medieval: The Utility of Ethnonational Symbols for Reactionary Transnational Social Movements

Scholars have explored the rise of far-right reactionary political parties in Europe over the last decade. However, social movements reflecting similar political orientations have rarely been conceptualized as “reactionary.” To better understand the political orientations of reactionary transnational social movements such as the Identitarians and the Defence Leagues, we explore how and why ethnonational symbols derived from the medieval period are utilized by adherents. This interdisciplinary investigation argues that, through processes of mediated political medievalism, ethnonational symbols are used as strategic framing devices to reimagine an idealized “golden age” of distinct European nations, to assign blame for the erosion of ethnonational identity through multiculturalism, immigration and “Islamization,” to establish an intergenerational struggle against the supposed incursion of Islam in Europe, and to proscribe and justify the use of violence as a means of re-establishing the primacy of European nations

Double Ressentiment: The Political Communication of Kulturkampf in Hungary

Emotions have always been invested in politics. Politicians and politically biased public intellectuals manage citizens’ emotions for various purposes: to alienate them from the rival political camp and to make them participate in elections or in politics in general. Ressentiment is an affective style of great political potential and it is present throughout democratic European societies. By analysing the discourses of the culture war between the political camps in Hungary since 2018, this article presents the components, drivers, mechanisms, and some typical outcomes of ressentiment on the levels of the individual and the political communities. It argues that in political communication both political sides are trying to appeal to the citizens’ ressentiment. Both camps use communicative means to incite, channel, and reorient ressentiment by, e.g., scapegoating, identity work, and transvaluation to attract citizens, stabilize their own support, and nudge followers towards specific political activities