Diverse politics, diverse news coverage? A longitudinal study of diversity in Dutch political news during two decades of election campaigns

Although diverse political news has been recognized as a requirement for a well-functioning democracy, longitudinal research into this topic is sparse. In this article, we analyse the development of diversity in election coverage in the Netherlands between 1994 and 2012. We distinguish between diversity for party and issue coverage, and look at differences between diversity in newspapers and television news. Results show that news diversity varies over time. Diversity for party types increased over time. We found no clear trend for diversity of issue dimensions. Compared to newspapers, television news is more diverse for party types but less diverse on issue dimensions. The question concerning whether these findings are an indicator of structural bias is discussed

The Sub-State Politics of Welfare in Italy: Assessing the Effect of Territorial Mobilization on the Development of Region-Specific Social Governance

This article demonstrates that the political mobilization of regional identities through the creation of regionalist parties has positively impacted on the development of region-specific models of welfare governance in Italy. This means that, in a decentralized country, the ‘centre-periphery’ cleavage may significantly influence the sub-state politics of welfare

Equal pay by gender and by nationality: a comparative analysis of Switzerland's unequal equal pay policy regimes across time

What explains the adoption of two different policies on equal pay by gender (EPG) and by nationality (EPN) in Switzerland? And why is the liberal, litigation-based, equal pay policy regime set up by the Gender Equality Act of 1996 much less effective than the neocorporatist ‘accompanying measures' to the Bilateral European Union-Switzerland Agreement on Free Movement of Persons adopted in 1999 to ensure equal pay for workers of different national origins? The formation of two different policy regimes cannot be explained by different levels of political will. Equally, different ‘varieties of capitalism' cannot explain the setup of the two different equal pay policy regimes within the very same country. Instead, our qualitative comparative analysis across time suggests that the differences can be best explained by a particular constellation of attributes, namely the use of different policy frames—i.e. ‘anti-discrimination' in the EPG and ‘unfair competition' in the EPN case—and the different setting of interest politics epitomised by the opposite stances adopted by Switzerland's employer associations in the two case

La transparencia en dos municipios de gran población de la Comunitat Valenciana: entre el isomorfismo mimético y la generación de legitimidad

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo fundamental realizar un análisis sobre los elementos que han fundamentado que los ayuntamiento de Alicante y València hayan asumido procedimientos para incorporar la transparencia (2008-2017). En concreto, partiremos del neoinstitucionalismo sociológico y de los índices de Transparencia Internacional para caracterizar esta herramienta de buen gobierno y su importancia relativa en ambos ayuntamientos. Entre algunos de los resultados preliminares que hemos obtenido, podemos destacar tanto el papel isomórfico de la legislación como la necesidad de mejorar la reputación de las instituciones estudiadas para implementar dichas políticas.The main objective of this work is to carry out an analysis of the elements that have supported the city councils of Alicante and Valencia to adopt procedures to incorporate transparency (2008-2017). In particular, we use the Sociological Neo-institutionalism and Transparency International indexes in order to analyze this tool of good governance and its relative importance in both municipalities. Among some of the preliminary results that have been reached, we can highlight the isomorphic role of legislation and the need to improve the reputation of the institutions studied to implement these policies

The welfare state

“The power of a simple image to capture the human spirit reminds us that immigrants, seemingly so foreign and unlike us, are really exactly like us. Could be me. Could be you.” Deepa Fernandez describes the essence of this exhibition of photographs taken by and of migrant and immigrant families living in Adams County, Pennsylvania. The photographs reveal the importance of faith, family and the basic humanity that binds us all together – regardless of language culture or politics. As we see ourselves in the portraits from birthday parties, schools, homes and farms, we’re encouraged to think about the dreams and struggles of our neighbors as well as new solutions to the ongoing immigration debate in our country. This exhibition is created in partnership with the Lincoln Intermediate Unit No. 12 Migrant Education Technology Center for Adults and Families, under the direction of Jorge C. Pérez-Rico and the Center for Public Service at Gettysburg College. Special thanks to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, PA Migrant Education and 21st Century, Adams County Arts Council Education Center, Deepa Fernandez, Dickinson College, Friends of Farmworkers Inc., and Saint Francis Xavier Church.https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/retratos/1007/thumbnail.jp