Understanding online political networks: The case of the far-right and far-left in Greece

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.This paper examines the connectivity among political networks on Twitter. We explore dynamics inside and between the far right and the far left, as well as the relation between the structure of the network and sentiment. The 2015 Greek political context offers a unique opportunity to investigate political communication in times of political intensity and crisis. We explore interactions inside and between political networks on Twitter in the run up to the elections of three different ballots: the parliamentary election of 25 January, the bailout referendum of 5 July, the snap election of 20 September; we, then, compare political action during campaigns with that during routinized politics.This work received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 Programme (Horizon2020/2014–2020), under grant agreement 688380

Ideological Labels in America

This paper extends Ellis and Stimson’s (Ideology in America. New York: Cambridge UniversityPress, 2012) study of the operational-symbolic paradox using issue-level measures of ideological incongruence based on respondent positions and symbolic labels for these positions across 14 issues. Like Ellis and Stimson, we find that substantial numbers—over 30 %—of Americans experience conflicted conservatism. Our issue-level data reveal, furthermore, that conflicted conservatism is most common on the issues of education and welfare spending. In addition, we also find that 20 % of Americans exhibit conflicted liberalism. We then replicate Ellis and Stimson’s finding that conflicted conservatism is associated with low sophistication and religiosity, but also find that it is associated with being socialized in a post-1960s generation and using Fox News as a main news source. Finally, we show the important role played by identities, with both conflicted conservatism and conflicted liberalism linked with partisan and ideological identities, and conflicted liberalism additionally associated with ethnic identities

Teaching Tolerance in a Globalized World: Final Remarks

Each of the five empirical studies presented in this report aimed to identify factors and conditions that help schools and teachers to promote tolerance in a globalized world. Each study acknowledged the complex, hierarchical layers of explanatory mechanisms, while focusing on what could be learned from in-depth analysis of data collected by the International Association for the Evaluation ofEducational Achievement’s International Civic and Citizenship Education Study 2009. In this chapter, key findings are summarized, while acknowledging limitations and caveats, and avenues for further research are identified. The report findings also flag some potential implications for policymakers

The motivation for citizens’ involvement in life sciences research is predicted by age and gender

Open Science is an umbrella term encompassing multiple concepts as open access to publications, open data, open education and citizen science that aim to make science more open and transparent. Citizen science, an important facet of Open Science, actively involves nonscientists in the research process, and can potentially be beneficial for multiple actors, such as scientists, citizens, policymakers and society in general. However, the reasons that motivate different segments of the public to participate in research are still understudied. Therefore, based on data gathered from a survey conducted in Czechia, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and the UK (N = 5,870), this study explores five types of incentives that can motivate individuals to become involved in life sciences research. The results demonstrate that men and younger individuals are more persuaded by extrinsic motives (external benefits or rewards), as compared with women and older people, who are driven by intrinsic motives (that originates from within an individual). This paper shows that specific strata of the population are differentially motivated to engage in research, thereby providing relevant knowledge for effectively designing public involvement activities that target various groups of the public in research projects

Application of the transtheoretical model to sedentary behaviors and its association with physical activity status

Background: The Transtheoretical Model (TTM) is a successful framework for guiding behavior change programs for several health behaviors, yet its application to reduce of sedentary behavior has been neglected. In addition, no data exist regarding the association between determinants of sedentary behaviors based on the TTM and physical activity behavior. The purpose of this study was to investigate college students' stages of motivational readiness to avoid sedentary behaviors and relevant psychological determinants using newly developed TTM questionnaires and to identify the association between current physical activity and sedentary behaviors based on TTM constructs.Methods: Data were obtained from 225 college students enrolled in health education and physical education courses. Participants completed a package of questionnaires including validated TTM, physical activity and sitting time questionnaires. Participants also wore an accelerometer for seven consecutive days. MANOVAs were conducted to determine mean differences in psychological constructs across the TTM stages, and Chi-square tests and Spearman correlation were used to evaluate the associations between current physical activity and sedentary behavior.Results: A majority of the participants were in the sedentary stages, and men and women differed in proportion of individuals in the stages (78.0% vs. 68.1%, respectively). The gender difference was also found in use of the processes of change. In general, the mean scores of the TTM constructs increased as the stages progressed. No significant associations were found between the TTM constructs for sedentary behavior and current physical activity levels (p>0.05).Conclusions: A high proportion of college students were in sedentary stages regardless of physical activity levels, but different distributions in men and women. Participants in earlier stages were less likely to utilize the TTM constructs to reduce sedentary behaviors than those in later stages. A lack of association between physical activity and the psychological determinants of sedentary behavior was found.Peer reviewedCommunity Health Sciences, Counseling and Counseling Psycholog

Contested world order: The delegitimation of international governance

This article argues that the chief challenge to international governance is an emerging political cleavage, which pits nationalists against immigration, free trade, and international authority. While those on the radical left contest international governance for its limits, nationalists reject it in principle. A wide-ranging cultural and economic reaction has reshaped political conflict in Europe and the United States and is putting into question the legitimacy of the rule of law among states

Voting as a Signaling Device

In this paper, citizens vote in order to influence the election outcome and in order to signal their unobserved characteristics to others. The model is one of rational voting and generates the following predictions: (i) The paradox of not voting does not arise, because the benefit of voting does not vanish with population size. (ii) Turnout in elections is positively related to the importance of social interactions. (iii) Voting may exhibit bandwagon effects and small changes in the electoral incentives may generate large changes in turnout due to signaling effects. (iv) Signaling incentives increase the sensitivity of turnout to voting incentives in communities with low opportunity cost of social interaction, while the opposite is true for communities with high cost of social interaction. Therefore, the model predicts less volatile turnout for the latter type of communities