MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENTS ARE THE SMALLEST AND MOST BASIC UNIT OF representative democracy (Dahl and Tufte 1973, 13). Politicians serving in these governments—mayors and members of municipal assemblies—perform important functions in the policy process by meeting residents on a regular basis, discussing policy matters with them, and making policy decisions that affect the communities in which they r...

modernity has been interpreted from different angles. scholars such as derida and lyotard talk about the end of modernity and the beginning of a new era called post-modernism, though thinkers like habermas do not believe in that.habermas who do not believe in the end of modernity and the beginning of post-modernism, finds modernism as the only way to human liberty who has chosen a wrong path an...

In a recent editorial for this journal, Sergio Sismondo makes two claims. First, he states that STS bears no responsibility for the emergence of post-truth politics. Second, he claims that debates about the nature of expertise that take place within STS are irrelevant in this context. In contrast, we argue that, whether or not STS had a causal influence on the emergence of post-truth politics, ...

More than five years down the line Venezuela had been slipping into an economic cri-sis. An economy wholly dependent on the sale of oil and no diversification of economic production is sure to face such a crisis. The fluctuation in oil prices is sure to hurt the market and the economy. To make matters worse, Venezuela now faces a political crisis with two individuals claiming themselves to be P...

Spain’s Transition to Democracy set the stage for the organization of a national healthcare system. The adoption of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 was a political milestone that led to the recognition of every citizen’s right to healthcare and the right of autonomy of the various regions that make up the Spanish State. The most distinctive characteristic of the healthcare model set up in thos...

This study compares the effects of consuming news preference online or offline on political participation. It also examines the variation in these effects between young and older adults. Given that young adults are disproportionately more intensive users of the Internet, Internet use may have varying effects on people’s political participation by their age. Secondary analysis of Pew data found ...

This article examines the attitudes of the parties on the left in Italy to moves towards European integration from the Convention on the Future of Europe in 2002-03 to the Lisbon Treaty in 2007. The analysis is contextualised by taking an historical perspective. It is argued that the parties of the left are strongly in favour of a ‘political’ and ‘social’ Europe, whereas the far left is concern...

Existing models of quality evaluation in public sector are mainly derived from the approaches within private sector. These models which represented by the New Public Management (NPM) paradigm, don&rsquot reflect the fundamental values of public administration, which are the very essence of the discipline and contrasting it from private sector. These core values, such as democratic citizenship, ...

How does it stand with Scandinavian attempts to democratize technological choice? How can those efforts improve our grasp of the politics of technology? These are questions posed by an outsider. As a reader of books and articles, I have followed the projects carried out during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, work that sought to politicize technological choices in Scandinavian countries and to illum...