The Elephant (or Donkey) in the Room

With the United States presidential election merely days away (set to take place on 3 Nov. 2020), the world's gaze has shifted to the race for the White House and whether there will be a Republican or Democrat taking office. [...]if this circumstance were to change, there would be potential consequences for European pharma companies that have a presence in or deal with the US. If the Democrats win the presidency and have control over Congress, it is expected that foreign and generic-drug manufacturers would benefit as a result of lower market entrance barriers.

Decoding Rahul Gandhi's public deliberation with experts

This is summary of comments on Rahul Gandhi's much publicised discussions with experts on prescriptions to deal with COVID-19 pandemic and its impact. The article questions the purpose of theses deliberations and comments on the political impact of this public spectacle on brand Rahul Gandhi. There is no doubt that perception and symbolism sometimes matter more than reality in politics but then it should be consciously cultivated to portray the right image. The political space is dominated by super human leaders like Prime Minister Modi who claim mastery on everything. Rahul Gandhi needs to understand his key capabilities ensure that the right message effectively reaches his target audience through the offline and online media.

DATA ANALYTIC TOOLS RELATING TO SELECTED COVID-19 PANDEMIC FRAUDS

This research provides information related to the use of data analytic tools for preventing and detecting COVID-19 pandemic frauds. The IRS-CI (Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation) Agency continues to conduct investigations involving billions with these frauds. With the data analytic tools, people can be stopped from fraudulently taking advantage the government during critical life or death times.

COVID-19 and Religion

The COVID-19 pandemic has produced a social drama in which churches, government, and individual actors have played prominent roles. While neo-conservative evangelicals have resisted governmental and scientific overreach in the name of "faith over fear”, liberal religious groups have joined in government and medical efforts for the good of the commons, offered comfort and assurance to those suffering, and called for support of the poor at home and abroad. Religions have turned right and left, from apocalyptic "resets” of global order to new calls for social justice. In this context, the root metaphor of the epidemic has been called up as a historical construct that helps to conceptualize, analyze, and act upon the COVID-19 crisis. Searching the past helps us see that not everything about COVID-19 as a social drama is a new or unheard-of challenge. For example, there are new evocations of the black death of 14th-century Europe that became a crisis in the church, as well as the great Lisbon earthquake in 1755, which upended the confidence of the European Enlightenment. Another way to appraise the dimensions of the COVID-19 outbreak is to call on the varied approaches characteristic of the sociology of religion, that is, to consider how ideology and belief are socially constructed in order to account for new intellectual responses to societal challenges. Does religion always produce the "collective effervescence” Durkheim posited? Does religious change always arrive downstream of cultural change, or can it also become an independent variable? This article attends primarily to the sharp responses of conservative religious expression in the face of attention-getting upheaval, which has readily translated into right-wing political action and electioneering. But the social uplift and altruism of liberal religion is not neglected either. Thus, this article provides an account of how science and governmental action have both been challenged and embraced in response to COVID-19. As such, it is not an empirical study stemming from new Pew-like social polling. Rather, it is a wide overview rooted in sociological methods and theory for tracking religion historically and presently in America in a manner that aims to inform a discussion of how COVID-19 has impacted religion and religious expression, and vice versa.

Introduction

This American Behavioral Scientist (ABS) issue provides readers insights into better understanding such political dynamics of elections and campaigns in the United States and Europe. Forthcoming issues will further explore this historic U.S. 2020 election cycle, as well as research highlighting campaigns and elections worldwide, case studies of crisis mis/management, changing modes of strategies and tactics within the political social media context, health as a campaign issue within the Covid 19 epidemic, among other provocative topics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Stories as evidence

People often use personal stories to support and defend their views. But can a personal story be evidence? A story tells us that a certain event can happen and has already happened to someone, but it may not always help us understand what caused the event or predict how likely that event is to happen again in the future. Moreover, people confabulate. That is, when they tell stories about their past, they are likely to distort reality in some way. When people who lack access to what motivated past behaviour are asked why they made a choice, they tend to offer plausible considerations in support of that choice, even if those considerations could not have played a motivating role in bringing about their behaviour. When people experience impairments in autobiographical memory, they tend to fill the gaps in their own story by reconstructing significant events to match their interests, values, and conception of themselves. This means that people often offer a curated version of the events they describe. In this paper, we argue that the pervasiveness of confabulation does not rule out that personal stories can be used as evidence but invites us to reflect carefully about what they are evidence of. And this is especially important in the context of digital storytelling, because stories shared on online platforms can exert even greater influence on what people think and do.

Crisis, Rhetoric and Right-Wing Populist Incumbency: An Analysis of Donald Trump's Tweets and Press Briefings

How do right-wing-populist incumbents navigate rhetorical strategic choices when they seek to manage external crises? Relevant literature has paid increasing attention to the role of ‘crisis' in boosting the electoral success of right-wing populist candidates. We know a lot less about the rhetorical strategies used by right-wing populist incumbents seeking re-election. We draw on literatures on populism, crisis management and political rhetoric to conceptualize the rhetorical strategic choices of right-wing populist incumbents in times of crisis. We propose a framework for the choice of rhetorical strategy available to right-wing populist incumbents and illustrate it with a qualitative content analysis of Trump's tweets and White House press briefings during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. We find limited rhetorical adaptation to crisis and high degrees of continuity with previous rhetoric grounded in right-wing populism. This challenges prevalent assumptions regarding the likelihood of incumbent rhetorical flexibility in the face of crisis.

THE US‑MEXICAN BORDER AND CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN IMMIGRATION POLICY

There have been several periods in American history that are referred to as turbulent times. They were characterized by a wide range of changes that happened to respond to issues that brought anxiety, threat, discontent, or trouble. Donald Trump's presidency and the Covid-19 pandemic significantly influenced American immigration policy and the lives of immigrants. The present article pays special attention to the Mexican-American border. This area plays a crucial role in migration studies focusing on the Americas for at least two reasons: international relations between Mexico (and the Latin American region) and the United States, and homeland security issues related to irregular and regular migrant flows. This study aims to determine what changes have been implemented in border policy, investigate why they occurred, and finally, discuss their results. The article analyzes the most challenging issues characteristic of the situation of unaccompanied minor migrants, the concept of Trump's wall or the 'remain in Mexico' program. The US-Mexican border studies have played a crucial role in research dedicated to American immigration policy since its inception. Today, it is also an area of concern and special attention is paid to this region due to the dynamics of processes taking place at the border. The work presented here discusses and highlights the most turbulent issues that echoed not only in the United States but also worldwide.

Comparing virtual political campaigns with traditional political campaigns: evidence from Kuwait during the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeThis study aims to focus on how virtual campaigns are affecting voters in the elections of Kuwait, as well as whether such virtual campaigns will replace traditional campaigns in the post-COVID era. Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative research adopts a purposeful sample when selecting participants from candidates and the managers of electoral campaigns in Kuwait. Fifteen participants were selected, which has been sufficient to achieve data saturation, and then, textual data were collected via semistructured interviews from 15 candidates and the managers of electoral campaigns in Kuwait during the COVID-19 pandemic. FindingsThe findings indicate that candidates preferred using virtual campaigns which enabled them to reach voters during the time of COVID-19's lockdown. Majority of responses underlined that social media platforms do direct political messages to the voters. Hence, social media platforms should be perceived as preferred medium for communicating with supporters, especially in the post-COVID-19 era. However, some responses uphold the importance of keeping traditional political campaigns due to the peculiar nature of the Kuwaiti community where there is a need for socialization and meeting face-to-face with voters. Originality/valueThis research provides a new evaluation about the role of virtual political campaigns in Kuwait. It highlights the crucial and increasing role of virtual political campaigns in attracting voters;nevertheless, it found that virtual campaigns should be used as addendum to conventional political campaigns in the post-COVID-19 era in Kuwait.

Género y comunicación política: análisis de las publicaciones en Instagram de candidatas y candidatos durante las campañas para elecciones primarias 2021 en Argentina

Este artículo detalla los resultados de una investigación que explora las características diferenciales de la presentación de las precandidaturas en videos de Instagram, y de las candidaturas en historias y en el flujo de contenido [feed], de acuerdo con el género de los candidatos y las candidatas que compitieron durante la campaña para las elecciones legislativas 2021 en Argentina. La muestra está conformada por 265 historias, 8 videos de presentación y 86 publicaciones del flujo de contenido. Se utilizó el método de análisis de contenido cuantitativo, el cual se combinó con categorías que provienen de la sociosemiótica y de las teorías de la mediatización de la política. Los resultados muestran similitudes en los tipos de contenido más utilizados, así como diferencias entre los postulantes a legisladores según su género. Las principales diferencias se concentran en la presentación de la persona pública en los videos, en la difusión de contenidos vinculados a la participación en medios de comunicación, la frecuencia de uso de la argumentación, los contenidos que aluden al contacto con la ciudadanía y la generación de publicaciones e historias referidas a la pandemia de Covid-19.Alternate :

The Presence of Political Bots on Twitter during the COVID-19 Crisis in Spain

The crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the decree of the State of Alarm in Spain and a severe home confinement that was softened in phases of de-escalation. During this period, social networks were used as a discussion tool. With this research we intend to find out if artificial intelligence tools were used in the political debate on Twitter. To achieve this, algorithms that determine the presence of bots in the conversation, their communicative roles and their relationship with the main political parties were applied. The results show that disinformation campaigns were created by bots with the aim of manipulating public opinion. (English) [ FROM AUTHOR]

Digital Negativity as a Campaign Communication Strategy in the 2021 Community of Madrid Elections on Twitter

Social media currentlyoccupyan increasinglycentral communicative space during electoral campaigns. Specifically, Twitter is one of the leading platforms in digital political communication, as it offers an overview of the discursive lines and strategies of parties and candidates. This becomes even more important during the COVID-19, which makes impossible to hold a traditional campaign. This is the case of the regional elections for the Community of Madrid on 4 May 2021. This research analyses the Twitter campaign of the main parties: PP, Mas Madrid, PSOE, Vox, Podemos and Ciudadanos. Through a quantitative content analysis, 1760 tweets are examined and its thematic agenda, functions, emotions, COVID-19 and references to the candidates are studied. The results indicate the predominance of the Game Frame in the thematic agenda, combined with the criticism of the opponent as the main strategy. Negative emotions take a central place and COVID-19 is used as a political element during the campaign, with the PP candidate, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, as the protagonist of the campaign. Finally, the references to the candidates suggest a communicative strategy in a national key to attack political rivals, particularly the Spanish Prime Minister. Overall, this campaign opens a new communication strategy on Twitter that we have called digital negativity and that is based on the attack on political rivals as the main element.

The Trump Administration's Policy Changes on China and Their Destructive Ramifications for US-China Relations

This article analyzes the change in policy discourse of the Trump administration and its destructive effects on US-China relations. It begins with a retrospective look at the China policies of two prior US administrations, those of President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama, in order to show just how significant the shift is. Following the review are analyses of the new policy discourse on China and how China has responded to it, especially in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. The last section of this article discusses a popular theme in recent academic circles: Is a new Cold War inevitable?

Introduction to the Special Issue

The US presidential election in November will therefore be a critical juncture, either deepening disputes and hardening attitudes if Donald Trump is reelected, or possibly opening a new chapter in relations if Joe Biden wins. On the three global issues—trade, climate change, and the pandemic —that dominate US-China debate, Gregory Chin shows that while the Trump administration has brought "major global institutions to the point of legal or political crisis," China has seized opportunities to stand as the guardian of globalization in multilateral institutions, notably the World Trade Organization and the World Health Organization. [...]Chin ends on a cautiously optimistic note, namely, that a Biden White House might be open to cooperation with China on climate change and global health, while also rejoining multilateral institutions such as WHO and the Paris climate accords. [...]he cautions that the future will be non-zero-sum and messy.

Women, Do We Support One Another? Voting Behavior of Indonesian Female College Students for a Female Candidate amidst Covid-19 Pandemic

This study seeks to analyze and describe the voting behavior of female college students for a female candidate in Indonesia at Banjarmasin Mayoral Election in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, political campaigns were mainly switched to communication and information technology with a lack of mass gatherings and direct political campaigns due to Covid-19 health protocols. In a predominantly Muslim and highly patriarchal society, this is also the second time this province to have a female candidate for this position and the first time for this city. Amidst the negative stereotypes of a female candidate and the attacks from the opponents, this female candidate managed to gain second place. Disputes emerged, and the court decided to hold re-election in three sub-districts. The disputes and the campaign dynamics show how this society at large perceives a female candidate. This study elaborates on the possible affecting factors in voting behavior, i.e., religious interpretation, ethnicity, gender, the role of media, perceptions of voters related to candidate's age and programs, political party affiliation, the role of family, and peers. This research method combines quantitative and qualitative methods with the focus on the qualitative method which is based on interviews and literature analysis. This study collected the data based on online surveys and interviews of Lambung Mangkurat University students, Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, Indonesia, where the election was held. The selection for college student respondents aims to focus on young, educated voters and control the variables of education, age, and socioeconomic factors of voters or the effects of social class, which are also often, considered affecting variables in voting behavior. Therefore the factors of education, age, and socioeconomic variables are not the focus of analysis. Hence, this study may be transferable to analyze the voting behavior of young, educated, and no-income group which makes up a significant percentage of Indonesian voters.

Até tu, prefeito! Sobre quando as redes sociais on-line chegam às eleições municipais

No Brasil as disputas municipais cumprem o papel de eleições de meio termo, pois elas permitem antecipar as tendências do eleitorado para as candidaturas nacionais seguintes. Porém, a dinâmica das campanhas locais tem como especificidade a indicação de um tipo de relação e comportamento político próprio das disputas municipais. A proximidade entre candidatos e eleitores é um delimitador de comportamentos em disputas locais. No entanto, as redes sociais on-line perpassam todas as dimensões das relações políticas e eleitorais. O objetivo do artigo é analisar o uso do Twitter pelos candidatos a prefeito de todas as capitais brasileiras em 2020. A pergunta que move o trabalho é "existe algum padrão no conteúdo compartilhado pelos(as) candidatos(a) a prefeito(a) das capitais em 2020?". Busca-se identificar possíveis padrões léxicos por posição ideológica, tipo de candidato - se incumbente ou desafiante - e região do país. Também se pretende verificar a presença da temática da Covid-19 nas manifestações dos(as) candidatos(as). Para tanto, será utilizada a técnica de Análise Léxica Automatizada de conteúdo. Os resultados mostram que, entre os tweets classificados, cerca de 60% tratavam da campanha, enquanto apenas 25% diziam respeito a políticas públicas. No entanto, entre os candidatos eleitos, concentrou-se a maior parte dos textos classificados como política pública.Alternate :In Brazil, municipal elections play the role of mid-term disputes, as they allow for anticipating the electoratés tendencies for the following national elections. HOwwever, the specificity of the dynamics of local campaigns is the appointment of a type of relationship and political behavior typical of municipal disputes. The proximity between candidates and voters is a delimiter of behavior in local disputes. Online social networks are in all dimensions of political and electoral relations. The objective of the article is to analyze the use of Twitter by candidates for mayor in 2020? It seeks to identify possible lexical patterns by ideological position, type of candidate - incumbent or challenger - and region. It is also intended to verify the presence of the covid-19 theme in the candidatés tweets. For that, the Automated Lexical Content Analysis technique will be used. The results show that, among classified tweets, about 60%. However, among the elected candidates, most of the texts classified as public policy were concentrated.

The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy, Stephanie Kelton,. Public Affairs, 2020, 325 pages

The book is well-written, well-structured (if a bit repetitive), and, surprisingly, even entertaining. [...]taken with a pinch of salt, it might even disabuse its less knowledgeable readers of some basic misunderstandings about public finance. [...]Kelton approvingly quotes former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan, who during a 2005 congressional hearing on the financial sustainability of the US Social Security system, responded to Former House Representative Paul Ryan’s worry about the Social Security system becoming insolvent by saying that ‘there’s nothing to prevent the federal government from creating as much money as it wants and paying it to somebody’ (182). According to MMT, those limits are primarily a function of the economy’s capacity to put the newly issued money to productive use. According to MMT, the point of taxing or borrowing is not to collect revenues to finance government spending (after all the government could ‘print’ all the money it needs).

Don't Look Up: Collective Review

Just as in the film, far too many in America and across the world have demonstrated a homicidal rejection of truth and scientific fact in favor of unquestioning allegiance to a fascistic demagoguery rooted in cultish devotion to Donald Trump, the embrace of white supremacy, and an unwillingness to care for or protect the lives and health of others. The past two years have been the most depressing and distressing of my adult life, chiefly because they have exposed how incredibly selfish, immoral, and ignorant wide swaths of the human population are. Don't Look Up magnifies and lampoons these tendencies, as the human race is unable to band together in collective self-interest to deflect the oncoming comet that at the end of the film, impacts Earth and eliminates all life on the planet.

Truth as a Victim: The challenge of anti-trafficking education in the age of Q

The QAnon conspiracy threatens anti-trafficking education because of its broad dissemination and focus on a range of myths about trafficking. These myths are rooted in historic and ongoing misinformation about abductions, exploitation, and community threats. This article examines the extent of QAnon's co-optation of human trafficking discourses and evaluates its connection to trafficking myths, particularly related to gender, race, class, and agency. From this perspective, the article considers how anti-trafficking education can respond to these myths and build a pedagogy in the age of Q.

COVID-19 and Fake News

DefinitionCOVID-19 can be defined as a global pandemic caused by a coronavirus that first surfaced in 2019. Fake news refers to false reports that can be found in digital media. The combination of these two concepts creates an especially mismanaged situation that can result in widespread unease among the population, to whom the news appears continuously and without quality filters.