This book examines the ‘European refugee crisis’, offering an in-depth comparative analysis of how public attitudes towards refugees and humanitarian dispositions are shaped by political news coverage.An international team of authors address the role of the media in contesting solidarity towards refugees from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Focusing on the public sphere, the book follows the assumption that solidarity is a social value, political concept and legal principle...

Over the past year, international and national media have been full of stories about protest movements and tumultuous social upheaval from Tunisia to California. But scholars have not yet fully addressed the connection between these movements and the media and communication channels through which their messages spread. Correcting that imbalance, Mediation and Protest Movements explores the nature of the relationship between protest movements, media representation, and communication strateg...

This pioneering volume is devoted to the analysis of education from the perspective of political science, applying the full range of the discipline’s analytical perspectives and methodological tools.The contributions demonstrate how education policy can be explored systematically from a variety of political science perspectives: comparative politics, public policy analysis and public administration, international relations, and political theory. By applying a governance perspective...

This open access textbook provides an introduction to theories, concepts and methodological approaches concerning various facets of migration and migration-related diversities. It starts with an introduction to migration studies and continues with an introductory reading of migration drivers, migration infrastructures, migration flows, and several transversal topics such as gender and migration. It also covers politics, policies and governance as well as specific research methods.A...

Media, Democracy and European Culture presents some of the most recent, cutting edge research on Europe, from social, political and cultural perspectives, equally focusing on each dimension of democracy in Europe. The role of the media, communication policy and the question of how the media report on Europe runs as a thread through all contributions. The book is interdisciplinary and international. It brings together researchers from many countries and from humanities, social sciences and ...

Ideal for students and practitioners working in spatial planning, the Europeanization of planning agendas and regional policy in general Spatial Planning Systems and Practices in Europe develops a systematic methodological framework to analyze changes in planning systems throughout Europe. The main aim of the book is to delineate the coexistence of continuity and change and of convergence and divergence with regard to planning practices across Europe.Based on the work of e...

This open access collection is devoted to an in-depth, qualitative analysis of practices of cross-national solidarity in response to the current political and social crises, from citizens’ initiatives to networks of cooperation among civil society actors.The book analyses existing informal groups at the grassroots, furthering transnational solidarity in three thematic areas: disability, unemployment and immigration. Contributions assess how civic groups respond to the various crise...

Why do politicians and civil servants commission research and what use do they make of it in policymaking? The received wisdom is that research contributes to improving government policy. Christina Boswell challenges this view, arguing that policymakers are just as likely to value expert knowledge for two alternative reasons: as a way of lending authority to their preferences; or to signal their capacity to make sound decisions. Boswell develops a compelling new theory of the role of knowl...

The explosion of transnational information flows, made possible by new technologies and institutional changes (economic, political and legal) has profoundly affected the study of global media. At the same time, the globalization of media combined with the globalization of higher education means that the research and teaching of the subject faces immediate and profound challenges, not only as the subject of enquiry but also as the means by which researchers and students undertake their stud...

Globalization, Development and the Mass Media gives a comprehensive and critical account of the theoretical changes in communication studies from the early theories of development communication through to the contemporary critiques of globalization.It examines two main currents of thought. Firstly, the ways in which the media can be used to effect change and development. It traces the evolution of thinking from attempts to spread ′modernity′ by way of using the med...

This edited volume advances existing research on the production and use of expert knowledge by international bureaucracies. Given the complexity, technicality and apparent apolitical character of the issues dealt with in global governance arenas, ‘evidence-based’ policy-making has imposed itself as the best way to evaluate the risks and consequences of political action in global arenas. In the absence of alternative, democratic modes of legitimation, international organizations have adopte...

At the beginning of the 21st century, it hardly goes uncontested anymore that media organisations play an important role in democracy. The main questions have now become whether the contemporary media conjuncture offers enough to our democracies, how their democratic investment can be deepened and how our communication rights can be expande. This book aims to look at four thematic areas that structure the opportunities for democratising (media) democracy. A first section is devoted to citi...