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To the point A new replication study reviews and confirms previous research findings on the influence of digital media on democracy. Digital media such as social media, messenger groups or comment columns in online media have a predominantly negative influenc e on political processes. They can encourage populist movements, increase polarization and undermine trust in institutions.

According to a UC3M and CSIC study The Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), in collaboration with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC in the Spanish acronym), has carried out research to evaluate whether political representatives in Spain respond equally to the demands of women and men. The results of the study, which show a gender inequality in the political response to citizens' demands, could have implications both for the design of future public policies and for the debate on gender equality.

A new study by researchers shows that the success of anti-immigration parties in Switzerland's border regions is not due to the effects of migration itself, but rather to their rhetoric. In brief: A new study has investigated the success of anti-immigration parties in Switzerland's border regions following the introduction of the free movement of people in 2004.

Systematic meta-analysis on online misinformation with data from over 11,500 participants in 31 experiments  Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development have identified who is most susceptible to online misinformation and why. Their meta-analysis reveals surprising patterns on how demographic and psychological factors-including age, education, political identity, analytical thinking, and motivated reflection-affect people-s ability to assess the accuracy of information.

A groundbreaking study led by researchers at The University of Manchester has exposed significant gaps in global research on transboundary rivers, revealing that the water needs of people in the Global South are being disproportionately overlooked. Rivers which flow across international borders are essential for the lives of billions of people - they supply drinking water, support agriculture and provide livelihoods.

Artificial intelligence (AI) may be a weapon of mass disinformation, but a recent report has demonstrated that its impact thus far has been limited Voters in nearly 100 countries - including Taiwan, the US and Senegal - went to the polls this year, and AI was often used during the election campaigns.

McGill-led researchers developed a model of the factors that go into citizens' calculations about whether to bribe officials, information that can help authorities fight corruption. Even in countries where corruption is rife, "bribery is situational, and people consider lots of different elements when they are considering whether to give a bribe," explained Aaron Erlich , an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at McGill and one of three co-authors of a recent paper in Comparative Political Studies .

Using South Korea as an example, researchers also find general war experiences may have opposite effect Study: Can a Sense of Shared War Experience Increase Refugee Acceptance? (DOI: 10. Highlighting shared wartime experiences can foster greater acceptance of refugees, according to new research from the University of Michigan.

A comprehensive study conducted by the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, now found that while there is a connection between political orientation and prosociality, it is weaker than previously assumed. It is often assumed that people who hold left-wing political beliefs have stronger prosocial traits and are more altruistic than those who support right-wing parties.

Northerners, Scots and Irish excel at detecting fake accents to guard against outsiders, study suggests People from Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin and the north-east of England are better at detecting someone imitating their accent than people from London and Essex, new research has found. Cultural, political, or even violent conflict are likely to encourage people to strengthen their accents as they try to maintain social cohesion Jonathan Goodman People from Belfast proved most able to detect someone faking their accent, while people from London, Essex and Bristol were least accurate.

In western Germany, approval of xenophobic statements has increased significantly, bringing it closer to attitudes in the east. In the eastern German states, satisfaction with democracy as it is practised in Germany is at its lowest level since 2006. These are the key findings of the Leipzig Authoritarianism Study 2024, which was presented today (13 November) at the Federal Press Conference in Berlin under the title "United in Resentment" by Oliver Decker and Elmar Brähler from the Competence Center for Right-Wing Extremism and Democracy Research at Leipzig University.

By comparing data from three experiments in the UK and the Netherlands, PhD researcher Yi Sheng and her co-authors found that when ethnic issues are more salient - often triggered by major social events - majority group tends to act more kindly toward individuals from minority groups. Yi: "The research showed that after events that brought high salience to ethnic issues - such as the rise of the worldwide #BlackLivesMatter movement - people with majority background were more likely to treat individuals from ethnic minority groups with greater kindness.

The right to vote is an important part of a democracy. But not everyone makes use of it. A researcher at the University of Basel has investigated the possible causes of this.

A new study by Yale political scientist Josh Kalla shows that experts performed little better than chance in identifying effective political messaging. Political campaigns spend big bucks hiring consultants to craft persuasive messaging, but a new study coauthored by Yale political scientist Joshua L. Kalla demonstrates that political professionals perform no better than laypeople in predicting which messages will sway voters.

The state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg have caused political upheaval due to the AfD's results. Exploratory talks on the future formation of a government are still ongoing. An interdisciplinary study as part of the Volkswagen Foundation's NurtureDEMOS project at the University of Trier and the Centre for Research on Right-Wing Extremism, Democracy Education and Social Integration (KomRex) at the University of Jena has recorded and analyzed attitudes and voting behaviour in the states in the run-up to the state elections.

The new study also identifies factors that can make these efforts more successful. When an election result is disputed, people who are skeptical about the outcome may be swayed by figures of authority who come down on one side or the other. Those figures can be independent monitors, political figures, or news organizations.

How does the increasingly heated public discourse on feminist and LGBTIQ+ issues affect individuals and communities in everyday life? What difficulties do they face in Germany and how do they confront them? The Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts investigated these questions as part of the European Horizon project RESIST.

Protected areas have historically been created to preserve biodiversity, but they are not immune to political decisions. Using the United States as an example, and relying on data from 2001 to 2018, researchers from INRAE, the Institut Agro Montpellier, Duke University and WWF have demonstrated that a shift to a Republican majority in state government increases the risk of reducing or downgrading protected areas.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have been working with researchers from Ukraine and Germany to investigate how to rebuild Ukraine's destroyed energy infrastructure based on renewable energy. They have determined that solar and wind energy would quickly deliver a distributed power supply system and prevent corruption.

Migration can have different causes such as military conflicts or poverty. However, there is hardly any research to date on whether international sanctions influence the decision to leave one's homeland or not. Researchers at the University of Hamburg and Trier University have now published the first statistical analysis on sanction-driven emigration in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization.