Leon V. Sigal

Bio: Leon V. Sigal is an academic researcher from University of Vermont. The author has contributed to research in topics: Politics & No first use. The author has an hindex of 8, co-authored 19 publications receiving 982 citations.

Disarming Strangers: Nuclear Diplomacy with North Korea

Abstract: In June 1994, the USA went to the brink of war with North Korea. Withj economic sanctions impending, President Clinton approved the dispatch of substantial reinforcements to Korea and plans were made for attacking the North's nuclear weapons complex. The turning point came in an extraordinary private diplomatic initiative by former President Carter and others to reverse the dangerous American course and open the way to a diplomatic settlement of the nuclear crisis. Few Americans know the full details or realize the devastating impact such an event could have had on the US's post-Cold War foreign policy. This book offers an inside look at how the crisis originated, escalated and was diffused. It begins by exploring a web of intelligence failures by the US and intransigence within South Korea and the International Atomic Energy Agency, paying particular attention throughout to an American mindset that prefers coercion to co-operation in dealing with aggressive nations. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with policy-makers from the countries involved, the author discloses the details of the buildup to confrontation, American refusal to engage in diplomatic give-and-take, the Carter mission and the diplomatic deal of October 1994.

Comparing Media Systems: three models of media and politics

Abstract: This book proposes a framework for comparative analysis of the relation between the media and the political system Building on a survey of media institutions in eighteen West European and North American democracies, Hallin and Mancini identify the principal dimensions of variation in media systems and the political variables that have shaped their evolution They go on to identify three major models of media system development, the Polarized Pluralist, Democratic Corporatist, and Liberal models; to explain why the media have played a different role in politics in each of these systems; and to explore the force of change that are currently transforming them It provides a key theoretical statement about the relation between media and political systems, a key statement about the methodology of comparative analysis in political communication, and a clear overview of the variety of media institutions that have developed in the West, understood within their political and historical context

Mediating the Message: Theories of Influences on Mass Media Content

Abstract: Studying influences on media content beyond processes and effects analyzing media content patterns of media content influences on content from individual media workers influence of media routines organizational influences on content influences on content from outside of media organizations the influence of ideology linking influences on content to the effects of content building a theory of news content.

Comparing Media Systems

Abstract: In this chapter we propose a framework for comparing media systems. We propose, specifically, four major dimensions according to which media systems in Western Europe and North America can usefully be compared: (1) the development of media markets, with particular emphasis on the strong or weak development of a mass circulation press; (2) political parallelism; that is, the degree and nature of the links between the media and political parties or, more broadly, the extent to which the media system reflects the major political divisions in society; (3) the development of journalistic professionalism; and (4) the degree and nature of state intervention in the media system. Note that each of these can be seen in some sense as a single, quantitative dimension. That is, we can speak about high or low levels of press circulation, political parallelism, journalistic professionalism, or state intervention. But we shall also see that each of these dimensions is complex and that many more subtle qualitative distinctions become important as we begin to analyze concrete media systems. In many cases we will also introduce related, minor dimensions along which media systems may vary. Ours is not, of course, the first attempt to set forth a framework of this sort. We have tried to build on previous work, refining it based on our attempt to make sense of the patterns of difference and similarity we have found among the countries covered here, and to link these patterns to the social and political context in which they evolved.

Alliance Formation and the Balance of World Power

Abstract: The question \"what causes alignment?\" is a central issue in debates on American foreign policy, and the choices that are made often turn on which hypotheses of alliance formation are endorsed. In general, those who believe that American security is fragile most often assume that Soviet allies are reliable and America's are prone to defect, while those who believe it is robust tend to view American allies as stronger and more reliable than those of the U.S.S.R. These divergent beliefs clash over a variety of specific issues. For example, should the U.S. increase its commitment to NATO, to prevent the growth of Soviet military power from leading to the \"Finlandization\" of Europe? Alternatively, should the U.S. do less in the expectation that its allies will do more? Should the U.S. oppose leftist regimes in the developing world because their domestic ideology will lead them to ally with the Soviet Union, or can a policy of accommodating radical nationalist regimes lead to good relations with them? Can Soviet or American military aid create reliable proxies in the Third World? Is it worth the effort and expense? Each of these questions carries important implications for American national security policy, and the answers ultimately turn upon which hypotheses of alliance formation are believed to be most valid. Despite the obvious importance of understanding how states select their partners, most scholarly research on alliances has ignored or obscured these questions.' This article is intended to, correct these omissions by outlining

Agenda-setting Effects of Business News on the Public's Images and Opinions about Major Corporations

Abstract: Although the agenda-setting effects of the news media on people's attention to, comprehension of, and opinions about topics in the news primarily have been studied in political communication settings, the central theoretical idea — the transfer of salience from the media agenda to the public agenda — fits equally well in the world of business communication. In the case of corporate reputations, only the operational definitions of the objects and attributes on these agendas are changed here to frame five key theoretical propositions about the influence of news coverage on corporate reputations among the public. This presentation of five basic propositions about first and second-level agenda setting effects as well as intermedia agenda-setting effects offers a theoretical roadmap for systematic empirical research into the influence of the mass media on corporate reputations.