https://phys.org/science-news/political-science/ en-us The latest news on political science In recent years, many observers have noted parallels between the current international environment and the 1930s, including rising geopolitical tensions, political polarization, trade conflicts, and regional wars. This raised a broader question: How do changes in the international environment reshape domestic political landscapes? https://phys.org/news/2026-04-impact-sanctioned-elites-authoritarian.html Political science Fri, 17 Apr 2026 19:20:01 EDT news695646629 For the first time, a study has shown a direct link between political violence and violence against children, adolescents and young adults perpetrated by family members, acquaintances and peer groups. The findings are based on surveys of over 35,000 young people in nine African countries. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-guns-fall-silent-violence-children.html Social Sciences Fri, 17 Apr 2026 12:00:01 EDT news695645821 Asian immigrants are both the fastest-growing and highest-earning immigrant ethnic group in the United States, facts that have caught the attention of many economists interested in how these groups—whether investors or residents—impact housing prices, K-12 education, and other important aspects of community life. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-community-effects-asian-immigrants-housing.html Economics & Business Fri, 17 Apr 2026 08:00:03 EDT news695625961 Popular AI chatbots such as ChatGPT and Gemini are not neutral and tend to favor certain political parties when asked who users should vote for. This makes them unsuitable for providing advice in connection with elections, according to researchers from the University of Copenhagen behind a new analysis of political bias in chatbots. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-chatbots-political-bias-voters-parties.html Political science Thu, 16 Apr 2026 18:40:06 EDT news695572769 A major new U.K. study of 12- to 17-year-olds finds that, while most adolescents say they would vote and are interested in politics, their willingness to engage is linked to their anxiety about the future, low trust in political parties, and limited confidence that political institutions will listen to them. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-year-olds-engage-democracy-anxious.html Social Sciences Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:20:01 EDT news695557861 Individuals with high intellectual ability frequently occupy leadership roles across business, science, and politics. To date, it has not been definitively established whether a high intelligence quotient correlates with specific political orientations. However, recent research reveals a significant gender-specific distinction: Intellectually gifted men tend to be less conservative than men of average intellectual ability. The study, authored by Maximilian Krolo and Jörn Sparfeldt, is published in the journal Intelligence. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-gifted-men-conservatism-average-intelligence.html Social Sciences Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:00:02 EDT news695557382 Dr. Ruben Ruiz Rufino found that communities with clusters of workers in labor-intensive sectors consistently showed higher levels of support for radical-right movements than areas dominated by knowledge-based industries. The study, published in the journal Political Studies, sought to examine how local economic environments shape political attitudes across Europe. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-industry-geography-play-role-radical.html Political science Thu, 16 Apr 2026 10:20:01 EDT news695551622 In a new study, researchers introduce the dual threat model of antisemitism, which highlights the central role of perceived Jewish power in fueling antisemitism, and they discuss its implications for interventions aimed at curbing antisemitism. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-antisemitism-framework-interventions.html Social Sciences Tue, 14 Apr 2026 07:20:01 EDT news695366402 For decades, the study of British politics has been defined by an extreme negativity bias, focusing almost exclusively on policy blunders, failures, fiascos, disasters, and crises. Although this criticality is crucial to academic analysis, it does create the risk that successful policies might be overlooked or ignored that, in turn, risks producing a skewed account of how the U.K. is actually governed. Even if most policies fail (which they don't) the analysis of those rare policies that achieved their objectives would provide valuable insights as to the combination of factors that facilitated success. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-blunders-british-political-successful-policy.html Political science Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:20:08 EDT news695303102 The number of deportations within the United States increased by a factor of five in the first year under the current presidential administration, according to a new report by the Deportation Data Project. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-deportations-street-risen-exponentially.html Political science Mon, 13 Apr 2026 10:00:01 EDT news695292242 Generation Z men are less likely to vote for left-wing parties than women, and their political preferences can be linked to their sexist attitudes, a large-scale study has found. Research on 15,122 people in the UK and 23 other European countries found that politics is "increasingly a battle of the sexes, at a time of public concern about Generation Z men's involvement in online manosphere communities." https://phys.org/news/2026-04-sexist-attitudes-account-gen-gender.html Social Sciences Thu, 09 Apr 2026 21:20:02 EDT news694946573 From refusing to doff hats in court to resisting hat-snatching highway robbers, England's relationship with hats goes far deeper than fashion, new research shows. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-hat-wars-early-modern-england.html Social Sciences Thu, 09 Apr 2026 19:00:05 EDT news694950931 New research from the University of Bath reveals that online influencers can mobilize followers and legitimize harmful behaviors without ever issuing explicit instructions, offering fresh insight into how digital platforms shape public attitudes, emotions and decision-making. The researchers found that far-right influencer Tommy Robinson (whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) used his Telegram channel to comment on ongoing events and legitimize violence during the anti-immigration protests and riots of 30 July to 7 August 2024 without ever giving direct instructions, allowing him to maintain plausible deniability. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-tommy-robinson-social-media-reveals.html Social Sciences Thu, 09 Apr 2026 15:00:06 EDT news694954982 Dropping out of high school has been linked to higher rates of delinquency and lower socioeconomic status, but thinking of high school dropouts collectively, as one group, is a flawed belief that could be affecting interventions. The paper is published in the journal Emerging Adulthood. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-rethinks-dropout-crime.html Education Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:40:05 EDT news694954622 Online comments can shape how social media content about politics is perceived, even when people's opinions are hard to change, a new study shows. The new research suggests that while attitudes may be stable, the way people interpret political messages can still shift depending on the surrounding conversation online. Engaging with problematic content can make a difference. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-online-comments-political-social-media.html Social Sciences Wed, 08 Apr 2026 20:00:03 EDT news694860464 An Iran-linked hacktivist group recently claimed to have hacked into the private emails of Kash Patel, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, posting photos and documents online. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-hacks-doxxing-deepfakes-overexposed-society.html Political science Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:10:01 EDT news694857481 Differences of opinion on climate change among the Dutch have not increased over the past 40 years; in fact, they have decreased, according to a study conducted by sociologists Anuschka Peelen and Jochem Tolsma of Radboud University. The researchers also found no evidence that groups of Dutch people with different educational backgrounds are drifting further apart in their views on climate change. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-climate-polarize-opinions-fact-agreement.html Social Sciences Tue, 07 Apr 2026 21:50:01 EDT news694778258 Disinformation communicated by and on behalf of foreign powers is now part and parcel of digital statecraft in the information age, an expert from Cardiff University has said. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-disinformation-eradicate-global-expert.html Economics & Business Tue, 07 Apr 2026 20:10:01 EDT news694773781 In just a few years, generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) has brought about significant changes in many industries, from health care to education, entertainment to finance, and even law. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ai-shouldnt-simple-court-cases.html Political science Tue, 07 Apr 2026 12:50:02 EDT news694784521 If you've poured your heart out on social media about a political issue, it might have felt cathartic—but likely was not persuasive, Cornell research finds. Americans are skeptical of emotional comments they see in their news and social media feeds, political scientist Talbot Andrews and co-authors report in a new monograph, "Emotions on Our Screens," part of the Cambridge Elements in Politics and Communication series. Over six experiments involving nearly 6,400 participants, viewers questioned the sincerity of fear or sadness people expressed about climate change in simulated news reports, text messages and TikTok posts. Such comments were rated as less authentic and appropriate than more neutral ones—even when the observer agreed politically with the speaker. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-skeptical-emotions-screens.html Social Sciences Tue, 07 Apr 2026 10:10:06 EDT news694774381 When a natural disaster strikes a Latin American community, the damage doesn't stop at downed power lines and flooded streets. A new study finds that disasters trigger a 69% spike in public protests in affected districts, a social fallout that emergency planners rarely account for and that current disaster response systems are not designed to address. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-natural-disasters-trigger-surge-protests.html Social Sciences Tue, 07 Apr 2026 08:00:02 EDT news694672241 As governments worldwide explore how artificial intelligence can transform decision-making, a recent study from Sultan Qaboos University demonstrates how AI can uncover hidden connections within legal systems—offering a powerful tool to support smarter lawmaking. Published in The Journal of Engineering Research, the study applies natural language processing (NLP) and network analysis to Oman's Labor Law of 2023, revealing a complex web of interdependencies between its articles that may not be apparent through conventional legal review. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ai-reveals-hidden-legal.html Political science Mon, 06 Apr 2026 13:00:02 EDT news694698662 A major new study suggests people's direct experience with artificial intelligence has little impact on their views about its role in government decision-making—while factual information about the technology can significantly shift public opinion. Professor Yotam Margalit (King's College London) and Dr. Shir Raviv (Tel Aviv University) tracked the attitudes of more than 1,500 workers in a controlled experiment designed to mimic real-world interactions with AI systems. The work is published in the British Journal of Political Science. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-opportunity-ai.html Political science Sun, 05 Apr 2026 16:30:01 EDT news694347602 A new Rice University study offers one of the first national measures of a viewpoint called "racial realism" and considers how it fits into the broader spectrum of perspectives Black Americans hold about race relations. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-diversity-black-perspectives.html Political science Fri, 03 Apr 2026 13:10:54 EDT news694440633 Conventional weapons are generally presented as controllable, proportionate and morally acceptable, unlike weapons of mass destruction. It is this assumption that is challenged by research conducted by Julien Pomarède at the Centre for the Study of War and Violence at the University of Liège, based on American and French military archives. The findings demonstrate that the massive levels of devastation observed throughout the 20th century, and still today, did not occur in spite of the rationality that defines the use of these weapons, but because of it. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-conventional-weapons-mass-violence.html Political science Thu, 02 Apr 2026 15:20:04 EDT news694361761 Governments cutting hundreds of millions of euros in pandemic funding, just a few years after a pandemic. Billions spent on compensation after a flood, rather than on prevention beforehand. Governments find it difficult to deal effectively with major, but not acute, risks. Why is this such a challenge? This was researched by Bas Heerma van Voss, who will be defending his Ph.D. thesis at Radboud University on April 13. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-beware-hard-invest.html Economics & Business Thu, 02 Apr 2026 06:00:01 EDT news694251976 The dark web is sometimes seen as a shadowy part of the internet, but it also has legitimate uses, including accessing censored information and sharing files securely. Its anonymity and privacy features, however, can make it appealing to those drawn to riskier or illicit online activity. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-dark-web-users-traits-involved.html Social Sciences Wed, 01 Apr 2026 18:40:04 EDT news694258411 Politics are rife with emotions. But new research from the University of Georgia suggests emotions alone may not determine whether people are satisfied with democracy. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-good-democracy.html Political science Tue, 31 Mar 2026 16:10:01 EDT news694183297 The brain? It has a flexible social perception. In interactions with people from different ethnic groups, it tends to respond more inclusively when a shared national identity is made salient. A study, by the University of Trento, Italy, and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, sheds light on the underlying neural mechanisms. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-cohesion-diverse-societies-brain-scans.html Social Sciences Tue, 31 Mar 2026 14:20:02 EDT news694174720 As the UK entered COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020, security services and counterterrorism officials warned of a new threat forming in young people's bedrooms. Superintendent Matthew Davison, head of Prevent North-East, cautioned that extremists were deliberately targeting isolated young people online, while Detective Superintendent Jim Hall in Wales warned of rising exposure to radicalizing material on social media. The narrative was compelling: a generation of bored and frustrated young people across the United Kingdom cut off from schools, colleges and universities, isolated from friends and routines, spending unprecedented hours of screen time online, rendering them susceptible to recruitment by far-right and Islamist propagandists. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-covid-pandemic-nudged-young-people.html Social Sciences Tue, 31 Mar 2026 14:10:01 EDT news694174969