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This essay addresses the relationship between communication, public opinion, and democracy, which is evident in Athenian democracy. It briefly considers the complexity of the concept of public opinion, and how it was understood as a political phenomenon accepted in general thinking and political action, as a consequence of the democratic dynamism originated by the printing press. After briefly considering some of the most relevant ideas about this relationship throughout the 19th century, this essay discusses the main attitudes that emerged in the face of public opinion after the First World War, from which the most relevant theories about the effects of media on opinion, behaviours, and action begun to be developed. The study takes into account the development of an empirical science of public opinion, linked to scientific opinion surveys. It summarises how the investigation of the effects of the media goes through a stage in which they are considered irrelevant, until some studies – especially the theories of agenda setting and the spiral of silence– recovered the idea of the powerful effects of the media. Finally, the essay addresses the new challenges posed by the disenchantment with democracy, the loss of credibility of the media, and the way of understanding communication, at a time in which digital technology has facilitated the creation of social media, causing a situation described as the post-truth era, in which the global need for information becomes more evident. The new challenges affect the political science, research on public opinion, and the science of communication, which requires a foundation of greater consistency than the current one.

The Arab Spring demonstrated that public opinion can powerfully affect the region's political life. Tunisia is particularly important in this regard; it is the Arab country where democracy has taken firmest root and is therefore of enormous geopolitical significance insofar as it can serve as a model for other countries in the region. This article assesses the state of Tunisian democracy using data from a 2015 survey of 1580 Tunisian adults. It finds that most of the country's citizens are ambivalent or skeptical about the Arab Spring's benefits, while support for freedom of speech has weakened in recent years. A multivariate analysis assesses the impact of socio-demographic factors and support for women's rights (key to the entrenchment of democracy in Tunisia) on democratic attitudes. It is concluded that, while Tunisia's political record to date provides grounds for cautiously forecasting that democracy will endure, its path is unlikely to be easy.

Based on Tajikistan's experience, this article examines the evolution of views, values, and preferences of the population of the Central Asian (CA) countries that support the sustainability of their political regimes. Based on public opinion poll results, this article presents the population's preferences regarding the political system, sheds light on its attitude toward state power and its institutions, and gives assessments of the current regime and efficiency of different forms of citizen engagement. It also looks at the ways citizens participate in state governance and how effectively value judgments are being implemented. The paper shows that despite the differences in the traditional social institutions of the CA states, as well as in the development paths they have chosen, they are all evolving according to the neopatrimonialism model. However, the evolution of political views in the CA societies shows that democratic values and preferences continue to occupy an important place in the mass consciousness. From this it follows that the government's necessitated support of certain elements of democracy is generated not only by its desire to create a façade or its willingness to make concessions to foreign donors and the international community, but also by social pressure. At the same time, the population's political views and preferences are contradictory and fragmented. They form the base for mass support of democracy, on the one hand, and for social consensus regarding restrictions of citizen rights and recognition of the privileges of heads of state, including patrimonial supremacy, on the other.

Interviews with political party officials & journalists, supplemented by content analysis of election poll stories, are drawn on to discusses opinion polling in Ghana's emerging democracy. Focus is on the surveying of public opinion in a political climate in transition from long historical experience of authoritarianism & dictatorship, including a period of a "culture of silence." An examination of local newspaper polls during the 1996 presidential & parliamentary elections characterizes them as unscientific & inaccurate. Technical details about surveys were sketchy, suggesting lack of poll reporting knowledge among journalists. These problems must be addressed to strengthen the role of political polling & journalistic reporting of poll results in Ghana's new democracy. Adequate responses to these challenges would, it is proposed, contribute to a scientific & objective assessment of issues in political decision making, including measuring voter support for political parties & candidates. 4 Tables, 36 References. Adapted from the source document.

Introduction.--Approaches to the world outside.--Stereotypes.--Interests.--The making of a common will.--The image of democracy.--Newspapers.--Organized intelligence. ; Mode of access: Internet.

Introduction -- Approaches to the world outside -- Stereotypes -- Interests -- The making of a common will -- The image of democracy -- Newspapers -- Organized intelligence. ; Mode of access: Internet.

"Reprinted . February 1947." ; Introduction.--Approaches to the world outside.--Stereotypes.--Interests.--The making of a common will.--The image of democracy.--Newspapers.--Organized intelligence. ; Mode of access: Internet.

Introduction.--Approaches to the world outside.--Stereotypes.--Interests.--The making of a common will.--The image of democracy.--Newspapers.--Organized intelligence. ; Mode of access: Internet.

This work try to show the history of public opinion in five stages ranging from its presentation in the XVIII with the Enlightenment to its new configuration with our social media, through the institution of public opinion in the liberal press of the nineteenth century, the issues of manipulation of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and its status as a place of democracy in the second half of the twentieth. ; Se recorre la historia de la noción de opinión pública en cinco etapas que van desde su presentación en el XVIII con la Ilustración a los nuevos modos de los social media, pasando por la institución de la opinión pública en la prensa liberal del XIX, las cuestiones de la manipulación de finales del XIX y principios del XX y su condición de lugar de la democracia en la segunda mitad del XX.