Digital Commons Network^™

Climbing The Adaptation Planning Ladder: Barriers And Enablers In Municipal Planning, Elisabeth M. Hamin, Nicole Gurran

Elisabeth M. Hamin

Local municipal governments have a crucial role in helping communities adapt to climate change. Recognizing different levels of climate preparedness, this chapter analyzes what steps communities tend to follow when they move forward on climate adaptation, including prerequisites for planning and the selection of policies. Drawing on content analyses of local climate adaptation plans from the United States (US) and Australia, as well as interviews with municipal planners in both nations, the chapter explores the adaptation policy choices communities are making and explains the range of strategies local governments have used to move forward on a ‘ladder’ of climate adaptation, …

Youth Participation In Changing Food Systems: Toward Food Justice Youth Development, Krista Harper, Catherine Sands, Diego Angarita, Molly Totman

Krista M. Harper

We present results from a youth participatory action research (YPAR) project in which young people from Holyoke studied the school food system in order to make positive interventions in their school district. We used the Photovoice research method, placing cameras in the hands of youth so that they themselves could document and discuss their concerns and perspectives (Wang, et al., 1996). The research was designed to gain insight about the students’ knowledge of food, nutrition, and community food systems. The research also illuminated students’ impressions of public policy, active citizenship, and community building that have arisen out of food justice …

Reinstitutionalizing Families: Life Course Policy And Marriage In The Military, Jennifer H. Lundquist, Zhun Xu

Dr. Jennifer H. Lundquist

The transition to adulthood has become an increasingly telescoped process for Americans with marital formation occurring increasingly later in the life course. It is therefore striking to find a context like the U.S. military where marriage rates bear an anachronistic resemblance to those of the 1950s era. Using narrative data from life history interviews with military affiliates collected as part of a larger study on the impact of institutions on families, we show that the military has reinstitutionalized military families at the same time that civilian families are becoming deinstitutionalized. Structural conditions of modern military service, such as war deployment …

On The Effects Of E-Government On Political Institutions, Jane E. Fountain

Jane E. Fountain

Research on e-government typically focuses on disruptive technologies and their presumed transformational effects on government. Yet the Internet and associated technologies are more than two decades old, and even cursory observation demonstrates that institutional change in government is often painstakingly slow. To theorize longer term developments in e-government, an institutional perspective on e-government is sketched and illustrated in this chapter. An institutional approach invites one to examine interactions among people, technologies and structures over time and in political environments characterized in part by conflict over ideas, rights and resources to uncover mechanisms that contribute to stability and change.

To extend …

Good Intentions, Limited Impact: The Technical Assistance For Student Assignment Plans Program, Kathryn A. Mcdermott, Elizabeth Debray, Erica Frankenberg, Anna Fung-Morley, Ann E. Blankenship

Kathryn A. McDermott

In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (PICS), invalidated the student assignment policies of Seattle, Washington and Jefferson County, Kentucky. The Court ruled that the government has a compelling interest to promote diversity, while simultaneously arguing that racial balance and diversity should be considered different and separate goals. Thus, the PICS decision sent mixed messages to school districts across the country. To help school districts navigate the legally uncertain environment, the federal government created a small, one-time competitive grant called the Technical Assistance for Student Assignment Plan (TASAP) grant. …

Do Black-White Racial Disparities In Breastfeeding Persist In The Military Community?, Jennifer H. Lundquist, Zhun Xu, Wanda Barfield, Irma Elo

Dr. Jennifer H. Lundquist

Objective: We conduct a comparative analysis of breastfeeding behavior between military and civilian-affiliated mothers. Our focus is on African American mothers among whom breastfeeding rates are lowest. The military context may mitigate conditions associated with low breastfeeding prevalence by a) providing stable employment and educational opportunities to populations who face an otherwise poor labor market and b) providing universal healthcare that includes breastfeeding consultation. Methods: Using Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data for which we received special permission from each state to flag military affiliation, we analyze civilians and military affiliate in breastfeeding initiation using logistic regression and breastfeeding …

Heritage Interpretation As Public Discourse: Towards A New Paradigm, Neil A. Silberman

Neil A. Silberman

No abstract provided.

Gpra Modernization Act Of 2010: Examining Constraints To, And Providing Tools For, Cross-Agency Collaboration, Jane E. Fountain

Jane E. Fountain

Cross-agency collaboration is widely viewed as a powerful means for government reform and performance improvement. Greater coordination across agencies offers the potential for the Federal government to address complex policy challenges that lie inherently across agency boundaries and jurisdictions. Further, cross-agency initiatives promise a means to increase efficiency, effectiveness and accountability by reducing overlap, redundancy and fragmentation. To further these ends, the Government Performance and Results Act Modernization Act of 2010 requires the Executive branch and federal agencies to develop cross-agency performance goals and specifies directives toward their advancement, use, review and measurement.

Several lines of research examine governance across …

Enhancing Information Services Through Public-Private Partnerships: Information Technology Knowledge Transfer Underlying Structures To Develop Shared Services In The U.S. And Korea, Jane E. Fountain, Seok-Jin Eom

Jane E. Fountain

What are e-government success factors for using public-private partnerships to enhance learning and capacity development? To examine this question, the authors developed a comparative case analysis of the development of the Business Reference Model (BRM), a national-level e-government initiative to promote shared information services, in the U.S. federal government and the Korean central government. The results indicate institutional arrangements deeply affect the outcomes of knowledge transfer. The study shows that private sector partners in both countries played various roles as “brokers” of information technology (IT) knowledge between government and the private sector by: raising awareness of the necessity of the …

Introduction To Geographic Science Using Arcgis V10, Bethany Bradley, Charles M. Schweik

Charles M. Schweik

This is a lab exercise manual with extra supplemental exercises for use in an introductory course in GIS for students in environmental conservation programs or studying public policy public administration. The emphasis is on environmental management/analysis-related applications. Lab exercises require the ESRI ArcGIS v10 software. Data for all labs and exercises are available on this site as supplementary material in .zip format.

"The Best Years Of Our Lives”: Military Service And Family Relationships – A Life Course Perspective, Daniel Burland, Jennifer H. Lundquist

Dr. Jennifer H. Lundquist

All lives of military personnel and veterans are linked to other lives, but as Burland and Lundquist’s Chapter 8 (in this volume) indicates, this social reality is shown primarily by studies of military families within the relatively short period of the soldiers’ military service. The active-duty service member’s enlistment, departure for basic training, and deployment overseas, when that occurs, are documented by military records, and perhaps by fi eld surveys. By contrast, longitudinal studies of veterans, frequently over many years, have tended to focus on the individual veteran to the exclusion of significant others, family members, and friends. This limitation …

Discourses Of Development: Narratives Of Cultural Heritage As An Economic Resource, Neil A. Silberman

Neil A. Silberman

No abstract provided.

Heritage Interpretation And Human Rights: Documenting Diversity, Expressing Identity, Or Establishing Universal Principles?, Neil A. Silberman

Neil A. Silberman

No abstract provided.

Rewriting The Balkans: Memory, Historiography, And The Making Of A European Citizenry, Dana N. Johnson

Dana N. Johnson

This thesis explores the work of historians, history teachers, and NGO employees engaged in regional initiatives to mitigate the influence of enduring ethnocentric national histories in the Balkans. In conducting an ethnography of the development and dissemination of such initiatives, I queried how conflict and controversy are negotiated in developing alternative educational materials, how “multiperspectivity” is understood as a pedagogical approach and a tool of reconciliation, and how the interests of civil society intersect with those of the state and supranational actors. My research sought to interrogate the field of power in which such attempts to innovate history education occur, …

Visual Interventions And The “Crises In Representation” In Environmental Anthropology: Researching Environmental Justice In A Hungarian Romani Neighborhood, Krista Harper

Krista M. Harper

Participatory visual research, or "visual interventions" (Pink 2007) allow environmental anthropologists to respond to three different “crises of representation”: 1) the critique of ethnographic representation presented by postmodern, postcolonial, and feminist anthropologists, 2) the constructivist critique of nature and the environment, and 3) the “environmental justice” critique demanding representation for the environmental concerns of communities of color. Participatory visual research integrates community members in the process of staking out a research agenda, conducting fieldwork and interpreting data, and communicating and applying research findings. Our project used the Photovoice methodology to generate knowledge and documentation related to environment injustices faced by …

The Influence Of Industry Mix On Regional New Firm Entry, Henry C. Renski

Henry C Renski

Per capita rates of entry are commonly used to measure regional entrepreneurial climate. Yet entry rates vary widely by industry and tend to mirror existing regional specializations. Without controlling for industry mix, factors associated with regional differences in entry may describe the industry base rather than entrepreneurial climate. This study finds that while industry mix explains a potentially large portion regional variation in entry, it does not radically alter the relative standing of the most highly ranked regions. Most of the factors commonly associated with the regional entrepreneurial climate remain significant after purging the data of industry mix effects. However, …

The Changing Politics Of Diversity: Lessons From A Federal Technical Assistance Grant, Erica Frankenberg, Kathryn A. Mcdermott, Elizabeth Debray, Ann Blankenship

Kathryn A. McDermott

This paper begins with background information on the federal grant program, and on the scholarship that has informed our research. We then provide brief sketches of the eleven grantee districts and how they have used their federal funds. Our analysis focuses on how the school districts defined diversity, and how local politics were shaped by national factors like the economic recession. These policies fundamentally affect the distribution of educational and social opportunity within communities, and, in fact, may be even more subject to local variation and political dynamics than were earlier federal diversity efforts. We conclude that existing ambiguity about …

Lessons From A Federal Grant For School Diversity: Tracing A Theory Of Change And Implementation Of Local Policies, Elizabeth Debray, Kathryn A. Mcdermott, Erica Frankenberg, Ann Blankenship

Kathryn A. McDermott

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Education made grants to eleven school districts under the Technical Assistance for Student Assignment Plans (TASAP) program. The impetus for the program came mainly from the Council of Great City Schools, which was concerned that school districts would respond to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Parents Involved in Community Schools decision by dismantling policies intended to maintain diverse school enrollments. In this paper, we use data from interviews with federal and local participants to identify the theory of change behind TASAP and to determine the local effects of TASAP. The federal government’s intentions for the …

San Diego Unified Public Schools Tasap Report Progress Report And Next Steps, April 4, 2011

Kathryn A. McDermott

This is a progress report from SDUSD on their TASAP project. It was the latest one we received in our FOIA request.

Heritage Interpretation And Human Rights: Documenting Diversity, Expressing Identity, Or Establishing Universal Principles?, Neil A. Silberman

Neil A. Silberman

No abstract provided.

The Dynamic Lives And Static Institutions Of The "Two Armies:" Data From The 1999 Survey Of Active Duty Personnel, Daniel Burland, Jennifer H. Lundquist

Dr. Jennifer H. Lundquist

The U.S. Army consists of two distinct functional components: soldiers serving in combat roles, on the one hand, and those who serve in support positions, on the other. Do these two functionally distinct segments differ culturally as well? Empirical researchers utilizing qualitative methods have supported a ‘‘Two Armies’’ concept. This article examines the phenomenon quantitatively by using a nationally representative sample of the active duty population. The authors find that there is a statistically significant difference between support and combat soldiers that holds even after taking into account differing demography. Interestingly, this is true mainly of White soldiers, and the …

Nanotechnology And Society: Emerging Organizations, Oversight And Public Policy Systems, Sarah Keister, Goncalves Michelle, Jane E. Fountain

Jane E. Fountain

This report summarizes key points of a National Science Foundation supported national workshop, “Nanotechnology & Society: Emerging Organizations, Oversight, and Public Policy Systems,” that was held on September 23-24, 2010 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMA). The central lessons drawn from three panels form the body of the report. The first panel focused on constructing policy frameworks for policymaking with presentations by Terry Medley, Global Director of Corporate Regulatory Affairs, DuPont; Timothy Malloy, Professor of Law, University of California Los Angeles; and Jordan Paradise, Associate Professor of Law, Seton Hall University. The second panel, International and Federal Policy Emergence, …

The Future Of Government: Lessons Learned From Around The World, Jane E. Fountain, Guido Bertucci, Gregory G. Curtin, Yuri E. Hohlov, Katju Holkeri, Yasar Jarrar, James Kang, Bruno Lanvin, Beth Simone Noveck, Toshio Obi, Haiyan Qian, Ohood Roumi, Larry Stone, Aleem Walji

Jane E. Fountain

Governments around the world are faced with new demands, new expectations and a fast-growing array of new technologies and tools. A current example is the Middle East, where a youth revolution built on the global technology revolution is demanding immediate reform. The challenges faced by governments increasingly span national borders and require resources and expertise to be mobilized on a scale that far exceeds those of governments.

To be efficient and effective in today’s complex, interlinked and fast-changing environment, governments need to redesign their structures and processes to capitalize on a new set of actors and tools. In this context, …

Disjointed Innovation: The Political Economy Of Digitally Mediated Institutional Reform, Jane E. Fountain

Jane E. Fountain

Current attention to social media and governance has focused on the enactment of networked communication and information use by and for governance with particular attention to the role of civil society. This paper argues that such a focus, while illuminating a possibly utopian perspective on political participation, often obscures even recent government reforms, existing institutional arrangements, and the myriad processes by which knowledge is translated to action in political settings. Drawing from and extending core perspectives within historical institutionalism, the paper examines three streams of theory and research: temporal models, coordination models, and the political effects of public policies where …

Local Actions, National Frameworks: A Dual-Scale Comparison Of Climate Adaptation Planning On Two Continents, Elisabeth M. Hamin, Nicole Gurran

Elisabeth M. Hamin

This study explores emerging approaches to local climate change adaptation planning in the United States and Australia, and seeks to explain why some local authorities have begun to take action despite weak national and state level directives. We compare strategic documents from 13 local authorities across the two nations, representing the “first generation” of adaptation plans. Our focus is on potential explanations for early engagement in adaptation planning – size, location and risk level of the municipality, the existence of national or state mandates and access to supra local resources or support. We also explore the nature and type of …

Validation, Resistance, And Exclusion: Neo-Nationalist Cultural Heritage In A Globalized World, Neil A. Silberman

Neil A. Silberman

No abstract provided.

Between Home And History, Neil A. Silberman

Neil A. Silberman

No abstract provided.

The Tyranny Of Narrative, Neil A. Silberman

Neil A. Silberman

No abstract provided.

Who Should Care For The Dead? Balancing Religious Rights With Civic Responsibilities, Neil A. Silberman

Neil A. Silberman

No abstract provided.

Rewriting Jewish History, Neil A. Silberman

Neil A. Silberman

No abstract provided.