Digital Commons Network^™

War Is The American Way Of Life, Paul L. Atwood

New England Journal of Public Policy

The war against terror following the September 11 attack is in keeping with the long history of American foreign policy. Various “doctrines” issued by one president after another since the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 are really incremental expansions of that original statement of hemispheric dominance aimed at encompassing the entire globe. The westward expansion to the Pacific coast and beyond to the Philippines, Hawaii, and the interventions in the nations of Latin America are early stages in the development of American hegemony. After intervening in the First World War, Wilson tried to dictate the peace. The rest of the century …

From Just War To Just Intervention, Susan J. Atwood

New England Journal of Public Policy

What is Just War? What is Just Intervention? This paper examines the evolution of the criteria for Just War from its origins in the early Christian church to the twenty-first century. The end of the Cold War era has expanded the discussion to include grounds for intervention. Indeed, in the 1990s, a number of multilateral interventions took place on humanitarian grounds. But the debate is ongoing about whether the criteria applied in the Just War theory — proper authority, just cause, and right intent — remain valid in an era of Just Intervention. The author examines as case studies some …

The United Nations And War In The Twentieth And Twenty-First Centuries, Robert Weiner

New England Journal of Public Policy

The United Nations was created in 1945 to prevent another world war. It was designed, as the Preamble to the Charter states, to eliminate the scourge of war. The failure to agree on a permanent UN international army meant that the UN had to improvise in dealing with wars. Peacekeeping, which is not mentioned anywhere in the UN Charter, had to be invented. This study investigates how peacekeeping has evolved through four “generations,” culminating in Unsanctioned multinational forces consisting of “coalitions of the willing.” The study also stresses how one of the greatest peacekeeping failures of the UN in the …

The Link Between Poverty And Violent Conflict, J. Brian Atwood

New England Journal of Public Policy

The threat to the international system from the many forms of violent conflict, terrorism being the most prominent among them, is greater today than it was at the end of the twentieth century. This escalation of global conflict has been attributed to the breakup of the Soviet State, increasing ethnic tensions, weak governance at both the nation-state and international levels, and the rise of religious extremism. Each of these factors contributes to instability and the social tensions that lead to violence. It will be posited here that there is also a significant link between poverty and violent conflict, one that …

The Costs Of Covert Warfare: Airpower, Drugs, And Warlords In The Conduct Of U.S Foreign Policy, Alfred W. Mccoy

New England Journal of Public Policy

Over the last fifty years the United States has fought four covert wars by using a unique combination of special operations and airpower as a substitute for regular ground troops. Such covert wars are removed from Congressional oversight and conventional diplomacy. Their battlegrounds become the loci of political instability. In highland Asia, while these covert wars are being fought, CIA protection transforms tribal warlords into powerful drug lords linked to international markets. Arguably, every nation needs an intelligence service to warn of future dangers. But should this nation have the right, under U.S. or international law, to conduct its foreign …

American Warfare In The Twenty-First Century, Paul R. Camacho

New England Journal of Public Policy

Over the last several years there have been a number of calls for the development of a new theoretical doctrine to govern the force structure of the United States military. The last big change in doctrine occurred in the post-Vietnam era. It involved not simply the change to the all-volunteer force, but an abandonment of escalation brinkmanship and open-ended missions. The subsequent Powell Doctrine demanded the use of overwhelming force and clear objectives and boundaries for military intervention. As the new millennium approached, the deficiencies of the Powell Doctrine became apparent — the multilateral approach of coalition building and the …

Towards Understanding The Emergence Of African-American Church Schools: Early Hypotheses And A Research Agenda, Georgia A. Persons

Trotter Review

A survey of the Atlanta metropolitan area reveals a growing trend in African-American church sponsored schools. The emergence of these schools is curious in that it is counterintuitive to the protection of the public school system on which the majority of African-Americans rely; the schools are mainly in the suburbs where the public schools offer relatively high standards of education; and there seems to be no public debate accompanying a trend that is likely to have far-reaching public policy implications. In this article, the author discusses the possible reasons for the emergence of these schools and the potential public policy …

Nation Of Islam In Civil Society: An Interview With Minister Don Muhammad, Castellano Turner

Trotter Review

From Castellano Turner: It was a genuine pleasure to interview Minister Don Muhammad on the topic, "The Nation of Islam in civil society." The reader will be struck, as I was, by the detail and historical reach in his analysis of the Nation of Islam's consistency and evolution as a movement among Black Americans. Those who remember the Black activist rhetoric of the 1960s and 1970s will hear echoes of those volatile times. Many of the most radical groups of those times have faded into history; but like the Black church, the value and commitment of the Nation of Islam …

Delivering Social Services Through Faith-Based Organizations: Case Of United Way Of Massachusetts Bay, Kevin Peterson

Trotter Review

As deliverers of social services, faith-based organizations have been stereotyped as being inefficient and focused on spiritual outcomes alone, and have therefore been largely ignored by funding agencies. The United Way of Massachusetts Bay, realizing the importance of such organizations, particularly in communities of color, has actively sought to dispel these stereotypes and work with faith-based organizations to enhance service delivery to needy Black communities in Massachusetts. Through training and participatory research, faith-based organizations have begun to appreciate the importance of measurable outcomes.

The Enduring Black Church And Its Critics: A Book Review Of Omar Mcroberts's Streets Of Glory, Kenneth D. Johnson

Trotter Review

This review examines several theses and methodologies regarding Black Church activism and contribution to community economic development in an economically depressed inner city neighborhood as presented in Omar McRoberts's Streets of Glory (University of Chicago Press, 2003). It finds the questions of interest, but empirical support for many of the author's theses lacking when considered from a cross-comparative national perspective.

Wars Remembered, Shaun O'Connell

New England Journal of Public Policy

O'Connell speaks about his father, among other war veterans, dealing with the effects of the wars they fought in. He explains his father's history from how he enilisted to how he died. He also touches upon other's war experiences and writing about the after effects of them as well.

Globalization: New Challenges, Cornelio Sommargua, Robert Jackson, Ramu Damodaran, Philip Bobbitt

New England Journal of Public Policy

From the EPIIC Symposium at Tufts University. These articles speak about topics on war and the effects that the UN has on it, sovereignity, and human rights to name a few.

Engendering Accountability: Gender Crimes Under International Criminal Law, Richard J. Goldstone, Estelle A. Dehon

New England Journal of Public Policy

Gender crimes, such as rape, sexual assault, sexual slavery, and forced prostitution, have always been perpetrated during war, yet the laws of war have been slow to acknowledge these crimes and to bring their perpetrators to justice. This article examines the response of the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda to this lacuna in international law, and analyzes the mainly positive developments they have made in this area in relation to the definition of rape and to the prosecution of gender crimes as crimes against humanity, war crimes, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, and genocide. It …

Human Rights & The International Criminal Court, John Shattuck, Valerie Epps, Hurst Hannon

New England Journal of Public Policy

From the EPIIC Symposium at Tufts University. These articles speak about topics on war and the effects that the US government had on it, issues about war crimes, and human rights to name a few.

War & Public Health In The Twenty-First Century, Barry S. Levy, Victor W. Sidel

New England Journal of Public Policy

War has profound adverse effects on public health. War leads to death for military personnel and especially for civilians, long-term physical and psycho- logical consequences to survivors, destruction of sociocultural and ambient environments, and diversion of needed resources. In addition, war legalizes and promotes violence as a mode of solving problems. These and related issues relating to war in the twenty-first century are analyzed in this paper. The authors discuss several approaches to preventing war and minimizing its consequences on health — including addressing the underlying problems that often lead to war, promoting a culture of peace, and controlling weapons.

Worldview And Culture: Leadership In Sub-Sahara Africa, Betsie Smith

New England Journal of Public Policy

The traditional worldview and culture of Africa was very different from that of the West today: man was at the center of a religious universe; time was generally felt to be under the control of man, not the reverse; the belief that the dead are able to influence the living enhanced reverence for the elderly; a belief in collectivism was far stronger than a belief in individualism. Colonial- ism, the Cold War, and three decades following independence upset the traditional African worldview and created bewildering frictions within the political, economic, and social wellbeing of the continent. The role of African …

Moral Value And Market Values: The Impact On Africa In An Era Of Global Capitalism, Charles Stith

Trotter Review

In the era of global capitalism, the perennial tension between market and moral values has acquired new form and meaning. Ambassador Stith attempts to unravel the issues of morality within the context of a global market in recession, stagnated economies of the developing world, ever-changing technology and the reality of terrorism. Stith contends that the church has largely failed to reconcile the morality that it teaches, with the market in which it operates. He makes the argument that moral values are not just desirable; they are necessary for long-term survival of both the developing and developed world. The key, is …

Editor's Note, Padraig O'Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

Much has changed in the world since the last issue of this journal. All is indeed changed and changed utterly. But we have no terrible beauty with which to console ourselves. For the foreseeable future, the debate over whether we live in a unilateral or multilateral world is moot. A new Rome rules with an arrogance only the truly certain can master.

The invasion of Iraq definitively answered the question: What is the New World Order? America is, and America’s order will continue until Americans themselves decide otherwise, and that, in the short term at least, means whether they will …

Popular Rogues: Citizen Opinion About Political Corruption, Darrell M. West, Katherine Stewart

New England Journal of Public Policy

Trust in the honesty of public officials is a crucial condition for stable democratic systems. Yet despite the presumed centrality of honesty in government, there has been a long tradition of “popular rogues” who are considered dishonest and corrupt, but retain popularity for their strong and effective leadership. In this paper, we look at the phenomenon of popular rogues using the case of the former Mayor Buddy Cianci of Providence, Rhode Island. With data from two statewide Rhode Island opinion surveys (one before the trial and the other at its end), we present a “teeter-totter” model of public opinion whereby …

White House Inheritors And Climbers: Presidential Kin, Class, And Performance, 1789–2002, Garrison Nelson

New England Journal of Public Policy

The 2000 presidential election that pitted Republican Texas Governor George W. Bush, the son of a former president against Democratic Vice President Albert Gore, Jr., the son of a former U.S. senator was a dramatic reminder that presidential politics in the United States is not an equal opportunity employer. In this article retrospective assessments of presidential performance are related to social class and kinship connections for the forty-two presidents from George Washington to George W. Bush. Three separate evaluations of presidential performance were used: the 1989 Murray-Blessing Survey; the widely cited 1996 New York Times poll prepared by Arthur M. …

A Winning Progressive Politics, Paul Wellstone

New England Journal of Public Policy

United States Senator Paul Wellstone’s plane went down in a northern Minnesota bog in late October 2002. The Senator, who had one of the most liberal voting records in Congress, had written about his own, particular kind of politics in a book published in 2001: The Conscience of a Liberal, Reclaiming the Compassionate Agenda. The last chapter of this volume, “A Winning Progressive Politics” is reprinted here with permission.

Border Crossings: The Impact Of Migration On The New Hampshire House Of Representatives, Michael E. Dupre, Dante Scala

New England Journal of Public Policy

This paper studies the political effects of population migration to New Hampshire. Data suggest that, although migration from Massachusetts caused significant “suburbanization” effects in New Hampshire over the last four decades, demographic changes have not yielded commensurate changes in voting behavior, or party registration in the state. But the New Hampshire House of Representatives reveals more impact from the dramatic population increase. Population migration has led to suburbanization of the composition of the 400-member lower chamber. Citizen-legislators native-born to New Hampshire now compose just slightly over a third of the House, a proportion far lower than that in other New …

Beyond The Big Dig, Robert Turner

New England Journal of Public Policy

For more than a decade, from the day that the decision was made to put Boston’s Central Artery underground, many forward-looking planners and designers have been conjuring up visions of the mile-long street-level corridor that would replace the elevated highway, reshaping the heart of downtown. By the end of 2001, the corridor had acquired a name, the Rose Kennedy Greenway, but work was far more advanced on the traffic tunnel underground than on the open space above. These precious twenty-seven acres had the potential to flower into a magnificent, vibrant urban oasis that would become known the world over. But …

Common Sense And Civic Virtue: Institutional Investors, Responsible Ownership, And The Democratic Ideal, Marcy Murninghan

New England Journal of Public Policy

On matters of governance, the people’s good is the highest law, as Cicero said two millennia ago. Unfortunately, these days personal greed has trumped the people’s good, enflaming the current governance crisis affecting our public, nonprofit, and private spheres. The spate of corporate governance scandals over the past several years jeopardizes equity investments, harms beneficiaries, and weakens global capital markets. The remedy is not just more laws and regulation but revitalization of the system of corporate checks and balances that already exists. To get better corporate governance, corporate shareowners, especially institutional investors, need to assert their rights and responsibilities more …