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Full-Text Articles in Law

Democracy Means That The People Make The Law, Gerald Torres Oct 2006

Democracy Means That The People Make The Law, Gerald Torres

New England Journal of Public Policy

Gerald Torres delivered the Robert C. Wood lecture at the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies at University of Massachusetts Boston in 2006. This is his talk.


Looking Back Without Anger: Reflections On The Boston School Crisis, Robert Wood Mar 2005

Looking Back Without Anger: Reflections On The Boston School Crisis, Robert Wood

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article is taken from the unpublished autobiography of Robert Wood who served as Superintendent of Boston Public Schools from 1978 to 1980 during the difficult period when U.S. District Court Judge W. Arthur Garrity was overseeing court ordered desegregation of schools. After leaving the University of Massachusetts in January 1978, Robert Wood spent six months at the Harvard Graduate School of Education working on a book and considering a possible run for the United States Senate. Suggestion as to his next assignment, however, came from an unexpected source, as he describes below.


The Travels Of Our Bodies, Ourselves, Jane Pincus Mar 2005

The Travels Of Our Bodies, Ourselves, Jane Pincus

New England Journal of Public Policy

The women’s health book, Our Bodies, Ourselves: A Book by and for Women, was first printed in 1970 by the small, radical New England Free Press. Published by the group of women soon too become the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, it was advertised solely by word of mouth. Successive newsprint editions reached a quarter of a million people in the United States through colleges and an extensive network of “underground” bookstores. The book placed female sexuality firmly within the framework of women’s health and combined vividly experienced medical encounters with available health and medical information. It critiqued prevailing cultural …


From Just War To Just Intervention, Susan J. Atwood Sep 2003

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 Sep 2003

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 …


Popular Rogues: Citizen Opinion About Political Corruption, Darrell M. West, Katherine Stewart Mar 2003

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 …


Gender Politics In Massachusetts: Progress For Paid Family Leave, Elizabeth A. Sherman Sep 2001

Gender Politics In Massachusetts: Progress For Paid Family Leave, Elizabeth A. Sherman

New England Journal of Public Policy

Advances in the educational and occupational status of women in the United States over the past quarter century have greatly expanded the participation of women in the workforce. However, economic and social changes in women’s lives have put pressure on traditional family roles and on the political system to respond to the problems families face balancing work and family responsibilities. Initiatives for paid family leave in Massachusetts reflect the newfound political strength of women in politics — as leaders of political organizations, as elected officials, and as voters — and the willingness of the state’s political elite to grapple with …


Redistricting On Beacon Hill And Political Power On Capitol Hill: Ancient Legacies And Present-Day Perils, Richard A. Hogarty, Garrison Nelson Sep 2001

Redistricting On Beacon Hill And Political Power On Capitol Hill: Ancient Legacies And Present-Day Perils, Richard A. Hogarty, Garrison Nelson

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article discusses legislative reapportionment and past efforts to manipulate district lines as far back as the legendary Elbridge Gerry in the early nineteenth century. Specifically, it deals with what political history has to tell us about the current furor over House Speaker Thomas Finneran’s proposed congressional redistricting. More than any other state in the Union, the Massachusetts lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives have enjoyed disproportionate power as a result of a bipartisan strategy of incumbency protection dating back to the 1940s. That power may be in jeopardy if Speaker Finneran implements his plans to create a new …