Politics and Social Change Commons^™

Seeking Peace In The Niger Delta: Oil, Natural Gas, And Other Vital Resources, Darren Kew, David L. Phillips

New England Journal of Public Policy

Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region has seen little benefit from the billions of dollars earned from oil over the last four decades, prompting a growing but disorganized insurgency across the region. Irresponsible oil companies and government officials have reduced the Niger Delta to one of the most polluted environments on earth. Corrupt local and national politicians, many of whom came to power through rigged elections, have colluded to manipulate ethnic divisions amid poverty to loot the region’s wealth. Consequently, the people of the Niger Delta have no formal political voice in Nigeria’s nascent democratic system, increasing the appeal of militias …

Oil. Seeking Peace In The Niger Delta: Oil, Natural Gas, And Other Vital Resources, Darren Kew, David L. Phillips

New England Journal of Public Policy

Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region has seen little benefit from the billions of dollars earned from oil over the last four decades, prompting a growing but disorganized insurgency across the region. Irresponsible oil companies and government officials have reduced the Niger Delta to one of the most polluted environments on earth. Corrupt local and national politicians, many of whom came to power through rigged elections, have colluded to manipulate ethnic divisions amid poverty to loot the region’s wealth. Consequently, the people of the Niger Delta have no formal political voice in Nigeria’s nascent democratic system, increasing the appeal of militias …

Women In New England Politics, Paige Ransford, Carol Hardy-Fanta, Anne Marie Cammisa

New England Journal of Public Policy

This essay addresses a serious deficiency in the literature on women and politics in the United States today: the lack of attention to regional variation and, more specifically, the absence of research on women’s representation in New England. This deficiency is particularly troubling since political analysts of all stripes typically portray New England as imbued with ideological, individual, and structural characteristics likely to lead to rates of political representation higher than the nation as a whole. This essay provides a brief history of women in politics for New England as a whole; describes the current status of women at congressional, …

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.

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.

Living Legitimacy: A New Approach To Good Government In Africa, Ajume H. Wingo

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article argues for the reorientation of African governments from a model that privileges the central or garrison states to one rooted in the living experiences of citizens, such as their economic conditions, fellowship associations, local governments, and community self-reliance. It begins by describing and analyzing in depth an example of a set of moral, political, and social institutions that still work well to make collective decisions that the members of the community consider legitimate and follow without coercion. It demonstrates that a legitimate government is not and should not be a matter of instituting finished, polished, or ready-made solutions …

The Harringtons Of Salem: A Study Of Massachusetts Politics, Richard A. Hogarty

New England Journal of Public Policy

Politics inevitably runs in families. Notable among those who have shaped the political landscape of Massachusetts are the Harringtons of the city of Salem.Over the course of five generations, they produced several talented Irish-American politicians who played a major role in state politics and rose to prominent positions of power in the Democratic party. This article centers on the lives and careers of Joseph Harrington and his son Michael, both of whom ran for Congress some twenty-eight years apart. Its treatment of these two congressional races is detailed and insightful. Attention is also directed to the careers of Kevin Harrington …

The Search For Voice: Ideology And Perspective In The Black Community, Phillip L. Clay

William Monroe Trotter Institute Publications

During the last seven years there has been a significant shift to the right in the ideological perspectives of American political institutions and behavior. Despite some inconsistencies, the direction is clear. The term "moderate" has acquired a conservative meaning, and liberals have been split into neo-liberal and neoconservative camps. At this moment American society is informally declaring that it is not committed to achieving the goal of equal outcomes long espoused by a mainly liberal national political and institutional system.

The shift to the right is working changes on traditional black ideological perspectives, both among blacks and between black and …