Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Integrating Women's Voices Into Public Policy, Mollie Hoben

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Women are Minnesota's greatest untapped resource. Despite significant growth in the visibility of women in public life, the talents and contributions of Minnesota's female citizens are not yet being fully utilized. In this last decade of the century, the state faces policy challenges in human services, the environment, the economy. To most effectively meet these challenges, we need to find ways to integrate women's voices more fully into public policy.

Meeting this challenge is in everyone's interest for several reasons. For one thing, it will make our public endeavors more equitable. Any society that makes decisions for all based on …

Minnesota's 1990 Environmental Education Act, Mark A. Davis

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

The development of new technologies and effective environmental management by communities, states, and nations will not be enough to arrest and repair the environmental degradation that exists in the world today. Nor will technology and management alone be able to prevent significant environmental degradation in the future. Extensive pollution and other types of environmental degradation have occurred because societies have not sufficiently understood and valued their environments. The development of environmentally sound societies will require changed attitudes and a citizenry which is informed about the environment. Thus, it is essential that environmental education be a part of the long range …

Right To Know Legislation In Minnesota, Leo Uzych

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

In June 1983, Minnesota approved a right to know law pertaining to the disclosure of information to workers about chemical hazards emanating from the workplace. A federal hazard communication disseminated in November 1983 may affect Minnesota's right to know law.

The Impact Of Judicial Reform On The Minnesota Supreme Court, Steven H. Hatting, Joseph F. Keller

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

On November 2, 1982, a majority of Minnesota voters approved a constitutional amendment that transformed the state's appellate judiciary. A newly created Court of Appeals, currently consisting of 12 judges, began accepting cases on August 1, 1983, and deciding them on November 1, 1983. To assess the consequences of this change, ·the authors explored the rationale underlying the amendment, examined the anticipated costs and benefits of implementation, and analyzed case load data. Questionnaire responses from members of the Supreme Court are discussed, jurisdictional relationships between the two courts are explained, and decision· making practices are compared (including oral argument and …

The Development Of Elementary And Secondary Education Policy In The Minnesota Legislature, Joyce Krupey, Gene Mammenga

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

This discussion of the political climate in which elementary and secondary education is funded in Minnesota begins with the Minnesota Miracle of 1971. In each successive legislative session some adjustments have been made in this formula. In this paper we describe the various lobbying groups that try to affect education legislation. We also discuss the role played by the governor, key legislators, legislative and Department of Education staff, the State Board of Education, and the commissioner of education in educational policy formation. In conclusion, we summarize major formula changes since 1971 and review the many education-related issues before the legislature …

Acid Rain: A Complex Issue For Minnesota

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

The Minnesota Budget And Inflation, James Cecil

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

The Minnesota state budget is a policy document which reflects programmatic priorities of the state in terms of size, direction and rank order. Major causes for budget increase are inflation and increased state conversion of what were once local government programs into joint programs. Accompanying greater state support is more state regulation through the use of uniform statewide standards. The two most important Minnesota services are education and welfare. Concern for property tax burden by the legislature has resulted in a comprehensive property tax relief program. Because these programs are very costly, Minnesota, except for property and sales, is a …

The Politics Of Pollution, Another Fallout Of Acid Rain, Cynthia L. Anderson

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

The threat of acid rain is a side effect of the switch to coal as a major fuel for producing energy in the United States. Despite the existence of technology to reduce the pollutants that cause acid rain, the emissions of sulfur and nitric oxides are likely to increase because among several factors of political resistance to regulatory controls. The politics of pollution pit energy production and economic growth against environmental quality. Developing a regulatory policy is further complicated by the difficulty of isolating specific environmental effects attributable to acid rain apart from natural causes within the ecosystem. The question …

Utilization Of County Boundaries In Drawing Legislative Districts, Robert A. Barrett

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Analysis of the traditional and contemporary arguments on county lines as a basis of drawing state legislative districts appears to indicate that in a state such as Minnesota, with large number of counties and extreme variations between them, county boundary lines should not be accorded primary consideration in drawing legislative districts if compliance is sought with the "one - man, one - vote" constitutional principle. Minnesota government officials faced with reapportioning the state's legislative districts need to determine the role that county boundary lines should fulfill in their decision. This paper was prepared originally al the request of the Minnesota …

The Politics Of Selecting Convention Delegates, Frank J. Kendrick

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

This is a case study of a recent political contest in Clay County, Minnesota, over selection of delegates to the Stale Democratic Farmer-Labor convention. The study indicates that the process of delegate selection in Minnesota is, at best, often a controlled and largely unrepresentative process.

Urban-Suburban Clash In Minnesota, Edward L. Henry

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Minnesota has the largest number of townships in the nation, When rural townships experience urbanization and flank existing, older municipalities, problems of externalities arise. That is, action or inaction of the township government affects adjoining municipalities. Attempt to consolidate suburban sprawl in such areas by annexation to mother cities arouses bitter controversy in almost all instances. Minnesota's annexation lows, while in most respects are models, do have a serious defect. This is a referendum provision which subjects the decision of a quasi-judicial boundary commission to veto of the citizens in the annexable area only. As a result, consolidation of sprawl …

United States Foreign Policy: An Appraisal Of Globalism, William O. Peterfi

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Many scholars and citizens agree that recent United States foreign policy has led the country into global involvement, but there is wide disagreement as to the implications of this. In this appraisal of the general concept of globalism the author hopes to show that, no matter how the United States got involved in global politics, it can in a way be justified on the basis of the national interest and that, although there is an urgent need for change in U.S. foreign policy, it cannot now be done on a unilateral basis.

The Dilemma Of A Civil Libertarian: Francis Biddle And The Smith Act, Thomas L. Pahl

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Although society may have good reasons for protecting itself against both sedition and conspiracy, history demonstrates that statutes directed against these offenses are particularly prone to result in the abuse of power. A possibility of just such an abuse in the first application of the Smith Act - the Minneapolis Trotskyite trial of 1941 - led to a consideration of a civil libertarian caught in the cross-pressure of enforcing a law anathema to his professed liberal beliefs. The study showed that, during time of threat, internal or external, our democratic society permits our government officials, in the name of survival, …

A Frame Of Reference For The Study Of American Foreign Policy-Making, Robert E. Cecile

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

This study outlines a frame of reference which might be helpful to political scientists in the analysis of foreign policy decision-making. It is part of a larger effort which seeks to learn more about state action in general and American foreign policy decision-making in particular.

The approach which is utilized is one devised by Richard C. Snyder. It has been modified by the author lo suit the purposes and objectives of the present study. Basically, the approach is a conceptual scheme which postulates that state action results from the way identifiable, official decision-makers define the situation of action in order …

A Gross Election Data Analysis By Simple Statistical And Stochastic Processes, A. B. Villanueva

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

By statistical analysis correlations were found to exist between voting in certain types of local elections and voting in specific kinds of state elections. But such correlations do not explain the behavior of individuals. By simple stochastic process, the author supports Ulmer's theory that, over a given time sequence, the outcome of an election depends upon the outcomes of preceding elections.

A "Non-Partisan" Legislative Election In Minnesota, Frank J. Kendrick

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Voter Registration In Minnesota, Winston W. Benson

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

This is a study of Minnesota's system of permanent voter registration used by 71 municipalities in the state. The commissioner of registration in each of these municipalities was sent a questionnaire on which he indicated his reaction to the effectiveness of the system.

The results indicated that regulations should be changed to provide for the following: (l) spot checks on the accuracy of information given by registrants; (2) notification of previous registration district when a voter registers in a new district; (3) use of permanent registration files in school elections; (4) better communications between county and municipal governments in keeping …

The Politics Of Municipal Reform, A. B. Villanueva

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

When modernization of city government is proposed in a community in which taxes ore going up, administrative authority is fragmented, municipal structure is clumsy, and citizen estimate of the city council is somewhat low, popular attitudes toward municipal reform are favorable. But those persons who have empires to defend and interests to protect in the city hall, will defend the status quo and resist the introduction of proposed innovations. Some may even fight back with all the fury irrational men can have at their command, and thus the reform movement produces strange side effects and unfortunate after effects.

Two Views Of Non-Voting: A Critique, Stephen L. Wasby

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

The view that non-voting is bad is contrasted with the view that non-voting can be functional for a political system. Works by Schattschneider and Berelson et al. are examined. Limitations in their arguments are pointed out, particularly the farmer's assertion that non-voters are being manipulated and the letters' emphasis on the short-run aspects of the system. The arguments are related to traditional conceptions of democracy.

Readership Of News About Politics In The Minneapolis Star And Tribune, 1950-1960, William L. Hathaway

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

The management of the Minneapolis Star and Tribune, since World War II. has commissioned yearly studies of the newspapers' readers to learn how much attention was paid to the newspapers' content. An exploratory study was conducted of the data from the surveys made between 1950 and 1960 to measure the general levels of attention paid to news about politics, and to examine the variation of attention over time. Readers' preferences among several kinds of political news content were also noted.

The Effect Of Perception On Reactions To Reapportionment, Truman David Wood

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

A port of the legislative reapportionment conflict in Minnesota was a product of distorted perceptions by political actors such as the Minnesota Form Bureau . The Bureau's reaction to the Governor's Commission on Legislative Reapportionment was o result of the impact of the Bureau's ideology on its perception of the political system. The resultant failure of the Form Bureau President to serve on the Governor's Commission denied that organization access to on important step in the decision-making process concerning legislative reapportionment.

Constitutional Change In A Long-Depressed Community: A Case Study Of Duluth, Minnesota, Daniel J. Elazar

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Duluth, a "boom and bust" city with a marginal economy, has a unique position outside the mainstream of American life that adds a different dimension lo the understanding of community politics. Settlement patterns have contributed to the development of separate "business" and "labor" subcommunities that are substantially alienated from and hostile to one another and have rarely been able to cooperate in any civic endeavor. Operating within the framework of a political system caricaturing that of Minnesota as a whole, the two subcommunities reversed the pattern of local concern found in other cities; labor became the progressive force in local …

"Cosmopolitans" And "Locals" In Contemporary Community Politics, Daniel J. Elazar, Douglas St. Angelo

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Numerous products of recent social science research have revealed the reemergence of what seems to be a traditional pattern in American history, the lack of class consciousness in the political behavior of most Americans (Banfield 1961, Coleman 1957, Rogoff 1951: 406- 420, Rogoff 1953: 347-357, Warner, et al. , 1949).1 While this lack of class consciousness by no means precludes the more subtle influences of socio-economic class on matters political, it does limit the usefulness of the accepted class divisions developed by sociologists and anthropologists in the 1930's and 1940's in understanding the patterns of community politics (Lynd 1937, Parsons …

The Child-Benefit Theory: A Method Of Circumventing The Wall Of Separation Doctrine, Thomas L. Pahl

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

This paper examines two concepts in American constitutional history: the child-benefit theory and the doctrine of separation of church and state. Both concepts concern the position of the private school in American society. Neither expression is found in the original Constitution nor in any of its twenty-three amendments. Nowhere in that august document are found the following words: schools, educations, federal aid, compulsory education, textbooks, transportation, etc. Thus the present controversy concerning education bas been caused by an omission, intended or otherwise, on the part of the framers of the Constitution and has been developed due to judicial interpretation. Here, …

A Case Study In Practical Politics: The 1962 Contest In The 7th Congressional District Of Minnesota, Harding Noblitt

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

The objective of this paper is to make available a personal account of my experiences in a political campaign. It is presented in the hope that it will be a useful addition to the materials available to students of the political process-or of the Great Game of Politics. Let me briefly state the facts of this case study.

I am professor of political science at Concordia College in Moorhead, but I have ventured outside the ivory towers to play a small role in party politics. In the course of this activity I became, in 1962, the DemocraticFarmer- Labor Party's candidate …