Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Foreword, James Holmes

New England Journal of Public Policy

The International Communities Organisation (ICO) is a self-determination research and innovation center and a not-for-profit organization based in London. Guided by its vision of self-determination and the values of development and human rights, ICO aims to empower communities. It strives to foster an environment where organizations within these communities can overcome the barriers they face, allowing them to fulfill their potential and develop and create positive change for their local communities through local action, collaboration, and decision making.

To enhance our vision and our credibility as an international organization that works for peoples, we organized the February 2019 London conference …

European Union Integration And National Self-Determination, Mare Ushkovska

New England Journal of Public Policy

Recent demands for secession in several EU member states bring the issue of self-determination to the forefront of the debate about the future of the European Union. This article explores the European Union’s attitudes toward the international right to self-determination in the context of the rising salience of the greater political union between member states. The focus of the European project, in direct contrast to the glorification of nationhood, is on consensual decision-making rather than sovereignty, making self-determination obsolete in a reality of EU integration. This research finds that recognition of, or references to, the right to self-determination of peoples …

Editor’S Note, Padraig O’Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

The articles in this issue of the New England Journal of Public Policy have their origins in presentations at a Chatham House conference titled “Rethinking Self-Determination,” February 2019, hosted by the International Communities Organization and the journal.

Among the many aspects of self-determination they address: the elasticity of the concept as a human right in the context of “peoples” (Freeman); individual rights versus collective self-determination (Summers); Biafra as an early case of internal self-determination—the territorial integrity of the state and the right of secession when “the right of a people to participate in the decision-making processes of a country is …

The Right Of Peoples To Self-Determination In Article 1 Of The Human Rights Covenants As A Claimable Right, James Summers

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article looks at the potential for individual communications under common article 1 of the Human Rights Covenants, in particular, under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It first outlines the problems posed by the drafting of common article 1, in particular, the identity of peoples. It then considers how individuals might be able to claim peoples’ rights through representation and the collectivization of individual rights.

Raising Indigenous Women’S Voices For Equal Rights And Self-Determination, Grazia Redolfi, Nikoletta Pikramenou, Rosario Grimà Algora

New England Journal of Public Policy

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states that the right to self-determination for Indigenous peoples involves their having the right to freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social, and cultural development. The implementation of this right is linked to the ability and freedom to participate in any decision making that relates to their development. Current laws and practices are considered “unfair to women,” because they sustain traditional and customary patriarchal attitudes that marginalize Indigenous women and exclude them from decision-making tables and leadership roles. Despite the many challenges Indigenous women face in …

Communicative Justice And Reconciliation In Canada, Alice Neeson

New England Journal of Public Policy

Communicative justice co-exists with other dimensions of justice and emphasizes the importance of fair communicative practices, particularly after periods of direct or structural violence. While intercultural dialogue is often assumed to be a positive, or even necessary, part of reconciliation processes, there are questions to be asked about the ethicality of dialogue when one voice has been silenced, misrepresented, and ignored for decades. This article draws on twelve months of ethnographic research with reconciliation activists and organizations in Canada and considers the potential for communicative flows to help compensate for structural inequalities during processes of reconciliation.

Self-Determination And Psychological Adaptation In Forcibly Displaced People, Numan Turan, Bediha İpekçi, Mehmet Yalçın Yılmaz

New England Journal of Public Policy

According to the UN Refugee Agency, as of 2018 approximately 70 million people were forcibly displaced because of intrastate and interstate conflicts. A majority of those people endured significant hardships, and a consensus is growing among researchers that forcibly displaced people have gone through potentially traumatic experiences that challenge their well-being and health. Consequently, a large amount of research focuses on their mental health concerns, whereas research focusing on their will to normalize their lives and grow after a traumatic migration is scarce. In this article, we highlight the efforts by forcibly displaced people to normalize their lives, pointing out …

Climate Change And Human Rights: Shaping The Narrative For Reflexive Responses From Civilization’S Leadership To Counter And Abate Climate Change And Enhance The Role Of Human Rights In The Rule Of Law, Michael Donlan

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article offers a bold new legal process for enhancing and upgrading the rule of law to enable civilization to cope with and counter the mounting damage and injustice caused by climate change. Climate change, once an unimaginable threat, is now a brutal, ubiquitous game changer that is leading inexorably to the demise of all humanity. Only by enhancing the rule of law and melding international law with domestic law can civilization fashion a coherent, global action plan for survival.

For almost three centuries greenhouse gases have been emitted around the world by the burning of fossil fuel, and—most alarming—these …

Prevention And Protection Interventions For Stateless Non-Refugee And Force Displaced Children, Tanya Herring

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article advances a general theory of law and justice that would expand the Palermo Trafficking and Smuggling Protocols to a wider application in human rights jurisprudence. The aim of the research reported here is to close the gaps in member-state policy and scholarship that addresses prevention measures and protection mechanisms for forcibly displaced children seeking self-determination in states that have not ratified the UN Convention on Refugees and the UN Conventions on Statelessness. The research is based on the premise that a stateless nonrefugee status constructs an extremely vulnerable state for children during forced migration and when they are …

The Right To Self-Determination: Philosophical And Legal Perspectives, Michael Freeman

New England Journal of Public Policy

Why do we need to rethink self-determination? In this article I argue that self-determination is a necessary feature of the human condition and a human right but that it is in part illusory and is potentially dangerous. We need to rethink self-determination because our collective thinking has been very confused, and bad thinking about self-determination costs many lives.

Finding Foreign Friends: National Self-Determination And Related Norms As Strategic Resources During The Biafran War For Independence, 1967–1970, Christopher Brucker

New England Journal of Public Policy

The study analyzes how the government of the Republic of Biafra used international norms to win foreign support during its 1967–1970 campaign to secede from Nigeria. Secession conflicts occur at the intersection of international and domestic politics. For independence movements, support from outside is crucial. But, as Bridget Coggins has asked, how can secession movements find “friends in high places”? International support for unilateral secession attempts is strictly prohibited. Domestic and international asymmetry are limiting secessionist foreign policy instruments to intangible means. Legitimacy is a central concept to illuminate the phenomenon. In international politics, legitimacy depends on the external perception …

Language, Indigenous Peoples, And The Right To Self-Determination, Noelle Higgins, Gerard Maguire

New England Journal of Public Policy

Language has always played a significant role in the colonization of peoples as an instrument of subjugation and homogenization. It has been used to control nondominant groups, including Indigenous peoples, often leading to their exclusion or assimilation. Many Indigenous groups, however, use language as a tool to connect the members of their community, to assert their group identity, and to preserve their culture. Thus, language has been used both as a means of oppression and as a mobilizer of Indigenous groups in their struggles for national recognition. Recognizing the significance of language in the identity and culture of Indigenous peoples, …

Awareness Of Sex Offender Registration Policies And Self-Reported Sexual Offending In A Community Sample Of Adolescents, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Hayley M. D. Cleary

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Sex offender registration laws are widely implemented, increasingly restrictive, and intended to serve both specific and general deterrent functions. Most states have some form of policy mechanism to place adolescents on sex offender registries, yet it remains unclear whether adolescents possess the requisite policy awareness to be deterred from sexual offending. This study examined awareness of sex offender registration as a potential sanction and its cross-sectional association with engagement in several registrable sexual behaviors (sexting, indecent exposure, sexual solicitation, and forcible touching) in a community sample of 144 adolescents. Results revealed that many adolescents were unaware that these behaviors could …

Democracy And Bureaucracy Of Smart Place: Coral Gables, Fl And The Role Of Aspirational Content In Local Governance, Ramon Trias

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the role aspirational content on democracy and bureaucracy for governance of place in the United States. Place is a fundamental concept for municipal democracy and bureaucracy, as it defines the physical qualities of a community and their effect on people and quality of life. Smart Place would update theory and practices for local governance. Research reviewed process and content for the implementation of place, a gap in public administration theory. Literature review, historical research on 20^th century planning and zoning, research on 1920’s best practices on architecture and archival, qualitative findings and quantitative data on Coral …

Linking Theory To Practice In Public Affairs Education: Tradition And Innovation, Laila El Baradei

Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Pay For Success Financing: Diffusion Dynamics In The U.S., Vanessa R. Fry

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Across the United States (U.S.), communities struggle with numerous social and environmental issues while the funding to provide programmatic services to address these issues continues to diminish. As such, actors both inside and outside of government are seeking new policy solutions that both effectively and efficiently address these issues. Significant hurdles to embarking on a new policy approach exist, however, including a lack of up-front funding and a reluctance to take on the risk inherent in implementing new programs. A recent innovation in the policy domain, Pay for Success (PFS) financing, has been specifically designed to overcome these hurdles. Policy …

Gambling-Related Harms: Developing Priorities For Harm Reduction Policy Setting, Judith Glynn Msc, Margo Hilbrecht Phd

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

As jurisdictions worldwide have overseen gambling expansion, most have implemented regulatory and public policy regimes to reduce harm. This study was conducted to specify the nature and extent of gambling-related harm that public policy efforts could prevent or mitigate in Ontario, Canada.

Research has historically operationalized harm from gambling as cases of disordered gambling; and policy work has focused on the prevalence and treatment of these cases. Recent work to fully conceptualize and measure gambling-related harm in individual gamblers, their families, and communities (Blaszczynski et al, 2015, Browne et al., 2016, 2017; Langham et al., 2016,) dovetailed with the desire …

Doctoral Student Writing For Scholarly Career-Building: Teaching Experiences And Student Outcomes, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Editor’S Note, Padraig O’Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

The articles in this issue have their origins in presentations at the “Freedom and Fragmentation” conference at the Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict conference at Harris Manchester College Oxford in September 2018.

Effects Of Marriage, Divorce, And Discord: Review And Policy Analysis, Kiersten L. Marsh, Rachel A. Woods

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Community Monitoring And Evaluation: A Case Study Of Takaful And Karama / الرصد والتقييم المجتمعي: دراسة حالة من برنامج تكافل وكرامة, Mai Amr Abdelhafez, Shimaa Adel Heikal, Sarah Moharram

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

This paper discusses in particular the potential strategies for increasing community engagement and acceptance of the committees and enhancing their results. Based on the case studies and interviews with ministry officials and community monitors, policy alternatives were formulated to guarantee a better achievement of the Takaful and Karama program goals.

Vulnerable Older Populations Without Special Health Care In Egypt: A Need For Assessment & Reform / كبار السن الذين يفتقرون إلى الرعاية الصحية المتخصصة في مصر: متطلبات التقييم والإصلاح, Mahmoud Nassar, Sally Islam, Shaimaa Sabbah, Sondos Said Mubarak

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

The older population in Egypt needs a special healthcare system to fulfill its needs and expectations. Nowadays, the older people live longer than before due to the improvement of healthcare services. That leads to an increase in the number of older people and creates a pressure on resources especially with the limited resources in Egypt. Urbanization and the change in the Egyptian demographics is exacerbating the problem. Egypt now is becoming a nation of dignified older citizens that need additional care and special attention. A number of policies and reforms have already been discussed but never thoroughly analyzed. Some policies …

Climate Governance In Egypt / الحوكمة المناخية في مصر, Hamsa Hefny, Mahmoud Elmekkawe, Manar Moustafa Ramadan

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

This paper attempts to understand the issue of climate change adaptation in Egypt by focusing on governance as the main umbrella under which all players and actors tend to operate and interact. The paper presents a detailed introduction to the contexts in which climate change takes place, discussing the different settings, interventions, and factors that might be relevant to the issue.

Productive Villages: A Hope For Reviving Rural Development In Egypt/ القرى المنتجة: بارقة أمل لإحياء التنمية الريفية في مصر, Aya Khaled Damir, Fayrouz El Dabbagh, Heba Mohsen, Maryham Madgy Abdelmalak

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

This policy paper addresses the problems facing rural production that are centered around production inputs and processes in terms of skills and capacities, financial sustainability and physical infrastructure, quality and market competitiveness in terms of international standards, technological integration and market information, and institutional challenges regarding monitoring and evaluation, coordination and government centrality.

Enhancing The Productivity, Competitiveness And Independence Of Productive Cooperatives In Egypt / تحسين الانتاجية والتنافسية والاستقلالية للتعاونيات الإنتاجية بمصر, Yomna Mohamed Gamil Esmat

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

This paper sheds light on the conceptual framework of productive cooperatives, identifies the distinctive characteristics of this type of enterprises and examines the economic and social relative importance of the sector. Based on the importance of the cooperatives sector at the international level, and because of the many local efforts in Egypt that are aimed at promoting cooperatives at large, this paper identifies areas which need to be attended to by suitable legesilative and policy support and also examines selected international experiences, in order to draw lessons learned that can positively reflect on the situation in Egypt.

Technology Integration In Education In Egypt / دمج التكنولوجيا في التعليم في مصر, Alaa Afdal Mogheith, Aya Ahmed Wahb, Lobna Abdallah Yassin

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

Our policy paper focuses on exploring the introduction of the tablets to the first secondary stage in the national educational system. Furthermore, it tackles the implementation processes that are now taking place in Egypt.

Implementing A New Performance Management System In The Egyptian Civil Service / تطبيق نظام جديد لإدارة الأداء في قطاع الخدمة المدنية في مصر, Reham Mohamed Yousef, Samar Roushdy, Yara Abo El Waffa, Yasmine Mohamed Badr

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

The policy paper discusses the recently ratified Civil Service Law (CSL) No. 81/2016 with a special focus on the potential implementation pathways regarding the performance management system ofgovernment employees. In an attempt to combat the inefficiencies in state bureaucracy to achieve more economic growth, the CSL comes as a legislative instrument within an ambitious national agenda for administrative reform in Egypt seekinga better performance of the public sector institutions.

The Sustainable Use Of Natural Resources In Egypt's Ecotourism Hotspots / الاستخدام المستدام للموارد الطبيعية في أماكن جذب السياحة البيئية في مصر, Menna Moataz Elsehrawy, Omneya Nagib Ibrahim, Yara Ali Moustafa, Yousra Osama Taha

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

This paper focuses on ecotourism in Egypt, and its current challenges. Based on the analysis of current policies, different stakeholders, and challenges as well as opportunities within the ecotourism sector, this policy paper --targeting the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency and requiring collaboration from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism-- provides a set of recommendations.

Electronic Recording Of Police Interrogations, Hayley Cleary

Translational Research Fellows Policy Briefs

Policy recommendation: All Virginia state law enforcement agencies to adopt a written department policy requiring electronic recording of any custodial interrogation conducted in a place of detention.

Mining The Evidence: Public Comments, Evidence-Based Policymaking, And A Controversial Mine, Sun V. Nguyen

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In policymaking, evidence-based policymaking is an essential method for influencing policies and decisions by telling decision-makers “what works” (Head, 2008). Western sciences typically make up most of the evidence decision-makers use, but because people are boundedly rational in understanding and incorporating it—politics, values, and beliefs impact thought processes— scholars and policymakers also include other types of knowledge to make decisions. One way for decision-makers to incorporate other types of knowledge into policies is through public comments. Although public comments may provide different types of knowledge to improve policy decisions, decision-makers face challenges with valuing different types of knowledge as evidence. …