Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

A Structural Solution To Africa’S Wayward Presidents, Devin K. Joshi

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The current crisis in the Ivory Coast unfortunately resembles a number of crises in Western and Central Africa over the last few decades. Whereas the international community has generally been more willing to intervene in Europe and the Middle East, there has been a tendency to “wait and watch” while humanitarian crises unfold in middle Africa. In the last several years, as in the Ivory Coast right now, however, global awareness of the brutality of such crises has expanded tremendously.

Research To Practice: Collaboration Between State Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities Agencies And State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies: Results Of A National Survey, Heike Boeltzig, Jean E. Winsor, Kelly Haines

Research to Practice Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

Do state intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) agencies collaborate with their vocational rehabilitation (VR) counterparts? If so, in what ways and how formalized are these collaborative efforts? This Research to Practice Brief provides answers to those and other questions.

Why Do Some Nations Have More Renewable Energy Policies?, Melissa Dahl

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Some nations have considerably more renewable energy policies than others and this research is attempting to discover why. Renewable energy use is quickly growing in our world and has become a major topic in today’s politics. Existing literature suggests various theories as to why some nations have more renewable energy policies than others. I test these theories with data from two major data sources; REN21, the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century, and the International Energy Agency. I anticipate that nations with a larger number of effective political parties, higher GDPs, and larger population would have more renewable …

Why Now And What's Next: The February 20th Movement’S Challenge To The State, Marina Balleria

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Moroccan state takes a nuanced place among autocracies and democracies—the regime features fundamental democratic institutions and while the central power of the monarchy is maintained through a constellation of political, economic, social, and cultural institutions. In this case, David Brumberg’s classification of “liberalized autocracies” is useful, which defines these states as using a mixture of “guided pluralism, controlled elections and selective repression” to maintain and centralize power[1] This political structure of liberalized autocracy creates sufficient political opportunity for various protest movements to emerge but until recently few have successfully enacted change. The February 20^th protest movement, inspired …

Pandora’S Box Of Humanitarian Intervention, Edzia Carvalho

Human Rights & Human Welfare

“The Case for Intervention in the Ivory Coast” reminded me of the discussion that my undergraduate students had during the previous academic term on the conundrums surrounding humanitarian intervention. They innately responded to the intense suffering of individuals and groups facing gross human rights violations and initially argued that inaction in the face of suffering cannot be justified on any grounds. However, with their international relations hats on, many of them soon realized that putting an end to such a state of affairs is not as easy or straightforward as they had hoped.

A Rights-Based Approach To Global Injustice, Brooke Ackerly

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Is reflection on global injustice part of the everyday lives of those who live in global privilege? Or does privilege let us wait to raise concerns about justice only when the media bring the graphic images of genocide and tragedy to our family rooms?

Act 35, New School Performance Ratings, And School Choice, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

Act 35 was a product of the Lakeview v Huckabee case and the related Extraordinary Legislative Session. The law § 6-15-2101 of the Arkansas code required the establishment of three school ratings: a rating of the school’s current academic performance (or status), a rating of the school’s academic improvement (see the OEP policy brief on the new improvement rating) 1 , and a rating based on the school’s fiscal practices. The first set of improvement scores were reported based on the standardized tests administered in spring of 2007 and 2008. The first ratings based on current academic performance are to …

The Case For Extended School Time In Arkansas, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

There is growing discussion over the topic of extended learning opportunities throughout the state. For example, this past fall at the OEP conference in November, Arkansas Associctaion of Educational Administrators Director Richard Abernathy stated that additional instructional time may be needed in order to fulfill all the curricular requirements for schools. Citing the need for additional enrichment opportunities, a bill is making its way through the Arkansas Legislature to provide funding for after school and summer school programs. Additionally, and potentially of more consequence, is a bill sponsored by Senator David Johnson (D) of Little Rock to expand learning time …

Big Changes In How Students Are Tested, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

For the past decade, school accountability has relied on tests for which the essential format has remained unchanged. Educators are familiar with the yearly testing routine: schools are given curriculum frameworks, teachers use the frameworks to guide instruction, students take one big test at year’s end which relies heavily upon multiple-choice bubble items, and then school leaders wait anxiously to find out whether enough of their students scored at or above proficiency to meet state standards. All this will change with the adoption of Common Core standards. Testing and accountability aren’t going away. Instead, they are developing and expanding in …

Deadly Silence: An Assessment Of Emergency Alert Systems For Lincoln County, Georgia, Gretchen B. Keneson,

Georgia Journal of Public Policy

Rural counties have a predisposition to sustaining catastrophic losses during natural emergencies. These counties tend to have poorer economic conditions that exacerbate attempts at hazard mitigation.  Emergency Alerts Systems (EAS) are the most efficient and effective ways to provide information of impending danger.  This study will compare and contrast different EAS to determine which would accommodate the needs of a community. The most successful way for most counties to alert citizens is through the use of a combination of redundant systems. For pastoral Lincoln County, Georgia the optimal systems are an alert siren and auto call capabilities.  Both of these …

Proper Crime Recording As An Effective Feedback Tool In Articulating A Crime Policy, Kevin A. Unter

Georgia Journal of Public Policy

Crime policy is subject to the policy process just like other governmental policies.  An effective crime policy is one that reduces the amount of crime in a police department’s jurisdiction, e.g., the city.  Accordingly, crime policy consists of the same policy components – agenda setting, formulation, implementation, and feedback.  The implementation of any crime policy depends on the information collected by police departments, often through crimes reported to the department via 9-1-1 calls or brought to a police officer’s attention through proactive police work.  The success of that police work relative to the reported crime first depends on whether the …

Federal Earmarks In The State Of Georgia, Jeffrey Lazarus

Georgia Journal of Public Policy

Earmarks have been controversial ever since becoming a prominent part of the congressional spending process. Critics charge that earmarks fund projects with little or no economic value (for instance Ted Stevens’ “Bridge to Nowhere,”) but instead allow Congress members to direct government spending to campaign contributors (the charge leading to a federal investigation of the now-defunct lobbying firm PMA Group). On the other side of the controversy, congressional earmarks do fund a number of community improvements which are very valuable, at least locally. In Georgia, the fiscal 2010 appropriations bills included earmarks which allocated $450,000 to update College Park’s emergency …

Torch (March 2011), Brandon Baldwin, Civil Rights Team Project

Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of U.S. State Taxes On State Economic Prosperity, Casey Dainsberg

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Policy makers today are faced with trying to create solutions for economic troubles that become increasingly more complex and foreboding. Tax cuts and tax hikes are proposed and considered as possible solutions to various economic problems. However, the question still remains regarding which policies are most effective. The purpose of this research is to asses these competing claims. It seeks to find evidence that will shed light on one of these views. I have done this by accumulating tax and economic data from the fifty U.S. States between the years 2001-2009. Previous research has concluded that taxes do affect the …

Guantanamo And Beyond: Reflections On The Past, Present, And Future Of Preventive Detention, Kristine A. Huskey

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “January 11, 2011 began the tenth year of existence of the detention center at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (“Guantanamo” or “GTMO”). In human-being terms, what this means is that large numbers of men have been detained by the U.S. military for almost a decade, in prison-like conditions, without trial. In a pre-9/11 world, a “Guantanamo” and the idea of “detention without trial” would have been seen as decidedly un-American and a violation of our democratic values. Over the last decade, however, Guantanamo” and the practice of long-term detention without trial for terrorism suspects (or, “preventive …

Territorial Sovereignty And The Evolving Boumediene Factors: Al Maqaleh V. Gates And The Future Of Detainee Habeas Corpus Rights, Luke R. Nelson

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “In November 2010, the U.S. government prosecuted in a civilian federal court an accused terrorist detainee housed since 2004 at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center (Guantanamo Bay). The Obama Administration considered this trial a “test case” for prosecuting accused terrorist detainees in civilian federal courts. Of the more than 280 charges against the detainee defendant, a civilian jury convicted him of one count and acquitted him of the remaining charges. Yet, the defendant received a life sentence without parole.

This “test case” is one example of a changing landscape in international armed conflict and detainee rights jurisprudence following September …

Cover & Front Matter

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

Resetting U.S.-Turkish Relations: Charting A New Way Forward, Aaron Stein

Journal of Strategic Security

After nearly nine decades of benign neglect, Turkey has set about reestablishing its influence in the Middle East. Although most observers agree that the United States and Turkey share a number of overlapping goals in the Middle East, Turkey's recent rapprochement with Iran has drawn the ire of the United States. In tandem, Turkey's relations with Israel, Washington's closest ally in the region, have deteriorated rapidly following Israel's war in Gaza and the events aboard the Mavi Marmara. These coinciding events have further complicated U.S.-Turkish relations and have led a number of pundits in Washington to openly question Turkey's ideological …

The Financial Arm Of The Farc: A Threat Finance Perspective, Thomas R. Cook

Journal of Strategic Security

The FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) transformed from a traditional guerrilla group into a full-fledged insurgency because of its ability to effectively convert the proceeds derived from illegal narcotic trafficking into operational funds. Those financial capabilities allowed the FARC to challenge government authority in large swathes of the Colombian state. The FARC moved into the drug trade, initially controlling production territory and subsequently engaging in trafficking, which allowed the organization to increase its war-fighting capabilities. This paper only scratches the surface of the mechanism by which the FARC utilized its coca revenue in …

The Nuclear (And The) Holocaust: Israel, Iran, And The Shadows Of Auschwitz, Shmuel Nili

Journal of Strategic Security

The main thesis of this article is that the Holocaust is indispensable for understanding Israel’s treatment of what it perceives as the greatest current threat to its security - the Iranian nuclear program. The Holocaust’s impact deviates in crucial ways from established teaching regarding balance of power in general and nuclear deterrence in particular. Mutually Assured Destruction, the distinction between capabilities and intentions, and even linkage politics - all of those basic concepts are profoundly altered in the Israeli case by the (often conscious) presence of the Holocaust. The Holocaust’s influence is evident in the Israeli belief that deterring Iran …

Alternative Threat Methodology, Charles B. King Iii

Journal of Strategic Security

Of the many challenges facing risk analysis practitioners, perhaps the most difficult to overcome is in the field of terrorist threat analysis. When estimating the threat associated with naturally occurring events, historical data provides a great deal of insight into the frequency of those events. Threat associated with accidents applies many operations research tools to gauge future failure-rates (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis being perhaps the most widely known). However, estimating the probability of an individual's or group's attacking a specific (or even a generic) target is an element of risk analysis in which art and intuition are applied far …

New Start: The Contentious Road To Ratification, Elizabeth Zolotukhina

Journal of Strategic Security

Senate ratification of the New START treaty re-established effective bilateral inspection and monitoring of American and Russian nuclear holdings and has the potential to further enhance U.S.-Russian cooperation on key issues, including containing the Iranian nuclear program, and further reductions in the two countries' arsenals. Although the accord was widely heralded as a foreign policy success of the Obama administration, the contentious Senate ratification may impede future progress on arms control.

Book Reviews

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

Obama's Failed Attempt To Close Gitmo: Why Executive Orders Can't Bring About Systemic Change, Erin B. Corcoran

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “In the lead up to the 2008 Presidential election, there was broad bipartisan support for closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. President Bush was quoted as saying, “I’d like it to be over with.” John McCain and General Colin Powell echoed similar sentiments for ending detention at the naval base. In addition to prominent Republicans calling for closure, public opinion began to support finding alternative solutions for prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay.

Barack Obama wasted no time once sworn into office executing his central campaign promises. On January 22, 2009, two days after becoming the forty-fourth President of …

Procedural Justice Post-9/11: The Effects Of Procedurally Unfair Treatment Of Detainees On Perceptions Of Global Legitimacy, David Welsh

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “The Global War on Terror has been ideologically framed as a struggle between the principles of freedom and democracy on the one hand and tyranny and extremism on the other. Although this war has arguably led to a short-term disruption of terrorist threats such as al-Qaeda, it has also damaged America’s image both at home and abroad. Throughout the world, there is a growing consensus that America has “a lack of credibility as a fair and just world leader.” The perceived legitimacy of the United States in the War on Terror is critical because terrorism is not a conventional …

March Roundtable: Libya And The Responsibility To Protect, Introduction, Claudia Fuentes

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

Article under review: “It’s Time to Intervene” by Shadi Hamid. Slate. February 23 2011.

I Will Survive, Robert Funk

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Academics do not often quote 70s disco tunes. At least not in print. But if there is one thing that has been striking about the events in Libya in recent weeks—and indeed looking back over decades—it is the sheer ability of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to survive. He is, perhaps with Fidel Castro, the world’s greatest survivor. He has indeed learned how to carry on.

Is It Really Time To Intervene In Libya?, Christina Cerna

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Shadi Hamid, in “It’s Time to Intervene,” suggests that the international community—specifically, the United States, the United Nations, and NATO—must intervene in Libya because Muammar Gaddafi has declared that he is ready and willing to slaughter his own people if his survival depends on it. The author considered Gaddafi’s speech otherwise “bizarre” and “incoherent.”

Feminism And Democracy, Louis Edgar Esparza

Human Rights & Human Welfare

After work on December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks walked onto a bus that was to take her home that night. She ended up on a trip to jail instead, for refusing to give her seat to a white passenger. The event triggered resistance to bus segregation, the founding of the Montgomery Improvement Association, and the election of the then-unknown Dr. Martin Luther King as its leader. The success of the campaign is an integral battle in our historical retellings of the US African American Civil Rights Movement. Fewer recount the sexual harassment against black women by white …

We Do Indeed Reap What We Sow, Walter Lotze

Human Rights & Human Welfare

When violence first broke out in Tunisia in January 2011, few observers would have predicted that waves of unrest would engulf North Africa and the Arab world. When demonstrations swiftly spread to Algeria, Sudan, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, and Jordan, observers hastened to place bets on which regime would be the next to fall. That Hosni Mubarak would be felled next came perhaps as no surprise; Egypt had for years been on a knife’s edge, liberalizing and modernizing society while closing all space for political and social participation. Most analysts then turned their attention to Sudan, Yemen, and Bahrain, predicting that …