Public Policy Commons^™

Export Controls: A Contemporary History, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Provides highlights of my recently published book Export Controls: A Contemporary History. Describes the roles played by multiple U.S. Government agencies and congressional oversight committees in this policymaking arena including the Commerce, Defense, State, and Treasury Departments. It also reviews the roles played by international government organizations such as the Missile Technology Control Regime, export oriented businesses, and research intensive universities.

Challenges For Good Government Reformers In California: Shadow Lobbying & Astroturfing, Scott Alonso

Master's Projects and Capstones

Lobbying reform in California’s capital presents a complex policy problem for good government advocates and policymakers. Lobbyists have a large influence on political and policy matters in the state legislature and executive branch. Reform proponents naturally see the oversized influence of lobbyists as a problem. However, how big of a problem is lobbying? Further, what efforts underway now address lobbying? Lobbyists are defined in California law with a monetary and time limit requirement. We can look at current law to understand the failings of regulatory bodies and how the law fails to properly oversee lobbying activity. While there is not …

Women’S Political Leadership In Boston, Center For Women In Politics And Public Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

The center tracks the status of women at all levels of government in the New England states. It also provides dynamic web resources to inform and support public leadership of women of color.

This fact sheet presents information and statistics following the 2013 municipal elections in the City of Boston.

Overcoming Legislative Gridlock In The U.S. Congress: How Procedural Rules Affect Legislative Obstructionism, Molly Jackman

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

More than 90 percent of bills introduced in the U.S. House never make it to a floor vote, and far fewer are enacted into law. Since legislative gridlock is much more common than legislative action, in order to understand policy outcomes, it is critical to know why bills are obstructed. Gridlock occurs when a legislator (or group of legislators) wants to block a bill, and has the procedural right to do so. Using new data on the procedural rules in the U.S. states, this presentation will identify the chambers in which legislators can block bills from the legislative agenda. Then, …

Agency Input As A Policy Making Tool: Analyzing The Influence Of Agency Input On Presidential Policy Success In Congress, José Villalobos

José D. Villalobos

This study posits a theoretical framework for understanding the role and value of agency input in presidential legislative policy making. I assert that by employing agency input for policy development, presidents instill their proposals with a degree of bureaucratic objectivity, expertise, process transparency, and agency support, which aids their legislative passage while lowering the extent of changes made to policy substance in the process. To test my hypotheses, I conduct binary and ordered logistic regression analyses using pooled cross-sectional data across twelve administrations from 1949-2010. I find that agency input serves as a key component for increased presidential legislative success.

A Federalist George W. Bush And An Anti-Federalist Barack Obama? The Irony And Paradoxes Behind Republican And Democratic Administration Drug Policies, José Villalobos

José D. Villalobos

During President George W. Bush’s tenure in the White House, his administration stood clearly against state-level efforts in California and elsewhere to decriminalize soft drugs. Despite his loyalty to smaller government values and state sovereignty on other issues, the prospect of state-level drug decriminalization led Bush to pursue federal means of enforcing anti-drug laws. Years later, President Barack Obama, though known for his reputation as a federalist, shifted power over drug policy enforcement more towards the state level as a means to allow certain states to enact drug decriminalization policies at their will, particularly with respect to medicinal marijuana. The …

The Effects Of The Bi-Partisan Campaign Reform Act On The Process Of The Campaign Finance In The Presidential Nomination Process, Karen Sebold

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act increased the individual donor limit to $2,000 per candidate per election and indexed the limit for inflation every two years. The primary research question guiding this study is how has the increase in the donor limit affected donor behavior. Answering this question should allow a determination to be made about how donors have responded to the increased donor limit. Understanding how donors responded to the doubled limit is important because it provides evidence on the intersection of wealth inequality and political influence. To answer the research question this study considers how the increased donor limit …

Bankruptcy And Economic Recovery, Thomas H. Jackson, David A. Skeel Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

To measure economic growth or recovery, one traditionally looks to metrics such as the unemployment rate and the growth in GDP. And in terms of figuring out institutional policies that will stimulate economic growth, the focus most often is on policies that encourage investment, entrepreneurial enterprises, and reward risk-taking with appropriate returns. Bankruptcy academics that we are, we tend to add our own area of expertise to this stable— with the firm belief that thinking critically about bankruptcy policy is an important element of any set of institutions designed to speed economic recovery. In this paper, written for a book …

Support Strategies For Asian American Women Leaders In Massachusetts, Lisa Wong

Support Strategies for Asian American Women Leaders in Massachusetts

The election and appointment of Asian American women to positions in Massachusetts and on the federal level suggest that the face of public leadership is changing. Recent successes for Asian American women in electoral politics provide a unique opportunity to build the pipeline of Asian American women in Massachusetts politics. This research project aimed to identify strategies to increase the number of Asian American women elected to political office in Massachusetts.

Civically Engaged Mothers Of Color And The Challenges Of Political Leadership, Sheneal Parker

Civically Engaged Mothers of Color and the Challenges of Political Leadership

While the ranks of women serving in public office and other political leadership positions are growing, women of color continue to represent a relatively small proportion of elected and other public officials in the United States. Sheneal centered her study on civically engaged mothers of color given that there is limited scholarship available on women of color who are mothers and politically active in their communities. Sheneal wanted to deepen our understanding of the barriers mothers of color face in entering and sustaining a political career.

Her study sought to better understand and analyze:

• How civically engaged mothers of color …

Political Motivations Of Women Of Color Leaders: Existing Challenges, Martina Cruz

Political Motivations of Women of Color Leaders: Existing Challenges

Women of color are underrepresented in political office at multiple levels of government, from school committees to governorships nationwide. Women of color who are active in their communities have important qualities, perspectives, and experiences that are necessary in public policymaking settings that affect their communities. Yet many women of color who are well-known and respected in their communities do not seek elective office.

Martina sought to better understand factors that discourage women of color leaders from running for political office. Her project is important as it seeks to inform strategies to encourage more women of color in Massachusetts to run …

Western Massachusetts And Campaigns: Women Of Color Running For Office, Gladys Lebrón-Martínez

Western Massachusetts and Campaigns: Women of Color Running for Office

While attending a Women’s Pipeline for Change event in Boston during the summer of 2011, Gladys was inspired by the large number of women of color who came out to support other women of color in politics. This prompted her to document and analyze the resources that exist and are utilized by women of color, especially Latinas, running for elected office in Western Massachusetts.

Latina Pathways To Political Leadership, Elizabeth Cardona

Latina Pathways to Political Leadership

Elizabeth’s research aimed to explore pathways to leadership for Latinas who are change agents residing in Western Massachusetts. Recognizing the significance of culture, family and community in her own personal journey, Elizabeth wanted to document and analyze key factors that helped Latina leaders find a voice and play a political role in their communities.

Kyl, Jon, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an summary of the political career of Arizona Senator John Kyl who served in the Senate from 1995-2013 and as a congressional representative from 1987-1994.

Oil Industry, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview of the historical and contemporary development of the American oil industry and how it has impacted U.S. natural resources policies in the American west.

Specialists, Generalists, And Policy Advocacy By Charitable Nonprofit Organizations, Heather Macindoe, Ryan Whalen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Previous research finds modest levels of engagement in policy advocacy by charitable nonprofits, despite legal regulations permitting nonprofit advocacy and the significance of public policy to nonprofit constituencies. This paper examines nonprofit involvement in policy advocacy using survey data from Boston, Massachusetts. Nonprofit participation in policy advocacy is associated with professionalization, resource dependence, features of the institutional environment, and organizational characteristics such as size and mission. Drawing from population ecology theory, we examine an additional aspect of organizational mission: whether a nonprofit serves a specialized or general population. We find that nonprofits serving specialized populations are more likely to participate …

Energy, U.S. Department Of, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides information about the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessor agencies and how DOE influences federal energy policy and scientific research in the western U.S.

Hydroelectric Power, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides a historical overview and contemporary analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of federal government support for hydroelectric power in the American West.

Subsidies, Agricultural, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides historical and contemporary information on U.S. Government agricultural subsidies and how they affect agricultural policy in the Western U.S.

Who We Are: Incarcerated Students And The New Prison Literature, 1995-2010, Reilly Hannah N. Lorastein

Honors Projects

This project focuses on American prison writings from the late 1990s to the 2000s. Much has been written about American prison intellectuals such as Malcolm X, George Jackson, Eldridge Cleaver, and Angela Davis, who wrote as active participants in black and brown freedom movements in the United States. However the new prison literature that has emerged over the past two decades through higher education programs within prisons has received little to no attention. This study provides a more nuanced view of the steadily growing silent population in the United States through close readings of Openline, an inter-disciplinary journal featuring …

Social Construction And Political Decision Making In The American Prison System(S), Jeremiah Olson

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

With over two million inmates, the United States’ prison population is the largest in the world. Nearly one in one hundred Americans are behind bars, either in prisons or pre-trial detention facilities. The rapid growth in incarceration is well-documented. However, social science explanations often stop at the prison gates, with little work on treatment inside prisons. This black box approach ignores important bureaucratic decisions, including the provision of rehabilitative services and the application of punishment.

This dissertation offers a systematic analysis of treatment decisions inside the American prisons. I use a mixed methods approach, combining multiple quantitative datasets with environmental …

Building Coalitions, Making Policy: The Politics Of The Clinton, Bush, And Obama Presidencies, By Martin A. Levin, Daniel Disalvo, And Martin M. Shapiro, Eds., José D. Villalobos

José D. Villalobos

No abstract provided.

Barking Up The Wrong Tree: Why Bo Won’T Fetch Many Votes For Barack Obama In 2012, Matthew L. Jacobsmeier, Daniel C. Lewis

Daniel Lewis

In “The Dog that Didn't Bark: The Role of Canines in the 2008 Campaign,” Diana Mutz (2010) argues that dog ownership made voters significantly less likely to vote for Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. We examine this claim further. While President Obama has owned a dog since shortly after his 2008 election, we argue that Bo’s presence will not do much to improve his owner’s chances of being reelected in 2012. Rather, the apparent significance of dog ownership is due largely to key variables being omitted from the analysis. Using the same data, we show that Obama didn’t …