Social Policy Commons^™

2011 Legislative Briefing Book, Nevada Institute For Children’S Research And Policy, Unlv, School Of Community Health Sciences, Denise Tanata Ashby, Amanda Haboush, Stefanie Molicki, Tara Phebus, Kari Wolkwitz, Amie Fender

Nevada Institute for Children's Research and Policy Reports

The purpose of this Legislative Briefing Book is to provide a quick snapshot of some of the most pressing issues facing Nevada’s children in order to provide advocates and policymakers with a stepping stone in creating positive changes to improve the lives of Nevada’s children. While this book will not cover every issue facing our children, it is intended to highlight some of those where state policy may have an impact, covering issues in education, health, safety and security, and the juvenile justice system. Diligent efforts need to be made during the 2013 Legislative Session to improve policies, procedures and …

Structurally Unbalanced: Cyclical And Structural Deficits In Arizona, Matthew Murray, Kristin Borns, Susan Clark-Johnson, Mark Muro, Jennifer Vey, Brookings Mountain West, Morrison Institute For Public Policy

Brookings Mountain West Publications

Though the Great Recession may be officially over, all is not well in Arizona. Three years after the collapse of a massive real estate “bubble,” the deepest economic downturn in memory exposed and exacerbated one of the nation’s most profound state fiscal crises, with disturbing implications for Arizona citizens and the state’s long-term economic health. This brief takes a careful look at the Grand Canyon State’s fiscal situation, examining both Arizona’s serious cyclical budget shortfall—the one resulting from a temporary collapse of revenue due to the recession—as well as the chronic, longer-term, and massive structural imbalances that have developed largely …

Structurally Unbalanced: Cyclical And Structural Deficits In California And The Intermountain West, Matthew Murray, Susan Clark-Johnson, Mark Muro, Jennifer Vey, Brookings Mountain West, Morrison Institute For Public Policy

Brookings Mountain West Publications

Though the Great Recession may be officially over, economic recovery is slow and tentative, particularly in California and much of the Intermountain West. Among other challenges, the protracted downturn in these states has exposed and aggravated a huge public-sector fiscal crisis—with disconcerting implications for citizens and states’ long-term economic health. This brief takes a careful look at the fiscal situation in Arizona, California, Colorado, and Nevada, examining both their serious cyclical budget shortfalls—those resulting from the recession and its aftermath—as well as the critical longer-term structural imbalances between revenues and expenditures that have developed in Arizona, California, and, to a …

Mujeres Y Bienestar: Un Estudio Comparativo De Chile Y Uruguay, Jennifer Pribble

Political Science Faculty Publications

Es ampliamente reconocido por economistas, cientistas políticos y sociólogos que las mujeres constituyen una proporción muy alta de la pobreza mundial. A pesar de las marcadas diferencias de género entre los pobres latinoamericanos, los análisis de los Estados de bienestar de Ia región se han concentrado primordialmente en explicar las diferencias en los niveles del gasto socialo total. Este enfoque ha dejado de lado una variable importante en los regímenes de bienestar latinoamericanos: el carácter de género en las políticas sociales. Este trabajo pretende cubrir esa brecha. Mediante un análisis comparativo de Chile y Uruguay, las páginas que siguen exploran …

The Way It Was In Health Policy, And Probably Will Be: Learning Lessons By Rashi Fein (Book Review), Rick Mayes

Political Science Faculty Publications

Learning Lessons by Rashi Fein is an enjoyable memoir from a scholar and policy adviser unlike any other. Fein’s influential involvement in health care policy dates back to John F. Kennedy’s administration, and his career as a leading health economist paralleled the significant growth in the political influence of health economists following the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. Now an emeritus professor of the economics of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Fein writes here about the lessons he learned in medicine, economics, and public policy. His view of the policy process, as a way of coming to …

Vincent Druliolle On Unearthing Franco's Legacy: Mass Graves And The Recovery Of Historical Memory In Spain. Edited By Carlos Jerez-Farrán And Samuel Amago. Notre Dame, In: University Of Notre Dame Press, 2010. 410pp., Vincent Druliolle

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Unearthing Franco's Legacy: Mass Graves and the Recovery of Historical Memory in Spain. Edited by Carlos Jerez-Farrán and Samuel Amago. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2010. 410pp.

Lost In Translation: Linguistic Minorities In The European Union, Nirvana Bhatia

Human Rights & Human Welfare

“A nation without a language is a nation without a soul,” declares a Gaelic proverb. Indubitably, language is a product of national identity; it preserves heritage, reflects societal beliefs and values, and expresses a cultural spirit. The current international human rights regime, however, does not recognize an individual’s right to language choice; instead, it promises freedom from linguistic discrimination. The implications are not quite the same and, as a result, states have successfully repressed minority populations by controlling their language options. The European Union in particular—with its panoply of languages—demonstrates an inconsistent approach toward linguistic minorities; it attempts to promote …

Indigenous Political Participation: The Key To Rights Realization In The Andes, Stephanie Selekman

Human Rights & Human Welfare

"There is no way back, this is our time, the awakening of the indigenous people. We'll keep fighting till the end. Brother Evo Morales still has lots to do, one cannot think that four years are enough after 500 years of submission and oppression,” said Fidel Surco, a prominent indigenous leader, reflecting on Bolivia’s first indigenous president entering his second term (Carroll & Schipani 2009).

The Andean region is particularly appropriate for examining indigenous political rights because 34-40 million indigenous people reside mostly in this region. The actualization of human rights for Andean indigenous groups is an inherently complex issue, …

Citizen Chávez: The State, Social Movements, And Publics, Anthony Peter Spanakos

Department of Political Science and Law Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Scholars are divided over whether the emancipatory politics promised by new social movements can be attained within civil society or whether seizure of the state apparatus is necessary. The Bolivarian Revolution led by President Hugo Chávez presents a crucial case for examining this question. Chávez’s use of the state apparatus has been fundamental in broadening the concept of citizenship, but this extension of citizenship has occurred alongside the deliberate exclusion of others. This has not only limited its appeal as a citizenship project but created counterpublics that challenge the functioning of the government and its very legitimacy. Analysis of Bolivarianism …

Tiny Ideas, Big Changes, Won Soon Park

Social Space

Won Soon Park from the Hope Institute dissects the Social Invention Programme, a model designed to change and improve social policies by actively engaging a community of citizens.

The Global Ecosystem For Social Innovation, Louise Pulford

Social Space

Louise Pulford shares how the social innovation industry is applying its own medicine to accelerate social innovation globally.

Public Engagement For Informing Science And Technology Policy: What Do We Know, What Do We Need To Know, And How Will We Get There?, Lisa M. Pytlik Zillig, Alan J. Tomkins

Alan Tomkins Publications

This article examines social science relevant to public engagements and identifies the challenges to the goal of meaningful public input into science and technology policy. Specifically, when considering “which forms, features, and conditions of public engagement are optimal for what purposes, and why?” we find social science has not clarified matters. We offer a model to guide systematic research that defines and empirically connects variations in features and types of public engagement activities to specifically defined variations in effective processes and outcomes. The specification of models, as we have done, will guide policy makers, practitioners, and the public in determining …

Pledge Your Body For Your Bread: Welfare, Drug Testing, And The Inferior Fourth Amendment, Jordan C. Budd

Law Faculty Scholarship

Proposals to subject welfare recipients to periodic drug testing have emerged over the last three years as a significant legislative trend across the United States. Since 2007, over half of the states have considered bills requiring aid recipients to submit to invasive extraction procedures as an ongoing condition of public assistance. The vast majority of the legislation imposes testing without regard to suspected drug use, reflecting the implicit assumption that the poor are inherently predisposed to culpable conduct and thus may be subject to class-based intrusions that would be inarguably impermissible if inflicted on the less destitute. These proposals are …

Biruh Tesfa ('Bright Future') Program Provides Domestic Workers, Orphans And Migrants In Urban Ethiopia With Social Support, Hiv Education And Skills, Annabel Erulkar, Herma Gebru, Gebeyehu Mekonnen

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This brief provides details about the Biruh Tesfa (“Bright Future”) program in Ethiopia established by the former Ethiopia Ministry of Youth and Sports (currently Ministry of Women, Children and Youth) with technical assistance from the Population Council. Biruh Tesfa aims to address the social isolation of adolescent girls by building their social capital and participation and giving them access to basic literacy, life skills, and HIV and reproductive health information. This evaluation of Biruh Tesfa shows early success and the program, which was initially pilot-tested in the low-income area of Mercato in Addis Ababa, was ultimately expanded to four urban …

Peacetrees Vietnam 2011 Annual Report, Peacetrees Peacetrees

Global CWD Repository

PeaceTrees Vietnam is a Seattle-based humanitarian §501(c)(3) organization working in Central Vietnam to assist those whose lives and livelihoods are threatened by the explosive remnants of war. Founded in 1995, PeaceTrees was the first international non-governmental organization given permission to engage in humanitarian demining work in Vietnam after the war.

Quang Tri Province, where our work is focused, is one of the poorest and most war-torn provinces of Vietnam. Over the last thirty five years, more than 10,800 people in the province have been killed or maimed by landmines and unexploded ordnance. In one out of every five cases, the …

Marshall Legacy Institute 2011 Annual Report, Mli

Global CWD Repository

This past year has been one of accomplishment and growth for the Marshall Legacy Institute. We provided critically needed assistance to some of the most landmine-affected regions of the world. Our Mine Detection Dog Partnership Program (MDDPP) put 22 lifesaving dogs into service in Afghanistan, Angola, and Sri Lanka. Our Children Against Mines Program (CHAMPS) engaged thousands of American schoolchildren on an important global humanitarian issue and linked them with their peers in mine-affected communities. Dozens of landmine survivors received medical assistance and vocational training through our Survivors’ Assistance programs in Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, and Yemen, while at-risk populations in …

Bringing Local Foods To The Farm Bill, Chellie Pingree

Maine Policy Review

U.S. House Representative Chellie Pingree addresses the importance of revising the Federal Farm Bill to provide greater support to small, local farms if Maine and the nation are to have a sustainable food system..

Maine’S Food System: An Overview And Assessment, D. Robin Beck, Nikkilee Carleton, Hedda Steinhoff, Daniel Wallace, Mark Lapping

Maine Policy Review

From an agrarian and seafaring past, Maine’s food system has seen profound changes over the past two centuries. Grain, milk, livestock, fish, potatoes, vegetables and fruits used to come from small, family farms. Today, most people in Maine don’t know where their food comes from. Many are dependent on federal, state and local “emergency food systems” such as food stamps, food pantries, and childhood nutrition programs. Food-processing facilities, distribution systems, and value-added products are in short supply. Nevertheless, Maine has a diversity and abundance of food prod­ucts. In this article, the authors provide a historical overview and current analysis of …

Food And The Urgency Of Now, Kevin W. Concannon

Maine Policy Review

Kevin W. Concannon, undersecretary for food and nutrition services in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, discusses the necessity for food and nutrition programs, both because of the increase in hunger in the country and because of the rise in obesity. He notes that the focus on local and healthier foods is important in addressing both hunger and poor nutrition.

The Promise Of Social Impact Bonds, John Loder

Social Space

A financial tool from Wall Street is being adapted in the social market to nurture early interventions and incentivise capital flow. As John Loder reports, social impact bonds promise two fundamental shifts—for governments to overcome the politics of fear and for private investors to fund social causes with impact.