Reconsidering the Law of Democracy: Of Political Questions, Prudence, and the Judicial Role

In Vieth v. Jubelirer, the U.S. Supreme Court seemed poised to offer its definitive position on political gerrymandering questions. Yet the Court splintered along familiar lines and failed to offer an unequivocal answer. This Article focuses on the Court\u27s plurality opinion, and particularly on its conclusion that judicially manageable standards are wanting in this area. This conclusion is implausible and masks the real question at the heart of the case. The Vieth plurality is best understood by examining the Court\u27s political and prudential concerns as cabined by the political question doctrine. One understanding is simply that the plurality is making a call on the merits. A more intriguing explanation is that the plurality is signaling a retreat from its aggressive posture of years past: uncomfortable with the Court\u27s general role in political affairs, the plurality is finally willing to call it a day. This is a worthy inquiry; in the wake of Bush v. Gore, we must revisit the Court\u27s entry into the political arena. Rather than sending us in a futile quest for standards, Vieth is best understood as inviting such an inquiry

Reconsidering the Law of Democracy: Of Political Questions, Prudence, and the Judicial Role

In Vieth v. Jubelirer, the U.S. Supreme Court seemed poised to offer the Court\u27s definitive position on political gerrymandering questions. Yet the Court splintered along familiar lines and failed to offer a definitive answer. This Article focuses on the plurality opinion, and particularly its conclusion that judicially manageable standards are wanting in this area. This conclusion is implausible and masks the real question at the heart of the case. The Vieth plurality is best understood by examining the Court\u27s political and prudential concerns, as cabined by the political question doctrine. One understanding is simply that the plurality is making a call on the merits. A more intriguing explanation is that the plurality is signaling a retreat from its aggressive posture of years past; uncomfortable with the Court\u27s general role in political affairs, the plurality is finally willing to call it a day. This is a worthy inquiry; in the wake of Bush v. Gore, we must revisit the Court\u27s entry into the political arena. Rather than send us in a futile quest for standards, Vieth is best understood as inviting such an inquiry

The insecurity dilemma and the Sino-Tibetan conflict

Noting the inadequacies of existing IR theories to explain the security policies of states in the global south and the frequent intra-state conflicts there, this research demonstrates the analytical capacity of the insecurity dilemma as an alternative framework. The research develops the insecurity dilemma first and then applies it on the Chinese-Tibetan conflict. Over sixty years of violence and dialogue has brought the Chinese and the Tibetans no closer to a resolution of their conflict. The insecurity dilemma provides a nuanced understanding of the underlying reasons for this protracted conflict. This research argues that, conscious of its weakness as a state, which has implications for state, regime and ‘national’ security, China has pursued state-building through its policies on religion, language, education and economy in Tibet. Beijing has also denied the existence of a ‘Tibet Issue’ and rejected a number of Tibetan proposals for autonomy out of fears that they threaten their state-building project in Tibet. Conversely, Tibetan identity insecurity, generated by the Chinese policies, migration and cultural influences inside Tibet, explains both the Dalai Lama’s unpopular decision to give up his erstwhile aspiration for Tibetan independence as well as his steadfast demands for autonomy and unification of all Tibetans under one administration. Identity insecurity also drives the multi-faceted Tibetan resistance both inside Tibet and in the diaspora. Although the intentions of both Beijing and the Tibetans are to increase their respective securities identified above, the outcome is greater insecurity for both, plunging them into dilemmatic cycles of state-building and hardening of policies on the Chinese side and strengthening of identity and resistance on the Tibetan side. This study gives play to a multiplicity of actors, objectives and strategies on both sides and examines the feed-back effect that exists between the Sino-Tibetan conflict and the regional and global political strategic and ideological competitions

Energy Partisanship

Whether the topic is the Paris Agreement on climate change, greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the Keystone XL pipeline, hydraulic fracturing, offshore drilling, or renewable energy, much of the U.S. policy dialogue about energy and climate change is deeply partisan. Republicans and Democrats debate individual issues in vitriolic sound bites that indicate minimal common ground. For example, officials favoring robust action on climate change are charged with engaging in a “War on Coal.” Those opposed are labeled “members of the Flat Earth Society.” Set against these dysfunctional climate and energy politics, how can progress be made? For people who accept the science of climate change, this has become a critical question. An emerging body of psychological research indicates that strategies attempting to persuade those with opposing views with additional scientific evidence have limited effectiveness. Providing more information does not change minds because (1) it does not take moral and cultural worldview differences into account, or (2) it is presented in ways that do not adequately acknowledge how people’s perceptions of the relatability and trustworthiness of communicators shape their acceptance of that information. This Article provides a novel analysis of how to make progress on energy and climate change issues by translating this emerging psychological research into a framework for action. It proposes two interconnected strategies—substantive and structural—for moving past imbedded partisanship and political dysfunction. Substantively, the Article argues for refocusing regulatory efforts on areas where a greater degree of consensus may be possible, such as economic development and disaster resilience. Structurally, it proposes a shift to arenas that are less gridlocked by energy partisanship than the legislative branch of the federal government, such as other branches of the federal government, state and local levels, and corporate and private sector actors. By drawing on case studies and empirical data, including interviews with key stakeholders, the Article illustrates possibilities for progress under this framework

More than shelter : Community, identity, and spatial politics in San Francisco public housing, 1938--2000

During the second half of the twentieth century, scholars and journalists documented the failures of the public housing program in the United States with a range of studies focusing on the Midwest and East. Problems such as displacement, criminal activity, high vacancy rates, racial segregation, and the isolation of tenants informed critiques of federally-subsidized housing for low-income families. These aspects contributed to the national image of the projects as high-rise ghettos, populated primarily by African Americans, and located in run-down areas. Public housing with its position at the crossroads of national, state, and local politics and policies as well as tenants\u27 varied experiences, however, defy simple categorization as an unmitigated failure.;This study expands the history of public housing to the West and in doing so complicates the image of where public housing is located, what it looks like, and who lives there. Examining public housing in San Francisco, a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, politically liberal city, reveals the important role regional, local and spatial politics play in project design, location, and population. The three projects examined here, Ping Yuen in Chinatown, North Beach Place in North Beach, and Valencia Gardens in the Mission District, are located in thriving urban areas near public transportation, shops, and hospitals. Nevertheless, tenants over the years experienced a range of difficulties including mismanagement and racial segregation by the San Francisco Housing Authority, rising crime rates, in-fighting, and at Valencia Gardens and North Beach, the scorn of district neighbors. Despite these challenges, many tenants came together to form communities. Coming across racial and ethnic lines, tenants relied on formal and informal networks to make their rental apartments into homes. Demonstrating part of the hidden history of public housing, tenants at Ping Yuen, North Beach Place, and Valencia Gardens became politicized by living in the projects and challenged the state to improve their living environments. These case studies highlight public housing\u27s contribution to the affordable housing stock and tenants\u27 roles in making the projects livable spaces

THE TAIWAN STRAIT CRISES, 1954-1958: CHINA, THE UNITED STATES AND TAIWAN

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (FASS

Early Modern Britain’s Relationship to Its Past: The Historiographical Fortunes of the Legends of Brute, Albina, and Scota

This volume considers the reception in the early modern period of four popular medieval myths of nationhood—the legends of Brutus, Albina, and Scota—tracing their intertwined literary and historiographical afterlives. The book is particularly timely in its dialogue with current investigations into early modern historiography and the period\u27s relationship to its past, its engagement with pressing issues in identity and gender studies, and its analysis of British national origin stories at a time when modern Britain is considering its own future as a nation.https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/mip_rmemc/1005/thumbnail.jp

Civil Rights and the Environment in African-American Literature, 1895-1941

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. The beginning of the 20th century marked a new phase of the battle for civil rights in America. But many of the era’s most important African-American writers were also acutely aware of the importance of environmental justice to the struggle. Civil Rights and the Environment in African-American Literature is the first book to explore the centrality of environmental problems to writing from the civil rights movement in the early decades of the century. Bringing ecocritical perspectives to bear on the work of such important writers as Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, the writers of the Harlem Renaissance and Depression-era African-American writing, the book brings to light a vital new perspective on ecocriticism and modern American literary history

British Attitudes and Policy Towards the Taiping Rebellion in China 1850-64.

Part I surveys official attitudes and policy over the whole period of the rebellion. The main points developed are that the early policy of armed and limited neutrality was not significantly biassed in favour of either Manchus or Taipings, although official British opinion quickly came to discount the religious, political and commercial possibilities of the rebellion. By 1860 British neutrality was clearly inclined to favour the Manchus, especially after further treaty concessions had been forced from them by the war of 1856-60. But the idea that British policy changed quickly and decisively after that war is challenged, and it is pointed out that the intervention actually undertaken after 1862 was deliberately limited in extent and began in quite unpremeditated fashion. The main reason for the change in British policy is found in the official conviction that the rebellion was destructive of political order and therefore of the conditions for British trade in China, not in such things as fear of a strong, nationalist Taiping government which would prohibit the opium trade effectively. Part II surveys the attitudes of unofficial groups. British merchants, it is suggested, were somewhat dubious in their first reactions to the rebellion, yet were divided over the later policy of intervention, many considering this a dangerous provocation of a powerful movement which, up to 1862, had not seriously disrupted trade. British missionaries, although very hopeful and favourable towards the rebellion at first, always had considerable doubts about it. There was a renewal of missionary hopes about 1860-1, but closer observation led to almost total rejection by 1862, though, as with the merchants, many opposed intervention. There is no evidence that the merchants, still less the missionaries, decisively influenced the development of official policy. Other opinion on the rebellion is illustrated, the main point emerging being that there was much public debate about 1862-3 on the wisdom of the policy of intervention