Can People Talk Politics? A Study of Deliberative Democracy

Recently, political deliberation has undergone intensive theoretical scrutiny. While the amount of scholarship on deliberation has been on the rise, it has been limited to a rational / instrumental paradigm focused on the importance of political knowledge and deliberation as an instrument for producing informed public opinion. This dissertation offers an alternative paradigm, called the communal / conversational framework of deliberation, that instead underscores the importance of the enactment of civic identity and the centrality of political conversation before, during and after deliberation occurs. Through the exploration and analysis of four integral research questions—who participates, what do they say, how do they say it, and with what effect—these two frameworks will be compared and contrasted. The normative theoretical principles widely assumed by scholars of deliberative democracy are tested, using bivariate and multivariate analyses, content analysis, and close textual analysis from data generated from a recent project in deliberative democracy. The results provide broad support for the communal/conversational framework of deliberation. While it shares importance with the rational/instrumental framework of deliberation with regard to who participates and with what effect, the communal/conversational framework eclipses the rational/instrumental framework in affording an understanding and predicting what deliberators say and how they say it. It is political conversation, rather than political knowledge, that determines whether someone can in fact be sophisticated in how they talk about politics

Patterns of Corporate Philanthropy: A Mandate for Reform

Corporate support for big-government liberal advocacy groups is at an all-time high. This continuing trend underscores the debate over the role of charity sparked earlier this year by the Bush Administration. This article deals with the trends in corporate giving in the US

Should I Say Something? Dating and Sexual Aggression Bystander Intervention Among High School Youth

Using data from a sample of 218 high school youth from three high schools in New England (one rural, two urban), this brief discusses dating and sexual aggression bystander intervention among high school youth. Authors Katie Edwards, Robert Eckstein, and Kara Anne Rodenhizer-Stämpfli report that an overwhelming majority (93.6 percent) of high school students reported having the opportunity to intervene during the past year in situations of dating aggression or sexual aggression; however, in over one-third of the episodes (37.4 percent) students reported not intervening. Girls were more likely to intervene in situations of dating and sexual aggression than boys, and youth with histories of dating and sexual aggression were more likely to intervene than youth without these histories. Focus group data revealed that barriers to bystander intervention included avoidance of drama or a desire to fuel drama, social status and personal repercussions, closeness with the victim and/or perpetrator, the victim being male and the perpetrator female, the failure of the dating or sexual aggression to meet a certain threshold, the dating and sexual aggression occurring online, anticipated negative reactions from the perpetrator or victim, and an inability to relate to the situation. Given the mounting evidence that bystander education is a critical component of dat­ing and sexual aggression prevention, the authors urge policy makers and educators to enhance the presence of this type of education in high school health curricula and related course curricula

UNH Law Alumni Magazine, Winter 2003

https://scholars.unh.edu/alumni_mag/1021/thumbnail.jp

Leading for Learning: Reflective Tools for School and District Leaders

Provides reflective ideas and tools for educators to enhance leadership in learning. Includes key ideas, real examples, and reflective questions that leaders can use can use to assess their organizations, enact strategic plans, and teach colleagues