Unit of instruction.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

Is “freedom of information” a viable research tool? Step one: composing a request

Freedom of information (FOI) laws allow private citizens to request data from public authorities. It also requires these agencies to publish certain information in the public interest on a regular basis. To understand the underlying data that contributes to these public reports, one has to file a request. People also make requests for information that they suspect is not published

The Origins of the Common Travel Area between Ireland and the United Kingdom and its Fate in an Era of Governmental Concern about Undocumented Migration and International Terrorism. ESRI WP418. December 2011

In the late 1990s I chose the Common Travel Area (CTA) as the topic of a research paper I did as a Visiting Fellow at Trinity College Dublin. This was in the wake of opt‐outs by the Irish and British governments from the incorporation of the Schengen Agreement on the free movement of persons into the Treaty of Amsterdam. My intention was to explore the conditions under which an Irish government might see its interests as lying with EU freedom of movement rather than in the continuation of the CTA with the United Kingdom (UK). I was also interested in the associated political and socio‐economic rights that made the CTA more of a mini‐EU than simply an area of free movement – primarily, voting rights and rights of residence, employment, and access to social benefits and services. But, as this paper concludes, it is important also to remember that the CTA is an agreement about immigration into both states as well as free movement between them

Is freedom of information a viable research tool? Step two: receiving a response to a request

This article is the second part in a series reporting on Freedom of Information procedures in the United Kingdom. In the first part, Elizabeth Meehan described how to compose an FOI request in the context of her research on judicial misconduct. Here she reports on the initial response to her request to the Judicial Appointment and Conduct Ombudsman

Is freedom of information a viable research tool? Step three: responses and conclusions.

Is freedom of information a viable research tool? Step three: Responses and Conclusions In the next piece by Elizabeth Meehan- part 3 of her series on Freedom of Information requests in the United Kingdom- a breakthrough is made, but not after some initial disappointments that inform her conclusion on the efficacy of the FOI system

Citizenship and the European Union

The idea and practice of European citizenship is relevant in two main ways to the recent controversy in Germany over plans by the governing Social-Democratic Party to reform citizenship law. One of these is that the concepts of citizenship and nationality continue to be thought of as synonymous in Germany but are now relatively distinct, both linguistically and politically, in several other national regimes and in the European Union (EU). Secondly, on the one hand, new German provisions will be more similar than before to the nationality laws of other member states by introducing a right [as opposed to a discretionary possibility] to citizenship through residence and legal naturalization, as well as ancestry. But, on the other, the decision on 16 March 1999 to abandon the possibility of dualcitizenship [or, in my language, nationality] means that, in this respect, the German approach to citizenship now runs counter to suggestions made by some specialists about the EU as a site of democratic practice. This paper will open with a brief discussion of the distinctiveness of citizenship and nationality. This is necessary so that one can understand the following section outlining EU provisions. In conclusion, this paper will discuss some of the arguments about the prospects for EU citizenship, with special reference to loosening the overlap between the legal label of national identity and the normative practice of citizenship

Investigating attributions of academic success and failure in adolescents

Adolescents attribute their school success to ability and effort to varying degrees. This study investigated how attributions vary with school achievement. Achievement was defined by the proxy of English class placement: Fundamental, Intermediate, Accelerated, Honors/AP. One hundred and fourteen 10th grade students from a New England high school responded to a survey instrument that used 5-point Likert scale items. Students rated their agreement with statements attributing success or failure to either the level of their ability or effort. These questions addressed academic success in English class, reading, and writing as well as in more general term. There were no significant differences in how the groups attributed success or failure to level of effort, nor did they differ in attributing success to ability. Significant differences were observed in student attributions of failure to insufficient ability. Students in the two lowest groups attributed failure to insufficient ability more strongly (Fundamental, M=10.73, Intermediate, M=10.22) than those in the highest two groups (Accelerated, M=8.75, Honors/AP, M=8.24). Implications for practice are discussed