Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Social Security disability hearings are technically considered to be non-adversarial since the Administration is not represented by an attorney in the proceeding. The Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) has the legal responsibility to “wear three hats” in each case; she is bound to ensure that all of the claimant’s relevant and material evidence is made part of the record and the claimant’s interests are protected, to protect the interests of the government in the hearing, and to make a fair decision which is based on the evidence in the record. Administrative law judges often call “vocational experts” (“VEs”) to testify as to the numbers of jobs available to a person who has particular vocational limitations caused by her physical or mental impairments. The VE is sworn in as an expert witness, and his testimony is often dispositive in providing evidentiary support for the ALJ’s denial of the claim. Yet, because of the non-adversarial and informal nature of the proceedings, the VE’s testimony need not meet the criteria for expert scientific testimony set forth in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or Daubert, nor has SSA established its own criteria for evaluating their testimony. VEs usually specialize in rehabilitation counseling, yet SSA calls upon them to serve essentially as labor market statisticians, providing estimates of the numbers of jobs available in a particular labor market. This paper discusses the ways in which administrative law judges routinely thwart claimants’ representatives’ attempts to challenge the basis of the VE’s testimony.

Publication Type: Individual Paper
Abstract: Scholars and political commentators have long lamented poor black mothers’ lack of regular contact with their children’s schools. This paper complicates such assumptions by exploring their educational activism in post-World War II Philadelphia. One of the reasons that scholars have underestimated poor women’s involvement with their children’s education is that they have failed to recognize the diverse array of activities mothers engaged in to facilitate their children’s schooling. Poor black women viewed their efforts to provide food, clothing, supervision, and neighborhood safety for their children as integrally linked to their children’s abilities to successfully pursue their education. While many wished to get involved in the schools, they encountered major barriers ranging from their jobs and responsibilities for child care to their lack of decent clothing and illiteracy. Most crucially, educators failed to create a welcoming environment for poor black women, frequently blaming them for their children’s academic problems. Despite such obstacles, most poor black mothers tried to meet with teachers and principals when they believed their presence at school would help their children. Many formed Home and School Associations to improve the dangerous conditions in their neighborhoods that impeded their children’s pursuit of education.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper assesses the strategies that the US pursued to obtain leverage over adversary leaders in Vietnam and Iraq. It looks first at adversary resolve and how the US sought to counter it and then the challenges for US leaders who sought to maintain internal support to prosecute these wars. It concludes that success in achieving military and (related) political goals depends on a “leverage balance,” determined by relative US capabilities and resolve. It maintains, first, that US adversaries were favorably positioned in both conflicts despite US efforts to compensate with linkage and signaling strategies. Second, it asserts that the US leverage position eroded over time through exhaustion – a predictable loss in public, governmental, and military support for wars that bring mounting costs without offsetting benefits.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: “Adversary/adversaire: A party acknowledged as potentially hostile to a friendly party and against which the use of force may be envisaged.”
[NATO Standardization Agency (NSA), NATO glossary of terms and definitions (English and French), AAP-6(2007), (promulgated 16 April 2007), p.2-A-4]

This paper presents the author’s reflections on the NATO definition of the term ‘adversary’, reproduced above. The definiens can be broken down into three constituent conditions:
 An adversary is “a party”.
 An adversary is “acknowledged as potentially hostile to a friendly party”.
 An adversary is one “against which the use of force may be envisaged”.
Consistent with the genus and differentia method of analytical definition, the first condition specifies the class or genus of the phenomenon, in this instance, the genus "party". The remaining two conditions represent the specific difference that distinguishes the sub-class or species "adversary" from other species within the genus "party". The third condition is of particular relevance to this analysis. The phrase “use of force” included in the definiens connects this term to the U.N. Charter jus ad bellum or use-of-force regime, a strategic-level international legal regime governing the resort to force, that is, fundamental questions regarding war and peace. What are the implications of this linkage for our conceptual understanding of who – or what – is the ‘adversary’ in the contemporary complex security environment?

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: What are the prospects for the emergence of a functioning Palestinian state existing side by side with Israel in peace? We base our research on the proposition that we are witnessing the transformation of the Palestinian leadership from one whose authority rested on a narrow-patronage-driven support-base to a regime which includes many of the challengers to the former leadership. This authority derives its legitimacy partly from competitive elections and partly from its ability to win concessions from Israel concerning the creation of a Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The authors use a mixed methodological approach to identify the potential members of new coalitions and the kinds of constraints they would operate under in the political environment created since the death of Yasser Arafat. An expected utility model is used to simulate the bargaining among the principal stakeholders and groups that could comprise a winning coalition in support of a two-state solution.