Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The present paper investigates the process through which Clean Indoor Air Ordinances were enacted in ten communities in the Southwestern United States, and the key factors that influence the ordinances� diffusion and adoption. Clean Indoor Air Ordinances, which ban smoking in public places, have recently experienced a rapid rate of adoption in the United States. Case studies were conducted of 10 communities in New Mexico and Western Texas (Las Cruces, Do�a Ana County, Deming, Silver City, Alamogordo, Carlsbad, Santa Fe, Mesilla, in New Mexico; Lubbock, and El Paso, Texas) utilizing face-to-face, email, and telephone interviews. The personal experiences of policy champions, framing of clean indoor air ordinance as a public health versus an economic or an individual rights issue, and strong interpersonal networks with other cities were all influential factors in the adoption or rejection of Clean Indoor Air Ordinances.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Ordinal-level survey measurement of concepts which could be measured at the interval or ratio level produce errors because respondents are forced to truncate or round off their responses to fit a given ordinal scale. This paper presents a modeling technique which converts ordinal measurements to interval/ratio. Simulated data demonstrates the robustness of this technique.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In the following paper, I will examine the current debate in Pakistan over the validity of the Hudood Ordinances, especially the �Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance.� By outlining this debate and tracing the history and methods of implementation of the Zina Ordinance in Pakistan, I will demonstrate how it has been used to subjugate women in Pakistan and why it is necessary to approach the existing criminal laws with a new perspective. Finally, I will attempt to determine what implications a debate of this nature holds for the future of the status of women in Pakistan.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: International human rights treaties are often criticized for being too removed from the realities of people’s lives to alter the conditions in which they live. Indeed, scholars have gone as far as to argue that international law itself is unlikely to advance “human dignity” because human rights treaties “are flawed as a matter of substance and process” (McGinnis, 2003:137). Others, coming from a more progressive political orientation have criticized human rights norms, practices and treaty bodies as too state-centric, liberal or neo-liberal in orientation to achieve the transformations necessary to alleviate human suffering (Baxi, 2006; Robinson, 2003). While many of these critiques of human rights are justified, they also often miss the point of human rights activism. I argue in this paper that many criticisms of human rights operate at the same “macro” level that the critiques themselves call into question. As a result, they tend to overlook important connections between human rights theory and the practice of human rights. Indeed, they sideline, or worse, ignore the myriad ways that progressive activists from all over the world have used the human rights norms codified in United Nations treaties to advance their progressive and anti-neo-liberal political agendas. In sum, macro-level critiques of human rights tend to highlight the limitations of human rights discourse and practice (of which there are many) and ignore the fact that human rights discourse is simply a political tool. It is a tool that while inadequate, partial and co-optable has also been enormously important for policy gains directed toward eliminating gender- and race-based discrimination. This paper aims to challenge these arguments by looking at the way that the United Nations human rights treaties focused on women’s rights (The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women–CEDAW) and racial equality (The Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination–CERD) have been used in the United States by feminist activists to leverage political change at the local level. In other words, I explore how these two international human rights treaties have been used at the local level as tools that promote and facilitate concrete policy change. Empirically, this paper examines cases where coalitions of feminist, anti-racist and human rights organizations (these are not mutually exclusive categories) in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Boston have come together to pressure their local legislative bodies to pass and then implement these international human rights agreements. I evaluate the goals, successes and limitations of these efforts to translate macro/international human rights norms into concrete local policy initiatives and in so doing, argue for a gendered and racialized critique of human rights that is attentive to the creative and often unexpected uses of macro-political tools for local political ends. Bibliography:Baxi, Upendra. The Future of Human Rights. Second Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.McGinnis, John O. "The Limits of International Law in Protecting Human Dignity." Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 27, no. 1 (Fall 2003): 137-44.Robinson, Fiona. "NGOs and the Advancement of Economic and Social Rights: Philosophical and Practical Controversies." International Relations 17, no. 1 (2003): 79-96.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: We propose the use of a Bayesian shrinkage estimator to model ordinal treatment variables. The estimator is demonstrated on two political science examples, compared to a classical GAM approach, and compared to traditional assumptions of linearity.