Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: The New Orleans’ Hurricane Katrina crisis presents a unique opportunity to study what can be expected when those whom society relies upon in the midst of a disaster are personally impacted by the disaster. Currently, there is a dearth of literature examining the divergent responses of first responders in the midst of a crisis. This study addresses this gap by examining the factors that influenced the divergent responses of police officers in the New Orleans Police Department during the Hurricane Katrina crisis.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The premise behind the unconventional activities employed by community groups at the local level is that an urban regime exists and that coalition actors possess the capacity to respond to group interests. This paper investigates what happens to community organizing when a city lacks a regime with the capacity to meet the demands of these community groups. To address this research topic, it examines community organizing in New Orleans, a city without a regime. ACORN, which formed during a time in which a corporate regime ruled New Orleans, continues to employ confrontational tactics to win policy concessions from government and business. By contrast, New Orleans’ regimeless environment encouraged two newer community organizations to form reciprocal relationships with business and government. Confrontational tactics produce limited gains because New Orleans possesses no identifiable regime from which to win policy concessions. Because a regime does not rule New Orleans, however, groups have limited options for creating the power to govern. Despite the limitations of the regimeless environment, government and business are more willing to enter into reciprocal relationships with community organizations in this new civic ecology because community groups control resources that they need. Community organizations provide information, service delivery, and plans of action to government and business. In a context of scarce resources, these functions facilitate governance. In exchange for these resources, government and business substantively represent community organizations in certain policy areas.

Publication Type: Proceeding
Abstract: : How will New Orleans rebuild? Which entities will make rebuilding decisions, and who will benefit from the recovery? While these questions appear to be standard fair for social scientists to ask, political leaders and residents of New Orleans still do not know the answers to these questions. This paper, a revised version of a chapter that will appear in Eisinger and White’s edited volume on comparisons between the recovery in New York City after 9/11 and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, explains the politics of New Orleans’ recovery. It highlights the chaos that continues to surround the city’s governance; it illustrates divisiveness generated by the rebuilding process, and it provides insight into how much influence displaced and current residents exert over recovery. Still, residents who want to shape the rebuilding process generally have little recourse. Prior to Katrina, the city lacked a regime capable of facilitating governance on a regular basis. Governance was haphazard, at best. This non-regime pattern has reasserted itself in post-Katrina New Orleans. Clear divisions about how to rebuild continue to exist among white and African-American residents, citizen groups and business, state and local government. New Orleans’ non-regime has clearly slowed the rebuilding process, and it calls into question whether the city will ever fully recover from Hurricane Katrina.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper analyzes the largest riots in New Orleans between 1854 and 1880 in order to demonstrate the connection between republican political organization and political violence by the police. The paper argues that political violence and the presence of threatening police forces are central to the workings of American republicanism. In each instance discussed, mob turmoil erupted as specific responses to elections or appointments. These patterns of mob violence highlight the remarkable extent to which majority approval figured over rule of law in mid-nineteenth century New Orleans republicanism.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans presents opportunities to deal with existing urban problems. This paper examines the paradoxes between the proposed policies and existing urban realities in the city.