Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper offers a (partial) defense of negative advertising in presidential elections. This defense involves theoretical and normative arguments supported by a content analysis of presidential ads aired on television since 1960.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Przeworski, Alvarez, Cheibub, and Limongi (2000) challenge the key hypothesis in
modernization theory: political regimes do not transition to democracy as per capita
incomes rise, they argue. Rather, democratic transitions occur randomly, but once
there, countries with higher levels of GDP per capita remain democratic. We retest
the modernization hypothesis using new data, new techniques, and a three-way rather
than dichotomous classification of regime types. Contrary to Przeworski et. al. (2000)
we find that the modernization hypothesis stands up well. We also find that partial
democracies emerge as among the most important and least understood regime types.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The American Dream has long served as an explanation for crime causation for predatory crimes. This paper extends previous research by applying American institutional explanations of crime to a less serious crime: substance abuse among teenagers. Using data from Monitoring the Future (1976-2000), this paper provides partial testing of two competing theories: Lafree’s Losing Legitimacy (1998), and Messner and Rosenfeld’s Crime and the American Dream (2001). After an extensive theoretical review, these theories are then tested using multivariate analyses. The preliminary results indicate support for the institutional anomie theory presented by Messner and Rosenfeld. The implications for future research are discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The environmental justice movement, as it has emerged out of the United States, has forged a synthesis of research in the academy and activism in communities directed toward the goal of environmental and social change. However, researchers’ and activists’ desire for top-down government implemented policy reforms has led to the privileging of techno-scientific forms of environmental knowledge. Now that the American environmental justice movement is beginning to see results in terms of governmental and mainstream environmental movement recognition of the problems associated with environmental injustices, it is necessary for researchers and activists to critically consider the partiality of techno-scientific forms of environmental knowledge. In this paper, I argue that in order to concurrently strengthen the existing bridge between activism and research and to be open to a broader range of environmental justice objectives, environmental justice researchers need to consider other forms of environmental knowledge, as complements or alternatives to techno-scientific knowledge.
Based on my research in the Toronto community of Mid-Scarborough, I use findings of both quantitative geographical information systems (GIS) analysis and qualitative in-depth face-to-face interviews to explore the potential for environmental justice research, activism, and policy in a newly emerging context. Based on the results of the study, I argue that different forms of environmental knowledge are necessary to serve a range of environmental justice objectives. However, a critical view of dominant forms of knowing, in particular, techno-scientific forms of knowledge, is an important component of the politics and grassroots orientation of the environmental justice movement.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: to be uploaded