Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: An analysis of risk prefering or risk averse strategies in political decision making, with a link to the nature of democratic rules.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The Amish are often cited as a paradigm illiberal
group, mistrustful of and segregated from the outside world. But the
Amish practice of “Rumspringa” complicates this common portrait. At age
16, Amish children are released from all obligations and given a year
or more to “run around” in violation of church precepts. Only after the
opportunity to taste life with cars, electricity, alcohol, and rock and
roll do the Amish teens decide whether to be baptized and enter the
church. Consent must be express, never tacit: to paraphrase Locke, a
Amish youth is born a member of no church. But is Rumspringa a
meaningful exit option? What does this practice suggest about the
debate between “tolerance” and “autonomy” liberals, who divide over
whether illiberal minority cultures ought to be accepted or somehow
reformed? This paper brings a potent case study to the cultural rights
debate and argues that both sides fundamentally err. While tolerance
liberals tend to vastly underestimate what is required of a meaningful
right of exit, autonomy liberals fail to appreciate how much
intervention would be necessary to provide such a right. The Amish case
suggests that the chance to exit is deeply flawed as the standard
determining whether and how minorities should be accommodated in a
liberal polity.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Although the pervasiveness of violence against women is not a new phenomenon, what is considered an appropriate response to gender-motivated violence remains divisive in both academic literature and in federal and state policies. A relatively new approach is the inclusion of gender within state bias crime legislation. However, despite the controversy surrounding the inclusion of gender in bias crime legislation, little empirical research has been conducted on the topic. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the gender quandary within bias crime legislation by examining one state’s efforts to include gender as a category within its bias crime legislation. Through content analyses of legislative records and media reports, this research examines the process in which the gender category was included within New Jersey’s bias crime legislation, and subsequently, how the category has been framed within the media since the passage of the law. Findings indicate that both the legal climate and the political climate were conducive to the inclusion of gender within New Jersey’s bias crime legislation; however, since the passage of the law, the gender category has not received the same media attention as other forms of bias-motivated crimes. As such, this research informs hate crime policy debates on the state and federal levels, yet more specifically, informs policy-makers and other claims-makers interested in combating gender-motivated violence.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In the wake of the September 11th terrorist actions, policymakers and citizens have developed a renewed interest in alternative energy policy. President Bush recently proposed a Hydrogen Initiative, a $1.2 billion plan to establish energy independence by 2020. Based on extant literature, we analyze the technical information quandaries that exist between technical feasibility analysts, economic feasibility analysts, and citizen stakeholders. We argue that for alternative energy policy to work, it must move from Wilson’s (1989) Quadrant IV policy type to a Quadrant II policy type, where it will become a regulated marketable public good. In our conclusion, we recognize that our analysis—based on extant literature and our own research experiences studying the economic feasibility of a local-level hydrogen initiative—parallels some elements of the National Research Council’s (issued on 06FEB04) report; but, our paper addresses the technical information quandary that extends beyond technical feasibility issues in the NRC study and highlights the economic feasibility and citizen stakeholder information quandaries.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Using survey data from the Las Vegas metropolitan area, this paper will examine citizen perceptions of water quality in their community. The analysis will provide insights into what drives citizen perceptions of the safety of their water supply.