Publication Type: Roundtable
Abstract: In this study I examine the process of victimization of Caribbean women. The extent of victimization includes wife battery, rape, sexism, patriarchy, family violence, classism, and racism. This study will also focus on the current domestic violence legislature.

Publication Type: Invited Paper
Abstract: After the enormous success of his novel Native Son (1940), Richard
Wright was called upon to comment on other works of fiction and
non-fiction. As a writer who had achieved national and international
recognition, Wright's imprimatur meant a great deal. What other works
from his own time did Wright choose to review? When given the
opportunity to evaluate the writings of others, to what texts did
Wright turn his critical eye? Throughout the early-to-mid 1940s, Wright
unquestionably gravitated toward works that he regarded as engaging in
psychological inquiry. Wright reviewed writers as varied as Chester
Himes, Arthur Miller and Gertrude Stein. Wright's choices as a reviewer
had everything to do with a development in his intellectual biography,
namely the rise of his interest in psychological theory generally, and
psychoanalytic thought in particular. Wright composed many book reviews
in the early forties and these reviews supplement the story of Wright's
interest in psychology. It was during this same time that Wright
developed connections with psychiatrists such as Frederic Wertham. This
paper explores Richard Wright the book reviewer, maintaining that in
his densely-packed commentaries on mid-century fiction and non-fiction,
Wright shared information about developments in his own intellectual
life and details about the trajectory of his social thought.

Publication Type: Session Paper

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Discussion of former Congressman Richard Bolling

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: “Presidential power in an era of divided government”.
While this may sound paradoxical, the modern governmental context
highlights the reality of this statement. Given the modern political
environment where public opinion is the currency of individualized
pluralism, Samuel Kernell (1997) claims that ‘going public’ represents
the most effective strategy for presidential influence. Paul Light
(1999) asserts that agenda setting can be a formidable source of
presidential influence: “…control of the agenda becomes a primary tool
for securing and extending power” (2). Although a rich agenda setting
literature exists which is frequently utilized to examine congressional
policy making and its subsequent implications for representation writ
large (e.g. Cobb and Elder 1983; Kingdon 1984; Baumgartner and Jones
1993), studies of presidential agenda setting are more sparse (Light
1999; Cohen 1995). The presidencies of Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon
present a unique opportunity to explore problem definition and agenda
setting in the context of the domestic policy arena. Intriguing aspects
of the policy process are overlooked when scholars myopically hone in
on the legislative branch to the (relative) exclusion of the executive
branch. This paper endeavors to illuminate the important role that two
presidents played in setting the welfare reform agenda. As such, an
exploration of Nixon’s Family Assistance Plan as a case of policy
failure and Clinton’s Welfare Reform as a case of policy success will
undoubtedly shed new theoretical insight and raise questions for future
research in the areas of problem definition and presidential agenda
setting. Indeed, these two policy cases amply demonstrate the
inseparability of the concepts of problem definition and agenda
setting. Finally, a ‘window of opportunity’ exists to test different
theories of agenda setting for efficacy with regard to the president. A
perusal of presidential rhetoric, in the form of speeches, press
releases, and other public statements, will be utilized to determine
the extent to which welfare reform permeated Nixon and Clinton’s public
strategies. Furthermore, Deborah Stone’s theory of causal stories will
serve as an analytical framework whereby an examination of competing
efforts to define the problem both within and outside the presidential
arena will be conducted. Since the initial framing and definition of a
policy problem has a significant impact on the shape and tenor of a
policy, presidential agenda setting has real implications for public
opinion concerning and congressional estimations about public policies,
particularly salient ones like welfare reform.