The Tertiary Turn: Locating “The Academy” in Autobiographical Accounts of Activism in Manchester,UK and Auckland,Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract: Activists often strategically negotiate sectoral boundaries by switching between public, private and voluntary sectors over the life course in order to pursue their aims. This paper draws on a cross‐national study that explored the extent of this inter‐sectoral movement and the specific “career pathways” activists developed in relation to governmental, private and voluntary/community sector organisations. Using an analysis of 46 biographical narratives gathered from activists in Manchester, UK and Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand during 2007 we situate “the academy” in these life stories of activism. Teasing out from these accounts the motivations behind a turn towards tertiary education at particular moments we examine how “academia” supports and sustains individual activists while legitimising and professionalising their activism. In so doing, we track the tactical transfer of knowledge, skills and expertise effected by contact with “the academy” to make substantive and conceptual claims around the future role universities might play in the knowledge economy.     

Voluntary Approaches to Environmental Problems: Exploring the Rise of Nontraditional Public Policy

Government reliance on voluntary programs represents a significant shift in public policy: moving from command and control regulations to market based mechanisms. This article explores the determinants of Voluntary Remediation Programs (VRPs) in the American States. During the 1980s and 1990s, 44 states adopted VRPs to facilitate remediation of existing hazardous waste sites. Relying on diffusion of innovation theory, I develop a model of state policy adoption that explores the influence of internal state political and economic factors, as well as testing the influence of regional and top‐down diffusion forces. I utilize a discrete‐time event history approach to test this model. The results indicate that state policymaking is responsive to interest group pressure and the pace of cleanup at hazardous waste sites. Additionally, state policymaking is consistently influenced by the actions of surrounding state governments; the probability of adopting a voluntary program increases if surrounding states have already developed these policies.     

From Paper to Celluloid and Back Again: Finance and Form in Jorge Délano’s Films

This essay argues that our current understanding of the cinematic work by the pioneering Chilean film director Jorge Délano obscures a sophisticated interaction between politics, art and economics, one that reveals unexamined aspects of how the film industry developed in Chile. Most notably, it argues that Délano’s illustrated political satire magazine Topaze was central to the development of early sound cinema in the country. Following Rielle Navitski, the essay utilizes and examines tensions between models drawn from periodical studies and the concepts of remediation and intermediality in film studies. Examining illustrations from the first three years of Topaze’s production (1931–1933) in the context of the country’s economic situation, the essay argues that Délano remediated cinema in Topaze as a strategy of capital accumulation. This analysis also makes it possible to see how one of his sound films, Escándalo (1940), similarly remediated the illustrated paper periodical as he pursued financing for the production of cinematic commodities for export. The essay ends by examining the relationship between these issues and the political situation in early Cold War Chile.     

Transurban interconnectivities: an essay on the interpretation of the revolutions of 1848

This essay discusses the interpretation of the revolutionary situations of 1848 in light of recent debates on interconnectivity in history. The concept of transurban interconnectivities is proposed as the most precise concept to capture the nature of interconnectivity in 1848. It is argued that political models circulating on a European scale at the time provided the ‘knowledge resources’ that were appropriated by urban political activists across Europe. These circulating resources were appropriated by political activists as means of political mobilisation in their particular local urban context. It is argued that circulating political communication accounts for similarities with respect to political agenda, organisational form and political repertoire evident in urban settings across Europe. This argument is supported by a series of examples of local organisation and local appropriations of liberalism, radicalism and nationalism in 1848. In the concluding paragraph, the limitations of the notion of urban–rural interconnectivity are discussed in order to clarify the nature of transurban interconnectivity.     

A CONCEPTUAL AND METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR DESIGNING AND EVALUATING COMMUNITY‐BASED AFTER‐SCHOOL ART PROGRAMS

The objective of this paper is two‐fold. First, various perspectives that have been adopted in the discursive context of the benefits of engaging children and youths in artistic endeavors are examined. Second, in the hope of maximizing the quality of arts programs that enrich the lives of youth, a conceptual and methodological framework for the development of community‐based art programs for youth is presented. The aim is to provide a clear way to conceptualize and operationalize arts programs, and to delineate methods for the evaluation of their effectiveness.     

Archaeology Programs at the Palestinian Universities: Reality and Challenges

Over the past three centuries, Palestine, a country rich in historic and archaeological sites, has drawn many archaeologists, historians, scholars, clergymen, adventurers and treasure seekers, all wishing to study or, at times, to exploit the cultural heritage of the land. Historically, these Westerners have enjoyed the intellectual and financial fruits of their explorations, while the native population was traditionally relegated to the role of simple laborers in the field-work. Until 1977, when the President of Birzeit University, with the support of the Director of the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, founded the archaeology program at Birzeit University, there was no indigenous institution dedicated to the preservation, protection and study of Palestine’s cultural heritage. Since then, four additional Palestinian universities—al-Quds University, an-Najah National University, Hebron University and the Islamic University of Gaza—have developed archaeological programs designed to train qualified professionals committed to the management, preservation, restoration and conservation of cultural resources throughout Palestine. Yet, despite the tireless efforts of countless dedicated men and women at these institutions, there exist numerous political, economic, social and bureaucratic obstacles that greatly diminish the operational effectiveness of these programs and, as a consequence, further jeopardize the future of Palestinian cultural heritage resources. The purpose of this analysis is to diagnose the actual efficacy of these programs so that Palestinian stakeholders and policymakers may develop legislative and bureaucratic remedies which will ensure the continued protection and preservation of the Palestinian cultural heritage.     

Assessing the Performance of Voluntary Environmental Programs: Does Certification Matter?

The promotion of voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) as alternative approaches to traditional environmental regulation has fueled numerous researchers to evaluate VEP performance. However, these studies have focused on assessing the environmental performance of a single VEP. As yet, we know little about the overall environmental benefits of these programs. Moreover, questions remain about whether VEPs designed with different monitoring regimes—related to whether programs are self‐monitored or undergo external certification—vary in their ability to improve environmental conditions. Using meta‐analysis methodology, this article evaluates the aggregated environmental outcomes of U.S. VEPs drawing on data from nine studies and over 30,000 firms. We show that collectively VEP participants do not improve their environmental performance over nonparticipants. Rather, nonparticipants improve their environmental performance by 7.7 percent more than VEP participants. Additionally, nonparticipants improve the environment 24 percent more than participants in self‐monitored VEPs, whereas participants in International Standards Organization 14001 as a group exhibit inconclusive environmental performance improvements.     

A critical physical geography of no-till agriculture: Linking degraded environmental quality to conservation policies in an Oregon watershed

A variety of agricultural conservation trends have gained and lost favour throughout the years, with farm bills in the United States often influencing which conservation practices are implemented. This paper explores the consequences of a set of conservation techniques loosely defined as “no-till agriculture,” focusing on their implementation and adoption since 1985, at which point such approaches began to be explicitly encouraged under US Farm Bill soil conservation mandates. We begin by noting a core contradiction that has characterized these approaches in the Fifteenmile Watershed of Wasco County, Oregon, where despite high rates of farmer enrollment in no-till programs, both no-till agriculture and sustained tillage have led to the increased use of herbicides and sustained sediment runoff. Using a critical physical geography framework that integrates intensive physical field data collection, spatial analysis, social surveys, and interviews, we address the biophysical and social factors collectively driving changes in herbicide use and variable erosion estimates. We draw particular attention to how farm bill support for no-till has enrolled farmers in a vaguely defined and underregulated conservation practice that may ultimately undermine environmental quality.     

Voluntary Environmental Programs in the Public Sector: Evaluating an Urban Water Conservation Program in California

Solving conflictual environmental policy problems is increasingly falling under the purview of local governments and public agencies. Nonregulatory approaches, such as the development of voluntary environmental programs (VEPs), could offer a useful policy alternative as they often have greater political traction and flexibility. However, there has been little work examining the use of VEPs in the public sector. This article uses a new dataset from California to examine how political institutions affect decisions by local governments and public agencies to participate in a voluntary urban water conservation program and whether this program has improved the water conservation performance of its members. The results show that special district governments, private utilities, and water suppliers dependent on purchased water are more likely to participate in the program and to join early. However, urban water agencies that have joined the program have not reduced their per capita water use more than those that have not. These results underscore the influence of political institutions in public‐sector decision making and demonstrate that, as in the private sector, commitment to a VEP by local government and public agencies does not guarantee implementation or environmental improvements. While voluntary programs offer political and administrative advantages, in order for VEPs in the public sector to be effective they must be accompanied and supported by credible enforcement mechanisms, performance standards, and rigorous monitoring programs.     

Conservation charity land ownership in Scotland

Land ownership in Scotland has been the subject of increasing public debate. This paper traces the establishment of the conservation land ownership movement in Scotland from 1931. Charitable donations influence and affect the ability of voluntary bodies to acquire land. Voluntary ownership increased dramatically from the 1960s and the growth in outdoor recreation focused attention on the way mountain estates are managed by charities. Public bodies are instrumental in providing funding and influencing government support for land acquisition. The National Lottery, for example, affects greatly the ability of charities to acquire land. New charities have been formed with a specific focus on trees and wild land but conservation charities have been criticised for aspects of their land management. These charities continue to attract funding from people with a deep belief that their activities are for the benefit of the people of Scotland.