The University of Massachusetts Amherst

Category: Faculty Research

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Faculty Research Governance

Mednicoff Speaks at Singapore Conference on Democratization in the Gulf

Professor David Mednicoff (public policy) will present his research on the Persian Gulf region as part of an international conference in Singapore on May 19-20, 2011.

The conference, “Whither the Gulf? Accomplishments, Challenges, and Dangers,” was organized by the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore, and will feature 40 distinguished scholars hailing from across the globe and representing a variety of disciplines.

The purpose of the conference is to assess current political, economic and social developments in the region comprising the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council states, Iraq and Iran.

Mednicoff’s presentation is part of a session titled “Governance: The Challenge of Democratization,” and will focus on the rule of law in contemporary Arab societies.

Additional information is available through the conference program.

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Events Faculty Honors & Awards Faculty Research Governance Science, technology & society

Fountain Presents Keynote at UN Conference on e-Government in Seoul, Korea

Jane Fountain, professor of political science and public policy, and director of the National Center for Digital Government and the Science, Technology and Society Initiative, gave the keynote address at the United Nations Conference on e-Government in Asia and the Pacific held in Seoul, Republic of Korea on May 11-13, 2011.

The keynote address, “National Development in the Digital Age,” set the tone for the overall Conference deliberations from the national perspective by depicting the overall picture of national developments in e-Government globally as well as key issues and challenges to be considered by policymakers.

The Conference was organized by the United Nations Project Office on Governance in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs in collaboration with the Korean Ministry of Public Administration and Security and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

Conference speakers included the Chief Information Officers and other government experts, including parliamentarians, from several countries in the region including Korea, Australia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Japan.

The purpose of the Conference was to provide a forum to discussion regional e-Government issues and exchange country experiences while also exploring potential for cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region thereby building policymaking capacity.

While in Seoul, Fountain was interviewed about e-Government and the role of youth as global citizens, by Focus News Network, one of Korea’s largest newspapers.  She delivered a lecture, “Digitally Mediated Institutions: the Case of the European Commission Office of Harmonization of the Internal Market,” at Yonsei University, the oldest private university in Korea.

Fountain is currently the Chair of the World Economic Forum, Global Advisory Council on the Future of Government, a high-level international group of senior government, business and academic leaders from around the world.  The Council’s report on the Future of Government will be released at the World Economic Forum on Europe and Central Asia to be held in Vienna on June 8-9, 2011.

The National Center for Digital Government is a research center that has hosted several doctoral and faculty fellows from Asia and the Pacific, as well as from a host of other countries.  The Science, Technology and Society Initiative, a multi-disciplinary research, education and outreach program of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences is based in the Center for Public Policy and Administration.

National Center for Digital Government: www.ncdg.org

Science, Technology and Society Initiative: www.umass.edu/sts

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Faculty Research Policy Viewpoints Public Engagement Project Social inequality & justice

Badgett Co-Authors Op-Ed on Transgender Discrimination in MA

CPPA director M.V. Lee Badgett (economics) is the co-author of an editorial appearing in the May 11, 2011 issue of the Worcester  Telegram and Gazette.   The editorial, “The High Costs of Discrimination,” discusses Massachusetts’ failure to pass legislation prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and the toll this takes on transgendered residents and the state’s economy.

The op-ed is based on a recent study,  “The Costs of Employment Discrimination Against Transgender Residents of Massachusetts,” conducted by Badgett’s co-author, Jody L. Herman of the Williams Institute at UCLA.

According to the study, discrimination affects almost 33,000 residents in Massachusetts.  The state spends $3 million annually on public health insurance coverage for transgendered residents who could procure private insurance if they weren’t denied employment based on their sexual identity.

In addition, the state loses millions more from foregone income tax revenues and through additional support services for transgendered individuals who cannot support themselves and their families.

The full editorial is available here.

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Faculty Research

Harper Presents at Institute for Social Sciences in Lisbon, Portugal

Associate Professor Krista Harper (anthropology and public policy) presented her research at a public lecture, “Participatory Digital Research: Opening Up the Environmental Social Sciences,” on May 9, 2011, at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon in Portugal.

Harper is currently writing a book on this subject, Participatory Digital Methodologies for Qualitative Research, with Associate Professor Aline Gubrium (public health).

While in Portugal, Harper will also deliver an invited lecture at the New University of Lisbon’s anthropology department.

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Faculty Research

Badgett comments on financial complications for same-sex couples

M.V. Lee Badgett, professor of economics and director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration, comments in a story about how legal agreements, estate planning and other financial issues have become more complicated for same-sex couples and unmarried couples around the country. She says there is no way for gay couples to escape the high fees paid to lawyers and planners.

Check out the article at the Bloomberg website or at MSNBC’s website.

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Events Faculty Research

Mednicoff closes Faculty Colloq with “A Clash of Globalizations”

David Mednicoff, assistant professor of public policy and acting director of the Social Thought and Political Economy Program, will discuss “A Clash of Globalizations? Law and the Regulation of Non-Citizen Workers in the Arabian Gulf,” on Monday, May 2, at 12:00 p.m. in Thompson Hall 620.

This is the final talk in the 2011 Faculty Colloquium sponsored by the Center for Public Policy and Administration, and is open to the public.

Mednicoff’s talk will draw on his recent research in Doha, the capital city of Qatar, and Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Over 90% of the labor force in these two cities is comprised of immigrants, making citizens a minority in their native communities. Mednicoff’s research explores the legal responses to these long-term trends, and the often countervailing forces and narratives that complicate the development and enforcement of labor regulation in the Persian Gulf.

Mednicoff may also touch in his talk on other aspects of Arab politics in recent months.

Mednicoff’s research has been supported by a multi-year grant from the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar. Mednicoff is part of a working group sponsored by CIRS that has spent the past two years examining migrant labor in the Gulf. The group recently published a summary report of its findings.

Mednicoff’s work has also been informed this past year through his fellowship with the Dubai Initiative, a project of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, and his service as a facilitator and moderator for the Initiative’s recent conference in Cambridge, MA.

Mednicoff’s areas of expertise include Middle Eastern law and politics, international law, human rights, globalization and comparative public policy. He holds a B.A. from Princeton, and an M.A., J.D. (international law) and Ph.D. (Political Science) from Harvard. He is currently completing two book manuscripts, one on ruling monarchies in contemporary politics, the second on the rule of law, democratization and U.S. foreign policy in five Arab societies.

In 2006-2007, Mednicoff was a Fulbright Senior Scholar in law at Qatar University, and has received a national prize for innovative teaching related to the U.S. after 9/11/01. At UMass, Mednicoff has been honored with a Lilly Teaching Fellowship and an Outstanding Teacher Award from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

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Faculty Honors & Awards Faculty Research Policy Viewpoints

Mednicoff Speaker at Harvard University’s Belfer Center

David Mednicoff (public policy), acting director of the Social Thought and Political Economy Program, spoke at the concluding session of the conference Revolution and Reform: The Historic Transition in the Middle East, held on April 8-9, 2011, in Cambridge, MA.

Mednicoff’s participation in the conference was the culminating event in his year-long fellowship as part of The Dubai Initiative, a project of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University.

He also organized and moderated the conference’s panel, “Between Order and Liberalization: The Rule of Law and Politics in the Arab World.”

The conference was attended by over 275 people, including many prominent scholars and policymakers from the Middle East and the United States.

Additional information about the event is available here.

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Faculty Research

Harper Discusses Food Systems and Community-Based Research in Portugal

Krista Harper, associate professor of anthropology and public policy, will present her research at the International Conference on Urban Harvest and Sustainability, held on April 7-8, 2011, in Seixal, Portugal.

Harper’s presentation, “Youth Participation in the School Food Systems: Examples from the United States,” will discuss community-based participatory research projects with two Western Massachusetts community organization, Fertile Ground (in Williamsburg) and Nuestra Raices (Holyoke).

Harper’s research team included CPPA alumna Catherine Sands ’09.

For additional information about Professor Harper, please visit the CPPA website.

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Faculty Honors & Awards Faculty Research Policy Viewpoints

Thompson Winner of Richard Musgrave Prize

Jeff Thompson, assistant research professor at the Political Economy Research Institute and a CPPA faculty affiliate, has received the Richard Musgrave Prize.  The prize is awarded annually to the author or authors of the outstanding paper published in the National Tax Journal.

Thompson, who will be teaching a course at CPPA in the fall on state and local public finance, received the award with co-author Katie Fitzpatrick (Economic Research Service, USDA) for their article, “The Interaction of Metropolitan Cost-of-Living and the Federal Earned Income Tax Credit: One Size Fits All?”

Thompson received a doctorate in economics from Syracuse University and joined PERI in 2009. His expertise is in domestic economic policy and public finance, with a particular emphasis on New England.  Prior to his doctoral work, Thompson was a labor analyst at the Oregon Center for Public Policy.  Thompson also holds a masters degree in economics from the New School for Social Research.

For additional information about Thompson, please visit the PERI website.  Additional information about the Richard Musgrave Prize is available through the National Tax Association website.

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Faculty Research

Mednicoff Publishes Research on Migrant Labor in the Gulf

David Mednicoff (public policy), acting director of the Social Thought and Political Economy program, is among the experts whose research appears in Migrant Labor in the Gulf Summary Report, recently released by the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at Georgetown University.

Mednicoff is currently a member of the Migrant Labor in the Gulf working group, which has spent the last two years meeting in Doha, Qatar to discuss the group’s research concerning the role of foreign workers in the political economy of the Arabian Peninsula.

Contributors to the working group represent a range of academic disciplines.  Mednicoff, who has both a law degree and a doctorate in political science from Harvard University, is also the recipient of a multi-year grant from CIRS to study the effects of legal regulations on migrant workers in Doha and Dubai.

The summary report and other CIRS publications are available here.