Using Social Media to Increase Nonprofit Organizational Capacity

This study examines social media utilization in nonprofit organizations (NPOs) for increasing organizational capacity. Using data from a survey of human service NPOs in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the study finds that NPOs that post frequently on their social media sites and use dedicated funding are more likely to perceive social media as being effective in increasing their organizational capacity. However, NPOs that use Twitter, videos, and community-building posts are less likely to perceive social media as being effective. The study also reveals that NPOs face major challenges in social media use regarding resources, expertise, leadership and constituency.     

The Afterlives of Post-War Japanese Prime Ministers

Despite growing interest over the last 20 years in the position and power of the Japanese prime minister, what he does after resigning from this position has been overlooked in the extant literatures in both English and Japanese. This is unfortunate because, to paraphrase former US President Bill Clinton, as an ex-leader “you lose your power but not your influence.” This article represents the first attempt to explore what post-war Japanese prime ministers have done after stepping down and what influence they have continued to exert. It does so by providing an empirical overview of the afterlives of Japan’s 33 post-war ex-prime ministers before then discussing the benefits and shortcomings of applying the comparative, conceptual literature on the role of former leaders in Western democracies to the specific case of Japan. After providing the necessary justification, it then focuses on three detailed and illuminating case studies of Nakasone Yasuhiro, Murayama Tomiichi and Fukuda Yasuo. It argues that Japanese prime ministers continue to exert influence in several informal ways.     

Maize diversity,poverty, and market access: lessons from Mexico

Crop genetic diversity and poverty are linked: first, resource-poor farmers often maintain genetic diversity; and second, crop diversity, when properly valued by the market, has the potential to alleviate poverty. This article examines this supposition by drawing on three case studies of the intersection of the market with poverty and maize diversity in Mexico. These suggest that the bulk market for maize offers little room for maize landraces (local maize varieties known as criollo maize), in that it does not reward qualitative variation in maize grain and instead presents incentives that make planting ‘improved’ maize germplasm the rational economic choice for small-scale farmers. Meanwhile, attempts to add value to maize landraces via market differentiation have had varying success. Although there is potential for differentiated markets to contribute to successful business models and poverty alleviation, these cases exhibit trade-offs between product consistency, investment of labour and resources, and genetic-diversity conservation.     

The Economics of the Bill of Rights

We elucidate, connect, and synthesize the literature that employseconomics to study the individual rights and freedoms protectedby the constitutional amendments comprising the Bill of Rights,especially as they relate to crime. Economics is uniquely suitedto studying decisions involving tradeoffs, and each of the amendmentsrequires tradeoffs. Emphasizing these tradeoffs allows us todiscuss the constitutional rights in terms of "more or less,"as opposed to taking an absolutist approach. We find that theeconomic literature on the amendments of the Bill of Rightsis vibrant and growing, and that viewing the amendments withinthe framework of economics is highly useful.