Not equitable,not efficient: U.S. policy on low-level radioactive waste disposal

Elected officials and policy analysts alike often treat equity and efficiency as distinct concerns. In this case study, focusing on U.S. policy for disposing of low-level radioactive waste, we consider an instance where the distinction between equity and efficiency is difficult to sustain. The “equity, then efficiency” approach embodied in the compact system of regional agreements is largely to blame for the current crisis facing generators, regulatory officials, and citizens. We find that nearly three times more waste disposal facilities are being contemplated than are financially viable. More generally, it is claimed that the approach for achieving an equitable solution must be very carefully designed, and that the concept of economic efficiency must be considered (at least in this case study) as part of the definition of equity. This case study is unusual, because we are able to make a recommendation that improves both efficiency and equity.     

Support forMiranda among police chiefs: A qualitative examination

The U.S. Supreme Court recently grappled with the question of whether it should overturn the landmark case of Miranda v. Arizona. Abolitionists argued the warnings handcuffed the police and allowed many criminals to go free. Proponents maintained Miranda protected offenders and engendered a certain level of professionalism among police officers. Before the Court decided to uphold Miranda, 95 police chiefs from the Commonwealth of Virginia were surveyed about their perceptions concerning Miranda. While one could categorize many chiefs as conformists who wished to keep the warnings, a significant proportion were innovators who advocated various changes. Reasons for these beliefs and their implications are discussed.     

Teachers’ strikes in Argentina: Partisan alignments and public-sector labor relations

In a context of increasing teachers’ militancy in Argentina, this article provides the first empirical analysis of teachers’ strikes in all twenty-four Argentine provinces during the 1990s. Using a cross-provincial statistical analysis, it explains the wide variation across provinces and across time of Argentine teachers’ strikes. It demonstrates that political alignments between provincial governors and teachers’ unions explain these patterns better than organizational and institutional variables, which strongly shape public-sector labor relations in other countries. We emphasize the discretion of provincial governors, for both the application of labor regulations and budgetary appropriations in the politicization of provincial public-sector labor relations in Argentina, especially after the decentralization of education resulted in the provincialization of teachers’ protests. Maria Victoria Murillo is associate professor of political science and international affairs at Columbia University. She was previously an assistant professor at Yale University, a Peggy Rockefeller Fellow at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, and a Fellow at Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies. She is the author ofLabor Unions, Partisan Coalitions, and Market Reforms in Latin America (Cambridge University Press 2001) and various articles on the politics of market reforms, labor protest, and privatization of public utilities in Latin America. the authors acknowledge the useful suggestions of the editor and three anonymous reviewers, and the comments of Ernesto Calvo, Javier Corrales, Tulia Faletti, Miriam Golden, Frances Rosenbluth, Andrew Schrank, Kenneth Scheve, J. Samuel Valenzuela, James Vreeland; and the participants in the Seminar on Globalization and Labor Struggle at Columbia University, the Latin American Seminar of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University, the seventh annual meeting of LACEA, and the Business School seminar at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella. M. V. Murillo acknowledges the support of the Yale Center for International and Area Studies and the Carnegie Program for the Study of Globalization, and L. Ronconi acknowledges the support of the CEDI at the Universidad de San Andrés.