Searching for a “Sound Negro Policy”: A Racial Agenda for the Housing Acts of 1949 and 1954

Abstract

The Housing Acts of 1949 and 1954 provided the foundation for slum clearance and urban renewal. Despite efforts to finesse the issue, race remained central to the formation and implementation of public policy. The Racial Relations Service (RRS), an institutional remnant of the New Deal, tried unsuccessfully to prevent local authorities from using the new federal resources to reinforce existing “ghettos.” Searching for a “sound Negro policy,” the RRS warned housing officials against pursuing such a course and offered bureaucratic resistance to individual projects deemed inimical to minority interests.

The coincidence of demographic and political change in the 1950s, the subsequent dismantling of the RRS, the reaction to the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, and the passage of the Housing Act of 1954 all contributed to the use of urban renewal to create and sustain racially separate neighborhoods even as the civil rights movement gained momentum.     

The Evolution of Low‐Income Housing Policy, 1949 to 1999

Abstract

The evolution of low‐income housing policy during the past 50 years can be divided roughly into two segments: the first running from 1949 to the 1973 Nixon moratorium on subsidized production programs and the second from 1973 to the present, marked by a diminished federal leadership role and an increased state and local role. After tracing the rise of the federal leadership role represented in the Housing Acts of 1949 and 1968, this article focuses on the development of three important policy instruments that mark the devolution of housing policy: housing vouchers, housing block grants, and the Low‐Income Housing Tax Credit.

The three‐pronged strategy of vouchers, block grants, and tax credits has achieved reasonably good results and attracted an unusual degree of political consensus. A steady expansion of all three offers the most promising path to the “realization as soon as feasible” of the national housing goal.     

Short notices

Eastern Asia: An Introductory History, edited by Colin Mackerras. Longman Cheshire Pty Ltd., Melbourne, 1992. xiv + 639 pp., illus., tables, maps. Aus $18.99. ISBN 0–582–87005–4.

Asia Pacific: A view of its role in the New World Order, by M.S. Dobbs‐Higginson. Longman Asia Ltd., Hong Kong, 1993. xxviii + 422 pp., maps. £25.00. ISBN 962–000105–2

Korea Briefing 1993: Festival of Korea, edited by Donald N. Clark. Westview Press, Boulder CO, San Francisco and Oxford, in cooperation with The Asia Society, 1993. x + 249 pp. £9.95 paperback. ISBN 0–8133–8770–1.

Southeast Asian Affairs 1992, edited by Daljit Singh. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 1992. x + 364 pp. S$ 26.00. ISSN 0377–5437.     

FAITH,PUBLIC POLICY,AND THE LIMITS OF SOCIAL SCIENCE*

Recent interest on the part of criminologists in the “faith factor” has made possible a contemporary argument for faith‐based interventions in crime prevention: if faith “works,” then government should support faith‐based initiatives because in doing so, government is not endorsing religion, but science. Drawing on the ideas of Karl Popper, Michael Polanyi, and others, this essay reviews this argument within the framework of the philosophy of social science. The discussion reviews such concepts of falsification, structural causality, objectivity, and evidence‐based policy making to affirm the place of both faith and science in public life.     

刑事政策视野中的安乐死出罪机制

刑事政策视野中的合法化与非犯罪化之间是有界限的 ,非犯罪化包括法律上的非犯罪化与事实上的非犯罪化 ,我国目前尚不具备对安乐死予以法律上的非犯罪化的条件 ,对我国安乐死行为应予以事实上的非犯罪化处理 ,对安乐死进行事实上的非犯罪化的适用条件应严加限制。     

我国政策性银行运作模式比较及改革探析

政策性银行的金融服务作为准公益物品,具有公与私物品的两种特性,这决定了政策性银行的运作模式必须是政府与市场的有机结合.由于经营理念、运作模式等方面的差别,经过多年的发展,我国政策性银行之间出现了较大的绩效差异.为提升我国政策性银行的运作绩效,我们须从制度完善、政银分离、治理网络和竞争合作四个方面探索有效的改革路径.     

当代西方社会融合研究的概念、理论及应用

尽管社会融合一直为社会学家、心理学家、政策分析家和政策制定者们所关注,但社会融合的定义还比较纷杂,其理论也缺乏一贯性,一般被视为多维度现象或多参数的潜变量.根据研究对象和目的的不同,将相关研究区分为实证研究和政策应用两个研究领域;依据关注层次的不同,将社会融合的研究归纳为个体层次、群体层次和整体层次等三个层次.以此为脉络,首先介绍了社会融合在社会学、社会心理学和政策研究中的概念;其次,对社会融合由来已久的"同化论"与"多元化"之间的争议进行了回顾,并评述了社会融合和社会网络理论之间的关系;再次,总结了社会融合的测量方法及其在实证研究和政策研究中的应用情况;最后指出社会融合时中国转型社会背景下相关研究的借鉴意义,并对其在中国的应用前景进行了讨论.     

Fragile states

Since the 1990s, states that lack the capacity to discharge their normal functions and drive forward development have been referred to as ‘fragile states’. This article focuses on Africa, which not only has the largest concentration of prototypical fragile states, but has been the focus of attention for scholars, international development agencies, and practitioners. The author reviews competing analyses of the post-colonial African state and concludes that its characteristics of weak institutions, poverty, social inequalities, corruption, civil strife, armed conflicts, and civil war are not original conditions, but are rooted in specific historical contexts. It is essential to understand both the external and internal factors of fragility if such states are to get the assistance and empowerment that they need – not only for the benefit of their impoverished citizens, but also for the sake of global peace, prosperity, and security. Ultimately, it is the citizens of the countries concerned who are responsible for determining when states are no longer fragile – not ‘benevolent’ donors and the international community, whose prime motivation for interventions supposedly to strengthen the state is to ensure that fragile states find their ‘rightful’ places in the hegemonic global order.     

论宏观经济法中产业调节法理论及体系的完善

当前世界范围内的产业结构调整正在加速 ,适应国际竞争的需要 ,加快我国经济结构的战略性调整 ,提高我国产业的国际竞争力 ,推进新型工业化建设 ,是我国面临的一项艰巨任务。鉴于我国产业调节法的立法现状和存在问题 ,必须加强立法研究 ,建立、完善我国产业调节法的法律体系。     

“战略模糊”：目的与手段的妥协——浅析美国台海政策的实质

战后美国的台海政策一直是以"战略模糊"为其核心特征的。历史上,意识形态、现实(战略)考量以及其他政策限制等因素共同决定了美国,在可能的台海政策选择中,最终采纳了以实质上的亲台政策为目的,以"战略模糊"为手段的折衷政策。目的的清晰性与手段的模糊性反映了美国台海政策的实质,并对今后台海关系走向具有重大的启示。