Movement Litigation and Unilateral Disarmament: Abortion and the Right to Die

Detractors have long criticized the use of courts to achieve social change because judicial victories tend to provoke counterproductive political backlashes. Backlash arguments typically assert or imply that if movement litigators had relied on democratic rather than judicial politics, their policy victories would have been better insulated from opposition. We argue that these accounts wrongly assume that the unilateral decision by a group of movement advocates to eschew litigation will lead to a reduced role for courts in resolving the relevant policy and political conflicts. To the contrary, such decisions will often result in a policy field with judges every bit as active, but with the legal challenges initiated and framed by the advocates' opponents. We document this claim and explore its implications for constitutional politics via a counterfactual thought experiment rooted in historical case studies of litigation involving abortion and the right to die.     

EU–Japan “Structured Cooperation” and energy efficiency for Asia

The paper argues that for EU–Japan cooperation the time has come to move from declarations of intent to action. It is suggested that in order to function and to last the cooperation needs a framework that pulls together and organizes different cooperation areas and concrete projects. The framework, it is suggested, should be a flexible “Structured Cooperation” in and under which cooperation would be treated as a negotiating project, in which the advantages and benefits of individual projects would lead to an agreed BoB—balance of benefits. To ensure delivery and allow for adjustments, adding and adjusting of subjects etc. a management and surveillance structure would be required to ensure an enduring interest of both sides in continuing cooperation. The individual cooperation projects, it is suggested, should be organized around common themes—the pillars—for better coherence and management. In a second part the paper suggests a practical and feasible cooperation project for improving the energy efficiency of some products widely used in Asia. That proposal uses the main elements of a relatively easy to implement approach that has been successfully applied in Europe. This approach has the advantage over others to make harmonization of efficiency requirements for energy using products in Asia possible, without the need to engage in time consuming and potentially controversial mutual recognition negotiations of national standards or the need to harmonize national Asian standards.     

Total quality management teams in the office of administrative services,u.s. department of the interior: a success story

Using a multiple case study research technique, this study investigates the hypothesis that Total Quality Management (TQM) teams that function within the Office of Administrative Services, U.S. Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., successfully achieve their goals when either one of two conditions exist: a team has effective leadership and/or team members are motivated. Using an explanatory case study approach, four TQM teams were used as case studies to examine the various facets of causal arguments. The case study projects include: recognizing and rewarding TQM achievers; conference rooms and auditoriums scheduling/setup; improving Contracting Officer's Technical Representative understanding of the procurement process; and improving workplace services. Based on the findings and the analyses of the case studies, evidence generally supports the original hypothesis with the difference between the original hypothesis and findings being that the conditions of leadership and motivation are both required to successfully complete projects.     

A window of opportunity: the Louisiana Birth Outcomes Initiative

Louisiana ranks forty-ninth nationally in birth outcomes indicators such as infant mortality and in the percentage of low birth weight and very low birth weight babies. This article describes the formation of the Birth Outcomes Initiative, a statewide targeted investment to reduce poor birth outcomes. It describes how the initiative is a result of the convergence of the triad of well-defined problems, a credible array of potential solutions, and favorable political process. It then describes the Birth Outcomes Initiative in Louisiana, a targeted program to improve health indicators for reproductive-aged women and reduce the incidence of prematurity, low birth weight, and infant mortality.     

Beyond Backlash: Assessing the Impact of Judicial Decisions on LGBT Rights

This article evaluates the widespread scholarly claim that the courtroom victories of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights movement have invariably provoked a counterproductive political backlash. Those victories have indeed provoked conservative countermobilization, but that has not been their only or even their most prominent effect. Assessing the political reaction to the movement's judicial victories, the policy impact of those victories, and the alternative strategic paths that were available to the movement at the outset, I argue that here, as elsewhere, legal mobilization has sometimes been a promising avenue for pursuing policy changes whose prospects were otherwise quite limited.