Convenient and Inconvenient Truths in Family Law: Preventing Scholar‐Advocacy Bias in the Use of Social Science Research for Public Policy

This is the second of two articles on the risks of advocacy bias in the reporting of research findings when boundaries are blurred between social science research and advocacy in the pursuit of public policy. In the first article we identify common ways in which social science researchers and reviewers of research—wittingly or unwittingly—can become advocates for ideological positions and social policies at the expense of being balanced reporters of research evidence. The first article discusses the difference between truth in social science and truth in law and identifies a range of scholar‐advocacy strategies that bias research evidence, illustrated by recent debates about overnight parenting of infants and toddlers. In this second article we show how biased research evidence by scholar advocates results in increased confusion and controversy that diminishes the credibility of all parties and stalemates progress in the field, using a case illustration of intimate partner violence in family court. We also show how adherence to scientific methods prevents the misuse of research and suggest a number of collaborative, integrative measures that can help transcend the adversarial stalemate. In a look to the future we consider some unbiased, standardized ways of assessing the strength and generalizability of research evidence.     

Book Review: The Conflict Paradox: Seven Dilemmas at the Core of Disputes by Bernie Mayer

Bernie Mayer's latest book is an excellent journey into seven key dilemmas in conflict. Mayer devotes a chapter to each of the following dilemmas: Competition and Cooperation, Optimism and Realism, Avoidance and Engagement, Principle and Compromise, Emotions and Logic, Impartiality and Advocacy, and Autonomy and Community. In this review, I suggest that the book is a thorough guide through seemingly diverse and opposing conflict theories. I go through each chapter and detail how Mayer sees these concepts as interwoven instead of oppositional. He walks his readers through what have been thought of as distinctive, even opposing, approaches, theories, and concepts of conflict. The review uses points and quotes from all seven dilemmas to show the depth of Mayer's analysis and the numerous benefits to theorists and practitioners of reading and rereading his book.     

Daring to Be Heard: Advertorials by Organized Interests on the Op-Ed Page of The New York Times , 1985-1998

Advertorials are a form of outside lobbying that organized interests use to influence policymakers and attentive publics. It is apparent from their popularity that organized interests consider them to be an effective form of political communication. This article analyzes 2,805 organized interest advertorials that appeared on the lower right quadrant of The New York Times op-ed page from 1985 to 1998. Advertorials take two broad forms: (a) image advertorials, which are paid messages by organized interests designed to create a favorable climate of opinion, and (b) advocacy advertorials, which are sponsored messages intended to win support for an interest's viewpoints on controversial issues. Typologies of advertorials (11 categories), organized interests (21 categories), corporate and noncorporate economic interests (29 categories), and policy content (28 categories) are used to document annually and over time who is sponsoring advertorials, what types of advertorials are being used, what interests avail themselves of advertorial campaigns, which issue areas are receiving attention, what images and policy messages are being communicated, which organizations sponsor the most advertorials, and the timing of such political advertising campaigns. We find over time an increasing number of advertorials, an increasing number and diversity of sponsoring interest organizations, an increasing trend toward advocacy advertorials, a continuing but declining sponsorship dominance by corporate interests, a shifting policy issue emphasis that corresponds to events in the political environment, and evidence that organized interests employ a variety of sponsorship strategies.     

Utilizing Hyperlink Network Analysis to Examine Climate Change Supporters and Opponents

Hyperlink network analysis, which utilizes the links between websites to map online communication structures, offers an emerging methodology for studying the networks of supporters and opponents of public policies. Reasons for the methodology's appeal include the ability to utilize web crawlers to collect large amounts of data and the ability to apply quantitative and qualitative methods to examine network interactions. While the methodology has been utilized by diverse disciplines it is relatively new to the fields of political science and public policy. Utilizing a mixed‐methods research design, this article examines the applicability of using hyperlink networks to study opposing groups in the Colorado climate and energy policy subsystem while drawing increased attention to the methodology's strengths and weaknesses. The results demonstrate the methodology's considerable potential, but highlight the need for greater adoption of a collection of best practices designed to increase the validity, reliability, and generalizability of hyperlink research.     

Environmental advocacy: insights from East Asia

Environmental advocacy in East Asia takes place in a context where there are few well-funded professional advocacy organizations, no viable green parties, and governments that are highly pro-business. In this advocacy-hostile environment, what strategies are environmental organizations using to promote better environmental outcomes? Using an original database of environmental organizations and interviews with activists and officials throughout the region, this paper investigates which strategies are most common, and compares them to the advocacy strategies found in the United States. It finds, perhaps surprisingly, that (a) environmental organizations across East Asia employ similar advocacy strategies, even though they are operating in very different political conditions, and (b) the strategies most favoured in East Asia are also the strategies most often utilized in the United States. It then argues that new theories of advocacy should be developed to pay closer attention to certain actors (academics and artists), and particular processes (organizational networking, government collaboration, and culture-making), that appear to play important roles in advocacy in countries around the world, irrespective of political context.     

Comparative lobbying research: advances,shortcomings and recommendations

This review article suggests that there is a new school of comparative lobbying emerging. However, this development is taking place only gradually. Unlike the earlier studies, which studied corporatism/pluralism, outside lobbying and lobbying regulations, the new comparativists are mainly focusing on inside lobbying strategies and success as a function of country‐level factors. Yet, the literature still suffers from underdeveloped theories. I stress that our knowledge can be improved with better theorizing. Better theories, in turn, can be formulated by improving the use of quantitative data gathering, qualitative research, formal models and better communication between researchers working with different methodologies in different disciplines. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social Justice Advocacy by and for Tibetan Immigrants

Abstract

Advocacy for immigrants empowers them to fight for social justice. For Tibetan immigrants this struggle for justice inside their home country has been part of their U.S. immigration experience. They have also been part of New York City immigrant coalitions that are advocating for basic services lost during the 1996 Welfare Reform. The need for more equable access to education is also addressed. Finally, the harshness of expedited removal of asylum seekers needs to be supplanted by procedures that safeguard human rights.     

Book Review: Conflict Resolution for the Helping Professions: Negotiation,Mediation, Advocacy,Facilitation and Restorative Justice (Third Edition) by Allan Edward Barsky

The third edition of Dr. Allan Barsky's (2017) book entitled Conflict Resolution for the Helping Professions: Negotiation, Mediation, Advocacy, Facilitation and Restorative Justice is reviewed based on content, style, and relevance to the field of conflict resolution. The third edition offers an expanded exploration of conflict resolution across practice settings, making it an instructive read for diverse professionals interested in learning how to best help others resolve conflict. The scaffolding structure of the text, the problem‐solving approach embedded into the presentation of the materials, and the use of real‐life examples makes this an important source for educators and trainers in the field of conflict resolution.     

From the ASEAN People's Assembly to the ASEAN Civil Society Conference: the boundaries of civil society advocacy

Civil society organisations (CSOs) have asserted their claim for participation in regional governance in Southeast Asia through multiple forums held since the late-1990s. The two most enduring are the ASEAN People's Assembly (APA), organised by ASEAN-ISIS and held seven times from 2000 to 2009, and the ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC), organised by the Solidarity for Asian People's Advocacy network and held nine times from 2005 to the present. Through comparative analysis of the boundaries of CSO participation in these two events, this article explains why the APA was superseded by the ACSC, and it highlights states' growing intrusions into the ACSC. It argues that states' expanding repertoire of tactics to direct the ACSC has seen the structure of CSO participation in this event recast, challenging the view of the ACSC as an independent space for advocacy and indicating the hollowness of ASEAN's commitments to creating a ‘people-oriented’ Association.