NEW ISSUES IN POLICY ANALYSIS—OR AN OLD AGENDA? |
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| Authors: | Douglas L. Murray |
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| Affiliation: | Advisor to several Nicaraguan government ministries, Nicaragua labor unions, and international humanitarian organizations. He was formerly the investigator of pesticiae-related illnesses for California OSHA's Pesticide Unit during the administration of Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. He has written on a gricultural labor relations in California and U.S. pesticide regulatory policy. He is currently residing in Nicaragua, where he has been for several years. |
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| Abstract: | The logic of policy analysis in Grover Starling's critique of my article was but a vehicle for his real concern, which is a scathing attack on the Nicaraguan revolution. His criticism that I didnlt use comparative data confuses levels of analysis since my study does not focus on the national level. His argument about the contras not operating in the cotton region fails because the Sandinistas were active and successful there. tie also is mistaken in equating contra aggression with the activity of the Sandinistas against the people of the Atlantic Coast; Sandinistas have committed little in the way of human rights violations. The contras are not llrebels" but really dominated by followers of Somoza. The need for honest and open dialog about Nicaragua is not served by Starlingls veiling of his political agenda within a methodological analysis. |
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