Since the terrorist attacks on the United States of America on September 11, 2001, approach to policing has observably been shifted across the country. Utilizing a qualitative methodology, this study explored the perceptions of community members from a Chicago, Illinois community regarding the shift in policing style post 9/11. Cooley's theory of the looking glass self, coupled with a phenomenological approach to understand the deeper meaning associated with the perceptions of the residents and the shift in policing styles in Chicago communities. The data were obtained from participants who were at least 40 years old and held a residence for at least 3 years in the area prior to 9/11 and 3 to 5 years immediately after 9/11. The study included the use of a semi-structured interview guide and the findings were analyzed using inductive coding with thematic analysis. The findings indicated that residents of the community want a positive relationship with the police but perceive that they are viewed negatively by the police and that police fear them. Participants agreed that they recognized a shift in policing strategies and consistently noted a desire for police to return to community policing strategies that they perceive have been abandoned in favor of more militaristic approaches to law enforcement. The positive social change implications stemming from this study include recommendations to police executives to consider the strategic and tactical demilitarization of the police department and integrate community preferences in future decision making regarding critical standard operating procedures including stop and frisk policies, training initiatives, and zero tolerance declarations. Adherence to these recommendations may improve oversight of officers and improve relationships with the community.

Decentralization policy is advanced in many regions as a collaborative approach to regional stability, economic and political development, and poverty reduction. However, there is not a valid decentralization policy in the Mano River Region (MRR) countries of West Africa despite the presence of multinational institutions and United Nations Peacekeeping forces. The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological case study was to use the sequential theory of decentralization to investigate why peace and stability in the MRR are still fragile. The primary research question concerned how the policy of decentralization implementation in MRR can significantly contribute to regional stability, enhance economic development, reduce poverty, and minimize corruption in the MRR. Data were collected from 64 participants, through the use of semi-structured, in-depth interview techniques. A consent authorization of participants allowed the collection of the data. The analysis of data involved, identifying categories of responses and answers to classify them in phases based on responses answers to questions. According to study findings, decentralization policy was perceived to be a positive concept that promotes good governance, regional stability, economic development, poverty reduction, and minimization of corruption; however, there was little knowledge and implementation on decentralization in the MRR or among participants' native countries. An educational program on the successes of decentralization policy implementation is recommended. Outcomes from this research may serve as a point for social change by providing a model understanding of peace and stability in the MRR and similar areas.

<p> This research examined the House General Aviation Caucus during the 113^th Congressional Session. Caucuses, or Congressional Member Organizations (CMOs) have been shown to indirectly impact the legislative process. This research specifically examines the operations of the House General Aviation Caucus, its impact in Congress, and its impact on the general aviation industry. Data included interviews of House General Aviation Caucus members and general aviation industry leaders. The outcomes of the research confirm the positive impact of the caucus in Congress and in the industry.</p>

<p> My dissertation addresses the need for an alternative system to capitalism, our mainstream system of economics, to support the necessities of a world facing countless ecological systems collapses, global climate change, and social inequity exacerbated by wealth disparity. <i>Alternative economics </i> is defined here as current economic or socioeconomic practices and theories that may redress the flaws in the current dominant global economic system, which is mainstream capitalism. </p><p> The approach to this research is theoretical; that is, I analyze the current literature in the relevant areas of economics and related literature in the social sciences, philosophy, political economics, and environmental studies. I then attempt to generate new knowledge through the analysis, critique, extension, and integration of existing theories and by drawing on existing empirical research. This research is also transdisciplinary, an approach that transcends conventional disciplinary regimes and boundaries. The aim of this study is to ascertain the best alternatives to our current system of capitalism by examining the arguments for and against alternative economic or socioeconomic systems. </p><p> The scope may embrace the complex and transdisciplinary, but it attempts to focus as narrowly as possible on the most promising ideas today concerning the imminent need for changing economics in the face of our global socio-environmental crises as being considered of high importance. The definitive goal of this research is to examine the most recent literature on these alternatives, and, based on this research, to identify which alternatives most suitably address the needs of our ecological systems, the needs of society, and the issue of global climate change. </p><p> Keywords: alternative economics, heterodox economics, sustainability, compassionate economics, wealth disparity, ecosocialism economics, steady-state economics, climate change, transdisciplinary.</p>

The role of the public policy process as a factor in geographical change is examined by means of a study of US public policy in the lagging region of Appalachia. A review of the socio-economic problems of this region, and of US government attempts to overcome these problems, identifies the difficulty of drawing conclusions on the basis of attempting to reconcile opposing value systems at the full regional level. In order to enhance the depth of geographical analysis possible, a detailed study of a sample of Local Development Districts (LDDs) within Appalachia is taken up in order to assess the working out of public policy at the local level. Quantifiable census data of economic and demographic variables are used to provide a foundation against which the opinions of LDD staff can be evaluated. In a synthesis of this data it is shown that major improvements have taken place in the quality of life of the people of Appalachia between 1960 and 1980; that over this period the LDDS have provided an important catalytic role, both in bringing local-scale infrastructure to largely rural areas, and in developing local involvement in decision-making; and that there is little ground for suggesting that local development would have taken place on such a scale without the LDD presence. The conclusions drawn from this study are that the public policy process should be regarded as a major factor in the explanation of geographical change; that the best application of public policy is through the marriage of different scales of infrastructure provision and geographical unit; that both public policy and theoretical modelling should recognise the dynamic nature of society; and that geographers can make important contributions to the public policy process.

<p> This paper examines the relationship between expansions of Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) benefits and federal tax return filing behavior among EITC eligible individuals. An estimated 13 to 18 percent of individuals who are eligible for EITC do not file tax returns, and therefore do not receive the credit. One understudied approach to reducing the EITC eligible nonfiler rate is increasing EITC benefits, which effectively increases filing incentives. This study uses panel data from the 2008 Survey on Income and Program Participation that track EITC eligible individuals before and after the EITC expansion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (n = 111,057). A cross-sectional Heckit model and fixed effects linear probability model estimate that a $100 increase in EITC is associated with a 5.1 to 5.9 percent increase in the 2009 filing propensity of 2007 EITC eligible nonfilers (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.000). A generalized ordered logit model estimates that, among EITC eligible individuals without a filing requirement in 2007 and 2009, a $100 increase in EITC is associated with a 0.6 percent increase in the probability of persistent filing and a 0.4 percent decrease in the probability of persistent nonfiling across both years (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.000). Greater participation should be counted among the potential benefits of EITC expansions.</p>

<p> The purpose of this policy analysis was to analyze California&rsquo;s implementation of CalFresh as a part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) using research articles and state and governmental documents. The analysis explored the amendment to CalFresh to student eligibility and the consequences of implementation. The amendment to the policy increased eligibility to students that were previously disqualified from receiving nutritional assistance on the basis that they were attending an institution of higher education. A thorough examination of the act provided an understanding of how benefits are distributed among qualifying college students. Though CalFresh is available to many low-income Californians, the information presented in this policy analysis focused on traditional college students and in detailing the benefits they are able to receive through the CalFresh Student Eligibility Amendment.</p>

<p> Collaborative efforts like modern scientific research depend on methods to evaluate and absorb participants&rsquo; contributions, and at the research frontier this evaluative step is often accomplished through the peer review of grants and manuscripts. With billions of dollars and space in prestigious journals hinging on the decisions of reviewers, the review system has attracted consistent scrutiny. Many of the thousands of studies scrutinizing peer review focus on the reliability, validity, and fairness of the reviewers&rsquo; decisions. Largely absent in this debate about peer review&rsquo;s internal practices are the consequences of these practices for the character and diffusion of published knowledge. This dissertation shifts the focus to the consequences of peer review practices through four case studies. The first case investigates the negotiation of revisions authors of quantitative sociological manuscripts undertake during peer review and reveals that substantial changes concern primarily manuscripts&rsquo; theoretical framing, while the data analyses remain relatively stable. The case argues that the greater relative value placed on data and analysis over frames incentivizes investment into the former over the latter. The second case interrogates the common practice of using post-publication citations to evaluate the validity of review decisions. Analysis of the reviews of manuscripts submitted to the <i>American Sociological Review</i> from 1977 to 1981 and the manuscripts&rsquo; subsequent citations reveals no relationship. However, reviewers&rsquo; comments show that reviewers focused on the soundness of the manuscripts&rsquo; arguments, not their potential impact. The case shows that a review process that results in publications of variable impact is not necessarily a failing of peer review, but rather a consequence of reviewers and citers draw on different dimensions of value. The third case study examines the consequences for quantitative sociology of the common bias for positive findings in peer review. Using hundreds of studies that use the <i>General Social Survey,</i> the published statistical relationships are perturbed by slight changes to the model specifications. Results show that at the time of publication, results are relatively robust to this perturbation. Additionally, the published relationships are estimated using waves of the Survey that appeared after publication. Results indicate that published findings are weakened much more by social change. The last case focuses on the consequences of scientific peer review judgments outside of the sphere of science. By measuring rates at which millions of scientific journals are used as sources in Wikipedia, the largest online encyclopedia, I show that Wikipedia editors preferentially use high impact and the more accessible (open access) journals. The case shows that increased accessibility of the scientific literature improves its diffusion to the lay public and that a status ordering that review practices establish in one sphere, science, may be exported wholesale to a disparate context, Wikipedia.</p>

<p> Research literature has documented Nigeria&rsquo;s leadership crisis since its independence from Great Britain in 1960. This crisis corresponds with political instability and infrastructure weaknesses, which have resulted in crime, corruption, poverty, lack of social cohesion and personal freedoms, environmental degradation, gender inequities, and deteriorating conditions of public works. No literature was located that addressed the impact of leadership on the governance and development of infrastructure in Nigeria. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate this phenomenon in Nigeria between 1960 and 2010. The theoretical framework comprised Burns&rsquo; and Bass&rsquo; theories of transformational leadership, and Davis&rsquo; and Toikka&rsquo;s theories of transformation and transition in governance. Data were collected through personal interviews with a purposeful sample of 13 past presidents of Nigeria, public officials, and infrastructure development experts, and by reviewing secondary data on leadership and development in Nigeria during the period 1960&ndash;2010. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method to identify patterns and themes. Findings showed that (a) political instability and the Nigerian civil war have been obstacles to infrastructure development and implementation; (b) military dictatorships implemented improvements, although they neglected rural areas; (c) a new national infrastructure plan must be funded, developed, and implemented; (d) corruption must be combatted in awarding project contracts; and (e) Nigeria&rsquo;s governance should be based on a pragmatic-visionary form of leadership. The implications for positive social change include informing policy makers about the importance of infrastructure development in Nigeria in order to improve economic growth and the lives of citizens.</p>

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