Organization Of Campaigns Research Articles

Elections for sale?

The case overruled earlier Supreme Court decisions stating that corporations may not use general treasury funds to pay for political advertisements and electioneering. The 5–4 ruling effectively frees corporations, labor unions, and advocacy groups to use general funds to buy advertisements that explicitly try to sway voters. The majority opined that restrictions on for-profit and non-profit spending violated the Constitution's free-speech guarantee. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, stated: “Corporations and other associations, like individuals, contribute to the ‘discussion, debate, and the dissemination of information and ideas’ that the First Amendment seeks to foster”. Justice John Paul Stevens' dissent raised several interesting issues, including: “Under the majority's view, I suppose it may be a First Amendment problem that corporations are not permitted to vote, given that voting is, among other things, a form of speech”. Prior precedent had ruled that one individual may spend as much money as he/she wishes to produce and broadcast his/her personal political advertisements, but whenever two or more people join to speak out about a candidate in this way, they must register as a “political action committee”, a complex administrative and reporting requirement that carries the threat of fines and even imprisonment if not followed to the letter, and which limits single contributions to $5000. The Citizens United case did not rule on the outright ban that has been in effect for corporations (since 1907) and for labor unions (since 1947) on donations that they might want to make directly to a federal candidate or a candidate's campaign organization. President Obama and his congressional allies have vowed to respond with legislation. The introduction of a constitutional amendment to reverse the decision – even though it will be a tough sell – is in the works. Pundits have begun to chatter about public financing of campaigns, to help level the playing field. The decision likely cuts both ways for environmental advocacy; on the one hand, such groups are no longer limited to political action committees and can spend money on publicly disseminated election communications. Conversely, smaller eco-advocacy groups could be easily outspent by larger, anti-environmental corporations and special-interest groups. Corporations must tread carefully on environmental issues. Last fall, a number of “green” companies resigned from the US Chamber of Commerce, because that organization opposed EPA's efforts to regulate greenhouse gases. Companies such as Nike and Apple heard from their customers and realized that the Chamber's activities conflicted with their goals. The Court's decision also pertains to non-profit advocacy groups, such as the Sierra Club, which was fined $28 000 in 2006 for distributing pamphlets that compared the environmental views of the presidential and senatorial candidates. Unfettered debate is one thing; spending enormous sums of money to influence an election may be quite another. Ultimately, the 2009 Supreme Court opinion in Summers vs Earth Island Institute may be more important to environmental groups or “sympathetic” individuals; in that case, the Court ruled that such groups can challenge regulations in court only if they can show that they will be directly harmed (a “concrete, particularized injury”) by specific actions resulting from the regulations. The ramifications of Citizens United will be many, and we can count on being swamped with even more media-induced cacophony from both ends of the political spectrum. I personally am more thankful than ever for my TV's digital video recorder.

The Movement to Criminalize Sex Work in the United States

Until recently, prostitution was not a prominent public issue in the United States. Law and public policy were relatively settled. The past decade, however, has witnessed a growing debate over the sex trade and the growth of an organized campaign committed to expanding criminalization. A powerful moral crusade has been successful in reshaping American government policy toward sex work – enhancing penalties for existing offences and creating new crimes. Crusade organizations have advocated a strict abolitionist orientation toward all forms of commercialized sex, which are increasingly conflated with sex trafficking. This paper examines the impact of this movement on legal norms and government policies. I argue that the moral crusade, and its government allies, are responding to the growth of the sex industry in recent years and to fears of its normalization in American society.

Uganda: a renewal campaign

ICTURINACTION□ UGANDA PROJECT Uganda: a renewal campaign PeterBarnacle,a visitinglecturer at Makarere University in Uganda, has used his timeinthe country to help ICTURand three Canadian unions supportan innovativetrade unionproject PETER BARNACLE isa Canadian lawyer and is Coordinator of ICTUR's Uganda project The is comprised the National principal of Union 169,000 labour ofTrade federation members Unions in in (NOTU) Uganda twenty is theprincipal labourfederation inUganda comprisedof 169,000membersin twenty tradeunionaffiliates. NOTUis thelabourcentral recognised bytheinternational labourcommunity and a member of the ICTU and the Organisationof AfricanTrade Union Unity (OATUU). NOTU affiliates are membersof ten GlobalUnionFederations. NOTU and its affiliates have gone through someverydifficult times, notsimply because of thecivilinstability thatcharacterised thecountry from independence in 1962through to 1986,the datethecurrent government tookpower, butalso as a resultof the implementation of IMF and World BankStructural Adjustment Programmes in the1990s.Privatisation ofstateenterprises was a particular sourceofjob lossas newprivate owners shed theirworkforce or asset-stripped the enterprise and disappeared- sometimeseven withoutpayingthe Government the purchase price.Budgetpressures also led to loss ofgovernment jobs. As a result, manyworkers were forced intotheinformal economyand stilltoday nearly 60 percent ofallworkers areintheinformaleconomy . Thelossofmembership hampered tradeunionactivity. However,in recentyearsprogresson labour issueshas indeedbeenmade.UndertheUganda Constitution, labour is considereda disadvantaged groupentitled to dedicatedseats in the National Parliament. FivelabourMP'sareelected and fourof theseare affiliated withNOTU. In 2006, Parliament completedratification of the eight ILO conventions underlying theDeclaration of Fundamental Principles and Rightsat Work (1998). Subsequently, new laws were passed to incorporate theseinternational commitments into domestic law. In 2007and 2008,I metwithNOTUofficials in Kampalato discussa potential partnership with ICTURto help NOTU develop capacityto supportitsaffiliates in a renewedrecruitment and organisation campaign. NOTUhasreceived international support fora number ofyearsfrom the Norwegian tradeunionfederation, LO-Norway, as wellas ITUC,ILO and otheragenciessuchas DANIDA.However,the conceptwe developed was nottoduplicate existing work, buttoengage ina project tohelpNOTUleaditsaffiliates inthis renewal campaign for trade union rightsin Uganda. We subsequently agreedto engage in a twophase projectfor which the contribution of ICTURwould be to provideinternational sponsorshipand exposureas well as administer project fundsotherwise raisedin the international labourcommunity. The first phase consistedof six initiatives to providethesupportforNOTU and affiliates forthesecondor campaignphase oftheProject. I ampleasedtoreport that through theassistance ofCanadiantradeunions,we are now intheprocessofwrapping up theactivities inthisinitial phase: ■ The Project financed theinstallation ofwirelessinternet attheNOTUoffices inKampala, as wellas committing topayment ofthequarterly service charges forthenextthree years. With thefinancial support provided from CanadabytheNational UnionofPublicand GeneralEmployees' (NUPGE),theold dial-up is goneandthenew internet service was put inplace inApril2009.Thishas significantly improved NOTU'scommunication and research capabilities. Wesubsequently wereable tosecurefunding formostoftheremaining first phaseinitiativesthrough thecontributions oftwo Canadiantradeunionfunds: theGlobal Justice fundoftheCanadianUnionofPublic Employees (CUPE) and theSocialJustice FundoftheCanadianAutoWorkers (CAW). I As a result, theProject financed thepreparationoffour research paperson significant labourissuesthat werepresented directly to His Excellency, President Museveni, bythe NOTUSecretariat ina meeting inOctober 2009.Thesecarefully researched paperscoveredtopicssuchas theneedforan employmentpolicytobreakthecycleofpoverty , a statutory minimum wage and socialsecurity improvements. The President has now requested a further meeting todiscussthe papers,butinthemeantime we understand thatan employment policyis nowbeingconsideredatcabinetlevelandthegovernment is actively considering theimplementation ofa minimum wage. II In November 2009,theProject funded a fourdayconference atwhichtheNOTUaffiliates participated ina strategic planning exercise. A consultant wasretained tofacilitate and assist inthedevelopment oftheresulting strategic plans,a processthatcontinues tothepresent. Wepresently havesixaffiliates inthethird andfinal completion stage,withsevenothers atseconddraft. In theupcoming second phaseoftheProject, we plantoassistindividual affiliates to canvasstheinternational labourcommunity through ICTUR'scommunicationsnetwork inorderto helpthemfind partnerships withother organisations that will assistintheimplementation ofthosestrategic plans. INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 20Volume 17Issue 1201 0 ICTURINACTIONH UGANDA PROJECT ■ Theremaining initiatives inthefirst phaseof theProject arealso nowbeingcompleted: funding forin-house research tosupport government lobbying and affiliate collective bargaining ; thedevelopment ofa NOTUwebsite; andinstallation ofa back-upsourceofpower atNOTU'soffices that willhelpNOTUcontinue tofunction inthemidst oftherather frequentpowerinterruptions thatoccurin Kampala. Recently, I metwiththeNOTU Secretariat and Central Governing Councilto takestockof our project to dateand discussthenextphase.As a result, one ofournextefforts willnow be makingthecallfor partnerships forthoseNOTUaffiliateswhowillhavecompleted thestrategic planning process.We are hopefulthatindividual tradeunionswillbe preparedto workwiththe NOTUtrade unionaffiliates who aredemonstrating theircommitment to improvethe lives of workers andtheir families inUganda. NOTU and its affiliates are now conducting aggressive organising campaigns andearly results are positive.For example,theHorticulture and Allied WorkersUnion has now negotiateda recognitionagreementwith the majorityof employers in theflower industry and is now in theprocessofnegotiating a collective bargaining agreementwith the employers' association. Progress has also recently been madeinorganisingin thehotelindustry and mediasector. The government seems to be interested in hearing whatNOTUhastosayon labourandsocialmattersand NOTUhas been invited toparticipate in a tripartite processwithgovernment andemployergroupson specific issues.Lobbying efforts...

The United Nations Convention Against Torture: A Commentary (review)

Reviewed by: The United Nations Convention Against Torture: A Commentary Sir Nigel Rodley (bio) Manfred Nowak & Elizabeth McArthur, The United Nations Convention Against Torture: A Commentary (Oxford Univ. Press 2008) 1675 pages, ISBN 9780199280001. In 1984, after a relatively brief seven years of negotiation, the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). The Convention was a response to the worldwide revulsion that had been generated by a nongovernmental organization campaign against the practice of torture, led by Amnesty International.1 Since the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment was already to be found in all general human rights treaties and in the 1949 Geneva Conventions on humanitarian law in armed conflict, it was necessary to fill gaps left by those treaties. Among these was the issue of torture outside the framework of international armed conflict, and the inability of existing treaty bodies to investigate apparent systematic practices of torture. The Convention was to import doctrines from international criminal law in order to ensure that there would be “no safe haven for torturers” and to create a Committee Against Torture that would have an investigatory function not dependent on complaints from individuals or other states parties. It would also build on the practice of regional human rights bodies by prohibiting states parties from sending people to countries where they risked being tortured. Eighteen years later, the General Assembly adopted an Optional Protocol to the Convention (Protocol). This 2002 text aims to establish a national and international system of inspection of all places of detention for the purpose of preventing torture and ill-treatment. Underlying the Protocol is the theory used by the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to which confidential visits and confidential reports are supposed to alert governments to problems and encourage them to rectify them. Indeed, the prospect of the visits is implicitly what is supposed to be preventive. The book under review is a commentary on both texts. Its authors successfully aim for it to be a “useful guide to academics, students and practitioners” on issues relating to the Convention. It is a thorough and comprehensive work of scholarship that will encourage further scholarship. It is also a very valuable port of call for understanding the key issues that the Convention sought to address or that have subsequently emerged in practice. It fully describes the preparatory work leading up to the Convention, as well as some two decades of practice of the Committee Against Torture. It is also alert [End Page 1143] to the practice of other treaty bodies, as is to be expected from the author of the leading commentary on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).2 Of course it takes account of the work and mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture, of which Nowak is the current holder. The extensive literature on the topic is also accorded appropriate attention. As with any work of serious scholarship, the book is not merely a factual digest it reflects the views of its authors. The incorporation of the authors’ opinions strengthens the work, but also exposes it to challenges. For example, the authors’ treatment of the non-refoulement principle is debated. The authors, following the line of Nowak in his capacity of UN Special Rapporteur on the question of torture (a mandate for which the present writer was responsible between 1993 and 2001), argue that diplomatic assurances procured from a country to which a person fearing torture might be returned are not an acceptable basis for the returning country appropriately to effect the return. There is not the space here to do justice to the arguments. However, it should be noted that his view is not that applied by treaty bodies, including the Committee Against Torture. He points to several cases, notably two from Sweden (the country in respect of which the Committee has found most violations of the Article 3 non-refoulement provision) that have found diplomatic assurances to have failed adequately to eliminate the risk of torture. From this he goes on to argue that such assurances cannot solve the problem for states. In...

Path to Health Care Reform Becoming a Steeper Climb

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Government NewsFull AccessPath to Health Care Reform Becoming a Steeper ClimbRich DalyRich DalySearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:18 Sep 2009https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.44.18.0004aPublic support for health care reform in the United States has weakened following an August congressional recess marked by contentious town-hall meetings around the country during which critics voiced concerns about the cost and the large government role that such legislation is expected to bring.Growing opposition is borne out in numerous public-opinion polls, including an August tracking poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Among the findings of the nationally representative monthly phone survey of more than 1,200 adults was that support for major health reform declined from 62 percent in February to 53 percent in August, while opposition rose from 34 percent to 42 percent.The public's cold feet could stem from growing concern about health care reform's costs and impact on them and their families. For instance, the Kaiser poll found in February that only 12 percent thought they would be worse off after reform, but in August, 31 percent thought that would be the case.Thus, shortly before Congress resumed deliberations over health care reform, a substantial portion of the population appeared unwilling to pay the cost they believe it will entail. While 55 percent of respondents to the Kaiser survey said they would be unwilling to pay more in either insurance premiums or taxes to cover health care reform, 42 percent were willing to accept additional costs as the tradeoff for a more comprehensive health care system.The public resistance to paying for more widely available health insurance coverage predates the current legislative fight to enact health care reform. An August Health Affairs article by researchers who examined public opinion in January found that while most people supported expanding access to health coverage, only a minority was willing to pay for coverage expansions. The Internet-based survey of 3,344 U.S. adults found that the only specific revenue-raising proposal that drew a bare majority of support was an increase in federal income taxes to expand Medicaid to cover half of the uninsured population, estimated to be about 47 million.Meanwhile, the decline in public support for major health care reform has led reform advocates to plan campaigns to convince the public about the value they see in overhauling the health system (see Original article: MH Groups Intensify Efforts to Pass Health Care Reform). Those efforts could be critical to spurring Congress toward enacting health care reform legislation this fall, a target set by President Obama.Organizing for America, the reconstituted campaign organization of Obama, launched a nationwide bus tour earlier this month to spur passage of health reform legislation with stops in 11 cities—the last stop was in Washington, D.C., as Congress returned from its summer recess. Health Care for America Now, an umbrella organization of groups pushing for comprehensive health care reform, coordinated with the national Democratic Party to hold about 2,000 pro-reform events from late August to mid-September.Also, mental health advocacy groups are urging their members to continue to contact their congressional representatives and speak out in support of a comprehensive overhaul that includes mental health provisions.“If we want to be taken seriously, we need to be part of the process where members of Congress hear from their constituents,” said Andrew Sperling, J.D., director of legislative affairs for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), in an interview with Psychiatric News.Sperling said September is a “critical stage of the process” to enact reform legislation. Members of Congress returned from recess after hearing what voters in their districts thought about the various reform proposals.The Kaiser poll results are posted at<www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/posr082209pkg.cfm>. TheHealth Affairspoll is posted at<http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/hlthaff.28.5.w909/DC2>.▪ ISSUES NewArchived

Factors Associated with Missed Vaccination during Mass Immunization Campaigns

Achieving a high percentage of vaccination coverage with polio vaccine, while necessary, is not sufficient to eliminate or eradicate polio. The existence of pockets of under-vaccinated children has allowed outbreaks of polio in countries that have achieved high levels of vaccination coverage and in countries with no cases for many years. In a literature review, 35 articles were identified that described factors associated with missed vaccination in mass immunization campaigns. An annotated bibliography was developed for each article; these were then coded using the AnSWR program, and codes were organized into three larger thematic categories. These thematic areas were: (a) organization and implementation of mass campaigns; (b) population characteristics; and (c) knowledge and practices of caretakers. If these factors were geographically clustered, it was suspected that these clusters might have higher likelihood of becoming pockets of unvaccinated children. Immunization programme managers can target resources to identify if such clusters exist. If so, they can then ensure supervision of vaccination efforts in those sites and take further action, if indicated, to prevent or mitigate pockets of unvaccinated children.

"Young Men for War": The Wide Awakes and Lincoln's 1860 Presidential Campaign

A band of sleepy Gotham gathered a Manhattan tavern late one eve ning 1860. It was a windy Thursday night, and the atmosphere inside the dimly lit establishment was subdued. The bosses ordered ale and settled into a lazy debate about the usual political topics. They cursed the Republican party, analyzed their presidential ticket, and worried about the possibility of secession, all while getting steadily drunker the cozy tavern. They first heard the noise around midnight. From uptown came the clash of a march ing band followed by the advancing tread of hundreds of boots on the cobblestones of the Bowery. Soon the stench of burning oil filled their nostrils, and the taverns dark windows began to glow from the outside. Tipsy and curious, the insiders spilled out onto the street to join a throng of dazed New Yorkers. There they watched as large formations of young men, clad shimmering black capes and soldiers' caps, came stomping down the middle of their island. Each bore a blazing torch, and none said a word. Pushing through the crowd, the sobered politicians shouted, Who are these Wide Awakes?1 The march that shook New York was one of thousands that poured through Americas cities, towns, and villages 1860, started by a revolutionary new political organization. Stumping for the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln, the strange movement elec trified the presidential election. Young men from Bangor to San Francisco and from huge Philadelphia clubs to tiny Iowa troupes donned uniforms, lit torches, and fell in to pseudomilitary marching companies. They flooded every northern state and trickled into upper South cities like Baltimore, Wheeling, and St. Louis. Launched March by five young dry goods clerks Hartford, Connecticut, by November the Wide Awakes had developed into a nationwide grassroots movement with hundreds of thousands of mem bers. Many of the movement s supporters?and even some of its vociferous opponents? believed there never was, this country, a more effective campaign organization than the Wide Awakes.2

Developing the “Good Citizen”: Digital Artifacts, Peer Networks, and Formal Organization During the 2003–2004 Howard Dean Campaign

ABSTRACT The 2003–2004 Howard Dean campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination is often heralded as the prototypical example of peer-driven politics. Building from an emerging body of literature on the Dean campaign, through interviews with key staffers and a survey of public documents I complicate this view by analyzing the interplay between the formal campaign organization, digital artifacts, and citizen networks. I demonstrate that from the earliest days of the primary the campaign developed strategies and innovative organizational practices for convening and harnessing citizen networks. Drawing on analytical perspectives that combine Foucauldian “governmentality” and actor-network theory, I argue that this was facilitated through the deployment of a set of artifacts that realized and leveraged “networked sociality.” Finally, I argue that while the Internet Division of the campaign adopted many “postbureaucratic” practices, it was embedded in a formal organizational hierarchy that shaped its technical work.

AIDS Communication Campaigns in Uganda: Organizational Factors and Campaign Planning as Predictors of Successful Campaign Execution

About 60% of all the HIV/AIDS cases are found in sub-Saharan Africa (UNAIDS, 2007). While a few countries in the region have shown a decline in prevalence, most countries in southern Africa have made little progress in their fight against AIDS. The goal of this study was to provide empirical support to confirm and extend an earlier model of the effect of organizational factors and campaign planning on campaign execution to help answer the question of what makes for a successful communication campaign to change AIDS-related behavior. A survey of the top leaders of 120 Ugandan organizations delivering AIDS communication campaigns supports a model that illustrates the vital role of several features, such as focused campaign goals, the formality of organizational structure, and outreach worker supervision, on effective campaign execution. Surprisingly, financial resources are negatively related to goal extensiveness and message clarity and may be a distraction during campaign execution.

The Conservatives' Grassroots ‘Revival’

Healthy party grassroots constituency organisations play an important part in modern electoral campaigning, especially in marginal seats, and political parties try to concentrate their efforts on those closely contested constituencies. Recent evidence on party fund‐raising at a local level shows that the Conservatives have taken considerable strides in supporting their campaign organisations in marginals, and have done so in a way which enhances their long‐term campaigning potential there. The party's grassroots organisations are increasingly well‐resourced, especially in the seats the Conservatives need to win back if they are to win the next General Election. However, while fund‐raising suggests a healthy grassroots where it is needed, party membership data highlights continued problems for the party.

Sanctifying the Southern Organizing Campaign: Protestant Activists in the CIO's Operation Dixie

When assessing the Congress of Industrial Organization's (CIO) postwar Southern Organizing Campaign, evangelical Protestantism shows up only on the debit side of the historians' ledger. Focus on anti-union hate sheets like Militant Truth and Gospel Trumpet conveniently substitutes for analysis of the shifting religious terrain of the South. In contrast, we argue that the potential for a sympathetic hearing from southern religious leaders was greater than scholars have previously believed, but that the CIO staff responsible for interpreting Operation Dixie's mission misunderstood the creeds and the theology of the most vibrant southern churches. By choosing individuals who boasted of their endorsement by the liberal Federal Council of Churches, the CIO incurred the wrath of southern denominations that had supported collective bargaining and an employee's right to join unions just a few years earlier. This missed opportunity is not the entire story, however. We also argue that the CIO's religious activists often challenged the Southern Organizing Campaign to promote racial equality and desegregation even when such challenges threatened to harm organizing goals. At the same time, they repudiated the claims of Communists to be the true supporters of black advancement in the labor movement. The connection of religious faith to the struggle for justice in the postwar South is surely far more complex than what exists in previous accounts.

Digital vs Material: the Everyday Construction of Mediated Political Action

The relationship between internet technologies and political action has often been analysed with an emphasis on the empowering qualities brought about by the digital age. Frequently, this is to the detriment of further consideration of the continuing role of ‘old’/traditional media, yet, campaigning organisations and political groups in Britain are still investing their few economic resources in the production of printed activist magazines, as well as developing web-based platforms. Based on ethnographic research amongst solidarity campaign organisations and the Trade Union movement in Britain, this paper will show that the relationship between internet technologies and social movements is embedded in a double tension of empowerment and anxiety. It is by considering this ambivalent tension – the paper will argue – that we can shed some light on the continuing role of printed media in the everyday mediation of political action, and we can better appreciate how new media have not replaced old media but may have powerfully transformed their meaning.

Endangered Scholars Worldwide

Endangered Scholars Worldwide IRAN fa r z a d k a m a n g e r , an Iranian teacher, has been brutally and repeatedly tortured since his arrest in 2006 and is now facing the im m inent possibility of execution. He was sentenced to death by the Iranian Revolutionary Court on February 25, 2008, charged w ith “endangering national security” and “enm ity against God.” According to his lawyer, Khalil Bahramian, who was not perm it­ ted to defend him, Farzad’s trial took place in secret, lasted only m inutes, and failed to m eet Iranian and international standards of fairness. Education International, which has featured his case, reports that Kamanger worked for 12 years as a teacher in the city of Kamyaran, Iran, before he was arrested and placed in detention. He also sat on the governing board of both a local environm entalist group and the local branch of the teachers association. Kamanger wrote actively for the m onthly journal Royan, a publication of the Departm ent of Education of Kamyaran. He was also a w riter w ith a local hum an rights organization that documents hum an rights abuses in Kurdistan and other provinces. e s h a m o m e n i, a US-Iranian student, was recently held for three weeks in an Iranian prison and is currently being prevented from leaving the country. Momeni, a m aster’s student at California State University at Northridge, was working in Iran on a docum entary about Iranian fem inists w hen she was pulled over and arrested for supposed traffic offenses on October 15, 2008. She was held in Iran’s Evin prison w here she was charged w ith “underm ining national security and spreading propaganda against the republic” Information current, to the best ofour knowledge, as ofDecember 11, 2008. Endangered Scholars Worldwide v as a result of her interviews w ith individuals involved in the One Million Signatures campaign for wom en’s rights. Now released on bail, Momeni has been told that she can return to the United States prior to her trial, but the Los Angeles Times has reported that she has been prevented from doing so by authorities who have continued to withhold her passport. Appeals for both Kamanger and Momeni to: His ExcellencyAyatollah Sayed ‘ Ali Khamenei Leader ofthe Islamic Republic The Office ofthe Supreme Leader Islamic Republic Street— Shahid Keshvar Doust Street Tehran Islamic Republic ofIran E-mail: info@leader.ir Salutation: Your Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi Head ofthe Judiciary Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh/Office ofthe Head ofthe Judiciary Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., South of Serah-eJomhouri Tehran Islamic Republic ofIran E-mail: info@dadgostaiy-tehran.ir (In the subject line write: FAOAyatollah Shahroudi) Salutation: Your Excellency Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie Minister ofIntelligence Ministry ofIntelligence Second Negarestan Street, Pasdaran Avenue Tehran Islamic Republic ofIran Salutation: Your Excellency RUSSIA c a r in e c l ém en t, a French sociologist working at the Academy of Sciences in Russia, was attacked in Moscow on November 13, 2008. According to an article in the Le Monde, her attackers stabbed her w ith a syringe while she was on her way to a public m eeting of activ­ ists. This was the third tim e that Clément had been the victim of anonymous acts of aggression in the preceding three weeks. It coin­ cides w ith a spate of attacks on Russian activists and trade union­ ists in recent m onths. The same day th at Clement was attacked, vi social research a l e x e i e t m a n o v , leader of the trade union at the Ford-Vsevolozhsk plant, and m ik h a il b e k e t o v , leader of the movement to defend the Khimki Forest, were also attacked by unnam ed assailants. Beketov was severely beaten and is currently in a coma. The coincidence of these attacks indicates the existence of an organized campaign of intim idation against social activists in Russia, which has combined w ith a spate of attacks on foreigners (one of Clém ent’s attackers reportedly...

Subject to Negotiation: The Mechanisms Behind Co-Optation and Corporate Reform

While political opportunity structure theory details how social movement organization (SMO) campaigns focus on the state and political processes, a shift toward neoliberal policies prompts those actors to target corporations directly in order to achieve their goals. This shift creates new challenges for social movements. Unlike the state, corporations are not guided by a democratic ethos, which limits movement organizations' access to decision makers. To achieve access, challenging groups often adopt institutionalized structures and tactics, which can also increase the risk of co-optation. Despite previous research, both the process of co-optation and the distinction between co-optation and other movement outcomes remain unclear. Here, applying event structure analysis to a specific case separates these outcomes: the international campaign the environmental organization Greenpeace waged to change Coca-Cola's refrigeration practices between 1998 and 2005. This analysis suggests that framing is an important strategy for SMOs to utilize, but may not be effective unless frames are backed by action. The combination of framing, institutional tactics, and noninstitutional tactics may be most effective in movement-firm interactions. Overall, this analysis contributes to a broader understanding of social movement tactics, outcomes, and framing in an age of increased corporate power.

Monovalent Oral Poliovirus Vaccines — A Good Tool but Not a Total Solution

The polio eradication campaign initiated in 1988 by the World Health Organization (WHO) led to an impressive decline in cases of paralytic poliomyelitis around the world. The eradication strategy involved highly organized mass immunization campaigns, relying solely on the trivalent oral polio vaccine developed by Albert Sabin and licensed in the United States in 1963. Monovalent versions of oral polio vaccine had been licensed earlier but were abandoned in favor of the trivalent combination oral polio vaccine to simplify immunization schedules. Efficacy was not considered to be a significant issue, and differences between monovalent and trivalent vaccines were never formally . . .

Web campaigning - by Kristen A. Foot &amp; Steven M. Schneider

Since the incipient use of the Internet by a few political campaigns in 1994, the Internet has rapidly become a central site of discourse in the political sphere by grassroots organizations, the media, and official campaign organizations. Candidate Web sites have evolved over recent election cycles into significant fund raising and recruitment sites, especially for new citizen participants in electoral politics. As campaign strategies and expenses reduce national television advertising, Web sites offer new public and pedagogical resources in message exposure. Kristin A. Foot and Steven M. Schneider’s Web Campaigning is a book that takes the pulse of the political Web sphere and then provides an in-depth analysis of one significant component—the campaign Web site—and its manifestations in the 2000, 2002, and 2004 elections. Employing a perspective grounded in Cultural–Historical Activity Theory, the authors trace the emergence and evolution of campaign online practices and elaborate on these practices within the Web sphere. Following from case study vignettes that introduce each relevant chapter, Foot and Schneider identify and closely examine the practices of informing, involving, connecting, and mobilizing shared by campaign Web sites, including a critique of “tensions” involved with each practice. The book concludes with an interpretation and evaluation of their findings. As the authors note, the practices of campaign Web sites may have changed little over the past decade, fundamentally, but those practices have increased in sophistication and effect. In the book, the authors clearly lay out a detailed framework for analyzing campaign Web sites that should be adaptable in classroom applications to more recent or current campaigns.

From the air to the ground: the internet in the 2004 US presidential campaign

Political campaigns have learned how to take advantage of online tools not only to communicate their message, but also, and more importantly, to mobilize supporters and provide opportunities for e-volunteers to become engaged in the process. Among the most significant developments in the 2004 US presidential election were strategies and tools designed to facilitate the transition from online to off-line engagement, thus strengthening field operations in a campaign where the ground game proved to be a crucial asset. These topics are addressed through in-depth qualitative interviews with senior aides to the e-campaigns of George W. Bush and John F. Kerry. Online political communication professionals predict that in the future the internet will become an increasingly relevant tool in campaigns and that its functions will be adopted all through the campaign organization.

The UAW and the struggle to organize aircraft, 1937–1942

This article examines the United Automobile Workers’ Union (UAW) efforts to organize the aircraft industry, 1937–1942. It argues that the North American Aviation Strike in Inglewood, California in 1941 played a pivotal role in determining the union's fate in the industry. Following the controversial strike national UAW leaders seized control over the Aviation Organizing Campaign, placing the drive clearly in the hands of the union's auto interests. The move removed local leaders, and alienated a workforce that long cast a suspicious eye on the UAW. Ultimately, as events at Curtiss-Wright in Buffalo, New York show, the decision greatly hindered the UAW efforts in aircraft and opened the door to fierce competition from the International Association of Machinists.

Setting the Stage for Cross-Border Solidarity

From 1996 to 2001, a network of U.S. organizations and activists intensively pressed corporations and government agencies to stop thwarting workers’ efforts to unionize Nicaragua’s assembly-for-export garment factories. Preexisting transnational mobilization— goal-seeking remnants of the 1980s U.S. Central America peace movement, networked with elements of Nicaragua’s Sandinista movement—propelled this cross-border campaign into existence. Some campaign organizations had U.S. union ties, but others, including some of the most pivotal organizations, did not; this and other forms of diversity strengthened the campaign by facilitating an effective interorganizational division of labor. The campaign adopted strategies that took into account its power relations with opponents and the other opportunity structures it was dealt, and it developed effective frames to recruit old and new activists to carry out this new mission.

Campaigning for State Supreme Court, 2006

This article reports the results of a survey of candidates who ran in partisan and nonpartisan state supreme court elections in 2006. While much recent scholarship aimed at explaining election outcomes has demonstrated that candidates and voters act strategically in state supreme court elections, we know little about how supreme court candidates organize their campaigns to achieve their goals, how tightly their campaigns are integrated with parties or interest groups, or how they communicate with voters. This study provides such insights into high-court campaigns. Candidates' campaign organizations rely largely on volunteer labor rather than on paid staff or consultants, although candidates in closer races have more professionalized organizations than do others. Parties and interest groups tend to play a limited role in helping candidates organize their campaigns, although candidates recognize their influence with their high levels of participation, despite qualms, in the candidate questionnaires. State supreme court campaigns are becoming more sophisticated in their modes of communication, even if they are not yet on par with congressional campaigns.