Scott Inquiry Research Articles

Writing Autobiographies on Brown in the History Classroom

About fifteen years ago, I heard Anne Firor Scott, W.K. Boyd Professor Emerita at Duke University, recount an exercise that she assigned to incoming Duke students: “How did your hometown respond to the Brown decision?” Students were required to consult local newspapers and public records, to interview relatives, neighbors, teachers, and public officials, and to carry out other research to address this query. Intrigued by this investigation, I devised an autobiographical version of this writing assignment for students at my northern campus. For the past several years, I have launched sections of my African American History II course with a first-person version of Scott's inquiry: “How has race, and especially the Brown decision, affected your educational history?” It began as a first-day, in-class writing assignment, but the most recent iteration asks them to draw upon course readings and library research resources to illuminate their personal experiences of race and education, from elementary grades to present-day college years. Students submit their first drafts near the beginning of the semester, reflect on historical readings and class discussions, and then revise their autobiographies by the end of the course. Student postings on our electronic discussion board make their reflections more public than traditional writing assignments, sparking discussions about how our perspectives have been shaped by different experiences of race and education.

The Hidden Legacy of Scott: Weapons of Mass Destruction and the UK Government Proposals to Control the Transfer of Technology by Intangible Means

One tangible legacy of the Scott Report was to focus concern on the control of the transfer of sensitive technology by electronic means. In response to recommendations made in the Report the Government established a Scott Inquiry Follow Up Unit within the Department of Trade and Industry and published a Consultation Green Paper and White Paper. A particular concern has focused on the transfer of military and dual use technology which can be controlled (arguably) in a tangible form but not if transmitted by intangible means, i.e. fax, internet, e-mail, orally. Consideration has been given to the relationship between export controls for military and dual use goods and a parallel control regime for associated intangible technology. The Government proposal is to introduce a general power to control the transfer of technology by intangible means - limited 'for the time being' to weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and delivery systems). On the 10 November 1998 the Trade and Industry Committee held a second inquiry into various aspects of strategic export controls. Having considered representations made by the arms industry, universities, arms control groups and government departments the Committee, agreeing with an observation in the White Paper, states that 'grave doubts' existed concerning the practicality of controlling the transfer of technology by intangible means. This paper considers the relationship between tangible and intangible technology as it relates to weapons of mass destruction and offers a critique of the Government's proposals. The arguments are placed into a wider debate concerned with technology, modern warfare and the arms trade.

The Scott report: Inquiries, parliamentary accountability and government control in Britain

The Scott inquiry (1996) into arms sales to Iraq sets the scene for important issues of how government and ministers are held to account in the United Kingdom. The article examines in detail the work of the inquiry, the procedures used, the findings of the inquiry and the aftermath. Important constitutional considerations are explained in terms of the role of public interest immunity and in the procedures for fairness at inquiries. Improvements in ministerial responsibility are considered and the value of Parliamentary accountability assessed. The role and functioning of the British civil service is also assessed. The Scott inquiry provides many lessons for democracies in the world. The report provides an important insight into the internal workings of the British government and how administrative responsibility is exercised.

The Scott inquiry, constitutional conventions and accountability in British government

The Scott inquiry into the sale of arms related and dual use goods to Iraq in contravention of a government policy of embargo resulted in perhaps the most significant insights into the operation of British government. It revealed a system of government in which departments appeared to pursue their own objectives under a cloak of secrecy leading to conflict and the collapse of a major trial in very public circumstances. While the inquiry has not led to any ministerial resignations it has increased overall concern about the effectiveness of existing constitutional conventions of accountability in British government.

Practising to Deceive: Whitehall, Arms Exports and the Scott Inquiry

Practising to Deceive: Whitehall, Arms Exports and the Scott Inquiry

?Batting for Britain?: British arms sales in the Thatcher years

The Scott Inquiry into “arms-to-Iraq” was in many ways a fitting epitaph on the arms sales policy pursued by the Conservative governments of Margaret Thatcher from 1979–1990. As the Scott Report clearly showed, the Thatcher governments favoured a highly permissive approach to arms sales. It was an approach which invigorated the British arms export industry, but at the same time invited controversy and was not without cost. This article examines some of the methods, controversies and costs of the Thatcher governments' arms sales drive.

The Nolan Committee: Financial Interests and Constituency Service

The Nolan Committee Has Put Parliament on Trial. Many believe that standards of public life have fallen into disrepute in recent years. The press has seized upon a series of sleaze issues: cash for parliamentary questions, the Scott inquiry into government contracts, undisclosed gifts from lobbyists, the hidden patronage of quango appointments, and the revolving door between public office and newly privatized company boards. Most believe this succession of stories has eroded public trust and confidence. Ivor Crewe's submission to the committee pointed out that agreement with the statement ‘Most MPs make a lot of money by using public office improperly’ has risen from 46 to 64 per cent in the last nine years. Lord Nolan, reflecting on evidence before his committee, noted: ‘One of the things we have been struck by is the depth of public cynicism about standards of conduct in public life, coupled with damaging cynicism about the motives of those who go into it.’ Some of the disquiet is produced by the succession of sexual imbroglios causing a series of ministerial resignations. Yet this has been of lesser concern to the Nolan Committee than standards of financial propriety at Westminster. The recommendations which emerged so far have focused on the need to avoid potential conflicts of interest, and the need for the transparent disclosure of financial dealings.

Five Volumes in Search of Accountability: The Scott Report

What makes a good political scandal? Sex, financial corruption or personal hypocrisy certainly help. Nevertheless, some post-war causes cedlbres, Crichel Down or Westland for example, have secured a lasting place in constitutional history, despite the mind-numbing tedium of the events in issue. Perhaps the prime ingredient is the most intangible: a sense of contemporaneity. A scandal becomes a vehicle for grumbling disorders about the political system and, ideally, the scandal and its aftermath lances the boil and the body politic moves forward in good health. The Arms for Iraq scandal had all the signs of a tale of secrecy and political deception fit for the period of insensitive, arrogant and dogma-ridden politics in which it was conceived and born. This note discusses in turn the Scott Inquiry's processes, its findings and its prescriptions on, first, parliamentary accountability and second, public interest immunity. Our conclusion is that, despite the most penetrating forensic examination in British constitutional history, the Scott Report' has failed to correctly diagnose the disease or to apply the necessary cure.

Defense sales and the Scott inquiry

(1994). Defense sales and the Scott inquiry. Defense Analysis: Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 216-218.

Human rights in Iraq and Iran

EDITOR, - The evasion and dissembling by British government ministers at the inquiry into illegal arms sales to Iraq (the Scott inquiry) come as no surprise. It has long been clear, not least to purchasers like Saddam Hussein, that Western governments sell arms on the basis of their geopolitical and business priorities and that records regarding human rights generally do not count. These imperatives are robust enough to tolerate even genocide: ministers secretly agreed to “tilt” towards Iraq with regard to exports related to arms in December 1988, only eight months after the bombing of Kurdish villages with …

From Angst to Encounter: Nathan Scott's Journey in Theology and Literature

AbstractNathan A. Scott, Jr. is identified as a leading figure in the development of the interdisciplinary field of theology and literature. This essay presents an interpretation of his methodology and scholarly development over a thirty-year period (1952-1981). Paul Tillich's theology of culture is understood as the major methodological and theological influence on Scott's early work. Martin Heidegger's philosophy (preeminently the essays on aesthetics) is the major influence in the development of Scott's mature scholarship. Scott's methodology has a seven-step structure and the textual analysis of his works is presented in a chronological manner. The central foci in the shift in Scott's inquiry are the type of literature he analyzes and his understanding of the role of the poet. The essay concludes with an evaluation of Scott's contribution to this field of study and suggestions for its future development.

Policy Forum: Needed: A New Scott Inquiry: "Comments"

Policy Forum: Needed: A New Scott Inquiry: "Comments"

Policy Forum: Needed: A New Scott Inquiry: "a Response"

Policy Forum: Needed: A New Scott Inquiry: "a Response"