Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label policies

Is Affirmative Action Still Effective?

As the twentieth century begins and in midst of Ferguson conflict and Selma fiftieth memorial march, a legitimate question emerges as to whether or not Affirmative Action and its application are still effective and compulsory. The historical background, legal ground and current social changes introduce many challenges to the half-a century-old policy. The authors wrote a solid reading of the policy from an academic perspective which presents a trial to understand the past, the present and the future for this act.   This paper traces the elements of Affirmative Action from past to present towards a new approach for the act, using an analytical framework called the Archeology Method (Foucault, 1972). This qualitative method reviews past discourse and events, evaluating artifacts in order to assimilate different historical processes and draw conclusions for what is happening in the present.  The authors modeled Affirmative Action in a multi-dimensional approach to purposefully

Regional Economic Development after a Global Lightning Strike

Globalization has swept through areas like a lightning bolt striking down anything that no longer competes internationally. Despite its destructive powers, there are also opportunities for generating economies anew.   Research by Bailey, et. al. (2010) explores how the mechanical sector of Prato Italy and the automotive sectors of West Midlands United Kingdom in Europe were able to use “place leadership” to understand the economic, social, institutional, and cultural aspects of places for upgrading and renovating to create new international competitive products.  Places of production are locations where people’s skills and corresponding firms develop a hub of economic activity. According to Bellandi (2006), they have the following criteria: 1.) The presence of industry that is embedded in the social fabric of people who have similar shared experiences within that industry.  2.) An industrial cluster that defines the economics of a location. 3.) Local producers wh