In the literature on civil war onset, several empirical results are not robust or replicable across studies. Studies use different definitions of civil war and analyze different time periods, so readers cannot easily determine if differences in empirical results are due to those factors or if most empirical results are just not robust. The authors…

This article examines provision of elementary school readers in Ontario from 1850 to 1909. It traces the conflicts that arose due to the dual role of textbooks as economic commodity and democratic instrument of curriculum. It illuminates the strategies that three dominant stakeholders used in textbook provision to position themselves to best …

This essay argues that a sustained form can be located in the complicated history of populist rhetoric. Despite its chameleonic qualities, the advancement of populism is constituted by alterations in the focus and content, not the structure, of populist activism. This structure, or what I term its argumentative frame, positions a virtuous people…

This article reports how the Voyager Universal Literacy core program, which is sailing successively into the market for reading programs, has been the target of several speculations over its secrets of success. Use of the Voyager Universal Literacy program has since spread to 1,000 districts throughout the country since its introduction into the…

Inclusive education policies constitute the contemporary legislative response to the education of disabled children. They can be viewed as the antidote to the historical imperatives of special education thinking, which were responsible for the disparagement and exclusion of disabled children. However, despite the extolling rhetorical proclamations…

"Policy and Performance in American Higher Education" presents a new approach to understanding how public policy influences institutional performance, with practical insight for those charged with crafting and implementing higher education policy. Public institutions of higher learning are called upon by state governments to provide…

The Chinese Communist Party has invoked the Faure report as part of a large-scale learning initiative involving 61 cities and numerous streets, neighbourhoods and villages. By embracing western ideas and infusing them with Chinese characteristics, the Central School of the Communist Party has embarked on what looks increasingly like the 5th…

The purpose of this article is to explore children's perceptions and experiences of safety and risk in one highly contested interface area in Belfast. Interface areas are landscapes divided by physical and symbolic boundaries on the basis of religious/ethno-national identification. The research draws on maps and focus group discussions with young…

European Union (EU) enlargement has seen 10 new member states (NMS) adopt the full range of EU policies. Within this, the rural development arm of the Common Agricultural Policy offers particular points of interest. Member states chose from an extensive list of policy measures developed within the EU15 and intended, in particular, to…

Devolution to Scotland, Wales and (intermittently) Northern Ireland was one of the major constitutional reforms initiated by the new Labour Government when it took office in 1997. This was largely a political project, and one of devolution's key successes was largely to halt, at least for a while, political debates about the position of Scotland…

This publication analyzes the reform movement in China before and after the Tiananmen Square demonstrations of 1989. In the aftermath of the cold war and because of recent mutual hostility, U.S.-Chinese relations are at a critical juncture. The events leading up to and encompassing the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square and the brutal manner in…

Paradoxically, Japan presents both a difficult and promising setting for the advancement of critical thinking skills. One deep-rooted obstacle stems from anti-rational ideological traditions and prejudices. Another comes from the rigidly hierarchical, conformist nature of Japanese society, which does not encourage divergent opinions or their…

"Autonomous" and "ideological" models of literacy are discussed in the context of the literacy-culture-politics relationship. Assumptions underlying literacy, nationalism, assessment, and the links among them are questioned, and approaches to alternative assessment procedures are considered. Arguments about the formation and…

The founding of western frontier colleges is examined in light of the changing patterns of theological thought present in the Antebellum period. It is suggested that Donald G. Tewksbury's (1969) comprehensive study of the Antebellum colleges provided an important theoretical framework. In this work, "The Founding of American Colleges and…

High school students determine and meet the economic needs of imaginary island countries in this student-teacher created simulation game. The class is divided into six countries which determine their own economic system. Each group is provided with a summary of the current world economic situation and a confidential description of their own…