Communitarians have suggested that a balance must be struck between individual rights and the pub... more Communitarians have suggested that a balance must be struck between individual rights and the public welfare, and that our self-seeking tendencies must sometimes be set aside in pursuit of the common good. Government is often (although not always) the mechanism through which common interests are advanced. An abdication of government responsibility may result in disaster, as was the case with respect to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. At the other extreme, the accumulation of too much power in government can also bring about catastrophic consequences, as in the case of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in the Soviet Union. A balance must be struck between the extremes of government passivity and all government, all the time. Traditionally, this tension has been framed as one of libertarianism versus collectivism; in current American political parlance, that of liberalism versus conservatism. But communitarians are more likely to view these issues in terms of an adjustmen...
AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 2007
This article outlines a community-based participatory research strategy called Community Driven D... more This article outlines a community-based participatory research strategy called Community Driven Development (CDD). This approach strives for excellence in bridging the gap between academic departments and rural communities by shifting the culture of the academy toward greater community engagement. Taking rural Tanzania as a case study, researchers from Pennsylvania State University and Tumaini University, as well as residents of Leguruki and Chekereni, work together to define and conduct research to improve wellbeing and promote sustainability of indigenous communities while employing methodologies that recognize communities as equal partners. In this collaboration, scholars entered into a dialogue with rural community residents to exchange ideas about pertinent local beliefs and values, traditional practices, and folk knowledge, and to better understand how residents apply their knowledge systems to address the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and policies affecti...
The ascent to power of the Republican-controlled 104th Congress early in 1995 brought with it the... more The ascent to power of the Republican-controlled 104th Congress early in 1995 brought with it the promise of devolution, that is, a reallocation of power from the federal government to state and local governments. The Republican leadership promised legislation to devolve power to the states in areas such as welfare, school lunch programs, legal services for the poor, speed limits on interstate highways, and other spheres in which the federal government had played a dominant role for decades. No longer would we have one size fits all government; instead, the Republican leadership vowed, policy would be made and programs would be administered at a level closer to the citizenry, in a manner presumably more responsive to local needs
Communitarians have suggested that a balance must be struck between individual rights and the pub... more Communitarians have suggested that a balance must be struck between individual rights and the public welfare, and that our self-seeking tendencies must sometimes be set aside in pursuit of the common good. Government is often (although not always) the mechanism through which common interests are advanced. An abdication of government responsibility may result in disaster, as was the case with respect to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. At the other extreme, the accumulation of too much power in government can also bring about catastrophic consequences, as in the case of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in the Soviet Union. A balance must be struck between the extremes of government passivity and all government, all the time. Traditionally, this tension has been framed as one of libertarianism versus collectivism; in current American political parlance, that of liberalism versus conservatism. But communitarians are more likely to view these issues in terms of an adjustmen...
In this essay, I present a communitarian view as to how we might best respond to disaster, and in... more In this essay, I present a communitarian view as to how we might best respond to disaster, and in particular, to losses suffered by the direct victims of disaster. My focus will be on financial compensation to disaster victims, which admittedly occupies only a small part of the spectrum of disaster response. Emergency “first responder” activities are matters about which I have no expertise; volunteering at my local food bank hardly qualifies me to advise FEMA or the Red Cross. The blunders for which these organizations have recently been responsible are apparent, and so are some of their causes, but the engineering of more effective responses is a matter on which I would be foolish to opine. My background in tort law, conflict resolution, and administrative law does provide a modicum of expertise on compensation systems, so it is in that area that I will offer some communitarian principles and suggest some practical considerations.
I. Constitutional Bases for Federal Tort Legislation .......... 432 A. Tort Remedies Involving Co... more I. Constitutional Bases for Federal Tort Legislation .......... 432 A. Tort Remedies Involving Constitutional Rights ....... 433 1. Tort Remedies Protecting Constitutional Rights . . 433 a. State Action .................. 433 b. Private Actors ................. 434 2. Congressional Power to Limit Tort Remedies That Impair the Exercise of Constitutional Rights .... 436 B. Activities Having an Impact on Interstate Commerce ... 438 C. The Spending Power ...................... 442 D. New York v. United States and the Problem of Unfunded Mandates ............................. 443 1. Striking the Proper Balance ............. 445 2. Some Current Proposals ............... 446
This article, after presenting a brief history of the seat belt defense, will address the viabili... more This article, after presenting a brief history of the seat belt defense, will address the viability of the defense in light of recent statutory enactments. We will see how many such enactments actually serve to thwart, rather than promote, the defense. We will then discuss the application of the defense in terms of the damages recoverable by plaintiffs in auto collision cases. The defense will then be considered in the context of products liability actions, with particular emphasis on economic implications. The article will conclude with some comments on the relationship of the defense to notions of autonomy and accountability. This discussion will suggest that the seat belt defense has important implications in terms of both economic efficiency and individual accountability.
Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Intermediate Communities, For Good and Ill Chapter 3 Tort Law an... more Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Intermediate Communities, For Good and Ill Chapter 3 Tort Law and Intermediate Communities - An Overview Chapter 4 An Intermediate Communitarian Perspective on Tort Law Chapter 5 Torts and Families Chapter 6 Religious Congregations Chapter 7 Torts and the Larger Community: The Limits of Legal Obligation Chapter 8 Preserving the Larger Community (or, how to avoid killing the goose that laid the golden egg) Chapter 9 Damages, the Community, and 9/11 Chapter 10 Toward a Communitarian Tort System Chapter 11 Communitarian Principles and Law
Communitarians have suggested that a balance must be struck between individual rights and the pub... more Communitarians have suggested that a balance must be struck between individual rights and the public welfare, and that our self-seeking tendencies must sometimes be set aside in pursuit of the common good. Government is often (although not always) the mechanism through which common interests are advanced. An abdication of government responsibility may result in disaster, as was the case with respect to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. At the other extreme, the accumulation of too much power in government can also bring about catastrophic consequences, as in the case of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in the Soviet Union. A balance must be struck between the extremes of government passivity and all government, all the time. Traditionally, this tension has been framed as one of libertarianism versus collectivism; in current American political parlance, that of liberalism versus conservatism. But communitarians are more likely to view these issues in terms of an adjustmen...
AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 2007
This article outlines a community-based participatory research strategy called Community Driven D... more This article outlines a community-based participatory research strategy called Community Driven Development (CDD). This approach strives for excellence in bridging the gap between academic departments and rural communities by shifting the culture of the academy toward greater community engagement. Taking rural Tanzania as a case study, researchers from Pennsylvania State University and Tumaini University, as well as residents of Leguruki and Chekereni, work together to define and conduct research to improve wellbeing and promote sustainability of indigenous communities while employing methodologies that recognize communities as equal partners. In this collaboration, scholars entered into a dialogue with rural community residents to exchange ideas about pertinent local beliefs and values, traditional practices, and folk knowledge, and to better understand how residents apply their knowledge systems to address the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and policies affecti...
The ascent to power of the Republican-controlled 104th Congress early in 1995 brought with it the... more The ascent to power of the Republican-controlled 104th Congress early in 1995 brought with it the promise of devolution, that is, a reallocation of power from the federal government to state and local governments. The Republican leadership promised legislation to devolve power to the states in areas such as welfare, school lunch programs, legal services for the poor, speed limits on interstate highways, and other spheres in which the federal government had played a dominant role for decades. No longer would we have one size fits all government; instead, the Republican leadership vowed, policy would be made and programs would be administered at a level closer to the citizenry, in a manner presumably more responsive to local needs
Communitarians have suggested that a balance must be struck between individual rights and the pub... more Communitarians have suggested that a balance must be struck between individual rights and the public welfare, and that our self-seeking tendencies must sometimes be set aside in pursuit of the common good. Government is often (although not always) the mechanism through which common interests are advanced. An abdication of government responsibility may result in disaster, as was the case with respect to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. At the other extreme, the accumulation of too much power in government can also bring about catastrophic consequences, as in the case of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in the Soviet Union. A balance must be struck between the extremes of government passivity and all government, all the time. Traditionally, this tension has been framed as one of libertarianism versus collectivism; in current American political parlance, that of liberalism versus conservatism. But communitarians are more likely to view these issues in terms of an adjustmen...
In this essay, I present a communitarian view as to how we might best respond to disaster, and in... more In this essay, I present a communitarian view as to how we might best respond to disaster, and in particular, to losses suffered by the direct victims of disaster. My focus will be on financial compensation to disaster victims, which admittedly occupies only a small part of the spectrum of disaster response. Emergency “first responder” activities are matters about which I have no expertise; volunteering at my local food bank hardly qualifies me to advise FEMA or the Red Cross. The blunders for which these organizations have recently been responsible are apparent, and so are some of their causes, but the engineering of more effective responses is a matter on which I would be foolish to opine. My background in tort law, conflict resolution, and administrative law does provide a modicum of expertise on compensation systems, so it is in that area that I will offer some communitarian principles and suggest some practical considerations.
I. Constitutional Bases for Federal Tort Legislation .......... 432 A. Tort Remedies Involving Co... more I. Constitutional Bases for Federal Tort Legislation .......... 432 A. Tort Remedies Involving Constitutional Rights ....... 433 1. Tort Remedies Protecting Constitutional Rights . . 433 a. State Action .................. 433 b. Private Actors ................. 434 2. Congressional Power to Limit Tort Remedies That Impair the Exercise of Constitutional Rights .... 436 B. Activities Having an Impact on Interstate Commerce ... 438 C. The Spending Power ...................... 442 D. New York v. United States and the Problem of Unfunded Mandates ............................. 443 1. Striking the Proper Balance ............. 445 2. Some Current Proposals ............... 446
This article, after presenting a brief history of the seat belt defense, will address the viabili... more This article, after presenting a brief history of the seat belt defense, will address the viability of the defense in light of recent statutory enactments. We will see how many such enactments actually serve to thwart, rather than promote, the defense. We will then discuss the application of the defense in terms of the damages recoverable by plaintiffs in auto collision cases. The defense will then be considered in the context of products liability actions, with particular emphasis on economic implications. The article will conclude with some comments on the relationship of the defense to notions of autonomy and accountability. This discussion will suggest that the seat belt defense has important implications in terms of both economic efficiency and individual accountability.
Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Intermediate Communities, For Good and Ill Chapter 3 Tort Law an... more Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Intermediate Communities, For Good and Ill Chapter 3 Tort Law and Intermediate Communities - An Overview Chapter 4 An Intermediate Communitarian Perspective on Tort Law Chapter 5 Torts and Families Chapter 6 Religious Congregations Chapter 7 Torts and the Larger Community: The Limits of Legal Obligation Chapter 8 Preserving the Larger Community (or, how to avoid killing the goose that laid the golden egg) Chapter 9 Damages, the Community, and 9/11 Chapter 10 Toward a Communitarian Tort System Chapter 11 Communitarian Principles and Law
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Papers by Robert Ackerman