Charles Brockett | Sewanee: The University of the South (original) (raw)

Papers by Charles Brockett

This book offers an in depth analysis of the confrontation between popular movements and repressi... more This book offers an in depth analysis of the confrontation between popular movements and repressive regimes in Central America for the three decades beginning in 1960, particularly in El Salvador and Guatemala. Examining both urban and rural groups as well as both nonviolent social movements and revolutionary movements, this study has two primary theoretical objectives. The first seeks to clarify the impact of state violence on contentious political movementsunder what conditions will escalating repression provoke challengers to even greater activity and perhaps even to the use of violence themselves-or, conversely, intimidate them back into passivity? The second defends the utility of the political process model for studying contentious movements, indeed, finds in this model the key to resolving the repression-protest paradox. The study is based on the most thorough set of events data on contentious political activities collected for Latin American countries.

Human Rights Quarterly, Aug 1, 1984

Page 1. HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLY The Right to Food and United States Policy in Guatemala Charles D.... more Page 1. HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLY The Right to Food and United States Policy in Guatemala Charles D. Brockett Guatemala has been a notorious violator of human rights in recent years. From the gunning down of prominent ...

Routledge eBooks, Jul 18, 2019

Oxford University Press eBooks, May 22, 2023

Contemporary Sociology, Mar 1, 2009

The core of the canon in social movement theory is based on case studies of movements occurring p... more The core of the canon in social movement theory is based on case studies of movements occurring primarily in the United States and Western Europe. As Almeida notes, however, patterns of mobilization in democratic nations can often take distinct forms that are not generalizeable to movements in developing nations and/or authoritarian contexts. As such, Almeida's book provides an important assessment of social movements in El Salvador, arguably one of the most important cases in Latin America.

American Journal of Sociology, Mar 1, 2006

... As he elaborates his argument, Tilly writes the richest theoretical chapter concerning the re... more ... As he elaborates his argument, Tilly writes the richest theoretical chapter concerning the repression/mobilization relationship, providing the reader a good preface to his book on the subject, The Politics of Collective Violence (Cambridge University Press, 2003). ...

Journal of Latin American Studies, May 1, 1987

For approximately the last two-and-a-half decades it has been a stated goal of both Honduran and ... more For approximately the last two-and-a-half decades it has been a stated goal of both Honduran and U.S. policy to improve the welfare of the Honduran people, both directly through the provision of services and indirectly through the promotion of economic development. The need is great; Honduras has the lowest per capita GNP in Central America ($660 in 1984) and the highest population growth rate (3.4%). It also has the second highest percentage of its population living in rural areas (61%). Consequently, rural development has been a primary concern of development programs.

Landscape and Urban Planning, Aug 1, 2004

Concerns about the preservation of farm and forest land in the United States in the face of devel... more Concerns about the preservation of farm and forest land in the United States in the face of development pressures have led to many land preservation policies, including preferential, or use-value (UV), taxation of property. Use-value taxation permits landowners to continue deriving income from their land without having to pay the higher taxes occasioned by rising property values, which otherwise might force them to convert their land to other uses. Tennessee's Forest Greenbelt Program differs from many in that enrollment is voluntary and that it is targeted specifically to forest land owners. We developed a theoretical framework to examine the effectiveness of the program in protecting forested land as a function of several criteria: (1) owners knowing about the program, (2) owners deciding to enroll once they learn about the program, and (3) owners deciding not to convert after enrolling in the program. In addition, the Greenbelt Program was considered cost-effective only if it primarily targeted those parcels facing conversion pressure. In an application of this framework using a probit analysis of landowner survey and tax data, we found that that the Greenbelt Program failed in protecting forested lands. Few knew about the program, and not all those who knew enrolled. Finally, the large majority of enrollees reported that the Greenbelt Program failed to affect their decisions to convert land in the future, and we found no evidence that those who reported some influence of the Greenbelt Program were influenced by the program's economic incentives.

Latin American Research Review, 1994

Studies in Comparative International Development, Mar 1, 1987

Politics and Policy, Jun 1, 2003

This study of Tennessee k tax incentive program for nonindustrial forest preservation on private ... more This study of Tennessee k tax incentive program for nonindustrial forest preservation on private lands provides perhaps the most thorough empirical analysis available of this type of public program. First, the program k equily consequences are analyzed by examining both the concentration of land ownership and of subsidy benefits among program participants. Second, its effectiveness is evaluated by estimating the impact of the program under diflering sets of assumptions about preferred selling prices and through a survey and comparison of a matched set ofprogram participants and nonparticipants concerning their land use practices and attitudes. The study concludes with recommendations for tax policy reforms to create a better balance between public and private benefits, especially the expansion of program objectives to include biological diversity conservation and other non-commodity-based values.

Journal of interamerican studies and world affairs, Nov 1, 1984

Widespread malnutrition persists in Guatemala despite substantial economic growth since 1960. Ind... more Widespread malnutrition persists in Guatemala despite substantial economic growth since 1960. Indeed, there was a deterioration in the living standards of many (for example, the Indians in the Western highlands) even prior to the destruction caused by the government's pacification campaigns of the early 1980s. Chronic and widespread malnutrition has not been the result of just “natural causes”; to the contrary, it is the intent of this study to document that Guatemala's extraordinarily high level of malnutrition is the result of structural transformations and public policy, as well as demographics.This argument has been documented best, in a Central American context, by two excellent works on El Salvador. Durham (1979: 21-51) presented a thorough analysis that demonstrates that land scarcity has not been primarily the result of a high rate of population growth (although that certainly contributes) but, instead, of increasing land concentration.

Journal of Latin American Studies, May 1, 2012

Social Science History, 1993

Many people [in Guatemala] did begin to join the guerrillas, while many more were sympathetic or ... more Many people [in Guatemala] did begin to join the guerrillas, while many more were sympathetic or quietly supportive. The guerrillas are the only remaining source of defense left to a community or family. I know of villages that experienced actual massacres against innocentcampesinos, who were not even members of coops. The survivors of these massacres would often turn to the guerrillas. With all their anger about the murders of their kin and neighbors, there was nowhere else to turn.—quoted in S. Davis and J. Hodson,Witnesses to Political Violence in GuatemalaCentral american events of recent decades show human behavior at both its most courageous and its most barbaric. The opposing phenomena of popular mobilization and state terrorism pose some of the most profound questions that can be asked by social science. How can we explain the willingness of political elites and their agents to slay thousands—tens of thousands—of their fellow human beings, even when their victims are unarmed? Conversely, how do we account for ordinary people undertaking collective action under circumstances so dangerous that even their lives are at risk?

Westview special studies in …, 1987

AGRIS record. Record number, US8921294. Titles, Agrarian reform in reverse: the food crisis in th... more AGRIS record. Record number, US8921294. Titles, Agrarian reform in reverse: the food crisis in the Third World. Personal Authors, Yesilada, Birol A.,Brockett, Charles D.,Drury, Bruce. Publisher, Westview Press. Publisher Place, Boulder (USA). Publication Date, 1987. AGRIS Subj ...

The Latin Americanist, 2019

Abstract:Privately owned lands adjacent or close to publically protected lands of great ecologica... more Abstract:Privately owned lands adjacent or close to publically protected lands of great ecological value are widely recognized as playing a crucial role in either protecting or degrading those lands. This buffer role is especially important for the Reserva Forestal Golfo Dulce (RFGD) on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula, which connects two national parks, one of which (Corcovado) is often referred to as the “crown jewel” of the country’s park system. We have obtained the results of a recent land use survey of parcel owners along with related geocoded data for all parcels in the northern half of the RFGD and many in the southern half. The paper explores the factors that drive the spatial pattern of deforestation in the forest reserve buffering the two parks and examines how institutional complexity influences deforestation there. It concludes that overlapping institutional jurisdiction in two sub-regions of the reserve does affect their rate of deforestation.

Review of Enrique Desmond Arias and Daniel M. Goldstein's Violent Democracies in Latin America .

Violence has plagued Latin America for centuries and, accordingly, has long been central to its a... more Violence has plagued Latin America for centuries and, accordingly, has long been central to its academic study. Violent Democracies in Latin America seeks to make a significant contribution to our understanding of the region by not just analyzing the perpetuation of violence among consolidating democracies but more importantly by proposing theoretical explanations for its perplexing continuation-and in some countries even increase-alongside the region's democratization. This is an edited volume with many of its chapters drawn from papers first presented at conferences in 2004 and 2006. The case

This book offers an in depth analysis of the confrontation between popular movements and repressi... more This book offers an in depth analysis of the confrontation between popular movements and repressive regimes in Central America for the three decades beginning in 1960, particularly in El Salvador and Guatemala. Examining both urban and rural groups as well as both nonviolent social movements and revolutionary movements, this study has two primary theoretical objectives. The first seeks to clarify the impact of state violence on contentious political movementsunder what conditions will escalating repression provoke challengers to even greater activity and perhaps even to the use of violence themselves-or, conversely, intimidate them back into passivity? The second defends the utility of the political process model for studying contentious movements, indeed, finds in this model the key to resolving the repression-protest paradox. The study is based on the most thorough set of events data on contentious political activities collected for Latin American countries.

Human Rights Quarterly, Aug 1, 1984

Page 1. HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLY The Right to Food and United States Policy in Guatemala Charles D.... more Page 1. HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLY The Right to Food and United States Policy in Guatemala Charles D. Brockett Guatemala has been a notorious violator of human rights in recent years. From the gunning down of prominent ...

Routledge eBooks, Jul 18, 2019

Oxford University Press eBooks, May 22, 2023

Contemporary Sociology, Mar 1, 2009

The core of the canon in social movement theory is based on case studies of movements occurring p... more The core of the canon in social movement theory is based on case studies of movements occurring primarily in the United States and Western Europe. As Almeida notes, however, patterns of mobilization in democratic nations can often take distinct forms that are not generalizeable to movements in developing nations and/or authoritarian contexts. As such, Almeida's book provides an important assessment of social movements in El Salvador, arguably one of the most important cases in Latin America.

American Journal of Sociology, Mar 1, 2006

... As he elaborates his argument, Tilly writes the richest theoretical chapter concerning the re... more ... As he elaborates his argument, Tilly writes the richest theoretical chapter concerning the repression/mobilization relationship, providing the reader a good preface to his book on the subject, The Politics of Collective Violence (Cambridge University Press, 2003). ...

Journal of Latin American Studies, May 1, 1987

For approximately the last two-and-a-half decades it has been a stated goal of both Honduran and ... more For approximately the last two-and-a-half decades it has been a stated goal of both Honduran and U.S. policy to improve the welfare of the Honduran people, both directly through the provision of services and indirectly through the promotion of economic development. The need is great; Honduras has the lowest per capita GNP in Central America ($660 in 1984) and the highest population growth rate (3.4%). It also has the second highest percentage of its population living in rural areas (61%). Consequently, rural development has been a primary concern of development programs.

Landscape and Urban Planning, Aug 1, 2004

Concerns about the preservation of farm and forest land in the United States in the face of devel... more Concerns about the preservation of farm and forest land in the United States in the face of development pressures have led to many land preservation policies, including preferential, or use-value (UV), taxation of property. Use-value taxation permits landowners to continue deriving income from their land without having to pay the higher taxes occasioned by rising property values, which otherwise might force them to convert their land to other uses. Tennessee's Forest Greenbelt Program differs from many in that enrollment is voluntary and that it is targeted specifically to forest land owners. We developed a theoretical framework to examine the effectiveness of the program in protecting forested land as a function of several criteria: (1) owners knowing about the program, (2) owners deciding to enroll once they learn about the program, and (3) owners deciding not to convert after enrolling in the program. In addition, the Greenbelt Program was considered cost-effective only if it primarily targeted those parcels facing conversion pressure. In an application of this framework using a probit analysis of landowner survey and tax data, we found that that the Greenbelt Program failed in protecting forested lands. Few knew about the program, and not all those who knew enrolled. Finally, the large majority of enrollees reported that the Greenbelt Program failed to affect their decisions to convert land in the future, and we found no evidence that those who reported some influence of the Greenbelt Program were influenced by the program's economic incentives.

Latin American Research Review, 1994

Studies in Comparative International Development, Mar 1, 1987

Politics and Policy, Jun 1, 2003

This study of Tennessee k tax incentive program for nonindustrial forest preservation on private ... more This study of Tennessee k tax incentive program for nonindustrial forest preservation on private lands provides perhaps the most thorough empirical analysis available of this type of public program. First, the program k equily consequences are analyzed by examining both the concentration of land ownership and of subsidy benefits among program participants. Second, its effectiveness is evaluated by estimating the impact of the program under diflering sets of assumptions about preferred selling prices and through a survey and comparison of a matched set ofprogram participants and nonparticipants concerning their land use practices and attitudes. The study concludes with recommendations for tax policy reforms to create a better balance between public and private benefits, especially the expansion of program objectives to include biological diversity conservation and other non-commodity-based values.

Journal of interamerican studies and world affairs, Nov 1, 1984

Widespread malnutrition persists in Guatemala despite substantial economic growth since 1960. Ind... more Widespread malnutrition persists in Guatemala despite substantial economic growth since 1960. Indeed, there was a deterioration in the living standards of many (for example, the Indians in the Western highlands) even prior to the destruction caused by the government's pacification campaigns of the early 1980s. Chronic and widespread malnutrition has not been the result of just “natural causes”; to the contrary, it is the intent of this study to document that Guatemala's extraordinarily high level of malnutrition is the result of structural transformations and public policy, as well as demographics.This argument has been documented best, in a Central American context, by two excellent works on El Salvador. Durham (1979: 21-51) presented a thorough analysis that demonstrates that land scarcity has not been primarily the result of a high rate of population growth (although that certainly contributes) but, instead, of increasing land concentration.

Journal of Latin American Studies, May 1, 2012

Social Science History, 1993

Many people [in Guatemala] did begin to join the guerrillas, while many more were sympathetic or ... more Many people [in Guatemala] did begin to join the guerrillas, while many more were sympathetic or quietly supportive. The guerrillas are the only remaining source of defense left to a community or family. I know of villages that experienced actual massacres against innocentcampesinos, who were not even members of coops. The survivors of these massacres would often turn to the guerrillas. With all their anger about the murders of their kin and neighbors, there was nowhere else to turn.—quoted in S. Davis and J. Hodson,Witnesses to Political Violence in GuatemalaCentral american events of recent decades show human behavior at both its most courageous and its most barbaric. The opposing phenomena of popular mobilization and state terrorism pose some of the most profound questions that can be asked by social science. How can we explain the willingness of political elites and their agents to slay thousands—tens of thousands—of their fellow human beings, even when their victims are unarmed? Conversely, how do we account for ordinary people undertaking collective action under circumstances so dangerous that even their lives are at risk?

Westview special studies in …, 1987

AGRIS record. Record number, US8921294. Titles, Agrarian reform in reverse: the food crisis in th... more AGRIS record. Record number, US8921294. Titles, Agrarian reform in reverse: the food crisis in the Third World. Personal Authors, Yesilada, Birol A.,Brockett, Charles D.,Drury, Bruce. Publisher, Westview Press. Publisher Place, Boulder (USA). Publication Date, 1987. AGRIS Subj ...

The Latin Americanist, 2019

Abstract:Privately owned lands adjacent or close to publically protected lands of great ecologica... more Abstract:Privately owned lands adjacent or close to publically protected lands of great ecological value are widely recognized as playing a crucial role in either protecting or degrading those lands. This buffer role is especially important for the Reserva Forestal Golfo Dulce (RFGD) on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula, which connects two national parks, one of which (Corcovado) is often referred to as the “crown jewel” of the country’s park system. We have obtained the results of a recent land use survey of parcel owners along with related geocoded data for all parcels in the northern half of the RFGD and many in the southern half. The paper explores the factors that drive the spatial pattern of deforestation in the forest reserve buffering the two parks and examines how institutional complexity influences deforestation there. It concludes that overlapping institutional jurisdiction in two sub-regions of the reserve does affect their rate of deforestation.

Review of Enrique Desmond Arias and Daniel M. Goldstein's Violent Democracies in Latin America .

Violence has plagued Latin America for centuries and, accordingly, has long been central to its a... more Violence has plagued Latin America for centuries and, accordingly, has long been central to its academic study. Violent Democracies in Latin America seeks to make a significant contribution to our understanding of the region by not just analyzing the perpetuation of violence among consolidating democracies but more importantly by proposing theoretical explanations for its perplexing continuation-and in some countries even increase-alongside the region's democratization. This is an edited volume with many of its chapters drawn from papers first presented at conferences in 2004 and 2006. The case

Sharing the Burden of Repair: Reentry After Mass IncacerationI, 2020

Sharing the Burden of Repair: Reentry After Mass Incarceration A Wising Up Listening Project He... more Sharing the Burden of Repair:
Reentry After Mass Incarceration
A Wising Up Listening Project

Heather Tosteson and Charles D. Brockett

This book describes a six-year listening project on reentry that took place at the crest of an unusual wave of bipartisan criminal justice reform in Georgia, one of our most punishing states. Its primary intended audience is common citizens, like us, concerned about the reality of mass incarceration but unsure how to engage. Its aim is to expand, individual story by individual story, our understanding of the importance of successful reentry after an age of mass incarceration and help us take on those difficult questions: Where and how do we fit in? What can we change?
We listened to over 200 people: formerly incarcerated men and women, families, defense lawyers, activists, employers, chaplains, juvenile courts and justice officials, diversion courts, prosecutors, judges, community supervision officers, commissioners of corrections and community corrections, and legislators involved with criminal justice reform. We heard stories people within our adversarial criminal justice system rarely share directly with one another, each with a wisdom to it that we all need.
By bringing them together here, we hope that new stories—more complex, compassionate, inclusive ones—can come into being, stories that acknowledge the lasting harms of both mass incarceration and crime and our capacities for remorse and change as individuals and as a society.

This ebook meant for the common citizen portrays trends in public opinion about immigration in 21... more This ebook meant for the common citizen portrays trends in public opinion about immigration in 21 easily read graphs, many of which extend into late 2019 and some through 2020. This report also relates these trends in public opinion to their broader context, such as the successful immigration reforms of 1965 and 1986 and the failures during the administrations of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. The often sharp differences between Democrats and Republicans that are portrayed through the report highlight the difficulties that face compromise in this area. Will President Biden succeed where his last three predecessors failed? Certainly it will be a big challenge, but it can be done if we let the public show the way.