Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Deliberation
Kinds of Deliberation Selected AbstractsMoral Deliberation in a Public Lutheran ChurchDIALOG, Issue 4 2006Ronald W. Duty Abstract:, Variety and complementarity characterize the views of six Lutheran theologians regarding the place of the church in the public square: Martin Marty, Ronald Thiemann, Robert Benne, Gary Simpson, Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, and Patrick Kiefert. This article explicates their thought in with respect to the internal and external life of the church. To think of the church as a "community of moral deliberation" in the public square becomes the preferred model for Lutherans in North America. [source] Deliberation, Legitimacy, and Multilateral DemocracyGOVERNANCE, Issue 1 2003Loren A. King Is deliberation essential to legitimate democratic governance? Deliberation may have epistemic value, improving the quality of information and arguments. Deliberation may be transformative, shaping beliefs and opinions. Or deliberation may be part of a conception of justice that constrains authority, by requiring that procedures be justified in terms of reasons acceptable to those burdened by authoritative decisions. Although appealing, the epistemic and transformative arguments are limited by the scale and complexity of many problems for which democratic solutions are sought. But the reason,giving argument is persuasive whenever collective decisions allow burdens to be imposed on others. [source] Does Administrative Corporatism Promote Trust and Deliberation?GOVERNANCE, Issue 4 2002Perola Öberg How corporatist arrangements actually work has not been empirically demonstrated, despite the theoretical focus on interest intermediation. This article investigates whether corporatism affects trust and deliberation in state activities, using Swedish public administration as a case study. First, it is doubtful that corporatism directly promotes trust among citizens, but it very likely promotes trust within and between the represented organizations. Second, interest,group representation cannot be understood as a process of strict delivering of positions adopted in advance. Preferences are often transformed in discussions where other interests are involved. Furthermore, the case investigated here shows that the decision,making process within a corporatist arrangement resembles deliberation, rather than negotiations between "contesting interests." [source] Participation in Urban Contention and DeliberationINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 3 2010HILARY SILVER Abstract Participation is a popular buzzword in contemporary urban studies. For some, it implies a deepening of democratic deliberation; for others, it represents grassroots resistance to powerful elites and neoliberalization. Rather than seeing participation as either consensus-building or conflicts of interest, as either a top-down or bottom-up process, the evidence suggests that it can be all of these. By adopting a more dynamic, pragmatic, and empirically informed perspective, seemingly opposite normative conceptions of democratic participation may be theorized as different ,moments' in the democratic process. Bottom-up mobilization may coincide with and complement top-down initiatives, each dominating different political phases of policymaking, implementation and monitoring. Case studies from Belfast, Berlin, Durban, Philadelphia and São Paulo illustrate the approach and provide insight into the urban as a social laboratory in which other scales of social life and multiple ways to perform democracy are constructed. Résumé La participation est un terme qui revient très souvent dans les études urbaines contemporaines. Pour certains, elle implique une réflexion démocratique approfondie, pour d'autres, une résistance des citoyens face à la puissance des élites et au néolibéralisme. Si la participation peut être vue comme un moyen de bâtir des consensus ou l'expression de conflits d'intérêts, ou comme un processus imposé par le haut ou bien par la base, les faits suggèrent qu'elle peut être tout cela. En adoptant une perspective pragmatique plus dynamique reposant sur des éléments empiriques, des concepts normatifs de la participation apparemment opposés sont susceptibles d'être formulés en tant que "moments" différents du processus démocratique. La mobilisation par la base peut venir en coïncidence et complément d'initiatives imposées par le haut, chaque forme dominant des phases politiques distinctes dans la prise de décision, la mise en ,uvre et le suivi. Des études de cas portant sur Belfast, Berlin, Durban, Philadelphie et São Paulo illustrent la démarche et font apparaître l'urbain comme un laboratoire où s'élaborent d'autres dimensions de la vie sociale et de multiples modalités d'exercice de la démocratie. [source] Democracy's Midwife: An Education in Deliberation by Jack CrittendenJOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION, Issue 1 2008Article first published online: 10 JUL 200 [source] Freedom of Choice, Community and DeliberationJOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION, Issue 3 2003Klas Roth Present arrangements for the control and administration of schools in Sweden foster freedom of choice and the interests of different value communities more than ideals such as democratic deliberation. I argue that children and young people should be given the opportunity to deliberate in ,discourse ethics' terms during their compulsory schooling, and I suggest that their right to engage in such deliberation is contained in the national curriculum. A discourse ethics approach to democratic deliberation pays attention to whether, and to what extent, individuals are free and able to participate in joint democratic deliberation. [source] Deliberation under Nonideal Conditions: A Reply to Lenard and AdlerJOURNAL OF SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, Issue 4 2008Mark E. Warren First page of article [source] Universal problems during residency: abuse and harassmentMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 7 2009Shizuko Nagata-Kobayashi Objectives, Perceived abuse or harassment during residency has a negative impact on residents' health and well-being. This issue pertains not only to Western countries, but also to those in Asia. In order to launch strong international preventive measures against this problem, it is necessary to establish the generality and cultural specificity of this problem in different countries. Therefore, we investigated mistreatment among resident doctors in Japan. Methods, In 2007, a multi-institutional, cross-sectional survey was conducted at 37 hospitals. A total of 619 residents (409 men, 210 women) were recruited. Prevalence of mistreatment in six categories was evaluated: verbal abuse; physical abuse; academic abuse; sexual harassment; gender discrimination, and alcohol-associated harassment. In addition, alleged abusers, the emotional effects of abusive experiences, and reluctance to report the abuse to superiors were investigated. Male and female responses were statistically compared using chi-square analysis. Results, A total of 355 respondents (228 men, 127 women) returned a completed questionnaire (response rate 57.4%). Mistreatment was reported by 84.8% of respondents (n = 301). Verbal abuse was the most frequently experienced form of mistreatment (n = 256, 72.1%), followed by alcohol-associated harassment (n = 184, 51.8%). Among women, sexual harassment was also often reported (n = 74, 58.3%). Doctors were most often reported as abusers (n = 124, 34.9%), followed by patients (n = 77, 21.7%) and nurses (n = 61, 17.2%). Abuse was reported to have occurred most frequently during surgical rotations (n = 98, 27.6%), followed by rotations in departments of internal medicine (n = 76, 21.4%), emergency medicine (n = 41, 11.5%) and anaesthesia (n = 40, 11.3%). Very few respondents reported their experiences of abuse to superiors (n = 36, 12.0%). The most frequent emotional response to experiences of abuse was anger (n = 84, 41.4%). Conclusions, Mistreatment during residency is a universal phenomenon. Deliberation on the occurrence of this universally wrong tradition in medical culture will lead to the establishment of strong preventive methods against it. Current results indicate that alcohol-associated harassment during residency is a Japanese culture-specific problem and effective preventive measures against this are also urgently required. [source] Deliberation and Metaphysical FreedomMIDWEST STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY, Issue 1 2005E. J. COFFMAN First page of article [source] Deliberation in the balance: A cautionary note on the promise of deliberative democracyNATIONAL CIVIC REVIEW, Issue 4 20052Article first published online: 15 DEC 200, Michael K. Briand First page of article [source] Four Perspectives on Public Participation Process in Environmental Assessment and Decision Making: Combined Results from 10 Case StudiesPOLICY STUDIES JOURNAL, Issue 4 2006Thomas Webler Knowing how people think about public participation processes and knowing what people want from these processes is essential to crafting a legitimate and effective process and delivering a program that is widely viewed as meaningful and successful. This article reports on research to investigate the nature of diversity among participants' perceptions of what is the most appropriate public participation process for environmental assessment and decision making in 10 different cases. Results show that there are clearly distinct perspectives on what an appropriate public participation process should be. We identified four perspectives: Science-Centered Stakeholder Consultation, Egalitarian Deliberation, Efficient Cooperation, and Informed Collaboration. The literature on public participation tends to presume that there are clear and universal criteria on how to "do" public participation correctly or that context is the critical factor. This study has revealed that even within a specific assessment or decision-making effort, there may be different perspectives about what is viewed as appropriate, which poses a challenge for both theorists and practitioners. Among the active participants in these 10 case studies, we found limited agreement and strong differences of opinions for what is a good process. Points of consensus across these cases are that good processes reach out to all stakeholders, share information openly and readily, engage people in meaningful interaction, and attempt to satisfy multiple interest positions. Differences appeared about how strongly to emphasize science and information, how much leadership and direction the process needs, what is the proper behavior of participants, how to tackle issues of power and trust, and what are the outcome-related goals of the process. These results challenge researchers and practitioners to consider the diversity of participant needs in addition to the broad context when conceptualizing or carrying out participatory processes. [source] On the Prospects for Democratic Deliberation: Values Analysis Applied to AustralianPoliticsPOLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2000John S. Dryzek Democratic theorists increasingly stress that democratic legitimacy rests primarily on authentic deliberation. Critics of deliberative democracy believe that this hope is unrealistic,that deliberation either will prove intractable across political differences or will exacerbate instability. This paper deploys some tools of political psychology, notably Q methodology and values analysis, to investigate the conditions under which effective deliberation is likely to occur. These tools are applied to contemporary political debates in Australia, concerned with how the Australian polity should be constituted in light of a reform agenda underpinned by a discourse we term "Inclusive Republicanism." An investigation of the character of the basic value commitments associated with discursive positions in these debates shows that some differences will yield to deliberation, but others will not. When two discourses subscribe to different value bases, deliberation will induce reflection and facilitate positive-sum outcomes. When a discourse has a value base but finds its specific goals opposed by a competitor that otherwise has no value base of its own, deliberation will be ineffective. When one discourse subscribes to a value base that another questions, but without providing an alternative, deliberation can help to bridge idealism and cynicism. [source] Critical Mass, Deliberation and the Substantive Representation of Women: Evidence from the UK's Devolution ProgrammePOLITICAL STUDIES, Issue 4 2006Paul Chaney This article provides empirical evidence to support recent assertions that the substantive representation of women depends not only on the numbers of women elected representatives in national legislatures, but also who they are. In this case study of one of the UK's devolved legislatures, analysis was undertaken of the transcripts of 327 plenary debates held during the first term of the National Assembly for Wales, where women constituted 42 percent of elected members (1999,2003). The gender dynamics of political debate around key equality topics reveal that the link between descriptive and substantive representation of women is complex. When a ,critical mass' of women is achieved the substantive representation of women is affirmed as ,probabilistic' rather than ,deterministic' for it is shaped by the institutional context, the gender dynamics of debate and, importantly, the actions of individual ,equality champions'. While women representatives exhibited a greater propensity to advance gender equality in debate than their male colleagues, the present findings also show the disproportionate influence of ,equality champions': women who are able to draw upon earlier feminist activism and act as ,strategic insiders' who make a difference to women's issues in a parliamentary context. [source] Effective Opportunity and Democratic DeliberationPOLITICS, Issue 2 2007Michael Allen This article develops a conception of effective opportunities of minority speakers that is tied to the possibilities of conceptual innovation in informally inclusive democratic deliberation. My argument proceeds through a critical engagement with Brian Barry and Bikhu Parekh on what it means to have an equal opportunity in a multicultural society. I claim that the exchange between Barry and Parekh reaches a conceptual deadlock over the possibility of producing a substantive revision in the concept of equality. I break this conceptual deadlock, however, by appeal to the potential of diverse speakers in informal deliberation to reinvent the meanings of their basic political terms of co-operation. [source] Medicare Reform Preferences: Before and After Education and DeliberationPOLITICS & POLICY, Issue 3 2009SAMANTHA WOOLSEY Using the case of Medicare reform, this article provides data on whether certain deliberative democracy efforts result in higher quality public opinion. Through a survey of preexisting social groups before and after a review of educational materials and participation in group discussion, the study hypothesized that: (1) respondents would change their reform preferences due to participation in an educational and deliberative forum; and (2) respondents' reform and value preferences would be more congruent after the forum than they were before it. Results supported these hypotheses. Reform preference changes were influential in terms of overall public opinion. In three cases, opinion changes resulted in the majority response changing from opposition or uncertainty to support. In other instances, preference change was evident in the magnitude of support indicated for particular reform proposals. Congruence between respondent value preferences and related reform proposals increased for all five major policy variables and their corresponding values, indicating higher quality opinion. Utilizando el caso de la reforma al sistema de salud, este artículo provee información acerca de si algunos foros de democracia deliberativa ocasionan una mayor calidad de la opinión pública. A través de una encuesta a grupos sociales pre-existentes antes y después de la revisión de los materiales educacionales y participación en la discusión de grupo, el estudio plantea que: (1) los encuestados cambiarían sus preferencias de reforma debido a la participación en un foro educacional y deliberativo; y (2) las preferencias y valores de reforma de los encuestados serían más congruentes después del foro que antes del mismo. Los resultados apoyaban estas hipótesis. Los cambios en las preferencias de reforma fueron influyentes en términos del conjunto de la opinión pública. En tres casos, los cambios de la opinión resultaron en que la respuesta de la mayoría cambiara de la oposición o indecisión al apoyo. Por otro lado, el cambio en la preferencia fue evidente en la magnitud del apoyo indicado para una propuesta de reforma particular. La congruencia entre el valor de la preferencia del encuestado y las propuestas de reforma relacionadas incrementó en todas las cinco variables políticas más importantes y sus valores correspondientes, indicando una mayor calidad de la opinión. [source] Contributions of the Law to Political Deliberation.RATIO JURIS, Issue 4 2001Comments on Peter Fitzpatrick's "Consolations of the Law" In this paper the author discusses Peter Fitzpatrick's conception of deliberative politics (Fitzpatrick 2001), defining him as both a moderate optimist and a sceptic. For Fitzpatrick the deliberation is a process intrinsically incomplete; the law shows and compensates for the limits of deliberative politics and gives the political decision its legitimate form. Starting from Fitzpatrick's position, the author dwells, in particular, upon the relationship between law and deliberative decision making in politics showing that the essential question is how to handle deliberative discussion and not what the limits that law posits to deliberation are. Therefore he stresses that the success of deliberation depends not only on sound procedure, but, rather on political convictions, the belief in practical reason and a sense of community and proportionality (in other words, the spirit of democratic government and a critical public opinion) which play a decisive role in deliberative processes. [source] Civic Engagements: Resolute Partisanship or Reflective DeliberationAMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2010Michael MacKuen Why do people practice citizenship in a partisan rather than in a deliberative fashion? We argue that they are not intractably disposed to one type of citizenship, but instead adopt one of two different modes depending on the strategic character of current circumstances. While some situations prompt partisan solidarity, other situations encourage people to engage in open-minded deliberation. We argue that the type of citizenship practiced depends on the engagement of the emotions of anxiety and aversion. Recurring conflict with familiar foes over familiar issues evokes aversion. These angry reactions prepare people for the defense of convictions, solidarity with allies, and opposition to accommodation. Unfamiliar circumstances generate anxiety. Rather than defend priors, this anxiety promotes the consideration of opposing viewpoints and a willingness to compromise. In this way, emotions help people negotiate politics and regulate the kinds of citizenship they practice. [source] The myth of the best argument: power, deliberation and reason1THE BRITISH JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2001Luigi Pellizzoni ABSTRACT Power in communication takes two main forms. As ,external' power, it consists in the ability to acknowledge or disregard a speaker or a discourse. As ,internal' power, it is the ability of an argument to eliminate other arguments by demonstrating its superiority. A positive or negative value may be ascribed to these forms of power. Four ideal-typical positions are discussed , strategy, technocracy, constructionism, and deliberation. Public deliberation has three virtues , civic virtue, governance virtue and cognitive virtue. Deliberation lowers the propensity to, and the benefit of, strategic behaviour. It also increases knowledge, enhancing the quality of decisions. For Habermas, the unity of reason is expressed in the possibility of agreement on the most convincing argument. However, sometimes conflicts are deeplying, principles and factual descriptions are profoundly different, and uncertainty is radical. The best argument cannot be found. There is no universal reason. The question is whether non-strategic agreement may spring from the incommensurability of languages. In search of an answer, Rawls's concept of overlapping consensus, the feminist theory of the public sphere, and the idea of deliberation as co-operation are discussed. The argument developed is that the approach to deliberative democracy may be renewed by rethinking its motivational and cognitive elements. Public deliberation is grounded on a pre-political level of co-operation. Intractable controversies may be faced at the level of practices, looking for local, contextual answers. [source] Behind Closed Doors: Publicity, Secrecy, and the Quality of DeliberationTHE JOURNAL OF POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY, Issue 4 2004Simone Chambers First page of article [source] Google Moderator, a New Tool for Public DeliberationASIAN POLITICS AND POLICY, Issue 1 2010Masahiro Matsuura [source] Social Partnership and Local Development in Ireland: The Limits to DeliberationBRITISH JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 3 2006Paul Teague The Irish model of social partnership is considered distinctive as it is based on the principles of deliberative democracy more than adversarial bargaining. The deliberative features of the model are considered to be threefold. First, the negotiations to conclude national social agreements are not confined to the government, trade unions and employers, but also include a wide range of civil associations. Second, agreements are not simply concerned with wage determination, but cover a wide range of matters designed to promote social inclusion. Third, there is an effort to avoid agreements being overly centralized by promoting programmes at the local, territorial level. This paper examines the validity of this argument by assessing efforts to forge a local dimension to the social partnership model. The conclusions suggest that while the model has improved the delivery of public services, it is premature to claim that Irish social partnership represents a new model of labour market governance based on deliberative democracy. [source] Invention and Public Dialogue: Lessons from Rhetorical TheoriesCOMMUNICATION THEORY, Issue 1 2008Nola J. Heidlebaugh Although the dialogical nature of publics and public deliberation has been acknowledged frequently in recent years, several scholars have challenged the viability of dialogue as an instrument of public deliberation. This study discusses some of those challenges and examines a form of invention drawn from sophistic rhetoric for its potential to contribute to the theory and practice of facilitated dialogue on public issues. An extended illustration is drawn from an actual multilogue on a public issue. Résumé Invention et dialogue public: Leçons des théories rhétoriques Bien que la nature dialogique des publics et de la délibération publique ait fréquemment été reconnue au cours des dernières années, plusieurs chercheurs ont mis en doute la viabilité du dialogue comme instrument de délibération publique. Cette étude commente certains de ces défis et examine une forme d,invention tirée de la rhétorique sophiste pour son potentiel à contribuer à la théorie et la pratique du dialogue facilité sur des questions publiques. Une longue illustration est tirée d'un réel multilogue autour d'un enjeu public. Abstract Erfindung und öffentlicher Dialog: Lektionen der Rhetoriktheorien Auch wenn die dialogische Natur von Öffentlichkeiten und öffentlicher Deliberation in den vergangenen Jahren häufiger anerkannt wurde, zweifeln einige Wissenschaftler die Brauchbarkeit des Dialogs als ein Instrument der öffentlichen Deliberation an. Diese Studie diskutiert einige dieser Zweifel und untersucht eine aus der Rhetorik der Sophisten abgeleitete Form der Intervention auf ihren Beitrag zu Theorie und Praxis eines förderlichem Dialog in öffentlichen Fragen. Ein realer Multilog zu einer öffentlichen Frage dient der Illustration. Resumen La Invención y el Diálogo Público: Las Lecciones de las Teorías Retóricas Aún cuando la naturaleza dialógica de los públicos y la deliberación pública han sido admitidas frecuentemente en años recientes, varios estudiosos han desafiado la viabilidad del diálogo como un instrumento de la deliberación pública. Este estudio discute algunos de esos desafíos y examina una forma de invención tomada de la retórica sofista por su potencial para contribuir a la teoría y práctica de diálogo facilitado sobre asuntos públicos. Una ilustración extensiva es tomada de un multi-diálogo de un asunto público actual. ZhaiYao [source] Decision Structure and the Problem of Scale in DeliberationCOMMUNICATION THEORY, Issue 2 2006Raymond J. Pingree Deliberation has been limited to small groups because coherence seems to require full reception, meaning that all participants receive all messages sent. Assuming that full reception actually leads to coherence ignores fundamental limits of human memory and group processes. Full reception is also not the only route to coherence because the forms of coherence desired in deliberation are decision specific and because all deliberations at least implicitly contain a structure of subdecisions. Coherent deliberation is plausible at large scales, without full reception, via a theoretical model called decision-structured deliberation. This model allows coherent contributions by participants who are unaware of large parts of the discussion and may reduce negative effects of limits of memory and group processes on the quality of deliberation. [source] A Conceptual Definition and Theoretical Model of Public Deliberation in Small Face,to,Face GroupsCOMMUNICATION THEORY, Issue 4 2002Stephanie Burkhalter Although scholars have begun to study face,to,face deliberation on public issues, "deliberation" has no clear conceptual definition and only weak moorings in larger theories. To address these problems, this essay integrates diverse philosophical and empirical works to define deliberation and place it in a broader theoretical context. Public deliberation is a combination of careful problem analysis and an egalitarian process in which participants have adequate speaking opportunities and engage in attentive listening or dialogue that bridges divergent ways of speaking and knowing. Placed in the meta,theoretical framework of structuration theory (Giddens, 1984), deliberation is theorized to exist at the center of a homeostatic loop, in which deliberative practice reinforces itself. A review of theory and research on the causes and effects of deliberation leads us to develop this structurational conceptualization into the self,reinforcing model of deliberation. This model posits that public deliberation is more likely to occur when discussion participants perceive potential common ground, believe deliberation is an appropriate mode of talk, possess requisite analytic and communication skills, and have sufficient motivation. Deliberation directly reinforces participants' deliberative habits and skills, and it indirectly promotes common ground and motivation by broadening participants' public identities and heightening their sense of political efficacy. [source] A qualitative analysis of mock jurors' deliberations of linkage analysis evidenceJOURNAL OF INVESTIGATIVE PSYCHOLOGY AND OFFENDER PROFILING, Issue 2 2010Angelina Charron Abstract Evidence about a suspect's behavioural similarity across a series of crimes has been presented in legal proceedings in at least three different countries. Its admission as expert evidence, whilst still rare, is becoming more common thus it is important for us to understand how such evidence is received by jurors and legal professionals. This article reports on a qualitative analysis of mock jurors' deliberations about expert linkage analysis evidence. Three groups of mock jurors (N = 20) were presented with the prosecution's linkage analysis evidence from the USA State v. Fortin I murder trial and expert evidence for the defence constructed for the purposes of the study. Each group was asked to deliberate and reach a verdict. Deliberations were video-recorded and subject to thematic content analysis. The themes that emerged were varied. Analysis suggested that the mock jurors were cautious of the expert evidence of behavioural similarity. In some cases they were sceptical of the expert. They articulated a preference that expert opinion be supported using statistics. Additional themes included jurors having misconceptions concerning what is typical offender behaviour during rape which suggests there is a need for expert linkage analysis evidence regarding behavioural similarities and the relative frequencies of crime scene behaviours. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Inequality and Deliberative Development: Revisiting Bolivia's Experience with the PRSPDEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 6 2007Kevin M. Morrison The deliberative-development approach to policy-making has gained popularity in both academic and policy circles. However, insufficient attention has been paid to the requirements necessary for deliberation to have beneficial effects on policy, some of which are detailed in this article, in particular the need for equality among deliberators. The article examines Bolivia's 2000 National Dialogue and demonstrates the effects of inequality , not between elites and non-elites, but between groups within civil society , on the legitimacy of the outcome. Its findings have important implications for the design of deliberative-development institutions. [source] Insulin therapy in type 2 diabetes: what is the evidence?DIABETES OBESITY & METABOLISM, Issue 5 2009Mariëlle J. P. Van Avendonk Aim:, To systematically review the literature regarding insulin use in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus Methods:, A Medline and Embase search was performed to identify randomized controlled trials (RCT) published in English between 1 January 2000 and 1 April 2008, involving insulin therapy in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The RCTs must comprise at least glycaemic control (glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c), postprandial plasma glucose and /or fasting blood glucose (FBG)) and hypoglycaemic events as outcome measurements. Results:, The Pubmed search resulted in 943 hits; the Embase search gave 692 hits. A total of 116 RCTs were selected by title or abstract. Eventually 78 trials met the inclusion criteria. The studies were very diverse and of different quality. They comprised all possible insulin regimens with and without combination with oral medication. Continuing metformin and/or sulphonylurea after start of therapy with basal long-acting insulin results in better glycaemic control with less insulin requirements, less weight gain and less hypoglycaemic events. Long-acting insulin analogues in combination with oral medication are associated with similar glycaemic control but fewer hypoglycaemic episodes compared with NPH insulin. Most of the trials demonstrated better glycaemic control with premix insulin therapy than with a long-acting insulin once daily, but premix insulin causes more hypoglycaemic episodes. Analogue premix provides similar HbA1c, but lower postprandial glucose levels compared with human premix, without increase in hypoglycaemic events or weight gain. Drawing conclusions from the limited number of studies concerning basal,bolus regimen seems not possible. Some studies showed that rapid-acting insulin analogues frequently result in a better HbA1c or postprandial glucose without increase of hypoglycaemia than regular human insulin. Conclusion:, A once-daily basal insulin regimen added to oral medication is an ideal starting point. All next steps, from one to two or even more injections per day should be taken very carefully and in thorough deliberation with the patient, who has to comply with such a regimen for many years. [source] Religious Claims in Public: Lutheran ResourcesDIALOG, Issue 4 2006Cynthia Moe-Lobeda Abstract:, A cacophony of religious voices seeking to influence public culture, opinion, and policy pervades the public discourse in the United States today. Some publicly-oriented religious claims are appropriate while others are not. Sorely needed are criteria for making that distinction. This essay asks: What are criteria for appropriate and valid use of religious claims, language, and symbols in deliberation about public policy? What particular gifts do Lutheran traditions bring to shaping those criteria? The essay then draws upon Lutheran theological resources to propose theologically grounded criteria for appropriate and valid use of religious language, claims, and symbols in public discourse. [source] Moral Deliberation in a Public Lutheran ChurchDIALOG, Issue 4 2006Ronald W. Duty Abstract:, Variety and complementarity characterize the views of six Lutheran theologians regarding the place of the church in the public square: Martin Marty, Ronald Thiemann, Robert Benne, Gary Simpson, Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, and Patrick Kiefert. This article explicates their thought in with respect to the internal and external life of the church. To think of the church as a "community of moral deliberation" in the public square becomes the preferred model for Lutherans in North America. [source] New regionalism in five Swiss metropolitan areas: An assessment of inclusiveness, deliberation and democratic accountabilityEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL RESEARCH, Issue 4 2007DANIEL KÜBLER In the first, theoretical, part it draws upon the debate on old and new routes towards regionalism in order to identify four different types of metropolitan governance. It then develops two working hypotheses , an optimistic and a pessimistic one , in order to analyse the implications of various types of metropolitan governance on inclusiveness, modes of decision making and democratic accountability. In the second part, these hypotheses are tested on the basis of comparative case studies on twenty schemes of area-wide policy coordination in five Swiss metropolitan areas in the fields of water supply, public transport, social services for drug users and cultural amenities. The results suggest that ,governance' is superior to ,government' in terms of inclusiveness, that it cannot be seen as significantly linked to the fostering of deliberative decision making, and that it can present serious flaws in terms of accountability. It is noted, however, that a shift ,from government to governance' does not intrinsically imply democratic drawbacks. Contextual factors play a strong conditioning role. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||