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Kinds of Un Terms modified by Un Selected AbstractsPost-conflict Statebuilding and State Legitimacy: From Negative to Positive Peace?DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 4 2008David Roberts ABSTRACT This article is concerned with the potential that statebuilding interventions have to institutionalize social justice, in addition to their more immediate ,negative' peace mandates, and the impact this might have, both on local state legitimacy and the character of the ,peace' that might follow. Much recent scholarship has stressed the legitimacy of a state's behaviour in relation to conformity to global governance norms or democratic ,best practice'. Less evident is a discussion of the extent to which post-conflict polities are able to engender the societal legitimacy central to political stability. As long as this level of legitimacy is absent (and it is hard to generate), civil society is likely to remain distant from the state, and peace and stability may remain elusive. A solution to this may be to apply existing international legislation centred in the UN and the ILO to compel international organizations and national states to deliver basic needs security through their institutions. This has the effect of stimulating local-level state legitimacy while simultaneously formalizing social justice and positive peacebuilding. [source] The Influence of Transnational Peace Groups on U.S. Foreign Policy Decision-Makers during the 1930s: Incorporating NGOs into the UNDIPLOMATIC HISTORY, Issue 3 2003Christy Jo Snider First page of article [source] Still falling short: protection and partnerships in the Lebanon emergency responseDISASTERS, Issue 4 2007David Shearer The Israeli,Hezbollah conflict in the summer of 2006, although brief, had a lasting impact on the region and prompted an intense humanitarian response. The conflict raised challenging questions for the United Nations (UN) about how to assist a middle-income yet extremely vulnerable population in a context where global and local relations are highly politicised. This paper focuses on two key questions that emerged from the humanitarian response. First, how can humanitarian agencies, and particularly the UN, improve the protection of civilians, and was what they did in Lebanon enough? Second, how can humanitarian agencies create partnerships with local actors and still remain true to core humanitarian principles when local actors are fiercely divided along confessional lines and influenced by external actors, and when some, such as Hezbollah, are parties to the conflict? This paper argues that despite the importance of protection and partnerships to the humanitarian response, their role in the UN emergency response still falls short. [source] Setting up an early warning system for epidemic-prone diseases in Darfur: a participative approachDISASTERS, Issue 4 2005Augusto Pinto Abstract In April,May 2004, the World Health Organization (WHO) implemented, with local authorities, United Nations (UN) agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), an early warning system (EWS) in Darfur, West Sudan, for internally displaced persons (IDPs). The number of consultations and deaths per week for 12 health events is recorded for two age groups (less than five years and five years and above). Thresholds are used to detect potential outbreaks. Ten weeks after the introduction of the system, NGOs were covering 54 camps, and 924,281 people (IDPs and the host population). Of these 54 camps, 41 (76%) were reporting regularly under the EWS. Between 22 May and 30 July, 179,795 consultations were reported: 18.7% for acute respiratory infections; 15% for malaria; 8.4% for bloody diarrhoea; and 1% for severe acute malnutrition. The EWS is useful for detecting outbreaks and monitoring the number of consultations required to trigger actions, but not for estimating mortality. [source] Understanding pressures on fishery resources through trade statistics: a pilot study of four products in the Chinese dried seafood marketFISH AND FISHERIES, Issue 1 2004Shelley Clarke Abstract This study investigates the dried seafood trade, centred in Chinese markets, in order to better understand the pressures its demand exerts on global marine resource stocks. Using Hong Kong, the region's largest entrepôt, as a focal point, the trade in shark fins, abalone, bêche-de-mer and dried fish is characterized in terms of product history, volume, source fisheries and species composition. Trends identified in the Hong Kong market are interpreted in the context of the larger Chinese market. Shark fin imports grew 6% per year between 1991 and 2000, most likely because of market expansion in Mainland China, posing increasingly greater pressures on global shark resources. In contrast, the quantities of dried abalone traded through Hong Kong remained steady, but inferences based on this trend are discouraged by suggestions of increasing preferences for fresh product forms and growing domestic production in Mainland China. Hong Kong's imports of dried bêche-de-mer (sea cucumber) have decreased, while the percentage of imports re-exported has remained steady, suggesting that Hong Kong continues as an entrepôt for Mainland China despite declining domestic consumption. Few conclusions can be drawn regarding dried fish products, including whole fish and fish maws, because of a lack of product differentiation in customs data, but a market survey was conducted to provide information on species composition. Comparison of Hong Kong dried seafood trade statistics to those of other key trading partners indicates that, in general, Hong Kong's duty-free status appears to encourage more accurate reporting of traded quantities. Under-reporting biases ranged from 24 to 49% for shark fin and bêche-de-mer, respectively. Comparison to United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) databases indicates additional under-reporting for shark fin such that an alternative minimum estimate of world trade is at least twice the FAO estimates in 1998,2000. The results of a survey of Hong Kong traders provide insight into their attitudes toward harvest, economic and regulatory factors, and suggest that conservation efforts are unlikely to emerge from, or be actively supported by, dried seafood trade organizations. The market's apparent sensitivity to economic sentiment, however, reveals an opportunity for consumer education to play a role in shaping future market growth and resource conservation. Recommendations are provided for improving trade statistics and for developing better analytical techniques to complement traditional methods for monitoring the exploitation and management of fisheries resources. [source] (ANTI)SOCIAL CAPITAL IN THE PRODUCTION OF AN (UN)CIVIL SOCIETY IN PAKISTAN,GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Issue 3 2005DAANISH MUSTAFA ABSTRACT. Pakistan is home to some of the most widely admired examples of civil-society-based service-delivery and advocacy groups. Pakistan has also spawned some much-maligned nongovernmental actors with violent agendas. This article uses the social capital / civil society conceptual lens to view the modes of (anti)social capital mobilization that contribute to the civil and uncivil spaces of Pakistani society. The case examples of Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamic revivalist organization, and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan are used to understand the geography of social and antisocial forces in Pakistan. It is argued that the processes that mobilize social capital-whether positive or perverse-are multiscalar and that, in the Pakistani context, no compelling cultural or religious reason exists for the ascendance of one type of social capital over the other. Positive social capital can be mobilized to contribute to a more civil social discourse in Pakistan, given the right policy choices. [source] The second generation of human security: lessons from the UN and EU experienceINTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, Issue 1 2010MARY MARTIN The concept of human security, while much contested in both academic and policy debates, and highly fragmented across different meanings and forms of implementation, offers a potential locus around which global security discourse might converge, particularly in light of current shifts in US security thinking. However, key pioneers of human security, such as the United Nations and Canada, appear to be losing their enthusiasm for the concept, just at the moment when others such as the European Union, are advancing a human security agenda. This article examines the divergence of human security narratives between the UN and the EU. It argues that the UN's use of the concept ran aground owing to a triple problematic of lack of clarity, confusion between previously distinct policy streams on human rights and human development and conceptual overstretch. After assessing the EU experience with the concept to date, the article argues that future use of human security will require greater focus on how it deepens ideas of individual security, rather than treating it as an agenda for broadening security. As well as a need to project clarity on the conceptual definition of human security, there is also a need to associate human security with greater clarity of intent. If successful, this would contribute to establishing second generation human security as a new policy paradigm. [source] Darfur and the failure of the responsibility to protectINTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, Issue 6 2007ALEX DE WAAL When official representatives of more than 170 countries adopted the principle of the ,responsibility to protect' (R2P) at the September 2005 World Summit, Darfur was quickly identified as the test case for this new doctrine. The general verdict is that the international community has failed the test due to lack of political will. This article argues that the failure is real but that it is more fundamentally located within the doctrine of R2P itself. Fulfilling the aspiration of R2P demands an international protection capability that does not exist now and cannot be realistically expected. The critical weakness in R2P is that the ,responsibility to react' has been framed as coercive protection, which attempts to be a middle way between classic peacekeeping and outright military intervention that can be undertaken without the consent of the host government. Thus far, theoretical and practical attempts to create this intermediate space for coercive protection have failed to resolve basic strategic and operational issues. In addition, the very act of raising the prospect of external military intervention for human protection purposes changes and distorts the political process and can in fact make a resolution more difficult. Following an introductory section that provides background to the war in Darfur and international engagement, this article examines the debates over the R2P that swirled around the Darfur crisis and operational concepts developed for the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) and its hybrid successor, the UN,African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), especially during the Abuja peace negotiations. Three operational concepts are examined: ceasefire, disarmament and civilian protection. Unfortunately, the international policy priority o bringing UN troops to Darfur had an adverse impact on the Darfur peace talks without grappling with the central question of what international forces would do to resolve the crisis. Advocacy for the R2P set an unrealistic ideal which became the enemy of achievable goals. [source] Urban mesh and ad hoc mesh networksINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NETWORK MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2008Anders Nilsson Plymoth Mesh networking is currently gaining much attention, within both academia and industry. Mesh networking allows cheap and fast deployment of wireless services. It is regarded as a very promising solution for urban deployment scenarios as well as for temporary emergency response situations. Another related promising field is that of ad hoc wireless networking, which consists of mobile nodes that dynamically create and maintain a network without the need for any infrastructure. We propose a solution and architecture for urban mesh ad hoc networks, a network that combines mesh networking with ad hoc networks for urban environments. We present four types of ad hoc mesh and ad hoc mesh networks. The most general one consists of mesh nodes, called mesh points (MP), that act as a type of access point for user nodes (UN). The MPs have at least two interfaces: one which is used to communicate with UNs, and one which is used to maintain the mesh access network and transport data. These two interfaces can basically use any type of technology (IEEE 802.11 a/b/g, WiMax, etc.), and for capacity reasons it is generally regarded that the best solution is to let the mesh interface operate on a separate high-capacity channel or channels. An intricate part of these types of networks are routing and location services. In our solution, UN devices operate in ad hoc mode running an ad hoc routing protocol. This allows UNs that wish to communicate to connect directly in an ad hoc manner, or through an MP. An important question is therefore whether two UNs that wish to communicate should connect through the mesh or connect directly. We show that from a capacity point of view whether a UN should route its packets to the closest available MP, or through a ad hoc network, depends on the environment the network is located, the amount traffic and the type of protocols used. Since MPs need to know where to route packets within the mesh, i.e., locating the MP closest to the destination UN, each UN run a small application that registers the UN to the mesh network. In addition to the above features we have developed a new MAC that quickly queries two candidate nodes, which picks the candidate with the currently best radio conditions. This enable nodes to cope with deep dips in signal strength due to fast fading, a well-known problem in urban environments. We show that this new protocol achieves significantly lower delays. We also show that in dense urban environments performance and battery lifetime can be improved if ad hoc technologies are used. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Canadian Policy on Human Trafficking: A Four-year Analysis1INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 4 2005Jacqueline Oxman-Martinez ABSTRACT This article introduces readers to Canadian Government policy and practice surrounding human trafficking since the adoption of the United Nations (UN) Protocol on Trafficking in 2000. After offering an overview of the UN Protocol, the article reviews and critically analyses Canada's efforts in the three key areas of the Protocol: prevention of human trafficking, protection of trafficking victims, and the prosecution of traffickers. Since the beginning of our research, progress has been made in Canadian policy responses. The Government began by developing and implementing its tools for the prosecution of traffickers, thereby responding to most of the prosecution recommendations of the UN Protocol. Different government agencies are also coordinating their efforts to implement prevention projects, both in source countries and at home, including awareness-raising campaigns, education campaigns, and policy development collaborations. However, the more structural elements of prevention have yet to be adequately addressed. Finally, without shifting their basic border control framework, Canadian government agencies are in the process of improving the protection of trafficking victims who are intercepted in law enforcement operations or who come forward for help. These protection measures would be strengthened further if migrants' rights were explicitly protected by law, something that has failed to occur given recent prioritization of crime and security. The formal protection of victims, as implemented to some degree in several European and American policies, is introduced for comparison. The article concludes with the remaining challenges that face Canadian policy makers, particularly in terms of shifting away from current focus on crime and security to the protection and promotion of the human rights of trafficking victims. LA POLITIQUE CANADIENNE EN MATIÈRE DE TRAITE DES ÊTRES HUMAINS : UNE ANALYSE SUR QUATRE ANS Cet article présente au lecteur la politique et la pratique du gouvernement canadien en matière de traite des êtres humains depuis l'adoption, en 2000, du Protocole additionnel à la Convention des Nations unies contre la criminalité transnationale organisée visant à prévenir, réprimer et punir la traite des personnes, en particulier des femmes et des enfants. Après avoir présenté le Protocole dans son ensemble, l'article examine et analyse de façon critique l'action du Canada dans trois domaines essentiels du Protocole : la prévention de la traite, la protection des victimes et la punition des trafiquants. Depuis le début de notre recherche, le Canada a fait un pas en avant dans les mesures politiques adoptées. Le gouvernement a commencé par élaborer et mettre en oeuvre des mécanismes pour punir les trafiquants, donnant de ce fait suite à la plupart des recommandations du protocole des Nations unies en la matière. Par ailleurs, différents organes de l'État coordonnent leurs efforts pour mettre en place des projets de prévention, tant dans les pays d'origine que sur le territoire canadien, avec des campagnes de sensibilisation et d'éducation, et des collaborations en matière d'élaboration des politiques. Il reste néanmoins à trouver une solution adéquate aux aspects les plus structurels de la prévention. Enfin, sans s'éloigner du cadre fondamental du contrôle des frontières, les services gouvernementaux canadiens améliorent actuellement la protection des victimes de la traite interceptées lors d'opérations de police ou qui viennent demander de l'aide. Ces mesures de protection seraient davantage renforcées si les droits des migrants étaient explicitement inscrits dans la loi, ce qui n'est pas le cas en raison de la priorité accordée à la répression de la criminalité et à la sécurité. La protection formelle des victimes, telle que mise en oeuvre jusqu'à un certain point par des mesures appliquées en Europe et aux États-Unis, est présentée à titre de comparaison. Les conclusions de cet article exposent les défis auxquels restent confrontés les décideurs canadiens, à savoir moins insister sur la répression de la criminalité et la sécurité pour s'occuper davantage de la protection et de la promotion des droits fondamentaux des victimes de la traite. POLÍTICA CANADIENSE RELATIVA A LA TRATA DE PERSONAS: UN ANÁLISIS CUADRIENAL Este artículo presenta las políticas y prácticas del Gobierno canadiense en torno a la trata de personas desde la adopción, en 2000, del Protocolo de las Naciones Unidas relativo a la trata de personas. Tras hacer un repaso del Protocolo de las Naciones Unidas, este artículo examina y analiza críticamente los empeños del Canadá en tres esferas clave del Protocolo: prevención de la trata de personas, protección de las víctimas de la trata, y enjuiciamiento de los traficantes. Desde que se iniciara este estudio se han observado progresos en las respuestas políticas canadienses. El Gobierno comenzó desarrollando y llevando a la práctica sus instrumentos para la sanción y enjuiciamiento de los traficantes, respondiendo así a la mayoría de las recomendaciones de enjuiciamiento que contiene el Protocolo de las Naciones Unidas. Varias instituciones gubernamentales también coordinan sus esfuerzos con miras a la puesta en práctica de proyectos de prevención, tanto en los países de origen como en el Canadá, incluyendo campañas de concienciación, campañas educativas y colaboraciones con miras al desarrollo de políticas. Sin embargo, aún quedan por encarar los elementos más estructurales de la prevención. Finalmente, sin salir del marco básico de control de fronteras, las instituciones gubernamentales canadienses están tratando de mejorar la protección de las víctimas de la trata interceptadas en operaciones de aplicación de la ley o que se presentan a las autoridades con miras a solicitar ayuda. Si se aspira a proteger explícitamente por ley los derechos de los migrantes, habrá que reforzar las medidas de protección, algo que no figura entre las prioridades establecidas recientemente con relación al ámbito delictivo y de seguridad. Con fines comparativos, se presenta la protección oficial que brindan a las víctimas las políticas europeas y americanas. Este artículo concluye con los desafíos que tienen ante sí los formuladores de políticas canadienses, particularmente en cuanto al cambio del centro de atención actual en materia de actividades delictivas y de seguridad hacia la protección y promoción de los derechos humanos de las víctimas de la trata. [source] Nursing, midwifery and allied health education programmes in AfghanistanINTERNATIONAL NURSING REVIEW, Issue 2 2005P. Herberg phd Background:, In 2001, Afghanistan was the centre of the world's attention. By 2002, following 23 years of internal conflict , including Soviet invasion, civil war and Taliban rule, plus 3 years of drought, the country was just beginning the process of re-establishing its internal structures and processes. In the health sector, this included the revival of the Ministry of Health (MOH). The MOH was assisted in its efforts by multiple partners, including the UN, donor and aid agencies, and a variety of non-governmental organizations. The author served as a consultant to the Aga Khan University School of Nursing, in partnership with the World Health Organization and the MOH, as it took on the work of strengthening nursing, midwifery and allied health education programmes for Afghanistan. Aim:, This paper will focus on the initial assessment of that sector. It will describe the situation as it existed in 2002, by examining the Kabul Institute of Health Sciences (IHS) and then turn briefly to the current state of affairs. Conclusions:, Despite the uncertainties of daily life in Afghanistan, the country has successfully initiated the reconstruction process. In the health sector, this can be seen in the work done at the Kabul IHS. Progress has been made in a number of areas, most notably in development and implementation of nursing and midwifery curricula. However, no one would deny that much more work is needed. [source] The Decline of America's Soft Power in the United Nations1INTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 3 2009Monti Narayan Datta To what extent does anti-Americanism precipitate a decline in America's soft power? Nye postulates a negative relationship, presenting substantial implications for the U.S. national interest. In this paper, I test Nye's hypothesis through an examination of America's political influence within the United Nations. Using a fixed effects model, I regress voting alignment within the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on cross-national, aggregate public opinion toward the United States from 1985 to 2007. Controlling for foreign aid received and alliances with the United States, I find a statistically significant, positive relationship between favorable attitudes toward the United States and voting alignment within the UNGA on overall plenary votes and those votes for which the U.S. lobbies other UN-member states extensively. At the same time, controlling for temporal effects, states are far less supportive of U.S. interests in the UN throughout the tenure of President George W. Bush, capturing the effect of "anti-Bushism" in addition to anti-Americanism. The results of this study shed light on an emerging area of the literature that not only studies the sources of anti-Americanism, but also its consequences. [source] Forging Democracy at GunpointINTERNATIONAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2006JEFFREY PICKERING Can liberal interventionism build liberal democracy? This manuscript examines the military interventions undertaken by the U.S., U.K., France, and the UN in the post-World War II era to see if they had a positive impact on democracy in target countries. Empirical analysis centers on multivariate time series, cross section PCSE and relogit regressions of political liberalization and democratization from 1946 to 1996. The former is operationalized with annual difference data drawn from the Polity IV data collection, whereas the latter is a binary variable denoting countries that cross a threshold commonly used to indicate the establishment of democratic institutions. An updated version of the International Military Intervention data set enumerates foreign military interventions. We find little evidence that military intervention by liberal states helps to foster democracy in target countries. Although a few states have democratized in the wake of hostile U.S. military interventions, the small number of cases involved makes it difficult to draw generalizable conclusions from the U.S. record. We find stronger evidence, however, that supportive interventions by the UN's "Blue Helmets" can help to democratize target states. [source] United Front: Blame Management and Scandal Response Tactics of the United NationsJOURNAL OF CONTINGENCIES AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2009Tereza Capelos In this paper we conduct a systematic study of the United Nations (UN) responses to allegations of transgression. We examine the patterns in the UN reaction to scandals, the types of accounts, the institutional providers of the responses, and the implications of scandals for the UN and its' official(s). We conduct a content analysis of the UN scandal and account coverage in international (print) media in the last 25 years, and find a scandal-responsive UN, particularly in the case of institutional scandals. Concessions issued by the office of the Secretary General is dominant UN account to allegations of misconduct. Individual staff members implicated in the scandals offer a greater variety of accounts and often suffer resignations and severe punishments. [source] Human rights and child healthJOURNAL OF PAEDIATRICS AND CHILD HEALTH, Issue 9 2007Shanti Raman Abstract: Human rights are those basic standards without which people cannot live in dignity. Children are at risk of human rights violations because of their vulnerability in society. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), a United Nations (UN) treaty acknowledges that addressing children's human rights requires special attention. In Australia groups such as children seeking asylum, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, children with disabilities, children in care and children living in poverty are identified to be at particular risk. As individuals and collectively, we have had a long history of gathering information, advocacy and tailoring training to improve children's health and well-being. A human rights approach and the use of the CRC provide an additional framework to do this. [source] Institutional Trust and Subjective Well-Being across the EUKYKLOS INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, Issue 1 2006John Hudson SUMMARY This paper analyzes the impact of institutions upon happiness through their intermediary impact upon individual trust. The empirical work is based on Eurobarometer data covering the 15 countries of the EU prior to its expansion in 2004. With respect to trust, we present evidence that, although it is endogenous with respect to the performance of the institution, changes in the individual's personal circumstances can also have an impact, indicating that trust is not simply learned at an early age. Hence unemployed people tend to have lower levels of trust not only in the main economic institutions , government and the Central Bank , but in other state institutions too such as the police and the law. Trust also differs in a systematic manner with respect to education and household income, increases (decreases) in either increase (decrease) trust in most institutions. If we assume that more educated people make better judgments, this suggests that on average people tend to have too little trust in institutions. However, it is also possible that both of these variables impact on the interaction between institutions such as the police and other government agencies and the citizen, with prosperous, well educated people being at an advantage and possibly able to command more respect. Age too impacts on institutional trust. For the UN, the unions, big business, voluntary organizations and the EU, trust first declines and then increases with the estimated turning points ranging between 44 and 56 years. For most other organizations trust significantly increases with age. Turning to subjective well-being, we find the standard set of socio-economic variables to be significant. But the focus here is on the impact of institutional trust. We find that trust (mistrust) in the European Central Bank, the EU, national government, the law and the UN all impact positively (negatively) on well-being. Hence overall our results support the conclusion that happiness does not solely lie within the realm of the individual, but that institutional performance also has a direct impact upon subjective well-being. [source] Land resources potential and sustainable land management: an overviewNATURAL RESOURCES FORUM, Issue 2 2000A. Parviz Koohafkan Abstract Land degradation continues to be a major threat to local and national food security. With limited potential to develop new land, any increase in agricultural production must be sought largely through the better use of land already under cultivation. Concerns for the global environment associated with agriculture worldwide have also increased in recent years and require more coordinated efforts at global and national levels with decentralisation of activities at the local level. This article presents an overview of land resources potential for food production, the processes and extent of land degradation and its economic and environmental costs and impacts, and highlights some macro-economic policies and institutional measures for the prevention of land degradation and rehabilitation of degraded lands. A people-centred programme is presented as a basis for decentralising activities for sustainable land use and land management. Finally, the need for better coordinated efforts of concerned UN, multinational agencies and NGOs for the implementation of Agenda 21 and related conventions is stressed. [source] Package performance testing of dangerous goods in high-altitude shipmentsPACKAGING TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE, Issue 3 2003S. Paul Singh Abstract This paper discusses the impact of high-altitude shipments on package integrity. High-altitude shipments are encountered when trucks travel over high mountain passes or when cargo and feeder aircraft transport packages in non-pressurized or partially-pressurized cargo holds. Both these types of transport methods will result in severe changes in pressure as compared to packages being transported close to sea level. The testing of packages under these conditions is critical since package integrity may be compromised. The current shipping tests performed in test laboratories do not account for pressure changes and vibration together. This study showed that combination packages for dangerous goods and hazardous materials that are tested to existing UN, ICAO and US DOT requirements are limited, and can result in significant number of leaks. Testing under combined vibration and pressure changes is necessary. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The United Nations as a Vehicle for DialoguePEACE & CHANGE, Issue 4 2003Courtney B. Smith The United Nations (UN) proclaimed 2001 as the Year of Dialogue among Civilizations in an effort to examine how confrontation and hostility in world politics could be replaced by discourse and understanding. However, in the midst of this process the world was witness to the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Since terrorism represents the antithesis to dialogue, the UN's discussion of these issues became more urgent and focused. Two major documents were produced, but they do not explore adequately the United Nations' potential role in regard to building dialogue. This article begins this undertaking by considering the UN as a forum for debate where different peoples of the world meet and as a catalyst for an ongoing process of interaction and change. In other words, serious thinking about the UN's role as a vehicle for dialogue requires appreciating both its passive and dynamic characteristics and functions. [source] The Logic of Transnational Action: The Good Corporation and the Global CompactPOLITICAL STUDIES, Issue 4 2007Lynn Bennie This article examines corporate participation in the UN Global Compact programme. Using data on the world's 2,000 largest companies, we address the question of why companies voluntarily assume the programme's responsibilities and promote the rights of ,global citizenship'. Our analytic approach is to view transnational corporate political behaviour as a result of firm-level decisions shaped by country-level variation in political audience effects. Drawing on earlier research on more conventional forms of corporate political activity, we expect factors influential in the standard model of firm political activity to determine participation in the Global Compact. In addition, we argue that this highly visible, less instrumental dimension of a firm's political behaviour is driven by efforts to build a good environmental and human rights reputation with its audience of external actors. The importance of environmental and human rights concerns depends on the substance of the firm's business activities, the availability of investment and ,exit' options, and the home audience's bias towards the UN and human and environmental rights. We find support for political factors as well as firm and industry-level characteristics influencing the decision to participate in the Global Compact. [source] United Nations Human Rights Conventions: Obligations and CompliancePOLITICS & POLICY, Issue 4 2003Carol M. Glen Since the creation of the United Nations in 1945, a dramatic increase has occurred in the volume of international law, particularly in the area of human rights. Today, there are dozens of UN sponsored human rights conventions, and most have been widely ratified. We examine how effective these treaties have been in protecting individual rights and liberties. Specifically, we hypothesize that a positive correlation exists between aggregate human rights treaty ratification over time and an improving global human rights record. We also test whether an observed improvement in a country's human rights record correlates positively to recent human rights treaty ratification. Our results support our hypotheses. [source] Determination of Urea Nitrate and Guanidine Nitrate Vapor Pressures by Isothermal ThermogravimetryPROPELLANTS, EXPLOSIVES, PYROTECHNICS, Issue 3 2010Jimmie Oxley Abstract Since the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, detection of military explosives has received much attention. Only in the last few years has detection of improvised explosives become a priority. Many detection methods require that the particulate or vapor be available. Elsewhere we have reported the vapor pressures of peroxide explosives triacetone triperoxide (TATP), diacetone diperoxide (DADP), and 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT). Herein we examine the vapor signatures of the nitrate salts of urea and guanidine (UN and GN, respectively), and compare them to ammonium nitrate (AN) and TATP using an isothermal thermo-gravimetric method. The vapor signatures of the nitrate salts are assumed to be the vapor pressures of the neutral parent base and nitric acid. Studies were performed at elevated temperatures (80,120,°C for UN, 205,225,°C for GN, 100,160,°C for AN, and 40,59,°C for TATP), enthalpies of sublimation calculated and vapor pressures extrapolated to room temperature. Reported vapor pressure values (in Pa) are as follows: GN ,,UN , Cholinergic switch associated with morphological differentiation in neuroblastoma,THE JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY, Issue 4 2009Franck Bourdeaut Abstract The morphology of malignant cells distinguishes between undifferentiated, poorly differentiated and differentiating neuroblastomas and constitutes a strong prognostic factor. Spontaneous or treatment-induced maturation characterizes a subset of neuroblastomas. It constitutes the basis of retinoic acid treatment to improve survival in aggressive neuroblastomas. However, the molecular events that drive differentiation are poorly understood. In the present study we have investigated the relationships between gene expression profiles and differentiation criteria in stroma-poor neuroblastomas. This study included three undifferentiated (UN), 20 poorly differentiated (PDN) and 11 differentiating (DN) neuroblastomas. These groups could be clearly separated using unsupervised clustering methods, which further enabled a major classification impact of genes involved in neural development, differentiation and function to be identified. UNs are characterized by high ASCL1, high PHOX2B, low GATA2, low TH and low DBH expressions. Most PDNs harbour a clear adrenergic phenotype, even in the presence of missense PHOX2B mutations. Finally, all DN tumours demonstrate cholinergic features. Depending upon their association with adrenergic characteristics, this enables dual ,cholinergic/adrenergic' and ,fully cholinergic' neuroblastomas to be defined. This suggests that the cholinergic switch, a final specification process that occurs physiologically in a minority of sympathetic neurons, is a critical step of differentiation in some neuroblastic tumours. This switch is associated with a down regulation of DBH that is apparently not strictly dependent upon PHOX2B. Conversely, GATA2 and TFAP2B may play critical roles in maintaining adrenergic features in poorly differentiated tumours. Copyright © 2009 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Effect of different levels of Quebracho tannin on nitrogen utilization and growth performance of Najdi sheep fed alfalfa (Medicago sativa) hay as a sole dietANIMAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 5 2009Soliman N. AL-DOBAIB ABSTRACT A commercial tannin source (Quebracho tannin, QT), containing 75% condensed tannins (CT) in dry matter (DM) was used to evaluate the effects of addition of different levels of QT to alfalfa hay on the in vitro degradation kinetics of organic matter (OM) and nitrogen (N) in experiment 1 (Exp. 1), N utilization and microbial N synthesis (MNS) in experiment 2 (Exp. 2) and growth performance of growing Najdi lambs in experiment 3 (Exp. 3). Alfalfa hay was treated with QT at the levels of 0, 1, 2 and 3% of DM to form four treatments of QT0, QT1, QT2 and QT3 to have actual levels of CT being 0, 0.75, 1.5 and 2.25% of DM, respectively. Degradation rate and the effective degradability of N were significantly decreased (P < 0.05) for QT2 and QT3 as compared with the QT0. In Exp. 2, digestibility coefficients for OM, neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber were significantly decreased (P < 0.05) at QT3, whereas QT1 and QT2 showed no difference toQT0. In the metabolism trial (Exp. 2), digested N (DN) and urinary N (UN) excretion for QT2 and QT3 were significantly decreased (P < 0.05) compared to QT0 and QT1. The DN and UN as percentage of N intake were 79.2, 76.9, 75.5 and 69.8%; and 24.4, 22.6, 19.9 and 19.6% for QT0, QT1, QT2 and QT3, respectively. QT2 had the highest MNS and the lowest value was in QT3, the MNS of the treatments were 18.1, 18.7, 19.2 and 15.8 g/day for QT0, QT1, QT2 and QT3, respectively. In the growth trial of 56 days duration (Exp. 3, n = 24 lambs), the addition of QT at the level of QT2 enhanced (P < 0.05) the average daily gain and feed conversion rate compared with the QT0, while, QT1 and QT3 had intermediate values. It is concluded that alfalfa hay treated with QT at the level of 2% of DM could be used to protect alfalfa N from ruminal degradation that would lead to improve growth performance of lambs. [source] RISING FOOD PRICES, SOCIAL MOBILIZATIONS, AND VIOLENCE: CONCEPTUAL ISSUES IN UNDERSTANDING AND RESPONDING TO THE CONNECTIONS LINKING HUNGER AND CONFLICTANNALS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRACTICE, Issue 1 2009Ellen Messer In 2008, the world confronted food-insecurity situations that provoked political demonstrations in more than 50 countries. The alleged sources were production failures and spiking food prices because of bad weather and flawed food and development policies. But additional contributors were the legacies of food wars, armed conflicts in which one or both sides use food (or hunger) as a weapon and in which hunger persists as a consequence of conflict and its attendant social-economic disruptions. This article argues that UN and NGO international and national agencies responding to food insecurity challenges in particular places must consider food-and-conflict scenarios, and adopt conflict-concerned strategies, which are sensitive to the ways in which past foodwars have stymied increases in agricultural production, marketing, and livelihood diversification. Policy makers should also be attentive to political-geographic-ethnic-religious (PGER) divisions that can skew government distributions and access to aid and potentiate additional conflict. [source] ,Locals within locals': Cultural sensitivity in disaster aidANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 3 2008Andrew Wilder The massive influx of Pakistani and international aid workers into conservative areas of northern Pakistan and Kashmir following the devastating earthquake of October 2005 raised challenging issues around cultural sensitivity. This editorial describes the outcome of research conducted by the Feinstein International Center 18 months after the disaster, and highlights the dilemmas confronting organizations committed to the often divergent ideals of respecting local cultures, protecting the rights of staff and promoting gender equality. Reconciling the differing standards that local communities applied to national and international workers, and to male and female staff, proved difficult. Often it was the behaviour of national staff that was perceived by locals as most insensitive, highlighting the need for cultural sensitivity training to extend beyond expatriates. The simplistic and dichotomous language about ,nationals' and ,internationals' or ,locals' and ,foreigners' used by the UN and international NGOs masked the diversity of cultural norms within Pakistan and Kashmir. [source] Public-Private Partnerships in Hong Kong: Good Governance , The Essential Missing Ingredient?1AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 2010Mark Richard Hayllar In recent years the potential of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model in securing sustainable development has been emphasised by various international organisations including the United Nations(UN) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). These bodies, however, have warned that for PPPs to fulfill their potential as development tools, then both a favourable business environment and key aspects of ,good governance' need to be in place and functioning. This article examines PPP policies and projects in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (HKSAR) over recent years. Ranked by several key agencies as having the freest economy in the world, Hong Kong might appear to be a particularly promising location for using PPPs to attain economic and social infrastructure development goals. Surprisingly, however, many potential PPP projects there frequently fail to reach fruition. Asking why this should be so, the article argues that the lack of certain critical ingredients of ,good governance' in Hong Kong has had a direct and negative impact on the fulfillment of its PPP potential. Of particular concern is government's frequent disregard of public views and the exclusion of the public from early and meaningful participation. This reflects an approach that can perhaps best be described as reliance on ,Government-Private' rather than on ,Public-Private' Partnerships. [source] ,And When did You Last See Your Father?' Exploring the Views of Children with Learning Difficulties/DisabilitiesBRITISH JOURNAL OF SPECIAL EDUCATION, Issue 1 2004Ann Lewis The Gulliford Lecture 2003 was given by Professor Ann Lewis of the School of Education at the University of Birmingham. Professor Lewis's lecture, on which this article is based, focused on the process of listening to the views of children and, in particular, children with learning difficulties. Following the near-universal ratification of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child, a plethora of recent initiatives, both in the UK and internationally, has encouraged professionals to access children's views about provision (educational, health-related, social and legal). A range of materials has been developed to support this process, often by, or in liaison with, children's charities. At the same time, research provides valuable insights into effective practice in exploring the views of children with learning difficulties. In this article, Ann Lewis reviews ten strategies for gathering the views of children and raises four challenges for the further development of policy and practice. She closes her argument with a call for greater rigour and critical evaluation in this crucial and demanding area. [source] Forging Democracy at GunpointINTERNATIONAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2006JEFFREY PICKERING Can liberal interventionism build liberal democracy? This manuscript examines the military interventions undertaken by the U.S., U.K., France, and the UN in the post-World War II era to see if they had a positive impact on democracy in target countries. Empirical analysis centers on multivariate time series, cross section PCSE and relogit regressions of political liberalization and democratization from 1946 to 1996. The former is operationalized with annual difference data drawn from the Polity IV data collection, whereas the latter is a binary variable denoting countries that cross a threshold commonly used to indicate the establishment of democratic institutions. An updated version of the International Military Intervention data set enumerates foreign military interventions. We find little evidence that military intervention by liberal states helps to foster democracy in target countries. Although a few states have democratized in the wake of hostile U.S. military interventions, the small number of cases involved makes it difficult to draw generalizable conclusions from the U.S. record. We find stronger evidence, however, that supportive interventions by the UN's "Blue Helmets" can help to democratize target states. [source] Teaching Treaties as (Un)Usual Narratives: Disrupting the Curricular CommonsenseCURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 5 2008JENNIFER A. TUPPER This article examines the importance of treaty education for students living in a province entirely ceded through treaty. Specifically, we ask and attempt to answer the questions "Why teach treaties?" and "What is the effect of teaching treaties?" We build on research that explores teachers' use of a treaty resource kit, commissioned by the Office of the Treaty Commissioner in Saskatchewan. Working with six classrooms representing a mix of rural, urban and First Nations settings, the research attempts to make sense of what students understand, know and feel about treaties, about First Nations peoples and about the relationships between First Nations and non,First Nations peoples in Saskatchewan. It is revealing that initially students are unable to make sense of their province through the lens of treaty given the commonsense story of settlement they learn through mandated curricula. We offer a critique of the curricular approach in Saskatchewan which separates social studies, history and native studies into discrete courses. Drawing on critical race theory, particularly Joyce King's notion of "dysconscious" racism, we deconstruct curriculum and its role in maintaining dominance and privilege. We use the term (un)usual narrative to describe the potential of treaty education to disrupt the commonsense. (Un)usual narratives operate as both productive and interrogative, helping students to see "new" stories, and make "new" sense of their province through the lens of treaty. [source]
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