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Various Parties (various + party)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	33%
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	33%

Selected Abstracts

Privatisation and outsourcing in wartime: the humanitarian challenges

DISASTERS, Issue 4 2006
Gilles Carbonnier
Abstract The tendency today to privatise many activities hitherto considered the exclusive preserve of the state has given rise to sharp debate. The specific nature of humanitarian emergencies elucidates in particularly stark contrast some of the main challenges connected to the privatisation and outsourcing of essential public services, such as the provision of drinking water and health care. Privatising the realms of defence and security, which are at the very core of state prerogative, raises several legal and humanitarian concerns. This article focuses on the roles and responsibilities of the various parties involved in armed conflicts, especially those of private companies engaged in security, intelligence and interrogation work, and in the provision of water supply and health services. It highlights the need for humanitarian and development actors to grasp better the potential risks and opportunities related to privatisation and outsourcing with a view to supplying effective protection and assistance to communities affected by war. [source]

Income Insurance in European Agriculture

EUROCHOICES, Issue 1 2003
Miranda P. M. Meuwissen
Summary Income Insurance in EuropeanAgriculture The agricultural risk environment in Europe is changing, for example because of WTO agreements and governments increasingly withdrawing from disaster assistance in case of catastrophic events. In this context, some form of income insurance may be a useful risk management tool for farmers. Insuring farmers' incomes, however, is rather problematical for reasons of asymmetric information and high correlation of the risks amongst the would-be insured, for example risks due to price fluctuations, floods, droughts and livestock epidemics. It is concluded that the most aggregated forms of income insurance that are likely to be feasible include revenue insurance for field crops, especially if there are relevant futures markets and area yield data, and business interruption insurance for livestock commodities. In Europe, only a few such schemes currendy exist; some are purely private, others are subsidised. A somewhat larger involvement of the public sector, for example through public-private partnerships for reinsurance, could extend the availability of income insurance schemes throughout Europe. Governments, however, should tread warily in entering the field of subsidised agricultural insurance, which experience shows is beset with pitfalls. Pilot tests are useful in establishing the attractiveness of income insurance schemes and other income stabilising tools for the various parties involved. Le contexte du risque agncoie est en train de changer en Europe, en raison notamment des accords de 'OMC et d'un retrait croissant des gouvernements de , assistance sinistre en cas de catastrophes. Dans ce contexte, une certaine forme ? assurance sur le revenu peut être un outil utile de gestion des risques pour les agriculteurs. Assurer les revenus des agriculteurs, cependant, est une activitécute; assez délicate pour des raisons ? information asymétrique et de forte corrélation des risques chez les assurés potentiels, avec , exemple des risques dus aux fluctuations de prix, aux inondations, aux sécheresses et aux épidémies animales. On en conclut que les formes ? assurance revenu les plus complètes et les plus plausibles comprennent ľ assurance-revenu pour les récoltes, notamment s'il existe des marchés a terme appropriés et des données sur le rendement par région, et ,,assurance pour cessation ?'activite pour les produits de ,élevage;. En Europe, seuls quelques projets similaires existent; certains sont purement privés, ? autres sont subventionés. Une implication un peu plus importante du secteur public, par exemple par le biais de partenariats public-privé pour la réassurance, permettrait ?élargir la disponibilité des plans ? assurance-revenu dans toute , Europe. Les gouvernements, cependant, doivent aborder avec prudence le domaine de , assurance agricole subventionée qui, , expérience le montre, est semée ? embûches. Des expériences pilotes sont utiles pour définir , intérêt des projets ? assurance-revenu et des autres outils permettant de stabiliser les revenus pour les différentes parties impliquées. In Europa ändern sich zur Zeit die _ Rahmenbedingungen für die Landwirtschaft hinsichtlich des Risikos. Dies liegt zum Beispiel an WTO-Abkommen und Regierungen, die ihre Hilfsleistungen im Schadensfall zunehmend verweigern. In diesem Zusammenhang könnte irgendeine Form von Einkommenversicherung im Bereich des Risikomanagements für Landwirte von Nutzen sein. Eine solche Versicherung wirft jedoch Probleme auf, da asymmetrische Information und eine hohe Risikokorrelation bei den potenziellen Versicherungsnehmem vorliegen, wie beispielsweise Risiken, die auf Preisschwankungen, Flut- und Dürrekatastrophen oder Tierseuchen beruhen. Hieraus wird gefolgert, dass zu den umfassendsten realisierbaren Formen von Einkommenversicherungen die Erlösversicherung im Ackerbau - insbesondere bei Vorliegen von relevanten Warenterminmärkten und Flächenertragsdaten - und die Betriebsausfallversicherung für tieriscbe Erzeugnisse gehören. In Europa sind zur Zeit nur wenige solcher Programme vorhanden; bei einigen handelt es sich um ausschließlich private Versicherungen, andere werden subventioniert. Würde der öffentliche Sektor stärker mit eingebunden, zum Beispiel mit Hilfe von öffendich-privaten Rückversicherungsgesellschaften, könnten in ganz Europa weitere Programme zur Einkommenversicherung zur Verfügung gestellt werden. Für die Regierungen jedoch ist beim Etablieren subventionierter Versicherungen im Bereich der Landwirtschaft größte Vorsicht geboten, da dies erfahrungs-gemäß Schwierigkeiten aufwirft. Zunächst sollten Pilotprojekte durchgeführt werden, mit deren Hilfe die Attraktivität von Programmen zur Einkommen-aversicherung und von weiteren einkommensstabilisierendenMaßnahmen fÜr die verschiedenen beteiligten Parteien sicher gestellt wird. [source]

Experimental Research and the Managerial Attitude: a tension to be resolved?

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, Issue 3 2008
MARTIN BENNINGHOFF
This article analyses some typical consequences of a specific research policy on experimental research in biology. The policy is conducted by a national funding agency , the Swiss National Science Foundation , through a particular programme, the ,National Centres of Competence in Research' which is designed to promote both ,scientific excellence'and,managerial professionalism'. To study the possible tension between the two objectives, as a practical matter for researchers, the proposed analysis focuses on the interaction between two laboratory scientists and the administrators of a genomic platform. Access to the instruments of this platform is granted through a preliminary interview with those in charge of the platform. During that interview, researchers are required to explain why they want to use the platform services and what their expectations concerning their envisaged activities are. A tape-recorded interview is analysed in order to describe how turns at talking by the various parties, as well as the formulation of the problems encountered by a researcher, prove category-bound. The first part of the meeting (,problem exposition') is structured by the categorical device ,generalist researcher vs. specialist researcher', whilst the second part (,problem solving') is organised by the categorical device ,manager vs. user of the platform'. The ,scientific' problem becomes a ,technical' one and the choice of technique is partly based on financial reasons. The situation shows how managerial injunctions of research policy are not without practical consequences for research activities in situ. [source]

Control and co-ordination in corporate rescue

LEGAL STUDIES, Issue 3 2005
Vanessa Finch
The Enterprise Act 2002 sought to assist troubled companies by enhancing the rescue-friendliness of the UK insolvency regime. Assessing that regime calls for a focus on: the different roles and control powers of the various parties involved with troubled companies; the essential tasks that a rescue regime has to carry out; and the level of co-ordination that is to be expected between different parties. Key tasks in the furtherance of rescue are: the collectiiig of relevant information; the production of sound judgments and strategies; and the taking of timely actions and decisions. The problems of co-ordination, moreover, vary from task to task. For judges, central challenges in coming years will be not only to protect parties'rights within the new rescue regime but also to use judicial oversight powers to encourage co-ordinated action in pursuit of rescue. An appreciation of the co-ordination issue is central to an understanding of the post-Enterprise Act 2002 regime and the potential of the judges to enhance that regime in its furtherance of rescue. [source]

Voluntary Disclosures as a Mechanism for Defining Entity Status in Australian Not-for-Profit Organisations

AUSTRALIAN ACCOUNTING REVIEW, Issue 2 2010
Lorne Cummings
This study examines managerial efforts to portray an entity's not-for-profit (NFP) status based on voluntary disclosure practices. The annual report text of 61 NFPs are analysed in accordance with,Salamon and Anheier's (1997),NFP definitional framework. Results indicate a predominant application of the structural-operational definition. Furthermore, the ,organised' attribute of this definition prevails over the ,non-profit-distributing' criterion that has been advocated by various parties. Standard-setting bodies may want to consider: (1) NFP management perspectives in any revised NFP definition; and (2) greater clarity in conceptual framework and standard-setting arrangements to improve overall transparency in NFP reporting practices. [source]

A Break from the Past: Impacts and Implications of the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Canada Research Chairs Initiatives,

CANADIAN REVIEW OF SOCIOLOGY/REVUE CANADIENNE DE SOCIOLOGIE, Issue 3 2002
Claire Polster
Cet article cherche à explorer de façon préliminaire la nature et l'im-pact de deux récentes initiatives fédérales concernant la recherche universitaire, soit la Fondation canadienne pour l'innovation et les Chaires de recherche du Canada. Une description des faits saillants de ces initiatives sera suivie d'une analyse centrée sur la manière dont ces initiatives contribuent à réorganiser les relations sociales entre les universités, le gouvernement, le secteur privé et le public général, de même que les relations au sein même de ces organismes. L'analyse considère ègalement les conséquences de cette réorganisation pour les groupes en cause afin d'éclairer les discussions et actions qu'ont engendrées ces initiatives singulières et significatives pour les études supérieures au Canada. This paper aims to explore,in a broad and preliminary way,the nature and impacts of two recent federal initiatives related to university research, namely the creation of the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Canada Research Chairs Program. After describing and highlighting key features of these initiatives, the paper examines how they are helping to reorganize social relations within and between universities, government, the private sector, and the general public. It also considers some implications of these changes for the various parties involved, as a means of informing the latter's discussions of, and responses to, these unique and significant developments in Canadian higher education. [source]