International Context (international + context)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND DIALYSIS WORKFORCE STUDY IN THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT

JOURNAL OF RENAL CARE, Issue 4 2009
Nick Polaschek RN
SUMMARY Background: Given increasing demand for renal replacement therapy, this study sought to identify of key workforce issues facing dialysis units, based on a "snapshot" of the current workforce. Methods: A web-based survey of all dialysis unit managers in Australia and New Zealand, in October 2008, about their workforce. Results: A significant minority of dialysis staff in most regions were not registered nurses. Many renal registered nurses worked part-time. Staff/patient ratios in dialysis units varied significantly by region, reflecting the relative prevalence of home therapies. Most dialysis units were generally adequately staffed. The proportion of registered nurses with specific renal qualifications varied significantly by region. Conclusion: The changing character of the workforce in the dialysis unit in the future will require clarification of the relationships between different categories of dialysis staff. Specialty education for nurses needs to be oriented to equipping staff to be effective in their changing work environment. [source]


Couples' Relationships: Questioning Assumptions, Beliefs, and Values

FAMILY PROCESS, Issue 2 2005
Evan Imber-Black
I want to express my deep appreciation to Howard J. Markman and Kim Halford for their excellent work as guest editors of the special section, Couple Relationship Education in an International Context. [source]


Commentary: Cash and Counseling in an International Context

HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 1p2 2007
Joshua M. Wiener
First page of article [source]


Steering through Complexity: EU Environmental Regulation in the International Context

POLITICAL STUDIES, Issue 1 2002
Aynsley Kellow
The nature of governance in the European Union (EU) and its member states is continuing to evolve as the EU develops. This paper focuses on the challenges to this governance process in the sector of environmental policy, and particularly the role of external organizations and states in providing alternate policy fora. The policy impact of these institutions and organizations leads to more actor participation in a way that EU players may not be able to anticipate or control since the EU is only one of several arenas involved. Both states and non-governmental actors actively seek to shift issues to arenas that provide them advantages. Consequently, developments in other arenas shape and are shaped by EU issues as actors pursue forum shopping. The paper presents two cases, the amendment of the Basel Convention to ban hazardous wastes export and the EU regulation of chemical risk, which demonstrate how external players can shape EU regulation. [source]


Empire, Region, World: the International Context of Australian Foreign Policy since 1939

AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF POLITICS AND HISTORY, Issue 3 2005
David Reynolds
What have been the most important factors in international relations for Australian foreign-policymakers over the last sixty years? Five broad themes stand out: the end of empire; Cold War dependency; the changing nature of security; economic development; and race and national identity. Cumulatively, and often in intertwined ways, these themes have amounted to little short of a revolution in Australia's place in the world since the Second World War. The challenges facing Australians have, as a result, been considerable. The international context in which Liberals have made foreign policy has been reshaping Australia as it has been reshaping the external environment. [source]


Pathways toward improving teaching and learning in higher education: International context and background

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR TEACHING & LEARNING, Issue 122 2010
Karron G. Lewis
People are drawn to the field of improving teaching and learning in higher education from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds, but before we look at these "pathways," we need to delve into the history, international variations, and similarities of the field of faculty/educational/academic development to provide a context for what has happened to make this field important to the vitality of teaching and learning in higher education all over the world. [source]


Corporate Governance in Germany and the German Corporate Governance Code

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, Issue 3 2005
Gerhard Cromme
The term "corporate governance", and all that it implies, is now in everyday use in Germany. This is due to the enormous changes Germany has experienced in recent years, in international business, international finance and in German industrial structures. This contribution deals with recent changes in the German system of corporate governance. After a short historical review, the major elements of the international context that form the background for changes in Germany are discussed. This is followed by an explanation of the German Corporate Governance Code and its role, concluding with a prospectus for further possible developments and a summary of key points. [source]


Litigation and alcohol policy: lessons from the US Tobacco Wars

ADDICTION, Issue 2009
James F. Mosher
ABSTRACT Aims This paper explores the role of litigation in preventing alcohol-related harms, identifying lessons from the use of litigation in tobacco control policy in the United States. It analyzes the key components of litigation in an international context, provides a case study of its potential use in addressing the marketing of alcopops to youth and offers recommendations for pursuing litigation strategies in future alcohol policy efforts. Methods The paper's analyses are based on both original and secondary legal research. State and federal case law and secondary sources are reviewed in assessing lessons learned from tobacco litigation in the United States and the potential role of litigation in alcohol policy, both in the United States and internationally. Assessment of alcohol litigation cases and state and federal laws and regulations provides the foundation for the alcopops case study. Findings The tobacco litigation experience demonstrates that litigation is a powerful tool in addressing aggressive marketing by purveyors of addictive products such as alcohol. Conclusions To be effective at both national and international levels, litigation should encompass a broad array of legal tactics designed to identify and restrict unfair, deceptive and misleading alcohol marketing tactics and should be utilized in conjunction with complementary prevention strategies. Research conducted on the impact of alcohol marketing on youth alcohol consumption and problems is needed to support potential litigation claims. Developing litigation expertise within the alcohol policy field and building collaboration with litigation specialists in tobacco control should also be considered a high priority. [source]


International Portfolio Investment: Theory, Evidence, and Institutional Framework

FINANCIAL MARKETS, INSTITUTIONS & INSTRUMENTS, Issue 3 2001
Söhnke M. Bartram
At first sight, the idea of investing internationally seems exciting and full of promise because of the many benefits of international portfolio investment. By investing in foreign securities, investors can participate in the growth of other countries, hedge their consumption basket against exchange rate risk, realize diversification effects and take advantage of market segmentation on a global scale. Even though these advantages might appear attractive, the risks of and constraints for international portfolio investment must not be overlooked. In an international context, financial investments are not only subject to currency risk and political risk, but there are many institutional constraints and barriers, significant among them a host of tax issues. These constraints, while being reduced by technology and policy, support the case for internationally segmented securities markets, with concomitant benefits for those who manage to overcome the barriers in an effective manner. [source]


Local Government Reform In Britain 1997,2001: National Forces and International Trends

GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION, Issue 2 2003
Michael Cole
This article considers the origins of the local government reform agenda of the 1997 to 2001 Labour government. The analysis identifies a wide range of factors including recurring themes in the debate about local government, market mechanisms, Labour Party politics, the traditions of the British state, the constitutional reform agenda and the international context. This study also develops the notion of shifting constraints to explain this process and the agenda of the current Labour administration. [source]


The History of Children in Australia: An Interdisciplinary Historiography

HISTORY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 10 2010
Carla Pascoe
Children have long been shadowy or forgotten figures within historical narratives. It was not until the second half of the twentieth century that a critical historiography of children and childhood emerged. In the Australian context, histories of young people were not published until the 1980s. Whilst the historiography of the child is now a burgeoning field, it has been haunted by two major challenges: a lack of sources authored by children themselves; and a tendency amongst adult scholars to romanticise children. This article situates the Australian historiography of children within an international context. Given the difficulties of reconstructing the lives of children in the past, it argues for an interdisciplinary approach, drawing upon the insights of folklore, material culture, geography and oral history. [source]


Family policy and social order , comparing the dynamics of family policy-making in Scandinavia and Confucian Asia

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 1 2003
Ka Lin
This article compares family policies in two Scandinavian and three Confucian Asian countries. Through a general survey on schemes of child allowance and parental leave, it seeks explaining factors for cross-regime diversity of the welfare systems. In focus are the agents affecting the family policy-making process, including social classes, the state, women and families. In order to assess the roles these agents have played, this study retraces the preconditions of family policy development and its associated socio-cultural backgrounds. Results from such an examination will illustrate how the social order determines the patterns of family policy, which offers a new path to travel to these different cultural ,worlds'. Taking the Confucian Asian states into its frame of reference, the study will take a fresh look at Scandinavian welfare systems, which still have some general implications for the study of the dynamics, model and outcome of family policy in an international context. [source]


Overcoming strangeness and communication barriers: a phenomenological study of becoming a foreign nurse

INTERNATIONAL NURSING REVIEW, Issue 4 2005
H. Magnusdottir rn
Background:, This paper presents a study that explored the lived experience of foreign nurses working at hospitals in Iceland. Aim:, The aim was to generate an understanding of this experience both for local and international purposes. Method:, The methodology that guided the study was the Vancouver school of doing phenomenology. Sampling was purposeful and consisted of 11 registered nurse from seven countries. The data were collected in dialogues; the analyses were thematic. Findings:, The findings are presented in five main themes that describe the essence of the experience with the overall theme of ,Growing through experiencing strangeness and communication barriers'. The first theme portrays how the nurses met and tackled the multiple initial challenges. One of the challenges, described in the second theme, was becoming outsiders and needing to be let in. The third theme explores the language barrier the nurses encountered and the fourth theme the different work culture. The fifth then illuminates how the nurses finally overcame these challenges and won through. Conclusion:, The findings and their international context suggest the importance of language for personal and professional well-being and how language and culture are inseparable entities. [source]


Using historical ecology to understand patterns of biodiversity in fragmented agricultural landscapes

JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, Issue 11 2005
Ian D. Lunt
Abstract Aim, To enhance current attempts to understand biodiversity patterns by using an historical ecology approach to highlight the over-riding influence of land-use history in creating past, current and future patterns of biodiversity in fragmented agricultural landscapes. Methods, We develop an integrative conceptual framework for understanding spatial and temporal variations in landscape patterns in fragmented agricultural landscapes by presenting five postulates (hypotheses) which highlight the important role of historical, anthropogenic disturbance regimes. We then illustrate each of these postulates with examples drawn from fragmented woodlands in agricultural areas of south-eastern Australia, and discuss these findings in an international context. Location examples are drawn from agricultural areas in south-eastern Australia. Results, We conclude that there is limited potential to refine our understanding of patterns of biodiversity in human-modified landscapes based on traditional concepts of island biogeography, or simple assumptions of ongoing destruction and degradation. Instead, we propose that in agricultural landscapes that were largely cleared over a century ago: (1) present-day remnant vegetation patterns are not accidental, but are logically arrayed due to historic land-use decisions, (2) historic anthropogenic disturbances have a major influence on current ecosystem conditions and diversity patterns, and (3) the condition of remnant ecosystems is not necessarily deteriorating rapidly. Main conclusions, An historical ecology approach can enhance our understanding of why different species and ecosystem states occur where they do, and can explain internal variations in ecological conditions within remnant ecosystems, too often casually attributed to the ,mess of history'. This framework emphasizes temporal changes (both past and future) in biotic patterns and processes in fragmented agricultural landscapes. Integration of spatially and temporally explicit historical land-use information into ecological studies can prove extremely useful to test hypotheses of the effects of changes in landscape processes, and to enhance future research, restoration and conservation management activities. [source]


Economic Growth and Potential Punishment Under Dictatorship

KYKLOS INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, Issue 2 2007
Abel Escribà-Folch
SUMMARY This paper explores whether the probability of being punished after losing power leads dictators to restrain their level of predation and, thus, increase economic growth. To do so, a simple model of predatory rule is developed, and the consequences of an increasing probability of punishment after loosing power explored. New data on dictators' post-exit fate have permitted to estimate the predicted probability of punishment taking place by using multinomial logit. Outgoing dictators' strength and the international context are shown to be the main determinants of post-exit scenarios. The probability of punishment is proven to have a positive and significant effect on the rate of growth of GDP under alternative specifications of growth regressions. [source]


Nationalism, international factors and the ,Irish question' in the era of the First World War

NATIONS AND NATIONALISM, Issue 1 2005
Karen Stanbridge
The ,Irish question' encompassed negotiations leading to the partition of Ireland in 1921. The paper considers factors that contributed to the growing tendency for the major players involved in the struggle , Irish nationalists, unionists and British officials , to adopt postures that were mutually irreconcilable. Conceptualising the problem in terms of Rogers Brubaker's ,triadic nexus' model of nationalisms reveals that the rigidity was encouraged by the dynamic interaction of nationalist representations employed by the three parties in response to the postures adopted by their rivals. Further, international factors , specifically, the prevailing international definition of nation and the position taken by the authority in place to adjudicate claims of nationhood , combined with regional pressures to consolidate Irish, Ulster and British nationalisms in such forms that militated against a compromise solution. By amending Brubaker's model to include international as well as regional forces, the analysis shows how understanding of the Irish contest can be enhanced if conceived as issuing from the continuous and reflexive interaction of three distinct nationalisms with and within an international context that itself was structured with respect to questions of nation. [source]


Globalization of tertiary nursing education in post-Mao China: A preliminary qualitative assessment

NURSING & HEALTH SCIENCES, Issue 4 2001
Zhaomin Xu RN
Abstract This article examines China's collaborative initiatives with Western countries to assess the impact of globalization on Chinese nursing education, especially at the post-secondary level, in the post-Mao era. Through the theoretical framework of mutuality, it evaluates the outcomes of globalization in two broad domains: pedagogy and system-institution-program building. In addition, case studies on two collaborative projects between Chinese nursing programs and Western institutions were conducted to further illustrate the principles of mutuality. This qualitative assessment is primarily based on a systematic review of published studies on the multifaceted dimensions of globalization in Chinese post-secondary nursing education in both English and Chinese nursing literature since 1990. It is supplemented by unpublished documents and data obtained from a research trip to China in 2000. The study concludes that globalization has been, and will remain, one of the major forces underpinning Chinese nursing education (and the nursing profession in general), which is moving towards integration into the global nursing community. However, there is a significant imbalance in the knowledge transfer equation both in the national and international context. Great efforts need to be made to synthesize nursing knowledge in the East and West to achieve an integrative nursing science. [source]


La collaboration internationale: un element essentiel dans la conception des programmes de formation en sécurité aeroportuaire

CANADIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION/ADMINISTRATION PUBLIQUE DU CANADA, Issue 3 2007
Pierre Paul Morin
Sommaire: Cet article explique la façon dont les informations provenant de la coopération internationale sur la prévention du terrorisme influencent le design des programmes de formation des agents de contrôle préembarquement à 1'Administration canadienne de la sûireté du transport aerien (acsta). 11 expose comment l'integration de ces informations a conduit au développement d'une méthodologie de formation qui suit les principes de la formation par compétences. Cette réflexion marque Ie cinquiéme anniversaire de la fondation de I'acsta et le sixiéme des attentats du 11 septembre 2001. Les auteurs présentent les grands enjeux de la sécurité aéroportuaire, les contraintes et opportunités du contexte international, ainsi que les méthodologies et stratégies utilisées dans le programme de formation. Abstract: This article describes how information provided by the international community influences the design of training programs for airport security officers at the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (catsa). It explains how the integration of this information was instrumental in selecting a training program that follows the principles of a competency-based methodology. This review coincides with the fourth anniversary of the creation of catsa and the fifth of the tragedy of September 11th, 2001. The authors identify major airport security issues, opportunities and constraints dictated by the international context, and the main strategic and methodological alternatives. [source]


Recovering from Crisis: The Case of Thailand's Spatial Fix

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 4 2007
Jim Glassman
Abstract: Although the Asian economic crisis has been the subject of numerous analyses, the varied and uneven processes by which different Asian countries have recovered from the crisis have received comparatively less attention. This article focuses on the process of recovery in Thailand. While the crisis and recovery both have international dimensions that go beyond individual nation-states, the case of Thailand can be used to analyze some of the forces that are at work in both the national and international contexts. Thailand's process of recovery can be analyzed by noting tensions and overlaps among different forms of spatial fix,those involving investment in Bangkok' built environment, those involving the geographic decentralization of investment to lower-cost production sites, and those involving the effort to expand exports. Each of these spatial fixes involves different accumulation strategies and, therefore, political coalitions. This situation suggests the centrality of social struggles over the appropriation of surplus to both crisis and recovery. [source]


Poliheuristic Theory, Bargaining, and Crisis Decision Making

FOREIGN POLICY ANALYSIS, Issue 4 2007
Min Ye
In the past decade, the application of the Poliheuristic (PH) theory to foreign policy decisions of various types, by numerous leaders, and in association with different research methods, has demonstrated its theoretical merit in integrating the divided rational choice and psychological/cognitive approaches. This article argues for a complementary relationship between PH and formal theory. On the one hand, PH can provide a framework in which abstract formal models can be connected with specific domestic as well as international circumstances. On the other hand, formal theory sharpens the rational analysis used in the second conceptual stage of PH. In this study, I formulate a revised Rubinstein bargaining model with war as an outside option and apply it to Chinese crisis decision making during the Second and Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis. In sum, this study makes three contributions to the literature on international crises and foreign policy analysis. First, it gives formal explanations on how PH can contribute to the game-theoretic approach in foreign policy analysis. Second, it presents what Bueno de Mesquita and Lalman (1992) called a "domestic politics version" of the canonical Rubinstein bargaining game, connecting international interactions with individual participants' domestic politics. Finally, it provides a way to test abstract game-theoretic models in particular domestic and international contexts of foreign policy making. [source]


Revamping Pentecostal Evangelism: Appropriating Walter J. Hollenweger's Radical Proposal

INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF MISSION, Issue 382-383 2007
Tony Richie
As the Christian Church endeavours to be faithful to its evangelistic mission, increasingly intense problems arise in international contexts of cultural diversity and religious plurality. Pentecostal, noted for "aggressive evangelism", are frequently at the forefront of such negative encounters. Walter J. Hollenweger offers Pentecostals a complementary paradigm of "dialogical evangelism" that is sensitive to this situation without stilling the voice of evangelism. The present project overviews Hollenweger's "radical proposal" and traditional Pentecostal evangelism and its current trends before assessing their compatibility or contradictoriness and exploring possible appropriation. [source]


A Comparative Analysis of President Clinton and Bush's Handling of the North Korean Nuclear Weapons Program: Power and Strategy,

PACIFIC FOCUS, Issue 1 2004
Ilsu Kim
The purposes of this paper are: 1) to examine and analyze how the two presidents' policy goals in dealing with North Korea actually materialized; 2) to illustrate how these two Presidents implement their policy goals toward North Korea; 3) to discuss the Congressional responses to the president's policy goals toward North Korea; and 4) to provide comparative analysis of the two presidents' handling of North Korea. This study shows that different Presidents have dealt with North Korean issues in different ways. Two such presidents, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, tried at the beginning of their terms as president to ignore the brewing problems in North Korea. However, both were forced to solve the North's nuclear issues early on in their respective administrations. Their decisions in dealing with North Korean nuclear capabilities help to define their early reputations as foreign policy makers. Yet, the domestic as well as international contexts that President Clinton and Bush faced were somewhat different. President Clinton maintains that the North's nuclear crisis arose from North Korea's security fears: Abandoned by its two Cold War patrons, economically bankrupt, and internationally isolated, the North Korean government saw the pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles as the only path to survival and security for their regime. In this regard, Clinton's actual efforts to resolve the issues surrounding the North's nuclear program appeared ambiguous and inconsistent. This led to the temporary suspension of the North's nuclear ambitions through an Agreed Framework. However, President Bush stuck to more of a hardnosed approach. He continues to demand a complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantling of the nuclear program first, before any provision of economic or humanitarian assistance is extended toward North Korea. Bush favors multilateral negotiations, which leads the DPRK to feel more isolated than before. Although the second six-party talks ended without a major breakthrough, it seems that all parties except the North think the meeting was successful in terms of lowering tensions in Korea. This case study demonstrates several observable features that characterize the president's role in shaping North Korean policy. A president who wants to take a new approach to some element of U.S. policy can be caught between the diplomat's desire for flexibility and the power of domestic political forces. The president can achieve success, but only if the new direction in policy finds acceptance on Capitol Hill. [source]


Refugee and Displaced Youth Negotiating Imagined and Lived Identities in a Photography-Based Educational Project in the United States and Colombia

ANTHROPOLOGY & EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2010
Alba Lucy Guerrero
Drawing from sociocultural theories of identity, this study uses ethnographic tools to compare how displaced children living in two distinct international contexts, who are linked by their participation in a community-based photography project, negotiate their identities and the discourses constructed around their experiences of displacement. We argue that children, rather than being passive victims of circumstance, are actively involved in a process of reconstructing the meanings of their experiences through language and social interactions.,[identities, informal education, refugee and displaced children] [source]


Governing the Majority World?

AUSTRALIAN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY JOURNAL, Issue 4 2009
Critical reflections on the role of occupation technology in international contexts
Background:,Within occupational therapy, increasing attention has been focussed on international development work. However, many have critiqued the focus of knowledge development within occupational therapy and occupational science, arguing that it is focussed on Western values. Questions arise about how occupational therapy and occupational science, and the knowledge and therapeutic technologies that are associated with these communities, will affect the ,developing' world, which, recently, some have described as the Majority World. Aim and method:,Using Foucauldian analytical tools, this paper reflects on specific discourses that are foundational for development work. Specifically, this paper attempts to better understand how concepts like ,occupational justice' and the ,occupational being' are presented in the literature and relate to practices in international contexts. Within this analysis, attention is focussed on how practices associated with occupational development work might also be enmeshed in power dynamics. Results:,This paper outlines how occupational discourses may shape and order life in particular ways and challenges researchers and practitioners to develop a better understanding of how power can operate through occupational discourses and occupational therapy practices. This paper also adds to the literature through the interpretation and explication of various theories that may underpin work in international contexts. Conclusions/future directions:,Suggestions for future directions that will enable the development of more politically and culturally sensitive knowledge and practices are also explored. It is crucial that as a community we become more aware of how our theoretical frameworks may impact and shape practice. [source]