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International Policies (international + policy)
Selected Abstracts,EVEN IF YOU'RE POSITIVE, YOU STILL HAVE RIGHTS BECAUSE YOU ARE A PERSON': HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE REPRODUCTIVE CHOICE OF HIV-POSITIVE PERSONSDEVELOPING WORLD BIOETHICS, Issue 1 2008LESLIE LONDON ABSTRACT Global debates in approaches to HIV/AIDS control have recently moved away from a uniformly strong human rights-based focus. Public health utilitarianism has become increasingly important in shaping national and international policies. However, potentially contradictory imperatives may require reconciliation of individual reproductive and other human rights with public health objectives. Current reproductive health guidelines remain largely nonprescriptive on the advisability of pregnancy amongst HIV-positive couples, mainly relying on effective counselling to enable autonomous decision-making by clients. Yet, health care provider values and attitudes may substantially impact on the effectiveness of nonprescriptive guidelines, particularly where social norms and stereotypes regarding childbearing are powerful, and where providers are subjected to dual loyalty pressures, with potentially adverse impacts on rights of service users. Data from a study of user experiences and perceptions of reproductive and HIV/AIDS services are used to illustrate a rights analysis of how reproductive health policy should integrate a rights perspective into the way services engage with HIV-positive persons and their reproductive choices. The analysis draws on recognised tools developed to evaluate health policies for their human rights impacts and on a model developed for health equity research in South Africa to argue for greater recognition of agency on the part of persons affected by HIV/AIDS in the development and content of policies on reproductive choices. We conclude by proposing strategies that are based upon a synergy between human rights and public health approaches to policy on reproductive health choices for persons with HIV/AIDS. [source] From Policy to Practice: Challenges in Infant Feeding in Emergencies During the Balkan CrisisDISASTERS, Issue 2 2001Annalies Borrel The preparation and dissemination of policy statements are necessary but insufficient to prevent the inappropriate use of infant-feeding products in emergencies. The widespread failure of humanitarian agencies operating in the Balkan crisis to act in accordance with international policies and recommendations provides a recent example of the failure to translate infant-feeding policies into practice. This article explores the underlying reasons behind the failures which include: (1) the weak institutionalisation of policies; (2) the massive quantities of unsolicited donations of infant-feeding products; (3) the absence of monitoring systems; (4) inadequate co-ordination mechanisms; (5) the high costs of correcting mistakes; and (6) the cumulative effects of poor practice. Efforts to uphold best practice during the crisis are also documented. Finally, the article identifies actions that could be undertaken in advance of and during future emergencies to enhance the application of infant feeding policies in emergencies. [source] Changing sources of support for women's political rights*INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 184 2005Katherine Meyer Much research investigating changes in women's political rights focuses on the presence or absence of improvement that is evident in national and international policies or on gender proportionality in representative institutions at international, national, and local levels. Public opinion about women's rights is an important corollary to this research because it underpins the legitimacy of policies and representative bodies. However, if examined alone, changes in public opinion over time yield an incomplete picture of women's situation, just as changes in policies and representation do. Factors that lie behind statistics about trends in women's rights matter, and it is essential to figure out if the sources of support for women's political rights shift over time. We employed data from Kuwait in the years surrounding the Beijing +5 conference to illustrate how the absence of change in public opinion about women's rights can hide important social dynamics that figure into the development of policies and practices affecting women. Whereas support for women's rights was evident among the most numerous and advantaged Kuwaiti citizens in 1994, it rested less with the general public and more with citizens involved in social networks and those who had particular political and cultural agendas by 1998. [source] Distinguishing between the nests of sympatric chimpanzees and gorillasJOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2007CRICKETTE SANZ Summary 1Our current inability to estimate precisely the population sizes of chimpanzees and gorillas across much of the Congo Basin has been detrimental to the development of conservation strategies for the preservation of these endangered apes. Systematic counts of nests are currently the most commonly used method to estimate ape abundance, but distinguishing between the nests of sympatric chimpanzees and gorillas has proven to be an enduring obstacle to estimating species-specific abundance. In general, the builder of more than 75% of nests recorded during surveys is undetermined. We hypothesized that sleeping habits and nest building patterns would allow us to differentiate between the nests of these apes. 2We constructed a predictive model using stepwise discriminant function analysis to determine characteristics that accurately distinguished between chimpanzee and gorilla nests. We analysed 13 variables associated with 3425 ape nests from three independent surveys conducted in the Goualougo Triangle of the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, Republic of Congo. 3The model correctly classified more than 90% of nests in our validation subsample. Nest height, nest type, forest type and understorey closure were identified as important variables for distinguishing between chimpanzee and gorilla nests at this site. Attributing nests to either species increased the precision of resulting density estimates, which enhanced the statistical power to detect trends in population fluctuation. 4Although specific variables may differ between study sites, we have demonstrated that predictive models to distinguish between the nests of sympatric chimpanzee and gorillas provide a promising approach to improving the quality of ape survey data. 5Synthesis and applications. Our study introduces an innovative solution to the dilemma of discriminating between the nests of sympatric chimpanzees and gorillas, which increases the specificity and precision of resulting ape abundance estimates. There is an urgent need to improve methods to evaluate and monitor remaining ape populations across western and central Africa that are experiencing the imminent threats of emergent diseases, poaching and expanding human development. Increasing the quality of density estimates from field survey data will aid in the development of local conservation initiatives, national strategies and international policies on behalf of remaining ape populations. [source] Agricultural policies and the emergence of cotton as the dominant crop in northern Côte d'Ivoire: Historical overview and current outlookNATURAL RESOURCES FORUM, Issue 2 2009Oluyede Clifford Ajayi Abstract In most of sub-Saharan Africa, where the agricultural sector experiences dismal performance and is characterized by a gloomy picture, the cotton sub-sector in Côte d'Ivoire is often mentioned as a "success story" given the spectacular rise in the quantity of cotton production and the profile of the crop within the farming system. What are the historical and political antecedents of the development of cotton and the factors responsible for the feat accomplished in the midst of general failures in the same continent? To what extent can cotton be regarded as a "success story" and, what lessons can be drawn for agricultural development strategies based on the Ivorian case study? This paper traces the historical and socio-political background of cotton development in Côte d'Ivoire and identifies key policy and institutional interventions that have influenced the rise of cotton production and its emergence as the dominant crop in the farming systems of the country. Four stages in Ivorian cotton development are identified: planning, take off, crisis and the renaissance phases. The study demonstrates how a combination of good planning, technological advancement and appropriate policy and institutional conditions have contributed significantly to the rise of cotton production and its influence on the agricultural economy of northern Côte d'Ivoire. The study also highlights how the sustainability of agricultural development has been impacted by domestic and international policies and political events over which smallholder farm families have little control, and can at best only respond to. Important questions about cotton development in Côte d'Ivoire are raised that need to be answered before the program can be categorized conclusively as a success story. The study shows that there are no quick fixes to agricultural development in the sub-region. Rather, good planning and putting the necessary building blocks in place are important prerequisites. It is recommended that agricultural development efforts in the continent take cognizance of the complexity of the sector and address the inter-relationships that exist among the technical, policy, market and institutional factors that combine individually and collectively to influence African agriculture. [source] POLICY IMPLEMENTATION IN AN AFRICAN STATE: AN EXTENSION OF KINGDON'S MULTIPLE-STREAMS APPROACHPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 4 2009VALÉRY RIDDE Kingdon's multiple-streams framework, which emerged in the mid-1980s, today forms one of the indispensable analytical frameworks for understanding public policy agenda-setting. However, it is only in the context of wealthy countries that this approach has been validated for setting the agenda of national and international policies. This article reports the results of empirical research in an African state studying the transferability of a threefold theoretical innovation. The question under consideration is whether the multiple-streams framework is useful for examining public policy implementation at the local level and in the context of a low income country. The research findings confirm the premise that the multiple-streams framework can be extended and can lead to the formulation of several theoretical propositions. [source] Regime change and nation building: can donors restore governance in post-conflict states?PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2005Dennis A. Rondinelli Foreign aid agencies and international assistance organisations are now heavily involved in nation building in post-conflict states. Their record of strengthening democratic governance in countries where civil war or military force replaced unpopular regimes is mixed. Experience suggests that a complex set of conditions must be created quickly in order to rebuild indigenous governance. Ensuring security, providing assistance through a transparent and coherent plan of action, coordinating donors' activities, establishing strong and legitimate national authority, strengthening democratic political processes, transferring responsibility and resources for development to a new government, stabilising the economy and strengthening social capital and human assets must all be done in quick succession. Achieving these goals requires a cadre of civilian and, sometimes, military personnel with expertise in post-conflict nation building. The frequency with which government aid programmes and international assistance organisations engage in post-conflict reconstruction also suggests the need for more explicit national and international policies and the creation of specialised nation-building agencies to undertake these difficult tasks. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Beijing Plus Ten: An Ambivalent Record on Gender JusticeDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 6 2005Maxine Molyneux The 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women (the ,Beijing Conference') was a landmark in policy terms, setting a global policy framework to advance gender equality. Ten years after Beijing, in March 2005, the UN's Commission on the Status of Women presided over an intergovernmental meeting in New York to review the progress achieved on the commitments made in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. This ,Plus 10' event was decidedly low key. Its aim was not agenda setting but agenda confirming; not policy formulation but policy affirmation. Whether it proves to be part of an ongoing worldwide movement in support of gender equality, or whether it marks the decline of that process, is a question that many in international women's movements are asking. This article, drawing on research undertaken for the UNRISD report, Gender Equality: Striving for Justice in an Unequal World, reflects on the ambivalent record of progress achieved by women over the last decades and considers how the policy environment has changed over the period since the high point of global women's movements. It examines how the changing international policy and political climate over this period has given rise to new issues and challenges for those active in global women's movements. [source] Food Security in Complex Emergencies: Enhancing Food System ResilienceDISASTERS, Issue 2005Prabhu Pingali This paper explores linkages between food security and crisis in different contexts, outlining the policy and institutional conditions needed to manage food security during a crisis and to rebuild the resilience of food systems in periods of relative peace. The paper reviews experiences over the past decade of countries in protracted crisis and draws lessons for national and international policy. It assesses the different alternatives on offer in fragile countries to address, for example, the disruption of institutional mechanisms and the decreasing level of support offered by international donors with respect to longer-term expectations. It proposes a Twin Track Approach to enhance food security resilience through specific policies for protracted crises that link immediate hunger relief interventions with a long-term strategy for sustainable growth. Finally, the article analyses policy options and the implications for both short- and longer-term responses vis-à-vis the three dimensions of food security: availability; access; and stability. [source] Commentary on Uhlmann et al. (2010): Managing HIV in drug users , the huge gap remaining between evidence and international policy and practiceADDICTION, Issue 5 2010M. PATRIZIA CARRIERI No abstract is available for this article. [source] A spy on the payroll?HISTORICAL RESEARCH, Issue 220 2010William Herle, the mid Elizabethan polity A body of recent work focusing on the components of Tudor policy has drawn attention to those ,second-rank' figures crucial for the efficient running of the Elizabethan administration. After close archival excavation, men like Robert Beale, largely marginal to the historiography of the period for so long, have now been identified and credited with a role which was fundamental to the smooth operation of the Tudor political system. In this group of men, participating on the fringes of the polity and whose activities, whether clerical or more recondite, contributed to the formation of domestic and international policy, is found William Herle, an agent, diplomatic envoy and intelligencer for Elizabeth I's ministers. An elusive figure, and passed over by many scholars, Herle's epistolary contribution to the administrative and intelligence bureaux of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, and Sir Francis Walsingham reveals the information channels and structures behind the decision-making process of this triumvirate of political heavyweights and their conciliar fraternity. [source] Identification of Perceived Interviewee Behaviors that Influence Auditors' Assessment of DeceptionINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AUDITING, Issue 3 2008Chih-Chen Lee US and international policy setters recently called for auditors to be alert for anomalous interviewee behaviors that may indicate deception. In this call, they included verbal behaviors, such as implausibility and inconsistency, as suggested indicators. This study empirically identifies the perceived verbal and physical interviewee behaviors that influence auditors' deception detection judgments. Perceptions of informativeness and body movement were found to increase auditors' suspicion of interviewees. The literature provides support for using deception indicators relating to informativeness for deception detection. However, the literature suggests that more body movement is a false deception indicator; that deceivers typically manifest less body movement when lying. The study's results also suggest that entry-level accountants use anxiety-related behaviors for deception detection, whereas experienced auditors do not. The deception detection literature suggests that anxiety-related behaviors do not predict deception. [source] Toward the development of a standard e-readiness assessment policyINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NETWORK MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2003Saad Haj Bakry Information networking for digital integration is becoming of increasing importance for national and international organizations concerned with development. E-Readiness assessments, for various countries, are associated with the investigation of their state of readiness for such integration. They help in understanding the problems that need to be resolved in order to avoid digital divide, or even digital isolation, from world development. Such assessments lack standard policies, which provide unified measures that ease evaluations, support analysis and comparisons, and help in diagnosing problems and deriving solutions. This paper is concerned with the development of a standard e-readiness assessment policy. It provides a base for the development of such a policy, and hopes that this base will contribute to a future standard international policy. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | |||||||||||||