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Political Challenges (political + challenge)
Selected AbstractsPrivatizing Medicaid-Funded Mental Health Services: Trading Old Political Challenges for New OnesAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 3 2002Matthew N. I. Oliver States have aggressively pursued privatizing the management of Medicaid-funded mental health services. Although privatized managed care addresses many concerns, it brings several challenges. This article evaluates the impact of privatization on Medicaid-funded mental health services and highlights several contracting issues that should be considered to ensure high-quality mental health care. [source] Lessons of Defeat: A Comparison of Taiwanese Ruling Parties' Responses to Electoral DefeatASIAN POLITICS AND POLICY, Issue 4 2009Dafydd Fell In the last decade Taiwan has witnessed two changes in ruling party through elections. First, in 2000 the Kuomintang (KMT) was defeated by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the presidential election. Then after eight years of DPP rule, the KMT regained control of central government in the parliamentary and presidential elections of 2008. This study compares the two parties' reactions to disastrous defeat. Have the parties learned the lessons of defeat by responding with rational reforms? In addition to this comparison, I assess the effectiveness of the KMT's reforms in contributing to its return to power. Although the DPP's fall from power is only just over a year old, this study can offer some insights into whether one can expect the DPP to recover sufficiently to offer a serious political challenge to KMT domination. [source] Role of Genetic Refuges in the Restoration of Native Gene Pools of Brown TroutCONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 4 2009ROSA M. ARAGUAS introgresión de piscifactoría; pautas de manejo; acervos génicas nativas; refugios genéticos; repoblación de peces Abstract:,Captive-bred animals derived from native, alien, or hybrid stocks are often released in large numbers in natural settings with the intention of augmenting harvests. In brown trout (Salmo trutta), stocking with hatchery-reared non-native fish has been the main management strategy used to maintain or improve depleted wild brown trout populations in Iberian and other Mediterranean regions. This measure has become a serious threat to the conservation of native genetic diversity, mainly due to introgressive hybridization. Aware of this risk, the agency responsible for management of brown trout in the eastern Pyrenees (Spain) created "brown trout genetic refuges" to preserve the integrity of brown trout gene pools in this region. Within refuge areas, the prerefuge status with respect to fishing activities has been maintained, but hatchery releases have been banned completely. We evaluated this management strategy through a comparison of the stocking impact on native populations that accounted for stocking histories before and after refuge designations and fishing activities. In particular we examined the relevant scientific, cultural, and political challenges encountered. Despite agency willingness to change fishery policies to balance exploitation and conservation, acceptance of these new policies by anglers and genetic monitoring of refuge populations should also be considered. To improve management supported by genetic refuges, we suggest focusing on areas where the public is more receptive, considering the situation of local native diversity, and monitoring of adjacent introgressed populations. We recommend the use of directional supportive breeding only when a population really needs to be enhanced. In any case, management strategies should be developed to allow for protection within the context of human use. Resumen:,Animales criados en cautiverio derivados de individuos nativos, exóticos o híbridos a menudo son liberados en grandes cantidades en ambientes naturales con la intención de incrementar su explotación. En la trucha común (Salmo trutta), la repoblación con peces no nativos criados en granjas ha sido la principal estrategia de manejo utilizada para mantener o mejorar poblaciones naturales de trucha común en la Peninsula Ibérica y otras regiones Mediterráneas. Esta medida se ha convertido en una seria amenaza para la conservación de la diversidad genética nativa, debido principalmente a la hibridación introgresiva. Consciente de este riesgo, la agencia responsable del manejo de la trucha común en los Pirineos orientales (España) creó"refugios genéticos de trucha común" para preservar la integridad de las acervos genéticos de trucha común en esta región. Dentro de las áreas de refugio, se ha mantenido el estatus previo al refugio con respecto a las actividades pesqueras pero las liberaciones de peces de piscifactoría han sido completamente prohibidas. Evaluamos esta estrategia de manejo mediante la comparación del impacto de la repoblación sobre las poblaciones nativas que registraron historias de repoblación antes y después de la designación de refugios y de actividades pesqueras. En particular, examinamos los significativos retos científicos, culturales y políticos que encontramos. A pesar de la disponibilidad de la agencia para cambiar las políticas de pesca hacia un equilibrio entre la explotación y la conservación, también se debe considerar la aceptación de estas nuevas políticas por los pescadores y el monitoreo genético de las poblaciones en los refugios. Para mejorar el manejo en los refugios genéticos sugerimos centrarse en las áreas donde el público es más receptivo, considerando la situación de la diversidad nativa local y el monitoreo de las poblaciones introgresadas adyacentes. Recomendamos la utilización de la cría de apoyo direccional solo cuando una población realmente requiera ser mejorada. En cualquier caso, se deberían desarrollar estrategias de manejo para permitir la protección en el contexto del uso por el hombre. [source] Paradoxes of Public Sector Customer ServiceGOVERNANCE, Issue 1 2001Jane E. Fountain The use of customer service ideas in government continues to be widespread, although the concept and its implications for public sector service production and delivery remain poorly developed. This paper presents a series of paradoxes related to customer service and its use in government. The central and most troubling paradox is that customer service techniques and tools applied to government may lead to increased political inequality even as some aspects of service are improved. The argument is structured by examination of the following: the predominant structural features of service management in theprivate sector, the assumption that customer satisfaction is a central objective of service firms, the understanding of customer service that informs current federal reform efforts, and the operational and political challenges of customer service as a public management objective. [source] The Eviction of Critical Perspectives from Gentrification ResearchINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 4 2006TOM SLATER Recent years have seen an extraordinary resurgence of interest in the process of gentrification, accompanied by a surge of articles published on the topic. This article looks at some recent literature , both scholarly and popular , and considers the reasons why the often highly critical perspectives on gentrification that we saw in earlier decades have dwindled. Whilst a number of reasons could be put forward, three in particular are discussed. First, the resilience of theoretical and ideological squabbles over the causes of gentrification, at the expense of examining its effects; second, the demise of displacement as a defining feature of the process and as a research question; and third, the pervasive influence of neoliberal urban policies of ,social mix' in central city neighbourhoods. It is argued that the ,eviction' of critical perspectives from a field in which they were once plentiful has serious implications for those at risk from gentrification, and that reclaiming the term from those who have sugarcoated what was not so long ago a ,dirty word' (Smith, 1996) is essential if political challenges to the process can be effective. [source] The Dangers of Hanging Baskets: ,Regulatory Myths' and Media Representations of Health and Safety RegulationJOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY, Issue 3 2009Paul Almond The successful enforcement of health and safety regulation is reliant upon the ability of regulatory agencies to demonstrate the legitimacy of the system of regulatory controls. While ,big cases' are central to this process, there are also significant legitimatory implications associated with ,minor' cases, including media-reported tales of pettiness and heavy-handedness in the interpretation and enforcement of the law. The popular media regularly report stories of ,regulatory unreasonableness', and they can pass quickly into mainstream public knowledge. A story's appeal becomes more important than its factual veracity; they are a form of ,regulatory myth'. This paper discusses the implications of regulatory myths for health and safety regulators, and analyses their challenges for regulators, paying particular attention to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) which has made concerted efforts to address regulatory myths attaching to its activities. It will be shown that such stories constitute sustained normative challenges to the legitimacy of the regulator, and political challenges to the burgeoning regulatory state, because they reflect some of the key concerns of late-modern society. [source] A case for the community college's open access missionNEW DIRECTIONS FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGES, Issue 136 2006Henry D. Shannon America's community colleges have a unique mission to provide open access and affordable education to all who desire to learn. Unfortunately, this core mission is being threatened by myriad economic, social, and political challenges that community college leaders must confront and overcome. [source] Politics of Trade in the USA and in the Obama Administration: Implications for Asian RegionalismASIAN ECONOMIC POLICY REVIEW, Issue 2 2009Claude BARFIELD F12; F13; F5; H7 Over the next four years, the Obama administration will face a series of strategic choices in forging policies to respond to a growing momentum for advances in Asian regional structures. Though faced with domestic political challenges; not least from within his own Democratic party , President Obama and his advisers will need to set a course for the reassertion of US leadership in constructing a trans-Pacific vision, through new US-based free trade agreements, signing on to existing agreements such as the P-4 (Singapore, New Zealand, Brunei, the Philippines), or consolidating existing free trade agreements among Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) nations. In pursuing this vision, the US should take advantage of the fact that the next three APEC leaders meetings are in Singapore (2009), Japan (2010), and the USA (2011); a sequence ripe for synergistic teamwork. [source] Resisting the Global Slum: Politics, Religion and Consumption in the Remaking of Life Worlds in the Twenty-First CenturyBULLETIN OF LATIN AMERICAN RESEARCH, Issue 3 2006John Gledhill The volatility of Latin American society is producing political challenges to neoliberal capitalism, but these are complicated by the transformations neoliberalism has wrought in everyday social life. This paper explores tensions between movements to ,democratise democracy' and politics orientated to controlling the national state, while also considering apolitical forms of ,resistance' to humiliating conditions of life and the impact of new religious movements. I argue that although no instant utopias are likely, there are positive as well as negative possibilities in the way that apparently contradictory developments are combining to transform the established historical contours of hegemony in the region. [source] The 75th anniversary of the World Council of Optometry: Seventy-five years of advancing eye care by optometrists worldwideCLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL OPTOMETRY, Issue 4 2002Damien P Smith PhD AM SUMMARY Over 75 years, the World Council of Optometry has developed as an organisation with the mission and appropriate strategies to improve the quality of eye and vision care around the world, especially by advancing the delivery of that care by educated, regulated, primary care optometrists. However, WCO is unknown to most optometrists and ,international optometry' is not part of the optometric curriculum in our schools, just as it is rarely on the agenda of our professional associations. As a consequence, many optometrists do not understand the difficulties faced by their colleagues in other countries, in both clinical and political challenges. Australian optometrists are regulated by law, educated at state universities, eligible for service coverage by universal health insurance, able to detect disease in the eye using diagnostic agents and, in increasing numbers, able to treat disease in the eye with therapeutic drugs. However, this community standing and professional privilege, taken for granted by most Australian optometrists, cannot be exported. In fact, an Australian optometrist would be jailed in many countries around the world just for doing the ordinary clinical procedures that he or she does on every patient, by routine, day in and day out. All optometrists should feel ownership of WCO and all should have a commitment to its mission to facilitate the enhancement and development of eye and vision care by optometrists worldwide. Australian optometrists are already linked to WCO through their membership of Optometrists Association Australia, which is itself a longstanding and valued member of WCO. To prosper for a further 75 years, WCO needs continued global volunteerism and from those unable to directly participate, financial support through donations and sponsorship. [source] | |||||||||||||