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Policy Issues (policy + issues)
Kinds of Policy Issues Selected AbstractsCOORDINATION OF MONETARY AND FISCAL POLICY IN A MONETARY UNION: POLICY ISSUES AND ANALYTICAL MODELSTHE MANCHESTER SCHOOL, Issue 2007Article first published online: 9 AUG 200, MATTHEW B. CANZONERI The European Monetary Union raises new and interesting questions about the coordination of monetary and fiscal policy. In this lecture, I discuss some of these questions and the answers that a new class of models,new neoclassical synthesis (NNS) models,is currently giving to them. I will argue that the new questions expose some weaknesses in current NNS modeling; in particular, the models do not seem to explain the positive correlation between national inflation and growth differentials that has been observed in the European data. I also review some recent work that has been done on policy coordination within a currency union. [source] Foreword to: Keeping our Promises: Research, Practice, and Policy Issues in Health Care Reliability.HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 4p2 2006A Special Issue of Health Services Research First page of article [source] Ageing with a Lifelong Disability , A Guide to Practice, Program and Policy Issues for Human Services ProfessionalsJOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH IN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES, Issue 4 2005DiAnn Baxley [source] US Foreign Direct Investment in East Asia: Strategy and Policy IssuesASIAN ECONOMIC POLICY REVIEW, Issue 2 2009Mahani ZAINAL ABIDIN F21; F23; F13; F15; L22 East Asian trade and investment policies have attracted US investment into the region, but these policies should be fine-tuned for the region to compete effectively for US investment inflow and increase their global share of US foreign direct investment. The changes should consider the needs of the US investors and East Asia's own economic development. Bilateral free trade agreements with the US are the likely channel for these changes, but the question is whether East Asia is ready for a comprehensive and deep liberalization. East Asia should work toward a regional investment policy framework to facilitate and expand the regional production network developed by the US foreign direct investment. [source] Comment on "US Foreign Direct Investment in East Asia: Strategy and Policy Issues"ASIAN ECONOMIC POLICY REVIEW, Issue 2 2009Shujiro URATA No abstract is available for this article. [source] Comment on "US Foreign Direct Investment in East Asia: Strategy and Policy Issues"ASIAN ECONOMIC POLICY REVIEW, Issue 2 2009Eric D. RAMSTETTER No abstract is available for this article. [source] Policy issues related to the rehabilitation of the surgical cancer patient,JOURNAL OF SURGICAL ONCOLOGY, Issue 5 2007Maria Hewitt DrPH Abstract Four policy challenges that face the rehabilitation community in providing services to surgical cancer patients are reviewed: (1) achieving capacity to meet the complex rehabilitation needs of a growing population of cancer patients and long-term survivors; (2) identifying effective models for delivering cancer rehabilitation services; (3) understanding complex insurance coverage and payment policies and determining their effects on access to rehabilitation services; and (4) investing in clinical and health services research to guide rehabilitation practice. Recommendations are made to increase the recognition of cancer rehabilitation as an essential component of cancer survivors' care, improve access to appropriate rehabilitation services, and accelerate the pace of cancer rehabilitation research. J. Surg. Oncol. 95:370,385. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Conservation Biology in Asia: the Major Policy ChallengesCONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 4 2009JEFFREY A. McNEELY Asia; bosques; comercio de vida silvestres; conflicto humano-animal; economía Abstract:,With about half the world's human population and booming economies, Asia faces numerous challenges to its biodiversity. The Asia Section of the Society for Conservation Biology has identified some key policy issues in which significant progress can be made. These include developing new sources of funding for forest conservation; identifying potential impacts of energy alternatives on the conservation of biodiversity; curbing the trade in endangered species of plants and animals; a special focus on the conservation of mountain biodiversity; enhancing relevant research; ensuring that conservation biology contributes to major international conventions and funding mechanisms; using conservation biology to build a better understanding of zoonotic diseases; more effectively addressing human,animal conflicts; enhancing community-based conservation; and using conservation biology to help address the pervasive water-deficit problems in much of Asia. These challenges can be met through improved regional cooperation among the relevant stakeholders. Resumen:,Con aproximadamente la mitad de la población humana y economías prósperas, Asia enfrenta numerosos retos para su biodiversidad. La sección Asia de la Sociedad para la Biología de la Conservación ha identificado algunos temas políticos claves en los que se puede hacer un progreso significativo. Estos incluyen el desarrollo de nuevas fuentes de financiamiento para la conservación de bosques; la identificación de impactos potenciales de las energías alternativas sobre la conservación de la biodiversidad; reducción del comercio de especies de animales y plantas en peligro; un enfoque especial en la conservación de la biodiversidad montana; promoción de investigación relevante; garantía de que la biología de la conservación contribuye a convenios internacionales y mecanismos de financiamiento; utilización de la biología de la conservación para lograr un mejor entendimiento de enfermedades zoonóticas; mejor atención a los conflictos humanos-animales; reforzamiento de la conservación basada en comunidades y utilización de la biología de la conservación para atender los problemas de déficit de agua en gran parte de Asia. Estos retos se pueden atender mediante una mejor cooperación regional entre los principales actores. [source] ESTIMATING A DOSE-RESPONSE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LENGTH OF STAY AND FUTURE RECIDIVISM IN SERIOUS JUVENILE OFFENDERS,CRIMINOLOGY, Issue 3 2009THOMAS A. LOUGHRAN The effect of sanctions on subsequent criminal activity is of central theoretical importance in criminology. A key question for juvenile justice policy is the degree to which serious juvenile offenders respond to sanctions and/or treatment administered by the juvenile court. The policy question germane to this debate is finding the level of confinement within the juvenile justice system that maximizes the public safety and therapeutic benefits of institutional confinement. Unfortunately, research on this issue has been limited with regard to serious juvenile offenders. We use longitudinal data from a large sample of serious juvenile offenders from two large cities to 1) estimate a causal treatment effect of institutional placement, as opposed to probation, on future rate of rearrest and 2) investigate the existence of a marginal effect (i.e., benefit) for longer length of stay once the institutional placement decision had been made. We accomplish the latter by determining a dose-response relationship between the length of stay and future rates of rearrest and self-reported offending. The results suggest that an overall null effect of placement exists on future rates of rearrest or self-reported offending for serious juvenile offenders. We also find that, for the group placed out of the community, it is apparent that little or no marginal benefit exists for longer lengths of stay. Theoretical, empirical, and policy issues are outlined. [source] Newspaper coverage of drug policy: an analysis of pre-election reporting of the Greens' drug policy in AustraliaDRUG AND ALCOHOL REVIEW, Issue 1 2008SANDRA C. JONES BA Abstract Introduction and Aims. With the headline ,Ecstasy Over The Counter' in a popular daily newspaper, the debate on drug policy officially entered the arena of the 2003 New South Wales (Australia) State Election. The debate resurfaced in the lead-up to the 2004 Australian Federal Election. This paper analyses the pre-election coverage of drug policy issues in four Australian newspapers. Design and Methods. Four high-circulation daily newspapers were monitored for a one-month period prior to both elections and analysed for their coverage of drug policy, particularly with respect to the policy of the Greens. Results. The newspapers took different perspectives on drug policy issues, with two framing it in emotive terms as a moral debate and two framing it as political manoeuvring. Discussion and Conclusion. The newspapers focused upon emotive and sensationalist factors. They did not provide their readers with information or a rationale for the formulation of drug policy, be this from a harm minimisation or zero tolerance perspective. [source] Disability, capacity for work and the business cycle: an international perspectiveECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 63 2010Hugo Benítez-Silva Summary Important policy issues arise from the high and growing number of people claiming disability benefits for reasons of incapacity for work in OECD countries. Economic conditions play an important part in explaining both the stock of disability benefit claimants and inflows to and outflows from that stock. Employing a variety of cross-country and country-specific household panel data sets, as well as administrative data, we find strong evidence that local variations in unemployment have an important explanatory role for disability benefit receipt, with higher total enrolments, lower outflows from rolls and, often, higher inflows into disability rolls in regions and periods of above-average unemployment. In understanding the nature of the cyclical fluctuations and trends in disability it is important to distinguish between work disability and health disability. The former is likely to be influenced by economic conditions and welfare programmes while the latter evolves in a slower fashion with medical technology and demographic changes. There is little evidence of health disability being related to the business cycle, so cyclical variations are driven by work disability. The rise in unemployment due to the current global economic crisis is expected to increase the number of disability insurance claimants. --- Hugo Benítez-Silva, Richard Disney and Sergi Jiménez-Martín [source] Factor mobility and fiscal policy in the EU: policy issues and analytical approachesECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 31 2000David E. Wildasin Increased integration of labour and capital markets creates significant challenges for the welfare states of modern Europe. Taxation of capital and labour that finances extensive programmes of cash and in-kind redistribution creates incentives for capital owners and workers to locate in regions where they obtain favourable fiscal treatment. Competition among countries for mobile resources constrains their ability to alter the distribution of income and may lead to reductions in the size and scope of redistributive policies. Mobility of labour and capital is imperfect, however. Recent trends indicate that labour and capital are neither perfectly mobile nor perfectly immobile, but rather adjust gradually to market conditions and economic policies. This paper presents an explicitly dynamic analysis showing that governments can achieve some redistribution when it is costly for factors of production to relocate. As the costs of factor mobility fall, however, the effectiveness of redistributive policies is more limited, and governments have weaker incentives to pursue them. Liberalized immigration policies, EU enlargement, and other steps that promote integration of the factors markets of Western Europe with those of surrounding regions thus present a challenge to policy-makers if they also wish to maintain fiscal systems with extensive redistribution. [source] Consumer ,sovereignty' and policy issues in the development of product ecolabelsENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND GOVERNANCE, Issue 1 2001Alain Nadaï Quality labels are increasingly focused on products' characteristics, requiring heavy scientific expertise to be assessed. Economists approach these labels as market mechanisms , i.e. signalling, reputation, or market differentiation , and ignore their institutional dimension. We contend that, by doing so, they do not address key problems faced by the regulators when developing these labels. The first part fleshes out this idea by examining the institutional dimension of the European ecolabel. We present the negotiation of the paints and varnishes ecolabelling criteria, a success story. The second part discusses three theoretical approaches to product labelling and proposes directions for further research on the subject. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] The supply side initiative as an international collaboration to study alcohol supply, drinking, and consequences: current knowledge, policy issues, and research opportunitiesADDICTION, Issue 12s4 2000Harold D. Holder First page of article [source] Arbitrage and Abuse of Rights in the EC Legal SystemEUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 3 2008Pierre Schammo Its aim is to explain the concepts, describe their relationship and identify the legal and policy issues which they raise within the EC legal system. Arbitrage and abuse figure prominently in the ECJ's case-law, especially on the freedom of movement. In its more recent case-law, the ECJ has adopted a more developed approach to abuse of rights by laying down a two-prong test. This article seeks to draw legal and policy conclusions by examining inter alia the virtues and vices of the EC doctrine of abuse of rights. [source] Economic Capabilities, Choices and Outcomes at Older Ages,FISCAL STUDIES, Issue 3 2006James Banks Abstract Intense policy and academic interest in the ,economics of ageing' has come about as a result of the demographic trends that have been experienced over the last 50 years and that are projected for the next 50 years. Key economic policy issues relate to the design of public pensions, welfare systems, healthcare and invalidity benefits, and the regulation of private pensions and other retirement saving. This paper presents an overview of the beginnings of a research agenda targeted towards increasing the empirical evidence on these issues in England and providing extensive data for subsequent research. The paper focuses on summarising some recent data on how individuals' economic circumstances, and in particular the ability and willingness to work, change from age 50 onwards. This will be a key factor in determining the ability of economic institutions to adjust to new socio-demographic equilibria in which individuals are living for longer. Further issues for more extensive empirical research are also identified. [source] Constituting Interests and Identities in a Two-Level Game: Understanding the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Dam Conflict,FOREIGN POLICY ANALYSIS, Issue 1 2009Stephen Deets This paper uses the conflict between Hungary and Slovakia over the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Dam to examine two foreign policy issues. The first is how states determine their interests and how perception of gains and losses arise and change. The second is the reality that international norms are rarely clear and often conflict, making answering questions of whether states have "internalized" or are abiding by norms problematic. This case is a good vehicle for addressing these questions as the dam dispute began during the communist period and has continued through the political and economic transitions to European Union membership. It also was the focus of a groundbreaking International Court of Justice case on the application of ecological necessity to treaty obligations. Fleshing out the model of a two-level game with insights from other theoretical perspectives, this article argues the key to this stalemate is the interrelated process through which state identity and understandings of vital interests change, creating frames in each state around different international norms. [source] Interest Rate Volatility Prior to Monetary Union under Alternative Pre-Switch RegimesGERMAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 4 2003Bernd Wilfling Interest rate volatility; term structure; exchange rate arrangements; intervention policy; stochastic processes Abstract. The volatility of interest rates is relevant for many financial applications. Under realistic assumptions the term structure of interest rate differentials provides an important predictor of the term structure of interest rates. This paper derives the term structure of differentials in a situation in which two open economies plan to enter a monetary union in the future. Two systems of floating exchange rates prior to the union are considered, namely a free-float and a managed-float regime. The volatility processes of arbitrary-term differentials under the respective pre-switch arrangements are compared. The paper elaborates the singularity of extremely short-term (i.e. instantaneous) interest rates under extensive leaning-against-the-wind interventions and discusses policy issues. [source] Measuring Monetary Policy in Germany: A Structural Vector Error Correction ApproachGERMAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 3 2003Imke Brüggemann Monetary policy; cointegration; structural VAR analysis Abstract. A structural vector error correction (SVEC) model is used to investigate several monetary policy issues. While being data-oriented the SVEC framework allows structural modeling of the short-run and long-run properties of the data. The statistical model is estimated with monthly German data for 1975,98 where a structural break is detected in 1984. After splitting the sample, three stable long-run relations are found in each subsample which can be interpreted in terms of a money-demand equation, a policy rule and a relation for real output, respectively. Since the cointegration restrictions imply a particular shape of the long-run covariance matrix this information can be used to distinguish between permanent and transitory innovations in the estimated system. Additional restrictions are introduced to identify a monetary policy shock. [source] The Appreciative System of Urban ICT Policies: An Analysis of Perceptions of Urban Policy MakersGROWTH AND CHANGE, Issue 2 2004GALIT COHEN-BLANKSHTAIN ABSTRACT Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become an important tool to promote a variety of public goals and policies. In the past years much attention has been given to the expected social benefits from deploying ICTs in different urban fields (transportation, education, public participation in planning, etc.) and to its potential to mitigate various current or emerging urban problems. The growing importance of ICTs in daily life, business activities, and governance prompts the need to consider ICTs more explicitly in urban policies. Alongside the expectation that the private sector will play a major role in the ICT field, the expected benefits from ICTs also encourage urban authorities to formulate proper public ICT policies. Against this background, various intriguing research questions arise. What are the urban policy-makers' expectations about ICTs? And how do they assess the future implications of ICTs for their city? A thorough analysis of these questions will provide a better understanding of the extent to which urban authorities are willing to invest in and to adopt a dedicated ICT policy. This study is focusing on the way urban decision-makers perceive the opportunities of ICT policy. After a sketch of recent development and policy issues, a conceptual model is developed to map out the driving forces of urban ICT policies in cities in Europe. Next, by highlighting the importance of understanding the decision-maker's "black box," three crucial variables are identified within this box. In the remaining part of the paper these three variables will be operationalized by using a large survey comprising more than 200 European cities. By means of statistical multivariate methods (i.e., factor and cluster analysis), the decision-makers were able to be characterized according to the way they perceive their city (the concept of "imaginable city"), their opinion about ICT, and the way they assess the relevance of ICT policies to their city. Next, a solid explanatory framework will be offered by using a log-linear logit analysis to test the relationships between these three aspects. [source] What should be given a priority , costly medications for relatively few people or inexpensive ones for many?HEALTH EXPECTATIONS, Issue 2 2008The Health Parliament public consultation initiative in Israel Abstract Background, In the past two decades, government and civic organizations have been implementing a wide range of deliberative public consultations on health care-related policy. Drawing on these experiences, a public consultation initiative in Israel called the Health Parliament was established. Goals, To implement a public consultation initiative that will engage members of the public in the discussion of four healthcare policy questions associated with equity in health services and on priorities for determining which medications and treatments should be included in the basket of national health services. Method, One hundred thirty-two participants from the general population recruited through a random sample were provided with background materials and met over several months in six regional sites. Dilemma activities were used and consultants were available for questions and clarifications. Participants presented their recommendations in a national assembly to the Minister of Health. Outcomes, Across the regional groups the recommendations were mostly compatible, in particular regarding considering the healthcare system's monetary state, even at the expense of equity, but for each policy question minority views were also expressed. A strong emphasis in the recommendations was pragmatism. Conclusion, Participants felt the experience was worthwhile; though the actual impact of their recommendations on policy making was indirect, they were willing to participate in future consultations. However, despite enthusiasm the initiative was not continued. Issues raised are whether consultation initiatives must have a direct impact on healthcare policy decisions or can be mainly a venue to involve citizens in the deliberation of healthcare policy issues. [source] States, Social Policies and Globalisations Arguing on the Right Terrain?IDS BULLETIN, Issue 4 2000Mick Moore Summaries The debate about future social policies in OECD countries is framed in the light of rich country concerns, notably of a ,welfare state at risk'. Because globalisation processes can plausibly be presented as a major source of threat, there is a temptation to generalise the analysis globally, and to assume that social policy issues in poor countries are fundamentally the same as in OECD states. The debate about the future of social policy in poor countries should not be framed in terms of OECD concerns. Three more specific points underpin this general argument: (a) Economic globalisation is not necessarily a threat. There are good historical reasons for believing that it may create political pressures to extend as well as to shrink social provision in poor countries; (b) There is a fundamental problem of state incapacity in much of the poor world that makes many OECD-based arguments about the proper role of the state appear redundant. Greater state capacity will itself lead to more effective social policies; and (c) It makes little sense for poor countries to resist, on grounds of potential adverse impacts on social policy, the trends toward the adoption of either New Public Management practices or the broader shift from ,positive' to regulatory states. Whatever changes occur in the architecture of poor states, more effective regulation will remain an urgent need. [source] Assessing and managing contaminated sediments: Part I, developing an effective investigation and risk evaluation strategyINTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2005Sabine E. Apitz Abstract This is the first of a two-part review of the current state-of-the-science pertaining to the assessment and management of contaminated sediments. The goal of this review is to introduce some of the major technical and policy issues stemming from the assessment and management of contaminated sediments, highlight a number of aspects of contaminated sediment assessment and management found to be successful, and, when appropriate, address the barriers that still exist for improving contaminated sediment management. In this paper, Part I, the many key elements of an effective investigation and risk evaluation strategy are reviewed, beginning with the development of a conceptual site model (CSM) and including a discussion of some of the key factors influencing the design of sediment investigations and ecological risk assessment of sediment-bound chemicals on aquatic biota. In Part II of this paper (Apitz et al. 2005), various approaches are reviewed for evaluating sediment risk and monitoring sediment remedy effectiveness. While many of the technical and policy issues described in this review are relevant to dredged material management, the focus of this paper is on sediment assessment for environmental management. [source] A common European foreign policy after Iraq?INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, Issue 3 2003Brian Crowe Taking as read the wide range of other instruments that the EU has for international influence (enlargement, aid, trade, association and other arrangements, etc.), the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), under pressure from the Kosovo conflict, has been shaped by two important decisions in 1999: the creation of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) to give the EU a military capability when NATO as a whole is not engaged, and the appointment as the new High Representative for the CFSP of a high-profile international statesman rather than a senior civil servant. A major European effort will still be needed if Europe is to be effective militarily, whether in the EU/ESDP or NATO framework. The management of the CFSP has been held back by the doctrine of the equality of all member states regardless of their actual contribution. This in turn leads to a disconnect between theory (policy run by committee in Brussels) and practice (policy run by the High Representative working with particular member states and other actors, notably the US). It has been difficult for Javier Solana to develop the authority to do this, not in competition with the Commission as so widely and mistakenly believed, as with member states themselves, and particularly successive rotating presidencies. It is important that misdiagnosis does not lead to politically correct solutions that end up with the cure worse than the disease. Ways need to be found to assure to the High Representative the authority to work with third countries and with the member states making the real contribution, while retaining the support of all. Then, with its own military capability, the EU can have a CFSP that is the highest common factor rather than the lowest common denominator, with member states ready to attach enough priority to the need for common policies to give Europeans a strong influence in the big foreign policy issues of the day. [source] Spectrum policy issues for state and local governmentINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NETWORK MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2006Nancy Jesuale This paper describes challenges in the United States faced by local and state governments in providing advanced technical infrastructure for efficient delivery of public services, under current and proposed federal spectrum and telecommunications policy. The potential impact of new wireless communications technologies, particularly cognitive radio and broadband convergence, is discussed. Within this context, the U.S. spectrum policy issues important to state and local governments are highlighted. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Trade and associated groups in the English tourism policy arenaINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH, Issue 6 2001Duncan Tyler Abstract The role and influence of trade and associated groups in England's tourism policy environment is of increasing importance given recent changes in the consultative processes undertaken by the Department of Culture Media and Sport (the government department sponsoring the tourism industry in Parliament). Yet researchers working within the realm of tourism studies have paid little attention to their characteristics, objectives and tactics. This article, therefore, sets out to address these issues by drawing on the results of phase one of a two-phase research project into the influence of trade and associated groups on policy development. The article reports the findings of a survey into the objectives and tactics used by the groups in policy communications and links this to structural changes in the landscape of the tourism policy. In doing this it suggests how certain relationships have developed between government and groups, how groups collaborate on policy issues and how this may have influenced the direction of tourism policy in the England. Using the results of this research and an analysis of government policy related announcements over the past two years we hypothesise on how successful the groups have been to data, and proposes areas for future research. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The Influence of Google on Urban Policy in Developing CountriesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 1 2010RICHARD TOMLINSON Abstract ,Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.' In the case of urban policy in developing countries, Google not only provides information, e.g. the size of a city's population, but also knowledge, e.g. analyses of urban issues and policies. Based on research conducted between January and May 2008, we argue that googling urban policy issues contributes to hegemonic policy perspectives; that the manner in which Google organizes knowledge limits access to alternative policy perspectives and debate; and that this is not in the public interest. We make three claims. The first is that the World Bank, the Cities Alliance and UN Habitat together dominate explanations of urban issues and appropriate policies. The second is that googling policy issues contributes to this dominance. The third claim is that Google especially serves this purpose when the query ,keywords' can be used as labels whose conceptualization can be ,owned'. These claims are demonstrated through explaining how the Google search engine works and creates ,biases'; and then through googling ,city development strategy', ,slum upgrading', and ,municipal services, finances and capacity building in developing countries'. We further demonstrate that finding potential alternative policies requires perseverance and time and pre-existing knowledge of what the policy issues might be. Résumé ,Google a pour mission d'organiser les informations à l'échelle mondiale dans le but de les rendre accessibles et utiles à tous.' En matière de politique urbaine dans les pays en développement, Google fournit des informations (chiffres de la population d'une ville, par exemple), mais aussi du savoir (comme les analyses des enjeux et des politiques de la ville). Une étude menée entre janvier et mai 2008 permet de montrer que les recherches via Google sur les questions de politique urbaine contribuent à des approches politiques hégémoniques, que le mode d'organisation du savoir par Google limite l'accès à des points de vue et débats alternatifs, et que cette situation ne répond pas à l'intérêt public. Trois observations sont formulées: d'abord, la Banque mondiale, l'Alliance des villes et l'ONU-Habitat monopolisent les explications sur les questions urbaines et les politiques appropriées; ensuite, interroger Google sur les enjeux de politique publique contribue à cette hégémonie; enfin, Google va dans ce sens lorsque les ,mots clés' de recherche peuvent servir de ,dénominations' pour des concepts renvoyant à des ,propriétaires'. À l'appui de ces affirmations, nous expliquons comment le moteur de recherche de Google fonctionne et crée des ,distorsions', puis nous présentons les résultats d'interrogations sur ,city development strategy', ,slum upgrading' et ,municipal services, finances and capacity building in developing countries'. Nous montrons également que trouver des politiques alternatives potentielles exige persévérance et temps, ainsi qu'une connaissance préalable des enjeux de politique publique. [source] Refugee Women in Europe: Some Aspects of the Legal and Policy DimensionsINTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 2 2000Alice Bloch This article presents an overview of the legal and policy issues affecting refugee and asylum-seeking women in European host societies. First, it explores the unique types of persecution experienced by women and shows that the asylum determination process, along with the status of women relative to men, mitigates against the effective protection of women. The legal basis for asylum, the evidential requirements and the procedural norms all reduce the protection which is likely to be conferred upon asylum-seeking women. Second, the article provides an overview of responses to female refugees and asylum-seekers in European countries of asylum. Although there are differences between countries, there is also a large degree of uniformity. For example, there is a lack of recognition and understanding of the diversity and the range of experiences which refugees bring with them, including different social and cultural norms. Moreover, European policies do not provide special provisions to facilitate the settlement of refugee women and instead place barriers to their social and economic participation. Third, the article examines policies for family reunion in different countries and shows that such unfavourable and unsympathetic policies mitigate against the settlement of refugee women. Finally, the article argues that if refugee and asylum-seeking women are to have their cases recognized and to be successfully settled, then there needs to be a complete rethink of legislation and policy in Europe. [source] Articulating the Nexus of Politics and Law: War in Iraq and the Practice within Two Legal SystemsINTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2008Philip Liste Does law rule foreign affairs in the democratic state? Basically, one might expect that democratic executives operate on the ground of what is called the Rechtsstaat, and that in a political system with checks and balances operations,especially those eventually dropping out of that ground,are subject to judicial review. However, legal systems are more often than not willing to abstain from a legal governance of its countries' foreign policy,because of "political reasons." Moreover, democracies obviously vary according to their legal operations. At least in the area of foreign affairs, the relationship of democracy and law does not take up a necessary character. Facing this contingency, the article engages in the discursive construction of a politics and law nexus in the course of the operations of two legal systems, in the United States and Germany. For that reason, it will proceed by deconstructing two legal decisions related to the war in Iraq. Building upon the premise that legal practices are intertwined into a larger web of (legal) text, the article argues that the possibility of a judicial abstention in cases bearing reference to foreign policy issues depends on meaning produced in the course of the signification and positioning of discursive elements like "politics" and "law." Thus, speaking law is a politico-legal practice. [source] OECD Efforts to Address the Measurement and Policy Challenges Posed by the Information SocietyINTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL REVIEW, Issue 1 2003Andrew W. Wyckoff Summary The OECD has acted as a forum for the discussion of policies regarding the information society for over 20-years, producing guidelines and recommendations in areas such as privacy of personal information, computer security, cryptography, regulatory reform of communications, and most recently on-line consumer protection and the taxation of e-commerce. By and large, this work was undertaken without the benefit of statistical measures. But the economic performance of a number of OECD Member countries during the 1990s underscores that the policy challenges being posed by the information society are increasingly economic in nature,how ICT is affecting productivity, growth rates, inflation, labour markets etc.,necessitating the need for statistically rigorous data. This paper outlines how recent efforts by national statistical offices to improve this situation have allowed researchers to gain new insight into the economic impact associated with ICTs and applications like e-commerce, leading to a number of policy recommendations as to how best to exploit the economic potential of these technologies. The paper ends by outlining important policy issues that require new statistical efforts. Résumé L'OCDE offre aux gouvernements depuis plus de 20 ans un cadre de discussion sur les questions liées à la société de l'Information et propose des lignes directrices ainsi que des recommandations sur des sujets tels que la vie privée et l'informatique, la sécurité informatique, la cryptographie, la réforme réglementaire en matière de communications et, plus récemment, la protection des consommateurs en-ligne et la fiscalité en matière de commerce électronique. Jusqu'ici, ce travail a été plus ou moins accompli sans le bénéfice d'études statistiques approfondies. Cependant, à en juger des performances économiques d'un certain nombre de pays membres de l'OCDE au cours des années 90, il est évident que les problèmes auxquels est confrontée la société de l'Information ont un caractère de plus en plus économique,l'impact des technologies de l'information et des communications sur la productivité, les taux de croissance, l'inflation, le marché de l'emploi, etc.,et nécessitent des statistiques fiables. Le présent document explique comment les offices nationaux des statistiques ont contribué par leurs efforts à améliorer la situation en donnant aux chercheurs les moyens de mieux comprendre l'impact des technologies de l'information et des communications (TIC), notamment du commerce électronique, sur l'économie. Enfin, ce travail a abouti à un certain nombre de recommandations sur la meilleure façon pour les pouvoirs publics d'exploiter le potentiel économique de ces technologies. La dernière partie du document met en exergue des problèmes importants liés à la politique économique qui nécessitent de nouveaux efforts en matière de statistiques. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||