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This paper examines how two Australian land use planning systems address the creation of hazard resilient communities in tropical areas. The application of substantive hazard knowledge and how this influences the associated procedures within the planning system is examined. The case studies of Darwin the capital of the Northern Territory, and the beachside suburb of Machans Beach within the Cairns Regional Council in far north Queensland are investigated. Both case study locations have experienced tropical cyclones since settlement and despite their hazard prone locations, both have intensified over their 120 year existence. Moreover, it is predicted that cyclones in tropical Australia will decrease in number, but increase in intensity. It would be rational to assume that industry, community and government would actively pursue planning strategies to negate the risks of natural hazards and the corresponding level of vulnerability to a hazard event. However, neither communities nor planning are driven by rational technical decision making processes. The paper concludes that the rhetoric for creating hazard resilient communities dominates national and state government policy, however this has minimal influence upon the legal framework that protects development rights. It would appear that the safe development paradox is present in the Australian land use planning system, and that the focus of planning is on creating certainty of development rights and achieving efficiencies through urban settlement patterns, as opposed to creating hazard resilient communities.

Central Asian regimes have effectively maintained autocratic systems and have been rather impervious to western policies of democratisation. This paper takes a critical reading of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's (PA) role in promoting democratic governance in Central Asia, arguing that there are two main reasons for the institution's limited successes in the region, namely the very nature of the International Parliamentary Institutions, which have limited ability to activate political influence at the governmental level; and the inability of the OSCE PA to develop more active networks with transnational civil society to enhance transparency and participation in Central Asia.

Governance for health describes the attempts of governments and other actors to steer communities, whole countries or even groups of countries in the pursuit of health as integral to well-being. This study tracks recent governance innovations to address the priority determinants of health and categorizes them into five strategic approaches to smart governance for health. It relates the emergence of joint action by the health and non-health sectors, public and private actors and citizens, all of whom have an increasing role to play in achieving seminal changes in 21st century societies. The chapters presented here were initially commissioned as papers to provide the evidence base for the new European policy framework for health and well-being, Health 2020. Calling for a health-in-all-policies, whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, Health 2020 uses governance as a lens through which to view all technical areas of health.

This 'perspective' paper highlights the evolving concept and idea of Corporate Human Rights Responsibility (CHRR) under international law. The paper thus aims to rectify the scarcity of such a notion within the existing frameworks, and its related significance to other concepts of corporate responsibility and governance. On 11 June 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Council endorsed the 'Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights' as a new set of guiding principles for global business designed to provide a global standard for preventing and addressing the risk of adverse impacts on human rights linked to business activity. This paper develops and builds upon the emerging concept of CHRR in the context of Emerging Market Multinationality (EMM), by proposing that multinational corporation (MNCs) be more proactive in taking on board CHRR within their corporate governance (CG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) agendas, so as to avoid future risks of being sued and taken to court. This paper thus aims to use concepts of and alternatives under international law of establishing CHRR, which reflect on existing legislative and political initiatives like the above cited business principles as well as the failed 'Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights' of 2003. Based on related initiatives such as CSR and good CG practice, this article further calls for a holistic approach, which combines the existing elements and which is to be borne by a multitude of stakeholders, i.e. consumers, employees to executive directors. The current literature suggests paucity and underrepresentation of research on the legal facets of human right responsibilities on the part of MNCs in emerging economies such as India. The 'ghost' of the Bhopal tragedy twenty seven years ago in India still haunts us and has resurfaced with Dow Chemicals, then Union Carbide, who was responsible for the tragedy, also having sponsored the 2012 London Olympics, and gained more bad press, than good. This study thus specifically looks at India, through the 'unique', chronological and time-line (longitudinal) case of Bhopal, to elucidate our concept of CHRR.

The objective of this paper is to examine (in a historical perspective) the roles of the European Union (EU) and Canada in governance and regulation of human activities in the Arctic Ocean. Section two describes the existing "tangled" nature of governance in the Arctic with a focus on law of the sea, approaches and challenges in the region, as well as on EU and Canadian participation in the activities of the Arctic Council. The "shifting seascape" in governance is next highlighted in section three with a review of increasing calls for change from scholars and other groups, recent governance initiatives from the United States and Arctic Ocean coastal states, and evolving EU and Canadian perspectives towards ocean governance. The paper concludes with section four, which surveys possible future directions for strengthening ocean governance in the Arctic, with the spectrum of options including, among others, expanding the spatial scopes of the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC), established by the NEAFC Convention, and the OSPAR Commission, established by the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR) Convention, and reform by means of an Implementing Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOS).This paper was co-authored with Timo Koivurova, University of Lapland (timo.koivurova@ulapland.fi) and Erik Molenaar, Utrecht University (e.j.molenaar@uu.nl).

As Katz and Bradley (2013) document, the confluence of partisan politics and budget cuts have left the federal government and to a lesser extent, state governments impotent to address the countless economic and education challenges facing the United States. Out of necessity, metros and regions are taking the lead in collaborating, innovating, and governing in Post-Recession America. Instead of waiting for federal or state governments to impose prescriptive, one-size fits all solutions, localities are seizing opportunities to strengthen their economies by working with stakeholders to develop policies tailored to their unique and complicated needs. ; The Lincy Institute Policy Brief Education Series