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In 1989, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), a seminal instrument in protecting the rights of children. Uniquely, this convention was the only one to receive near universal ratification, with African countries comprising half of the first 20 to sign the convention. Ghana was first among these countries to ratify the convention. This set off a bandwagon effect of other African countries quickly ratifying the convention. However, a year later, African governments reacted to their low involvement in the drafting process of the UNCRC and also to what they thought to be an inadequate representation of the real experience of the African child in the UNCRC. Consequently, this group adopted their own version of the convention – the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC). However, unlike the experience with the UNCRC, African nations were not quick to ratify their own Charter; the ACRWC is hardly discussed in public and policy forums in Africa, and its use among those charged with the protection of children is minimal. Using the lenses of policy diffusion, I assess the influence of coercion and emulation mechanisms on privileging the UNCRC which is used as the main organizing framework for child rights in most African countries. Additionally, I look at how Ghana's political reputation influenced other African adopters, an effect which was not replicated with the ratification of the ACRWC. Implications for social work research, policy and practice are discussed.

AbstractThis article helps to better understand the role orientations of the Central European Members of the European Parliament, the factors that influence their strategies, and the relationship between their roles and activities. Based on the results of a quantitative survey research with MEPs from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia in the 2009–2014 term, I argue that it is possible to explain the political roles of MEPs by their attitudes towards politics and policy, and the territorial focus of representation (European vs. national level). Due to the internal mechanisms of the EP and its position in the multi-level governance system of European politics, these two dimensions represent dilemmas that all MEPs face, when it comes to the efficient use of their scarce resources: time and energy. This study demonstrates that socio-demographic factors, attitudes and political socialization all have an influence on what roles MEPs choose. The time spent in the EP, age, previous political experience, party affiliation, left-right self-definition and career ambitions are all important factors that can explain the political behavior of MEPs. The Central European MEPs' focus on politics vs. policy and the European vs. national political arena have different roots, and different variables explain them. Orientation towards politics and policy largely depends on previous political experience and future career ambitions. Focus on the European or the national level is best explained by age, party affiliation and left-right self-definition.

Decision analysis tools and mathematical modeling are increasingly emphasized in malaria control programs worldwide to improve resource allocation and address ongoing challenges with sustainability. However, such tools require substantial scientific evidence, which is costly to acquire. The value of information (VOI) has been proposed as a metric for gauging the value of reduced model uncertainty. We apply this concept to an evidenced‐based Malaria Decision Analysis Support Tool (MDAST) designed for application in East Africa. In developing MDAST, substantial gaps in the scientific evidence base were identified regarding insecticide resistance in malaria vector control and the effectiveness of alternative mosquito control approaches, including larviciding. We identify four entomological parameters in the model (two for insecticide resistance and two for larviciding) that involve high levels of uncertainty and to which outputs in MDAST are sensitive. We estimate and compare a VOI for combinations of these parameters in evaluating three policy alternatives relative to a status quo policy. We find having perfect information on the uncertain parameters could improve program net benefits by up to 5–21%, with the highest VOI associated with jointly eliminating uncertainty about reproductive speed of malaria‐transmitting mosquitoes and initial efficacy of larviciding at reducing the emergence of new adult mosquitoes. Future research on parameter uncertainty in decision analysis of malaria control policy should investigate the VOI with respect to other aspects of malaria transmission (such as antimalarial resistance), the costs of reducing uncertainty in these parameters, and the extent to which imperfect information about these parameters can improve payoffs.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the long-run relationship and short-term linkage between the Asian REIT markets and their respective macroeconomic variables.Design/methodology/approach– The data collected comprised total return REIT Index from Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and South Korea and their macroeconomic variables from the date of availability of the data until December 2014. The macroeconomic variables are either available in monthly or quarterly basis, they will be separately tested with REIT Index respectively to their frequency. All the variables are tested for its stationarity prior to the investigation of their long-run relationship and short-term linkage using Johansen cointegration test and Granger causality test.Findings– The results showed that certain of the emerging REIT markets show a higher degree of integration with macroeconomic variables in the long run. This implies that the emerging REIT markets are more sensitive towards the change in macroeconomic environment in relative to the developed REIT markets.Practical implications– The paper implied that the distinction of each market structure and their unique way of policy implementation. The findings can assists policy makers to understand about the significance of policy implementation on the Asian REIT markets prior to decision making and also for the portfolio management my asset managers.Originality/value– The paper is one of the few attempts at assessing the long-term relationship and short term linkage between the Asian REIT markets and the macroeconomic variables.

La política exterior argentina durante los gobiernos de Cristina Fernández continuó los lineamientos principales establecidos por Néstor Kirchner: inserción latinoamericana, especialmente en Sudamérica; posturas multilaterales revisionistas y articulación de la gestión externa con las necesidades del desarrollo nacional y la búsqueda de autonomía. Sin embargo, su administración se vio afectada por una mayor cantidad de condicionantes internos e internacionales que complejizaron la proyección regional y global del país y derivaron en una serie de cambios en la política exterior. En este artículo trataremos de identificar cuáles fueron esas modificaciones e intentaremos reflexionar sobre si las mismas se implementaron para modificar el rumbo de la política exterior o, por el contrario, se llevaron adelante para consolidar el rumbo preexistente. ; Argentina´s Foreign Policy during the government of Cristina Fernández continued with the main guidelines established by Nestor Kirchner: Latin American integration, particularly with Southamerican countries; revisionist positions at multilateral levels; and the pursuit of national development and autonomy. However, her administration was affected by a larger number of domestic and international conditions that complicated the regional and global projection of the country which led to a series of changes in foreign policy. This article will try to identify what were these main changes and try to reflect on whether they were implemented to change the course of Argentina´s foreign policy or, conversely, were carried out to consolidate the existing course of action. ; Instituto de Relaciones Internacionales (IRI)

International audience ; Neben den skandinavischen Staaten steht Frankreich unter den Mitgliedsländernder Europäischen Union in der Bereitstellung ganztägiger öffentlicher Kinderbetreuung und Vorschule an erster Stelle.Dennoch spiegeln die seit Mitte der 1980er Jahre eingeführten Reformenim Bereich der Kinderbetreuung auch den zunehmenden Einfluss der Beschäftigungspolitikauf die Familienpolitik wider. Trotz der Rhetorik der "Wahlfreiheit" steht aufgrund der ungleichen Machtverhältnisse zwischender Arbeitgeber- und der Arbeitnehmerseite der Kampf gegen die Arbeitslosigkeitund die Entwicklung einer "workfare" Politik ganz oben auf derAgenda. Das zeigt, dass Wohlfahrtsregime in erheblichem Maße von den Anforderungendes Arbeitsmarktes abhängen, auf die die Arbeitsmarktpolitikim engeren Sinne und die Sozialpolitik im weiteren Sinne ebenso wie die Familienpolitikreagieren. Durch die Bereitstellung flexiblerer Kinderbetreuungsarrangements,die es berufstätigen Eltern ermöglichen, den Anforderungenihrer Arbeitgeber nachzukommen, hat die Politik den Interessen derKinder in den letzten Jahrzehnten tendenziell den zweiten Rang zugewiesen. ; It has widely been recognised that the French childcare system has many strengths. In recent years, however, in the context of economic uncertainties, policy makers have been confronted with new tensions and dilemmas. While France has continued over the last decade to progressively consolidate and enhance its promotion of policies to support the work/family life balance, the introduction of new laws in the domain of early childhood education and care has mirrored the growing hold of employment policies over childcare policies.French childcare policy is, therefore, currently facing new challenges linked to the numerous and dramatic changes which have occurred both on the labour market and in the family sphere. And policy makers have to deal with tensions and difficult trade offs. In a context where their room of manoeuvre is limited as a result of tight budgetary constraints, ensuring high quality provision seems at odds with affordability and availability of places for under-threes.

Esta tesis analiza las alternativas de política pública y regulación normativa sobre la estructura de la tierra en sociedades que adelantan políticas de transición de la guerra a la paz. Para ello, la tesis se concentra en el estudio del caso colombiano y, particularmente, de la implementación de la política de restitución de tierras adoptada a partir de la Ley 1448 de 2011y su legislación complementaria. Tras analizar las características de esta política, la tesis propone una teoría normativa, denominada como Justicia transicional civil, que busca llenar los vacíos jurídicos y de política pública que podrían hacer fracasar intentos de restitución como este al no considerar los desafíos jurídicos que presenta la implementación de una política pública compleja como es la restitución masiva de tierras en un contexto de inequidad histórica en el acceso a la tierra. (texto tomado de la fuente) ; This dissertation evaluates normative regulations and policy alternatives of land administration in societies that are transitioning from war to peace. To this end, the dissertation studies the case of Colombia and focuses on the process of implementation of its land restitution program, adopted by Law 1448 of 2011. After a detailed analysis of such policy, the dissertation proposes a normative theory – called Civil Transitional Justice – to fill in legal and policy gaps that usually result in failed efforts of this nature. The theory seeks to provide a normative framework that can overcome legal challenges preventing the implementation of land restitution programs in contexts of historic unequal land access. ; Doctorado

Europa ist ein langfristiges Erfolgsmodell, weist aber seit der Finanzkrise ein niedriges Wachstum und eine erhöhte Arbeitslosigkeit auf. Die Einkommensdifferenzen sind zudem hoch. Europa hält sich auch nicht an seine geplante längerfristige Strategie. Die Notwendigkeit einer immer stärkeren Integration wird von den Bürgern nicht akzeptiert. Sezessionsbestrebungen und politische Polarisierung sind die Folgen. Karl Aiginger und Teresa Bauer beleuchten in diesem Zusammenhang die Rolle der europäischen Industrie, ihre relative Entwicklung im Verhältnis zur Gesamtwirtschaft und zu den USA. Auch Industriepolitik braucht neue Konzepte und eine stärkere Anbindung an gesellschaftliche Ziele; dies nicht zuletzt, um falsche, nur kurzfristig attraktive Ansätze zu verhindern. ; Europe is a long-run success model in a mid-life crisis. In the wake of the financial crisis, European growth has been low, unemployment is high and income disparity has increased - developments that have resulted in less support for the European project, manifested in populism and Brexit. The best answer to the current problems is a new strategy based on new drivers of growth and "Beyond GDP" goals, as proposed in the WWWforEurope project. A new industrial policy would be an important part of the new European strategy. It has to be systemic, working in alignment with competition, energy and innovation policy, and it must support social and ecological goals instead of calling for cheap labour or energy as a precondition for success. High ecological standards will lead to a competitive advantage for Europe in technologies that will become all-important if the Paris 2015 goal of decarbonisation is implemented. A European technology lead in low-carbon technologies, energy efficiency and renewables constitutes a core part of a new industrial policy that can help Europe end its mid-life crisis. It should be implemented in a European-wide dialogue with industry and citizens.

A large theoretical and empirical literature explores whether politicians and political parties change their policy positions in response to voters' preferences. This paper asks the opposite question: do political parties affect public attitudes on important policy issues? Problems of reverse causality and omitted variable bias make this a difficult question to answer empirically. We study attitudes towards the signature policies of small parties in Sweden using panel data from 290 municipal election districts. To identify causal effects, we take advantage of large nonlinearities in the function which assigns council seats, comparing otherwise similar elections where one party either barely wins or loses an additional seat. We estimate that a one seat increase for the anti-nuclear party reduces support for nuclear energy in that municipality by 3.3 percentage points. In contrast, when an anti-immigration or far left politician gets elected, negative attitudes towards immigration decrease by 4.8 percentage points and support for a six hour workday falls by 3.2 percentage points, respectively, in opposition to each party's policy position. Mirroring these attitudinal changes, the anti-nuclear party receives more votes in the next election after gaining a seat, while the anti-immigrant and far left parties lose their incumbency advantage. Exploring two possible mechanisms, we find evidence that when the anti-immigrant party gains an extra seat, they draw in lower quality politicians and receive negative local newspaper coverage. These findings have important implications for the theory and estimation of how voter preferences enter into electoral and political economy models.

The aim of this research is to clarify the legal framework under which the ECB applies its conditionality policy, by making a distinction between 'implicit' and 'explicit' conditionality. In the first years of the sovereign debt crisis, the ECB resorted to an 'implicit' form of conditionality, driving euro area member States towards acceptance of an economic adjustment programme or the adoption of significant economic, fiscal and structural reforms. Implicit conditionality has been applied in the context of the ECB's collateral policy, to the provision of Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA), to the purchase of sovereign bonds under the Securities Markets Programme (SMP), as well as to the transfer of profits deriving from these purchases (the so-called 'SMP profits'). Eventually, the ECB decided to shift to 'explicit' conditionality. Under the Outright Monetary Transactions programme (OMT) and the Public Sector Purchase Programme (PSPP), sovereign bonds purchases became subject to compliance with the EU/IMF strict and effective conditionality. The temporary framework for collateral eligibility was modified following the same approach. While the shift to explicit conditionality has to be welcomed, it does not lessen concerns about the ECB's democratic accountability and its 'interference' in domestic reform processes. Some regards the ECB's conditionality as a true political action departing from the standards of neutrality and independence that central banks should meet. This paper describes the set of policy instruments through which conditionality has been applied, with a view to assess the legitimacy of the ECB's actions.

After 20 years of water reform in Australia, the clear policy "winner" has been the cap and trade market-based instrument. Although widely promoted as an efficient tool for managing water, little critical attention has been directed to the legal and governance issues of water markets, including matters such as compliance and enforcement, water accounting, and the overall effectiveness of water trading. In response to these gaps, this article critically evaluates Australia's cap and trade instrument, drawing on a review of the literature and new survey and interview data collected in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland from government and non-government stakeholders. The findings reveal achievements, including: flexible responses to past and future droughts; efficiencies that contribute to economic and environmental benefits; and increasing trade and market functionality. Yet, the results also suggest cap and trade schemes are not functioning at the peak of their powers because of seven key flaws, namely: a lack of robust regulatory underpinning; limited accuracy in water accounting; challenges in addressing universality of impact and source; queries over environmental benefits; lack of accounting for wider social impacts; windfall gains; and limited operation across Australia. Some of these flaws are correctable, and the article pinpoints relevant areas for market policy reform. However, a number of the identified flaws require water law and policy to look beyond markets. The article argues that, in these areas, such as groundwater, complementary regulatory tools are needed to ensure Australia's future water security and sustainability.

In many countries, flood defense has historically formed the core of flood risk management but this strategy is now evolving with the changing approach to risk management. This paper focuses on the neglected analysis of institutional changes within the flood defense strategies formulated and implemented in six European countries (Belgium, England, France, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden). The evolutions within the defense strategy over the last 30 years have been analyzed with the help of three mainstream institutional theories: a policy dynamics-oriented framework, a structure-oriented institutional theory on path dependency, and a policy actors-oriented analysis called the advocacy coalitions framework. We characterize the stability and evolution of the trends that affect the defense strategy in the six countries through four dimensions of a policy arrangement approach: actors, rules, resources, and discourses. We ask whether the strategy itself is changing radically, i.e., toward a discontinuous situation, and whether the processes of change are more incremental or radical. Our findings indicate that in the European countries studied, the position of defense strategy is continuous, as the classical role of flood defense remains dominant. With changing approaches to risk, integrated risk management, climate change, urban growth, participation in governance, and socioeconomic challenges, the flood defense strategy is increasingly under pressure to change. However, these changes can be defined as part of an adaptation of the defense strategy rather than as a real change in the nature of flood risk management.

The governance system in Birmingham over the decades has been rooted in a pro-growth strategy. This has resulted in an environment not typically conducive to large-scale social innovation. The impact of history is of significance, with the impact of recession and deindustrialisation that started in the 1980s, and that still continues today, influencing the policy and practice of actors in the city. The major, lasting innovation in the city is partnership working seen as essential to deliver the economic regeneration agenda. Until recently this was a 'closed' form of partnership comprising existing local political and economic power holders, but this has evolved to more inclusive engagement. The city council has focused over the years on the promotion of local economic development and employment growth, and to a lesser extent on the provision of services. However, the council has always seen economic development as also serving the objective of improving the quality of life of its citizens and therefore policies do not always show an obvious divide between social and economic policy. Using analysis of local labour market and housing and regeneration policy, the situation in Birmingham can be described as a case of urban governance where solutions to social problems are stated in terms of economic priorities. Innovation does occur but is marginal, through opportunistic and short-term support for small-scale projects, largely through national funding streams. Looking to the future, enhanced devolved decision-making was seen by local actors as a potential vehicle for innovation at the (very) local level.

Our hypothesis is that the ratio of national food import expenditures to the value of total exports may be used as a consistent indicator of food security vulnerability to trade at the national level (the Bonilla Index hereafter). In this article, we test the assumption that with the aim of stabilizing national food availability and accessibility, developing countries use policy instruments for stabilizing their Bonilla Index. Developing countries depend on farming while many price distortions remain. The nominal rate of assistance is defined as the percentage by which government policies have raised revenues to producers above what they would be without the government's intervention (agricultural policy domestic support and border measures). After analysing the role of the nominal rate of assistance and of the exchange rate vulnerability of food security to trade, we present the Bonilla Index evolution paths of 39 developing countries from 2005 to 2010. Second, we measured the impact of their national policy responses to the 2008 price surge using the nominal rate of assistance on importable food products. Finally, we statistically tested the extent to which our qualitative hypotheses and relationships were actually confirmed by the data over the period 2005–2010. Our results suggest that most developing countries have used their possibility to play with the nominal rate of the assistance level to compensate for the effects of the 2008 food price surge and that exchange rate variations actually have little impact on food accessibility for consumers in a context of food-price volatility.

[EN] Partitioned architectures isolate software components into independent partitions whose execution will not interfere with other partitions, preserving temporal and spatial isolation. Hierarchical scheduling can effectively be used to schedule these systems. Schedulability analysis of hierarchical real-time systems is based on prior knowledge of the local and the global scheduling algorithms. In a partitioned system with safety and security issues and certification assurance levels, global scheduling is usually generated using a static table. Therefore, each partition must allocate task jobs only in the temporal windows reserved for that partition. Even if the static table can come originally from a periodic server or other scheduling policy, the final plan may be modified due to changes in the system requirements. As a consequence, the CPU assignment to a partition does not have to correspond to any known policy. In this case, it is not possible to use existing scheduling analysis for hierarchical systems. This paper studies a new scheduling problem: a hierarchical system in which global policy is not known but provided as a set of arbitrary time windows. ; This work has been funded by the Spanish government under grant TIN2014-56158-C4-1-P-AR and by the European Commission under FP7-ICT-2013.3.4 Programme with grant 610640 ; Guasque Ortega, A.; Balbastre, P.; Crespo, A. (2016). Real-time hierarchical systems with arbitrary scheduling at global level. Journal of Systems and Software. 119:70-86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2016.05.040 ; S ; 70 ; 86 ; 119