Suchergebnisse

Attention in the literature on global climate politics has recently turned from a focus on intergovernmental negotiations to conceptualizing climate governance 'beyond' or 'outside' the UN regime. However, this literature differs on three key aspects: the underlying research paradigms, what is identified as the heart of the problem, and proposed solutions. One group of scholars calls for an attention shift from the 'tip of the iceberg' of climate governance to its much larger 'hidden parts,' conceptualized through notions such as the 'climate change regime complex,' a 'fragmented climate governance architecture,' and 'transnational climate governance.' A second set of authors points to the 'elephant in the room,' namely underlying power structures and material configurations in the international system that block effective responses to the climate crisis. A third group has argued that instead of looking at the individual 'trees' of climate negotiations, research should focus on the 'forest' of climate governance, made up of framings, norms, and emerging 'climate governmentalities.' The article proposes the concept of a 'schism of reality' as a means to overcome this fragmentation of the literature. This notion offers a new way of understanding interactions between the climate regime and its wider environment by focusing on discrepancies and contradictions. It accommodates different theoretical perspectives and provides common ground for future research: on how paradoxes and contradictions are dealt with in climate governance; how they can be overcome; how current developments in climate governance reduce the schism; and where and why aspects of the schism persist.

The main goal of this paper is to broaden our perception of North Korea's nuclear weapons program beyond military, economic, and political-diplomatic aspects and to propose a view of the program as a dynamic identity project of and for the North Korean state. Drawing on a poststructuralist approach that theorizes the state as performatively constituted and foreign policy as a political performance central to the production of identity, this paper analyzes North Korea's evolving nuclear state identity on two levels. Firstly, it scrutinizes the discursive construction of this particular identity trait, identifying both the process of exploration as well as the central contextual characteristics of this particular identity trait. Building on these deliberations, the study, secondly, analyzes the performative enactment of this identity construction by scrutinizing some of those iterated foreign policy performances that bring the constructed nuclear state identity into being. As its central argument, the paper holds that to P'yŏngyang, the nuclear weapons program has significance well beyond its military, economic, and political-diplomatic aspects; it has become the most crucial identity project of the North Korean state in the post-Cold War era, ultimately resulting in the emergence of an authoritative nuclear state identity that is still in the process of being explored. This view opens a new perspective on the ongoing nuclear conflict with the international community as a vital performative space in which the DPRK stages its identity politics and continuously explores its identity as a nuclear weapons state.

BACKGROUND: Ebola virus disease (EVD) in health workers (HWs) has been a major challenge during the 2014-2015 outbreak. We examined factors associated with Ebola virus exposure and mortality in HWs in Kenema District, Sierra Leone. METHODS: We analyzed data from the Sierra Leone National Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Database, contact tracing records, Kenema Government Hospital (KGH) staff and Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) rosters, and burial logs. RESULTS: From May 2014 through January 2015, 600 cases of EVD originated in Kenema District, including 92 (15%) HWs, 66 (72%) of whom worked at KGH. Among KGH medical staff and international volunteers, 18 of 62 (29%) who worked in the ETU developed EVD, compared with 48 of 83 (58%) who worked elsewhere in the hospital. Thirteen percent of HWs with EVD reported contact with EVD patients, while 27% reported contact with other infected HWs. The number of HW EVD cases at KGH declined roughly 1 month after implementation of a new triage system at KGH and the opening of a second ETU within the district. The case fatality ratio for HWs and non-HWs with EVD was 69% and 74%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The cluster of HW EVD cases in Kenema District is one of the largest ever reported. Most HWs with EVD had potential virus exposure both inside and outside of hospitals. Prevention measures for HWs must address a spectrum of infection risks in both formal and informal care settings as well as in the community.

The agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPs), signed within the GATT framework in 1994, set the international standards and objectives for the protection of intellectual property. Although the agreement was very favorable to western intellectual property oriented firms, the few concessions to developing countries, such as a ten-years delay to implement harsher intellectual property regulations, left some core country corporations dissatisfied. Indeed, as soon as the TRIPs agreement was signed, intellectual property firms, along with and via their respective states, started pushing for harsher intellectual property legislations in bilateral Free Trade Agreements, thus bypassing global regulations. Drawing from the debate on the state and globalization, as well as the question on the relation between intellectual property and capital accumulation, this paper exposes the new collusions between state and capital that rendered possible the emergence of strong intellectual property protection legislations virtually all over the globe, and proposes to interpret that evolution as a signal telling of the new functioning of the world economy. The author makes the case that one can define the current intellectual property regime as a mercantilist system in which states, far from losing power against the growing internationalization of economic regulations, put their capacities in service of "their" intellectual property-intensive corporations. In conclusion, the author suggests a further research agenda in which intellectual property issues can provide a window into our understanding of current trends in the workings of the world economy

United States and United Kingdom have based their relations on common cultural and historical links and, as Winston Churchill first articulated the notion of a 'special relationship', both countries share traditions, values, interests, and institutions of national and international nature. Although the basic elements were important in formulation of the special relationship, there have been a lot of disagreements between the two countries. The aim of this paper is to analyze the ups and downs of the 'special relationship. There are arguments that this relationship is not so special and many say that it is in jeopardy and this relationship has been the subject of much mockery and criticism, as UK power and capacity has diminished and the U.S. has become more dominant, particularly since the collapse of the Soviet Union. This paper argues that, in spite of what analysts maintain, this 'special relationship' should continue, because America and Britain need each other. This paper is written in the historical comparative method aiming at giving a general overview of this relationship. Different from other countries in the world, with which America is looking for other special relationships, Britain has the same commitment to peace, freedom and democracy, and it is willing to fight and stand for these values. America needs companions in its mission of the world leadership, as the only superpower and Britain has a unique role in Europe, being tied to the U.S. by conviction, but also belonging to Europe by necessity. DOI:10.5901/ajis.2016.v5n3p45

Over the past year, two major policy initiatives have been introduced focusing on stimulating antibiotic development for human consumption. The European Investment Bank has announced the development of the Infectious Disease Financing Facility (IDFF) and the British government commissioned the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, led by Jim O'Neill. Each constitutes a major effort by the European community to address the evolving crisis of antimicrobial resistance. Though both have similar goals, the approaches are unique and worthy of consideration. This manuscript utilizes a previously published framework for evaluation of antibiotic incentive plans to clearly identify the strengths and weaknesses of each proposal. The merits of each proposal are evaluated in how they satisfy four key objectives: 1) Improve the overall net present value (NPV) for new antibiotic projects; 2) Enable greater participation of Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SME); 3) Encourage participation by large pharmaceutical companies; 4) Facilitate cooperation and synergy across the antibiotic market. The IDFF seeks to make forgivable loans to corporations with promising compounds, while the O'Neill group proposes a more comprehensive framework of early stage funding, along with the creation of a stable global market. Ultimately, the proposals may prove complementary and if implemented together may form a more comprehensive plan to address an impending global crisis. Substantial progress will only be made on these efforts if action is taken at an international level, therefore we recommend consideration of these efforts at the upcoming G20 summit.

As in many other European and non-European countries, an explicit parenting support policy entered the French political agenda during the early 1990s: a 'turn to parenting' with its attendant new terms, instruments, and institutions. In France, decision makers now consider this parenting support policy to be a new, but still financially marginal, 'pillar of French family policy'. It responds to a growing political demand for a solution capable of guaranteeing the success of the parental educational mission and helping avoid the consequences of its failure for the entire community. One may well wonder, however, whether this policy represents a real innovation or merely the revival of a longstanding tradition of 'policing families'. This article analyses the framing of this policy, first by comparing the current international turn to parenting with the way this occurred in the French context (policy process and arguments). It then asks whether France is experiencing a revival of the longstanding tradition of policing the family, before discussing the cultural and socio-political backgrounds of this parenting support policy. This approach makes it possible to clarify what really is new about this policy, and it underlines the reactivation of old and deeply rooted oppositions and controversies concerning the issue of the family in the French context. These are characterised by structural oppositions between Republicans and the Catholic milieu and the division between left-and right-wing parties regarding their approach to the private life domain and the challenge of secularization.

This article is about contested norms in inter-national encounters in global fisheries governance. It illustrates how norms work by reconstructing the trajectory of the 1995 'Turbot War' as a series of inter-national encounters among diverse sets of Canadian and European stakeholders. By unpacking the contestations and identifying the norms at stake, it is suggested that what began as action at cross-purposes (i.e. each party referring to a different fundamental norm), ultimately holds the potential for fairer fisheries governance. This finding is shown by linking source and settlement of the dispute and identifying the shared concern for the balance between the right to fish and the responsibility for sustainable fisheries. The article develops a framework to elaborate on procedural details including especially the right for stakeholder access to regular contestation. It is organised in four sections: section 1 summarises the argument, section 2 presents the framework of critical norms research, section 3 reconstructs contestations of fisheries norms over the duration of the dispute, and section 4 elaborates on the dispute as a prelude to fairer fisheries governance. The latter is based on a novel conceptual focus on stakeholder access to contestation at the meso-layer of fisheries governance where organising principles are negotiated close to policy and political processes, respectively. The conclusion suggests for future research to pay more attention to the link between the 'is' and the 'ought' of norms in critical norms research in International Relations theories (IR).

Open Educational Resources (OER) — teaching, learning and research materials that their owners make free for others to use, revise and share — offer a powerful means of expanding the reach and effectiveness of worldwide education. The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and UNESCO co-organised the World OER Congress in 2012 in Paris. That Congress resulted in the OER Paris Declaration: a statement that urged governments around the world to release, as OER, all teaching, learning and research materials developed with public funds. This book, drawing on 15 case studies contributed by 29 OER researchers and policy-makers from 15 countries across six continents, examines the implementation of the pivotal declaration through the thematic lenses of policy, costs and transformation. The case studies provide a detailed picture of OER policies and initiatives as they are unfolding in different country contexts and adopting a range of approaches, from bottom-up to top-down. The book illuminates the impacts of OER on the costs of producing, distributing and providing access to learning materials, and shows the way that OER can transform the teaching and learning methodology mindset. Recommendations on key actions to be taken by policy-makers, practitioners, OER developers and users are also outlined, particularly within the context of Education 2030. Clearly, progress is being made, although more work must be done if the international community is to realise the full potential of OER. // Series formerly called "Perspectives on Distance Education."

The aim of this study was to investigate the types of cooking fuels and factors that influence their choice by households in Nigeria. Cross national data used were extracted from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) on households' cooking energy and was subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics. The results indicated that 55% of sampled households have access to electricity, while about two-third (66.3%) of households depend on biomass as fuel for cooking. The Chi-square analysis revealed that a significant statistical relationship existed between geo-political regions, place of residence, access to electricity, educational level, and wealth index and type of cooking used. Results also showed significant statistical differences between rural and urban households' type of cooking fuel while analysis of variance found significant differences in the type of cooking fuel according to regions, educational level, and wealth index. Multiple regression results demonstrated that socio-economic factors such as household size, geographical region, place of residence, educational level and wealth index have a significant positive influence on the type of cooking fuel used by households in Nigeria. However, access to electricity showed no significant association with the household type of cooking fuel. These results have important implications for human health and environmental sustainability, and therefore it was recommended that government needs to intensify educational efforts towards enlightening people about the need for the sustainable utilization of energy resources. ; Measure DHS, ICF International, Rockville, MD, USA

This dissertation offers a historical account of film preservation in South Korea, detailing how and why the idea of preserving film took hold, and how the process of decolonization complicated its practical realization. Drawing upon sources from archives, interviews, newspapers and published reports, it explores the conditions under which the archives of cinema evolved, and analyzes the conflicting ways that Japanese and American political authorities, Korean leaders, international policy makers, and Korean film industry members understood film's value and purpose. The political regimes that ruled over South Korea—both foreign and domestic—understood film to be both short-term entertainment and a didactic tool, and therefore were not concerned with the long-term storage of cinema. Meanwhile, local actors such as filmmakers and critics challenged the state's dominant perception of cinema. Their transnational encounters with film institutes, audiovisual education agencies, and film preservation movements around the world led to different and diverse understandings of the role and value of film. Despite this counter discourse, political regimes concentrated on the utility of cinema as part of the modernization of mutable subjects, instituting little rigor in local actors' film conservation activity until the early 1970s. What ended up dramatically shifting the country's attitudes towards and practices of film preservation was not a sustainable investment in film culture by the political regime, but instead competition with North Korea and the elevation of Korean cultural prestige as an economic force. These forces combined to lead to a reconsideration of film conservation and archival practices in South Korea.

The aim of the paper is to evaluate the degree of social responsibility arising from the statement of comprehensive income prepared according to IAS/IFRS, to demonstrate whether the values obtained from prospects and from the calculation of the indicators are sufficient to analyze the Company's performance from the perspective of social responsibility and sustainable value or not. In order to achieve the objective of harmonization, the European Union adopted the IAS/IFRS developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). The research is divided into two sections and the approach used is mainly theoretical and qualitative. In the first part, the financial statements to be prepared according to IAS 1 and IAS 7 and, in particular, the so called statement of profit or loss and other comprehensive income for the period are analyzed by underling the function of the same and by presenting some financial performance indicators. Then, the research highlights how these values obtained are not useful to communicate the company's strategy in terms of social responsibility and sustainable value. In the second part the analyses exposes the concept of social balance. According to the social responsibility view the IAS/IFRS financial statements should be accompanied by the social balance. It becomes crucial to complete the set of financial statements stated from IAS 1 with a social balance as well as the same IAS 1 contemplates. For this reason it is possible to say that the connection between IAS/IFRS and social responsibility is weak.

Swensen, G. (2016). Public space and alcohol advertising: Exploratory study of the role of local government. The International Journal Of Alcohol And Drug Research, 5(3), 117-123. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7895/ijadr.v5i3.224The paper argues that local government bodies in Western Australia, which have a long-standing key role in overseeing public health standards and regulating business activities, potentially have a major, but under-recognized, capability to regulate the promotion and advertising of alcohol in public places overseen by them. It is contended that because local government bodies already possess extensive statutory powers to undertake this function, there is a compelling case for them to actively regulate alcohol advertising as they "own" most of the public space in Australian cities and towns.As the proposition would involve the prohibition of alcohol advertising, this could mean that local authorities may balk at assuming this responsibility due to a possible loss of revenue if they have already issued licenses to companies to construct and maintain key parts of the public infrastructure, like bus shelters, seating, and other street furniture, in return for being able to charge fees for advertising on these facilities.It is contended that local government authorities would ably perform a front-line role in regulating alcohol advertising in public places because of their reliance on community-based processes of consultation and decision-making for planning, in addition to understanding this role as an extension of a long standing role concerned with the advancement of public health and traffic safety.

The conflict in the CAR has been ignored largely by the international media until 2013. Media and global interest rose with the presidential coup by, and then presidential appointment of, the first Muslim leader of the CAR, Michel Djotodia. Subsequently violence in the country escalated and cited to be purely sectarian – between Muslim and Christian militia and civilians. The focus of the paper is confined to the CAR and the question posed is whether the Muslim versus Christian conflict differs from the other conflicts in the CAR? The method of structured and substantive content analysis used here is the narrative paradigm and the storytelling (data) extracted from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees brief notes and news series to reveal a relatively neutral account of events. This is used to create a linear timeframe to argue that the current hostilities are part of another cycle of violence that plagues the CAR. The study and findings are limited to the period 2001-2014 although the history of political leadership is referred to from the country's 'independence' in 1960, using a narrative paradigm and coherence. The results confirm that apart from a linear path of conflict, reflected in the political leadership, there are accompanying cycles of violence, representative of identity that moves along the linear path. The readings reveal that the violence currently defined as sectarian religious conflict is the start of a new cycle in the linear path of political leadership.

The author examines how intensive Russian propaganda (both recognisable and unrecognisable) can expand any theoretical model of communication. Over the past 15 years, in the context of open military and democratic conflicts where Russia fights against Ukraine and over Ukraine, or over influence in the Middle East by bombarding Syrian cities, and where the European Union is breaking apart after the Brexit vote, informational politics has emerged as one of the most significant factors. The author claims that the National Security Concept of the Russian Federation, adopted in 2000, served as a stimulus to the current expansion of the official propaganda of Russia. The document in question has to be described as the start of Russian politics built on disinformation. The concept claims that, allegedly, Russia is threatened by the other nations' desire "to dominate on the global information space" and "push Russia out of the international and domestic information market"; the concept further claims that foreign states are supposedly developing "the concepts of information warfare that provide for measures of dangerous impact on the information areas of other nations around the world". If one wished to apply a communication model to the document in question, one would have to opt for the simplest, i.e. linear (sender – message – recipient), model as there is no data implying that anyone had interpreted the content of the document as a set of symbols of inverted meaning, or had anticipated that Russia will itself start constructing information operations to justify its propagandistic politics.