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Objectives: In The Netherlands, school health care policy is decentralized to the municipalities and their Municipal Health Services (MHS) in 1990. Since then, an increasing diversity in school health care policy developed, which is is ill-understood, concerning the development of evidence-based public health. Methods: Case-study design in 4 MHS-regions. Documents and half-structured interviews are used as data sources. The analysis of the data is both qualitative and quantitative. Results: Many actors try to influence the policy process: MHS-internal actors like management and professionals as well as external actors like local health care providers, other municipal services, the municipalities and schools. Evidence is found of the use of scientific knowledge: 'body of knowledge' information as well as evidence from new research, of both local and (inter)national origin, mainly medical, but also social science research. Mainly School Health management and -professionals use scientific knowledge as a resource to influence the policy process. Other actors try to influence the policy process by using other resources like formal power, money or 'initiative'. The use of scientific knowledge is related to a combined (medical) scientific en political frame of reference. Conclusions: Policy formation in local public health takes place in a network of actors with mutual power-dependency-relations, using different resoures to influence the process. 'Evidence based public health' can be promoted by regarding evidence from scientific research as a resource in attempts to influence the policy formation process and the implementation of the outcomes of this process.

The doctrine of benevolent empire posits that unilateral security governance has become a necessary & legitimate form of global governance. After first assessing if imperial governance can even be considered an instance of global governance, its claim of legitimacy is scrutinized. It is argued, with reference to the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, that its strategy of legitimation is eventually doomed to fail because benevolent empire appears to downplay both the importance of education in forging legitimacy & the context-specific nature of legitimacy. References. Adapted from the source document.

Inclusive mediation involves a mediator whose neutrality is based on involvement with both sides of the dispute, and whose normative references are implicit; he or she is an insider. Exclusive mediation, on the other hand, involves a third party whose neutrality derives from his knowing neither disputant, and whose references to norms are explicit; an outsider, so to speak. The concepts of inclusive and exclusive mediation have been introduced by the anthropologist Carol Greenhouse in the 1980s. Inclusive mediation heavily relies on local knowledge and local ties, and its orientation can be labelled as horizontal. Basically, it fits small-scale societies, while exclusive mediation is more common in Europe and the United States. This article is about dispute settlement in an indigenous community in the Ecuadorian highlands, were I have encountered a unusual mixture of both forms: a local teniente político who applies inclusive as well as exclusive aspects of mediation at the same time.

Inclusive mediation involves a mediator whose neutrality is based on involvement with both sides of the dispute, and whose normative references are implicit; he or she is an insider. Exclusive mediation, on the other hand, involves a third party whose neutrality derives from his knowing neither disputant, and whose references to norms are explicit; an outsider, so to speak. The concepts of inclusive and exclusive mediation have been introduced by the anthropologist Carol Greenhouse in the 1980s. Inclusive mediation heavily relies on local knowledge and local ties, and its orientation can be labelled as horizontal. Basically, it fits small-scale societies, while exclusive mediation is more common in Europe and the United States. This article is about dispute settlement in an indigenous community in the Ecuadorian highlands, were I have encountered a unusual mixture of both forms: a local teniente político who applies inclusive as well as exclusive aspects of mediation at the same time.

In response to Huib Pellikaan's "Rationele keuze, collectieve besluitvorming en de noodzaak van normen" ([Rational Choice, Collective Formation of Conclusions, and the Necessity of Norms] see SA 37:2/89U5338), criticisms are offered of the basic concepts of rationality & choice. In Eigenbelang, rationaliteit en interpersonele nutsvergelijking (Self-Interest, Rationality, and Use Comparison), Pellikaan offers rebuttals criticizing Van Deemen's terminological imprecision. 40 References. M. Meeks

An approach to the content analysis of evaluative discourse is proposed that is based on identification of meaning objects -- including actors, empirical variables, attributes, norms & values, & abstract philosophical entities -- & of two place predicates -- ie, verbal statements about the relation between one meaning object & another. This relation is interpreted in graph theoretical terms. This technique is applied to political texts & demonstrated to generate reliable content analyses. 11 Diagrams, 1 Appendix, 13 References. Modified HA

In haar rapport Judging research on its merits (2005) neemt de KNAW een voor de sociale wetenschappen belangrijk standpunt in, namelijk dat de toetscriteria voor de natuurwetenschappen niet voldoen voor de sociale wetenschappen en geesteswetenschappen. Daar moeten dan ook deels andere criteria worden gehanteerd voor de meting van output. Publicaties in boekvorm of in het Nederlands zouden bijvoorbeeld ook moeten worden meegeteld in de bibliometrische analyse, evenals de (andere) doelgroepen waar dit onderzoek zich op richt, vaak maatschappelijke gremia naast de wetenschappelijke arena. Om de prestatie-indicatoren beter te kunnen specificeren zou elke onderzoeksinstelling vanuit een zelfevaluatie moeten komen tot uitwerking van missie, doelgroepen en communicatiekanalen. Het Standard Evaluation Protocol van de VSNU, NWO en KNAW (2003) kan de basis vormen voor het opstellen van de terms of reference, op te stellen door de onderzoeksleiding van een instelling. Deze terms of reference vormen vervolgens het uitgangspunt voor de evaluatie van de onderzoeksactiviteiten door visitaties en dergelijke. Het is dus in het belang van elke instelling om haar missie en werkwijze te verhelderen voor zover die afwijkt van de standaard wetenschappelijke, om op die wijze een meer afgewogen beoordeling te krijgen. Het rapport is gratis op te vragen of elektronisch op te halen bij de KNAW: www.knaw.nl/publicaties/pdf/20051029.pdf.

In a globalized world the "foreign" aspect is getting more and more important. Despite the much talked about pros and cons, this also means that a number of unforeseen challenges should be met. Karel De Gucht, Belgium's Minister of Foreign Affairs, proposes ten theses regarding preparation and coordination of policies, civic service, communication and public diplomacy, qualification and education of its personal, a network of posts abroad, supportive material and services (informatics and security mainly). References. O. van Zijl

The concept "level of SE development" plays an important role in the study of comparative politics, but little attention has been paid to its operationalization & measurement accuracy. The use of the concept in the cross-national literature is reviewed, & an attempt is made to provide a meaningful definition through the construction of an index via confirmative factor analysis of select indicators. An evaluation of the index's validity & utility in cross-national research is provided. 2 Tables, 1 Figure, 2 Appendixes, 26 References. Modified HA

Language matters. Response to the reply of Van Lieshout et al., 'Action research in lifestyle research is no sinecure'
In our response we further clarified how we interpreted and applied the contextuality, participation and reflexivity principles of action research. We also further explained our suggestions to adapt the framework/research cycle and how we understood the various terms used in the framework. As could be expected from a cultural perspective, language is not neutral and depends on the various authors' context and frame of reference.