Suchergebnisse

Despite the significant differences between the issues under contention, the Oslo peace process between Israel and the Palestinians and the "solution process" between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were plagued by common dysfunctions that militated against their success. A comparative investigation points to several salient common denominators that rendered both peace processes susceptible to collapse, including the inadequate identification of the end goals of negotiations by the conflicting parties, mistrust and societal polarization. Over-reaching security measures enacted by the stronger side in each conflict (Israel and Turkey) that stifled freedom of expression, conflated lawful dissent with criminality, tended towards collective punishment and undermined the ability of the weaker parties to organize in the political arena and negotiate effectively also contributed to the breakdown of negotiations. Systematic analysis of these peace process pathologies will suggest critical "lessons learned" from which fellow researchers and policymakers can glean valuable insights.

This study examines the extent to which decentralization is being utilized as a vehicle for sustainable economic development outcomes at all levels of governance in Africa. Research shows that decentralization is missing the triple-bottom line of sustainability: economic, social and environmental prosperity that meets current needs and does not take away from future generations in regions settled by indigenous communities. In this study, selected peer-reviewed literature and reports from conservation organizations on decentralization are analyzed. This research explores ways decentralization can be integrated with sustainability to minimize the short-term and long-run consequences of human actions on the environment at local levels. Factors enabling local sustainability - the legal structures, mediating factors and the decision-making sphere - are used to identify sustainability processes and activities in the governance and decentralization outcomes. This study is guided by the argument made by the United Nations in Agenda 21 and the 2030 Agenda that local governments are best placed to implement sustainability through the development of programs that educate and engage with local communities. Under these circumstances, the best avenue to advance sustainable development initiatives is through the framework of decentralization in order to produce durable economic outcomes, minimize civil disputes and improve the living standards of local communities. The results demonstrate that there are no concrete national initiatives that have been developed to date to promote sustainability within the decentralization framework.

Decentralization is assumed to make national governments more accountable and enables local people to get involved in governance decisions. This study examines the relationships and whether decentralization activities, policies and regulations support indigenous concerns for the environment. Much of the pristine and local lands globally have already been degraded through overexploitation of natural resources leading to significant loss of environmental benefits to people, especially the marginalized and indigenous communities. Using citizen-over-state and state-over-citizen theory, the influence of national level policies on local policies and vice versa is examined. Two sets of data are analyzed: reports from conservation organizations and peer reviewed publications. The other data is obtained from the World Bank and the Food and Agricultural Organization data base. All African countries are analyzed. The findings show that many national policies and regulations do not support and have no relationship with indigenous peoples' environmental values, thus undermining local sustainable lifestyles. The more focus on economic development as an outcome is turning out to be a dominant force in driving exploitation of resources and eroding indigenous peoples' cultural and environment values. While a few policies and regulations have some correlation with indigenous values, they have no significant influence in terms of producing sustainable local level environmental outcomes.

BACKGROUND. This is the first time deemed consent, where the entire population of a jurisdiction is considered to have consented for donation unless they have registered otherwise, will be implemented in North America. While relatively common in other regions of the world—notably Western Europe—it is uncertain how this practice will influence deceased donation practices and attitudes in Canada. METHODS. We describe a Health Canada funded program of research that will evaluate the implementation process and full impact of the deceased organ donation legislation and the health system transformation in Nova Scotia that includes opt-out consent. RESULTS. There is a need to evaluate the impact of these changes to inform not only Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada, but also other provincial, national, and international stakeholders. CONCLUSIONS. We establish a rigorous academic framework that we will use to evaluate this significant health system transformation.