scholarly journals The African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance: Trends, Challenges and Perspectives

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-105
Author(s):  
Micha Wiebusch ◽  
Chika Charles Aniekwe ◽  
Lutz Oette ◽  
Stef Vandeginste
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Governance Framework ◽  
The Past ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
African Charter ◽  
Future Policy

This introduction to the Special Focus argues that more thorough and nuanced understandings of the past accomplishments and failures of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG) are needed. The article contends that detailed accounts focusing on the practices of diverse actors and institutions within the ACDEG’s multi-level governance framework and their – sometimes – frictional relations are necessary to develop appropriate future policy governing continental encounters with democratic governance. The paper introduces the different articles of the Special Focus which all address the fundamental question of how the implementation and impact of the ACDEG influence the African democratic governance landscape. Based on their analysis of key norms, actors, and processes, the inquiries in this Special Focus set out distinct directions for further empirical research and theorising about the ACDEG.

The Development of Marketplace Persuasion Knowledge in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults

2005 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Wright ◽  
Marian Friestad ◽  
David M. Boush
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Adolescents And Young Adults ◽  
Persuasion Knowledge ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Policy Decisions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Research Programs ◽  
Future Policy

Conceptualizations of children's and adolescents' knowledge about advertising and persuasion have evolved considerably over the past three decades. However, empirical research on this topic has been scarce in the past two decades. The authors review the early and current models of children's marketplace persuasion knowledge for insights into the conceptual limits of prior empirical research and opportunities for research grounded in richer models of advertising knowledge. They discuss goals and directions for the next generation of research programs so that such research will yield more complete insights into children's and adolescents' advertising knowledge and provide a basis for future policy decisions.

A Scientific Search for Altruism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Daniel Batson
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Empathic Concern ◽  
Altruistic Motivation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Past Half

This book provides an example of how the scientific method can be used to address a fundamental question about human nature. For centuries—indeed for millennia—the egoism–altruism debate has echoed through Western thought. Egoism says that the motivation for everything we do, including all of our seemingly selfless acts of care for others, is to gain one or another self-benefit. Altruism, while not denying the force of self-benefit, says that under certain circumstances we can care for others for their sakes, not our own. Over the past half-century, social psychologists have turned to laboratory experiments to provide a scientific resolution of this human nature debate. The experiments focused on the possibility that empathic concern—other-oriented emotion elicited by and congruent with the perceived welfare of someone in need—produces altruistic motivation to remove that need. With carefully constructed experimental designs, these psychologists have tested the nature of the motivation produced by empathic concern, determining whether it is egoistic or altruistic. This series of experiments has provided an answer to a fundamental question about what makes us tick. Framed as a detective story, the book traces this scientific search for altruism through the numerous twists and turns that led to the conclusion that empathy-induced altruism is indeed part of our nature. It then examines the implications of this conclusion—negative implications as well as positive—both for our understanding of who we are as humans and for how we might create a more humane society.

scholarly journals Antidiscrimination Meets Integration Policies: Exploring New Diversity-Related Challenges in Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 221
Author(s):  
Tina Magazzini
Keyword(s):  
Critical Race Studies ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Critical Race ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Race Studies ◽  
Managing Diversity ◽  
The Past ◽  
Migrant Integration ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Contemporary European societies are increasingly diverse. Migration both within and to Europe has contributed over the past decades to the rise of new religious, racial, ethnic, social, cultural and economic inequality. Such transformations have raised questions about the (multi-level) governance of diversity in Europe, thus determining new challenges for both scholars and policy-makers. Whilst the debate around diversity stemming from migration has become a major topic in urban studies, political science and sociology in Europe, Critical Race Studies and Intersectionality have become central in US approaches to understanding inequality and social injustice. Among the fields where ‘managing diversity’ has become particularly pressing, methodological issues on how to best approach minorities that suffer from multiple discrimination represent some of the hottest subjects of concern. Stemming from the interest in putting into dialogue the existing American scholarship on CRT and anti-discrimination with the European focus on migrant integration, this paper explores the issue of integration in relation to intersectionality by merging the two frames. In doing so, it provides some observations about the complementarity of a racial justice approach for facing the new diversity-related challenges in European polity. In particular, it illustrates how Critical Race Studies can contribute to the analysis of inequality in Europe while drawing on the integration literature.

scholarly journals Addressing the changing rehabilitation needs of patients undergoing thoracic surgery

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 147997312199478
Author(s):  
Daniel Langer
Keyword(s):  
Thoracic Surgery ◽  
Functional Limitations ◽  
Pulmonary Complications ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Outpatient Rehabilitation ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Rehabilitative Treatment ◽  
The Past ◽  
Hospitalization Period ◽  
Rehabilitation Needs

The rehabilitation needs of individuals undergoing thoracic surgery are changing, especially as surgical management is increasingly being offered to patients who are at risk of developing functional limitations during and after hospital discharge. In the past rehabilitative management of these patients was frequently limited to specific respiratory physiotherapy interventions in the immediate postoperative setting with the aim to prevent postoperative pulmonary complications. In the past two decades, this focus has shifted toward pulmonary rehabilitation interventions that aim to improve functional status of individuals, both in the pre- and (longer-term) postoperative period. While there is increased interest in (p)rehabilitation interventions the majority of thoracic surgery patients are however currently on their own with respect to progression of their exercise and physical activity regimens after they have been discharged from hospital. There are also no formal guidelines supporting the referral of these patients to outpatient rehabilitation programs. The current evidence regarding rehabilitation interventions initiated before, during, and after the hospitalization period will be briefly reviewed with special focus on patients undergoing surgery for lung cancer treatment and patients undergoing lung transplantation. More research will be necessary in the coming years to modify or change clinical rehabilitation practice beyond the acute admission phase in patients undergoing thoracic surgery. Tele rehabilitation or web-based activity counseling programs might also be interesting emerging alternatives in the (long-term) postoperative rehabilitative treatment of these patients.

WHY STUDYING THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY MATTERS

Think ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (60) ◽  
pp. 5-20
Author(s):  
Anna Marmodoro
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Philosophy ◽  
History Of Philosophy ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

The debate over whether and how philosophers of today may usefully engage with philosophers of the past is nearly as old as the history of philosophy itself. Does the study of the history of philosophy train or corrupt the budding philosopher's mind? Why study the history of philosophy? And, how to study the history of philosophy? I discuss some mainstream approaches to the study of the history of philosophy (with special focus on ancient philosophy), before explicating the one I adopt and commend.

Advancing Reproductive Rights through Legal Reform: The Example of Abortion Clinic Safe Access Zones

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronli Sifris ◽  
Tania Penovic ◽  
Caroline Henckels
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Reproductive Rights ◽  
Legal Reform ◽  
Medical Abortion ◽  
Medical Practitioners ◽  
High Court ◽  
Abortion Law ◽  
The Past ◽  
Abortion Clinic ◽  
Safe Access

The past two decades have seen significant reforms in abortion law throughout Australia. From the perspective of advancing women’s reproductive rights, the most significant abortion law reforms have been the decriminalisation of abortion, removal of impediments to accessing medical abortion, the imposition of an ‘obligation to refer’ on medical practitioners with a conscientious objection to abortion, and the introduction of safe access zones around abortion clinics. This article focuses on the introduction of safe access zones as a key legal reform that has been implemented across Australia to support and promote women’s reproductive rights, drawing on empirical research conducted by the first and second authors and discussing this research in the context of the recent High Court decision confirming the constitutionality of safe access zones.

Transition and the Pitfalls of Nondemocratic Institutions: A review of Constitutionality in Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-87
Author(s):  
Tadesse Melaku
Keyword(s):  
Case Analysis ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Constitutional Review ◽  
The Past ◽  
Government Power ◽  
Review Mechanism ◽  
And Control ◽  
Regional Elections ◽  
Do So

Ethiopia has undertaken important political reforms after the fall of authoritarianism in 2018. This article examines the performance of Ethiopia’s constitutional review mechanism amid the ongoing political and institutional reforms in the country. The study focuses on the process and merit of the constitutional ruling to delay the 2020 national and regional elections because of the coronavirus pandemic, thereby extending the government’s tenure. It further unravels the challenges posed by nondemocratic institutions of the past regime in navigating the transition. In doing so, this study draws on legal, documentary and case analysis, and a literature review. While the mandate extension comes as no surprise, the reasoning of the decision to do so was disappointing for many, dashing the hope and sense of a constitutional moment that accompanied the highly publicised constitutional hearing process in June 2020. The judgment reveals an endemic deficiency of the institutional system. Thus, it is imperative for Ethiopia to establish an independent constitutional umpire to check and control the exercise of government power and support the transition to multiparty democratic governance in the country.

New Agendas for Special Education Policy: What the National Reports Haven't Said

1987 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marleen Pugach ◽  
Mara Sapon-Shevin
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Education Policy ◽  
Educational Reform ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Special Education Policy ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

The calls for educational reform that have dominated the professional and lay literature for the past few years have been decidedly silent in discussing the role of special education either as a contributor or a solution to the problems being raised. As an introduction to this “Special Focus” on the relationship between general educational reform and special education, this article summarizes some of the more prominent reports with regard to their treatment (and nontreatment) of special education. The impact of proposed reforms for the conceptualization and operation of special education is the subject of the five articles that follow.

scholarly journals Introduction: The Legacy of Graham Spry and the Future of Public Media

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Sibo Chen
Keyword(s):  
Constant Pressure ◽  
Public Communication ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Communication Services ◽  
The Past ◽  
Public Media ◽  
Alternative Future ◽  
Media Services ◽  
The Media ◽  
Future Policy

Over the past twenty years, public media services worldwide have been facing increasing pressure from commercialization, marketization, and privatization. This situation is exemplified by the Cana-dian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) latest revenue shortfall and the subsequent austerity measures of the corporation. Indeed, CBC, as an iconic corporation of Canadian’s media landscape, is key to the country’s future policy-making in the media realm. The CBC’s current crisis, already exert-ing significant pressures towards the restructuring of the corporation, is seen by some critics as a warning of the corporation’s potential imminent collapse (Rowland, 2013). However, just as there has be a constant pressure toward marketization over public media, over the past few years the struggles of public media also offer a precious opportunity to re-imagine an alternative future for public communication services.

scholarly journals RAS Function in cancer cells: translating membrane biology and biochemistry into new therapeutics

2020 ◽  
Vol 477 (15) ◽  
pp. 2893-2919
Author(s):  
Walaa E. Kattan ◽  
John F. Hancock
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Cell Growth ◽  
Cancer Cells ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Ras Proteins ◽  
Membrane Interactions ◽  
Multiple Methods ◽  
Membrane Biology ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cell Growth And Proliferation

The three human RAS proteins are mutated and constitutively activated in ∼20% of cancers leading to cell growth and proliferation. For the past three decades, many attempts have been made to inhibit these proteins with little success. Recently; however, multiple methods have emerged to inhibit KRAS, the most prevalently mutated isoform. These methods and the underlying biology will be discussed in this review with a special focus on KRAS-plasma membrane interactions.

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