V. N. Kokovtsov and the Russo-Japanese Society in St. Petersburg (the then Petrograd): Investigating Historical Lacunas

Статья посвящена теме, актуальной для изучения биографии видного представителя правящих кругов поздней Российской империи, министра финансов и председателя Совета министров В. Н. Коковцова, его деятельности по организации Русско-японского общества в Петербурге (Петрограде) в 1911–1917 годах и руководству этой ассоциацией. Обширная современная историография, ставящая своей задачей оценку личности министра, его исторической роли и проводимой им политики, по существу исключает этот сюжет из своего проблемного поля. Между тем политическая биография Коковцова оказывается неполной без комплексного изучения указанной деятельности, сочетавшей секретную и публичную стороны и ставшей постоянным поприщем экс-министра после его отставки. Развернувшись на фоне русско-японского сближения накануне и в годы Первой мировой войны, она отразила как сложную динамику самого этого процесса, так и специфику понимания его Коковцовым, сумевшим благодаря своему административному опыту и личному авторитету привлечь к этой работе многих представителей политической, деловой, культурной элиты как в столице, так и за ее пределами. Целью организации стало развитие не только торговых, но и культурных связей между двумя странами, что отразилось в контактах Русско-японского общества с Японо-русским обществом в Токио, также представленным ведущими японскими политиками и придворными. Дипломатические способности и личные качества В. Н. Коковцова и здесь сыграли во многом определяющую роль. Автор ставит задачу включить данный сюжет в круг историко-биографических исследований на основе введения в научный оборот соответствующих источников — как архивных документов, так и материалов периодики начала XX столетия, не интерпретировавшихся прежде историками. The article focuses on the investigation of a prominent representative of the ruling eliteof late Imperial Russia, a minister of finance and a chairman of the Ministerial Council V. N. Kokovtsov and his role in the foundation of the Russo-Japanese Society in St. Petersburg (the then Petrograd) in 1911–1917. When attempting to assess the minister’s personal and professional qualities, his role in history, and his policies, modern historiography often neglects this episode in the minister’s life. However, without due consideration of the aforementioned activities, performing which Kokovtsov managed to juggle secrets and publicity and which became his primary concern after retirement, the minister’s political biography seems incomplete. Kokovtsov’s interest in the matter can be traced back to Russo-Japanese rapprochement before World War I. Due to his administrative experience, his personal authority and credibility, Kokovtsov managed to recruit numerous members of the political, religious and cultural elites both in the capital and elsewhere. The organization promoted the development of trade and cultural cooperation between the two countries, hence the cooperation with the Japanese-Russian Society in Tokyo and with leading Japanese politicians and courtiers. V. N. Kokovtsov’s personal qualities and his diplomatic abilities were a valuable asset. The author of the article underlines the importance of investigating archival documents and periodicals of the early 20th century, which have never been investigated before, in order to shed light on the underinvestigated but undoubtedly important episode in Kokovtsov’s biography.

Evidence for continuing professional development and recency of practice standards for regulated health professionals in Australia: protocol for a systematic review (Preprint)

UNSTRUCTURED Introduced in 2010, the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme currently regulates 16 health professions under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (National Law) as enforced in each state/territory. The National Law requires that National Boards must develop, consult on and recommend certain registration standards to the Australian Health Workforce Ministerial Council. These core registration standards are generally reviewed every five years in line with good regulatory practice. The registration standards for continuing professional development (CPD) and recency of practice (ROP) for most National Boards are currently under review. The aim of the systematic review is to support the National Boards to develop more consistent, evidence-based, effective standards that are clear, easy to understand and operationalise. It is designed to build on earlier research commissioned and/or undertaken by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) for previous reviews of the CPD and ROP registration standards and is based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. This protocol outlines the scope and methodology that will be used to conduct a systematic review of evidence for continuing professional development and recency of practice to inform a review of the standards for regulated health professionals in Australia.

Voluntary food fortification policy in Australia: did ‘formal’ stakeholder consultation influence the outcome?

Summary This research aimed to understand how the policy was represented as a ‘problem’ in food regulatory decision-making in Australia, and the implications for public health nutrition engagement with policy development processes. Bacchi’s ‘what’s the problem represented to be?’ discourse analysis method was applied to a case study of voluntary food fortification policy (VFP) developed by the then Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council (ANZFRMC) between 2002 and 2012. As a consultative process is a legislated aspect of food regulatory policy development in Australia, written stakeholder submissions contributed most of the key documents ascertained as relevant to the case. Four major categories of stakeholder were identified in the data; citizen, public health, government and industry. Predictably, citizen, government and public health stakeholders primarily represented voluntary food fortification (VF) as a problem of public health, while industry stakeholders represented it as a problem of commercial benefit. This reflected expected differences regarding decision-making control and power over regulatory activity. However, at both the outset and conclusion of the policy process, the ANZFRMC represented the problem of VF as commercial benefit, suggesting that in this case, a period of ‘formal’ stakeholder consultation did not alter the outcome. This research indicates that in VFP, the policy debate was fought and won at the initial framing of the problem in the earliest stages of the policy process. Consequently, if public health nutritionists leave their participation in the process until formal consultation stages, the opportunity to influence policy may already be lost.

TIMSS 2019 Australia. Volume I: Student performance

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is an international comparative study of student achievement directed by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). TIMSS was first conducted in 1995 and the assessment conducted in 2019 formed the seventh cycle, providing 24 years of trends in mathematics and science achievement at Year 4 and Year 8. In Australia, TIMSS is managed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and is jointly funded by the Australian Government and the state and territory governments. The goal of TIMSS is to provide comparative information about educational achievement across countries in order to improve teaching and learning in mathematics and science. TIMSS is based on a research model that uses the curriculum, within context, as its foundation. TIMSS is designed, broadly, to align with the mathematics and science curricula used in the participating education systems and countries, and focuses on assessment at Year 4 and Year 8. TIMSS also provides important data about students’ contexts for learning mathematics and science based on questionnaires completed by students and their parents, teachers and school principals. This report presents the results for Australia as a whole, for the Australian states and territories and for the other participants in TIMSS 2019, so that Australia’s results can be viewed in an international context, and student performance can be monitored over time. The results from TIMSS, as one of the assessments in the National Assessment Program, allow for nationally comparable reports of student outcomes against the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. (Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, 2008).

ПОЛІТИЧНІ І МІЖНАРОДНО-ПРАВОВІ ЕТАПИ ІСТОРІЇ СТАНОВЛЕННЯ ОБСЄ

31Актуальні проблеми політики. 2018. Вип. 62Lynch D. The State of the OSCE. The EU-Russia Centre Review: Russia, the OSCE and European Security, № 12, 5–13.Zellner W. (2011). Das OSZE-Gipfeltreffen in Astana im Jahr 2010 [The OSCE Summit in Astana in 2010]. OSCE Yearbook 2010. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft [OSCE Yearbook 2010. Baden-Baden: Nomos Publishing Company], 23–31. [in German].Nünlist C. (2014). Helsinki +40 in the Historical Context. Security and Human Rights, Vol. 25, 198–209.Neukirch C. (2015). The Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine: Operational Challenges and New Horizons. OSCE Yearbook 2014. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 183–197.OSCE, Draft Convention on the International Legal Personality, Legal Capacity, and Privileges and Immunities of the OSCE, CIO.GAL/48/07/Rev.6, 23 October 2007.OSCE, Report to the Ministerial Council on Strengthening the Legal Framework of the OSCE in 2014, MC.GAL/5/14/Corr.1, 3 December 2014.Panel of Eminent Persons, Back to Diplomacy. Vienna: OSCE 2015.Panel of Eminent Persons, Renewing Dialogue.OSCE, Strategy to Address Threats to Security and Stability in the Twenty-First Century, 2 December 2003. <www.osce.org/mc/17504?download=true>.Nünlist C. (2017). The OSCE and the Future of European Security. CSS Analyses in Security Policy, № 202, 2–13.OSCE, OSCE to Explore Common Ground on Current and Future Security Challenges, Press Release, 7 April 2017. <www.osce.org/chairmanship/310481>.АнотаціяДубовік В.!!! Політичні і міжнародно-правові етапи історії ста-новлення ОБСЄ. – Стаття.Стаття присвячена вивченню історії становлення Організації з без-пеки та співробітництва в Європі (ОБСЄ) у історичному, політико-дипломатичному та міжнародно-правовому аспектах. Історія становлення ОБСЄ саме на поєднанні цих аспектів стає гармонічною та зрозумілою. Є неможливим досліджувати міжнародно-правові аспекти у відриві від дипломатичних оскільки за своєю суттю ОБСЄ подовжує залишатися обєднанням держав з невизначеним чітко міжнародно-правовим статусом. ОБСЄ на сучасному етапі походить з загальноєвропейської дипломатичної конференції – НБСЄ, що з часом стала постійно діючою. Поступово вона змінювала свою назву та розширювала наявні механізми реагування та управління, проте, так і не змогла здобути статусу міжнародної між-урядової організації. Причини цього досліджені у нашій статті. Своєю чергою в історії становлення НБСЄ/ОБСЄ можна виділити такі етапи: 1. Становлення НБСЄ від підготовчої конференції до Гельсінського заключного акту. 2. Існування НБСЄ як постійно діючої міжнародної конференції. 3. Зміна назви на ОБСЄ і поступове наповнення інституційною структурою. 4. Спроби наділити ОБСЄ міжнародною правосуб’єктністю.

Birth of the hydra-headed monster: a unique antipodean model of health workforce governance

This chapter explicates the multi-profession scheme in Australia that incorporates medical practitioners, nurses and twelve other professional groups. It considers the origins and establishment of the National Scheme for the Registration and Accreditation of the Health Professions introduced in Australia in 2010, within the context of wider regulatory and public policy reforms and initiatives. The key structural aspects of the Scheme’s model of accountability to ministers and parliaments are analysed. It emphasises the extent to which the Scheme has been influenced by Australia’s federal system and the respective responsibilities of each layer of government. The chapter explains how governments in Australia, as represented by their Health Ministers, through the Australian Health Workforce Ministerial Council, have taken on the appearance of the mythical hydra-headed monster, concurrently a unitary and disparate form purposely constructed to act in the public interest in a unique antipodean model of health workforce governance.

A Revisit of the Ministerial Concept of Lay and Full-Time Ministers in Classical Pentecostal Churches in Ghana and its Missional Implications

In their article “Pentecostal Mission Approaches” White and Niemandt (2015, 241–269) make a case for how some Pentecostal Churches in Ghana have made good use of lay/tent ministry in their missionary agenda. However, among the Classical Pentecostal Churches in Ghana, lay ministers are not recognised as full-time ministers of the church. The understanding of these churches is that the lay/tent ministers by their definition do not operate in the five-fold ministry. In some of the churches, they are not accredited by the church to be part of their General Ministerial Council Meetings and the Annual General Meetings. Unlike the mainline churches, the lay or tent ministers in the Classical Pentecostal Churches in Ghana are also not allowed to vote or to be recommended for Executive Council positions. These issues therefore make it essential to investigate the historical and theological understanding of the concept of the lay and full-time ministers in church history, Ghanaian Pentecostals’ view of the concept, as well as the missional importance of lay ministries in the church and the missio Dei.

‘Slow learners’? Comparing the Sunningdale Agreement and the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement

This chapter compares and contrasts the 1973 and 1998 Agreements that, on the face of it, are remarkably similar: both involve power-sharing and an institutional link between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The phrase ‘Sunningdale for slow learners’, attributed to Seamus Mallon, masks a misunderstanding of the fundamental differences between the two Agreements. The former Agreement looked to establish a Council of Ireland with executive powers that had the potential to evolve into an embryonic all-Ireland government; the latter Agreement established a consultative North-South Ministerial Council with no executive powers that could not evolve into a united Ireland by incremental moves. This was the key to Unionist acceptance of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) in comparison to Unionist rejection of the Sunningdale Agreement. In constitutional terms the GFA was a Unionist settlement that secured Northern Ireland’s position within the United Kingdom, recognised British sovereignty in Northern Ireland and established that a united Ireland could only be achieved on the basis of the principle of consent. In contrast the Sunningdale Agreement was, in constitutional terms, a Nationalist settlement that did not recognise Northern Ireland was part of the UK and attempted to bypass the principle of consent by establishing powerful North-South bodies. The chapter argues that the only thing the two Agreements has in common was a power-sharing element for the government of Northern Ireland.