Administrative Justice in the United Kingdom

The article examines the concept of administrative justice and shows how this term does not lend itself to a singular definition, but it is generally associated with a more holistic approach to citizen redress against government in which judicial review is only one mechanism among many others. After identifying some of the primary mechanisms within the system of administrative justice (Consultation, Ombudsman, Tribunals) and showing how they interact with one another, the article outlines the main challenges that this system faces in an era of austerity. Indeed, the reduction of government spending on the mechanisms which facilitate administrative justice has the potential to hollow out the values that infuse administrative justice as a whole.

Le contrôle social des établissements de détention : les cas de la France et du Canada

Thèse diffusée initialement dans le cadre d'un projet pilote des Presses de l'Université de Montréal/Centre d'édition numérique UdeM (1997-2008) avec l'autorisation de l'auteur.

La mobilisation linguistique au Pays de Galles, en Ontario et au Nouveau-Brunswick (1962-2012) : cycles de mobilisation et rémanence dans une perspective comparée

Les minorités linguistiques francophones au Nouveau-Brunswick et en Ontario et la minorité galloisante au Pays de Galles ont plusieurs éléments en commun. D’abord, elles se sont dotées d’un réseau associatif dense qui a mené de front plusieurs luttes, souvent avec succès, et qui a eu pour résultats l’amélioration de la situation sociopolitique et la reconnaissance symbolique de la communauté minoritaire. Ensuite, le statut légal et social de la langue minoritaire a relativement progressé dans les trois cas, grâce à l’adoption de lois et de politiques linguistiques. Ajoutons qu’elles ont tous accès à des institutions qui leur permettent de faire entendre leurs voix ou encore de se gouverner, que ce soit à travers leurs gouvernements locaux ou les assemblées législatives, et peuvent compter sur un ombudsman linguistique. Toutefois, la principale différence entre ces trois cas réside dans le niveau de mobilisation linguistique que l’on y observe à l’heure actuelle. On pourrait le qualifier d’élevé au Pays de Galles, de modéré en Ontario et de faible au Nouveau-Brunswick. Comment expliquer cette différence malgré un contexte similaire dans chacun des cas ? En nous inspirant des travaux sur la mobilisation linguistique, sur la rémanence et sur les régimes linguistiques, nous proposons une hypothèse qui établit un lien causal entre la satisfaction des groupes représentant les minorités linguistiques à l’égard des régimes linguistiques et le niveau de mobilisation. Le niveau de mobilisation d’une minorité linguistique varie en fonction de sa satisfaction à l’égard du régime linguistique, et cette satisfaction est liée à la perception qu’ont les groupes quant aux succès ou aux échecs de leurs mobilisations linguistiques. Autrement dit, quand une minorité linguistique considère que sa mobilisation linguistique n’a pas obtenu le succès escompté et que le régime linguistique ne répond pas à ses principales attentes, les organisations qui la représentent maintiennent un niveau de mobilisation élevé. À l’inverse, quand une minorité linguistique perçoit que sa mobilisation linguistique a connu du succès et que le régime linguistique répond à ses principales attentes, les organisations se réorganisent et entrent en rémanence. De façon plus précise, cette hypothèse propose donc une explication pour chacun des cas. Au Pays de Galles, le niveau de mobilisation des Galloisants demeure élevé parce que les modifications apportées au régime linguistique gallois ne répondent toujours pas aux attentes formulées par les acteurs de la société civile et ces acteurs ne considèrent pas que leur mobilisation a connu les succès escomptés. En Ontario, le niveau de mobilisation est modéré, parce qu’après une période de rémanence suivant un succès de la mobilisation linguistique, elle a repris une certaine vigueur alors que certains acquis étaient menacés. Au Nouveau-Brunswick, la mobilisation linguistique est en rémanence après que la mobilisation ait atteint sa finalité, c’est-à-dire qu’elle a connu le succès qu’elle recherchait, mais les acteurs de la société civile ne sont pas pour autant absents de l’espace public.

Análisis de la incidencia de la cooperación sueca en Colombia en el área de desarrollo y paz, periodo 2003 - 2010

Analiza la Cooperación Sueca para el Desarrollo en Colombia a partir de la ejecución de proyectos en el area de desarrollo y paz, realizados por la Defensoría del Pueblo en apoyo con la Agencia Sueca para el Desarrollo Internacional.

Papel de la Organización de Naciones Unidas ONU (MINUGUA) en el proceso de reconstrucción posconflicto guatemalteco en materia de justicia transicional (1994-2004). Un estado del arte

Estado del arte que recopila pronunciamientos de diversos autores sobre el papel de la Organización de Naciones Unidas, específicamente la Misión MINUGUA, en el proceso de reconstrucción posconflicto en Guatemala comprendido entre el año 1994 y 2004. Se basa en algunas dimensiones de la democratización como son el Estado de Derecho, la democracia representativa, la preeminencia del poder civil, y el fortalecimiento de la cultura democrática. Así mismo, tiene en cuenta los elementos de la justicia transicional, a saber: verdad, justicia y reparación.

Culture, compassion and clinical neglect: probity in the NHS after Mid Staffordshire

Speaking of the public response to the deaths of children at the Bristol Royal Infirmary before 2001, the BMJ commented that the NHS would be 'all changed, changed utterly'. Today, two inquiries into the Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust suggest nothing changed at all. Many patients died as a result of their care and the stories of indifference and neglect there are harrowing. Yet Bristol and Mid Staffordshire are not isolated reports. In 2011, the Health Services Ombudsman reported on the care of elderly and frail patients in the NHS and found a failure to recognise their humanity and individuality and to respond to them with sensitivity, compassion and professionalism. Likewise, the Care Quality Commission and Healthcare Commission received complaints from patients and relatives about the quality of nursing care. These included patients not being fed, patients left in soiled bedding, poor hygiene practices, and general disregard for privacy and dignity. Why is there such tolerance of poor clinical standards? We need a better understanding of the circumstances that can lead to these outcomes and how best to respond to them. We discuss the findings of these and other reports and consider whether attention should be devoted to managing individual behaviour, or focus on the systemic influences which predispose hospital staff to behave in this way. Lastly, we consider whether we should look further afield to cognitive psychology to better understand how clinicians and managers make decisions?

Legislation to protect whistle-blowers in Victoria

Protection afforded to whistleblowers under Victoria's Whistleblower Protection Act - benefits and costs of providing protection - types of disclosures that are protected and people who can claim protection under the Act - determining if a matter involves a public interest disclosure - investigation of disclosures by the Ombudsman, and other public bodies - action upon completion of an investigation - protection afforded to the Ombudsman.

Codes of ethics in corporate Sweden

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to examine and describe the use of codes of ethics in the top 100 companies operating in the Swedish corporate sector. This paper reports on the responses of those companies that possessed a code of ethics.

Design/methodology/approach – A three-stage research procedure was used. First, a questionnaire was sent to the public relations managers of the top 100 companies operating in the Swedish corporate sector (based on revenue). Companies were asked to answer up to 29 questions and to supply a copy of their code of ethics. The second stage involved content analysis of the codes of ethics supplied by survey respondents. The third stage involved a more detailed follow-up of a smaller group of firms that appeared to be close to best practice. Findings for Stage 1 of the research are reported in this paper. The areas of questioning were: how common are codes of ethics? Who was involved in the development of these codes? What are the reasons for the codes? How are they implemented? Do companies inform internal and external publics of the codes? What are the prescribed benefits of the codes?

Findings – It would appear that business ethics has only recently become a topic of interest in corporate Sweden and that many companies are in the early stages of code development and assimilation into company policies. The incidence of codes in the population (of 100) suggested by this survey (56 per cent) is lower than a US study finding (in 1995) that over 84 per cent of comparable US companies had codes of ethics. It would appear that Sweden today lags behind the US situation of 1995. When one investigates the special measures to support the inculcation of ethical values at the organizational level, there appears to be some shortfall. The supporting measures of ethics committees, ethics training committees, ethics training, ombudsman, an ethical audit and procedures to protect whistleblowers appear to be under-utilized in companies that possess codes. This lack of utilization tends to suggest that companies in Sweden, as yet, either have not developed a high commitment to supporting business ethics in their corporations, or they may have developed other methods to support their codes in their organizations that they view are as beneficial as the traditional methods practised in other western industrial democracies.

Research limitations/implications – This research was limited to internal ethical expectations. The commitment to business ethics is usually explored in terms of internal ethical expectations, but the simultaneous consideration of the external ethical expectations in the marketplace (e.g. among suppliers and customers or other publics) is desirable. A dyadic approach considering a company's internal ethical expectations and the external ethical expectations of a company's business activities may give a more balanced and in-depth approach.

Practical implications – Evidence is now available to show that codes of ethics are well developed in many of Sweden's largest corporations: organizations that, from their responses, appear to see a diverse range of benefits in developing the area of business ethics. Companies are beginning to implement not only a code of ethics, but other complementary initiatives that reinforce the need for the culture of the organization to be ethical. Codes of ethics are perceived by organizations to have assisted them in their dealings in the marketplace and many companies use their ethical values to underpin their strategic planning process. It appears that many companies now see the formalisation of business ethics as an integral part of their commercial practices.

Originality/value – This study is the first one of its kind on codes of ethics in corporate Sweden. It will enable all sectors of Swedish business to benchmark their efforts against the major companies in the Swedish corporate sector.

Codes of ethics in Sweden's largest public sector organizations : communicating the intent of the code within the organization

The aim of the study was to examine the ways that public sector organizations in Sweden communicated the intent of their codes of ethics to their employees. Primary data was obtained via a self-administered mail questionnaire distributed to a census of the top 100 organizations.

The study identified a range of methods used by organizations to integrate the ethos of codes into corporate culture. These methods included communication of the code, company induction of new staff, consequences for a breach of the code, ethical performance, an ethics ombudsman, the support of whistleblowers, a standing ethics committee, ethics education, and an ethics education committee.

Whilst many organizations have instituted ethical behaviour initiatives, activities specifically targeted at exposure, education and support for staff to perform ethically were found to be underdeveloped.

Comparing codes of ethics among the top companies in Australia, Canada and the USA

In the twentieth century, industrialized economies around the world enacted legislation to protect free and fair trade. These legislative initiatives were often precipitated by exposure to unethical business practices. With the fairly recent corporate business scandals around the world, ethics is once again at the forefront of concerns about commercial exchanges. This situation has become more complex with the globalization of commercial trade. Subsequently, there have been various attempts by international organizations to regulate the conduct of global corporations. One key technique to try to regulate the conduct of corporation is the use of codes of ethics. This study examines corporate codes of ethics and the measures in place to communicate the ethos of the codes to both internal and external stakeholders in three countries. A questionnaire that was non-sponsored and unsolicited was sent to the top companies operating in the private sector within Australia, Canada and the USA. Nine key areas of corporate ethics are examined and they are divided into two categories as follows:

Regulation
Consequences for a Breach
Ethical Perfonnance Appraisal
Conduct Ethical Audits

Staff Support
Support of Whistle blowers
Guide to Strategic Planning
Ethics Committee
Ethics Training Committee
Staff Training
Ethics Ombudsman.

Applying a we al-li educaring framework to address histories of violence with Aboriginal women

An Aboriginal woman living in a remote area is 45 times more likely to experience domestic violence than their white peers. (Gordon et al, 2002) The nature of that violence is multi-layered, complex and incorporates a history of intergenerational loss, grief, trauma and the impact of colonisation, as discussed by Atkinson, C (2008). It involves women, children, families, communities. It is a story about people, many of whom find themselves in trouble with the legal system. Of the 25 male parents who killed their children in a domestic violence context five identified as Aboriginal (20%) (NSW Domestic Violence Death Review Team Annual Report, 2015, p.17). The percentage of women in Victorian prisons who have been victims of sexual, physical or emotional abuse has been reported to be 87% (Johnson, 2004). This figure is supported by the latest Ombudsman’s report on Victorian Prisons (2015).None of the 17 females who killed their children identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander (NSW Domestic Violence Death Review Team Annual Report 2015, p.18). The most common charge/offence for both Aboriginal men and women is an act intended to cause injury (see Figure 2).The stories of women in this program and anecdotal evidence from people working in the field reveals that most of this violence is lateral, ie within families and communities which is not an uncommon occurrence where there is a history of colonisation.

Ouvidoria em órgão regulador do sistema financeiro nacional: o caso do Banco Central do Brasil

This study aims to understand how can the Ombudsman Office in the Central Bank of Brazil - the national monetary policy authority - contribute towards its interaction with society, especially regarding its customer service center. Social control over the government appears to be vital to the governments be responsive and pursue the public interest. The Ombudsman Office can be one instrument of social control. This research is a case study. The study presents the term ombudsman in the world and also its equivalent in Brazil - "ouvidor". Next, concepts related to public administration and accountability are approached. It was verified that the Ombudsman office can be effective in helping the social control of Central Bank of Brazil. Moreover, the Ombudsman Office brings a lot of valuable knowledge to this organization, mainly regarding its social role and its internal processes.

Os tribunais de contas e o controle social : a proposta de criação de uma ouvidoria para o Tribunal de Contas do Estado do Rio de Janeiro e sua importância no processo democrático fluminense

The aim of this dissertation is to study the contribution given by the Brazilian court of accounts, with the creation of the ombudsman on those institutions, to the exercise of the social control made by its citizens. Being considered one of the key inventions in the field of the external control of the public management, the ombudsman of the court of accounts is the most important means of control the society may use over the public management, as well as the place where the society and court of accounts might debate and get to an agreement concerning on how to spend the public asset in a way that will benefit the citizens. In order to fulfill the aim of the dissertation, the concepts of citizenship, particularly the deliberative citizenship, were recaptured, as well as the means of control in the public management and the role of the court of accounts as a participant in the external control of the public accounts. Lastly, some of the 18 ombudsman linked to Brazilian courts of account are presented in the dissertation. The Ombudsman of the Courts of Accounts of the states of Paraná and Pernambuco are emphasized once it is understood that they are in the path of transcending the concept of popular participation to the popular sovereignty, in which the debate with the society might, in a near future, decide possibly the course of the audits of those entities.

Agências reguladoras e reforma do estado brasileiro: insulamento burocrático ou democratização do estado? Um estudo multicaso (ANEEL, ANATEL, ANVISA e ANS)

A presente dissertação tem como objetivo estudar, no âmbito da estrutura organizacional de quatro das agências reguladoras nacionais - Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica - ANEEL, Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações-ANATEL, Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária - ANVISA e Agência Nacional de Saúde Suplementar - as instâncias que correspondem à alta administração destas (Diretorias Colegiadas), os locci de representação da sociedade (Conselhos Consultivos) nesta mesma estrutura, além dos canais de interrelação dos usuários e consumidores dos serviços e produtos regulados com as agências reguladoras (Ouvidorias). A instituição de Diretorias Colegiadas constitui-se em uma das características diferenciadoras das agências reguladoras no conjunto da administração pública. Porém, ao mesmo tempo em que permite-lhes alto grau de autonomia administrativa e, portanto, decisória, abre também, a possibilidade para a exacerbação do fenômeno do insulamento burocrático e o conseqüente excessivo poder discricionário de seus dirigentes . As instâncias de participação da sociedade na definição de políticas das agências (Conselhos Consultivos ou Conselho de Consumidores) funcionariam, não apenas como locus privilegiado de externalização das posições dos atores sociais com interesses nas políticas e ações das agências reguladoras, mas, também, como possível contraponto ao insulamento de sua alta direção. Os canais institucionalizados de interrelação dos usuários e consumidores dos serviços regulados com os órgãos reguladores (Ouvidoria), por meio dos quais aqueles fazem chegar até estes suas demandas, críticas, dúvidas e sugestões, constituem-se instrumentos de democratização no acesso da sociedade ao Estado, contribuindo para o aperfeiçaomento da cidadania. As consultas e audiência publicas, por sua vez, representam mecanismos de busca de subsídios e contribuições do ambiente externo às agências ao aprimoramento da tomada de decisões de seu corpo dirigente.

Controle da gestão pública e participação cidadã: a experiência da ouvidoria do Tribunal de Contas de Pernambuco

Dentre os diversos temas de interesse social, a pesquisa realizada enfocou as relações entre Estado e sociedade, destacando a função de controle sobre a improbidade administrativa como instrumento relevante para o aprimoramento da gestão pública e para a melhoria das condições de vida da população. A investigação destacou a atuação do Tribunal de Contas de Pernambuco, as formas de controle institucional e o modo como o cidadão exerce o controle social da Administração Pública. Os resultados dos estudos, baseados na revisão da literatura sobre o tema e na experiência do Tribunal, apontam caminhos para a participação social e indicam a necessidade de constante reflexão sobre a prática institucional. A pesquisa compreendeu a identificação dos canais de comunicação estabelecidos entre o TCE-PE e a sociedade, por meio dos programas da Escola de Contas Públicas Barreto Guimarães e particularmente da Ouvidoria. O trabalho ressaltou o encaminhamento dado pelo Tribunal às denúncias de irregularidades encaminhadas pelo cidadão à Ouvidora. A análise das denúncias e a repercussão da participação do cidadão foram observadas nos julgamentos dos processos oriundos de demandas da Ouvidoria. O estudo ofereceu uma visão geral da organização e do funcionamento do Tribunal de Contas de Pernambuco e sua relação com a sociedade, em busca de um controle mais efetivo da improbidade administrativa. Tendo em vista a novidade da investigação no âmbito dos Tribunais de Contas, a abordagem utilizada revestiu-se de caráter exploratório.