Foreign Policy as Ethics: Toward a Re-Evaluation of Values

This article notes that while ethics is increasingly talked of in foreign policy, it remains a blind-spot for FPA. It argues that this must be rectified through a critical approach which conceptualises foreign policy as ethics. The first section examines how even constructivist approaches, which are highly attuned to the intersubjective sphere, still generally avoid dealing with morality. The second section looks at the possibilities and limits of one piece of constructivist theorizing that explores the translation of morality into foreign policy via ‘norms’. This demonstrates the problems that a constructivist account, with its tendency toward explanatory description without evaluation, will always face. The final section argues, through an examination of EU foreign policy (from 1999-2004) and its innovative use of ‘hospitality’, that FPA must critically reassess the value of the norms and principles by which foreign policy operates in order to suggest potentially more ethical modes of encounter.

Dimensionality of Policy Space in Consociational Northern Ireland

A criticism of consociational power sharing as an institutional response to violent conflict is that it buttresses rather than ameliorates the underlying (linguistic, religious or ethno-national) divide, hence prohibiting the emergence of new dimensions of political competition (such as economic left-right or moral liberal-conservative dimensions) that are characteristic of 'normal' societies. We test this argument in the context of the illustrative Northern Ireland case, using data from expert coding of party policy documents and opinion data derived from two Voter Advice Applications (VAAs). We find evidence for a moral liberal-conservative dimension of politics in addition to the ethno-national dimension. Hence, we caution against assuming that consociational polities are uni-dimensional.

Minimising harm from alcohol misuse: Challenges to the development of effective policy

Successive substance misuse strategies in Northern Ireland and elsewhere have
been underpinned by the goal of minimising the harm accruing from the use of alcohol and other drugs. However, what it means for a person’s alcohol use to cause harm is an evolving concept. As the understanding of harm changes, the type of evidence needed to estimate the scale of harm and to evaluate the success of a given initiative changes also.
This paper does three things. We first highlight a recent model by Laslett and
colleagues for estimating the harm of one individual’s alcohol use to other individuals, the centrepiece of a report to the Alcohol Education and Research Foundation (AERF) in 2010. This model has been hugely influential in identifying areas where harms from alcohol use accrue and in attempting to quantify those harms (e.g. the cost of injuries inflicted during intoxication). We suggest three ways in which this model could be improved by accounting for: (a) the influence of one individual’s drinking on the drinking behaviour of their peers; (b) the level of use which triggers a given harm; and (c) the degree of time-lag in each of
the domains of harm.
Secondly, we explore specific challenges to developing effective policy on
adolescents’ drinking behaviours, drawing on research which specifically elicits the perspectives of young people on why they drink.
Thirdly, we examine the relative harms of allowing moderate levels of drinking
among mid-adolescents versus promoting zero use up until late adolescence.

European Union Biomedical Research Law and Policy and Citizen Science

In this chapter I focus on the EU's emerging biomedical research law and policy and examine the development of citizen science in this setting. The chapter argues that while what the analysis reveals might not be specific to the EU, attention to this organisation underlines important but often overlooked aspects of citizen science. That is, citizen science is (being) made less about promoting substantive involvement by citizens in the fashioning of biomedical trajectories and their empowerment as participants that pursue aims defined by themselves rather than others. Instead citizen science is underpinned by a more longstanding EU level approach to participation in science-based issues that sees it being harnessed, shaped and directed towards supporting the production and legitimation of organisational identity and sociotechnical order (in this case the EU’s). Within biomedical research law and policy citizen science might therefore be expected to support market-optimised biomedical futures and a dynamic internal market and economy. Citizen science is thereby implicated in the delineation of the boundaries of responsibility and accountability (and blame) for the (non-)realisation of public health priorities and objectives. In this way law and policy on participation and citizen science might support current research trajectories that do not serve all health needs.

Changing patterns of first injection across key periods of the French Harm Reduction Policy: PrimInject, a cross sectional analysis

Background: Monitoring of emerging modes of drug consumption in France has identified new patterns of injection among youths with diverse social backgrounds, which may explain the persistence of high rates of hepatitis C virus infection. The circumstances surrounding the first injection have been poorly documented in the group of heavy drug users and in the context of the French opioid substitution treatment (OST) policy that provides expanded access to high-dosage buprenorphine (BHD). Methods: An Internet survey (Priminject) was conducted from October 2010 to March 2011 with French drug users. Four time periods were compared based on critical dates throughout the implementation of the Harm Reduction Policy in France. Results: Compared with drug users who injected for the first time prior to 1995, the aspects of drug use for users who recently injected for the first time were as follows: (1) experimentation with miscellaneous drugs before the first injection; (2) an older age at the time of first injection; (3) heroin as the drug of choice for an individual’s first injection, notwithstanding the increased usage of stimulant drugs; (4) BHD did not appear to be a pathway to injection; and (5) an increased number of users who injected their first time alone, without the help or presence of another individual. Conclusion: The PrimInject study showed that there is a group of injection drug users that is larger than the group of injection drug users observed in previous studies; therefore, it is necessary to diversify programs to reach the entire spectrum of high-risk users.

Environmental governance in China: weakness and potential from an environmental policy integration perspective

Interest in China’s capacity for environmental governance is growing, in line with its environmental woes and exponential economic growth. Environmental policy efforts have lacked effectiveness, confirming the persistence of a disjuncture between promise and performance. This article contributes to the debate through the analytical lens of Environmental Policy Integration (EPI): a normative concept and governance regime indispensable to sustainable development. It finds that China,like most OECD countries, falls short of the concept. Despite encouraging recent changes, driven by the Hu-Wen regime, and encapsulated in the idea of scientific development, the analysis reveals weaknesses in all three EPI-type responses: normative, organisational and procedural. The disjuncture is confirmed, but drawing on EPI’s normative perspective, it is suggested that the reasons for this lie as much in the framing of the promise, as in the performance, or implementation, itself. Based on this interpretation and on China’s unique extreme characteristics, it is recommended that environmental policy objectives be given principled priority status, as a condition for effective governance.

Research into the Impact of School Leadership on Pupil Outcomes: Policy and Research Contexts

This paper extends the introduction to the authors’ study of successful school leadership and how it influences pupil outcomes begun in the Editorial introduction. Critical to an appreciation especially of the external validity of their results is an understanding of the policy context in which the English leaders in their study found themselves; this is a policy context dominated by concerns for external accountability and increases in the academic performance of pupils. In addition to describing this context, the paper summarises the conceptual and methodological framework that guided the early stage of their research and outlines their mixed-methods research design.

From the Government to the Streets: Why the U.S. is a Policy Innovator in Disability Rights

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2012

Professionalism and skills enhancement in the built environment: the role of higher education in a changing policy context in England

Since the election of the Labour Government in 1997 there have been a series of policy initiatives emphasising the importance of co-ordinated and integrated approaches to the delivery of urban regeneration and in particular Sustainable Communities. This changing policy context has given rise to a shortage of practitioners with both the technical skills to deliver specific programmes, and more especially the generic skills to work in multi-disciplinary teams in conjunction with partnership-based management boards. This paper discusses the origins of the debate about skills shortages and deficiencies and reviews the main government reports which have advocated a new approach to the provision of skills for community regeneration. It focuses particularly on the work of the Planning Network which was funded by the Centre for Education in the Built Environment (CEBE) to examine the contribution of higher education to the wider skills debate. It concludes by arguing that higher education has an important part to play in the provision of a more appropriate skills set for professional practice within a broader and more inclusive strategy involving all key stakeholders. However, employers also have a major responsibility in ensuring that key skills are maintained and enhanced within their own organisations.

It has had quite a lot of reverberations through the family": reconfiguring relationships through parent with dementia care

In this chapter I explore the accounts of adult children caring for a parent with dementia. Dementia is typically understood to be an umbrella term for a large number of conditions, the most common of which are Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia and fronto-temporal dementia. These are progressive – ultimately terminal – conditions that affect memory, communication, mood and behaviour. I examine the accounts of interactions with parents with dementia that fracture and reconfigure normative familial relationships. In so doing I suggest that, in the absence of a primary spousal carer, caring for a person living with dementia can necessitate particular issues for adult children that trouble notions of how we understand familial roles, responsibilities and ‘duties’.

Social tourism: a potential policy to reduce social exclusion?

Social tourism is often presented by charities and governmental organisations as a potential means to counter social exclusion. It has more specifically been linked to potential benefits such as improvements in family relations, a more pro-active attitude to life, an improvement in the academic performance of children etc. Even though this argument is often used when promoting social tourism, there is very little research evidence that supports these claims. This research concentrates on visitor-related social tourism for low-income groups, and the effects a social holiday can have on the daily lives of the families who are offered these holidays. The paper reports on qualitative two-stage research that has been conducted with participants of social holidays in the UK and their welfare agents. It will present findings as to how far holidays can assist with the integration of socially excluded, and this on different levels: family relations, parenting, pro-social attitudes, mental and physical health and community involvement are examples of categories used to measure change. Different types of holidays will also be compared to analyse the merits and limitations of each type (individual family holidays versus group holidays).

Tourism policy making: the policymakers' perspectives

This research explores tourism policy making, from the perspectives of policy makers using grounded theory. It focuses on Leeds, a city in the North of England, which is characterized by its turbulent environment. The paper identifies themes around policy making, including low status, lack of clarity, uncertainty, lack of consensus and congruence and complexity. Its findings indicate policy making is essentially a social process, involving communication and negotiation between people in the context of wider change. It suggests a social conceptualization, and further research to investigate the communications involved in producing policy rather than the current research focus on the tangible outputs of the process such as a plan or a physical development.

Changing climate, changing decisions : understanding climate adaptation decision-making and the way science supports it

Tese de doutoramento, Ciências do Ambiente, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2015

A review of tourism policy for the 2012 Olympics

This review considers the main tourism policy documents published by the UK Department for Culture, Media & Sport which are explicitly linked with the hosting of the Olympic Games in London in 2012. It reflects on the use of evidence gained from wider events hosting strategies utilized elsewhere, but notes concern about the lack of a coherent marketing theme and the potential to spread the tourism benefits beyond the main event venues. It concludes citing again the oft-noted problem about the links between tourism and wider cultural strategy development.

Complexity theory and tourism policy research

This paper investigates applications of complexity theory in the social sphere and considers its potential contribution to enhance understanding of tourism policy making. Five concepts are identified to explore complex social circumstances and human interactions that influence policy. Social applications of complexity suggest a move towards localised and deeper studies to explore the dynamics of policy enactment in context. It suggests complexity theory might be used as a thinking tool to enable a more holistic approach to policy analysis and investigate policy in its context, considering interactions between different policies/programmes, and the implications of human agency.