International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC) List of Essential Practices in Palliative Care

The objective of this study was to identify, through a consensus process, the essential practices in primary palliative care. A three-phase study was designed. Phase 1 methods included development of a working group; a literature review; development of a baseline list of practices; and identification of levels of intervention. In Phase 2, physicians, nurses, and nurse aides (n = 425) from 63 countries were asked in three Delphi rounds to rate the baseline practices as essential or nonessential and select the appropriate levels of intervention for each. In Phase 3, representatives of 45 palliative care organizations were asked to select and rank the 10 most important practices resulting from Phase 2. Scores (1-10) were assigned to each, based on the selected level of importance. Results of Phase 1 were a baseline list of 140 practices. Three levels of intervention were identified: Identification/Evaluation; Diagnosis; and Treatment/Solution measures. In Phase 2, the response rates (RR) for the Delphi rounds were 96.5%, 73.6%, and 71.8%, respectively. A consensus point (=80% agreement) was applied, resulting in 62 practices. In Phase 3, RR was 100%. Forty-nine practices were selected and ranked. "Evaluation, Diagnosis and Treatment of Pain" scored the highest (352 points). The working group (WG) arranged the resulting practices in four categories: Physical care needs, Psychological/Emotional/Spiritual care needs, Care Planning and Coordination, and Communication. The IAHPC List of Essential Practices in Palliative care may help define appropriate primary palliative care and improve the quality of care delivered globally. Further studies are needed to evaluate their uptake and impact.

Military Service Pensions for public and civil servants in independent Ireland

In 1924 the Cumann na nGaedheal government introduced the first Military Service Pensions Act to provide monetary compensation for those who fought for Irish independence between 1916 and 1923. Pensioners who were in receipt of remuneration from the state as civil and public servants had a portion of their pension deducted commensurate with their state income. This controversial provision was criticised by all political parties as representing a mean-spirited attitude towards veterans of the independence campaign and treating civil and public servants differently from those in private employment. It was eventually modified in the 1940s and abolished in the 1950s. This article provides a case study that highlights the parsimonious attitude of Irish governments towards veterans of the independence campaign and shows how the treatment of public and civil servants reflected tensions between the government and the civil service in the early years of the state.

Civil society versus nationalizing state?:Advocacy of minority rights in the post-socialist Baltic states

Strong civil society provides individuals with arenas to bring their interests to the attention of policymakers. In so doing, civil society organizations (CSOs) can support state policies, but can also criticize policies. This paper argues that most minority rights advocacy CSOs in the Baltic states have little say in the crafting of policy and are compartmentalized into the existing agendas, with only a few groups able to evaluate policies independently. It concludes that the Baltic civil society is weak because the CSOs working on minority issues ask policymakers either too much, or too little. The findings suggest that policymakers quell criticism of their work from the side of the CSOs by ignoring their activities. Alternatively, by funding the CSO that shores up the state agenda, policymakers delegate their responsibilities to civic actors, keep critical voices from public debates and claim that their policies have the full support of a vibrant civil society. This paper investigates the options available for civil society actors to relate to policymakers in a nationalizing state by drawing on the data collected in 77 semi-structured interviews with the CSOs working with Russian and Polish minorities in the Baltic states between 2006 and 2009. © 2011 Association for the Study of Nationalities.

Cold War Politics in Britain and the Contested Legacy of the Spanish Civil War

This article offers a sustained examination of how the vicissitudes of the Cold War shaped changing interpretations of the Spanish Civil War in Britain. Considering the perspectives of participants and historians, it focuses on the diverse strands of the Left that frequently drew on the civil war to attack each other and to make wider arguments about the global Cold War. First, with the aim of criticizing Communist take-overs in Eastern Europe in the late 1940s, the article analyzes retrospective assaults on Communist party tactics and Soviet foreign policy in Spain. Second, in order to argue that the Soviet Union took a counter-revolutionary line after 1956, it investigates the re-emergence of debates over the Spanish revolution. Third, to express disapproval of the United States, it examines the increasing use of the civil war as an analogy in Cold War international affairs from the 1960s. Fourth, in support of non-Soviet Left-of-Centre collaboration, most notably Eurocommunism in the 1970s and opposition to Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government in the 1980s, it considers the renewed emphasis on the popular front. The trajectories of these debates reveal that, over time, the weight of the Left’s criticism moved from the Soviet Union towards the United States.