Mainmise sur l'état social : mobilisation patronale et caisse de compensation en Suisse (1908-1960)

Qui sait qu'en Suisse, les associations patronales mettent en oeuvre l'Etat social ? Qui sait que associations organisent la majorité des caisses de compensation, dont la fonction principale est de collecter les cotisations et de payer les rentes de l'Assurance-vieillesse et survivants ? Qui connaît ces caisses par lesquelles transitent les milliards de l'Etat social ? L'objectif de cette thèse consiste à comprendre les raisons qui ont poussé le patronat helvétique à mettre en oeuvre les politiques de protection sociale, dont il a pourtant toujours essayé de limiter le développement. Résoudre ce paradoxe implique de se pencher sur près d'un siècle d'histoire mêlée du patronat et des politiques sociales. Ce travail retrace, sur la base d'archives privées et publiques souvent inédites, les raisons qui ont poussé les patrons à créer les premières caisses de compensation dans l'entre-deux-guerres, puis à imposer cette forme d'organisation pour l'aide aux soldats mobilisés (autour de 1940) et l'Assurance- vieillesse et survivants (autour de 1948). Il étudie également comment les associations patronales sont parvenues à défendre leurs caisses jusqu'à aujourd'hui, contre ceux qui dénonçaient l'irrationalité de l'existence d'une centaine de caisses de compensation publiques et privées concurrentes pour mettre en oeuvre un seul système d'assurances sociales. Cette recherche amène deux grands résultats. D'une part, elle propose une histoire originale des politiques sociales en Suisse. Le prisme des caisses de compensation patronales contribue en effet à interroger notre compréhension de l'histoire des politiques de protection sociale, dans laquelle on sous-estime parfois l'importance des conflits pour fixer les frontières entre formes de protection publique et privée. D'autre part, ce travail présente une histoire inédite de l'action collective des patrons dans les régulations du travail au sens large. A travers les caisses de compensation, c'est en effet à réaliser une histoire de l'Union centrale des associations patronales suisses que je me suis aussi attelé. Faute de parvenir à empêcher tout développement des politiques sociales, les patrons ont fait en sorte d'acquérir sur ces politiques une forme de mainmise. Entre histoire des politiques sociales et histoire du patronat, ce travail tente d'expliquer comment les caisses de compensation y ont contribué. Who knows that, in Switzerland, employers' associations implement the best known policies constituting the welfare state? Who knows that the equalization funds, (Caisses de compensation / Ausgleichskassen), organized by employers' associations or by the Swiss Cantons, are responsible for pooling payroll deductions and for paying benefits of the Swiss public pay-as-you-go, old-age insurance and many other branches of the welfare policies? Who knows these caisses de compensation that channel the monies dedicated to the financing of the Welfare state ? The main objective of this research is to understand the reasons why Swiss employers do implement such welfare policies that they usually reject for political reasons. In order to solve this puzzle, this research investigates half of a century of the connected histories of welfare policies and employers' collective action. It also investigates, based on public and private archive records, how employers founded the first caisses in the Interwar period, and imposed them to organize the main developments of the Welfare state during the Second World War. The research also underlines how employers defended their caisses de compensation against those questioning the rationality of this fragmented system aiming to implement one single set of public welfare through one hundred competing private and public caisses de compensation. This research highlights two main results. On the one hand, it helps to improve our understanding of the history of the welfare policies in Switzerland. Underlining the role of the caisses de compensation helps to highlight the importance of the interplay of public and private actors regarding social polices. On the other hand, this research charts a pioneering history of Swiss' employers' collective action regarding labor issues. Because they could not prevent all public welfare policy, employers achieved a form of stranglehold (mainmise) on the welfare State. Halfway between social policy and employers' associations' history, this research try to reveal how their caisses de compensation helped them in this objective.

Attitudes of detainees and prison staff towards tobacco control policy in Switzerland: a qualitative interview study.

PURPOSE: To explore detainees and staff's attitudes towards tobacco use, in order to assist prison administrators to develop an ethically acceptable tobacco control policy based on stakeholders' opinion. DESIGN: Qualitative study based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with 31 prisoners and 27 staff prior (T1) and after the implementation (T2) of a new smoke-free regulation (2009) in a Swiss male post-trial prison consisting of 120 detainees and 120 employees. RESULTS: At T1, smoking was allowed in common indoor rooms and most working places. Both groups of participants expressed the need for a more uniform and stricter regulation, with general opposition towards a total smoking ban. Expressed fears and difficulties regarding a stricter regulation were increased stress on detainees and strain on staff, violence, riots, loss of control on detainees, and changes in social life. At T2, participants expressed predominantly satisfaction. They reported reduction in their own tobacco use and a better protection against second-hand smoke. However, enforcement was incomplete. The debate was felt as being concentrated on regulation only, leaving aside the subject of tobacco reduction or cessation support. CONCLUSION: Besides an appropriate smoke-free regulation, further developments are necessary in order to have a comprehensive tobacco control policy in prisons.

The role of the Teaching Quality and Innovation Support Unit in the ICT Engineering Studies at Universitat Pompeu Fabra

One of the strategies of Universitat Pompeu Fabra to support Quality Learning has been the creation of Units for the Support of Teaching Quality and Innovation within each faculty. In the seminar we will present the role and activities of the Polytechnic School Unit in charge or coordinating the efforts towards quality learning in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Engineering Studies. We will also discuss how these activities are informed to relevant academic stakeholders.

Department of Human Rights Division of Persons with Disabilities Annual Performance Plan Report, September 2005

This report is published in accordance with the Accountable Government Act to improve decision-making and increase accountability to stakeholders and citizens. This report contains performance information regarding our primary programs including, the Youth Leadership Forum, the College Leadership Forum, the State Access Grant and the Client Assistance Program. Major accomplishments this year include continuation of our core programs, a key role in the Iowa Great Places initiative and providing Cultural Competency training to governmental and non-governmental agencies.

Overcoming the ethical dilemmas of skilled migration? An analysis of international narratives on the “brain drain”

Migration-related issues have, since approximately 2000, been the object of increased attention at the international level. This has led, among other things, to the production of international narratives, which aim both at understanding migration and at proposing policy recommendations on how to address it, with the objective of improving the governance of migration at the global level. But this implies overcoming dilemmas stemming from the diverging interests of states and other actors (like NGOs and the private sector). This article examines the way in which international migration narratives address skilled migration, which is characterised by some of the clearest political trade-offs between stakeholders. It argues that these narratives attempt to speak to all parties and conciliate contradictory arguments about what should be done, in order to discursively overcome policy dilemmas and create a consensus. While this is line with the mandate of international organizations, it depoliticises migration issues.

Use of trochanteric nail for proximal femoral extracapsular fractures

Résumé Les fractures extra capsulaires du fémur proximal sont connues pour le risque élevé de morbidité et de mortalité en cas de traitement non chirurgical. Ainsi, le clou Gamma standard a été produit pour garantir une fixation stable de ces fractures permettant par conséquent une mobilisation rapide et en charge des personnes en âge avancé et présentant ce genre de fracture. Mais il a été reproché à ce type de clou un nombre relativement élevé de fracture per ou post opératoire (environ 17%). Cette complication est liée au design de cet implant. Et, de ce fait, le clou Trochantéric a été créé pour remédier à cette complication en changeant la forme du clou et notamment sa courbure. Entre juillet 2000 et janvier 2001, 88 patients ont été traités par clou Trochantéric pour une fracture pertrochantérienne et suivis consécutivement dans notre Service. 75 patients, soit 76 fractures, ont pu être évalués cliniquement et radiologiquement durant une évolution de deux ans.

Enclouage verrouillé du tibia [Interlocking nailing of the tibia]

Centromedullary nailing is a well-established method of treatment for diaphyseal long bone fractures. The indications have been broadened greatly since the introduction in 1974 of interlocking centromedullary nailing. The purpose of this paper is to review our first results with locked intramedullary nailing of the tibia. We report our experience with the first 19 cases of interlocking tibia nails (15 fractures, 1 delayed union, 2 pseudarthrosis, 1 osteotomy). On the extension table, the insertion of the nail and the placement of the interlocking screws did not cause any problem. In 3 cases, a proximal screw had to be removed within two weeks because of spontaneous displacement. Complications have been noticed in three patients (15.8%) (pulmonary embolism on day 1, and compartment syndrome two days later in one case, sciatic nerve neuroapraxia in the other two). The other patients have been mobilized 24 to 48 hours after surgery. 94% of the fractures were consolidated 4 months post-operatively, with no major deformation. Interlocking tibia nailing seems to be an attractive method in the treatment of certain fractures of the tibia. Early mobilisation and weight-bearing are provided. The indications, the technical aspects as well as the dangers of the method must be carefully respected in order to avoid complications and poor results.

Essays on the principles and adoption of entreprise-wide architecture

Enterprise-wide architecture has become a necessity for organizations to (re)align information technology (IT) to changing business requirements. Since a city planning metaphor inspired enterprise-wide architecture, this dissertation's research axes can be outlined by similarities between cities and enterprises. Both are characterized as dynamic super-systems that need to address the evolving interest of various architecture stakeholders. Further, both should simultaneously adhere to a set of principles to guide the evolution of architecture towards the expected benefits. The extant literature on enterprise-wide architecture not only disregards architecture adoption's complexities but also remains vague about how principles guide architecture evolution. To bridge this gap, this dissertation contains three interrelated research streams examining the principles and adoption of enterprise-wide architecture. The first research stream investigates organizational intricacies inherent in architecture adoption. It characterizes architecture adoption as an ongoing organizational adaptation process. By analyzing organizational response behaviors in this adaptation process, it also identifies four archetypes that represent very diverse architecture approaches. The second research stream ontologically clarifies the nature of architecture principles along with outlining new avenues for theoretical contributions. This research stream also provides an empirically validated set of principles and proposes a research model illustrating how principles can be applied to generate expected architecture benefits. The third research stream examines architecture adoption in multinational corporations (MNCs). MNCs are Specified by unique organizational characteristics that constantly strive for balancing global integration and local responsiveness. This research stream characterizes MNCs' architecture adoption as a continuous endeavor. This endeavor tries to constantly synchron ize architecture with stakeholders' beliefs about how to balance global integration and local responsiveness. To conclude, this dissertation provides a thorough explanation of a long-term journey in Which organizations learn over time to adopt an effective architecture approach. It also clarifies the role of principles to purposefully guide the aforementioned learning process. - L'Architecture d'Entreprise (AE) est devenue une nécessité pour permettre aux organisations de (ré)aligner les technologies de l'information (TI) avec les changements en termes de besoins métiers. En se basant sur la métaphore de la planification urbaine dont l'AE s'est inspirée, cette dissertation peut être présentée comme une comparaison entre les villes et les entreprises; les deux sont des super-systèmes dynamiques ayant besoin de répondre aux intérêts d'acteurs divers et variés en constants évolution. De plus, les deux devraient souscrire simultanément à un ensemble de principes afin de faire converger l'évolution de l'architecture vers les bénéfices attendus. La littérature sur l'AE, non seulement ne prend pas en considération les complexités de l'adoption d'architecture, mais aussi reste vague sur la manière dont les principes guident l'évolution de l'architecture. Pour pallier ce manque, cette dissertation est composée de trois volets de recherche étroitement liés examinant les principes et l'adoption de l'AE. Le premier volet examine la complexité organisationnelle inhérente à l'adoption de l'architecture. Il caractérise l'adoption de l'architecture en tant que processus d'adaptation continu. En analysant le comportement organisationnel en réponse à ce processus d'adaptation, ce volet distingue quatre archétypes représentant la diversité des approches de l'architecture. Le deuxième volet de recherche clarifie de manière ontologique la nature des principes d'architecture et envisage les contributions théoriques futures possibles. Cet axe de recherche fournit aussi un ensemble de principes, validés de manière empirique, et propose un modèle de recherche illustrant la manière dont ces principes peuvent être appliqués afin de générer les bénéfices attendus de l'architecture. Le troisième volet examine l'adoption de l'architecture dans les entreprises multinationales. Ces dernières possèdent des caractéristiques organisationnelles uniques et sont constamment à la recherche d'un équilibre entre une intégration globale et une flexibilité locale tout en prenant en compte les convictions des divers acteurs sur la manière d'atteindre cet équilibre. Pour conclure, cette dissertation fournit une explication sur le long voyage au cours duquel les entreprises apprennent à adopter une approche d'architecture efficace. Elle clarifie aussi le rôle des principes dans l'accompagnement de ce processus d'apprentissage.

Generating Brand Equity through Corporate Social Responsibility to Key Stakeholders

In this paper we argue that socially responsible policies have a positive impact on a firm's brand equity in the short-term as well as in the long-term. Moreover, once we distinguish between different stakeholders, we posit that secondary stakeholders such as community are even more important than primary stakeholders (customers, shareholders, workers and suppliers) in generating brand equity. Policies aimed at satisfied community interests act as a mechanism to reinforce trust that gives further credibility to social responsible polices with other stakeholders. The result is a decrease in conflicts among stakeholders and greater stakeholder willingness to provide intangible resources that enhance brand equity. We provide support of our theoretical contentions making use of a panel data composed of 57 firms from 10 countries (the US, Japan, South Korea, France, the UK, Italy, Germany, Finland, Switzerland and the Netherlands) for the period 2002 to 2007. We use detailed information on brand equity obtained from Interbrand and on corporate social responsibility (CSR) provided by the SiRi Global Profile database, as compiled by the Sustainable Investment Research International Company (SiRi).

The view of teachers on bullying and implications for nursing

Objective: To understand school bullying from the perspective of teachers and reflect about the possible actions of the health area when coping with it. The guidelines of the School Health Program of the Ministries of Health and Education were used to reach that purpose. Method: A qualitative study carried out with teachers of a public school in Minas Gerais. Focus groups were used to collect data and the empirical material was decoded from thematic analysis of content, resulting in an analytical category: conceptions and experiences of teachers on bullying. Results: Specific perceptions about the phenomenon and the use of ineffective intervention resources were identified. In the interpretive plan were problematized the health and nursing contributions with resizing the interventions and the continuing training process of teachers. Conclusion: The results point to the construction of intersectoral practices for coping with bullying.


STRATEGIES TO SURPASS THE VULNERABILITY OF THE SMALL ISLAND STATES WITH FEW RESOURCES: THE CASE OF CAPE VERDE

The problem of small Island Developing States (SIDS) is quite recent, end of the 80s and 90s, still looking for a theoretical consolidation. SIDS, as small states in development, formed by one or several islands geographically dispersed, present reduced population, market, territory, natural resources, including drinkable water, and, in great number of the cases, low level of economic activity, factors that together, hinder the gathering of scale economies. To these diseconomies they come to join the more elevated costs in transports and communications which, allies to lower productivities, to a smaller quality and diversification of its productions, which difficult its integration in the world economy. In some SIDS these factors are not dissociating of the few investments in infrastructures, in the formation of human resources and in productive investments, just as it happens in most of the developing countries. In ecological terms, many of them with shortage of natural resources, but integrating important ecosystems in national and world terms, but with great fragility relatively to the pollution action, of excessive fishing, of uncontrolled development of tourism, factors that, conjugated and associated to the stove effect, condition the climate and the slope of the medium level of the sea water and therefore could put in cause the own survival of some of them. The drive to the awareness of the international community towards its problems summed up with the accomplishment by the United Nations in the Barbados’s Conference, 1994 where the right to the development was emphasized, through the going up the appropriate strategies and the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of the SIDS. The orientation of the regional and international cooperation in that sense, sharing technology (namely clean technology and control and administration environmental technology), information and creation of capacity-building, supplying means, including financial resources, creating non discriminatory and just trade rules, it would drive to the establishment of a world system economically more equal, in which the production, the consumption, the pollution levels, the demographic politics were guided towards the sustainability. It constituted an important step for the recognition for the international community on the specificities of those states and it allowed the definition of a group of norms and politics to implement at the national, regional and international level and it was important that they continued in the sense of the sustainable development. But this Conference had in its origin previous summits: the Summit of Rio de Janeiro about Environment and Development, accomplished in 1992, which left an important document - the Agenda 21, in the Conference of Stockholm at 1972 and even in the Conference of Ramsar, 1971 about “Wetlands.” CENTRO DE ESTUDOS AFRICANOS Occasional Papers © CEA - Centro de Estudos Africanos 4 Later, the Valletta Declaration, Malta, 1998, the Forum of Small States, 2002, get the international community's attention for the problems of SIDS again, in the sense that they act to increase its resilience. If the definition of “vulnerability” was the inability of the countries to resist economical, ecological and socially to the external shocks and “resilience” as the potential for them to absorb and minimize the impact of those shocks, presenting a structure that allows them to be little affected by them, a part of the available studies, dated of the 90s, indicate that the SIDS are more vulnerable than the other developing countries. The vulnerability of SIDS results from the fact the they present an assemblage of characteristics that turns them less capable of resisting or they advance strategies that allow a larger resilience to the external shocks, either anthropogenic (economical, financial, environmental) or even natural, connected with the vicissitudes of the nature. If these vulnerability factors were grouped with the expansion of the economic capitalist system at world level, the economic and financial globalisation, the incessant search of growing profits on the part of the multinational enterprises, the technological accelerated evolution drives to a situation of disfavour of the more poor. The creation of the resilience to the external shocks, to the process of globalisation, demands from SIDS and of many other developing countries the endogen definition of strategies and solid but flexible programs of integrated development. These must be assumed by the instituted power, but also by the other stakeholders, including companies and organizations of the civil society and for the population in general. But that demands strong investment in the formation of human resources, in infrastructures, in investigation centres; it demands the creation capacity not only to produce, but also to produce differently and do international marketing. It demands institutional capacity. Cape Verde is on its way to this stage.

Department of Human Rights Division of Persons with Disabilities Annual Performance Plan Report, September 2006

the Division of Persons with Disabilities, Iowa Department of Human Rights, Performance Report for fiscal year 2006 (July 1, 2005 – June 30, 2006). This report is published in accordance with the Accountable Government Act to improve decision-making and increase accountability to stakeholders and citizens. This report contains performance information regarding our primary programs including, the Youth Leadership Forum, the College Leadership Forum, the State Access Grant and the Client Assistance Program.

Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy Agency Performance Reporting, 2006

The Agency Performance Report for the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy is published in accordance with the Accountable Government Act. The information provided within this report is to aid in decision-making and to illustrate accountability to stakeholders and citizens. The report is indicative of the agency’s progress in meeting performance targets and achieving goals consistent with the enterprise strategic plan, the agency strategic plan and agency performance plan.

Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy Agency Performance Reporting, 2007

The Agency Performance Report for the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy is published in accordance with the Accountable Government Act. The information provided within this report is to aid in decision-making and to illustrate accountability to stakeholders and citizens. The report is indicative of the agency’s progress in meeting performance targets and achieving goals consistent with the enterprise strategic plan, the agency strategic plan and agency performance plan.

The investigation of deaths in custody: a qualitative analysis of problems and prospects.

The right to be treated humanely when detained is universally recognized. Deficiencies in detention conditions and violence, however, subvert this right. When this occurs, proper medico-legal investigations are critical irrespective of the nature of death. Unfortunately, the very context of custody raises serious concerns over the effectiveness and fairness of medico-legal examinations. The aim of this manuscript is to identify and discuss the practical and ethical difficulties encountered in the medico-legal investigation following deaths in custody. Data for this manuscript come from a larger project on Death in Custody that examined the causes of deaths in custody and the conditions under which these deaths should be investigated and prevented. A total of 33 stakeholders from forensic medicine, law, prison administration or national human rights administration were interviewed. Data obtained were analyzed qualitatively. Forensic experts are an essential part of the criminal justice process as they offer evidence for subsequent indictment and eventual punishment of perpetrators. Their independence when investigating a death in custody was deemed critical and lack thereof, problematic. When experts were not independent, concerns arose in relation to conflicts of interest, biased perspectives, and low-quality forensic reports. The solutions to ensure independent forensic investigations of deaths in custody must be structural and simple: setting binding standards of practice rather than detailed procedures and relying on preexisting national practices as opposed to encouraging new practices that are unattainable for countries with limited resources.