Suchergebnisse

Politics, science, and ARTs policy in Canada --Normalizing and resisting assisted reproductive technologies : Canadian and comparative perspectives --Claiming and contesting epistemic authority : the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies --Science and the public weigh in : the discursive terrain of ARTs policy making --"Proceed with care" : (re)negotiating the science/politics divide --Setting boundaries and crafting ARTs legislation --Science, boundary work, and parliamentary politics : the passing of Bill C-6 --Understanding boundary work and ARTs policy in Canada.

Les commissions royales d'enquête ont été traditionnellement considérées comme des institutions visant à produire des consensus à propos des politiques gouvernementales. Notre article refuse cet argument et s'appuie sur une interprétation plus dynamique du rôle des commissions. La rapidité des changements technologiques et sociaux, tout comme le désir d'une plus grande participation des citoyens à des décisions de plus en plus complexes, indiquent le besoin de lieux où puissent se conjuguer savoir spécialisé et démocratie. Cet article soutient que les commissions royales d'enquête peuvent constituer un tel lieu. Nous défendons cette thèse en analysant la Commission royale sur les nouvelles techniques de reproduction. Nous soutenons que tout en accueillant des formes de savoir très diversifiées, celles-ci n'ont pas toutes été prises en compte, en définitive, à la suite de querelles politiques et idéologiques.

The economic literature finds a strong link between infrastructure endowment and economic growth. In recent years, the Italian infrastructure backwardness has become a central theme in the national political, economic and social debate. By definition, infrastructure investment implies the allocation of financial resources at present to obtain future advantages. The temporal gap brings up questions related to the financing mechanism, which is one of the most interesting themes of the debate.Traditionally, within the Italian system of derived finance and according to the inter-generational equity principle, Italian Municipalities (IMs) have financed investment expenditures by resorting to borrowing, for a minimum amount with the banking system, and for the most part with the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti S.p.A. (CDP). Unfortunately, this financing method has imposed heavy burdens on future budgets, in terms of refund of interest and capital. Moreover, in 2001, the reform of the Constitution (especially the part regarding Local Authorities (Las), Title V, Part II) has strengthened the political, administrative, and financial autonomy of LAs.

Les décisions relatives aux programmes de recherche sur les nouvelles technologies de reproduction et leur application ont été principalement prises en dehors de la société civile et des arènes politiques officielles. Parmi plusieurs cadres théoriques qui soulignent le rôle du discours dans l'établissement du cadre des questions politiques, la présente étude examine le rôle dominant que jouent les experts médico-scientifiques, tant au niveau des délibérations sur la recherche embryologique que sur les structures institutionnelles qui assurent leur indépendance dans ce domaine. L'étude explore ensuite les différents discours qui ont vu le jour lors de la Commission sur les nouvelles techniques de reproduction et explique comment les limites « moralement acceptables » sur la recherche embryologique ont été négociées et légitimées. Finalement, l'étude examine comment le discours médico-scientifique et l'autorité cognitive des experts scientifiques ont influencé la ligne de conduite du gouvernement fédéral canadien sur la recherche embryologique. Ce faisant, ce texte souligne le « lien discursif » entre la rhétorique du progrès scientifique, avancé par la communauté scientifique, et la Stratégie d'innovation du Parti libéral, laquelle vise à accroître la compétitivité économique du Canada en renforçant sa capacité dans les domaines de la recherche et de la science.

It is argued that royal commissions are legitimate institutions for developing knowledge about & new ideas for society's concerns, as shown by the attempts made by Canada's royal commission on new reproductive techniques to respond to the experiences of ethnocultural groups, feminist organizations, & infertile couples when determining their recommendations. The view that royal commissions seek only to achieve consensus on government policies is rejected, but it is acknowledged that this particular commission's discursive capacity was severely limited by internal political & ideological battles. Adapted from the source document.

Gender mainstreaming (GM) is a strategy used by governments to promote gender equality. It entails integrating gender and intersectional considerations into all aspects of policy work, including policy formulation, implementation, and evaluation. However, its success in achieving gender equality and social transformation has been limited. Drawing on implementation research and narrative analysis, this article explores the micro-level dynamics and the local actors that help shape the character and outcome of gender mainstreaming. Using narrative analysis, we explore how GM specialists within the Canadian public service make sense of their role, and we identify the strategies they use to make gender matter in policy work. By examining their stories of isolation, disempowerment, and resistance, we uncover the administrative and political forces that shape not only the "space" for gender work but also the opportunities for individual activism and resistance. These stories convey how, by engaging in these micro-level strategies, GM specialists both challenge and reinscribe, at the macro level, technocratic representations of GM and of policy work in general. We conclude with some reflections on the insights that micro-level analysis and implementation research can bring to the study of gender mainstreaming.

AbstractThe debate surrounding the transformative potential of gender mainstreaming has revived concerns of co-optation of equality work and resistance first expressed by early feminist public administration scholars. In this article, we explore how gender analysts exercised their agency and carved out spaces within the bureaucracy to articulate and advance a gender focus in policy work. Employing discursive, institutional and relational strategies, gender analysts simultaneously used and pushed back against hierarchical bureaucratic discourses as they operationalized Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) in the federal public bureaucracy. These micro-level acts of resistance, on their own, do not lead to social transformation. However, by creating spaces for feminist knowledge and activism within the state, these local strategies can contribute to the broader feminist agenda.

Combining insights from narrative inquiry and participatory policy analysis, this article analyses the "illness narratives" of people with hepatitis C, a blood-borne liver disease that affects millions of people around the world. In particular, we explore how a narrative-based approach to health politics and policy can illuminate our understanding of the social dimensions of health and illness. In incorporating the "experiential" knowledge of people living with this chronic condition, we seek to challenge the dominant approach of Evidence Based Medicine, in which randomised controlled trials operate as the Gold Standard against which all other forms of evidence are judged. Narrative approaches can be particularly useful, we argue, when examining newly emerging illnesses that are only beginning to receive public attention. Moreover, in the case of chronic illnesses such as hepatitis C, which can be relatively invisible in a public and media landscape dominated by diseases with dramatic, "punchy" storylines, rendering an illness "narratable" may be an important task of the policy analyst. Adapted from the source document.

AbstractCombining insights from narrative inquiry and participatory policy analysis, this article analyses the "illness narratives" of people with hepatitis C, a blood-borne liver disease that affects millions of people around the world. In particular, we explore how a narrative-based approach to health politics and policy can illuminate our understanding of the social dimensions of health and illness. In incorporating the "experiential" knowledge of people living with this chronic condition, we seek to challenge the dominant approach of Evidence Based Medicine, in which randomised controlled trials operate as the Gold Standard against which all other forms of evidence are judged. Narrative approaches can be particularly useful, we argue, when examining newly emerging illnesses that are only beginning to receive public attention. Moreover, in the case of chronic illnesses such as hepatitis C, which can be relatively invisible in a public and media landscape dominated by diseases with dramatic, "punchy" storylines, rendering an illness "narratable" may be an important task of the policy analyst.