Search

Background Family policies have been shown to affect men's and women's health throughout the European Union, though particularly in the case of women. This paper seeks to analyze this effect by creating two Synthetic Health Indicators (SHIs) differentiated by gender applying the P 2 distance method. We also aim to compare the results obtained by means of our SHI and the Self-rated health (SRH) indicator, as it is the most common indicator used to approach individuals' health. Methods The 2012 European Quality of Life Survey was used to construct the SHI. Dimensions such as physical health, mental health, psychosocial resources, the capacity of health services and community health status were included in our SHI. All proved to be relevant when measuring individuals' health. Results Gender health inequalities differed depending on the indicator used in each European country. When considering family policy, we found significant gender health gaps that favoured men in traditional countries, regardless of the indicator used (SHI or SRH). Moreover, with our SHI we found significant gender health inequalities in market-oriented and dual-earner countries that were not revealed by the SRH indicator, highlighting the fact that current equality policies are necessary but insufficient to overcome the gender health gap. Conclusions The SHI was more sensitive to gender differences and evidenced certain advantages compared to the SRH. The SHI includes a wide range of variables that incorporated large amounts of fresh information, allowing men and women to have a personalized design of their own health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim This paper briefly reviews the history of alcohol policy development in Europe leading to the current consensus in the health field on strategic priorities. There is a review of recent policy developments in selected European countries, both EU and non-EU members. Methods Narrative review of published journal articles, publications from WHO, and other health organisations and government publications. Results The implementation of the WHO policy priorities has been variable across Europe. At EU level, there has been a recent pattern of trade considerations taking priority over health and a disinvestment in alcohol research and advocacy. Among EU member states new implementation of WHO strategies have been limited to a few smaller countries and regions. In Russia, there have been considerable falls in mortality following the introduction of controls on price, availability and marketing. Conclusion The implementation of WHO strategy at national level in Europe is highly dependent on the local political circumstances. Where there is concern about alcohol harm and political will, the WHO strategic priorities have been highly influential. In order to build public and political support for prevention, alcohol policy advocates should ensure that there is good data on trends within age, gender, and income groups and develops policies to respond to these trends. The concept of proportionate universalism, where interventions are understood to have a broad population effect but the effect is greater on the groups most in need, may be more useful than the traditional alcohol policy field conceptualisations of whole population and targeted measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the tight coupling between European climate science and policy. Drawing upon the analytical idiom of co-production it examines how knowledge-making practices are incorporated into European climate policy-making, and more importantly, how EU climate policy has influenced the funding, making and interpretation of useful European climate policy research. The paper identifies a tension between the critical/reflexive ambition built into the co-production idiom, and the more utilitarian interpretation of the term. Whereas the former sets out to expose and interrogate the ontological assumptions underpinning public policy, the latter seeks to be useful by responding to the knowledge needs of societal decision-makers. This tension is analysed through a case study of the integrated research project ADAM (Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies: Supporting European Climate Policy) funded under the 6th Framework Programme of the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regularized intergovernmentalism refers to a distinct kind of foreign policy practice that connects and intertwines foreign policy processes in particular ways. This paper puts forth a concept to properly capture and expose such distinctive foreign policy realities characterizing certain periods and places. With this concept, the article systematically scrutinizes the intergovernmental fabric of bilateral Franco–German relations from 1963 to 2009. The characteristic features of Franco–German regularized intergovernmentalism represent a crucial foreign policy connection, foundational for European affairs of the past half century and a defining feature of Europe’s post-war order and regional governance. Exploring key aspects of what it is that links France and Germany in particular ways, this paper offers a historically deeply grounded constitutive analysis. Based on its constitutive inquiries, the papers points at new possibilities of causal theorizing and explores some of regularized intergovernmentalism’s hypothesized effects and limitations. Franco–German intergovernmental affairs may be the most developed instance of this practice. But regularized bilateral intergovernmentalism is not a Franco–German idiosyncrasy. Rather, it is an important and apparently growing approach to structuring foreign policy conduct, and seems an increasingly prominent aspect of how the world is organized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As migrant workers, EU-8 nationals enjoy a right to equal treatment with nationals in respect of their terms and conditions of employment. While some employers have tried to meet their legal obligations towards EU-8 nationals, others have denied them their employment rights under UK law. In this paper, we explore how EU-8 migrants make use of Employment Tribunals (ETs) to enforce their employment rights. How many cases do they bring before ETs, and what are they about? Are claims brought alone or with support, and if so, from whom? How are EU-8 workers treated once they are before a Tribunal and how successful are their claims? If there is evidence that EU-8 migrants are successfully bringing claims to enforce their employment rights, then fears about undercutting and exploitation of vulnerable workers are perhaps less serious than they would first appear. If they are not, then concerns about (mis)treatment are justified and prompt the further question as to how their rights could be better protected in practice, particularly given the introduction of fees for accessing ETs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marinova, Nadejda K. and Patrick James. (2012) The Tragedy of Human Trafficking: Competing Theories and European Evidence. Foreign Policy Analysis, doi: 10.1111/j.1743-8594.2011.00162.x This paper explores an issue that is both domestic and international: whether legalization of prostitution leads to an increase in human trafficking. For both theory and public policy, this is an important query to answer, with implications beyond the cases in question. The principal domains of investigation are Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands. These states subscribe to UN, EU, Council of Europe and OSCE agreements and are located in the same geographic region, yet have adopted opposite approaches to prostitution. The Netherlands and Germany legalized prostitution in 2000 and 2002, respectively. Sweden outlawed it in 1999 and imposed criminal penalties for the purchase of illicit sex. The preceding characteristics make these states ideal for a comparative exercise in the context of competing perspectives on human trafficking and legalized prostitution. We find that legalization leads to an increase in trafficking. The dynamics of trafficking are also associated with numerous factors, among which the most critical are government efforts specifically targeting the activity in the field of law enforcement. Implications for theory and public policy are offered, along with ideas about future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade, EU research policy has become more central to the EU's political ambitions and its instruments are expanding in scale and scope. Recently there has been mounting apprehension over the EU's R&D efforts, such as the Framework Programmes, and their adequacies in meeting European and global 'grand challenges'. How European-level and national research efforts interact is a key condition for enhancing Europe's research competitiveness and responsiveness. This paper presents data from Norway indicating that the R&D institutions adapt to European-level priorities directly, whereas the national authorities have a limited impact on the country's European research portfolio. It points to a need for thorough analysis of national path-dependencies, and how the nation states organise and coordinate their participation in European programmes, specifically for facing present and future 'grand challenges'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advances our understanding of university spin-off creation and development in environments outside the high-tech cluster of the USA. It adopts a multi-level approach in its examination of this phenomenon in diverse institutional environments. In particular, units of analysis involving universities, technology transfer offices, spin-off firms, finance providers and individual entrepreneurs and teams are analysed. Policy implications are analysed and recommendations are proposed for current policy on university spin-offs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue celebrates the work of Bengt-Åke Lundvall on his 70th birthday. In the 1980s and 1990s he was a key player among a small group of academics in the USA and Europe that developed a new, systemic approach to the study of the interactions between science, innovation, and policy. He contributed to the popularity of the approach in the policy community in several ways, among other things through his period as Deputy Director at the Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry at the OECD between 1992 and 1995, and through his later work for the European Commission, as evidenced among other things by the highly influential booklet, The Globalising Learning Economy: Implications for Innovation Policy. His strong emphasis on learning, a hallmark of Lundvall's approach, is also evident in much of his recent work. This issue has six papers written by some of his collaborators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a workshop on emerging pandemic infections research in Europe organized by the European Public Health Association section of Infectious Disease Control. One study focused on the differences in risk perception of infectious diseases in Europe and Asia. Another paper discussed the efforts of the international community to control the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), presenting an inventory of European health policies for the control of pandemic infections.

This paper provides an overview of European Healthy Cities Network (EHCN) organized by the WHO Regional Office Europe. The focus is on the third of five phases covering the period 1998–2002. Fifty-six cities were members of the WHO-EHCN and over 1000 European cities were members of national networks. Association with WHO has given municipalities legitimacy to move into a domain often associated with health service. Equity and community participation are core values. City mayors provide political leadership. Intersectoral cooperation underpins a Healthy Cities approach. The WHO Regional Office for Europe supports WHO-EHCN, providing guidance and technical leadership. Cities’ processes and structures are prerequisits for improvements in health and are central to the evaluation of Phase III of the WHO-EHCN. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]