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This volume contains papers submitted to the 10th Annual Conference of the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society, held in Kyustendil, Bulgaria, 12-15 June 2012. The overall goal of the 10th BCES conference is to facilitate discussion of different perspectives on international education providing a forum for scientific debate and constructive interaction in a multi cultural social environment such as Bulgaria. This is a jubilee conference. Ten might not mean too much for large scholarly societies in other countries, especially in the Western world. However, for a small society like BCES, ten means a lot. It means trust, international recognition, constant interest, well-developed academic cooperation, and the most important--it means an established conference tradition. The following papers are included in this volume: (1) Foreword: Remembering the Past--Anticipating the Future: Reflections on the BCES's Jubilee Conference (Karen L. Biraimah); (2) Editorial Preface: An Established Conference Tradition (Nikolay Popov, Charl Wolhuter, Bruno Leutwyler, Gillian Hilton, James Ogunleye, and Patrícia Albergaria Almeida; and (3) Introduction: A Framework for Understanding International Perspectives on Education (Alexander W. Wiseman). Part 1: Comparative Education & History of Education: (4) Also a door to the inside of a new house --yet another use for Comparative Education (Charl Wolhuter); (5) Structures of School Systems Worldwide: A Comparative Study (Nikolay Popov); (6) The Role of Comparative Pedagogy in the Training of Pedagogues in Serbia and Slovenia (Vera Spasenovic, Natasa Vujisic Zivkovic, and Klara Skubic Ermenc); (7) Konstantinos G. Karras & Evanthia Synodi Comparative and International Education and the teaching profession. The case of Marc-Antoine Jullien (Konstantinos G. Karras and Evanthia Synodi); (8) Comparing management models of secondary schools in Tamaulipas, Mexico: An exploration with a Delphi method (Marco Aurelio Navarro-Leal, Concepción Niño García, and Ma. Luisa Caballero Saldivar); (9) Classroom and Socialization: a case study through an action-research in Crete, Greece (Pella Calogiannakis and Theodoros Eleftherakis); (10) E-learning, State and Educational System in Middle East Countries (Hamid Rashidi, Abbas Madandar Arani, and Lida Kakia); (11) Approaches to internal testing and assessment of knowledge in relation to the pupils' achievements in national assessment of knowledge (Amalija Žakelj, Milena Ivanuš Grmek, and Franc Cankar); (12) The Stereotypes in Pupil's Self Esteem (Franc Cankar, Amalija Žakelj, and Milena Ivanuš Grmek); (13) Insecure identities: Unaccompanied minors as refugees in Hamburg (Joachim Schroeder); (14) The origins of religion as an historical conundrum: pedagogical and research methodological implications and challenges (Johannes L. van der Walt and Ferdinand J. Potgieter); (15) A brief overview of the history of education in Poland (Katarzyna Charzynska, Marta Anczewska, and Piotr Switaj); (16) "Everybody is given a chance, my boy … everybody who is willing to work for socialism": An Overview of English Textbooks in the Postwar Period in Hungary (Zsolt Dózsa); and (17) Situated literacy practices amongst artisans in the South West of Nigeria: developmental and pedagogical implications (Gordon O. Ade-Ojo, Mike Adeyeye, and F. Fagbohun). Part 2: Pre-Service and In-Service Teacher Training: (18) Constructivist Foundations of Intercultural Education: Implications for Research and Teacher Training (Bruno Leutwyler, Danijela S. Petrovic, and Carola Mantel; (19) Theory in Teacher Education: Students' views (Leonie G. Higgs); (20) Policy and practice of pre-service and in-service teacher training programmes and facilities in Nigeria (Stephen Adebanjo Oyebade); (21) Student Perceptions of the Distance Education Mode Compared with Face-to-Face Teaching in the University Distance Education Programme (Claudio Rafael Vásquez Martínez, Graciela Girón, and Antonio Ayón Bañuelos); (22) Environmental Education: From the Perspective of Scientific Knowledge for Constructivist Learning (Graciela Girón, Claudio Rafael Vásquez Martínez, Juan Sánchez López, and Antonio Ayón Bañuelos); (23) The Competencies of the Modern Teacher (Olga Nessipbayeva); and (24) Pre-service teacher action research: Concept, international trends and implications for teacher education in Turkey (Irem Kizilaslan and Bruno Leutwyler). Part 3: Education Policy, Reforms and School Leadership: (25) Changing policies changing times: initiatives in teacher education in England (Gillian L. S. Hilton); (26) Dealing with Change in Hong Kong Schools using Strategic Thinking Skills (Nicholas Sun-Keung Pang and John Pisapia); (27) Institutions' Espoused Values Perceived by Chinese Educational Leaders (Nicholas Sun-Keung Pang and Ting Wang); (28) Social Service Community Education as an area of training and participation for social development (Amelia Molina García); (29) English Language Education Policy in Colombia and Mexico (Ruth Roux); (30) Compensatory Programs in Mexico to Reduce the Educational Gap (Emma Leticia Canales Rodríguez and Tiburcio Moreno Olivos); (31) Changing times, Changing roles: FE Colleges' perceptions of their changing leadership role in contemporary UK politico-economic climate (Aaron A. R. Nwabude and Gordon Ade-Ojo); (32) Role perceptions and job stress among special education school principals: Do they differ from principals of regular schools? (Haim H. Gaziel, Yael Cohen-Azaria, and Klara Skubic Ermenc); (33) Multiculturalism: challenge or reality (Olivera Knezevic Floric and Stefan Ninkovic); (34) Privatization of higher education in Nigeria: Critical Issues (Phillips Olayide Okunola and Simeon Adebayo Oladipo); (35) Policies and initiatives: reforming teacher education in Nigeria (Martha Nkechinyere Amadi); and (36) Leadership in Educational Institutions (Esmeralda Sunko). Part 4: Higher Education, Lifelong Learning and Social Inclusion: (37) Validation of skills, knowledge and experience in lifelong learning in Europe (James Ogunleye); (38) Empowering women with domestic violence experience (Marta Anczewska, Joanna Roszczynska-Michta, Justyna Waszkiewicz, Katarzyna Charzynska, and Czeslaw Czabala); (39) Sixty Five Years of University Education in Nigeria: Some Key Cross Cutting Issues (Aloy Ejiogu and Sheidu Sule); (40) Brain Drain in Higher Education: Lost Hope or Opportunity? (George Odhiambo); (41) Searching for the Dividends of Religious Liberty: Who Benefits and Who Pays? (Donald B. Holsinger); (42) More than Mere Law: Freedom of Religion or Belief (Ellen S. Holsinger); (43) Intergenerational Learning in the Family (Sabina Jelenc Krašovec and Sonja Kump); (44) Students' Views on Important Learning Experiences--Challenges Related to Ensuring Quality of Studies (Barbara Šteh and Jana Kalin); (45) Campus life: The impact of external factors on emotional health of students (Dalena Vogel); (46) Education and Lifelong Learning in Romania--Perspectives of the Year 2020 (Veronica Adriana Popescu, Gheorghe N. Popescu, and Cristina Raluca Popescu); (47) Scientific reputation and "the golden standards": quality management system impact and the teaching-research nexus (Luminita Moraru); (48) The implementation of the Validation of Acquired Experience (VAE) in France would be a cultural revolution in higher education training? (Pascal Lafont); (49) Hilary English Transition of students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds to research led Universities (Hilary English); (50) Attitudes of Parents towards Contemporary Female Higher Education (Miss Shamaas Gul Khattak); (51) Structured Peer Mentoring: Enhancing Lifelong Learning in Pakistani Universities (Nosheen Rachel Naseem); (52) The Rise of Private Higher Education in Jamaica: Neo-liberalism at Work? (Chad O. Coates); (53) Educational Developments in the British West Indies: A Historical Overview (Chad O. Coates); (54) Focus Learning Support: Rising to Educational Challenges (Elizabeth Achinewhu-Nworgu, Gertrude Shotte, and Queen Chioma Nworgu); (55) Distance Education in Higher Education in Latvia (Daina Vasilevska); (56) Evidence-based research study of the Russian vocational pedagogy and education motivational potential in the internationalisation projection (Oksana Chigisheva); (57) Healthy lifestyle formation within the extra-curricular activities of students at universities (Saltanat Tazhbayeva) [title provided in English and Bulgarian, abstract in English and paper in Bulgarian]; (58) Management based organisation of school's educational process (Tursynbek Baimoldayev) [title provided in English and Bulgarian, abstract in English and paper in Bulgarian]; (59) Modernization of higher education in the context of the Bologna Process in the Republic of Kazakhstan (Sanim Kozhayeva) [title provided in English and Bulgarian, abstract in English and paper in Bulgarian]; and (60) About the problem of self-definition of personality (G. T. Hairullin and G. S. Saudabaeva) [title provided in English and Bulgarian, abstract in English and paper in Bulgarian]. Part 5: Learning and Teaching Styles: (61) Learning Styles and Disciplinary Fields: is there a relationship? (Patrícia Albergaria Almeida); (62) ICT competences for teachers in 21st Century--a design framework for science primary teacher education courses (Cecília Guerra, António Moreira, and Rui Marques Vieira); (63) Teacher Education in the context of international cooperation: the case of East Timor (Patrícia Albergaria Almeida, Mariana Martinho, and Betina Lopes); (64) How would Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) Enhance Assessment for Learning Mathematics by the Special Education Needs Students (SENs) in Secondary Education Sector (Aaron A. R. Nwabude); (65) A gender perspective on student questioning upon the transition to Higher Education (Mariana Martinho, Patrícia Albergaria Almeida, and José Teixeira-Dias); (66) Student-Centred Learning: A Dream or Reality (Sandra Ozola); (67) Problems of development of E-Learning content in historical education on the Republic of Kazakhstan (Gabit Kapezovich ?enzhebayev, Saule Hairullovna Baidildina, and Tenlik Toktarbekovna Dalayeva) [title provided in English and Bulgarian, abstract in English and paper in Bulgarian]; and (68) The world pedagogical idea in the context of comparison: Confucius--Al Farabi--Ibn Sina--Balasaguni (Aigerim Kosherbayeva, Kulmeskhan Abdreimova, and Asem Anuarbek) [title provided in English and Bulgarian, abstract in English and paper in Bulgarian]. A list of contributors in included. (Individual papers contain references.)

School choice reforms are increasingly common across the U.S. This symposium summarizes and presents the most recent research on the social effects of private school choice programs and public charter schools. All three papers consider heterogeneity in effects that can and should inform policymaking. The first paper, "Charter School Entry and School Choice: The Case of Washington, D.C." (Maria Marta Ferreyra and Grigory Kosenok) discusses novel research on estimating an equilibrium model of charter school entry and school choice. From a social standpoint, the paper shows that the existence of charter schools yields net benefits. The second paper, "Squeezing the Public School Districts: The Fiscal Effects of Eliminating the Louisiana Scholarship Program" (Corey A. DeAngelis and Julie R. Trivitt) studies the fiscal effects of reduced funding in a statewide voucher program. This paper adds to the literature by comparing the short-term and long-term savings to the state and individual public school districts due to this policy. The results show that the voucher program generates net cost savings in the long run for almost all educational jurisdictions under reasonable assumptions. The third paper, "The Juice Is Worth the Squeeze: A Benefit/Cost Analysis of the Experimental Evidence on Private School Vouchers across the Globe" (M. Danish Shakeel, Kaitlin P. Anderson, and Patrick J. Wolf) is a benefit/cost analysis of the best available research on private school vouchers. This benefit/cost analysis provides the most comprehensive look at the achievement effects of school voucher programs using lottery-based research designs both in the U.S. and internationally. This symposium summary provides abstracts for each of the three papers. [SREE documents are structured abstracts of SREE conference symposium, panel, and paper or poster submissions.]

This collection of essays examines efforts by groups and lobbyists to move education from the public to the private sector. There are 14 papers in 7 sections: The first section, "Introduction," includes: (1) "Studying Privatization in Education" (Henry M. Levin) and (2) "Educational Vouchers and the Media" (Lee D. Mitgang and Christopher V. Connell). The second section, "Implementation Issues," includes: (3) "The Legal Status of Privatization and Vouchers in Education" (Frank R. Kemerer) and (4) "Information and Choice in Educational Privatization" (Mark Schneider). The third section, "Preschools and Higher Education," includes: (5) "Preschools and Privatization" (Ellen Magenheim) and (6) "Privatization in Higher Education" (Arthur Levine). The fourth section, "International Dimensions," includes: (7) "Privatization through Vouchers in Developing Countries: The Cases of Chile and Columbia" (Martin Carnoy and Patrick J. McEwan) and (8) "Privatization in Industrialized Countries" (Geoffrey Walford). The fifth section, "Charter Schools," includes: (9) "Assessing the Growth and Potential of Charter Schools" (Pearl Rock Kane and Christopher J. Lauricella) and (10) "Privatization and Charter School Reform: Economic, Political, and Social Dimensions" (Amy Stuart Wells and Janelle Scott). The sixth section, "Perspectives of Stakeholders," includes: (11) "Vouchers, Privatization, and the Poor" (Gary Natriello) and (12) "Teachers and Privatization" (Caroline Hodges Persell). The seventh section, "Evaluation Designs," includes: (13) "Criteria for Evaluating School Voucher Studies" (David E. Myers) and (14) "Designing Education Voucher Experiments: Recommendations for Researchers, Funders, and Users" (Fred Doolittle and Wendy Connors). (Each paper contains references.) (SM)

This book contains the following papers on distance vocational education programs: "Vocational Education at a Distance" (Oliveira, Rumble); "An Introduction to Case Studies" (Oliveira, Rumble); "'Working on Work': Orientation on Work and the Labour Market in the Netherlands" (Bender, Bronkhorst); "Expanding Distance Learning through Technology Transfer to Employers in Colombia" (Ruiz); "The British Open College: A Flexible Response" (Innes); "Vocational Training at a Distance in Chile: Struggling to Survive" (Irigoin); "Distance-Taught Computer Education for Managers and Professional at the University of Victoria" (Muzio); "The Technician Training Scheme at the National Extension College, United Kingdom" (Morpeth, Rumble); "Banking Education in Indonesia" (Budimulia, Suparman, Romiszowski); "The Wye College External Programme and Third World Agriculture" (Bryson, Hakimian); "The National Technological University (NTU)" (Fwu et al.); "Use of Interactive Multimedia for In-company Training" (Dondi, Ricuperati); "Distance Training for Telecommunications Managers: The Telecom/Telematique International Course on Project Management" (Nettleton); "The Technical Open Polytechnic, New Zealand" (Rajasingham, Nicoll, Romiszowski); and "The Future of Vocational Education at Distance" (Oliveira, Rumble). Several papers contain substantial bibliographies. (MN)

The Draper Fund was established within the Population Crisis Committee (PCC) in 1975. Contributions to the fund are used by the PCC to encourage and expand those activities which promise the greatest impact in slowing world population growth. Seven papers written around that theme are included in this report: "The Crucial Role of the Private Sector" (Mary Barberis and John M. Paxman); "Promoting Family Planning through Women's Development" (Kaval Gulhati); "Tapping Private Industry" (Bradman Weerakoon); "Enlisting Private Practitioners" (I-cheng Chi and May Huang); "Motivating Communities through Economic Incentives" (Mechai Viravaidya and Donald Weeden); "Social Marketing of Contraceptives" (William P. Schellstede and Bonnie B. Derr) and "Introducing New Contraceptives" (Sheldon J. Segal and Elsimar Coutinho). (BZ)

The study of civil war ranks among the most notable developments in political science during the last decade. Several important papers have been published in this period and the field has witnessed an important shift toward cross-national, large-N econometric studies (e.g. Collier and Hoeffler 2004; Fearon and Laitin 2003), following a previous shift from the case-study format to that of theoretically informed studies (Wickham-Crowley 1992; Skocpol 1979; Scott 1976; Eckstein 1965). However, despite these advances much remains to be understood. On the one hand, the conceptual foundations of our understanding of civil wars are still weak (Kalyvas 2001; 2003; Cramer 2002); on the other hand, econometric studies have produced very little in terms of robust results – the main one being that, like autocratic regimes (Przeworski et al. 2000), civil wars are more likely to occur in poor countries. The problems of econometric studies are well known: their main findings are incredibly sensitive to coding and measurement procedures (Hegre and Sambanis 2006; Montalvo and Reynal-Querol 2005; Sambanis 2004b); they entail a considerable distance between theoretical constructs and proxies (Cederman and Girardin 2007; Fearon et al. 2007) as well as multiple observationally equivalent pathways (Kalyvas 2007; Humphreys 2005; Kocher 2004; Sambanis 2004a); they suffer from endogeneity (Miguel et al. 2004); they lack clear microfoundations or are based on erroneous ones (Cramer 2007; Kalyvas and Kocher 2007b; Gutiérrez Sanín 2004); and, finally, they are subject to narrow (and untheorized) scope conditions (Wimmer and Min 2006). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civil war breaks the bonds of society and of government … ; it gives rise, within the Nation, to two independent parties, who regard each other as enemies and acknowledge no common judge. [A]n insurrection is transformed into a war between two belligerent parties regularly organised, when it is conducted by both sides by veritable governments, by armies that respect the laws and usages of international wars; such a civil war takes the character of an international war. Even further beneath the positivist war horizon than intervention, reprisals and other measures short of war, in nineteenth-century legal doctrine, were civil wars. In Western thought, there was a long tradition of regarding civil conflict as fundamentally distinct from true war. To Plato, for example, the terms ‘war’ and ‘civil strife’ referred to ‘two different realities’. Similarly, in Roman law, the distinction between latrociniae (bandits, pirates and the like) and true enemies, or hostes, had been fundamental. Cicero stressed that enemies were bodies of people with whom a peace treaty could be concluded, thereby excluding brigands and such persons. Concretely, this meant that none of the rituals associated with war-making and war-waging was applicable to struggles against mere law-breakers. Nor did the rules on the conduct of war apply. In particular, faith did not have to be kept with bandits, as it did with true foreign enemies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The peacemaking function of the Secretary-General is conducted both in fulfilment of mandates entrusted to him by the Security Council – the “unstable and uneasy” relationship analysed by James Cockayne and David M. Malone in chapter 4 of this volume – and action outside such mandates, in the somewhat nebulous territory of “good offices”. This chapter explores an important means by which the Secretary-General may enhance his or her ability to influence the resolution of conflicts: the creation of informal and issue-specific small coalitions of states known as “groups of friends”. The interaction with groups of friends highlights, as do other chapters in this volume, the tension between the fragile independence of the Secretary-General and the interests of the UN member states. Success has come when the Secretary-General has been able to engage the support, political leverage, and resources of friends behind a sustained peace effort. But it is not guaranteed. As an auxiliary device, a group of friends will not be able to overcome underlying conditions adverse to the resolution of a conflict; and in situations in which the interests of the states involved prioritize other issues – such as their own influence in a conflict environment or the bottom line of one or other of the conflict parties – over a settlement, their involvement may complicate rather than facilitate the Secretary-General's diplomacy. Good offices, means, and resources The concept of good offices is not itself mentioned in the UN Charter. It is, perhaps, implied within Article 33(1), which lists “other peaceful means of their own choice” among measures available to states to achieve the peaceful settlement of disputes, especially if read in conjunction with Article 99, which gives the Secretary-General a measure of discretion in areas of peace and security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest remnants in the Colombian Amazon, Andes, and Chocó are the last repositories of a highly diverse and endemic biota. Historical changes in the Colombian landscape have been dramatic, but the magnitude and rate of change has increased over the last half century, while conflict has consumed the capacity of Colombian society to respond to environmental threats. Academic experts in the study of the Colombian conflict have explored the social, political, and economic implications of the war. However, the environmental consequences of conflict are documented only when groups in conflict target salient economic resources. This paper presents the first analysis of the geographic distribution of forest remnants in relation to armed conflict in Colombia. Results show that guerrillas and/or paramilitaries range throughout areas of human encroachment into remnant forests. The policies promoted by Colombia's irregular armed forces range from "gunpoint conservation" rarely applied by guerrillas, to the rapid conversion of forests and crops to cattle ranches and coca (Erythroxylum sp.) plantations, following paramilitary occupation. Because the rates and extent of fragmentation are linked to such land use practices, armed groups may play a crucial role in determining the fate of Colombia's forests and their endemic biota. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[War] … is a true chameleon … because it changes its nature a little in each concrete manifestation. Introduction What is war? Until relatively recently, the answer was coined almost invariably in Clausewitzian terms (von Clausewitz 1982): the continuation of politics by other (violent) means. Then, two new notions challenged – apparently with success – the Clausewitzian canon, at least in regard to civil wars. On the one hand, Mary Kaldor (2001) described contemporary civil conflicts as “new wars” that exhibited a distinct set of features – rent-seeking, strong links with criminal networks, violence against civilians, etc. War, thus, is not what it used to be. “Modern conflict … challenges the very distinction between war and peace. It takes place typically not between armies, or even between an army of a state and its armed opposition in some easily defined guerrilla movement. The forces of both government and opposition, from Cambodia to Colombia, blend into illicit business and organized crime” (Cairns, quoted in Azam 2002, 131). On the other hand, rational-choice theorists came to the conclusion that, as Keen (2000) has aptly put it, “war is the continuation of economy by other means.” Individuals join insurgent groups as maximizers of expected utility, and those (the groups) offer selective incentives to lure the military “work force” into them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While sexual violence occurs in all wars, its extent varies dramatically. During the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the sexual abuse of Bosnian Muslim women by Bosnian Serb forces was so systematic and widespread that it comprised a crime against humanity under international law. In Rwanda, the widespread rape of Tutsi women comprised a form of genocide, according to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Yet sexual violence in some conflicts is remarkably limited despite other violence against civilians. Even in some cases of ethnic conflict, sexual violence is limited; the conflicts in Israel/Palestine and Sri Lanka are examples. Some armed groups, such as the Salvadoran and Sri Lankan insurgencies, appear to effectively prohibit their combatants engaging in sexual violence against civilians. The form of sexual violence varies as well. In some conflicts, it takes the form of sexual slavery; in others, state agents engage in sexualized torture of persons suspected of collaborating with insurgents; in others, combatants target women of particular groups during ethnic or political cleansing; in still others, individuals engage in it opportunistically; and in some conflicts, all or nearly all forms occur. In some wars, women belonging to particular groups are targeted; in others, the attacks are much less discriminate. In some wars, only females are targeted; in others, males are as well. Some acts of wartime sexual violence are committed by individuals; many are committed by groups. Some acts occur in private settings; many are public, in front of family or community members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Legislatures are critical institutions in the effective functioning of a democratic system and in the policy-making process. In terms of the framework developed in Part I, Congress is the most natural arena for the institutionalized political exchanges necessary to sustain effective public policies. The ability of the congressional arena to play such a role varies substantially from country to country. At the more proactive and constructive end of the spectrum, the U.S. Congress is able to develop its own legislative proposals and has an active role in directing the policy agenda as well as in overseeing policy implementation. Congress itself is institutionalized in a manner that facilitates intertemporal exchanges and that leads to the accumulation of policy capabilities (Weingast and Marshall 1988; Krehbiel 1991). This, in turn, is associated with legislators having the right human capital characteristics to make them productive in those roles (Diermeier, Keane, and Merlo 2005). The extensive literature on the U.S. Congress provides a detailed and relatively comprehensive understanding of this institution and a set of widely accepted truisms. Members of the U.S. Congress serve long terms in office. They specialize in the topics of committees on which they serve. They play an active role in the policy-making process. As an institution, the U.S. Congress engages in considerable oversight of the public bureaucracy, and it is at the center of policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A strong and capable bureaucracy is likely to lead to better public policies. On the one hand, there is the obvious direct effect of the quality of the bureaucracy on the quality of policy implementation. On the other, our analytical framework emphasizes that political agreements leading to effective public policies are more likely to obtain in environments in which it is more feasible to delegate policy implementation to a quality bureaucracy. (The quality of the bureaucracy is an important component of the quality of the environment for political transactions.) A high-quality bureaucracy does not descend from heaven, but it is itself the product of conscious political decisions over time. The building of a bureaucracy, “civil service policy,” is a policy in itself. In the language of our framework, it is a policy with special investment-like transaction characteristics, and such policies place large demands on the implementation capacity of political systems. Thus, a poor bureaucracy worsens the policy-making environment, and a poor policy-making environment is unlikely to create a quality bureaucracy. We argue in this chapter that Argentina has suffered from this vicious circle. Political actors do not have a quality bureaucracy onto which to delegate policy implementation, and the weaknesses of the bureaucracy are themselves the result of the poor quality of the overall policy-making environment in Argentina. In this chapter, we expose some problems of the Argentine bureaucracy, and we argue that those problems are due to the lack of any relevant principal interested in providing long-term incentives to bureaucratic actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE FRAMEWORK We view public policies as the outcome of intertemporal transactions among political actors. Our dependent variable, Y ([1] in Figure 1.1), represents the features of public policies: their stability, adaptability, coordination, and other qualities. The appendix to this chapter discusses these dependent features in more detail. We explain policies and their features as the outcome of a policy-making game ([2] in Figure 1.1), emphasizing the intertemporal nature of the transactions underlying policy choices and implementation. Formally, let G: X × Z → Y denote the policy-making game, played under the rules of the game X over the issues with characteristics Z, in which the characteristics of policies Y are determined. The transactions that political actors are willing and able to undertake will depend on the political characteristics of the policy issues under consideration ([3] in Figure 1.1). More specifically, we follow the literature on transaction cost politics in emphasizing some transaction characteristics of policy issues, such as the intertemporal patterns of payoffs for different actors. The vector Z summarizes those transaction characteristics. As in transaction cost economics, different political issues can be characterized by a number of properties. These properties are important in determining the ease of implementing a particular agreement. They include the number and cohesiveness of the political actors involved, the degree of irreversibility of the assets involved in the policy, the intertemporal pattern of payoffs to the actors, the duration of the policy exchanges involved, the ease with which performance can be measured, the observability of shocks, the urgency with which the policy needs to be implemented, and the degree to which the policy benefits broad or narrow interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there are some signs of change in the right direction, there is still a great need for the ICRC to “open the windows” … On the whole, the ICRC seems to have blurred the differences between the discretion which their work requires and an obsession with needless secrecy. The Cold War years presented various challenges to the ICRC. Under concerted criticism not only from communist but also from certain western democratic circles, the ICRC staved off unwanted changes in its composition and mandate mainly through its performance in various conflicts – in Palestine and Hungary, for example. It also played its traditional role in helping to further develop international humanitarian law. By the middle of the Cold War, the organization was engaged broadly in complex ways not only in the Global South but also in Europe – not only in “developing areas” but also in Greece and Northern Ireland. There was clearly a need for its traditional roles during the Cold War, even if the ICRC was slow to anticipate some needed changes at headquarters as well as in the field. Its controversial performance in the conflict in Nigeria during 1967–70 led to important changes in Geneva. There were other opportunities for striking change, as in response to the 1975 Tansley Report on the Re-appraisal of the Red Cross, or at the 1974–77 diplomatic conference that produced two protocols additional to the 1949 Geneva Conventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Luxembourg and Copenhagen Reports clearly laid the foundations for intensive information-sharing about foreign policy among EU member states. Yet we can say much more about the relationship between institutionalized communication and international cooperation than those who view cooperation as one-shot deals or quid pro quo contracts. When patterns of communication persist and become increasingly complex and dense, whether by accident or design, the demand for common standards of behavior may grow as actors continue to engage one another. The emergence of these standards, or norms, takes collective behavior to a higher level of institutionalization by translating general values or ideas into specific behavior patterns. In the case of EU foreign policy, norms helped EPC progress from a passive forum or talking shop to a more active, collective, foreign policymaking mechanism. This occurred despite the fact that EU governments continued to claim the right to maintain their sovereignty and flexibility over foreign policy and often rejected the formal legalization of their cooperation in this domain. The specific processes involved in this transition are the subject of this chapter. As I proposed in Chapter 2, norm development can be conceived in terms of several steps: (1) the emergence of informal (uncodified) customs, or the (often unspoken) traditions and practices that emerged in day-to-day interactions among EPC officials; (2) the codification or ordering of these informal customs into explicit, written norms; (3) the transition from explicit norms to rules (rights and obligations), as reflected in EPC reports; and (4) the transition from rules into formal laws (legal rules), which involve behavioral and legal obligations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

US Marine Hospital Service, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, — —, 1896. Enteric fever. – There were 272 fatal cases of this disease during the year … Tuberculosis still continues to make its usual ravages … Measles, scarlatina, diphtheria, influenza, and whooping cough. These diseases only appear sporadically, and, with the exception of the last two, are very fatal. Introduction In the previous chapter, we discussed the origins and subsequent development of the Weekly Abstract of Sanitary Reports, and we outlined the scope of the information that the serial contains for both diseases and cities. Numerical information on eleven diseases and deaths from all causes was reported at one time or another during the published life of the Weekly Abstract, and some 350 cities (150 in the United States, 200 elsewhere) appeared for varying spans of time. From this collection, we ultimately selected six diseases and 100 cities for analysis. In this chapter, we examine the rationale for our selections. In the first half of the chapter, we focus upon our six target diseases of diphtheria, enteric fever, measles, scarlet fever, tuberculosis, and whooping cough. We discuss the reasons for our choice, and then outline the causes and aetiology of each. Our consideration of the six diseases is concluded with a brief history of their epidemiologies from their presumed origins up to the start of our study period at the end of the nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This book began with the observation that Argentina's policies have shifted dramatically over time, and with the claim that its inability to produce consistent public policies is the reason behind its economic misfortunes. We argued that the deficiencies of Argentine public policies are the outcome of a policy-making process in which key actors have little incentive to cooperate with one another over time, leading to myopical political and policy choices. Argentina has, thus, been unable to steer a consistent path in crucial areas such as economic, social, or international strategies. Argentina has a national policy-making environment dominated by executives who tend to have too much leeway to pursue whatever policies they fancy, provided they can buy the support of quasi-feudal provincial governors with fiscal largesse. Such a depiction is somewhat surprising for a country that has a basic constitutional structure with separation of powers quite similar to that of the United States. In spite of a common basic constitutional structure, the workings of political institutions in Argentina couldn't be more different than in the United States. The Argentine Congress is neither the arena where key policies are negotiated nor a very attractive place to develop a political career. The Argentine Supreme Court is not a respected institution with the power to act as a real check on executive power. In Argentina, there is no policy delegation to well-staffed independent professional agencies supervised by Congress through the power of the purse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]