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The efficacy of the Responsibility to Prevent suffers from two key problems; causal indeterminacy, and a dependence on the political will of states, particularly the permanent five members of the Security Council. The vast array of factors which can be cited as potentially contributing to the outbreak of conflict and atrocity crimes mitigates against the determination of definite “conflict triggers”. This does not mean prevention is impossible but does limit the efficacy of “early warning systems”. The dynamics of the “four crimes” within R2P’s purview further limits the efficacy of prevention as the decision to engage in mass atrocities is taken in response to a perceived existential crisis. This significantly limits the scope for leveraging the “internal” aspect of R2P as the decision to commit these acts is invariably born from a belief that no other option is available to the potential aggressors. Thus the specifics of atrocity crime prevention places great emphasis on the operationalisation of the external dimension of R2P, namely the role of the international community. So long as the response of the “international community” is predicated on the political will of states, however, the efficacy of prevention in these areas will be limited, as the “international” response is prey to narrowly defined national interests.

In Nigeria, the introduction of Universal Basic Education is meant to reduce the problem of illiteracy, ignorance and poverty to the barest level; a goal it shares with the goals of the World Conference on Education For All. It is meant to aid rapid national economic and political development. Its implementation has become a major challenge; hence its success has been marginal across the country. Among the factors identified as hindering its success are lack of political will on the part of government, absence of strategic planning, inaccurate data, politicisation of the programme and improper funding. Back in 1955, the then Prime Minister in Western Nigeria1 Obafemi Awolowo introduced a similar programme, Universal Primary Education with strong commitment and determination. The same commitment, determination and political will that helped Awolowo meet the objectives of his programme are what the government can apply to sustain and advance the current Universal Basic Education programme.

In Nigeria, the introduction of Universal Basic Education is meant to reduce the problem of illiteracy, ignorance and povertyto the barest level; a goal it shares with the goals of the World Conference on Education For All. It is meant to aid rapid national economic and political development. Its  mplementation has become a major challenge; hence its success has been marginal across the country. Among the factors identified as hindering its success are lack of political will on the part of government, absence of strategic planning, inaccurate data, politicisation of the programme and improper funding. Back in 1955, the then Prime Minister in Western Nigeria1 Obafemi Awolowo introduced a similar programme, Universal Primary Education with strong commitment and determination. The same commitment, determination and political will that helped Awolowo meet the objectives of his programme arewhat the government can apply to sustain and advance the current Universal Basic Education programme.

Background: Brazil, India and South Africa are among the top 30 high TB burden countries globally and experienced high rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection and mortality. The COVID-19 response in each country was unprecedented and complex, informed by distinct political, economic, social and health systems contexts. While COVID-19 responses have set back TB control efforts, they also hold lessons to inform future TB programming and services., Methods: This was a qualitative exploratory study involving interviews with TB stakeholders ( n = 76) in Brazil, India and South Africa 2 years into the COVID-19 pandemic. Interview transcripts were analysed using an inductive coding strategy., Results: Political will - whether national or subnational - enabled implementation of widespread prevention measures during the COVID-19 response in each country and stimulated mobile and telehealth service delivery innovations. Participants in all three countries emphasised the importance of mobilising and engaging communities in public health responses and noted limited health education and information as barriers to implementing TB control efforts at the community level., Conclusions: Building political will and social mobilisation must become more central to TB programming. COVID-19 has shown this is possible. A similar level of investment and collaborative effort, if not greater, as that seen during the COVID-19 pandemic is needed for TB through multi-sectoral partnerships., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: none declared., (© 2023 The Union.)

Copyright of Justicia (0124-7441) is the property of Universidad Simon Bolivar and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Political choice is mediated by a number of internal and external factors. Often, it is carried out under the influence of manipulative technologies or sociological determinants. In this case, man is subjected to a kind of suggestion, which cuts his inner position, deflects conscience, channeling thinking and action. Such a choice is unlikely to be called conscious. Meanwhile, the conscious choice makes a person a subject (and not a passive object) of politics. It determines the success of political activity, its prospect. Let’s dwell on his analysis in more detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parliamentary oversight is a key determinant of corruption levels. This article presents research findings on parliamentary oversight in two Caribbean countries: Trinidad & Tobago and Grenada. Our results cast doubt on the results of previous research and also indicate that certain facets of ‘the Westminster’ system need to be relaxed, to reflect contextual reality in smaller island economies. Political will to adopt our recommended reforms is critical, but, as in other countries, inertia often dominates the political environment. Until citizens demand that their elected representatives establish various oversight and anti-corruption mechanisms and ensure these mechanisms are free of political influence, the institutions will be ‘window dressing’ and corrupt actions will go undeterred and unpunished. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political corruption has become one of the most topical issues in the political discourse in Ghana. This stems from the fact that corruption has become so endemic and systemic in Ghanaian polity with its negative effects on the economy. Indeed, political corruption negatively affects job creation, investment potentials, infrastructural development and generally the standard of living of the people. It is within this context that anti-corruption institutions have been established in Ghana to address the menace of corruption. The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) is one of such institutions established under the 1992 Republican Constitution of Ghana tasked with the responsibility of addressing the problem of corruption in Ghanaian public administration system. This paper examines the extent to which the Commission has achieved this constitutional mandate of addressing the problem of corruption. The study finds that some drawbacks which inhibit the potency of CHRAJ in addressing the problem of corruption include lack of political will by the governing elite to support the institution, eroding confidence of the Commission, the trend of appointing the Head of the Commission in an acting capacity, constitutional weaknesses, poor capacity building support and low motivation. The paper therefore offers pragmatic policy suggestions to address the inherent deficiencies of the Commission with the objective of making it more functional. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arab Spring revealed that when the youth are marginalized, they can resort to informal political movements that may be characterized by extremism and criminality. However, when they join formal groupings, such as political parties, and are well utilized within them, they can become an active political force. This article explores the extent to which American and Egyptian political parties offer opportunities for youth inclusion in their structure and decision-making processes. By conducting semi-structured interviews with young members of the largest two Egyptian parties and the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States, the study argues that when young people develop a long-term interest in politics, they join political parties. Moreover, they are included in the party structures and decision-making processes when they are included in party activities and positions, as well as trusted, heard, and supported within the party. The existence of a national plan and political will may even encourage cross-party youth collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual-level political will in organizations and careers is recognized by many scholars as an important yet under-investigated construct. Only recently has a scale directly assessing political will been developed, and its validation process has just begun (Kapoutsis, Papalexandris, Treadway, & Bentley, 2017). We used the Trait-Reputation-Identity Model (McAbee & Connelly, 2016) and a triadic multisource design to explore and elucidate the nomological network of political will, including its link to objective career success. We found supporting empirical evidence for the construct (power striving) and criterion validity (hierarchical position and income) of the self-serving political will scale. However, our findings did not support the multi-rater convergence and the interpretation of the benevolent political will scale as representing an altruistic political motive. Hence, we suggest the development and validation of new items that directly relate to benevolence toward others at work. We further encourage researchers to develop and validate an additional scale assessing altruistic political will above and beyond self-serving and benevolent political will. We discuss additional implications, limitations, and directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, few empirical studies have confirmed the long-accepted notion that politically skilled individuals discriminately and strategically employ or avoid particular political behaviors in the workplace. The purpose of this multi-study investigation is to evaluate political skill and political will as antecedents of configurational impression management strategies. The configurations of impression management tactics found by Bolino and Turnley (2003) are confirmed using hierarchical and K-means cluster analysis, and discriminant analysis is employed to demonstrate the effects of political skill and political will in the prediction of impression management configurations. Consistent with the two-component model of impression management (Leary & Kowalski, 1990), the results of these studies suggest that political will and political skill represent the cognitive processes that enable impression management configuration selection. Post-hoc analyses illustrate that there may be slight differences in usage of some impression management tactics directed at specific targets (in two of our four samples). Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Trabajo Social is the property of Universidad Nacional de Colombia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the Western Balkans, just as in newly democratized countries in other regions, failures in gender policy implementation are often attributed to lack of “political will.” There is however a surprising lack of specificity concerning what is meant by it and how to measure its influence on the observed implementation gaps. To help to begin filling this research gap this article examines the extent to which Western Balkans countries might be failing in the implementation of their adopted gender policies and the reasons why decision makers seem to lack the political will to implement them. To allow for a more in-depth perspective, the analysis will concentrate on the case of the implementation of Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) on the municipal level in the three countries in its focus: Bosnia and Hercegovina; Macedonia; and Serbia. The empirical material used for it consists of primary data from telephone surveys, in-depth interviews with actors involved in GRB policy processes and official documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The organizational activities are political, because in this context interests, power and conflict of interests exist. Therefore, one of the apparent behaviors of people is political behavior. This study seeks to answer the question that what factors are causing political behavior in organization? Researcher after describing the theoretical foundations, tests the process of inter-organizational variables that indicate the formation of such behavior in the companies of water sector. This research method is survey. This research data was collected by using a sample of 525 people of managers and experts of water industry, with stratified random sampling method. Content validity of the questionnaires was confirmed and its reliability was confirmed with Cronbach,s alpha coefficient for each variable. For data analysis by Structural equation modeling and path analysis were used LISREl and Smart P.L.S. The research results show that identified variables except locus of control and self-monitoring affect the political behavior of employees.

Summary: “Political will” is oft‐cited as the major obstacle to government's anti‐corruption efforts. Notwithstanding, there is remarkably little systematic analysis of the concept, with some scholars describing it as the “slipperiest concept in the policy lexicon,” whereas others are calling for its empirical relevance. This paper tries to unpack the “black box” of political will by making it an empirically relevant concept drawing on evidence from two Asian countries; Singapore and Bangladesh. Four key indicators based on the works of earlier scholars are used including origin of the initiative; comprehension and extent of analysis; credible sanctions; and resource dedication and sustenance are used. The paper also uses Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index, World Bank's World Governance Indicators (Control of Corruption and Government Effectiveness), and Political, Economic and Risk Consultancy's annual survey in Asia, as outcome measures. Based on the empirical evidence from the two countries, the paper shows that political will indeed has a positive influence on government's anti‐corruption efforts. Although political will may not be sufficient, it is a necessary condition to fight corruption, and that the difference between the positions of Singapore and Bangladesh on various global corruption league tables may be attributed to political will. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past two decades have witnessed a growing consensus among policy analysts, political elites, and advocates that corruption is a moral evil with significant deleterious consequences for national economies, social development, and human rights; that leaders across all sectors have a responsibility to fight it; and that a set of anticorruption reforms exists that, if implemented with sufficient “political will,” stand a fighting chance of transforming corrupt systems. This consensus is discussed and two areas in which analytical progress across the field has been piecemeal and unsatisfying to date. The first is the relationship between governance context and the design and sequencing of anticorruption measures. The second concerns the nature of “political will” and the dynamics of change and reform sustainability. To address the “causal complexity” inherent in transforming corrupt systems, a more rigorous comparative research is called for into how interventions function differently across diverse governance environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A few lines in the State of the Union Address, the official speech delivered by President Trump in front of the US Congress on January 30, 2018, are presenting, in a very compact way, some perceptions directly connected to the security, stability and, broadly speaking, strategic predictability in Afghanistan. But the security evironment in Afghanistan is clearly more complex and highly dynamic; and in order to better undestand it, the study is extensively using several important official documents already made public. One of them is the most recent Pentagon Report on Afghanistan, made public in December 2017; a second one is an US interdepartamental report made public 10 years ago. If we are concomitantly reading these both official reports, it is easier to find out if the general security situation in Afghanistan is improving, or not. Thirdly, in order to better understand both some severe domestic problems Afghanistan is confronted with, but also the problems and limits of the US (and, more broadly, of NATO’s) involvement in Afghanistan, the study is extensevely using an official report which have recently been made public by SIGAR, the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Some media reports are also used by the author of this brief study, in order to offer the reader some vivid details of the highly dynamic nature of the general security situation in Afghanistan, a country where quite modest security and stability improvements are accompanied by really massive - and clearly longstanding - problems, risks and threats of all sorts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alih teknologi melalui perjanjian lisensi paten di Indonesia masih belum terlaksana secara optimal, oleh karenanya penelitian ini diadakan untuk mengetahui pelaksanaan pengaturan lisensi paten dan urgensi pengaturan khusus lisensi paten di bidang alih teknologi pada perusahaan joint venture. Jenis penelitian yang digunakan adalah yuridis empiris, dengan menggabungkan peraturan perundang-undangan, kajian pustaka dan pendapat responden serta informan melalui wawancara. Hasil penelitian didapatkan bahwa Pemerintah telah mengatur alih teknologi pada Undang-Undang No. 14 Tahun 2001 tentang Paten; Undang-Undang No. 25 Tahun 2007 tentang Penanaman Modal; dan Undang-Undang No. 3 Tahun 2014 tentang Perindustrian. Pelaksanaan pengaturan lisensi paten pada alih teknologi masih terkendala belum adanya Peraturan Pemerintah yang telah diamanatkan dalam Pasal 73 Undang-Undang No. 14 Tahun 2001 tentang Paten. Terlaksananya alih teknologi sangat dipengaruhi oleh peraturan perundang-undangan yang dimiliki oleh negara tersebut, sehingga budaya hukum dan struktur hukum tidak dapat terwujud apabila substansi hukum alih teknologinya belum ada. Simpulan yang didapat adalah pengaturan lisensi paten pada alih teknologi masih terkendala belum diundangkannya Peraturan Pemerintah tentang Lisensi Paten karena berkaitan dengan political will dari Pemerintah dan sangat urgen untuk segera mengundangkan Draf Rancangan Peraturan Pemerintah tentang Lisensi Paten dan Lisensi Wajib menjadi Peraturan Pemerintah tentang Lisensi Paten dan Lisensi Wajib. Transfer of technology through patent license agreements in Indonesia is still not optimally implemented, this study therefore conducted to determine the implementation of patent licensing arrangements and urgency special patent license arrangements in the field transfer of technology to the joint venture company. This type of research is empirical jurisdiction, by combining legislation, literature and opinions of respondents and informants through interviews. The results showed that the Government had set up transfer of technology to the Act No. 14 of 2001 on Patents; Act No. 25 of 2007 on Investment; and Act No. 3 of 2014 on Industry. Implementation of patent licensing arrangements on transfer of technology is still constrained absence of government regulation that has been mandated in Article 73 of Act No. 14 of 2001 on Patents. Implementation transfer of technology is strongly influenced by the legislation which is owned by the state, so that legal culture and legal structure can not be achieved if the technology is not yet legal substance over there. The conclusions is obtained patent licensing arrangements on transfer of technology is still constrained yet enacted Government Regulation of Patent License as it pertains to the political will of Government and very urgent to immediately enact Draft Regulation on Compulsory Patent Licensing and Licensing be Government Regulation on Compulsory Patent Licensing and Licensing.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) ran into considerable controversy almost immediately after its creation. More than 10 years later, the tension between the court and the AU is palpable. The court’s perceived political prosecutions as well as procedural flaws in light of the power bestowed on the UN Security Council under Article 13(b) of the Rome Statute are some of the areas of contention. However, despite the obvious flaws of the ICC, there is also widespread scepticism that the AU can be trusted to mobilise sufficient political will to deliver justice on the continent, more so in cases where the perpetrators are sitting heads of state or government. In lieu of cooperation with the ICC and the UN, can the AU deliver justice to victims of gross human rights abuses? Are extraordinary African Chambers such as the one created in Senegal to try the former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre an alternative to the ICC? This article argues that it is only through a partnership of convenience between the AU and the UN that victims of human rights abuses on the continent can access justice. Furthermore, the article opines that calls for African states to withdraw from the ICC en mass must be vigorously opposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do entrepreneurs who gained initial remarkable government support for sustainability policy lose it rapidly and what may be learned from such failure? In May 2013, a national attempt for transition of transportation industry from internal combustion engine to electric vehicle by building country-wide infrastructure in Israel went bankrupt. Only short period before, the company, Better Place, seemed to be successful both in recruiting $850 million from investors and gaining institutional and political support via successful policy entrepreneurship from top governmental echelons to cut dependence on oil. The case study investigates what caused policy entrepreneur to lose political support and why the government did not provide a bailout plan for the company. Based on in-depth interviews over a period of several years with company employees and government officials in Israel and use of secondary data sources, the study concludes that, in the wake of national demonstrations for social justice in 2011, politicians shifted their agenda from national security concerns to welfare issues. This case fills a gap in the literature which tends to focus on successful ventures, by deriving insights from a case of entrepreneurial failure, as much can be learned from failure too. The practical lesson learned as the global movement for social justice spread is that initial success of policy entrepreneurship, which exploits a political window of opportunity, does not guarantee long-term governmental support for sustainability policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political will is widely recognized as an important, yet profoundly underinvestigated, construct that lacks conceptual clarity and valid measurement. To address this lack, we conducted four studies encompassing six samples (N = 925) from three countries (United States, Greece, and United Kingdom) that establish the psychometric properties and nomological network of the Political Will Scale. We demonstrate that the scale exhibits both convergent and discriminant validity with several conceptually related constructs while also determining that political will positively relates to influence and work-related behaviors. As an extension of our findings, political will seems to explain variance over and above political skill in relation to influence tactics, status, and career growth potential. The theoretical implications of this new scale are discussed in relation to organizational politics, leadership, and social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-Retirement Enlightenment Syndrome is a term used by some in illicit drug policy to reflect the experience of having politicians "come out" in favour of drug policy reform only after retirement. To date, the phenomenon has not been examined in any systematic manner. While discussions of the phenomenon on social media tend to be playful, they nevertheless express real frustration with the reluctance of privately supportive sitting politicians and policing officials to speak out in favour of non-punitive and/or harm reduction-oriented policies. In this commentary, we give an overview of the phenomenon of Post-Retirement Enlightenment Syndrome. We argue that these instances of sitting officials speaking out publicly in favour of drug policy reform, as well as instances in which such apparent "enlightenment" is not publicly expressed until after retirement, are potentially highly fruitful areas for investigation. Public positions on drug policy are invariably contoured by conditions of political possibility. We raise the call for both an unpacking and examination of the structural and relational aspects of "political will" and "political courage". Sitting and retired politicians each have a role in the drug policy landscape, whether as lawmakers or as high-profile and often respected commentators. This commentary argues that a more nuanced understanding of the conditions that may support or hinder the expression of public support for drug policy reform by political office bearers, whether sitting or former, has implications for advocates and researchers invested in policy change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The global COVID-19 pandemic has reversed many of the hard-won gains made in TB programmes and the associated reduction in the number of TB deaths, case notifications and incidence over the last three decades. Modelling estimates show that the impact will be lasting. There are global calls to recover the shortfalls along the TB care cascade that have resulted from COVID-19, with the recognition that the COVID-19 response holds lessons to inform more robust and comprehensive TB programmes and services., Objective: To explore lessons from response measures to the COVID-19 pandemic in two high TB burden South African provinces., Design: This was an exploratory qualitative study. We conducted interviews with TB programme stakeholders (managers and facility-level staff: n = 35) between February and June 2022., Results: We identified eight facilitators of the COVID-19 response, including political will, rapid policy development, multi-sectoral collaboration, patient-centred models of care delivery, community engagement, mHealth and telehealth technologies, rigorous contact tracing and widespread mask wearing. Political will was singled out as a critical driver of the response., Conclusion: Leveraging COVID-19 inspired collaborations, technologies and avenues for health service delivery is an opportunity to maximise benefits for the TB programme. Reinvestment in national TB programmes and political prioritisation of TB are critical., (© 2023 The Union.)

In order for democracy to result from freedom, the citizens’ participation in the creation and exercise of democratic power must be structured in a pluralist way. Art. 8(1) of the Romanian Constitution firstly imposes the organization of the company in parallel with the State’s organic structure as an indispensable requisite for the existence of democracy. In other words, there is no democracy without a civil society, distinct from the State. The organization of the civil society is necessary because the individual alone cannot determine a certain attitude of the political power: structuring gives weight to the action; the organization of citizens contributes to rendering their political participation more efficient. But the organization, structuring limits the freedom of people adhering to the structure.

The increasing concern over corruption in developing countries has been associated with the inability of Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs) to tackle corruption. The ineffectiveness of these ACAs is said to be influenced by several factors including the underutilization of forensic accounting in fraud investigation process. This article focuses on the identification of these factors and their influences on the adoption of forensic accounting by ACAs. This was done through the review of literature and proposing a framework for further in-depth research work. The conceptual framework highlights the antecedent influence of political will on these factors and their influences on the adoption of forensic accounting. The implication is that identifying these factors through further in-depth studies will contribute to the insufficient research work on the adoption of forensic accounting and help policy makers to enhance the performance of these agencies.

This paper highlights the fundamental and invaluable role of water services in human settlements and community development. The paper aims at revealing the reasons behind aging infrastructure, the major challenge of the sector worldwide, and finding alternative strategies and means for resolving them. The authors argue that the problems of water services are largely related to management, institutions, organizations, and policies. In many ways, the requirement to see water services in a wider institutional framework is analogical to the proposed framework of Integrated Urban Water Management. The paper first explores the exceptionally long timeframe of water services management, followed by frameworks on core and non-core operations of water utilities in relation to the roles of major parties in municipal decision-making. For solving the major problems of water services both political and professional will is needed, educational programs are to be revised, and better rules of the game (institutions) are needed together with additional inputs on Research and Development activities.

Courtesy Barbara Spinelli (European Parliament) and Virginio Dastoli (European Movement and European Federalists), it is our pleasure to republish the presentation of the first issue of “Crocodile – Lettre aux Membres du Parlement européen”, founded and directed by Altiero Spinelli (1907-1986). The journal was launched on October 1, 1980, just one year after the first election of the European Parliament by universal suffrage (June 1979). In 1984 this Parliament endorsed the draft of a Treatise for the European Union, a substantial step toward the institution of a political union. The parallel proposal of union of all European States in a supranational State, promoted by the European Federalists, was rejected by the Heads of State members of the European Council. A subtle discussion of the conditions for existence and efficacy of a “European will” is the very core of this precious historical document.

In this article, I explicate Martin Luther King, Jr.’s account of emancipatory history and activism by examining the influence of G. W. F. Hegel’s account of world-historical individuals on his thought. Both thinkers, I argue, affirm that history’s spiritual destiny works through individuals who are driven by the contingencies of their subjective character and given situation to undertake particular actions, and yet who nevertheless freely and decisively break the new from the old by forsaking subjective satisfaction to spur events forward to a more rational state of affairs. This synthetic unity of abstract freedom and concrete embodiment reflects the ‘civil war’ between the universal and infinite essence, and particular and finite passions, that King and Hegel identify as equally constitutive of human will. Through an examination of King’s account of Rosa Parks’ pivotal arrest, I develop the consequences of this ‘Hegelian’ view for our understanding of political action and historical progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2012, the government of Sierra Leone cut the national budget allocation to the health sector. Civil society organizations planned a nationwide health budget advocacy campaign, coinciding with the 2012 general elections, to hold future leaders to account on financing for women's and children's health. As part of the campaign, Evidence for Action produced district health budget tracking scorecards. The scorecards presented Ministry of Finance data on the allocation and disbursement of health funds in each district. The data were communicated using simple, non-technical language so that citizens could understand the key messages and take action. A total of 5600 scorecards were shared at district electoral forums attended by political candidates, community members, and health activists. Since the election, the proportion of the total government budget allocated to health increased from 7.4% in 2012 to 11.2% in 2014. However, transforming politicians' commitments and pledges into implementation has been challenging, confirming that accountability is a long-term process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decentralization is a concept well professed by political elites in Ghana yet there has been inadequate political will to transfer actual power, authority and resources to the district assemblies. Ghana’s current decentralization was introduced in 1988 with a mesmeric mantra of ‘power to the people’, and the concept is now over two and half decades old. This paper examines the extent to which local government reform through decentralization has brought about any meaningful changed relationship between central and local governments in Ghana. This work adopts a retrospective analysis of policy documents and a critical stage review of the relevant literature on the theoretical suppositions and practical experience of decentralization practice. The appointment of assembly heads in Ghana makes the relationship a principal-agent typology. Decentralization is at best a theoretical ramification but its actual practice has been just minimal. The study provides a ‘walk-the-talk’ model that requires political will to address the key challenges of decentralization in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every government needs resources to run the country. In an agrarian economy like Pakistan collection of revenue from landed property becomes more significant. Land revenue generated from the landed property used to be the main source of revenue in the united Punjab during colonial era. That era witnessed unprecedented rise in revenue by means of digging up a network of an extensive canal system from rivers thereby rendering vast plains of Punjab cultivable. However, it is noted that this quite efficient and effective system of collection of land revenue has been underperforming. This paper tries to find and analyze the reasons of institutional deterioration and underperformance (of revenue department) through its focus on the revenue receipt and expenditure in Faisalabad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of the Rio Grande/Bravo (RGB) Basin water allocation demonstrates how the United States (U.S.) and Mexico have consolidated a transboundary framework based on water sharing. However, the water supply no longer meets the ever-increasing demand for water or the expectations of different stakeholders. This paper explores opportunities for an enhanced management regime that will address past problems and better examine how to balance demands for a precious resource and environmental needs. Based on an overview of the RGB Basin context and the water allocation framework, as well as a discussion on stakeholders' ability to achieve solutions, this paper explores three key questions: (1) Does the current binational water allocation framework meet current and future human and environmental needs? (2) How can the U.S.-Mexico water allocation framework be adapted to balance social and environmental water demands so it can support and preserve the RGB Basin ecosystem? (3) What are the main opportunities to be explored for expanding the U.S.-Mexico water resources allocation framework? The U.S.-Mexico water resources framework is subject to broad interpretation and may be adapted to the circumstances taking the fullest advantage of its flexibility. Policy recommendations highlight the existing flexibility of the binational framework, the potential to move forward with an ad hoc institutional arrangement, and the creation of political will to achieve change through stakeholders recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On World Malaria Day 2016, The Kingdom of Cambodia's National celebrations served as a prime of example of how political will is currently being exercised in Cambodia through high-level governmental support for malaria elimination. The main country event was well-planned and coordinated by the National Programme for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control (CNM), and included key contributions from high-ranking political figures, such as His Excellency (H.E) Mam Bun Heng (Minister of Health), and H.E. Keut Sothea (Governor of Pailin Province). There were more than 1000 attendees, ranging from Village Malaria Workers and high school students to CNM's director and other officials in Pailin Province, Western Cambodia. A strong inter-sectoral participation included attendances from the Ministry of Education and high-level representatives of the Cambodian Armed Forces, as well as Malaria Partners like the World Health Organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Paris Agreement adopted at the COP21 may be considered as a necessary, but insufficient starting point for the consolidation of a climate policy on a global scale capable of avoiding the collapse associated with global warming of over 2°C in the average temperature of the planet with respect to pre-industrial levels. We are now in possession of the diagnosis and technologies necessary to advance in a far more decisive way than in the past. However, there is a clear lack of sufficient political will among the vast majority of national governments and even the European Union. The implementation of suitable measures for both mitigation and adaptation to climate change will only be possible if there is extensive social mobilization, particularly in cities which generate over 70% of greenhouse gas emissions. Experts are warning us that the time for action is running out in view of the acceleration of adverse effects and that the heating of the oceans is playing a far more relevant role that was envisaged just a few years ago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]