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The comparative study of health policy has focused mainly on the macrostructural dimensions of health systems and reforms that have sought to change these organizational arrangements. Thus, a great deal of attention has been paid to the multiple models of insurance against sickness risks and various modes of organizing and financing healthcare providers. However, little attention has been paid to policy tools and policy design in the health policy domain. This research gap largely impedes a focus on the micro (granular) dimension of health policy, although this is the level at which health policies impact reality and thus deliver progress toward the expected goals. Such a focus on the micro dimension could not only allow a finer-grained comparison of how health systems work but also shed light on how capable health policies are of achieving the expected outcomes. This paper fills this gap by presenting an analytical framework capable of illuminating the granular dimension of policy design (the instrumental delivery package) and shows the analytical relevance of the framework by applying it to the designs of maximum waiting time guarantee and vaccination mandate policies.

Effective policy design requires an understanding of policy instrument choices and the range of possibilities for tool deployment present in any design situation. Instrumentation, or the selection of tools in a policy design, is a key factor determining design effectiveness and policy advisors and decision-makers must be aware of what instrument options they have and how they can be mobilized. They must know, for example which ones are technically feasible in a given context as well as which are considered legitimate and appropriate by policy experts, politicians and the public. This chapter discusses these elements of policy instrument choices for policy design and the state of knowledge concerning how these choices are, and should be, made.

Italian political science has evolved over time, dealing with various reforms and changes in the structure of academic careers and procedures for recruitment that have characterised the recent decades of the Italian university system. This paper reflects on how these changes have challenged the foundational identity of Italian political science and how they have influenced its development as a community of scholars. Three relevant dynamics emerge: the shift from a national and centralised community to a set of local networks of scholars, the capacity to perform well in terms of professional standards, and the risk that the capacity to reproduce the discipline’s identity, or at least its foundational core, could be significantly weakened.

In questo testo gli autori del fortunato «Manuale di scienza politica» hanno scelto di presentare la materia in modo semplice e compatto, pensando a studenti alle prese con un insegnamento di base di un corso triennale. I temi sono quelli essenziali di ogni corso di scienza politica, ma vengono affrontati con accostamenti originali: dopo un’agile introduzione alla disciplina, i capitoli ripercorrono oggetti di studio classici come i sistemi politici e i regimi (democratici e non), gli attori della politica contemporanea (partiti, gruppi, movimenti, classe politica) le istituzioni (elezioni, rappresentanza, parlamenti e governi). Infine, vengono trattati i processi decisionali, le trasformazioni della governance globale e le ripercussioni sul funzionamento delle democrazie. Pandoracampus completa l’offerta per studenti e docenti con materiali didattici, esercizi, approfondimenti.

This article focuses on the role of interest groups with reference to the «Good School» (Buona Scuola) Reform promoted by Renzi Cabinet: first, it reconstructs the historical evolution of the educational politics in Italy over the last twenty years; secondly, it studies analytically the relationship during the policy-making be- tween the interest groups that are active in the education sector and the government; finally, it discusses the results of the empirical research and reflects upon the policy style chosen by Renzi Cabinet (2014-16), which is characterized by disintermediation processes.

While efforts to reverse the current global environmental crisis increase, we are still experiencing unprecedented rates of species' extinctions. Traditional cultural landscapes can potentially play an important role for biodiversity conservation globally. However, these landscapes are threatened by pressures from global to local socio‐economic drivers of change. Many cultural landscapes across the world occur on private land where landowners' environmental stewardship can help support nature conservation. In this study, we applied a place‐based collaborative approach to understand the main aspects underlying landowners' relationship with nature, their perceptions of the local social–ecological context and their vision of a desired future to identify the constraints and opportunities to support voluntary private land conservation. The study was conducted in Uruguay, in a traditional cattle ranching cultural landscape, which is a national priority area for the conservation of biodiversity. In Uruguay, approximately 96% of the land is privately owned, while the National System of Protected Areas covers only ~1% of the land. Our results revealed that landowners had a close relationship with nature and considered themselves and their neighbours as local environmental stewards. Landowners were well aware of the importance of nature contributions to their livelihood and lifestyle and were concerned that rural exodus to urban areas and shrubland encroachment would negatively impact the social–ecological context they value and depend upon. Main needs of landowners to support biodiversity conservation were not primarily motivated by economic interests, but more related to the need for support that could enhance land management and social cohesion. Biodiversity conservation goals in this cultural landscape cannot be pursued in isolation from social and rural development goals. Addressing local needs based on already existing links between nature's contributions and people might help support biodiversity conservation in the area. Failing to understand the context and to recognize locally perceived problems could increase the risk of voluntary conservation failure. Our approach and lessons learned can provide insights to actionable research in other cultural landscapes globally. Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovación Ministry of Housing, Land Planning and Environment, Uruguay. Grant Number: URU/13/G35

Il manuale offre un ampio panorama della scienza politica mettendo a fuoco definizione, estensione e missione della disciplina, e illustrandone i contenuti sostantivi. Gli autori non tralasciano poi di registrare i cambiamenti fondamentali che hanno investito la politica e il modo con cui gli scienziati politici la studiano. A tale proposito, connettono il resoconto sulla ricerca scientifica a una serie di eventi e immagini della storia recente che hanno maggiormente contribuito a orientare il dibattito sulle prospettive e sulle sfide della politica globale.

Contains fulltext : 78396_a.pdf (author's version ) (Open Access)

Recent advances in the nutrition of low birth weight infants are discussed, with special emphasis on concepts and methods to establish parameters for the control of growth and nutrition. Furthermore, the recent developments of methods in the research on newborn nutrition, the problems related to the use of breast milk, the timing of feeding and the problems of the intravenous alimentation are discussed in some detail. Secondly, the effects of breast feeding on infant health are summarised, with particular emphasis on the long term consequences (occurrence of diseases later in life) and on the effects on some surgical diseases of infancy. Recent acquisitions in the field of enteral and parenteral nutrition are also mentioned, and the problems related to composition of the nutritive solutions and indications in pediatric age are covered in some detail. Finally, the dietary management of infant with cow's milk protein allergy or intolerance is discussed, with special regard to composition and indications of hydrolysed protein formulas (casein based, whey based, soy and collagen based), soy based formulas and aminoacid based formulas.