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Forum on Public Policy Online

Forum on Public Policy Online

Spring 08 edition (Posted September 2008)

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Spring 2008: Table of Contents

EconomicsBack to top

Economic Freedom, Larger Freedoms and State Intervention
Simrit Kaur

Abstract
What is the relationship between economic freedom and larger freedoms? Arguably, if economic freedom (EF) promotes growth and if it trickles down EF promotes larger freedoms (e.g. a healthy and productive life, free from want and deprivation). However, higher EF by definition entails lower government interventions in sectors such as health and education, thereby curtailing some aspects of larger freedoms. Thus ambiguity exists with respect to the effect of EF on larger freedoms. Therefore, the basic objective of the paper is to examine how various aspects of economic freedom impinge on larger freedoms. The econometric analysis suggests that higher levels of EF promote not only higher levels of GDP per capita but also impact larger freedoms favourably. However, results also confirm that higher levels of EF associated with few of its sub-components, particularly lower government consumption expenditures and lower transfers and subsidies, affect larger freedoms adversely. Since the role of the State in creating and expanding social opportunities, and in mitigating risks and vulnerability from the broader perspective of human freedoms is well documented, a policy dilemma exists regarding the appropriate level of EF.  In light of this dilemma, and acknowledging that public action expands larger freedoms, the paper questions the commonly held belief that government interventions are necessarily less productive. Emphasizing that government expenditure in providing freedoms is vital, it is argued that the role of the government, in an era of liberalization and privatization, needs to be redefined and not necessarily curtailed.

 

Cyberspace Back to top

 

 

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Google, Inc.: Procurer, Possessor, Distributor, Aider and Abettor in Child Pornography
Bruce Byars, Timothy O’Keefe and Thomas Clement

Abstract
Much has been written in the past couple of years regarding search engine companies' responsibilities associated with the delivery of content to the Internet community. This article presents the position that Google, Inc. is chargeable for their aiding and abetting of child pornography.  Google procures, stores, and indexes child pornography and facilitates the completion of transactions involving the dissemination of child pornography--this makes them an aider and abettor in the commission of  child pornography crimes.

Google has the ability to filter such material and chooses not to do so.  Instead they allow easy access to illegal material (child pornography) and only reactively take measures to restrict the dissemination of this universally illegal content stored on, and disseminated by, their system.  It is not inconceivable that Google could be charged and tried by a prosecutor for its criminal involvement in the dissemination of child pornography.

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Who is Safe in This Harbor? Rethinking Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act
T. Barton Carter

Legislative bodies and courts have long struggled to reconcile two sometimes conflicting interests: the state’s interest in protecting the reputations of its citizens and society’s interest in free and robust debate.  For example, the constitutional privilege in libel is an attempt to strike a balance between these interests. The evolution of the privilege reflects changing views regarding what constitutes a proper balance.

The advent of the Internet created a different but related problem.  The First Amendment interest in the balance was no longer related to a specific type of content, but rather a specific medium of expression.  Instead of a concern that defamation law could have a chilling effect on “uninhibited, robust, and wide-open” debate on public issues, the concern was that defamation law, as well as indecency law, privacy law, etc., would chill the development of the Internet.

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Synopolies: The use of cryptographic technologies to impede competition in multiple jurisdictions
Lucy Cradduck, Adrian McCullagh and William Caelli
Abstract
“It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.” Gore Vidal
Many jurisdictions have developed mature infrastructures, both administratively and legislatively, to promote competition.  Substantial funds have been expended to monitor activities that are anticompetitive and many jurisdictions also have adopted a form of "Cartel Leniency Program", first developed by the US Federal Trade Commission, to assist in cartel detection.  Further, some jurisdictions are now criminalizing cartel behaviour so that cartel participants can be held criminally liable with substantial custodial penalties imposed.   Notwithstanding these multijurisdictional approaches, a new form of possibly anticompetitive behaviour is looming. 

Synergistic monopolies (‘synopolies’) involve not competitors within a horizontal market but complimentors within separate vertical markets.  Where two complimentary corporations are monopolists in their own market they can, through various technologies, assist each other to expand their respective monopolies thus creating a barrier to new entrants and/or blocking existing participants from further participation in that market.  The nature of the technologies involved means that it is easy for this potentially anti-competitive activity to enter and affect the global marketplace.  Competition regulators need to be aware of this potential for abuse and ensure that their respective competition frameworks appropriately address this activity.  This paper discusses how new technologies can be used to create a synopoly

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Public Policy Issues Surrounding Online University Courses
Georgia L. Holmes

Abstract
With the maturation of the internet more and more colleges and universities are offering online courses.  As these courses enter the mainstream, public policy issues are beginning to emerge.  Many of these involve the tension between the “work for hire” doctrine and academic freedom that occurs when educational institutions offer these courses with a profit motive and then claim ownership of course materials. When a university begins to offer courses with a for profit motive, issues involving copyright infringement may also arise due to the inapplicability of the “fair use exception”.
                Other issues involve a developing disparity between the rights of public university faculty over those of private university faculty to the ownership of course materials as a result of the United States Supreme Court decision in NLRB v. Yeshiva University as well as the Due Process and the Takings Clauses in the Fifth Amendment and the Due Process Clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.  The lack of clarity in U.S. copyright law over ownership of professorial created academic works has led some commentators to suggest the time has come to amend the law to return a “teacher exception” to the definition  of a “work for hire” in the U.S. copyright statute.  In the meantime, faculty must negotiate ownership issues with their schools on a individual basis, through collective bargaining or by both.  In the case of private university faculty, there is no guarantee of any right to negotiate with their employer.

Identity Crime: The Need f or an Appropriate Government Strategy
Rodger Jamieson, Lesley Land, Greg Stephens and Donald Winchester

Abstract
This paper aims to provide an introduction to the problem of identity crime in cyberspace together with a discussion of Government strategies for managing this problem.  Critical components of a Government strategy to manage identity crime include: legislation, public vigilance and awareness programs, information protection, identity management, law enforcement and justice systems, education and training, reporting procedures, collaboration and alliances, and victim support.

The enactment of legislation, as a strategic policy instrument to mitigate identity fraud and related crime (money laundering, terrorism, trafficking), is a critical aspect of current and future strategies of governments (both nationally and internationally). With appropriate legislation, organisations may act with increased certainty of policy and laws to aid prosecution, recovery and remediation, both civil and criminal.

This paper draws from our research into identity fraud with a number of Australian government and private organisations, and particularly investigates strategies and policies for supporting the enactment of legislation to manage identity fraud and related crimes in cyberspace.  Our framework for management of identity fraud in organisations involves a number of phases, stages, and steps.  The policy, recovery, and remediation stages especially benefit from appropriate government legislation of identity fraud, identity, data protection, data matching, information sharing, cyber crime, and privacy. The paper briefly discusses inter-jurisdictional issues and collaboration to deter perpetrators, which are gaining prominence for those drafting new or amending current law in these areas.  The paper concludes with suggestions for Government strategy in this area.

 

Speech Deposit: Systematic Approach to Free Speech and Responsibility
Hideki Kakeya
Abstract
Modern society treats each person as a free individual who takes responsibility of his/her own decisions. Accordingly free speech is regarded as one of the most important values for citizens. On the other hand, free speech is a rare example of freedom which can often escape from responsibility even when it has influential power on the society. This may be the reason why not few people have started to think that some form of censorship is necessary with the rise of new media.
To establish responsibility of speech without violating free speech, the author presents the notion of speech deposit system, which guarantees people to pay back the profit of press and speech when the description turns out to be wrong in the future. With this system we can give negative incentive to the writers or speakers who try to gain profits by publishing fraudulent information or fabricated stories. Since it is just a private system without any compulsory power, it does not violate rights of free speech. Yet it can control the influence of irresponsible speeches because people are expected to judge that speeches without deposit are less reliable than those with deposit.

 

Disconnecting Child Pornography on the Internet: Barriers and Policy Considerations
Rebecca Ayers Loftus

Abstract
Access to child pornography via the Internet is easier than ever before.  While most scholars and policymakers agree that this media is both pervasive and destructive to our society, we have yet to come to a consensus on how to eliminate this threat to children worldwide.  This examination reviews barriers the international community must overcome to effectively respond to the exploitation of children whose sexual abuse is chronicled by websites and Internet distribution.  Anonymity, lack of agreement on relevant definitions, poor resource allocation, inconsistent enforcement, and new dangers are examined.  To truly attack the problem of child pornography, however; a coordinated response of education, collaboration, standardized legislation, and resource allocation is required. 

 

 

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act:  An Effective Tool for Prosecuting Criminal and Civil Actions in Cyberspace
Vicki M. Luoma and Milton H. Luoma, Jr.

Abstract
The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act became law in 1984 as the legislative response to the then relatively new phenomenon of computer hacking.  Subsequent amendments strengthened the law, and in 1996 the critical Section (g) was added to the law authorizing civil actions against violators.  A recent criminal case, however, may expand the application of the law to misuse of the terms of use of public Web sites.  This paper examines some of the applications of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in both criminal as well as the civil actions.  While the full impact of this statute in the future is not entirely clear, the statute will most definitely serve as a effective tool against virtually any computer misuse.

The Aesthetics of Online Privacy: Do We Communicate Context Through Interface Design?
J. Richard Stevens

Abstract:
Every year more legal codes and policy initiatives concerned with the regulation of consumer privacy are created throughout the world, yet the amount of personal information collected and stored continues to increase. Much of this data comes directly from individuals through small “trivial and incremental” interactions that “minimize its ultimate effect”
Privacy attitudes are neither static nor inflexible. When individuals perceive the potential benefits for information transactions outweigh potential risks, they voluntarily adjust their privacy decision-making to meet the demands of changing social contexts. Architecture itself creates social context and influences human behavior.
The current work examines the effect of certain aesthetics in “architectures of vulnerability” that lead individuals to provide personal information in exchange for security, comfort, a sense of belonging and the ability to perform surveillance. Through the communication of communal aesthetics, online storefronts, social networking sites and other online venues create an image of a contextual paradigm that does not conform to the behaviors of the underlying digital architecture.
In this manner, interface design is used to create false social contexts and illusions of voluntariness that cause individuals to disclose more personal information than they normally would.

 

 

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The times they are a-changin’ (every six months)–The challenges of regulating developing technologies
Dan Jerker Börje Svantesson

For a period of time, the Internet has been seen as a virtually borderless communications medium, making it possible to think of a world not divided by geographical, political, cultural or even linguistic borders. However, the Internet is changing rapidly, continuously and substantially. The Internet of today is radically different to the Internet of five, ten or twenty years ago. Indeed, today, it is getting difficult to view the Internet as borderless. So-called geo-location technologies – technologies making it possible for Internet actors to identify the geographical location of those they come into contact with – challenge the Internet’s borderless nature.

Drawing upon examples taken from the interaction between the law and geo-location technologies, this paper examines the challenges associated with the regulation of rapidly developing technologies. More specifically, focus is placed on such challenges in the context of Internet regulation.

 

In the Danger: Self Censorship, the Propaganda Model, and the Saving Grace
David Watson

Abstract
Critics of technological reliance such as Neil Postman have argued that Americans are becoming entertained at the expense of becoming informed, essentially becoming characters in a Huxlean universe: sedated and content.  These attitudes, while understandable lack the ability to account for recent popular movements developed through on-line engagement.                
The present work seeks to examine the ways that the internet and related technologies have played an important role in activist movements, specifically Iraq war protests and WTO protests in Seattle.  The focus will be the ways in which the internet can subvert the traditional propaganda model outlined by Noam Chomsky and Ed Herman in the work Manufacturing Consent.

 

Catch Me if You Can: A Taxonomically Structured Approach to Cybercrime
Lynne Yarbro Williams

Abstract

Computer crime can be problematic to define, owing to the complex variety of differing crimes involving computers and the rapid changes that advance and modify the underlying technology.  The American Heritage® Dictionary Online (2000) defines computer crime as “criminal activity directly related to the use of computers, specifically illegal trespass into the computer system or database of another, manipulation or theft of stored or on-line data, or sabotage of equipment and data” . If local access to the computer is considered as the sole entry vector for computer crime, this definition is adequate.  With the pervasive incursion of networks and the Internet into modern society, thus making access to criminal activity using a computer located anywhere available to anyone from any location, the definition is acutely limited. 
In reaction to cybercrime, there have been public and enterprise level attempts to attack cybercrime using a traditionally litigative approach to possible recourse strategies.  Although current reports, such as the annual CSI/FBI Survey, reveal that enterprises are spending an average of three percent of their IT budget on information security, the combined categories of intrusions and unauthorized usage continue to increase.  This poor level of performance seems to indicate that current strategies employed by organizations for the purpose of reducing or preventing intrusions and unauthorized usage have limited effectiveness or may be poorly applied.  As global commerce and society in general becomes increasingly dependent on computer networks, the significance of attacks or disruption of those systems becomes elevated, as does the importance of effective investigation and deterrence of the attackers.  Determining appropriate recourse strategies in regards to computer-network-related crime is increasingly crucial for any networked organization.

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DiversityBack to top

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The Intersection of School Desegregation and Economic Globalization in America
Frank Brown

Introduction
Public education in America continues to be view as being worthy of major investments to improve the county’s economic position in the world.  But quality education for many Americans is still not within their reach.  Fifty years after the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education eliminating legal segregation of public education by race the country is still a long ways from realizing quality education for all of its citizens. Retired Federal Court of Appeals Judge Robert L. Carter, who argued the Brown case in admits that Brown did not achieve its goals.  He feels that this generation must ensure that the Brown principles become a reality all children have an equal opportunity to a quality education in their respective communities; and the country increasingly dependent on the global economy cannot afford to under educate entire segments of the population along racial or social class to remain competitive.  Exposing young people to people of different races is the only way to combat the self-perpetuating process of segregation that institutionalizes inequality (Carter, 2007: 248).  This assessment was also supported by Judge Carter’s co-counsel in Brown.


Protecting the Vulnerable from the Vulnerable: Child Protection and Diversity
Michael Cormier

Abstract
This paper explores some of the issues encountered by governments and government agencies when they attempt to protect children born into minority communities. The experience of the Ontario government and the agencies of the government in dealing with Aboriginal communities is the main vehicle for considering the issues. The paper provides a guide to the legislation, a history of the Aboriginal communities dealing with children and the government attempts to protect children.

The immigrant communities’ experiences with child protection agencies are then considered. The similarity between the Aboriginal experience and the immigrant communities’ experience is analysed. Finally the steps needed to begin dealing with the problems experienced by the government, government agencies, Aboriginal peoples and Immigrant communities are outlined.

Multicultralism: Bridging Ethnicity, Culture, Religion And Race
Leo Driedger

Abstract
Early studies focused on the relations between the dominant British and French charter groups, before Pierre Trudeau announced a policy of bilingualism and multiculturalism in 1971.  A Royal Commission encouraged more research, where the focus of study turned from colonial to multicultural and multiethnic identity concerns, resulting in more open immigration policies.  More immigrants of multiple races, religions, and cultures arrived, which required expansion of the largely white European heritage tent.  By the eighties and nineties, demographic diversity, prejudice, discrimination, segregation accelerated, around problems of racism and the need for more equality and rights.  While studies in the twentieth century were focused much on power and social class, research in the twenty-first century will need to explore cultures, diversity, conflict and cooperation.

Differentiation and Diversity in practising public policy—hindrance orpossibility?
Agneta Hedblom

Abstract
Firstly, the impact of differentiation amongst clients in public policy is investigated. Focus is directed towards activation policy, which aims to include individuals into the labour market. In Sweden activation is used as a part of integration policy, and a large number of those involved are immigrants. Empirical examples from Sweden are analysed of how public policy administrators, when applying activation policy, differentiate among the clients based on presumptions about gender and `race`. The question of how the underlying construction of Swedish welfare policy makes this differentiation possible is also addressed.
   Secondly, also drawing on empirical examples, the impact of diversity amongst administrators in relation to differentiation and discrimination of clients is discussed, with reference to the concepts of representation and recognition. Could one solution to problems with negative differentiation amongst immigrants be diversity amongst the administrators? Could administrators from a specific group be seen as representative for other individuals from the same group and thereby enhance this group’s possibilities integration?

Diversity—A challenge to the Scandinavian care regime?
Stina Johansson and Katarina Andersson

Abstract
In a European comparison the Scandinavian countries are described as women friendly. Men as care workers as well as immigrants (both female and male) mean new dilemmas. The intersection of gender and ethnicity emerges as a key dimension of the multicultural challenge posed by migration. For minority groups, their citizenship often involves negotiating a puzzle of changing gender and family cultures as they move between minority and majority communities. Swedish elderly care, which is predominantly publicly organised, is an arena of practice which strives to implement such political objectives as gender equality and cultural diversity. Meetings between dependent care givers and recipients lead to dilemmas on several different levels. For instance, the needs of recipients of elderly care are often expected to be homogenous and fit within the standard norms of the organisation. Is it therefore appropriate for staff to refuse to visit violent and atypical persons in their homes? Or alternatively, is it appropriate for the elderly recipients to refuse to be cared for by someone whose appearance will conflict with the old people’s beliefs? When examining how policy is implemented in practice, structural elements, individual power and relative influence often become more apparent. In these interactions of different actors on different levels, un-intended processes may occur. How are rights maintained, and dilemmas resolved? In the case studies, a variety of dilemmas will be explored and discussed.

Race, the Enduring Power of an Illusion in a “Color-blind” Society
Robert D. Thompson

On July 4, 1992 Justice Thurgood Marshall gave a speech that questioned the progress of race relations since the Brown Decision of 1954.  Justice Marshall said, “I wish I could say that racism and prejudice were only distant memories, and that liberty and equality were just around the bend.  I wish I could say that America has come to appreciate diversity and to see and accept similarity.  But as I look around, I see not a nation of unity, but of division—Afro and white, indigenous and immigrant, rich and poor, educated and illiterate” (Higginbotham 1996, picture caption).

 

 

 

 

 

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Teaching EnglishBack to top

 

Macro- Language Policy And Planning And Lack Of Proficiency In Language Learning And Use By Nigerian Students
Wale Adegbite

Abstract
In this study, the problem of non-proficiency in language learning and use among Nigerian students is investigated. Using empirical data and information from available literature on the subject as evidence, it was observed that the language deficiencies of the students could be attributed to the lack of fit between the formulation
 of the national (macro-) language policy and planning and implementation procedures, in view of the complexity of the socio-cultural, multilingual and multi-ethnic context of the nation. The perceptions of students’ language deficiencies at different levels of education were described and the attendant effects on national development stated. A “bottom-top” proposal was then made for initial prioritization of micro-language policies and planning procedures that would later provide bases for viable macro-policy and planning projects.

Developing Socio-Political Active Teachers: A Model for Teacher Professional Development
Karen Cadiero-Kaplan and Elsa S. Billings

Abstract
                Presently in the United States there are 4.4 million English language learners (ELLs) in public schools, with California public schools being home to more than 40% of these students (Rumberger & Gandara, 2004). Research indicates that it takes an individual up to seven years to fully develop a second language (Collier, 1987; Krashen, 1994). However, in many schools across the country students are being required to speak only English and be mainstreamed into English classrooms “as quickly as possible” (Kerper Mora, 2000). Such programs occur not based on best pedagogy, but are due in part to policies that claim “English for the Children” and  “No Child Left Behind” As a result of such policies many classroom teachers feel they have little no voice or power when policy mandates impact the curriculum and teaching processes in their classrooms (Darder, 2002).
                To address this feeling of powerlessness requires the development of spaces where teachers have the opportunity to discuss policy and begin to understand the politics and policies which directly impact their everyday lives as teachers. One space for this to occur is in a graduate level education class titled- Language Policies and Practices. This article outlines the processes, materials and outcomes of the 16-week course and the impact of this learning on classroom practice and their engagement with fellow teachers and administrators at school sites.  The outcome and implications of this experience can be applied to both teacher education and school professional development seminars. The outcomes and implications articulated in this article are based on journal responses and research projects that reflect student perceptions, attitudes and actions as a result of their learning processes.

Spanish-English or English-Spanish in California: The Dialectics of Language in a Sociocultural Historical Context
Sara Soledad Garcia

Abstract
This is an analysis of California history of the shifting of language policies from Spanish to English, as an Official Language The focus is English as an imposed language that from the beginning of schooling policies stifle a process of language acquisition for the majority of Spanish speakers. In 1849 the California Constitution stipulated that all laws, regulations, and provisions be published in English and Spanish. Soon after in 1855 the use of Spanish for institutional purposes was prohibited by law.  By 1879 provisions for native language use were abolished. California became the first English Only State in the union.

In spite of historical policies that impose English as an Official Language, which limits the use of other languages in institutional settings, the acquisition of native origin languages, in a dialectical fashion, meld into the fabric of culture and expression.  Acquisition as a natural process of cognition is posited as the basis for English-Spanish bilingualism that continues to thrive in California.

The South African English Language Scene Within A (Global) Holographic Triadic Context
Rosemary Gray

Abstract
The main focus of this paper is on the triangulated work of the 1996 South African Constitution, the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), and one of the latter’s eleven language subsidiaries: the English National Language Body (ENLB), with special reference to the ENLB’s likewise triadic projects on literature; on variation and standardisation; and on language in education. It thus deals with both macro- and micro-policy issues.
     My choice of title is predicated upon the proposition that discourse in language is evidently much like the traditional African cooking pot, standing firm on three legs. An explication of the title’s invocation of a holographic triad follows, with examples of triple categorizations of usage from Randolph Quirk, Stanley Ridge and Braj Kachru.  Informed by the medieval educator’s emphasis on acquisition of the 3Rs and the 2008 Oxford Round Table’s call for a three-pronged approach, the discussion explores aspects of proficiency, education (multilingual rather than bilingual) and acquisition, shifting from practice to policy making and implementation in South Africa, including Richard Ruiz’s three types of orientation to language in policy and planning: language as problem, language as right, and language as resource. The paper makes early reference to and ends with references to Judge Albie Sachs’s sage caveat and his injunction for all to take part in the language discussion, respectively. I close with my own plea for a paradigm shift from prescription to choice and from rigidity to balance.

Educational Decisions about the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) Students under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act
Amee P. Shah

Abstract
Purpose
The present paper is geared to help speech-language pathologists and other members of the school-based teams to become acquainted with the new educational structure and context in schools today as driven by NCLB, and thus, be better prepared to meet the needs of CLD children. Specifically, the present paper attempts to present the background facts about the NCLB Act, identify pitfalls in its current implementation, and provide recommendations to the school-based teams and administrators to ensure that the needs of the children with limited English proficiency are met despite the limitations and challenges of this Act.  
Method
This paper is not a data-based study. Instead, in light of the absence of a unifying source of related information for SLPs, this paper was designed to serve as a review of existing literature and leading authorities in the diverse disciplines involved with NCLB. (Results and Conclusions are not presented here as this is not a data-based paper.)

Reflections on EFL Proficiency Requirements in the Business Context:
Towards Bilingualism in Professional Education in Finland
Taina Helena Vuorela

Abstract
Language education has a long tradition in the Finnish educational system owing to the official bilingualism of the country with the Finnish and Swedish languages, its geopolitical location, and the limited possibility to use the national languages in international contacts. Since the end of the 20th century, English has gained ground from other foreign languages in the number of courses taken. However, this is not reflected on a policy level in the educational system of the country.
In a globalising world, questions such as what variant of English should be taught to future business professionals who speak English as a foreign language (EFL), and what proficiency requirements different business professions set for the English language instruction in the professional tertiary sector remain largely unanswered. In addition to the present main strands being taught in the Finnish educational system, namely, the UK English and the US English, an English lingua franca (ELF) approach is gaining ground. ELF may be a difficult concept from the point of view of language instruction and testing. However, its use as a reference in business English instruction would seem to reflect the reality of the worldwide business community. In such a community, categories such native speakers and foreign/second language speakers have fuzzy edges, as the latter may be more fluent in English in specialist industrial domains than the speakers who use English as their first language. The present paper also discusses the types of communication skills required in English in the business professions in the light of the latest research, and their possible implications for pedagogic and policy issues.

 

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EthicsBack to top

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The Responsible Corporation Syndrome
Ádám Angyal

Abstract
This lecture is intended to contribute to spreading the concept of responsible company conduct. In the interests of this, the interpretative framework and dimensions of social responsibility are presented. The measurement and assessment systems pertinent to responsible behaviour have been collected, as have all the international documents which define the framework of social responsibility. Finally, that which is understood to be responsible conduct, and what behaviour is characteristic of socially responsible enterprises is presented in several variants.

Without getting absorbed in the details of various definitions of corporate responsibility, that which is understood by this concept is formulated. In business practice, responsible corporation behaviour involves making an efficient contribution to the attainment of social goals.

 

Expanding Citizens’ Democratic Participation As The Context For Earning the Public’s Trust
Majid Behrouzi

Abstract
To trust government and business, people need to know and feel that these entities are genuinely concerned with public welfare and matters of the common good. In the case of government, people also need to feel that it is both responsive and open to the public’s input. As to business, people need to feel that corporations honor their social responsibilities and value the service and input of their employees. This means that, in order to earn people’s trust, government and business not only need to take a genuine interest in the public’s welfare but also need to find ways of incorporating the public’s input in decision making processes in their structures and institutions. This will only be possible if we, as a society, work toward adopting participatory models of democracy.
       That is to say, we need to find ways of expanding citizens’ participation in, and contributions to, the decision making processes on matters that affect their lives and their livelihoods in profound ways. Representative democracy and big business—especially in the phase of Globalism, which has put them beyond the reach of the public’s democratic oversight—have failed us. We need to develop new visions of good society, good government (genuine democracy), and good economy.

Socially responsible future businesspeople: Is there a road map?
Eleonora  Karassavidou and Niki Glaveli

Abstract
Business schools the essential source of preparation for future managers are increasingly asked to concentrate their attention on students' moral attributes required for the apprehension, appreciation and handling of ethical issues and dilemmas.  They are further under pressure to reconsider their role as a moral force in developing graduates potential for ethical and socially responsible judgment and behaviours that their future position of power demands.
 Towards this direction, a holistic approach is developed, in the present paper,  to explore the link between business students': Internalised Code of Ethics, Anomia, their attitudes towards Academic Dishonesty and acts describing Managers Unethical Behaviours, their perceptions of University's Ethical Climate and finally the person-situational factors influencing students' Ethical Resistance in the workplace. A conceptual framework, developed by the two authors is tested. Within this frame a questionnaire was formulated based on new measures which capture the specific context characteristics as well as on constructs introduced by other researchers in the field. Some of the research findings are striking, having implications for educators, policy makers, human resource managers and employers.

 

Creating Ethical Environment and Restoring Trust: Bridging the Skill Value Gap
Satendra Kumar

Part I: This part of the paper attempts to describe the concepts related to understanding of ethics and the role of mind in propelling ethical or un-ethical behaviour. It also attempts to explain as to how mind is guided by the combination of virtue and vice driven values when it propels ethical or unethical behaviour with the kind of intelligence possessed by a person.
PART  II: This part of our paper discusses the scenario of ethical environment which is currently prevailing in business & government in various countries of the world in general and in India in particular. It also attempts to identify some of the root causes for the prevailing unethical practices in Business & Government.

Strategies for Improving Ethical Behaviors in Organizations
Gabriel Omolewu
Abstract
The media bombards us with accounts of unethical behaviors in organizations which reveal social issues that demand our attention.  These behaviors are from individuals with no moral character and have raised a lot of concerns about business ethics.  This paper examines the unethical behaviors, their causes, and the strategies for reducing their occurrence.  Unethical behavior is one that is not morally right or one that is prohibited by the law.  It includes corruption, mail and wire fraud, falsification of time cards, discrimination and harassment, insider trading, bribery and kickbacks, conflicts of interest, improper use of company assets, embezzelment, and other forms of dishonesty and cheating. The causes of these unethical behaviors in organizations are weak levels of supervision and accountability, inadequate administrative structure, lack of awareness of the public and employees, and unmonitored declaration of employee assets.  Strategies to reduce the unethical behaviors include establishments of codes of business conduct and a whistle-blowing mechanism and a commitment by management to annual business ethics training for employees.

Ethical Transparency and Government Regulation of Canada's Medical Research Industry
Geoffrey Poitras and Lindsay Meredith

Medical research and development (R&D) is an area where the interests of private sector firms often conflict with those of governments. More precisely, the private sector firms conducting the bulk of medical R&D are motivated by the ethical standards of the marketplace. These standards differ from those of government which, in Canada, is an advocate for patients as well as having monopoly control of the health care system through the publicly-funded, provincially-run Medicare and Pharmacare systems. In this environment, there is a strong incentive for government to require a high level of ethical transparency in the regulatory filings that firms conducting medical research are required to provide. However, at least since Nancy Olivieri versus Apotex, there has been accumulating evidence that current levels of disclosure still do not make it possible to separate legitimate medical research from a corporate strategy of marketing patent protected medical products to physicians. This paper will examine the economic medicalization of medical research practice and publication in Canada. The discussion is used to motivate a more general examination of the problems involved in the ethical approval process for medical research that balances the interests of both business and government in the Canadian medical arena.

 

Rethinking the Moral Agenda within American Foreign Policy: Lessons From Niebuhr, Huntington, and the Japanese Experience
Paul Andrew Sukys

Abstract
Since the end of the First World War, the strategy of the United States in global affairs has undergone several evolutionary leaps. Nevertheless, beginning with the international vision of Woodrow Wilson and culminating in the present neoconservative agenda, the grand strategy of American foreign policy has been guided by a moral imperative. Recently, however, the pursuit of that moral imperative has led to unforeseen and undesirable consequences, not the least of which has been the war in Iraq.  This paper invites discussion as to whether the United States should continue to pursue a foreign policy based on individual morality and the exportation of democracy and proposes that the best course of action might be for the United States to purge itself of any moral considerations in conducting foreign affairs and adopt, instead, a neo-realistic strategy that allows its leaders to promote American interests at home while withdrawing from the international scene in all but the most fundamental and inescapable ways. The proposition is supported by the assumption that the world as envisioned by Samuel Huntington in his work, The Clash of Civilizations, and as practiced by the Japanese government, represents the most accurate picture of the 21st century global system and the most effective way to deal with that system.

 

The Benevolent Legal Ethic of Adam Smith Merges with Nobel Laureate R.H. Coase’s Benevolent Legal Ethic
Charles S.V. Telly

Abstract
Adam Smith wrote a masterpiece when he wrote The Wealth of Nations.  Clearly in it the ethic is the egocentric man who creates a business organization and all of society benefits from his maximization of profits through the “invisible hand.”  However, Adam Smith in fact wrote a trilogy:  1) The Theory of Moral Sentiments, 2) The Wealth of Nations., 3) The Lectures in Jurisprudence.  The underlying theme of the entire trilogy is benevolence interpreted and enforced by the Anglo-Saxon legal system.  R.H. Coase received the Nobel Laureate because of two articles, The Nature of the Firm 1937 and The Problem of Social Cost 1960.  In the 1937 article, the major concept for the entrepreneur’s success is his understanding of risk.  In the 1960 article, Coase’s theorem is an economic analysis of the relationship between two “competitors” adjacent to each other.  Coase suggests an economic efficiency analysis as the most desirable solution.  However, there cannot be an absolute selfish right to property because to make one’s rights absolute would interfere with the whole.  His suggestion is that the two parties arrive at the most efficient economic solution.  Moreover, where the two parties are unable to make the decision then, in the end, the courts must.  The Anglo-Saxon American court system has an  exceptional ability to make both economic decisions and decisions for the whole society in the judicial process of judicial reasoning where they have a sound reasoned historical way of doing just what they do and arriving at the “best” decisions.
                Both Smith and Coase suggest that the courts are uniquely able to make these best decisions based on the Adam Smith egocentric man and the invisible hand and ultimately, on the concept of benevolence.

 

Trust within Organizations—Benefiting from Demographic Changes by Fostering Intra-Organizational Trust
Sven Voelpel and Eric Kearney

Abstract
If companies aim to earn the trust of customers and the general public, they must first establish a culture of trust within their own organization. From an intra-organizational perspective, trust has many benefits, including reduced transaction costs. A thus far overlooked benefit may lie in the effects that trust has on the relationship between demographic diversity and intra-organizational outcomes. Due to demographic changes, globalization, and other forces, increasing diversity (e.g., with respect to gender, age, nationality, as well as cultural, educational, and functional background) is not only inevitable, but also constitutes a potential competitive advantage, as it broadens the range of task-relevant knowledge and perspectives. Trust is likely to be one factor that helps to unlock this potential, for example by enhancing the degree of intra-organizational knowledge sharing among dissimilar individuals, which in turn may foster innovation and performance. Thus, by establishing a culture of intra-organizational trust, companies are better equipped to meet some of the most important challenges they are about to face in the upcoming years. At the same time, by fostering intra-organizational trust they establish one of the preconditions for restoring trust in their company on the part of customers and other stakeholders.

Individual and Institutional Impediments to Ethics: Making Ethical Decisions under Risk, Threat, and Stress
Donald T. Wargo, Norman A. Baglini and Katherine A. Nelson

 Abstract
We cannot restore confidence in Government and Business until the public trusts them.  The public will not trust them until they see that they are behaving ethically and this means that the people in those institutions are making the correct ethical decisions. It is clear, however, that whatever ethical training the individuals in these institutions may be receiving is not working.
We propose that this is because the training is incorrect. It is overly rational and does not take into account the real world, its threats, coercions and risks. Additionally, Journal articles and ethics texts abound with paradigms for making ethical decisions. The problem is that these models are not sufficiently grounded in the real world, but rather assume isomorphic group members and are methods for rational, deductive logic.
         On the other hand, recent research in the areas of moral psychology, biological anthropology, neuroscience, economic game theory, behavioral economics, Neuroeconomics and institutional theory presents overwhelming evidence that ethical decisions are not exclusively rational and may not be principally conscious decisions. They are also emotional and almost all the time made under some stress or at least pressure that is institutional or personal in nature. Further, ethics in the real world is contextual and relational. It is done in a rational vacuum but in the context of the institution or in relation to a superior or colleague. Further, there exist serious individual and institutional impediments to making ethical decisions. Thus, the pressure can come from any of the relevant stakeholders in the decisions. In the case of government this may come from corporate interests or in the case of business from the stockholders to ‘maximize profit’ or from the superior to ‘make the numbers.’ We present that research here and explore its implications for ethical decision-making and training.

Overcoming Cynicism amidst Ethical Lapses in American Government and the News Business
Clint C. Wilson II

This paper examines how the free press theories espoused by John Milton and Thomas Jefferson have been undermined not only by ethical lapses in American government but also by the evolution of news media organizations into corporate entities that pursue financial profit at the expense of their social responsibility to serve public interests.

The resulting loss of citizen trust in both their government and news media institutions has led to cynicism and hampered the ability of citizens to make informed judgments as participants in their democracy. Although news media have been traditionally expected to serve as watchdogs over government as the so-called “fourth estate” in the political checks and balances system in the United States, examples of ethical breaches by journalists and government entities are cited.

Criteria are posited for effectively meeting the public affairs communications needs in a democratic society as well as the reasons corporate American media have fallen short. Public opinion research data suggests that Americans are turning to their publicly funded broadcasting system, established 40 years ago, as a trustworthy source of news and analysis that meets the criteria of socially responsible journalism and public discourse.

 

 

HealthBack to top

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Physical activity for persons with obesity—a health project reported
Eva A. Andersson, Gi Defaire, Staffan Hultgren, Johnny Nilsson, Kristjan Oddsson, Hedvig Olin, Leif Strand, Lina Wahlgren, Ingemar Wedman and Orjan Ekblom


Abstract
In public health contexts, increased physical activity habits and fitness (aerobic and strength capacities) are positively related for promoting health and preventing and treating common diseases/problems, including obesity and overweight. A strongly graded inverse association between physical activity and obesity has been shown both for adults and children. However, a lower mortality risk has been shown for those with greater weight but good aerobic capacity than for those of recommended weight but less fit. On the basis of a health project with physical activity for persons with or without obesity, the paper discusses evidence-based methods for promoting physical activity. General guidelines for the amount of physical activity for persons are described, as are the numerous physiological and medical advantages of physical activity. The economic benefits are also illustrated. The paper exemplifies methods of measuring physical activity habits and physical fitness. These two factors must be observed when showing improvements in public-health contexts, including groups with obesity.

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Obesity and Cancer: How Understanding the Connection Early Can Have an Impact on Prevention
Alok Bhushan and James C.K Lai

Abstract

There is a common understanding that obesity is associated with increased incidence of heart disease and diabetes. Recent synthesis of literature links obesity with several cancers including cancers of colon, esophagus, breast, endometrium, and kidney. Increased risk of developing several other cancers has also been associated with high fat diet and low physical activity. The risk of developing type II diabetes is high in obese patients due to Insulin resistance. Insulin’s ability to induce cellular proliferation has been linked to progression of cancers.
There is an immense need to implement health education to adolescent populations by training teachers to promote awareness of the role of obesity in cancer and benefits of not being obese.  Education and research in this area is critical to prevention of obesity and cancer. Psychologically, obesity does not cause an immediate alarm as compared to being diagnosed with cancer.  Promoting outreach programs by universities and other health professionals can enhance knowledge and understanding at an early age. Implementing a required science course in schools to focus on biology and progression of cancer and the importance of healthy habits may have impact in the future of the health of coming generations.

Addressing the panic about ‘obesity’: Policy to protect health
Jenny Carryer and Suzi Penny

Abstract
Body size has come to be regarded as a major problem facing many countries in the 21st century. Whereas variations in height, hair colour and other bodily differences are simply accepted as normal human diversity; variations in body size are considered differently. Large body size is now firmly identified and labeled as overweight or obese and we are in the midst of what some authors have described as a moral panic about obesity (Gard and Wright 2005).  The panic focuses on the seeming escalation of overweight and obesity and has especially brought the issue of lifestyle under ever increasing scrutiny. In this paper we first examine the taken for granted assumptions which underpin obesity discourse including the physiological aspects and consider the nature and impact of the moral panic about obesity on individuals living in larger bodies.  We address the potential or emergent challenges to accepted wisdom about obesity and then consider how health policy in any country, given the current state of obesity science, can support the greatest number of people to enjoy better health.

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Adult Disease Induction and Life Course Events: Some Perspectives from a Resource-compromised Economy
Charles Osayande Eregie

Abstract
Background
Nigerian newborns face difficult childhood and adulthood with prevalent morbidities and resultant reduced life-expectancy tasking our practice and policy. We need clearer appreciation of disease induction from foetal origins with a ‘Critical Window’ in the life course for possible interventions.
Disease Induction And Life Course Events
Life course and events, from conception to death (‘womb to tomb’), are highlighted re: roles in disease induction. Foetal growth, early child nutrition/ diet and early postnatal growth represent a ‘Critical Window’ for modulation re: inferred ‘Body Programming’ effect.
Specific Life Course Events And Some Nigerian Perspectives
Birth and its attributes are reviewed. Birthweight is discussed re: determinants, meaning and usefulness in disease induction. We have simple clinical tools for assessing gestational age and body proportion/ composition. We highlight our simplified methods of maturity determination as preterm infants have peculiar postnatal adiposity. Postnatal growth correlates with later disease and exclusively breastfed infants, with observed accelerated growth, are assessed using our new growth standards.
Child diet contributes to adult disease. We highlight observations on exclusive breastfeeding for policy and practice. With BFHI and the ‘INAGOSICI Phenomenon’, breastfeeding is improving. Two ‘growth spurts’ are reviewed for child feeding policy and the ‘Transgenerational Model’.
Conclusion
Nigerian newborns face quadruple-barrel survival tragedy. Our perspectives on life course events are highlighted for policy and practice. Institute interventions are highlighted for community impact.

 

Obesity in the Lower Socio-Economic Status Segments of American Society
Randall F. Gearhart Jr., Dennis M. Gruber, David F. Vanata

Abstract
Recently, obesity has become more commonplace in low SES segments of the American population than in the affluent.  Our purpose is to examine the reasoning for burgeoning obesity in lower SES populations and suggest possible methods of intervention.  The etiology of obesity observed in this segment of the population is thought to be multifactorial.  Three factors associated with risk for obesity and SES are physical activity, nutrition and certain psychosocial factors (i.e. self esteem, body image, depression, etc.).  The onset of obesity among individuals is occurring earlier in life than previously observed.  Based on these trends and observations, public schools may provide the ideal setting for interventions by reaching at-risk populations and thus maximizing the cost-benefit ratio of these programs targeting children.  Public schools may play a role in certain psychosocial behaviors and have a direct impact on children’s physical activity levels and nutritional habits.  As an example, education is linked to income, which in turn can influence food options, meal preparation, or food security issues, as well as one’s potential exercise habits.  Therefore, incorporating school-based interventions increases the likelihood of success in lifelong management of body composition. 

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Drifting Away from Nature: The Cost of Convenience
Kendra J. Golden

Abstract
Time devoted to preparing meals has dwindled as lives have become highly structured and over-committed.  To fit meals into hectic schedules, emphasis is placed on convenience at almost all costs.  Quick meals do serve the purpose of freeing time for other things.  Unfortunately, foods requiring little or no preparation are unlikely, in most instances, to resemble natural food.  Indeed, they are likely to be culminations of intensive processing methods that render food not only unrecognizable as something from nature but also high in calories and additives and low in organic nutritive value.  The separation of food from natural sources parallels a growing human disconnect with the natural world in general.  The more people ignore the places from which foods originate, the greater the likelihood that caloric intake stems from energy-dense, nutritionally destitute “foods.”  One of the many causes of the obesity epidemic in affluent society is the abundance and relative affordability of these so-called foods.  Convenience is a great boon to busy peoples’ schedules, but we need to be aware of the overall cost to human health.  Reconnections with nature and our food supply are necessary to fully appreciate what we have lost and what we stand to gain.

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Integration and Public Health: Swedish Experiences of Measures for Better Integration and Public Health
Kirsti Kuusela
Abstract
The Swedish policies for integration and public health have the same goal: to create more equality for the entire population. This paper studies activities and methods in three Swedish projects and measures aiming to increase integration and public health, implemented in vulnerable residential areas. The material indicates that many important activities were organized by the projects but the activities did not affect the structural conditions, thus the problems remain. There were surprisingly few examples of development of methods found, and in cases where methods had been developed; they were seldom implemented in the ordinary local government activities.

Empowerment and a bottom-up perspective were important strategies in all the projects, but only one of the projects was truly successful in empowering and mobilizing local people. The successful project believed in the capacity of the local people and the immigrants, gave support to their organizations and provided a welcoming climate to start meaningful and creative activities for children and women which in the end promoted health and integration.

 

Genes Load the Gun, the Environment Pulls the Trigger: Obesity among Children and Adolescents in U.S. Schools
Evelyn M. Reid

This old world isn’t getting any bigger, but we are. We are getting heavier and wider; we drive bigger vehicles, live in larger homes, order “super-sized” sandwiches, desserts, and drinks. In fact, our super-sized appetite is taking a huge bite out of health budgets worldwide.
In 1998 the World Health Organization designated obesity as a global health concern. Today, 27% of American adults are obese and 34% are overweight. Research also documents the disturbing prevalence of overweight children in the United States of America.
Federal government data from 1999 to 2000 showed the percentage of overweight children between the ages of 6–11 years old jumped to 15.3% from 11.3% in just one year. Similarly, the percentage of overweight adolescents between the ages of 12–19 years old jumped to 15.5% from 10.5% in the same period.

 

 

Aging Well Through Long-Standing Social Occupation: A Closer Look at Social Participation and Quality of Life in a Sample of Community-Dwelling Older Adults
Regena G. Stevens-Ratchford

Abstract
Background. Successful aging encompasses good health, function, and social and other activity participation as well as overall well-being. Quality of life is a well-being state that intricately is associated with successful aging. Objective. The purpose of this research study was to examine long-standing social participation, successful aging, and quality of life in a sample of 22 older adults.  Method. The study used a mixed-method design: phenomenological qualitative research procedures were used to examine the participants’ lived experience of social participation and its meaning in the context of successful aging, while descriptive quantitative methods were used to examine the sample’s quality of life. Data was collected during four interview sessions over a six-week period. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze quantitative quality of life data. Phenomenological procedures were used to analyze interview data and to create categories (meaning units) of social participation in relation to successful aging components. The essence of the experience and its meaning was described for each participant. Then reiterative analyses was used to examine and compare data in order to determine themes of successful aging within the participants’ social participation.

Results. Quantitatively the participants reported positive quality of life. Qualitatively, the results indicated that two themes emerged from phenomenological analyses: (a) Long-standing social occupation creates a network of social connectedness and active engagement with life and (b) Long-standing social occupation encourages habits for aging well.  The participants engaged in a variety of social activities, which promoted successful aging; this social participation stimulated the mind, enhanced physical and cognitive function, fostered health and well-being, as well as perpetuated continued activity participation. Discussion. Social participation strengthened family bonds and fulfilled needs to be productive and socially connected; social occupations were a vehicle for continual involvement in life and persistent high function. Social connections and relationships provided support that helped these participants to cope with difficult situations.  The participants had social routines that included entertaining and dining with others, sharing entertainment, traveling, and participation  in religious activities and other community organizations.  Conclusion. These findings suggest that for this sample participation in social occupations contributed to their quality of life and successful aging by serving as a means for engagement with life and by promoting health, well-being, and function. Long-standing social occupation can provide ongoing opportunities for a lifetime of activity participation, social connectedness, and aging well.

 

Obesity and Cardiovascular Diseases: The Risk Factor in African Diets
Folake  Samuel and Tola Atinmo

Abstract

The increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity is relevant not only in developed nations but also recently, in developing countries of Africa. Given that obesity is associated with morbidity and mortality from several health conditions including cardiovascular diseases this has attracted growing concern. In addition, scientific evidence is accumulating regarding the links between diet, obesity and the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases. Africa is diverse in vegetation, culture and therefore, dietary habits. However, the typical African diet (with regional variations) is composite in nature, with whole grains or tubers usually being the staple, accompanied with legumes, leafy and non leafy vegetables, meat or fish and vegetable fat. Such a composition appears to carry a low risk for obesity, though recently, studies suggest that Africans, especially in the urban areas are gradually departing from this traditional dietary pattern toward a western diet high in saturated fat, sugar and refined  carbohydrates and low in fibre thereby significantly raising this risk. Africa is the least urbanized continent, but has the fastest rate of urbanization in the world. This development has greatly influenced African feeding habits and physical activity patterns, and has been associated with rapid changes in the prevalence of obesity and other nutrition-related chronic diseases. Yet a lingering concern is that child undernutrition remains a compelling public health issue, especially as the outcome of this nutritional transition in such undernourished children includes metabolic risks in adult life, thus presenting another dimension to the burden of cardiovascular disease in the continent.

Timely dietary and lifestyle intervention will go a long way in the prevention of obesity and its associated cardiovascular disease risk in Africa. Emphasis should be placed on nutrition and lifestyle interventions to sustain the consumption of healthy traditional diets. Although this will require financial investments, these are small when compared with the resources needed for the treatment and management of cardiovascular diseases, as well as the losses due to morbidity and mortality.

Everyday Well-Being in Connection with Health in Immigrant Families with Children—A Study on the Everyday Life of Families with Russian Background in Finland
Maritta Törrönen

Abstract
The study discusses the everyday well-being and health in families with children with Russian background in Finland from the presumption that the everyday well-being is reflective of how families express their satisfaction with their current life situation. The focus is on immigrants and how they experience Finnish society and their everyday life in Finland. Everyday well-being is analysed from the perspective of families with children:  How do Finnish families with Russian background experience their everyday well-being and its connection to health?

Five hundred (500) structured questionnaires were sent to families in spring 2007 in Finland and 207 replies (42 %) were received. These results show that approximately 2 out of 3 respondents are quite satisfied, satisfied or very satisfied with they everyday well-being in Finland. The results show that immigrant families with children with Russian background in Finland are in an unequal position, some of them are better off than others. A prolonged difficult situation may reinforce long term inequality between immigrant families. Polarisation among respondents seems to be connected to gender and life situation with small children.

 

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Womens' RightsBack to top

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Individualism as a Solution for Gender Equality in Japanese Society in Contrast to the Social Structure in the United States
Itsuko Dohi and Marjaneh M. Fooladi

Abstract
The purpose of the study is to investigate the idea of individualism and collectivism from interpersonal perspective of an individual, couple, group, and society in relation to gender equality. In recent years Japanese society has embraced individualism while collectivism remains embedded within the culture. This has resulted in many conflicts, especially in terms of gender inequalities. First, we suggest a closer look at the concept of individualism in Japan from androgynous perspective where everyone can be independent and self-actualized to substitute the deficits weaved into a collectivist approach to human relationships. Second, we examine how Japanese social systems or services are based on a vertical collectivistic model which can be modified into horizontal individualistic structure. These changes may diminish the gap between individualism-collectivism for individual, couple, group, and public. We will discuss individualism-collectivism concepts and the relations between cultural values and gender equality in Japan and U.S. comparatively.

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Positioning Women, Mental Health and Depression on Canadian Health Care Agendas
Donna Marie Eansor

Abstract

In 2008, substantive equality for women remains an “unfinished agenda” and an integral and critical component of this agenda is the unequal treatment of women’s mental health issues both globally and in Canada. Women and mental health issues are not on the Canadian health care agendas.  Depression is a mental health problem that is unique to women and it warrants particular attention; globally and across diverse societies and social contexts women are nearly twice as likely to suffer depression as are men. The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that depression will be the second leading cause of global burden of disease by 2020 and a sense of urgency is needed to reduce the over representation of women with this mental illness.    
A commitment to the inclusion of mental health as a part of the mainstream Canadian public health care system presently exists in Canada. To ensure that the specific mental health needs of women are also included in the mainstream care system, women, mental health and depression need to be on Canadian health care agendas.   Positioning women, mental health and depression on the relevant agendas is a pressing issue that all three governments and the recently established Mental Health Commission of Canada should make a priority. A sense of urgency and the development and implementation of a National Mental Health Care Strategy that includes a National Women’s Mental Health Care Strategy as an integral and substantive component will accomplish this outcome.   

      Lawyers can make a contribution to the development and implementation of these strategies and a contribution to gaining equality for women with mental health problems.  They might have a vested interest; studies show both men and women lawyers are almost four times more likely to experience depression than the general population.  Vested interest or not, as persons of privilege, power and influence they are uniquely situate to make a difference; they can be leaders in contributing to the completion of the “unfinished agenda” of substantive equality for women including the unequal treatment of women’s mental health issues both within the legal profession and within Canadian society.      

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Gender Perspectives: The Key to Understanding Equality and Justice  
Marjaneh M. Fooladi and Itsuko Dohi

Abstract
Admitting the truth of the women’s struggle for equality in the modern world requires a closer look at the gendered concepts of equality and justice. The global view of equality and justice could be better understood by differentiating how men and women experience life between self and others. In childhood our view of gender equality is simple and self-centered. As children we claim “everything is mine.” Then we reach late adolescence into adulthood and begin to differentiate self from others. At this point the knowing of equality and justice changes according to gender. Males begin to compare, compete, and avoid compromise while females communicate their desire to comply, compromise and search for companionship. Women’s identity is fully embedded in intimacy and relationship between self and others and men are capable of separating self from others. Men are capable of physical engagement void of emotional intimacy. Hence, our deeper understanding of gender paradigm and the world view of equality and justice may be the key to resolving the current state of world affair where most policies are authored by men as women are entrapped in poverty, illiteracy and economic deprivation.

 

Watch that gap: reflections on the struggle for equality
Lekkie Hopkins
Abstract:
Is there a difference between women’s struggle for equality with men, and the according of full human status to women? This paper considers the discourses available to Australian feminist activist Patricia Jessie Giles when working to develop policy in the international arena in the context of Luce Irigaray’s insistence that policy work must be accompanied by philosophical work, and that, in order to accord full human status to women, we must find a place for woman philosophically. In so doing, the paper begins a conversation about ways to negotiate that mysterious gap between hope and happening that is so often the stuff of policy change.

 

Gender Equality and the Economic Empowerment of Women
Margaret A. McLaren

Abstract
This paper examines the notion of rights discourse and its international application in recent feminist theory.  Feminists seem to take at least two contradictory views of rights.  On the one hand, some feminists criticize the notion of rights as a highly individualistic, abstract Western idea.  They argue that rights are a culture-bound construct that does not do justice to more relational understandings of self, or to communal cultures.  Yet other feminists argue that rights is an important tool for securing women’s protection from violence, and promoting women’s equality.  I argue that both of these views inadvertently neglect economic issues, and so long as this is the case, current discussions of rights by Western feminists have only limited benefit for poor women in developing countries.  I suggest that feminists concerned with global women’s issues and rights prioritize economic and social rights, rather than political and legal rights.  I illustrate the connection between women’s economic empowerment and the resulting overall improvement of quality of life by looking at the impact of Indian women’s employment in two co-operatives, Marketplace India and SEWA (the Self-Employed Women’s Association).   

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Obstacles to Gender Parity in Engineering Education
Marta Rohatynskyj, V. Davidson, W. Stiver and M. Hayward

Abstract

Low rates of women’s enrolment in engineering programs has been identified as a global problem within the general concern to enable women to attain parity in education in all areas.  A Western women in engineering meta-narrative is identified which contains a complex of obstacles that typify the situation of Western women.  The question is asked whether this meta-narrative can be used to guide comparison between the problem of women in engineering in the West, particularly Canada, and women in engineering in China and India.  In reviewing the considerable literature devoted to understanding the obstacles to gender parity in engineering education in the West, as well as a range of statistics concerning women’s education for China and India,  it is concluded that national comparisons are difficult. It is suggested that research should proceed by identifying comparable institutions of engineering education in the three countries in order to gain insight into the possible gendered nature of engineering as a profession in each setting.  Review of extant literature from China and India indicates that there is a shared factor of concern with the access of girls and women to education given the high value placed on their labor contribution in the home and also, a number of unique factors typical of each setting

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Higher Education for Women in India—Choices and Challenges
Nandita Singh

Abstract
The paper analyses gender disparity in education evident across the socio-economic spectrum in India. Concern for girls’ education in last few years has lead to a considerable expansion of access at the primary level. But a great number of girls especially in the rural areas drop out before they reach secondary or higher stages of education. Many enter in to matrimony and become young mothers before having the opportunity to realize their full potential. Removed from formal schools at the onset of puberty, those who are not married, take on household responsibilities. The ones who are able to resist social and pedagogic pressures to drop out and reach the level of college or university, take studies seriously as they know this privilege will vanish after matrimony. Many are not even able to peruse their goals of further education or choice of vocation. There is a need to develop gender –specific pedagogy and provide flexibility in the system of education, in which women could fulfill their aspirations, overcoming their domestic obligations. Higher education should prepare them to face a world of opportunities and challenges.

 

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Tackling endemic substance abuse among Indigenous Australians: the contribution of values- based family empowerment education
Komla Tsey

*The first paper in this two-part series (see Page 5), is included as a chapter in a forthcoming book on substance abuse, scheduled to be published in July 2009. More information about this will be provided as it becomes available.


Abstract
The extent to which endemic substance abuse and other negative outcomes of historical and continued disadvantage and loss has persisted and possibly grown among Indigenous Australian communities reflects the failure of policy and practice to achieve a critical impact. This paper supports current thinking that tackling these complex issues requires among other things a rebuilding of community social norms based on personal and social responsibility; the essence of the concept of ‘principled autonomy’. The best chance of success in rebuilding social norms lies in multi-level approaches where macro social policy reforms are complemented by effective community interventions that engage and empower the intended beneficiaries to take greater control and responsibility for their situation. Unfortunately, despite their complementary goals, recent Federal Government macro policy reforms designed to curb Indigenous substance abuse is caught in a dichotomizing discourse between options based on compulsory, emergency type approaches versus those which place individual, group and community empowerment at the core of change efforts.

The paper provides a detailed case study of an Indigenous developed family empowerment program as an example of an effective community initiative that both empowers people to take greater control and also builds social norms. The aim is to contribute to the current policy direction by providing a middle path between the polarized positions. It highlights an urgent need to move beyond the binary positions and recognize and support proven local initiatives if new government policy reform agendas are to achieve their goals.

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Global Security Back to top

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International Considerations in Libel Jurisdiction
Sandra Davidson

Abstract
Because of the international reach of the Internet, Web site operators must be concerned about the international reach of jurisdiction.   Jurisdictions differ not only on jurisdictional matters but on substantive libel issues.
                For example, an article posted on the Wall Street Journal's Web site arguably depicted Australian businessman Joseph Gutnick as a tax-evading money launderer.  Unanimously, in 2004, the Canberra High Court affirmed an Australian court's assertion of jurisdiction, ruling the article had been "published" in Australia when downloaded, instead of in New Jersey when uploaded.  Gutnick settled out of court for $580,000. But in 2005, Yousef Jameel from Saudi Arabia failed in his attempted suit in England over a Wall Street Journal online article.  The London court ruled that Internet publishers could only face suit in England if there were a "substantial" publication there.  Only five people in England had read the article that purportedly portrayed Jameel as a fundraiser for Osama bin Laden. 
                In the United States, California accepted jurisdiction when Yahoo! challenged a case it lost in France, but in Ehrenfeld v. Bin Mahfouz, New York rejected Ehrenfeld’s challenge to the libel case she lost in England.  Ehrenfeld did score a victory, however:   New York law changed in April 2008 as a direct result of her loss with enactment of the “Libel Terrorism Protection Act.”  The U.S. federal government is considering similar legislation.
                The world of cyberspace with no boundaries continues to collide with the world of jurisdiction that is defined by boundaries.

 

 

Social Psychology of Culture and Ethnic Populations:  The Impact of Global Warming on Social Change within Culture and Ethnicity
Kathleen G. Hundley
Abstract
In addressing global strife on the planet, it is necessary to discuss the growing concern surrounding global warming and related climate change and the documented impact it is having on societal changes in ethnic cultures.  Drawing from over 60 references, this research article reviews global warming from the natural scientific perspective and consider the relationship of climate change to changes in social order.  Looking at different impacts in different parts of the globe, it establishes a hypothesis that establishes a link between natural and socio-cultural change that negatively impacts the ethnicity of minority or disenfranchised people.  These changes include, among others, the status of decreasing water and precipitation on crop failure and resulting scarcity of food spawning governmental corruption and misuse of power and the necessity of ethnic groups in various parts of the world to uproot family, leave traditional homes, abandon ethnic cultural mores and customs in the search for survival.  While regarding global warming and acknowledging the disagreement in the scientific community on cause and extrapolated effect of global warming, the research found indicates that global communities’ agreement in current changes in the natural order, and inevitable resulting differences in human social order, will require a collaborative effort to adjust, both socially as well as physically, in order to survive.                                                 

Federalism, Intergovernmentalism, and Intelligence: The Future of Cooperation in the European Union
Kenneth J. Ryan

Abstract
Core differences in governance systems of European Union member-states have spawned information-sharing policy disputes in joint intelligence.  These disputes yield shortcomings in the depth and breadth of fusion analysis, stifling interagency sharing and limiting collection.  A nation supporting intergovernmentalism likely will favor a decentralized information-sharing solution in international intelligence processing; however, federalists likely will demand a centralized institution (such as Europol) as a single point, information collection repository for joint and fused analysis.  Therefore, in a confederation such as the EU with both federal and intergovernmental supporters, governance differences yield inefficient sharing, untenable interagency policies, and institutional diversion from EU law.

This work examines the consequences of differences in governance systems on international intelligence policies.  Additionally, it examines how political conflict impedes interagency cooperation and information-sharing policy coordination at the intelligence executive level.  Finally, it proposes how these conflicts may be addressed to improve joint and fused intelligence products.

 

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