Non-Electoral Accountability in Global Politics: Strengthening Democratic Control within the Global Garment Industry

This article challenges the widespread view that democraticaccountability is unattainable in global politics because ofthe impracticality of establishing global elections. Instead,it argues that global democratic accountability can potentiallybe achieved by instituting non-electoral mechanisms that performequivalent accountability functions through more workable institutionalmeans. This argument is defended at a theoretical level, andfurther illustrated by analysing an empirical case study ofthe institutions through which labour standards in the globalgarment industry are determined. The article first explainswhy electoral mechanisms are no longer a viable means for achievingdemocratic accountability in political contexts such as theglobal garment industry, that are characterized by the decentralizeddispersion of public decision-making power among a range oforganizationally disparate state and non-state actors. It thenidentifies the key democratic function of electoral accountabilityas that of ensuring a reasonable degree of public control overpublic decision-making, and argues that this normative functioncan, in principle, be legitimately performed through non-electoralas well as electoral mechanisms. Finally, it elaborates thekey institutional features of a legitimate framework of non-electoralaccountability – public transparency and public disempowerment– and illustrates how these functions could potentiallybe achieved in practice, with reference to the example of theglobal garment industry.     

The “thinning” blueline: a Bourdieuian appreciation of police subculture

The notion of a recalcitrant “police subculture” is pervasive in the literature on policing, often invoked to explain many of the ills linked to police misconduct and corruption. This article argues that the failure of reform efforts is the result of interventionist strategies which had sought to change police subculture “head-on” without a corresponding change in the structural conditions in which the policing role is so located, and that these efforts, theoretically, have been informed by a conceptualisation of police subculture as homogenous, monolithic, and static. Using the Bourdieuian concepts of the “habitus” and “field”, the view of a “recalcitrant” subculture will be challenged in this article. Using the Singaporean experience as a case in point, it will be shown how changes in the field of policing can bring about changes, intended or otherwise, in the occupational habitus of the police: refashioning the informal repository of knowledge guiding police work.     

Medicare and Medicaid programs; hospital conditions of participation: quality assessment and performance improvement. Final rule

This final rule requires hospitals to develop and maintain a quality assessment and performance improvement (QAPI) program. In the December 19, 1997 Federal Register, we published a proposed rule to revise the hospitals conditions of participation (CoPs). The QAPI CoP was one of the conditions included in the proposed rule. We separated the QAPI CoP from the larger set of hospital CoPs so that it could be published in advance of the remaining CoPs to implement the Administration's initiatives regarding medical errors. QAPI focuses provider efforts on the actual care delivered to patients, the performance of the hospital as an organization, and the impact of treatment furnished by the hospital on the health status of its patients. Specifically, it is important to note that a QAPI is not designed to measure a hospital's quality, but rather a minimum requirement that the hospital systematically examine its quality and implement specific improvement projects on an ongoing basis. State agencies (SAs) during their surveys, review all aspects of a hospital's operations and this review provides a framework in which the SA can assess a hospital's QAPI program. In addition, the QAPI entails all activities required for measuring quality of care and maintaining it at acceptable levels. This typically includes; 1) Identifying and verifying quality-related problems and their underlying cause; 2) Designing and implementing corrective action activities to address deficiencies; 3) Following up to determine the degree of success of an intervention and to detect new problems and opportunities for improvement. Performance improvement activities aim to improve overall performance assuming that there is no permanent threshold for good performance. Under performance improvement framework, hospitals will continuously study and improve the processes of healthcare and delivery of service.     

What can be done against public corruption and fraud: Expert views on strategies to protect public integrity

A number of questions dominate the debate about public corruption and fraud. First of all, of course, there is the question of the content of these phenomena. What is corruption, what is fraud and how is it related to power abuse and public waste? Some scholars stress that these questions are unanswerable if ethnocentrism is to be avoided. Others are more positive about the possibility to grasp the central meaning of the concepts. A second type of questions has to do with understanding public corruption and fraud. To define a concept is something; to understand it is something different. Understanding means knowing the causes and consequences. To be able to understand it, corruption should be given a place in the framework of knowledge about public structure, culture and behavior. This is all but a simple endeavor because it will make a difference which theoretical and methodological framework is chosen as a starting point. This article seeks to avoid this obstacle by choosing an approach which could be categorized as pragmatic and eclectic, trying to discover whether there are causes which are seen as important by a variety of experts with different academical and occupational backgrounds: is there a common core present in different approaches? Third, there is the normative debate. What are the positive and negative consequences of corruption and fraud and how can cost and benefits be compared and judged? Nowadays, most scholars and practitioners in the field stress the negative consequences of public corruption and fraud. Such a critical attitude almost automatically leads to a fourth type of debate, about the question “what to do about it?”. Which methods and strategies are thinkable and what works? This subject is the central one in this article.     

A Just Measure of Forgiveness: Reforming Occupational Licensing Regulations for Ex-Offenders Using BFOQ Analysis

In the United States, over 600,000 offenders rejoin society annually, though little has been done to facilitate their transition from the prison to the community. Offender reentry into the workplace has emerged as a particular concern, given that many statutes prohibit public employment for ex-offenders and create obstacles to private-sector employment through occupational licensing requirements. These mandates may explicitly reject ex-offenders, or require "good moral character" or job/relationship tests that all but eliminate meaningful employment options. Several states are reconsidering the implications of these prohibitions, but a clear framework for assessing the validity of exclusionary occupational mandates is often lacking. This article proposes that the bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) defense found in employment discrimination law provides a helpful framework for guiding these reform efforts.     

Macro-control power: from decentralization to control

Legal control of macroeconomic regulation power is a core proposition in the science of economic law, and is served as one of the key links to make macro-control (policies and measures implemented by the government to regulate the operation of market economy) ruled by law. Legal control of macroeconomic regulation power can be summarized into three methods: to acknowledge economic right of social agents (special interest groups, lobbies, and their representatives) by law; to safeguard economic power of social people (the public) by law; to decentralize macro-control power by law. By analysis, this article reaches the conclusion that the first method (to decentralize macro-control power by law) is the main method of legal control of macroeconomic regulation power. This is why it is necessary for China, in the transition period, to decentralize the macro-control power into the macro-control decision-making power, macro-control executive power, and macro-control supervision power in order to legally control macro-control power through mutual restraints and combined action.     

Procedural Rationality and Regulatory Decision-Making: A Decision Framework Approach

This paper presents the methodology and some preliminary findings from an ongoing study of the procedural rationality of regulatory decisionmaking in the occupational health arena. The author employs the concept of procedural rationality in the sense used by Herbert Simon to refer to the logic of decision-making as it is shaped by institutional constraints. Of particular interest here is the impact of provisions for the involvement of affected interests in and public scrutiny of the regulatory process. The methodology presented involves a charting of the "decision frameworks" adopted by participants in the process at various stages. The methodology is illustrated through its application to the particular case of the development of a regulation governing occupational exposure to inorganic lead in the Canadian province of Ontario.     

Differences and Changes in Danish Party Organisations: Central Party Organisation versus Parliamentary Party Group Power

The subject of this article is the relationship between the central party organisation and the parliamentary party group. The article investigates whether Danish political parties are changing into parties dominated by their parliamentary party groups, as has been hypothesised. In contrast to most of the literature on party change, which is based on ideas of convergence caused by external changes, this article argues that party organisation is basically a party decision and therefore influenced by party preferences and characteristics. The analyses are based on data from the statutes of 16 Danish parties in over 50 years. One noteworthy finding is that Danish parties do not converge. Party ideology proves to be very important for the power structure of a party. Even though political parties are exposed to changing political circumstances they still organise according to their basic ideas about democracy and representation.     

论国家治理体系下的检察公益诉讼

检察公益诉讼是富含治理内涵的司法体制创新。该制度体现了我国国家治理体系和治理能力现代化所具有的在执政党领导下、改革与建构并重、注重社会主义公益保护、兼具国家主导与半开放性等特征。检察公益诉讼制度形成了关联深广、多层嵌套的复杂网状治理结构。文章从历时性和共时性两个角度,剖析了检察权与行政权、审判权、立法权和公民权的关系演变,描述了网状结构中各主体不同的权能定位,以实现提升检察公益诉讼的治理效能。检察公益诉讼的治理效果明显,表现为治理领域广泛覆盖、治理力度全程深入、治理主体全面带动、治理规范充分法治化、治理方式刚柔并济。为了实现检察公益诉讼的治理目标,还需增强协同治理效应、完善治理机制与规范建设,并逐步提高检察机关司法治理能力。     

Good cop—Bad cop: Problem officers,law enforcement culture,and strategies for success

Police officers are the only professionals mandated by society to use discretionary coercive physical force as a necessary component of fulfilling their duty to maintain public safety and uphold the law. If community policing is to prevail as an effective and credible style of law enforcement, the legitimate use of competent police authority will continue to be a vital issue. This article analyzes the types of officer problems and problem officers that can harm community policing efforts. These include (1) individual factors, such as attitudes, personality traits, and psychological disorders; (2) police-citizen interaction factors, such as interpersonal dynamics and community attitudes; and (3) organizational factors, such as training and supervision, departmental philosophy, and the “cop culture.” The article then offers practical strategies for improving officer performance, including (1) selection and screening of officers; (2) training and supervision; (3) fitnessfor-duty evaluations; (4) effective supervision and discipline; (5) coaching and counseling strategies; and (6) the most productive use of psychological services. Throughout this discussion, the concept of the police officer as a law enforcement professional is emphasized as essential for guiding public safety policy into the 21^st century.     

Coercion and justification: a global public reason perspective on Security Council reform

The Security Council is the only international body capable of authorizing the use of force in cases other than self-defence. Its main mission is to protect international peace and security, and this has been reinterpreted in recent decades to include the protection of human rights in situations of grave humanitarian emergencies as well as to allow it to exercise legislative powers. Given this extraordinary range of functions, it is worth asking whether the Security Council is justified in their exercise. Should the international community entrust such power to an institution with the authority, structure, and decision-making process of the Security Council? This article explores the implications of a distinctive tradition in political philosophy – namely, the public reason tradition – for judging the adequacy of some of the proposals for reform of the Security Council. I show that the scope of authority of the Security Council, as well as some of the proposals for reform, can be challenged on the basis of an emerging global public culture.     

Memory Laws: An Escalation in Minority Exclusion or a Testimony to the Limits of State Power?

The article addresses the tension between nation‐state memory and the law through “memory laws.” In contrast to laws that ban genocide denial or a positive perception of a violent past, I focus on laws that ban a negative perception of a violent past. As I will show, these laws were utilized for a non‐democratic purpose in the last decade or more: They were proposed in order to limit public debate on the national past by banning oppositional or minority views, in contrast to the principles of free speech and deliberative democracy. Their legislation in such cases also stands in opposition to truth‐telling efforts in the international arena. I compare two cases of memory legislation, in contemporary Russia and Israel, and evaluate their different impacts on democratic public debates in practice. A third case of “failed legislation” in France compliments the analysis by demonstrating not only the capacity but also the limitation of state power to silence or control public debate using the law. Although national laws often reflect majority culture and memory, I propose that memory laws in Russia, Israel, and France present an escalating degree of minority exclusion—from omission to active banning.     

法人治理结构下公立医院法治建设策略研究

为解决医院法人治理结构利益兼容和决策效力、效果问题,需推行公立医院法治建设策略。分析公立医院现状、主要问题、应对策略和依法治国大政方针的要求,推进公立医院法治建设刻不容缓。公立医院当前的主要问题为:组织结构松散,处理纷繁的法律事务低效,认知理念不均衡,风险发酵等。提出行之有效的策略,借助四种组织架构评价,对照合规管理要求,明确工作重点并分析投入产出,为公立医院法治建设观大势、谋全局,有效解决医院法人治理关注问题。     

Hospital rate regulation: American and foreign comparisons

Rate regulation in the United States usually is inspired by widespread indignant pressures to protect the public against venal exploitation. Rate regulation of American hospitals does not ride such a wave of outrage but is motivated by the need to restrain Medicaid spending and insurance premium increases in some states. Hospital rate regulation in America lacks strong political support, makes many politically prudent concessions to hospitals, and is often threatened by repeal. Since Americans distrust regulators and since individual scrutiny of so many hospitals is burdensome and contentious, they often seek automatic formulae that will produce equitable results by rational calculation. In contrast, rate regulation in Europe is a method of refereeing between hospitals and alert third parties. Hospitals' prospective budgets are always scrutinized by regulators. Guidelines are transmitted by government to link public policy to hospital payment, and the regulators apply the guidelines to each hospital's individual situation. The system results in less contention and more stability in European than in American regulation. Certain features of European hospital practice have kept hospital costs high, but the regulators are now reducing annual increases in costs below America's. In order to reduce cost increases further, Europe is moving toward global budgeting and public grants of hospitals' operating costs, instead of regulation of unit rates. However, regulators may still be essential to scrutinize hospital prospective budgets and to investigate the merits of the claims by individual establishments.     

The Public University's Performance in State Arts Policy: Lessons from Virginia

This article investigates the extent to which public higher education institutions participate in state-level arts policy through a history of selected budgets and a textual analysis of performing arts presenting centers at public higher education institutions in Virginia. Evidence from this research suggests that the arts policy field is altered by the emergence of public higher education institutions as policy actors. The findings have financial and decision-making implications for arts policy makers, university administrators, and arts agencies as the participation of public higher education institutions affords new opportunities and challenges for the state encouragement of the arts.     

Applying antitrust law to nonprofit healthcare entities: arguments for a greater attention to detail

This Article begins with an antitrust primer, then analyzes the appropriate application of antitrust principles to nonprofit healthcare providers. In light of the inherent charitable character of nonprofit healthcare providers, the author contends that the government and the courts should accord some deference to nonprofit hospitals when they are seeking approval of mergers. To date, this has not generally been the case, although a few recent court decisions have rested their approval of mergers, in part, upon the nonprofit character of the merging entities. The author, in particular, believes the paradigmatic local nonprofit hospital with a community board is less likely than a for-profit hospital to abuse any market power that it may obtain through a merger; consequently, any such merger should not be analyzed solely under the traditional presumptions of antitrust jurisprudence. Rather, the premerger analysis should involve meaningful consideration of the hospital's charitable character.     

Automated administrative decision-making under the influence of the GDPR – Early reflections and upcoming challenges

This article examines the intersection of the GDPR and selected due process requirements in the context of automated administrative decision-making. It finds that the safeguards for decisions based solely on automated data processing provided by the GDPR coincide with or serve a comparable function to traditional administrative due process elements such as the duty to give reasons, the duty of care principle, and the right to a hearing. The automation of decision-making by public authorities across the EU will therefore be regulated by an overlap of national administrative procedures and the GDPR. This overlap, however, leads to a paradoxical problem: on the one hand, the GDPR is an inflexible legal instrument aimed at setting out in detail the rights of data subjects and the obligations of data controllers, and it does not offer national legislators much room to align its terms with national administrative procedures. On the other, the GDPR's broad language makes it susceptible to interpretations embedded in the elaborated practices of the national administrations. The unclear relationship between national administrative procedures and the GDPR may undermine its main purpose – to establish an equal level of protection in all EU Member States through its ‘consistent and homogenous application’. After outlining the main challenges in this regard, the article concludes with a call for further research and regulatory frameworks adjustments aimed at developing a better governance regime for automated administrative decision-making that would allow for embracing technological progress while keeping threats to individual rights in check.     

The leap of faith from disease treatment to lifestyle prevention: the genealogy of a policy idea

Since the 1970s public health policy has attempted to counter the rise of chronic diseases by getting individuals to make healthy choices about smoking, alcohol, diet, and physical exercise. Inspired by the so-called new perspective of the 1974 Lalonde report, this shift from disease treatment to prevention has been a key focus of public health policy to this day. Every generation of public health reports presents prevention as the answer to past failures, but the continuous experience of failure is strangely coexistent with a fundamental belief in the ability of lifestyle prevention to produce large health improvements. The article tracks the genealogy of lifestyle prevention as policy idea across three generations of U.S. and Danish public health reports and finds a systematic interpretation of lifestyle prevention as being more successful and promising than acute medical treatment.     

Whatever Gets you Through the Night: Officer Coping Strategies after the High-Profile Line of Duty Deaths in Dallas and Baton Rouge

The policing profession has recently experienced events that affected officers across the nation. Several high-profile cases involving police and members of minority communities intensified the tensions among these groups. Amid public criticisms of policing, law enforcement officers have become targets of attacks. Multiple cases of officer ambushes and assassinations have further troubled the already stressful occupational position of law enforcement. This study investigates what coping strategies officers used after the deadly attacks on police in Dallas, Texas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana that occurred in July, 2016. We also investigate how the coping strategies used affects job motivation among officers. Our findings suggest officers turned to three coping strategies: support networks, stoic self-help, and self-medication. These coping strategies were found to be ineffective mechanisms for protecting officer job motivation; however, some strategies adversely affected motivation more than others. Understanding how officers are coping and why effective strategies are not being employed adequately is imperative for both the safety of officers and the public.