Confrontational Approach Research Articles

The US–China Trade War and China's Strategic Future

The Trump administration’s confrontational approach has prompted a serious debate in China about the country’s economic and political course.

Tuberculosis in the Americas, 1870–1945: Beneath the Anguish in Philadelphia and Buenos Aires by Vera Blinn Reber

Reviewed by: Tuberculosis in the Americas, 1870–1945: Beneath the Anguish in Philadelphia and Buenos Aires by Vera Blinn Reber Kelly Urban Vera Blinn Reber. Tuberculosis in the Americas, 1870–1945: Beneath the Anguish in Philadelphia and Buenos Aires. Routledge Studies in the History of the Americas. New York: Routledge, 2019. xviii + 332 pp. Ill. $149.95 (978-1-138-35950-5). Contemporary historians are expected to put the local in conversation with the global, frequently a time-consuming and frustrating task. Vera Blinn Reber's Tuberculosis in the Americas, 1870–1945: Beneath the Anguish in Philadelphia and Buenos Aires, which synthesizes and distills a considerable amount of historical data into a concise and illuminating comparative study, is thus a welcome addition for those interested in the history of tuberculosis. Blinn Reber compares the actions and beliefs of patients, physicians, and governments in Buenos Aires and Philadelphia, two influential port cities in the Western Hemisphere. Her narrative is bookended by two trajectory-altering discoveries: the tubercle bacillus and the first effective therapy for the disease. Blinn Reber contends that local patient experiences were markedly similar in these "two very different cities" due to global trends (p. 12). More specifically, she argues, "These two port cities, with diverse medical facilities, illustrate the growing international consensus between 1870 and 1920 as to the causes, prevention, and treatment of tuberculosis" (p. 2). Even though "Buenos Aires and Philadelphia exemplified growing international disagreements among physicians as to which specific medical therapies were most effective in preventing and curing tuberculosis" after the 1920s, likeness still prevailed, for "urban public health programs demonstrated increasingly similar approaches to tuberculosis prevention" (p. 2). Most of the chapters are organized thematically, exploring scientific understandings of the disease; the medical establishment's influence on coalescing anti-tuberculosis campaigns; how gender, class, age, and ethnicity influenced TB mortality and treatment; changing therapies over time; the sanatorium age; and programs aimed at children. The final chapter expands its scope, comparing approaches to tuberculosis in Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Africa, and Asia. The epilogue carries readers through the post-1945 antibiotic age, concluding with current challenges. [End Page 621] Tuberculosis in the Americas will primarily benefit two audiences. The first is scholars who will find it a useful reference volume. It provides copious qualitative and quantitative data for Buenos Aires and Philadelphia (and, at times, for Argentina and the United States). The final two chapters are also encyclopedia-like in their geographical coverage. For instance, Blinn Reber has painstakingly put together a table of TB death rates across the twentieth century for an extensive list of countries and cities (pp. 239–43). Second, the book would work well in a number of undergraduate health courses in a variety of disciplines. Its transnational historical overview can serve as a textbook for novices, while still including interpretative claims that can spur classroom discussion. In particular, students could tackle the central claim of the book. For example, in the fifth chapter, Blinn Reber argues, "Sanatoriums in both Argentina and Pennsylvania were remarkably similar because of the international medical consensus on the nature of tuberculosis and how to treat it" (p. 179). However, readers might pick up on a number of potentially significant differences between the two cases studies. In Argentina, the state funded sanatoriums, yet in the United States, private sanatoriums provided the bulk of beds. Patients in Argentina organized sanatorium strikes to push for better conditions, while patients in the United States took a less confrontational approach. (The sick at one sanatorium in Pennsylvania published satirical critiques in a monthly magazine delightfully titled Spunk.) A shortage of sanatorium beds existed for both populations, but in Argentina there was one bed for every thirty-three patients, while in the United States there was one bed for every eighteen patients (p. 179). Students can marshal these and other pieces of evidence to debate whether similarity or difference best characterize these local histories. This reader wished for a more explicit discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of this particular comparison. If these two Atlantic cities were marked by similarity in patient and physician experiences, could the same be said for the rural hinterlands surrounding them? How would...

Peacebuilding Model of Third-Party Mediation in the Philippines: Comparing Malaysia and the OIC

Many nation-states have increasingly found themselves in a situation where they are unable to sort out their domestic conflicts without third party mediation. This is particularly true for a country like the Government of the Philippines (GPH) who has been fighting violent protracted internal conflicts for many decades against Bangsamoro revolutionary groups. Therefore, with respect to the above, the purpose of this article is to compare peacebuilding models of third party mediation to the Bangsamoro conflicts with particular focus between Malaysia and the Organization of Islamic Conference, presently Cooperation (OIC). Its approach is primarily an eclectic, by concentrating on the strengths and weaknesses of the peacebuilding models of the third party mediation as employed by both Malaysia and OIC. The article is divided into two major parts. The first part discussed both Malaysia and OIC’s diplomatic approaches in dealing with the Bangsamoro conflict, while the second part explained inclusivity versus exclusivity of both Malaysia and the OIC respectively. The study found that Malaysia’s model is more durable and successful when compared to OIC’s. In fact, Malaysia’s quiet diplomacy and less confrontational approach with greater inclusivity were more effective compared to elitist and confrontational approach of the OIC’s mediation to the Bangsamoro conflicts. Indeed, the Government of the Philippines and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (GPH-MILF) peace process is one of the most inclusive peace processes in the world. It may have some who were left out in the peace process, but they were all consulted by both Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as opposed to OIC mediated Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front (GRP-MNLF) peace negotiations. Therefore, it is pertinent to conclude that there is nothing that resembles the inclusivity of the GPH-MILF peace process that characterized the exclusivity of the GRP-MNLF peace process.

A disease beyond reach: nurse perspectives on the past and present of tuberculosis control in South Africa

Although access to healthcare has improved since South Africa’s democratic transition, neoliberal reforms have had detrimental effects on clinic-community and nurse-patient relationships, undermining efforts to control tuberculosis (TB). This article focuses upon the work of nurses in three public health clinics in the Western Cape, South Africa. We explore how they experienced, made sense of and grappled with the challenges of TB control, especially patients “defaulting” on medication. Paying particular attention to confrontations between nurses and patients, we build upon previous qualitative studies that have contested popular constructions of nurses as “rude” and “uncaring.” We argue that patient blaming and scolding need to be understood in light of nurses having to tread a fine line between compassion and assertiveness, individual and public good against the backdrop of a dissonance between the theory and reality of TB control. Nurses’ confrontational approaches are responses to the messy reality of TB control on the ground, solutions to which require attention to the socioeconomic and historical context of nursing and primary healthcare. In the absence of such attention, animosities between clinics and communities could continue being cyclically reproduced.

The philosophy of the Ramones

Abstract This article traces the history and influence of The Ramones, an American rock & roll band that founded the ‘punk rock’ movement, which then spread to England and such bands as The Sex Pistols, The Clash, along with many other similar groups. Although they never achieved mainstream success during their more than twenty year career, The Ramones are now are considered by many to be one of the most important pop music groups of the later twenty-century, transforming 1970s rock & with a stripped-down style that combined speed, simplicity, and a confrontational approach to performance. Though all the members of the group have died, their music has become part of the fabric of American pop culture, inspiring such contemporary bands as Green Day, Nirvana and Metallica.

ANALYSIS OF CHINA’S FOREIGN POLICY OF BUILDING OF HARMONIOUS WORLD; RELEVANCE FOR PAKISTAN

China, a lofty nation of 5000 years of uninterrupted civilization, world’s second largest economy, a nation of huge land mass and vibrant 1.3 billion populations with permanent seat in United Nation’s Security Council is steadfast on the road of peaceful development. Despite foreign aggressions, humiliations and occupations, Chinese nation never demonstrated revengeful attitude and instead adopted a submissive and non- confrontational approach to buy time for national cohesion, economic and infrastructure development and making the country stronger. The consistent and rapid industrialization has enabled China to maintain over 9% growth rate which brought rich dividends for China and is now termed as economic super power and world’s manufacturing industry. This all can be attributed to consistent pragmatic foreign policy and unique blend of relevant to all and friend of all with mutual accommodation and peaceful coexistence. Pakistan and China are termed as Iron Brothers, therefore, Pakistan can accrue many dividends from rising status of China. This research article critically examines evolution of China’s foreign policy and draws relevance for Pakistan with suggested course of actions to make more dynamic and pragmatic foreign policy. The views and analysis expressed in this article are author’s own.

Assisting struggling teachers effectively

In this research, we examine strategies school principals have used to assist struggling teachers. In an open-ended questionnaire designed for this study, we asked 219 school principals to describe a successful intervention they held. The results show that principals prefer supportive assistance to organizational changes (such as moving the teacher to another class). They rarely used confrontational approaches. A content analysis of the strategies that enabled successful intervention identified four conditions: (a) principals’ willingness to intervene; (b) intensive use of measures and resources; (c) the teacher’s willingness to make changes; and (d) the need for flexibility in managing the intervention. The findings indicate the need to train principals to assist struggling teachers more effectively and to encourage them to become more assertive. This requires a professional development program for teachers and principals, guidance in classroom management, as well as organizational, financial, and human support.

Devolution of Powers in Sarawak: A Dynamic Process of Redesigning Territorial Governance in a Federal System

AbstractThis article is based on a case study of the developing process of devolution of powers in Sarawak as an aspect of the operation of cooperative federalism in Malaysia. The argument developed is that devolution can be seen and used in conjunction with and in reinforcement of federalism, rather than being simply an alternative method of decentralizing powers. The study finds that this approach may be more promising than a more confrontational approach based on arguments around the fulfilment of the original federal bargain, and is also potentially more open-ended and creative (a process rather than an event), embracing issues within the federal bargain but also issues that are not dealt with in that bargain. The study is based on a unique opportunity to canvass the views of Sarawak leaders at the iteration of the devolution process.

Shakespeare’s First Folio: Four Centuries of an Iconic Book by Emma Smith

Reviewed by: Shakespeare’s First Folio: Four Centuries of an Iconic Book by Emma Smith José María Pérez Fernández Emma Smith. Shakespeare’s First Folio: Four Centuries of an Iconic Book. Oxford UP, 2016. 320 Pp. TERENTIANUS, THE THIRD-CENTURY GRAMMARIAN, famously proclaimed that books have their own fates according to the dispositions of their readers (“pro captu lectoris habent sua fata libelli”). In Shakespeare’s First Folio: Four Centuries of an Iconic Book, Emma Smith—who is also the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare’s First Folio (2016)—explores the readers, the reception, and the significance of one of the most singular volumes in the English canon. She starts with an account of the first recorded purchaser of the First Folio, Sir Edward Dering, whose book of expenses is also a record of his social and political progress—a case of Renaissance self-fashioning through consumption. His purchase of the First Folio also dovetailed with other hobbies, which included the performance of plays adapted by Dering himself for amateur productions in his household. Smith uses Dering as one of the pillars in the opening of her overall narrative structure, adding a more recent user of the First Folio at the other end of her book. Smith leaves few pages unturned or bindings unexamined. It is difficult to summarize all the things Smith’s book does with the First Folio and the fascinating episodes she explores in relation to its production, circulation, and reception. The complex history of the First Folio is, of course, the history of Shakespeare’s elevation to the altars of the canon, of the political, cultural, and economic capital invested in it, and of the communities who sought to appropriate it. Smith describes the diverse agents within the overlapping worlds of the public stage and the publishing business that facilitated its production. Patrons, actors, and publishers, among others, are all brought forward to demonstrate how they contributed to produce a printed artifact that circulated throughout far-reaching networks in both chronological and geographical terms. The author and his readers are but one convergence among the many encounters of individuals and communities that have shaped interpretations of the First Folio over the past four hundred years. For example, Smith examines the copy deposited now at the Glasgow University Library as part of the Cary family networks, which included Ben Jonson. This [End Page 201] is, in the first place, an early episode in the public perception of Shakespeare as a towering modern in competition with the ancients. It is also an important step towards the further canonization of Shakespeare during the eighteenth century. Smith’s book contributes to a detailed understanding of the role played by the First Folio and its reception in Shakespeare’s progress from his status as national poet, on towards his emergence as a universal author, and his current status as a fetish of Anglo-American global culture. Many First Folios circulated through the same paths that came to redefine the international balance of economic and political power: the fate of those copies that left Britain towards the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries coincided with the creation of great American library collections. In turn, the growing global weight of the Japanese economy in the 1980s took twelve First Folios to the Kodama Memorial Library in Tokyo. In tracing the fortunes of the global circulation of First Folios, Smith’s book complements other recent volumes that examine the emergence of World Literature as a new paradigm for the discipline of Comparative Literature. Underpinning this new order—what some might call CompLit 2.0—is the global hegemony of Anglo-American literature within the publishing business and academic institutions. In contrast, for instance, to Barbara Fuch’s The Poetics of Piracy, or Emily Apter’s Against World Literature (both published in 2013), Smith’s book is less openly polemical, which is why it dovetails so smoothly with more confrontational approaches. Whatever one’s agenda, the fact is that the remaining copies of Shakespeare’s First Folio have become global cultural treasures whose value tends to fluctuate with the circulation of political and economic capital...

“Phase transition” between Confrontation and Dialogue in the Light of the Concept of the Unity Charism

Abstract In the twenties of the last century the process of building a new type of philosophical culture began, based on the sensitivity towards another person, the recognition of values and dignity of the person and the search for platforms of dialogue and compromise between people. However, it did not gain a broad social resonance. The 20th Century became the scene of the triumph of totalitarianisms, based on the idea of collectivism and marked by the contempt towards the individual, his rights and needs. In the post-war reality environments favouring the humanization of the culture of coexistence earned a voice, but they too did not manage to divert the tendency towards building a bureaucratic and technocratic order. In this kind of system, the person feels reduced to his instrumental functions, and the dialogue submerged in the world of humanistic values becomes a distant and unequalled dream. This text undertakes the problem of the conditions which must be met in order for the tendency towards dialogue and mutual respect to prevail over the hostile, confrontational approach, which characterizes many contemporary social environments. The author suggests that we refer to the analogy with the thermodynamics phenomenon, phase transition, and consider the notion of spiritual energy (the analogue of the physical term enthalpy) as an agent regulating the internal disposition of the individual to “freeze” or “thaw” relations with his fellow human beings. The key thesis is that the most important source of energy indispensable to move from confrontation to dialogue lies in the resources of religious experience- the openness to the grace flowing from the transcendental reality, and the guides on the path to discovering this source are the witnesses of faith- among them the spiritual heirs of Chiara Lubich’s charism.

Putin’s Arctic Strategy

Russia’s Arctic policy was inaugurated not only to harvest the vast economic resources to be found there, but also for the associated political benefits of restoring Russia’s status vis-à-vis the West and appealing to Russian pride, patriotism, and exceptionalism, notions especially important for Putin’s regime after the disturbances of 2011. While Russia’s activity in the region had been more collaborative than conflictual, since the 2013–2014 Ukrainian events a more confrontational approach has emerged—an approach driven by increasing disappointment and frustration with the West.

Conservatives, the Supreme Court, and the Constitution: Judicial-Government Relations, 2006-15

Three high profile government losses in the Supreme Court in late 2013 and early 2014, combined with the government’s response to those losses, generated a narrative of an especially fractious relationship between the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Court. This article analyzes this narrative more rigorously by going beyond a mere tallying of government wins and losses in the Court. Specifically, it examines Charter-based invalidations of federal legislation since 2006, three critical reference opinions rendered at the government’s own request, and two key judgments delivered in the spring of 2015 concerning aboriginal rights and the elimination of the long-gun registry. The article argues that the relationship between the Conservative government and the Court from 2006 to 2015 was much more complicated than the “fractious relationship” narrative would suggest. However, the Conservative government did adopt a more consistently confrontational approach in its legislative responses than its predecessors.

Impacts of nonstate, market-driven governance on Chilean forests

Global markets for agricultural products, timber, and minerals are critically important drivers of deforestation. The supply chains driving land use change may also provide opportunities to halt deforestation. Market campaigns, moratoria, and certification schemes have been promoted as powerful tools to achieve conservation goals. Despite their promise, there have been few opportunities to rigorously quantify the ability of these nonstate, market-driven (NSMD) governance regimes to deliver conservation outcomes. This study analyzes the impacts of three NSMD governance systems that sought to end the conversion of natural forests to plantations in Chile at the start of the 21st century. Using a multilevel, panel dataset of land use changes in Chile, we identify the impact of participation within each of the governance regimes by implementing a series of matched difference-in-differences analyses. Taking advantage of the mosaic of different NSMD regimes adopted in Chile, we explore the relative effectiveness of different policies. NSMD governance regimes reduced deforestation on participating properties by 2-23%. The NSMD governance regimes we studied included collaborative and confrontational strategies between environmental and industry stakeholders. We find that the more collaborative governance systems studied achieved better environmental performance than more confrontational approaches. Whereas many government conservation programs have targeted regions with little likelihood of conversion, we demonstrate that NSMD governance has the potential to alter behavior on high-deforestation properties.

Review of the Empirical and Clinical Support for Group Therapy Specific to Sexual Abusers.

This review compiles 48 empirical studies and 55 clinical/practice articles specific to group therapy with sex offenders. Historically, group therapy has always been the predominant modality in sex offender-specific treatment. In the first decades of the field, treatment applied a psychoanalytic methodology that, although not empirically supported, fully appreciated the primary therapeutic importance of the group modality. Conversely, since the early 1980s, treatment has applied a cognitive behavioral method, but the field has largely neglected the therapeutic value of interpersonal group dynamics. The past decade has seen a growing re-appreciation of general therapeutic processes and more holistic approaches in sex offender treatment, and there is an emerging body of empirical research which, although often indirectly concerned with group, has yielded three definitive conclusions. First, the therapeutic qualities of the group therapist-specifically warmth, empathy, encouragement, and guidance-can strongly affect outcomes. Second, the quality of group cohesion can profoundly affect the effectiveness of treatment. Third, confrontational approaches in group therapy are ineffective, if not counter-therapeutic, and overwhelmingly rated as not helpful by sex offenders themselves. Additional conclusions are less strongly supported, but include compelling evidence that sex offenders generally prefer group therapy over individual therapy, that group therapy appears equally effective to individual therapy, and that mixing or separating groups by offense type is not important to therapeutic climate. Other group techniques and approaches specific to sexual abuse treatment are also summarized.

Adapting SBIRT for Batterer Intervention Program groups using motivational approaches

Background To present a public health initiative to adapt SBIRT for Batterer Intervention Programs (BIP) using Motivational Interviewing (MI) approaches. While studies concur that substance use is not the underlying cause of Interpersonal Violence (IPV), approximately 50% of men in BIP are reported to be using substances at unhealthy levels. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) initiated a pilot to address risky substance use in BIP participants, with the Institute for Health & Recovery (IHR), providing curriculum development, training, and technical assistance. The curriculum employs an innovative application of SBIRT designed for use in groups, allowing BIP group leaders to provide substance use health education to men in groups. Some studies indicate that MI can result in better engagement with participants than the typical directive, confrontational approaches often used with individuals involved with the criminal justice system. It uses MI strategies adapted to allow the group members to describe the benefits and costs of substance use themselves rather than a more traditional ‘health education’ lecture by a group leader. Validated single item screening tools, for alcohol and for other drugs, were completed in silence during the group, and open-ended questions were asked as the Brief Intervention; leaders were encouraged to ask permission before sharing information in order to give participants a greater sense of control and ownership of their place on the road to change.

Estimating Uncertainty in Party Policy Positions Using the Confrontational Approach

This research note extends the confrontational approach to estimating party policy positions by providing a way to estimate uncertainty associated with the measurements. The confrontational approach is a flexible method of determining party policy positions, which is ideally suited to measure parties’ positions on issues that are specific to a country or period in time. We introduce a method of estimating the uncertainty of confrontational estimates by restating the approach as a special case of an item response theory, opening up the possibility of using the confrontational approach not only as a descriptive tool but also as a means of testing hypotheses on party policy preferences. We illustrate our model using analysis of the 2010 Dutch parliamentary election and the 2009 European elections.

Ethnic Conflict, War Crimes and Human Rights: Revisiting U.S Sponsored UNHRC Resolution against Sri Lanka in 2013

The civil war ended in 2009 but four years later the country has yet to find its path of reconciliation and to heal the wounds of war. At the present time it also appears that Sri Lanka is moving backwards, and not forwards, in terms of securing the rule of law and reconciliation. This has impacted negatively on the rule of law and by extension the protection of human rights and political accountability. There is also the rise of inter-religious tensions fanned by government allies. A new dimension of inter-communal unrest is the rise of Buddhist extremism in some quarters; it has targeted the Muslim community and taken on an open and frontal confrontational approach. One of the main elements of external intervention in the internal affairs of post-war Sri Lanka is the continuing pressure being brought to bear on the government to adopt a system of province-based devolution as one of the instrumentalities of ethnic reconciliation. It is, indeed, unfortunate that the LLRC itself has made a similar prescription. There is no evidence in the voluminous report produced by the Commission that it made any attempt to draw ‘lessons’ relevant to the subject of territorial devolution and sub-national inter-group conflict from our own experiences, leave alone the abundance of international experiences. Its recommendation, however, has had the effect of legitimizing the demand made by the global west which, in earlier times, was so obviously based on a nakedly superficial, local NGO-nurtured, understanding of Sri Lankan affairs.

For God and Ireland: The Fight for Moral Superiority in Ireland 1922–1932 by M. P. McCabe (review)

For God and Irelanet The Fight for Moral Superiority in Ireland 1922-1932. By M. P. McCabe. (Dublin: Irish Academic Press. Distrib. ISBS, Portland, OR. 2013. Pp. x, 310. $89.95. ISBN 978-0-7165-3162-3.)During an ineloquent but pious contribution to the parliament of the Irish Free State in June 1929, Fianna Fail's SeanT. O' Kelly asserted, We of the Fianna Fail party believe that we speak for the big body of Catholic opinion. I think I could say, without qualification of any kind, that we represent the big element of Catholicity (p. 244). The party he spoke for was then just three years old, and its parliamentarians had taken their seats only two years previously, but during the glorious centenary of Catholic emancipation, they were not going to be found wanting in expressions of the ferocity of their faith. Their holy declarations also fulfilled another purpose; just six years after the end of the civil war, it was necessary to begin the process of repositioning Irish republicans who had fought considerable verbal battles with Catholic bishops during that conflict.This book seeks to document and analyze these tensions in the first decade of the Free State's existence. The book's title is well chosen, given the frequency with which religious and spiritual images and words were used by republicans to justify their opposition to the compromise treaty signed with Britain to end the Irish war of independence in December 1921 and validate their civil war actions from 1922 to 1923.The author, writing his first book, succeeds in locating and unearthing fascinating private and public utterances and correspondence to underline the intensity of the religious and political battles being fought and the intricacies of ham-fisted and naive Vatican interventions in Irish politics during this period. But the book is severely undermined by uncertainty on the author's part about the craft of the historian. Instead of presenting his evidence with clarity as a worthy end in itself, he suffuses his narrative with unnecessary, clumsy assertions and generalizations and an immature judgmental tone.His contention is that there has been a tendency to grant the Catholic Church and especially its leaders, a large measure of amnesty regarding political activity during this period, and he refers bitingly to authors who have restricted themselves to abiding by the decisions of the [Catholic] Hierarchy (pp. 4-8), a dubious and unfair dismissal of the work of a previous generation of historians, produced when archival access was extremely limited, but work that has nonetheless paved the way for his. He favors histories that are genuinely objective and critical of the Catholic Church in its involvement in Ireland beyond the scope of religion (p. 6). There is a basic contradiction inherent in this assertion; it should not be the role of the historian to conduct research with such an agenda; what is required is presentation and analysis of the evidence as opposed to adopting a skewed and confrontational approach to the historic subject matter, fuelled by contemporary values. …

A chronic protection problem: the DPRK and the Responsibility to Protect

The Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea (DPRK) is arguably the world's most chronic abuser of human rights. In an unprecedented move, a Commission of Inquiry established by the UN's Human Rights Council accused the DPRK government of systematic violations of human rights amounting to crimes against humanity. In so doing, the Commission succeeded in putting human rights in the DPRK on the global agenda. Within months the UN's General Assembly and Security Council had joined the human rights body in examining the issue. This article explains the emergence of this new engagement with human rights in the DPRK, showing its relation to the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ principle. It charts the growing sense of frustration felt at the lack of progress on human rights in DPRK and shows how this was manifested in the General Assembly's decision to pursue the Commission's recommendations and call on the Security Council to take concrete steps. Despite this, however, the article shows that there are powerful obstacles in the way of a more robust international approach to human rights in the DPRK and counsels a less confrontational approach focused on engaging China and building trust within the Security Council.

Entre déontologisme et utilitarisme : retour sur les enjeux éthiques de la maîtrise des dépenses de santé

Opinion no 101 “Health, ethics and money” allows the National Consultative Ethics Committee to place special attention to confrontational approach between utilitarianism and “deontologism”. The Committee agreed utilitarian attitude can help “to highlight the contradictory interests that pervade society” and offered some clarification to democratic debate. However, this committee doesn’t give to utilitarianism a value equivalent to “deontologism”, guarantor of unconditional value of the human person.