Geopolitical Regions Research Articles

Rethinking socialist and Marxist legacies in feminist imaginaries of protest from postsocialist perspectives

ABSTRACTThe article raises questions about the neoliberal discursive erasures of socialist and Marxist legacies in feminist histories and imaginaries of protest. However, far from promoting an uncritical recycling of feminist Marxisms and socialisms as they unfolded in feminist movements during the 1970s, the article instead reassesses these trends in feminist thought through the analytical lens of the revised notion of ‘postsocialism’ in focus of this special issue, aiming at unmooring it from addressing only the twentieth-century past of a particular geopolitical region, the ‘Second World’. To rethink feminist Marxisms and socialisms from the perspective of this revised notion of postsocialism, the article discusses how the erasure of Marxist and socialist legacies works in contemporary feminist histories with a particular focus on the Nordic countries and my past as a feminist socialist activist there. Moreover, a genealogical analysis of a couple of still centrally performing feminist thought figures – situated knowledges (Haraway) and de/naturalizations of gender/sex binaries (Butler) – is undertaken. The aim is to consider how these thought figures can be understood as postsocialist, when the ‘post’ is defined as marking a combination of resonance and critical transgression, as the ‘post’ in, for example, ‘post-structuralism’. Finally, the article addresses the troubled relationship of Marxism with whiteness, race, racism and Eurocentric understandings of histories of revolutionary transformation. In particular, the flaws of European socialisms and Marxisms, and their resonances with Eurocentric thought more generally, are addressed, while giving attention to their implications for a reassessment of Marxist and socialist legacies in feminism.

Further clarifications to the systematics of the cave beetle genera Remyella and Rozajella (Coleoptera: Leiodidae: Cholevinae: Leptodirini)

The subtribe Leptodirina is one of the most species-rich subtribes of the tribe Leptodirini, comprising 36 genera and 103 species of beetles adapted to the subterranean environment and distributed in the West Paleartic. The genera of Leptodirina show potentially convergent morphological characters resulting from the adaptation to the subterranean environment. Two genera with uncertain systematic position, living in Sandžak, a geo-political region divided by the border of Serbia and Montenegro, Rozajella S. Ćurčić, Brajković & B. Ćurčić, 2007 and Remyella Jeannel, 1931, were recently tentatively placed in this subtribe. However, no molecular phylogenetic studies have been performed to support this placement. Both genera share morphological characters and live in neighbouring geographic areas (Pešter polje and surrounding massifs). We performed a molecular phylogenetic analysis to examine the phylogenetic position of these two genera. A more detailed molecular and morphological investigation of the taxa within Remyella clarified their systematics. The speciation events within Remyella occurred approximately from 5 to 2 million years ago, which corresponds to the end of the Miocene and the Pliocene, periods when Pešter was periodically filled by shallow lakes. The distribution area of the genus, confined to the periphery of Pešter, is probably contingent to the presence of these lakes that prevented species from spreading more uniformly over the entire area of the plateau. Additionally, the correlations between genetic and geographic distances were investigated using the Mantel test. Four synonymies inside Remyella are established and all species of the genus are briefly diagnosed. Identification tables and distribution maps of species of Remyella and Rozajella are provided, and the new species Rozajella madzgalji n.sp. is described.

Nationwide Brazilian governmental forensic programme reveals seafood mislabelling trends and rates using DNA barcoding

The Brazilian federal government has adopted DNA barcoding (i.e. analysing about 650 base pairs of the COI mitochondrial gene) as a standardised method in a nationwide programme for routine and systematic regulation of processed seafood products. Here, we report rates and trends of a forensic programme which sampled products with twenty-eight commercial fish names (N=255) confiscated by official governmental officers from 14 states, and which also included imports from 8 countries. A mislabelling rate of 17.3% (44 samples) was recovered when comparing the DNA barcode identification of fish products to the official Brazilian list of species and commercial names. No statistical differences in mislabelling rates between geopolitical regions was detected (G=2.4, N=5, p=0.66). The number of mislabelled samples was not correlated to samples size per commercial name (r=0.34, N=29, p=0.07), but instead, mislabelling was positively correlated to the number of species detected (r=0.75, N=29, p<0.00), suggesting that more surveillance should be given to species with less well-defined commercial names. The programme resulted in financial penalties being applied according to the amount of mislabelling detected. Moreover, companies caught selling mislabelled products were further inspected until the company proved that their production was normalised according to Brazilian labelling regulations. A systematic nationwide forensic governmental programme may lead to more sustainable and trusted fisheries activities allowing consumers to make informed choices when buying seafood products.

Association between Measures of Women's Empowerment and Use of Modern Contraceptives: An Analysis of Nigeria's Demographic and Health Surveys.

Women's empowerment is hypothesized as a predictor of reproductive health outcomes. It is believed that empowered girls and women are more likely to delay marriage, plan their pregnancies, receive prenatal care, and have their childbirth attended by a skilled health provider. The objective of this study was to assess the association between women's empowerment and use of modern contraception among a representative sample of Nigerian women. This study used the 2003, 2008, and 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey data. The analytic sample was restricted to 35,633 women who expressed no desire to have children within 2 years following each survey, were undecided about timing for children, and who reported no desire for more children. Measures of women's empowerment included their ability to partake in decisions pertaining to their healthcare, large household purchases, and visit to their family or relatives. Multivariable regression models adjusting for respondent's age at first birth, religion, education, wealth status, number of children, and geopolitical region were used to measure the association between empowerment and use of modern contraceptives. The proportion of women who participated in decisions to visit their relatives increased from 42.5% in 2003 to 50.6% in 2013. The prevalence of women involved in decision-making related to large household purchases increased from 24.3% in 2003 to 41.1% in 2013, while the proportion of those who partook in decision related to their health care increased from 28.4% in 2003 to 41.9% in 2013. Use of modern contraception was positively associated with women's participation in decisions related to large household purchases [2008: adjusted OR (aOR) = 1.15; 95% CI = 1.01-1.31] and (2013; aOR = 1.60; 1.40-1.83), health care [2008: (aOR = 1.20; 1.04-1.39) and (2013; aOR = 1.39; 1.22-1.59)], and visiting family or relatives [2013; aOR = 1.58; 1.36-1.83]. The prevalence of modern contraceptive use among women with need for contraception increased marginally from 11.1% in 2003 to 12.8% in 2013. Although there were marked improvements in all measures of women's empowerment between 2003 and 2013 in Nigeria, the use of modern contraceptives increased only marginally during this period. Beyond women's participation in household decision-making, further research is needed to elucidate how measures of women's empowerment interact with cultural values and health system factors to influence women's uptake of contraceptives.

Геополітичний вимір взаємин України, Польщі та Німеччини

The article examines the nature of the influence of Ukraine's relations with Germany and Poland on the geopolitical situation. Approaches to determining the security situation in the Euro-Atlantic geopolitical region are investigated; the state of Ukrainian-Polish and Ukrainian-German relations in the modern geopolitical context is shown; there are detected topical geopolitical challenges for Central and Eastern Europe.

Management of cleft lip and palate in Nigeria: A survey.

Clefts of the lip and/or palate are the most common congenital craniofacial defects and second only to club foot among all congenital anomalies. The management of this condition is resource intensive due to the multidimensional needs. This survey was carried out to ascertain the current state of cleft management in Nigeria with emphasis on training, scope of management, and assessment of treatment outcome. Structured questionnaires were administered to cleft surgeons based on professional and practitioners' register and the result of literature search for cleft surgeons whose names may not appear in the registers. A total of 69 returned questionnaires were analyzed. The highest number of surgeons was from southwest geopolitical region while the northeast had the least. Fifty-eight (84.1%) were specialists with the fellowships. Forty-seven had been cleft surgeons for <10 years. Majority undertook lip repair between 3 and 4 months while 50% did cleft palate at or more than 9 months. Millard rotation and advancement was used for lip repair by 91.2% and 44 employed the von Langenbeck technique for palatal repair. Forty-six respondents carried out nasal repair at the time of lip surgery with 44 doing this as closed rhinoplasty. Adhesive tapes were usually employed by 44 (63.7%) for managing the protruding premaxilla. Orthodontic evaluation was not usually part of the treatment plan of 34 respondents. Otology assessment and assessment of velopharyngeal competence were rarely done. Revision surgeries, alveolar bone grafting, rhinoplasties, and maxillary osteotomies were uncommon. Interdisciplinary team care approach was practiced by 54 (78.2%) respondents. Findings suggest an increase in the number of surgeons, but the training, scope, and standard of care remain relatively limited. Audit and assessment of the practice should also become points of emphasis.

Retrospective studies of abattoir zoonoses in Nigeria: public health implications.

Abstract Abattoirs are major sources of valuable information for animal disease outbreaks, but also an environment for transmission of meat-borne zoonoses, which may constitute a major threat to public health and food safety. This study aims to identify common abattoir zoonoses, the geographic distribution and the risk factors predisposing to their spread across Nigeria; and also to evaluate the prevalence estimates of abattoir zoonoses in human and slaughter animals. A systematic search of regional databases based on set criteria, yielded 47 relevant articles scrutinized critically to find the best available evidences to support the study purpose. All the publications which cut across the six geo-political regions of Nigeria carried out confirmatory diagnosis of the causative organisms. The results yielded 11 human and 53 slaughter animal causal organisms of abattoir zoonoses and obligate pathogens of human infections. They constitute bacterial (68.2%), helminths (21.2%), viral (6%) and protozoan (4.6%) due to infection or contamination. There was an increasing trend in occurrence of abattoir zoonoses as the year of studies progressed; also there were corresponding increase in human cases of abattoir zoonoses as the occurrence in slaughter animals' increased from 2001 to 2016. Some risk factors identified for the human abattoir zoonoses include; butchers with open wounds, occupational exposure of greater than 5 years and consumption of raw meat. Abattoir workers are at higher risk of being exposed to abattoir zoonoses due to occupational hazards; also consumer's choice of meat is significantly associated with the type of meat. Abattoir zoonoses exist in Nigeria, but the occurrence, spread and prevalence can be mitigated through proper meat inspection, improved hygiene and creating greater awareness of risks and avoidance.

Hemimegalencephaly in a 3-month-old male infant: A case report from port harcourt and review of the literature

Introduction of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in Port Harcourt, South-South geopolitical region of Nigeria, has led to an increase in the number of diagnosis of congenital cerebral malformations within the locality. Reported cases of hemimegalencephaly from Nigeria and indeed from the West African subregion are very scarce. Here, we report a case seen in Port Harcourt where the diagnosis was made possible by MRI and illustrating the imaging features of this rare condition.

Academic performance and institutional resources: a cross-country analysis of research universities

Links between institutional academic performance and academic resources are of relevance for university managers, country officials and the public at large. This study aims to shed light on the issues using reliable data on research performance indicators as well as educational and resource indicators from research universities in Spain, Italy, Australia and Canada. The four countries selected for the study represent different academic traditions and belong to different geopolitical regions, yet they have relatively similar higher education systems in terms of student population, institutional resources and research production. Our study explores differences and similarities among them to better assess the performance of research universities from the four countries in a global context. The indicator set includes research production (number of indexed articles per year) and its quality (citation impact and number of highly cited papers), education production (full-time equivalent FTE student load and degree completions per year) and the resource base (annual ordinary expenditure and FTE number of faculty). We consider the raw indicators as well as a set of composite indicators normalised by measures of scale. Across the profile of universities in our complete sample, institutional size is the prime determinant of research production, with systematic differences in quality related to country, research intensity and resourcing level. Our data show that research universities allocate resources to research and education in country-specific and size-specific ways that are reflected in research performance.

Managing police personnel for effective crime control in Nigeria

This study examines the ways in which police authorities manage their personnel, as well as the factors militating against police authorities in managing their personnel for effective crime control and prevention in Nigeria. The study used both quantitative and qualitative designs to attempt to identify the criteria used in posting police officers. Data were obtained through questionnaires from 360 randomly selected respondents complemented by 15 in-depth interviews (IDI) undertaken in three geo-political regions in Nigeria namely: southeast, southwest and north central. The three geo-political regions were purposively chosen based on the incidences of armed robbery recorded in each. The study also used secondary data sourced from the National Bureau of Statistics and the Nigeria Police Force as reference materials. Simple percentages and chi-squared tests were employed to analyse the collected data. The qualitative data were content analysed. The findings revealed that factors such as crime rate, population size, industrial development and land mass or political interference were not clearly defined criteria used in the posting of personnel. The number of police in a region does not equate to more or less crime; effective crime control and prevention depend on proper and effective utilization, as well as management, of police personnel. Police authorities are culpable of mismanagement of police personnel for personal gain to the detriment of citizens; most states are under-policed and under-staffed. This study also found that factors militating against the effective utilization and management of police personnel include: corruption, political interference, ethno-religious consideration, lack of funds and lack of facilities. Thus, the study recommends among other things, that the distribution of police personnel should be anchored to the population size, industrialization and volume of criminality in a particular place; there should be a gross reduction in the numbers of personnel attached to political officials, whereas those attached to individuals who are not entitled to personal police protection must be withdrawn and efforts made to recruit more people into the police force.

The regionalization of medicalized vernacular names of medicinal plants in Brazil

In the last three decades, several vernacular names of medicinal plants related to manufactured drugs names have been recognized in ethnobotanical surveys throughout Brazil. The medicalization may be the primarily responsible process for the rise of that type of vernacular names of Brazilian medicinal plants differentially for each geopolitical region of Brazil. We attempt to trace the regionalization of medicalization on vernacular names of medicinal plants through ethnobotanical studies carried out in Brazil since the 1980s. Articles were consulted in nine journals published between 1980 and 2014. Richness estimation by Jackknife 1 and correspondence analysis by contingency tables were performed, both by the occurrence of medicalized names collected in the surveys for each region. The South region presented the highest number of reported and estimated medicalized names, in addition to present the highest number of medicalized names in exclusive occurrence. Northeast and Southeast regions presented a great similarity of medicalized names probably due to the migration flows occurring in both regions over the twentieth century.

Use of English in Nigerian Women Literacy and Globalization: A Critical Assessment

The main thrust of this paper is to examine the use of English in women literacy in Nigeria as it relates to globalization with a view to identifying issues of concern. Methods of assessment involve the use of questionnaire to gather women’s opinion of their literacy development, survey of existing infrastructure and techniques of teaching, and the use of English. 1,500 women were randomly selected, using the stratified random sampling technique, across the six geopolitical regions of Nigeria. Findings reveal that more women are becoming literate but literacy among women has gone beyond just learning speaking, reading, and writing English. Women literacy currently involves learning about social networking, business strategies, political and domestic issues. Also, the Nigerian English variety and Nigerian Pidgin English are the media of instruction. Although, many literacy centres are organized privately by NGOs, a few centres are government owned. Hence, there are no structured and standard curricula. The study revealed that only 15.2 per cent of the women population is aware of the existence of any literacy programme. About the same small proportion (15.5 per cent) is aware of the existence of any literacy centres. Comparative analysis among the states shows that states in the North had relatively higher level of awareness of literacy programmes. It is recommended that more attention should be given to women literacy especially in rural areas for total involvement and curriculum standardization. It is hoped that findings from this study will be needful for policy makers, planners and other researchers in other fields of education.

International Determinants of Subjective Well-Being: Living in a Subjectively Material World

Researchers, policymakers, and the general public increasingly agree on the importance of subjective well-being as an indicator of individual and societal welfare. A vast literature has emerged over the last twenty years documenting the many variables that influence subjective well-being. The purpose of this study is to quantify the relative importance of these determinants in an attempt to synthesize the main strands in the literature and inform policy formulations. We use in our analysis three years’ worth of data from the Gallup World Poll, including 153 countries and ten geopolitical regions. We estimate the relative importance of four major domains of subjective well-being using a basic model with 25 independent variables, and a broader set of seven domains using an extended model with 60 independent variables. Our results show that material well-being is the main determinant of subjective well-being across all ten geopolitical regions. A particularly strong determinant of subjective well-being in our study is feelings about household income, whereas community functioning, governance and altruistic behaviors have a relatively low importance. Our results suggest that subjective material well-being and its objective determinants, including economic growth and income inequality, should remain at the center of the research and policy agenda. Further research is recommended to ascertain the relative importance of social, physical and purpose well-being.

Size-structural shifts reveal intensity of exploitation in coral reef fisheries

Fisheries exploitation represents a considerable threat to coral reef fish resources because even modest levels of extraction can alter ecological dynamics via shifts of stock size, species composition, and size-structure of the fish assemblage. Although species occupying higher trophic groups are known to suffer the majority of exploitative effects, changes in composition among lower trophic groups may be major, though are not frequently explored. Using size-based biomass spectrum analysis, we investigate the effects of fishing on the size-structure of coral reef fish assemblages spanning four geopolitical regions and determine if patterns of exploitation vary across trophic groups. Our analyses reveal striking evidence for the variety of effects fisheries exploitation can have on coral reef fish assemblages. When examining biomass spectra across the entire fish assemblage we found consistent evidence of size-specific exploitation, in which large-bodied individuals experience disproportionate reductions. The pattern was paralleled by and likely driven by, strongly size-specific reductions among top predators. In contrast, evidence of exploitation patterns was variable among lower trophic groups, in many cases including evidence of reductions across all size classes. The breadth of size classes and trophic groups that showed evidence of exploitation related positively to local human population density and diversity of fishing methods employed. Our findings highlight the complexity of coral reef fisheries and that the effects of exploitation on coral reefs can be realized throughout the entire fish assemblage, across multiple trophic groups and not solely restricted to large-bodied top-predators. Size-specific changes among fishes of lower trophic groups likely lead to altered ecological functioning of heavily exploited coral reefs. Together these findings reinforce the value of taking a multi-trophic group approach to monitoring and managing coral reef fisheries.

Bubble CPAP in Nigerian tertiary hospitals; Patented and improvised

Introduction: Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) is simple and effective new-born respiratory support. Early use reduces neonatal mortality. Given the high cost of the patented CPAP machines improvised CPAP devices are being used in resource poor settings. Objectives: To ascertain the availability of CPAP devises, its use, and the types used in Nigerian tertiary hospitals. Materials and methods: Ethical clearance and informed consent of respondents were obtained. The questionnaire surveyed the availability of the CPAP, training on provision of respiratory support and device and was administered to consenting participants at the 2015 Paediatric Association of Nigeria conference. Results: 237 questionnaires were returned by respondents representing 54 health facilities from six geopolitical regions of Nigeria. CPAP devise was used in 72% of the evaluated facilities. These were mostly public (87%) tertiary hospitals (76%). Supplemental oxygen (37.6%) was the commonest mode of respiratory support followed distantly by CPAP (3.4%). Improvised CPAP training had been undertaken by 51% but the device was used by 47.7% of the respondents. Only 25.3% of the respondents had patented machines located in 33% of the facilities. Conclusion: The use of patented and improvised CPAP services is high among respondents at the public tertiary health facilities. CPAP services should urgently be taken to lower levels of health care so as to reduce neonatal deaths. Keywords: Bubble CPAP; Nigerian tertiary; Patented; Improvised

Prescription analysis for extemporaneous preparations in hospital pharmacies of Southern Nigeria

Today community and hospital pharmacies worldwide (including Nigeria) experience an increased demand for extemporaneous preparations. Due to “per body weight” dosing system, difficulty in swallowing, frailty in organs of metabolism and unavailability of required dosage forms, the reconstitution/tailoring of medications to individual patients needs has become necessary. In Nigeria most (>95 %) of the extemporaneously prepared medications are oral dosage forms. It is a common practice for these medications to be prepared from a commercially available oral solid dosage form by crushing tablets or mixing contents with a dispersion medium (base/vehicle). The aim of the work was to analyse frequently compounded prescriptions in south-south geopolitical region of Nigeria, bases/vehicles used in compounding and stability study concerns of compounded preparations. For this purpose a survey of prescriptions in hospital pharmacies in the south-south geopolitical region of Nigeria was conducted. The prescriptions that required extemporaneous preparation were selected and sorted into active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), doses, regime and duration of treatment. Most prescribed preparations that required compounding include antibiotics (24.9 %) and drugs indicated for cardiovascular diseases (60.0 %). While the treatment duration prescribed for extemporaneous preparations ranged from two days to a month, the most recurring duration was one week. Syrups of ascorbic acid and Vitamin B Complex were occasionally used as bases for compounding, but stability study of extemporaneous preparations made from these medicated syrups is yet to be conducted in Nigeria. APIs as part of commercial drugs were mostly (92.9%) used in compounding. Stability study of extemporaneous preparations in Nigeria is an urgent problem that needs to be resolved.

Persistent barriers to care; a qualitative study to understand women's experiences in areas served by the midwives service scheme in Nigeria.

BackgroundThe Nigerian Midwives Service Scheme (MSS) is an ambitious human resources project created in 2009 to address supply side barriers to accessing care. Key features include the recruitment and deployment of newly qualified, unemployed and retired midwives to rural primary healthcare centres (PHCs) to ensure improved access to skilled care. This study aimed to understand, from multiple perspectives, the views and experiences of childbearing women living in areas where it has been implemented.MethodsA qualitative study was undertaken as part of an impact evaluation of the MSS in three states from three geo-political regions of Nigeria. Semi-structured interviews were conducted around nine MSS PHCs with women who had given birth in the past six months, midwives working in the PHCs and policy makers. Focus group discussions were held with wider community members. Coding and analysis of the data was performed in NVivo10 based on the constant comparative approach.ResultsThe majority of participants reported that there had been positive improvements in maternity care as a result of an increasing number of midwives. However, despite improvements in the perceived quality of care and an apparent willingness to give birth in a PHC, more women gave birth at home than intended. There were some notable differences between states, with a majority of women in one northern state favouring home birth, which midwives and community members commented stemmed from low levels of awareness. The principle reason cited by women for home birth was the sudden onset of labour. Financial barriers, the lack of essential drugs and equipment, lack of transportation and the absence of staff, particularly at night, were also identified as barriers to accessing care.ConclusionsOur research highlights a number of barriers to accessing care exist, which are likely to have limited the potential for the MSS to have an impact. It suggests that in addition to scaling up the workforce through the MSS, efforts are also needed to address the determinants of care seeking. For the MSS this means that the while the supply side, through the provision of skilled attendance, still needs to be strengthened, this should not be in isolation of addressing demand-side factors.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12884-016-1026-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress News Analysis: Trends in Latin America &amp; Presidential Leadership

A Reshaped Regional Narrative Too often, presidential administrations see the Western Hemisphere as a geopolitical afterthought. Despite geographic proximity, economic opportunity, and generally shared political values, the lack of a crisis in the region has relegated it to the bottom of the inbox behind other geopolitical regions such as the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and East Asia. While the United States has been forced to confront challenges in these regions--and will continue to do so--it cannot continue to be at the expense of opportunities to improve relations with partners in the Western Hemisphere. Over the past year and a half, the Center for the Study of the Presidency & Congress has analyzed how the regional narrative has changed in ways that demonstrate the importance of political reform and economic growth to regional stability and integration. In many cases, it has been the Latin American middle classes and their increasingly global outlook that have driven this process. In others, it has been a combination of bold political leadership and reformist thinking that has driven new approaches to regional problems. In all areas, the growth of entrepreneurialism and private-sector initiative has been key to transforming Latin American economies and, thus, demanding more of Latin American political systems. Contrary to the Cold War--during which many preconceptions of Latin America were developed among policy makers (1)--the regional situation is not one of competition within the region. Rather, the region finds itself now defined by two narratives that are driven from within the region itself. The first is of nations backsliding away from democracy as populism and cronyism erode existing institutions and prevent the growth of civil society. Venezuelan oil largesse--combined with Cuban security and intelligence support--had allowed for the continued repression of the Venezuelan people and the spread of Chavez-inspired populism in the region. Brazil's economic potential remained unrealized due to political stagnation, widespread corruption, and overreliance on commodity-led growth. The shortcomings of these systems are laid bare in the Venezuelan economic collapse--a looming humanitarian disaster--and the political turmoil in Brazil. While significant attention has been paid to the failures in these countries, there is the second narrative: success stories from the region that serve as a model for U.S. policy makers and regional leaders. In this project, the examples of Colombia, Mexico, and Panama have been studied to look at their successes and how those lessons learned can be applied to the region as a whole. This report also examines cases from Chile, Nicaragua, and Peru to explore how some countries require continued engagement and support for major reforms to improve their prospects for economic growth and political stability. Additionally, during the course of this project, we have seen how the second narrative is ascended in nations that were once paralyzed by the cronyism and populism of the first narrative. Argentina is the greatest example of this, where the election of Mauricio Macri has ushered in a sea change from the period of Kirchnerism that saw Argentina largely isolated from global markets. Seeking reform at home and settlements with bondholders abroad, the new Argentinian leaders have seen that the future lies with reintegration into the global economy; not the preservation of the institutions constituting a neo-Peronist political economy. While these narratives are driven from within Latin America, that is not to say that U.S. leadership is a nonfactor in the outgrowth of these positive trends. As our analysis will show, the leadership of U.S. presidents in relations with Latin America is a key aspect of hemispheric integration and positive U.S. relations with the region. Consistent engagement with Latin American partners demonstrates how U. …

External Political Actors and Influences in the South Caucasus

The paper focuses on the means and forms of external influence on political regimes and state policies, mainly considering the case of the former Soviet republics of the South Caucasus, with special focus on Georgia. This topic is particularly interesting due to the specific vulnerabilities of the region with regards to such multiple factors of external influence as: complex geopolitical environment - due to the location at the crossroads and peripheries of important geopolitical regions; totalitarian legacy as reflected in the weakness of institutions and the post-totalitarian political culture; ethno-territorial conflicts; undeveloped and imbalanced economy. The case of these republics is important, also, as an interesting example presenting a multitude of rather diverse forms of external influence, and secondly, because of the potential to have an impact on political events at much greater scale.

Developing a bioethics curriculum for medical students from divergent geo-political regions.

BackgroundThe World Health Organization calls for stronger cross-cultural emphasis in medical training. Bioethics education can build such competencies as it involves the conscious exploration and application of values and principles. The International Pediatric Emergency Medicine Elective (IPEME), a novel global health elective, brings together 12 medical students from Canada and the Middle East for a 4-week, living and studying experience. It is based at a Canadian children’s hospital and, since its creation in 2004, ethics has informally been part of its curriculum. Our study sought to determine the content and format of an ideal bioethics curriculum for a culturally diverse group of medical students.MethodsWe conducted semi-structured interviews with students and focus groups with faculty to examine the cultural context and ethical issues of the elective. Three areas were explored: 1) Needs Analysis - students' current understanding of bioethics, prior bioethics education and desire for a formal ethics curriculum, 2) Teaching formats - students’ and faculty’s preferred teaching formats, and 3) Curriculum Content - students’ and faculty’s preferred subjects for a curriculum.ResultsWhile only some students had received formal ethics training prior to this program, all understood that it was a necessary and desirable subject for formal training. Interactive teaching formats were the most preferred and truth-telling was considered the most important subject.ConclusionsThis study helps inform good practices for ethics education. Although undertaken with a specific cohort of students engaging in a health-for-peace elective, it may be applicable to many medical education settings since diversity of student bodies is increasing world-wide.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-016-0711-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.