Integration Agenda Research Articles

The water-energy-food nexus: An integration agenda and implications for urban governance

The water-energy-food nexus has achieved considerable prominence across academic research and policy sectors. The nexus sets an imperative for integrated management and policymaking, centring on the potential trade-offs and complementarities between interdependent water, energy and food systems. Applications of the nexus focus largely on technical or managerial solutions and calls to acknowledge the political dimension of nexus interdependencies have implications for governance at the urban scale. This paper aims to ‘urbanise' the nexus agenda and consider the implications of policy integration for urban governance. This examines the nexus in the context of current approaches to urban governance and power relations shaping the provision of water, energy and food in urban areas. Urban infrastructure networks underpin these resource systems and related management systems, although their management tends to operate in silos, with little joint decision-making and planning. Three hypotheses about the interplay between integrative policy framings and urban governance are explored to reconcile integrative policy framings at the urban scale: the appropriation of the nexus narrative by urban governments; re-establishment of political power through integrated management, and implementation of the nexus through smart city approaches. These hypotheses progress the political dimension of the nexus debate and reflect on the role of urban governance in addressing global challenges.

Intimate relationships, individual adjustment, and coronary heart disease: Implications of overlapping associations in psychosocial risk.

Being married or involved in a similar intimate relationship is associated with reduced risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). However, the quality of these relationships matters, as strain and disruption are associated with increased risk. These effects are typically studied separately from well-established psychosocial factors for CHD that are aspects of personality and emotional adjustment, even though discord and disruption in intimate relationships are related to these same individual characteristics. Thus, research to date tends to parse correlated risks, often taking a piecemeal approach by focusing on intimate relationships without considering aspects of personality and emotional adjustment that contribute to risk and protection, or focusing on individual-level risks while largely ignoring closely related health-relevant relationships. As an alternative, this article describes an integrative approach, first reviewing associations of the quality of intimate relationships with personality characteristics and aspects of emotional adjustment that confer CHD risk, and then discussing conceptual models of these associations and the biobehavioral mechanisms linking them with CHD. Current approaches to couple interventions are then discussed, including those that have a combined focus on intimate relationship difficulties and emotional adjustment. An integrative agenda for future research emphasizes aggregated risks, combining concepts and methods in current relationship science with those in biobehavioral research on CHD, and including parallel disparities in relationship functioning, emotional adjustment, and CHD risk. Such efforts could ultimately inform empirically based assessments and interventions for interrelated aspects of individuals and their intimate relationships that influence the development and course of CHD. (PsycINFO Database Record

IS THE �ASEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY� UNDERSIEGE? The New Trajectory of the Asean Economic Community the two Mega- Regional Agreements; �RCEP� and �TPP�

The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) was signed by the leading nations of Southeast Asia in Kuala Lumpur on 31, December 2015. This was a great achievement of regional integration, pointing members of the AEC towards a single market awakening. Despite this tremendous progress, the reality is that ASEAN members are now involved in two mega-regional agreements. One, which has the potential to protect ASEAN centrality, ASEAN+6 or the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP); and the other, the US-ledTrans-Pacific-Partnership Agreement. This participation by ASEAN members with various economic partners outside ASEAN may result in dependency to global capitalism networks.Departing from the above mentioned context, the core question then arises: Has the global economic structure provide an opportune precondition for the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)? To tackle this question, this essay will use Dependency Theory to analyze the global economicstructures which encase the AECs regional economic integration agenda and to reveal the ASEAN members dependence on global capitalism. This essay explores both the attempts of the ASEAN framework to create a comprehensive economic community; and the consequences of ASEAN integration with two mega-regional agreements in the region. It is argued that the dependency of ASEAN members on the structure of the global economy proves that it does not provide a proper pre-conditioning for the AEC to be implemented. Moreover, it will be hegemonic factors that challenge the existence of the AEC.

Technological competence leveraging: An integrative review and research agenda

The constantly changing present-day business environment increases the pressure to innovate on firms across all industries. Simultaneously, fierce market competition forces companies to decrease co...

A Whole of System MH&A Integration Transformation Agenda in Counties Manukau District Health Board

People in our communities with mental health and addiction needs have poorer health outcomes than the rest of the population. We also know that not everyone with mental health and addiction needs experience the best service possible when they need help with their physical and mental health. We believe that with mental health and addictions providers working together better, and working more effectively with primary care professionals, we can improve our communities’ health and well-being. To achieve this, we need to transform our system to one of integrated, seamless service delivery that puts the person and their needs at the centre of everything that we do – and how we do it. At Counties Manukau we have begun a whole of system Integrated Mental Health and Addictions service development journey. We are engaged in co-design, improvement science and cultural capability to inform and support the transformative process across our system. Aligned with the district wide locality integration approach in Counties Manukau core specialist mental and addiction health will be devolved into locality teams. Clinicians in these locality teams will be embedded within primary care and community care providers. The integration focuses on supporting people with a serious mental illness (SMI) being well engaged in primary care including monitoring and addressing their physical health issues. The mental health and addictions workers will also support easier access to non-urgent clinical consultation and ensure support to primary care for the routine screening of people with chronic care conditions for mental health and addictions issues. Key to the integration agenda is the re-design of core support services provided by the NGO sector. This work has a focus on having a suite of locality services that matches the diverse community profiles of our localities. A Maori-led integration initiative is being supported to best address the issues for Maori in Counties Manukau. Self management and recovery play important places in this agenda. Led by primary care and NGOs, experience and learnings to date indicate the successes of this approach can be rolled out across the district. Finally the development of a Department of Psychological Medicine has led integration of the hospital-based divisions of Mental Health and Medicine with enhanced access of Physicians to mental health inpatients and greater access of psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health nurses to the general hospital patients with promising outcomes.

Early findings from the evaluation of the Integrated Care and Support Pioneers in England

PurposeIntegrating health and social care is a priority in England, although there is little evidence that previous initiatives have reduced hospital admissions or costs. In total, 25 Integrated Care Pioneers have been established to drive change “at scale and pace”. The early phases of the evaluation (April 2014-June 2016) aimed to identify their objectives, plans and activities, and to assess the extent to which they have overcome barriers to integration. In the longer term, the authors will assess whether integrated care leads to improved outcomes and quality of care and at what cost. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachMixed methods involving documentary analysis, qualitative interviews and an online key informant survey.FindingsOver time, there was a narrowing of the integration agenda in most Pioneers. The predominant approach was to establish community-based multi-disciplinary teams focussed on (older) people with multiple long-term conditions with extensive needs. Moving from design to delivery proved difficult, as many barriers are outside the control of local actors. There was limited evidence of service change.Research limitations/implicationsBecause the findings relate to the early stage of the 5+ years of the Pioneer programme (2014-2019), it is not yet possible to detect changes in services or in user experiences and outcomes.Practical implicationsThe persistence of many barriers to integration highlights the need for greater national support to remove them.Originality/valueThe evaluation demonstrates that implementing integrated health and social care is not a short-term process and cannot be achieved without national support in tackling persistent barriers.

Regional Integration in the Horn of Africa: Some Findings

In the Horn of Africa there is a regional bloc that comprises eight countries namely Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda. The appellation of the organisation is called IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Development). It was established in 1986, yet it could not bring a desired result. Even the least form of integration i.e. Free Trade Area (FTA) could not achieve. So that this paper will probe the challenges associated with the regional integration agenda of IGAD. This paper is an excerpt from a study conducted by the author regarding IGAD. Thus the paper will present the findings of the said study. The study used qualitative approach for data collection. Interview with IGAD officers has been conducted to know the cause for the failure of IGAD’s integration process. IGAD lacks both financial and human capacity to fulfil its objectives, absence of regional institutions (such as Bank of IGAD) worsen the situation, emerging and subsequent security threats such as terrorism, pastoral conflict, tense relationship among member states, undermining of the informal trade remains the road block of regional integration.

The role of SADC institutions in implementing SADC treaty provisions dealing with regional integration

Without some level of institutionalisation or other means of enforcement, national commitment to regional trade integration is bound to face some challenges. Accordingly, transnational trade is obviously inhibited when the validity and enforcement of contracts, obligation and rules cannot be guaranteed beyond the term of office of an administration. Thus Member States' commitment to the work of institutions within a regional economic community like SADC is critical for the full implementation of the SADC Treaty and its Protocols. The Protocol on Trade has been hailed as the most important for integration in SADC. This paper will indicate that institutions are essential drivers of organisations and their role in regional integration is therefore very important. However under the current legal and institutional framework, the SADC regional integration agenda faces major challenges of implementation. SADC institutions are not capable of completely fulfilling their legal obligations, although in some instances the lack of fulfilment was clearly a result of the legal instruments themselves being incomplete and needing further reform.

Nkrumahism, Agenda 2063, and the Role of Intergovernmental Institutions in Fast-tracking Continental Unity

The doctrinal relationship between Nkrumahism and the African Union Agenda 2063 informs the basis of this article. If continental supranationalism remains the end product of both processes, the question then is to what extent are intergovernmental institutions positioned to achieve this? In addressing this point, the article discusses the roles the two key intergovernmental institutions, the African Union Commission and the Pan-African Parliament, can both play in deepening the integration agenda, and more specifically, the implementation plan of Agenda 2063. The article argues that the existent configuration of both institutions prevents any meaningful advancement towards a deepened integrative agenda. It then proffers ways of counteracting this.

The Sustainable Equitable Trade Doctrine: Building Progressive International Cooperation to Counter Right-Wing Economic Authoritarianism

U.S. foreign policy and the need to cultivate international alliances increasingly conflict with U.S. domestic politics, particularly with regard to trade. The 2016 election featured an outgoing Democratic administration insisting the Trans-Pacific Partnership was the U.S.’s last hope to show its commitment to the Asia-Pacific, a Republican candidate blaming it and other trade deals for all that ails the U.S. working class, and a Democratic candidate caught in the middle. Given the rise of right-wing economic authoritarianism that co-opts certain aspects of the trade policy critique of progressives, the latter are struggling with whether to pivot right, left, or center on trade questions. This report outlines a Sustainable Equitable Trade (SET) doctrine that can make international cooperation more domestically palatable. It uses “doctrine” not in the sense of “dogma,” but rather as a broad set of policy goals through which specific policies (old and new) can be evaluated. The doctrine has three pillars: 1) Flip the class bias; 2) Promote systemic participation; 3) Win power. Section I explores 100 years of U.S. institution building on trade and investment policy, looking particular at its judicialization orientation. Section II explores the political geography of domestic U.S. criticism of trade opening. Section III ties the governance and economic considerations together into a pro-worker integration agenda that tackles monopoly power, wealth concentration, financial instability, corporate governance, and deindustrialization.

“European Integration Through Law”

AbstractThis article discusses the Federal Constitutional Court’s contribution to European “integration through law” over the past decades. The Basic Law’s openness to integration and to European Law is examined, as well as the co-operation between the Federal Constitutional Court and the European Court of Justice in the execution of European Union law and the protection of fundamental rights. The author provides a number of examples to show how the instruments of identity review andultra viresreview developed by the Federal Constitutional Court secure the agenda of European integration as agreed upon in the European Treaties. He also shows how national governmental bodies are bound by the concept of responsibility with respect to the European integration process and how the Court ensures the necessary democratic legitimisation for the acts of European institutions by requiring the involvement of the German parliament in political decision-making processes related to the European Union. Finally, the author explores the idea of the legal community and the criticisms that have been levied against this concept. He concludes by positing that the European Union can only preserve itself by remaining a legal community, and that the rule of law in EU law is indispensable, particularly in times of crisis.

The Changing Global Trade Architecture: Implications for Africa’s Regional Integration and Development

This article analyses the trends in global trade since the beginning of the new millennium and discusses the implications of these trends for Africa’s regional integration agenda. The article argues that the mainstream narrative of market and linear integration is inappropriate for Africa and should be replaced by a development integration approach. It calls for Africa’s main trading partners; the EU, the US and China to align their trade relationships with Africa in support of Africa’s own vision and Programme for regional integration reflected in the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) and Agenda 2063.

Moving innovation systems research to the next level: towards an integrative agenda

The concept of innovation systems has been a guiding paradigm of innovation research and strongly influenced research and innovation policy since the early 1990s. In spite of this success, criticisms have been raised in recent years about whether it is still a suitable framework for addressing the innovation-related challenges of the future. In the present paper we claim that systemic explanations of innovation success have still a very important role to play. In order to address the rising criticism, however, we have to reconsider the conceptual core of the family of innovation systems (IS) approaches and sketch out a path for renewal. The paper retraces the conceptual roots of IS approaches, assesses their uptake in different policy circles around the world, discusses the conceptual core and explanatory ambition, and finally formulates a future-oriented research agenda for a more integrative innovation systems framework.

Openness of the Russian economy as a source of economic growth

The paper considers measures on Russia’s integration into the global economy, aimed at the economic growth resumption. It analyzes conditions and mechanisms due to which the expanding trade and mutual investment with other countries contribute to economic growth in Russia. The paper provides policy recommendations for export support, regional economic integration agenda and the institutions reform.

Working together: asset based communities of learning in Higher Education

Working together: asset based communities of learning in Higher Education

A Gap Analysis Needs Assessment Tool to Drive a Care Delivery and Research Agenda for Integration of Care and Sharing of Best Practices Across a Health System

In a complex health system, it is important to establish a systematic and data-driven approach to identifying needs. The Diabetes Clinical Community (DCC) of Johns Hopkins Medicine's Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality developed a gap analysis tool and process to establish the system's current state of inpatient diabetes care. The collectively developed tool assessed the following areas: program infrastructure; protocols, policies, and order sets; patient and health care professional education; and automated data access. For the purposes of this analysis, gaps were defined as those instances in which local resources, infrastructure, or processes demonstrated a variance against the current national evidence base or institutionally defined best practices. Following the gap analysis, members of the DCC, in collaboration with health system leadership, met to identify priority areas in order to integrate and synergize diabetes care resources and efforts to enhance quality and reduce disparities in care across the system. Key gaps in care identified included lack of standardized glucose management policies, lack of standardized training of health care professionals in inpatient diabetes management, and lack of access to automated data collection and analysis. These results were used to gain resources to support collaborative diabetes health system initiatives and to successfully obtain federal research funding to develop and pilot a pragmatic diabetes educational intervention. At a health system level, the summary format of this gap analysis tool is an effective method to clearly identify disparities in care to focus efforts and resources to improve care delivery.

Multiculturalism in an Age of Mass Migration Multicultural Individualism versus Multicultural Collectivism

Multiculturalism can be approached from both an individualist and collectivist perspective. Multicultural individualists take a positive view of cultural mixing, think of cultures as open, take a pluralistic and critical approach to culture, and emphasise the uniqueness of individuals. By contrast, multicultural collectivists take a positive view of cultural separation, conceive of cultures in holistic and respectful terms, and stress the shared cultural traits of individuals. Multicultural individualism has been developed by thinkers including John Locke, Karl Popper and Martin Luther King. Multicultural collectivism has been developed by thinkers including Arthur De Gobineau, Malcolm X and Paul Yuzyk. The different policy implications of multicultural individualism and collectivism are seen in the contested policy of transracial adoption. Multicultural collectivism has been criticised for its separatist agenda and its tendency to excuse violations of human rights on cultural grounds. Arguments against multiculturalism contributed to the success of the leave campaign in the EU referendum, although paradoxically, leave campaigners have themselves adopted a form of multicultural collectivism. This is seen in the current Brexit debate, where a soft Brexit is associated with individualism, a hard Brexit with national-level collectivism. Multicultural collectivism has become controversial, in part, because it has not pursued an integrationist agenda. At the same time, undocumented migrants and asylum seekers grants in the UK are being deliberately isolated rather than integrated. The question of how issues concerning these migrants can be approached is considered with respect to education and to policy advocacy―where churches have a significant role. In both cases it is seen as advantageous to help students or the public to think of migrants as individuals, rather than as an abstract mass. This approach is in accordance with the principles of multicultural individualism and of Christianity.

Los modos de las políticas de la Integración Centroamericana

Este trabajo revisa los modos en que se desarrollan las acciones de política regional en el Sistema de Integración Centroamericano (SICA). El impulso de esta agenda de políticas de integración positiva materializa un incipiente proceso de gobernanza regional que tiene como protagonista a las instituciones del SICA, con el apoyo de las coaliciones de grupos de interés conformados y de sus socios de la cooperación internacional, entre los cuales juega un papel destacado la Unión Europea (UE). El proceso de implementación evidencia la existencia de importantes obstáculos que superar, pero demuestra su factibilidad política, jurídica e institucional. Lo más importante es que suponen una oportunidad para afrontar retos comunes en materia de desarrollo aprovechando el creciente grado de interdependencia. Al mismo tiempo, otorga a la integración un papel de mayor relevancia como instrumento de desarrollo.

Regional Economic Integration in Africa

Regional economic cooperation and integration can be an effective means for countries to overcome constraints of size and fragmentation, and to allow small landlocked countries to more efficiently connect to larger, deeper regional and global markets. The need for scale and market consolidation is particularly relevant for the 54 African countries, many of which are small, landlocked economies with small populations. Notwithstanding frequent and strong reaffirmation of political commitment to integration by African leaders, progress on the ground has been slow and challenging. While there is great diversity among sub-regions, three sets of constraints (“hard” infrastructure, “soft” infrastructure, and political cooperation and institutions) typically impede progress toward greater regional integration in Africa. The Asian experience of economic cooperation suggests another approach, focused on flexible, bottom-up platforms, improved hard and soft infrastructure, strong coalitions, deepened trade, and strengthened institutions, which could advance the regional integration agenda in parallel to the traditional political stream/process. A number of encouraging initiatives that incorporate some of these features are underway in Africa today, and hold the promise of becoming building blocks of an increasingly integrated African economic space.

Three Nearly-Certain Conclusions We Can Draw from the Uncertainty

The European Union stands for the successful public ordering of “Europe.” Its goal is to shape and organize this political and economic area through law, a project involving societies of different mentalities, western democracies, old and young countries in transition, and former Great Powers. That might be ambitious enough, but pressure from outside the Union is also increasing. Alternative concepts campaign strongly to win supporters. The Union's integration agenda is plagued by obvious economic, financial, and social problems. A dissenting spirit has emerged around strongly held convictions concerning what has caused the problems and who should be held responsible. It is a dissenting spirit that, following the Brexit-referendum 23 June 2016, will have significant consequences. Now we have the first withdrawal of a Member State from the European Union.