Latest Reform Research Articles

The girl behind the man behind the gun: women as carers in recruitment posters of the First World War

The First World War saw a clash between the external, violent world of man-made destruction and the part women would be called upon to play in this. For the first time in Britain, women would be directly recruited by the state to play an active role in armed conflict. The dominant image of the female war worker of this conflict is that of the nurse, yet nursing was a role that was carried out by a very small number of women when compared with those working in munitions manufacture.This article explores the thread of care that runs through recruitment posters of the First World War. It looks at the way in which the image of women was used to recruit male service personnel early in the war, where women were used to represent the values of home and hearth that needed to be defended, whilst also representing an underlying heroism in their implied ability to safeguard these values in the absence of the gallant heroes. Whilst care is explicit in the role of the voluntary nurse in posters aimed directly at female recruitment, this article will also look at posters recruiting women to the apparently conflicting role of munitions manufacture, exploring how this thread of care is woven into images here, too.Social class will be seen as an important factor in the construction of the image of woman as carer in these posters, which, I will argue, carries echoes of late nineteenth-century social reforms that placed increasing emphasis on women as being responsible for the future well-being of the nation.

"I Can Indeed Respond": Lay Confessions of Faith in Late Sixteenth-Century Central Germany

During the Flacian controversy over the definition of original sin (1560s–70s), a doctrinal debate took place that proved to be foundational for Lutheran theology: a number of the laity from the central German territory of Mansfeld wrote confessions in which they articulated their views on the matter. The mere existence of these statements from the likes of counts, city officials, artisans, and laborers raises the question of lay participation in the doctrinal controversies of the latter sixteenth century, a question rarely asked by historians. Moreover, an examination of why these people wrote their confessions reveals a desire to engage in questions of doctrine during this period of the late Reformation, while an analysis of their writings demonstrates a surprisingly complex understanding of the controversy.

The family gap and family friendly policies: the case of Norway

Norway has among the most generous family policies in the world. The most recent is the cash-for-care reform, which was implemented in 1998. We answer two main questions in this article: What is the level of the family gap in such a generous regime and how has it developed as a consequence of the latest reform? Results suggest that the family gap is rather modest in Norway compared to many other countries and we find no evidence of a worsening of the gap in recent years. A positive interpretation of these results is that the Norwegian labour market is fairly flexible, in the sense that it seems to be able to absorb even more generous family policies.

Zur nachhaltigen Finanzierung der GRV: Der Beitrag der Altersgrenzenanhebung im Rentenreformprozess

: In the past, the German statutory pension scheme has been exposed to numerous policy interventions. In this article we analyze the effects of the latest reforms on the future development of the contribution rate as well as the public pension level. Furthermore, we quantify the extent of an increase of the average retirement age on the funding of the pension scheme, as the increase can temporarily dilute the financial burden due to demographic transition.

Europe's troubled region: economic development, institutional reform and social welfare in the Western Balkans

The countries of the Western Balkans - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and the province of Kosovo - form a core European region. The region is known for its instability and recent history of wars and civil conflicts, but far less is known about the changes that have taken place in the economic and social welfare systems and the dynamic processes of transition, development and European integration that have been taking place over the last twenty years. Although economic growth has been firmly established, many problems remain in relation to the labour markets where there is high unemployment, large informal economies, and widespread poverty. The book discusses the role of welfare reforms, international aid and European integration in addressing these difficulties. The author argues that the resistance to reforms which were initiated under the communist system in former Yugoslavia led to the break up of the country and that since then a group of early reforming countries have made fast progress in institutional reform and have been at the forefront of EU integration. He also acknowledges that the main problems have been among a group of late reformers including two international protectorates where aid dependence has held back progress with institutional reforms. The book concludes that the resolution of these problems will unblock the completion of the transition, development and EU integration in the region and open for the way for a more stable and prosperous future.

Europe’s CAP: Changes and Challenges Die europäische GAP: Änderungen und Herausforderungen La PAC européenne : changements et défis

SummaryEurope’s CAP: Changes and ChallengesImportant changes have occurred in the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union. The reforms during my term as EU Commissioner have modernised the CAP and prepared European agriculture and rural areas for the opportunities and challenges we face nowadays. Agenda 2000 established the second pillar of the CAP, a trendsetting step for the development of rural areas and European agricultural policies. Another fundamental reform followed in 2003. The CAP and the latest reforms are now being reviewed and further enhanced in the so‐called ‘Health Check’, which will result in a further improvement of the CAP. Adjustments will be introduced as deemed necessary to further simplify the policy, as well as preparing it for new challenges such as climate change, bioenergy, water management and the protection of biodiversity. At the annual Winter Congress of the Ecosocial Forum Austria a range of well‐known scientists, politicians in the field of Austrian agriculture and representatives of private corporations were invited to discuss these challenges in both an Austrian and global context. A key message from the Congress was that strategies have to be developed to ensure sustainable production of biofuel without deteriorating the food security situation in the Least Developed Countries, where food shortages are predicted to quintuple between 2000 and 2030.

The tension in turkish teacher education: Conflict and controversy during the transformation from an academic approach to a professional approach

Most of the reforms, which have been undertaken in the last 30 years in the Turkish educational system, are about teacher education. When we examine the teacher education curriculum from the perspective of these reforms, it has been observed that there is a controversy between the academic and professional approaches used in these curricula. While the reforms undertaken in 1982 and 1997 were in favor of the academic approach, the latest reform undertaken in 2006 was made to strengthen the professional aspects of teacher education curriculum. In this paper, Turkish teacher education reforms are introduced in the light of the professional and the academic approaches, which have always been the topic of discussions about teacher education.

The Nature and Direction of Economic Reform in North Korea

In this article we critically examine the nature and direction of economic reform in North Korea. While North Korea began to experiment with reforms and a partial open-door policy in the mid-1980s, the most substantial attempt at economic restructuring occurred in July 2002. In these latest reforms, the government attempted to change the planned economic system through the introduction of price reforms, market and commodity relations, profit motivation and material incentives. However, scholars disagree on the nature and direction of economic restructuring. In order to analyze the state of economic transformation, we develop a conceptual framework of market socialism with a set of empirical indicators against which we examine the trends, direction and limitations of reforms. Our study strongly suggests that North Korea is moving away from the command economy towards a model of market socialism as practiced in China and Vietnam.

Development and Change in Swedish Municipal Adult Education: Occupational Life History Studies and Four Genealogies of Context

This article is based on the author's dissertation work on development and change in Swedish municipal adult education (MAE), investigated through occupational life history studies of four teachers in different municipalities who have worked in MAE since the mid 1970s. Three periods of development – three ‘eras’ – in MAE have been identified in terms of its relationship to the state, comprising two restructuring shifts: (1) from centralization to decentralization in the early 1990s, and (2) the establishment of quasi-marketization of adult education in the late 1990s, with a variety of adult education providers, municipal boards and procurement processes. Comprehensive analysis of the four teacher trajectories and their genealogies of context has been carried out relating to the three eras, and concepts on mechanisms for institutional isomorphism have been used for analysis on why and how the different MAE organizations that the four teachers work in have developed in similar or homogenous ways. In the article, tensions and contestation in development and change in the local context are made explicit, and are analysed and provide the basis for problematizing late national reformation and restructuring efforts.

Synthesis and Structural Properties of Anhydrous Rare Earth Cinnamates, [RE(cinn)3

AbstractAnhydrous rare earth tris(cinnamates) [RE(cinn)3] (RE = La–Lu, Y and Sc and cinnH = trans‐cinnamic acid) were prepared by metathesis in water and by direct reaction of the metal with cinnamic acid in a 1,2,4,5‐tetramethylbenzene flux at ca. 200 °C. X‐ray crystal structure determinations and X‐ray powder data show that, in the solid state, the larger lanthanoids (La–Dy) form an isomorphous polymeric series consisting of homoleptic nine‐coordinate metal centres bonded to three chelating and bridging tridentate cinnamates. The late REIII cinnamate (RE = Dy, Ho–Lu, Y) complexes also form linear one‐dimensional polymeric chains with all RE metal atoms being seven‐coordinate. The cinnamates are either bound tridentate bridging in a μ‐η2:η1 fashion, or μ‐η1:η1 syn‐syn bidentate bridging. A structural break occurs at dysprosium which has been characterised in both crystallographic forms, and gives solely the late RE form when precipitated at 80 °C. ScIII cinnamate was also isolated as an analytically pure precipitate which was, again, found to be anhydrous in nature. A structural change was identified by powder XRD between the late REIII cinnamates and ScIII cinnamate.

Reinventing Governance: The Role of Boards of Governors in the New Austrian University

In the last decade, the university sector in many European countries has undergone manifold changes in relation to the design of governance structures and processes. Accordingly, a board of governors with far‐reaching competences was implemented by the latest reform of the Austrian higher education system in 2002. Drawing on an empirical research project, this paper contrasts the basic ideas of this reform with insights into the concrete practice of the new governance structure. The results show that board members’ personal factors such as personality, experience, and their attitude towards the multi‐faceted nature of university governance, strongly influence the boards’ identity formation and actual work. It is concluded that such factors must be regarded when implementing governing boards in universities by means of university reform.

Training in Superstition? Monasteries and Popular Religion in Late Medieval and Reformation England

The monasteries of late medieval England are regularly viewed as marginal to the religious lives of the laity, and have been largely omitted from the revisionist depiction of the pre-Reformation Church. Similarly the Dissolution has often been seen primarily as a financial measure, with limited religious motivations or consequences. This article seeks to challenge both these conclusions by drawing attention to the role played by religious houses of all sizes as centres of national and local pilgrimage. It is argued that monasteries exerted a strong and enduring influence over popular piety through their saints' cults, and as a result attracted the hostility of both Erasmian and evangelical reformers in Henrician England. This hostility should be seen as an important ingredient in the Dissolution.

Towards a More Market Based Approach: The Institutional Framework for Quality Assurance in Germany

Like in most industrialized countries, Germany's health care system is facing two major challenges. The first is to find a sustainable financing system for the increasing health care expenditure. The second is to ensure - and improve - the quality of care provided.This paper describes the status quo in quality assurance in Germany and analyses the changes introduced into the SHI (Statutory Health Insurance) system with the Modernization Act of 2004. This paper first outlines a theoretical framework for quality assurance consistent with the logic of the German Social Market Economy. The analysis then describes new actors and their duties in the field of quality assurance, also showing improvements in the area of regulations and instruments applied. Although the strategy for quality assurance is still dominated by regulation and corporatist bodies, the latest reform acts of 2004 and 2007 focus on more and better information about quality provided - an important prerequisite for more competitive elements in the German health care system.

Reform of the Reform: The European Court of Human Right’s Endless Quest for Efficient Justice

This article addresses the changes to be introduced in the edifice of the European Convention on Human Rights through the 14th Protocol. Particular attention will be paid on the impact of the said amendments on cases relating to property claims initiated by Cypriot nationals against Turkey. In essence, along with a bird’s eye view to institutional issues and restructuring, the author will present the two latest reforms in the judicial system of the Court. Protocols Nos. 11 and 14 are oriented in rendering the Strasbourg Court more efficient and delve upon its quasi-constitutional nature in the European judicial setting. The reforms are not only of procedural interest. They will have a significant impact on the handling of Loizidou-type of cases. It is this impact that will be also explored.

The Changing Lives and Values of Chinese Rural Youth in the 1980s and 1990s

Since the late 1970s economic reforms have profoundly changed China's rural society by encouraging individual initiative, stimulating migrations to the cities, and generating new social strata. While the gap between the cities and countryside is still wide, farmers have gained so much power and influence that some scholars have argued that it was they who changed China. Indeed, to a large extent, it was the vast majority of rural people whose economic activities ameliorated the fragile national economy, significantly improved people's material life, and thus created the conditions for comprehensive reforms in the second half of the 1980s. In the 1990s, increasing numbers of rural residents have participated in electing village leaders, an important step toward more political democracy. In the process of contributing to economic development and social change, these rural people have changed themselves as well.

Bessere europäische Wettbewerbspolitik durch den „more economic approach“ ? Einige Fragezeichen nach den ersten Erfahrungen / Does the more economic approach lead to a better competition policy? Some question marks after the first experiences

Zusammenfassung Die jüngsten Reformbestrebungen in der europäischen Wettbewerbspolitik zielen vor allem auf die Umsetzung eines ökonomischeren Ansatzes. Am Beispiel der Fusionskontrol­le wird gefragt, ob dieser neue Ansatz tatsächlich eine ökonomischere Wettbewerbspolitik garantiert. In der Fusionskontrolle erfolgt die Umsetzung des ökonomischeren Ansatzes vor allem mit Hilfe einer stärkeren Einzelfallbeurteilung, was im Ergebnis zu einer Aufwertung der der „rule of reason“ führt. Im Zusammenhang mit dem ökonomischeren Ansatz ist jedoch zu fragen, ob die Europäische Kommission mit der Entscheidung, die Wettbe­werbspolitik stärker als bisher an einer „rule of reason“ auszurichten, nicht gleichzeitig auch eine sehr kostenträchtige Entscheidung trifft. Sie verzichtet auf die Vorteile von „per se“-Regeln in Form von mehr Transparenz, höherer Rechtssicherheit und geringeren Transaktionskosten. Ökonomisch wäre der neue Ansatz nur dann erfolgversprechend, wenn die Nutzen dieses Ansatzes, beispielsweise in Form einer höheren Entscheidungsqua­lität, die entsprechenden Kosten überwiegen würden. Erste Erfahrungen, dargestellt am Beispiel der Entscheidung Sony/BMG, stimmen jedoch skeptisch. Daher wird hier die The­se vertreten, daß ein ökonomischerer Ansatz nicht an der Einzelfallbeurteilung ansetzen sollte, sondern vielmehr an der Regelsetzung auf der Basis fundierter ökonomischer Theorie.

The subordination of the gender equality objective: the National Reform Programmes and ‘making work pay’ oplicies

ABSTRACTThe streamlining of the Lisbon strategy has introduced new integrated guidelines for economic policy and employment strategy and a new report format––the National Reform Programme. In the first year of this new reporting mechanism, Member States have paid less attention to gender mainstreaming and gender equality objectives, not least because the gender equality guideline has been removed. Streamlining has further exposed the narrow and instrumental focus on gender equality measures in the Lisbon process as a means of raising the employment rate rather than a broader concern for equal opportunity. This narrow gender equality approach also dilutes the efficacy of the economic and employment policies that are advanced. Some positive steps to advance gender equality continue to be taken, but the reforms are partial, uneven and coexist with negative developments. We illustrate this with an evaluation of the policy trajectory in relation to the ‘making work pay’ agenda for low‐waged workers (tax/benefit reform, minimum wages, childcare and parental leave). We conclude that this latest reform to the Lisbon process has exposed the enormous amount of political work and capacity building that is needed to mainstream gender issues across the whole field of economic, employment and social policies.

Modelling the effects of alternative CAP policies for the Spanish high-nature value cereal-steppe farming systems

The latest reform of the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) raised concerns regarding the future of low-productivity farming systems, which are often those most worthy of environmental conservation. In Spain, the conservation of the cereal-steppe avifauna, a community of European importance, relies on the continuity of low-intensity cereal systems and traditional cultivation patterns. In this interdisciplinary study we compare the effects of alternative support mechanisms on the economic output of representative farm types in one of the most remarkable cereal-steppe systems in Spain. Our results show a significant reduction of gross profit margins under the new CAP mechanisms in comparison to the previous support system and a derived risk of activity cessation. Consequent foreseeable changes in the activity patterns, such as farming abandonment or concentration of land by remaining farmers and intensification, would imply a deterioration of the current habitat structure for birds. We then consider the economic effects of implementing an agri-environmental scheme specifically designed for conserving the local cereal-steppe avifauna. Our results show that the application of this scheme could significantly contribute to prevent activity cessation and hence related undesired changes, enhancing at the same time the quality for birds of the farmed habitat in the area.

Payment by results or payment by outcome? The history of measuring medicine

Provision and funding of healthcare in Britain today is undergoing one of the most profound revolutions in the 58 year history of the National Health Service. Clinicians and managers are being presented with a series of organizational reforms that affect how care to their patients is delivered and funded. Choose and book, practice-based commissioning, and payment by results are new concepts that introduce a more business focused healthcare economy. The evidence base for these initiatives, and the benefits that they will deliver, has not yet been made explicit. Healthcare outcome assessment is an essential aspect of reforming health provision successfully. Currently, the NHS records outcome based on measures of activity and process, such as waiting times and the number of patients treated. What really matters to patients is the outcome of their healthcare intervention, what effect it will have on their wellbeing, and the length of their life.1 Since 1991 there has been a series of changes to funding within the NHS.2 The latest reform to be introduced is PbR which, the Department of Health assures, will: `... reward efficiency and quality in providing services; support greater patient choice and more responsive services; and enable PCTs [primary care trusts] to concentrate on quality and quantity rather than price'.3 These are laudable aims for any healthcare reimbursement structure. Nevertheless, it would be unwise to adopt too narrow a definition of quality. Too much concern with the technical management of illness, and too little attention to prevention, rehabilitation, coordination and continuity of care, will result in a poorer outcome for the overall health community that the reforms are meant to improve.4 Most observers recognize that biomedical measures such as clinical or laboratory indices do not provide a complete representation of the effect of a treatment on an individual.5 These measures, while important in their own right, are being supplemented by measures of constructs that focus on issues of importance to the patient such as functional status, health-related quality of life and emotional well being.6 Compared with concrete measures like blood pressure, constructs such as pain relief, walking ability or depression are complex to measure. They generally require the use of patient-based outcome measures, where the patient gives his or her opinion on the construct in question.7 Measuring outcome remains the ultimate validation of the effectiveness and quality of healthcare. Only by systematically recording the outcomes using methods that are appropriate to the patient group under consideration can a healthcare system promote quality in all activities.8 However, payment by results will fail to meet the objectives set out by the Department of Health if the wrong outcomes are measured. We aim to examine the introduction of the payment by results policy within the history of healthcare outcome measurement and suggest how the policy may actually match its purported outcome.

Person-Centered Planning and Disability: barriers and opportunities for improvement in Catalonia

The latest reforms in the intellectual disabilities field are Person-Centered Planning (PCP) and the WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). PCP helps individualize support and improve quality of life, whereas the ICF is a global, universal tool defined and developed over a ten-year-long international process involving 65 member states and endorsed by 191 member states, so that a broad consensus was reached for both terminology and classification. Extensive field testing provided for cross-cultural comparability, making the ICF a truly international standard for functioning and disability classification.The principles established in these approaches should be seriously considered in this country, in regard to the new Social Security Act and “Dependency” Act.