National Representative Bodies Research Articles

La disolución del primer Congreso Constituyente mexicano: un análisis de discursos

Objective/Context: This text analyses the assembly debates that preceded the dissolution of the first Mexican Constituent Congress in 1822. The research focuses on the ideological context that gave rise to the idea of dissolution. It examines the language and arguments used to defend or question the continuity of the national representative body of the First Empire. Methodology: For this purpose, the minutes of the Congress will be studied from the end of August, when the “republican” conspiracies against the government of Agustín de Iturbide took place, until its dissolution at the end of October. Through dialogue with various contemporary publications, the proceedings will be contextualised within the currents of liberal thought that fed political debates at the time. Originality: In recent years, thanks to the celebration of the Bicentennial of Independence, historiography has developed research on the period of the First Mexican Empire. However, there is still a long way to go to understand how the theoretical foundations that articulated a constitutional monarchy as the first project of a nation-state in Mexico were forged. Through unpublished sources and a reflection in dialogue with recent historiographical contributions, this article deepens the analysis of the political thought that sought to imagine an empire based on the foundations of political liberalism at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Conclusion: The idea of dissolution, far from being a unilateral decision by Iturbide’s government, resulted from a dialogue between different factions and political interests. Its argumentation was always based on the new constitutional language.

War, Revolution, and the Expansion of Women’s Political Representation

Women’s political rights and their exercise of political citizenship globally have often expanded more rapidly in times of conflict, crisis, and revolution. The decline of empires after World Wars I and II and the creation of new nations served as a catalyst for the expansion of women’s suffrage. Civil wars and revolutions have had similar outcomes in expanding women’s political citizenship. This essay brings together several disparate literatures on World War I, World War II, wars of independence, revolution, and post-1990 civil wars and expands their scope to show how women’s political rights and citizenship in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have often been linked to conflict. In doing so, I highlight a notable pathway by which rights expansions occurred: conflict led to changes in the political elite and ruling class, resulting in the necessity to rewrite constitutions and other rules of the polity. During these critical junctures, women’s rights activists gained opportunities to advance their demands. The context of changing international gender norms also influenced these moments. I consider two key moments in the worldwide expansion of political citizenship: the struggle for women’s suffrage and the struggle to expand women’s representation in local and national representative bodies.

Drug and alcohol practitioners’ attitudes toward the use of standardized assessment

Despite their importance to evidence-based assessment, standardized assessments remain underutilized by mental health practitioners in practice. The underutilization has been attributed to a lack of appreciation of the importance of standardized assessments, lack of knowledge of standardized assessments, and practical barriers to implementation. This study sought to gather the first descriptive data on alcohol and other drug (AOD) practitioners’ attitudes toward, and knowledge and self-reported use of, standardized assessments. Practical barriers to implementation in initial assessment and progress monitoring were also assessed. Ninety-nine Australian AOD practitioners recruited via newsletters of national representative bodies and practitioner networks completed an online survey. While practitioners’ attitudes towards using standardized assessments for initial assessment and progress monitoring were generally positive and consistent with other populations of health practitioners, assessments remained underutilized in practice. Most AOD practitioners did not consider standardized assessments to be feasible to implement. The current findings highlight the importance of practical barriers, particularly organization-level barriers, in the underutilization of standardized assessments in AOD practice. Findings support an extension of dialogue surrounding evidence-based practice beyond treatment selection to include assessment practices at a more general level. The present study offers a starting point from which efforts to improve practitioner compliance with evidence-based best practices can be conceived, designed, and implemented.

Multilayered Oversight: Electoral Administration in Indonesia

AbstractElectoral administration in Indonesia is complex. The Electoral Commission (Komisi Pemilihan Umum) is responsible for planning and running five-yearly elections for one national and two regional legislatures, and one additional national regional representative body, as well as direct presidential, gubernatorial, mayoral and regent elections. Because candidates and parties often have significant financial stakes in their outcome, these elections are hotly contested and the results quite commonly disputed, including in Indonesia's Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi). Electoral contestants often point to mistakes in administration and vote counting, which appear to be natural consequences of the great logistical challenges these elections present. For example, on 17 April, 2019, well over 150 million citizens attended one of over 800,000 polling stations to vote for candidates to fill 19,817 legislative seats in national and subnational parliaments. Many of these elections are said to be marred by attempts by candidates and their parties to gain illegal advantage, whether through misuse of incumbency or vote buying. There is also said to be much potential for corruption amongst electoral administrators themselves in registering candidates, verifying parties, procuring equipment for polling stations, and counting and tallying votes on election day. Given the potential of mistakes and illegality to jeopardise the legitimacy of election results, lawmakers in Indonesia have created multi-layered oversight mechanisms to oversee the planning and running of the elections by the Electoral Commission, as well as to oversee the Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu, Badan Pengawas Pemilihan Umum) itself, which is charged with supervising that Commission. This article examines the work and performance of these institutions, and the Electoral Administration Honour Council (DKPP, or Dewan Kehormatan Penyelenggara Pemilu), which hears allegations of breaches by the Commission and the Board.

The European Economic Community's regional policy during the ‘age of disorder'. From ‘harmonious development' to market-oriented policies (1972-1987)

This article examines the transformation of the European Economic Community's (EEC) regional policy paradigms from the early 1970s, when negotiations for the creation of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) began, until the approval of the Single European Act. The article identifies this period as the beginning of a deep transition from demand-side "interventionist" and "neo-mercantilist" models — typical of certain regional policies used up to that time by member states (primarily by Italy) — towards more openly neoliberal models. My analysis of the harsh conflicts within the Regional Policy Committee (the national technocracies' representative body in charge of managing the ERDF) and between the committee and the European Commission demonstrate that this outcome was not at all taken for granted. It was determined, above all, by the overload of objectives of EEC regional policy in a context of scarce resources, and by the progressive lack of trust in the role of public intervention.

Making My Day. Volunteering or Working at a Day Centre for Older People: Findings of Exploratory Research in English Day Centres

<strong>Context:</strong> Day centres have long traditions in social care in the United Kingdom and internationally. In England, they are provided by a mix of organisations, they are not regulated, and there is no national representative body. Research mainly focuses on centre attenders and carers. Frontline staff and volunteer perspectives are rarely reported. <strong>Objective:</strong> To highlight the role of day centre work and volunteering for individuals and inform recruitment and workforce development. <strong>Methods:</strong> Qualitative interview data gathered from seven volunteers and ten staff at four English day centres for older people were thematically analysed. Data are drawn from three-year case study research investigating the role, outcomes, and commissioning of day centres. <strong>Findings:</strong> Paid or volunteer work in day centres has the potential to make unique contributions to people’s lives. Older volunteers and staff particularly value centres’ group environment and the continuity involved which contribute to person-centred relationships and role satisfaction. These experiences and satisfaction help explain why day centre staff retention is above average in social care. <strong>Limitations:</strong> Although in diverse settings, this research was small-scale. Only high-quality centres may have participated. Methods may have unintentionally excluded volunteers with learning disabilities. <strong>Implications:</strong> Within a context of problematic recruitment and retention and policy aspirations for community engagement and building on local assets, findings are relevant to workforce development and local recruitment strategies. Further research might explore what creates the working and volunteering culture within a centre and links between culture and outcomes, with a view to developing a model of day centre culture.

Use of the eLogbook in surgical training in the United Kingdom: A nationwide survey and consensus recommendations from the Association of Surgeons in Training

IntroductionAccurate recording of operative cases is essential during training to demonstrate experience. However, indicative numbers delineating minimum desirable experience may incentivise exaggeration or misrepresentation of experience. This study aimed to determine perceptions of real-world eLogbook use among UK surgeons in training. Material and methodsAn anonymous online questionnaire was disseminated electronically using a pre-planned yield-maximisation strategy, incorporating regional champions, email and social media. Evaluation employed mixed methods in a combined interpretation of quantitative and qualitative data from the questionnaire. Recommendations for development of the eLogbook were itemised from respondents’ free text items and a modified Delphi process, conducted within the Council of the UK national trainee representative body, the Association of Surgeons in Training, determined the strength of each recommendation. ResultsAnalysis included 906 complete responses from training-grade surgeons (34.8% female) from all UK recognised specialties and all grades of training.More than two-thirds (68.5%) believed that overstatement or misrepresentation of case involvement occurs. A fifth (20.8%) reported witnessing trainees logging cases they had not actually participated in and almost a third (32.7%) had witnessed overstatement, yet few (15.1%) had raised such an issue with a supervisor. Most (85.2%) respondents had few or no eLogbook entries validated.More than a quarter of respondents felt pressure to overstate their involvement in cases (28.6%) and the number recorded (28.1%). Almost a third (31.5%) felt the required case number for completion of training was not achievable.Female trainees were less likely to feel well supervised (p = 0.022) and to perceive targets for completion of training were achievable (p = 0.005).Thematic analysis identified four key themes to explain logbook misuse:Pressure to achieve training milestones; eLogbook functionality issues; training deficiencies and probity. ConclusionsInaccurate operative recording was widely reported, primarily in response to perceived pressure to achieve targets for career progression. Operative logbooks may not be as accurate as intended. Consensus recommendations are made for improvement in the eLogbook and its use.

Make It So: Harnessing Technology to Provide Professional Development to Regional Museum Workers

Make It So: Harnessing Technology to Provide Professional Development to Regional Museum Workers

The voices that matter: A narrative approach to understanding Scottish Fishers’ perspectives of Brexit

This paper presents the results of a dive into the views of Scottish fishers towards the Brexit process. The failure of fisheries management by the EU and its Common Fisheries Policy was a key argument used by the Leave Campaign. This was seemingly supported by the Scottish fishing industry, as declared by the powerful voices in national representative bodies. Using semi-structured interviews with 12 individuals representing the industry, the study sets out to give voice to less powerful narratives and to understand the nuances of their reasons for voting to leave. The research suggests a truer story of the fishing industry's perspective of Brexit is constituent of three parts. First, that despite the unified view portrayed in media and by industry representatives, there are clear disparities in their voices and their reasoning. These are particularly evident between sector and non-sector fishers. Second, there are parallels within the narratives that demonstrated a feeling of betrayal and othering symptomatic of the ‘left behind’. Third, both the disparities and parallels are fed by shared misconceptions of a past that has been reimagined to justify past and future decisions. This research indicates that attitudes to complex social events are often fed by mythologies and forced narratives espoused by powerful voices, whilst weaker voices are ignored. This does not preclude the value of fishers' experiences and attitudes and, instead, demonstrates the importance of listening to all voices for effective policy making to ensure future proposals do not only reflect the needs of the most vocal.

Assessing Barriers to Medical Laboratory Diagnostic Service Delivery in Mzuzu City

Medical laboratories provide confirmatory diagnosis and evidence based management of diseases, essential public health information and disease surveillance. A wide variety of research studies suggest that breakdowns in the diagnostic process result in a staggering toll of harm, patient deaths and wastage of valuable medical resources already constrained in the developing world. The objective of this study was to assess barriers to delivery of optimal laboratory diagnostic services in Mzuzu city. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study using quantitative research approach. Three categories of laboratories were selected from the public, faith based and private health systems. Stratified sampling was used to select laboratory practioners while purposive sampling was used to select administrators from each health facility. The data was analysed by the measures of central tendency mean plus measures of variability, range, standard deviation and standard error, using SPSS version 20. The findings of the study were that laboratory practioners identified several barriers to affect quality diagnostic services: 79% of laboratory staff reported short supply of laboratory supplies, work overloads (69%), frequent equipment failure (22%), scarcity of modern equipment (20%) and others. Administrators (67%) reported a limited budget allocation to the public and faith based hospitals. The study also found that there were some barriers that were more frequent than others such as shortage of laboratory supplies (84%), work overloads (70%), lack of refresher training (34%), frequent equipment failure (28%) and others. The study also found that laboratory practitioners employed several countermeasures to overcome technical barriers to diagnostics. 44% reported that they would stop tests when reagents run out of stock, wait for maintenance of equipment and stop tests (38%), higher cadres would delegate work to lower level cadres (31%), improvise on faulty equipment and expired reagents (26%) and many others. No laboratory had adequate quality management systems in place. The recommendations of this study were to strengthen human resources planning for laboratory professionals, establish or strengthen national laboratory regulatory and representative bodies to improve governance and enhance quality, and promote work and competency based in-service training to ensure that staff skills are up to date and competency is demonstrated.

A constitutional evaluation of Article 92-6 ‘Disgraceful Conduct Crime’ of the Military criminal law

의회는 국민대표기관으로서 입법기관이며 국정통제기관이다. 현대국가의 의회는 권력분립원칙에 따라 일반적으로 행정부 통제를 위해 조사적 권한을 가지고 있다. 의회의 국정조사권은 의회의 헌법상 제 권한의 실효적 행사를 보장해주는 유효한 수단 중의 하나이다. 우리나라 국정조사의 대상기관은 사안에 의해 국회 본회의에서 승인한 계획서에 기재된 기관에 한정된다는 점이 한계로 지적된다. 그러나 현대 의회 기능의 회복과 강한 의회의 재생을 추구하는 측면에서 국정조사권은 국정 전반에 대한 통제수단으로서 기대되는 바가 크다. 최근 우리나라는 사법 농단 의혹을 규명하기 위해 노력하고 있다. 사법부에 대한 의회의 국정조사는 전례가 없었던바, 이는 사법부 독립을 존중하기 위한 것이었다고 평가할 수 있다. 그러나 국정조사 통해 실체적 진실을 발견할 수 있다면 오히려 사법부 독립의 강화하는 계기가 될 수 있다. 현대의 정당 국가적인 경향 하에서 국정조사권은 정당 간의 첨예한 이해관계 충돌과 제반 여건의 미비로 실질적 효력을 발휘하지 못하고 있다. 이에 대한 개선 방향으로 본 논문은 국회 내부의 전문성 강화, 국정조사계획서 승인 요건 완화, 상임위원회 중심의 국정조사 실시, 증인 채택 절차 개선 및 증인의 인권 보호 등을 제시하였다.As a national representative body, parliament is a legislative body and a state control agency. Parliaments of modern nations generally have investigative powers for administrative control in accordance with the principle of separation of powers. The parliamentary rights to investigate the state is one of the effective means of ensuring the effective exercise of parliamentary constitutional authority. It is pointed out that the subject institution of the investigation by the national assembly is limited to the institutions approved by the plenary session on a case by case basis. However, to recover the modern parliamentary function and regenerate strong parliaments, the power to investigate the state affairs of the parliament is highly expected as a means to control over the whole country. Recently, as efforts to identify the allegations charged on judiciary continue, there is no precedent of exerting the investigatory power of parliament to the judiciary, which can be evaluated as respecting the independence of the judiciary. However, if we can find the substantive truth through the investigation, it can be an opportunity to strengthen the independence of the judiciary. Under the trend of severe conflicts between the parties, the rights to investigate the state administration has not been practically effective. In this regard this paper suggests improvement measures as follows: the improvement of internal expertise within the National Assembly, the relaxation of the approval requirement of the investigation plan, the implementation of the investigation led by standing committees, the improvement of witness selection procedure and the protection of the human rights of witnesses.

Workforce Views on Training Pathways, Registration, Accreditation and Ongoing CPD Requirements for Each of the 5 Cardiac Physiology Professions

Professionals in Cardiac Sciences Australia (PiCSA) is the national representative body for people working in clinical cardiac science professions. In 2015 PiCSA conducted a census of individual workers who perform cardiac science procedures across Australia, including ECG, cath lab, echo, cardiac devices and electrophysiology (EP). This was the first attempt to collect Australia-wide data about cardiac science professionals. One of the topics surveyed was workforce views on training pathways. A background degree was considered desirable prior to commencing training in ECG 56%, cath lab 90%, echo 93%, cardiac devices 88%, and EP 89%. Whilst there was support for TAFE/VET based training for ECG, there was strong disapproval for advancement from ECG to the other cardiac science professions without a degree. ECG experience was considered a prerequisite for training in cath lab 89%, echo 87%, cardiac devices 91%, and EP 94%. Similarly, cath lab experience was considered a prerequisite to training in Echo 41%, cardiac devices 62% and EP 80%. There are well recognised nationally accredited courses in echo and electrophysiology. There was strong support for making similar courses available in the other cardiac science vocations (cardiac devices 89%, cath lab 81% and ECG 67%). There was also strong support for a national registry, formal accreditation and ongoing CPD requirements across all 5 cardiac physiology professions. The above workforce views are not reflected in current policy. Currently only echo is regulated, and does not require a vocational foundation in cardiac physiology (i.e. ECG/cath lab) as per the UK or New Zealand.

Политические проекты казанского дворянства в 1905 г. как новая ступень самосознания

&lt;p class="c1e0e7eee2fbe9"&gt;В статье рассматривается тема участия членов Казанского губернского дворянского собрания в составлении проектов государственного устройства Российской империи в сложный политический период 1905 г. Данная проблема представляет актуальность в свете повышенного внимания к вопросам парламентаризма и самоуправления.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="c1e0e7eee2fbe9"&gt;На материалах журналов Казанского губернского дворянского собрания и трудов комиссии по вопросу о народном представительстве показано, что разработка проектов устройства представительного органа в Казанском губернском дворянском собрании началась с целью успокоения волнений в обществе, особенно среди крестьян. Разработка велась по двум направлениям: на основе профессионально-классовой избирательной системы и на основе всеобщего равного избирательного права. Сторонники всеобщих равных выборов отличались большей демократичностью, однако они не учитывали величину избирательных округов и отсутствие культуры демократических выборов среди населения России. Члены комиссии поддержали первый проект и проголосовали за наделение представительного органа правом законодательной инициативы. В дальнейшем, после всероссийского дворянского съезда, А. Н. Боратынским и В. В. Марковниковым была предложена альтернатива в виде территориально-земского избирательного начала, согласно которому депутатов должны были избирать земства.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="c1e0e7eee2fbe9"&gt;Документы показывают, что дворянская корпорация не была единой и делилась на умеренно монархическое, правое и либеральное крылья. Разработка проектов велась лишь крупнопоместным дворянством, которое желало внести успокоение в общество и осознанно относилось к решению не только местных вопросов, но и общероссийских проблем. Хотя труды казанской комиссии в дальнейшем и не были представлены в «булыгинскую комиссию», но подобная работа способствовала вовлечению местных дворян в общероссийскую политическую жизнь.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="c1e0e7eee2fbe9"&gt;Исследование показывает, что пути становления парламентаризма в России были весьма извилисты и даже в рамках одной социальной группы существовали значительные противоречия по поводу политического устройства страны. Победу одержали сторонники сословной системы выборов, поскольку это позволяло дворянам быть более представленными в будущей Думе, чем при других системах. В дальнейшем идеи этих проектов во многом послужили основой для консолидации дворянства и развития дворянского самоуправления.&lt;/p&gt;

Research methods of Talking About The Smokes: an International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project study with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

To describe the research methods and baseline sample of the Talking About The Smokes (TATS) project. The TATS project is a collaboration between research institutions and Aboriginal community-controlled health services (ACCHSs) and their state and national representative bodies. It is one of the studies within the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project, enabling national and international comparisons. It includes a prospective longitudinal study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smokers and recent ex-smokers; a survey of non-smokers; repeated cross-sectional surveys of ACCHS staff; and descriptions of the tobacco policies and practices at the ACCHSs. Community members completed face-to-face surveys; staff completed surveys on paper or online. We compared potential biases and the distribution of variables common to the main community baseline sample and unweighted and weighted results of the 2008 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS). The baseline survey (Wave 1) was conducted between April 2012 and October 2013. 2522 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in 35 locations (the communities served by 34 ACCHSs and one community in the Torres Strait), and 645 staff in the ACCHSs. Sociodemographic and general health indicators, smoking status, number of cigarettes smoked per day and quit attempts. The main community baseline sample closely matched the distribution of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in the weighted NATSISS by age, sex, jurisdiction and remoteness. There were inconsistent differences in some sociodemographic factors between our sample and the NATSISS: our sample had higher proportions of unemployed people, but also higher proportions who had completed Year 12 and who lived in more advantaged areas. In both surveys, similar percentages of smokers reported having attempted to quit in the past year, and daily smokers reported similar numbers of cigarettes smoked per day. The TATS project provides a detailed and nationally representative description of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smoking behaviour, attitudes, knowledge and exposure to tobacco control activities and policies, and their association with quitting.

Does it Matter that Most Representatives are Higher Educated?

Does it Matter that Most Representatives are Higher Educated?

The Churches, the ACL and the National Human Rights Consultation

During the 2009 National Human Rights Consultation ('NHRC') the Australian Christian Lobby ('ACL') was influential. The ACL, purportedly representing Christian values in Australia, lobbied strongly against the creation of a human rights law. The thesis of this article is that, on the question of whether or not human rights in Australia should be protected by an Act enumerating legally enforceable human rights ('HRA'), the ACL's reasoning and conclusions were largely inconsistent with the views of the national representative bodies of the three largest Christian churches in Australia and, as such, lacked quality. This article will demonstrate the thesis by, first, describing the NHRC and the ACL; second, by showing that Christian denominations are themselves the best authorities on their own beliefs; third, by analysing the NHRC submissions written by the national representative bodies of the three largest Christian churches in Australia; and fourth, by showing that the NHRC submission made by the ACL was, on key issues, inconsistent with those of the national church organisations.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark and the Multicultural Challenges

AbstractChristianity and Danishness are mutually reinforcing phenomena in Denmark. Three factors applying specifically to Denmark explain this: first, the lack of national representative bodies of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark; second, the journalTidehverv(“New Era”) has nurtured a conservative and nationalistic Christian ethics among parts of the Danish clergy; and third, Danish politicians' abuse of the links between Christianity and Danishness as a tool in their anti-immigration strategies.

Lessons for pediatric anesthesia from audit and incident reporting

This review will attempt to put the various systems that allow clinicians to assess errors, omissions, or avoidable incidents into context and where possible, look for areas that deserve more or less attention and resource specifically for those of us who practice pediatric anesthesia. Different approaches will be contrasted with respect to their outputs in terms of positive impact on the practice of anesthesia. These approaches include audits by governmental organizations, national representative bodies, specialist societies, commissioned boards of inquiry, medicolegal sources, and police force investigations. Implementation strategies are considered alongside the reports as the reports cannot be considered end points themselves. Specific areas where pediatric anesthetics has failed to address recurring risk through any currently available tools will be highlighted.

National representative body for e-health in Pakistan

National representative body for e-health in Pakistan

The Australian Counselling Association: Meeting the needs of Australian counsellors

The Australian Counselling Association (ACA) was formed in 1999 in response to concerns that national counselling representative bodies in Australia were becoming exclusive and elitist. Thus, the ACA was purposefully designed to be inclusive in its membership. As a result, since its inception the association has grown into the largest individual membership national peak body in Australia. The ACA is involved in a number of activities that support counselling in Australia. Due to space limitations, only four main ACA activities are reviewed in this article: membership services and benefits, counsellor registration efforts, counsellor training accreditation, and the promotion of counselling within Australia. These four activities demonstrate how the ACA supports and represents counselling in an inclusive manner across Australia for the benefit of a broad range of Australians. Specifically, the membership services and benefits provided by the ACA include a tiered and inclusive membership structure, encouraging all who engage in counselling to be involved in a professional organization and continuing education efforts; a journal that contains both practitioner and peer reviewed articles; information dissemination via an electronic mail service; and access to advertisements in local phone books. Moreover, the ACA is proud to work under a policy of ready access, which involves timely responses to communications from counsellors as well as the public and the availability of toll‐free calling. National and local continuing education efforts are also organized in the form of conferences and seminars. The ACA has also contributed to counselling regulatory efforts via the setting of training standards and the creation of a national register of counsellors. Moreover, the ACA has engaged in government and insurance lobbying efforts as well as various community projects, such as the rural counselling project.