Addressing climate vulnerability : promoting the participatory rights of indigenous peoples and women through Finnish foreign policy

Julkaistu versi

Complexity Theory, Adaptation, and Administrative Law

Recently, commentators have applied insights from complexity theory to legal analysis generally and to administrative law in particular. This Article focuses on one of the central problems that complexity. theory addresses, the importance and mechanisms of adaptation within complex systems. In Part I, the Article uses three features of complex adaptive systems-emergence from self-assembly, nonlinearity, and sensitivity to initial conditions-and explores the extent to which they may add value as a matter of positive analysis to the understanding of change within legal systems. In Part H, the Article focuses on three normative claims in public law scholarship that depend explicitly or implicitly on notions of adaptation: that states offer advantages over the federal government because experimentation can make them more adaptive, that federal agencies should themselves become more experimentalist using the tool of adaptive management, and that administrative agencies shou Id adopt collaborative mechanisms in policymaking. Using two analytic tools found in the complexity literature, the genetic algorithm and evolutionary game theory, the Article tests the extent to which these three normative claims are borne out

International Research Project on Job Retention and Return to Work Strategies for Disabled Workers: Canada

[Excerpt] The International Research Project on Job Retention and Return to Work Strategies for Disabled Workers is an initiative of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Global Applied Research and Information Network on Employment and Training (GLADNET). It reflects ILO and GLADNET joint aims of establishmg a base for cross-national research and strengthening links between research analysis and policy reform in the field of employment of disabled people. The Project is a response to a combination of developments which highlight the need for more effective policies and practices in support of workers whose prospects of remaining in employment are jeopardised by work injury, illness or disability. Persons with disabilities are increasingly claiming rights to stay in work as well as to access employment. Pressures on state budgets, the rising costs of compensation claims and disability benefits, and changes in the structure of the labour market are strengthening policies in favour of job retention and return to work. Enterprises are developing their own strategies to minimise the costs of disability and to retain valued employees. Overall, the balance of responsibility is shifting from the state to the enterprise. Policies and practices to prevent disabled workers from leaving work unnecessarily, and to facilitate rapid return to employment if job loss cannot be prevented, are recent developments in many countries. The cross-national exchange of information on initiatives and their effects is limited. The first aim of this Project has been to gather information about what has been attempted, by whom, for what purposes, in which contexts and to what effects. The second, more ambitious, aim, is to examine the interaction between the various policies and practices, identify dysfunctions, and work towards more coherent and cost-effective strategies for job retention and return to work which might be applied in different national systems. The ultimate objective is to identify strategies which can be put into effect in the workplace

Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment of People With Disabilities: Report of a European Conference

[From Overview] The European Conference on Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities was held in Warsaw, Poland, on 23-25 October 2003. The Conference was organized jointly by the Ministry of Economy, Labour and Social Policy of the Republic of Poland and the International Labour Organization’s Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia in Geneva and Subregional Office in Budapest, in cooperation with the Central European Initiative. The overall purpose of the European Conference was to review the progress of legislation and practice over the past ten years in the field of vocational rehabilitation of persons with disabilities and the improvement of their labour market situation, particularly in countries in the process of transition; to discuss issues connected with the adjustment to European Union standards of legislation on the vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities; and to develop recommendations that would provide guidelines for activities and instruments aimed at promoting the vocational activity of persons with disabilities and supporting their employment

International Research Project on Job Retention and Return to Work Strategies for Disabled Workers: Germany

[Excerpt] The International Research Project on Job Retention and Return to Work Strategies for Disabled Workers is an initiative of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Global Applied Research and Information Network on Employment and Training (GLADNET). It reflects ILO and GLADNET joint aims of establishing a base for cross-national research and strengthening links between research analysis and policy reform in the field of employment of disabled people. The Project is a response to a combination of developments which highlight the need for more effective policies and practices in support of workers whose prospects of remaining in employment are jeopardised by work injury, illness or disability. Persons with disabilities are increasingly claiming rights to stay in work as well as to access employment. Pressures on state budgets, the rising costs of compensation claims and disability benefits, and changes in the structure of the labour market are strengthening policies in favour of job retention and return to work. Enterprises are developing their own strategies to minimise the costs of disability and to retain valued employees. Overall, the balance of responsibility is shifting from the state to the enterprise. Policies and practices to prevent disabled workers from leaving work unnecessarily, and to facilitate rapid return to employment if job loss cannot be prevented, are recent developments in many countries. The cross-national exchange of information on initiatives and their effects is limited. The first aim of this Project has been to gather information about what has been attempted, by whom, for what purposes, in which contexts and to what effects. The second, more ambitious, aim, is to examine the interaction between the various policies and practices, identify dysfunctions, and work towards more coherent and cost-effective strategies for job retention and return to work which might be applied in different national systems. The ultimate objective is to identify strategies which can be put into effect in the workplace

International Research Project on Job Retention and Return to Work Strategies for Disabled Workers: Key Issues

[From Preface] The International Research Project on Job Retention and Return to Work Strategies for Disabled Workers breaks new ground by examining the inter-relationships of public and enterprise policies and practices as they affect the retention and return to work of disabled workers. The enquiry encompasses public policies to promote employment of disabled people; benefit and compensation programmes; employment support and rehabilitation services; provision to adapt work and workplace; and measures developed and implemented by the enterprise. The Project aims not only to identify successful policies and practices which are transferable from one country to another but also to inform the development of effective, efficient and equitable job retention and return to work strategies for disabled workers. The ultimate objective is to develop strategies which can be put into effect in the workplace

A közpolitikákra ható EU-integrációs mechanizmusok – a hulladékgazdálkodás példáján = EU integration mechanisms affecting public policies in the case of waste management

Az Európai Uniónak a tagállami közpolitikákra irányuló integrációs tevékenysége, kormányzási stílusa az elmúlt másfél évtizedben jelentős tanulási folyamaton ment keresztül. A jogi eszközök használata mellett előtérbe kerültek a koordináció úgynevezett nyílt eszközei, amelyek a kötelező alkalmazkodás mellett – azt kiegészítve – a tapasztalatcserén alapuló ösztönzést is érvényesítik. A környezetvédelem európai mintáinak terjesztése során az Unió sokat tanult a korábbi bővítések tapasztalataiból, és a jogharmonizáció mellett komoly erőforrásokat is rendelt az újonnan csatlakozó országok jogalkalmazási kapacitásának fejlesztéséhez. Az alkalmazkodási folyamat nem egyenletesen érvényesült a szóban forgó közpolitika vala-mennyi dimenziójában. Míg az eszközök - különösen a jogi eszközök - tekintetében a hazai hulladék-gazdálkodás alaposan hozzáidomult az uniós mintákhoz, addig e részpolitika céljai sok esetben csak szavakban alkalmazkodtak az EU által követendőnek tekintett célokhoz. Ez azt jelenti, hogy a kormányzást erősebben vezérelték az infrastrukturális és az anyagi adottságok és a kormányzati hagyományok, mint a deklarált célok. Eközben a kormányzat környezetvédelmi intézményrendszerének fejlődése olyan pályán haladt, amely nagy valószínűséggel az ország európai integrációja nélkül is hasonlóképpen valósult volna meg. Ez alól kivételt éppen azok az intézményi magatartásminták képeznek, amelyek a többszintű kormányzásra vonatkoznak. Nevezetesen azok a széles eszköztárat megmozgató törekvések, amelyek össze kívánják hangolni a kormányzat különböző szintjei, a gazdasági ágazatok és a civil szféra érdekeit, nagy részben az uniós szabályokra és finanszírozási feltételekre reagálva alakultak ki. . . The European Union’s integration activity and style of governance directed at the public policy of member states has undergone a major learning process over the last fifteen years. Apart from using legal means, so-called open methods of coordination have come to the fore, which, besides – indeed complementing – compulsory adaptation, have asserted incentives based on the exchange of experiences. In the course of the spread of the European pattern of environmental protection, the EU has learnt a great deal from its earlier enlargements, and in addition to legal harmonisation it has allocated substantial resources for the development of the capacity for the enforcement of the Acquis Communautaire in the new acceding countries. The adaptational process has not been evenly effective in every dimension of the public policy in question. While waste management in Hungary has thoroughly fallen into line with the EU patterns as regards tools – especially legal tools –, the declared objectives of this policy area in many cases only pay lip service to the objectives recommended by the EU . This means that governance has been guided by the infrastructural and material conditions, moreover by governmental traditions more forcefully than by the declared objectives. During the last 15 years the government’s environmental institution building has proceeded along a course which in all probability would have been followed in a similar manner without Hungary’s integration into Europe. An exception to this is exactly the institutional behaviour patterns which concern multi-level governance. That is to say, those efforts to mobilise a wide range of tools that seek to harmonise the interests of different levels of government, economic sectors and civil society have to a large extent developed in reaction to EU regulations and financing conditions

Natural resources conservation management and strategies in agriculture

This paper suggests a holistic framework for assessment and improvement of management strategies for conservation of natural resources in agriculture. First, it incorporates an interdisciplinary approach (combining Economics, Organization, Law, Sociology, Ecology, Technology, Behavioral and Political Sciences) and presents a modern framework for assessing environmental management and strategies in agriculture including: specification of specific “managerial needs” and spectrum of feasible governance modes (institutional environment; private, collective, market, and public modes) of natural resources conservation at different level of decision-making (individual, farm, eco-system, local, regional, national, transnational, and global); specification of critical socio-economic, natural, technological, behavioral etc. factors of managerial choice, and feasible spectrum of (private, collective, public, international) managerial strategies; assessment of efficiency of diverse management strategies in terms of their potential to protect diverse eco-rights and investments, assure socially desirable level of environmental protection and improvement, minimize overall (implementing, third-party, transaction etc.) costs, coordinate and stimulate eco-activities, meet preferences and reconcile conflicts of individuals etc. Second, it presents evolution and assesses the efficiency of diverse management forms and strategies for conservation of natural resources in Bulgarian agriculture during post-communist transformation and EU integration (institutional, market, private, and public), and evaluates the impacts of EU CAP on environmental sustainability of farms of different juridical type, size, specialization and location. Finally, it suggests recommendations for improvement of public policies, strategies and modes of intervention, and private and collective strategies and actions for effective environmental protection