The World\u27s Most Powerful International Court? The Centrual American Court of Justice and the Quest for De Facto Authority (1907-2020)

The original Central American Court of Justice (CACJ) is often referenced as the world’s first international court (IC). Functioning from 1907 to 1918, and commonly known as the Cartago Court, this court was the first-ever IC and a precursor to the Permanent Court of Justice, or “World Court”, established in 1922 in The Hague. The CACJ does, however, hold another record. The current incarnation of the court – established in 1994, in Managua, Nicaragua as the judicial arm of the Central American System of Economic Integration (Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana (SICA) – which is the world’s most powerful international court, formally speaking. The 1991 Protocol of Tegucigalpa (the Protocol)and the 1992 Statute of the CACJ (the Statute)6 provide the Court with remarkably extensive powers. The CACJ is competent to rule as an inter-state IC, as a European Union (E.U.)-style regional economic court, as a supranational constitutional court, and as an arbitral tribunal. Access to the Court is also broad and, in fact, broader than that of the Court of Justice of the European Union (C.J.E.U.) and similar regional economic ICs. In addition to states, individuals, national judges, and other private entities have standing before the Court, making it par excellence a “new style” IC; that is to say, an IC with compulsory jurisdiction and access for non-state actors to initiate litigation

Henimod entreprenant miljøpraksis - en præliminær analyse af dansk miljøekspertise som socialt felt

From militant to entrepreneu-rial environmental practice: on the construction and trans-formation of a Danish field of environmental expertise By tracing the trajectories of holders of environmental expertise, this article attempts to understand the social construction of environmental protection measures in Denmark. The focus is not on these measures, per se, but rather on them as the product of inter-professional battles in, out and around that state. With an analytical starting point in the reflexive sociology developed by Pierre Bourdieu, the social space in which these struggles are taking place is seen as an open fluid field constituted by a mixture of loosely connected symbolic practices occupying different (and changing) positions within the field of state power. The article argues that the environmental space was initially dominated by a group of older lawyers and social scientists and was reconstructed by the arrival of young engineers and biologists, who came from the radicalized parts of the university milieu and similar social networks. The environmental field has recently developed in several directions. The original experts are still involved in the mainstream technical way of dealing with the environment. At the same time they are links to a new generation of environmental experts engaged in market-oriented symbolic investments in eco-management and accountancy. The success of the environmental movement has caused both renewed interest and a diffusion of the groups of agents at the same time

First Semester Nursing Student Perceptions of Their Knowledge of and Difficulties in Performing Supportive Caring Actions

Students in nursing education do not need to have any experience of having worked in healthcare prior to entering the programme. A total of 123 students rated their perceived knowledge and degree of difficulty in performing supportive caring actions during the first semester of their nursing education. The study, which has a descriptive approach, has been carried out using the Verbal and Social Interaction for Nursing Students (VSI-NS) questionnaire that contains four factors: Inviting to talk about feeling and thoughts, Building a caring relationship, Encouraging social and practical aspects in daily life and Caring towards health and well-being. The results of the study showed that the nursing students rated a high level of knowledge about supportive caring actions, but that these could be difficult to perform. The only significant difference was between male and female nursing students, where the male nursing students considered that it was more difficult to create a caring relationship than their female counterparts. Résumé Les étudiantes et étudiants en sciences infirmières n\u27ont pas d’expérience de travail dans un milieu de santé avant d\u27entrer dans le programme. Une étude auprès de 123 d’entre eux a permis de collecter des données quant à leurs connaissances perçues et à leur degré de difficulté à effectuer des actions de soins de soutien au cours du premier semestre de leur formation en sciences infirmières. L’étude descriptive a été menée en utilisant le questionnaire Verbal and Social Interaction for Nursing Students (VSI-NS), qui comprend quatre dimensions : inviter à parler de ses sentiments et de ses pensées, établir une relation de caring, promouvoir les aspects sociaux et pratiques de la vie quotidienne et prendre soin de sa santé et de son bien-être. Les résultats de l\u27étude ont montré que les étudiantes et étudiants en sciences infirmières percevaient qu’ils avaient un niveau élevé de connaissances sur les actions de soins de soutien, mais que ces actions pouvaient être difficiles à mettre en œuvre. La seule différence significative identifiée était entre les étudiants hommes et les étudiantes femmes; les étudiants hommes trouvaient plus difficiles que les étudiantes femmes d’établir une relation de caring

Nursing students’ perceptions of their verbal and social interaction skills in Sweden and China during their first semester

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the similarities and differences related to verbal and social interaction skills between nursing students attending universities in Sweden and China, two countries with different educational systems, during the students’ first semester. Background: Nurses need a high level of interaction skills in order to interact effectively with patients and their families. Thus, practical nursing education focusing on clinical skills is essential. Method: Students at one university in Sweden and two universities in China completed the Verbal and Social Interactions for Nursing Students (VSI-NS) questionnaire. Results: The students perceived ‘Building a caring relationship’ and ‘Caring towards health and well-being’ as the most frequently occurring and important types of caring interactions. The students perceived that talking with a patient about his/her feelings and thoughts was the least frequently occurring and least important type of caring interaction. Conclusion: The students appear to understand from the initial phase of their education that the caring relationship and the patients’ health and well-being will be the major focus of their role as nurses. Résumé But : Cette étude visait à étudier les similitudes et les différences liées aux habiletés d’interaction verbale et sociale entre des étudiantes en sciences infirmières d’universités en Suède et en Chine, deux pays avec des systèmes d’enseignement différents, au cours du premier semestre des étudiantes. Contexte : Les infirmières ont besoin d’un niveau élevé d’habiletés interactionnelles afin d’interagir avec les patients et leurs familles. Ainsi, il est essentiel qu’elles puissent bénéficier d’une formation en sciences infirmières axée sur les habiletés cliniques. Méthode : Des étudiantes d’une université en Suède et de deux universités en Chine ont rempli le questionnaire Verbal and Social Interactions for Nursing Students (Interactions verbales et sociales pour les étudiantes en sciences infirmières; VSI-NS). Résultats : Les étudiantes percevaient qu’« Établir une relation de caring » et « Se soucier de la santé et du bien-être » étaient les formes d’interactions caring les plus fréquentes et les plus importantes. Les étudiantes ont perçu que parler avec un patient de ses sentiments et de ses pensées était le type d’interaction de caring le moins fréquent et le moins important. Conclusion : Les étudiantes semblent comprendre dès le début de leur formation que la relation de caring ainsi que la santé et le bien-être des patients se trouveront au centre de leur rôle d’infirmière