Germany’s changing Baltic policy: competing norms in German foreign policy in light of the Ukraine crisis

Since the reunification of Germany and the end of the Cold War the scholarly debate about continuity and change in German foreign policy is controversial. This study follows the assumption of continuity in German foreign policy and chooses an constructivist approach to analyze the influence of domestic foreign policy norms on Germany‘s approach toward the three Baltic states. It is argued that regarding the Baltic states Germany’s continuity of Ostpolitik and Westbindung lead to different types of policy. With the EU and NATO membership of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in 2004, the German approach toward the Baltic states is since then characterized by two competing foreign policy norms. In light of the Ukraine crisis and the annexation of Crimea in March 2014 by Russia, this study argues that the competing norms in German Baltic policy devises different responses to the increasing security concerns of the Baltic states. In a cross-temporal case comparison this study show how different aspects of German Baltic policy are carried out before and after 2014. Drawing on constructivist scholarship these changes are explained by a changing domestic norm prioritization that is captured by analyzing parliamentary debates of the German Bundedstag. By linking the aspects of German Baltic policy to the normative expectations of Ostpolitik and Westbindung based on parliamentary debates, it is suggested that prior to March 2014 the German Baltic policy was more likely driven by the norm of Ostpolitik whereas after March 2014 the norm of Westbindung was prioritized.http://www.ester.ee/record=b4646746*es

The impact of information on patient preferences in different delivery patterns : a contingent valuation study of prescription versus OTC drugs

Our analysis assessed the impact of information on patients' preferences in prescription vs over-the-counter (OTC) delivery systems. A contingent valuation (CV) study was implemented, randomly assigning 1594 people into the receipt of limited or extended information concerning new influenza drugs. In each information arm, people answered two questions: the first asked about willingness to pay (WTP) for the new prescription drug; the second asked about WTP for the same drug sold OTC. We show that WTP is higher for the OTC scenario and that the level of information plays a significant role in the valuation of the OTC scenario, with more information increasing the WTP. In contrast, the level of information has no impact on WTP for prescription medicine. Thus, for the kind of drug (i.e. safe, not requiring medical supervision) considered here, a switch to OTC status can be expected to be all the more beneficial as the patient is provided with more information concerning the capability of the drug. Conclusions: Our results shed some light on one of the most challenging issues that health policy makers are currently faced with, namely the threat of a bird flu pandemic. Drug delivery is a critical component of pandemic influenza preparedness. Furthermore, the congruence of our results with the agency and demand theories provides an important test of the validity of using WTP based on CV methods.WTP, CV, OTC versus prescription, neuraminidase inhibitors, interval-censored regression

Imagining the Third World War: Discussions about NATO´s conventional defence in the 1970s

Imagining the Third World War: Discussions about NATO´s conventional defence in the 1970

Eliciting educated preferences of health care professionals : cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis of Amphotericine B

[Contents] 1. Introduction. 2. Cost-effectiveness analysis. 3. Results. 4. Conculusion of the cost-effectiveness analysis. 6. Cost benefit analysis. 7. The contingent valuation method or "willingness to pay" (WTP). 8. Pilot study to elicit educated preferences from health care professionals for high cost antifungal drugs. 9. Results. 10. Conclusion. At the University Hospital (CHUV), global budget put a major constraint on all departments and services. In this context, it happened that the division of infectious diseases experienced for several years important deficits in their drug budget, due to the use of systemic antifungal drugs. A cost-effectiveness analysis has been performed, in order to establish a valid policy about the use of available antifungal drugs. During the cost-effectiveness evaluation, the discussions with the medical and nursing team showed that they had clear drug preferences. Therefore, the author was interested in investigating the problem of drug preferences and their impact on drug choices. In a pilot study , he used the willingness to pay (WTP) method to show the possibilities and limits of this method as a tool for evaluating educated preferences of health care professionals. This study, will, after an introductory part, present both the cost-effectiveness analysis and the cost-benefit analysis, which was based on the results of the previous study