...Case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) This article provides an overview of eGovernment and its role in revolutionising existing governmental systems. It argues that in order for eGovernment initiatives to truly succeed, we need to develop public trust and confidence to promote diffusion and participation. The article relates this to the recently announced UAE eGovernment Strategic Framework 2011-2013. The framework attempts to promote the electronic transformation of all government services within a period of three years. An important component of the strategic framework in question is the use of the existing national identity management infrastructure and the development of a government-owned federated identity management system to support Governmentto-Citizen (G2C) eGovernment transactions and promote trust and confidence on the Internet. Dr. Ali M. Al-Khouri United Arab Emirates Keywords eGovernment, identity management, federated identity, identity card. Government-owned identity management systems that provide secure, unique and tamper-proof digital identities should become a primary component of national eGovernment strategies. Such federated identity systems can gain higher levels of trust, confidence and encourage public participation and has the potential to enable new levels of collaboration between different government agencies. European Journal of ePractice · www.epracticejournal.eu Nº 17 · September 2012 · ISSN: 1988-625X 126 1. Introduction ...
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...obsolescent, undesirable and non-viable form of administration, and that there is an inevitable and irreversible paradigmatic shift towards market- or network organization. In contrast, the paper argues that contemporary democracies are involved in another round in a perennial debate and ideological struggle over what are desirable forms of administration and government, that is, a struggle over institutional identities and institutional balances. The argument is not that bureaucratic organization is a panacea and the answer to all challenges of public administration. Rather, bureaucratic organization is part of a repertoire of overlapping, supplementary and competing forms co-existing in contemporary democracies, and so are market-organization and network-organization. Rediscovering Weber’s analysis of bureaucratic organization, then, enriches our understanding of public administration. This is in particular true when we (a) include bureaucracy as an institution, and not only an instrument; (b) look at the empirical studies in their time and context, and not only at Weber’s ideal-types and predictions; and (c) take into account the political and normative order bureaucracy is part of, and not only the internal characteristics of “the bureau”. 2 Making sense of public administration Is “bureaucracy” an organizational dinosaur helplessly involved in its death struggle? Is it an undesirable and non-viable form of administration developed in a legalistic and authoritarian...
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...capacity of government to be open to criticism as well as the application of new social contract between all stakeholders, confirming a shared responsibility on the transformation processes. The interaction between a citizen and a government agency takes place in a government office. With emerging Information and Communication technologies it is possible to locate service centers closed to clients. In all the cases public traditionally look for information and services addressing his or her needs and in both cases quality, relevance and efficiency are of paramount importance. Therefore, the establishment of e-Governance requires a good knowledge of the needs that exist in the society and that can be offered using ICT. The effectiveness of ICT in government is closely related with the capacity of government to induce a culture change-placing network within its institutions as instrumental to transparency and knowledge exchange and creation. 37 3.2. Conceptualization E-governance may be defined as delivery of government services and information to the public using electronic means. Such means of delivering information is often referred to as...
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...Rethinking the Regional Novel In the previous chapters, I have discussed the polemics of the regional novel during the course of its evolution as a special category. An attempt was made there to trace their development in the British, Indian, and Telugu literary traditions. The British regional novel is a different phenomenon from that of the regional novel in India. Yet, there have been some important continuities in the genre. Preoccupations with landscape as also with identity conflicts have continued as distinctive components of the regional novel. As the introduction discusses, such developments are partly products of the socioeconomic milieu of the writers. In this concluding section, I return to that assertion and draw together some observations, discussions and arguments to offer my views on what might actually have gone into the making of the regional novel. Firstly, I review the major queries regarding the nature of the "region" and the "regional novel" that have cropped up during the course of the thesis and consider how they might be explained. "There is no universally accepted definition of the region," observes Norton Ginsberg, (qtd. in Cohn 101) The study comes out with the hypothesis that the "region" cannot be given one particular identity and definition. When we come across labels like Regional College of Education, Regional Engineering College, etc, we are bound to associate the region with something local and inferior as opposed to the National and the...
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...At a time of high federal budget deficits and unsustainable growth in health care costs, there is general agreement on the need to eliminate unnecessary spending in health care--and among the leading candidates are fraud and abuse. Despite ongoing, concerted efforts, making meaningful inroads has not been easy."Fraud" refers to illegal activities in which someone gets something of value without having to pay for it or earn it, such as kickbacks or billing for services that were not provided. "Abuse" occurs when a provider or supplier bends rules or doesn't follow good medical practices, resulting in unnecessary costs or improper payments. Examples include the over-use of services or the providing of unnecessary tests. (Another area, "waste," refers to health care that is not effective, and will be the subject of a separate Health Policy Brief.)Endowed with new powers under the Affordable Care Act and the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has been adopting new tools to curb fraud and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The new approach amounts to a paradigm shift from the earlier model, in which CMS paid providers first, then sought to chase down fraud and abuse after the fact--a process known as "pay and chase."This policy brief focuses on eliminating fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid and explores the challenges involved in putting the new tools into place. | What's the background? | The true annual cost of...
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...dominated by overtly material (i.e. military) power. Recently, some scholars have reframed soft power — specifically the key notion of attraction — as a narrative and linguistic process. This literature, however, has downplayed some of the other deep-seated underpinnings of soft power, which this article argues lie in the dynamics of affect. Building upon the International Relations affect and aesthetics literatures, this article develops the concept of soft power as rooted in the political dynamics of emotion and introduces the concept of affective investment. The attraction of soft power stems not only from its cultural influence or narrative construction, but more fundamentally from audiences’ affective investments in the images of identity that it produces. The empirical import of these ideas is offered in an analysis of the construction of American attraction in the war on terror. Keywords Affect, discourse, emotion, narrative, Nye, soft power Introduction In her confirmation hearings in January 2009 before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton argued that to deal with a multiplicity of pressing global issues, the US ‘must...
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...RETHINKING THE (EUROPEAN) FOUNDATIONS OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION: A POLITICAL ECONOMY ESSAY by Peter Draper Research area: African Economic Outlook September 2010 Working Paper No. 293 Rethinking the (European) Foundations of Sub-Saharan African Regional Economic Integration: A Political Economy Essay DEV/DOC(2010)10 2 © OECD 2010 DEVELOPMENT CENTRE WORKING PAPERS This series of working papers is intended to disseminate the Development Centre’s research findings rapidly among specialists in the field concerned. These papers are generally available in the original English or French, with a summary in the other language. Comments on this paper would be welcome and should be sent to the OECD Development Centre, 2 rue André Pascal, 75775 PARIS CEDEX 16, France; or to dev.contact@oecd.org. Documents may be downloaded from: http://www.oecd.org/dev/wp or obtained via e-mail (dev.contact@oecd.org). THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED AND ARGUMENTS EMPLOYED IN THIS DOCUMENT ARE THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE AUTHOR AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THOSE OF THE OECD OR OF THE GOVERNMENTS OF ITS MEMBER COUNTRIES ©OECD (2010) Applications for permission to reproduce or translate all or part of this document should be sent to rights@oecd.org CENTRE DE DÉVELOPPEMENT DOCUMENTS DE TRAVAIL Cette série de documents de travail a pour but de diffuser rapidement auprès des spécialistes dans les domaines concernés les résultats des travaux de recherche du Centre...
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...traits and behaviors have garnered much sociological interest, which mostly falls into two competing perspectives: cultural studies and public health. In this paper, we review what raves look like today compared to their high point in the 1990s. We then discuss how the cultural studies and public health perspectives define raves and have studied them over time, focusing on the “pet” sociological concepts each has sought to advance. Our analysis of these literatures reveals important differences in rave research by country and over time. We end by discussing the politics associated with the shift in rave research. Introduction Society has been greatly influenced by many alternative scenes, subcultures, or lifestyles oriented around music, youth and young adults (Epstein 1998). Some of the more notable ones include the English punk scene in the 1970s- 1980s, the U.S. jazz (1930s-1940s) and hippie scenes (1970s), and the 1990s rave scenes in the U.K. and U.S. From them have come musical innovation, social identity, fashion and other aesthetic nuances, and mainstream and alternative cultural production. Increasingly, sociology has used scenes and lifestyles to investigate and clarify many of the discipline’s fundamental concepts and ideas. For example, Becker (1963) used the 1940s U.S. jazz scene to elucidate notions of deviant identity, subculture, and social control. In the U.K., scholars from the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) used the English...
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...------------------------------------------------- Social Science Research Council From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the American organization. For the British organization, see Economic and Social Research Council. | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. Please discuss further on the talk page. (June 2013) | Social Science Research Council | Social Science Research Council | Motto | Necessary Knowledge for the Public Good | Formation | 1923 | Type | Social Sciences Think tank | Location | * Brooklyn, New York, USA | President | Ira Katznelson | Website | www.ssrc.org | The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is a U.S.-based independent nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing research in the social sciences and related disciplines. Established in Manhattan in 1923, it today maintains a headquarters in Brooklyn Heights with a staff of approximately 70, and small regional offices in other parts of the world on an as-needed basis. The SSRC offers several fellowships to young researchers in the social sciences and related disciplines, mostly for overseas fieldwork. Contents [hide] * 1 History * 1.1 Early history * 1.2 Post-World War II * 1.3 Post-Cold War * 1.4 Past presidents * 2 Fellowships and other awards * 3 Resources ...
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...networks, directly but also indirectly via interest in the political issue and the perception of the organization’s effectiveness . This last result highlights the close interweaving between social ties and individual effectiveness. In other words, it stresses the interconnectedness of relational factors and human agency, and demonstrates that both structuralist and rationalist accounts are indispensable to explanation of individual participation. Conclusion Social networks matter, but they do so by performing various functions in the process of individual participation. They intervene at least three different ways. First, they intervene in the socialization and construction of identities. In this function, networks yield structures of meaning that enable individuals to create (or to solidify) identities and to establish cultural proximity with a specific political contention, usually in the long run. Here networks create an initial disposition to participate by developing specific meaning structures. As we have seen, only social networks...
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...RETHINKING THE EAST ASIAN MIRACLE JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ AND SHAHID YUSUF Editors RETHINKING THE EAST ASIA MIRACLE JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ AND SHAHID YUSUF Editors A copublication of the World Bank and Oxford University Press i Oxford University Press Oxford • New York • Athens • Auckland • Bangkok • Bogotá • Buenos Aires • Calcutta • Cape Town • Chennai • Dar es Salaam • Delhi • Florence • Hong Kong • Istanbul • Karachi • Kuala Lumpur • Madrid • Melbourne • Mexico City • Mumbai • Nairobi • Paris • São Paulo • Singapore • Taipei • Tokyo • Toronto • Warsaw and associated companies in Berlin • Ibadan © 2001 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, USA Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Cover design and interior design by Naylor Design, Washington, D.C. Manufactured in the United States of America First printing June 2001 1 2 3 4 04 03 02 01 The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this study are entirely those of the authors and should not be attributed in any manner to the World Bank, to its affiliated organizations...
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...Decentralization and Devolution: Educational Implications of the Praetorian Interpretation By Baela Raza Jamil Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi Public Trust September 2002 Decentralization and Devolution: Educational Implications of the Praetorian Interpretation Pakistan has a diverse ethnic population of 142 million people, with 32.2 percent people living below the poverty line (I-PRSP, 2001). It is a federation with four provinces and four federally administered territories[1]. For three decades the country experienced a process of increasing centralization in decision-making, resource management and service delivery. During that period, governments were set up under Islamic Socialism, martial law, experiments with democracy by eight governments, and another military take over. Democratic institutions and service delivery eroded at each reconstruction of the state. To offset poor governance, a process of devolution has been initiated through establishment of local governments across Pakistan. The principle of inclusion through political decentralization was meant to provide institutional entitlements for voice and action. Direct elections were held at the union council level (encompassing a population of 25,000, covering 5-7 villages or more settlements) in 2000 for 21 representatives. As the result of a countywide mobilization drive thirty-three percent seats were reserved for women, an unprecedented accomplishment in Pakistan’s history. In addition, six seats...
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...Table of Contents List of Acronyms 1 SDPI Management Structure 2 SDPI Board of Governors 3 SDPI Mandate 4 About SDPI 5 1996-97: An Overview 6 Research Programme 8 Collaborative Research Projects 13 Reaching Out 15 Advocacy and Networking 20 Capacity Building 24 Management and Support Services 28 Annexures: I. SDPI Seminar Series 30 II. SDPI Staff 32 III. List of Project/Research Partners 33 IV. SDPI Members 34 V. Linkages and Networks 35 VI. Auditor’s Report 36 |List of Acronyms | | | | | | | |ASDCs Annual Sustainable Development Conferences | |CBO Community Based Organisation | |CBR Central Board of Revenue...
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...systems. But as soon as the tribals relation with forest got transformed due to progressive assertion of state monopoly rights over large areas of forest. It has resulted in large scale eviction and uprooting of traditional tribal villages. The relationship that existed between tribal social organization and the forest was completely upset as a result of these policies. In the ongoing process of liberalization, privatization and globalization, new markets challenges has been forced the state to divert the forest land for large corporations. This marked the beginning of a new forest governance system that was alien, induced and most particularly that excluded forest –dependent communities in the name of scientific forestry, public interest, national development, conservation and industrial growth. Due to this in humane policies have eroded their life styles and simultaneously the assertion of state primacy over natural resources deprived them of an important means of subsistence. In this context, the objective paper is an attempt to analysis whether the colonial and post colonial forest policies is a historical justice or injustice towards tribal’s community. The first part of the paper deals with the role of forest in the social-economic life of tribal’s and second sections explains the state control over forest resources. The...
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...| Disparity of Healthcare for AIDS/HIV Patients | Lana Iris English 12312/15/14 | Disparity of Healthcare with Patients with AIDS/HIV For the last thirty years AIDS/HIV has been a controversial topic, but more recently, the disease itself has not been controversial but the disparity in receiving proper care both in prevention modalities and active treatment for the disease. While the Obama administration has taken steps toward the elimination of these disparities through the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and Implementation Plan, there is still much work to be done. This brief highlights underexplored explanations for these disparities and outlines possible solutions to begin addressing them. Oftentimes, popular culture has offered unfortunately erroneous explanations for the stark racial disparate impact of HIV/ AIDS. The mass media, for example, has suggested that black men “on the down low” infect black women by secretly sleeping with male partners, acting as a bisexual “bridge” between gay and straight communities. But public health scholars have found little support for this theory. Many may assume that black people suffer from greater HIV prevalence because they are considered less sexually responsible than whites. Yet several studies have shown that black women and black men who have sex with men—the two groups most severely impacted by HIV/AIDS—have similar numbers of sexual partners and use condoms as often as their white counterparts. Thus, behavioral risk factors...
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