bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
(487) Long-term Outcomes Following Partial Plaque Excision and Grafting (PEG) for Peyronie’s Disease and Subanalysis of Patients Who Undergo PEG Despite Pre-operative Counseling Against PEG
Authors: Langbo W , Wang V , Yoon J , Roadman D , Bajic P , Levine L
Published: May 2023

Introduction

Peyronie’s Disease (PD) is a debilitating condition characterized by progressive scarring of the tunica albuginea. The resulting deformities are often emotionally devastating to patients, and include erectile dysfunction, painful erections, penile curvature, indentation, hourglass, and hinge deformities. According to previously published surgical algorithm for PD in 1997, partial plaque excision and grafting (PEG) is recommended for patients with >60 degree curvature +/− hinge and strong pre-operative erections while placement of an inflatable penile prosthesis (IPP) is recommended when rigidity is sub-optimal.* Nevertheless, many patients counseled to undergo an IPP refuse and insist on proceeding with PEG due to personal preference. We hypothesize that men counseled to undergo IPP but choose to undergo PEG will report lower satisfaction rates and reduced ability to engage in sexual intercourse post-operatively.

Objective

Our objective was to evaluate and compare long-term patient-reported outcomes in men who underwent PEG at a single institution between 2007 and 2021.

Methods

A retrospective chart review was conducted from 2007 to 2021 on PEG surgeries performed at a single, tertiary-care institution in patients ≥18 years old who had >3 months of follow up.

Results

251 patients underwent PEG with a mean follow up was 35.5 months. 54 patients (22%) were initially advised to undergo IPP but elected for PEG. Of these 54 patients, 17 (32%) had pre-operative 9-10 subjective erectile rigidity, relative to 110 of 197 (56%) patients who were initially counseled to undergo PEG (p=0.002). On duplex penile ultrasound, patients counseled to undergo IPP had a mean objective erectile rigidity of 7.8, compared to a mean objective rigidity of 8.6 in patients initially counseled to undergo PEG (p 15 units for pre-operative duplex ultrasound evaluation were less likely to be able to engage in post-operative intercourse following PEG surgery (48.6%) relative to those who needed <15 units (71.1%) (p=0.02).

Conclusions

Patients who were initially counseled to undergo IPP due to sub-optimal erectile rigidity but elected for PEG procedure had worse post-operative ability to engage in penetrative intercourse. Significantly more of these patients also eventually underwent IPP. Pre-operative trimix dosing <15U is a predictor of post-operative erectile function as it may be reflective of better pre-operative erectile quality. Subjective and objective measures of erectile function appear to be critical predictors of post-operative erectile function in patients who had underwent PEG, confirming the previously published 1997 algorithm on the surgical management of PD.* *J Urol 1997; 158: 2149-52.

Disclosure

Any of the authors act as a consultant, employee or shareholder of an industry for: Boston Scientific (Consultant)
(529) Etiology of Erectile Dysfunction in Patients who Underwent Endourological Procedures for Prostate vs. Robotic and Open Radical Prostatectomy.
Authors: Haehn D , Escoda-Diaz C , Geldmaker L , Baird B , Ericson C , Ball C , Broderick G
Published: May 2023

Introduction

Erectile dysfunction continues to be a concern for patients and physicians after surgical treatment of prostate pathology.

Objective

To analyze doppler diagnosis on patients who underwent prostate surgery for benign or malignant pathology of the prostate.

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed all patients who underwent either robotic assisted prostatectomy (RALP), open retropubic prostatectomy (RRP), endoscopic procedures such as greenlight procedure, laser resection of the prostate or transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP); and High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) treatment for prostate pathology and who underwent intracavernous injection followed by Color Doppler Duplex Ultrasound (CDDU) at our institution between 2005 and 2019. CDDU findings were recorded following injection of low dose alprostadil (10-20 mcg) and again after a period of privacy and visual sexual stimulation. CCDU findings including peak systolic velocities (PSV), and resistive indices (RIs) were recorded. Arterial insufficiency (AI) was defined as either a post-stimulation PSV < 25 with any RI or a PSV 25-34.9 with RI≥0.9. Cavernous Venous Occlusion Disease (CVOD) was defined as post-stimulation PSV ≥35 with RI < 0.9. Mixed was defined as post-stimulation PSV 25-34.9 with RI < 0.9. Vascular normal was defined as post-stim PSV ≥ 35 with RI ≥ 0.9.

Results

380/1917 (19.8%) patients had a past surgical history of prostate surgery. 111/380 (29.2%) underwent RRP, 168/380 (44.2%) patients underwent RALP, 85/380 (22.3%) underwent endourological resection of the prostate and 2/380 (0.5%) patients underwent HIFU. Median age for the RALP group was 60.5 (IQR 23.7-82.8), RRP group was 64.2 (29.7-87.7), endourological resection of the prostate 64.6 (30.8 – 85.6) and HIFU 65.0 (46.9-79.4). 87.1% of patients who had an endoscopic procedure were using phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors at the time of CDDU. CVOD was the most common etiology of ED in patients who underwent RRP (28.8%) and Endourological procedures of the prostate (32.9%); In patient who underwent RALP the most common etiology of ED was noted to be AI (28.6%), however none of these values were statistically significant (p=0.428).

Conclusions

There is no difference in etiology of ED in patients who underwent open, robotic or endoscopic manipulation of the prostate as shown by CDDU.

Disclosure

No
Political Philosophy as Rhetoric
Authors: Vatter Miguel
Published: May 2023

This chapter discusses Leo Strauss’s conception of Platonic political philosophy and the role played by rhetoric by comparing it with Hermann Cohen’s reading of Maimonides and Plato. The chapter argues that Strauss views the separation of philosophy from politics as itself a rhetorical ploy intended to shield the political character of first philosophy. The chapter thus discusses the senses in which both philosophy and religion are deeply rhetorical, viz. political discourses. The political character of philosophy is best understood by reconstructing the Platonic ideal of the philosopher king under conditions of prophetic revelation. From this perspective, both Strauss and Cohen hold the view that Athens and Jerusalem, philosophy and revelation, should be understood as being closer to each other than they are usually considered to be.
Marxist Theories of Latin American Social Movements
Authors: Webber Jeffery R.
Published: May 2023

This chapter identifies the core features specific to the Marxist approach to social movements—an emphasis on capitalism, totality, and class—and compares them to competing theoretical perspectives in the context of Latin American debates. Specifically, it distinguishes the Marxist approach to social movements from those theories rooted in identity and New Social Movements, on the one hand, and resource mobilization or political opportunity structures, on the other. It surveys the distinct ways that Latin American Marxism has theorized social movements over its different historical phases, from 1870 to the present. The decisive influence of Peruvian Marxist José Carlos Mariátegui, dependency theory, and Latin American receptions of the work of the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci are emphasized. In the most recent debates on Latin American social movements, Marxist contributions to the themes of territoriality, indigenous struggles, the commons, autonomy, and social movement–state relations are explained.
Repertoires of Contention across Latin America
Authors: Wada Takeshi
Published: May 2023

The idea of repertoires of contention has become one of the core tools in the study of contentious politics and social movements. The main goal of this chapter is to introduce some of the recent studies on repertoires of contention across Latin America and to assess their theoretical contributions to the literature beyond the region. The chapter finds that the idea of repertoires of contention has become an integral part of the study of contentious politics and social movements in Latin America today. To explain the reasons why new and innovative forms of contention emerge in Latin America, scholars look for some of the main causal factors suggested in the repertoire literature including, among others, regime characteristics, material resources, cultural schemas, and collective identities. The chapter then addresses the following question: What insights can these studies on Latin America offer to the general literature of repertoires of contention? It finds some genuine theoretical breakthroughs with the potential to transform the ideas and theories of repertoires of contention and presents three possible research directions, with some pioneering examples from Latin America.
Indigenous Movements in Latin America
Authors: Rice Roberta
Published: May 2023

What are the major characteristics and contributions of indigenous movements to Latin American politics and society? What do indigenous movements teach us about social movement dynamics? This chapter addresses these questions by reviewing the key approaches and debates in the literature on indigenous movements in Latin America. The chapter begins with an examination of the historical roots of indigenous dispossession. It then provides an overview of the theoretical explanations for the sudden and unexpected rise of Indigenous movements during the 1990s, including structural, cultural, and rational choice accounts. The chapter analyzes the characteristics and contributions of indigenous struggles for identity, territory, and autonomy for understanding social movement theory and practice. Particular attention is paid to the multiscalar organizational efforts of indigenous movements and the bridging of protest and electoral coalitions in achieving movement demands. The chapter concludes by charting the course ahead for scholarship on Indigenous movements in the region.
New Social Movements in Latin America and the Changing Socio-political Matrix
Authors: Garretón Manuel Antonio , Selamé Nicolás
Published: May 2023

During the 1970s and 1980s, collective action showed several new traits that generated a debate on studying social movements. These are the distance that social movements were having with the political system, the importance of normative claims and non-material demands, the middle-class social composition, and the centrality of identity. Around these characteristics emerged the concept and study of “New Social Movements” (NSMs), and the attempts not only to understand their ways of action, but also the changes in society that could explain their emergence in contraposition to “traditional movements.” In Latin America, the NSMs concept was due to a new political context, mainly explained by the rise of dictatorships and new links that developed between state and society. The latter describes a different cause than that which started the discussion in Europe and North America. During the 1980s, when the debates started in the region, there were no signs of change in the economic or class structure as it seemed to have happened in the First World. Instead, the decomposition of the socio-political matrix and traditional developmentalist state is more relevant to explain the emergence of NSMs in Latin America. Because of the latter, understanding these movements’ nature draws the attention to certain specificities of the societies in which they unfold, and how movements defy them.
Autonomist Movements in Latin America
Authors: Lopes de Souza Marcelo
Published: May 2023

In Latin America, probably more than in other continents, “autonomy” has been a key political term in the parlance of many activists and movements for the last two or three decades. Some of these movements have been explicitly identified as “autonomist.” Surely there are several common elements behind that heterogeneous landscape. This circumstance is not an accident, as different people at different places have reacted (even if in part differently reacted) to more or less general trends and processes, from the crisis of Marxism-Leninism to the rise of neo-liberalism to the reinvigoration/rediscovering of left-libertarian ideas and tactics such as self-management, horizontality, and decentralization. However, the socio-political landscape around “autonomism” is far less homogeneous than one could perhaps expect. What do the Latin American social movements understand under “autonomism”? Which parameters do they explicitly or implicitly use for defining “autonomy”? Are there any substantive political differences between these movements? Can we find internal discursive or practical contradictions? Where lie the potentialities, and where the limits of these movements? The aim of the chapter is to offer an exploratory answer to these questions.
Right-Wing Movements in Latin America
Authors: Payne Leigh A.
Published: May 2023

The vast enterprise of studies on right-wing movements in Europe only rarely travels outside a few national boundaries. Latin America is excluded from comparative analysis of the phenomenon. The region’s distinctive political history, and particularly its authoritarian past, is assumed to have created right-wing movements that are irrelevant to contemporary social and political life. This chapter challenges such a view. It contends that the parochialism and poverty of existing analytical frameworks for studying right-wing movements—and not the distinctiveness or irrelevance of the region’s movements—have led to the exclusion of the region’s movements from comparative studies. Right-wing movements have recently emerged in the region with a profound impact on Latin American social and political life. Incorporating them contributes to building analytical frameworks capable of traveling across continents, thereby deepening understanding of this important global phenomenon. The chapter uses social movement approaches, specifically political opportunity structure, framing, tactics, and impact, to establish three typologies of right-wing movements in the region: counter-movements, uncivil movements, and neoliberal militarized movements. It then applies this analytical framework to applicable case studies: El Salvador’s anti-abortion counter-movement, Brazil’s anti-LGBT+ uncivil movement, and Colombia’s militarized neoliberal movement.
Revolutionary Movements and Guerrillas in Latin America
Authors: Oikonomakis Leonidas
Published: May 2023

This chapter focuses on the actors of the armed struggle option of Latin American social movements, la via armada. Starting from a discussion of the main theories of Revolution, revolutionary movements and social revolutions, it passes to the more modern concept of revolutions “with a small r” that is gaining prominence in the theory and practice of revolutionary movements in contemporary Latin America. Then, it moves on to present the social (class, gender) and educational background of the guerrilleras/guerrilleros, both leaders and grassroots, the main strategies that have been elaborated and followed by Latin American guerrillas, and how they have evolved in time through trial and error (from foquismo, to the prolonged people’s war, and the Chilean road to socialism). It also analyzes some particularly interesting and unlikely cases of Latin American revolutionaries: poets, priests, and military men. In addition it traces the sources of inspiration and resonance of revolutionary movements and the role of other Latin American states, especially Cuba, in their development. The chapter concludes by arguing that while it seems the age of Latin American Revolutions with a capital R is coming to an end, we may be entering an age of revolutions (with a small r, following John Holloway) in which Revolution has changed meaning, becoming more of a political process, and not so much of a political event.
Resource Mobilization and Political Process Theories in Latin America
Authors: Somma Nicolás M.
Published: May 2023

Resource mobilization theory and political process theory emerged in the 1970s and 1980s in the United States. They quickly became among the most influential approaches for studying social movements. This chapter illustrates their usefulness and limitations for studying Latin American social movements. Specifically, I discuss the extent to which the core claims, scope conditions, and assumptions of resource mobilization and political process theories are adequate for different types of Latin American social movements. I suggest that scholars of Latin American movements have long noted the relevance of resources, strategies, organizations, and political contexts, although with variegated vocabularies. I also argue that these theories provide a powerful perspective for understanding Latin American social movements, and that due to the contextual differences between the United States and Latin America, the latter provides an interesting setting for expanding and refining them.
Religious Groups and Social Movements in Latin America
Authors: Mackin Robert Sean
Published: May 2023

Religious organizations have been the crucibles of social movements from across the political spectrum in Latin America. What is more, scholars agree that the era of Roman Catholic hegemony in Latin America is over. The 1960s were a turning point. Among Roman Catholics, the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) inspired two different and seemingly opposed movements, liberation theology and the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR). The former inspired counter-movements and formal rebukes from the Vatican while the latter eventually won formal recognition from Pope John Paul II. The CCR learned from and adapted to the rapid growth of Protestantism, especially Pentecostalism, in Latin America. While early accounts of Protestant growth emphasized conflict, scholars suggest that Latin America is experiencing the “Pentecostalization of religion” where emotion- and spirit-filled religious services are common in both Pentecostal and many Catholic parishes. What is more, Roman Catholic bishops and Pentecostal leaders have set aside theological differences to denounce so-called morality issues (birth control, abortion, marriage equality for LGBT individuals). Similarly, progressive Catholics and Protestants have formed coalitions to address social justice issues. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the ways the rise of Pentecostalism is affecting gender in families, churches, and the public sphere and suggests future directions in research, including field theory.
Shifting Geographies of Activism and the Spatial Logics of Latin American Social Movements
Authors: Davis Diane E. , Davey Taylor
Published: May 2023

Social movements have played a central role in guiding political developments across Latin America for decades. Which particular groups have led the struggle, with what mobilization strategies and aims, and in which territorial spaces have shifted over time. In contrast to the period between the 1970s and 1990s, when cities hosted a preponderance of social movements clamoring for regime change in Latin America, by the 2000s mobilizations were as likely to emerge in rural as urban areas and to focus on regional livelihoods and conditions. Likewise, when democratization produced new political institutions for claim-making, movements began to use decentralized participatory processes to demand services, infrastructure, and public goods, participating in formal state politics more than challenging them. As movements focused less on regime change and more on everyday conditions, new forms of contestation emerged, with activists adopting spatial tactics to challenge or disrupt conditions and using these strategies as symbolic expressions of dissatisfaction as much as a means for demanding remedial action from the state. This chapter documents and accounts for historical changes in the geography and spatial tactics of Latin American social movements. Drawing on general trends across the region, it identifies new repertoires of mobilization, links them to changing social, political, and economic conditions, and assesses the significance of these shifts for both the theory and practice of social mobilization in contemporary Latin America.
Movements and Territorial Conflicts in Latin America
Authors: Mançano Fernandes Bernardo , Welch Cliff
Published: May 2023

Latin America has undergone an intense struggle for land. Indigenous peoples, peasants, and the descendants of fugitive slaves have resisted the expropriation of their territories for five centuries. This chapter examines land struggles in the region, analyzing territorial domination and resistance. It argues that land occupations have served to promote the cultural survival of peoples being forcefully expropriated. Their expulsion is more than a political or economic problem, it is a societal problem, as it “others” and excludes certain ways of life from the Western Civilization project. The chapter describes how social movements organize to fight for land, how families prepare to change their destinies and how governments and corporations respond to land occupations. The fight for a fraction of territory is a struggle for the basic conditions of life and citizenship. A people cannot live without territory; therefore, groups in every Latin American country permanently question territorial control. A typology helps differentiate between private and public land occupations and processes of land reclamation. The chapter also analyzes diverse strategies of spatial production used by peasants to establish their territories and by original peoples to recover theirs. The study examines the unique characteristics of land occupations by peasants and indigenous peoples, as well as their different social formations and world views. In conclusion, the chapter argues that territorial disputes are also disputes over divergent models of development. Land occupations are fundamental to the agrarian question and will continue to occur so long as land ownership remains concentrated.
Social Movements and Party Politics
Authors: Roberts Kenneth M.
Published: May 2023

Social movements and political parties are often studied in isolation from each other in separate branches of the social sciences, but this divide is artificial and counterproductive. Movements and parties are both collective actors that offer citizens “voice” in the public sphere, and there are numerous points of intersection between them. Indeed, movements and parties can be mutually constitutive, and they reciprocally structure, and sometimes de-structure, mass political representation. The Latin American experience provides numerous examples of this reciprocal structuring, both historically and in the contemporary period. Party systems have often shaped the political opportunity structure for social movements, while mass protest has played a major role in configuring, realigning, and sometimes breaking down party systems. Understanding political representation in the region requires close attention to the interaction between parties and movements and their reciprocal structuring of popular collective subjects.
Network Approaches to Latin America Social Movements
Authors: Spalding Rose J.
Published: May 2023

This chapter analyzes the use of network approaches in recent research on Latin American social movements. It identifies two dominant approaches: formal network analysis involving quantitative analysis of large-n data sets in which relationships are depicted in matrices, sociogram visualizations, and graphs; and informal, small-n comparative studies of network structures found in specific movements, often analyzed across an extended period of time using process tracing techniques. The chapter examines the ways analysts have used and refined network concepts (strong and weak ties, brokerage, multisectoralism, organizational density, centralization-decentralization, formal and informal linkages, visible and submerged networks) as they incorporate these constructs into the study of Latin American movement dynamics. Network analysis in Latin America draws attention to ways in which activists inter-connect across the region, and the consequences in terms of movement strength and impact. Research on this topic raises pointed questions about the opportunities and threats associated with the participation in domestic, transnational, and virtual networks.
Relational Approaches to Social Movements in (and beyond) Latin America
Authors: Halvorsen Sam , Rossi Federico M.
Published: May 2023

There are different ways of understanding what relational means in social movement studies. Schematically, this depends on the main dimension(s) studied as the focus of research. This chapter identifies four main relational approaches to social movements, all with applications in Latin American studies (and beyond). Intersectional approaches examine relations across core categories of identity—such as class, gender, and ethnicity. Historical approaches examine relations between movements and other actors across time, generally, in recurrent social mechanisms. Spatial approaches explore the co-constitution of the social and spatial in social movements as well as the (dis)continuities in movements across space. Finally, ecological approaches focus on the relations between movements and nature, signaling the importance of ontology for how we understand Latin American social movements. Each of these approaches is associated with different perspectives of social movement studies. Those scholars interested in the historical analysis of social movements are mostly linked to the political process and contentious politics approaches, while those with a geographical viewpoint to the new social movements approach. Moreover, the ecological approach is often linked to decolonial theories and the intersectional, to a certain degree, to all four. While there is no common understanding of what relationality is, there are interesting developments in each perspective that could potentially be used in eclectic combinations to study social movements.
Section Overview
Authors: Taylor Viviene
Published: May 2023

Wide variations exist in African perspectives on governance and social administration and how such processes relate to social policy. During various historical periods states used their power and influence to develop and implement social policies through social administrative systems within a very specific, piecemeal, and reactive approach. As a consequence, Africa’s contemporary social policies and programs reveal continuities with the continent’s colonial and post-colonial history as well as neo-colonial influences underpinned by a global neoliberal agenda. Critical policy discourses as shown in the chapters in this section reveal such continuities by focusing on structurally based conditions of poverty, inequality, famine, and the burden of disease that derive from historic and contemporary processes of politics and governance. This section of the Handbook reinforces the importance of acknowledging the long shadow of oppressive colonial practices that undermine the possibilities of transformative social policies and human development in Africa and elsewhere.
Administering Social Protection in Post-Conflict Uganda
Authors: Okello Julius , Taylor Viviene
Published: May 2023

The effects of civil wars and conflicts on people in most Sub-Saharan African countries cannot be overstated. In the case of Uganda, two and a half decades of conflict between the Government of Uganda (GoU) and the Lord Resistance Army Rebels (LRA) from 1987 to 2006 displaced thousands of civilians, including women, children, elderly persons, and adults, into camps and other protected and restricted areas. This chapter examines the impacts of conflict on social policies, administrative systems, and the roles of health and education professionals who deliver essential services in conflict and post-conflict areas including the damaging effects on internally displaced people and other vulnerable households when health workers and teachers are absent from their duty stations. Issues associated with personnel capacity and the institutional environments in which health and education professionals are enabled to deliver social policy outcomes are vital, but often such links are neglected in policy implementation.The chapter reinforces the importance of understanding gender roles and the gendered division of labor in fuelinghousehold conflict and exacerbating social and economic inequities and vulnerabilities in conflict settings.
Citizen Participation in China
Authors: Gao Xiang , Teets Jessica C.
Published: May 2023

As citizens become more concerned about the effects of public policy and administration on health and social well-being, it is unclear if current mechanisms for citizen participation share enough policymaking power to support the types of innovations that could produce socially beneficial reforms. This chapter reviews the existing literature on the question and draws insights from two case studies of water governance in Zhejiang Province, China. Although initial results suggest that citizen participation in these cases increased citizen satisfaction with environmental policy, increased capacity of government to regulate with supervision from society, and improved water quality in some cases, there are problems with sustainability for NGO-mobilized participation and challenges to meaningful citizen participation for government-initiated participation. Incorporating citizens into public administration in a meaningful way requires sharing policymaking power, and thus far, this is not happening. More robust citizen participation is necessary to develop innovative governance solutions at the environment-health-social development nexus.
The Whys and Hows of Impact Measurement Standards
Authors: Ruff Katherine
Published: May 2023

Impact measurement standards have gained attention in social policy circles. Proponents believe standards will bring simplicity, certainty, and uniformity to the confusing world of performance measurement. However, studies suggest that those benefits are by no means assured. This chapter provides an overview of standards literature in the context of social policy and administration. The main argument is that while standards will play an increasing role in the public and voluntary sector landscape, they are difficult to create in a way that lives up to expectations. The chapter discusses implications for standard setters and policy makers and offers some reflections on how impact measurement standards can be effectively deployed.
Russian Governance Reforms in the Social Sphere
Authors: Barabashev Alexey G. , Ivanov Ivan Yu. , Froumin Isak D. , Klimenko Andrey V. , Nagernyak Maria A. , Ovcharova Lilia N. , Shishkin Sergey V.
Published: May 2023

This chapter examines 20 years of public sector reforms in Russia and their impacts on the structure, functions, and outcomes of policies, programs, and institutions in the areas of social support, including pensions and poverty reduction, healthcare, and education. Understanding the social system that has emerged over that period requires knowledge of sector-specific changes at multiple levels of government (federal, regional, and municipal) as well as nationwide changes in administrative and civil service regulations and practices. Over the period studied, data show real progress, albeit uneven, toward the goals of expanding and improving social protection, and becoming a more inclusive, data-driven, and client-oriented social welfare state. This chapter establishes a foundation for future research on the continued evolution of Russian social reforms in comparison to welfare state trajectories in Europe, Asia, the United States, middle-income countries, post-Soviet countries, and other comparator groups.
Organizing Healthcare Transparency
Authors: Levay Charlotta
Published: May 2023

Healthcare organizations are under increasing pressure to account for their performance to outside constituencies. This chapter reviews the background, nature, and consequences of organized efforts to enhance transparency in healthcare. The driving forces differ between regions, but the trends are broad enough to result in similar developments across Europe. Market reforms and quality concerns create mounting demands for public transparency, but healthcare quality is difficult to assess in a way that is both fair and accessible to a general audience. Public quality reporting has not been shown to improve quality of care, and there is a risk that it produces nominal rather than effective transparency. Especially when combined with economic incentives, transparency regimes tend to breed gaming, which is repeatedly ignored by systems designers. Health professionals typically react negatively, even if they also participate in and derive some benefits from transparency efforts. Future research needs to explore systematically the strategies that professionals, patients, and organizations engage in when creating and receiving public quality information.
Building Capacity to Deliver Education as a Social Right in Brazil
Authors: Touchton Michael , Wampler Brian , Borges Sugiyama Natasha
Published: May 2023

We evaluate states’ capacity to deliver public education in Latin America. Education is essential for developing human capabilities and pursuing one’s best, chosen life. We focus on Brazil, where a right to an education is enshrined in the constitution. Brazil and other countries in the region have fallen short of achieving universal public education, and the quality of that education is low, on average, especially in poorer, rural areas. Yet, Brazil and many other countries also feature islands of educational excellence, where capacity is high and performance is strong. Thus, the wide variation in educational capacity begs an explanation. We build an explanation for national and local education capacity in two ways. First, we describe the historical evolution of education policy, spending, and capacity at the national level in Brazil and around the region. We then complement this analysis by evaluating common hypotheses surrounding variation in education capacity at the municipal level. The chapter advances knowledge surrounding state capacity in education by providing novel descriptive and explanatory evidence at multiple levels of government and, thus, lessons that are applicable to multiple contexts.
Co-production
Authors: Macaulay Michael
Published: May 2023

This chapter unpacks the complex notion of co-production and explores a number of different approaches to its application in public policy and management. The chapter begins by examining the challenges in defining the term, showing its relationship to other, similar concepts, and characterizing its positive and negative manifestations. There are multiple examples of co-production from the social policy sphere in Australasia, all of which have recorded various levels of success in terms of co-design, co-delivery, and co-assessment, as well as promoting different degrees of value congruence among diverse stakeholders. The chapter examines several selected cases and concludes by arguing that the conceptual dynamism associated with co-production creates a fluidity that is helpful for policy practitioners.
Pension Policy and the State
Authors: Arza Camila
Published: May 2023

Over the 20th century, the state has acquired a prominent role in the administration of old-age pensions in Latin America, expanding legal coverage to the majority of the employed population. However, gaps in effective coverage remained large as a result of the high incidence of informal work. Over the last two decades of the 20th century, the almost exclusive role of the state in old-age protection was deeply challenged. Starting with Chile in 1981, several countries implemented structural pension reforms that shifted to individual accounts and private pension administration, thus completely reshaping the public-private balance in the pension system. Private schemes were presented as a new and more effective way to manage old-age security and promote economic growth. But these schemes also faced shortcomings, including high administrative costs, financial market risks, and problems of coverage, equity, and adequacy. Over the 2000s, as governments with a more progressive policy agenda took office in a context of favorable macroeconomic conditions, the state gained ground in the administration of old-age security. This more active role of the state has strengthened public pensions compared to two or three decades back, with better instruments for basic protection, new systems of administrative registry of contributors and pensioners, and broader coverage of the population across the territory.
Nuclear Security for Newcomer Countries
Authors: Homan Zenobia , Tzinieris Sarah , Udum Şebnem
Published: May 2023

The chapter examines how states develop nuclear security systems as they navigate the lengthy journey of building a new civilian nuclear sector. It outlines the steps set out by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which states must follow sequentially to establish a civilian nuclear industry. In so doing, the chapter focuses on the hurdles states have needed to overcome to establish national regulatory and legal frameworks and implement physical protection systems for the first time, and also highlights where opportunities have arisen. Accordingly, the chapter considers the gap between the ideal and the reality, comparing the standards set by the IAEA with what individual states have been able to accomplish. In order to highlight differences in national approaches, the chapter utilizes two case studies: Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). At the time of writing, Turkey is in the final stages of operationalizing its first nuclear power plant (NPP), while the UAE’s first reactor went online in 2020. The development of the nuclear industry in each country is explored in order to understand how nuclear security systems might diverge. While implementation inevitably differs between states, nuclear security is an intrinsic and non-delineable aspect of the broader nuclear sector. In this process, what might be considered ‘norms’ of the global nuclear security regime are established, although perceptions about security might also evolve.
The Evolution of the Legal and Technical Aspects of Nuclear Forensics
Authors: Fedchenko Vitaly
Published: May 2023

The discipline of nuclear forensic science (often referred to as ‘nuclear forensics’) can be defined as the examination of nuclear and other radioactive material, or other evidence contaminated with radionuclides, in the context of legal proceedings. It can contribute to both the prevention of and response to an event involving the illicit trafficking of nuclear or other radioactive materials. Nuclear forensics is a maturing and developing discipline, with many states increasing their capabilities for the conduct of a nuclear forensic examination, supported by technical assistance from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The chapter explains where nuclear forensics fits in the bigger picture of nuclear security—charting its history, demonstrating how it works, and discussing the direction in which it is being developed.
Nuclear Security during the Covid-19 Pandemic
Authors: Hobbs Christopher , Stoetzel Amelie
Published: May 2023

Nuclear security is continuously evolving in response to changing threats, emerging technologies, and new ways of working. However, this process may be accelerated by crises, which can trigger a rapid re-evaluation of existing systems and lower barriers to change. In this context, the Covid-19 pandemic posed an unprecedented challenge for the nuclear industry because of its rapid onset, global reach, and extended duration, all of which directly impacted upon nuclear operations. The chapter focuses on the ways in which the pandemic has affected nuclear security, from modifying the risk landscape to complicating its delivery, and how the international nuclear security community has responded. The chapter concludes that, while Covid-19 provided a considerable shock to the delivery of nuclear security, particularly during its initial onset, the pandemic has also served to precipitate significant changes that may offer longer-term benefits.
Cyber Threats and Nuclear Vulnerabilities
Authors: Futter Andrew , Harris Jason T.
Published: May 2023

Securing civilian and military nuclear infrastructure is critical in preventing a radiological release or, in a worst-case scenario, an accidental or deliberate nuclear explosion. Traditionally the focus of nuclear security specialists has been on physical threats, such as theft of nuclear materials or sabotage of facilities. However, a newer threat has emerged—a ‘cyber’-attack on a system that could be conducted in conjunction with a physical attack. This new and growing threat presents significant challenges to facility operators as well as national authorities. The chapter examines the nature and range of ‘cyber’ threats posed to civilian and military nuclear systems. In doing so, the chapter builds on a growing literature that seeks to understand the intersection of the innovative field of information technology with the much more established literature on nuclear security (both civilian and military). The chapter provides an overview of the cyber nuclear vulnerability/risk landscape, surveys the nature and contours of the existing academic and policy debate, and hopefully provides a way of thinking about how to meet these challenges going forward.
Bow Hunting and the Sapient Precuneus
Authors: Lombard Marlize
Published: May 2023

It is not unfeasible to explore, nor impossible to cautiously build, multiple strands of evidence that can provide ever-more robust insight into past human minds and their interaction with increasingly extended embodiment through technology. There is an inextricable interrelatedness between brain, body, mind, and using (or learning to use) technologies such as the bow and arrow. One of the brain regions that may function in a co-evolutionary feedback loop with such technologies may be the precuneus. This chapter expands on the link between material engagement and the precuneus, which is said to have developed into its current morphology only in Homo sapiens, becoming visible in the fossil record from about 100,000 years ago. It introduces toy bows as instruments of learning bimanual manipulation and visuospatial integration during childhood, and summarizes neuro-cognitive work conducted in the context of modern archery to assess and inform evolutionary interpretations of bow hunting.
Towards An Ecology of Evolving Skills
Authors: Nonaka Tetsushi
Published: May 2023

From an ecological point of view, archaeological and cognitive sciences share one common goal: We must account for how to control encounters with the surfaces, substances, plants, animals, and events of the environment that we are, like it or not, obliged to cope with and use as a species, as individuals, and as groups of individuals in the past and present. The ability to control encounters with the environment to achieve particular functional outcomes is called “skill.” The purpose of this chapter is to suggest some directions for coming to grips with the ecology of skill. Taking my cue from James Gibson’s ecological approach to perception, I argue that the study of skill requires an approach that takes into account the whole system of relations constituted by the presence of the developing organism-person in a richly structured environment selected and modified by a unique population. Adopting an ecological perspective, this chapter presents empirical research on the development of craft skill as it pertains to archaeology, using two key examples—stone knapping and pottery—that had significance in the evolution of the habits of human life. By referring to empirical evidence, this chapter highlights the primacy of rich possibilities offered by the environment toward the use of which skills evolve.
Inventing Authors, Imagining Books
Authors: Premat Julio
Published: May 2023

This chapter studies three stories from El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan [The Garden of Forking Paths]—“El acercamiento a Almotásim” [The Approach to Al-Mu’tasim], “Pierre Menard, autor del Quijote” [Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote], and “Examen de la obra de Herbert Quain” [A Survey of the Works of Herbert Quain]—as a way to consider the dynamics of both inventing a book and inventing an author as a figure in literary history. Through an examination of these texts, this chapter proposes a detailed reading of the construction of the stories from their frames and narrative voices to their argumentation and ideological elements. The chapter then shows how these stories encapsulate the evolution of Borges’s writing, from essays and biographies to the creation of imaginary writers and futuristic reviews. As a way of concluding, the chapter highlights how the function of literary history is akin to the rewriting and recuperation of histories.
The 1920s Poetry of Jorge Luis Borges
Authors: Hernaiz Sebastián
Published: May 2023

Ever guided by the spirit of experimentation, between 1919 and 1929 Borges published a number of varied prose collaborations and more than one hundred poems, many of which were collected in his first three books of poetry: Fervor de Buenos Aires, Luna de enfrente, and Cuaderno San Martín. Yet critics are frequently in the habit of reading Borges’s poetic works published between 1919 and 1929 as a unified whole, often explicating texts from 1921 with ideas published in essays in 1926 or juxtaposing verses from 1922 and 1929 to support a hypothesis, when change was perhaps the most constant aspect of this period. This chapter offers an excursion through some of the ceaseless variations found among the texts published during those ten years, taking into account how they were received at the time and the kinds of dialogues they sought to engage in in their present.
Copyright as an Engine for Creativity
Authors: Burri Mira
Published: May 2023

The original goal of copyright, as embedded in international and national legal frameworks, has been to foster creativity and the arts by providing a temporary monopoly for the creator over her works, as well as certain conditions for access to these works that permit follow-up innovation and the distribution of knowledge and culture. The balance of rights has always been precarious, and there have been doubts about the proper functioning of copyright systems as a true engine for creativity. The digital age, with its incredible technological affordances and low threshold of participation, has triggered both concerns for massive copyright infringement and unprecedented opportunities for creative work. Legal systems have adapted over time to reflect this technological change, yet the jury is still out on whether these adjustments were appropriate and in line with copyright’s original goal. This chapter discusses these newer developments in copyright law by looking in particular at the role of digital intermediaries as critical actors in the new creative space. The chapter takes the case study of EU copyright reform and exposes the dangers that these recent legal initiatives may pose to creativity through the private power of platforms, the use of algorithms, and possible limitations to access to and use of creative and artistic works. While such a change in the regulatory environment may appear somewhat distant from the domain of arts and cultural management, the chapter argues that this indeed is not the case and the implications are of a real and immediate nature.