title: The international law gaze: COVID-19 and the excuse of necessity in international law

authors: Alvarez-Jimenez, Alberto

abstract: The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic can be useful to explore several dimensions of the excuse of necessity in customary international law. This article focuses on one requirement: lack of substantial State contribution. Specifically, the piece assesses four phenomena relevant to the purpose of this requisite: scientific uncertainty, major disagreement among different levels of governments, lack of economic resources, private behavior under the control of States, and positive actions allowing other States to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

text: The international law gaze: COVID-19 and the excuse of necessity in international law The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic can be useful to explore several dimensions of the excuse of necessity in customary international law. This article focuses on one requirement: lack of substantial State contribution. Specifically, the piece assesses four phenomena relevant to the purpose of this requisite: scientific uncertainty, major disagreement among different levels of governments, lack of economic resources, private behavior under the control of States, and positive actions allowing other States to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

year: 2021-12-01

title: Organisational Citizenship Behaviour and Turnover Intention: The Role of Organisational Justice, Commitment and Perceived Support

authors: Esop, Michael

subjects: Organizational citizenship behaviour

abstract: Attracting and retaining committed teachers who are willing to perform extra-role activities that go above and beyond their prescribed jobs can be a key asset to an academic institution. Turnover intentions and organisational citizenship behaviours are important considerations for managers of organisations, including universities. The main aim of this study was to investigate a model of organisational citizenship behaviour that included turnover intention as a mediator variable, five predictor variables of distributive justice, procedural justice, affective commitment, continuance commitment and perceived organisational support (POS), and organisational citizenship behaviour directed at organisations (OCBO). A questionnaire was completed by 107 academic participants from five schools at the University of Papua New Guinea. 
Distributive justice, procedural justice, affective commitment, continuance commitment and POS were significant predictors of turnover intention but not OCBO. However, turnover intention did not mediate the relationships between the predictors and OCBO. The nonsignificant results were mainly due to the participants’ high ratings of 6 or 7 on the 7-point OCBO scale, which inflated the overall score. This may have been affected by several factors such as the participants’ social desirability response, which is common in self-reports. It could also denote that the employees’ performed higher levels of OCBOs despite their intention to leave the university. Supplementary analyses showed age, gender and organisational tenure were correlates of turnover intention. The major implications from this research are that managers of universities need to foster organisational justice, organisational commitment and organisational support to reduce turnover intentions and to enhance OCBOs.

text: Organisational Citizenship Behaviour and Turnover Intention: The Role of Organisational Justice, Commitment and Perceived Support Attracting and retaining committed teachers who are willing to perform extra-role activities that go above and beyond their prescribed jobs can be a key asset to an academic institution. Turnover intentions and organisational citizenship behaviours are important considerations for managers of organisations, including universities. The main aim of this study was to investigate a model of organisational citizenship behaviour that included turnover intention as a mediator variable, five predictor variables of distributive justice, procedural justice, affective commitment, continuance commitment and perceived organisational support (POS), and organisational citizenship behaviour directed at organisations (OCBO). A questionnaire was completed by 107 academic participants from five schools at the University of Papua New Guinea. 
Distributive justice, procedural justice, affective commitment, continuance commitment and POS were significant predictors of turnover intention but not OCBO. However, turnover intention did not mediate the relationships between the predictors and OCBO. The nonsignificant results were mainly due to the participants’ high ratings of 6 or 7 on the 7-point OCBO scale, which inflated the overall score. This may have been affected by several factors such as the participants’ social desirability response, which is common in self-reports. It could also denote that the employees’ performed higher levels of OCBOs despite their intention to leave the university. Supplementary analyses showed age, gender and organisational tenure were correlates of turnover intention. The major implications from this research are that managers of universities need to foster organisational justice, organisational commitment and organisational support to reduce turnover intentions and to enhance OCBOs.

year: 2013

title: Where to from here: Charting a way forward for language and education policy in Aotearoa/New Zealand

authors: May, Stephen

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: The principle of cultural and linguistic homogeneity, upon which the organization of modern nation-states is predicated, is becoming increasingly hard to defend and maintain.  At the demographic level, nation-states comprise (indeed, have always comprised) a variety of different cultural and linguistic groups.  These include, alongside majority populations, indigenous peoples and other national minorities, as well as migrant communities.  This long-standing demographic diversity has also increased markedly in modern times, particularly with patterns of increased migration and the forced relocation of refugees.  These demographic changes have, in turn, placed increasing pressure on the public policies of nation-states which have historically been inimical or formal recognition of cultural and linguistic diversity.  As a result, nation-states are having to address more seriously the 'politics of multiculturalism' - that is, the degree to which the languages and cultures of so called 'minority' groups can be (or should be) accorded recognition in the public domain.  This also necessarily involves addressing directly issues of bilingualism and multilingualism and their implications for language and education policy and practice.

This paper explores these broader debates in specific relation to Aotearoa/New Zealand which itself has seen a marked increase in migration, and attendant cultural and linguistic diversity, over the last ten years.  Debates on multiculturalism, and their implications for public policy, are contentious enough in themselves, but are further complicated in Aotearoa/New Zealand by prior bicultural commitments to Maori.  Can multicultural/multilingual commitments be extended without compromising, or undermining biculturalism?  What are the specific implications of this potential dialectic between biculturalism and multiculturalism for the further development of language and education policy in Aotearoa/New Zealand?  The paper will attempt to develop a set of general principles as a basis for moving these debates forward, drawing on discussions of language rights, and language planning and policy, as well as recent developments in international law.  Specific implications for language education will also be discussed.

text: Where to from here: Charting a way forward for language and education policy in Aotearoa/New Zealand The principle of cultural and linguistic homogeneity, upon which the organization of modern nation-states is predicated, is becoming increasingly hard to defend and maintain.  At the demographic level, nation-states comprise (indeed, have always comprised) a variety of different cultural and linguistic groups.  These include, alongside majority populations, indigenous peoples and other national minorities, as well as migrant communities.  This long-standing demographic diversity has also increased markedly in modern times, particularly with patterns of increased migration and the forced relocation of refugees.  These demographic changes have, in turn, placed increasing pressure on the public policies of nation-states which have historically been inimical or formal recognition of cultural and linguistic diversity.  As a result, nation-states are having to address more seriously the 'politics of multiculturalism' - that is, the degree to which the languages and cultures of so called 'minority' groups can be (or should be) accorded recognition in the public domain.  This also necessarily involves addressing directly issues of bilingualism and multilingualism and their implications for language and education policy and practice.

This paper explores these broader debates in specific relation to Aotearoa/New Zealand which itself has seen a marked increase in migration, and attendant cultural and linguistic diversity, over the last ten years.  Debates on multiculturalism, and their implications for public policy, are contentious enough in themselves, but are further complicated in Aotearoa/New Zealand by prior bicultural commitments to Maori.  Can multicultural/multilingual commitments be extended without compromising, or undermining biculturalism?  What are the specific implications of this potential dialectic between biculturalism and multiculturalism for the further development of language and education policy in Aotearoa/New Zealand?  The paper will attempt to develop a set of general principles as a basis for moving these debates forward, drawing on discussions of language rights, and language planning and policy, as well as recent developments in international law.  Specific implications for language education will also be discussed.

year: 2002-01-01