“America Will Not Tolerate Slave Traders”: Counter-Trafficking Policies and US Power

The US government has implemented an ambitious set of policies designed to combat human trafficking and sex trafficking in women and girls in particular. This article argues that anti-trafficking discourse and policy can be understood as a project to sustain and strengthen US power. This power has been wielded through the use of foreign aid, which influences the actions of both state and non-state actors overseas. Existing policies reinforce unilateralism and executive-branch dominance. Policymakers have also used gender strategically to moralize their actions and assert global leadership on this issue. Gender is thus deployed to serve US interests.     

Researchers Behind Policy Development: Comparing ‘Age-Friendly Cities’ Models in Quebec and Wallonia

Based on a reflexive method, this article explores the roles of researchers behind Age-Friendly Cities and Environments. Referring to Michael Burawoy's division of sociological work (professional, critical, policy and public sociology), it is structured around the international comparison of two empirical case studies: Walloon region (Belgium) and Quebec (a province of Canada). While the first case shows some difficulties faced by a limited policy sociology perspective with little room for research, the latter presents a more developed public sociology approach with larger involvement from research. If both cases started with policy links, the latter presents a special interest for praxis, through knowledge transfer as an ongoing public dialogue. Based on this comparison, the article concludes with a twofold use of praxis: on one side – knowledge in action – a public sociology position offers an original perspective on what AFC/AFE may mean and produce to avoid a limited field of actions focusing only on some stakeholders or advocates for older people. On the other side – action in knowledge – policy and public sociology question professional and critical sociology facing AFC/AFE programmes: is a purely academic knowledge of such a programme epistemologically realistic or should it necessarily be empirically fuelled?     

Coordinating a three level supply chain with flexible return policies

This paper studies the coordination issue of a three level supply chain selling short life cycle products in a single period model. The manufacturer first negotiates the trade contract with the retailer, then with the supplier. We construct the so-called flexible return policy by setting the rules of pricing while postponing the determination of the final contract prices. With return policies between each pair of adjacent firms, unsold products or used modules dissembled from the unsold products are returned level by level from the retailer to the upstream firms and each firm shares in the loss due to the overstock. We show that the three level supply chain can be fully coordinated with appropriate contracts and the total profit of the channel can be allocated with any specified ratios among the firms.     

The Social Work Role in Reducing 30-Day Readmissions: The Effectiveness of the Bridge Model of Transitional Care

The hospital experience is taxing and confusing for patients and their families, particularly those with limited economic and social resources. This complexity often leads to disengagement, poor adherence to the plan of care, and high readmission rates. Novel approaches to addressing the complexities of transitional care are emerging as possible solutions. The Bridge Model is a person-centered, social work-led, interdisciplinary transitional care intervention that helps older adults safely transition from the hospital back to their homes and communities. The Bridge Model combines 3 key components—care coordination, case management, and patient engagement—which provide a seamless transition during this stressful time and improve the overall quality of transitional care for older adults, including reducing hospital readmissions. The post Affordable Care Act (ACA) and managed care environment’s emphasis on value and quality support further development and expansion of transitional care strategies, such as the Bridge Model, which offer promising avenues to fulfil the triple aim by improving the quality of individual patient care while also impacting population health and controlling per capita costs.     

Re B‐S: a glass half full? An exploration of the implications of the Re B‐S judgment on practice in the family courts

The family courts in England and Wales are being significantly reformed in line with the coalition government's aim to speed up the process and increase the numbers of children being adopted from care. In September 2013, the Court of Appeal handed down a judgment, Re B‐S (Children) [2013] EWCA Civ 1146, that has wide‐ranging implications for professional practice and decision making in care proceedings. The judgment challenges the policy direction and provides guidance about what is required before courts can make orders separating children from their birth families, particularly in cases of non‐consensual adoption. In this paper, we outline the changes occurring in the family justice system, some key elements of Re B‐S, and examine the challenges for implementing practice consistent with the requirements of Re B‐S. It is argued that the standards set by Re B‐S are unlikely to be fully implemented without much further attention to the complexities posed by the policy and practice context of social work with children and their families involved in care proceedings.     

The impact of health insurance cost-sharing method on healthcare utilisation in China

In current Chinese health insurance programmes, there are two types of cost-sharing methods: the time-of-service copayment policy and the reimbursement policy. In contrast to the copayment participants, reimbursement participants need to pay for all medical expenses in advance. We study the effect of the reimbursement policy on the utilisation of healthcare services in China. The theoretical analysis indicates that the medical consumption of low income households will be less than the optimal consumption level when enrolled in a reimbursement programme instead of a copayment programme. Empirically, using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), we find that the total inpatient expenditure of the reimbursement participants is 12.7% lower than that of copayment enrolees, and the reimbursement arrangement negatively impacts low-income and rural populations. Therefore, reimbursement participants, those who are financially constrained, are more likely to suffer the up-front payment burden and finally reduce their healthcare needs.     

Responsible pragmatism in Turkish social policy making in the face of Islamic egalitarianism and neoliberal austerity

Akan T. Responsible pragmatism in Turkish social policy making in the face of Islamic egalitarianism and neoliberal austerity Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 367–380 © 2011 The Author(s), International Journal of Social Welfare © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. Founded in August 2001, the Justice and Development Party of Turkey (JDP) has forged a brand new identity, the Conservative Democracy, and initiated challenging politico‐economic reforms since November 2002 when it came to power. Among these reforms, the social policies of the Conservative Democrats have intriguingly yielded mixed blessings of a strategic settlement between equality of outcome and opportunity. This article argues that such a result originated from the commodification by the Conservative Democrats of the Islamic egalitarianism of ‘the Just Order’, the politico‐economic programme to which the JDP's leaders were strictly committed before becoming the Conservative Democrats. Entitling the social policy strategy of JDP as ‘Responsible Pragmatism’, this article concludes that it was an unsustainable but flexible social policy strategy that has gone as far as it can, now, on the eve of the 2011 general elections.     

美国、日本的东亚政策与东亚现代国际体系

东亚现代国际体系的形成在很大程度上表现为外部力量对东亚既有秩序的冲击、以及东亚内部对外部冲击的反应。日本与美国在东亚的扩张和渗透、对东亚现代国际体系的形成和变迁起到了关键性的作用。在东亚国际体系的形成过程中,美日两国的东亚政策经历了从妥协走向冲突的过程。导致美日冲突的实质是两条不同的国家发展路线之争,是原则之争,这是美日之所以走向战争的根本原因。1945年之后的日本东亚政策的惟一重大变化是手段的变化,从军事手段转变成经济手段。美国在东亚秩序中扮演强权的角色一直未变,正是由此之故,开放地区主义成为了东亚秩序建构的必然特征。     

南海周边主要国家海底文化遗产保护政策分析及启示

我国海底文化遗产面临着的保护压力不仅来自国内,也来自国外,尤其是南海周边主要国家的开放商业打捞政策导致的挤压效应。联合国教科文组织在《保护水下文化遗产公约》中确定的＂就地保护＂和＂禁止商业开发＂原则在现实的压力下很难实现。目前,我国海底文化遗产保护只能依靠国内立法和《联合国海洋法公约》,而南海周边主要国家在制定海底文化遗产保护政策时都考虑了各种价值的平衡,这些国家平衡各种价值的经验值得我国借鉴参考。我国海底文化遗产具体情况千差万别,应当在摸清大致情况后制定具体而灵活的保护政策。     

我国保险业区域协调发展分析和建议

通过对2005-2009年中国保险业和社会经济的协调发展状况的研究发现,期间多数年份我国各个省（区、市）的保险经济协调度仍然处于低度失调状态,只有部分省（区、市）在2007年步入低度协调。总体来看,东部地区的保险经济协调度落后于中部和西部地区。因此,目前仍然需要根据不同地区保险发展与保险经济协调度的差距实施有针对性的区域保险发展策略。