The Colombian Foreign Policy and the Cost of Ignoring the Non-Governmental Organizations
The current Colombian foreign policy has been designed almost exclusively by the Government. Human rights violations; disregard for the principle of democratic ownership in international cooperation; internal armed conflict; socio-environmental problems in trade and investment issues - among others - are the internal problems that the national and international NGOs evidence and transmit, preventing Colombia to achieve the image it would have on the international scene: a post-conflict country that respects human rights, a partner with whom make social and environmental sustainable business. In the issues of regional and global agenda, civil society is making proposals that deviate from the traditional foreign policy based on the Respice polum. The foreign policy of President
La sociedad civil en el proceso de toma de decisiones
?Que es la sociedad civil? Es la pregunta mas recurrente cuando se intentan explicar sus objetivos, alcances, impacto y fines. En este documento se recogen las distintas definiciones que en la teoria politica se han dado acerca de la sociedad civil. Luego, se intenta demostrar la necesidad e importancia de las dinamicas efectivas que ejerce la sociedad civil sobre la gestion publica y su incidencia para el engrosamiento del capital social y el desarrollo democratico. Finalmente se propone que, posteriormente, desde la academia, se hagan analisis mas precisos alrededor de las organizaciones no gubernamentales con posibles temas aun no investigados en Colombia como por ejemplo: la responsabilidad y la democratizacion; la tercerizacion de la sociedad civil, los pros y contras del marketing social, las ventajas y desventajas al hablar de ciudadania corporativa, entre otros problemas que involucran a este actor.
Cultural constraints on the delivery of HIV/AIDS prevention in Ireland.
HIV appeared in Ireland following an opiate epidemic in the early 1980s. Initially, however, the gay community mounted the only response to the spread of the virus while the implementation of early actions by the government was hampered by the constructions of the disease within Irish society. This paper considers the influence of the religious hierarchy in both the development of AIDS policy and in the shaping of public perceptions of the disease and those affected. A qualitative methodology is used to examine the role of such cultural constraints in an evaluation of the social context within which the prevention of HIV infection occurs. Three key issues pertinent to the policy context in Ireland are explored in depth. These are the role of the Catholic Church, the influences on health education programmes, particularly information giving, and the development of services and other interventions. These findings are discussed within the social and political contexts in which health policy is formulated.