Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and the Long Campaign Against Social Security: Dodging the Bullet in 2012
The campaign against Social Security began as soon as the act was passed, but gathered momentum only when Ronald Reagan as early as the 1950s became a focal point for critics. Lyndon B. Johnson successfully countered the anti–Social Security/anti-Medicare opposition, but the rhetoric from the Reagan administration paved the way for G. W. Bush's anti–Social Security efforts, and the virulent opposition to the Affordable Care Act that led to the 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's oft-repeated statement that, as president, he would “repeal Obamacare on day one!” Much of the opposition argument has made its way into the “conventional wisdom,” even of supporters, making it especially difficult to evaluate American social insurance objectively.
The Sub-National Politics of Setting Health Development Agenda: An Insight Into Yobe Health Development Plan
Democratic regimes have always been confronted with political, social and economic factors in making decisions in their health development policies. Despite its importance, the health development plans made at sub-national levels are often neglected in most political discourse. In Yobe state, North Eastern region of Nigeria where health indices are poor and financial resource inadequate, the relevance of the health policy agenda setting remains an important starting point. This study influenced by Kingdon’s stream theory provides the health development agenda (HDA) of Governor Gaidam regime from 2009-2015 through the perceptions of health stakeholders in Yobe state. The qualitative study involved 28 interviews with informants and review of policy documents that underscores what, why and how the regime’s HDA was developed. The study highlighted the power play through the regime’s responsibilities, mandates, strategic objectives and priority agenda setting in achieving health development in the state. Furthermore, through the political lenses of agenda setting in the state, the emphasis was laid on the process, content and context of the regime’s HDA. Although the HDA were home-driven, the motivations comes from local health problems related to health goals advocated by international development partners aimed to reduce IMR, UMR, MMR and other diseases all by 2015. Although the SSHDP provided 8 priority areas of key interventions in documents, in practice only 5 priority areas were prominent. Finally, the targets identified will serve as the justification to assess the regime’s accountability since its intentions and goals could be judged from the extent of its performance.
Protection of the Marine Environment: The International and National Regulation of Deep Seabed Mining Activities
This chapter provides an overview of the international and national regulatory framework pertaining to deep seabed mining activities. It begins by discussing the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the backdrop for all marine activities – be they national or international – and examines the obligations of states to protect the marine environment from the harmful effects arising from deep seabed mining. Next, the chapter examines the international regime for deep seabed mining (i.e. “activities in the Area”), explaining the “common heritage of mankind” status of the Area (i.e. the international seabed); the functions of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the international organization established to govern deep seabed mining in the Area; and the concept of state sponsorship of non-state entities (i.e. private actors) for deep seabed mining in the Area. The chapter follows with a discussion of the development of national legislation to regulate deep seabed mining, examining efforts in the Pacific region where many prospective deep-sea mining sites are located. This includes a look at the legislative regimes of several Pacific Island nations, namely, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and the Cook Islands, for whom deep seabed mining may soon become a reality – as well as New Zealand and Japan, countries with comparatively developed rule of law and legislative regimes that have undertaken or considered deep seabed mining in their national waters. Overall, the chapter critically describes and evaluates the current regulatory status in the international and national seabed areas and highlights some salient gaps that require urgent attention in order to ensure marine environmental protection and mitigate impacts on humans.