François Rocher
Using citizenship as a lens, this article aims to determine the conditions that result in the inclusion or exclusion of ethno-cultural and religious minorities in Quebec. It is also interested in models of governance that examine how the type of governance practiced by the state is reflected in the policies put forward and the consequences on the participation of ethno-cultural and religious minorities in the public realm. This research is innovative since it proposes to examine the positions put forward by ethno-cultural and religious minorities, a perspective that has been, for the most part, overlooked in the literature. In Quebec, numerous events concerning the accommodation of ethno-cultural and religious differences have marked the social and political climate. The creation, by the Quebec government in February 2007, of the Bouchard-Taylor Commission, culminated in a society-wide re-evaluation of the models of integration, of citizenship and of the role of ethno-cultural and religious minorities in Quebec society. This article seeks to illustrate the variety of positions put forward by ethno-cultural and religious minorities, and the challenges vis-à-vis various models of governance.
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Jonathan Craft
Despite a healthy number of studies examining the motivations or voting practices of Canadians, little comparative work examines communications activities of electoral agencies. The following article maps out such activities through an assessment of nodality (information-based) policy tools use by four Canadian electoral agencies (Elections Canada, Elections Ontario, Elections BC, Elections Quebec). The paper begins by situating information-based policy tools within the broader policy tools literature. Subsequently, such tools are then classified with respect to their relationship to policy making activities at the ‘front-end’ (agenda setting and policy formulation) and ‘back-end’ (policy implementation and evaluation) of the policy cycle. Upon analysis, a variety of instrument mixes are detected with an overall shift from broad sweeping substantive instruments, such as mass information campaigns towards targeted approaches, to increased partnerships aimed at reaching specific cohorts with historically lower levels of voter participation. Furthermore, instrument mixes are found to vary jurisdictionally with respect to the adoption of newer Internet based tools versus traditional tools. In general, all four cases are found to frequently rely on both procedural and substantive information-based policy tools related to ‘back-end’ policy-making activities.
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Diadié Maïga and Lise Lamothe and Bryn Williams-Jones and Régis Blais
Since 2005, Mali has participated in World Health Organization (WHO) training activities for national regulatory authorities (NRAs) to aid the proper regulation of clinical trials. Despite this participation, there is still very little regulation of trials, a weakness due in part to a lack of integration of oversight mechanism by national authorities. It is thus important to understand what factors actually influence the regulation of clinical trials in Mali. Using an analytical framework based on neo-institutional theory, this exploratory qualitative study involved semi-structured interviews with the Malian NRA, ethics committees, researchers, administrators and hospital practitioners, along with documentary analyses. The results show that the configuration of the organizational field and the position of authorities in this field are essential to understanding the factors that influence the regulation of clinical trials. The preponderance of regulatory barriers to clinical trials, coupled with the inability of the government to strengthen regulation and the weak organizational structure of the field, call for a comprehensive reform rather than partial measures such as, for example, joint reviews and inspections of clinical trials promoted by the WHO.
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Anne Foro and Jean-Louis Denis and François Champagne
Drawing on a qualitative approach that uses semi-structured interviews, non-participant observation and documentary collection, this article aims to identify governance challenges that face the national HIV control program in Haïti. Inferring from the proposition that the overall governance process is influenced by management structures, tools sets and its implementation context, the analysis showed : 1) the ‘lack’ and the ‘excess’ of certain structures and tools determine a less formalized mode of coordination; 2) the conflicts and controversies arising from role confusion, differing logics of action and differences in organizational cultures create a number of challenges for governance; 3) the low institutional power of the public actor, due partly to his dependency to external resources does not enable him to be effective in his role as a coordinator; and, 4) the socio-professional instability of actors that result from the poverty context and socio-political instability contribute to the complexity of the program and the difficulties of its coordination. The study suggests that the establishment of a national AIDS commission (NCF-HIV/AIDS) under certain conditions could help to improve program governance.
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Louis Simard and Frank Ohemeng