Dialectic Approaches and Public Policy Interactions for Social, Environmental and Health Problems: Challenges for Health Promotion across Territorial Scales

A constant reproduction of environmental injustices and health iniquities has demanded the employment of participatory/dialectic approaches to research and to intervene in the reality making possible the involvement of social actors in healthy public policies. On this framework, the aim of this paper is to analyse scientific production with dialectic approaches associated with public policies in the context of social, environmental and health problems, considering territorial scales of intervention and the correspondence with some relevant strategies of health promotion. A systematic bibliographic review was applied on a wide pan-disciplinary scientific data base and 36 papers were analysed and classified by their territorial scales of approach. The amount of papers found and their spread through a variety of journals showed a modest, but increasing production which has been dispersed in terms of knowledge areas. Within the classification of territorial approaches, 14 papers were classified as local, 5 as expanded and 17 as a multi-level. Although the papers classified as local approaches were in a good structure of stakeholders’ participation, they are limited to dealing with the global driving forces that reproduce the environmental injustices. Regarding this limitation, the multilevel approaches were identified as more opportune to jointly deal with social, environmental and health problems by means of allowing interaction through multiple territorial scales, fomenting the strengthening of community action, creating supportive environments, and building healthy public policies.

Water-Energy-Food Nexus： Comparative Scenarios and Public Policy Perspectives from Some Latin American Countries Regarding Biogas from Agriculture and Livestock

Latin American and the Caribbean countries have one of the world＇s largest sources of renewable energy. Nonetheless, it estimated that nearly three-quarters of their energy consumption relies on the use of fossil fuels, with most of the countries being net importers, ultimately imposing a marked economic and political dependence on those energy commodities. Therefore, the opportunity lies in a higher utilization of various renewable energy resources, which contribute to the country＇s energy security while promoting significant environmental benefits. This manuscript aimed to provide a comparative analysis of current energy scenarios of six Latin American countries （Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Brazil, Chile and Ecuador） to evaluate their policies, programs and strategies implemented in the search for greater participation of renewable energy, with a special attention to biogas. Given the importance of the water-energy-food nexus that could foment the use of renewable energies under conditions of water scarcity, a qualitative data comparison was accomplished, considering biogas production potential, biogas projects and CO2 emissions.

Human Rights, Governance and Public Policy to Counter the Structural Problems and Brain Drain in Latin America and Haiti

This article will analyze human rights linked to their impact on democracy, inequality, government policies and other structural problems such as an imminent obstacle for socioeconomic development in Latin America and the Caribbean, which is considerable challenges for construction of a rule of law, regional policy and that all people can live in a suitable environment. Today daily brain drain contributes a handicap for the socio-educational and professional development in the region particularly in Haiti. At the end of the article, the results of the research on the difficult socioeconomic situations that prevent extremely poor Haitians to enjoy a dignified life, resulting in partial emigrations to abroad and brain drain will occur. Also, the aspirations of the people are shown in the two poorest departments： Northeast and Northwest.

Social Media and the Public Policy Process in Egypt

For the past three years the political environment in Egypt, and the middle east in general, has undergone substantial change such as increase in public opinion and awareness, increase in political participation, increase in voting turnout franchise as well as introducing a new paradigm of communication which has great influence on the political and social landscape of the world ＂Social Media＂. The aim of this study is to explore the impact and effect of social media （Facebook） on the changing political environment of the public policy process in Egypt. This article analyzes the different stages of the Public Policy Process in Egypt, with application to the Minimum and Maximum Wage Policy, and examines how it was influenced by the Facebook, as a device of the social media, as a new channel of political mobilization.

Institutions as Tools of Public Policy： A Comparative Evaluation of South East Asian-Sub-Saharan African Post War Development

In general, it can be argued that institutional framework a country or region designs plays a significant role in crafting, applying or even success of public policy. Drawing lessons from how Asia exploited the developmental state＇s concept by designing institutions which targeted key public policy areas such as education, health, domestic savings, and rural development, or aligned infrastructures such as roads, transport and ports, to drive economic development. The paper explores how this approach can be applied in sub-Saharan Africa （or individual countries）. The objective is to extricate constant factors impacting development both in ahistorical and atemporal terms. The investigation is guided by the key question： whether quality of institutions and institutional analysis can help explain development failures in Africa？ Hence, on one part, it probes institutions, institution-making, public policy making and what uniquely the Asian developmental state did that can help illuminate institutional role in policymaking and application. In pursuing this objective, the paper is cognisant of the question by Brousseau et al. asked, regarding generalizability of institutional capabilities, ＂If growth-enhancing institutions are identified in a specific country, can other countries learn from and transplant these＂. The investigation concludes that in public policy and development strategy-making institutions do matter as they delimit or even help create possibilities necessary for development and its sustenance, and to a certain extent, they are the vital constant （factors） that explains development differentiations in different geographic spaces or time periods.

Study on the Public Policy Process of Urban Planning of Henan Province

Along with the development progress of the economy in Central China, there are new breakthroughs achieved by Henan province in the public policy making in the urban planning. In Henan province, the implementation schemes related to the public policies such as Zhengzhou City Planning, High-tech Zone Construction in the First-tier City, and the Integrated Development of the Central Plains Urban Areas appeared in the process of implementing the new urbanization strategy.

Scientific Initiation： Meanings and Peculiarities of Public Policy in Brazil

This paper aims to analyze the Scientific Initiation （SI） as public policy of higher education in Brazil, from meanings and peculiarities of this device in the undergraduate academic＇s formation, created jointly with the National Research Council in 1951 currently National Council for Scientific and Technological Development （CNPq）. This corporation emerged from the recognition of the strategic importance of science and necessity of institutionalization of encouragement and fostering research. This is a theoretical bibliographical study and documentary that evidences the contributions and limits of SI while political science training should be part of academic activities to provide the development and support of investigative spirit. The concept of SI was established in universities as an activity to be developed in order to encourage the student to become familiar with scientific practices. The study concluded that SI is based on institutionalized norms within higher education to foster the development of science, and it is considered as an important strategy of expansion of graduate studies in Brazil.

Research on low-carbon development of electric power industry:from the perspectives of public policy

It is a fundamental way to achieve sustainable development and inclusive growth that China takes the low-carbon development path.And low-carbon development is an effective way to respond to many threats,including global climate anomalies,environmental degradation,and energy shortage.Low-carbon economy is policy economy to a large extent.Although the external environment demands low-carbon development of electric power industry,enterprises lack intrinsic motivation.Electric power industry is the pillar industry of China,and is one of the key industries for China's low-carbon development.The government needs to ensure its dominant position in the low-carbon development of electric power industry,and reform the government performance management system and promote the planning and management of electric power industry through appropriate public policy,in order to adjust the structure of the electric power industry and take a low-carbon development road with Chinese characteristics.

An Exploration of Policy Making in Public and Organisational Domains

This article critically analyses the interplay between policy at institutional level and policy at national level. It also examines the policy-making process by using examples from literature and identifies consultation as a more organic way of policy-making.

Eliminating Blind Spots on Gender in Public Policy CAI YIPING

Just when Meng Meilian felt she couldn’t go on she was lucky enough to become one of the first in her village to be granted a poverty-relief loan. Although the lack of laborers in Meng’s family made the risk of return greater than for other applicants, it was clearly stipulated in the county’s poverty relief policy that, all other things being equal, women in poverty should have priority.

On a Synergistic Operating Mechanism for China's Intellectual Property Public Policy System:A Study of China's Technology Transfer Policy System

Following the change of objectives in China＇s public policy on intellectual property and the continuous increase in that policy＇s range of adjustment and number of policy input sources, the focus of policy making should be shifted to perfecting the policy system and its operating mechanism. However, the present operating model of technology transfer policy still adheres to the conventional emphasis on the effectiveness of individual policies. Conflicts between policies cancel out efficiency, leading to internal friction which may make the system as a whole work less effective. This paper applies the principle of synergetics to the construction and operation of the public policy system. On the basis of the high efficiency and practical value of synergistic operating mechanisms, we put forward concrete measures for establishing a synergistic operating mechanism for Chinese technology transfer policy.

China＇s Population Aging from the Perspective of Public Policy

Population aging will become the norm in the Chinese society. Its challenge derives mainly from the failure of the existing socio-economic system to cope with the aging process. The intervention of public policy is therefore inevitable. This paper argues that in order to comprehensively deal with the aging problem, it is not sufficient to merely readjust population policies, policy measures focusing on the aged or policies for one or another sector. Instead, we need to reconstruct the current public policy system from the perspective of social integration and a long-term development strategy. During the reconstruction process, efforts should be made not only to coordinate the population system with other social systems, but also to coordinate short-term goals with medium and longterm strategies. Accordingly, an authoritative permanent government coordinating agency should be established and, taking into account China＇s national conditions, should redefine the social role of senior citizens, solve practical problems related to support for the aged and support the sustainable development of an aging society.

Legislation of Urban Planning Public Policy from the Perspective of Legal Boundary: Enlightenment from the Evolution of Planning Laws

The transition of urban-rural planning to public policy has become a common recognition in the planning fi eld. The new challenge is how to combine such a transition with legislation development. This paper reviews the disciplinary development and legislation of urban-rural planning, and analyzes the effects of the public policy transition on law implementation and administrative power from the perspective of the legal boundary. It points out that the defi nition of the legal boundary of urban-rural planning laws is signifi cant for identifying the impact of public policy, ensuring the implementation of regulations on administrative power, and scoping effective urban-rural spaces. It argues that the core of public policy legalization is to establish value judgments for public policy making, to specify authorization and restraint to administrative power, and to reduce confl icts between public policies and governments' administrative actions in urban-rural spaces. Furthermore, this paper discusses some other relevant issues on how to complete the public policy legalization.

Public Policy Supply for Successful Practice of the Xin’anjiang River Ecological Compensation Mechanism

The ecological protection of the inter-provincial river basin of Xin’anjiang River takes the ecological compensation mechanism as the starting point and achieves good results.The success of the mechanism is best reflected in its innovation of public policy supply,which is not only a vivid practice of Xi Jinping’s ecological civilization thought in the new era,but also establishes a model for absorption,transformation and export of policy supply.The effective supply of public policies on ecological environment is the realistic choice for the construction of ecological civilization in the new era.

Public Agenda, Media Agenda and Policy Communication Process of Government Annual Reports:Based on the Survey in 19 Chinese Cities

Promoting direct policy communication between policy makers and the public is both an important function of government annual reports (GARs) and a key issue in democratic politics.According to this survey,conducted in 19 major cities in China,to promote the policy communication function of the GARs the government should make full use of changes in public policy communication habits and the convergence of public policy preferences in different groups while dealing with routine problems such as “public opinion deficits” and “being popular among the institutional staff but unnoticed the non-institutional staff.”

Metropolitan Area Evolving from Spatial Concept to Public Policy:A Case Study of Jiangsu Province

With the acceleration of China’s regional integrated development,some functions of large cities have been decentralized to the peripheral areas,resulting in the increasing phenomenon of commuting to and from school or work across administrative regions.As a spatial unit of various factors flowing across regions,the metropolitan area has gradually become a significant carrier in the background of high-quality urbanization development.However,due to existing policy limitation,it has been hard to avoid administrative barriers in metropolitan area development.To fill the gap in the traditional policy system,regional spatial governance is being widely used in practice at various levels.Therefore,from the perspective of spatial governance,this paper explores a new approach to the governance of metropolitan areas with Chinese characteristics based on the analysis of the connotation evolution of metropolitan areas and the international experience of metropolitan development and governance.By taking several metropolitan areas in Jiangsu Province as examples,this paper explains that the key to metropolitan governance is to treat a metropolitan area as"policy area"and to construct a spatial governance system suitable to regional integrated development,through the combination of spatial planning and public policy,so as to propel urban development towards regional coordination.

Making Sense of Public Relations as Culture Policy

Culture is a process in which meaning is produced, distributed, consumed, materialised, re-produced infinitely and discussed with society. As meanings generally disperse extensively in different social groups through different associations, they display certain changes in time depending on their usage. Meanwhile, it is hard to define the public relations concept, because it may refer to different meanings even in the same culture. According to the assumptions pertaining to the public relations practices shaping the dominant discourse of the USA, language which produces certain cultural meanings also shapes the way we think and act. Thus, due to its ideological and discursive nature, public relations functions as a culture policy. Being an integral communication management configuring and directing the social sphere and the practices related to it, public relations refers to the concept of habitus introduced by Bourdieu inasmuch as habitus resides in the situations formed by actions that individuals learn throughout their lives. Culture policy; on the other hand, purports the effective participation of people in cultural life, their development in social, economic and cultural areas as well as the creation of convenient conditions to sustain it, which can be achieved with public relations practices. Public relations determines the culture policies in a society with regard to the structured discourses and actions and also acts as the mouthpiece of these policies. The purpose of public communication that is necessary for development and sustainability is to inform the public objectively in cultural, social, political and economic senses by obtaining feedback form them. For the purpose of administering sound public communication strategies in a society, public relations should direct the forms of public discourse. The purpose of this study is to put forth a critical evaluation based on the idea that for the realisation of effective and sensible communication policies in a society, the perception and practice public relations in that society should be regarded as a culture policy. According, this study focuses on whether or not public relations as culture policy serve the development of democracy and public sphere.

South-South Coalitions, Bilateral Agreements, and Regional Coordination： Public Opinion and Brazilian Foreign Policy

Emerging powers suffer the effects from the resource deficits in attempting to project their power globally. The developing nations are faced with difficult choices in determining their resource allocation strategies when compared to the already established powers. This article uses Brazil as a case study to analyze how emerging powers articulate strategies to conduct operations across the distinct areas of the international stage, paying special attention to regional and global arenas. Our interest is to analyze how power projection strategies are articulated and formed. More specifically, our research works to understand how a country compares and relates its regional operations to its global ones.

Discussion on Road Traffic Problems and “Public Transport Priority” Policy in the Macao Peninsula

The roads on the Macao Peninsula are famous for their short, fast, and small features. At the same time, due to the protection of historical and cultural sites, the road network system is mostly based on the planning and design of the previous road network system. Although the planning of the contemporary road network system is quite unique, it has not been considered to the contemporary transporting needs of the citizens of Macao. At the same time, the complexity of the road network makes zonings unobvious functional and mixes urban functions in the region. Therefore, through field surveys, the relevant data of the Macao Transport Bureau (DSAT) is combined to find out the current problems of the road traffic on the Macao Peninsula and analyze the strategy of optimizing the “public transport priority” public transportation prove system. At Last, regarding the citizen as the core and find out the relationship between passengers and the public transportation system to explore the future development direction of the road traffic planning and design of the Macao Peninsula will become the main direction of this study.

On the policy of mainstream media to enhance public opinion＇s guide and influence

Under the new situation, news and propaganda work must hold high the banner around the overall situation, serve the people, make reform and innovation, adhere to the correct guidance of public opinion, to improve the ability to guide public opinion, to create a good public opinion environment, to better play and publicize the party＇ s ideas, to promote social justice, to access to social conditions public opinion, to guide social hot spots, to divert the public mood, to improve the important role of public opinion. We should put the improvement of the ability to guide public opinion in a prominent position, conduct in-depth research, and come up with concrete measures to achieve new results. We must adhere to the Party＇ s principles; firmly grasp the correct guidance of public opinion. Guiding correctly public opinion will benefit the country, party and people; guiding media wrong will make damage to China, party and people. To firmly establish political awareness, the overall sense of responsibility, position sense, we should put adhering to the correct orientation in the first place on the news and propaganda work.