Specific forms of intra-organizational or inter-organizational networks – communities of practice (CoPs) – are becoming increasingly important. These informal groups of people are well suited for the ...development and sharing of knowledge and practices across divisions. Our investigation of 9 CoPs (created between 1997 and 2002) in 7 major European and US multinational corporations uncovers a 5-phase process of integration and learning activities. Our findings detail a process of member evolution from
peripheral, to
active, to
core members. These five phases – awareness, allocation, accountability, architectural, and advertising – constitute an ongoing process within CoPs, with newcomers joining and some long-standing core members choosing to end their participation.
Background: Public nursing colleges (PNCs) are currently redeploying from provincial departments of health to higher education to become part of a unified higher education system in South Africa. As ...primary producers of nurses, this migration process needs to be managed carefully, with stakeholders having a common understanding of this process.Objectives: This study aimed to explore the stakeholders’ perspectives on the positioning of PNCs in higher education.Method: The study followed a qualitative grounded theory design. Purposive and theoretical sampling were utilised to achieve a sample size of 40 participants, including representatives from the Department of Higher Education and Training; professional associates; nursing educators; student leaders; nursing leaders; and nurses from the healthcare setting. Data were collected through observations, interviews and document analysis.Results: It emerged from the study that the integration of PNCs into higher education is a result of the country’s political and legal context. A number of policy and legal frameworks emerged as contextual conditions that provided a basis for the change. The integration of PNCs into higher education was conceptualised as a functional shift in the governance of colleges; a political tool to transform nursing education; a means to enhance the quality of college-based nursing programmes, and a vehicle for the greater professionalisation of nursing. Conflicting legislation and funding emerged as two issues of concern.Conclusion: Integrating PNCs with higher education came about because of political changes and the resolution of the ruling party to improve the quality of graduates produced, who will in turn improve the quality of healthcare service delivery offered.
On 12 September 2018, two events occurred, both with considerable legal and political implications, and seemingly inspired by different conceptions about the role of European fundamental values and ...principles. The first event is a resolution adopted by the European Parliament - on the basis of a large majority - calling upon the Council to determine the existence of a clear risk of a serious breach by Hungary of the fundamental values of the Union - the so-called preventive procedure established by Art. 7, para. 1, TEU (P8_TA-PROV(2018)0340). The second event is the order in joint cases C-208/17 P to C-210/17 P, NF and Others v. European Council, by which the Court of Justice declared the appeals lodged against the three orders of the General Court of 28 February 2017 manifestly inadmissible, which, in turn, had declared as inadmissible three actions for annulment against the EU-Turkey Statement of 18 March 2016 (see case T-192/16, NF v. European Council; case T-193/16, NG v. European Council; case T-257/16, NM v. European Council: hereinafter, NF). There is no relation, of course, between these two events, that only by accident must have occurred on the same date. Their only connecting factor lies in the diverse, perhaps opposite, conception of the inspiring principles of the process of integration in Europe. On 12 September 2018, the European Parliament embraced the fundamental values of Europe as its own mission and brandished its democratic legitimacy as a sword against the popular legitimacy that, hélas, supports the path towards illiberal democracy. On the same date, the Court of Justice abstained from unveiling the mysteries that still surround one of the most controversial instruments of the Union's migrant policy; by so doing, it abdicated its role as ultimate custodian of the principles and values of the process of European integration. These two events symbolise how fragile and inconsistent the conduct of the various actors of this process may be. At the same time, they remind us of the need to maintain firmly the fundamental values, common to the EU and to its Member States, as the only polar star to navigate the troubled waters of integration.
European Integration Through Law VOßKUHLE, ANDREAS
Archives européennes de sociologie. European journal of sociology.,
04/2017, Volume:
58, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
This article discusses the Federal Constitutional Court’s contribution to European “integration through law” over the past decades. The Basic Law’s openness to integration and to European Law is ...examined, as well as the co-operation between the Federal Constitutional Court and the European Court of Justice in the execution of European Union law and the protection of fundamental rights. The author provides a number of examples to show how the instruments of identity review and ultra vires review developed by the Federal Constitutional Court secure the agenda of European integration as agreed upon in the European Treaties. He also shows how national governmental bodies are bound by the concept of responsibility with respect to the European integration process and how the Court ensures the necessary democratic legitimisation for the acts of European institutions by requiring the involvement of the German parliament in political decision-making processes related to the European Union. Finally, the author explores the idea of the legal community and the criticisms that have been levied against this concept. He concludes by positing that the European Union can only preserve itself by remaining a legal community, and that the rule of law in EU law is indispensable, particularly in times of crisis.
Cet article étudie la contribution de la Cour constitutionnelle fédérale à l’intégration européenne « par le droit » au cours des dernières décennies. L’ouverture de la Loi fondamentale à l’intégration et au droit européen est examiné ainsi que la coopération entre la Cour constitutionnelle fédérale et la Cour européenne de justice dans l’exécution du droit de l’Union européenne et la protection des droits fondamentaux. À partir d’un certain nombre d’exemples, l’auteur montre comment les instruments de contrôle (identité, ultra vires) développés par la Cour constitutionnelle fédérale contribuent à garantir le respect de l’agenda de l’intégration européenne défini par les traités européens. Il montre en particulier comment les instances gouvernementales nationales sont liées par le concept de responsabilité vis-à-vis du processus d’intégration européenne mais également comment la Cour assure la nécessaire légitimation démocratique pour les actes des institutions européennes en exigeant l’implication du parlement allemand dans les processus décisionnels politiques liés à l’Union européenne. Enfin, l’auteur discute le concept de communauté juridique et les critiques généralement adressées à ce concept. Il conclut en affirmant que l’Union européenne ne peut se préserver qu’en restant une communauté juridique et que le respect de l’Etat de droit dans le droit communautaire est indispensable, en particulier en temps de crise.
Der Artikel zeigt den Beitrag des Bundesverfassungsgerichts zur europäischen “Integration durch Recht” in den letzten Jahrzehnten auf. Dabei werden die Integrationsoffenheit und Europarechtsfreundlichkeit des Grundgesetzes ebenso in den Blick genommen wie das Zusammenspiel zwischen Bundesverfassungsgericht und Gerichtshof der Europäischen Union bei der Durchsetzung des Unionsrechts einerseits und beim Grundrechtsschutz andererseits. Der Verfasser zeigt anhand vieler Beispiele auf, wie die vom Bundesverfassungsgericht entwickelten Instrumente der Identitätskontrolle und der Ultra vires-Kontrolle der Sicherung der Einhaltung des in den Europäischen Verträgen vereinbarten Integrationsprogramms dienen, wie das Gericht durch das Konzept der Integrationsverantwortung nationale staatliche Stellen bei der Begleitung des Integrationsprozesses in die Pflicht nimmt und wie es die zur Vermittlung demokratischer Legitimation erforderliche parlamentarische Rückanbindung europapolitischer Entscheidungsprozesse sicherstellt. Abschließend geht der Verfasser noch auf die Idee der Rechtsgemeinschaft und die hieran geäußerte Kritik ein. Er kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass die Europäische Union sich nur als Rechtsgemeinschaft zu erhalten vermag und dass die rule of law gerade in Zeiten der Krise unentbehrlich ist.
This article examines the data obtained through a year-long ethnographic study of students from a Spanish primary school, and sheds light on their use of gender code networks during school recess. ...The results of this analysis confirm the conclusions on student interaction drawn by other studies (group segregation regarding age and gender and, accordingly, the practice of different activities, the occupation of different spaces; ways of inclusion or exclusion, and the safeguarding of codes). The use of codes is random, the rules which regulate peer interaction are diffuse, and the code network becomes extremely complex. In spite of this, this study concludes that a new student learns to interpret and use the codes in a short period of time (six weeks maximum, according to the cases analyzed) even when the student is not a native speaker of Spanish and is unable to understand the language. We also observed in the case of all newcomers, an initial period of openness during which they try to suspend their own codes and open up to learning the codes present in their new context.
This article discusses integration as a process rather than as a result or as a system
of distribution, and takes its cue from Lave & Wenger’s concepts of “situated learning”
and “legitimate ...peripheral participation”. By using integration as a process related
concept the article analyzes both the intentions of an integration project as well as its
consequences. The intention of the project was to simplify the integration of new
members of the Swedish society by funnelling them into existing associations and
clubs of their own choice in order to open up the considerable amount of social net
works connections to these associations and clubs through their members. By becoming
members of Swedish associations and clubs newcomers would also become
aware of the importance of representation in Swedish society. The authors too see
this result as an important step in the process of integration from a legitimate peripheral
position towards the ever changing centre, e.g. integration as a result of various
situated learning.
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