as putin regained the power in russia, the situation gave a second chance to this country to avoid both the west and the benefits of convergence with its foreign policy and regional and trans-regional equations. this can take advantages from other side. approach of russia to divergence and independence with the west will increase level of russian hegemony on international arena. the main questi...

International human rights law affirms that everyone has a right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. States that are parties to human rights treaties are obliged under international law to observe these rights. Australia has ratified all international human rights law instruments in which the right to health is enshrined, and so is obliged to ensur...

‘The time has come – this year, in this new Administration – to modernize our health care system for the twenty-first century; to reduce costs for families and businesses; and to finally provide affordable, accessible health care for every American.’ Barack Obama, President-elect of the United States, 11 December 2008 ‘It’s time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and worked to r...

There is a disjunction between modern international forestry policy and the needs of many people in developing countries. Recent international forest policy has focused on the implications of tropical deforestation for climate change, biodiversity loss and livelihoods. In particular the efficacy of the REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) mechanism has dominated internati...

Background Even though there are many patient organizations across Europe, their role in impacting health policy decisions and reforms has not been well documented. In line with this, the present study endeavours to fill this gap in the international literature. To this end, it aims to validate further a previously developed instrument (the Health Democracy Index - HDI) measuring patient organi...

Factors influencing cross-national diffusion of mental health policy are important to understand but complex to research. This commentary discusses Shen’s research study on cross-national diffusion of mental health policy; examines the extent to which the three questions researched by Shen (whether countries are more likely to have a mental health policy (a) the earlier a country becomes a memb...

The global environment itself knows no national boundaries. The activities of states affect the global environment whether or not those activities are regulated by international law or by domestic law or both. However, every student interested in the global environment must take into account the interface between domestic and international law. This Chapter's first essay reviews the considerati...