Search results

Sees East Germany as an important case study of an ideologically dogmatic bureaucracy which ignored people′s deep‐seated ethical norms and values. The principles of solidarity, subsidiarity and justice were insufficiently exercised. The political leadership failed to recognize and understand the degree of people′s resignation and frustration, being out of touch with socioeconomic reality. Hence it programmed false decision making and inefficiencies into a system which was held together by an excessive police apparatus, repression, corruption and propaganda. As a result, the East German system imploded under its own irrationality, induced by an almost complete loss of confidence in the ruling party and the government. Addresses primarily ethical rather than economic issues which successfully challenged the East German state.

Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely, innovative thought structures and attitudes have almost always forced economic institutions and modes of behaviour to adjust. We learn from the history of economic doctrines how a particular theory emerged and whether, and in which environment, it could take root. We can see how a school evolves out of a common methodological perception and similar techniques of analysis, and how it has to establish itself. The interaction between unresolved problems on the one hand, and the search for better solutions or explanations on the other, leads to a change in paradigma and to the formation of new lines of reasoning. As long as the real world is subject to progress and change scientific search for explanation must out of necessity continue.

The concepts of population health management in both theory and practice have significant implications for improving health care quality and lowering costs. I discuss the importance of defining the perspective and populations for population health management. Lifestyle management strategies emphasize health risk reduction and prevention techniques as they target a relatively healthy population. Demand management approaches extend lifestyle management strategies by concentrating on consumer demand for medical care services. Disease management techniques typically focus on individuals with chronic conditions such as diabetes, congestive heart failure, or asthma. These programs offer targeted health and care management services to help coordinate the needs and care of individuals with those specific diseases. Catastrophic care management services extend the disease management approach to provide health management services for individuals with catastrophic illnesses or injuries. Disability management approaches are designed from an employer's perspective to improve worker productivity by focusing on strategies to reduce injuries, avoid illness, and better manage employee disability. Information technologies especially are important in developing and implementing each of the above population health management strategies. A conceptual model of population health management integrates the theory and the practice of population health management on both individual and organizational levels. Lastly, I discuss practical and research issues around developing and applying a population health management model in the U.S.

Drastic reductions in financial and personal support for public education over the last years in Germany seem to open gateways to ‘new’ acceptance of punishment in the realm of pedagogy. This ‘discourse’ is clandestine in theory, hidden from the public but real in institutions of the child and young people welfare system. They intensify the penalisation of their ‘drop-out’ clientele. The special schools for pupils with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) tend to act in that way, too. Particularly children and young people living in poverty are on the agenda of this new trend to penalise ‘deviant’ behaviour.

Programmes, trainings and drills are available. They are meant to help social workers and teacher in their position with new aims and functions. In their daily routine, most of them are overburdened and overloaded, because classes are overfilled and the number of families in the communal welfare system is growing rapidly, due to the so-called ‘Hartz IV’ legislative for unemployed families. This new trend is also a market place for the media; they launched an emergency call on education.

Some punitive praxis is contradictory to the human rights and the children rights, so that all professors for SEBD in Germany published a public declaration against the breaking up of the agreement of an education without violence. There is no empirical evidence for any positive outcome of such ‘pedagogy’. Despite all ‘modern’ promises, working with fear, anxiety, shame and punishment doesn't pay in the long run.

This chapter clarifies the relationship between socio-economic development and this ‘law and order’ pedagogy, the loss of professional standards and the psychodynamic consequences for pupils labelled as ‘deviant’.