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AbstractA summary of projects concerning the use of medication for non-medical purposes by adolescents and young adults indicates that practices involving sports doping, improvement of intellectual and sexual performance as well as mood control, and corporal modeling are on the increase. Recourse to these medications is often associated with the consumption of other substances (alcohol and drugs) and appears to indicate a new phase in the development of modern drug addiction. This group of studies nevertheless remains limited due to the predominance of the epidemiological approaches. These contribute to identifying the profile of the users, usually boys. The list of substances employed and the frequency of their use reveal the principal factors and determinants of the use. Nevertheless, few studies adopt explicit theoretical approaches. New paths for research are proposed which would enable a more precise evaluation of the conduct and representations associated with practices of abuse, doping and drug diversion and their significance.

Keywords: médicaments, détournement, dopage, mésusage, abus, dopage, adolescents, jeunes adultes, prescription drugs, drug diversion, doping, misuse, non medical use, drug abuse, doping, adolescents, young adults, medicamentos, utilización indebida, dopaje, uso incorrecto, abuso, adolescentes, adultos jóvenes

Parmi les débats les plus persistants dans l'étude de la politique étrangère et de sécurité du Canada se trouve l'influence du Québec sur son élaboration et son exécution. Certains estiment que la minorité nationale francophone jouit d'une influence disproportionnée, alors que d'autres jugent plutôt que les valeurs et les intérêts du Québec sont marginalisés. Qu'en est-il exactement ? Cet article offre une analyse contrefactuelle de la question en s'attardant plus spécifiquement à la participation militaire canadienne aux coalitions d'États volontaires dirigées par les États-Unis. Nous examinons deux études de cas qui ont largement dominé les relations canado-américaines contemporaines, c'est-à-dire la guerre en Afghanistan et l'invasion anglo-américaine de l'Irak. Il ressort de notre analyse que, si le Québec peut se vanter de sa spécificité en matière de sécurité internationale, il est loin d'être avéré qu'une fédération canadienne sans le Québec aurait adopté des positions fondamentalement différentes de celles qui furent adoptées.

The article analyses the antecedents and the current forms of the regionalization process in Nicaragua. Nicaragua is divided into two major geographical areas: the Atlantic coast and the Western Central region. In the first area, the structuring forces are centered on foreign capitalistic investments, the exploitation of natural resources, and the ethnical and cultural components of a mostly indigenous population. In the second area, the territorial desintegration results from the action of other socio-economic factors such as the formation and growth of an importing and exporting national bourgeoisie and the proletarization of a large part of the peasant and urban work force. The new government expects the regionalization to contribute, among other things, to the development of an agro-industrial economy, an improvement of the spatial infrastructure, a reduction of the relative demographic weight of Managua, a solution of the problem of migratory agriculture, and a decentralization of investments. In all these projects, a collective effort will be made by the Sandinist Front, the government of national reconstruction and, especially, the workers and peasants.

Keywords: Désarticulation spatiale, classes sociales, régionalisation, structure administrative, état, territoire, Nicaragua, Spatial disarticulation, social classes, regionalization, administrative structure, state, territory, Nicaragua

AbstractIn this paper I present new international comparisons of economic growth among the G7 nations – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. These comparisons focus on the impact of investment in information technology (IT) equipment and software over the period 1980-2000. Using internationally harmonized prices, I have analyzed the role of investment and productivity as sources of growth in the G7 countries over the period 1980-2000. I have subdivided the period in 1989 and 1995 in order to focus on the most recent experience. I have decomposed growth of output for each country between growth of input and productivity. Finally, I have allocated the growth of input between investments in tangible assets, especially information technology and software, and human capital.

One important tool for forecasting in the field of applied economics has been largely overlooked—the identification and analysis of patterns of industrial behavior. The following paper shows how the method of detecting behavior patterns, and the factors which control them, can be utilized for analyzing the past economic performance of an industry and for predicting its likely performance in the future.This analysis has also revealed that when controlled by the same factors, different industries follow the same behavior pattern. This being so, it becomes possible to group industries together and reclassify them on the basis of their common major business characteristics. Of these, one of the most important is their mode of competition. This reclassification also enables us to know when we can transfer experience between industries (within the same group) and when we cannot do this (between industries in different groups).At the present time, significant changes are occurring in the economic, organizational and technical climates. New economic goals appear necessary for Canada and these are suggested. These changes are altering the importance of the factors controlling industrial behavior. The nature of these changes is considered and applied to the case of the chemical industry in the next decade. The analysis suggests what new factors will control this industry, and the direction and nature of the likely changes in it. Given this, an estimate of the economic changes can be made.Analysis of behavior patterns is, therefore, a powerful and essential tool for estimating the future behavior of industries, and of groups of industries, in the economy.

In this paper, we analyze the relationship between the publicness of the working environment and employee workplace commitment within Swiss public administrations. More than a thousand public employees from different organizations and institutional levels were surveyed, using a questionnaire designed for measuring multi-anchor commitment. Our study shows that beyond theoretical publicness, the actual perceived publicness by the surveyed employees' working environment is more closely related to their commitment; especially for the most salient public commitment anchors. Besides, we propose an innovative approach of the Person-work environment Fit, of potential interest for public management scholars and practioners.

Keywords: Publicitude théorique et perçue, engagement au travail, ancres d'engagement, employés publics, P-E Fit, Theoretical and perceived publicness, workplace commitment, commitment anchors, public employees, P-E Fit, Publicness teórico y percibido, compromiso en el trabajo, anclas de compromiso, empleados públicos, P-E Fit

An East Asian view about how trade dispute settlement systems should be designed is slowly emerging. Democratically-inspired trade law scholarship and cultural explanations of the international law behaviour of the Southeast and Northeast Asian trading nations have failed to capture or prescribe the actual treaty behaviour of these nations. Instead, such behaviour has resulted in the emergence of two different treaty models for the peaceful settlement of trade disputes. The first, which seems firmly established, may be found in ASEAN's 2004 dispute settlement protocol and the regimes established under the China-ASEAN, Korea-ASEAN, Japan-ASEAN, and ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTAs. A second model, based on the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement, could in time become an alternative model for an Asia-Pacific-wide FTA (i.e., including the East Asian nations within it). It adopts a more open approach; one which better accommodates greater transparency in dispute proceedings. At least for now, the two models coexist, obviating the need for East Asia's legal policy-makers to choose a clear, dominant design for treaty-based trade dispute settlement in the region. But it also means that East Asia's trading partners can influence East Asian nations, at least in those trade agreements that—like the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement—involve negotiations with trans-continental partners.