Researchers are advocating that a necessary condition of scholarly research is congruence between philosophical positions and research approaches. Phenomenology and postpositivism, traditionally, may appear to be situated in scientific inquiry as polar opposites and mutually exclusive paradigms. This article (a) describes the reflections of a nurse researcher and clarifies her philosophical assumptions; (b) delineates the postpositive paradigm and the interpretive paradigm, which traditionally includes phenomenology; (c) discusses phenomenology as a philosophy, an approach, and a research method; and (d) demonstrates the consistency between postpositivism and phenomenology. Nurse researchers must be aware of their philosophical assumptions and appraise the philosophical underpinnings of the methodologies, but this process should not restrict and limit their exploration of possibilities and the creativity in their efforts to address the growing challenges that await nursing science research.
The agenda-setting power of the rotating Council presidency presented successive Portuguese governments with an opportunity to externalize the country’s core foreign-policy priorities onto the European level. As such, Portugal’s presidencies of the Council of the European Union have been particularly instrumental in formalizing relations between the EU and the Lusophone world. The first and second EU–Africa summits, the first EU–Brazil summit, the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Commission and the Executive Secretariat of the Community of Portuguese-speaking countries (CPLP), and the closer association of Cape Verde to the EU, all occurred while Portugal held the rotating Council presidency. This article discusses the strategies, challenges and successes of the three Portuguese presidencies (1992, 2000 and 2007) in shaping the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). It also explores the options available to Portugal in the post-Lisbon era, where the rotating Council presidency’s agenda-setting powers are considerably reduced with regard to CFSP matters. Both prior to and since the Treaty of Lisbon coming into force, Portugal’s strategy has been to stress its historic links to Africa and Brazil, as these relations constitute Portugal’s contribution to building the CFSP, furthering its core national foreign-policy priorities by putting its position in the Lusophone world at the disposal of the European Union’s external action.
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