"Various entities are competing for institutional competence and legitimacy," observed Andrew L. Shapiro, the author of "The Control Revolution Public Affairsrs, 1999), which examines the Internet's social impact.
In his opinion for a unanimous court, Justice David H. Souter said Congress had "a superior institutional competence" in deciding how to hold H.M.O.'s accountable.
In his argument in the voting-rights case, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli tried this line, too, insisting on "the deference that Congress is owed… because, frankly, of the superior institutional competence of Congress to make these kinds of judgments".
"The Roberts Court has lost faith in the democratic process," Professor Karlan wrote, noting that the conservative justices, at least in practice, reject the idea that the political branches have a "special institutional competence" in addressing certain questions.
Cass R. Sunstein, a University of Chicago law professor whose recent book on the Supreme Court, "One Case at a Time" (Harvard University Press, 1999), commends an incremental approach to deciding hard cases, was one hesitant voice who warned that the Microsoft case might indeed lie at the outer limits of the court's institutional competence.
Beyond debate is the fact that the court has now placed itself in the midst of the political thicket where it has always most doubted its institutional competence and where as a personal matter the justices have always appeared least comfortable.
If Europe is to fulfil its space ambitions and adopt a common approach, institutional competences and abilities require clarification and formulation.
The capacity-building plan for both institutional and individual competence development also needed to be inclusive and rooted in thorough competence needs analyses.
Moreover, scholastic reliance on institutional indicators for competence may have impeded a clear distinction between epistemic and hierarchical authority, since epistemic authority was to some extent tied to hierarchical success in academia.
The concept of escalation, when treated this way, can help us further the analysis of clinical and institutional acts and competence.
The Action Plan is dedicated to four domains of action: quality assurance, academic and institutional capacity, and competence and vision for pharmacy education.
