Suchergebnisse

For many years the marble extraction sector of the Greek mining industry has been in conflict with the public, especially in terms of rehabilitation of marble quarry sites. One of the main reasons for that is that the marble extraction sector has been unable to adjust to the existing legislative guidelines for the rehabilitation, such as extensive backfilling and re-vegetation. In the majority of cases these methods fail due to erosion of the backfill soil and adverse climatic conditions. As a result the number of abandoned marble quarry sites is continuously increasing. The present paper suggests a different approach regarding the rehabilitation of marble quarries. More specifically, the paper questions the applicability, the effectiveness, and the social usefulness of the above-mentioned guidelines and suggests the establishment of new land-uses, which are based on an in-depth analysis of the area's special features, by taking full advantage of its potentials. What is more, the rehabilitation scheme proposes that the new land-uses and the quarrying activity may co-exist and operate simultaneously for a long period of time. © Springer-Verlag 2006.

The contributions of this book examine contemporary dynamics of migration and mobility in the context of the general societal transformations that have taken place in Europe over the past few decades. The book will help readers to better understand the manifold ways in which migration trends in the region are linked to changing political-economic constellations, orders of power and inequality, and political discourses. It begins with an introduction to a number of theoretical approaches that address the nexus between migration and general societal shifts, including processes of supranationalisation, EU enlargement, postsocialist transformations and rescaling. It then provides a comprehensive overview of the political regulation of migration through border control and immigration policies. The contributions that follow detail the dynamic changes of individual migration patterns and their implications for the agency of mobile individuals. The final part challenges the reader to consider how policies and practices of migration are linked to symbolic struggles over belonging and rights, describing a wide range of expressions of such conflicts, from cosmopolitanism to racism and xenophobia. This book is aimed at researchers in various fields of the social sciences and can be used as course reading for undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate courses in the areas of international migration, transnational and European studies. It will be a beneficial resource for scholars looking for material on the most current conceptual tools for analysis of the nexus of migration and societal transformation in Europe.

"The Shared World offers a new treatment of the capacity to perceive, act on, and know about the world together with others. It develops the view that creatures capable of joint attention stand in a unique perceptual and epistemic relation to their surroundings: they operate in an environment that they, through communication with their fellow perceivers, help constitute. This environment is characterized by a specific spatial order. Joint perceivers determine the location of the object of their attention and action relative to their respective standpoints, and thus operate with a spatial frame of reference in which these standpoints are presented as centres of perception and action. The resulting theory casts light on a range of philosophical and psychological issues: the essay discusses demonstrative reference in communication, common knowledge about jointly perceived objects, and spatial awareness in joint perception and -action. It integrates these social phenomena into a more general discussion about the nature of mind and argues for their crucial relevance in the context of that discussion"--

After several decades in which it became a prime target for critique, universalism remains one of the most important issues in social and political thought. Daniel Chernilo reassesses social theory's universalistic orientation and explains its origins in natural law theory, using an impressive array of classical and contemporary sources that include, among others, Habermas, Leo Strauss, Weber, Marx, Hegel, Rousseau and Hobbes. The Natural Law Foundations of Modern Social Theory challenges previous accounts of the rise of social theory, recovers a strong idea of humanity, and revisits conventional arguments on sociology's relationship to modernity, the enlightenment and natural law. It reconnects social theory to its scientific and philosophical roots, its descriptive and normative tasks and its historical and systematic planes. Chernilo's defense of universalism for contemporary social theory will surely engage students of sociology, political theory and moral philosophy alike.

1. Introduction : economic complexity and human development -- 2. Development paradigms -- 3. Towards a 'Sen meets Schumpeter' approach -- 4. Economic diversification and human development -- 5. Social networks, innovation and human development -- 6. Entrepreneurship and human development -- 7. Policy dimensions for structural change and human development -- 8. Conclusion : key ideas and research outlook.