Suchergebnisse

The creation of the European Union as we know it began with the conclusion of the Second World War. At that time there was a call for the creation of a united Europe with the intention of preventing future wars among the nations. As a result of the war, Europe was split into Eastern and Western factions. As the Western nations began to form the Council of Europe in 1950, there was a call for further cooperation. On May 9, 1950, Robert Schuman, the French foreign minister, called for a deeper cooperation among European nations (this would be known as the Schuman Plan). This day would later be honored as "Europe Day," which honors peace and unity within Europe. Six nations responded to this call. On April 18, 1951, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands sign a treaty that forms the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which ran the countries' coal and steel under a united management. The ECSC countries followed up by signing the Treaty of Rome on March 25, 1957, and this would create the European Economic Community (EEC). As a result, people, goods, and other services can now move freely across the borders. ; https://uknowledge.uky.edu/world_europe_journey/1001/thumbnail.jpg

Could the despised euro actually provide the sense of identity so long sought by the European Union?

Multi-sited ethnographies allow for a cross-cultural qualitative reading of schooling spaces. Flags, crucifix and language regimes are sociocultural and political symbols that set the tone for narratives of belonging inside and outside of the classroom. Transclusion (Biesta 2019) provides a fruitful concept to dissect and interpret how authority over space, language and resources is shared in schooling communities. Drawing on Biesta's functions of education (qualification, socialization, subjectification), the three case studies give insights into the ways that space-marking indicates how schools prioritize one function of education over another. Central European schools exist within the complex history of the continent and must be locally contextualized to understand how the "ruinations" (Abu El-Haj 2020) of the myth of monoethnic (Poland), segregated migrant labor districts (Germany) or multicultural communities (Austria) play out in the everyday lives of schools. In the German-speaking schools, efforts were made to embrace diversity but the German language bias remained an uncontested site of power, achievement and discipline. At the Polish site, emphasis on homogeneity and competition favors passive learning settings and renders diverse student needs invisible. Purpose: Against the backdrop of a global policyscape of inclusion, this paper investigates how three primary schools (Poland, Austria, Germany) mark entry halls and classrooms with state and religious symbolism and grant presence or absence of multilingualism. Design/methodology/approach: This multi-sited school ethnography investigates how EU educational policy projects on social justice and inclusion are appropriated and negotiated in the spaces of three Central European schools (Abu El-Haj et al. 2017; Levinson, et al. 2018). I build on Gert Biesta's concept of "transclusion" (2019) to interpret how school spaces appropriate EU inclusion policies and create a shared sense of community and belonging. Research limitations: Findings must be treated ...

Signifying Europe provides a systematic overview of the wide range of symbols used to represent Europe and Europeanness, both by the political elite and the broader public. Through a critical interpretation of the meanings of the various symbols—and their often contradictory or ambiguous dimensions—Johan Fornäs uncovers illuminating insights into how Europe currently identifies itself and is identified by others outside its borders. While the focus is on the European Union's symbols, those symbols are also interpreted in relation to other symbols of Europe. Offering insight into the cultural dimensions of European unification, this volume will appeal to students, scholars and politicians interested in European policy issues, cultural studies and postnational cultural identity.

Fifty years ago homosexual acts were illegal in all the countries that trace their legal systems back to the British common law. Public authorities, media and social attitudes throughout the West treated homosexuality as illicit, often unmentionable. There was a tradition of seeing homosexuality as a foreign vice – the Greek vice or the French vice or an Oriental vice – not a local vice. In 2005, after forty years of reforms, criminal laws that target homosexual acts are gone in the West. Entry into the European Union is conditional on laws prohibiting discrimination in the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Marriage has been opened to same-sex couples in the Netherlands, Belgium, the state of Massachusetts, Canada and Spain. Same-sex marriage was a major issue in the 2004 American presidential election. 'Human rights' play an important role in modern states. Respect for 'human rights' is a marker if the legitimacy of regimes. The globalising agenda is clear in Boutros Boutros-Ghali's well-known description of human rights as the "common language of humanity". ; AsiaPacifiQueer Network, Australian National University

The phenomenon to which the expression "flags of convenience" is applied dates back to the end of the First World War when certain nontraditional maritime countries, especially Panama, Liberia, and Honduras, started to register foreign-owned vessels under their flags for economic reasons and exercised minimal control over the activities and operations of these vessels. This practice aroused considerable controversy and opposition. The seafarers' unions were concerned about the low standards alleged to prevail on these vessels and about the loss of job opportunities for seamen from traditional maritime countries. The shipowners from certain European countries, supported by their governments, saw the practice as one that generated serious competition against them, especially because of the virtual tax-free concessions accorded to the owners of flags of convenience vessels.

AbstractFollowing Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the grounds behind Vladimir Putin's decision were widely debated. Theories suggest several reasons, including Putin's nostalgic dream of restoring Soviet imperial glory, Russia's fears of NATO security threats near their borders. But another explanation may be more prosaic: Putin's desire to restore his sagging popularity at home by attempting to repeat his 2014 "Crimea" strategy. By annexing territories in Eastern Ukraine, he may have hoped to generate a "rally-around-the flag" effect, boosting his domestic support by appealing to Russian patriotism and nationalism. To examine this thesis, Part I outlines the core concept and what is known in the literature about the size and duration of the rally-around-the flag phenomenon. Part II examines the available time-series survey evidence drawn from a variety of opinion polls in Ukraine, Europe, and Russia focusing on the first 8 months of the war to detect any rally effects associated with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Part III examines the evidence of media effects. Part IV adds robustness tests. The conclusion in Part V summarizes the main findings and discusses their broader implications for understanding the roots of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its consequences.