Regions and regionalism are rather flourishing in Europe. But what do regionalism and the expression "Europe of regions" exactly mean? There are three approaches to the question: first, the concept of cross-border interregionality between the Member States of the European Union; second, the effort to make regions the basic building blocks of European integration instead of states; and finally, the objective to introduce a three-tier structure to the European Union which would extend the already existing tiers of the European Union and the Member States with a third one, the territorial units within nation-states. The first approach (interregional cooperation) has long been adopted; the second approach (the vision of Europe made up of regions instead of states) is rather utopian. The third one is subject to fierce debates: a three-tier European Union with European, nation-state and regional levels. Although the form, motives and causes of movements promoting regionalism may vary greatly, 1 their purpose is the same for autonomous, federalist and separatist movements alike: to relativise the existing central nation-state. Thus, advancing European integration has become a natural ally for them as – from their perspective – it meant the disfunctionality of traditional nation-states. A supranational and therefore multinational and multicultural community promises much more room for development than a classic nation-state.
In recent decades, the United States has increasingly used the means of economic warfare in its geopolitical struggles. Among these instruments – in addition to the financial markets – it most often launches geoeconomic attacks in the oil market against its geopolitical adversaries. The United States can cause significant economic damage both for oil exporter (eg. Iran, Venezuela) and oil importer (eg. Cuba, North Korea) countries by restricting their access to oil markets.This paper analyzes the economic warfare in the oil market between the United States and Iran, Russia, and North Korea. Through these examples this paper demonstrates how the United States organizes and executes geoeconomic attacks in the oil market and how it handles country-specific problems. The United States has the means to organize broad international coalition alongside the oil market sanctions – even in the lack of UN Security Council resolutions.United Nations has decided on a number of economic sanctions against Iran because of its nuclear program. These sanctions reduced the supply in the world oil market and resulted in about 10-20% price increase, while Iran – despite of the sanctions – found the way to sell significant amount of oil, mainly to China and India.Russia is a member of the UN Security Council, so no UN sanctions can be imposed on it, nevertheless the United States and its allies launched a geoeconomics assault against Russia after the annexation of the Crimea. Russia was prepared for these economic sanctions and could effectively reduce the negative effects on its oil export, which could even increase after the western sanctions. North Korea is under UN sanctions since 2006 because of its nuclear program. The sanctions refer to oil and oil products as well, but has no significant effect on world oil market and oil price, because North Korea is a relatively small country with low oil consumption.North Korea is suffering a huge economic burden due to severe restrictions and its only way to circumvent the embargo – according to American accusations – is to smuggle some oil from China and Russia. ; In recent decades, the United States has increasingly used the means of economic warfare in its geopolitical struggles. Among these instruments – in addition to the financial markets – it most often launches geoeconomic attacks in the oil market against its geopolitical adversaries. The United States can cause significant economic damage both for oil exporter (eg. Iran, Venezuela) and oil importer (eg. Cuba, North Korea) countries by restricting their access to oil markets.This paper analyzes the economic warfare in the oil market between the United States and Iran, Russia, and North Korea. Through these examples this paper demonstrates how the United States organizes and executes geoeconomic attacks in the oil market and how it handles country-specific problems. The United States has the means to organize broad international coalition alongside the oil market sanctions – even in the lack of UN Security Council resolutions.United Nations has decided on a number of economic sanctions against Iran because of its nuclear program. These sanctions reduced the supply in the world oil market and resulted in about 10-20% price increase, while Iran – despite of the sanctions – found the way to sell significant amount of oil, mainly to China and India.Russia is a member of the UN Security Council, so no UN sanctions can be imposed on it, nevertheless the United States and its allies launched a geoeconomics assault against Russia after the annexation of the Crimea. Russia was prepared for these economic sanctions and could effectively reduce the negative effects on its oil export, which could even increase after the western sanctions. North Korea is under UN sanctions since 2006 because of its nuclear program. The sanctions refer to oil and oil products as well, but has no significant effect on world oil market and oil price, because North Korea is a relatively small country with low oil consumption.North Korea is suffering a huge economic burden due to severe restrictions and its only way to circumvent the embargo – according to American accusations – is to smuggle some oil from China and Russia.
This paper aims to give a comprehensive picture of the objectives and perspectives behind the creation of the Central European Initiative (CEI). It also analyzes the role of CEI in the political, economic and social transition in the post-Socialist states. The article studies how CEI helped the integration of the Central European countries to the Western institutions, especially to the European Union (EU). The cooperation was founded in 1989 by Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Yugoslavia. It was unique and special in the era, as it had member states from totally different political and economic blocks. There are more approaches to explain the creation of this cooperation. According to the Liberal one, the founder states wished to create a flexible platform for the cooperation of countries from different blocks. This was also a political initiative to overcome on the divisions of bipolarity and the Cold War. The laid down political objectives in the official documents included the values represented by the European institutions. These values were adopted by the post-Socialist states. At the project level, the initiatives of CEI indirectly contributed to the economic and social transition in these countries. CEI and EU progressively built their close relations, and the support of EU integration became the mission of CEI. If we study the EU accessions in the region, we can state, CEI had a successful and important role in bringing closer the post-Socialist states to the EU.
Der Begriff 'Bildungsferne' – in Deutschland eher auf politischer als auf wissenschaftlicher Ebene verwendet – beschreibt mehr als das Fehlen (höherer) formaler Bildungsabschlüsse und ist deshalb nicht gleichzusetzen mit Geringqualifizierung. In seinem Zusammenhang steht auch die Frage nach den Bildungschancen, d.h. dem Zugang zu Bildungsmöglichkeiten. Bildungsferne bezeichnet damit zunächst eine Benachteiligung in Bezug auf Bildungschancen, v.a. gegründet auf soziodemographische Faktoren, wie soziale Herkunft und Sozialisation, regionale Herkunft, Migrationshintergrund, Alter, Behinderung etc. Wenn von bildungsfernen Gruppen die Rede ist, wird jedoch außerdem zumeist auf wirtschaftliche schwache, gering qualifizierte, lernungewohnte Bevölkerungsgruppen Bezug genommen, für die der Zugang zu (Weiter-)Bildungsmöglichkeiten aufgrund ihrer sozialen und ökonomischen Voraussetzungen eingeschränkt ist und in deren sozialen Milieus Bildung einen geringen Stellenwert einnimmt. m Rahmen eines interkulturellen Lehr-Forschungs-Projektes der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena und der Eötvös-Loránd-Universität Budapest wurde in einer in beiden Ländern geführten empirischen Studie untersucht, ob Frauen in den beiden untersuchten Ländern eine bildungsferne Gruppe ausmachen, inwieweit Frauen in der ungarischen und der deutschen Gesellschaft heute noch benachteiligt sind und wie Bildung einer evtl. Benachteiligung entgegenwirken kann? Dazu wird zunächst die Situation von Frauen in der ungarischen und der deutschen Gesellschaft dargestellt und durch Gespräche mit Vertretern der Arbeitsämter sowie durch die Vorstellung von Bildungsangeboten speziell für Frauen in den beiden Ländern Antwort auf die Fragen gesucht. Weitere von anderen Gruppen in diesem Zwei-Länder-Projekt untersuchte Fragestellungen waren: o Potenziale des Alterns (http://www.db-thueringen.de/servlets/DocumentServlet?id=9749) o Fremdsprachenerwerb in der Erwachsenenbildung (http://www.db-thueringen.de/servlets/DocumentServlet?id=9894) *************************** ; The notion 'Bildungsferne' (appr. distance to learning), which is in Germany rather used on a political than on a scientific level, mainly describes the lack of (higher) formal educational achievements and is therefore not the same as lower qualification. Furthermore questions regarding the access to educational opportunities arise when examining this notion. First of all 'Bildungsferne' means discrimination with regard to educational opportunities, mainly based on sociodemographic factors, such as social background and socialization, regional provenance, migration background, age, disability, etc. When considering groups distal to learning one usually refers to people who are deprived, less qualified and who are not used to learning (anymore). Due to their social and economic prerequisites and because of the minor role which education plays within their social environment access to (further) educational opportunities is less important for this population group. In the context of an intercultural research project, which was realized by the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena and the Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest, it was examined, with the help of an empirical survey that was conducted in both countries, if women in both countries can be regarded as a group which is distal to learning, in how far women are still discriminated within the Hungarian and German society and in which way can education work against possible discrimination? Therefore the situation of women in the Hungarian and German society will be described and with the help of interviews, done with representatives of the respective employment centre, as well as the presentation of special educational opportunities for women, these questions will be answered. Further questions considered throughout this intercultural research project were: o Potentials of Senior Age (http://www.db-thueringen.de/servlets/DocumentServlet?id=9749) o How can adults learn foreign languages? (http://www.db-thueringen.de/servlets/DocumentServlet?id=9894) ***************************
