Suchergebnisse

Im Verlauf des Transformationsprozesses verändert sich die Siedlungsstruktur besonders augenscheinlich im Umland von Groß- und Mittelstädten durch Siedlungswachstum in den Außenbereichen. Dieses Siedlungswachstum führt in untergeordneter Form zur Zersiedlung der Landschaft. Es erhöht das Verkehrsaufkommen und belastet die Luft insbesondere durch steigenden Individualverkehr. Gleichzeitig kann diese Stadtrandwanderung ausgewählter Bevölkerungsgruppen zur Verödung der Kernstädte und Gefährdung etablierter Versorgungssysteme beitragen. Diese brisante und aktuelle Problematik der Suburbanisierung wurde von der ARL als Thema ihres dritten transnationalen Planerforums im Rahmen des CADSES INTERREG II C-Projektes aufgegriffen, um den gegenseitigen Wissenstransfer zwischen Wissenschaftlern und Praktikern in den Ländern Mittel-, Ost- und Südosteuropas zu grundlegenden und aktuellen Fragen der Regionalentwicklung fortzusetzen. Seine Ergebnisse sollen mit dieser zweisprachigen Veröffentlichung Nutzerkreisen in Tschechien, der Slowakei und Deutschland vorgestellt werden.

The article addresses issues related to the growing importance of non-governmental organizations & social movements in world politics. The key question that the article deals with is whether there are structures of global political activism in the making? In other words, is a "global civil society" being constituted? If yes, how does this "global civil society" relate to local actors? Are global actors partners in the building of local activism? In addition, how do the actors of the "global civil society" relate to states? Do they transcend the confines of the state? In order to answer these questions, the article first describes the evolving debate around the issue of transnational relations. During the last decade this issue has become an important research problem in at least two social scientific disciplines -the theory of international relations & the theory of collective action. Moreover, the attention paid to transnational social movements & net-works of non-governmental organizations has influenced debates in certain fields of political theory where actors described as "global civil society" came to be perceived as the manifestation of reformist hopes associated with globally organized civic activism. This activism is believed to hold the promise of future global democratization. In sum, the issue of transnational relations & transnational political action is an interdisciplinary problem. The aim of this article is to answer the specified questions above. It reflects the most important aspects of the debate on transnational political action. The ambition of the article is to critically assess both empirically oriented approaches & normatively motivated explorations of the possibilities for global democratization through political involvement of transnational movements & non-governmental organizations. The paper maintains that the concept of "global civil society" is applicable for the description of political action "beyond borders" only under the condition that it is not understood as an alternative to the institutions of the modern state & that it is not used in an ideological way. References. Adapted from the source document.

The article looks into Austrian attitude to security co-operation in Central Europe. Austria has arrived at a very flexible definition of its neutrality concept. The recent security & defense doctrine (2001) describes Austria not as a neutral but as a "non-allied state." In has introduced the principle of "European solidarity" in the Austrian security policy. The neutrality, however, remains to be a sensitive political issue, which splits the Austrian society. The regional partnership has created a new regional platform, which has produced positive results in several policy sectors. At the same time, the real political potential of the co-operation has yet to be seen, mainly in the course of the EU-enlargement. The security dimension of regional co-operation has developed with some dynamism. It testified willingness & ability of the military & experts to work with regional partners. Nonetheless, the co-operation has remained largely low-key. The reasons are, firstly, that the prioritizing of the orientation of Austria to the West prevented Vienna from an active regional policy for most of the 1990s. Secondly, & in the long run even more crucially, the non-allied status of Austria hampers the security co-operation in the most crucial areas: defense, sharing of sensitive information, sharing & thus cutting the costs of rearmament & modernization of the armed forces & of the defense infrastructure. References. Adapted from the source document.