Suchergebnisse

The spatial polarisation of society is open to various research perspectives. It takes several forms and involves various epiphenomena. Consequently, it is the subject of research interest to scholars in various fi elds, especially sociologists, economists, regionalists, and regional geographers. The article focuses on selected aspects of peripherality and peripheral regions. The first part is devoted to the theoretical aspects of the polarisation of society, developmental interactions between the centre and the periphery, the relationship between peripherality and levels of hierarchy, peripherality and time, and the primary criteria of peripherality in inland and borderland regions. The second part applies theoretical-methodological findings to regions of Slovakia using selected quantitative methods. The author attempts to describe peripherality in multidimensional terms, and to identify the interconnections between various types of peripherality. Based on detailed statistical data on municipalities, he uses a broad range of indicators divided into four groups: human resources, economic potential, personal amenities, and access to centres. In conclusion the author identifies and categorises the peripheral regions of Slovakia and notes the existence of peripherality at regional and local levels.

The process of European integration should be seen as the harmony of economic unification which is determined by a dynamic development with closed forms of intensive and deepening co-operation. Both processes, i.e. integration and co-operation, have been compared in the second part of the paper. The existence of a legal regime of its own is an important aspect of the economic integration. Therefore the necessity of national legal systems harmonisation, whose aim is to achieve the same legal regime for the common economic area, seems to be an inevitable process. As one from the driving forces of this process has become the need for balancing economic and social dimensions, the present-day EU policy responds to demanding challenges and it pays respect to the dignity of human being, while setting of the fundamental standard of social dimension is supposed in national legal order of the EU member states. The social policy of the EU has been therefore paid a close attention by the author. However the most challenging and prestigious act of the European integration has become the formation of a common European financial area, which is perceived in not only a European, but also in a world-wide context as well. It seems to be a process that is supposed to influence the development of international financial relations. This process bear certain level of risks, but it is really a unique opportunity for the creation of a single financial area for Europeans. (SOI : MO: S. 306)

This article surveys the ouevre of the Icelandic writer Jakobína Sigurðardóttir (1918-1994) on the occasion of her centenary. Various aspects of her novels, short stories, poetry and memoirs are examined, including the ways in which she presents time in her texts – time as it pertains to individual life spans and the interaction of different generations, as well as time in the life of a nation which could be said to have switched abodes in the course of the 20th Century, moving from rural to urban settings, and during this time the island nation attained sovereignty and independence. narrative is a key element in treating time and historical shifts, and attention is paid to the ways in which Sigurðardóttir both renews realist traditions and resorts to more radical narrative forms, pulling the reader into an active dialogue on gender and generational issues, on social justice and equality, as well on the routes and conditions which connect and mould places of dwelling – individual houses as well as the abode of the nation.