Suchergebnisse

Since the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 the former Communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe have been pushing for a quick 'return to Europe'. The project of 'expanding European unity' is in full progress, however, so far none of the former Soviet bloc countries have been able to join the European Union. Technical problems, related to financial management and administrative matters, still have to be overcome, but more fundamental issues are also at stake: what are the borders of Central and Eastern Europe? And will the eastward expansion of the European Union be conducted on the basis of western images and stereotypes of `the East'? This volume examines the state of affairs after ten years of attempts to further enlarge the Union. Written by authors from 'the East' as well as 'the West' some of the articles focus on the general issue of how to distinguish between Western, Central and Eastern Europe, while others discuss the specific situation of the countries that are closest to joining the European Union: Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary

AbstractThis paper studies the consequences of European multilingualism and multilingual communication for a common social policy in the Europe Union. In the past fifty years, the main focus of the Europeanization project has been on financial-economic developments and less on a common social policy. Even today, there is no common framework for social protection in the European Union. Common minimum income or wages for European citizens are lacking. In this paper, it will be argued that the lack of social protection has to do with Europe's linguistic diversity. Language is seen as a building block of national communities and their political cultures. The European integration project can only continue if different European political cultures are shared. However, due to the fact that a neutral lingua franca is lacking, this has been unsuccessful so far. The interaction of social groups that have a different language repertoire with the structures of multilevel governance are responsible for the fact that some of these social groups, including the 'Eurostars', and national cosmopolitans benefit from social protection, whereas other groups lacking relevant language skills, such as anti-establishment forces, commoners, and migrants, are excluded from the European power domains. These power configurations can be fruitfully studied in the floral figuration model. Consequently, due to these patterns of inclusion and exclusion, true solidarity among European citizens is not within reach. These claims will be illustrated by a case study on the Netherlands, a country that has been pursuing neoliberal policies counterbalancing Eurozone and economic crises and is trying to assimilate migrants and other newcomers. Apart from assimilatory policies targeting migrants, language games used by competing forces are playing an important role in the discourse in order to set up power structures.

AbstractThe relevance of languages and multilingual communication for social policy and solidarity in the context of the nation-state has generally been recognized. However, in the context of Europeanization, this factor has been underestimated and neglected in scientific research. This paper argues that languages and multilingual communication are relevant for the design of Social Europe. In order to support this hypothesis, the paper relies on an analytical tool, the so-called floral figuration model proposed by De Swaan (1988). This model allows us to isolate social and linguistic actors and track down complex patterns of linguistic and communicative exclusion in Europe's system of multilevel governance. These patterns also refer to international or global English or its technically adapted Brussels variety, 'Euro-English'. From this, also follows that these patterns of linguistic and communicative exclusion must be rendered into inclusive ones before a European social policy can be realized.

The paper will adopt the position that language is an intrinsic and largely non‑negotiable part of individual culture and identity. The recognition of one's own language receives more and more support in international political and institutional frameworks. The promotion of linguistic diversity is the official policy of the European Union. Due to such policies, it is to be expected that languages will remain in contact in the context of all sorts of levels of governance. In order to manage linguistic diversity in multilingual and multicultural areas, the introduction of a global regime of language policies is unavoidable. These policies will need to satisfy transnational requirements and conditions, like universal human rights and the norms and standards of Europeanization set by the EU, OSCE, Council of Europe, and so on. However, because there are manifold connections between language and power, as we know from the work of political scientists such as Pierre Bourdieu, and sociolinguists such as Peter Nelde, that a language element is always a part of intergroup conflict. Hence, it is to be expected that language policies will be subject to power conflicts and hegemonic strives. In order to support my claim, I will analyze the language policies of states with Hungarian language minorities in Central Europe, particularly Romania, Slovakia, Serbia (Vojvodina), and Ukraine (Trans‑Carpathia). The policies can be studied in terms of concrete variables, like individual/collective rights, territorial rearrangements, thresholds, the Language Charter, multilingual education, the linguistic landscape, and so on. The range in which these variables are instantiated is determined by local politics; hence, it is a case of the politics of language policy.

L'importance des langues et de la communication multilingue pour les politiques sociales et pour la solidarité nationale est largement reconnue. Cependant, dans le contexte de l'intégration européenne, ce facteur a été sous-estimé et négligé par la recherche en sciences sociales. Cet article considère que les langues et la communication multilingue constituent un élément important pour la définition d'une Europe sociale. Pour soutenir cette hypothèse, l'article se fonde sur le « schéma de la fleur » ( floral figuration ), un outil analytique proposé par de Swaan (1988). Ce modèle nous permet d'isoler les acteurs sociaux et linguistiques et de localiser des schémas d'exclusion linguistique et communicationnelle dans le système de gouvernance à plusieurs niveaux de l'Europe. Ces schémas se réfèrent également à l'anglais international ou mondial, ainsi qu'à son adaptation bruxelloise, l'« euro-anglais ». Ils apparaissent dans une étude de cas réalisée aux Pays-Bas. Ce pays a récemment commencé à poursuivre des politiques sociales néolibérales et une politique d'assimilation pour l'intégration des immigrés afin de répondre à la crise de la zone euro. On conclut que ces schémas d'exclusion linguistique et communicationnelle doivent être transformés en schémas inclusifs avant qu'une politique sociale européenne ne puisse être réalisée.