Suchergebnisse

The contributions in this issue of the journal are outlined. They are devoted to the topics of: (1) European security & defense policy & the different approaches to it by France & the UK, (2) EU citizens' support for a common foreign & security policy by this international body, (3) economic development problems in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, (4) the Kurdish question in Turkey as this country applies for EU membership, & (5) the restitution of private property disputes in post-war Kosovo. Contributions to the next, 65th volume of the journal, as it will celebrate its 70th year of publication in 2007, are solicited. Z. Dubiel

"This anthology concerns the many local elections held throughout Norway on 9 September 2019. Based on voter surveys carried out after every local election since 1995, the ten chapters in this book explore a variety of election-related topics such as voting behaviour and election campaigns, as well as political participation and political trust between elections. It is at the municipal level that most citizens can influence policy, and what occurs at the local level often plays a vital role in people's daily lives. One of the objectives of this book is therefore to better understand how local democracy functions, both in and between elections.

The 2019 local elections were marked by mobilization, protest, and high turnout, due to the focus on politically charged issues such as the toll roads, climate change, and municipal amalgamation. Amalgamation was not just a campaign issue, but a part of the institutional context; the 2019 elections took place in newly merged municipalities. This is therefore a dominant topic throughout this book. How citizens feel about municipal reform and its potential consequences, for example, is explored. Several chapters examine the significance of amalgamation on various aspects of local democracy: local party systems, turnout and voting behaviour, the parties' candidate selection, and representation in municipal councils. Taken as a whole, this anthology represents a status report on local democracy in the first election held in the merged municipalities.

This book will be of interest to anyone following developments in local democracy in Norway, especially students, researchers, journalists, and politically active citizens." - "Denne antologien handler om de mange lokalvalgene som ble holdt rundt om i Norge 9. september 2019. Med utgangspunkt i velgerundersøkelsene som er gjennomført ved hvert lokalvalg siden 1995, tar boken gjennom ti kapitler for seg dels valg, velgeratferd, valgkamp og valgutfall, og dels politisk deltakelse og politisk tillit mellom valgene. Det er i kommunene flest innbyggere har anledning til å delta i politikkutformingen, og lokalnivået spiller ofte en viktig rolle i den enkeltes hverdagsliv. Hensikten med boken er derfor også å forstå hvordan lokaldemokratiet fungerer mellom valgene.

Lokalvalget i 2019 var preget av høy valgdeltakelse, mobilisering og protest gjennom fokus på politiske saker som bompenger, klima og kommunereform. Kommunereformen var ikke bare valgkamptema, men en sentral rammebetingelse for lokalvalget i 2019. Kommunesammenslåing er derfor et gjennomgående tema i boken. Ett emne er hva innbyggerne mener om kommunereformen og dens mulige konsekvenser. Flere kapitler utforsker sammenslåingenes betydning for ulike sider ved lokaldemokratiet: lokale partisystemer, valgdeltakelse, personstemmegivning, partienes nominasjoner, og representasjon i kommunestyrene. Samlet sett er antologien en statusrapport for lokaldemokratiet i det første valget etter kommunereformen.

Boken henvender seg til alle som er interessert i utviklingen av det norske lokaldemokratiet, men særlig til studenter, forskere, journalister og politisk aktive."

Since small countries like Norway can seldom affect the policies of superpowers, an important question to ask is whether Norway could influence the human right situation in China through dialogue and co-operation? In the West, China has been known for human rights violations exemplified by the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. During the first decade of the 21st century the tone has changed, however. While the human right situation is still bad in China, the country has signed and ratified many UN conventions, engaged in human rights dialogues with Norway, Canada and Australia, and slowly increased the civil liberties of its citizens. The Norwegian dialogue with China has taken place on three levels: political consultation, roundtable discussions, and diplomat meetings. L. Pitkaniemi

"We live in a diverse society characterized by different and to some extent contradictory values. Sometimes they create community. Other times they generate value conflicts. In this book, twelve Norwegian researchers write about such value conflicts and the way they occur in working life and the public sphere.

Common to many of the contributions of this book is the attempt to highlight so-called value-based community of disagreement. This means that we agree to disagree. As a society, citizens can try to gather around some shared, fundamental values, but we cannot demand that all the members of the society agree on personal values.
" - "Vi lever i et mangfoldig samfunn preget av forskjellige og til dels motstridende verdier. Noen ganger skaper de fellesskap. Andre ganger fører de til verdikonflikter. I denne boken skriver tolv norske forskere om slike verdikonflikter og måten de utspiller seg på i arbeidsliv og i det offentlige rom.

Felles for mange av bidragene i boken er forsøket på å kaste lys over et såkalt verdimessig uenighetsfellesskap. Dette innebærer at vi er enige om å være uenige. Som samfunn kan innbyggerne forsøke å samles om noen felles, grunnleggende verdier. Fellesskapstanken kan likevel ikke forutsette at alle samfunnsmedlemmer blir enige om sine personlige verdisyn."

The article addresses the problem of welfare gaps in Europe in the context of the planned enlargement of the EU & NATO. In the beginning of 1990s one of the greatest challenges facing the West was the possibility of uncontrolled mass migration from the former Soviet bloc. The Western institutions, the EU & NATO, could meet this challenge by introducing restrictions on the movement of people, but they decided to embark on what could be termed a policy of "institutional migration." They both decided to go east & at the same time formulated clear entry criteria for those who wanted to join them. After a decade of difficult negotiations, Europe will take the next step on 1 May 2004 when 10 new countries will join the European integration project as new members. However, there are some signs that this enlargement can result in the creation of not a united but a more divided Europe, where the principle of solidarity may become a victim of short-sighted political games. The introduction of restrictions on the access to the common labor market to the citizens of the new member states is an unfortunate symbolic signal sent by the old members of the EU & may herald the creation of a Europe of two speeds, a development that may have far-reaching consequences for the future of the whole European integration project that for more than 50 years has secured peace on the continent. 2 Tables, 10 References. Adapted from the source document.

In a world marked by surging international conflicts, labour market globalisation, ever-widening economic inequities, steady improvement in the flow of information, and increasing possibilities for mobility over greater distances, the number of migrants on a worldwide basis is hardly likely to decrease in coming years. Immigration regulations are devised within a confluence of national interests, international laws, and attention to migrants' individual rights. The tension between these disparate considerations begs the question: How can we best safeguard both universal rights issues and European economic integration, as well as the Norwegian state's obligation, vis-à-vis the distribution of benefits, to its own citizens. We are moving into extremely complex ethical and legal territory, where there are no easy answers. In this book, the author puts Norway's immigration policy under a moral-philosophical loupe for a thorough analysis of various answers to key questions in the Norwegian immigration debate.

This book is aimed at anyone interested in immigration policy issues, but especially persons working professionally in the field, such as political philosophers, politicians, lawyers, case managers and political scientists. - I en verden der internasjonale konflikter stadig blusser opp, arbeidsmarkedet globaliseres, økonomiske ulikheter blir stadig større, informasjonsflyten kontinuerlig forbedres og mulighetene for å forflytte seg over store avstander er gode, vil antallet migranter på verdensbasis ikke bli lavere i årene som kommer. Innvandringsregulering finner sted i spenningen mellom statlige interesser, internasjonal rett og hensynet til migranters individuelle rettigheter. I lys av disse spenningene må vi stille spørsmålet om hvordan vi best mulig kan ivareta både universelle rettighetshensyn og europeisk økonomisk integrasjon, samt den norske stats forpliktelse overfor egne innbyggere i fordeling av goder. Vi beveger oss inn i et etisk og juridisk felt med stor kompleksitet, hvor ingen enkle svar er gitt. I denne boken legger forfatteren norsk innvandringspolitikk under en moralfilosofisk lupe, og drøfter grundig ulike svar på en rekke sentrale spørsmål i norsk innvandringsdebatt.

Boken retter seg mot alle med interesse for innvandringspolitiske spørsmål, men særskilt personer som arbeider profesjonelt innenfor feltet, slik som politiske filosofer, politikere, jurister, saksbehandlere og statsvitere.