Suchergebnisse

Im vorliegenden Beitrag fragt der Autor nach den ökonomischen Gründen für die Anwerbung von ausländischen Arbeitskräften seit dem Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts und stellt diese dem politisch-administrativen Alltag und der Einstellung der deutschen Mehrheitsgesellschaft gegenüber. Läßt sich an der Geschichte der Ausländerbeschäftigung, der Anwesenheit von Millionen von ethnisch Nichtdeutschen, die bis zur Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts in Deutschland vorherrschende Ideologie des Nationalismus untersuchen oder gar dokumentieren? Prägen nationalistische Verhaltensmuster den Umgang mit der "Gastarbeiterfrage" in der demokratischen Bundesrepublik? Der Autor kommt zu der Schlußfolgerung, daß die Anwesenheit von Angehörigen verschiedener Ethnien in Deutschland auf Widerspruch in Öffentlichkeit, Politik und Administration stieß und den Alltag der Ausländerbeschäftigung prägte. Das politische Primat der ethnischen Homogenität beeinträchtigte die ökonomische Effizienz der Beschäftigung ausländischer Arbeitskräfte, im Extremfall bis zur Vernichtung menschlicher Arbeitskraft. Diese Denkstrukturen finden sich auch im Umgang mit den "Gastarbeitern" in der Bundesrepublik wieder. (psz)

Progress in agricultural and environmental technologies is hampered by a slower rate of gene discovery in plants than animals. The vast pool of genes in plants, however, will be an important resource for insertion of genes, via biotechnological procedures, into an array of plants, generating unique germ plasms not achievable by conventional breeding. It just became clear that genomes of grasses have evolved in a manner analogous to Lego blocks. Large chromosome segments have been reshuffled and stuffer pieces added between genes. Although some genomes have become very large, the genome with the fewest stuffer pieces, the rice genome, is the Rosetta Stone of all the bigger grass genomes. This means that sequencing the rice genome as anchor genome of the grasses will provide instantaneous access to the same genes in the same relative physical position in other grasses (e.g., corn and wheat), without the need to sequence each of these genomes independently. (i) The sequencing of the entire genome of rice as anchor genome for the grasses will accelerate plant gene discovery in many important crops (e.g., corn, wheat, and rice) by several orders of magnitudes and reduce research and development costs for government and industry at a faster pace. (ii) Costs for sequencing entire genomes have come down significantly. Because of its size, rice is only 12% of the human or the corn genome, and technology improvements by the human genome project are completely transferable, translating in another 50% reduction of the costs. (iii) The physical mapping of the rice genome by a group of Japanese researchers provides a jump start for sequencing the genome and forming an international consortium. Otherwise, other countries would do it alone and own proprietary positions.

The aim of this thesis is to examine EU agro-environmental policy (AEP) from the perspective of how intentions transform into practical action, with special emphasis on various instruments of control. The AEP is especially discussed in relation to the basic issues of efficiency and democracy. This corresponds to the definition of a 'planning perspective' used here, which mainly focuses on 'effect planning', including both organisational and action related questions. The hypothesis is that problems related to goal fulfilment are more an effect of insufficient knowledge of action, rather than an effect of insufficient knowledge of (environmental) facts. When planning in agricultural landscapes, one must consider the interests of individual land owners and farmers. This planning thereby becomes 'dialogue oriented'. Advantages and disadvantages of the current agro-political system are discussed with reference to two general models of the 'agro-political dialogue' and the results from a case study in Sweden. Various planning theories are discussed from the point of view of how they contribute to an even better understanding of the situation. One conclusion is that within the AEP of today, there is neither a concise planning oriented discussion on the character of current agro-environmental problems, nor on the most relevant and effective means by which to handle these. Existing economical instruments of control and general forms of environmental measures need to be supplemented with more effective legislation directed towards environmental problems that cannot be solved on a voluntary basis and on a local implementation level. Furthermore, there is a great need of alternative organisational solutions for sharing the responsibility for environmental problems that can only be handled effectively on the local and regional implementation levels. Another conclusion is that the autonomy of the Swedish farmers has gradually decreased since the great land allocation reforms. This gives cause for concern from the point of view of democracy. The dialogue perspective reveals that farmers must become more influential within the agro-environmental policy process, but also that we have to consider the fact that many farmers do not want to participate in the agro-environmental programmes. Concepts like paternalism and professionalism are helpful in trying to grasp the situation and answering the question of why this process has been left to develop so far without being noticed or challenged. The lead theme of this thesis can thus be seen as a contribution to resolving the central issue which remains; how to combine the demands for more agro-environmental efficiency without further infringement on farmers' autonomy?

Vor dem Hintergrund der Debatte über embryonale Stammzellen und das Klonen bietet das Buch einen aktuellen Überblick zur Genomforschung. Angemahnt wird ein integrierendes Weltbild auf der Basis der Eigentümlichkeiten des Menschseins wie auch umfassender naturwissenschaftlicher Erkenntnisse; die letzteren sollten dabei immer wieder auf den Prüfstand gestellt werden. Damit berührt der Band das Spannungsverhältnis zwischen Religion und der sich rasch entwickelnden Molekularbiologie. Ein Buch, das zum Nachdenken und zur sachlichen Diskussion anregt.