Suchergebnisse

For 50 years, Palestinians have been vulnerable to various human rights violations, & their marginalization is viewed as a failure of the international community; here, the development & persistence of this circumstance is addressed. An interdisciplinary approach is taken to explore the historical & legal origins of the international refugee protection gap. Its impact on Palestinian refugees is traced to the 1922 British Mandate following WWI & the incorporation of the Balfour Declaration. The UN's involvement in the Palestinian case is described, highlighting the efforts of the United Nations Relief & Works Agency. Policy & institutional reforms required to redress the Palestinian case are considered, & particularly whether the UNHCR ought to get involved in the crisis & how such involvement might manifest. 2 Appendixes. J. Zendejas

Introduces this collection of 9 EU-based research projects investigating unemployment, the risks of marginalization that result from it, & policies that attempt to circumvent these risks. Analyses compare national experiences with, & responses to, unemployment across a range of countries with differing structural/cultural characteristics & economic circumstances; many offer comparisons between Europe & the US. The social exclusion perspective, emphasizing resource deprivation as the crucial element creating vulnerability to marginalization, is contrasted with research that identifies "motivational deficiency" -- due either to cultural variations in work motivation, lack of financial incentives, or skill deficiency -- among the unemployed themselves as a cause of marginalization. Preventive & curative policy interventions to unemployment are summarized & the impact of new developments in welfare policy on marginalization risks is assessed. K. Hyatt Stewart

The current degree of politicization & civil military conflict is argued to be nearly unprecedented in Venezuela's recent democratic history. The expansion of the role of Venezuelan Armed Forces since the election of Chavez suggests that civilian control in Venezuela has been eliminated, & has produced critiques of the danger of expanding military role at the same time as dismantling institutional mechanisms of civilian control. The civil and military institutions of the Fourth & Fifth Republics are described as a settling into a dysfunctional though stable pattern in the 1980s that was transformed by Chavez's attempt to control Armed Forces personally by manipulating assignments & promotions. The civilians faced a divided yet politically significant military that demonstrated a high tolerance for government quasi-repressive activities, as exemplified in the use of armed forces in internal security roles during the 63 days of a general strike in December 2002. A broad expansion of the military's participation in government policymaking & implementation, combined with the elimination of institutions of containment & oversight, indicates that Venezuela's institutions of civilian control have unraveled. The reorientation of security forces toward internal roles & missions has been a leading indicator of civil military conflict & authoritarian rules in many states. The Venezuelan Armed Forces are predicted to remain at the center of a tug-of-war between the opposition and send government, and thus will continue to hatch pro-& anti- Chavez conspiracies, resulting in highly politicized & less professional Armed Forces, & a headache for future administrations. References. J. Harwell

Die Autorin beschäftigt sich mit der Wahrnehmung von sozialer Ausgrenzung in Europa und mit den Perspektiven der Individuen auf ihre persönlichen Lebens- und Teilhabechancen. Sie plädiert für eine Erweiterung der empirischen Messung sozialer Exklusion um zwei Aspekte: zum einen um die Berücksichtigung subjektiver Indikatoren zu Marginalisierungsempfindungen und zum anderen um die explizite Einbeziehung länderspezifischer Kontexte. Nach der These der Autorin beeinflussen die länderspezifische Sozialpolitik sowie die Wertvorstellungen und kulturellen Traditionslinien den Zusammenhang zwischen objektiven Benachteiligungen und subjektivem Wohlbefinden. Sie beleuchtet in ihrem Beitrag den Zusammenhang von Individual- und Kontexteffekten bei der Erklärung von Marginalisierungserfahrungen und Exklusionsprozessen und geht anhand von Eurobarometer-Daten aus den Jahren 2001 und 2002 folgenden Fragen nach: Wie sind Marginalisierungserfahrungen in Europa verteilt? Mit welcher Art objektiver Benachteiligung stehen Marginalisierungserfahrungen und Anerkennungsverluste im Zusammenhang? Lassen sich Länderunterschiede durch wohlfahrtsstaatliche, ökonomische oder kulturelle Kontexteffekte erklären? (ICI2)

"This chapter argues that for the EU to be successful cultural integration through public communication and deliberation of European matters is an important precondition. Three models of Europeanization of political communication are discussed: the emergence of a 'pan-European public sphere', 'segmented transnational public spheres', and the 'Europeanization of the national public sphere'. We argue that only the latter is able to provide for the opportunity of all citizens to become involved in a public debate on European issues. Our study aims to investigate the extent to which German media have become Europeanized. The empirical analysis examines the discourse on Europe in the editorials of national quality papers. The findings show that the media under study devote only a very small portion of their attention to European issues, thus marginalizing Europe to an extent that is not warranted by the significance of the European level of governance. If the media do focus on European issues they predominantly address them in terms of national politics, which we interpret as a 'domestication' of Europe in public discourse. At the same time, the media unanimously support the idea of European integration. We conclude that this pattern of communicating Europe reflects the élite consensus on European matters in Germany and may have contributed to the alienation of the general public from European politics." (author's abstract)