Suchergebnisse

The application of the concepts of polity, politics & policy can serve as a useful tool for the analysis of the EU's regional policy. The aim of the article is to highlight several divergences that were recognized by applying the aforementioned concepts to a single policy. The main framework of the analysis is based on the partnership principle, which is closely linked to all three dimensions (ie, polity, politics, policy) of the regional policy of the EU. References. Adapted from the source document.

The statute of March 15, 2004, that banned religious symbols in the French schools & State high schools, was the last act of the Headscarf Affair which had been regularly returning to the limelight of the French political scene since 1989. The review of several recent sociological books devoted to the phenomena of islamization helps to buttress the main assumption of the article that the Affair is a symptom of a failing integration of the immigrants from the Muslim countries. These populations are disproportionately hit by social & economic marginalization while, at the same time, summoned to assimilate culturally. Dogmatic republicanism conceives of the assimilation as a necessary precondition for the political integration. In the situation of an increasing social exclusion, however, the push to assimilation adds a cultural offense to an economic injury & incites a contrary reaction: a proud self-assertion of the Muslim identity. The statute banning the headscarves only intensifies this vicious dynamic. The analyses in the reviewed books seem to lead to a different solution: a reasonable response would rather be to tolerate the expressions of religious distinctiveness while, at the same time, trying to integrate people of immigrant origins both economically & politically. This would require, however, a reconstruction of the French republicanism which -- at least in its dogmatic form -- does not distinguish between the cultural & political sides of integration. 9 References. Adapted from the source document.

This article explores the question of whether the increasing importance of religion in international relations is also reflected in the role the Roman Catholic Church plays in the formulation of Czech foreign policy. In the first half of the study we will briefly investigate in what ways the role of the Church is described in the key documents of Czech (foreign) policy and how the Church-politics relationship is interpreted in the Czech media discourse. Our attention will be dedicated primarily to the thematic analysis and the actorness of the Church. In the article's second half, we will focus on the way(s) the Church is trying to change the situation of its relation to Czech politics, which is currently unfavourable to it. We will identify three fundamental strategies that can be used by the Church as a reaction to its expulsion from the public sphere and also assess their empirical presence in the Czech milieu. Adapted from the source document.

The author uses the concept of reconciliation processes/reconciliation issues, which is usually used in the environment of churches or in applied theological discourses respectively, in connection with the specific contribution of Christian churches to the historical settlement & reconciliation among the European states & nations after the 2nd World War, especially in Central Europe. He analyses & compares in detail the Polish-German & Czech-German issues. While thanks to the important position of the Church (or churches) in the Polish & German societies, these activities (or initiatives) met with a great response as early as the 1960s -- and gained a great importance also on the official level of the (West-)German-Polish relations, in the Czechoslovak-(West-)German relations, this factor long remained absent or entirely marginal. But after the political change(s) of 1989 the churches became involved in the shaping of the newly formed bilateral relations between the unified Germany & the successor states of former Czechoslovakia & greatly contributed to their having a deeper anchorage in Europe. The author backs up in a detailed way the relevance of this phenomenon, especially in Czech-German relations (or generally in church initiatives/activities with a German participation), but less so in the mutual relations (and initiatives) between the Central European churches. On the contrary, the previously highly visible church engagement in the Polish-German case fell off in the 1990s. The Central European churches gradually naturally realized again the advantages & difficulties of their role as a trans-national/non-state actor -- and as one of the important players of the so-called public diplomacy. This role culminated in the 1990s in connection with their social & political emancipation in the post-communist states -- and at the same time it started to dwindle in importance as a consequence of the secularization processes which accelerated considerably & often a surprisingly during the 1990s (and also in the subsequent years) in this part of Europe. Adapted from the source document.

The article deals with the "state of the art" of municipal and local politics research in Germany. The main objective is to describe and analyze good practice in German sub-regional politics research and to demonstrate its main distinctive features. The paper provides a general overview of current approaches to sub-regional politics research existing mainly in the framework of political science with strong connections to other disciplines (such as law or sociology) and a strong tendency to form a multidisciplinary approach. Our analysis deals with the following: a description of the main research institutions and distinguished scholars in the field, a discussion of prevailing topics, and a study of the most cited publication outcomes since the year 2000. The paper also examines the main differences between Czech and German research in the field of municipal and local politics. Adapted from the source document.

Comparative politics textbooks play an important role in scientific socialization within political science. Thus, textbook reviews should take their role in this process into account. Analytical review criteria have to be based on understanding the different potential roles textbooks may play within tertiary education & of the goals they may fulfill. The argument about different strategy patterns of comparative politics textbooks is illustrated here on the example of relatively recent textbooks by Daniele Caramani & Alan Siaroff. Such an analysis may serve not only to identify reasonable criteria to assess comparative politics textbooks, but it also utilizes the findings of Thomas Kuhn about the "discipline-forming" role of textbooks. Textbooks also play an important role as a space for meta-reflective analysis of comparative politics as a field of. To study textbooks therefore also means to study authoritative texts about comparative politics. Adapted from the source document.