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Cryptocurrencies have emerged as a significant innovation in the financial landscape, with their adoption varying across different regions. This paper investigates the adoption trends of cryptocurrencies in three European countries: Germany, France, and Romania. By examining regulatory frameworks, public sentiment, and market dynamics, we aim to provide insights into the factors influencing cryptocurrency adoption in these nations. Furthermore, we explore the relationship between digital banks and cryptocurrencies, analysing the potential synergies and challenges associated with their integration. Finally, we offer future projections and suggest areas for further research to better understand the evolving landscape of cryptocurrencies in Europe. The motivation for studying cryptocurrency adoption in Europe stems from the region's diverse regulatory frameworks, cultural attitudes, and economic landscapes. Understanding the dynamics of cryptocurrency adoption in specific European countries can provide valuable insights into the broader trends shaping the future of finance. Moreover, as digital banking continues to gain prominence, exploring the intersection between digital banks and cryptocurrencies becomes imperative. The regulatory frameworks surrounding cryptocurrencies in Germany, France, and Romania exemplify the diverse approaches adopted by European countries in response to the emergence of digital assets. While Germany and France have made significant strides in implementing comprehensive regulatory frameworks, Romania's regulatory landscape remains in the early stages of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, in many EU countries, students have the possibility to study two foreign languages along their school years and, in addition to that, adults are encouraged to start or continue foreign language learning, as the ability to communicate in a foreign language gives them the chance to come into contact with the cultural values of other peoples, develop their personalities and create wider opportunities for social integration, beneficial to the individual and profitable for the community. This paper attempts to depict the origins and the evolution of the current reality and explain the role played by the European Union and the Council of Europe in setting the trend in this particular field. Using the documentary method of research, this paper aims at providing a diachronic perspective on the events and documents that initiated and laid the foundations for foreign language education not only in the European Union, but also in Europe, at large. Moreover, by critically analysing the recent past related to foreign language education in this region, our paper might offer a useful key to better understanding the present and possibly might help raise greater awareness of the importance of foreign language skills in today’s globalized society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Olympic Games are the dream of many athletes. By performing, and especially by winning an Olympic medal, athletes make history. Unfortunately, in the last couple of decades this sporting mega-event has come into trouble. Due to high costs and pollution, the number of cities and states wanting to host has decreased as has the popularity of the games themselves. In response to the bad situation in which the Olympic Games find themselves, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), as the owner and organizer of the Games, decided to make moves that would improve the situation. The aim of this paper is to present and analyze the current state of the sustainability of the Summer Olympics, how this situation came about and what are the plans of the IOC for the future game in terms of sustainability. The paper will also try to find out through the simulation method whether it is possible to hold sustainable Olympic Games based on the IOC strategy. For the sake of better simulation and analysis, only the Summer editions of the Olympic Games are covered in the paper. Our simulations show that all three simulated hosts (Central Europe, Florida, and Shanghai) can host the Summer Olympic Games in a highly sustainable manner. All three hosts can utilize the existing and temporary infrastructure, which greatly reduces the environmental and social impact of the host as well as reducing costs. This can even lead to short-term and long-term profitable Olympic Games. In the end, it should be noted that the Florida region could be reduced in area without reducing the sustainability, while Shanghai could be extended to the local region and Central European games could add more nearby cities such as Krakow, Prague, Ljubljana or Zagreb to increase their sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the light of the 2004 enlargement of the European Union with ten new member states we need to reconsider what we know about the Brussels press corps. Brussels journalists play a pivotal role in the European integration process. They act as agents of Europeanization, wedged between complex European issues and national public spheres, privileged in terms of information supply, geographical proximity and social networking. This study is one of the first to examine correspondents from new member states vis-à-vis the rest of the Brussels press corps, EU institutions, home offices and audiences. In-depth, semi-structured interviews with 14 journalists from different new member states show that the current status of the new member states' correspondents in Brussels could impede the emergence of a Europe-wide public discourse. The growing heterogeneity of the Brussels press corps reduces the relative importance of journalists from smaller member states and leaves them at disadvantage in the news-gathering process. Moreover, volatile and also tense media markets in the new member states, paired with little interest for EU affairs in these countries constrain the journalists' news performance, leading them to stress national angles over European ones. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the structure of the European network of newsflows. According to recent literature, the horizontal integration of national public spheres is a constitutive element of a European public sphere. Based on a sample of newsitems in 25 countries, we present a comprehensive depiction of the mutual coverage of member states in the EU. The results show that the network of newsflows is shaped by the economical and political power of the involved countries as well as by their cultural and historic proximity. Moreover, we identify two structural gaps: Smaller countries are generally marginalized and there is a clear division into an Eastern and a Western European public sphere. The duration of the membership of a country in the EU, however, has a positive effect on its integration in the network. Opposing recent studies in the field we find little evidence of the existence of an European public sphere. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature researching the drivers of highly skilled migration (HSM) often prioritizes labor market returns to education and downscales the importance of public welfare. This paper develops an innovative empirical strategy that allows us to see how a selection of pull factors attracts temporary and long-term educated migrants in Europe. To do so, we built a unique longitudinal contextual dataset merging information from the European Labor Force Survey (2000-2014) with selected Eurostat and OECD country indicators. Country fixed effect time series allow us to concentrate on cross-country effects. Our evidence suggests that returns to education attract temporary HSM and long term stayers equally. However, it is also shown that public welfare and taxation operate differently for these two groups and do not deter long-term residents. Our paper proposes revisiting the assumption that HSMs are mere income maximizers. As we argue, long term HSM may well be attracted by generous welfare setups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. Increasing numbers of older adults cross-nationally are without children or partners in later life and therefore likely have greater reliance on non-kin (e.g., friends). This pattern may be particularly pronounced in country contexts that emphasize friendship. This paper hypothesizes that those who lack kin (e.g., children, partners) and/or who live in countries with a stronger emphasis on friendship have more friends in their networks. While these hypothesized patterns are consistent with interdisciplinary literatures, they have not been tested empirically and therefore remain overlooked in current "aging alone" narratives. Method. This study combines individual-level data from the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE, Wave 6) with nation-level data from the European Values Survey (EVS) to estimate multilevel negative binomial models exploring number of friends among those aged 50+ who lack kin across 17 countries. Results. Older adults who lack kin or whose kin are unavailable report more friends in their networks, particularly in countries with a higher percentage of people who believe that friends are "very important" in life. Discussion. This paper challenges dominating assumptions about "aging alone" that rely heavily on lack of family as an indicator of "alone." Future studies of "kinlessness" should consider the extent to which friendship is correlated with lack of kin, particularly in more socioeconomically developed nations. Previous research on "aging alone" may have overestimated risk in more privileged countries that already emphasize friendship, but underestimated risk in familycentered countries where "kinlessness" and alternative sources of support are less common. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares Russian national legislation concerning online freedom of expression with the Council of Europe (CoE) legal standards on this issue to discover the extent to which the Russian legislation has been consistent with the CoE vision. The paper first examines the CoE perspective, including the European Court of Human Rights case law and non-binding documents of the other main CoE institutions. Then, it analyses the Russian national legislation and the highest Russian courts' perspectives. The paper compares the CoE and Russian legal visions of key principles to govern online freedom of expression, the new notion of media, editorial responsibility for the readers comments, the right to anonymity and the protection of journalists from surveillance. The paper concludes that the Russian legislation concerning online freedom of expression needs a considerable revision to comply with the CoE standards and suggests that Internet companies and international organisations should drive this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on how terrorist attacks increase shape in-group and out-group attitudes has consistently focused on native populations. But what about immigrants and their descendants? Are their sociopolitical attitudes and identities also affected by terrorist attacks? And if so, do terrorist attacks (re)activate ethnic ancestry identities that reinforce ethnic boundaries with the majority population, or do attacks draw immigrants closer to the host society, thus facilitating their sociopolitical integration? This paper studies the heterogeneous effects of the Charlie Hebdo attack for native and immigrant populations on social and political trust in Europe. Using the date of the interview to leverage a natural experiment framework, this study finds the attack increased social and political trust for natives -enhancing in-group solidarity- whereas the attack decreased social and political trust for 1st generation immigrants. We conclude the effects of terrorism on social and political trust are strongly interrelated with assimilation processes and ethnic boundary making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The skill level and degree of cultural difference of immigrants likely play an important role in determining support for increasing levels of immigration. However, research focusing on the impact of these characteristics on attitudes toward immigration is scarce. This paper contributes to the existing literature by examining how attitudes toward immigration of respondents from 19 European countries are influenced by the skill level of immigrants (professional versus unskilled), their origins (Europe versus non-Europe), and the interaction between skills and origins. Our analysis exploits the split ballot experimental design built into Round 7 of the European Social Survey, which enables us to isolate the impacts of skills and origins in determining support for increased immigration. We find that Europeans care more about skill than origins in determining support; however, there is wide variation across the 19 countries examined both in the importance of skills versus origins, and in the extent to which skill preferences depend upon origins and origin preferences depend upon skill level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been theorised that economic inequality leads to heightened status inequality which in turn damages mental health through chronic stress. In this paper we capture status inequality more directly by measuring the distribution of self-perceived status in a society. We rely on comparative data from the 2012 European Social Survey (N = 50,000, countries = 29) and multilevel models. We show, firstly, that subjective social status at the individual level is associated with lower depression, though benefits tail off at higher levels. Secondly, we provide descriptive evidence that depression is higher in countries with higher status inequality, indicated by the standard deviation. This holds once GDP and income inequality are controlled; however, results are somewhat susceptible to influential country cases. Third, we offer some tentative evidence that depression is lower in societies in which more people rank their own status at a mid- or moderate level, rather than high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars conceive of trust as a matter of the distance between the actor doing the trusting and the object of trust, distinguishing trust in familiar individuals from trust in unfamiliar others. These two spheres of trust - the particular and the generalized - are conceived together as a radius of trust and an important determinant of social capital. Research has consistently found that members of marginalized groups have lower generalized trust, but has not tracked the effects of marginality across the radius. This paper reassembles the levels of trust into the same model, and tracks the effects of marginality across the trust radius. We find that while belonging to a marginalized ethnicity increases the odds of having no one to trust, it has no effect on generalized trust. The negative effects of belonging to a marginalized ethnicity instead begin at particular trust. Our models therefore offer a more precise understanding of the radius of trust, and of how individuals experience and respond to inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper is a theoretical one. Firstly, this paper attempts to reveal to what extent the 21st century universities - with all the characteristics of this period - are concerned about ethical problems. And if universities are still concerned about this issue, this paper aims to point out to what extent universities are able to create their own values and to transmit them to the others within the present context in which there is an unprecedented interdependence of social domains, a fact which generates negative effects on their autonomy. There are ethical problems in all universities, domains and societies. The question is how these problems are tackled and if there is a reaction to them or not. We are particularly interested in the young people's attitude. Do young people react to these problems or do they remain indifferent to the ethical problems existing in the academic world? How do young people relate to the ethical problems in a society that underwent a long period of transition, and of anomie, too? Does ethics remain, like politics, a second hand concern for most of young people in our society? The present paper also deals with important aspects of ethical management in universities. If we consider some European - including Romanian - research work on this issue, we can notice that they simultaneously present the educational managers' opinions and the students' opinions on the characteristics of ethical management in present universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the visual construction and performance of European identity in the public communication materials of fifty cities participating in the European Capital of Culture scheme between 2005 and 2011. The paper is part of a large-scale project that examines the complex ways in which a sense of a collective European identity is being constructed in contemporary European visual discourse. I consider how 'Europe' is reimagining and re-presenting itself in the wake of European integration and overall processes of globalization. In the multilingual context of Europe, visual discourse may function as a cross-culturally strategic form of communication, thanks to its perceptual availability and communicative power. Through a social semiotic analysis, I examine how public communication materials frame these cities as quintessentially 'European' in order to show the 'European dimension' required by the European Capital of Culture scheme as a key criteria for success. In particular, then, I discuss and problematize the ways in which cultural diversity and shared identity (i.e. the key principles of such 'European dimension' found in official discourses about European integration) are discursively handled in these texts. In doing this, I identify a number of semiotic resources used towards this - potentially exclusive and certainly problematic - visual construction of European identity, specifically by dividing these visual resources into 2 overarching analytical categories: visual content and design effects. The data collection for this project was completed at the end of summer 2006 and the social semiotic analysis of visual texts is well under way, with the plan to complete it by the end of this year. The rest of the paper, including conceptual/methodological framework, background information and discussion of relevant cases, has been completed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been much discussion and debate on the relationship between neoliberal globalization and privatization as a strategy of economic development for countries of the Third World and now increasingly Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, as they increasingly become integrated into the world economy and move in the direction of a market-oriented economy and society. This paper provides a new and innovative approach to the issue of privatization, arguing that, contrary to the unilinear approach adopted by neo-classical economic theorists and policy-oriented institutions, a dual impact model of privatization that focuses on the nature and role of the state would be better able to explain the differential impact of state policy on economic development. Contrasting the experience of a post-socialist East European state (Romania) and of the former Soviet Union (Armenia) with that of China and Vietnam regarding privatization policies and their outcome, the paper argues that the crucial issue that accounts for the divergent paths and experiences of these states is who controls the state and sets its policies, because it is the class nature of the state that dictates its role as either a champion of capital and the capitalist system (in which case privatization would enrich the owners of capital through private accumulation), or of labor and the post-capitalist order (in which case privatization would take place within the context of collective goals and collective policies intended to serve the long-term interests of working people). ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes up a path not taken in sociology, marked by John Dewey, C. Wright Mills and Jürgen Habermas: the structural transformation of the public sphere as a major dimension of social change and therefore as a core topic of sociology. Since then, neither the dominant ahistorical sociology nor the growing historical sociology have thematized the field of public communication as a social realm, object of study and reference point of social theory. This paper provides a synthetic empirical discussion of the structural transformation of this societal field in Western Europe and the U.S. Because their notion of the field of public communication was ultimately confined to deliberative communication, the classical works perceived the structural transformation of the public sphere as one single process within a framework of decline. This paper argues that the classical works on «The structural transformation of the public sphere», the influential book by Jürgen Habermas and the American thematization of this framework by John Dewey and C. Wright Mills, were largely right on the first structural transformation. However, they did not thematize the distinct second structural transformation, that is, the differentiation of the media from the polity and the de-differentiation from the economy.The paper provides a tentative periodization of the enlightenment public sphere, the first transformation, the era of the party press and particularly the second transformation and the era of the media economy. The uncovering of two historical large-scale structures of the public sphere, the era of the party press and the era of the media economy, results in the discussion of a third model of the structure of the public sphere which is characterized by the equidistance of the media field from both the political field and the economic field. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of regulatory change is paramount in the discussion of work and organisations. In reflection of the problems associated with more ?market? oriented approaches, we have seen shift in the focus of debate, particularly in Europe, towards the discussion of the re-regulation of employment relations and economic systems. Any discussion of regulation must be sensitive to the meaning and function of regulation, on the one hand, and the role of different sites, spheres and actors that populate the regulatory landscape, and the relationship between them, on the other. Such an approach needs to be sensitive to using a more multi-disciplinary approach and socio-political understanding of regulation and de-regulation. The paper will therefore draw attention to the manner in which the literature has begun to discuss the complex articulation of regulation and different levels of development. Specifically, it will discuss the issue of regulatory transfer, the shifts between different regimes of regulation and how this takes place. It will also note that transfer and regulatory change can be varied, that it can have negotiated features but it can also be coercive in nature. The paper will engage with the concept of ?colonisation? (MacKenzie and Martinez 2003) as a way of understanding recent forms of regulatory change and the manner in which employment relations have been altered. The process of colonisation in the projects of de-regulation and re-regulation will be discussed in terms of it various features and understood in terms of a variety of both institutional and cultural practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International relations between the U.S. and Europe and their manner of representation and reinstitution through the media has drawn much attention in the turbulent period following the terrorists attacks of September 11 and the following military attack of Iraq. The American-led military operation in Iraq came into being in a concrete symbolic universe of war and diplomacy, sovereignty and coalition, friend and foe, power and universal values. The current paper asks about how American media, in particular the New York Times, represented international relationship between the U.S. and Europe in the period between the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001, leading up to the current war in Iraq, and up until the U.S. official declaration on end of combat operations in Iraq in May 2003. The paper also asks how this representation has changed over time. Data includes 1390 New York Times articles published between September 11, 2001 (attack on the World Trade Center in New York) and May 12, 2003 (End of combat operations in Iraq as announced by the occupying forces). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a critical analysis of nationalism and ethnonational conflict, focusing on the nature and dynamics of nationalism and national movements in the Third World, Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union. Placing the analysis in a comparative-historical framework, the paper provides a theoretical approach that addresses the class nature of national movements and the class basis of national struggles in the age of globalization. It argues that, historically and today, the social forces behind nationalism and national movements have been various classes that are nationally based and intent on defending narrowly-defined class interests that are lodged in the nation-state. While nationalism, as an ideology, can be used by different segments of society against hostile outside forces, the critical issue in determining the nature and dynamics of national movements and ethnonational conflict is an understanding of the class basis of such movements and the class forces that are leading these movements in their struggle for national autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the role of networks in creation and operation of newly established organizations, private business schools in post-socialist Europe. We argue that organizations not only accrue benefits from their structural positions in networks but that networking is also a cultural conception guiding organizational action. Presenting case studies of the first two business schools created in the region after the collapse of state-socialism, we show that networks between actors in Eastern Europe and their connections in the West as well as political alliances to domestic elites were key for the establishment and functioning of these organizations. Examining our proposition that networking is an organizational logic, we analyze data from an open-ended survey of East European business schools about their patterns of cooperation with other organizations. We find that business schools network for the sake of networking as much as to gain tangible benefits like access to new know-how and financial support. Moreover, schools are not necessarily strategic in forging cooperations and partnerships and are largely unaware of potential downsides to these activities. We conclude that networks are not only efficiency enhancing mechanisms but organizing principles, logics of action, adopted to gain legitimacy in the organizational field. Overall, the paper bridges the literature on networks and organizations with the neoinstitutional theory, highlighting the importance of networks as both structural and cultural features of organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses upon the relation between expanding modes of European integration and the rise of right wing politics. This paper views Europeanization as a special case of globalization and it examines the political consequences of the diffusion of neo-liberalism in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is based on in-depth interview with 36 activists of the extreme right in the Netherlands, while material from approx. 120 activists of the extreme right in Belgium, France, Germany and Italy is used for additional exploration of the paper’subject. The repression focusses on stigmatization and repression as experienced by the interviewees. The data stem from a collaborative study by a team of social psychologists, and political scientists. The paper draws on social psychological theory on movement participation and stigmatization. It sketches different itineraries to activism and demonstrates that the impact of repression and stigmatization on the individual activist depends on the itinerary taken by the interviewee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Goode (1962) argues that at the start of modern society the upper classes will have higher divorce rates, but as divorce procedures are gradually made available to all classes this differences will dwindle away. Since family strain towards the lower strata is greater, the proportion of lower strata divorces will increase, and eventually Goode expects an inverse relation between class and divorce rate. The partly contradicting results on this relation between class and divorce risk ask for a more systematic, cross-national and cross-cohort analysis of the relation between education and divorce and separation. This will be the first aim of this paper. We use multi-level analysis to analyze this relation in various countries in Europe and the USA. We analyze this relation for both all unions (whatever their juridical form) and for the married couples only (with or without cohabitation). The second aim of this paper is to explain these cross-national and cross-cohort differences in the relation between education and divorce/separation by (changes in) state regulations of marriage and divorce, social policies, the level of female full time labor market participation and the general acceptance of divorce. We use the files of the Fertility and Family Survey project. These data were collected during the 1990s. They are national representative samples of male and female respondents in Finland, Poland, Estonia, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, West Germany, Sweden, USA and Greece. Final results will be presented at the conference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how new meanings and values are negotiated for recently obsolete, derelict and abandoned structures. In particular, it examines the role of adaptive reuse of buildings and structures in reshaping of the built environment of today?s cities. My focus is on the United States, Europe and elsewhere where adaptation of structures to new uses now plays an increasingly important and varied role in urban change and in the social, economic and cultural revitalization of cities. The paper has two parts. The first part consists of a comprehensive discussion of adaptive reuse from an historical and theoretical perspective. I review its role in earlier historical periods and identify economic, architectural, cultural, and other factors that account for the revival of building recycling today. In particular, I seek to ground adaptive reuse in architectural fundamentals: the relationship between a building?s outer structure and its internal program of spaces; this relationship must be flexible and dynamic if reuse is to occur. The second part describes the principal forms of adaptive reuse now in evidence in the urban landscape. Selected case studies illustrate the principal types and varieties of building reuse identified earlier. Sites selected reveal the general character and patterns of adaptive reuse, demonstrate the challenges of converting specific structures to new uses, describe the range of conversions from large-scale official projects to smaller vernacular examples, or otherwise capture the imaginative, transforming character of adaptive reuse. A considerable literature has appeared in recent years on renewal and revitalization of older industrial cities. Most sociological studies downplay or neglect building conversion and adaptive reuse as significant factors in urban change. Architectural or other guides to adaptive reuse projects typically focus on spectacular and costly conversions which save architecturally significant buildings, serve particular commercial needs, or initiate downtown revivals. In contrast, this paper develops a more theoretically informed and historically grounded approach to contemporary building recycling and reuse. By linking patterns of adaptation and reuse to the dynamics of urban change, structural characteristics of buildings types, and by describing the full range of official and unofficial conversions now in evidence, I develop a suitably analytical and genuinely informative account of change in the contemporary built environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the paper is to explain the emergence, existence and erosion of disciplinary statism. By disciplinary statism I understand the context in which the modern state by consolidating means of violence and creating a comprehensive apparatus of surveillance of public and private domains transforms behavior and thought of the individuals into patterns, which are malleable, predictable, and otherwise optimal for the purposes of state administration. I analyze the two most extreme cases of the twentieth century disciplinary statism, Nazi Germany (1933-1945) and the communist Soviet Union (1917-1991). The central claim of this paper is that the rise of disciplinary statism was determined by industrialization of warfare, the advent of total mobilization and total war in the early twentieth century continental Europe. The new rules of military engagement required establishing of direct managerial control over the national economy and channeling mass mobilization against internal and external enemies. Those institutionalized forms of disciplinary statism, which searched for their legitimization in ideologies of racial or national superiority and channeled mass mobilization towards aggression against other states, confronted a powerful coalition alliance of industrial nations and were defeated in war. Those institutionalized forms of disciplinary statism, which searched for their legitimization in class ideologies and directed mass mobilization against internal enemies and towards forced-speed economic modernization, existed longer. Emergence of weapons of mass destruction, which defied the very possibility of war, and professionalization of the military forces made sustaining a high-level of disciplinary mobilization unnecessary, and resulted in disciplinary involution and disintegration of state socialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benedict Anderson argues that nationalist ideas in Asia and Africa are modeled on the 'modular' forms of nationalism that developed in the Americas and Europe. This paper argues that anti-colonial nationalism is a field of contestation between different ideas and practices. Some of these were indeed based on selective appropriation of Western practices, whereas some of these rejected such ideas and practices and contended that decolonization or emancipation necessarily entailed rejecting the examples set by Western nations. This paper compares the thoughts of Frantz Fanon and M.K. Gandhi, two of the most influential figures in post-colonial thought in the twentieth century as well as active participants in major anti-colonial struggles, and contends that in spite of contextual and ideological differences between them both rejected the Western models of nationalist politics and emphasized a repudiation of colonialism through political and institutional innovations in similar ways. The three major sections of the paper deals with their respective critiques of colonialism and elite nationalism; the prescribed modes of political practice; and the projects of national reconstruction. The unifying thread in each of these three sections is their common concerns regarding negation of colonialism as well as the cultural alienation of the nationalist elite and the necessity of a radical break with Western models of nationalist politics. The concluding section attempts to understand the reasons why their visions of national independence remains unfulfilled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is there the development of a global system of racism in the era of globalization? This paper argues that globalization creates a common context that increases the likelihood of racist and nationalist responses in ‘the West’, but that these tendencies materialize in qualitatively different ways in different national societies. The paper compares data for different European societies and the U.S., and explores the factors that account for the differences in the racial formations of Western societies in the global era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a political and cultural analysis of the right wing populist moment in contemporary Europe. A broad and nuanced analysis that takes politics and culture into account or that situates the right within the changing political, social and cultural context of Europeanization is a lacuna in European . A non-reductionist account of right wing populism requires both historical and analytic re-formulation. This incorporates two tasks. First, we have to use the same types of historically sensitive conceptual frames that we apply to other forms of politics--that is, we have to think about citizenship, nationhood, and democracy. Second, we have to examine how the right emerges at particular moments in the interstices of the modern democratic nation-state and how this re-emergence renders transparent the social mechanisms underlying modern democracy. To provide a non-reductionist account this paper develops normative narrative as both an analytic concept and a methodological approach. Normative narratives are stories that resonate emotionally with a collectivity and emerge when contingent or unexpected events hit a cultural nerve. The appearance of the spontaneous appropriation of the public sphere, in contrast to planned mobilization, signals that a narrative has spoken to popular consciousness. This paper applies this concept to the appropriation of the public sphere that occurred in April 2002 in France when the right came in second for the Presidency of France, and the less observed phenomenon of mass mobilization in Italy on April 26 against the government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The European refugee crisis is an important topic on media, poltical, and public agendas. Media inevitably employ certain frames, which may influence public perceptions of the issue. Due to its scope and impact, its continuing prevalence on the media-agenda and the divisiveness of public debate, new research is needed to understand the media's framing of the issue. Therefore, this study analyzes the frames used by two Dutch newspapers (de Volkskrant and de Telegraaf) in their portrayal of the refugee crisis of 2015-2016. In addition, it is one of few studies to track changes in framing over time as the crisis develops. Method: Inductive framing analysis was used to study 268 news articles from the height of the crisis (April 2015 to March 2016). Results: Portrayal of the refugee crisis consists of ten different frames and counter frames. The frames are communicated on the level of the refugee, on the level of the crisis as an event, and on a societal level. Results show that framing differs between popular and quality paper, and changes following certain transitory events. Conclusion: Recent reporting on the refugee crisis is relatively nuanced and portrays the crisis from a variety of perspectives. The most prominent frames -Innocent Victim frame, Societal and Cultural Threat frame, and Epidemic frame - reflect the European-wide debate on how to deal with the crisis is centered around the question of whether to regard the refugees as victims or danger. Threatening and tragic real-life events as well as cultural rituals, affect framing and possibly subsequent public opinion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Brexit vote in the United Kingdom has caused turbulence in the European Union, and fueled concerns over anti-EU and anti-immigrant attitudes. Meanwhile, researchers have continued to be interested in the potential effects of media on public opinion. Through the lens of cultivation theory, this paper seeks to examine the potential media role in creating anti-immigrant and anti- EU attitudes in Europe. Using data from 20 different European countries, a serial mediation model and multi-level analysis are conducted to examine media influence and the perception of a mean world on anti-immigrant and anti-EU attitudes. Findings show an indirect effect from television on anti-EU attitudes mediated via anti-immigrant feelings and mean world. The multilevel model adds support to this by showing regions with lower number of immigrants within their country show heightened anti-immigrant sentiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital communications are at the centre of information society policy initiatives across Europe. Digital ICTs feature prominently in programmes to promote digital inclusion and to implement extensive reform in public service provision. The transition to an all-digital communications environment and the digital switchover of public services bring to the fore a need to rethink access as a public policy goal. When the switchover happens, use of public services that have been universally available, and/or accessible via universally available technologies will require a level of digital media literacy capacity. This paper probes patterns of internet access diffusion among disabled people in the UK to examine the role of communications policy in promoting media access capabilities. As a starting point for this line of inquiry, the paper draws on insights from the capabilities theory and resource-based models of media access in order to highlight: the multi-dimensional character of media access and literacy and its centrality in policy initiatives for 'digital inclusion'; the relational character of disability as a phenomenon of the interface between personal circumstances and structural disadvantage; a gap in policy commitment to promote universal access for disabled people and a requirement for policies sensitive to the need for additional resources to equalize their media access capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out to evaluate the Finnish and Swedish public service broadcasting companies' diversity management and diversity implementation. We map the main discursive shifts within this policy domain at a European level. The empirical analysis focuses on two Nordic public service broadcasting companies - YLE in Finland and SVT in Sweden. Both companies have policies concerning ethnic and cultural diversity. In addition the two companies have downsized their staff in recent years. Diversity policies and various initiatives to promote diversity, particularly in public service broadcasting, have been developed in Europe since the 1960s. Now in the 2000s there are a variety of strategies to increase representation of minorities and recruitment of journalists with minority background in mainstream media. European collaboration, particularly through EBU and/ or EU finance, is both taking inspiration and ideas from national experiences and disseminating 'good practices'. This is a manifestation of managed multiculturalism, which is clearly becoming a more integrated and professionalized part of European media policy and practice. In our analysis we are specifically interested in how and for what purposes diversity discourses are used and how cultural/mission and economic/market arguments are articulated in the companies' diversity media policies. Policy documents in addition to other related material, such as speeches, preliminary papers, websites and interviews with key people are scrutinized with critical discourse and policy analysis. Media policy is analysed as crystallization of values: it opens a view to current debates on media's role in multicultural societies. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at shedding light on how civic engagement matters for the emergence of a European public sphere. It inquires the citizen's role in constituting it and asks how citizens being located in different cultural and political contexts participate in and appropriate EU-political communication. First, the paper develops a pragmatic approach to the European public sphere emphasizing the importance of citizens' communicative participation. It is assumed that the constitution of public spheres - representing social constructions fulfilling democratic functions - ultimately rely on citizens' (media based) perception of the impact of common problems and political decisions as well as on their subsequent participation in public discourses (Dewey 1927). The second part of the paper presents the findings of empirical case studies conducted in France, Italy and Germany to explore citizens' engagement in and appropriation of the European constitutional debate. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution is focusing Europe with its special mixture of language, lifestyle, life worlds and the understanding of journalism role in society. It delivers the perfect surrounding for a case study - because all the findings could be discussed from a common standpoint: the societies in Europe - the different they are -, from orientation of politics, distribution of political power, or economic growth still are reflecting a quite similar base, and could, with that, be compared in a way better than any other region of the globe. This contribution will analyze foreign correspondents' self-conception and labour conditions by using a survey with questionnaire plus content analysis. The perhaps most interesting hypotheses of the paper is - especially regarding the current crisis on the financial markets - the following: "The foreign correspondents of European media specializing in business journalism have a special professional self-conception which is composed of various dimensions." The findings on this hypotheses could directly lead to an interesting interpretation of the reaction of European mass media in the second half of 2008. With that, this paper seems to be fairly relevant to near oneself to an intellectual of understanding role-consciousness of business reporters working in foreign countries. From seven alternatives the foreign correspondents questioned in Germany see themselves as "arrangers" and "explainers" with a "neutral fact orientated" habit. That might be the most surprising finding of this research - and should (in the opinion of the authors) - lead to further research. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the war-making practices of European and subsequently North American states between 1815 and 1909, both as these states waged war against one another and in their respective colonies, highlighting variation in the extent to which states intentionally and systematically targeted and attacked civilians. The central goal of this paper is to explain the emergence of intentional attack on civilians in war in the period before the World Wars, which have garnered most scholarly attention, but by which time the movement toward lack of restraint was well underway. The authors attempt to explain the erosion of restraint in European and colonial civil and interstate wars by focusing on the role of conventional restraints on war-making—expressed in the prevailing 'laws of war'—in guiding practice, and examining in detail how the interaction of racial othering, taking up arms against one's own state, and taking up arms against another state without authorization of one's own state contributed in different war-making contexts to destabilize pre-existing distinctions between combatants and non-combatants in war, undermining historical protections for civilians. Substantiation of these claims is drawn from analysis of all conflicts during the period in question drawn the Correlates of War dataset, and bolstered by insights drawn from select historical case studies ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the determinants of different forms of political participation, focusing on differences between Western and post-communist European countries. In examining the inequality of participation, the paper focuses on the role of social stratification, trust, and demographic factors in determinining participation rates across Europe. The article finds that stratification variables explain very little of the variance of participation, which lends support to rational choice theories that suggest immeasuable, micro-level factors most likely enter into the calculus of participation. The article uses logistic regressions of 8 different forms of participation on the European Social Survey (ESS) data (2nd round, covering 25 countries). A revised version of this paper to be presented will also incorporate data from the ISSP 2004 survey, which will bring the total number of countries analyzed to over 40, and which will enable the comparison of Western, post-communist and other post-authoritarian countries. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the second half of the 18th century, the modernizing and nationalizing states of Europe laid the administrative and legal ground for the public management of cultural activities and goods. This paper revisits this moment of political transformation, richly documented by historians but neglected by historical sociologists, by the means of a historical sociology of the cultural field. Focusing on the network, practices and claims of collectors and connoisseurs more particularly, the paper offers a third way between state-centric and society-centric explanations of cultural policy formation, showing that "state" and "class" interests, in the culturally capitalizing state, are in fact brokered and mediated by symbolic interests that are genetically distinct from both. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental sociology has overwhelmingly focused its studies on North America and Europe. This has shaped many of the sub-discipline's assumptions on environmental scarcity and conflict resolution. The core industrial economies have been less likely to face massive social upheaval or violent confrontation when faced with a scarcity of a resource. When the peripheral countries experience a scarcity, and if the government is corrupt or highly dysfunctional, social breakdown and violent confrontation are much more likely to occur than in the core countries. In this paper I argue that this provides a fertile new research terrain for environmental sociology. Often these conflicts are described as "ethnic" conflicts by theorists who look solely at social construction processes. I believe it would be beneficial to also look at bio-physical factors. A good way for sociologists to start is to become familiar with the studies and theories of Thomas Homer-Dixon, who has examined the links between scarcity and group conflict. In this paper I argue that Freudenburg's concept of "conjoint constitution" can be used as a framework for sociologists who are interested in studying the relationship between society, the environment and ethnic conflict. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An influential hypothesis in the study of pension politics has been that pensions, once introduced, can never be significantly reduced. A related hypothesis is that reforms are "path-dependent". With regard to pay-as-you-go based pensions, the fact that one generation will have to pay twice (both to finance the pensions of older generations and then to fund their own pensions) was assumed to create a lock-in effect that prevented a shift to funded pensions. Pension reforms during the 1990s and 2000s have weakened both hypotheses. Cost-cutting, path-breaking pension reforms originated in Latin America and have also taken place in Europe. The paper argues that previous theories have a structural bias, and underestimate the impact of political entrepreneurs (conscious agency) in forming and reforming pension systems. Structural factors can make it more or less easy for reformers to gain acceptance, but structural factors only work by influencing how people think and act. How people think and act are psychological and/or sociological questions. The paper identifies factors that facilitated pension reforms in Latin American and European countries, and then use selected examples to show how social psychology and political culture impacted on pension reform processes and outcomes. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper distinguishes between laissez-faire and interventionist models to justify and implement cultural diversity policies in the news media. The paper argues that the laissez-faire model is characteristic of U.S journalism. However the convergence of media systems and the widespread adoption of diversity management practices threaten to turn the laissez-fair model into the prevalent model throughout other Western democracies and Europe in particular. The problem with this approach to media diversity is that it relies on commercial instead of normative justifications. As a result, cultural diversity is mostly reduced to an ornament. Equated with accuracy and treated as a business asset, diversity serves rather than challenges the existing media system. By failing to open sufficient spaces for alternative social voices, business-driven media policies do not respond to the democratic needs of a multicultural society. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public debate on multiculturalism heated up in most European countries in the 2000s. Many countries, the Netherlands and Denmark in particular, which have been known of their multicultural and tolerant policies towards ethnic minorities began to tighten their immigration and minority policies. This paper aims to analyze European multicultural discourses by focusing on a critical analysis of the media prize Prix Europa Iris, the yearly awards competition that celebrates multicultural television programming in Europe. Although submissions are received from independent filmmakers, public broadcasters and commercial television, public broadcasting corporations play key roles in the organization and definition of the event. In this paper I examine how the jury reports and speeches define and signify multiculturalism and anti-racism. These statements help to influence multicultural media policy throughout Europe. Policy can be analyzed as a crystallization of values and definitions. The paper tackles these key questions: What kinds of discourses of multiculturalism and anti-racism are expressed? How is multiculturalism defined? How is Europe and European identity presented? How are these definitions and positions limiting and opening up possibilities for minorities? The paper concludes that recognition of minority identities and status does not necessarily lead into inclusion. Multicultural media initiatives, such as the Prix Europa Iris, have fundamental problems. Increased recognition and intercultural exchange do not solve problems of marginalization, instead marginalization and recognition of ethnic identities co-exist in the contemporary Europe. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debates about media concentration and its adequate handling are not coming to an end. This paper stresses the dual character of media goods, the underlying ideological ideals, and the attendant institutional setting as source of value conflict in communications policy making. It discusses this value conflict and gives examples of where it surfaces and how it is confronted. It is particularly evident in cases of media concentration. Newly introduced communications laws and policies within Europe and the USA aim to reduce (ownership) regulation, promote competition and cope with the challenges posed by convergence. This quest is coupled in part with protections of media pluralism through custom-developed indices for measuring concentration in media markets and tests for assessing media plurality in merger cases. The paper describes and discusses such new methods and instruments as novel but imperfect attempts by policy makers to respond to the various challenges in communications such as value conflict, convergence, the need for empirical proof and claims for non-economic ways of assessing media diversity. It concludes by stressing the need to re-emphasize normative claims as essential guiding elements of communications policy making. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's online experiences, especially the risks to which they might be exposed, is an increasingly important policy and research concern. This paper reports an analysis of the amount, nature and range of empirical research concerning children's online experiences across 18 European countries. Research teams in each country have collaborated, as part of the EU Kids Online network, to identify, code and compare studies. In all, 235 studies were identified and coded in a publicly accessible data repository. All countries had some available evidence regarding children's online risky experiences, with strengths mainly in relation to research on access and use; several countries were found to have a richer evidence base encompassing research on online learning, literacy, participation, parental mediation, and so forth. Regarding risks, more research focused on potentially harmful content than on risky forms of contact. Key research gaps included research on younger children, on mobile online platforms, and on certain types of online risk. The paper concludes by observing the challenges facing researchers in this field, including the time-sensitivity of research that quickly dates, the difficulty of tailoring research to meet the needs of a demanding policy agenda, the complexity of designing projects that recognise the contextual and contingent factors that mediate children's online activities, and the ethical considerations that apply when asking children about private, transgressive or upsetting experiences. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europe is hardly homogenous on any count of labour market regulation or on any measure of labour market performance. This basic point seems to have been missed by most research as the majority of scholars have rather concentrated on the unilateral analysis of the factors accountable for fractures in the old evolutionary logics-globalization, technological change, demographic ageing, post-industrialization and tertiarization- while neglecting the systematic analysis of the different reforms paths that have been taken up in different countries. The objective of this paper is thus to explore the factors that lay behind the different ways in which common reform pressure are refracted differently across national contest according to pre-existent institutional arrangements and strategic interaction between relevant actors. Among the set of alternative explanations for national variation this paper will focus on path dependencies in labour market reforms that stem from the pre-existent welfare regime, firms' main competitive strategy and characteristics of the political process of reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a systematic comparison of online newspaper coverage comprising both Eastern and Western European countries (Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom). Countries were sampled according to the classification developed by Hallin and Mancini (liberal, democratic-corporatist, polarized-pluralist countries) as well as according to membership status in the European Union (6 old members, 2 members that have joined in 2004, and 2 members joining in 2007). Analysis focuses on three dimensions: similarity in reporting styles (i.e. factualness of new reports), vertical Europeanization of news (focus on EU matters and "domestication" of EU issues) as well as horizontal Europeanization (intensity and patterns of mutual observation between countries). Correlational, regression, and cluster analyses are employed in studying the data. Results show that there are no systematic country differences in reporting styles, thus lending support to the homogenization thesis. Levels of both vertical and horizontal Europeanization in news can be explained by EU membership status, with different patterns emerging for the 2 dimensions of Europeanization. In mutual observation between EU member countries, Western European countries get the bulk of attention but this can be explained by their bigger size, not by a particular neglect of the East or by the duration of EU membership. In conclusion, more theory-driven explanatory research on country differences in news reporting is advocated. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patents, this paper argues, are unsatisfactorily understood unless they are regarded as property proper. That is to say, they should be analyzed holistically rather than partially, by either looking at the dimensions of the patent property, or at the functions of it. Consequently, patent systems rather than individual patents will be subject to scrutiny. Also, the focus will then turn from patentee to patent office - a shift it seems that sociologists are yet to take. The final part of the paper will point to a specific area in modern patent law that is in want of sociological attention: Between the United States and Europe there is a discrepancy in the two regions' patent regimes originating from slight differences in constitutional articulation, but only recently is it showing importance with the expansion of patentable subject matters - especially in the US. In order to understand and predict future developments of international patent law I think it necessary to engage directly with the differences between the European and the American patent systems through a holistic approach to property. If Sociologists continue to show neglect one of the more dynamic and salient area of modern law and economy is lost from their analyses. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On May 29, 2005, the French voted against the treaty for a Constitution of Europe. As a founding member of EU that was directly involved in the drafting of the document, the French state as well as public intellectuals and some segments of the French citizenry were "shocked" at the outcome. A public discourse pre and post referendum emerged around April 21, 2002--the date that Jean Marie Le Pen, French right wing leader had come in second place in the first round of the French presidential elections. This paper explores the public narrative around April 21 that engaged speakers on the left, right and center, the mobilization of fear and the ultimate debate between market liberalism and social welfare. The paper carefully documents the campaign for the constitution and the reaction to its demise. It uses a method of thick description to highlight the public language of evaluation. It combines interpretation and the analysis of temporally sequenced events to make broader claims about issues of French politics and the future of Europe as well as the role of the European right in articulating those claims. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary global economy poses a dilemma for Industrial Relations (IR) as we know it: On the one hand, in its most basic definition, IR is the sum of institutionalized relationships between workers, managers and government agencies which interact primarily - if not exclusively - at the national level. On the other hand, global markets are becoming increasingly influential in determining national and international economic relations, which undeniably shudder the foundations of existing labor-capital-state relationships. The aim of this study is to address the tension between the national character of the existing employment regulation mechanisms on the one hand, and the transnational character of economic activities on the other. By focusing on some of the novel developments in the European Union, the paper attempts to demonstrate various aspects of global challenges against, and adaptations by, the European labor movement in the face of increasingly integrated and transnationalized economic relations. After revisiting some peculiar developments in the EU, such as the establishment of European Social Dialogue, European Work Councils and the supranational activism of European trade unions, the paper concludes with an optimistic anticipation that, by taking the supranational space provided by the EU seriously, trade unions in Europe may be influential in the birth of a European level Industrial relations system which may carry the hope to influence the trajectory of the transformation which the existing corporatist model between state, capital and labor is currently undergoing. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper acknowledges the importance of the pan-European attention that has been paid to the European ‘Roma problem’ at various scales and in various discourses recently, from European Union policy-making to local grassroots activism to social scientific studies. However, it argues that policy-oriented activism and most social scientific research offer an oversimplified view of the Roma’s situation in post-communist Europe by continuing to ground Romany identities in victimization and by ignoring the ways in which global entertainment media and transnational networking have transformed ethnic relations in Eastern Europe in the last fifteen years. The essay considers new representations that revalorize traditionally ludic, entertaining Roma images, analyzing in some detail the recent Hungarian animated film, The District (2004), which features ‘cool’ Roma characters from the urban ghetto, the space of exclusion from the nation, as representatives of an emerging national, ethnic-class solidarity against both corrupt neocolonial governments and global corporate capitalism. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European integration process itself has become more divisive, while transnational social movements have only rarely challenged European Union (EU) institutions themselves. This paper examines the relationship between supra-national institutions and social movements and potentials of transnational mobilization in the EU. Focusing on the hurdles and opportunities that the European integration process has provided women's movements in Europe, the dynamics between institutions and social movements are explored. Although the integration process has not encouraged broad-based transnational, grass-roots mobilization of women, the particular dynamics between EU institutions and women's movements have created professionalized transnational advocacy networks on gender equality. These transnational advocacy networks include professionals, experts, academics, women in unions and political parties, and other women in the political and administrative elite. This case also highlights the challenges and strategies of transnational women's movements across territories, hierarchies and inequalities. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]