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This article extends United States–European Union (EU) comparative research to the area of grants-in-aid by comparing the evolution of federally funded “city welfare” in the two political systems in light of an original institutionalist theory. I show that while the United States and the EU adopted similar early programs—Model Cities and URBAN—these schemes’ instability and their different politico-constitutional setting led to divergence shortly after their inception. In the United States, where the Department of Housing and Urban Development safeguarded city welfare, Model Cities was replaced with the durable Community Development Block Grant. In the EU, where no such institutional anchor existed, URBAN’s demise ended urban policy altogether. The article contributes to the broader scholarship on federalism by highlighting the relevance of institutions and time for understanding grants-in-aid. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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This article presents an exploration into the views of the church historian Philip Schaff and the transatlantic comparative influences of religion in cultural conflict. Schaff's pioneering influence in the field of transatlantic comparative religious history is outlined. The religious and cultural differences between European and American identity are reviewed. The effect of puritanism and a primarily protestant ideal in American society's formation is also analyzed.

The European social model was developed mainly in comparison with US social and economic performance. The crucial distinction was that Europe had a much better track record in social affairs than the US. This paper examines whether or not the Lisbon objective of more competitiveness and growth will endanger the basic values of the European model. Taking into account recent trends in core dimensions, such as employment, social dialogue, social protection and cohesion, there appears to be an American-style evolution of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the social and political conditions in the United States and Europe. The claim that the United States and Europe are diverging in their values and social structure is a myth. Several factors make the U.S. appear to be more conservative, unequal and ungenerous than it is in fact. In reality the U.S. is becoming more like Western Europe in its growing secularism and liberalism. However, the long-term convergence between the U.S. and Europe in social values and social structure will not produce a transatlantic consensus in foreign policy. The political system and in particular the election system make the U.S. seem more conservative than it really is.

Compares the city development between Europe and the United States. Why most European cities remained compact; Contrasts in urban development between America and Europe; Reason for the retention of merchants and inhabitants in European cities.

This special issue on the journal, European family is devoted to informing American readers of recent developments in Europe so that they can better address the nature of contemporary family change in the West. It is not the authors' aim to present a comprehensive account of the forces behind contemporary family change, nor have they asked their contributors to do so. The reports presented in this issue need to be followed by finer-grained comparative studies that can clarify how events such as out-of-wedlock births or union dissolutions are experienced and interpreted in different cultural and political settings. Such studies may help explain how and why family patterns changed so swiftly and radically after the baby boom. The one persistent development amid the ups and downs of postwar demographic patterns is the steady march of married women into the labor force. On a cultural level: the parallel trend has been the growth of an ideology stressing independence and self-fulfillment.

The article presents some salient changes that have occurred in the social stratification of Euro-American population during the Second World War. Its second objective is to point out which of these changes are likely to continue in the transitory post-war period and which are bound to end with the armistice. Before the war, the factual and legal status of women was unequal to that of men. In all Western countries, with no exception whatsoever, women's political, economic and other rights and privileges were more limited than those of men. Some high positions and functions were legally closed for women; some occupations were either factually or legally monopolized by men. Women's remuneration for similar occupations was lower than for men. Rights of the wife in the family were less extensive than those of the husband. The war saw a dramatic change in this status, with women entering armed forces and other occupations totally monopolized by men. As a result these occupational, economic and functional changes in the position of women, their total status has become closer to that of men.