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The White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue, published in 2008 by the Council of Europe, is one of the first European level attempts to provide a common guideline for diversity politics in Europe. It introduces the idea of ‘intercultural dialogue’ as a new focus and a method of governing diversity. Our paper aims to investigate the explicit and implicit meanings included in the idea of ‘intercultural dialogue’ and how the idea is rhetorically operationalized as a policy in the White Paper. The investigation is conducted with a lexical and semantic analysis of the text in the White Paper and a discourse analysis of its rhetoric, in order to explore how the ‘intercultural dialogue’ as a policy relies on a mixture of ideas borrowed from different political discourses. The investigation revealed how the concept of intercultural dialogue and other related concepts, such as culture and diversity, embrace power hierarchies. The meanings of these concepts are produced from a hegemonic point of view which grants the ‘intercultural dialogue’ with the power positions of a dialoguer and a dialoguee . The policy rhetoric in the White Paper emphasizes social cohesion in Europe. Its policy discourse does not recognize the societal, cultural, historical, religious, or linguistic differences between European societies, but offers unified – and profoundly Western European – views for the governance of diversity. Formulating a common and generic diversity policy for Europe as a whole inevitably simplifies the idea of diversity in Europe and produces new hierarchies between the subjects and objects of these policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the sources of authority behind the Bologna and ASEM secretariats' technocratic appearance and administrative routines, and argues that they are transnational policy actors in their own right. By drawing on principal-agent theory and the concept of "authority," it offers an alternative framework for understanding the various forms of authority. The case studies generate three important insights. First, it shows how the secretariats derive their authority from the "tasks delegated by states," the "moral values" and social purpose they uphold, and the "expertise" they possess. Second, it compares how the different governance structures of the Bologna and ASEM education processes impact on the secretariats' authority. Third, it highlights how the secretariats exercise their respective authorities and exert their discernible influence at different stages of higher education policy-making and region-building processes. [The paper was presented at the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) conference in Prague.]

The content of 'O' and 'A' level papers on modern British and European History set by two GCE Examination Boards was analysed to find out what particular aspects of the past were emphasised and thus to throw light on the experience of history as a subject which was gained by the candidates. These papers, which are taken by the great majority of the candidates, were found to be dominated by political history, up to 77% of the questions being devoted to the affairs of governments and political leaders. Foreign politics was especially important in papers on European history reaching as high as 44% of the questions set and domestic politics was central to papers on British history attaining means in different groups of papers between 40 and 50%. At the end of the article the wisdom of the approach to school history evident in these papers is questioned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research was to identify how the use of a debate-based course delivery approach merged with a flipped classroom model influenced the students' academic outcomes and motivation in relation to their intelligence type and how the sampled students perceived the course delivery approach and certain debate-related activities. Sampled students' academic performance records, an evaluation survey to obtain students' feedback on both the course delivery approach and the effectiveness of the activities like 'Think-Pair-Share', 'Write-Pair-Share', 'Illogical story-telling', 'Treasure Hunt', case-study, 'One Minute Paper', 'Attitude/motivation test battery' as intelligence type-based diagnostics of learners' motivation, and a focus-group semi-structured interview were used as the instruments. SPSS 10.0.5 computer statistical package was used to process data. The use of debates to deliver the instructional content to the tertiary students can be considered a three-vector approach capable to bring a positive change to learning motivation, cognitive (intellectual) activity, self-esteem (self-efficacy) of a student and the overall quality of the vocational training system of the historians and lawyers-to-be. This study boosts the methodology of vocational training of the students majoring in humanities like History/Law in terms of fostering the 21st century-competencies and it adds a different perspective to the theory on relation between the type of intelligence and skills. This approach fosters learner autonomy and positive perception of challenging educational activities. It was found that it was prerequisite for the success of the above approach that there was a well-trained debate moderator, and debate-procedure-aware and trained students. The further research is needed in purposeful introduction of NLP training into the above model and examination its impacts.

During the Age of Revolutions, the Habsburg monarchy initially opposed nationalist movements as revolutionary. While the monarchy later sought to co-opt loyal patriots, historical memory often imagines the Habsburg state as implacably opposed to both nationalism and nationalist movements. In practice, however, Habsburg officials and central European nationalisms overlapped and engaged with each other in surprising ways. Their interaction problematizes a sharp line between monarchism and nationalism. This essay speficially introduces a special issue of Central Europe, consisting of two papers presented at a 2022 conference on the Habsburg state apparatus. The two papers explored the tensions and interactions between Habsburg officials and patriot circles as they played out in international relations. Polish exiles sought to recruit Habsburg officials to the national cause, while Habsburg agents sought to recruit patriots to the spy network of the Habsburg political police. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the launch era of the European Union, there were unsuccessful attempts to make spatial planning part of the European project. This paper identifies three subsequent phases of integration. During the doldrums era, initiatives were channelled through the Council of Europe. Since the start of the boom era, spatial planning has been related to EU cohesion policy. As we move into the fourth phase, characterised by doubts about integration, what does the future bring? The Lisbon Treaty settles the issue of a lack of competence, but uncertainty continues because the future of cohesion policy as such is unsettled. While the journey continues, will it be retained, and if so, what will the role of territorial cohesion policy be? Will territorial cohesion policy be barely tolerated, or will it become a mainstay of cohesion policy? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article delves into the nuances of summit diplomacy in regional formats within Central Europe, with a particular emphasis on the Visegrád Group (V4), the Bucharest Nine (B9), and the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) from 2015 to 2023. Though each format functions differently, all rely on summit diplomacy to achieve their objectives. The article aims to explore the reasons why informal regional formats are frequently implemented in this region. The study conducts a thorough review of existing literature. It systematically analyses past instances of the selected formats, considering variables such as meeting frequency, location, and the level of representation. Based on the adopted definition of summit diplomacy, this article classifies the meetings of the highest level during the specified period as personal meetings between political leaders from at least two countries with official, state roles, such as presidents, prime ministers, or ministers. These leaders hold significant power to shape their country’s foreign policy and influence the legal and political order through summit decisions, while engaging with counterparts from other nations. The paper also highlights the variations between the above-mentioned formats in Central Europe, including the differences in meeting frequency, level of representation, and the number of participating states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on historical issues in Europe. Popularity of Americanization in literatures about United States-European relations; Reasons for the migration of Europeans to other countries; Boundaries in the production of historical knowledge of the country.

Presents information on current developments towards international insolvencies in Europe. Components of the legal framework for dealing with cross-border insolvency proceedings; Information on the European Union Insolvency Regulation; Challenges in cross-border insolvency proceedings.

This paper entitled "postmodernism in international relations" examines the epistemological and ontological development of the theory taking into consideration that the term has already constituted an international relations discourse after the second world war in Europe and that recognition and injection of the theory into international relations was done in 1980. The evolution and emergence of postmodernism as a social theory will be discussed, basic assumptions, contributions and criticisms of the postmodernism will be discussed and analyzed. Related academic books and journals on postmodernism will be used as a reference in gathering literature to analyses the concept in a broader meaning. The paper argued that postmodernism in international relations is a radical departure or break away from modernism way of thinking to postmodernism characterized by the new and complex articulation of world conditions and issues within the context of interpretative and internationalized informed by postmodern preoccupations of new philosophy and ideas based on the relative objective reality of human conditions. The paper concluded that postmodernism is a reaction from modernity to post modernity for their inability and failure to interpret world events based on objective reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 16 April 2020, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released preliminary figures2 according to which the collective Official Development Assistance (ODA) from the European Union (EU) and its Member States to developing countries amounted to 75.2 billion in 2019, representing 55.2% of global assistance. The EU and its Member States therefore maintain their position as the largest international aid donor. In spite of the vast amount of resources spent annually by the EU, there is widespread perception that the EU punches below its weight. Notwithstanding the undeniable positive impact that the EU external policies have on the ground, the EU's role in international development remains mostly invisible. This paper presents the perception of the EU and EU's policies abroad and makes the case for the necessity of an integrated and fully coordinated EU Public Diplomacy (PD) capable of communicating effectively and strengthening EU's role as a global actor. It argues that culture has a substantial potential in Europe's international relations, making the case for the necessity of an integrated and tailor-made EU Cultural Diplomacy. This paper shows that culture is a worthwhile investment in driving economic growth. Failure to capitalise on this would be a huge missed opportunity for Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the differences among European archives in the study of eighteenth-century international relations. Diplomatic historical research; Relationship between domestic developments and the debates about foreign policy; Private papers of diplomats involved in the conduct of policy.

The analysis of international and collaborative publication trends in prominent behavior‐analytic journals has been a topic of interest for behavioral researchers. This paper focuses on publication trends from 1997 through 2020 in three prominent journals: Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB), Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA), and Perspectives on Behavior Science (PBS). The variable of interest was the percentage of articles published per geographical category—Australasia/East Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, North America, and Africa. The results showed that 79, 96, and 87% of the published articles in JEAB, JABA, and PBS, respectively, were conducted by researchers with a North American affiliation. Furthermore, 12, 4, and 4% of the articles in JEAB, JABA, and PBS, respectively, were coauthored by at least two researchers from different geographical categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Internacional de Investigación en Ciencias Sociales is the property of Universidad Autonoma de Asuncion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, we investigated how policy rate modifications – the main instrument used by central banks to provide liquidity during the current health crisis – influenced the evolution of the exchange rate, which is a key element within macro-stabilization policies. We documented that foreign exchange markets in European countries responded asymmetrically to monetary policy interventions devoted to the encouragement of spending and the stimulation of the economy. However, this only occurred during extreme events, which is a side-effect of the monetary policy on the foreign exchange market. These results contribute to the assessment of the space for manoeuvres by monetary policymakers regarding key policy rate modifications as a response to pandemic shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) is now the flags hip policy of the European Union towards its neighbours. Although the ENP did not include the South Caucasus countries from the beginning, last years brought important changes in this respect. The development of the ENP in the South Caucasus can be understood as the result of (he European internal debates, of the institutional corrections made by (he European Commission and of (he external events' influence over the Union. The European Neighbourhood Policy still needs further improvements, especially concerning the Eastern neighbours. In (his paper, I will try to assess the ENP in the South Caucasus, analysing the following aspects: the EU interests in the region, the bilateral relations before the ENP, the Action Plans, the EU's assistance, the perspectives open by the Eastern Partnership - announcedfor spring 2009. The paper will finish with conclusions and recommendations regarding the improvement of the ENP in the South Caucasus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflecting on the other papers in this special issue, this synopsis characterises some essential trends in European Landscape Ecology, including the challenges it is facing in society. It describes the various perspectives on the 'contents' of landscape that are currently being practiced, and especially considers the notion of 'environment' as something intrinsic to human activity. Landscape classification and typology are discussed in their potential but limited use for landscape science. The specificity of the European approach appears to be related to the large diversity of cultural landscapes, currently losing their functional ties with the land-use systems that had formed them. European landscape research reports show a large commitment to this decreasing diversity, a dedication characterised by a strong sense of 'loss and grief'. On the other hand, it is concluded that European landscape research has a specific niche with a clear focus on applied landscape studies explicitly including people's perceptions and images, as well as the participation of the public and stakeholders. Since globalisation tends to reinforce the detachment of people from their environment; an increased effort is needed to compensate for this effect, and therefore the consideration of the various dimensions of the landscape is today more pertinent than ever. Meeting the challenges of present landscapes, in the face of new multifunctional demands in old diverse landscapes, requires more than before the combination of various perspectives and methods, and of various scales of application, in order to design innovative and adaptive paths for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2008, a negative image of China has prevailed in Europe, leading to the country's image crisis in the region. The state has implemented several policies to improve such a perception. This paper aims to examine the major tools of China's attempts at influence in Europe, targeting the media and public opinion. Applying the concept of soft power and public diplomacy, we analyse the tools China uses to modify and shape public opinion about itself in Europe. The research framework comprises secondary resources on China's foreign policy, soft power, public diplomacy and media strategy in Europe. We distinguish four primary influence tools: China buys European media outlets to prevent negative information about itself; it pays for inserts in leading European newspapers; it signs cooperation agreements with media organisations and holds media forums; and it limits access to its market to affect media, film and academic content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops the concept of spatial imaginations as the constructions of places as meaningful entities that establish identities of self and other through particular narratives and associated practices. It argues that traditionally, International Relations has ignored question of space despite their obvious centrality to the discipline. This has changed with the "spatial turn", which has its precursors in critical scholarship, especially drawing on sociology and political geography. The paper traces these contributions to the conceptual development of space in its material and discursive dimensions. It proposes that spatial imaginations are central to relations between "Turkey" and "Europe", establishing both as meaningful yet contested entities. In the works collated in the special issue of which this paper serves as an introduction, we may thus see facets of three core claim of the spatial turn: that space matters, that space needs to be made, and that spaces need to be formed. Against the prevailing attempts to fix the meaning of the spaces of "Turkey" and "Europe", I end with a plea to provide room for the articulation of a multiplicity of spatial imaginations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnography of the Serbian Academy of Sciences & Arts / Glasnik Etnografskog Instituta SANU is the property of Institute of Ethnography, SASA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses the pattern of the upper level of the world city network of knowledge as published in a series of earlier papers. The authors' aim is to update the findings and relate to the general world city discussion. The article addresses how the structure of the world cities of knowledge network has changed since 2000 in favour of south-east Asian and south European cities. The authors use bibliometric data on the world's 100 largest cities measured in terms of research output. The article also discusses the concept of world cities as an understanding that many cities are global service centres.

This article uses discourse analysis to study the continuities in British foreign policy thinking within the Labour party from the 1960s to the present day. Using representative extracts from speeches by Hugh Gaitskell, Harold Wilson, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, it identifies the ideational consistencies in the leaders' attitudes to: Empire; federalism in the EEC/EU; and laying down conditions that have to be met before any constructive engagement with ‘Europe’ can be countenanced. We argue that these consistencies, spanning a 50-year period, exemplify a certain stagnation both within Labour's European discourses and within British foreign policy thinking more widely. We develop the idea that Labour party thinking has been crucially framed by both small ‘c’ conservative and upper-case Conservative ideology, popularised by Winston Churchill in his ‘three circles’ model of British foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Social Work is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

BACKGROUND: In the COVID-19 pandemic, coordination was certainly late, also due to the scarcity of information disseminated at the very beginning of the pandemic, when countries were inevitably taken by surprise. The lack of information, mainly attributable to the country from which everything seems to have started, has produced a huge delay and numerous uncertainties in the feedback of the WHO and international organizations. OBJECTIVE: The inevitably relevant issue, from a legal point of view, concerns the legitimacy, formal or in any case shared, of the authority in charge of coordinating reactions and policies. The paper analyses the current legislation, soft and hard law, and the undertaken policies concerning emergency responses. METHODS: International and EU legislation analysis. RESULTS: The G20 understood that sustainable, flexible and agile funding systems for health emergencies are essential elements of pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. In EU there are many regulations about coordination and response to emergencies in practice in the EU and the Regulation (EU) 2021/522 (EU4Health programme), broadly extends the Union's competence in the field of health and has the objective of strengthening the Union's capacity for prevention, preparedness and rapid response in the event of serious cross-border threats to health. CONCLUSIONS: It is essential to formalize, within international agreements, the institutionalization of relationships, procedures, and the possible recognition of the reference figure. If in the European Union, at least partially, the protocols are there (even if the COVID-19 emergency has blown them up in principle), certainly in relations with non-EU countries the story is complicated, requiring specific agreements. This is the goal of the path started by the Rome Declaration of 21 May 2021 within the G20 – Global Health Summit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Economic & Political Thought / Myśl Ekonomiczna & Polityczna is the property of Lazarski University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper draws on the experience of emerging Europe and argues that foreign capital is an enviable development opportunity with tail risks. Financial integration and foreign savings supported growth in the EU12 and EU candidate countries. We argue that this was possible because of EU membership (actual or potential) and its role as an anchor for expectations. In contrast, the eastern partnership states did not benefit from the foreign savings-growth link. But financial integration also led to a buildup of vulnerabilities and now exposes emerging Europe to prolonged uncertainty and financial deleveraging due to eurozone developments. Nonetheless, we believe that external imbalances should not be eradicated--nor should emerging Europe pursue a policy of self-insurance. Instead, what we refer to as an acyclical fiscal policy stance could serve to counterbalance private sector behavior. Going forward, a more proactive macroprudential policy will also be needed to limit financial system vulnerabilities when external imbalances are large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]