Search results for ""budrich""

After nearly two decades of war, on February 2020, the Trump administration signed an agreement with the Taliban through which the US and its NATO allies' troops must leave Afghanistan within the following few months. This agreement also paves the ground for Intra-Afghan talks between the US backed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban militant group. This book critically reviews the US/NATO military, peace-and-statebuilding intervention since 2001 in Afghanistan. In addition, based on collected field interviews, it presents the Afghan perception and discourse on the topics such as democracy, Islam, women rights, formal and informal governance, ethnic divide and the state democratic governmental design at the national and subnational level.

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This volume highlights the impact of border controls on migrants’ journeys in two major areas of immigration: the European Union and the United States of America. In order to show the linkages between border control policies and migratory practices, the book combines empirical insights from ethnography with approaches from political science. Describing migrants’ realities reveals that the impact of border control policies goes beyond the actual border area affecting many lives and states.

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The authors discuss individual and societal factors which influence the gender biased image of science, engineering and technology (SET) prevalent in young people. From different angles the authors investigate the consequences of this often unattractive but also partly obsolete image for gendered study and occupational choices of girls and boys. Besides peers, school and media as main influencing socialisation instances the contributions focus on young people’s selfconcept regarding the development of gendered attitudes towards SET. Further this book includes approaches and concepts of inclusion measures aiming on changing the image of SET and attracting young people, and especially girls, for these study and job fields.

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The book examines U.S.-Cuba relations within the framework of the United States long-standing policy agenda of promoting a democratic transition in Cuba. The study builds a theoretical framework which is used to analyze the assumptions underlying the U.S. strategy and presents a rich empirical analysis that gives insight into the failure of U.S. policy to produce neither the collapse of the Cuban regime nor a transition to democracy.

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Organisations and institutions of higher education are more and more challenged by current economic, social and political conditions to react competitively and innovatively on new requirements, such as demographic change, globalisation or skilled labour shortage. In addition, universities and companies alike, have to compete for the most qualified staff. In order to produce more innovative solutions and to perform better, it is essential to integrate gender and diversity perspectives as important elements of organisational and human resources development. This anthology presents different theoretical and practical approaches, best practice examples and important aspects of gender and diversity management in organisations.

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As children grow up, they discover taboo areas in their environment and in life. They are in need of advice to prevent them from placing themselves in risky situations. The primary preventive approach to a life skills programme on HIV/AIDS and sex education, called “Child Mind Project”, can be seen as such an initiative.

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Why do we need evidence based youth policies? International in scope, this book presents a systematic and interdisciplinary reflection on what has been termed the “magic triangle”, i.e., the relationship between youth policies, youth research and practical youth work, based on the necessity of organising knowledge exchange between different actors in the youth field. On this basis, researchers from across the globe analyse and discuss youth policy development, the theories that underlie youth policy, as well as the models and impact of youth policy in different societies. They respond by: - Analysing the impact of economic, social and cultural change on young people in different world regions, locations and social contexts; - Presenting and explaining theories of youth; - Discussing strategies for the development and implementation of youth policies in different world regions; - Evaluating the impact of current youth policies at regional, national and international levels; - Analysing and discussing applied models of cross sectional policy and practice in the youth sector; - Discussing contributions of youth research to the development of evidence based youth policies in areas such as values, employment, participation, citizenship, migration, social exclusion and vulnerability.

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Non scholae, sed vitae… ? Institutions for and processes of out-of-school education are of growing importance in modern societies. This is the case not only with a view to the scale of the (public or private) range of education but also with a view to the need, i.e., from families that are ambitious with a view to education and training. The contributions deal with the importance, the impact, as well as the future of out-ofschool education—processes as well as institutions— from eight different European countries.

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What is special about small states? How do they adapt their policies and patterns of governance to meet turbulent times such as a new security environment and the international financial crisis? Answers to these and further questions are provided by experts. What are the constraints on and opportunities of governance of small states in an interdependent and increasingly turbulent global setting? How do small states deal with radical changes in the international environment? What is the role of political institutions in facilitating and constraining policy responses to a rapidly changing international environment? How can political leadership contribute to stability in times of change? This book seeks to answer these questions by taking a comparative perspective on the processes of change and adaptation in the governance of Norway and Slovakia. These two small European states with highly open economies have been exposed to the same set of global turbulences related to post Cold War changes in the security environment and the global financial crisis; they are also facing internal challenges that spring from rapidly rising expectations while demographic shifts put pressure on their welfare systems. Their governance structures and processes are informed by their different political-administrative cultures, different history and levels of stability of democratic governance structures and, indeed, by their different modes of attachment to the European Union and other regional integration frameworks. These differences and a comparative approach in exploring the questions raised above can shed light not only on the specific forms of adaptation of governance structures in two small European states, but also generate insights into the role of integration structures in facilitating and constraining change.

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The volume relates the Capabilities Approach to research and practice in education, welfare economics and social policy. Thus, it challenges traditional objectives and approaches in these fields. The authors suggest a capabilities perspective that calls into question the metric of success of these disciplines and in the fields of politics. It moves the attention away from economic growth and human capital towards autonomy and “agency freedom” of (young) individuals. Especially with respect to the young this implies a substantial shift of perspectives. Young persons have been particularly highlighted in the political debate: on the one hand side they are one of the groups with the highest risk to face situations of poverty, on the other hand side young persons are the main focus group of educational strategies in the form of investments in human capital which dominate the discourse. In this context, the capability perspective implies a provoking shift of paradigms because it takes place against the background of capitalist societies redefining their notion of “the public” and diminishing the collective responsibility for the vulnerable. The volume discusses whether and in how far the capabilities perspective makes a difference and provides additional value in terms of promoting democracy and justice on a social level as well as well-being on the level of individual (particularly young) individuals.

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Values – elites and ordinary people This book reveals the diverse worlds of history, civic culture and values of South Africa, South Korea, Chile, Poland, Turkey, Germany and Sweden. It explores the similarities and contrasts between the values of the elites and the ordinary people. Written from various disciplinary perspectives and offering both empirical evidence and insiders’ knowledge, this book is bound to interest a wide variety of readers. The study on which the book reports was in the main based on analyses of value orientations of the parliamentary and media elites and those of the ordinary citizens. The data for the elites were obtained from surveys conducted for the purposes of the study; the data for the general population were drawn from the latest World Values Surveys. The volume is divided into two parts. The first part, entitled Theory and history, considers the quality of democracy in the context of the historical and cultural heritage of the seven countries, their civic culture and notions of citizenship, and their constitutions as foundations of the democratic political order. The second part of the book, entitled Theory and empiricism, assesses the quality of democracy by means of comparative analyses of the convergence and divergence in value orientations of the elites and the masses, both within each case and across all the seven cases.

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Family in all its aspects Familienbande International experts provide an overview of the current state-of-the-art of European family research and outline the multiple formations, structures and configurations of family in Europe. Four aspects are discussed in depth: family images, sex/gender roles, globalisation and family development processes. Influenced by globalisation, European countries experience processes which still have greatly varying consequences. Cultural differences, reflected in a range of family schemes and national family policies, are one reason for the continued existence of differences in the scope and speed of change processes. Quite generally, images and concepts of family have become more heterogeneous and flexible. The flip side of this coin is that family members are increasingly faced with the challenges of achieving a satisfactory work-life balance – a task aggravated by globalisation. We therefore need to ask how family policy can help families enjoy adequate freedom of action and latitude for their decision-making. To summarise: a read well worth the effort for all experts working in family research and family policy.

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Job-related spatial mobility is a subject of great importance in Europe. But how mobile are the Europeans? What are the consequences of professional mobility for quality of life, family life and social relationships? For the first time these questions are analysed on the basis of the data of a large-scale European survey. This vo l - ume analyses the causes and determinants of job mobility and their individual and societal consequences in cross-national comparison.

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The World of Political Science - New volumes The book traces the disciplinary development of political sociology and the transdisciplinary research into the overlapping issues involving politics and society. The contributions cover overviews of the history, methodological and theoretical development of this academic discipline. Successes as well as failures in past, unexplored areas and salient issues in ongoing research are also highlighted. From the Contents: Subrata K. Mitra and Malte Pehl, Taking Stock of Political Sociology Dirk Berg-Schlosser, Political Culture at a Crossroads? Kay Lawson and Mildred Schwartz, Parties, Interest Groups and Social Movements: Shall Change be Mid - wife to Truth? Eva Etzioni-Halevy, Socio-Political Inequalities: Elites, Classes and Democracy Prakash Sarangi, Contemporary Approaches to the Study of the State Jan van Deth, Political Sociology: Old Concerns and New Directions

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How can sustainable peace be achieved? The book identifies potential supranational, state and non-state actors involved in peacebuilding processes. Further - more, it develops strategies to address the problems and dilemmas of international peacebuilding. An important contribution to a highly topical debate. Hopes for a less conflict-prone world after the end of the Cold War were bitterly disappointed. Instead, the international community is faced with protracted wars and violent conflicts today. In addition, social, economic and cultural insecurities as well as fragile statehood challenge the post-Westphalian environment. As a result, scholars and policy-makers alike are trying to develop viable strategies for sustainable peace. The book contributes to this debate, as it illustrates current research results on the topic and addresses the complex problems and dilemmas that various international peace - building actors are confronted with.

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Although the concept of power is central to the study of politics, there is no agreement as to what exactly power is. Power is often viewed negatively, as domination, though it is also the case that power is created by people acting in concert, in which case it can have positive effects. Making sense of this puzzle is one of the aims of this book, which provides the reader with a clear and coherent way of understanding the various forms and manifestations of power, and it does so by bringing together the most important and influential perspectives on power within the political and social sciences. From the Contents: Mark Haugaard and Kevin Ryan: Power in Social and Political Theory John Gledhill: Power in Political Anthropology Stewart Clegg: Foundations of Organizational Power Jill Vickers: Gendering Power: Feminist Approaches John A. Hall and Siniša Maleševic: The Political Sociology of Power Philip G. Cerny: Power and International Relations

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This research considers the mixed results of international agencies in democracy promotion despite their attempt to shape a common policy emphasized in various international agreements. On the background of backlashes and the search for new answers it analyses how the UNDP and the EC promoted democracy in Rwanda from 2003 until 2013. As a result, the author outlines how democracy strategies differ; she defines variance factors in impact, and develops a new concept of variances.

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Migration, mobility, and globalization are transforming ways of working and living. Business activities, relationships and a sense of belonging are often not tied to any one place. This book explores biographies of highly mobile startup founders who often run startups that have been called „born global“. It describes how they move, how they orientate and perceive themselves, and how migration and mobility play a role beyond the physical act of `moving’. Presenting current ethnographic research, the book critically discusses approaches in migration and mobility studies and the research field of the „migration of the highly skilled“. Increasing mobility and migration are a dominant contemporary topic. This book explores how founders of born global startups experience and navigate mobility. Based on an ethnographic field study, the book presents condensed accounts of biographies and examines the protagonists’ migration strategies, dimensions of mobilities, transurban spaces of movement, orientation schemes and self-perceptions. It asks how these living arrangements can be understood and questions the concepts of “migration” and “highly skilled” in this context. Instead, it suggests working with a multilayered understanding of mobility, transurban space and orientation schemes. The research design combines perspectives from economic entrepreneurship studies and migration and mobility studies. Instead of focussing on ethnic or national groups, it focusses on a professional group as an entity for research.

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Is Japan prepared for an ethnically diverse society? The volume examines the past and future trajectory of Japan’s immigration and integration policies and related institutions, taking a cross-disciplinary approach in social sciences. The authors highlight critical issues and challenges that the nation is facing as a result of the government’s inarticulate migrant-acceptance policy, e.g. in the fields of deportation, refugee policy, multicultural education and disaster protection. How can the situation be improved? The book investigates the changes and initiatives needed to build a resilient policy regime for a liberal, pluralistic, and inclusive Japan.

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In diesem Buch wird die Theorie der politischen Führung, die ein noch wenig erforschtes Feld der Politikwissenschaft ist, beleuchtet. Sie ist verwandt mit dem philosophischen Streit um Determinismus versus Aktivismus und hilft den Grundkonflikt des 21. Jahrhunderts zwischen liberaler Demokratie und neuem Autoritarismus zu verstehen. Das Buch befasst sich mit Max Webers Typologie politischer Herrschaft und seinem Konzept der Verantwortungsethik, welche der Schlüssel zur Theorie der Führung sind. Der Autor zeigt auf, dass der unvollendete Wettstreit zwischen Demokratie und neuem Autoritarismus im 21. Jahrhundert die Bedeutung von Führung in alten und neuen Demokratien sowie in den neoautoritären Regimen bestätigt und einen neuen Typus politischer Führungskräfte fordert.

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This publication collects contributions to understanding and addressing migration flows from Africa to Europe and supporting social coexistence in the destination countries. Written by experts in psychology and social work, the articles approach the topic of immigration based on empirical research in their academic and professional specialties. The book focuses on issues of intervention, letting the research be the starting point for further plans. This focus makes the book valuable for professionals as well as policy makers.

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The book explores different questions, for example the status and role of BRICS in the changing international order; how countries in the Global South can use regionalism to change the world order; the competing worldviews that manifest themselves in the institutional variety of regionalism; and, most importantly, how all these changes push International Relations as a field to become more global, or at least to go beyond Westphalian thinking – thus bringing the role of multilateralism back to the discussion. The book critically analyzes the ongoing changes in the regional, intra-regional, and global dynamics of cooperation, from a multi-disciplinary and pluralist perspective. It is based on the insight that in a post-hegemonic world the formation of regions and the process of globalization can be largely disconnected from the orbit of the US, and that a plurality of power and worldviews has replaced US hegemony. In spite of these changes, most existing analyses of current changes in the world order still rely upon Western-centered approaches, and Westphalian thinking. Against this backdrop, the book proposes to advance a truly global IR understanding of the post-hegemonic world, and weaves together the pluralist and multi-disciplinary perspectives of scholars located all around the world.

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Russia, the European Union, and NATO still share some important common interests that need to be given greater attention. A return to strategic partnership is not conceivable without resolving the Ukraine confl ict, but prudent management of the antagonism in order to keep open the prospect of a peaceful new normal is crucial. At the same time, it is important to keep in mind that the persistent volatility of the international environment could further complicate this already diffi cult process.

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The book explores how the European Union and its members have been renegotiating Europeanisation and renationalisation in response to the multiple crises they faced in recent years. The authors highlight varying understandings of ´crises´ in different national and supranational policy and institutional contexts. They show how in some cases these have challenged the legitimacy of European Union norms and institutions and even triggered disintegration, while in other cases these crises have served as sources of inspiration for European social innovation and political development.

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Why is there so much reservation and scepticism among the Czech public as well as politicians towards the European Union? Has the experience of the Czech Republic as a member of the EU changed Czech Euroscepticism since 2004? The authors provide a detailed analysis of the dynamics of Euroscepticism using the concept of Europeanisation. The unique connection of the concepts of Euroscepticism and Europeanisation creates an innovative research framework.

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This book offers insights and perspectives from a study of “Cultural Encounters in Intervention Against Violence” (CEINAV) in four EU-countries. Seeking a deeper understanding of the underpinnings of intervention practices in Germany, Portugal, Slovenia and the United Kingdom, the team explored variations in institutional structures and traditions of law, policing, and social welfare. Theories of structural inequality and ethics are discussed and translated into practice. Using a shared qualitative methodology, space was created to listen to professionals discussing the challenges of intervention and as well to hear voices of women who had escaped domestic violence or trafficking for sexual exploitation and of young people who had been taken into care due to abuse or neglect. Voices of professionals as well as of women and young people who have experienced intervention illuminate how and why practices may differ. The authors examine how existing theories can illuminate complex inequalities or encompass the experiences of minorities against the background of European colonial history, and what streams of ethical theory apply to the dilemmas and challenges of intervention practice. Analytical descriptions of the legal-institutional frameworks for each of the three forms of violence set the stage for comparison. Drawing on a rich store of empirical data, five chapters discuss key issues facing policy-makers and practitioners seeking effective strategies of intervention that can diminish violence while strengthening the agency of women and children. Unique among comparative studies, CEINAV integrated creative art workshops into the research and involved both professionals and survivors of violence in the process. “Reflections” include a discussion of different intervention cultures in Europe, alongside working with different voices and making cultural encounters visible through art. Overall the authors argue that overcoming violence cannot be achieved by standardising procedure but require an ethical foundation, for which they offer a proposal.

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How is tolerance reflected in urban space? Which urban actors are involved in the practices and narratives of tolerance? What are the limits of tolerance? The edited volume answers these questions by considering different forms of urban in/exclusion and participatory citizenship. By drawing together disparate yet critical writings, Doing Tolerance examines the production of space, urban struggles and tactics of power from an interdisciplinary perspective. Illustrating the paradoxes within diverse interactions, the authors focus on the conflict between heterogeneous groups of the governed, on the one hand, and the governing in urban spaces, on the other. Above all, the volume explores the divergences and convergences of participatory citizenship, as they are revealed in urban space through political, socio-economic and cultural conditions and the entanglements of social mobilities.

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Is civil society’s influence favorable to the evolvement of democratic structures and democratic gender relations? While traditional approaches would answer in the affirmative, the authors highlight the ambivalences. Focusing on women’s organizations in authoritarian and hybrid regimes, they cover the full spectrum of civil society’s possible performance: from its important role in the overcoming of power relations to its reinforcement as backers of government structures or the distribution of antifeminist ideas.

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For the foreseeable future the overall use of nuclear electricity in the European Union is unlikely to change significantly despite the controversies surrounding its use amongst the EU’s nation states. The author questions the role that nuclear electricity plays in meeting the challenges of providing secure, competitive and sustainable energy to support the development of the low carbon economy in the EU. Analysis presented focuses on the evolution of the discourse on nuclear energy amongst policy makers at European and national levels as well as amongst the public.

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Given the fact that two-thirds of all intrastate wars since 1945 have included foreign interventions, what drives sovereign states to support non-state conflict parties? In order to understand causes and calculations of this particular type of third party intervention, this book connects some of the most important contemporary debates in international relations, ranging from security cooperation between states and non-state actors to the effects of intervention on both local conflict dynamics and interstate relations. Presenting a new theoretical framework and a multidimensional concept of support (endorsement, hosting, as well as financial and military assistance), this book establishes a systematic path between international as well as domestic incentives and specific types of sponsorship policies. In a subsequent comparative analysis, the author examines conditions and dynamics of Syria’s cooperation with Fatah, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, and Hizballah from 1964 to 2006.

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The book explores the concept of artistic witnessing as political activity. In what ways may art and artists bear witness to political events? The contributors engage with dance, film, photography, performance, poetry, and theater and explore artistic witnessing as political activity in a wide variety of case studies.

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The citizens of Europe are facing increasingly complex challenges to their career development nowadays. Over the span of their lifetime, they need to manage their careers, and make numerous decisions concerning education, training and employment – decisions, which seriously impact their futures and their wellbeing. To prepare citizens for these challenges, and to support them in the progress, competent career practitioners are needed. But what kinds of career practitioners are we talking about? And what do they need to be able to do? How can the quality of their training be assured? This handbook introduces common European competence standards for the academic training of career practitioners in Europe, together with some proposals and examples, of how to implement and establish such competence standards in practice. More than 200 experts from all across Europe have contributed to the development of these shared standards of the Network for Innovation in Career Guidance and Counselling in Europe (NICE). The standards are already being used in many countries for the development of degree programmes.

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Our social interactions are driven by complex biopsychic processes that are complicated by the fact that humans are individuals and at the same time members of one or more social systems, such as schools. This book contributes to explaining the social mechanisms influencing students' "need to belong" fulfilment at school. The theoretical framework is informed by human needs understood as cognitive mechanisms of neural processes that regulate human behaviour and bio-values. The fieldwork was conducted in two secondary schools in Austria and Australia. Based on the findings, the transformative three-step approach suggests a course of action for student belonging.

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Narratives of Triumph and Loss explores the successes, challenges and controversies of women‘s post-conflict political leadership. Through interviews with women who have held significant leadership positions, the book explores the relationships between their educational, professional, activist and personal backgrounds. It situates their stories within historical and contemporary political contexts, illustrating the gendered ways in which women experience politics as citizens and politicians.

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How can one write the history of disability, and what are the consequences for the disabled themselves? This is the key question that Pieter Verstraete addresses in this pioneering book that tries to rethink the possible bonds between disability, history and politics. Since the 1990’s the concept of disability has gained in prominence. Perhaps more than in other branches of historical enquiry, disability historians have attributed a crucial place to the notion ‘identity’. Re-cently, however, the suitability of identity for the realization of libera-ting and emancipatory politics for people with disabilities has been questioned. This book aims to incorporate some of the critical approaches towards identity and to suggest a complementary connection between history and political reform.

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Rainer Eisfeld’s book highlights the merits of socio-historical research into topics infrequently covered by mainstream political science. Directing attention to the need for carefully scrutinizing the convenient “truths” of established - post-Nazi, post-Communist - political narratives, its chapters encourage reflection of the discipline’s history and state of the art. A companion volume to the 2012 book entitled Radical Approaches to Political Science: Roads Less Traveled (also published by Barbara Budrich), this collection is likewise based on an approach to political science informed by a theory of participatory pluralism and grounded in history. The chapters focus on the discipline’s fragmentation and its retreat from public debate; on the varying roles of political science and international relations as champions of more or less democracy; on normative and analytical concepts developed by Hannah Arendt, Klaus von Beyme, and Robert A. Dahl; on the deconstruction of the “Peenemünde Legend” about the unspoiled rule of science at the Third Reich’s missile development center; on reasons for the Peenemünde engineers’ actual complicity in the exploitation of concentration camp labor to mass-produce their V-2 missile. “Rainer Eisfeld’s leadership in the fields of pluralism and analysis of the discipline in the International Political Science Association means that he has quite a background to share with us in this, his most recent, collection of essays.” John Trent

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Das Buch untersucht die sozialen Folgen von Arbeitsmarktmarginaliserung für nahe soziale Beziehungen und gesellschaftliche Partizipation in Deutschland. Dabei zeigen Mehrebenenmodelle und Längsschnittanalysen, die individuelle, haushaltsbezogene und regionale sozio-ökonomische Faktoren analysieren, dass finanzielle Schwierigkeiten nur marginal soziale Exklusion erklären können. Vielmehr sind soziale Rollen, Normen und Identität ausschlaggebend für eine Arbeitsmarktmarginalisierung.

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This book investigates how educational expansion, the trend towards the service society and the German unification affect East and West German women’s life courses and family lives. It focuses on educational enrolment, educational attainment level, labour force participation, career resources, social origin, the educational match among partners as well as historical periods and examines their consequences on women’s entry into first motherhood as well as partnership formation and dissolution processes. Using longitudinal data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), multivariate methods such as event history analysis were applied. The findings suggest that women’s entry into motherhood during full-time education is highly dependent on women’s age, social origin and the policy measures in a country. Furthermore, women’s education has mainly an effect on the time structure of entry into first motherhood over the life course of differently qualified women but not on their final decision to enter into motherhood. This book also looks into women’s partnership formation and dissolution processes. East and West German women do only differ slightly with regard to these transitions. Based on a new theoretical model on educational assortative mating and divorce, this book is able to show that there are not only benefits from division of work but also benefits from communication within married couples. Women’s upward marriages are the most stable ones, with homogamous marriages ranking second, followed by married down marriages being the least stable ones.

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The book analyses the study of the growing field of ethnicity and politics from a number of different angles. These include the nature of the subject itself, different theoretical approaches, ways of addressing political issues the relationship gives rise to, the impact of major global challenges and a survey of output in the field. Comprehensive text book makes great course reading. Questions of identity, particularly ethnicity, play an increasingly important role in people’s lives. They are also of growing significance in both domestic and international politics. The increased attention to these issues has been matched by the mushrooming of scholarship in the field of ethnicity and politics. The chapters in this survey of recent analytical developments examine the contribution that this literature has made within the broad area of comparative politics within the discipline of political science. They are written by experts active in the international network of scholars that has been devoted to the study of this subject. The question of what we mean when we use ethnic terminology is rigorously interrogated. And the major theoretical approaches to the study of ethnicity and politics are critically examined. Ways of addressing ethnic diversity are debated under the wide headings of accommodation and integration. The issue of ethnicity in world politics is considered through an analysis of how watersheds of the last 25 years, including the end of the Cold War, 9/11 and the global economic downturn have impacted on the study of the subject. Also analysed is the output of publications in scholarly journals that has addressed this subject area. From the Contents: Ethnicity – What are we talking about? (Jean Touron) Ethnic and national mobilization (Eric Kaufmann/Daniele Conversi) The Politics of accomodation and integration in democratic States (Brendan O’Leary/John McGarry) Global Watersheds and the Study of ethno-politics (Adrian Guelke) Who is doing what, where and how in the study of ethnicity and politics (Britt Cartrite/Dan Miodownik)

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A comprehensive guide to competences Competence has become a key concept in political and scientific discussions. It is used as a headword in publications, at conferences and congresses: it dominates strategy papers and practical concepts; it is the standard bearer and point of crystallization for sometimes bitterly fought differences of opinion. The text explains the term “competence” and reflects the current international discussion. From the Contents: Development guidelines and approaches regarding education policy The competence concept and its difference from similar concepts Building blocks of competence Types of competences Genesis of competence Recording competence and measuring competence Fields of application Instruments for recording and harmonising competences and qualifications for comparison purposes

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There are two tendencies in present public discussions.Social problems have their causes in the individual, and are thus not a problem of socio-economic inequality. Consequently, we find an increasing policy in Europe of selfactivation and self-help as substitutes of social work. On the other hand, new types of social vulnerability and challenges for social work and social policy are detected which are discussed in the book in their European dimensions. Beginning in the last century in Europe, processes of social exclusion are discussed as common phenomena of the crisis in social welfare systems. They have their origins in the radical changes in paid employment, the weakening of family ties, and the increasing incapability of the welfare state to promote social inclusion. New types of ,social vulnerabilities’ are emerging - containing chances as well as risks. They are discussed in two ways. On the one hand the implementation of indicator-based management systems of social services is attempted, which implies a range of chances and risks in ethical and professional self-image. On the other hand there are self-help movements, social networks and other social types of resilience – which are often a complement or support to Social Work. Yet there is a policy to substitute Social Work by a strategy of self-activation. Both developments are signs of the present and indicators of the future of Social Work. They show the necessity of clarifying the social and political scopes and prospects of Social Work in societies at the crossroads of enhancing civility, human development and social security or overburden the vulnerable, who face new dimensions of psychological, ecological and economic distress. This book is an attempt to bring together several European discussions concerning Social Work and social politics.

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In European societies social differentiation, value pluralism and international integration have brought about a condition of previously unknown complexity. Citizens’ expectations regarding political participation and the legitimization of government policy are rising, yet the capacities for social integration and political consensus formation may be in decline. This volume investigates how political actors and institutions in established European democracies are seeing to manage the condition of complexity and how this condition reconfigures the foundations of democratic politics. From the Contents: Legitimacy Crises, Efficiency Gaps, Democratic Deficits Efficiency versus Democracy: Conceptual Reconciliation of a Troubled Relationship? Citizens’ Expectations: Is what matters only what works? Re-engaging Citizens: Institutional Responses to Political Disengagement Informal Government Delegated Authority: Legitimizing Independent Regulatory Agencies Delegation to the EU The Open Method of Co-ordination (OMC) and The European Employment Strategy Committee Governance in EU Agricultural Policy Efficiency versus Legitimacy: The Governance of Technology Does citizen involvement improve the quality, legitimacy and implementability of environmental policy? The Allocation of Health Care The Post-democratic Turn: Complexity and the Reconfiguration of Democratic Politics

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State Building Post-conflict related efforts by the international community towards state (re)building and reconstruction of society and economy have become a more or less regular feature of international affairs since the early 1990s. It seems that the demand for such international efforts is rather rising than diminishing. All have in common that the establishment of sound state structures and liveable economies in a given state are considered by a sizeable and powerful group of states as something that is furthering international peace and stability. The purpose of this book is to address the strategic and policy dimensions of these international state building and reconstruction efforts. The chapters take up issues relating to the economic, security-related and institutional aspects. The authors strike a balance and attempt to formulate recommendations.

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The book investigates transnational migration and mobility of women from and within Central-Eastern European countries. It looks at women’s practices and experiences mostly in the service sector where they are in demand as substitutes in stereotypically „women’s work“. The book combines different perspectives: sociological and anthropological studies, comparative policy analysis and historical and statistical evidence and provides new insights into current theoretical debates in migration and gender studies.

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The enlarged European Union needs new instruments for exporting stability and change into the fragile regions and countries beyond its borders. That is why the EU is developing and implementing the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP): a strategic concept which is to enhance the Union’s capability to be a driver of reform – without automatically promising the “golden carrot” of membership to the neighbours. This book provides the reader with information on what ENP wants, how it works and what the prospects of the Union’s cooperation with neighbouring countries are.

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This book contends that civil society must mobilize its capacities to bring a new will to national and international politics and oblige governments to act. It starts by demonstrating the need for institutional change at the UN and then shows how, both in the past and the present, leading individuals and nongovernmental organizations, using their knowledge base and their organizational networks, have lead the fight for international organizations. After a summary of major UN reform proposals over the years, the book concludes by identifying leading global “reformers” and elaborating a detailed plan for a global reform movement to spearhead the modernization of the UN system.

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In this book the author takes the concept of the New as a starting point to open the way to a broader reflection on ar t production within neoliberal capitalism. Piazza explores the notions of innovation and New respectively in the Social Sciences and in the Humanities, tracing the differences from the conceptual and temporal perspective in relation to the most recent debates on creativity and postmodernism. The book investigates the field of theatre and dance, focusing on the essential aspects that link the New with the contemporary condition and its discourse. Combining theory and practice, this book calls for an art production able to slip out of the framework of innovation and builds the ground to rethink the New and its political value in the arts.

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