Search results for ""verlag barbara budrich""

How do NGOs influence the promotion of gender equality in education in Bangladesh? What do they achieve and which challenges are they confronted with in local contexts? The author provides insights regarding three non-formal primary education programmes.

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Die COVID-19-Pandemie hat weltweit dramatische Auswirkungen auf sämtliche Aspekte des Berufs- und Alltagslebens, auch auf den Bereich der frühkindlichen Bildung und Betreuung. Dieser Band beleuchtet das Thema Führung in Kitas: Wie erleben Leitungskräfte die Herausforderungen, mit denen sie konfrontiert sind, und welche Bewältigungsstrategien wenden sie an, um mit den Veränderungen im Alltag und in der Praxis in der Kita umzugehen? Autor*innen aus zwölf Ländern präsentieren empirische Befunde, die Informationen über verschiedene Mechanismen der Krisenbewältigung von Kinderbetreuungssystemen auf der ganzen Welt liefern.

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Education for sustainable development should enable people to think and act in a way that is fit for the future – in the face of challenges such as climate change, environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, poverty and inequality. How can different disciplines address this task? In this volume, academic interdisciplinary contributions from philosophy, social sciences and education are complemented by transdisciplinary contributions from practical fields (e.g. museum education, journalism). The current contributions provide impulses for reflection and open up spaces for thinking in order to do justice to the complexity of the task of socio-ecological transformation.

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Refugees face transitions in their lives: on an individual, a social and a cultural level. This book covers various aspects of these transitions and their intersections with educational experiences. Studies from different country contexts show the complex relationships between individual, culture, society and institutions. Examining these relationships and experiences during transitional processes aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the different types of transitions in the context of refugee education, which may lead to an improvement of support structures in the future. The aim of this book is to present various aspects of transitions that refugees are facing in their lives and the intersections among these transitions and refugee education. Chapters from different country contexts reveal how refugees engage in several transitional processes due to movement between different countries, their settlement in a new country, as well as the transitions that are inherent to their life-course. Examining the various aspects of such relationships and experiences during transitional processes may help to understand the typologies of different transitions in the context of refugee education. Transitional processes that the chapters of the book tackle include educational transitions, transformative transitions, cultural transitions as well as social transitions from various refugee groups’ perceptions including parents, students, teachers and unaccompanied minors. Several chapters discuss how experience of transition is influenced by rules, regulations, and responses of micro and macro environments, such as local community, institutions, governments at the national and international levels while some other specifically indicate the aspects of transitions taking place in schools.

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Kurdish memories of the Armenian Genocide challenge the systematic denialism established by the Turkish state structures and foster new possibilities of coming to terms with the past. This book examines Kurdish biographies, especially from Van, Turkey, and explores the dynamics of intertwined remembrance regimes concerning the political violence on Armenians and Syriac Christians of Ottoman imperial subjects and on Kurdish citizens of Turkey. These life stories shed light on the complexity of remembering, including collective and individual memory notions on violence, perpetratorship and victimhood from past and present. The author focuses on the Kurdish collective and individual memories through reconstructing biographical narrative interviews and ethnographic data. Based on such empirical inquiry, Yetkin argues that the genocide memory helps the Kurdish society articulate, describe, and discuss its own experiences with the state and political violence. Thus, denialism as a systematic notion by the Turkish state apparatus appears to be read accurately when the ongoing state violence on Kurds is problematised parallelly. Alternative younger voices questioning the forefathers’ involvement in the persecution have repeatedly confronted Kurdish positions in politics and civil society fostering critical discussions on the past – underscoring reconciliation with Armenians yet employing anachronistic patterns of storytelling. They have opened up new trajectories based on their experiences. Hence, the author understands the situation as a multi-faceted and multi-layered memory complexity that contains interwoven narratives starting the Kurdish social time with the genocidal violence on Armenians and Syriac Christians of the region and pointing out continuous oppression. In short, a sphere of contested and multidirectional memories challenging foundations of denialism and settled stories emerges within this context and makes the Kurdish experiences discussable.

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Migrants’ minority and majority identity are controversial political topics, offering insights into challenges of integration and social cohesion. Based on a two-dimensional model of ethnic identity, the book asks about the role of social status for migrants’ identification with their origin group and the majority population. It focuses on intergenerational differences, migrant visibility, status mismatch, and exposure in the receiving country. Results reveal forms of ethnic identity beyond the classical assumption of mutual exclusiveness, which suggests minority identity among status-lower, and majority identity among status-higher migrants.

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The confluence of entrepreneurship, gender, sustainability and especially the social dimension is intricate and underestimated. This book analyses social entrepreneurship through a gender lens by portraying German female social entrepreneurs and their political, social and economic contexts. Within a descriptive qualitative research design, a secondary analysis of different dimensions of the social entrepreneurship system and twenty-five in-depth interviews with social entrepreneurs and experts were conducted. The author shows that this sector entails potential to re-do gender and reframe the economy, challenging norms and borders towards systemic change.

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Who decides to initiate change processes in organizations? Who sets the goals? What does it mean for employees to participate in change processes? The book examines organizational change processes based on collaboration between employers, employees and action researchers in Europe and the U.S. in the later part of the 20th century. The authors offer important insights into participation and change in organizations for researchers and practitioners by identifying dilemmas and paradoxes, conflicting interests and exercising of power.

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What contribution can a humanistic pedagogy make in the context of a migration society? The author uses three examples to illustrate the deficit-oriented pressure to assimilate that foreigners are often subjected to: the Chicago School of immigration studies, the "2008 Integration Plan" of the Austrian federal state of Salzburg, and Hartmut Esser's phases of integration. The illustrative critique of these models is primarily based on Edward W. Said's theory of "othering", Zygmunt Bauman's diagnoses of modernity, and the socially critical reflections of Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno. In this way, the author develops components for a humanistic education within a migration society, presenting it as a universalistic alternative to the prevailing particularistic approaches in contemporary educational theory.

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Die Studie widmet sich intersektionalen Verletztbarkeiten, sozio-geografischen und rassistischen Ungerechtigkeiten sowie dem Traumapotenzial von Reproduktionsmedizin, Menschenhandel und Schwarzmarkt-Organhandel. Mittels eines empirischen, kritisch-diskursanalytischen, künstlerischen und philosophisch-theoretischen Zugangs entwickelt die interdisziplinäre Studie praktische kreative Werkzeuge für eine Pädagogik, die Würde und Integrität betont und die Menschenrechte im Alltag der betroffenen Bevölkerung unterstützt.

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In order to write and publish successfully, academic writers must be aware of their skills and their role as writers. They need to be able to answer fundamental questions about their writing, enabling them to make conscious and strategic decisions. Only in that way they will become writing professionals who successfully carry out their profession.

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In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis Germany became Europe’s most influential nation state. This book aims to provide a comparative assessment of how this is reflected in the country’s bilateral security relationships with key global and regional partners. Prepared by an international team of scholars, it will offer unique, in-depth perspectives on the ways these evolving interactions affect the prospects for addressing recent and emerging security challenges. The fact of Germany’s (re-)emergence as Europe’s leading state is now undisputed, even if the implications are not. The post-2008 financial crisis, heightened conflict along Europe’s eastern and southern fringes since 2014, and the populist political wave across the West have all driven stronger German engagement in international affairs. While German policy seeks to exercise “leadership from the middle” via multilateral frameworks such as the United Nations, NATO, and the European Union, this entails major adjustments in interactions with other states. Indeed, the future of the security order built on these institutions now hinges on the quality of Germany’s key bilateral ties. With such stakes in mind, this volume offers a comparative assessment of the background, status, and prospects of a selection of the most significant cases. These investigations cover Germany's relationships with the US, Russia, UK, France and China as well as with Poland and the Balkans. The volume concludes that, though active German leadership is more necessary than ever, it remains insufficient for European or broader international security. Germany and its new partners must aim for a balanced model of cooperation that responds to both the internal and external challenges of the early twenty-first century.

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Comparison is an essential research method in political science. This book helps students to understand comparison as a scientific instrument, to grasp its necessity and its effective purpose for research. For that reason, it replies to three ‘simple’ questions: why compare, what to compare, and how to compare. The introduction distinguishes itself by considering not only the comparative tradition but also by taking methodological innovations of the last two decades into account.

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International migration is one of the most controversial political topics today which demands innovative approaches of global and regional governance. The book provides a fresh theoretical framework to understand European responses to the international migration of people and explains the dynamics of Germany’s migration and refugee policy during the last two decades. Against traditional theories and their inherent focus on the national political sphere, the book highlights supranational and multi-level political processes as increasingly important factors to account for national policy changes. Confronted with the most recent developments of international migration, the study offers students and practitioners the necessary background to participate in today’s debates.

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Debate among politicians and academics alike vacillates as to whether the euro is the crowning achievement of a half-century of European integration efforts, or now constitutes a force that threatens to drive European Union member states apart. This book introduces both the political and economic forces at play in the eurozone crisis that have shaped this debate and changed the face of European integration.

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Whether increasing life expectancy leads to better health remains still controversial. Three topics are explored: (1) vanguard groups which inform about possible levels of health if the general social and environmental conditions were to approach those of the vanguard group; (2) the social and behavioral determinants of health differentiated into proximal and distal factors; (3) vulnerable groups such as migrants and the health differences between migrant groups. Newly available population-based data as well as new study designs and advanced stati¬stical modelling form the basis for the empirical analyses.

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The book constitutes a sociological analysis of the origins of the Polish-German antagonism in the nineteenth and twentieth century and of the process of overcoming it. The author discusses the role played by the religious and political leaders as well as intellectuals of both nations and presents survey research data showing the marked improvement in mutual relations. After a long history of alternating relations, things between Poland and Germany were as bad as never before after World War II. The Nazi attack on Poland in 1939 and the atrocities committed during the occupation resulted in intense Polish hostility towards Germany. On the German side, the loss of territories created a feeling of harm and contributed to deepen anti-Polish stereotypes. The process of reconciliation emanated from initiatives taken by the Christian churches and courageous individuals on both sides, but the crucial step was taken by Chancellor Willy Brandt and the Polish communist leader Wladyslaw Gomulka, who in 1970 worked out a comprehensive agreement for normalizing relations between Poland and the Federal Republic. Following the collapse of communist regimes and unification of Germany mutual relations took the form of co-operation and partnership within the structures of democratic Europe. Today, both sides are about to overcome former stereotypes. While some differences of interests still remain, the overall picture of the current relations between Germany and Poland is one proof that even deepest wounds of the past do not prevent nations from overcoming antagonism and from building friendly relations.

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The authors engage a dialogue between European integration theories and gender studies. The contributions illustrate where and how gender scholarship has made creative use of integration theories and thus contributes to a vivid theoretical debate. The chapters are designed to make gender scholarship more visible to integration theory and, in this way stimulates the broader theoretical debates. Investigating the whole range of integration theory with a gender lens, the authors illustrate if and how gender scholarship has made or can make creative use of integration theories.

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The authors take a detailed look at the economic competence and financial literacy of young adults, especially of those who start an apprenticeship or who take up their studies at a university. Economic competence and financial literacy are of special interest within this group, because these young people are – mostly for the fi rst time in their lives – responsible for autonomously managing their own fi nancial affairs and deal with economic challenges.

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Scientific contributions authored by distinguished experts from the field of early education are published periodically within the framework of the series Scientific Studies on the Work of the “Haus der kleinen Forscher” Foundation. This publication series serves to foster informed dialogue between the Foundation, scientists, and practitioners with the aim of giving all early childhood education and care centres, after-school centres, and primary schools in Germany scientifically sound support in fulfilling their early education mandate. This fifth volume in the series focuses on goals of science education at the level of the children, the early childhood professionals, and the pedagogical staff at after-school centres and primary schools, and on process-related quality criteria for science teaching at pre-primary and primary level. In their expert reports, Yvonne Anders, Ilonca Hardy, Sabina Pauen, Beate Sodian, and Mirjam Steffensky specify pedagogical content dimensions of the goals of early science education at pre-primary and primary school age. In addition to theoretically underpinning these goals, the authors present instruments for their assessment. In his expert report, Jörg Ramseger formulates ten quality criteria for science teaching. Early childhood professionals and pedagogical staff at after-school centres and primary schools can draw on these process-related criteria when planning lessons and conducting self-evaluations of science learning opportunities at pre-primary and primary level. The concluding chapter of the volume describes the implementation of these expert recommendations in the substantive offerings of, and the accompanying research on, the “Haus der kleinen Forscher“ Foundation.

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Corruption has an impact. It is about time that anticorruption starts having an impact, too. This is the first annual policy report of the European Seventh Framework Research Project ANTICORRP, which has started in 2012 and will continue until 2018. Based on the work of 21 different research centers and universities gathering original data, ANTICORRP offers yearly updates on the latest from corruption research, analyzing both the consequences of corruption and the impact of policies attempting to curb it. This first report offers a methodology to evaluate corruption risk and quality of government at country, region and sector level by means of corruption indicators that are sensitive to change and policy intervention. The aim of the project is to offer testable, easy to handle policies which reduce corruption risk. Corruption distorts market competition, bolsters deficits on behalf of discretionary spending, hurts real investment in public health and education, reduces tax collection, detriments the absorption rate of EU funds, and generates vulnerable employment and brain drain. This study estimates that if EU member states would all manage to control corruption at the Danish level, tax collection in Europe would increase by 323 billion Euro per year – double of the EU budget for 2013.

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The international system is undergoing a fundamental change from unipolarity to multipolarity and is facing the growing importance of Asia in world politics. In order to build global governance for the 21st century, the multipolar state system must be complemented and linked with structures of multilateral cooperation.

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During the last 30 years, the governments of many Western countries have repeatedly called for an end to welfare. While the virtue of this goal and the means of achieving it continue to be debated in politics, much of contemporary social science research assumes that, in fact, the end of the welfare state has already occurred. The authors of this volume hope to contribute to a clearer understanding of how, where and to what extent welfare state settings really have changed since the 1980s. Their work examines questions of change and continuity while exploring various welfare practices in the Western world.

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The book describes goals and success criteria of early computer science education at pre-primary and primary school age. Two expert reports specify pedagogical content dimensions of computer science education and give recommendations for the further development of the “Haus der kleinen Forscher” Foundation’s offerings. The implementation of these professional recommendations in the programmes of the “Haus der kleinen Forscher” Foundation is also described. In their expert report, Nadine Bergner, Hilde Köster, Johannes Magenheim, Kathrin Müller, Ralf Romeike, Ulrik Schroeder and Carsten Schulte specify the pedagogical and content-related target dimensions of computer science education at early childhood education and care centres, after-school centres, and primary schools. In addition to a theoretical basis for various target dimensions, the authors discuss the success criteria for effective and efficient early computer science education in practise. They also give recommendations for the further development of the „Haus der kleinen Forscher“ Foundation’s offerings and scientific monitoring of the work of the Foundation in the field of computer science. In their expert recommendation, Nadine Bergner and Kathrin Müller describe a selection of informatics systems for children at early childhood education and care centres and primary schools and give suggestions for particularly suitable systems and their use in pre-primary and primary education on the basis of expert criteria. The English version is a partially revised edition of "Stiftung Haus der kleinen Forscher (Hrsg.) (2018). Frühe informatische Bildung – Ziele und Gelingensbedingungen für den Elementar- und Primarbereich. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zur Arbeit der Stiftung „Haus der kleinen Forscher“ (Band 9). Opladen, Berlin, Toronto: Verlag Barbara Budrich. The information has been updated to new developments and offerings of the “Haus der kleinen Forscher” Foundation.

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Quality teacher education improves the quality of teaching and learning processes. What role do the sociocultural backgrounds play here? The book highlights how actors' sociocultural backgrounds influence the quality of teacher training within a pedagogical reform project involving participants from Cameroon and Germany. The analysis and interpretation of qualitative data shows that actors' sociocultural backgrounds are important factors influencing international, intercultural dialogues on teacher education as well as teaching-learning interaction dynamics in classrooms. The book further discusses the influence of sociocultural contexts on learner-centered classrooms based on principles of diversity, interaction and reciprocal responsibility.

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Family enterprises make up the majority of all businesses across Western Europe. Nonetheless, they are seen as an endangered species. Succession is an especially critical moment for their survival. The succession process is shaped by the dynamics of generational relations in the family. Different institutional contexts between countries create diverse conditions for the negotiation between the generations. Doing Succession in Europe examines whether and how succession processes in European family businesses vary. Scholars of the family, capitalism, welfare state and law discuss comparative findings and ideas; business and legal experts highlight the concrete practices.

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In order to make justice work, participation and reconciliation is needed within and between societies, peoples, and nations. In this compilation, authors—senior academics as well as students-- from Bethlehem University, Israel, and the Catholic University of Applied Sciences, Cologne, Germany, contribute to this important field. Thus, to some extent, the book in itself is an example of the subjects it deals with.

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Learning by erring Is it possible to learn from your mistakes? While there is evidence to the positive, there is also evidence suggesting that whether mistakes may teach you anything depends on genetic disposition as well as supervisors handling those mistakes. Apparently, it is of utter importance to see how things cannot work, what things are not like, and what you do not know. Through this negative knowledge, learning through errors may be achieved. In this book, the authors look at errors and their potentials for the learning process, as well as the sort of environment that does make a positive difference concerning these concepts.

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Studying Abroad The guidebook to Social Sciences in Europe addresses students and researchers going abroad. It offers an insight into the origins, methods and current trends in four Social Science disciplines in six European countries (Spain, France, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Great Britain) combined with practical information on the university system as well as teaching and assessment methods. It also includes information on student life in the countries in question. A thorough preparation is the best asset to make the most of a study abroad experience. From a practical standpoint, this guidebook is a goldmine for students in Social Sciences (History, Political Science, Geography and Sociology) who are planning to move to one of the six countries investigated (Germany, Spain, France, Britain, Italy and the Czech Republic). Not only are they provided with an opportunity to learn about the history of each academic system, but they can also gain an understanding about the evolution of the specific discipline they are studying, and discover the content of classes, the ways students are assessed and papers graded, or the national approaches of social sciences. The guidebook is also a genuine contribution to the analysis of European university systems. It provides hitherto unpublished material, and implicitly defends three strong positions. First, it confirms that the European Higher Education Area is only in its infancy. Next, it shows how national differences extend beyond structural differences to include pedagogical conceptions, ways of teaching and curricular management. Finally, it challenges the universal character of disciplines and emphasizes their national specificities, despite the constant stream of transnational circulations and transfers. From the Contents: An invitation to go abroad From Bologna (1217) to Bologna (1999): A brief history of European universities Building a European Higher Education Area Studying Abroad: Intercultural challenges Czech Republic France Germany Great Britain Italy Spain

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Youth an Politics How do young people in Europe perceive politics? How do they engage in the political realm? Which groups of young people are actively involved? And which learning environments and opportunity structures can foster parti - cipation? Furthermore methodological problems of comparative participation research are discussed and the measurement instrument that was developed in this European research project, and is certainly useful for similar studies is presented. From the Contents: Reingard Spannring, The meaning of and relationship with politics Wolfgang Gaiser, Johann de Rijke, Forms of political participation among young Europeans Sabine Westphal and Natalia Waechter, Learning for participation: family, peers, schools, voluntary organisations Ruth Picker, Gender: a female way of participation/ young women and politics Günther Ogris, The measurement instrument Johann de Rijke, Wolfgang Gaiser and Franziska Waechter, Stability of political behaviour Reingard Spannring, Günther Ogris, Wolfgang Gaiser, Conclusion

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This timely collection reviews the field of gender and politics and its relationship to the discipline of political science at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The authors recognize and document the Eurocentric focus that has characterized both fields and suggest viable alternatives for the future.

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The book is a critical examination and appraisal of the status, methodology and likely future trends of the emerging sub-discipline of “Governing Development” within the broader discipline of political science, leading to the application of “Good Governance” in the administration and development of the newly emerged nations during the later half of the twentieth century.

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The economic crisis in the wake of the COVID pandemic is putting Cuba's socialism to a severe test. The government in Havana has added a fundamental reform of the economy, institutional structure and social policies to the agenda. This volume brings together contributions from leading international experts as well as from the island itself, analysing the economic, political and social challenges Cuba is facing today.

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The Covid-19 crisis has intensified already existing social inequalities in different spheres. The authors examine how fundamental and sustainable the social changes over the course of the corona pandemic are at the social levels of labour, care work and state regulation in their gender dimensions. The contradictory organisation of labour and life under capitalist conditions and their gender relations is particularly visible in the service sector as well as in the sectors of health, care and childcare. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the social recognition of these previously devalued activities has risen to new heights. However, gestures of symbolic acknowledgements do not meet with comprehensive material recognition. So how (strongly) do processes of recognition and appropriation in system-relevant professions actually change in times of social crisis and what role do gender relations play?

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The course design process is an important empirical type of research. However, course designers often neglect to follow the academic guidelines in curriculum theory and development. This study on curriculum design in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) links theory with practice and provides a practical guide for teachers and language professionals in designing foreign language courses. This book will be beneficial for researchers working on educational sciences and foreign languages and also for those working as professionals (teachers, lecturers etc.) in the teaching of English as a foreign language.

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US-China tensions over global supremacy escalated over the last years, increasing the likelihood of a future conflict. However, an open conflict would have costly consequences for both sides due to the countries' deep economic interconnectedness. Against this backdrop, the book addresses the question how high the incentives for both sides are to avoid conflict and continue cooperation out of economic considerations.

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In view of the fast-changing world order, emerging countries are increasingly influencing the dynamics of regional securities. This timely and in-depth book examines India's reorienting strategic posture and describes how New Delhi's security policy in the Indo-Pacific region has evolved and expanded over the past two decades. The author argues that India's quest to leverage its geostrategic location to emerge as an Indo-Pacific actor faces multiple challenges, which create a clear divide between the country's political rhetoric and action on the ground. The author critically examines these contradictions to better situate India's security role in an increasingly fluid Indo-Pacific region.

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The central reference point of the volume is Heinz-Joachim Heydorn's essay "Survival Through Education - Outline of a prospect" (1974), which was translated into English and subsequently made available to a broad public for the first time. Despite the time gap of almost 50 years, Heydorn's text is fascinating, because the survival of humanity – at least a qualitatively substantial survival of humanity – seems extremely questionable today. Researchers with different theoretical perspectives question the text on its contemporary content and put their interpretations up for discussion.

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From childhood to adolescence, young people are enrolled in various public or private forms of educational arrangements outside regular school lessons. These activities can be summarized by the term extended education. The volume provides an overview of extended education in multiple nations around the world. Different models, policies, methods, and research findings are discussed from an international point of view. Children participate in school- or community-based programs, forms of private tutoring or after-school activities such as art courses or academic clubs, or they attend extracurricular activities at all-day schools or leisure time centres. In as far as these activities and programmes focus on the social, emotional and academic development of children and young people and are pedagogically structured to make it easier for the participants to learn specific contents they can be summarized by the term extended education. The volume aims at three main aspects: Firstly, it explores major characteristics of extended education as an emerging research field, defines what this research field is (and is not), and points to areas/nations/regions where we know very little about extended education. Secondly, the volume provides a potential framework for future cross-national research (collaborative and comparative research) on extended education we are lacking so far. And thirdly, the volume sheds light on the national and international features of extended education and suggests future developments in this field of education. The volume focuses on childhood and adolescence (through secondary education, including college students), though some lifelong implications are discussed as well. It encompasses 18 articles which cover extended education in 12 different countries around the globe.

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This book examines the educational systems into which students with refugee backgrounds are placed when relocated into their new homelands. It discusses the current climate of neo liberalism which pervades schooling in many western countries and the subsequent impact on curriculum focus and teaching strategies. The authors propose ways in which these students can be educated with policies and perspectives which respect diversity and uniqueness, using among others a primary school in regional Australia dedicated to holistic education as an example. Informed by postmodern perspectives on education and its purposes and drawing on the interdisciplinary wisdoms of critical scholars, this book presents a theoretical introduction to the educational landscape as found in many of the countries in which students with asylum seeker and refugee backgrounds are placed as the result of forced resettlement in new homelands. It discusses the impact of reductionist pedagogical and epistemological policies which are the foundations of neo liberalism. It challenges educators and policy makers to see beyond superficial differences and competition and to focus instead on the very significant impact of trauma and loss that these students have experienced as children and young people. The book dares educators at all levels of policy and practice to become truly human again and to consider the role of educational love and care that formed the cornerstones of educational endeavours for authentic pedagogues for decades. The book concludes with a research-based study of a school in a regional Australian town which not only educates with an ethic of pedagogical love and care, promoting a sense of belonging and emotional wellbeing for all students, 30% of which are of asylum seeker and refugee backgrounds, but celebrates high academic standards needed for student success, as well.

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The author deals with comparative aspects of contemporary authoritarianism. Authoritarian tendencies have appeared in several “old democracies” but their main successes take place in several states which departed from dictatorial regimes recently. The book contains case-studies of contemporary Hungarian, Kenyan, Polish, Russian and Turkish regimes. The third wave of democratization unlike the first and the second, has not been followed by the reverse wave. However, in several countries democratically elected leaders interpret democracy narrowly, as the rule of majority only. Other conditions for democratic government (such as the rule of law, protecting human rights) are ignored. Such system of government differs from the authoritarian model as defined by Juan J. Linz and can best be called “new authoritarianism”. The future of new authoritarianism remains uncertain.

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Korea and Germany are commonly described as emblematic examples of divided nations. But while Korea is still divided Germany has gone through a peaceful unification. The book offers a unique comparative study on the demographic change in these divided countries. It also investigates the developments after Germany‘s unification. Based on this demographic insights of a merged society it asks about their use and limits for a possible Korean scenario of reunification.

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This book depicts the sophisticated relationship between Russia and China as a pragmatic one, a political “marriage of convenience”. Yet at the same time the relationship is stable, and will remain so. After all, bilateral relations are usually based on pragmatic interests and the pursuit of these interests is the very essence of foreign policy. And, as often happens in life, the most long-lasting marriages are those based on convenience. The highly complex, complicated, ambiguous and yet, indeed, successful relationship between Russia and China throughout the past 25 years is difficult to grasp theoretically. Russian and Chinese elites are hard-core realists in their foreign policies, and the neorealist school in international relations seems to be the most adequate one to research Sino-Russian relations. Realistically, throughout this period China achieved a multidimensional advantage over Russia. Yet, simultaneously Russia-China relations do not follow the patterns of power politics. Beijing knows its limits and does not go into extremes. Rather, China successfully seeks to build a longterm, stable relationship based on Chinese terms, where both sides gain, albeit China gains a little more. Russia in this agenda does not necessary lose; just gains a little less out of this asymmetric deal. Thus, a new model of bilateral relations emerges, which may be called – by paraphrasing the slogan of Chinese diplomacy – as “asymmetric win-win” formula. This model is a kind of “back to the past“ – a contemporary equivalent of the first model of Russia-China relations: the modus vivendi from the 17th century, achieved after the Nerchinsk treaty.

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Which is the role of the European Union in dealing with crises that go beyond the nation states borders – terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, regional conflicts, state failure, organised crime, natural and man-made disasters? The authors assess the main challenge for the EU: the need to operate in a multidimensional setting where with a wide range of actors, such as member states, national and international NGOs, international organisations (NATO and the UN in primis), as well as a wide range of activities, rules and norms are generated for these diversified crises.

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The landscape of European migration has changed considerably over the past decades, in particular after the fall of the iron curtain and again after the EU enlargement to the east. The author researches the phenomenon of highly qualified migration using the example of migration between the Czech Republic and Germany. The book reveals diverse strategies migrants use to respond to the possible de-valuation of their qualification, e.g. by making use of their language skills, starting new studies or using transnational knowledge.

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The theory and concept of multi-level governance (MLG) is a fairly recent one, emerging from the deepening integration of the European Union in the early 1990s and the development of free trade agreements around the world. MLG enlarges the traditional approaches, namely those of neo-institutionalism and multinational federalism, by offering a better understanding of the role of the state, regions and provinces. The book analyses the changes that have taken place as well as those that might take place in the future.

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