Search results for ""Verlag Barbara Budrich""

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 It provides hitherto unpublished material, and implicitly defends three strong positions.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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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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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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The stories in this anthology emerged from interviews with women and young people about their experience of intervention when they were escaping a situation of abuse, neglect and/or sexual exploitation. They come from the research project “Cultural Encounters in Intervention Against Violence (CEINAV)” in four countries – England & Wales, Germany, Portugal and Slovenia. Through support services the women and young people were contacted; they came from a minority or migration background and had travelled through a history of violence and intervention, and were asked to tell who intervened, what had been helpful and what had not.

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This short introduction to the United Nations analyzes the organization as itis today, and how it can be transformed to respond to its critics. Combiningessential information about its history and workings with practical proposalsof how it can be strengthened, Trent and Schnurr examine what needs to bedone, and also how we can actually move toward the required reforms. Thisbook is written for a new generation of change-makers — a generation seekingbetter institutions that reflect the realities of the 21st century and that can actcollectively in the interest of all.

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Should Turkey become a part of the European Union? This heated debate has been going on for many years now, always under the assumption that it is the membership candidate alone who needs to adjust to the EU’s influence. The book’s main argument is precisely that the Turkish accession needs to be analyzed not only by looking at the EU’s impact on Turkish transformation but also from an angle that captures the Turkish role in recasting Europe.

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This last title in the series covers the most important findings of the five yearsEU sponsored ANTICORRP project dealing with corruption and organized crime.How prone to corruption are EU funds? Has EU managed to improve governancein the countries that it assists? Using the new index of public integrity and avariety of other tools created in the project this issue looks at how EU funds andnorms affected old member states (like Spain), new member states (Slovakia,Romania), accession countries (Turkey) and the countries recipient of developmentfunds (Egypt, Tanzania, Tunisia). The data covers over a decade of structuraland development funds, and the findings show the challenges to changing governanceacross borders, the different paths that each country has experiencedand suggest avenues of reforming development aid for improving governance.

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This edited collection critiques from an interdisciplinary perspective the growing body of EU children's rights activities in the light of broader global political, economic, and legal processes. Specifically, it interrogates whether EU intervention effectively responds to what are perceived as global violations of children's rights and the extent to which EU efforts to uphold children's rights complement and reinforce parallel national and international pursuits. Moreover, it scrutinises the compatibility of EU children's rights measures with the principles and provisions enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

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From Turkey to Egypt, Bulgaria to Ukraine, and Brazil to India, we witness the rise of an angry urban middle class protesting against what they see as fundamental corruption of their political regimes, perceived as predatory and inefficient. Corruption is near the top of all global protesters’ list of grievances – from the Occupy movement to the Arab Spring. Their countries have benefited to varying degrees from globalization, but their regimes have all failed to evolve politically to meet their expectations. Corruption has become the main explanation for failures in government performance, for networks of patrons and clients subverting fair competition, and for billions of Euro in disappearing public funds, national or foreign assistance income. The economic crisis exposed the hypocrisy of rich countrieswhich control corruption at home but use it to advance their economic interests abroad. The rise in the last two decades of an international anti-corruption regime only raised awareness but failed so far to diminish corruption. There is increasing demand for good governance resulting in quality education and health systems, and denunciation of sheer bread and circus populism. Briefly put, governments unable to control corruption cannot get away with organizing football World Cups anymore. Volume 2 of the Anticorruption Report tackles these issues across key cases and developments.

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This volume gives an account of the fundamental developments transforming social work in Europe at the beginning of the 21st century. A European standard of social work has already emerged, but models for future European social work are absent. Therefore, the compendium gives an overview of the current transformation process for the first time, discussing the visible and invisible changes and mapping out where social work is positioned in the emerging post-welfare states. Contents include: A General Introduction: Transforming Perspectives. Social Work in Europe and European Social Work * Analytical Perspectives: Social Work in Europe and European Social Work in Post-Welfarist Contexts * Professional Perspectives: Main Approaches of Social Work in Europe and European Social Work * Positions: New Theoretical and Methodological Discourses of Social Work in Europe and European Social Work * Future Perspectives of Social Work in Europe and European Social Work * Social Work's Contribution to a Social Europe. [Subject: Social Work, European Studies]

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How well is the field of political studies doing and where is it headed? These questions are answered by this broad world overview of political science, its advances and shortcomings, along with prescriptions for the future in the first decades of the 21th century. The volume includes three world regional assessments of the discipline by senior scholars along with an in-depth survey of various sub-disciplinary fields and a concluding critical essay on the future of political studies. Great as a text book, i.e., an introductory global overview.

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Transnational civil society networks have become increasingly important democratizing actors in global politics. Still, the exploration of democracy in such networks remains conceptually and methodologically challenging. Practice theory provides a framework to study democracy as routinized performances even in contexts of fluid boundaries, temporal relations and a diffuse constituency. The author attempts to understand how new forms of democratic practice emerge in the interaction between political actors and their structural environments.

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