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Over the last decades, scholars have increasingly called for the 'deterritorialization' of the notion of citizenship. The realities concerning citizenship have changed with new expressions of transnationalism. However, whereas the main body of research has focused on the transnational aspects of citizenship among migrants in the form of their transnational political practices and dual nationalities, their descendants have received far less attention. This paper examines the political practices of Kurdish migrants' descendants in France and Germany and their narratives of identity and citizenship. We employ migrant descendants' political activism as an empirical entry point to gain insight into the meanings they attach to citizenship. The paper draws from two qualitative datasets collected in France (2015–2017) and Germany (2015–2023) with individuals of Kurdish background, who were born to migrant families arriving from Turkey in the 1980s and 1990s. The findings show that national contexts – both in grandparents'/parents' country of departure and the country of arrival – and the transnational, diasporic and even supranational space (EU) shape migrant descendants' political activism, identity construction and consequently resonate in the meanings they attach to citizenship. This study highlights the need to approach migrants' descendants as transnational citizens in their own right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intensifying regional competition in the past decades has a serious impact on the work of decision makers, as well as on science. The presence of the concept of regional competitiveness in the documents of the European Union dates back to a considerable period. One needs only think of the development of the union's regional (cohesion) policy. On the other hand, the revaluation of the topic is shown by the number of related scientific papers, including, of course, the investigation of the causes leading to the process. In my paper, I examine the factors defining and influencing regional competitiveness. The regional framework of the analysis is provided by two major economies of the European Union, Germany and France, and their NUTS2 regions. In the analytical part, using the method of PLS-Path Analysis (PLS, partial least squares), a model explaining competitiveness is developed, which includes the latent variables representing the elements of the examined concept. Analysing the effect mechanisms between these latent variables help explore which capital factors can be considered important or less significant in terms of competitiveness in the studied regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the onset of the Greek sovereign debt crisis in early 2010, the French government asked French banks to retain plummeting Greek bonds on their balance sheets. And the French banks did exactly that. At around the same time, the German government also asked German banks to retain plummeting Greek bonds on their balance sheets. Yet German banks sold the bonds abundantly. Both governments depended on profit-oriented banks to fulfil a mission of public interest, but neither had formal levers to ensure that banks would do as they were told. Why did the French banks comply with their government's request while their German counterparts did not? Taking advantage of an opportunistic design and building on data gathered in newspapers and through 20 in-depth interviews, this paper argues that banks' decisions are the result of long-term institutionalized state-bank modes of coordination in France and Germany. In France, bankers understood the government's request as being embedded within a long-term relationship of reciprocal favours, which led them to comply. In Germany, state officials resorted to straightforward pressures such as naming and shaming banks. But as soon as the pressure died down, the banks sold out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Type 2 diabetes represents an increasingly critical challenge for health policy worldwide. It absorbs massive resources from both patients and national economies to sustain direct costs of the treatment of type 2 diabetes and its complications and indirect costs related to work loss and wages. More recently, there are innovations based on remote control and personalised programs that promise a more cost-effective diabetes management while reducing diabetes-related complications. In such a context, this work attempts to update cost analysis reviews on type 2 diabetes, focusing on France and Germany, in order to explore most significant cost drivers and cost-saving opportunities through innovations in diabetes care. Although both countries approach care delivery differently, France and Germany represent the primary European markets for diabetes technologies.Methods: A systematic review of the literature listed in MEDLINE, Embase and EconLit has been carried out. It covered interventional, observational and modelling studies on expenditures for type 2 diabetes management in France or Germany published since 2012. Included articles were analysed for annual direct, associated and indirect costs of type 2 diabetes patients. An appraisal of study quality was performed. Results were summarised narratively.Results: From 1260 records, the final sample was composed of 24 papers selected according to predefined inclusion/exclusion criteria. Both France and Germany revealed a predominant focus on direct costs. Comparability was limited due to different study populations and cost categories used. Indirect costs were only available in Germany. According to prior literature, reported cost drivers are hospitalisation, prescriptions, higher HbA1c and BMI, treatment with insulin and complications, all indicators of disease severity. The diversity of available data and included costs limits the results and may explain the differences found.Conclusions: Complication prevention and glycaemic control are widely recognized as the most effective ways to control diabetes treatment costs. The value propositions of self-based supports, such as hybrid closed-loop metabolic systems, already implemented in type 1 diabetes management, are the key points for further debates and policymaking, which should involve the perspectives of caregivers, patients and payers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose In France and Germany, intergenerational housing is put forward as an option by public authorities. This kind of housing scheme seems like a good solution for seniors and young people, from both an economic and a social point of view. But beyond this common philosophy, there are differences in the way intergenerational housing is being implemented in the two countries. France mainly favours the student-senior home-sharing model whereas the intergenerational collaborative housing (co-housing) model based on solidarity between seniors and families is gaining ground in Germany. The purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons for these differences and present results from field surveys conducted in both countries.Design/methodology/approach The qualitative methodology of the field surveys consisted essentially of semi-structured interviews with the young people and seniors living in these types of housing, in order to understand how they experienced intergenerational solidarity.Findings The authors’ surveys revealed that certain conditions are essential for this intergenerational solidarity to be fully effective, notably voluntary participation and commitment to the project, and possibly external support to ensure that it is designed and implemented in the best possible way.Originality/value This paper provides useful recommendations for decision makers who wish to support this type of housing concept based on intergenerational solidarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The neighbouring countries France and Germany show very different levels of fertility. Differences also exist between the two regions of East and West Germany. The aim of this paper is to help close a remaining gap in explaining these differences by applying a cultural concept of role models. Data is based on the German survey "Family-related role models" (2012) and the French survey "Situation de couple, intentions de fécondité et opinions sur la famille", ELIPSS (2013) offering a new approach to measuring the impact of social norms. The analysis uses multinomial logistic regression. We identified role models regarding the acceptance of childlessness on the one hand and large families on the other, as well as regarding the link between marriage and parenthood and the importance of financial security, suggesting different fertility-related cultures in France and Germany. There is a strong predominance of one general role model in France -- that of having at least two children. In Germany, in contrast, there is a dominant role model -- the two child family -- but there are also several less central role models. The dominant model in France even leads to a sort of self-stigmatisation of individuals who want to stay childless, whereas childlessness is generally accepted in Germany. Role model differences between East and West Germany show a lower acceptance of large families and a higher acceptance of single-child families in the East. Our results highlight the importance of role models for fertility intentions as well as the relevance of cultural dimensions when studying the impact of the institutional framework on fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with political as well as economic collaboration. It conceptualises collaboration as a form of cooperation with the occupying power that is - at least to a certain extent - voluntary and goes beyond the search for a pure modus vivendi. The aim of the paper is twofold. First, it presents a synopsis of the framework and central political aspects of collaboration in France. In doing so, it points out the classic distinction between state collaboration and collaborationism, stressing, however, that this distinction is not clear-cut. Both state collaboration and collaborationism interacted with and influenced each other, as is shown by the armed collaboration. Second, the paper problematises one particular dimension of collaboration, which the historiography has rather neglected even though it was the most prevalent and crucial of factors for the occupying power: economic collaboration and especially business collaboration. Focusing on the example of the construction industry, it maps out different patterns of behaviour of companies within the framework of the German policy of economic exploitation and Vichy's economic state collaboration. Even though proper 'economic collaborationism' was as rare as proper resistance, the great majority of enterprises accommodated themselves to the new circumstances. This accommodation could, however, take very different forms. Choices were based on multiple, partially overlapping, partially contradictory logics, and both collaboration and resistance proved to be multidimensional phenomena. It is argued that collaboration is and remains a fruitful concept for the study of occupations, including economic issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electricity supply in the European member states has been a closed national public sector service without competition for a long time. Currently, the European electricity industry is subject to radical change resulting from the European directive establishing common rules for the internal market in electricity, which came into force in 1997. This paper attempts to explain the varying forms of implementation of the internal electricity market in France and Germany. First, it clarifies the special characteristics of electricity supply and European electricity policy. Secondly, the paper shows the divergent sectoral arrangements of the French and German electricity industries. Thirdly it points out that the different degrees of linkage between the public players and the electricity companies in France and Germany produce different political strategies which are followed by the companies at the European level, especially those strategies which seek direct influence on the European Commission. Finally, the paper reveals the significance of these strategies in Brussels in terms of the implementation of the single electricity market in both member states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of photovoltaic (PV) generators in the envelope of a building by means of building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) offers an immense potential, both in market development and the production of renewable electric energy that is close to the point of electricity consumption. In Germany, for example, by integrating photovoltaics in buildings up to 50% of the electricity demand can be covered. The political support of BIPV would contribute to the development and installation of BIPV components and therefore also promote the development of new business areas for industries dealing with components used in building envelopes and photovoltaic generators. BIPV can be separated into three different integration types: "technical", "formal" and "technical & formal". Political instruments for the support of PV-installations, particularly BIPV are discussed in this paper using Germany and France as examples. Due to successful financial support policies, PV became the most powerful electricity production technology in Germany. In France, the unique financial support of BIPV is resulting in an exemplary development and growth of certified BIPV components available on the market and, from a technical, aesthetic architectural and legal certainty point of view, facilitating the easy and widespread integration of photovoltaic generators in buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germany's apprenticeship system is and has always been considered to be the major sub-system of VET. In this context, the debate circling around the European and German Qualifications Framework (EQF and DQR) has become one of the central issues of VET research and policy. Tasks take on a concrete shape if (a) a serious approach is adopted towards the ideas underlying the European Qualifications Framework; and (b) if consideration is given to the 'construction sites' typical for the German VET system as a whole. This paper intends to sharpen VET policy awareness for the problem of dealing with those unresolved German VET issues within the context of the development of the DQR. A comparative view includes Austria and France as two countries with diverging learning cultures in VET from the German case, but obviously with more 'European' imprints within their respective VET systems. It can be shown that there is an interrelation between the attention apprenticeships as such receive against the background of European ideas such as 'progression', 'permeability' and 'lifelong learning' (LLL), including the implementation and use of 'hybrid qualifications'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The so-called 'hard Euroscepticism' is usually perceived, in the scientific literature as well as in the journalistic and political one, as a national phenomenon: Not only are the movements opposed to the EU labelled as 'nationalistic' or 'anti-European', but they are also explained mainly by national factors - usually combined with more strategic elements. This paper challenges both of these assumptions by confronting them to an analysis of the left-wing critiques made against the Constitutional Treaty in France and Germany. It first highlights that the left-wing critiques made against the current EU mostly contain social and democratic arguments and that their identity dimension mixes national and European elements. Besides, after examining the advantages and limits of the dominant explanations given to the radical oppositions to the EU, we will propose a theoretical framework combining at the same time strategic and ideological elements - very much related to the 'agency' dimension - and a broader structural approach - insisting on the constraints encompassing social and political actions. This double endeavour - a new comprehensive analysis of the ideological content of left-wing opposition to the EU and an original explanatory approach to it - should in the end force us both to question the common terminology of 'Euroscepticism' and to grant more importance to the European dimension in the study of the radical oppositions to the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many inhabitants of the Habsburg Empire, the Revolution of 1848 represented a common formative experience, signifying their entrance into the public sphere, their initial participation in politics and civil society. While some revolutionaries were executed or given amnesty, many sought refuge in Zurich, London, Constantinople, and especially Paris. This paper examines this international (and largely 'cosmopolitan') network of 1848ers in exile, focusing in particular on Simon Deutsch (1822-77), a young Austrian Jew who became a radical journalist in Vienna during the Revolution, as well as an ardent proponent of the 'Greater German Solution' [Grossdeutsche Losung], before fleeing the firing squads at the end of 1848. During his thirty years in exile (Zurich, London, Paris, Constantinople, Madrid), this curious figure became involved in the Paris Commune, the International Workingmen's Association, and even helped found the New Ottomans (during his prolonged sojourn in Paris). His contacts with fellow 1848s from the Habsburg Empire and from other European countries (e.g. Karl Marx, Moses Hess) helped inform the perennial tension between liberal nationalism and international socialism that characterised Deutsch's life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the connections between collaboration and the prisoner of war question in the early Vichy period by tracing the evolution of the Franco-German agreement of 16 November 1940 and its repercussions on French POWs. Based on the Scapini Papers and French and German archival materials, the article argues that the agreement happened in the context of a voluntary policy of collaboration initiated by the Vichy authorities, who hoped that collaboration would trigger German concessions on the POW question, but did not push collaboration to ease the fate of the POWs. Hitler likely offered the agreement as a concession that would allow Vichy to demonstrate to the French public an apparent success of collaboration, detracting from some hostile German measures that occurred at the same time. Vichy took the bait because it hoped to win over the French POWs in Germany to Pétainist ideology and because it was eager to bolster its own legitimacy. But humanitarian considerations also played a role in the French consent to this agreement, which to some extent can be seen as preventive collaboration. Plausibly, the agreement and the framework it established, despite undeniable dangers, represented a lesser evil for the French POWs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European pension systems are in the process of change. A general development is the retrenchment of public schemes. In combination with the aim of individualizing pension entitlements, it is crucial that the pension situation of women, and of mothers in particular, be improved. Some European countries attempt to reduce the gender pension gaps with child care credits. This paper takes a closer look at the French and German systems. Can adjustments to the pension norm, in terms of different allowances for child care as introduced in both countries, balance gender pension gaps? Following the logic of the individual factors, the duration of insurance and the level of paid contributions, the main factors are analysed to evaluate the efficiency of care credits. Within the complexity of pension-related factors, adjustments to the originally male pension norms have very ambiguous effects, and they are insufficient to de-gender pension gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With more than 10 million Muslims living in Western Europe, states are struggling to accommodate the religious needs of Muslims in state-supported institutions. Such issues include whether to fund separate Islamic schools and how or whether to teach Islam in state-supported schools. Despite these common concerns, national governments vary widely in their response to the religious needs and practices of Muslim citizens and permanent residents. This paper looks at how Britain, France and Germany have resolved these issues. We explore how pre-existing Church-State practices and institutional arrangements structured the politics of state accommodation of Muslims' religious needs in each country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the relationships between the migratory policies of the EU countries with more experience of immigration and their national political cultures. It focuses on France, Germany and the United Kingdom. It then looks at Italy, a relatively new country of immigration, which, with 3,000,000 legal immigrants, has become the fourth country of immigration in Europe and the first in the Mediterranean basin. In its final part it highlights the incipient process of 'communitarisation' of the immigration policies of EU countries in the last decade. This process, which has already entailed a significant convergence of their migratory policies, is expected to continue after the recent enlargement of the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper draws on research into child welfare services in France, Germany and England which compares the subjective experience of mothers who have been in contact with family support and child protection agencies in the three countries. The mothers' stories suggest that successful help-achieving strategies differ according to the nature of the child welfare regime, and that behaviour which is effective in getting a good response in one country may work less well elsewhere. The stories of two mothers in each of the countries have been chosen to demonstrate how the structures of different social welfare regimes affect the efforts of welfare users to get the help they need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]