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Resumen basado en el de la publicación Monográfico con el título, Enseñanza superior en Europa : objetivos contemporáneos para instituciones históricas Se describe el desarrollo de las universidades en Letonia desde la década de 1950 hasta la actualidad. Lo más alto del sistema educativo experimentó cambios junto con las transformaciones políticas del país. Letonia paso a ser parte de la Unión Soviética en 1940 y recuperó su independencia en 1991, pasando a unirse a la UE en 2004. Desde 2012 Letonia es una participante incipiente del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior. Se describen las transformaciones de las universidades en Letonia desde la perspectiva de una teoría del aprendizaje cultural y la transferencia de conocimiento definida por Gita Steiner-Khamsi. Eso proporcionará la referencia a un modelo de educación externa, su modificación y metamorfosis en un entorno educativo local modelo. Letonia, como país pequeño y cultura relativamente nueva, se había encontrado en la situación de aprender de las experiencias culturales de países que tienen más experiencia con la democracia y tuvieron que superar las ideas de los sistemas educativos de otros países y adaptarlos a las necesidades locales. ESP

Changes in the political power and the population in the southern part of East Prussia, whichwent to Poland in 1945, led to the removal of traces of the German past in the region, and toits Polonisation immediately after the war. After discussing the de-Germanisation policy, typicalof the postwar period, the removal of symbols of ‘German power’, the elimination of the‘German spirit’, and trends in the adaptation of the new population to the cultural landscape,the author raises the question how relations between the population of the territory and theGerman heritage and past changed after 1989. The issue is considered in the context of thediscussion among intellectuals in Poland as to what the relationship with the German heritageshould be. The answer is based on the results of a sociological poll carried out by the Institutefor Western Affairs in 2001. Key words: East Prussia, Warmia and Masuria, cultural heritage, relations with the ‘German’heritage. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/ahuk.v30i0.1184

Since the outbreak of the financial and economic crisis in 2008, Eastern European countries have been affected severely by the crisis through intensified austerity measures, higher unemployment rates, and increasing dissatisfaction with democracy. Against this backdrop, the region has experienced several large-scale protest movements in recent years. The paper critically assesses the state of the art on political participation in Eastern Europe. Special attention is paid to the still underplayed effects of the global economic crisis. Subsequently, the question is raised whether the increased number of protests indicates a deeper societal crisis. Thereby, the authors conclude, Eastern Europe serves to a certain extend as a trendsetter for similar developments in other parts of Europe., Österreichische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, Bd. 45 Nr. 4 (2016): Protest and Crisis in Eastern Europe

Contemporary European societies are shaped by ongoing disputes about how to draw boundaries of membership and about the proper means of democratic inclusion. Who – which groups and individuals – should have a voice in the political system and access to resources? How can these actors achieve an equal standing in democratic societies? Sieglinde Rosenberger has contributed important points to these questions and continues to do so: With an emphasis on the Austrian political system in the context of European Integration, she combined research on gender, migration, religion and political participation into a common framework of “Politics of Inclusion and Exclusion”. On the occasion of her 60th birthday, this special issue aims to review the Politics of Inclusion and Exclusion, providing both normative and empirical perspectives., Österreichische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, Bd. 46 Nr. 1 (2017): Challenges of democratic inclusion: Investigating the politics of difference

Previous research has examined the various ways individuals and organizations react to immigration. This article explores how immigrants and their integration are debated across citizenship regimes, with a focus on ‘voiceless’ groups without formal franchise and a precarious residence status: asylum seekers, refugees, and irregular immigrants. A yearly measure of citizenship regimes is used together with a large-scale claims analysis of newspapers from seven Western European countries between 1995 and 2009 to systematically describe the relative frequency of and frames in different claims by political actors. The debate on immigration and integration varies by citizenship regime, including the way immigrant groups are referred to. Having an ethnic citizenship regime is associated with more claims about voiceless immigrant groups. At the same time, the association between immigrant group size and the extent to which immigrant groups are politicized is moderated by the citizenship regime. Debates on immigrants and their integration vary across citizenship regimes., Österreichische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, Bd. 46 Nr. 1 (2017): Challenges of democratic inclusion: Investigating the politics of difference

"Dieser Artikel wendet eine leicht modifizierte Version der Copenhagen School an, um aufzuzeigen, wie die Vereinigung südostasiatischer Nationen (ASEAN) seit 2001 auf die vielfältigen politischen Hindernisse für eine engere regionale Anti-Terrorismus-Zusammenarbeit reagiert hat. ASEAN hat, erstens, eine Sekuritisierung des Terrorismus als transnationales Verbrechen und, zweitens, eine Depolitisierung und 'ASEANisierung' (die Kontextualisierung einer sicherheitspolitischen Bedrohung unter den Werten des ASEAN Way) ihrer Anti-Terrorismus-Politik vorgenommen. Sowohl Depolitisierung und 'ASEANisierung' sind bewusste politische Handlungen, die es den PolitikerInnen ermöglichen, die interne wie externe Zusammenarbeit auf eine unpolitische, technische Basis zu gründen. Im Widerspruch zu einer These der Copenhagen School wird hier argumentiert, dass ein solcher Ansatz in Südostasien, wo Souveränität und Nicht-Einmischung immer noch zentrale Prinzipien sind, realpolitisch bessere Chancen eröffnen kann, um ein sicherheitspolitisches Problem zu bewältigen als eine 'klassische' Sekuritisierung. Zusätzlich zeigt der Artikel, dass ASEANs Anti-Terrorismus-Ansatz das fragmentierte Verständnis der Organisation in Bezug auf menschliche Sicherheit widerspiegelt. Dieses basiert stärker auf nationaler und Regime- als auch auf individueller Sicherheit. Da Anti-Terrorismus-Politik in der Region jedoch keine Priorität genießt, ist diese Politik bloß eine schwache Triebfeder für die Implementierung von ASEANs Verständnis von menschlicher Sicherheit." (Autorenreferat), "This article applies a modified version of the theoretical approach of the Copenhagen School to demonstrate that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has since 2001 reacted in a twofold way to the complex political obstacles to closer counter-terrorism co-operation: First, it has responded with securitizing terrorism as a transnational crime and, second, with a depoliticization and 'ASEANisation' of its counter-terrorism policies. Depoliticization and 'ASEANisation', i.e. the framing of a security threat under the ASEAN Way values, are both deliberate political actions. They enable politicians to base co-operation among the ASEAN members and with outside powers on a non-political, technical basis. Contradicting an assumption of the Copenhagen School, this study argues that in South-East Asia where sovereignty and non-interference are still core principles this approach can offer better political opportunities to resolve a security threat than a 'classic' securitization. Furthermore, this article demonstrates that ASEAN's anti-terrorism policies reflect its fragmented version of human security, which is based on national and regime rather than individual security. As counter-terrorism does not enjoy political priority in the region, these policies can only be a weak trigger for the implementation of ASEAN's notion of human security " (author's abstract)

The paper is an outline of the author’s research project to be undertaken in 2006. It is focused on the process of transition from authoritarian to democratic order in Serbia after 2000. Starting from the findings of previous studies of transition, in Serbia and in other post socialist countries, the research will adopt a socio-anthropological approach and deal with the following topics: the model of transition being applied in Serbia preconditions for democratic transformation; a balance sheet of positive achievements accomplished and, on the other hand, "lost chances"; socio economic, political and cultural obstacles to articulating a coherent strategy of democratic development; psychological and anthropological aspects of current processes; alternative paths of democratic development feasible within given conditions. A central question the research will aim at resolving is why the current situation in Serbia is often described as suffering from a "democratic deficit".

In the last decade and a half the process of desecularization has been undoubtedly verified in Serbia. Not only that the changes have been verified in the religious complex in general, but in traditional religious groups in particular as well. The revival of religiousness and people?s attachment to religion and church have been clearly proved in all aspects of religious life: in the areas of religious identification, doctrinaire religious beliefs and ritual religious practices. It should also be noted that in times of extremely turbulent political and social changes in the Balkans, all traditional religious complexes, orthodox, catholic and Muslim, began forming close ties with political and state, public and binding domains, which was absolutely unthinkable of a decade and a half ago. Which leads us to the crucial question: can religion make a contribution to the process of integration coming form the surrounding countries as the imperative of foreign powers on one hand, and as the striving of the majority of population in all the post socialist countries in the Balkans on the other hand, or will it only cause damage and interfere with the process of integration of those societies into the European commonwealth of nations? This article discusses different opinions that view the traditional complexes of religion, language and nation as disruptive factors of modernization of the Balkan countries, as well as completely opposite opinions based on the experiences of traditional Islamic societies in which religion is not a factor that hinders their rapid modernization.

Review, Aethiopica, Vol 16 (2013)

Review, Aethiopica, Vol 5 (2002)

In der Ungleichheitsforschung spricht man von einer „großen Kehrtwende“ der E inkommensverteilung, die seit den Siebzigerjahren stattgefunden hat. Zuerst in den angelsächsischen Ländern, dann auch in Westeuropa hat die Einkommensungleichheit zugenommen. In diesem Aufsatz wird vor diesem Hintergrund untersucht, wie sich soziale Ungleichheit auf politische Partizipation und politische Einstellungen auswirkt. In einem ersten Analyseschritt wird die wachsende Einkommensungleichheit in den OECD-Staaten dokumentiert. Anschließend wird mithilfe von Daten aus dem European Social Survey für 17 westeuropäische Demokratien gezeigt, dass der Aufstieg unkonventioneller Partizipationsformen das Ideal politischer Gleichheit gefährdet, weil diese stärker als konventionelle Partizipationsformen – insbesondere das Wählen – sozial verzerrt sind. Im dritten Schritt zeigt eine Mehrebenenanalyse, dass in ungleichen Ländern die Demokratiezufriedenheit und das Institutionenvertrauen niedriger als in Ländern mit geringerer Einkommensspreizung ausfallen.

The US strategy of external democratization has failed. Iraq is threatened by state failure, militarization and confrontation shape US-Arab relations. These and other global “Iraq Effects” should not cover the equally important but less recognized developments on the regional and local level of Middle Eastern politics. Thus, Iraq effects have primarily affected political processes beyond the “classical” nation-state level. The Iraq war has decisively contributed to the development of a new regional order of escalating intra-and inter-state violence, the rise of Iran as a regional power as well as a general polarization. Secondly, the Iraq war has affected the emergence and consolidation of new forms of cross-border, trans-local mobility of radical Islamist groups, Kurdish activists, but also of business people. Thirdly, the war has caused a massive refugee crisis in the Middle East which transforms local structures in Iraq’s neighboring states of Jordan and Syria. These complex dynamics constitute the “radiance” of the Iraq war for Middle Eastern politics after 2003.

Labour market issues give insight into the myriad ways in which people and politics respond to social and spatial tensions marking current transformations alongside globalisation. This paper explores the relations between the globalising Philippine labour market, spatially disparate development and the course of national economic policies. Philippine State policies almost exclusively promote global-oriented Service and industry sectors and their predominantly urban locations.The agricultural sector, and thus most of the rural regions and inhabitants, is neglected by these policies. Many rural regions find themselves being pushed into the economic periphery. Their inhabitants appear caught in a spiral of increasing poverty, leading to heightened exodus as persons seek employment and better perspectives in urban centres. Persistent inequality of power relations, landownership, socio-political conflicts and slow decentral isation further exacerbate the Situation in the peripheries. At the same time, the urban centres struggle to absorb the migrants in the face of economic volatility through globalisation. Unemployment is high and the informal sector large. A strategy of the State government has been to export workforce surplus to global labour markets. In the long run, however, the Philippines, and particularly its peripheries, could loose their most productive human capital, and consequently, their basis for any endogenously driven development. Thus, it appears necessary for the government to provide their Citizens with a sustainable, socially and spatially more balanced inner labour market if it wishes to herald in a developmental turnabout.