Bücher veröffentlicht von European Interuniversity Press

This book enlarges the perspective of literary geography which tends to focus on the correspondence between the objective world the geographer addresses and its subjective rendering in art. Instead it considers how geography informs fresh aesthetic responses to space in contemporary Canadian literature, with specific attention to the writings of Alistair MacLeod, Jane Urquhart, Anne Michaels, Aritha van Herk, Rudy Wiebe, Robert Kroetsch and Thomas Wharton. This broadening leads to a series of interrogations: what blanks in conventional landscape writing does physical geography fill, and how? Where does the efficiency of geography lie beyond its scientific accuracy or descriptive relevance? Pondering the role of geography in a work of art therefore amounts to considering what makes geography work as art ¿ is there such a thing as a poetics of geography? Because the place of the writer and the representation of space remain two central concerns in Canadian writing, the texts under scrutiny help elucidate the critical role performed by the «geographical imagination,» a phrase used by theoreticians as diverse as Edward Said, Edward Soja or Derek Gregory, in the fabrication of symbolic ties between Canadians and the land they have come to share.

In most of the EU¿s fifteen Member States sectoral collective bargaining is an important process, if not the principal means of regulating relations between employers and employees. Yet the sectoral level of social dialogue has long been neglected at Community level, coming a poor second behind cross-industry social dialogue. The tide now seems to be turning, and a formally recognised social dialogue has been established in more than thirty sectors. The authors of this volume consider recent developments in these sectors, providing a quantitative and qualitative overview as well as some more detailed analysis of particular sectors. This volume is original in that it is based on a systematic collection of documents produced by the European sectoral and cross-industry social dialogue, along with a hundred or so interviews with the relevant players. Some of the main questions raised by the authors include: what is meant by sectoral social dialogue? How does it differ from crossindustry social dialogue? What type of negotiations take place? What are the aims and strategies of employers¿ organisations? Are the agreements implemented and, if not, why not? What difference has EU enlargement made in this area and what else might change? Is it possible to devise a typology of sectors? Without claiming to have definitive answers for all these questions, this volume offers some useful food for thought at a time when sectoral social dialogue is tentatively asserting its position Europewide.

Is there a specifically ¿European response¿ to international terrorism? Bringing together practitioners and academic experts this volume analyses the international context, threat perceptions and multi-dimensional nature of EU counter-terrorism measures. These cover legislative and operational measures, internal and international action and cut across all areas of EU responsibility and activity. A cooperative and coordinated system of national policies and anti-terrorism capabilities has been set up. However, the EU finds it easier to agree on objectives than on implementing them effectively. Of use and interest to students of European and international politics, to academics, journalists, civil servants and the general reader alike, the book critically evaluates the efforts of the European Union to protect European citizens against terrorism and to maintain a balance between the protection of its citizens and the protection of the rights and freedoms of the individual.

The book tackles a key issue for the European Union: Fiscal Federalism. It evaluates the applicability of this theoretical perspective for the EU. Conversely, it pinpoints ways in which the diversity of existing fiscal settings and organisations, both at national and European levels, can throw light on the theory. The study analyses two of the most important European policies: Cohesion Policy and the Stability and Growth Pact. It compares the episode of German Unification to the 2004 European Enlargement. It pioneers a cross-country analysis of the various national fiscal settings. Finally, it highlights the close links between the dynamics of decision-making related to the main budgetary choices and the integration process. The questions raised are crucial in the current context of economic and institutional uncertainty: How should we apprehend the Cohesion Policy, the main expression of European solidarity? How can the coordination of national fiscal policies be improved? How are European countries and their regions organised in fiscal and budgetary terms? What lessons can the EU draw from its own fiscal past and from that of its Member States? Over and above the originality of the answers provided by the authors, the book suggests that it would be difficult to take the integration process further without first clarifying what Europe can, should or wants to do.

In this collection, specialists examine, often through a comparative filter, themes related to migrant literatures, cultural diversity and aspects of Canadian state policy. The results of this examination offer an overview of Canadian society, which, as most contemporary societies, must address issues such as identity, human rights, Aboriginal peoples, international relations, multiculturalism, pollution, and language policies. At the same time, they present a view of the new trends, key interests and the cutting edge in Canadian Studies. Des spécialistes examinent dans ce recueil, souvent sous un angle comparatiste, le phénomène des littératures migrantes, de la diversité culturelle et de certaines des politiques d¿État du Canada. Les résultats de leur analyse offrent, à partir de certains éléments constitutifs, une vue d¿ensemble de la société canadienne. Ils démontrent comment cette dernière fait face aux questions de l¿identité, des droits de la personne, des populations autochtones, du multiculturalisme, des politiques linguistiques, des relations internationales et des questions environnementales. Les nouvelles approches choisies par les différents auteurs font de cet ouvrage un outil important pour les études canadiennes.

In the 19century, the metropolis became the soothsayer of societies. Here, probabilities of progress could be perceived, felt and smelt; here was the showcase of each nation¿s prime productions and representations. Travellers took to the metropolis in order to unravel the foreign society, in order to understand and learn about social characteristics and future developments, about cultural distinctions and commonalities, about banalities and extraordinary events. Travel writers mapped the development of Europe¿s metropolises and wrote for a large market using the form of a highly popular and established genre. In travel writing, popular sentiments, market-driven imaginations of the audience¿s interests, and on-the-spot analysis of cultural and political conditions are bound together in one account. This book surveys the history of cultural perception in Western Europe from the Great Exhibition of 1851 to the National Socialists¿ party rallies in the Berlin of the 1930s. Travel writings are used as source material to enter the intricate discourses on national stereotypes, the metropolis and on the usage as well as the perception of authenticity.ÿ

After successive waves of «enlargement», the European Union has been struggling with political integration. The project of the «constitutionalisation» of the EU was therefore launched to cater to a growing need of institutional reform, but it also intensified debates about the underlying conceptions, norms and values of the European polity as well as the meanings and identities of entire Europe. This book approaches the ongoing legal and political re-construction of the EU through a focus on the Convention on the Future of Europe (2002-2003) which produced a draft of the EU¿s first constitution. The Convention is studied from a multidisciplinary perspective integrating approaches from ethnography of institutions, political sociology and linguistically-based discourse-analysis. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and multiple textual data, the book offers an inside perspective on the multitude of ways in which politics in supranational environments works in practice. The book also contributes to the ongoing research on the discursive (re-)negotiations of meanings of Europe and European integration in the institutions of the European Union.

Terror attacks against Western symbols of power, suicide terrorism in Chechnya, or bombing of abortion clinics in the United States: these are a few of the violent religious outbursts that the media never seem to stop broadcasting. While these outbursts are mostly linked to Islamic extremism, it should however be acknowledged that every religion has its own violent side. Despite all the events the media are too prompt to show us, it would be dishonest and insensible not to accept that every religion has also a potential for religious peace building and communal renewal. How, can it be explained then, that religions sometimes react violently against the society surrounding them by trying to overthrow it, while at some other times they willingly help and try to build a better world for everyone? The University Centre Saint-Ignatius Antwerp organised an interdisciplinary summer seminar in September 2005 and gathered senior scholars ¿ all experts in their own fields ¿ and junior scholars ¿ who will be the experts of tomorrow ¿ from all over the world, to discuss these burning issues. The seminar focused on miscellaneous topics all pointing towards the question of religion and society; like literalism and the Holy texts, the ambivalence of faith-based radicalism, the psychology of religion and terrorism, nationalism and religion and religious social movements.

Ever since the ¿golden age¿ of labour peaked around 1970, organised labour has been progressively weakened in Europe and elsewhere. The end of the era of welfare state expansion and increasing levels of social security constitute a potential threat to social cohesion in Europe. Concern about labour interests and social inclusion is very much an issue in the Europe of the early 21 century. This is the main theme of this volume, which includes original and interesting articles dealing with conditions and developments in trade union organisation and conduct in the representation of workers¿ interests. Industrial and occupational changes have not only threatened the traditional strongholds of trade unionism but also compelled unions to apply new strategies in representing their interests. Another focus of the book is political regulation of the labour market: the relevant articles highlight the failures and successes of the European Employment Strategy with special emphasis on activation schemes and overall strategies for establishing a shared commitment in Europe to achieving sufficient competitiveness by means of a flexible labour market.