Reframing Europe's Future


Book Description

The global financial crisis which erupted in 2008 had an astounding yet varied impact on the European Union (EU), with some countries benefiting from the crisis while others suffered. Today many more and varied voices articulate increasing frustration, dissatisfaction, distrust and cynicism with the current state of affairs in Europe. This book addresses the challenges and failures of the European construction today from an interdisciplinary perspective. It seeks to identify the deeper, structural causes of the failure of the European project by investigating a variety of aspects, placing Europe in a historical perspective and interpreting its trajectory in a global context. In doing so it argues that the EU, the unfinished European polity, the single European market, and the set of supranational institutions, are not sustainable in their present forms. This text will be of key interest to students and practitioners of international relations, economics, European studies, democracy and contemporary European and global challenges.




Interculturalism and multiculturalism: similarities and differences


Book Description

This book examines the relationship between two policy approaches for managing the cultural diversity of contemporary societies: interculturalism and multiculturalism. The relationship between these two approaches has been a matter of intense debate in recent years. Some commentators argue that they represent two very different approaches, while others argue that interculturalism merely re-emphasises some of the core elements of present day multiculturalism. The debate arises, in part, because multiculturalism can take a variety of different forms, which makes it difficult to identify its key features in order to compare it with interculturalism. The debate has gained added momentum from the backlash against multiculturalism in recent years, and from the Council of Europe’s prominent championing of interculturalism as an alternative approach. This book aims to clarify the concepts of interculturalism and multiculturalism, and to bring the various arguments together in a way that will assist politicians, policy makers, practitioners and interested lay people to understand the concerns that are driving the different orientations. The book is also intended to facilitate a comparison of the policy implications of interculturalism and multiculturalism. To this end, each chapter concludes with a concise statement of the implications for policy that follow from the viewpoint that has been expressed.




Europe’s future – a model for assessing and increasing digital sovereignty


Book Description

Die Dissertation “Europe’s future – a model for assessing and increasing digital sovereignty” von Martin Kaloudis an der Mendel University in Brno beschäftigt sich mit der digitalen Souveränität europäischer Staaten. Sie thematisiert die Abhängigkeit der EU-Staaten von Technologien und Rohstoffen aus Nicht-EU-Ländern, insbesondere die Abhängigkeit von digitalen Technologien aus China und den USA, und untersucht mögliche Stellhebel zur Beherrschbarkeit von Abhängigkeiten von nicht-europäischen Technologien. Die Dissertation entwickelt ein Modell zur Bewertung der digitalen Souveränität, fokussiert auf die EU, und schlägt eine Definition des Begriffs vor. Ein wichtiger Bestandteil ist ein komparativer Index für digitale Souveränität, der auf sekundären Daten basiert und mittels quantitativer Methoden verifiziert und validiert wird. Die Ergebnisse des Indexes zeigen, dass EU-Staaten in Sachen digitaler Souveränität Entwicklungspotenziale haben. Aus der Analyse werden handlungsleitende Maßnahmen abgeleitet, wie etwa höhere Investitionen in Start-ups, Förderung des Exports von IKT-Dienstleistungen und Verringerung von Handelsbarrieren im digitalen Bereich. Die Dissertation betont, dass die konsequente Umsetzung dieser Maßnahmen zur Stärkung der digitalen Souveränität der EU-Staaten beitragen kann.




Transfigurations of the European Identity


Book Description

European identity is as much a problem as an opportunity. Although it is impossible to provide an all-encompassing definition of what it means to be European, historicising and contextualising this problem may well lead to the clarification and even creation of a European identity. This is the contention of this volume, which approaches this complex notion from an inter- and transdisciplinary perspective, examining facets ranging from the citizen to cultural politics, from literature to traditional and digital media, from the US to China. As complex as this idea is, this volume will extend the reader’s understanding of the timely and promising problematisation of what may be termed “European identity.”




A Value-driven European Future


Book Description

Comprising a well structured, interdisciplinary view of culturally founded and value driven reflections on Europe's future this volume brings together a number of papers from an international workshop organised by the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence of the University of Padua on October 2011 with some additional contributions. The essays are posed within a policy-oriented, institutional and international law of human rights framework, following a non-conventional but inspiring approach. This book provides a valuable resource for European scholars, policy-makers and interested and critical citizens committed to the idea of Europe. It proposes a reading of the complexities of transforming realities, oriented towards a common destiny of sustainable and cohesive societies in a globalised world, providing a human-centric outline for Europe's future development.




Europe as a Common


Book Description

To cope with the problems of today's world, we need to enter into a dialogue regardless of political, religious and philosophical beliefs - a transversal dialogue as Pope Francis called for in the private audience, he gave to Alexis Tsipras, Walter Baier and Franz Kronreif in September 2014. This conversation resulted in the DIALOP initiative - a transversal dialogue between Socialists and Christians. Since then, a network of universities and NGOs have been exploring paths of what they call a transversal social ethics. In this book authors from Austria, Belgium, Colombia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal and the Vatican air their views on topics like social equality, European Unity, democracy, the commons and ecology.




European Futures


Book Description

This edited volume explores the opportunities and challenges facing the European Union in the future from different disciplines and assesses the EU’s prospects across various policy areas. Using the European Commission’s 2017 White Paper presenting five different scenarios for the future of Europe to 2050 as an organising framework for analysis and debate, the volume reflects upon the drivers of the EU’s future, including its changing place in an evolving world, a transformed economy and society, heightened threats and concerns about security and borders, and questions of trust and legitimacy. The concluding chapter summarises and compares the findings to determine which of the scenarios is the most instructive to understand and plan European Futures to 2050, and beyond. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of European integration, EU politics/studies, and more broadly international relations, as well as European policy-makers.




Rethinking the Future of Europe


Book Description

Rethinking the Future of Europe has brought together three contrasting collections of contributions: the incrementalist perspective concerning the step by step development of Europe, the more radical reform/restructuring approach to the future of Europe, and a view of Europe from the outside.




EDGE


Book Description

EDGE: The Agile Operating Model That Will Help You Successfully Execute Your Digital Transformation “[The authors’] passion for technology allows them to recognize that for most enterprises in the 21st century, technology is THE business. This is what really separates the EDGE approach. It is a comprehensive operating model with technology at its core.” —From the Foreword by Heidi Musser, Executive Vice President and Principal Consultant, Leading Agile; retired, Vice President and CIO, USAA Maximum innovation happens at the edge of chaos: the messy, risky, and uncertain threshold between randomness and structure. Operating there is uncomfortable but it’s where organizations “invent the future.” EDGE is a set of fast, iterative, adaptive, lightweight, and value-driven tools to achieve digital transformation, and EDGE: Value-Driven Digital Transformation is your guide to using this operating model for innovation. Jim Highsmith is one of the world’s leading agile pioneers and a coauthor of the Agile Manifesto. He, Linda Luu, and David Robinson know from their vast in-the-trenches experience that sustainable digital transformation requires far more than adopting isolated agile practices or conventional portfolio management. This hard, indispensable work involves changing culture and mindset, and going beyond transforming the IT department. EDGE embraces an adaptive mindset in the face of market uncertainty, a visible, value-centered portfolio approach that encourages continual value linkages from vision to detailed initiatives, incremental funding that shifts as strategies evolve, collaborative decision-making, and better risk mitigation. This guide shows leaders how to use the breakthrough EDGE approach to go beyond incremental improvement in a world of exponential opportunities. Build an organization that adapts fast enough to thrive Clear away unnecessary governance processes, obsolete “command and control” leadership approaches, and slow budgeting/planning cycles Improve collaboration when major, fast-paced responses are necessary Continually optimize investment allocation and monitoring based on your vision and goals Register your product for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.




Cultural Heritage in a Comparative Approach


Book Description

Despite the increasing focus from juridical and social sciences perspectives, cultural heritage remains a subject insufficiently considered from a historical point of view. Based on a comparative approach, looking at a variety of experiences developed for the management of cultural heritage since the emergence of the protectionist movement, this book analyses UNESCO cultural heritage legislation with regards to the socio-anthropological evolution of the concept of cultural heritage.