Europe


Book Description

At the beginning of a new millennium a new Europe is emerging, but behind this imagination we have to face old problems and unsolved conflicts of our historical past. The collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe led to decline and fall of the conceptual geography which was based on East vs. West and has shown political, social and cultural implications for both parts of the continent. Political borders and blocks have disappeared, but national ethnic, cultural and social differences are all still at work. In this book a number of leading European ethnologist investigates the complex process of the social, cultural and symbolic constructions of Europe's new geography, and shows how old lines of demarcation are revitalised, how different cultural imaginations of Europe are politically instrumentalised, and how political conflicts are being culturalised.




Invocations of Europe


Book Description

The book examines the early history of music theatre in Romania in the nineteenth century and how it was instrumentalised as a vehicle for the overall modernization and Europeanization of the country. It deals with the complex interaction between the aristocrats, who imported the opera, the local public, the foreign power holders in the time of the Russian Protectorate and the opera companies and musicians who came to Romania and shaped the musical life of the country.




Transforming Europe


Book Description

Does the European Union change the domestic politics and institutions of its member states? Many studies of EU decisionmaking in Brussels pay little attention to the potential domestic impact of European integration. Transforming Europe traces the effects of Europeanization on the EU member states. The various chapters, based on cutting-edge research, examine the impact of the EU on national court systems, territorial politics, societal networks, public discourse, identity, and citizenship norms.The European Union, the authors find, does indeed make a difference—even in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. In many cases EU rules and regulations incompatible with domestic institutions have created pressure for national governments to adapt. This volume examines the conditions under which this "adaptational pressure" has led to institutional change in the member states.




Euro African Invocations


Book Description

Dear All, The International Community should be advised that the Russian government is in dispute. Due to Vladimir Putin's bad governance, Russia is like a lost puppy which needs protection and safeguarding by the NGO community. As things stand, the Putin government is failing to uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in Russia. This includes the murder of lawyers, activists and government critics - such as Anna Politkovskaya, Stanislav Markelov, Boris Nemtsov, Natalia Estemirova, Sergei Yushenkov, Alexander Litvinenko, Boris Berezovsky, Magomed Yevloyev and many more. Survivor of these cowardly killings is Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny; who was sentenced unjustly for over two years in jail - a testament of injustice, cruelty and tyranny by the Putin government. Putin's cruel and unjust war on Ukraine is another focal point in this work; the Putin regime persisting that militarism and war crimes play a legitimate role in international politics. This evidence-based study outlines why such negative policies are not only counterproductive to the global peace movement, but also a very considerable waste of money and effort. Russia, as a Mafia State, is also explored in this volume, as Putin has created a state peopled by oligarchs, ex-KGB and FSB officers who are bent on making money above all. Hence this book contains suggestions for personality development; cutting edge approaches to increase emotional and spiritual intelligence - so that Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin may come to the realization that money, power, vodka and sex is not everything in life. To avoid a power vacuum in Russia - and another violent revolution in Mother Russia - the NGO BTB-Global Peacebuilding will be handling stuff in the meantime; such as domestic policy, foreign policy and human rights issues concerning Russia. The International Community is advised to keep a safe distance from the Putin regime and the Kremlin, until the UDHR has been restored. In the meantime domestic policy, foreign policy and human rights issues concerning the Russian Federation will be handled by the NGO BTB-Global Peacebuilding. NB: It is imperative that all Russian forces withdraw from Ukraine - so that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) can be restored in the International Community. God Bless / Бог благословил / Бог благословить / Love and Light President of Российская Федерация and the US: Mark O'Doherty, BTB-Global Peacebuilding 3. December 2022




The Limits of EUrope


Book Description

Over recent years, a series of challenges including Brexit and the rise of Euroscepticism, have manifested in landmark moments for European integration. First published as a special issue of Global Discourse, this edited collection investigates whether these crises are isolated phenomena or symptoms of a deeper malaise across the EU.




Europe


Book Description

Using a detailed analysis of the writings of Nietzsche, Elbe seeks to articulate a more meaningful idea of Europe, which would enhance the legitimacy of the European Union and provide the basis for a European identity.




A United Europe of Things


Book Description

This volume studies high and late medieval material culture in a Pan-European context. The idea of ‘unity of culture’ in Medieval Latin Europe is well known in historical texts, especially when it concerns the so-called ‘Europe North of the Alps’. This book investigates the similarities and differences in material culture between areas, regions and political entities and opens the dialogue for a more interregional discussion. The editors acknowledge that there are numerous challenges in understanding the phenomenon the volume addresses, the fundamental one being defining (or even redefining) a common material culture of Europe. Important in determining this is greater appreciation of how objects reflect interactions between peoples, both local and foreign, which can be driven by a variety of factors, including trade, conflict and diplomacy etc. But just as important is observing the differences between ‘things’ across Europe, reflecting developments and transformations its cultural, social and economic history. These works are traditionally presented in isolation or at the local level, maybe even in very specialized tomes, as often it is thought their observation are not relevant to wider discourses. Conversely, what is clear, however, is that by interconnecting these seemingly introvert studies of specific artefact types or sites etc., readers can better appreciate the similarities and differences in material culture across Europe. This book is of interest to researchers in archaeology and material culture.




The New Bosnian Mosaic


Book Description

Since the violent events of the Bosnian war and the revelations of ethnic cleansing that shocked the world in the early 1990s, Bosnia has become a metaphor for the new ethnic nationalisms, for the transformation of warfare in the post-Cold War era, and for new forms of peacekeeping and state-building. This book is unique in offering a re-examination of the Bosnian case with a 'bottom-up' perspective. It gathers together cultural anthropologists and other social scientists to consider the specificities of the Bosnian case. However, the book also raises broader questions: what are the consequences of internecine violence and how should societies attempt to overcome them? Are the uncertainties and the transformations of Bosnian post-war society due entirely to the war, or are they related to wider processes encompassing post-communist Europe as a whole? And are the difficulties experienced by international state-building operations mainly due to distinctive features of the local societies or are they due to the policies promoted by the international community itself?







Europe Un-Imagined


Book Description

Europe Un-Imagined examines one of the world’s first and only trans nationally produced television channels, Association relative à la télévision européenne (ARTE). ARTE calls itself the "European culture channel" and was launched in 1991 with a French-German intergovernmental mandate to produce television and other media that promoted pan-European community and culture. Damien Stankiewicz’s ground-breaking ethnographic study of the various contexts of media production work at ARTE (the newsroom, the editing studio, the screening room), reveals how ideas about French, German, and European culture coalesce and circulate at the channel. He argues that the reproduction of nationalism often goes unacknowledged and unremarked upon, and questions whether something like a European "imagination" can be produced. Stankiewicz describes the challenges that ARTE staff face, including rapidly changing media technologies and audiences, unreflective national stereotyping, and unwieldy bureaucratic infrastructure, which ultimately limit the channel’s abilities to cultivate a transnational, "European" public. Europe Un-Imagined challenges its readers to find new ways of thinking about how people belong in the world beyond the problematic logics of national categorization.