Bøker utgitt av Peter Lang AG, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften

The contributions to this volume address the legal nature and structure of the European Union by focusing on the issue of European constitutionalism. Possibilities and aporias of a transnational democracy relying on elements of a European constitution are considered from a legal, philosophical and historical perspective.

On the global scale, the challenges surrounding development are complex as inequalities between the richest and poorest countries become greater. Using culture as a transversal tool to solve the development issues means tackling those issues from a different angle: bringing solutions to some multicultural questions that exist in rich countries.

In the face of growing needs and problems around urbanization, new strategies have been implemented for the development of 'New Towns'. The urgent need to create better and more liveable cities is now inextricably linked with the integration of environmental principles, in order to prevent the waste of resources and mitigate climate change.

The purpose of this book is not only to recall some of the main events in postal history but also to suggest some topics for further reflection on recent transformations and concerns about the future of the postal sector in the context of a European continent that is constantly striving toward further integration.

Discovering Lamb House in 1896, Henry James fell under the spell of the words of Biblical Wisdom written on the tower clock of Rye parochial church: For our time is a very shadow that passeth away. From the young bachelor's angry vow to live for himself and turn the key on his heart in Watch and Ward (1871) to the decisive The Turn of the Screw (1898) and to the final turning the tables on an awful agent of the Apollo Gallery in the nightmare of A Small Boy and Others (1913), this refined ambassador of American letters, sharing some of the idiosyncrasies of Sacher Masoch and Gustave Flaubert - Jean-Paul Sartre's Idiot of the family - waged a fantastic fight against neurosis for the mastery of his craft. This study explores the gems that spangle the carpet of his prose. The latter hints at a secret christology and shines with the desire to fight differently the modern Romains de la decadence depicted in Thomas Couture's famous painting. The myth of the Twins inspired by James's relationship with his brother William eventually led him to feel like the heir of all the ages. Burning some letters to protect his privacy, the expatriate writer (1843-1916) constructed his A uvre to share the sky of the literary world Pleiades, and found eternal rest under the vaults of Westminster Abbey.

The book's central idea is that respect for democracy and protection of human rights represent the most potent ways for the advancement and enrichment of cultural, ideological and legal pluralism. The pursuit and accomplishment of such objectives can only be achieved through negotiation that leads to the accommodation and empowerment of minority groups and nations.

The outputs of the conference "European Union Foreign Relations and Foreign Policy, and Cooperation in the Mediterranean" presented in this book underline the importance of the Mediterranean for European politics from the outset.

This book is the first monograph on one of the least studied and most controversial European Union citizenship rights. Despite the importance of consular protection in a globalised world, many EU Member States are reluctant to recognise consular protection for EU citizens abroad as a right, leading to a protracted struggle to place the right to consular protection on a solid legal basis through a directive. This book examines the right to consular protection as an illustrative case in the debate over a multilevel design of EU citizenship combining rules from several different legal systems, whose interplay is reinforced by the extra-territorial character of consular protection. It offers a comparative analysis of the provision of consular protection in the 28 EU Member States as well as of the respective international law and EU rules. By examining the right to consular protection in its constitutional setting as a right flowing from EU citizenship, the book frames the analysis of all EU citizenship rights as fundamental rights in a multilevel-governance context.

This book analyses the transnationalisation of collective bargaining by European trade unions, presenting key theoretical concepts and debates on the Europeanisation of collective bargaining and social dialogue. The author uses comprehensive empirical evidence to illustrate that trade union strategies can be linked to sector-specific economic, institutional and actorrelated factors. Looking at seven different industrial sectors, the book investigates whether western European trade unions pursue a centralised, vertical approach towards the transnationalisation of collective bargaining policies or embark upon decentralised, horizontal cross-border initiatives. It identifies and operationalises the most important determinants of processes and explores commonly held assumptions about relationships between different forms of trade union-driven transnationalisation. Overall, the study reveals a number of patterns in the variation between countries and sectors, both of the institutions and instruments involved and of the intensity of cross-border coordination.

While concentrating on the activities of a small European nation, Estonians for Europe provides a long-term review for nearly eighty years on the history of European unification. The fresh perspective illustrates the dilemmas and struggles of the common European history in the 20th century.

Are we witnessing the decline of state involvement in education or is it being reshaped, and if so how? Surprisingly, this question has received little attention from researchers in education studies, sociology and political science. This book aims to fill this gap by exploring school evaluation policies in four European countries: England, France, Scotland and Switzerland. It shows that the same policy tool - promoted in many European and international arenas concerned with good practice in educational governance - can actually give rise in each system to a variety of policy configurations in which forms of state control can differ. Written from a policy sociology perspective, the book aims to go beyond the decline/permanence dichotomy and proposes a specific conceptual framework within which to consider both contextualised forms of state intervention and their potential similarities and combinations. By doing this, the authors not only aim to counterbalance or supplement dominant views on the Europeanisation and transnationalisation of education policies but also to imagine new possibilities for state policy analysis.

This book explores in detail the cultural critique at work in Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften of Robert Musil. This book takes up the difficult question of whether Musil's analysis and original ideas still have relevance today.

Changes in the world steel industry have been faster in the late twentieth century than in all previous periods. This book aims to scientifically describe and study the transformations which occurred in all areas of that industry.

An interdisciplinary reflection on identity and on the European spaces that establish a relation with the rest of the world at the European and at a global level: Enlargement and Information Policies as tools of external relations, ultraperipheric regions, relations with the Caspian sea's region and Latin America are among the main issues analysed.

Ever since the first international negotiations on climate change in the early 1990s, the European Union has aspired to play a leading role in global climate politics. This book engages in a longitudinal analysis of the EU's participation in and impact on the United Nations climate regime. It provides not only comprehensive insights into the evolution of EU foreign climate policy, but also a thought-provoking audit of the potential and limits of the EU's influence in a major domain of global affairs.

This essay offers a guide towards a rethinking of basic political concepts and arguments in the new context of increasingly diverse societies. It focuses on the challenges of the democratic management of cultural diversity, offering deep reflections and several proposals regarding the building of more inclusive, plural and efficient societies.

The present proposes an original confrontation between the points of view of scholars and artists about the notion of the contemporary commitment of writers.

This book presents a collection of essays which take secularism/laicite and the regulation of public expressions of religious commitment as their points of departure, exploring the issues these raise within society with a view informing the public debate and reflecting on the nature of citizenship.

The book examines in changes in the social, economic and political processes behind the creation of mechanisms for the management of people's mobility and cohabitation in the Mediterranean region. The approach is historical and comparative. Issues of state control, border economies, urban coexistence, heritage and memory are studied.

Internationalism is a key element for the Christian Democrat identity and movement of thought and action. It is based on a particular framework of ideas and beliefs that leads the party to interpret the relationship between men and nations from an international point of view, ensuring the human being a central place in every social policy.

Internationalism is a key element for the Christian Democrat identity and movement of thought and action. It is based on a particular framework of ideas and beliefs that leads the party to interpret the relationship between men and nations from an international point of view, ensuring the human being a central place in every social policy.

This book brings together local scholars of different discipline to reflect on cultural history of northern Ghana using religious thought and leadership as a rallying point. The issues dealt with include cultures in contact - religions in conflict; reconciling religions - reconciling people and renewing culture - renewing religions.

A serious and plural reflection about Human Rights, democracy and economy in the European Union, under the scenario of the deepest economic and social crisis of the last decades, precarious labour market and deregulation, and a growing distance between citizens and political elites. With the participation of known scholars from the EU and Brazil.

In a context characterised by the subversion of the European social model and of a commonly embraced principle of solidarity, this monograph aims to analyse the vectors of convergence, the cohesion factors and the changing paradigms of Spain and Europe's relation within the European integration process.

The anthology contained in this essay includes twenty writings and speeches by Lord Lothian that enlighten us on the history of British federalism and the history of British Commonwealth (with particular reference to South Africa) in the first half of the twentieth century; and also on the Anglo-American diplomatic relations on the eve of World War II.

It is always the future that makes the past; the future as it is wished for, as it should be or as it is expected to be. Claims on time, which become claims on normative order, are looked at through varieties of regional and thematic cases and taken as a methodological route through which this book contributes to the writing of global history.

This book provides close readings of late 20th-century British narratives of the First World War, written by both best-selling and less well-known fiction writers. Positioned at a mid-point between literary analysis and history, it shows that, by focusing on questions of memory, these narratives offer new and engaging perspectives on the war.

The Italian Yearbook of Human Rights 2013 provides a dynamic and up-to-date overview of the measures Italy has taken in 2012 to adapt its legislation and policies to international human rights law and to comply with commitments voluntarily assumed by the Italian Government at the international level.

Courage and inspiration are needed to renew the European dream and rediscover the purpose of a European civilisation project which responds to the cultural and moral traditions rooted in the vision of its founding fathers. A mobilising and forward-looking interaction between globalisation and Europeanisation can provide some answers in the emerging global transnational era. This book offers an interdisciplinary in-depth analysis of the relation between globalisation and Europeanisation from a value driven and human-centric perspective. It proposes a broad, diversified and innovative framework and analysis of concepts based on a human rights, cosmopolitan and public goods perspective of sustainable statehood. This approach is applied to interconnected policy areas and issues that are crucial to Europe's future, such as external relations, culture, intercultural dialogue, citizenship, education and territorial cooperation. The book's multidisciplinary readings and critical reflections address the complex issues at play in today's European societies, which require sustainable, cohesive and responsible answers at conceptual and policy level.

This book brings together selected essays on European Business Interest Associations (BIAs) as important components of European social and economic development over the last 150 years. The essays explore the roots and identity of BIAs of different European countries, analyse their activities and examine their financing sources and strategies.