Download or read book Lost in Mobility written by Indre Genelyte and published by Linköping University Electronic Press. This book was released on 2018-10-24 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This thesis seeks to make both theoretical and empirical contributions to the understanding of intra-EU mobility, with a focus on labour migration from Lithuania to Sweden. Inspired by a critical realist perspective, the thesis aims to help to explain the dynamics and individual decision-making behind mass labour emigration from the Baltic states, its socioeconomic consequences and policy responses. Theoretically, the thesis proposes a model that synthesizes a social transformation approach with an extended version of Hirschman’s analytical framework of exit, voice and loyalty. The three empirical articles, based mainly on semi-structured interviews, are situated within this framework. Two of the articles seek to explain the migrants’ decision-making process of stay-exit-entrance in the context of the structural-institutional social changes that followed (1) independence from the Soviet Union in 1990; (2) EU accession in 2004; and (3) the 2008/2009 economic crisis with austerity. The third article brings into the debate the perspective of the sending Baltic countries, in a broader context of the East-West migration debate. The dissertation shows that the consequences of the neoliberal policies of the post-communist and post-crisis transformations, together with the construction of formal migration channels after EU accession, constitute various migrant categories. Individual strategies of actively looking for channels to exit and enter, combining them in different ways at various points of the migratory process and establishing informal social networks are re-constituting who can be and who is a migrant. Furthermore, following the economic crisis and austerity measures, the decision to emigrate extends beyond individual survival strategies, instead becoming bound to an individual’s perception of the (ine)quality of life and pursuit of a better quality of life for oneself and one’s family across time and in different places. Finally, as the interviewed Baltic experts agree, the EU’s policy of the free movement is socially and economically problematic, although the official Baltic states’ policy responses focus primarily on ‘talented’ and ‘needed’ diaspora members’ return or engagement. These policies have proved to be inadequate to address demographic and socioeconomic challenges in part brought about by emigration. The structural-institutional conditions, states’ and migrants’ strategies engender mobility as a social norm in the sending countries and promote and constitute the perpetuation of migration of both ‘precarious labour migrants’ and ‘active talented EU mobile citizens’. Avhandlingen avser att bidra både teoretiskt och empiriskt till ökad kunskap om den fria rörligheten inom EU med fokus på arbetskraftmigration från Litauen till Sverige. Inspirerad av kritisk realism som samhällsvetenskaplig metod är syftet att bidra till att förklara såväl dynamiken i som det individuella beslutsfattandet bakom den omfattande arbetsutvandringen från de baltiska staterna samt att diskutera dess socioekonomiska konsekvenser och politiska inverkan. Teoretiskt utgår avhandlingen från en modell som syntetiserar social transformation med en utsträckt version av Hirschmans analytiska ramverk för ‘sorti’, ‘protest’ och ‘lojalitet’. De tre empiriska artiklarna, som huvudsakligen bygger på semistrukturerade djupintervjuer, ligger inom detta ramverk. Två av artiklarna syftar till att förklara migranternas beslutsprocess i fråga om stay-exit-entrance mot bakgrund av de strukturella och institutionella sociala förändringarna som följde av: (1) självständighetsförklaringen från Sovjetunionen 1990; (2) anslutningen till EU 2004; och (3) den ekonomiska krisen 2008/2009 med följande åtstramningar. Den tredje artikeln för in de baltiska ländernas eget perspektiv i den bredare öst-västliga migrationsdebatten. Avhandlingen visar att följderna av den postkommunistiska neoliberala politiken och omvandlingen efter den ekonomiska krisen, tillsammans med uppbyggnaden av formella migrationskanaler efter anslutningen till EU, bidrar till att skapa olika migrantkategorier. Individuella strategier för att aktivt leta efter kanaler för exit och enter, kombinera dem på olika sätt och utifrån olika stadier i migrationsprocessen samt etablera informella sociala nätverk bidrar till att (re)konstituera vem som kan vara och vem som är en migrant. Vidare, efter den ekonomiska krisen och de införda åtstramningsåtgärderna, handlar beslutet om att emigrera inte bara om individuella överlevnadsstrategier, utan också om individuella uppfattningar om vad som är livskvalitet och inte, (på engelska – (ine)quality of life), liksom strävan efter en bättre livskvalitet för sig själv och sin familj över tid och rum. Slutligen, som de intervjuade baltiska experterna är överens om, är EU:s politik för fri rörlighet socialt och ekonomiskt problematiskt, även om den officiella baltiska politiken i första hand fokuserar på ‘begåvade’ och ‘nödvändiga’ diasporamedlemmars engagemang eller återvändande. Denna politik har visat sig vara otillräcklig för att ta itu med demografiska och socioekonomiska utmaningar som delvis orsakades av utvandring. De strukturella institutionella förhållandena och staternas och migranternas strategier skapar rörlighet som en social norm i länder med framträdande utvandring och bidrar till fortsatt migration, både vad gäller ‘prekära arbetskraftsmigranter’ och ‘aktiva och begåvade EU-mobila medborgare’.

Download or read book Changing Inequalities and Societal Impacts in Rich Countries written by Brian Nolan and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2014-01-30 with total page 786 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There has been a remarkable upsurge of debate about increasing inequalities and their societal implications, reinforced by the economic crisis but bubbling to the surface before it. This has been seen in popular discourse, media coverage, political debate, and research in the social sciences. The central questions addressed by this book, and the major research project GINI on which it is based, are: - Have inequalities in income, wealth and education increased over the past 30 years or so across the rich countries, and if so why? - What are the social, cultural and political impacts of increasing inequalities in income, wealth and education? - What are the implications for policy and for the future development of welfare states? In seeking to answer these questions, this book adopts an interdisciplinary approach that draws on economics, sociology, and political science, and applies a common analytical framework to the experience of 30 advanced countries, namely all the EU member states except Cyprus and Malta, together with the USA, Japan, Canada, Australia and South Korea. It presents a description and analysis of the experience of each of these countries over the past three decades, together with an introduction, an overview of inequality trends, and a concluding chapter highlighting key findings and implications. These case-studies bring out the variety of country experiences and the importance of framing inequality trends in the institutional and policy context of each country if one is to adequately capture and understand the evolution of inequality and its impacts.

Download or read book Post Communist Transformations in Baltic Countries written by Zenonas Norkus and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-12-23 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Open access book provides a survey of the economic, health, and somatic progress of Baltic countries during the period 1918–2018, framed by the outline of the historical-sociological theory of modern social restorations, as originally conceived by the Austrian-American comparative historian Robert A. Kann. The author reworks Kann's theory to analyse post-communist transformations in the Baltic region. The book argues that the purpose of modern social restorations is to make restoration societies safe against a recurrence of revolution. There were two waves of modern social restorations: post-Napoleonic and post-communist. Most post-Napoleonic restorations were brief, because they failed to economically and socially outperform the pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary systems. It considers Baltic restorations as laboratory cases of second-wave modern social restorations, because they encompass a triple restoration of the nation-state, capitalism, and democracy. The book assesses the performance success of Baltic restorations by comparing economic and social progress of Baltic countries during the periods of original independence (1918–1940), foreign-imposed state socialism (1940–1990), and restored independence (since 1990). It then elaborates the criteria to assess the ultimate performance success of these restorations by 2040, when restored Baltic states may endure longer than their ancestors in 1918–1940 and the complete foreign occupations era (1940–1990). The author, an expert in historical sociology, uses extensive historical-statistical data in cross-time comparisons to develop his analysis and create future projections. This book is of wide interest to sociologists, social demographers, political scientists, and economists studying the Baltic region. This is an open access book.

Download or read book Strategic Frames written by Jennie L. Schulze and published by University of Pittsburgh Press. This book was released on 2018-03-07 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Joseph Rothschild Book Prize Honorable Mention Strategic Frames analyzes minority policies in Estonia and Latvia following their independence from the Soviet Union. It weighs the powerful influence of both Europe and Russia on their policy choices, and how this intersected with the costs and benefits of policy changes for the politicians in each state. Prior to EU accession, policymakers were slow to adopt minority-friendly policies for ethnic Russians despite mandates from the European Union. These initiatives faced majority opposition, and politicians sought to maintain the status quo and their positions. As Jennie L. Schulze reveals, despite the credit given to the democratizing influence of European institutions, they have rarely produced significant policy changes alone, and then only when domestic constraints were low. Whenever domestic opposition was high, Russian frames were crucial for the passage of reforms. In these cases, Russia’s activism on behalf of Russian speakers reinforced European frames, providing powerful justifications for reform. Schulze’s attention to both the strategic framing and counter framing of external actors explains the controversies, delays, and suboptimal outcomes surrounding the passage of “conditional” amendments in both cases, as well as the local political climate postaccession. Strategic Frames offers a significant reference on recent developments in two former Soviet states and the rapidly evolving spheres of political influence in the postindependence era that will serve students, scholars, and policymakers alike.

Download or read book Right Wing Populism in Europe written by Ruth Wodak and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-03-28 with total page 570 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Right-wing populist movements and related political parties are gaining ground in many EU member states. This unique, interdisciplinary book provides an overall picture of the dynamics and development of these parties across Europe and beyond. Combining theory with in-depth case studies, it offers a comparative analysis of the policies and rhetoric of existing and emerging parties including the British BNP, the Hungarian Jobbik and the Danish Folkeparti. The case studies qualitatively and quantitatively analyse right-wing populist groups in the following countries: Austria, Germany, Britain, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Hungary, Belgium, Ukraine, Estonia, and Latvia, with one essay exclusively focused on the US. This timely and socially relevant collection is essential reading for scholars, students and practitioners wanting to understand the recent rise of populist right wing parties at local, countrywide and regional levels.

Download or read book The Handbook of Political Change in Eastern Europe written by Sten Berglund and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2013-04-01 with total page 861 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ÔLots has changed in Eastern Europe in the past quarter-century and the new edition of this major study of the region sets out these changes in directions for the better and for the worse.Õ Ð Richard Rose, University of Strathclyde, UK ÔThis Handbook offers a historically informed, systematic account of the political development in Central and Eastern Europe. Two chapters lay out a framework for comparison. 26 specialists provide analyses for 19 countries. In an appendix, each of these country chapters documents election results, government composition, the electoral system, and the constitutional framework. The concluding chapter synthesizes the major results. The Handbook is the most comprehensive source for an up-to-date analysis of all Central and Eastern European countries within the sphere of influence of the European Union. It is a Òmust haveÓ for students and scholars interested in how to evaluate the state of democracy in this region of the globe.Õ Ð Hans-Dieter Klingemann, New York University Abu Dhabi, UAE and Social Science Research Center Berlin, Germany This third edition of The Handbook of Political Change in Eastern Europe provides an authoritative and thorough analysis of the political changes, which have occurred in Central and Eastern Europe since the demise of communism. It offers an historical, comparative perspective of the region and focuses on the social consequences of the democratisation process. The country-specific chapters are written by scholars with well-documented area expertise on their respective cases: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia. Each chapter includes detailed examinations of elections, the formation of governments, electoral systems and constitutional arrangements. These in-depth and up-to-date analyses are supplemented by conclusions on the party systems and emerging political structures in the region as a whole, as well as the consolidation of democracy in a post-communist setting. The revised and expanded version of The Handbook of Political Change in Eastern Europe provides a state-of-the art companion, which will be indispensable for students and scholars in the social sciences including political science, comparative politics, European studies and political history, as well as for policy makers and practitioners.

Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Heritage Language Education written by Olga E. Kagan and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-03-03 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge Handbook of Heritage Language Education provides the rapidly growing and globalizing field of heritage language (HL) education with a cohesive overview of HL programs and practices relating to language maintenance and development, setting the stage for future work in the field. Driving this effort is the belief that if research and pedagogical advances in the HL field are to have the greatest impact, HL programs need to become firmly rooted in educational systems. Against a background of cultural and linguistic diversity that characterizes the twenty-first century, the volume outlines key issues in the design and implementation of HL programs across a range of educational sectors, institutional settings, sociolinguistic conditions, and geographical locations, specifically: North and Latin America, Europe, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Cambodia. All levels of schooling are included as the teaching of the following languages are discussed: Albanian, Arabic, Armenian (Eastern and Western), Bengali, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Czech, French, Hindi-Urdu, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Pasifika languages, Persian, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Vietnamese, and Yiddish. These discussions contribute to the development and establishment of HL instructional paradigms through the experiences of “actors on the ground” as they respond to local conditions, instantiate current research and pedagogical findings, and seek solutions that are workable from an organizational standpoint. The Routledge Handbook of Heritage Language Education is an ideal resource for researchers and graduate students interested in heritage language education at home or abroad.

Download or read book The Regulation of Post Communist Party Politics written by Fernando Casal Bértoa and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-11-06 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The question of how political parties are, and ought to be, regulated has assumed an increased importance in recent years, both within the scholarly community and among policy-makers and politicians as the state assumes an increasingly active role in the management of, and control over, their behaviour and organisation This book concentrates on the regulation of political parties in the EU post-communist democracies, and on Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania, in particular. In analysing the various dimensions of party regulation, it builds on the main premises derived from the neo-institutionalist literature in political science, concerning the ways in which the (formal and informal) rules and procedures may influence, constrain or determine the behaviour of political actors. In doing so, it provides a comprehensive overview of the regulation of Eastern European political parties provided by leading experts in the field and casts theoretical and empirical light on the manner in which the constitutional and legal regulation of party organizations and finances have had an impact (or not) on the consolidation of party politics in post-communist Europe since 1989. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of Political Parties and Behaviour, East European and Post-Communist Politics and Comparative Politics.

Download or read book Precarity in European Film written by Elisa Cuter and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2022-06-06 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume brings together renowned scholars and early career-researchers in mapping the ways in which European cinema —whether arthouse or mainstream, fictional or documentary, working with traditional or new media— engages with phenomena of precarity, poverty, and social exclusion. It compares how the filmic traditions of different countries reflect the socioeconomic conditions associated with precarity, and illuminates similarities in the iconography of precarious lives across cultures. While some of the contributions deal with the representations of marginalized minorities, others focus on work-related precarity or the depictions of downward mobility. Among other topics, the volume looks at how films grapple with gender inequality, intersectional struggle, discriminatory housing policies, and the specific problems of precarious youth. With its comparative approach to filmic representations of European precarity, this volume makes a major contribution to scholarship on precarity and the representation of social class in contemporary visual culture.

Download or read book Challenges to European Welfare Systems written by Klaus Schubert and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-02-08 with total page 854 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides the first comprehensive analyses of the challenges all European welfare systems have been facing since 2007, combining in-depth country-based studies and comparative chapters. It focuses on: 1) the economic and financial crisis, 2) demographic change, and 3) the balance between avoiding risks and opening up opportunities in social policy. The results show that European welfare systems tend to face the same challenges in different ways and that also their responses to those challenges differ considerably. Although the EU also plays a part in shaping national welfare systems, it becomes evident that European welfare systems are by no means converging: in terms of social policy, national diversity within Europe is still a major factor that will shape future developments in European welfare systems.

Download or read book Development Policies of Central and Eastern European States written by Ondřej Horký-Hlucháň and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-13 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The states from Central and Eastern Europe that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007 provide a fascinating series of case studies for scholars interested in politics, IR and development studies. The interest comes from the fact that never before had so many recipients of EU aid joined the Union and taken on the commitment to become aid donors. The journey from recipients of aid to aid donors is interesting because, not only does it tell us about development policy in CEE states, this policy area gives us an insight into governmental structures in CEE states, foreign policy priorities, public opinion, the role of NGOs/civil society and how well CEE states have taken on board the EU acquis (the EU’s rule book). The book also explores whether the development cooperation programmes of the majority of CEESs reflect the so-called "transition experience" of moving from authoritarianism and socialism to democracy and modern liberalism. It also explores the extent to which these donors are aligned with the approaches of the DAC donors. Finally, by extending the scrutiny to the bottom-up development activities of non-state actors and public opinion, the book will analyse the dynamics of the solidarity of the former ‘East’ with the global ‘South’. This book was published as a special issue of Perspectives on European Politics and Society

Download or read book European Media in Crisis written by Josef Trappel and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-06-12 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the financial markets collapsed in 2008, the media industry was affected by a major slump in advertising revenues, and a formerly highly successful business model fell into a state of decay. This economic crisis has threatened core social values of contemporary democracies, such as freedom, diversity and equality. Taking a normative and policy perspective, this book discusses threats and opportunities for the media industry in Europe: What are the implications of the crisis for professional journalism, the media industry, and the process of political communication? Can non- state and non-market actors profit from the crisis? And what are media policy answers at the national and European level?

Download or read book Economic and Monetary Union at Twenty written by David Howarth and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-05-19 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The contributions to this book examine the two main asymmetries of the Euro Area as they have intensified during the second decade of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU): the first between monetary union (more supranational governance) versus ‘economic’ union (less centralised governance); the second between those Euro Area member states of the so-called ‘core’ and those of the ‘periphery’. EMU stands as one of the European Union’s (EU) flagship integration achievements. Set up in 1999, with the large majority of EU member states at the time, EMU was described as ‘asymmetrical’ even prior to its start. From the outset, it involved asymmetrical integration in monetary and ‘economic’ union. Although a major element of the blueprint that paved the way for the final stage of EMU, the concept of ‘economic’ union was insufficiently developed. The second decade of the single currency gave rise to a second asymmetry, namely one between those Euro Area member states of the ‘core’ and those of the ‘periphery’. The ten contributions to this volume speak to one or both of these asymmetries, covering the major political, political economy and policy dimensions of EMU and the ongoing debates about necessary policy and institutional reforms to overcome these asymmetries and bolster Euro Area stability. The outbreak of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Crisis in 2020 created unprecedented socio-economic challenges for Euro Area member states, heightening the perceived urgency of reform. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of European Integration.

Download or read book International Handbook of Curriculum Research written by William F. Pinar and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-15 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Continuing its calling to define the field and where it is going, the Second Edition of this landmark handbook brings up to date its comprehensive reportage of scholarly developments and school curriculum initiatives worldwide, providing a panoramic view of the state of curriculum studies globally. Its international scope and currency and range of research and theory reflect and contribute significantly to the ongoing internationalization of curriculum studies and its growth as a field worldwide. Changes in the Second Edition: Five new or updated introductory chapters pose transnational challenges to key questions curriculum research addresses locally. Countries absent in the First Edition are represented: Chile, Colombia, Cypress, Ethiopia, Germany, Iran, Luxembourg, Nigeria, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, and Switzerland. 39 new or updated chapters on curriculum research in 34 countries highlight curriculum research that is not widely known in North America. This handbook is an indispensable resource for prospective and practicing teachers, for curriculum studies scholars, and for education students around the world.

Download or read book Global Media and National Policies written by Terry Flew and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-08 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conventional wisdom views globalization as a process that heralds the diminishing role or even 'death' of the state and the rise of transnational media and transnational consumption. Global Media and National Policies questions those assumptions and shows not only that the nation-state never left but that it is still a force to be reckoned with. With contributions that look at global developments and developments in specific parts of the world, it demonstrates how nation-states have adapted to globalization and how they still retain key policy instruments to achieve many of their policy objectives. This book argues that the phenomenon of media globalization has been overstated, and that national governments remain key players in shaping the media environment, with media corporations responding to the legal and policy frameworks they deal with at a national level.

Download or read book How Latvia Came Through the Financial Crisis written by Anders Åslund and published by Peterson Institute. This book was released on 2011 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Latvia stands out as the East European country hardest hit by the global financial crisis; it lost approximately 25 percent of its GDP between 2008 and 2010. It was also the most overheated economy before the crisis. But in the second half of 2010, Latvia returned to economic growth. How did this happen so quickly? Current Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, who shepherded Latvia through the crisis, and renowned author Anders slund discuss why the Latvian economy became so overheated; why an IMF and European Union stabilization program was needed; what the Latvian government did to resolve the financial crisis and why it made these choices; and what the outcome has been. This book offers a rare insider's look at how a national government responded to a global financial crisis, made tough choices, and led the country back to economic growth.

Download or read book Comparative Politics and Government of the Baltic States written by D. Auers and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-03-17 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book traces the development of the political institutions, electoral systems, parties, civil society, economic and social policies and foreign affairs of the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania over the last quarter century.