33 resultados para 360103 Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations


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Résumé Cette étude porte sur le flanc inverse de la nappe de Siviez-Mischabel et sur les unités tectoniques sous jacentes (zone de Stalden supérieur et zone Houillère) dans la vallée menant à Zermatt. L'étude structurale du granite permien de Randa (orthogneiss oeillé) permet de mieux comprendre les effets de la déformation alpine sur les roches de socle. La cartographie détaillée de l'orthogneiss et de son encaissant, ainsi que l'étude lithostratigraphique des terrains sédimentaires associés permettent de proposer un schéma structural et cinématique du flanc inverse de la nappe de Siviez-Mischabel et de mieux comprendre ses relations avec les unités tectoniques sous-jacentes. L'analyse structurale de l'orthogneiss de Randa et de son encaissant révèle la superposition de plusieurs phases de déformation ductile. Cet orthogneiss formé sous des conditions métamorphiques du faciès schiste vert possède une forte schistosité alpine avec au moins deux linéations d'extension. La première, L1, orientée NW-SE est associée à la mise en place de la nappe. La seconde, L2, orientée SW-NE, se corrèle au cisaillement ductile du Simplon. La quantification de la déformation au moyen de la méthode de Fry sur les faciès porphyriques donne des ellipses à rapports axiaux compris entre 1.9 et 5.3, en accord avec les valeurs obtenues par d'autres marqueurs {tourmalines étirées, fibres). Les valeurs mesurées parallèlement à L1 ou L2 sont très semblables. La méthode de Fry a nécessité une étude théorique préalable afin de vérifier son applicabilité aux orthogneiss oeillés. La méthode requiert une distribution spatiale homogène et isotrope des marqueurs utilisés. Les tests statistiques effectués ont révélé que les phénocristaux de feldspath alcalin satisfont à cette condition et qu'ils peuvent être utilisés comme marqueur de la déformation au moyen de la méthode de Fry. Les valeurs obtenues révèlent l'importance du cisaillement ductile du Simplon sur la géométrie de la nappe dans la région d'étude. Le levé cartographique a permis d'améliorer la lithostratigraphie de la base de la nappe de Siviez-Mischabel. Trois formations en position renversée peuvent être observées sous les gneiss formant le coeur de la nappe. Ces trois formations forment le coeur du synclinal de St-Niklaus qui connecte la nappe de Siviez-Mischabel à la zone de Stalden supérieur. La datation par U-Pb de zircons détritiques et magmatiques par LA-ICP-MS permet de contraindre l'âge des formations observées (probablement Carbonifère à Trias précoce). Ces données ont des répercussions importantes sur la structure de la nappe dans la région, prouvant l'existence de plusieurs plis avec des séries normales et renversées bien préservées. La définition et la datation de ces formations, ainsi que leur identification dans la-Zone- Houillère avoisinante permettent de mieux comprendre la géométrie initiale et les relations tectoniques des nappes du Pennique moyen dans la vallée de Zermatt. Summary This study investigates the overturned limb of the Siviez-Mischabel nappe and underlying tectonic units (Upper Stalden zone and Houillère zone) in the Mattertal area. Detailed structural analysis in the Permian Randa granite (augen orthogneiss) allows a better understanding of the Alpine deformation effects on basement rocks. Detailed mapping of this orthogneiss and surrounding rocks, and the study of the lithostratigraphy in the related sedimentary horizons allow the proposition of a structural and kinematic model for the overturned limb of the Siviez-Mischabel and to better understand the relations with the underlying tectonic units. The structural analysis of the Randa orthogneiss and surrounding rocks revealed the superposition of several phases of ductile deformation. This orthogneiss formed under greenschist facies metamorphic conditions displays a strong Alpine foliation with at least two stretching lineations. The first lineation, L1, is oriented NW-SE and is related to the nappe emplacement northward. The second one, L2, is related to the Simplon ductile shear zone. Strain estimation using the Fry method has been performed on porphyritic facies of the Randa orthogneiss. The obtained ellipses have axial ratios varying between 1.9 and 5.3, in agreement with strain estimation obtained from other markers (stretched turmalines, fringes). The strain values are very similar if measured parallel to L1 or to L2. A theoretical approach was necessary to verify the relevant application of the Fry method to augen orthogneiss. This method requires that the distribution of the used markers has to be homogeneous and isotropic. Statistical tests have been done and revealed that K-feldspar phenocrysts satisfy these conditions and can be used as strain markers with the Fry method. The obtained strain measurements revealed the importance of the Simplon ductile shear zone on the geometry of the nappe in the studied area. Mapping has improved the lithostratigraphy at the base of the Siviez-Mischabel nappe. Three overturned formations can be observed below the gneisses forming the core of the nappe. These three formations form the St-Niklaus syncline, which connects the Siviez-Mischabel nappe to the underlying Upper Stalden zone. U-Pb dating of detrital and magmatic zircons by LA-ICPMS allowed the age of the observed formations to be constrained (presumably Carboniferous to Early Triassic). This data has critical implications for nappe structure in the region, composed of few recumbent folds with well preserved normal and overturned limbs. The definition and dating of these formations, as well as their identification in the adjacent "Houillère Zone" improve the understanding of the geometry and tectonic relations of the Middle Penninic nappes in the Mattertal.

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La gouvernance de l'Internet est une thématique récente dans la politique mondiale. Néanmoins, elle est devenue au fil des années un enjeu économique et politique important. La question a même pris une importance particulière au cours des derniers mois en devenant un sujet d'actualité récurrent. Forte de ce constat, c ette recherche retrace l'histoire de la gouvernance de l'Internet depuis son émergence comme enjeu politique dans les années 1980 jusqu'à la fin du Sommet Mondial sur la Société de l'Information (SMSI) en 2005. Plutôt que de se focaliser sur l'une ou l'autre des institutions impliquées dans la régulation du réseau informatique mondial, cette recherche analyse l'émergence et l'évolution historique d'un espace de luttes rassemblant un nombre croissant d'acteurs différents. Cette évolution est décrite à travers le prisme de la relation dialectique entre élites et non-élites et de la lutte autour de la définition de la gouvernance de l'Internet. Cette thèse explore donc la question de comment les relations au sein des élites de la gouvernance de l'Internet et entre ces élites et les non-élites expliquent l'emergence, l'évolution et la structuration d'un champ relativement autonome de la politique mondiale centré sur la gouvernance de l'Internet. Contre les perspectives dominantes réaliste et libérales, cette recherche s'ancre dans une approche issue de la combinaison des traditions hétérodoxes en économie politique internationale et des apports de la sociologie politique internationale. Celle-ci s'articule autour des concepts de champ, d'élites et d'hégémonie. Le concept de champ, développé par Bourdieu inspire un nombre croissant d'études de la politique mondiale. Il permet à la fois une étude différenciée de la mondialisation et l'émergence d'espaces de lutte et de domination au niveau transnational. La sociologie des élites, elle, permet une approche pragmatique et centrée sur les acteurs des questions de pouvoir dans la mondialisation. Cette recherche utilise plus particulièrement le concept d'élite du pouvoir de Wright Mills pour étudier l'unification d'élites a priori différentes autour de projets communs. Enfin, cette étude reprend le concept néo-gramscien d'hégémonie afin d'étudier à la fois la stabilité relative du pouvoir d'une élite garantie par la dimension consensuelle de la domination, et les germes de changement contenus dans tout ordre international. A travers l'étude des documents produits au cours de la période étudiée et en s'appuyant sur la création de bases de données sur les réseaux d'acteurs, cette étude s'intéresse aux débats qui ont suivi la commercialisation du réseau au début des années 1990 et aux négociations lors du SMSI. La première période a abouti à la création de l'Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) en 1998. Cette création est le résultat de la recherche d'un consensus entre les discours dominants des années 1990. C'est également le fruit d'une coalition entre intérêts au sein d'une élite du pouvoir de la gouvernance de l'Internet. Cependant, cette institutionnalisation de l'Internet autour de l'ICANN excluait un certain nombre d'acteurs et de discours qui ont depuis tenté de renverser cet ordre. Le SMSI a été le cadre de la remise en cause du mode de gouvernance de l'Internet par les États exclus du système, des universitaires et certaines ONG et organisations internationales. C'est pourquoi le SMSI constitue la seconde période historique étudiée dans cette thèse. La confrontation lors du SMSI a donné lieu à une reconfiguration de l'élite du pouvoir de la gouvernance de l'Internet ainsi qu'à une redéfinition des frontières du champ. Un nouveau projet hégémonique a vu le jour autour d'éléments discursifs tels que le multipartenariat et autour d'insitutions telles que le Forum sur la Gouvernance de l'Internet. Le succès relatif de ce projet a permis une stabilité insitutionnelle inédite depuis la fin du SMSI et une acceptation du discours des élites par un grand nombre d'acteurs du champ. Ce n'est que récemment que cet ordre a été remis en cause par les pouvoirs émergents dans la gouvernance de l'Internet. Cette thèse cherche à contribuer au débat scientifique sur trois plans. Sur le plan théorique, elle contribue à l'essor d'un dialogue entre approches d'économie politique mondiale et de sociologie politique internationale afin d'étudier à la fois les dynamiques structurelles liées au processus de mondialisation et les pratiques localisées des acteurs dans un domaine précis. Elle insiste notamment sur l'apport de les notions de champ et d'élite du pouvoir et sur leur compatibilité avec les anlayses néo-gramsciennes de l'hégémonie. Sur le plan méthodologique, ce dialogue se traduit par une utilisation de méthodes sociologiques telles que l'anlyse de réseaux d'acteurs et de déclarations pour compléter l'analyse qualitative de documents. Enfin, sur le plan empirique, cette recherche offre une perspective originale sur la gouvernance de l'Internet en insistant sur sa dimension historique, en démontrant la fragilité du concept de gouvernance multipartenaire (multistakeholder) et en se focalisant sur les rapports de pouvoir et les liens entre gouvernance de l'Internet et mondialisation. - Internet governance is a recent issue in global politics. However, it gradually became a major political and economic issue. It recently became even more important and now appears regularly in the news. Against this background, this research outlines the history of Internet governance from its emergence as a political issue in the 1980s to the end of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in 2005. Rather than focusing on one or the other institution involved in Internet governance, this research analyses the emergence and historical evolution of a space of struggle affecting a growing number of different actors. This evolution is described through the analysis of the dialectical relation between elites and non-elites and through the struggle around the definition of Internet governance. The thesis explores the question of how the relations among the elites of Internet governance and between these elites and non-elites explain the emergence, the evolution, and the structuration of a relatively autonomous field of world politics centred around Internet governance. Against dominant realist and liberal perspectives, this research draws upon a cross-fertilisation of heterodox international political economy and international political sociology. This approach focuses on concepts such as field, elites and hegemony. The concept of field, as developed by Bourdieu, is increasingly used in International Relations to build a differentiated analysis of globalisation and to describe the emergence of transnational spaces of struggle and domination. Elite sociology allows for a pragmatic actor-centred analysis of the issue of power in the globalisation process. This research particularly draws on Wright Mill's concept of power elite in order to explore the unification of different elites around shared projects. Finally, this thesis uses the Neo-Gramscian concept of hegemony in order to study both the consensual dimension of domination and the prospect of change contained in any international order. Through the analysis of the documents produced within the analysed period, and through the creation of databases of networks of actors, this research focuses on the debates that followed the commercialisation of the Internet throughout the 1990s and during the WSIS. The first time period led to the creation of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in 1998. This creation resulted from the consensus-building between the dominant discourses of the time. It also resulted from the coalition of interests among an emerging power elite. However, this institutionalisation of Internet governance around the ICANN excluded a number of actors and discourses that resisted this mode of governance. The WSIS became the institutional framework within which the governance system was questioned by some excluded states, scholars, NGOs and intergovernmental organisations. The confrontation between the power elite and counter-elites during the WSIS triggered a reconfiguration of the power elite as well as a re-definition of the boundaries of the field. A new hegemonic project emerged around discursive elements such as the idea of multistakeholderism and institutional elements such as the Internet Governance Forum. The relative success of the hegemonic project allowed for a certain stability within the field and an acceptance by most non-elites of the new order. It is only recently that this order began to be questioned by the emerging powers of Internet governance. This research provides three main contributions to the scientific debate. On the theoretical level, it contributes to the emergence of a dialogue between International Political Economy and International Political Sociology perspectives in order to analyse both the structural trends of the globalisation process and the located practices of actors in a given issue-area. It notably stresses the contribution of concepts such as field and power elite and their compatibility with a Neo-Gramscian framework to analyse hegemony. On the methodological level, this perspective relies on the use of mixed methods, combining qualitative content analysis with social network analysis of actors and statements. Finally, on the empirical level, this research provides an original perspective on Internet governance. It stresses the historical dimension of current Internet governance arrangements. It also criticise the notion of multistakeholde ism and focuses instead on the power dynamics and the relation between Internet governance and globalisation.

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BACKGROUND: The concept of meaning in life (MIL) has become a central one in recent years, particularly in psycho-oncology and palliative care. The Schedule for Meaning in Life Evaluation (SMILE) has been developed to allow individuals to choose the life areas that they consider to be important for their own MIL. This approach relates to the "World Health Organisation" definition of quality of life (QOL) as an individual's perception of his own position. The aims of this study were (i) to assess MIL in a representative sample of the Swiss population according to the three linguistic regions and (ii) to evaluate whether MIL constitutes a significant determinant of the perceived QOL. METHODS: A telephone survey of the Swiss population, performed by a professional survey company, was conducted between November and December 2013. The interview included the SMILE, perceived QOL (0-10) and health status (1-5), and various sociodemographic variables. In the SMILE, an index of weighting (IOW, 20-100), an index of satisfaction (IOS, 0-100), and a total SMILE index (IOWS, 0-100) are calculated from the areas mentioned by the participants as providing MIL. RESULTS: Among the 6671 telephonic contacts realized, 1015 (15 %) participants completed the survey: 405 French, 400 German and 210 Italian participants. "Family" (80.2 %), "occupation/work" (51 %), and "social relations" (43.3 %) were the most cited MIL-relevant categories. Italian participants listed "health" more frequently than German and French participants (50.4 % vs 31.5 % and 24.8 % respectively, χ(2) = 12.229, p = .002). Age, gender, education, employment, and marital status significantly influenced either the MIL scores or the MIL-relevant categories. Linear regression analyses indicate that 24.3 % of the QOL variance (p = .000) is explained by health status (B = .609, IC = .490-.728, p = .000), MIL (B = .034, IC = .028-.041, p = .000) and socioeconomic status (F = 11.01, p = .000). CONCLUSION: The major finding of our analysis highlights the positive and significant influence of MIL on the perceived QOL in a representative sample of a general, multilingual and multicultural population. This result indicates that the existential dimension is not only determinant for QOL in some critical life events, as shown e.g. in psycho-oncology and palliative care, but also in everyday life.

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The paper first sketches out a reply to the underdetermination challenge and the incommensurability challenge that rebuts the sceptical conclusions of these challenges and that is sufficient to lay the ground for the project of a metaphysics of nature. That metaphysics is as hypothetical as are our scientific theories. The paper then explains how can one can argue for certain views in the metaphysics of nature based on our current fundamental physical theories, namely the commitments to a tenseless theory of time and existence instead of a tensed one, to events instead of substances, and to relations instead of intrinsic properties. Finally, the paper mentions the themes of causation, laws and dispositions.

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The eastern part of the Western Cordillera of Ecuador includes fragments of an Early Cretaceous ( approximate to 123 Ma) oceanic plateau accreted around 85-80 Ma (San Juan unit). West of this unit and in fault contact with it, another oceanic plateau sequence (Guaranda unit) is marked by the occurrence of picrites, ankaramites, basalts, dolerites and shallow level gabbros. A comparable unit is also exposed in northwestern coastal Ecuador (Pedernales unit). Picrites have LREE-depleted patterns, high epsilonNd(i) and very low Pb isotopic ratios, suggesting that they were derived from an extremely depleted source. In contrast, the ankaramites and Mg-rich basalts are LREE-enriched and have radiogenic Pb isotopic compositions similar to the Galapagos HIMU component; their epsilonNd(i) are slightly lower than those of the picrites. Basalts, dolerites and gabbros differ from the picrites and ankaramites by flat rare earth element (REE) patterns and lower epsilonNd; their Pb isotopic compositions are intermediate between those of the picrites and ankaramites. The ankaramites, Mg-rich basalts, and picrites differ from the lavas from the San Juan-Multitud Unit by higher Pb ratios and lower epsilonNd(i). The Ecuadorian and Gorgona 88-86 Ma picrites are geochemically similar. The Ecuadorian ankaramites and Mg-rich basalts share with the 92-86 Ma Mg-rich basalts of the Caribbean-Colombian Oceanic Plateau (CCOP) similar trace element and Nd and Pb isotopic chemistry. This suggests that the Pedernales and Guaranda units belong to the Late Cretaceous CCOR The geochemical diversity of the Guaranda and Pedernales rocks illustrates the heterogeneity of the CCOP plume source and suggests a multi-stage model for the emplacement of these rocks. Stratigraphic and geological relations strongly suggest that the Guaranda unit was accreted in the late Maastrichtian (approximate to 68-65 Ma). (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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After decades of stability, Switzerland's unions entered a period of turbulence in the early 1990s: their status as junior partner in the corporatist growth pact was challenged by the economic crisis, business organizations' neoliberal turn and an abrupt decline in membership. These challenges put unions under pressure to initiate revitalization efforts. They first responded by investing more resources into political action, using direct democratic instruments to block neoliberal reforms. In parallel, they adopted new means of recruitment, affiliating white-collar unions, targeting private services and resorting more frequently to strikes. Finally, they rationalized their organizational structure through a series of union mergers.

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This article analyzes if, and to what extent, the public service motivation (PSM) construct has an added value to explain work motivation in the public sector. In order to address the specificity of PSM when studying work motivation, the theoretical model underlying this empirical study compares PSM with two other explanatory factors: material incentives, such as performance-related pay, and team relations and support, such as recognition by superiors. This theoretical model is then tested with data collected in a national survey of 3,754 civil servants at the Swiss municipal level. Results of a structural equations model clearly show the relevance of PSM. They also provide evidence for the importance of socio-relational motivating factors, whereas material incentives play an anecdotal role.

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Managing fisheries resources to maintain healthy ecosystems is one of the main goals of the ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF). While a number of international treaties call for the implementation of EAF, there are still gaps in the underlying methodology. One aspect that has received substantial scientific attention recently is fisheries-induced evolution (FIE). Increasing evidence indicates that intensive fishing has the potential to exert strong directional selection on life-history traits, behaviour, physiology, and morphology of exploited fish. Of particular concern is that reversing evolutionary responses to fishing can be much more difficult than reversing demographic or phenotypically plastic responses. Furthermore, like climate change, multiple agents cause FIE, with effects accumulating over time. Consequently, FIE may alter the utility derived from fish stocks, which in turn can modify the monetary value living aquatic resources provide to society. Quantifying and predicting the evolutionary effects of fishing is therefore important for both ecological and economic reasons. An important reason this is not happening is the lack of an appropriate assessment framework. We therefore describe the evolutionary impact assessment (EvoIA) as a structured approach for assessing the evolutionary consequences of fishing and evaluating the predicted evolutionary outcomes of alternative management options. EvoIA can contribute to EAF by clarifying how evolution may alter stock properties and ecological relations, support the precautionary approach to fisheries management by addressing a previously overlooked source of uncertainty and risk, and thus contribute to sustainable fisheries.

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Mountains and mountain societies provide a wide range of goods and services to humanity, but they are particularly sensitive to the effects of global environmental change. Thus, the definition of appropriate management regimes that maintain the multiple functions of mountain regions in a time of greatly changing climatic, economic, and societal drivers constitutes a significant challenge. Management decisions must be based on a sound understanding of the future dynamics of these systems. The present article reviews the elements required for an integrated effort to project the impacts of global change on mountain regions, and recommends tools that can be used at 3 scientific levels (essential, improved, and optimum). The proposed strategy is evaluated with respect to UNESCO's network of Mountain Biosphere Reserves (MBRs), with the intention of implementing it in other mountain regions as well. First, methods for generating scenarios of key drivers of global change are reviewed, including land use/land cover and climate change. This is followed by a brief review of the models available for projecting the impacts of these scenarios on (1) cryospheric systems, (2) ecosystem structure and diversity, and (3) ecosystem functions such as carbon and water relations. Finally, the cross-cutting role of remote sensing techniques is evaluated with respect to both monitoring and modeling efforts. We conclude that a broad range of techniques is available for both scenario generation and impact assessments, many of which can be implemented without much capacity building across many or even most MBRs. However, to foster implementation of the proposed strategy, further efforts are required to establish partnerships between scientists and resource managers in mountain areas.

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The aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) in a French-speaking Swiss sample and its relationship with personality dimensions and work engagement. The heterogeneous sample of 391 participants (Mage = 39.59, SD = 12.30) completed the CAAS-International and a short version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. To assess personality dimensions, participants completed either the Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire (n=283) or the NEO-FFI-R (n=108). The internal consistencies for the four subscales and total scores of the CAAS ranged from good to excellent, and skewness and kurtosis values indicated that scores were normally distributed. Gender differences and cor- relations with age were small or negligible. Several CFA models confirmed the factor structure of the French version of the CAAS-International, with loadings very similar to the ones observed for the international form. Adaptability was related to different personality dimensions, particularly neuroticism and conscientiousness, and also to work engagement. When predicting work engage- ment, career adaptability had a significant incremental validity over personality dimensions. Fi- nally, career adaptability partially moderated the relationship between personality and work engagement, suggesting that career adaptability also contributes to regulating the expression of personality dispositions.

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At the beginning of the 1990s, the concept of "European integration" could still be said to be fairly unambiguous. Nowadays, it has become plural and complex almost to the point of unintelligibility. This is due, of course, to the internal differentiation of EU membership, with several Member States pulling out of key integrative projects such as establishing an area without frontiers, the "Schengen" area, and a common currency. But this is also due to the differentiated extension of key integrative projects to European non-EU countries - Schengen is again a case in point. Such processes of "integration without membership", the focus of the present publication, are acquiring an ever-growing topicality both in the political arena and in academia. International relations between the EU and its neighbouring countries are crucial for both, and their development through new agreements features prominently on the continent's political agenda. Over and above this aspect, the dissemination of EU values and standards beyond the Union's borders raises a whole host of theoretical and methodological questions, unsettling in some cases traditional conceptions of the autonomy and separation of national legal orders. This publication brings together the papers presented at the Integration without EU Membership workshop held in May 2008 at the EUI (Max Weber Programme and Department of Law). It aims to compare different models and experiences of integration between the EU, on the one hand, and those European countries that do not currently have an accession perspective on the other hand. In delimiting the geographical scope of the inquiry, so as to scale it down to manageable proportions, the guiding principles have been to include both the "Eastern" and "Western" neighbours of the EU, and to examine both structured frameworks of cooperation, such as the European Neighbourhood Policy and the European Economic Area, and bilateral relations developing on a more ad hoc basis. These principles are reflected in the arrangement of the papers, which consider in turn the positions of Ukraine, Russia, Norway, and Switzerland in European integration - current standing, perspectives for evolution, consequences in terms of the EU-ization of their respective legal orders1. These subjects are examined from several perspectives. We had the privilege of receiving contributions from leading practitioners and scholars from the countries concerned, from EU highranking officials, from prominent specialists in EU external relations law, and from young and talented researchers. We wish to thank them all here for their invaluable insights. We are moreover deeply indebted to Marise Cremona (EUI, Law Department, EUI) for her inspiring advice and encouragement, as well as to Ramon Marimon, Karin Tilmans, Lotte Holm, Alyson Price and Susan Garvin (Max Weber Programme, EUI) for their unflinching support throughout this project. A word is perhaps needed on the propriety and usefulness of the research concept embodied in this publication. Does it make sense to compare the integration models and experiences of countries as different as Norway, Russia, Switzerland, and Ukraine? Needless to say, this list of four evokes a staggering diversity of political, social, cultural, and economic conditions, and at least as great a diversity of approaches to European integration. Still, we would argue that such diversity only makes comparisons more meaningful. Indeed, while the particularities and idiosyncratic elements of each "model" of integration are fully displayed in the present volume, common themes and preoccupations run through the pages of every contribution: the difficulty in conceptualizing the finalité and essence of integration, which is evident in the EU today but which is greatly amplified for non-EU countries; the asymmetries and tradeoffs between integration and autonomy that are inherent in any attempt to participate in European integration from outside; the alteration of deeply seated legal concepts, and concepts about the law, that are already observable in the most integrated of the non-EU countries concerned. These issues are not transient or coincidental: they are inextricably bound up with the integration of non-EU countries in the EU project. By publishing this collection, we make no claim to have dealt with them in an exhaustive, still less in a definitive manner. Our ambition is more modest: to highlight the relevance of these themes, to place them more firmly on the scientific agenda, and to provide a stimulating basis for future research and reflection.

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[Narrative and the Diagrammatic. Preliminary Thoughts and Seven Theses.] This article proposes a view of narrative that does not depend on the traditional perspective of temporal sequence but emphasizes the spatial structure of literary narrative. Contrary to the prevalent treatment of space in narrative theory, the notion of spatiality in this context refers not to the space that is represented by the narrative (e.g. the setting and other spatial elements of the fictional world) but to the space that represents it: first, the graphic surface of the text; second, the (quasi-)spatial mental representation of its content that is produced in the process of reception. It is argued that these conditions form the primary ontological mode of narrative, whereas the temporal development of a story is an aesthetic illusion that has been specifically stimulated by the narrative conventions of approximately the past three centuries and must thus be considered a secondary effect. The diagrammatic, as a way of both depicting data and perceiving relations through spatial representation, thus forms a more adequate methodological approach to understanding narrative structure than approaches that are implicitly derived from the 'grammar' of narrative in the structuralist sense and its sequential logic.

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