The European Union Foreign Policy in the Caucasus and Central Asia: The Limitations of the Opening towards the East

This article intends to study the evolution of the European Union foreign policy in the Southern Caucasus and Central Area throughout the Post-Cold War era. The aim is to analyze Brussels’ fundamental interests and limitations in the area, the strategies it has implemented in the last few years, and the extent to which the EU has been able to undermine the regional hegemons’ traditional supremacy. As will be highlighted, the Community’s chronic weaknesses, the local determination to preserve sovereignty and an increasing international geopolitical competition undermine any European aspiration to become a pre-eminent actor at the heart of the Eurasian continent in the near future.

Paläowind-Indikatoren : Möglichkeiten, Grenzen und Probleme ihrer Anwendung am Beispiel des Weichsel-Hochglazials in Europa

In the first paragraphs of this paper a survey of the most ap- proved paleowind indicators is given. Methods, limitations and Problems of their Interpretation are discussed. The following indicators and their attributes are considered: loess, sandy loess (attributes: Sediment thickness, grain size, mineral compo- sition, sediment structure and morphology), paleosoils, vulcano- eolian Sediments, deep sea Sediments and paleo snowlines. In the second part of this paper the wind regimes predominating in Europe during the Weichselian glacial maximum are recon- structed based on information from more than 170 publications with interpretations of paleowind indicators. The results are presented in two survey maps. The most significant result is to indicate two competing wind regimes existing during the glacial maximum. In the immediate vicinity of the Fennoscandian glaciation and in eastern Europe paleowind indicators document easterly and north easterly anti- cyclonic winds; in central and Western Europe they show westerly winds originated in cyclones coming from the North Atlantic. Some modifications of the wind pattern are induced by local and regional morphological conditions (e.g. the Upper Rhine valley, the east rim of the Carpathian Mountains). In general and compared with previous investigations the study points to a more differentiated pattern of atmospheric circula- tion during the Weichselian Pleniglacial influenced by variing topographical, paleoecological and meteorological factors.

Os movimentos migratórios para a Europa : Implicações para a Segurança Nacional

Os recentes movimentos migratórios para a Europa decorrentes da atual crise de refugiados é dos temas mais debatidos na atualidade. A instabilidade em países de África e do Médio Oriente, associada a Estados frágeis, cujas instituições deixaram de exercer o efetivo controlo, desenvolvendo-se sob a forma de conflitos armados, muitas vezes fundamentados em radicalismos de natureza étnica, religiosa e ideológica, estão na base das principais causas que provocaram os recentes movimentos migratórios descontrolados e sem precedentes. Estes massivos fluxos migratórios, terão necessariamente repercussões a vários níveis quer sobre as populações deslocadas, quer sobre as comunidades de acolhimento. As migrações atuais adquirem novos contornos, que nos levam a inserir este tema na agenda de investigação dos estudos de segurança. É neste âmbito que surge a investigação intitulada “Os Movimentos Migratórios para a Europa – Implicações para a Segurança Nacional”, que tal como o tema sugere, tem como objetivo primordial apurar quais as principais implicações para a segurança de Portugal, decorrentes dos atuais movimentos migratórios para a Europa, acabando também por propor algumas medidas de nível estratégico e operacional que permitam minorar os impactos na segurança. Assim sendo, a metodologia utilizada nesta investigação tem por base o método de investigação hipotético-dedutivo, que para a validação ou não das respetivas hipóteses formuladas, recorreu-se à realização de entrevistas a entidades que muito têm a dizer sobre esta temática. Conclui-se com a presente investigação que, apesar de Portugal, não fazer parte dos principais destinos desta recente vaga de imigrantes, e de as consequências destes massivos movimentos migratórios não serem fáceis de prever a médio e longo prazo, o nosso país, como parte integrante da UE e signatário do acordo de Schengen, depara-se com um conjunto de ameaças de natureza global, que podendo ser potenciadas por este fenómeno, também podem colocar em causa a nossa segurança.

Re-booting regional planning in South East Queensland

This Issues Paper presents the outcomes of a recent seminar which addressed the theme of 'Re-Booting Regional Planning in South East Queensland'. The seminar was held at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, in June 2004. The seminar brought together a wide range of state and local government, community, private sector and scholarly participants, including members of the Urban Policy Program. This report provides an overview of the context for the seminar, the problems faced by the South East Queensland region which the seminar seeks to address and indentifies outcomes and proposals for future directions arising from the seminar dicussions.

Urban sustainability and growth management in south-east Asian city-regions : the case of Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong

Major South-East Asian city-regions have experienced considerable physical, economic and social transformations during the past three decades. The rapid pace of globalisation and economic restructuring has resulted in these city-regions receiving the full impact of urbanisation pressures. In an attempt to ease these pressures, city-regions such as Bangkok, Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei, Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur have advocate growth management approaches giving particular interest to urban sustainability. These approaches promote efforts to achieve the triple bottom line sustainability by balancing economic and social development, and environmental protection, and putting more emphasis on compact and optimum development of urban forms. This paper evaluates the case of two South-East Asian city-regions, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong, and assesses their experiences in managing their urban forms whilst promoting sustainable patterns of urban development. The findings show that sustainable urban development initiatives employing a top down approach has yielded encouraging results in these case study city-regions. However the need for a more concerted effort towards the overall sustainability agenda still remains vital.