Eastern Policy of the EU: the Visegrad Countries' Perspective. OSW Point of View, February 2003

1. After its enlargement, scheduled for 2004, the European Union will face a completely new situation at its eastern borders. This new situation calls for a new concept of the EU eastern activities, i.e. for development of the new Eastern Policy of the EU. 2. Due to a number of specific features such as geographical location, closeness of ties, direct risk factors etc., the Visegrad countries will and should be particularly interested in the process of formulating the new EU Eastern Policy. Consequently, they should be the co-makers of this policy. 3. The new EU Eastern Policy should differ fundamentally from the Union's traditional eastern relations. Firstly, its scope should not cover the entire CIS area: instead, the policy should focus on some of the European successor states of the former Soviet Union, namely Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, as well as Moldova, following the accession of Romania. It does not seem advisable to exclude the Russian Federation from this policy and to develop and implement a separate policy towards it. The new Eastern Policy should be an autonomous component and one of the most important elements in the overall foreign policy of the EU. 4. Secondly, the new Eastern Policy should be founded on the following two pillars: a region-oriented strategy, which could be called the Eastern Dimension, and reshaped strategies for individual countries. The Eastern Dimension should set up a universal framework of co-operation, defining its basic mechanisms and objectives. These should include: the adaptation assistance programme, JHA, transborder co-operation, social dialogue and transport infrastructures. The approach, however, should be kept flexible, taking into account the specific situation of each country. This purpose should be served by keeping in place the existing bilateral institutional contacts between the EU and each of its eastern neighbours, and by developing a national strategy for each neighbour.

The language issue in Ukraine: An attempt at a new perspective. OSW Study 40/2012

Ukraine has been an independent state for only 20 years and the consequence of the long-term incorporation of Ukrainian lands into the Russian/Soviet state is an ethnically mixed society. In Ukraine, alongside Ukrainians, there are very many Russians and members of other nationalities of the former Soviet Union as well as a still large group of people who identify themselves as Soviets (in terms of their nationality). A significant part of Ukrainians use Russian in their everyday life (particularly professional) while knowing Ukrainian to only a small degree or not at all. Due to this Kyiv has to implement a language policy (which does not have to be pursued in e.g. Poland or Hungary) in search of solutions to ensure the stable functioning of a modern state for a multilingual society. The language issue is therefore an important challenge for the Ukrainian state and one of the more significant issues in Ukraine’s internal politics. In this text I eschew a detailed analysis of the question of Crimea as its social dynamics (also in the language area) is clearly distinct from the remaining part of Ukraine for four reasons: the short-term character of the region’s links with Ukraine, its relative geographic isolation (Crimea is almost an island), the formal autonomy of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and the presence of the Crimean Tatar community which is demanding the recognition of its language rights.

Mutual recognition in goods and services: an economic perspective. Bruges European Economic Policy (BEEP) Briefing 2/2002

Mutual recognition is a remarkable innovation facilitating economic intercourse across borders. In the EU's internal goods market it has been helpful in tackling or avoiding the remaining obstacles, namely, regulatory barriers between Member States. However, there is a curious paradox. Despite the almost universal acclaim of the great merits of mutual recognition the principle has, in and by itself, contributed only modestly to the actual realisation of free movement in the single market. It is also surprising that economists have not or hardly underpinned their widespread appreciation for the principle by providing rigorous analysis which could substantiate the case for mutual recognition for policy makers. Business in Europe has shown a sense of disenc hantment with the principle because of the many costs and uncertainties in its application in actual practice. The purpose of the present paper is to provide the economic and strategic arguments for employing mutual recognition much more systematically in the single market for goods and services. The strategic and the "welfare" gains are analysed and adetailed exposition of the fairly high information , transaction and compliance costs is provided. The information costs derive from the fact that mutual recognition remains a distant abstraction for day-to-day business life. Understandably, verifying the "equivalence" of objectives of health and safety between Member States is perceived as difficult and uncertain. This sentiment is exacerbated by the complications of interpreting the equivalence of "effects". In actual practice, these abstractions are expected to override clear and specific national product or services rules, which local inspectors or traders may find problematic without guidance. The paper enumerates several other costs including, inter alia, the absence of sectoral rule books and the next-to-prohibitive costs of monitoring of the application of the principle. The basic problems in applying mutual recognition in the entire array of services are inspected, showing why the principle can only be used in a limited number of services markets and even there it may contribute only modestly to genuine free movement and competitive exposure. A special section is devoted to a range of practical illustrations of the difficulties business experiences when relying on mutual recognition. Finally, the corollary of mutual recognition - regulatory competition - is discussed in terms of a cost/benefits analysis compared to what is often said to be the alternative , that is "harmonisation" , in EU parlance the "new approach" to approximation. The conclusion is that the manifold benefits of mutual recognition for Europe are too great to allow the present ambiguities to continue. The Union needs much more pro-active approaches to reduce the costs of mutual recognition as well as permanent monitoring structures for its application to services (analogous to those already successfully functioning in goods markets). Above all, what is required is a "mutual recognition culture" so that the EU can better enjoy the fruits of its own regulatory ingenuity.

Preventing Social Death in Long Term Care: Fostering Social Connectivity in the U.S. and The Netherlands. ACES Working Papers, July 2012

Long term care (LTC) is both costly and of increasing concern as baby boomers age and more people live longer with chronic conditions. Today, people receive formal and informal LTC supports in homes, nursing homes, and alternative settings around the world. Where people live and the way LTC is delivered has an important impact on whether person’s receiving care thrive as they age. This paper is about how different LTC environments in the U.S. and The Netherlands foster or impede social connectivity, suggesting that quality of life will be impeded and types of social death, or disconnection from social life, more often the result in environments that limit choice and self determination, limit access to privacy and social connection, and limit access to reciprocal exchanges, a key component of participating in relationships typical of the concept of “the gift” introduced by anthropologist Marcel Mauss in 1954. Building on ethnographic data from a 15-month study of LTC in The Netherlands and a review of staffing practices in LTC environments in the U.S. and The Netherlands, I will explore concepts of reciprocity and social connectivity impacted by various LTC environments in two countries known to experiment with different models of care. This research builds on social constructivist notions of death and dying explored throughout this edited volume and adds to this effort examination of social death in anthropological perspective.

The Path to European Integration: A Historical Institutionalist Perspective, CES Germany & Europe Working Papers, No. 05.2, 25 October 1994

Many European and American observers of the EC have criticized "intergovemmentalist" ac­ counts for exaggerating the extent of member state control over the process of European integra­ tion. This essay seeks to ground these criticisms in a "historical institutionalist" account that stresses the need to study European integration as a political process which unfolds over time. Such a perspective highlights the limits of member-state control over long-term institutional de­ velopment, due to preoccupation with shorHerm concerns, the ubiquity of unintended conse­ quences, and processes that "lock in" past decusions and make reassertions of member-state control difficult. Brief examination of the evolution of social policy in the EC suggests the limita­ tions of treating the EC as an international regime facilitating collective action among essentially sovereign states. It is ore useful to view integration as a "path-dependent" process that has pro­ duced a fragmented but still discernible "multitiered" European polity.

The Upper Guinea Coast in Global Perspective /

For centuries, Africa’s Upper Guinea Coast region has been the site of regional and global interactions, with societies from different parts of the world engaging in economic trade, cultural exchange, and conflict. This book examines how such encounters have continued into the present day. This title was made Open Access by libraries from around the world through Knowledge Unlatched.

Políticas académicas y reconocimiento social en universitarios de Educación Física de la UNLP : El diseño de la investigación

Este trabajo se propone socializar e intercambiar con la comunidad académica de la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación (FaHCE) la construcción del proyecto de tesis de maestría. Dicho proyecto busca comprender la construcción del reconocimiento social de un grupo de universitarios de Educación Física (EF) de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP) a partir de su participación en políticas académicas entre 1992 y 2004. La investigación se focaliza en las prácticas, estrategias y formas de sociabilidad vinculadas a la legitimación de su campo disciplinar y su carrera en la FaHCE, en un período histórico particularmente intenso en cuanto al diseño y desarrollo de políticas académicas ligadas a la revisión curricular, la formación académica y la producción científica. El trabajo se plantea analizar, desde la perspectiva de los actores, las formas de apropiación y resignificación actual de esas políticas, prácticas, estrategias y formas de sociabilidad con relación a la configuración identitaria de la EF como disciplina académica. El enfoque teórico y metodológico de la investigación localiza a los actores objeto de estudio a partir de su participación en una compleja y cambiante trama de relaciones y prácticas sociales diversas (disciplinares, corporativas, profesionales, políticas y personales). Asimismo, se indagan los sentidos que construyeron en cuanto al reconocimiento social logrado en el presente, tanto de su campo disciplinar como carrera en la FaHCE-UNLP

Políticas académicas y reconocimiento social en universitarios de Educación Física de la UNLP : El diseño de la investigación

Este trabajo se propone socializar e intercambiar con la comunidad académica de la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación (FaHCE) la construcción del proyecto de tesis de maestría. Dicho proyecto busca comprender la construcción del reconocimiento social de un grupo de universitarios de Educación Física (EF) de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP) a partir de su participación en políticas académicas entre 1992 y 2004. La investigación se focaliza en las prácticas, estrategias y formas de sociabilidad vinculadas a la legitimación de su campo disciplinar y su carrera en la FaHCE, en un período histórico particularmente intenso en cuanto al diseño y desarrollo de políticas académicas ligadas a la revisión curricular, la formación académica y la producción científica. El trabajo se plantea analizar, desde la perspectiva de los actores, las formas de apropiación y resignificación actual de esas políticas, prácticas, estrategias y formas de sociabilidad con relación a la configuración identitaria de la EF como disciplina académica. El enfoque teórico y metodológico de la investigación localiza a los actores objeto de estudio a partir de su participación en una compleja y cambiante trama de relaciones y prácticas sociales diversas (disciplinares, corporativas, profesionales, políticas y personales). Asimismo, se indagan los sentidos que construyeron en cuanto al reconocimiento social logrado en el presente, tanto de su campo disciplinar como carrera en la FaHCE-UNLP

Políticas académicas y reconocimiento social en universitarios de Educación Física de la UNLP : El diseño de la investigación

Este trabajo se propone socializar e intercambiar con la comunidad académica de la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación (FaHCE) la construcción del proyecto de tesis de maestría. Dicho proyecto busca comprender la construcción del reconocimiento social de un grupo de universitarios de Educación Física (EF) de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP) a partir de su participación en políticas académicas entre 1992 y 2004. La investigación se focaliza en las prácticas, estrategias y formas de sociabilidad vinculadas a la legitimación de su campo disciplinar y su carrera en la FaHCE, en un período histórico particularmente intenso en cuanto al diseño y desarrollo de políticas académicas ligadas a la revisión curricular, la formación académica y la producción científica. El trabajo se plantea analizar, desde la perspectiva de los actores, las formas de apropiación y resignificación actual de esas políticas, prácticas, estrategias y formas de sociabilidad con relación a la configuración identitaria de la EF como disciplina académica. El enfoque teórico y metodológico de la investigación localiza a los actores objeto de estudio a partir de su participación en una compleja y cambiante trama de relaciones y prácticas sociales diversas (disciplinares, corporativas, profesionales, políticas y personales). Asimismo, se indagan los sentidos que construyeron en cuanto al reconocimiento social logrado en el presente, tanto de su campo disciplinar como carrera en la FaHCE-UNLP

The role of Community Health Workers. Historical perspective of facilitators and barriers. Case study in Vaupés, Colombia

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

The influence of social communications networks on intentions to purchase on the web

Despite the increased offering of online communication channels to support web-based retail systems, there is limited marketing research that investigates how these channels act singly, or in combination with offline channels, to influence an individual's intention to purchase online. If the marketer's strategy is to encourage online transactions, this requires a focus on consumer acceptance of the web-based transaction technology, rather than the purchase of the products per se. The exploratory study reported in this paper examines normative influences from referent groups in an individual's on and offline social communication networks that might affect their intention to use online transaction facilities. The findings suggest that for non-adopters, there is no normative influence from referents in either network. For adopters, one online and one offline referent norm positively influenced this group's intentions to use online transaction facilities. The implications of these findings are discussed together with future research directions.

Criticizing groups from the inside and the outside: An identity perspective on the intergroup sensitivity effect

Research on group criticism has demonstrated that criticisms are received less defensively when made by an ingroup member than when made by an outsider (the intergroup sensitivity effect). Three experiments tested the extent to which this effect is driven by social identity concerns or by judgments of how experienced the source of the criticism is. In Experiments I and 2, Australians who criticized Australia (ingroup critics) were met with less defensiveness than were foreigners who criticized Australia (outgroup critics), regardless of the amount of experience the foreigner had with Australia. Furthermore, the effects of speaker type on evaluations were mediated by perceptions of the extent to which the criticisms were intended to be constructive but not by perceptions of experience. Finally, Experiment 3 indicated that although experience does not help outgroup critics, a lack of experience can hurt ingroup critics. Recommendations are provided as to how people can reduce defensiveness when making group criticisms.

Rethinking regionalism: Europe and East Asia in comparative historical perspective

Regionally based processes of political and economic integration, security co-operation, and even social identification have become increasingly important and prominent parts of the international system. Nowhere have such processes gone further than in Western Europe. Somewhat surprisingly, similar patterns of regional integration have been steadily developing in East Asia - a region many observers consider unlikely to replicate the European experience. This paper uses an historically grounded comparative approach to examine the historical preconditions that underpinned the formation of the European Union, and then contrasts them with the situation in East Asia today. While the overall geopolitical and specific national contexts are very different, such an analysis highlights surprising similarities and differences, particularly in the role played by the United States in both periods. A comparative analysis allows us to understand and rethink the incentives for, and constraints on, regional integrative processes.

Making media work in space: An interdisciplinary perspective on media and communication requirements for current and future space communities

As humans expand into space communities will form. These have already begun to form in small ways, such as long-duration missions on the International Space Station and the space shuttle, and small-scale tourist excursions into space. Social, behavioural and communications data emerging from such existing communities in space suggest that the physically-bounded, work-oriented and traditionally male-dominated nature of these extremely remote groups present specific problems for the resident astronauts, groups of them viewed as ‘communities’, and their associated groups who remain on Earth, including mission controllers, management and astronauts’ families. Notionally feminine group attributes such as adaptive competence, social adaptation skills and social sensitivity will be crucial to the viability of space communities and in the absence of gender equity, ‘staying in touch’ by means of ‘news from home’ becomes more important than ever. A template of news and media forms and technologies is suggested to service those needs and enhance the social viability of future terraforming activities.