European Concept Research Articles

Homo homini tigris: Thomas Hobbes and the global images of sovereignty

This article addresses the modern concept of sovereignty as a multivocal and conflictual semantic field, arguing for the necessity to trace its genealogy based on the structural tensions that haunt its logical framework – as well as its representations – rather than on a linear historiographic reconstruction. In particular, the scrutiny I propose aims to examine a series of exchanges that have been characterizing this concept since the beginning: the global and the European, the maritime and the territorial, the colony and the state, the imperial and the proprietary. The problematic balance between ‘imperium’ and ‘dominium’ is indeed assumed here as the turning point of the rise of a sovereign power that appears to be originally rooted in the very production and governance of the global space, thus giving up all possible Eurocentric narratives of modernity. To illustrate my argument, I focus on the frontispieces to three of Thomas Hobbes’s most important books, that is, his translation of Thucydides’ Peloponnesian Wars, De Cive and Leviathan. A thorough analysis of these images enables us to understand how these lines of force traverse the very heart of modern European political concepts, along with the mirroring effects that constantly bounce their normative construction of subjectivity back and forth from the periphery to the centre and, ultimately, from the market to the state.

European Concept of Research Infrastructure Development: the Possibility to Adapt the Experience of EU Scientific Infrastructures Formation for Use in Russia

In the article, the authors examine objects of scientific infrastructure, identify four types of large research infrastructures and analyze their functioning. Particular attention has paid to the study of practical experience and the specifics of organizing the work of research infrastructures in the EU, including the category of collective use of megascienceclass scientific complexes. The authors draw conclusions and recommendations on the use of the EU’s positive experience in this area for the organization of research infrastructure in Russia.

Agency versus Insurgency

Agency versus Insurgency

Technologization of human of the postmodern age as a challenge to the natural reality of the earth

Object of research: technology as a component of human social life in the context of the postmodern era.
 Investigated problem: determination of the features of the influence of technological processes on a person of the postmodern era, as a result of which the natural is replaced by an artificial one and the images of both man and the Earth change.
 Main scientific results: the study of the contradictions of the process of technologization in the postmodern era made it possible to determine the transformation processes taking place in the life of a person and society. This defines social reality, represented by various markers, among which technology is gaining in importance. The latter act as a composite, which provides new opportunities for determining the relationship between the elements of the "world - man - culture" system. It is not only about the emergence of new human figures, among which the technological man (Homo Technologicus) occupies a prominent place, but also the emergence of a new image of the Earth, where the natural is replaced by the technological.
 The scope of practical use of the research results: the research results can be used in teaching normative courses "Philosophical Anthropology", "Ethics", "Sociology" for students and undergraduates, graduate students of humanitarian and natural faculties.
 Innovative technological product: the plurality of existing technologies (economic, medical, educational, humanitarian, etc.) destroys the new European concept of culture and man, which were provided within the framework of the monoparadigm. The anthropological dimension of technology testifies that the latter are beginning to act as a condition for human expansion. This situation has a significant impact on the existentials of human existence.
 The scope of using the innovative technological product: the intensive technologization of the last decades not only provokes environmental risks and changes the state of the Earth, the natural reality of the Earth is replaced by an artificial one, which allows to conclude that the Earth is formed by a technological one.

Insanity in a Sea of Islands: Mobility and Mental Health in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Pacific Sphere

This article builds upon the fragmentary historical evidence of mental illness and mental health within South Pacific societies to explore the nexus with migration and mobility. The focus is on the Pacific territories that were under Aotearoa New Zealand’s jurisdiction. The article explores concepts of mental health and mobility within Pacific societies that became entangled with European concepts to designate insanity. The paper then discusses how mental illnesses were exacerbated or induced through migration and travel across the Pacific. The last section explores the transfer of mentally ill patients from some Pacific islands to Aotearoa. This article is based upon the 2018 J. D. Stout Lecture at Victoria University of Wellington.

Российское просвещение как источник формирования национальной философии

The study is devoted to the philosophical understanding of the problem of the cultural origins of Russian philosophy. In the author’s opinion, the source of diversity of modern approaches to the phenomenon of Russian Philosophy is, first of all, the absence of a unified methodological approach. The diversity of research on the phenomenon of the Russian philosophy origins is also a consequence of research susceptibility to certain methodological influences. The paper aims to identify a number of philosophical, historical, literary approaches to the problem of the genesis of the eighteenth century Russian Enlightenment. It is necessary to clarify the mechanisms and procedures for the reception of Western European ideas and concepts by Russian Enlightenment during the eighteenth century. On the basis of adaptation of natural law terms, the author considers certain trends in the theory of reconstruction of the Enlightenment phenomenon in Russia. He reveals a number of significant features of the process of reconstruction of the Enlightenment ideology formation on Russian soil, including the idea that European concepts and theories are assimilated by the domestic semiosphere in the form in which they existed in the culture of the West. The author highlights the idea, that researchers were convinced that Russia of the XVIII century already had a national philosophy. The paper also draws attention to the lack of analytical interest in the problems of transformation of the language of expression of political phenomena. In the same row, there is also the idea that the process of reception of the enlightenment heritage of the West had a revolutionary, not an evolutionary, specificity, and was devoid of cultural prerequisites. Basing on the material of historical and historical-philosophical studies, the author considers the possibilities of constructing a methodologically integral reconstruction, chronologically covering the entire period of the XVIII century. The research methodology is based on the approach that includes an analytical description of the problems of the thematic fields of discourse, concepts and theories of the Enlightenment on the Russian soil. The result of the analysis is the systematization of contradictions in the process of analyzing the phenomena of the Russian Enlightenment in the XVIII century.

The Importance of Indigenous Cartography and Toponymy to Historical Land Tenure and Contributions to Euro/American/Canadian Cartography

Indigenous maps are critical in understanding the historic and current land tenure of Indigenous groups. Furthermore, Indigenous claims to land can be seen in their connections via toponymy. European concepts of territory and political boundaries did not coincide with First Nation/American Indian views, resulting in the mistaken view that Natives did not have formal concepts of their territories. And Tribes/First Nations with cross-border territory have special jurisdictional problems. This paper illustrates how many Native residents were very spatially aware of their own lands, as well as neighboring nations’ lands, overlaps between groups, hunting territories, populations, and trade networks. Finally, the Sinixt First Nation serve as a perfect example of a case study on how an Aboriginal people are currently inputting and using a GIS representation of their territory with proper toponymy and use areas.

CONCEPTS AS A TOOL OF SPATIAL PLANNING. GERMAN EXPERIENCE

One of the most important instruments of territorial management and planning strategy is the formation and management decisions based on different models that vary the ratio of interrelated elements and processes: regional (spatial) planning and socio-economic. The choice of the basic model of strategic planning is determined, as a rule, by national traditions. The rational organization of spatial planning promotes comprehensive sotsialrozvytku regions, improve the quality of life. Therefore, the development strategies of spatial planning is appropriate, taking into account the best European concepts. This overview of the most important concepts of spatial planning in Germany illustrates the fundamental and sometimes conflicting ideas of spatial planning at regional and local level and their further development.
 Concept spatial introduced since the 1960s of the last century in Germany, describing the basic principles of spatial structure and serve as a base in the construction of future space structure. The article considers the basic and informal concepts, their origin, history of development, and their current status in spatial planning. The concepts described in the study arose at a time when the equivalence of living conditions was the main issue and task of spatial planning policy. In the model social state disparities must be aligned through a comprehensive expansion of infrastructure in regions threatened by emigration and inter-regional redistribution of resources. However, in today's state-level models of living conditions intended to equal opportunities and minimal infrastructure at all local levels.
 German experience could be useful in the formation of a balanced policy on spatial planning in Ukraine.

Conceptual basis of ensuring the balanced development of recreational tourism in the context of European integration

The article considers the ecological and socio-economic essence of balanced recreational tourism. The research of the balanced recreational and tourist market on principles of the concept of sustainable tourism development is covered. The main conceptual directions of ensuring the development of balanced recreational tourism based on studying the approaches of foreign and domestic researchers investigated. The conceptual bases of the development of balanced recreational tourism are offered based on the European experience. It is proved that the development of balanced recreational tourism in our country will contribute to the harmonization of ecological and socio-economic development of the territory and will create a competitive and unique market product. The necessity to need for consideration of the existing domestic and European theories and concepts for the development of balanced recreational tourism is substantiated.

CUBAN URBAN AGRICULTURE AND THE CHALLENGES TO ORTHODOX WESTERN ECONOMIC DISCORSE

The orthodox way in which economics is studied and implemented follows a primarily European concept of the functioning of economies that is then applied to the various different traditions and cultures that exist all around the world. This paper explores alternative economies and alternative ways of theorizing the economy in order to destabilize the western, orthodox conception of economics. In order to accomplish this, this paper explores Cuban Urban Agriculture, a system where unused land in urban areas is re-appropriated to grow a variety of crops for the local community. Specifically, it explores the ways in which this system views its economic actors, to what extent it applies an abstracted mode of production over various contexts, and how it incorporates culture and the non-economic as key elements. By examining these facets of the Cuban urban agricultural system, this paper sheds light on the hybridity of this system, in viewing workers as both rational profit maximizers and complex subjects with ambivalent desires, in imposing a decontextualized set of objectives for agriculture across Cuba, while leaving space for adaptation to the context within this narrow set, and in embedding this economic system in the local community. Thus, the paper demonstrates, in showing that the Cuban urban agricultural system is only able to partially separate itself from the orthodox western discourse of economics, that while it is possible to find alternatives to this system of economics, even these alternatives tend to adhere to at least some of its principles.

Historical Perspective of Gender Typed Participation in the Performing Arts in Sri Lanka During the Pre- Colonial, The Colonial Era, and the Post- Colonial Eras

When the Sri Lankan performing art was analysed, a clear-cut difference in gender-typed participation in dancing, singing, playing music, and the traditional rituals (such as Shanthi karma) can be identified. Furthermore, this research has found that gender roles in performance have evolved through time. It can be seen how the existence of -Hindu- Buddhist practices from Vijaya’s arrival to Sri Lanka in 543 BCE to the period of Portuguese who conquered Sri Lanka in 1505 CE takes a new facet in the colonial period and the post-colonial period blending with the European concepts. It can be analysed as follows, First, the changes occurred in masculinity, femininity, or the concepts of Tandava, and Lasya, then the rituals relating to concepts of Divinity in the pre-colonial period, then the changing constructs and perspectives regarding gender performances in the colonial period and the gender shifts and gender synthesis in the post-colonial period.

Obstacles in Exercising Social Rights in The Social Protection System Concerning The Forms of Services Provision

This paper analyzes the assessment of the approach in exercising social rights within the social protection system in Bosnia and Herzegovina concerning the obstacles arising from the forms of assistance and services in the institutions of the social protection system. The European concept of good practice of social rights and obstacles to their implementation was presented. Special attention is given to the obstacles related to the management and procedures in social institutions that arise from the forms of service provision. The methods used in the paper are the method of content analysis of the documents and the test method. The sample consists of a total of 306 respondents from Bosnia and Herzegovina:43 creators of social protection policies from 23 institutions, 133 providers of social protection services from 40 institutions (114 centers for social work, 10 institutions of social protection, and 9 nongovernmental organizations) and 130 social protection beneficiaries. For data collection, a special instrument was developed in the form of survey questionnaires for each group of respondents. For data analysis and hypothesis testing, the technique of sorting and statistical data processing was implemented by using the statistical package SPSS. Based on the analysis of empirical results, it was concluded that there are obstacles in the institutions of the social protection system of Bosnia and Herzegovina concerning the forms of assistance and services that affect the exercise of social protection rights. Identified obstacles relate to the management and procedures in social protection institutions and concern inadequate reception of beneficiaries, lack of general satisfactory conditions (technical, human, financial...), the inadequacy of information programs, low representation of fieldwork, as well as inconsistency of working hours with needs of beneficiaries.

Foreign Exchange Reserves of Central Banks and European Central Bank as an Important Element of the Concept of Sustainable Development

The aim of the article is to analyze the foreign exchange reserves of the European Central Bank in connection with the concept of sustainable development. The concepts of sustainable development are described in literature broadly and, for example, it is worth pointing to international and European concepts for sustainable development. The challenge for the international community has become the need to secure the environment for both present and future generations (implementation of the principle of intergenerational justice). As a result of the study, it was proven that, when implementing the foreign reserve management policy, the European Central Bank and national central banks should pursue the objectives of the current monetary policy for future generations. The interdisciplinary character of the articles implies different research methods: the importance and impact of sustainable development on a given country / region can be analyzed using a variety of methods, including statistical, surveys or dogmatic law. The analysis carried out as part of the study indicates that management of foreign exchange reserves of ECB has impact on the sustainable development and intergenerational justice.

The Establishment and Development of Professional Training for Preschool Teachers in Western European Countries

The problem of providing lifelong learning opportunities at the present stage of global community development remains relevant and is a top-priority agenda for practically all civilized countries. Positive experience in organizing professional training of preschool teachers in European countries requires that perspective trends in the modernization of future preschool teachers’ professional training should be specified following European standards of teacher education and the most significant achievements of higher education, its peculiarities and specifics should be preserved. Conceptual principles, peculiarities of historical development and key trends in the system of professional teacher education in Germany, France and the UK have been analyzed and determined; professional profiles, professional competency profiles and qualification requirements have been characterized; both national specific and general common trends in development of preschool teachers’ professional training in European countries have been outlined. The development of professional standards for teacher education in European countries contributes to specifying and developing professional profiles of preschool teachers in Europe that are rather diverse and determine the multifacetedness and multifunctionality of professional training. The main trends in education policy and qualification requirements for professional training of preschool teachers in European countries include: providing public sector specialists with initial training; adjusting consecutive education to the provisions of the Bologna Declaration; ensuring continuing professional development of specialists involved in educational activities in preschool institutions; implementing the European conception of professional training with the use of competency-based approach.

The notion of ‘employer’: Towards a uniform European concept?

The growth in multilateral working relationships (e.g. agency work, chains of sub-contracting and corporate groups) is causing Member States to increasingly scrutinise their traditional, contractual approach to the notion of ‘employer’. So far, little attention has been paid to the boundaries and limits that EU law sets when defining the employer. The lack of attention may have come to an end with the recent AFMB judgment, in which the Court ruled, for the first time, that the concept of employer in a provision of EU law had to be given an autonomous and uniform interpretation throughout the EU. Starting from the AFMB judgment, the author analyses the concept of employer in EU law. The author finds that the concept of employer in EU law can be described as ‘uniform in its functionality’: in EU law, the national concept of the employer is never absolute, but the circumstances and the way in which the national concept must be set aside depend on the context and the objective of the European legislation in question. Through this functional approach, EU law partly harmonises the various national approaches to the concept of the employer. Nevertheless, a lack of specific reasoning on the part of the Court may grant the Member States considerable leeway to uphold their own views on the concept.

“Merit to Admire”: European Political Experience in the Private Committee’s Practice

The article examines ideological interaction between the Russian Empire and Europe in the 18th — 19th centuries basing on the analysis of extensive historical and theoretical material. The reforms of the early reign of Alexander I were developed within the framework of the Private Committee using European political experience and philosophical concepts of the Enlightenment. The theories of the “philosopher king”, “social contract”, “separation of powers” and others were used while discussing reforms, but in a rather truncated or distorted form. The experience of the French revolution was the reason for the selective and careful application of enlightened terms and concepts by Alexander I and his entourage. Nevertheless, the preparation of reforms within the framework of the Private Committee combined quite harmoniously their enlightened context and monarchical character.

British Project in Palestine: Colonial “National Home”

Mandatory Palestine proved to be a unique example of an attempt to create a “national home” within the framework of the colonial system. The present article aims to analyse the combination of the national and the colonial in the implementation of the “home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, as well as the role of cultural-religious narratives in the mindset of both the British administrators and the Zionist settlers. The research is based on British official documents and archive materials, as well as on the memoirs of Jewish settlers in Eretz Yisrael, some of which are introduced into the Russian academic circulation for the first time. Many British politicians viewed the return of the Jews to their historical homeland as a specific noble mission, which fit both into the framework of “Christian Zionism” and the notion of the civilizing nature of imperial colonialism. Palestine, along with its religious and cultural significance, was at the same time playing a thoroughly practical strategic role, and in that sense served as a highly convenient “foothold”. The British politicians and administrators perceived the Zionists as loyal agents of European colonial influence in the Middle East region. Based on the conducted research, the author reached the following conclusions. Even before ethnic confrontation in mandate Palestine intensified, some representatives of the British Empire anticipated that the Jews would not be a loyal minority, always ready to act in the Empire’s interests to the full extent. The main finding of the research is that despite the superficial similarity between the outlooks of the European Zionists and the official representatives of the British Empire, their perceptions of Palestine and their aims and purposes there were fundamentally different. On the one hand, the notions of the leaders of the Zionist movement about Eretz Yisrael were indeed in many respects close to the positions of British politicians and administrators. Jewish nationalism emerged under the influence of European ideas and concepts, and even orientalism influenced it to a certain degree. On the other hand, the Zionists perceived the Europeans as situational allies, therefore their interests coincided only in the short-term perspective. The idea of the national revival of the people of Israel in its historical homeland played a key role for them. This laid the foundation of the new Jewish identity, which also included multiple elements of religious traditions and legal bases of Judaism.

Stavovi prema višejezičnosti i poznavanju jezika zajednice kao elementu obrazovne politike na Kosovu i Metohiji

The paper starts from the adopted European concept of multilingualism and lists the results of its application in Serbia's language policy. The results are shown of the research into the attitudes of the students in the territory of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija towards foreign language learning, as well as learning the language of the other ethnic community. The research was conducted at the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017 on the stratified quota sample among the students in Kosovska Mitrovica and Priština, by applying the field survey technique. According to them, it can be concluded that both populations are aware of the need to learn one (English that is dominant) or more foreign languages, the knowledge of which is relatively well self-evaluated; however, there is no developed awareness of the need to know the language of the other ethnic community, so there is a pronounced opposition to its introduction in the schooling system.

Masks, Face Veil Bans and “Living Together”

The “living together” concept poses a puzzle. Why did Europeans decide that life in a modern democracy requires showing one’s face? One explanation is opposition to Muslims and Islam. But the enforcement of face veil bans against non-religious mask wearing raises doubts. This essay poses an alternative explanation. What if the face veil bans persist because of European conceptions of privacy? Von Hannover v. Germany held that one be private in public. Given this, why wear a mask? What is there to hide? To explore this idea, the essay turns to the United States, where one cannot be “private in public” and mask wearing has been opposed on narrow grounds such as public security and the content of specific masks. At the same time, the United States respects the decisional privacy of someone to wear a mask even for “irrational” reasons, something the “living together” idea tends to ignore.

Ancient Chinese economic thought and the French academic context of the 1930s: Li Zhaoyi’s doctoral thesis

The article examines the contribution of the Chinese researcher of the first half of the 20th century Li Zhaoyi to the study of the impact of ancient Chinese thought on the economic doctrine of the French physiocrats. An interpretation of the schools of Taoism, Confucianism and Legalism as carriers of the idea of natural law, which became fundamental for physiocrats, is highlighted as a key feature of Li Zhaoyi’s academic concept. The interpretation of the Chinese teachings on morality, ritual, the way-Tao, and the law-Fa as different understandings of natural law was aimed at demonstrating the Chinese influence on the European thought of the Enlightenment. A distinctive feature of Li Zhaoyi’s research was the use of European concepts, primarily anarchism and individualism, to discuss the specifics of ancient Chinese thought through comparisons with the ideas of J.J. Rousseau, P.A. Kropotkin, M.A. Bakunin, M. Stirner. The increasing attention to the legacy of Li Zhaoyi in modern China is due to the growing interest in the problem of the recognition of Chinese concepts by the global academic community. Li Zhaoyi’s name was mentioned by well-known economist J.A. Schumpeter. The influence on the French physiocrats was a rare case of China’s contribution to the development of world economic science that is expected to provide inspiration for future intercultural interactions. It is concluded that the official policy of introducing “philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics” to the outside world will help to maintain interest in the history of China’s influence on European thought.