Map Of Europe Research Articles

Evaluation of RADARSAT-1 data for identification of burnt areas in Southern Europe

This study presents the combined analysis of RADARSAT products of different spatial resolutions acquired under different incidence angles for mapping burnt scars on forested areas of Central Portugal. Prior to the SAR data analysis, a number of pre-processing procedures were carried out. Noise was eliminated by adaptive texture preserving filtering. A specific algorithm for the geocoding of SAR images, based on a range-Doppler approach, enabled precise geocoding of the SAR data by means of a single very accurate ground control point. A novel incidence-angle-normalization for SAR imagery was applied to analyze the backscatter coefficient to a given incidence angles. Further, a backscatter coefficient analysis was performed according to the slope on forested areas and fire disturbed areas. A qualitative and quantitative investigation of the backscattering as related to the slope angle and time changes was performed. As a result of this analysis, the scenes that allowed maximizing the discrimination of burnt areas were selected as the input for the neural network classification. The investigation on the effect of the SAR incidence angle in burnt area discrimination determined that low incidence angles are required for discriminating burnt areas in hilly regions. It was also demonstrated that topography influences the level of discrimination of burnt areas since areas affected by forest fires on face-slopes presents higher backscatter coefficient than those back-slopes. Therefore, SAR data can play a significant role for burnt area mapping in Europe in those areas where optical data cannot be used due to persistent cloud cover.

Can forced population transfers resolve self‐determination conflicts? a European perspective

The largely incongruent political and ethnic maps of Europe have meant that the competing claims of distinct ethnic groups to self‐determination have been among the most prominent sources of conflicts within and across state boundaries. Striving to achieve internal stability and external security in the face of such demands, many states have sought to minimise the political impact of ethnic minorities with an affiliation to other, often neighbouring, states or parts of their population by expelling them or exchanging them against ethnic kinfolk of their own. Such forced population transfers in Europe are primarily linked with two phenomena, which in themselves are interrelated: the collapse of (multi‐national) states and the redrawing of state boundaries. From the First and Second Balkan Wars, to World Wars One and Two, and finally to the violent break‐up of Yugoslavia, Europe has seen numerous expulsions and exchanges of populations. Against this background, this article discusses in how far ethnic cleansing and its consequences contribute to the internal stability and external security of the states affected by such demographic changes. Following a conceptual clarification of forced population transfers, a number of cases of forced population transfers in twentieth century Europe are outlined. This is followed by an examination and summary of the similarities and differences between these cases from the perspective of common problems before suggesting any lessons that can be learned from the European experience of forced population transfers for developing policies conducive to establishing conditions under which forced population transfers, once they have occurred, can contribute to the internal stability and external security of the states involved, rather than become a source of constant crises. Thus, the article does not attempt to provide a normative assessment of forced population transfers as a whole or of any individual case or make an argument for or against them as mechanisms for resolving self‐determination conflicts. Rather, the focus is on the pragmatic aspects of this phenomenon, which continues to occur in Europe and elsewhere. In other words, the article seeks to establish under what conditions, if any, forced population transfers can contribute to states' internal stability and external security, i.e., whether they can adequately address the root causes of self‐determination conflicts that they are supposed to resolve.

(Virtual) Myths

The historical emergence of time as it relates to capitalism and labor has been well documented and theorized, particularly in the Marxist tradition. The relationship between space, spatial representation and capitalism has only more recently received significant attention. Moving through a series of extended meditations, this essay inquires into the naturalization of space and its various representations as related to capitalism, colonization and the body. As evidenced in early modern maps of Europe and the Americas, techniques of spatial representation were central to both commerce and conquest, where cartographers effectively rendered disparate lands uniform, under the rubric of an objectifying gaze. Such a gaze allowed for the representation of space as existing outside the realm of human affairs, where land lay in wait of discovery. This myth of discovery, and the techniques which accompany it, have historical parallels in the mapping of the human body, where mapping renders space both “natural” and ultimately amenable to capitalism. In these parallels, the mapping of land and of the body have moved in the twenty-first century into the realm of digitized informatics, where space is discursively reduced (through speed) and expanded (through technology) in an ever emerging global market system. Reflecting on apparently quite disparate histories of spatial representation, the essay concludes with the naturalization of space in its current logic, cybernetics and the management of information, where the discourses of health and security meet the digital gaze of the human genome and the satellite.

The familiar and the strange: Western travelers' maps of Europe and Asia, ca. 1600-1800

Early Modern European travelers sought to gather and disseminate knowledge through narratives written for avid publishers and public. Yet not all travelers used the same tools to inform their readers. Despite a shared interest in conveying new knowledge based on eyewitness authority, Grand Tour accounts differed in an important respect from travelogues about Asia: they were less likely to include maps until the late eighteenth century. This paper examines why, using travel accounts published between 1600 and 1800 about Italy and France (Europe) and India and Japan (Asia). It argues that maps of different types--coastlines, city plans, country topographies--appeared more frequently in accounts of Asian trips in part because of Europeans' more limited geographical knowledge about Asian destinations. More important, however, was the purpose of travel, the type of information gathered, and the intended audience of accounts. Seventeenth-century authors of Grand Tour experiences focused on single topics, ignore...

The Drosophilidae (Diptera) of Lithuania

The Baltic countries represent a veritable terra incognita on the Drosophilidae map of Europe. To remedy the situation we arranged two collecting trips across the three Baltic countries in the summer of 2000. The first trip was made in early summer to get spring species such as Chymomyza and the second one – in late August to get the mushroom-feeding species. In general the drosophilid fauna of the Baltic resembles the well-known fauna of the Nordic countries. The most interesting result is that Chymomyza amoena was found in Estonia and Lithuania. This American species is a recent invader of central Europe. Another interesting finding was relative rarity of Drosophila subobscura and virtual absence of the D. virilis group species. The latter have become uncommon in Sweden and Finland in recent years as well.

Serological researches in the south of Moldavia in connection with the problem of the ethnogeny of the Gagauzes, the Moldavians and the Bulgarians

With the aid of data of frequencies of genetically determined blood group systems, the authors have tried to show the basic ethno-genetic directional patterns in Southern Moldavia and in the Dniester-Carpathian-Danubian region in its entirety. Blood Groups A1A27B0, RHESUS, MN, and KELL have been determined in six random samples from four Gagauz villages (n = 330), one Moldavian village (n = 101) and one Bulgarian village (n = 96). The analysis of gene frequencies demonstrates genetic homogeneity of the total Gagauz population. Statistically reliable differentiation is observed only for the RHESUS system. It is possible now to suppose that the haemotological types of modern Gagauz and Bulgarian populations have been developed on the basis of the Balcanic serogenetic types, partially transformed under influence of gene flow from probably Central Asian or other eastern centers. The position of the Moldavians on the serogenetic map of Europe is less certain, due to a considerable ambiguity in the allele frequencies of the various blood group systems. Founder effects may account for these observations. However, the genetic distance and cluster analyses carried out on the frequencies of the surveyed blood group systems have shown the affinity of Moldavians with the Romanians and Eastern European populations.

Welfare Policy and Income Distribution: the Finnish Experience in the 1990s

This article contrasts economic, employment and social policies of Finnish governments with data on income distribution and poverty for the period 1990-2000. The starting point of the article is the heavy economic recession in the 1990s, which, accompanied with political judgements, resulted in a shift of emphasis in social policy.To start with, the article situates Finland on the map of Europe with the help of most recent Eurostat data on social protection expenditure and poverty. In the light of comparative data Finland still performs well in the international scene, but nevertheless shows increases in relative poverty rates and income differentials. The article then seeks to find explanations to these increases. First, the authors document the main economic, employment and social policy aims of Finnish governments in the 1990s and bring forward some of the essential modifications made to the income transfer system. Second, the authors estimate the impact of political choices in the development of income differences and poverty.The authors argue policies have been a success when it comes to economic progress and public finances. For employment, judging success is more ambiguous: while employment has increased, unemployment remains a challenge. Moreover, assessing their social costs, efforts to increase employment via incentives have only been partly successful. While cuts in social benefits and overall efforts to modify incentives have increased employment and reduced the extent of income traps, policy changes have also contributed to wider income differences and higher poverty rates.

Der polnische Westgedanke bis zur Wiedererrichtung des polnischen Staates nach Ende des Ersten Weltkrieges. Genese und Begründung polnischer Gebietsansprüche gegenüber Deutschland im Zeitalter der europäischen Nationalismus by Roland Gehrke (review)

REVIEWS 56I archival sources, it presents a nuanced reading of the 'languages of the lash' that is informed by broader methodological and historiographical issues. Some minor quibbles do remain. The author focuses on knouting and spectacular punishments but not on the more everyday forms of corporal chastisementboth within the context of serfdomand after I86I. Furthermore, the voices of the criminals and the public at large are muted, though this is certainlyalsodue to the natureof the sources.Nevertheless,thisis a fine study, and it deservesa wide readership. School ofSlavonic andEastEuropean Studies SUSAN MORRISSEY University College London Gehrke, Roland. Derpolnische Westgedanke biszur Wiedererrichtung despolnischen StaatesnachEnde des Ersten Weltkrieges. GeneseundBegriindung polnischer Gebietsanspriichegegeniiber Deutschland imZeitalter dereuropdischen N'ationalismus. Materialien und Studien zur Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung,8. HerderInstitut ,Marburg,2001. x + 434 pp. Notes. Tables. Maps. Bibliography. Index. DM 75.00. DURING the period of its enforced disappearance from the map of Europe, Polandwas busy planning for its rebirth.One of the most fundamentalissues facing the planners was that of borders. What lands was the reconstituted Polandto inhabit?This volume examines the development of Polishterritorial claims on Germany from the Third Partitionof 1795 to the re-establishment of the PolishRepublic in I9I8. At differenttimes, differentamalgamations of territorieswere foreseen as belonging to the future 'Poland';putative borderswere drawn and redrawn. To the east, most were broadly agreed that the old border of 1772 should be re-established. But in the west, Polish nationalists cast covetous glances not only at the recently Polish regions of Posnania, West Prussia and the Netze District, but also at the more traditionally German provinces of Silesia, Pomeraniaand EastPrussia. On one level, this renewed interest in Poland's western borderlands spawned a rich crop of literatureand scientificendeavour.Just as Romantic authorspenned hymns of praiseto Staropoiska, so anthropologistsand linguists sought out regional peculiarities and obscure dialects. Much of value was produced. But, on another level, Poland's nationalist politicians and publicists were only tangentiallyinterestedin academicrigourand scientificobjectivity.Their most vociferous advocates: Poplawski, Belza and Dmowski amongst them, advanced a series of claims that were founded on a curious combination of ethnic, geopolitical, historicaland economic reasoning.Thus, 'South Prussia' could justifiablybe claimed as ethnically Polish, Silesia could be claimed as historically Polish, whilst East Prussia could be claimed as a geo-strategic imperative. The contradictionsof their positions were only too obvious. Many of their argumentswere based on principlesof ethnicity;theywere incontrovertiblein some cases, but untenable in others. Where suitable, linguistic criteriawere 562 SEER, 8i, 3, 2003 applied;where not an individual'smother-tongue would be declared irrelevant , and the issue of nationality would be decided by the (supposedly)more scientificmeans of anthropology. Double standardswere rife. The germanization experienced in regions such as Posnania was condemned as a heinous crime, yet the polonization of the Lithuanian and Byelorussian elites was viewed as part of a civilizing mission. Furthermore,just as Polish nationalists viewed the Kulturkampf and germanization campaigns as new and dangerous phases in the Drang nach Osten, they, in turn, advocated polonizing the regained 'Western provinces' and spoke freely about 'dominating and assimilating'other nationalities (p. I88). The argument of 'historicterritory' was often based upon a very skewed reading of history. Silesia, for example, could be claimed as an integral part of the medieval Piast kingdom, but this ignored the fact thatit was thoroughlygermanized and had left Polishcontrol in I335, spending the intervening centuries under 'foreign' rule. It was not unlikenineteenth-centuryBritonslodging a claim to Anjou. Though one can readilysympathizewith the plight of Polishnationalistsof the nineteenth century, it is hard to escape the conclusion that, on the territorial issue at least, they wanted it all ways. Some of their assertions verged on the absurd. One publicistwrote of the 'centurieslong sleep of the Polish Silesians' (p. 348). The implication being that once kissed by the attentions of Warsawnationalists, the latter would awaken and realize their long-forgotten love for the Polish nation. The reality, in contrast to this romantic (and simplistic)ideal, was that many Polish Silesianspreferredthe 'devil they knew' and opted to remain in Germany. Indeed, such attitudes often persistedthroughthe borderplebiscitesof the I920S. Gehrke sees one explanation for the nationalist position in a Polish 'inferioritycomplex' towardsits western neighbour. That may well be. But it fails to...

Israeli Policy Perspectives on the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership in the Context of EU Enlargement

This contribution seeks to explain why Israel is having second thoughts about its participation in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) and to explore the consequences of this reappraisal. Never a major champion of the Barcelona Process, Israel has increasing reasons for being disappointed about how things have evolved. Independently of this, the future EU membership of up to 13 more countries (including Turkey) from central and eastern Europe and the Mediterranean basin, each with a GDP per capita below the Israeli level, will transform the EU into an economic and political entity of 28 countries that will be much closer than now to Israel, not only geographically but also politically, culturally and economically. The nature of the EMP will change through this enlargement since all the Mediterranean non-Arab countries except Israel will then be EU members. The changes to the map of Europe and of the EMP call for a rethinking by Israeli policy-makers of Israel's place in the EU's system of external relations.

Why Geography Matters … But Is So Little Learned

He was there to ask for my help because, while he could understand the domestic factors in the foreign policies of nineteenth-century Britain, France, and Russia, he had trouble visualizing their strategic relationships, since he could not read a map. I pulled out a map of Europe and guided the young man’s finger in tracing the coastlines of the continent and the location and boundaries of nations. I described mountains and rivers, along with where and how large the countries were, and tried to convey how slowly sailing ships and horses traveled so he might imagine how steam transportation revolutionized warfare. His memory was extraordinary, and soon he displayed a better feel for geopolitics than many, perhaps most, of my students.

Kulturexkurse: A Model for Teaching Deeper German Culture in a Proficiency-Based Curriculum

concepts (Briderlich[keit], Treue, Einigkeit, Recht, Freiheit, Vaterland). One way to start might be to ask students to identify the geographic boundaries of the United States on the north, south, east, and west. Some may forget that Alaska and Hawaii extend those boundaries considerably. Was the U.S. always this large? Students could be reminded of the territory originally encompassed by the 13 Colonies, the Louisiana Purchase, the westward expansion into the Northwest and California. How did this happen? A map of Europe should then certainly be shown to illustrate that Fallersleben is calling for the unification of all the territory occupied by German speakers in the middle of the 19th Century, an area considerably larger than the Federal Republic today. Students could be asked how they would understand the inf mous opening line if it read USA, USA Ober alles (even though it doesn't scan). At this point a discussion might ensue that gets at the heart of the issue in the poem. Some may think first of America's ilitary might, others of the values of democracy, freedom, and religious and ethnic tolerance. Students could be asked to debate the meaning of the w rd Patriotism. At this point the line Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit could be c nsidered, perhaps with the reminder t at the struggle to achieve and maintain national unity under the principles of justice and freedom lay at the heart of both the American Revolution and the Civil War. The second stanza may strike students as odd in this context. Why does Fallersleben mention German Frauen, Wein, and Sang in the same breath as deutsche Treue? These apparently represent values that are worth fighting for (Uns zu edler Tat begeistern). Would it be too farfetched to ask students to talk about what they associate with the phrase, Mom, Baseball, and Apple Pie? Kulturinformationen: The text is rich in possibilities, and it will be important not to overload students with information. The competing forces of nationalism and liberalism in Germany during the first half of the 19th Century lie at the heart of the issues raised in the poem, and this might be the place to introduce the pivotal events of 1848-49. The link between romanticism and nationalism expressed in the second stanza might be explored. And certainly this would be the place to consider the term Vaterland in some detail, perhaps in conjunction with a term with which Americans have recently become familiar, Homeland. The history of Das Lied der Deutschen-its adoption as the national anthem in 1922, banishment in 1945, and reinstatement (without the first stanza) in 1952--might allow for a brief review of German history in the 20th Century. Appendix E. Sample Cultural Vocabulary List By introducing selected vocabulary items in each Kulturexkurs a basic corpus of cultural vocabulary can be acquired by the end of the course. After their first appearance, words are reintroduced and practiced with sufficient frequency to allow for active acquisition. The following list is not meant to be complete or prescriptive but only to illustrate the type of vocabulary necessary for dealing with deeper cultural issues. Easily recognizable cognates (e.g., Nation, Revolution, Emanzipation) are not included. When listed in a textbook, plural forms and other essential grammatical information would be included.

The place of literature in the spaces of belonging

This article explores the different ways in which literary texts can help us negotiate our sense of `home' and `belonging' with respect to the complex intersection of our national, regional and gendered identities. Writing at a time when the map of Europe is being radically redrawn vis-a-vis the European Union (EU) and the future of the nation state, the author attempts to take us `inside' the emotional and cognitive processes by which she, and other feminist colleagues, have struggled to produce a locational identity that is meaningful to them. As well as revealing the usefulness of national and regional literatures in this process, the article also shows how a `strategic' use of autobiography can help mediate the complexity of our positioning.

The status of digital geological mapping in Europe:: The results of a census of the digital mapping coverage, approaches and standards of 29 European geological survey organisations in the year 2000

The status of digital geological mapping in Europe:: The results of a census of the digital mapping coverage, approaches and standards of 29 European geological survey organisations in the year 2000

Troubling the Neandertals: A Reply to Zilhã and Trinkaus

We cannot but agree with the basic contentions of Langbroek's paper that 1) the replacement of Neandertals by early modern humans in Europe is best understood from a perspective of historical contingency and 2) that it must have had a lot to do with the ‘very dynamic spatio-temporal redrawings of the population maps of Europe during the Weichsel glacial’ against the background of ‘the emergence of increasing climatological instability during the later part of OIS 3, with significant fluctuations at relatively short timescales’. This is the kind of approach we have been advocating to effectively supersede the reductionist ‘superiority’ paradigm that has dominated the literature on Neandertal extinction for the last twenty years.

Comments: Contesting And Constructing National Identity in Central Europe

With his contingent of geographers, historians, and other academic “experts” collectively known as The Inquiry in tow, Woodrow Wilson arrived in Paris in January 1919 to redraw the map of Europe. Wilson wanted to fulfill his Fourteen Points and guarantee national self-determination to the peoples of Europe. A peaceful community of ethnically homogeneous nation-states was to replace the great multinational empires (defined by central European nationalists as prisons of the peoples) that had previously dominated central and eastern Europe. During the inter-war period, the governing elites of central Europe, their new “nation-states” legitimated by the post-war settlement, created new national holidays, national anthems, and nationalist school text books lauding the history and achievements of the state-bearing nation. These simple and seemingly coherent national narratives elided the messy, confusing, and jumbled past of multiple identities, mingled ethnic groups, and alienated social orders, and legitimized political, economic, and territorial claims made in the name of the “national community” lending its name to the new state.

A Suburb of Europe: Nineteenth-Century Polish Approaches to Western Civilization by Jerzy s> Jedlicki (review)

350 SEER, 79, 2, 2001 inclusions in the glossary(e.g. Young Turks)but exclusions of some Russian terms which appear in the text (e.g. Preobrazhenskaia kantseliariia); missing accents in some of the list of placenames (e.g. Hango, Lw6w). It is also a pity that the 'Guide to FurtherReading' seems to end in i997 in a book published in 2000, notjust because it means the exclusion of my own SocialHistogy ofthe RussianEmpireI650-I825 (and also published by Longman) but also, more importantly,that of Russiain theAgeofPeter theGreat by LindseyHughes. The structureof the book and the divisionsin the chronologies also leads, at least to my mind, to some anomalies:the glossaryis poorlyplaced three-quartersof the way through the book; the division into geographical zones of foreign policy workswell forwarswith one countrybut poorly forthe GreatNorthern War and the Napoleonic Wars;matching legislation is awkwardlydivided by theme, so that, for example, the Charters to the Nobles and to the Towns which were issued on the same day in I785 are describedquite separatelyon pages 15- I6 and io0; the Decembrist movement is listed under 'Revolutionary and Labour Movements' but does not appear alongside other militaryr protestsunder 'The Armed Forces';the balance of materialrelatingto foreign policy and warisweighted very heavilytowardsthe twentiethcentury. Some of these points are, of course, simplya matterof preference.They do not detract from a book which is generally sound, immensely detailed and certainlybetterthan anythingelse availableon the market(and,in particular, it is a great improvement on J. Paxton's Companion to RussianHistoy (New York, I983). I would therefore dispute the author's modest assumption that the 'typicalreaderwill be non-Russian speaking'(p. viii);studentsof Russian language, cultureand historyand theirteacherswillfindmuch hereof interest and of value. Department ofInternational History JANET HARTLEY London School ofEconomics andPolitical Science Jedlicki,Jerzy. A Suburb ofEurope. Nineteenth-Centur) PolishApproaches to Jl7estern Civilization.Central European University Press, Budapest, I999). xxvii + 307 pp. Notes. Maps. Bibliography.Index. f31.OO; f 2.50. SCRUTINIZING and evaluating I00 yearsof Polishpolitical,socialandeconomic thought and its impact on the historyof the nationicannot be anythingbut a real challenge. It requiresfrom the writer not only a thorough knowledge of all the issues involved, but also an intimate familiarity with the intricate linkages between the original native utterances and the clearly discernible and significant foreign influences. To succeed in his task the writer must carefully select what he judges to count as important and dismiss what he considers as trivial and inconsequential and be able to reach the heart of the matter. He must ensure that the arguments and the controversies which have raged for years and often decades have lost nothing of their original force and the power to attract; and, with the help of carefully selected extracts from the key texts, he must be able to point out the immediate as well as the long-term consequences of the stand taken by the relevant thinkers anld thus retain the reader's interest until the very last page of his work. This very substantial book REVIEWS 351 byJerzy Jedlicki, Professorof History at the Instituteof History of the Polish Academy of Sciences, originally published in Polish in I988 and now in an abridged version in English, can be said to come close to meeting most of these criteria. The book consists of two parts. Part i, entitled 'Images of the Future', covers the period from the I780s to I863. Part 2, entitled 'Ambiguitiesof Progress', deals with a shorter span of time, from I864 to the 88os. What constitutesthe greatdivide is theJanuary Rising of I863 which so profoundly affectedthe outlookof the two opposingsides:the Polishyoungerthinkersand propagators of the new ideas and the defenders of the traditional national values;that is, the progressives,open to Westernideas and modernization,on the one hand, and, on the otherhand, the Sarmatians. The standing debate, indeed, the continuous confrontation between the guardians of native values and the advocates of new ideas of foreign origin has, naturally,been a constant featureof intellectuallife in all countries.The English-speakingreaderwillfindin ProfessorJedlicki'sbookwell-documented evidence that the Poles, even when theirfatherlandwas wiped off the map of Europe as a separate political entity and, partitioned, constituted only peripheral parts of three very differentempires, were not exempt from...

Geomorphological mapping

There has been a long tradition of geomorphological mapping to support land use planning, especially in Poland (e.g. Klimaszewski 1956, 1961; Galon 1962) and France (e.g. Tricart 1965; for a history of geomorphological mapping in Europe, see Verstappen 1983). The Geological Society Working Party Report on maps and plans (Anon. 1972) identified examples of geomorphological mapping that could be of use to engineers. However, the value of the technique was best highlighted by its application to road projects in unstable terrain in Nepal and South Wales during the early 1970s (e.g. Brunsden et al. 1975a, b; Doornkamp et al. 1979; Jones et al. 1983). The techniques have also been successfully applied to dryland problems (e.g. Brunsden et al. 1979; Bush et al. 1980, Doornkamp et al 1980; Cooke et al. 1982, 1985; Jones et al. 1986), soil erosion (e.g. Morgan 1995) and river management (e.g. Doornkamp 1982; Richards et al. 1987). Despite these applications, BS5930, Code of Practice for Site Investigations (British Standards Institution 1981), contains little reference to geomorphological maps (Griffiths & Marsh 1986) and the technique remains a marginal skill practised by a few experienced engineering geomorphologists. Examples of good mapping practice can be found within the references cited in this paper. The style and format of a geomorphological map needs to reflect the nature of the environment and the problems that need to be addressed. The following are some of the more common types of map.

The Ukrainian Resurgence

Ukraine's Re-emergence from Political Oblivion and its achievement of independence were major historical events which changed the map of Europe and altered international relations in general. Yet, because it was politically submerged for so long, Ukraine's history quest for independence, and current situation are still little known. This major study, written by a leading specialist, aims to fill this gap and makes an important contribution to the scholarly and journalistic literature on the former Soviet Union and the new states of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Ukrainian Resurgence provides a concise recent political history of a significant new European state and offers new insight into how the Soviet Union collapsed. Drawing on an extensive range of sources, including interviews with key political and cultural figures, Bohdan Nahaylo traces developments in Soviet-ruled Ukraine from the beginning of the Gorbachev era and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, through the turbulent years of glasnost, perestroika, and the emergence of the mass national democratic movement, Rukh, to Ukraine's rejection of the idea of a revamped Soviet Union. He then explores how Ukraine, in the face of economic crisis, internal divisions, and friction with Russia, consolidated independence and democracy. The Ukrainian Resurgence is essential reading for students, scholars, and policy makers who seek a better understanding of the nature of the former Soviet Union and the reasons for its collapse, as well as a clearer sense of the political landscape which has emerged after the USSR's dissolution. Above all, the book provides a wonderful introduction and guide to Ukraine's recent past and itspresent dilemmas.

Redrawing the Map of Europe

Redrawing the Map of Europe

Variable Geography: America's Mental Maps of a Greater Europe

American backing for the process of European enlargement into central and east Europe remains strong despite differences of strategic interest, foreign policy choices and, during the past decade, a certain US ambivalence towards the trans-atlantic relationship. Drawing on a typology of ‘mental maps’, the author illustrates how the many and varied American ideas of what a future Europe might look like have guided US (and European) leaders in their attempts at defining this new post-Cold War Europe. Whether these maps can combine into clear policy is debatable. Yet the overall American mental map of Europe is becoming clearer. It includes Turkey, and it may include Ukraine and even Russia. However, concerns remain among US officials that this conception of a Greater Europe, equipped with its own foreign policy and military force, may prove a mixed blessing.