non-European Nations Research Articles

Clean energy transition and climate vulnerabilities: A comparative analysis of European and non-European developed countries.

Currently, the world faces an existential threat of climate change, and every government across the globe is trying to come up with strategies to tackle the severity of climate change in every way possible. To this end, the use of clean energy rather than fossil fuel energy sources is critical, as it can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pave the way for carbon neutrality. This study examines the impact of the energy cleanability gap on four different climate vulnerabilities, such as ecosystem, food, health, and housing vulnerabilities, considering 47 European and non-European high-income countries. The study considers samples from 2002 to 2019. This study precedes the empirical analysis in the context of a quadratic relationship between the energy cleanability gap and climate vulnerability. The study uses system-generalized methods of the moment as the main technique, while panel quantile regression is a robustness analysis. Fixed effect and random effect models have also been incorporated. The study finds that the energy cleanability gap and all four climate vulnerabilities demonstrate a U-shaped relationship in both European and non-European countries, implying that when the energy cleanability gap increases, climate vulnerability decreases, but after reaching a certain threshold, it starts to increase. Development expenditure is found to be negatively affecting food and health vulnerabilities in European nations, while it increases food vulnerability and decreases health vulnerability in non-European nations. Regarding industrialization's impact on climate vulnerabilities, the study finds opposite effects for the European and non-European economies. On the other hand, for both groups, trade openness decreases climate vulnerabilities. Based on these results, the study recommends speeding up the energy transition process from fossil fuel energy resources towards clean energy resources to obtain carbon neutrality in both European and non-European groups.

The Health Impacts of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals and Climate Change on Children

Throughout the past 20 years, there have been numerous ecological, economic, and public health crises that have rocked the world, frequently exposing low levels of self-sufficiency and extreme unpreparedness on the side of both European and non-European nations. Adverse events have demonstrated their effects and direct detrimental impact mostly on the population aged 0–18 years, with important repercussions for families and communities. Generally, the most vulnerable suffer the consequences. Environmental pollution and climate change rank highly among the natural disasters that have an effect on children's health. Particularly, there has been a growing correlation between environmental pollution events and many health disorders, such as respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, diabetes, and allergic diseases linked to elevated allergen production. Data from the literature have demonstrated the detrimental effects of chemicals on children's health, with endocrine disruptors receiving particular attention due to the potential harm they may bring to a variety of endocrine and non-endocrine systems. In order to further increase pediatricians and public health authorities' understanding of this crucial issue for the future of children's health, this brief overview examines the significant effects of environmental pollution and climate change on children's health.

Masayuki TANIMOTO and R. Bin WONG, editors: Public Goods Provision in the Early Modern Economy: Comparative Perspectives from Japan, China, and Europe

Previous studies regarding the emergence and development of social systems have often been based on the study of European nations, which largely ignores the fact that other nations also underwent the process in patterns that are either similar or strikingly different from the European one. Contemporary researchers have identified this flaw and thus sought to address it by studying the emergence and development of social systems in non-European nations rather than assuming that the European model is the standard. It is in line with this new school of thought that Bin Wong and Masayuki Tanimoto explore social development in Japan and compare it with Europe. In their book Public Goods Provision in the Early Modern Economy: Comparative Perspectives from Japan, China, and Europe, the authors provide readers with a general overview of the systems for public goods provision in early modern Japan, while also offering comparison examples from Europe, primarily from Prussia.

The narrative practices of hostile environments: the story of the nation-as-family and the story of security

This article contributes to research into the importance of storytelling in asylum practice by examining the narratives used to promote and justify Hostile Environment policies. The two narrative practices identified are the “story of the nation-as-family”, which defines national belonging predominantly by markers of race and ethnicity, and the “story of security”, whereby racialized refugees are framed as potential threats to the nation's socio-economic stability. The former propagates a notion of consanguinity that works to exclude and silence people seeking asylum from non-European nations. The latter sees the rhetoric of a “clash of civilisations” so central to the “War on Terror” taken up in policy debates about climate-induced migration. An analysis of the way in which these stories are staged and critiqued in the writing of Abdulrazak Gurnah and Stephen Collis reveals how they elide the relationship between forced migration and the history of European colonialism. In exploring this elision, this article insists on the significance of literary texts as spaces where monocultural conceptions of belonging can be confronted, and where understanding Europe's colonial past is established as an integral part of hearing the stories of refugees in the present.

William Poole. The World Makers: Scientists of the Restoration and the Search for the Origins of the Earth.

William Poole. <i>The World Makers: Scientists of the Restoration and the Search for the Origins of the Earth.</i>

Entrepreneurs de la migration : Des stratégies pour contourner les obstacles bureaucratiques

Bien que la sélection des étrangers par l’appareil administratif des États joue un rôle crucial pour la structuration des phénomènes migratoires actuels, il existe à ce jour peu d’études qui analysent empiriquement la manière dont de telles procédures fonctionnent et sont vécues lorsqu’elles s’appliquent à des catégories d’étrangers perçus comme « désirables ». La présente recherche tente de répondre à ce manque en proposant une étude de cas ethnographique qui met en lumière l’expérience et l’agentivité des différents acteurs impliqués dans la procédure de sélection des ressortissants non-européens hautement qualifiés cherchant à venir travailler en Suisse. L’analyse montre que l’accès à la mobilité repose sur un ensemble d’interactions complexes qui impliquent non seulement les candidats à l’immigration et les employés d’État, mais également des réseaux d’institutions non-étatiques pour lesquels la mobilité de travailleurs qualifiés représente une source de profit. Ces acteurs facilitent l’accès aux permis de séjour et de travail pour les étrangers dont ils espèrent tirer une plus-value économique. Cependant, ils peuvent également les contraindre à des situations de dépendances et d’immobilité dans la mesure où des systèmes d’admission restrictifs, en Suisse et ailleurs, rendent les étrangers concernés tributaires de leur soutien administratif.

Job Automation Risk, Economic Structure and Trade: a European Perspective

Recent studies report that technological developments in machine learning and artificial intelligence present a significant risk to jobs in advanced countries. We re-estimate automation risk at the job level, finding sectoral employment structure to be key in determining automation risk at the country level. At the country level, we find a negative relationship between automation risk and labour productivity. We then analyse the role of trade as a factor leading to structural changes and consider the relation between trade and aggregate automation risk by comparing automation risk between a hypothetical autarky and the actual situation. Results indicate that with trade, automation risk is higher in Europe, although moderately so. Automation risk in the high-productivity European countries is higher with trade, with trade between European and non-European nations driving these results. This implies that these countries do not, on balance, offshore automation risk, but rather import it. The sectors that show the largest automation risk relation to trade are manufacturing, trade, transport and finance.

Some Remarks on the Eurocentricism and Imperialism in the Construction of International Law

The modern international law is considered an offshoot of European intellectual contributions as its basic foundation is deeply imbued with the political and social upheavals took place in European history. As an example, the Westphalian order emerged in the culmination of thirty years war in 1648 was regarded as the most pivotal mile stone in modern history of international law. Yet the European domination and its intellectual contribution to the development of international law systematically excluded non-European nations from international law and its protection, which finally paved the path to use international law in the 19th century as a tool of legitimizing the colonial expansion. This paper seeks to trace the historiography of modern international law and its dubious nature of disdaining non-Europeans and their civilizational thinking. Furthermore, this paper argues how European historical encounters carved the map of international law from a vantage point, which gave an utter prominence upon the European intellectual monopoly. The results emerge from this paper will strongly suggest the need of an alternative scholarship to unveil the history of international law.

Educational Inequalities in Self-Rated Health in Europe and South Korea.

While numerous comparative works on the magnitude of health inequalities in Europe have been conducted, there is a paucity of research that encompasses non-European nations such as Asian countries. This study was conducted to compare Europe and Korea in terms of educational health inequalities, with poor self-rated health (SRH) as the outcome variable. The European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions and the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2017 were used (31 countries). Adult men and women aged 20+ years were included (207,245 men and 238,007 women). The age-standardized, sex-specific prevalence of poor SRH by educational level was computed. The slope index of inequality (SII) and relative index of inequality (RII) were calculated. The prevalence of poor SRH was higher in Korea than in other countries for both low/middle- and highly educated individuals. Among highly educated Koreans, the proportion of less healthy women was higher than that of less healthy men. Korea’s SII was the highest for men (15.7%) and the ninth-highest for women (10.4%). In contrast, Korea’s RII was the third-lowest for men (3.27), and the lowest among women (1.98). This high-SII–low-RII mix seems to have been generated by the high level of baseline poor SRH.

New Face of International Law From Western to Global Construct

The modern international law, not only imitates, but the substance is truly the European values and traditions. The European nations produce the norm of international law with a clear objective is to divide the world into "selves" (European nations) and "others" (non-European nations). This is exacerbated by European colonialism and imperialism, which allow their values and traditions to become hegemonic norms that ultimately produce the paradigm of "otherness" in international law. Non-European nations are "others", which are considered only as users of the European values. The “otherness” paradigm in international law is resulted from the universal claim of the European values. It is a hegemonic technique. The paper argues that International law should move from the “otherness” to the “togetherness” paradigm. This requires a new approach in the making of international norms, from claim to consent, and now it has led to the global values approach. The paradigm of togetherness requires an inter-civilizational approach, and universality is the keyword. Universal norms should not be put on an abstract level; they need transformation into the particular idioms. Universality is not a matter of claim; it is a respect and acceptance of cultures and values of other nations. International law requires a paradigm shift, from Western to Global Construct.

The European Urology Residents Education Programme Hands-on Training Format: 4 Years of Hands-on Training Improvements from the European School of Urology

BackgroundThe European School of Urology (ESU) started the European Urology Residents Education Programme (EUREP) in 2003 for final year urology residents, with hands-on training (HOT) added later in 2007. ObjectiveTo assess the geographical reach of EUREP, trainee demographics, and individual quality feedback in relation to annual methodology improvements in HOT. Design, setting, and participantsFrom September 2014 to October 2017 (four EUREP courses) several new features have been applied to the HOT format of the EUREP course: 1:1 training sessions (2015), fixed 60-min time slots (2016), and standardised teaching methodology (2017). The resulting EUREP HOT format was verified by collecting and prospectively analysing the following data: total number of participants attending different HOT courses; participants’ age; country of origin; and feedback obtained annually. Results and limitationsA total of 796 participants from 54 countries participated in 1450 HOT sessions over the last 4 yr. This included 294 (20%) ureteroscopy (URS) sessions, 237 (16.5%) transurethral resection (TUR) sessions, 840 (58%) basic laparoscopic sessions, and 79 (5.5%) intermediate laparoscopic sessions. While 712 residents (89%) were from Europe, 84 (11%) were from non-European nations. Of the European residents, most came from Italy (16%), Germany (15%), Spain (15%), and Romania (8%). Feedback for the basic laparoscopic session showed a constant improvement in scores over the last 4 yr, with the highest scores achieved last year. This included feedback on improvements in tutor rating (p=0.017), organisation (p<0.001), and personal experience with EUREP (p<0.001). Limitations lie in the difficulties associated with the use of an advanced training curriculum with wet laboratory or cadaveric courses in this format, although these could be performed in other training centres in conjunction with EUREP. ConclusionsThe EUREP trainee demographics show that the purpose of the course is being achieved, with excellent feedback reported. While European trainees dominate the demographics, participation from a number of non-European countries suggests continued ESU collaboration with other national societies and wider dissemination of simulation training worldwide. Patient summaryIn this paper we look at methodological improvements and feedback for the European Urology Residents Education Programme hands-on-training over the last 4 yr.

Passing through - reasons why migrant doctors in Ireland plan to stay, return home or migrate onwards to new destination countries.

BackgroundInternational recruitment is a common strategy used by high-income countries to meet their medical workforce needs. Ireland, despite training sufficient doctors to meet its internal demand, continues to be heavily dependent on foreign-trained doctors, many of whom may migrate onwards to new destination countries. A cross-sectional study was conducted to measure and analyse the factors associated with the migratory intentions of foreign doctors in Ireland.MethodsA total of 366 non-European nationals registered as medical doctors in Ireland completed an online survey assessing their reasons for migrating to Ireland, their experiences whilst working and living in Ireland, and their future plans. Factors associated with future plans – whether to remain in Ireland, return home or migrate to a new destination country – were tested by bivariate and multivariate analyses, including discriminant analysis.ResultsOf the 345 foreign doctors who responded to the question regarding their future plans, 16 % of whom were Irish-trained, 30 % planned to remain in Ireland, 23 % planned to return home and 47 % to migrate onwards. Country of origin, personal and professional reasons for migrating, experiences of training and supervision, opportunities for career progression, type of employment contract, citizenship status, and satisfaction with life in Ireland were all factors statistically significantly associated with the three migratory outcomes.ConclusionReported plans may not result in enacted emigration. However, the findings support a growing body of evidence highlighting dissatisfaction with current career opportunities, contributing to the emigration of Irish doctors and onward migration of foreign doctors. Implementation of the WHO Global Code, which requires member states to train and retain their own health workforce, could also help reduce onward migration of foreign doctors to new destination countries. Ireland has initiated the provision of tailored postgraduate training to doctors from Pakistan, enabling these doctors to return home with improved skills of benefit to the source country.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12960-016-0121-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Civilisation and Colonisation: Enlightenment Theories in the Debate between Diderot and Raynal

SummaryThe Enlightened theory of civilisation was expressed through the formula of ‘doux commerce’, a form of commerce which acknowledged the need for the European conquest of non-European lands and nations, and the opportunity to bring European civilisation to other peoples without violence. Montesquieu was the first to express this idea, condemning the Spanish conquest and empire. In the Histoire des deux Indes, this idea was dramatically discussed: Raynal wanted to defend it; Diderot dismantled this project showing that civilisation was but the mask of violent conquest. In this way the latter offered an extraordinary refutation of both Enlightened ideology and its strategy of civilisation.

Snapshots from the margins

Right-wing parties and governments in Europe have recently expressed greater hostility towards cultural pluralism, at times officially denunciating multiculturalism, and calling for the closure of borders and denial of rights to non-European nationals. Within this context, this article argues for rethinking Europe through radically transgressive and transnational understandings of cosmopolitanism as articulated by growing transnational populations within Europe such as immigrants, refugees, and irregular migrants. Transgressive forms of cosmopolitanism disrupt European notions of borders and identities in ways that challenge both liberal multiculturalism and assimilationist positions. This article explores the limits of traditional cosmopolitan thinking while offering a vision of cosmopolitanism based on everyday negotiations with cultural differences, explained using two illustrative examples or snapshots.

Hope and Indignation in Fortress Europe: Immigration and Neoliberal Globalization in Contemporary French Cinema

Over the past twenty years, in France, as elsewhere in Europe, cinema has produced an increasing number of films that engage with the thematics of immigration (both legal and illegal) and represent the living and working conditions of first-generation immigrants. In France, such films have also tended to focus on questions of citizenship and nationality as they pertain to the French-born descendants of immigrants, whose presence within the nation demands a reconsideration of previously fixed notions of community, origins and national identity. Though certainly not limited to the perspective of one ethnic minority, the majority of these French films, from militant immigrant cinema in the 1970s, to so-called beur and banlieue cinema in the 1980s and 1990s, have nonetheless tended to focus on protagonists, politics and narratives of immigrants from France’s former colonies in the Maghreb: Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. Maghrebi characters are still quite visible on the screen. However, since 2000, French film professionals of North African descent have nonetheless begun adopting a broader range of modes of production and genres and now assume a greater variety of roles on both sides of the camera. Moreover, the last ten years have seen an increasing range of ethnically diverse immigrant protagonists appearing in French-language films, and not solely those from France’s long-established postcolonial diasporas. In many respects, this cinematic shift is representative of the broader social, economic and cultural transformation that has taken place in the way that immigration has been understood in relation to neoliberal globalization and to its belief in the inevitable primacy of market forces, whereby “the once ‘de-bedded’ economy now claims to ‘im-bed’ everything, including political power” (Mentan 215). This has occurred not only in France, but also across Europe. One area in which the consequences of such market fundamentalism have had a direct impact is on attitudes and policies pertaining to immigration of non-European nationals to the European Union. Here, the desire to exploit an ever cheaper, poorly pro

Cosmopolitan Europe: Border Crossings and Transnationalism in Europe

In recent years European politics has witnessed two simultaneous developments, which are indicative of two contradictory trends. The first is an emphasis on the idea of a cosmopolitan Europe, as facilitated by further European integration. This accelerated integration is said to be creating a cosmopolitan Europe in which citizenship is decoupled from its national bearings and supra-national European institutions facilitate the emergence of new identities and belongings that are not necessarily national in origin. The second trend points towards an increasing visibility of right-wing parties and movements expressing hostility towards cultural multiplicity and an official denunciation of multiculturalism, accompanied by a closure of borders and denial of rights to non-European nationals. This article will argue that these seemingly contradictory trends are not necessarily contradictory but instead complimentary in erecting real and imaginary borders around Europe. The article further argues that growing transnational populations within Europe such as immigrants, refugees, non-residents and non-status individuals act as a corrective to this false perception of a cosmopolitan Europe by bringing the “outside in” and challenging the notions of European borders and established identities.

The Indigenous Academic and the American Hegemonic Cultural System: The Case of Ibrahim Abu Lughod and Ward Churchill

It is not unusual to find common components and themes within the works of Palestinian-American academic Ibrahim Abu-Lughod and Native-Indian-American academic Ward Churchil. Both belong to one of the indigenous nations which went through a process of social destruction, subjugation, and oppression by the colonial capitalist powers. There are very clear commonalities between the experience of Native-Indians, the indigenous people of America, with the United States of America and the experience of the Palestinian people with Western colonialism, especially Britain and the USA, and their product and ally in the Middle East, the State of Israel. If we may borrow the expression used to describe the case by the Arab-American scholar Muneer Al-aksh, where both cases entail the replacement of one nation and its culture by another nation and its culture, and entail also the legitimization if wiping out a whole nation. As such, the discussion of these two cases should not be limited to the military, political, economic, and administrative operations, laws, and actions of colonization and imperialism. It should as well analyze and discuss the cultural and intellectual sides in both cases. Colonialism and imperialism did not limit themselves to establishing political, economic, social, and administrative systems in order to advance and pursue their objectives. They also accompanied these with establishing a cultural and intellectual system which aimed at justifying their policies and actions committed during the process of subjugating another nation in front of their own people, and to dominate the minds of the very people they were colonizing, in order to deceit them regarding the real purposes of the colonial system, ending up with pacifying them and preventing any resistance. This cultural-intellectual hegemonic system recruits experts, social scientists, economists, media men and women from the colonizing country itself as well as from the colonized people. The system builds up its own methods to reward those academics who cooperate with the colonization scheme and to punish those who do not cooperate or resist the system. The works of both Abu-Lughod and Churchill were against this colonial imperialist cultural intellectual hegemonic system. They refrained from writing in support of it in order to get its rewards. Rather, their works emphasized the following themes which contradict such system: Defending the rights of the indigenous peoples which are guaranteed by the international law and human rights accords. Revealing the falsifications, distortions, and contradictions in the colonial/imperial historical narrative by building a fact-based narrative. Uncovering the crimes committed by colonial powers against other nations, and their violations to basic human rights. Defending the right of the oppressed peoples to defend themselves and rights by all means recognized by the international law. Calling for the adaptation of human values in international relations, and for the rejection of racism and discrimination against non-European nations.

Unity in Diversity: A Global Consensus on Choosing the IMF’S Managing Director — Evidence from CGD's Online Survey

On May 19, 2011, the Center for Global Development launched an online survey of the global development community on three issues: the selection process for the IMF’s managing director, criteria for rating the candidates, and actual ratings for 15 candidates who had been named by the international media. Between May 19 and June 23, CGD received 790 responses from people whose characteristics reflect the diversity of the international finance and development community. Survey participants represent 81 nations, all world regions, high-, middle-, and low-income countries, and all adult age groups. In this working paper, David Wheeler analyzes the survey results, incorporating the diversity of the respondents by dividing participants into four mutually exclusive assessment groups: Europeans, who have a particular interest in this context; non-European nationals of other high-income countries; and nationals of middle- and low-income countries. Although the participants are diverse, their responses indicate striking unity on all three survey issues. First, both European and non-European participants reject Europe’s traditional selection prerogative by large margins, with equally strong support for an open, transparent, competitive selection process. Second, participants exhibit uniformity in the relative importance they ascribe to CGD’s six criteria for selecting candidates. Third, the participants exhibit striking consistency in rating the fifteen candidates.

Transpolitical Spaces in Transnational French Cinemas: Vampires and the Illusions of National Borders and Universal Citizenship

Historically conceived as a ‘welcoming land’ ( terre d’accueil), postcolonial France evokes a threshold of tolerance ( seuil de tolérance) in relation to immigrants and refugees. This article considers the illusions of universal citizenship, alongside the illusions of national borders, by examining the ‘terror’ evoked by the transnational figure of the vampire within relations between France and Franco-Maghrebis in transnational French cinemas. Like the vampire, non-European nationals who are racialised as ‘arabes’ are denied the universal rights of citizenship in postcolonial France. Vampirism, however, signals a potential collapse of republicanism, which, because it extends colonialism, fails to recognise spaces for difference without the oppression of unidirectional assimilation. The article examines the racialisation of immigration and the politicisation of assimilation in France since the mid-1970s as these processes are imagined in two films that reject realist conventions of ‘French national cinema’ for anti-realist conventions of transnational genre cinema. Dracula, père et fils (Molinaro, 1976) and Un vampire au paradis (Bahloul, 1992) expose the ‘common sense’ and ‘science’ of racism within a transpolitical space of France and Algeria in ways that canonical films would not dare. As such, the films prompt a rethinking of French cinema beyond the often nationally or culturally discrete spaces of auteur cinema into global spaces of transnational genre films.

‘Как съели петуха’ и почему

The article analyses a short story by Evgenii Popov titled ‘Kak s"eli petukha’ (‘How the Rooster Was Eaten’) or, more precisely, analyses meanings which the rooster has in the text as a festive New-Year dish. Based on culinary binary oppositions that Claude Lévi-Strauss used to describe the nutritional habits of various European and non-European nations, the author of this article reduces the basic collision of Popov's story to a dichotomy between the food of vegetable origin and the food of animal origin or, more concretely, to an opposition between a non-meat soup on the one hand and the rooster on the other as two opposed variants of the New-Year feast. The author also aims to show that the semantic opposition between vegetarianism and “carnivorousness” is multidimensional, i.e. that beside the sensory-corporeal it also includes many other dimensions of human existence: in the context of Soviet culture it points also to the opposition between the poor and the bourgeois, the ideologically acceptable and the ideologically unacceptable, the everyday and the festive, the profane and the sacred. The article, finally, aims to shed light on a deeper and today slightly forgotten layer of meanings that the rooster has had in opposition to the non-meat soup: the rooster is not just a profane-gourmet, but also a ritually sacrificial food that is prepared only for festivities as a token for a better future, i.e. as a symbolic trade for a future wellbeing and good fortune of the votive offerer.