Western European Model Research Articles

Europe de l'Est : une conjoncture démographique exceptionnelle

Eastern Europe: a conjunction of exceptional demographic circumstances This article raises one issue from the demographic evolution in Central Europe and the states of the former USSR since the political and socio-economic changes. It then endeavours to answer two questions: Do these shocks constitute the continuation of tendencies prior to the changes? Do they demonstrate the irresistible diffusion of the Western European model? In other words, is it a question of whether the combined movement is largely independent of the social conjunction? The observations presented suggest that the demographic shocks in Eastern Europe illustrate the demographic impact of the transition toward a market economy. Simultaneously, they reveal the old structural weaknesses, which are well known in the case of the death rate.

Effect of vegetation on an ice‐age climate model simulation

A growing number of studies suggest that vegetation changes can significantly influence regional climate variations. Herein we utilize a climate model (GENESIS) with a land surface vegetation package to evaluate the potential role of the very large vegetation changes that occurred during the last glacial maximum (LGM). In particular, we focus on the potential response to a significant reduction in the area of tropical rainforest. Simulations employed a global vegetation reconstruction for the LGM and Climate/Long‐Range Investigation, Mapping and Prediction (CLIMAP) sea surface temperature (SST) estimates. Results indicate that expansion of dryland vegetation causes a 15–30% additional LGM cooling for Australia (0.4°C) and Africa (0.9°C), respectively. Turnover from conifer to tundra also causes cooling of 2°–4°C or more in western Europe and Siberia. However, for the largest rainforest area (Amazon Basin), inclusion of realistic vegetation increased modeled temperatures 2°–4°C and decreased precipitation by 10–35%. These latter results are similar to those obtained with sensitivity experiments of the effects of future Amazon deforestation. Initial assessment of the potential effect of decreased stomatal resistance due to lower ice age CO2levels indicates little significant response to this effect. Comparison of model‐predicted low‐elevation LGM temperature changes with estimates from proxy data indicate that inclusion of realistic vegetation estimates for the LGM results in slightly more than 50% agreement between models and data for low‐elevation sites in low‐mid latitudes. Data at variance with model predictions would appear to be explainable by considering additional changes in vegetation, ice age dust, or a 1°–2°C cooling below CLIMAP values. This conclusion is at variance with a 3°–4°C tropical cooling suggested by some studies for explaining estimated land temperature changes during the LGM. In some western European sites model temperatures are colder than proxy data by 2°–8°C. This model‐data discrepancy may be explained by less sea ice in the subpolar North Atlantic than stipulated by CLIMAP, a conclusion consistent with new marine data from that region.

Patterns of culture and democratization in Kuwait

Conventional wisdom asserts that Islam and tribalism dispose the countries of the Arab Middle East against democratization. Yet the local culture in the region resembles those in the ancient world where democracy was first established, and neither resembles the pattern of political development that occurred in Western Europe, today’s democratic paradigm. Kuwait, a city-state that has enjoyed a high level of collective wealth throughout the period following World War II, displays many of the attributes of the “positive liberty” that Isaiah Berlin, Hannah Arendt, and others see as characteristic of ancient democracies. Vigorous participation in a range of public spaces acts as a check on runaway state power. Kuwait’s record on “negative liberty” is poor, which is why it diverges from the western European model. Population growth and its effect on political development is eroding Kuwait’s qualities as a city-state and pushing it toward mass politics. It is not possible at this stage to predict with any confidence whether these new trends will result in further liberalization or a more authoritarian polity.

"The Czech Question" A Century Later

The Ceska otazka (The Czech Question) by Masaryk is the supreme work of Czech national mythology. It is true that the author had already been filled with the spirit of a positivistic critical science, but he also embraced the Czech National Revival. The aim of the study is to analyze the reasons for this asymmetry. The study points out the fundamental differences between contemporary interpretations of Masaryk and interpretations during his lifetime: the Czech people participated substantially in the economic miracle which took place in the Czech lands in the latter half of the 19th century, and constituted the third largest nation in the huge Central European empire. They did not suffer from such a marked , small nation* complex as their descendants of today. That is why Masaryk conceived his Czech Question as a view of what had been achieved, and as an ideological basis or the social modernization and political efforts of that time. Masaryk replaced Comte' s vision of an industrial society with the concept of democracy: this concept is very broad and does not dwell on political definitions only. Masaryk, as an expert in theoretical and political socialism ofthat time, relates national emancipation to social emancipation. This would correspond with Western European models if it were not for Masaryk's efforts to incorporate into this framework archaic elements of the early Czech national imagination, as well as the Slavonic idea which lost its viability in the Czech modernization process as early as the mid 1840's. The reason for this strange syncretism was pragmatically political: the shaping of the Czech myth towards the social issue also means the shaping of the social issue towards the Czech myth. An originally conservative critic of modern culture, Masaryk addresses, as a practical politician, the new massive and rapidly growing power of social emancipation, i.e. primarily the working class and the social democratic movement. He wants to bring these under control by transferring them from the cosmopolitan platform of socialism to the Czech national movement which, for this purpose, he interprets as the , philosophy of Czech national history*. This should be seen in connection with some events of the Czech and Central European political scenes of that time, and with Masaryk's efforts to find a strong starting position in Czech and Central European politics. Czech Sociological Review, 1995, Vol. 3 (No. 1: 59-73) Masaryk's Ceska otazka (The Czech Question) is the foremost work within Czech national mythology. Even though its author was influenced by the critical spirit of the positivist branch of science [Střitecký 1995], he focused his interest on the Czech national revival which, in 1894, could already be accepted as a historical fact in need of interpretation. That is also why the work represents a kind of inventory summarising all that had already been achieved. Czech national society existed then not merely as some kind of revivalist dream and programme, but was already fully developed in all its components, and an internally *) Direct all correspondence to Prof. Jaroslav Střitecký, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, A. Novaka 1,660 88 Brno.

FORMATION OF THE CLASSICAL TYPE OF ACADEMY OF SCIENCES IN LATVIA

Well before the full independence of Latvia and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Latvia had begun to profoundly reform its national science system. Key events in the process were the foundation of the Latvian Union of Scientists in 1988 and the Latvian Council of Science in 1990. The next step was the radical reform of the Latvian Academy of Sciences such that it became an independent body of the classical academy type. By 1992, the Academy had adopted a new Charter and new Statutes. At the same time, the institutes which had been subordinated to the Academy became independent. In fact, many of the powers of the old Soviet‐style academy were assumed by the Council of Science and the Department of Science and Higher Education which was created within the Ministry of Education. The overall aim was to pattern Latvian science policy and its institutions on western European models.

LINKS BETWEEN ROMANIAN UNIVERSITIES AND THE ROMANIAN ACADEMY

Seemingly unlike the cases of the Academies of Sciences in the other eastern and central European countries, the Romanian Academy wishes to continue sponsoring state‐of‐the‐art‐research to be undertaken in its own network of research institutes. This decision comes both as a reaction to attempts made by the Ceauescu regime to destroy the Academy completely and the realization that other major models of national research policy, notably the US model, the western European model, and an intermediate one adopted in Mexico, are not easily adapted to Romanian reality. The specifically Romanian model chosen, of beginning with two major sets of government supported research institutes subordinated either to the Ministry of Science and Technology or to the Romanian Academy, of linking them to the universities, and of adapting them according to the dictates of a market economy and democratization seems to be the best option.

Beyond Parochialism, Toward Generalizations and Comparisons: Comments on Jefferson’s "Understanding European Party Systems"

Kurt Jefferson calls for the utilization in Eastern Europe of party system models developed in the western part of the Continent. By doing so, he highlights a fundamental tension that runs throughout the literature on political parties and, for that matter, much of comparative politics: the delicate balance between making generalizations through inductive reasoning and the pursuit of detailed knowledge by way of in-depth study of specific cases. Professor Jefferson squarely confronts this analytical balancing act. He thoughtfully envelops his focus on the Czechoslovak case within a stimulating proposal for one means through which to generalize about political parties. While engaged in microanalysis of a party system in a democratizing polity, his sensitivity for generalization takes form in his recommendation to apply western European models in analyzing eastern European party systems, even suggesting we should refer to "European politics" in lieu of the political-geographical prefixes of "west" and "east." Toward such ends, Jefferson illustratively applies Giovanni Sartori’s (1990) party systems framework to Czechoslovakia.

The Involvement Approach

Tremendous challenges face those charged with reconstructing the economies and workforces of the formerly Communist Eastern European nations. The temptation is great to apply proven Western European and American models to the problem. There are clear dangers in doing so if an attempt is made to “force‐fit” such models on economies and enterprises very different from those in the West. Research and practice in change management principles clearly point to practices, such as high involvement and participation by local workers and managers in rebuilding their own companies, that are essential to success. These may be overlooked, or ignored, in the rush to “fix” Eastern European economies. A balance between a sense of urgency and sound management and leadership practices must be taken. Most important, nothing must be done that undermines Eastern Europeans′ opportunity to practise democratic ideals and be directly in charge of their own density.

Obligation, Error, and Authenticity: Competing Cultural Principles in the Teaching of Corsican

This article examines cultural tensions revealed both in popular reactions to Corsican language education and in Corsican language pedagogy. Lack of widespread public support for compulsory Corsican education and the cultural risks and ambiguities associated with defining linguistic error in the classroom are interpreted as evidence of conflict between a dominant Western European model of perfect congruence between language and identity and a plural cultural and linguistic reality.

Fiscal Implications of the Transition from Planned to Market Economy

The transition from a centrally planned to a market-based economic system should change fundamentally the roles of government and public enterprises in the East-Central European countries of Hungary, Poland, and the Czech and Slovak Federated Republic (CSFR). The size of government should diminish, and that of the private sector increase, as subsidies, which are difficult to justify at market prices, are phased out. Taxes in centrally planned economies tend to be highly distortionary relative to those in market economies, making a restructuring of the tax system desirable to improve efficiency and growth prospects. These changes, in combination with competitive pressures and the objective of eventual membership in the European Community, should cause expenditure and tax systems in East-Central Europe to resemble the Western European model. This paper attempts to establish the extent to which these systems are moving towards the Western European model and the structure of taxes and expenditures likely to result. It also identifies risks to the reform process resulting from pressures on budget balances during the transition, as tax revenues decline and countries are reluctant to phase out subsidies to unprofitable enterprises.

Crossing the Valley of Tears in East European Reform

The economic situation in Eastern Europe is mixed and troubling. On one hand, most of countries of region (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland) are making important progress toward creating a market economy. The results of past two years give strong evidence that these economies can indeed be converted to Western European model in a reasonable period of time. There are hundreds of thousands of new businesses, particularly in construction, trade, and services; shops are full of goods for first time in decades; and inflation is coming under control in almost all countries. On other hand, as result of persistently low living standards and major dislocations caused by reforms, breakdown of old administrative system, and serious external shocks, citizenry of Eastern Europe is troubled, restive, and impatient. Unemployment has risen to around 5-10 percent of labor force in each of countries, and it continues to mount. The fear of unemployment is rising even more rapidly, and that fear could provoke politicians and society to a panicked reponse. The risk of panic brings to mind Roosevelt's aphorism that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, and underscores fact that it is political management of economic transformation that is single greatest challenge facing region. Will Eastern European countries find their Roosevelts to bring them through this difficult period? Regarding practical reform steps, most of governments have grasped crucial need for stabilization and liberalization of economy. In most of countries as of mid-1991, price controls have been eliminated, currencies are largely convertible for current account transactions, and international trade is quite free. As a result of market-determined prices, shortages have been eliminated. But all of countries have so far failed to make a decisive breakthrough on privatization and financial restructuring of state-enterprise sector. This is no doubt because privatization and financial restructuring pose hardest intellectual and political puzzles of whole transformation.

The Mamlūk institution in early Muslim India

When Muslim forces under the Ghurid sultan, Mu'izz al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Sām, made their first major breakthrough into Hindūstān in the 1190s, they brought with them two institutions that had long since taken root in the Islamic world. One was the iqṭā' or assignment of land or its revenue, in some cases in return for military service (sometimes misrepresented as “fief” on the Western European model). The other was the mamlūk, or military slave. Mamlūk status, it should be stressed, bore none of the degrading connotations associated with other types of slavery: mamlūks – generally Turks from the Eurasian steppelands – were highly prized by their masters, receiving both instruction in the Islamic faith and a rigorous training in the martial arts, and were not employed in any menial capacity. The mamlūk institution, whose origins go back to the first century of Islam, came into vogue from the first half of the third/ninth century, as the ‘Abbasid Caliphs built up a corps of Turkish mamlūk guards and their example was followed, with the disintegration of their empire, by the various autonomous dynasties that sprang up in the provinces. Turkish slave officers themselves went on to found dynasties, as in the case of the Tulunids and the Ikhshidids in Egypt and the Ghaznawids in the eastern Iranian world. The institution surely entered upon its heyday in the seventh/thirteenth century, with the military coup of 648/1250 in Cairo: a group of mamlūk officers overthrew the last Ayyubid sultan of Egypt and inaugurated a regime in which slave status was the essential qualification for high military and administrative office.

The Troy Legend in Bohorič's 'Praefatiuncula' to Arcticae Horulae and Comparable Writings of the Medieval and Renaissance Periods

The issue of Slovene culture in the European context occupies an important place in Rado Lencek's rich and versatile scholarly opus. This contribution to his Festschrift is written with the intention of supporting the crucial connection of Slovene culture with its Western European models. The Troy legend is an example which indicates clearly the link between Slovene Protestant writings and Northern European historiography. The Troy legend preserved in the historiography ofthe Renaissance and the Reformation period has a long history. Homer's heroes of the Trojan war continued to live through the centuries in later Roman versions of Homer's work as well as in medieval Franco-Roman legends and chronicles. The present paper will not attempt an exhaustive survey of the existing Italian and Northern European medieval and Renaissance versions of the Troy legend. Our task here is to put in proper cultural context the appearance of this legend in Bohoric's Preface to his grammar Arcficae Horulae (1584). However, before we analyze BohoriC's Slavic version of the Troy legend, we should survey its development on Western European soil. The Troy legend played an immense role in the Middle Ages and was popular both in Italy and Franco-Gallia. Although the Troy legend was of Roman imperial origin, the Church kept propagating it persistently with peaceful purposes, tracing the descent of the Franks and Romans from the city of Troy. Thus these two peoples were said to have the same ancestors, and so to be 'German' brothers. The term German derives from this name, which the Romans gave to the Franks. The Romans and the Franks as cousins were consanguineous and the ancient German chronicles represent the Franks as the brothers or the cousins of the Romans: Romanum fore Troianum natura fatetur / Germanus pafriofa suus Jraterque videtur, and as having the same mother: Troia suis populis mater utrique fuit. J It is important to underscore the fact that from the earliest times the Troy legend was widely propagated for political and juridical reasons. The Frankish emperor was the successor of the Roman emperor. The acceptance of the Troy legend in Franco-Gallia embodied the medieval ideal of a universal Roman society and the Holy Roman Empire. Therefore the Roman law received and applied by the Franks and Gauls was considered by the Romans as the imperial law applicable to all Roman territories. The trans/atio imperii had as its goal to preserve that ideal and universal state which was the Roman Empire, with its providential mission towards the human race; a mission analogous in the natural order to that of the Church in the Order of Grace. The Troy legend, with its Roman ideal of the universal Empire, found its best expression in Dante's works. For example, in the Fourth Treatise of the Convivio Dante sets forth the high mission of the Roman people:

Marriage Age among French Factory Workers: An Alsatian Example

The author examines trends in age at first marriage of factory workers in a community undergoing industrialization using data from marriage registers for Dornach France for the period between the mid-1820s and the mid-1850s. Several factors influencing workers nuptiality including occupation and migration characteristics and timing of parents deaths are investigated. The focus is on data concerning female workers. The findings are compared with the outcomes predicted by Hajnals western European model and by the proto-industrialization hypothesis. (ANNOTATION)

Policy Implications of Individual Differences in Learning Ability: a Comparative Perspective

Abstract Husen, Torsten 1978. Policy Implications of Individual Differences in Learning Ability: A Comparative Perspective. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 22, 173‐191. Educational policy implications of individual differences are of particular relevance in societies with a certain social mobility where status is increasingly achieved instead of being ascriptive. Problems of differentiation and uniformity of educational provisions are products of the era of emphasis on equality of educational opportunity. The diversity/uniformity problem has been dealt with in different ways in various national systems of education. Three typical solutions are dealt with in this paper: the American comprehensive model, the Western European elitist model, and the Eastern European model of a unitary school. It is pointed out that an element of meritocracy runs through all the three systems, irrespective of the social and economic order in which they operate.

Building States and Nations

What do we mean when we call a territorial unit a nation? Is nationhood a worthwhile goal for developing areas of the world, or are there alternative solutions to be found outside the Western European model? These questions and a host of related issues are confronted in BUILDING STATES AND NATIONS, the first full-length report covering UNESCO's major series of international conferences on nation-building.

Social Mobility: The Western European Model

Social Mobility: The Western European Model

The Changes in the Turkish Administrative and Juridical Structure and its Present State

Frenchby Dr. Siddik Sami Onar.The author makes a clear distinction between three periods: a.The Islamic period, from the foundation of the Ottoman Empire until 1839, during which the Sultan had absolute political power. The Law was founded both on the Koran and on traditional rules. Civil servants were divided into four specific groups, and considerable attention was paid to the organisation of recruitment and training.In the course of the 17th Century, when the Ottoman Empire declined, the authorities realised that reforms, on the lines of the Western European model, had become necessary.b.The « Tanzimat » (Reform) period (1839–1923). A democratic constitution was adopted in 1876, suspended a year later, and restored in 1908. Western European, and especially French, influences became stronger in the field of general administration (e.g. the establishment of ministerial Departments) as well as in Law (in addition to the original Islamic rules, Turkey adopted the French commercial and penal Codes). Moreover, local administration was strongly centralised.c.The Republican period. After World War I, a Government, called the « Grand Turkish National Assembly » was established at Ankara. Turkey was declared a Republic, and a new Constitution adopted in 1924. The Assembly became a Parliament, while executive powers were entrusted to a Council of Ministers. The administrative reforms from the Tanzimat period were maintained and improved. The Swiss Civil Code was adopted and State interventions in the economic field considerably increased.