Latvian sandstone caves as cultural phenomena

This article examines academic cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region. Academic networks are being discussed as indicators of regionalization, but research on the empirical basis is scarce. In the article, the regional networks of 70 higher education institutions in the Baltic States and the German federal state Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania are analyzed. The analysis shows a heterogeneous pattern for the regional higher education area. Regional embedding depends on the focus of an academy and its participation in regional networks. The article concludes with a discussion of options to be considered by regional organizations in order to strengthen regional academic cooperation.     

The Saracens of the Baltic: Pagan and Christian Lithuanians in the Perception of English and French Crusaders to Late Medieval Prussia

This paper investigates the use of the term ‘Saracens’ to describe the Lithuanian opponents of the Western crusaders who took part in expeditions launched from Prussia by the Teutonic Order against the grand duchy of Lithuania in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It presents a variety of evidence from narrative and documentary sources to demonstrate that this usage was derived from existing images of Muslim opponents and was reinforced by epic and romance literature. The use of the term Saracens, which by the fourteenth century had become a generic designation for pagans, was both a convenient way for Western crusaders to imbue the Prussian crusades with a value commensurate with campaigns in the Holy Land, but also to blacken their Lithuanian opponents even when they had abandoned paganism.     

联合国会员国准入制度在“国家承认”中的角色及挑战

"国家承认"是涉及国际主体能否在国际社会中享有国家权利和履行国家义务的国际法基础性问题。随着国际社会的高度一体化和国际组织的蓬勃发展,传统实践中双边的"国家承认"逐渐被集体性实践所替代。联合国的会员国准入制度与国际社会对一个主体的国家资格的承认存在着密切的联系,在"国家承认"问题中扮演着重要角色。由新近的乌克兰局势可发现,联合国会员国准入制度在"国家承认"的层面面临着种种挑战。为保持和发展联合国的会员国准入制度在"国家承认"问题上的优势作用,应该促进现存会员国对彼此文明的欣赏、包容和互鉴,在安理会和大会形成趋于一致的价值目标的基础上,针对具体案例进行历史和现实的分析,从而和平解决与"国家承认"相关的国际问题。     

当前中国人权保障观的一种解析--以人口准入与迁徙自由为例

本文以国家人权保护义务的法律和政治道德义务为基础,分析了国家人权机构的性质与功能问题,在论证国家人权机构正当性的基础上,对世界各国的人权机构类型和功能进行了论述,并提出中国建立国家人权机构的必要性、可行性与基本模式。     

Differences That Matter: Overcoming Methodological Nationalism in Comparative Social Policy Research

Abstract

Welfare states are often discussed as if they were territorially homogeneous state-wide institutions measurable by state-wide expenditure averages and explained by country-level variables. It is rare in comparative policy studies to investigate the role of territorial politics in the outcomes of even federal countries. This article argues, using social policy examples in the UK and US, that the impact of intergovernmental finance and division of labour profoundly shapes social investment and redistribution – producing almost as much expenditure variance within the US as within the OECD. The findings show the importance of incorporating territorial politics and intergovernmental arrangements into comparative welfare state and policy analysis.     

后工业社会福利国家的压力增加了还是减少了？

尽管对现代福利国家的比较研究已使我们获得了对福利国家如何应对由内因和外因带来的压力拥有了丰富的认识，但对后工业社会这些压力的性质和潜在的含义还不甚明了。在研究的文献中，学者们探讨了诸多对福利国家产生压力的各种社会现象，诸如：全球化、欧洲化、人口的统计规律、个体化和变迁中的劳动力。全球化和欧洲一体化作为外在压力，其对福利国家的影响尚有待证明，而人口老龄化、劳动人口的相对下降、工作年限的缩短、多样化的家庭和个人生活方式等内生压力对福利国家造成的影响要重要得多。压力在后工业社会并不是像大家通常所认为的那样被福利国家消解了或重构了，相反，对福利国家而言，真实情况是压力更多了而不是减少了。     

当代女青年负性生存状态的表现、类型及特点

当今社会多数女青年的生存状态是积极、健康、向上的，但在部分女青年中存在负性生存状态，主要表现在人身安全难以保障、艰难抵抗性骚扰、心理健康水平下降、承担异性同居后果、是非观念模糊、遭遇性别歧视、违法犯罪增多、婚恋价值观异变、被病态变态缠绕、基本道德规范缺失等方面。上述状态可以归纳为精神型、心理型、道德型、生活型、学习型、体能型、涉法型、主动型、被动型九大类型，并呈现出隐秘性、张扬性、潜在性等三种特点。     

Regional Mobilization in the ‘New Europe’: A Research Agenda

This Special Issue re-assesses regional mobilization in the ‘New Europe’. We anticipate that enlargement to Central Europe, the entering into force of the Lisbon Treaty and the largest economic and financial crisis since the birth of the European Community have affected how regional governments respond to Europeanization along three different dimensions: (1) the position they take vis-à-vis the process of EU integration more generally, (2) the strategies they adopt in response to Europeanization pressures and (3) their internal structures and dynamics of the EU member states as multi-level states. The article introduces a framework and formulates hypotheses to examine why and how Europeanization pressures in the ‘New Europe’ affect regional mobilization along these three dimensions. In the final section, the article also introduces the various contributions to this Special Issue and relates them to the analytical framework.     

From universal system of social policy to particularistic? The case of the Baltic States

This paper compares the system of social maintenance and insurance in the Soviet Union, which was in force in the three Baltic countries before their independence, with the currently existing social security systems. The aim of the paper is to highlight the forces that have influenced social policy transformation from its former highly universal, however authoritarian form, to the less universal, social insurance-based systems of present day Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.It will be demonstrated that the welfare–economy nexus is not the only important factor in the development of social programs. Rather, social policy should be studied as if embedded in the political, historical and cultural aspects of a given society. The people’s attitude towards distributive justice will be highlighted as being one of the most important factors for either social policy shortcomings or expansion.This paper takes steps to combine quantitative and qualitative data.     

The nexus between vulnerabilities and violence in the Caribbean*

Abstract

This article analyses the nexus between the Caribbean’s manifold vulnerabilities and the direct and structural violence evident throughout the region’s history. It argues that Caribbean states are threatened not only by direct violence but also by the structural violence permeating in impoverished and marginalised sectors of the state–society complex. Both forms of violence are attributable to the historical legacy of colonisation, to US paternalism and hegemonic dominance in the post-colonial era, and to the persistence of the coloniality of power, even after Caribbean states won their independence from European imperial powers. Today, the region is, per capita, one of the most violent areas on the globe. Evidence of concatenated violence is growing across this region, demonstrating the difficulty small underdeveloped states have in addressing threats to their security, independence, economic viability, and continued existence in the intermestic environment within which they operate.