Reshaping local borders in Europe today. A critical reflection founded on an analysis of the case of Finland

In Europe, the amalgamation of local authorities is currently used to optimize public resources. Although amalgamation involves several advantages, it needs to fulfil three conditions to be considered successful. First, address local preferences and needs; second, be fair, transparent and accessible to citizens; and third, be a compromise between central and local political elites. In the current paper the fulfilling of these three conditions is analysed using the comprehensive, bottom-up, Finnish reform introduced during the period of 2008-2013. The findings conclude that while the Finnish local reform plan has been successful in reaching a compromise between local and central governments, it has failed insofar as it has not fulfilled the condition of making the process fair, transparent and accessible to citizens. Furthermore, whether the amalgamation has allowed local government to address citizens' preferences and needs in a meaningful and responsive way has yet to be demonstrated

Geostrategies of the European neighbourhood policy

The debate about the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) has, in essence, been about borders and bordering. Such departures could contribute — and often do so — to a rather fixed geopolitical vision of what the EU is about and how it aims to run and to organize the broader European space. However, this article aims to retain space for viewing the ENP as a developmental and somewhat fluid process. A conceptual framework, based on outlining three geopolitical models and a series of different geopolitical strategies employed by the EU in regard to its borders, is hence employed in order to be able to tell a more dynamic story regarding the developing nature of the ENP and the EU's evolving nature more generally. The complexity traced informs us that various geostrategies may be held at the same time at the external border. Moreover, the dominance of one geostrategy may be replaced by another or a different combination of them with regard to the same neighbourhood. It is, more generally, argued that if anything it is precisely this dynamism that should be championed as a valuable resource, avoiding the tendency to close off options through the reification of particular visions of the nature of the EU and its borders

Migration, Mobility and Human Rights at the Eastern Border of the European Union - Space of Freedom and Security

This edited collection of migration papers would like to emphasise the acute need for migration related study and research in Romania. At this time, migration and mobility are studied as minor subjects in Economics, Sociology, Political Sciences and European Studies only (mostly at post-graduate level). We consider that Romanian universities need more ‘migration studies’, while research should cover migration as a whole, migration and mobility being analysed from different points of view – social, economical, legal etc. Romania is part of the European Migration Space not only as a source of labourers for the European labour market, but also as source of quality research for the European scientific arena. Even a country located at the eastern border of the European Union, we consider Romania as part of the European area of freedom, security and justice, and therefore interested in solving correctly all challenges incurred by the complex phenomena of migration and workers’ mobility at the European level. The waves of illegal immigrants arriving continuously on the Spanish, Italian and Maltese shores, and the workers’ flows from the new Member States from Central and Eastern Europe following the 2004 accession, forced the EU officials and the whole Europe to open the debate on the economical and mostly social consequences of labour mobility. This study volume is our contribution to this important scientific debate. Starting with the spring of 2005, the Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence and the School of High Comparative European Studies (SISEC), both within the West University of Timisoara, have proposed a series of events in order to raise the awareness of the Romanian scientific environment on this very sensitive issues: migration and mobility in the widen European Space. An annual international event to celebrate 9 May - The Europe Day was already a tradition for SISEC (an academic formula launched back in 1995 in order to prepare national experts in European affairs, offering academic post-graduate degrees in High European Studies). With the financial support from the Jean Monnet Programme (DG Education and Culture, European Commission), a first migration panel was organised in the framework of the international colloquium ‘Romania and the European Union in 2007’ held in Timisoara between 6 and 7 of May 2005 (panel Migration, Asylum and Human Rights at the Eastern Border of the European Union). Having in mind the positive welcoming of the migration related subjects during the 2005 colloquium, a second event was organised on 5 May 2006 in the framework of the European Year of Workers’ Mobility: the international colloquium Migration and Mobility: Assets and Challenges for the Enlargement of the European Union. In the same period, the Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence, SISEC and The British Council in Bucharest have jointly edited two special issues of The Romanian Journal of European Studies, no.4/2005 and 5-6/2006, both dedicated to migration and mobility. Preliminary versions of many of the chapters of this volume were presented at the above mentioned international events. The papers were chosen according to their scientific quality, after an anonymously peer-review selection. The authors debate both theoretical issues and practical results of their research. They are renowned experts at international level, members of the academia, PhD students or experienced practitioners involved in the management of the migration flows at the governmental level. This volume was financed by the Jean Monnet Programme of the Directorate General Education and Culture, European Commission, throughout the Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence (C03/0110) within the West University of Timisoara, Romania, and is dedicated to the European Year of Workers’ Mobility 2006. Timisoara, December 200

Border Studies

In the last two decades, a novel interdisciplinary field of inquiry has emerged under the label of Border Studies. This area of research has mainly reflected on the nature and functionalities of borders and boundaries, bringing up discussions on space, politics, economics, and culture. In particular, Border Studies have significantly contributed to the understanding of the role of borders in shaping migratory movements. In order to map this very large field of investigation, numerous state of the art reviews have been published. However, none of the reviews encountered has addressed the following issues: first, the main assumptions informing different theoretical perspectives in Border Studies; second, the application of Border Studies to analyse human mobility in the Global South. Thus, in order to participate in producing a more complete understanding of the knowledge produced in this field, the present paper pursues a pair of objectives. One objective is to critically present the main theoretical approaches employed in the field of Border Studies, reflecting on their heuristic possibilities and limitations as well as their political implications. The other objective is to explore the intertwining of Border and Migration Studies with a specific focus on Africa, Asia and Latin America, devoting particular attention to the way this body of research has analysed the condition of migrant women workers. Overall, the essay generates suggestions for future significant investigations

Between Ambitions and Ambivalences: Cross-cultural Diversity Management and Immigrant Integration

This article provides an outline and discussion of the main findings of an international research realized in 10 EU countries on Cross-cultural Diversity Management practices for immigrant workers. The fundamental aim is to explore the role of such practices for the promotion of a new model of integration based on the exploitation of immigrants\u2019 human capital as a strategic lever for EU competitiveness. This goal is achieved through a targeted selection and a re-elaboration of the key indications from the research, which entailed desk-based analyses and the carrying out of more than 100 case histories of for-profit, public and not-for-profit organizations. By focusing on the variety of the observed practices and their impact in the context of a broader reflection on immigrant integration in EU countries, the paper suggests that there is potential for the development of significant diversity management actions towards immigrant workers

Contemporary Indigenous research within Sámi and global Indigenous studies contexts

Peer reviewe

Indigenousness and Urbanization

From the Arctic to Australia, from the Americas to Asia, Indigenous peoples are experiencing a demographic shift towards increased urbanity. The cities that Indigenous people move to, tend to be culturally and politically dominated by non-Indigenous peoples. Sometimes these urban areas are located outside the Indigenous peoples’ traditional lands — but also towns and cities built on Indigenous lands are often dominant-group strongholds, as historical processes of colonization and marginalization have pushed Indigenous peoples and their cultures away from the centres and into the geographical margins (UNHABITAT 2010, Peters and Andersen 2013).What happens to Indigenous individuals involved in this demographic shift? Do they suffer loss of ethnic identity, language, and culture, and weakened social ties with their ethnic community? If not, how do they manage to preserve their identity, language, and culture under urban circumstances? Do urbanized Indigenous individuals retain their connections to rural areas, or is contact with the rural cultural strongholds severed? What role do new communication technologies have in facilitating contact between urbanized Indigenous individuals, and in maintaining urban–rural ties? What processes occur between urban Indigenous people, on the one hand, and, on the other, urban authorities unaccustomed to dealing with Indigenous issues? What is the role of state-based actors in urban Indigenous governance? How do Indigenous people organize to facilitate the survival of their culture and identity in urban settings?acceptedVersio