How Neighbours Communicate: The Role of Language in Border Relations

This paper reports on a study of the linguistic situation in the border region where Norway meets Russia in the north. The aim of the study was to investigate language use when contact is revitalised after a long period with closed borders. The Norwegian and Russian languages are very different in vocabulary and structure, which makes communication difficult. How are the two languages affected by extended contact and migration across the border? The study was carried out by the author and Marit Bjerkeng through interviews, a questionnaire and observation of the linguistic situations in two Norwegian communities. The results show an ongoing development where the neighbouring language is increasingly noticeable, and there is a clear link between attitudes, identity and language use. The role of public policy seems to play an important role for the developing linguistic situation, as the Barents region as a political concept introduced in the 1990s has led to cross-border contact within various fields and also inspired local language policy, contributing to cultural pride and changing attitudes

Reconsolidation: Unique Cognitive Process or State Dependent Learning?

Accessing a previously consolidated memory trace brings it back into a labile state where it must then undergo a re-stabilization process known as reconsolidation. During this process memories are susceptible to interference and may be updated with new information. Reconsolidation has been demonstrated in animals as well as in the procedural and episodic human memory systems. However, it is still unclear when the effect will occur. Some studies suggest that reconsolidation is only necessary when new information is presented in the same spatial context or when prediction error occurs. More recent work has provided evidence that reconsolidation could be due to state dependent learning. Here, we aim to determine if an existing cognitive phenomenon, such as state dependent learning, can explain various reconsolidation effects. Experiment 1 examined that possibility using mood as internal states and then matching or mismatching moods during select study days and test. Experiment 2 further expanded on this possibility by matching (or mismatching) states on all days throughout the experiment

Introduction to the Circumpolar World: Module 1

This module introduces students to a course, called The Circumpolar World, and to the interdisciplinary study of this fascinating part of the globe. After a brief explanation of the six major learning objectives, the module goes on to describe the approach taken in the course, an approach that emphasizes that while the circumpolar north has often been viewed as a distant, exotic place, it can also be viewed more intimately, more familiarly. The module then introduces one of the course's key learning aids, a map of the region, and then defines some of the terms used to refer to the world's northernmost places. After covering some of the historical forces that have shaped the region and its peoples, the module concludes with a discussion of what interdisciplinary study is and why it is so important. Educational levels: High school, Undergraduate lower division

European Arctic Initiatives Compendium

Julkaistu versi

A Stability Pact for the Caucasus in Theory and Practice - A Supplementary Note. CEPS Working Document No. 152, September 2000

In response to appeals of the leaders of the South Caucasus for a Stability Pact for the region, CEPS published in May 2000 a consultative document with a comprehensive proposal (available on www.ceps.be). Subsequently the authors have held extensive consultations with the leaders in all three states of the South Caucasus, and in four of the key autonomies (Nagorno Karabakh, Abkhazia, Adjaria, Ossetia). The present paper draws together the information and ideas collected during these consultations, although the conclusions are only attributable to the authors. The main argument of the original document is maintained, and strengthened with more precise views on how the conflicts might be solved within the framework of a Stability Pact. However the proposed Stability Pact process could be more than just an approach to conflict resolution. It has systemic or even constitutional aspects, with elements to overcome the transitional problems of the weak state and ease the confrontations of traditional notions such as independence versus territorial integrity, or the choice between federation and confederation, which are part of the present impasse. Particular consideration is also given to how a Caucasus Stability Pact could serve the interests of Russia as the region’s key player, together with enhanced cooperation with the EU over a Southern Dimension concept

Geography and Physical Processes of the Circumpolar World

This module provides a brief introduction to the physical features and processes of the Arctic region and the significant factors that influence them, which include: the climate, including very low winter temperatures, relatively high summer temperatures, and the subsequent freeze-thaw cycle; the long-term glaciation cycle; and the presence or absence of water and the dynamics and influence thereof, both as liquid and ice, on the northern landscape. A review of map reading skills is also included. Educational levels: High school, Undergraduate lower division

The role of Turkey in the European energy market

The essay in this Med-Agenda aims to examine the role of Turkey in the global energy market within the context of European Energy Security. In the essay we have attempted to answer the following questions: What will the future role of Turkey be in the global energy market? As is usually argued, can Turkey play a leading role as an energy hub or an energy corridor/transit land in the European Union’s energy security? As conclusion we may argue that Russia will continue to match the European demand for natural gas by diversifying transportation routes in the coming decades. For the time being, Turkey can take a part in Gastrom energy policy and European energy security as a transit land and in the meanwhile can cover its own consumption demand for energy

2003 Community Foundation Global Status Report

In 1999 the International Programs department of the Council on Foundations and the newly formed Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support-Community Foundations (WINGS-CF) sponsored a project to track for the first time the development of community foundations around the world. This resulted in the publication of "The Growth of Community Foundations Around the World" in 2000

NATO at 60: A Hollow Alliance

As the North Atlantic Treaty Organization celebrates its 60th birthday, there are mounting signs of trouble within the alliance and reasons to doubt the organization's relevance regarding the foreign policy challenges of the 21st century. Several developments contribute to those doubts. Although NATO has added numerous new members during the past decade, most of them possess minuscule military capabilities. Some of them also have murky political systems and contentious relations with neighboring states, including (and most troubling) a nuclear-armed Russia. Thus, NATO's new members are weak, vulnerable, and provocative -- an especially dangerous combination for the United States in its role as NATO's leader. There are also growing fissures in the alliance about how to deal with Russia. The older, West European powers tend to favor a cautious, conciliatory policy, whereas the Central and East European countries advocate a more confrontational, hard-line approach. The United States is caught in the middle of that intra-alliance squabble. Perhaps most worrisome, the defense spending levels and military capabilities of NATO's principal European members have plunged in recent years. The decay of those military forces has reached the point that American leaders now worry that joint operations with U.S. forces are becoming difficult, if not impossible.The ineffectiveness of the European militaries is apparent in NATO's stumbling performance in Afghanistan. NATO has outlived whatever usefulness it had. Superficially, it remains an impressive institution, but it has become a hollow shell -- far more a political honor society than a meaningful security organization. Yet, while the alliance exists, it is a vehicle for European countries to free ride on the U.S.military commitment instead of spending adequately on their own defenses and taking responsibility for the security of their own region. American calls for greater burden-sharing are even more futile today than they have been over the past 60 years. Until the United States changes the incentives by withdrawing its troops from Europe and phasing out its NATO commitment, the Europeans will happily continue to evade their responsibilities. Today's NATO is a bad bargain for the United States. We have security obligations to countries that add little to our own military power. Even worse, some of those countries could easily entangle America in dangerous parochial disputes. It is time to terminate this increasingly dysfunctional alliance