Trade Union Politics as a Countermovement? A Polaniyan Perspective

The article develops a conceptual proposal for the inquiry of trade unions. On the basis of Karl Polanyis theory, four patterns of political mobilization applied by trade unions in the current Transformation are pointed out

Governance of Digitalization in Europe A contribution to the Exploration Shaping Digital Policy - Towards a Fair Digital Society? BertelsmannStiftung Study

Digital policy is a unique policy area. As a cross-cutting policy issue, it has an impact not only on individual areas of regulation but on almost all other policy areas as well. Aspects of digital policy such as data regimes, cybersecurity and standardization issues are relevant not only to the the future of the internet or 5G mobile communications infrastructure, but to other areas of our lives to which they are closely linked, which range from automated driving to digital assistance systems in education and healthcare to the digitalization of sectors such as agriculture and construction. Nevertheless, regulation efforts have thus far been primarily sector-specific and national in their scope. With a few exceptions, such as the EU’s controversial General Data Protection Regulation, there are few digital policy frameworks in place for Europe that defines and integrates basic principles for broad application. Instead, we face a situation in which a variety of approaches stand side by side, at times complementing each other but also – all too often – competing with each other in ways that foster inconsistencies. The development of Europe’s 5G infrastructure is illustrative of this state of affairs. Despite the presence of what were originally uniform objectives across Europe, 28 nationally distinct tendering procedures with different requirements have since emerged. As a result, we must now find ways to manage the problems associated with having three or more networks per country, high costs, a difficult debate over security and the threat of dependency on non-EU providers

Swiss Agile Study 2012 : Agile Software-Entwicklung in der Schweiz

Swiss Agile Research Networ

Digital pioneers in rural regional development: A bibliometric analysis of digitalisation and leadership

While research into digitalisation in cities has grown strongly in recent years, rural areas have now also clearly shifted into the focus of attention. An important strand of research into digitalisation in rural areas can be described as agency perspectives. Current studies point to the driving, transformative force of key figures, for example social entrepreneurs, smart villagers or spatial pioneers. At heart, these studies propose that paths for collective action can be developed via key figures, thus generating ways to change established rules and norms. This paper represents a methodological contribution to this strand of research by subjecting the debate on leadership through key figures to a quantitative, bibliometric analysis, on the basis of which a heuristic is proposed in order to develop relevant research questions. Based on different strands of discourse, our results show that unequal spatial development ismanifested in an urban bias, but also demonstrate the potential of the growing research field in rural regional development.Während das Forschungsfeld zu Digitalisierung in Städten zuletzt stark angewachsen ist, rücken nun auch ländliche Räume deutlich in den Fokus. Ein wichtiger Forschungsstrang zur Digitalisierung in ländlich geprägten Räumen kann als agency perspective beschrieben werden. Aktuelle Studien verweisen auf die treibende transformative Kraft von Schlüsselfiguren, beispielsweise social entrepreneurs, smart villagers oder spatial pioneers. Sie vertreten im Kern die Annahme, dass über Schlüsselfiguren Pfade für gemeinschaftliches Handeln entwickelt werden und es so zu Veränderungen in den bestehenden Regelwerken und Normen kommen kann. Dieser Aufsatz leistet einen methodischen Beitrag zu diesem Forschungsstrang, indem er über eine quantitative bibliometrische Analyse die englischsprachige Debatte zu leadership durch Schlüsselfiguren analysiert und daran folgend eine Heuristik vorschlägt, um Fragen zu entwickeln. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen anhand unterschiedlicher Diskursstränge die ungleiche räumliche Entwicklung im Sinne eines urban bias, aber auch das Potenzial eines wachsenden Forschungsfeldes in der ländlichen Regionalentwicklung auf

Diversity in the East-Central European Borderlands : Memories, Cityscapes, People

Built on up-to-date field material, this edited volume suggests an anthropological approach to the palimpsest-like milieus of Wrocław, Lviv, Chernivtsi, and Chişinău. In these East-Central European borderline cities, the legacies of Nazism, Marxism-Leninism, and violent ethno-nationalism have been revisited in recent decades in search of profound moral reckoning and in response to the challenges posed by the (post-)transitional period. Present shapes and contents of these urban settings derive from combinations of fragmented material environments, cultural continuities and political ruptures, present-day heritage industries and collective memories about the contentious past, expressive architectural forms and less conspicuous meaning-making activities of human actors. In other words, they evolve from perpetual tensions between choices of the past and the burden of the past. A novel feature of this book is its multi-level approach to the analysis of engagements with the lost diversity in historical urban milieus full of post-war voids and ruptures. In particular, the collected studies test the possibility of combining the theoretical propositions of Memory Studies with broader conceptualizations of borderlands, cosmopolitan sociality, urban mythologies, and hybridity

Unions in Germany: Searching to regain the initiative

--

The failure of East German antifascism: some ironies of history as politics

"The overthrow of Communism through the 'peaceful revolution' during 1989/90 raised the question of what to do with its ideological justification of 'anti-fascism'. Ironically some self-critical GDR intellectuals like Christa Wolf had already argued that what had begun as a rigorous effort to repudiate National Socialism had turned into a legitimation of a new SED-dictatorship. Written during the exciting process of German unification, this essay attempted a preliminary assessment of the rote of East German historians within the SED-regime: On the one hand their scholarly efforts had become more complex and convincing during the 1980s, leading to growing recognition from abroad. But on the other hand, these scholars also showed a failure of political nerve by not drawing the practical consequences from their empirical and methodological advances. Based on discussions with East German colleagues, this essay sought to resolve the paradox of their intellectual contribution and political inaction." (author's abstract

At the Mind’s Limits and German-Jewish Symbiosis: Or, Améry on Guilt and the Possibility of Redemption

At the 50th anniversary of the Jean Améry’s Jenseits von Schuld und Sühne: Bewältigungsversuche eines Überwältigten, published in English as At the Mind’s Limits: Contemplations By a Survivor on Auschwitz and its Realities, this work is garnering increased attention in the Anglophone world. Perhaps it should not be surprising that there is increased interest in this book at this moment when our attention is repeatedly drawn to the plight of immigrants and exiles, state sanctioned use of torture, and police violence—all themes At the Mind’s Limits deals with at length. While this recent attention is certainly appropriate, it nevertheless tends to blur the specific and particular socio-political and cultural contours of the work. Améry becomes a writer about the plight of the victim in general, such that specificity of his Jewishness is lost and the already submerged theological dimensions of his work remain obscure.

(Counter-)Narrating European integration: : How trade unions came up with joint position on the Freedom of Services in the EU

In order to maintain social standards within the European Union, trade unions have to overcome national differences to form common political positions. Especially against the background of the recent enlargement rounds, the crafting of such positions has become a daunting task. In this context, the European Services Directive has posed an important challenge to trade unions: The so-called ‘country of origin principle’ implied that workers were supposed to be employed in line with the standards of the sending- and not the receiving country. After lengthy discussions between representatives from Eastern and Western Europe, the trade unionists managed to form a joint political line and forced the European Commission to remove the principle. In order to challenge the hegemonic neoliberal narrative of the common market bringing freedom and prosperity to the countries of Europe, the article will show how the counternarrative of a European Social Model served as a reference frame for this joint position

On the theory of social innovations: Tarde's neglected contribution to the development of a sociological innovation theory

The term 'social innovation' is currently becoming increasingly significant in social and political discourse. However, so far there is still no theoretically grounded, practicable concept of social innovation. Through recourse to the social theory of Gabriel Tarde, with its focus on social inventions and social practices of imitation, social innovation can be identified as a specific mechanism of change, and hence the analytical perspective can be directed towards society as a locus of innovation. This provides valuable input for an integrative theory of innovation, and for the analysis and shaping of social transformation processes