Ein anderes Stück Europa? Der Mittelmeertourismus in Expertendiskursen der Nachkriegszeit, 1950–1980

The mass tourism of millions of Europeans towards the Mediterranean in the post-war era was made possible through the efforts of both private and governmental actors. This article explores how, why, and to what extent these experts promoted ideas of a “South” within Western Europe during the Cold War era. Evaluating different groups of tourism experts – such as tour operators, travel writers, tourism scholars, economists in international organizations, politicians, and journalists – this article identifies several discourses that expressed internal differences within Western Europe via the idea of a European “South” that belonged to Western Europe, but which was considered to be “different” at the same time. The article argues that tourism experts fostered quite contradictory ideas: on the one hand, tourism was a central field to promote the idea of a “Southern difference” and, on the other hand, tourism was used to bridge economic gaps and political conflicts within Western Europe

Zwischen Zentren und Peripherien.: Vorstellungen von Westeuropa in Expertendiskursen der Nachkriegszeit

Since the so-called “spatial turn”, historians have been intensively dealing with concepts of space and macro-regions. While Eastern Europe has received considerable attention, fewer studies have examined Western Europe and its heterogeneities during the Cold War era, especially beyond the examples of Great Britain, France, or Germany. The current issue analyses the internal differences in Western Europe from the 1940s until the end of the 1970s. It explores in particular the contrast between the geopolitical discourse of a homogeneous “Western bloc” and competing concepts that stressed the internal differences between the countries and regions considered to belong to the geopolitical “West”, such as the idea of industrialized “Northern” and agrarian “Southern” countries and regions. By focusing on the role of experts in national and transnational spheres, their discourses, as well as approaches to economic, political, and cultural differences, it demonstrates, via implicit and explicit concepts of a “North” and a “South”, how the idea of the “West” was negotiated and discussed

Juegos de identidad. Las fiestas de moros y cristianos como difusoras de una narrativa histórica nacional

The festivals of Moors and Christians exist in many Spanish regions and constitute one of the most important moments for these villages and cities during the year. Taking the example of the festivals in Alcoi (Alicante), this article analyses its history since the nineteenth century as a case study for ?invention of tradition?, following the concept of the historian Eric Hobsbawm. Beyond its carnivalesque character, the festivals have exerted an educative function in popularizing historical narratives and have tried to create a sense of local and national identities for a broad public, including the school

Zwischen Zentren und Peripherien. Vorstellungen von Westeuropa in Expertendiskursen der Nachkriegszeit

Since the so-called “spatial turn”, historians have been intensively dealing with concepts of space and macro-regions. While Eastern Europe has received considerable attention, fewer studies have examined Western Europe and its heterogeneities during the Cold War era, especially beyond the examples of Great Britain, France, or Germany. The current issue analyses the internal differences in Western Europe from the 1940s until the end of the 1970s. It explores in particular the contrast between the geopolitical discourse of a homogeneous “Western bloc” and competing concepts that stressed the internal differences between the countries and regions considered to belong to the geopolitical “West”, such as the idea of industrialized “Northern” and agrarian “Southern” countries and regions. By focusing on the role of experts in national and transnational spheres, their discourses, as well as approaches to economic, political, and cultural differences, it demonstrates, via implicit and explicit concepts of a “North” and a “South”, how the idea of the “West” was negotiated and discussed

Workshop-Berichte

1. "Ausgeschnittene Wirklichkeit - Die Macht des Bildermachers" 2. "Ansehnliche Bilder - Die Sicht des Programmveranwortlichen" 3. "Selbstbestimmter Konsum - Die Kompetenz des Zuschauers"4. "Dosierte Kontrolle - Die Kriterien der Medienaufsicht

Reconstruction versus conservative treatment after rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament: cost effectiveness analysis

BACKGROUND: The decision whether to treat conservatively or reconstruct surgically a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is an ongoing subject of debate. The high prevalence and associated public health burden of torn ACL has led to continuous efforts to determine the best therapeutic approach. A critical evaluation of benefits and expenditures of both treatment options as in a cost effectiveness analysis seems well-suited to provide valuable information for treating physicians and healthcare policymakers. METHODS: A literature review identified four of 7410 searched articles providing sufficient outcome probabilities for the two treatment options for modeling. A transformation key based on the expert opinions of 25 orthopedic surgeons was used to derive utilities from available evidence. The cost data for both treatment strategies were based on average figures compiled by Orthopaedic University Hospital Balgrist and reinforced by Swiss national statistics. A decision tree was constructed to derive the cost-effectiveness of each strategy, which was then tested for robustness using Monte Carlo simulation. RESULTS: Decision tree analysis revealed a cost effectiveness of 16,038 USD/0.78 QALY for ACL reconstruction and 15,466 USD/0.66 QALY for conservative treatment, implying an incremental cost effectiveness of 4,890 USD/QALY for ACL reconstruction. Sensitivity analysis of utilities did not change the trend. CONCLUSION: ACL reconstruction for reestablishment of knee stability seems cost effective in the Swiss setting based on currently available evidence. This, however, should be reinforced with randomized controlled trials comparing the two treatment strategies

Patterns and universals of mate poaching across 53 nations : the effects of sex, culture, and personality on romantically attracting another person’s partner

As part of the International Sexuality Description Project, 16,954 participants from 53 nations were administered an anonymous survey about experiences with romantic attraction. Mate poaching--romantically attracting someone who is already in a relationship--was most common in Southern Europe, South America, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe and was relatively infrequent in Africa, South/Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Evolutionary and social-role hypotheses received empirical support. Men were more likely than women to report having made and succumbed to short-term poaching across all regions, but differences between men and women were often smaller in more gender-egalitarian regions. People who try to steal another's mate possess similar personality traits across all regions, as do those who frequently receive and succumb to the poaching attempts by others. The authors conclude that human mate-poaching experiences are universally linked to sex, culture, and the robust influence of personal dispositions.peer-reviewe

Are men universally more dismissing than women? Gender differences in romantic attachment across 62 cultural regions

The authors thank Susan Sprecher (USA), Del Paulhus (Canada), Glenn D. Wilson (England), Qazi Rahman (England), Alois Angleitner (Germany), Angelika Hofhansl (Austria), Tamio Imagawa (Japan), Minoru Wada (Japan), Junichi Taniguchi (Japan), and Yuji Kanemasa (Japan) for helping with data collection and contributing significantly to the samples used in this study.Gender differences in the dismissing form of adult romantic attachment were investigated as part of the International Sexuality Description Project—a survey study of 17,804 people from 62 cultural regions. Contrary to research findings previously reported in Western cultures, we found that men were not significantly more dismissing than women across all cultural regions. Gender differences in dismissing romantic attachment were evident in most cultures, but were typically only small to moderate in magnitude. Looking across cultures, the degree of gender differentiation in dismissing romantic attachment was predictably associated with sociocultural indicators. Generally, these associations supported evolutionary theories of romantic attachment, with smaller gender differences evident in cultures with high–stress and high–fertility reproductive environments. Social role theories of human sexuality received less support in that more progressive sex–role ideologies and national gender equity indexes were not cross–culturally linked as expected to smaller gender differences in dismissing romantic attachment.peer-reviewe