The integration of rural regions of Ireland and Poland into the European Union

Against the background of the enlargement of the European Union, Ireland is often mentioned as a key example for the Central and Eastern European countries of a successful European integration process. Thereby, the development of the complete Republic of Ireland since the EU accession in 1973 is analyzed. If you survey separately the economic and social development of urban and rural regions, it emerges that the rural regions could hardly participate in the economic success of Ireland and that disparities have increased. Many farmers are dependent on public welfare to make a living, as the Irish living costs have increased during the last years. Consequently today about one third of the Irish households live - in spite of the economic success of the Celtic Tiger - under the relative poverty line. Against the background of this depletion process, the question comes up whether Ireland can act as a paradigm for the European integration process of Poland. Looking at the initial situation of Ireland in 1973 and the current situation in Poland, several parallels exist, however, also strong distinctions. While major similarities can be determined with the agricultural structures as well as with the social value system, developments in Poland are still subject to the not yet completed transformation process from a socialist to a democratic and capitalist system

Locational Choice and Secondary Movements from the Perspective of Forced Migrants: A Comparison of the Destinations Luxembourg and Germany

In 2015 and 2016, the enormous increase in asylum seekers travelling along the Balkan Route confronted the Member States of the European Union with an exceptional pressure on national asylum systems. Since then academic literature has revealed a reappraisal of the Common European Asylum System at regulative and policy implementation level, notably regarding the fair distribution of asylum seekers across Member States and regions. Yet we know very little about the locational choices of forced migrants or how those choices evolved and transformed during their journey. In this paper, we aim to shed light on those decision-making processes and (individual, subjective) locational choices based on the aspiration-ability model, drawing from a series of qualitative interviews with migrants held in Luxembourg and Germany in the context of the H2020 project CEASEVAL. We focus on the migrants' journeys to their actual recipient countries, highlighting mobility trajectories from the moment of first departure and on the process of decision-making regarding their choice of location. Then, we examine further mobility aspirations, which may lead to secondary mobility within or out of the country of residence. In the concluding section, we discuss the consequences of our findings for migration and asylum politics against the background of the "autonomy of migration" framework

Partizipation in Großschutzgebieten - untersucht am Beispiel der Beteiligung an den Workshops zur Erstellung des Rahmenkonzeptes des Biosphärenreservates Bliesgau 2014

Im Biosphärenreservat "Biosphäre Bliesgau" wurde im Jahr 2014 ein Partizipationsprozess zur Erstellung des Rahmenkonzeptes über die zukünftige Ausgestaltung des Biosphärenreservates durchgeführt. Vor diesem Hintergrund legt der hier vorliegende Beitrag zunächst dar, wie Partizipation allgemein sowie speziell in Großschutzgebieten aussehen kann und welche unterschiedlichen Formen von Partizipation (von der reinen Information als Nicht-Partizipation bis zur bottom-up gesteuerten Partnerschaft als stärkste Ausformung der Partizipation) möglich sind. Im empirisch-analytischen Teil wird dann der Partizipationsprozess 2014 in der Biosphäre Bliesgau anhand von öffentlich zugänglichen Protokollen und Interviews untersucht. Dabei lässt sich feststellen, dass der top-down gesteuerte Prozess - z.B. durch konkrete Ansprache einzelner Personen oder Gruppen - eine gewisse Selektion der Teilnehmer(innen) - intendiert oder unintendiert - aufweist und somit die höchste Stufe der Partizipation nicht erreicht werden konnte.In 2014 a process of public participation was initiated in order to produce a framework concept for the future configuration of the "Biosphere Bliesgau". This paper presents characteristics of participation, both in general and in large-scale protected areas in particular, and discusses what various forms of participation (ranging from pure information as non-participation to bottom-up partnerships as the strongest form of participation) are possible. The empirical-analytical section of the paper investigates the 2014 process of participation in Biosphere Bliesgau, using publically available protocols and interviews. It can be seen that the top-down process - e.g. involving concrete agreements between individuals or groups - involves the selection of participants - intended or otherwise - and that the highest level of participation could therefore not be achieved

Participation in large-scale protected areas - investigated using the example of participation in workshops to produce the framework concept for the biosphere reserve Bliesgau 2014

Im Biosphärenreservat „Biosphäre Bliesgau“ wurde im Jahr 2014 ein Partizipationsprozess zur Erstellung des Rahmenkonzeptes über die zukünftige Ausgestaltung des Biosphärenreservates durchgeführt. Vor diesem Hintergrund legt der hier vorliegende Beitrag zunächst dar, wie Partizipation allgemein sowie speziell in Großschutzgebieten aussehen kann und welche unterschiedlichen Formen von Partizipation (von der reinen Information als Nicht-Partizipation bis zur bottom-up gesteuerten Partnerschaft als stärkste Ausformung der Partizipation) möglich sind. Im empirisch-analytischen Teil wird dann der Partizipationsprozess 2014 in der Biosphäre Bliesgau anhand von öffentlich zugänglichen Protokollen und Interviews untersucht. Dabei lässt sich feststellen, dass der top-down gesteuerte Prozess – z. B. durch konkrete Ansprache einzelner Personen oder Gruppen – eine gewisse Selektion der Teilnehmer(innen) – intendiert oder unintendiert – aufweist und somit die höchste Stufe der Partizipation nicht erreicht werden konnte.In 2014 a process of public participation was initiated in order to produce a framework concept for the future configuration of the “Biosphere Bliesgau”. This paper presents characteristics of participation, both in general and in large-scale protected areas in particular, and discusses what various forms of participation (ranging from pure information as non-participation to bottom-up partnerships as the strongest form of participation) are possible. The empirical-analytical section of the paper investigates the 2014 process of participation in Biosphere Bliesgau, using publically available protocols and interviews. It can be seen that the top-down process – e. g. involving concrete agreements between individuals or groups – involves the selection of participants – intended or otherwise – and that the highest level of participation could therefore not be achieved

Cross-border vocational training as processes of cross-border learning

In den letzten Jahren hat die grenzüberschreitende Berufsausbildung zunehmend an Bedeutung gewonnen. Die übergeordnete Forschungsfrage beschäftigt sich damit, wie regionale Lernprozesse in einer Grenzregion durch bilaterale grenzüberschreitende formale Bildungsabkommen entwickeln. Dafür wurde ein Modell regionalen Lernens in Grenzregionen basierend auf dem Modell von Wellbrock et al. (2012) entwickelt, das sich auf eine ganzheitliche Begrifflichkeit stützt und die Akteursperspektive in den Fokus stellt. Die Entwicklung der grenzüberschreitenden beruflichen Ausbildung unter Beteiligung verschiedener Akteure kann als intra- und interregionaler Lernprozess verstanden werden, der zu einer "grenzüberschreitenden Lernregion" führt. Die Analyse der untersuchten Strukturen unter Berücksichtigung der konzeptionellen Annahmen zeigt, dass die Lernprozesse in der saarländisch-lothringischen Grenzregion dynamisch sind und von Schlüsselpersonen mit Expertenwissen abhängen, genauso wie von vorteilhaften regionalen Gegebenheiten.In recent years cross-border vocational educational training (VET) in cross-border regions has gained more and more importance. The overall research question is how regional learning processes are shaped by bilateral cross-border formal learning agreements in a border region. Therefore, we build our own model of regional learning in border regions on Wellbrock et al. (2012) following an integrated conceptual perspective and focusing on the actor’s perspective. The development of this transboundary VET by a variety of actors can be considered to form an intra- und interregional learning process. The interpretation of the structures regarding the conceptual findings reveals that the learning processes in the Saarland-Lorraine border region are dynamic and depend on key actors with expert knowledge as well as advantageous regional characteristics

(Education for) Sustainable Development in Geography Education

Nearly 15 years after the Rio Conference and 10 years after the Lucerne Declaration on Geographical Education for Sustainable Development we are interested to what extent the goals of this declaration have been implemented? What role does Geography play in Education for Sustainable Development in higher education? We analyzed the modules of 107 degree programs with Geography as a degree major or as a teacher training subject at 55 German universities, technical colleges and universities of education. We conducted a quantitative text analysis in which we searched the key words “Sustainability”, “Sustainable Development”, “Education for Sustainable Development” and “Nature-Society Studies” in the Module Regulations. Our data indicate great heterogeneity between the degree programs. The key words were predominantly found in majors in “Human Geography”, “Geography” and teacher training programs for “academic high schools”. Aspects of the results considered in the paper include: (a) differences in the orientation of degree programs, (b) varying degree of implementation in the modules, (c) different conceptual understanding of the principles of sustainability, (d) the extent to which concepts of Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development are mixed, (e) heterogeneity between mandatory courses and electives

Cross-Border Cooperation in Europe: A relational perspective

Cross-border cooperation, border regions, soft spaces? This special issue approaches cross-border informal planning processes in cross-border regions by analysing them from a perspective that combines networks, governance and territorialization. Such a relational perspective will be developed by papers which deal with a variety of European cross-border regions and empirical evidence related to the nexus of networks, governance and territorialization

Die Akzeptanz der Bevölkerung ländlicher Gemeinden zur Ausweisung eines UNESCO-Biosphärenreservates am Beispiel der saarländischen Biosphäre Bliesgau

Im Zusammenhang mit Großschutzgebieten wird immer wieder herausgestellt, dass eine erfolgreiche Umsetzung entscheidend von der Akzeptanz der lokalen Bevölkerung abhängt. Die Lokalbevölkerung sollte sich mit dem Schutzgebiet identifizieren und im besten Fall aktiv bei der Gestaltung mitwirken. Besonders Biosphärenreservate verfolgen einen integrierten Ansatz und haben das Ziel, den Menschen in den Mittelpunkt zu stellen. Dieser Artikel präsentiert erste qualitative Ergebnisse der sozialwissenschaftlichen Untersuchung im Biosphärenreservat Bliesgau (Saarland) und einer Vergleichsregion im Saarland. Das Biosphärenreservat wurde 2009 von der UNESCO anerkannt, und bereits zum Zeitpunkt der Errichtung wurde eine Bestandsaufnahme durchgeführt, die u.a. Erleben und Akzeptanz der Biosphäre untersuchte. Die Ergebnisse aus den zwei ländlichen Untersuchungsräumen zeigen, dass bereits heute unterschiedliche Einschätzungen und Wahrnehmungen vorherrschen. Dabei wird deutlich, dass bei der ländlichen Bevölkerung innerhalb des Biosphärenreservates eine Identifikation und emotionale Verbundenheit mit dem Schutzgebiet bereits zu einem frühen Zeitpunkt festzustellen ist. Der Artikel zeigt, dass die frühzeitige Untersuchung von Akzeptanz und Wahrnehmung eines Großschutzgebietes eine wichtige Grundlage für weitere Entscheidungsprozesse und Entwicklungen darstellen kann.It repeatedly becomes apparent in connection with major conservation areas that the acceptance of the local population is crucial for the success of these efforts. The local population should identify with the conservation area and if at all possible they should be active in its formation. Especially biosphere reserves pursue an integrated approach and have the objective of placing human beings in the centre of their work. This article throws a spotlight on the initial qualitative results of the social study in the Bliesgau Biosphere Reserve in the German state of Saarland and a comparative region in the same state. This biosphere reserve was recognised by UNESCO in 2009 and stocktaking was carried out when it was set up that studied how this biosphere was experienced and accepted. The results of these two rural study areas indicate that varying attitudes and perceptions are already predominant today. It becomes apparent that the rural population within the biosphere reserve identified with and felt an emotional bond to the conservation area at an early stage. This article shows that studying the perception and acceptance of a major conservation area at an early stage can provide a significant basis for downstream decision-making processes and developments

Borders and the mobility of migrants in France

This country report investigates the ways in which the border as a site of control interferes with asylum seekers’ and refugees’ mobility trajectories before, upon and after arrival in France. The interplay between borders and mobility plays a key role in the Common European Asylum System, the Schengen area and the Dublin regulation, which all have been affected by the 2015 so-called migration crisis. Based on in-depth qualitative interviews with thirteen migrants and ten institutional actors in the city of Metz, the overarching finding indicates that migrants’ movements evolve from geographical trajectories in order to reach a country of destination, to administrative trajectories, in order to become regularised in the host country. Furthermore, while physical borders have interfered with some informants’ migratory journeys, they have done so only by changing their trajectories, and, at times, the initial country of destination. Thus, they did not deter the migrants from reaching a safe country of destination. Once in Metz, the migrants become subject to administrative borders performed by state agents, such as the Préfecture and the French Agency for Immigration and Integration (OFII), as well as by private actors from the employment market