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Building Social Capital in the Polish-German border region: An Evaluation of the effectiveness of EU-funded Small Projects
Our research examines the development of 'social capital' in border regions.
Specifically, we analyse whether participating in social or cultural events such as
creative workshops or sporting competitions – so-called small projects – promotes
neighbourly trust and the emergence of cross-border networks across one of the
historically most difficult borders in Europe: in the Polish-German border region.
Social psychologists have long argued that under certain conditions contact between
the members of different nations leads to improved relations between these nations.
The small projects fund (SPF) is an EU-funded financial instrument to encourage
municipalities or NGOs to organise events that permit personal encounters between
Poles and Germans who live in the Euroregions across the Polish-German border.
The goal is to help potentially prejudiced border region residents realise that their
fears are unfounded, to develop a sense of trust in people from the other side, and to
gradually develop cross-border networks.
However, there is so far no unambiguous empirical evidence that cross-border contact
leads to greater trust in, or stronger networks with, the neighbours from the other side.
Our research takes a qualitative, interview-based approach and examines this
proposition, as well as the conditions under which social capital develops as a result
of thorough personal contact. In the summer and autumn 2013, we observed 17 small
projects with a variety of themes and conducted 90 interviews with 51 Polish and
German participants. We interviewed most of these participants twice: once before
they participated in the project and immediately afterwards, to trace how perceptions
change as a result of personal contact. We also interviewed project organisers as well
as a control group of 30 Poles and Germans to determine if the people who participate
in small projects are in any way atypical. We found no major differences between our
control group and the actual project participants, which indicates that small projects
do not attract a completely atypical group of people.
The border region is a site of lively and regular exchanges, though these are often
quite cursory, for example to go shopping. This lively exchange goes hand in hand
with a sense of familiarity and no major prejudices. When asked how they would
react if a neighbour of the other nationality moved into their street, or if one of their
family members wished to marry a person from the other side, most people reacted
positively. We encountered hardly any dislike and distrust of people from the other
side. On the contrary, there is much affinity and readiness to trust. Most of our
respondents described people from the other side in very positive terms, such as
likeable, sociable, open or hospitable, though some negative attributes were also
mentioned, including chaotic, sly or stiff.
Most participants became involved in the project through their membership in an
organisation, such as a club or through voluntary organisations. For many youth
projects, recruitment took place through schools or youth organisations.
Quite a few people had heard of the Euroregions and could define their activities in
the border region. However, most of our respondents had either not heard of the
Euroregions or were unable to define them.
In the context of small projects, communication between Poles and Germans is often
hindered by the language barrier, though some basic communication is possible in
English, through interpreters, or using body language. And indeed, we observed a
range of contact situations in small projects. For example, several projects such as
joint workshops offer many opportunities to interact, while certain solitary activities
by nature make it harder for the Polish and German participants to mingle. In such
circumstances, it is even more important to have a strong supporting programme on
the side of the main activity of a project, such as concerts, parties or barbecues.
In some projects there were many such surrounding activities, while in others there
was no real programme to bring people together outside of the main project activity.
We also witnessed some spontaneous and very cordial interactions, for example
during unplanned evening activities or on the side of village fetes.
To be sure, sometimes contact gives rise to conflicts or misunderstandings.
We observed one such conflict in a youth camp. However, all in all, Polish-German
exchanges during projects tend to be very positive experiences. For the vast majority
of our interviewees, no opinion change occurred because their perceptions were
already very good to begin with. We observed change in only five cases. In two of
them, this was a change for the worse that directly resulted from the conflict during
the abovementioned youth camp. In the three remaining cases, a noticeable
improvement took place in young participants' opinions as a result of their positive
experiences during the project.
While a good deal of trust in the neighbours already exists in the Polish-German
border region, there is still room for building new relations as well as deepening and
developing the scope of existing cross-border networks. To this end, and based on the
conclusions from this research, we recommend the following measures to perfect the
small projects fund
Identities For Homogeneous Utility Functions
Using a homogeneous and continuous utility function that represents a household's preferences, this paper proves explicit identities between most of the different objects that arise from the utility maximization and the expenditure minimization problems. The paper also outlines the homogeneity properties of each object. Finally, we show explicit algebraic ways to go from the indirect utility function to the expenditure function and from the Marshallian demand to the Hicksian demand and vice versa, without the need of any other function, thus simplifying the integrability problem avoiding the use of differential equations.Identities, homogeneous utility functions and household theory.
La integración de la sexualidad en el bien de la persona (Consideración en torno a algunos <problemas»)
Kazimierz MA]DANSKI, Communauté de vie et d'amour. Esquisse de Théologie du Mariage et de la Famille, Paris, Ed. S.O.S., 1980, 183 pp., 13,5 X 21; trad. ital: Communione di vita e d'amore. Teologia del Matrimonio e della Famiglia, Milano, Ed. Vita e Pensiero, 1980, 221 pp., 12,5 X 19. [RECENSIÓN]
R. LAWLER, J. M. BOYLE y W. E. MAY, Etica sexual, («Biblioteca NT»), Ediciones de la Universidad de Navarra, S. A., Pamplona 1992, 410 pp., 11 x 18.
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