The Spatial History of Revelation in Carl Ritter’s Erdkunde (1817–59)

Traditional theological concepts, including revelation, shaped academic disciplines as they emerged in nineteenth-century Germany. The first university professor of geography, Carl Ritter, crafted an intriguing spatial history of revelation in his masterful Earth Science in Relation to Nature and the History of Man (1817–1859). The teleological bent of Ritter’s geography and his commitment to intelligent design have encouraged most commentators to regard Ritter as a late manifestation of physicotheology. However, this long-standing explanation of a crucial geographer’s religious platform misconstrues the field’s theological commitments. Physicotheology suffered irreversible losses in the German states in the late eighteenth century. Ritter’s adherence to primordial revelation and biblical literalism typify the religious awakening of the Napoleonic period more than enlightened rationalism. He is best understood as a geographer of religion, dedicated to evangelical missions and intrigued by how the Earth’s features shaped the spread and transformation of religious ideas and practices, including Buddhism.

Melodic ornamentation from Muffat to Telemann

<p>Writers on 18th-century musical ornamentation have traditionally focused on the execution of notated ornaments, and on certain disputes arising from ambiguous and contradictory primary sources. Less attention has been given to the addition of ornaments where not prescribed by the composer. Such ornaments can be short, defined, patterns such as trills, turns, and mordents, or larger measured or unmeasured additions known as diminutions, divisions, or passaggi. Additions of this nature are only in the rarest of cases compulsory. However, the practice of more or less spontaneous embellishment by the performer was so integral to pre-19th-century musical culture that this must have had a significant effect on composition. The scope of this thesis is loosely defined by its titular composers, covering the period between Georg Muffat‟s later publications in the last years of the 17th century and G.P. Telemann‟s death in 1767. Both lived and worked in the German states, a region which had traditionally looked to Italian models of composition and performance. This period saw a flowering of German composition into its own unique and diverse genre which integrated aspects of various styles, most prominently Italian and French music. This thesis centres on stringed instruments, but is directly relevant to woodwind players. Many aspects are also transferrable to the keyboard and to vocal music; however, these musicians will find a large volume of more targeted research elsewhere.</p>

Melodic ornamentation from Muffat to Telemann

<p>Writers on 18th-century musical ornamentation have traditionally focused on the execution of notated ornaments, and on certain disputes arising from ambiguous and contradictory primary sources. Less attention has been given to the addition of ornaments where not prescribed by the composer. Such ornaments can be short, defined, patterns such as trills, turns, and mordents, or larger measured or unmeasured additions known as diminutions, divisions, or passaggi. Additions of this nature are only in the rarest of cases compulsory. However, the practice of more or less spontaneous embellishment by the performer was so integral to pre-19th-century musical culture that this must have had a significant effect on composition. The scope of this thesis is loosely defined by its titular composers, covering the period between Georg Muffat‟s later publications in the last years of the 17th century and G.P. Telemann‟s death in 1767. Both lived and worked in the German states, a region which had traditionally looked to Italian models of composition and performance. This period saw a flowering of German composition into its own unique and diverse genre which integrated aspects of various styles, most prominently Italian and French music. This thesis centres on stringed instruments, but is directly relevant to woodwind players. Many aspects are also transferrable to the keyboard and to vocal music; however, these musicians will find a large volume of more targeted research elsewhere.</p>

Unequal Unification? Income Inequality and Unification in 19th Century Italy and Germany

This research provides a comprehensive study of the linkages between unification and related policy choices on income inequality by examining the cases of Italy and Germany in the context of 19th century unification. To conduct this analysis, the study puts forward estimates of income inequality for pre-unification German states using social tables, compiled using primary data, some of which have thus far been unexplored in economic research. The findings suggest that differences in inequality between regions were more pronounced in Italy than in Germany. In seeking explanations for these trends, the study explores linkages between institutional structures, governance frameworks and inequality, connecting the research on federalism with the literature on inequality extraction. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper)

Psychological Burden During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany

After the first COVID-19 case was diagnosed in Germany, various measures limiting contact between people were introduced across the country. The implementation of these measures varied between jurisdictions and potentially had a negative impact on the psychological well-being of many people. However, the prevalence, severity, and type of symptoms of psychological burden has not been documented in detail. In the current study, we analysed various self-reported symptoms of psychological burden in a German sample. The dataset was collected between April 8th and June 1st, 2020, through an online survey measuring psychological burden using the ICD-10-symptom rating scale. More than 2,000 individuals responded to the survey, with a total of 1,459 complete datasets. Data was then sampled to compare (1) the new data to an existing demographically comparable reference dataset including a total of 2,512 participants who did not undergo any kind of contact restrictions or other pandemic measurements, and (2) psychological burden in two different German states. In line with recent observations from Germany, Italy, China, Austria and Turkey, we found a high prevalence of depressive symptoms in comparison to the reference sample. Furthermore, we found a high prevalence of eating disorder and compulsion symptoms. Especially younger adults and women reported a higher symptom severity compared to other groups during our measurement period. However, no difference between the two states in psychological burden was found.

The impact of partisan politics on migration policies: the case of healthcare provision for refugees by German states

Comparative migration policy research has increasingly dealt with the question of whether partisan differences in government can explain differences between migration policies. The empirical findings, however, for both, European states and states of the USA, are inconsistent as governing parties’ positions on integration policies do not in all cases explain the differences in migration legislation. This article investigates the conditions under which German states opt for a permissive model of healthcare provision for asylum seekers as an alternative to the existing restrictive bureaucratic model. Using a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), we find that a left-of-center state government is a necessary condition for the introduction of the alternative model. Full cost reimbursement by the state is the sufficient condition, i.e. the permissive alternative model is fully implemented only in those states with a left-of-center state government and where municipalities do not bear the risk of potentially higher costs for healthcare provision. With this unambiguous partisan effect, this article represents an important contribution to the international debate.

Conclusion

University reforms that institutionalized research education in the principal European countries and in the United States have been well studied; the remainder of this paragraph offers a quick summary of the received wisdom. The so-called Humboldtian reforms made Prussian universities, and Berlin in particular, leaders in higher education from the early nineteenth century onward. The Prussian university reformers, including Wilhelm von Humboldt, established original research and the training of students in research into important objectives for the university, and this research ethos quickly spread across German states in the next few decades. The reception of the research ethos was late and slow in France. The Napoleonic reforms at the beginning of the nineteenth century radically reorganized the ...

The New German Coal Laws: A Difficult Balancing Act

The German government adopted a coal exit law in 2020. The law enshrines a coal exit pathway through to 2038 and provides for significant compensation for coal companies. An accompanying structural-support law is to create new prospects for coal regions and workers. The development of the laws involved participation by the public, experts, interest groups, and the German states. Concerns about just transition and climate justice played an important role. The final laws were nevertheless met with a significant degree of dissatisfaction from stakeholders across the political spectrum, science, industry, and ngo s. Flaws in the participation process and deviation from expert recommendations have been raised as criticisms. The climate ambition, economic rationale, and social-justice effects of the laws have been contested. Repeal of the laws in any substantive way nevertheless seems unlikely.