scholarly journals Conflicting Perspectives on the “Migrant Crisis” in the Horn of Africa

Author(s):  
John R. Campbell

In sharp contrast to the sense of a “migrant crisis” which prevails in Europe, nation states in the Horn of Africa understand migration, including state-induced population displacement, as unexceptional. The chapter addresses this apparent paradox by contrasting European policy discourse on migration with the long-term political and structural processes in northeastern Africa that cause population displacement and migration. The chapter then examines the migration policies of governments in the Horn and concludes by arguing that the European Union misrepresents and misunderstands the factors responsible for large-scale migration and the role of states in exploiting migrants. For these reasons it is highly unlikely that the EU-Horn of Africa Action Plan/Khartoum process will bring about better border management policies and practices.

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 265-282
Author(s):  
Tomasz Łachacz ◽  
Sylwester Zagulski

Unemployment is classified today as one of the main threats to society. The phenomenon affects the lives of individuals, the functioning of families and society and development of the state. It is often the source of other social problems such as poverty, violence, or social pathologies. The article presents the scale and nature of unemployment occurring after 1989 in Poland and in selected European Union countries, i.e. the Netherlands, Spain, Slovakia and Latvia. It attempts to show the characteristic trends of the phenomenon over a period of more than two decades. Examples from the European countries analysed show that the situation in the labour market and the approach to employment are radically different. Individual countries are characterised by very different unemployment rates, which reflect their different size, economic and demographic potential, or are associated with the tradition of employment. The existence of differences seems to be normal, but their scale may give rise to concern. A characteristic feature of unemployment in the period analysed is its regional diversity, both in Poland and in the whole of the European community. Important factors that determine the level of unemployment are age, sex, education and people’s qualifications. The effects of long-term unemployment are very painful for the whole of society. Such a situation can lead to, amongst others, poverty, societal antagonism, violence and migration. The latter is an issue that the whole of Europe is currently struggling with. The uncontrolled influx of immigrants, including those migrating for economic reasons, causes fear of losing their job among Europeans, which in turn translates into the radicalisation of society. A role of the state and the EU institutions is to create an effective mechanism for the protection and support of the unemployed. This is a prerequisite for Europeans to continue the project which is a common united Europe.


2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (2 (176)) ◽  
pp. 71-89
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Wasilewski

The 2015 refugee crisis – as the mass influx of migrants from the Middle East is commonly dubbed – tested the European Union’s ability to react to large-scale humanitarian emergencies. Apart from various organizational, social and political changes that the 2015 refugee crisis has brought to the European Union, it has also marked the growing role of information and communication technology (ICT) in the EU’s asylum and migration policies. Drawing from the critical perspective of international relations and such concepts as securitization of migration, the paper aims to analyse the engagement of ICT by EU institutions and individual Member States during the refugee crisis in 2015.


Author(s):  
Liesel Mack Filgueiras ◽  
Andreia Rabetim ◽  
Isabel Aché Pillar

Reflection about the role of community engagement and corporate social investment in Brazil, associated with the presence of a large economic enterprise, is the major stimulus of this chapter. It seeks to present how cross-sector governance can contribute to the social development of a city and how this process can be led by a partnership comprising a corporate foundation, government, and civil society. The concept of the public–private social partnership (PPSP) is explored: a strategy for building a series of inter-sectoral alliances aimed at promoting the sustainable development of territories where the company has large-scale enterprises, through joint efforts towards integrated long-term strategic planning, around a common agenda. To this end, the case of Canaã dos Carajás is introduced, a municipality in the State of Pará, in the Amazon region, where large-scale mining investment is being carried out by the mining company Vale SA.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-71
Author(s):  
Bogdan Stanescu ◽  
Adriana Cuciureanu

The present article presents the expertise realized by the Department of Environmental Monitoring Pollution Evaluation within the INCD ECOIND, in the evaluation of the quality of urban soils in the municipality of Bucharest and the main big cities in Romania. The current data available at the level of the 27 member states of the European Union show that annually over 100,000 hectares of land are introduced into the urban environment, a direct consequence of the development of cities. There are a number of legislative obstacles to strategic soil protection measures. Moreover, at the level of the local authorities there is a conflict regarding the measures of soil protection in the long term, on the one hand, and, the accelerated economic development in the short term, on the other. European environmental experts consider that the urban development, absolutely necessary for the economic growth, requires an adequate management of the natural resources in order for the development to be done on a sustainable basis, respectively to follow a series of strategic objectives. In our country, at least in the last decade, we find on a large scale the conversion of industrial areas into commercial or residential areas. The footprint of industrial activities can be found even after long periods of time present by identifying the remnant of soil pollution or in those areas known as historically polluted (for example the town of Copsa Mica). The conclusions stemming from the assessment of pollution in urban areas over large areas, in correlation with the potential sources of pollution, underline the need to monitor the quality of soils in the urban environment, but also to apply a performance management in order to protect this natural resource in the long term.


1974 ◽  
Vol 9 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 179-184
Author(s):  
Per Antonsen

The author focuses on problems in the economy of the developing countries likely to arise as a consequence of mineral exploitation in the new territories. A general shortage of mineral resources, although predicted, should not uncritically be adopted as a sufficient explanation of the demonstrated interest of industrial enterprises in undertaking heavy investments in the new territories. The economic security claimed by institutions financing large-scale investments, may just as likely force the companies to seek options for long-term supplies from these areas, unhampered by the politically caused instabilities perceived in the Third World. This development may tend to push the developing countries into the role of subsidiary suppliers in the world market. The committees preparing the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea have so far taken no realistic measures to counteract this possibility, which may prove detrimental to the economies of several developing countries. The Conference will, in the opinion of the author, provide little but a settlement of disputed interests among the coastal states.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgios Fragkoulidis ◽  
Volkmar Wirth

<p>The large-scale extratropical upper-tropospheric flow tends to organize itself into eastward-propagating Rossby wave packets (RWPs). Investigating the spatiotemporal evolution of RWPs and the underlying physical processes has been beneficial in showcasing the role of the upper-tropospheric flow in temperature and precipitation extremes. The use of recently developed diagnostics of local in space and time wave properties has provided further insight in this regard. Motivated by the above, these diagnostic methods are now being employed to investigate the intraseasonal to decadal variability of key RWP properties such as their amplitude, phase speed, and group velocity in reanalysis datasets. It is shown that these properties exhibit a distinct seasonal and interregional variability, while interesting patterns thereof emerge. Moreover, the interannual and long-term variability in these RWP properties is explored and significant decadal trends for specific regions and seasons are highlighted. Ongoing work aims at further utilizing the presented diagnostics and analyses toward an improved understanding of the extratropical large-scale flow variability from weather to climate time scales.</p>


Author(s):  
Alasdair Roberts

This chapter assesses the role of planning in the design of governance strategies. Enthusiasm for large-scale planning—also known as overall, comprehensive, long-term, economic, or social planning—boomed and collapsed in twentieth century. At the start of that century, progressive reformers seized on planning as the remedy for the United States' social and economic woes. By the end of the twentieth century, enthusiasm for large-scale planning had collapsed. Plans could be made, but they were unlikely to be obeyed, and even if they were obeyed, they were unlikely to work as predicted. The chapter then explains that leaders should make plans while being realistic about the limits of planning. It is necessary to exercise foresight, set priorities, and design policies that seem likely to accomplish those priorities. Simply by doing this, leaders encourage coordination among individuals and businesses, through conversation about goals and tactics. Neither is imperfect knowledge a total barrier to planning. There is no “law” of unintended consequences: it is not inevitable that government actions will produce entirely unexpected results. The more appropriate stance is modesty about what is known and what can be achieved. Plans that launch big schemes on brittle assumptions are more likely to fail. Plans that proceed more tentatively, that allow room for testing, learning, and adjustment, are less likely to collapse in the face of unexpected results.


2022 ◽  
pp. 278-296
Author(s):  
Liliana Reis

The European Union was present in Kosovo even before the declaration of its independence. However, it was after 2008 and at the request of the Kosovar authorities to EU that Kosovo inaugurated a period of close ties with the organization, through the rule of law mission it launched for the country and through various programs of the European Commission, including the European Partnership Action Plan (EPAP) for Kosovo, Mechanism of the Stabilization and Association Process, and the Instrument of Pre-Accession (IPA). This chapter seeks to examine the evolution of European presence on Kosovo by analysing EULEX mission and other European instruments and the achievements by newly former states in achieving the Copenhagen criteria, contributing to the academic debate on the role of European Union aid in the new Western Balkans states for their emancipation and possible access to the organization. It also evaluates the mutualisation of responsibilities and maintenance of the European status quo in Kosovo, fostering a protectorate in an independent state.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 677-692
Author(s):  
Rachael DICKSON

The so-called European migration crisis has sparked significant attention from scholars and raises questions about the role of solidarity between states and the European Union (EU) in providing policy solutions. Tension exists between upholding the rights of those seeking entry and pooling resources between Member States to provide a fair and efficient migration system. This article deconstructs the shifts that have occurred in EU migration policy since 2015 to highlight how narratives of health have become tools of governance. It does so to illuminate how health narratives operate to minimise the impact that conflicts on the nature and substance of EU solidarity have on policy development in response to the perceived crisis. A governmentality lens is used to analyse the implications of increasingly prescribed policy applications based on screening and categorising, and how measures operate to responsibilise migrants and third-countries to act according to EU values. It is argued this approach to governance results in migrants facing legal uncertainty in terms of accessing their rights and excludes them from the EU political space, which is problematic for how EU governance can be understood.


2020 ◽  
pp. jmedgenet-2020-106830
Author(s):  
Yan Zhang ◽  
Shiwu Li ◽  
Xiaoyan Li ◽  
Yongfeng Yang ◽  
Wenqiang Li ◽  
...  

The association between NOTCH4 and schizophrenia has been repeatedly reported. However, the results from different genetic studies are inconsistent, and the role of NOTCH4 in schizophrenia pathogenesis remains unknown. Here, we provide convergent lines of evidence that support NOTCH4 as a schizophrenia risk gene. We first performed a meta-analysis and found that a genetic variant (rs2071287) in NOTCH4 was significantly associated with schizophrenia (a total of 125 848 subjects, p=8.31×10−17), with the same risk allele across all tested samples. Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analysis showed that rs2071287 was significantly associated with NOTCH4 expression (p=1.08×10−14) in human brain tissues, suggesting that rs2071287 may confer schizophrenia risk through regulating NOTCH4 expression. Sherlock integrative analysis using a large-scale schizophrenia GWAS and eQTL data from human brain tissues further revealed that NOTCH4 was significantly associated with schizophrenia (p=4.03×10−7 in CMC dataset and p=3.06×10−6 in xQTL dataset), implying that genetic variants confer schizophrenia risk through modulating NOTCH4 expression. Consistently, we found that NOTCH4 was significantly downregulated in brains of schizophrenia patients compared with controls (p=2.53×10−3), further suggesting that dysregulation of NOTCH4 may have a role in schizophrenia. Finally, we showed that NOTCH4 regulates proliferation, self-renewal, differentiation and migration of neural stem cells, suggesting that NOTCH4 may confer schizophrenia risk through affecting neurodevelopment. Our study provides convergent lines of evidence that support the involvement of NOTCH4 in schizophrenia. In addition, our study also elucidates a possible mechanism for the role of NOTCH4 in schizophrenia pathogenesis.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document