scholarly journals Missing Cooperation in the Eastern Mediterranean

2021 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 6-48
Author(s):  
Luca Doll
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Foundation ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Arms Race ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Security Cooperation ◽  
Complex Theory ◽  
Regional Collaboration ◽  
Blind Spots

Resource discoveries and an emerging maritime arms race in the Eastern Mediterranean have created incentives for an overarching security cooperation framework However, collaboration in the mentioned sectors remains absent and the former regional coalitions have been reconfigured. This article investigates why a lack of cooperation in the Eastern Mediterranean persists. In answering this question, Securitzation Theory and Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT) serve as a theoretical foundation. Building on the latter theories, seeing the Eastern Mediterranean as a regional security complex leads to the contention that if two or more units of this system securitize each other’s activities within the said complex, this will lead to negative ramifications on regional collaboration. The chosen case is the reciprocal securitization of Turkey and Greece in 2020. Finally, the case study reveals blind spots in RSCT and introduces a new concept to cope with these: the buffer subcomplex.

scholarly journals A Mediterranean Region? Regional Security Complex Theory Revisited

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 416-428
Author(s):  
Yannis A. Stivachtis
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Region ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
International System ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
System Level ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Bipolar Structure ◽  
Complex Theory ◽  
The Mediterranean

This article argues that the shift from the bipolar structure of the Cold War international system to a more polycentric power structure at the system level has increased the significance of regional relations and has consequently enhanced the importance of the study of regionalism. It makes a case for a Mediterranean region and examines various efforts aimed at defining what constitutes a region. In so doing, it investigates whether the Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT) can be utilized to define a Mediterranean region and argues that the patters of amity and enmity among Mediterranean states are necessary but not sufficient to identify such a region. It suggests that economic, energy, environmental, and other factors, such as migration and refugee flows should be taken into consideration in order to define the Mediterranean region. It also claims that the Mediterranean security complex includes three sub-complexes. The first is an eastern Mediterranean sub-complex that revolves mainly - albeit not exclusively - around three conflicts: the Greek-Turkish conflict, the Syrian conflict, and the Israeli-Palestinian/Arab conflict. The second is a central Mediterranean sub-complex that includes Italy, Libya, Albania and Malta and which revolves mainly around migration with Italy playing a dominant role due to its historical ties to both Libya and Albania. The third is a western Mediterranean security sub-complex that includes France, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Spain and Portugal. This sub-complex it centered around France, the migration question and its associated threats, such as terrorism, radicalism, and human trafficking. In conclusion, it is concluded that the Mediterranean security complex is very dynamic as there are states (i.e. Turkey) that seem eager and capable of challenging the status quo thereby contributing to the process of the complexs internal transformation.

Constructing Prophetic Divination

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martti Nissinen
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Theoretical Foundation ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Source Material ◽  
The Other ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Common Category ◽  
Divine Knowledge ◽  
Historical Phenomenon

This chapter lays the theoretical foundation of the book, defining prophecy as a non-technical, or inspired, form of divination, in which the prophet acts as an intermediary of divine knowledge. It is argued that prophecy is as much a scholarly construct as a historical phenomenon documented in Near Eastern, biblical, as well as Greek textual sources. The knowledge of the historical phenomenon depends essentially on the genre and purpose of the source material which, however, is very fragmentary and, due to its secondary nature, does not yield a full and balanced picture of ancient prophecy. The chapter also discusses the purpose of comparative studies, arguing that they are necessary, not primarily to reveal the influence of one source on the other, but to identify a common category of ancient Eastern Mediterranean prophecy.

Acceptance, Endurance, and Meaninglessness: A Qualitative Case Study on the Mourning Tasks of Parental Death From Childhood Experience to Adolescence

2021 ◽  
pp. 003022282110244
Author(s):  
Niñoval Flores Pacaol
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Foundation ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Parental Death ◽  
Existence Of God ◽  
Personal Belief ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
Strong Attachment ◽  
Mourning And Melancholia ◽  
Cognitive Attitude

Bereavement and mourning are arguably one of the research interests of psychologists, psychoanalysts, and psychiatrists since Freud’s publication of Mourning and Melancholia. This paper is a qualitative case study that sought to examine the mourning experience of the participant from childhood until his adolescence. For theoretical foundation, the four tasks of mourning primarily developed by James Worden was utilized for the proper direction of the research inquiry; namely: a.) accepting the reality of death; b.) experiencing the feeling of grief; c.) adjusting and creating new meanings in the post-loss world; and d.) reconfiguring the bond with the lost person. The paper finds that the participant’s cognitive attitude, emotional experiences, and personal observations of the environment enable him to overcome actively (in an overlapping manner) the three tasks of mourning. However, the failure to find an enduring connection with his deceased parents is not a result of strong attachment but with the absence of personal belief about the meta-existence of God.

scholarly journals Exploring the Transformation in the ‘Spirit of Place’ by Considering the Changed and Unchanged Defensive Spaces of Settlements: A Case Study of the Wugoushui Hakka Settlement

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 490
Author(s):  
Yan-Feng He ◽  
Chie-Peng Chen ◽  
Rung-Jiun Chou ◽  
Hai-Feng Luo ◽  
Jin-Xiong Hou
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Theoretical Foundation ◽  
Cultural Preservation ◽  
Street Network ◽  
Context Analysis ◽  
Network Nodes ◽  
Site Analysis ◽  
Spirit Of Place ◽  
Depth Interviews

Over generations, economic development has accelerated traditional settlements in Taiwan while losing traditional culture. In Hakka villages, this is manifested in the changes in defensive spaces, the ‘spirit of place,’ and land use. Although some progress has been made through research into related issues, a correlated view has been missing. To explore the connection between the ‘spirit of place’ and defensive spaces in Wugoushui, a traditional representative settlement in Taiwan, this paper probes three questions: What are the changes in defensive spaces? What are the changes in the spirit of place? What are the connections between them? Taking the sixteen criteria of secure defensive space as the theoretical foundation, through more than a year of structured observations and in-depth interviews with ten representative residents, and based on context analysis and site analysis of the information collected, this paper has concluded that, although the actual functionality of Wugoushui settlement’s spiritual, behavioural, and physical defences have disappeared, cultural characteristics related to the settlement traditions, including religious beliefs, trust, sense of belonging, street network, nodes, institutions, territory, and social networks, constitute a concrete manifestation of the defensive space and the spirit of place as of today. This research contributes to developing a theory of the relevance of the spirit of place to the defensive space of settlements from a sustainability perspective and improving the cultural preservation and land management of traditional settlements.

When Scientific Knowledge and Ignorance Make It Difficult to Improve Occupational Health: A French and European Perspective

2021 ◽  
pp. 104829112110191
Author(s):  
Émilie Counil ◽  
Emmanuel Henry
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Public Health Intervention ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Exposure Limits ◽  
Attributable Fractions ◽  
Blind Spots

This article analyzes the consequences of the increasing reference to scientific expertise in the decision and implementation process of occupational health policy. Based on examples (exposure limits and attributable fractions) taken from an interdisciplinary seminar conducted in 2014 to 2015 in France, it shows how the measurement or regulation of a problem through biomedicine-based tools produces blind spots. It also uses a case study to show the contradictions between scientific and academic aims and public health intervention. Other indirect implications are also examined, such as the limitation of trade unions’ scope for action. Finally, the article suggests launching a broad political debate accessible to nonspecialists about collective occupational health issues—a dialogue made difficult by the rise of the afore-mentioned techno-scientific perspective.

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