Linguistic Diversity, Standardization, and Disenfranchisement: Measurement and Consequences

Author(s):  
Victor Ginsburgh ◽  
Shlomo Weber

In this chapter we examine the notion of linguistic and other types of societal diversity that have become an important factor in evaluating economic, political and societal progress. While most of the existing research on the measurement of diversity has been focused either on the number and size of different groups, this approach fails to take into account the degree of their distinctiveness. Thus, it is important to incorporate the notion of distances or dissimilarity between groups which should help resolving the difficult group identification problem. We discuss various ways of measuring similarity between groups, the wide range of fractionalization and polarization indices and their impact (positive or negative) on various economic and political outcomes. To mitigate the negative impact of linguistic fractionalization, societies has often chosen to standardize by reducing the number of official languages. The numerous examples of such standardization policies (in the Russian Empire, India, Sri Lanka, among many others, including the European Union) lead to the feeling of disenfranchisement experienced by some population groups, and often end up failing. The search for a compromise between efficiency and the sentiment of being disenfranchised represents a serious challenge for any multi-lingual country or union; we examine this problem in the context of the European Union for which good data are available.

Author(s):  
K. Kh. Rekosh

In recent decades, much has been written about the dialogue of cultures and differences between them manifested by languages, which are the objects of interdisciplinary research. However, the active role of multiplicity of languages and their interaction in particular with the relevant areas of knowledge do not always attract the proper attention. Along with many languages, Europe seeks to move away from monolingualism in favor of multilingualism, recognizing that it is promising, so political actors support it. The principles of multilingualism have been adopted in the international (European) and national levels and formalized in terms of plurilingualism and multilingualism. The plurilingualism is the use of multiple languages by one and the same person. It is an integral part of cultural diversity and respect, a necessary condition for human development as a professional and as a person. The multilingualism is denoted by a policy of equality of languages in the community. The European Union is a multilinguistic organization. Language policy of the European Union has been defined since the establishment of the communities, it was different from the language policies of other international organizations and was based on the principle of cultural and linguistic diversity (although the term multilingualism was not used) with the aim of ensuring access to information and justice for all EU citizens in all official EU languages. Held in Europe language policy led to the institutionalization of the concept of multilingualism, particularly by the European union, which could serve to the development of linguistic law. The EU language policy is linked with the objectives of the integration law which makes it different from the plurilingualism. It acts as an instrument for intercultural dialogue and social cohesion, as a guarantee of prosperity and employment opportunities. At the same time it generates a lot of linguo-legal problems concerning different statuses of languages; EU official languages, working, state, regional, national languages, as well as minorities and migrants languages.


2020 ◽  
pp. 97-105
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Kusztykiewicz-Fedurek

Political security is very often considered through the prism of individual states. In the scholar literature in-depth analyses of this kind of security are rarely encountered in the context of international entities that these countries integrate. The purpose of this article is to draw attention to key aspects of political security in the European Union (EU) Member States. The EU as a supranational organisation, gathering Member States first, ensures the stability of the EU as a whole, and secondly, it ensures that Member States respect common values and principles. Additionally, the EU institutions focus on ensuring the proper functioning of the Eurozone (also called officially “euro area” in EU regulations). Actions that may have a negative impact on the level of the EU’s political security include the boycott of establishing new institutions conducive to the peaceful coexistence and development of states. These threats seem to have a significant impact on the situation in the EU in the face of the proposed (and not accepted by Member States not belonging to the Eurogroup) Eurozone reforms concerning, inter alia, appointment of the Minister of Economy and Finance and the creation of a new institution - the European Monetary Fund.


2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-282
Author(s):  
Roxana-Maria Nistor-Gâz ◽  
Delia Pop-Flanja

"In a world challenged by cultural diversity, this article aims to look at the great diversity of languages and cultures that coexist within the European Union. Building on the story of the Tower of Babel that explains, from a religious point of view, the cultural and linguistic diversity existing in the European Union, the authors tried to contextualize EU’s motto of “unity in diversity”, interpreted as an ideal involving a lot of effort and sometimes even many conflicts, but one that we should all fight for and strive to maintain. Keywords: linguistic diversity, ethnicity, nation, minority, majority, communication, unity in diversity"


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-52
Author(s):  
Rozy A. Pratama ◽  
Tri Widodo

Indonesia and Malaysia are the largest producers and exporters of palm oil in the world vegetable oil market. Palm oil and its derivative products are the highest contributors to foreign exchange in 2018. This study aims to analyze the impact of the European Union import non-tariff trade policies on the Indonesian and Malaysian economies The analysis uses the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model of world trade on the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) program. The results of this study found that the non-tariff import policy by the European Union had a negative impact on the economies of Indonesia and Malaysia. Moreover, the policy also has a negative impact on countries in Southeast Asia and the European Union. This shows that the enactment of non-tariff import trade policies for Indonesian and Malaysian palm oil products has a global impact.


2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 493-500
Author(s):  
D. Bhatnagar ◽  
G. Perrone ◽  
A. Visconti

In 2004, the European Commission approved the specific support action 'Integration of Mycotoxin and Toxigenic Fungi Research for Food Safety in the Global System' (MycoGlobe, contract FOOD-CT-2004-007174) within the Sixth Framework Programme, Food Quality and Safety. The aim of the MycoGlobe project (http://mycoglobe.ispa.cnr.it) was to implement the outcomes of a wide range of European research projects in the area of mycotoxins and toxigenic fungi by supporting, stimulating and facilitating cooperation between countries in the European Union and other countries that have bilateral scientific and technological cooperation agreement with the European Union (such as USA, Australia and South America). Through a series of conferences and interactions between scientists worldwide, MycoGlobe was a very successful project. The scientific significance of the MycoGlobe project consisted in the spread of knowledge of advanced research tools in genomics and sophisticated and rapid detection systems for mycotoxins and toxigenic fungi; and evaluation of research policy and procedures to achieve best practice for enhancement of food quality and safety by elimination of mycotoxins and toxigenic fungi from commodities. The socio-economic significance of the project was the setting up of a global collaborative network for research and technology transfer in the field of mycotoxins and toxigenic fungi, particularly for the benefit of the developing countries. A relevant outcome of the project was also the launching of the International Society for Mycotoxicology (http://www.mycotoxsociety. org) to promote research on mycotoxins and toxigenic fungi, thereby leading to prevention and reduction in exposure to mycotoxins, enhanced food safety and a greater public awareness of this area.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-138
Author(s):  
Joana Sousa Domingues

It is generally accepted that the development of a Union of law is largely due to the judicial decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter, CJEU). With its judicial pronouncements, the CEJEU aims to achieve the same legal effects in every language version of its judgments and, through them, to ensure the uniform application and interpretation of European Union law. Nevertheless, such judicial pronouncements, with normative and binding force, are the result of collegial decisions and drafted by jurists in a language that is usually nottheir mother tongue. In addition, they are also the result of various permutations associated with the necessary legal translation from and to (and vice versa) the working language of the Court and the official languages of the European Union. The published judgments presented as authentic are, in most cases, translations. To understand the construction of decisions of the CJEU is to understand the construction of the European Union law, and by consequence, the European project itself.


2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 40-60
Author(s):  
Christopher Houtkamp ◽  
László Marácz

In this paper a normative position will be defended. We will argue that minimal territorial minority language rights formulated in terms of the personality principle referring to traditional minority languages granted in the framework of the European Union (EU) are a benchmark for non-territorial linguistic rights. Although territorial minority languages should be granted collective rights this is in large parts of Europe not the case. Especially in the Central and Eastern European Member States language rights granted to territorial languages are assigned on the basis of personal language rights. Our argumentation will be elaborated on the basis of a comparative approach discussing the status of a traditional territorial language in Romania, more in particular Hungarian spoken in the Szeklerland area with the one of migrant languages in the Netherlands, more in particular Turkish. In accordance with the language hierarchy implying that territorial languages have a higher status than non-territorial languages both in the EUs and Member States’ language regimes nonterritorial linguistic rights will be realized as personal rights in the first place. Hence, the use of non-territorial minority languages is conditioned much as the use of territorial minority languages in the national Member States. So, the best possible scenario for mobile minority languages is to be recognized as a personal right and receive full support from the states where they are spoken. It is true that learning the host language would make inclusion of migrant language speakers into the host society smoother and securing a better position on the labour market. This should however be done without striving for full assimilation of the speakers of migrant languages for this would violate the linguistic rights of migrants to speak and cultivate one’s own heritage language, violate the EUs linguistic diversity policy, and is against the advantages provided by linguistic capital in the sense of BOURDIEU (1991).


Author(s):  
Mircea Muntean ◽  
Doina Pacurari

Fiscal policy constitutes – within the state's economic policy – a system by means of which the taxes and duties owed to the country's consolidated budget are established and collected. Taking into account the role fiscal policy has been playing since Romania's admission in the European Union, one of the goals ceaselessly looked for is its adapting to the international community's acquis through the implementation of the European directives in our context. The EU directives make reference to direct taxes: dividend tax, interest income tax, assets transfer, shares exchange, income taxation for the non-residents, and so on, along with the indirect taxes: value-added tax, excise duties, etc. The paper approaches the main provisions within the contents of the European directives as well as the means of their implementation in the Romanian fiscal legislation regarding various types of taxes. The implementation of the European directives has been simultaneous with the establishing of measures concerning fiscal fraud prevention, frauds liable to have a negative impact on the state's consolidated budget.


Policy-Making in the European Union explores the link between the modes and mechanisms of EU policy-making and its implementation at the national level. From defining the processes, institutions and modes through which policy-making operates, the text moves on to situate individual policies within these modes, detail their content, and analyse how they are implemented, navigating policy in all its complexities. The first part of the text examines processes, institutions, and the theoretical and analytical underpinnings of policy-making, while the second part considers a wide range of policy areas, from economics to the environment, and security to the single market. Throughout the text, theoretical approaches sit side by side with the reality of key events in the EU, including enlargement, the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, and the financial crisis and resulting Eurozone crisis, focusing on what determines how policies are made and implemented. This includes major developments such as the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism, the reform of the common agricultural policy, and new initiatives to promote EU energy security. In the final part, the chapters consider trends in EU policy-making and the challenges facing the EU.


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