Roman Catholicism and Europe

This chapter explores the complex relationship between the Catholic Church and Europe over many centuries. It argues that the Catholic Church and Europe played a mutually constitutive role in the early Middle Ages and one would not be conceivable without the other. However, the Church gradually disassociated itself from Europe and vice versa. Since the Reformation, but even more strongly in the last two centuries, the Church’s attitude to Europe has become markedly more ambivalent, due to the rise of the European state, the hostile attitude of the Church to modern European social and political thought, Europe’s ongoing secularization, and the increasingly global nature of the Catholic Church. While the tension between the Church and Europe persists, the process of European unification marked a watershed in the Church’s relationship to Europe, given that integration is a key area in which the Church strongly supports the political developments of the continent.

Assessment of Factors Responsible for Encroachment on Public Land in Ajoda New Town in Oyo State, Nigeria

Public land is crucial for the execution of developmental projects in many nations. However, studies have indicated that most of the time, public land is often being encroached. The issue of concern in this paper is: why do people encroach on public land? A contextual investigation approach was embraced for this study and residents of Ajoda New Town (ANT) - a scheme of Oyo State Government, Nigeria were involved as respondents to a structured questionnaire prepared on a five-point Likert scale format. Respondents were randomly selected, and, a total of 322 completed copies of the questionnaire were found valid for data analysis. The study employed Weighted Mean Score and Principal Component Analysis in determining the factors that led to the land encroachment in the community. Results indicate that faulty administrative/implementation, the hostile attitude of original settlers, and excessive land acquisition by the government are the major factors responsible for land encroachment in the study area. It was recommended that during the acquisition process, the government should imbibe the culture of acquiring a reasonable portion of land which will not be far more than what is required to avoid encroachment, and adequate compensation paid to the affected persons.

Modern Migration Crisis in Europe and the Role of Diasporas in Combating the Mutual Hostility between Newcomers and Host Society

Aim. The goal of the paper is to analyse the constantly growing scale of migration and its impact on the European political and social sphere; to show the concern of European politicians and society about the newcomers, which leads to social hostility and unpredictable situations. There is a concern that migrants, being representatives of different cultural environments and religions, will bring social disharmony, raise the crime rate and terrorism in Europe and cause a certain threats to European society. Methods. The basis of the paper are the following research methods – statistical, descriptive and analytical, which represent certain sources: the study courses and books, scientific papers, empirical materials, published on official websites and documents in the field of migration and its policy. Results and conclusion. Modern migration is complicated by the strong emotional reaction and hostile attitude of European society, which has a direct negative impact on the European political situation and society itself. The situation has become even more complex by the fact that the migrants are mostly from Islamic countries with strong religious ideology and cultural roots that create serious obstacles for their integration. Here it is worthy of highlighting the role of Diasporas and their impact on the integrational processes. Cognitive value. It appears that the 21st century has become the era of migration. Thus, the representatives of all social sciences are paying attention to the study of this unusually complex phenomenon. Yet, despite the significant interest of researchers, for politicians, and the civic sector the phenomena of migration still is not studied properly.

The Half-Breed “Rising” of 1875

In July 1875, the Hon. Alexander Morris, lieutenant-governor of Manitoba and the north-west, received a letter from Lawrence Clarke, the Hudson’s Bay Company factor at Fort Carlton, informing him that a serious state of affairs had arisen on the south branch of the Saskatchewan and strongly pressing for a detachment of the mounted police. This letter mentioned the establishment of a permanent half-breed settlement at St. Laurent and stated that the half-breeds had “assumed to themselves the right to enact laws, rules and regulations for the Government of the Colony and adjoining country of a most tyrannical nature, which the minority of the settlers are perforce bound to obey or be treated with criminal severity.” The “president” of this government was Gabriel Dumont, who was alleged to have coerced various “freemen” and Indians on the plains by seizing the property of, and levying fines upon, those who refused to acknowledge his authority. The letter continued with a statement that the Indians, too, were assuming a hostile attitude and urged that “unless we have a certain protective force stationed at or near Carlton, the ensuing Winter, I cannot answer for the result, serious difficulties will assuredly arise and life and property be endangered.”

Perception of the difficulties of international postgraduate students writing research proposal

International postgraduate candidates of Universities in Nanjing come from diverse backgrounds and experiences. These students face several problems especially in writing the research proposals. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of postgraduate students in writing the research proposal. The quantitative research design was used which involved the use of online questionnaires. A sample of 320 international postgraduate students and 20 supervisors selected at random from Universities in Nanjing were used for the study. Study findings pinpoint towards the general problems to international postgraduate students research proposal writing skills. Grounded on the results, the researcher makes the conclusion that identifying research gaps, reviewing and criticising literature, and finding enough evidence to support the research proposal are major problems for most postgraduate students in writing the research proposal. The study further concludes that these problems are due to lack of research materials, time constraints, low level of engagement with supervisors and hostile attitude of some supervisors. Understanding the language and concept of research is not a reason for postgraduate difficulties in research proposal as identified by other literatures. In this regard, the solutions to these problems for postgraduate students are effective supervision, students cultivating the habit of reading sufficient literatures, supervisors giving equal attention to international postgraduate students, ample time for research, timely feedback and availability of supervisors.

PAKISTAN AFGHAN RELATION: HISTORY CONFLICTS AND CHALLENGES

Pakistan and Afghanistan, two immediate Muslim neighbors, that not only share a common border but also have many other commonalities such as; linguistic, strong historical, ethnic, cultural, and religious ties. Despite of its geo-strategic location and various common factors, nature of Pak- Afghan ties the nature of PakAfghan relations is characterized by mistrust and suspicions and painful experience for both of them. Since its inception, Pakistan faces a hostile attitude from its western neighbor Afghanistan. Except during the Taliban’s four-year era, all the rulers of Afghanistan showed fluctuating degrees of dissatisfaction towards Pakistan. Conflict over Duran line, Soviet-Afghan war Pakistan support to Taliban, Pakistan role in War on Terror, and growing cross border militancy has stained relation between both countries. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the Pakistan Afghanistan relation in a historical context and highlight those factors which were the main hurdles in the way of a smooth and positive relation.

"Volver a un origen desnudo". Refracciones de incompletitud ontológica en la obra pictórica de Ramón Gaya

Este análisis de los escritos y la obra plástica de Ramón Gaya se divide en dos partes principales. Se comienza con una reflexión sobre la conocida aversión del murciano a la crítica artística, a lo largo de la cual se descubre una estrategia epistemológica dual como elemento central y estructurante de su pensamiento. Tal dualidad deja su impronta también sobre el concepto de arte de Gaya, un arte que, de siempre, se comprometió con la búsqueda de una verdad pictórica más allá de las apariencias, según lo ha constatado –apréciese la ironía– un buen número de sus intérpretes. Inspirado en las aportaciones de ese conjunto de críticos, el presente ensayo propone un nuevo acceso a las creaciones pictóricas de Gaya: entender las mismas como expresión y reflejo de la incompletitud ontológica de lo existente, según la desarrolló el pensador esloveno Slavoj Žižek. The present analysis of Ramón Gaya’s writings and visual art is divided into two main parts. It begins with a reflection on the famously hostile attitude the Spanish painter displayed toward art criticism, revealing a strategy of epistemological duality as a key structuring element of his thought. This duality has also left its mark on Gaya’s concept of art, an art that was always committed to discovering a pictorial truth beyond mere appearances, as, somewhat ironically, many of his commentators have pointed out. Drawing on these previous explorations as a source of inspiration, the present essay proposes a new access to Gaya’s works: understanding them, in accordance with Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek’s theories, as a reflection and an expression of the fundamental ontological incompleteness of existence itself.

Friend or foe?—comparing party reactions to Fridays for Future in a party system polarised between AfD and Green Party

Fridays for Future has risen as a new environmental movement pushing politicians to take action against climate change. However, its interaction with other political actors, most importantly political parties, has hardly been addressed systematically by scientific research. In this article, we take stock of party reactions to the movement on the national and subnational level in Germany. Furthermore, we investigate possible explanations for variances in these reactions in a comparison of subnational party organisations and thereby, focus on dynamics of party competition, especially on the impact of the Green Party as established contender and of the populist radical right AfD and its new role in environmental politics. We show that party reactions to the movement vary widely reflecting a clear divide on the left-right-spectrum. While centre-left parties, particularly the Green Party, support the movement, centre-right parties are utmost cautious and the populist radical right AfD stands out with a blatantly hostile attitude. Though indications for the impact of party competition dynamics were minor, we observed a strong polarisation on the climate issue that may take effect in the near future.

The Culture of Difference from an Islamic Perspective: Mechanisms and Morals

The present article discusses the concept of difference as a natural phenomenon and civilizational necessity. It is confirmed that the difference between people’s minds and interests is inevitable and leads to variety and integration. Light is shed on the employment of difference as a positive culture to reach integration between people’s opinions, acceptance of the Other and participation in community building. In contrast, there are negative types of difference, which reject and take a hostile attitude to the Other, pushing for bigotry and arrogance based on prioritizing personal desires over the truth. A number of mechanisms and means are suggested from an Islamic perspective to help in promoting positive difference and reducing negative difference. The literature review provides true stories of pious and wise people who managed to build bridges on their differences with their good manners

Unmasking Color Racism

One reason Aristotle is distinguished as a philosopher is that he thought the philosopher investigated the causes of things. This paper raises the question: What are the causes of racial prejudice and racial discrimination. All ethical beings know that racial prejudice and racial discrimination are morally wrong, deplorable and should be completely eradicated. Deanna Jacobsen Koepke refers to Holt’s definitions in distinguishing racism from prejudice: “Racism is defined as hostility toward a group of people based on alleged inferiorities. Racism is a system of power and privilege that is at the foundation of society’s structures rather than prejudice, which is a hostile attitude toward a person based on trait he or she is assumed to have due to group membership.” This concept squarely places racism as the culprit to be extinguished. In this article, it is to be argued that to define racism as the target is only to observe the manifest phenomenon. The argument of the article is that racial prejudice and discrimination rest upon four pillars: political, economic, social and cultural. For simplicity of explanation, the social and cultural pillars shall be considered under the category of the political pillar, although the distinction between these pillars shall be noted. This article argues that these four pillars themselves, rest upon a foundation. The foundation is the deep psychological fear of the current, existing dominant economic group that the current existing dominated minority group will eventually usurp the power of the dominant economic group. The manifest form that this type of fear assumes is racial prejudice and discrimination. In its most extreme forms it then manifests as hate speech, hate action, hate brutality and hate murder.2 These manifestations provide the fuel that maintains the power imbalance and provides a camouflage for the four pillars that lie beneath the racist exterior. In this article, the political and economic pillars that underlie color racism will be examined first. The underlying deep psychological foundation shall be treated separately. In the end, the argument of this article is that color racism cannot be fully extinguished until its role as providing a mask for the underlying four pillars that consistently support inequality between different groups or classes are uprooted and the deep psychological fear that underlies them is eliminated.3 The masked function of color racism is its enormous power in perpetuating inequality; hence, the title of this paper, Unmasking Color Racism.