Heretical geopolitics of Central Europe. Dissidents intellectuals and an alternative European order

This paper analyses the emergence, spread and demise of a coherent program of radical geopolitical revision developed in East European dissident circles in the 1980s. Its foundation was the insistence on the need to completely overthrow the post-Yalta, bipolar division of Europe, combined with an emphasis on the priority of human rights in political and peace issues, as well as the belief in the value of the CSCE process. It was also marked by explicit consent for the reunification of Germany as well as the insistence on the need for a democratic Russia to be part of a wider European setup. Through seminal documents, such as the Prague Appeal of 1985 intellectuals, like Jaroslav Šabata, as well as his Czechoslovak, Polish and Hungarian counterparts, were able to convince large parts of the western peace movement and some political circles to adopt the “heretic” perspective. The paper also shows how a seemingly “cultural” discourse of Central Europe, put forth by intellectuals and artists can, together with the “Yalta debate” of the mid-1980s, be read as a specific (critical) geopolitical project. Finally, the post-communist foreign policies of the dissident-led governments are investigated in an attempt to explain the partial demise of “heretical geopolitics”.     

Characteristics of post-socialist urban transformation in East Central Europe

The development of the post-socialist city has already been characterised by substantial restructuring processes. Particular emphasis should be drawn to the take-off of the tertiary sector and the comprehensive blight phenomena in the previously industrial areas. The urban housing sector has witnessed increasing housing affordability problems, a marginalisation of communal housing stock, an increase of segregation and an intensification of the decay in the old housing stock. In all East Central European states the spatial development processes of industry and services within the cities basically show clear parallels to the pattern of urban development in continental Europe. In Hungary housing policy, tenure structure and the level of segregation already show relatively closer similarities to the neoliberal, Anglo–American pattern of development. The other ECE states show closer similarities to the corporatist welfare states of continental Europe. As far as medium-term urban development in East Central Europe is concerned, it is to be assumed that – regardless of the specific path of further development – overall solutions shall not be found for the fundamental problems which are the legacy of the socialist era – the decay of old housing stock, large scale derelict industrial areas and the extent and deficiencies of high-rise housing estates. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The ‘hidden’ geographies of energy poverty in post-socialism: Between institutions and households

One of the consequences of the post-socialist transformation of Eastern and Central Europe and the Former Soviet Union is the emergence of energy poverty, a condition where households are living in inadequately heated homes. This paper examines the institutional and demographic underpinnings of energy poverty in Macedonia and the Czech Republic, two post-socialist states with divergent development paths. It has been established that more than 50% of Macedonian households may be suffering from domestic energy deprivation, while the same figure is less than 10% in the Czech case. The notion of a ‘hidden’ geography of poverty encapsulates the character of domestic energy deprivation among these populations. The problem has been invisible to decision-makers to date, due to its private character and non-conformity to conventional poverty-amelioration methods.     

Moments in everyday/distant geopolitics: Young people’s fears and hopes

The everyday implications of a volatile geopolitical climate are increasingly recognised, but far less is known about how people’s emotional geographies are affected by geopolitical change. This paper offers a critical examination of how some young people in different parts of the world navigate fears and hopes that might be considered ‘global’ in nature, and those that might be considered ‘everyday’. We report from participatory research conducted with young people from a range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds living in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. We examine how personal fears and hopes intersect with wider anxieties about youth, urban crime and terrorism. The research suggests that global-everyday emotions are not separated out in young people’s analyses. They are critically reflexive about wider discourses of fear, while undertaking the day to day business of navigating what are sometimes challenging emotional topographies.     

Tripartite climate reversal in Central Europe 5600-5300 years ago

The history of variations in water level of Lake Constance, as reconstructed from sediment and pollen analysis of a sediment sequence from the archaeological site of Arbon-Bleiche 3, shows an abrupt rise in lake level dendrochronologically dated to 5375 yr ago (5320 yr relative to AD 1950). This event, paralleled by the destruction of the Neolithic village by fire, provoked the abandonment of this prehistoric lake-shore location established in the former shallow bay of Arbon-Bleiche, and was the last of a series of three episodes of successively higher lake level, the first occurring at 5600-5500 cal yr B.P. The dendrochronologically dated rise event was synchronous with an abrupt increase in atmospheric ¹⁴C. This supports the hypothesis of an abrupt climate change forced by varying solar activity. Moreover, the three successive episodes of higher lake level between 5600 and 5300 cal yr B.P. at Arbon-Bleiche 3 coincided with climatic cooling and/or changes in moisture conditions in various regions of both hemispheres. This period corresponds to the mid-Holocene climate transition (onset of the Neoglaciation) and suggests inter-hemispheric linkages for the climate variations recorded at Arbon-Bleiche 3. This mid-Holocene climate reversal may have resulted from complex interactions between changes in orbital forcing, ocean circulation and solar activity. Finally, despite different seasonal hydrological regimes, the similarities between lake-level records from Lake Constance and from Jurassian lakes over the mid-Holocene period point to time scale as a crucial factor in considering the possible impact of climate change on environments.     

Everyday effects, practices and causal mechanisms of ‘cultural embeddedness’: Learning from Utah’s high tech regional economy

In recent years, economic geographers have drawn extensively upon notions of ‘cultural embeddedness’ to explore how spatially variable sets of cultural conventions, norms, values and beliefs shape firms’ innovative performance in dynamic regional economies. However, our understanding of these causal links remains partial, reinforced by an ‘over-territorialised’ conception of cultural embeddedness which sidelines the role of institutional actors operating outside and across the boundaries of ‘the local’. So motivated, this paper offers a theoretically-informed - and theoretically informing - empirical analysis of the high tech regional economy in Salt Lake City, Utah to explore the everyday causal mechanisms, practices and processes - both local and extra-local - through which firms’ cultural embedding within the region is manifested, performed and (un)intentionally (re)produced. In so doing, this paper aims to further our understanding of the constitutive entanglement and complex interweaving of cultural/economic practices, and to contribute to the development of an in-depth empirical corpus of work which compliments the exciting conceptual developments that have largely dominated cultural economic geography over the last decade.     

Between difference and adjustment - The re-/presentation and implementation of post-socialist (communist) transformation

Since the collapse of the communist regimes some 15 years ago, the at first rather simplistic assumptions about the quite similar nature of the ‘other side’ of the Iron Curtain soon were revealed as such. The conditions in the different countries proved to be much more complex and differentiated, making policies more difficult to target and outcomes to predict than initially presumed and propagated. As it emerged, the process of ‘transition’, has thus emerged as a multidimensional, complex phenomenon of ‘transition’, shaped by a set of overlapping and intersecting variables, pointing to the need for a more detailed understanding and interpretation of the changes observed. And this includes the use of terminology, even such fundamental terms as ‘post-/socialism’ versus ‘post-/communism’ or ‘transition’ versus ‘transformation’. These differences reflect variations in the perception and implementation of post-communist regimes, as viewed and interpreted from both within and without the relevant countries or regions. And this is illustrated by the collection of papers in this special issue.     

Analyzing CO2 emissions mitigation by technology improvement in Central and Eastern Europe

As a legacy of the centrally planned economy, the economies in transition of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have a unique potential to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions through the improvement in their high energy intensities. Since much of this `low-hanging fruit' in energy-efficiency improvements can be highly cost-effective, many developed countries facing difficulties in meeting their greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets domestically are eager to find such opportunities in the CEE region. Therefore, studies analysing the potentials and costs of carbon dioxide reduction through technology improvement in the region have come into the limelight. While there are a few excellent studies in the region aimed at analysing climate change abatement potentials, they all embark on different assumptions, methodologies and boundary conditions. It is hence difficult, if not impossible, to compare and analyse the results of these studies across different authors, countries or time horizons. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to place four leading studies on GHG mitigation through technology improvement from the CEE region into an internationally comparable framework. Four studies were selected from three countries, Poland, Hungary and Estonia, which are all the results of major national and international efforts to assess costs and potentials of GHG reduction. The paper places their assumptions, methods and final results into a framework which enables policy-makers and project designers to compare these across geographical and technological boundaries. Since other studies from around the globe have been analysed in this framework in the literature, this paper provides a vehicle for the findings of these four studies to be compared to others worldwide. In addition, the paper highlights a few areas where similar studies to be completed in the future in the region may be enhanced by incorporating features used in GHG mitigation research in other parts of the world. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The shifting geopolitics of higher education: Inter/nationalizing elite universities in Kazakhstan,Saudi Arabia,and beyond

This article examines recent higher education projects in two resource-rich, developmental states: Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia. These projects are indicative of broader trend across Asia to move beyond previous national universities, toward a state-initiated model of the globally competitive university, which is designed to become an regional hub for elite education. Drawing on a range of qualitative methods, I consider the geopolitical context in which these projects have been conditioned and materialized, with a focus on how they are legitimated by policy-makers in the two case countries. By reframing discussions about the globalization of higher education in terms of a geopolitics of higher education, I argue that the cases of Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia are not exceptions set outside of the hegemonic liberal system, but that they are ‘mirrors’ of recent internationalization agendas undertaken by elite Western universities. Through considering localized discourses of promoting knowledge-based economies, I consider how elites simultaneously work with and reconfigure globally-hegemonic discourses, and specifically how these elite university projects are part of broader authoritarian political configurations in Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia.     

Eckfeld Maar: Window into an Eocene Terrestrial Habitat in Central Europe

<正>To mark the occasion of the 175th anniversary of the Rheinische Naturforschende Gesellschaft in 2009 and of the centennial of the Mainz Natural History Museum in 2010,we present a short account of our present knowledge of the Eckfeld Maar after 20 years of continuous research.This paper does not attempt to include all of the detailed results on the geology of the Eckfeld site or its biota.To date,nearly 250 papers and books have been published since the start of our project.An up-to-date list of these publications can be found at www.eckfeldermaar. de.     

The future of industrial cities and regions in central and eastern Europe

Economic transition in central and eastern Europe (CEE) has had a particularly strong impact on industrial cities and regions. Following their economic collapse, most of them are now confronted with serious problems such as high unemployment and vast ecological damage. The paper presents findings from a pan European research project that investigated the problems of these cities and regions as well as the strategies being adopted to cope with structural change. It examines the differences in approaches and addresses the question whether existing EU policy is suitable for supporting the redevelopment of old industrial cities and regions in CEE countries. The paper concludes with recommendations for future directions in policy making.     

Haute cuisine versus healthy nutrition: cultural gradients in Europe and the geography of baby food

The article deals with the problem, how the geography of baby food in Europe may be explained by cultural patterns, differences in healthcare systems and standards of living. A survey, conducted in 12 European countries, revealed differences and similarities in gastronomic preferences and healthcare attitudes. National food markets and dietary targets reflect the pressure of internationalization on cultural traditions. Special attention is paid to the adaptation strategies of multinationals, operating in different cultural environments. The requirements to the qualities of baby food (the emphasis on being healthy or rather tasty, the choice of producers, etc.) reflect the whole variety of lifestyles in European countries, their economic opportunities, stability of cultural traditions, innovative potential.     

A political cultural map of Europe. A survey approach

The existence of culture is far less contested than the ways in which one can conceptualize, theorize and measure it. Grid-group theory is a typological contribution to the field of political culture. It identifies one dimension of individuality (grid) and one dimension of social incorporation (group). Combined, these dimensions demarcate four omnipresent and interdependent cultures - hierarchy, egalitarianism, individualism and fatalism - each of which interlocks a social pattern with a type of cultural bias. The overall political cultural configuration of a country is determined by the given combination of the four cultures, each of whose size can be measured by the number of adherents. The estimated configurations of twelve European countries are obtained by analyzing two waves of the World Values Study in 1981 and 1990 (N=34,858). The results show that egalitarianism is dominant in the Nordic countries and the Netherlands, whereas fatalism is dominant in Great Britain, Ireland and southern Europe. Further analysis confirms the hypothesized correspondance between egalitarianism and Inglehart's concept of postmaterialism, both of which, in turn, are related to proenvironmental concern. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Unstable climates: Exploring the statistical and social constructions of ‘normal’ climate

The idea of climate has both statistical and social foundations. Both of these dimensions of climate change over time: climate, as defined by meteorological statistics, changes for both natural and anthropogenic reasons; and our expectations of future climate also change, as cultures, societies and knowledge evolves. This paper explores the interactions between these different expressions of climate change by focusing on the idea of ‘normal’ climates defined by statistics. We show how this idea came into being in meteorological circles and then review how this idea of climatic normality gets entangled with cultural and psychological processes. Using data from historical and predicted climates in the UK, we illustrate the significance of choosing different baseline ‘normals’ for retrospective and prospective interpretations of climate change. Since the choice of these statistical ‘normals’ reflects cultural, political and psychological preferences and practices as much as scientific ones, we argue that expectations of the climatic future are influenced by social as well as statistical norms. Seeing climate as co-constructed between the psycho-cultural constraints of society and the physical constraints of the material world offers a different way of thinking about the instabilities of climate and the ways we adapt to them.     

Shortage in the midst of plenty: Labour strategies in four Central and Eastern European cities

Labour shortage was an integral feature of the communist system of economic management and one that seemed most unlikely to persist in the face of systemic transformation. A casual examination of the unemployment rates that have emerged throughout most of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) during the course of the past decade might suggest that this early assumption was correct. However, within the region the aggregate rate of joblessness, as well as the behaviour of national output, mask the fact that certain, major urban centres appear to have weathered well the storms caused by exposure to western markets and stringent fiscal and monetary policies. In these centres transformation has meant, to a greater or lesser degree, industrial modernisation and this begs the question of whether the human capital portfolios of the inherited labour force match up to the requirements of the new environment. This paper examines the meaning of the concept of labour shortage and presents the findings from a survey of employers in four leading cities of three major CEE economies designed to elicit if, and how, manpower requirements are being met in the present climate. The results indicate that, somewhat paradoxically, labour shortage persists in the more flexible markets of the post-communist era and that firms do not expect the situation to change radically in the near future. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Petrogenesis of Permian alkaline lamprophyres and diabases from the Spanish Central System and their geodynamic context within western Europe

Basic to ultrabasic alkaline lamprophyres and diabases intruded within the Spanish Central System (SCS) during Upper Permian. Their high LREE, LILE and HFSE contents, together with positive Nb–Ta anomalies, link their origin with the infiltration of sublithospheric K-rich fluids. These alkaline dykes may be classified in two distinct groups according to the Sr–Nd isotope ratios: (1) a depleted PREMA-like asthenospheric component, and (2) a BSE-like lithospheric component. A slight enrichment in radiogenic ²⁰⁷Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb allows the contribution of a recycled crustal or lithospheric component in the mantle sources. The intrusion of this alkaline magmatism is likely to have occurred due to adiabatic decompression and mantle upwelling in the context of the widespread rifting developed from Carboniferous to Permian in western Europe. The clear differences in the geochemical affinity of Lower Permian basic magmas from north-western and south-western Europe might be interpreted in terms of a more extensive separation of both regions during that period, until they were assembled during Upper Permian. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

New Early Permian paleomagnetic results from the Brive basin (French Massif Central) and their implications for Late Variscan tectonics

In order to assess the structural evolution of the Brive basin and the Paleozoic activity of surrounding major faults in the French Massif Central, we carried out a paleomagnetic study on Early Permian rocks from this basin. Positive-fold tests and solely reversed polarities indicate that the characteristic remanent magnetization is likely to be primary. Early Permian tilt-corrected site mean declinations vary from 207°–167° indicating that the Brive basin experienced internal vertical-axis rotations. On the contrary, Late Permian paleomagnetic site means exhibit a circular Fisherian distribution showing no relative rotations. Detailed analyses of Permian paleomagnetic data from five contemporaneous basins of the French Massif Central reveal that these basins share the same equatorial paleolatitude with stable Europe throughout the Permian. However, in Early Permian, three of the five basins experienced differential rotations. The Saint-Affrique basin not only suffered internal deformation during the Early Permian, but the basin as a whole underwent a full-scale counterclockwise vertical-axis block rotation with respect to stable Europe. As a consequence, paleomagnetic data from similar late orogenic basins have to be thus carefully considered for establishment of Apparent Polar Wander paths.