European Review - Current Issue

Volume 16 Issue 01

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

European Review, Volume 16 Issue 01

The European Review is a unique interdisciplinary international journal covering a wide range of subjects. It has a strong emphasis on Europe and on economics, history, social science, and general aspects of the sciences. At least two issues each year are devoted mainly or entirely to a single subject and deal in depth with a topic of contemporary importance in Europe; the other issues cover a wide range of subjects but may include a mini-review. Past issues dealt with China, tradition and modernity; Risk; Science and global communication; Who owns the Human Genome; Clash of civilisations; From decolonisation to post-colonialism; The future of the welfare state; Japan and Europe; Eurocentrism; Human rights; Democracy; Democracy in the 21st century; Using the Web in the democratic process; Making labour history interesting; False confessions after repeated interrogation; Living in real and virtual worlds.

Note from the President

Editorial
Jürgen Mittelstrass,
European Review, Volume 16 Issue 01 , pp 1-2

Abstract

Jews and Muslims in Dante’s Vision

Research Articles
Jesper Hede,
European Review, Volume 16 Issue 01 , pp 101-114

Abstract
Dante s worldview, the article that follows argues that Dante should rather be seen as a medieval Christian whose cultural horizon was limited, whose political theory of world government was narrowly focused on a specific problem within European Christendom, and whose vision of redemption, although complex and original in various respects, could not but embrace all human beings as either righteous or corrupted Christians.

The Friar and the Sultan: Francis of Assisi’s Mission to Egypt

Research Articles
John Tolan,
European Review, Volume 16 Issue 01 , pp 115-126

Abstract
In September, 1219, Francis of Assisi went to Egypt to preach to Sultan al-Malik al-K Christian encounters have inspired in European writers over eight centuries.

‘Golden Age’ Poetry in Contemporary Israeli and Palestinian Poetry

Research Articles
Ziva Ben-Porat,
European Review, Volume 16 Issue 01 , pp 127-143

Abstract
This article is a small part of a research project dealing with the presence of Hebrew poetry from al-Andalus in Israeli culture in general and in Israeli poetry in particular. In spite of its indisputably canonic status and 800-year history as a central model for the writing of poetry, this magnificent corpus is quite unknown to today dinosaur-like dealing with both the particular beneficial conditions in al-Andalus and current internal and external political situations. However, the paper is not about literary history or cultural politics. Rather, it focuses on the ways canonic status is revealed in the writing of contemporary poetry and in its readings. I begin with a short introduction concerned both with the poetry of al-Andalus and with the cognitive and inter-textual aspects related to the existence of texts and models. Owing to lack of space, I then deal with only three of the many characteristic features of this phenomenon: cognitive accessibility (illustrated by two readings of a Palestinian poem by Sami al-Kilani), manifested distancing (illustrated by Amnon Shamosh s poem that converses with Yehuda Halevi), and modes of alluding (illustrated by a poem of Yehuda Amichai).

The Focus on Everyday Life: a New Turn in Sociology

Research Articles
Piotr Sztompka,
European Review, Volume 16 Issue 01 , pp 23-37

Abstract
Sociology is currently undergoing an interesting theoretical and methodological turn. A number of recent and influential works of sociology deal with the seemingly trivial phenomena of everyday life. The standard mass surveys are being replaced by in-depth, interpretative, and qualitative procedures that focus on the visual surface of society. They do so by means of observation and its extension third first sociology second sociology of behaviour and action. The new focus is on social existence manifested by social events of various scales. This sociology of social existence provides a new angle of vision, which promises to advance considerably our understanding of several perennial riddles of human society.

Note from the New Editor-in-Chief

Editorial
Theo D’haen,
European Review, Volume 16 Issue 01 , pp 3-3

Abstract

Social Sciences: Truthful or Useful?

Research Articles
Pieter J. D. Drenth,
European Review, Volume 16 Issue 01 , pp 39-53

Abstract
The theme of the 2006 IAP Conference, held at Alexandria, from 1 The Unity of Science in a more secular vein unity of science communality within diversity s numerous and complex phenomena in science and society.

Italy’s Readiness for the 1998 Euro in View of the Country’s Declining Competitiveness

Research Articles
Bruno Mascitelli, Julie Gerstman,
European Review, Volume 16 Issue 01 , pp 5-22

Abstract
In the 2006 Italian election campaign, then Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi popularised a widely held view about the negative role of the euro for the Italian economy. This view had initially originated with the secessionist Northern Leagues. More recently, it had come to reflect the view of more moderate political players too. In the campaign Berlusconi ridiculed his contender, and the ultimate victor of the elections, Romano Prodi, for having accepted the to the euro in 1998. These claims reflect an ongoing debate about whether the adoption of the euro caused or even significantly contributed to Italy s financial crisis in 1992. These latter events ultimately forced Italy to temporarily leave the European Monetary System (EMS). The country re-entered the EMS in 1998. We conclude that Italy s weaknesses became more obvious with the adherence to conditions required for euro entry, but that its deep-seated political and economic problems were entrenched.

Solidarność, the Western World, and the End of the Cold War

Research Articles
Idesbald Goddeeris,
European Review, Volume 16 Issue 01 , pp 55-64

Abstract
It is not unusual to credit certain individuals with having put and end to the Cold War. This essay discusses some of the most important of these people, focusing on their role in the Polish crisis of 1980 West contacts established during the d tente of the 1970s.

French Enthusiasm for Solidarność

Research Articles
Marcin Frybes,
European Review, Volume 16 Issue 01 , pp 65-73

Abstract
France was one of the main supporters of Solidarno . The events in August and September 1980 immediately gained the interest of the French media. Trade unionists started to collaborate with their Polish colleagues, for instance by setting up exchange programs or by introducing Solidarno to international trade unions. Organisations of solidarity were founded and started to collect food, clothes and drugs. After the proclamation of Martial Law in Poland, this grew into a mass movement, involving many layers of the French population. Both workers and intellectuals were drawn to the idea of a : an alternative to the old and radical socialism.

Solidarność, Western Solidarity and Détente: A Transnational Approach

Research Articles
Stefan Berger,
European Review, Volume 16 Issue 01 , pp 75-84

Abstract
The reaction of Western trade unions towards Solidarno was extremely varied, ranging from enthusiastic support to the denunciation of Solidarno as and in the pay of the CIA. These views depended on political, institutional, and cultural determinants and had much to do with the national circumstances of particular unions and their representatives.

Welcome Address

Research Articles
Jürgen Mittelstrass,
European Review, Volume 16 Issue 01 , pp 85-90

Abstract

Cultural Memories of the Expulsion of the Moriscos

Research Articles
José M. González García,
European Review, Volume 16 Issue 01 , pp 91-100

Abstract
Violins are weeping over the Arabs leaving al-Andalus,