Open Access Books

This volume examines the impact of globalization on international environmental law and the implementation of sustainable development in the Global South. Comprising contributions from lawyers from the Global South or who have experience in the Global South, this volume is organized into three parts, with a thematic inquiry woven through every chapter to ask how law can enable economies that can be sustained, given the limited carrying capacity of the earth. Part I describes and characterizes the status quo of environmental and economic problems in the Global South during the process of globalization. Some of those problems include redistribution of environmental burden on the public through over-reliance on the state in emerging economies and the transition to public-private partnerships, as well as extreme uncontrolled economic expansion. Building on Part I, Part II takes an international perspective by presenting some tools that are in place during the process of globalization that lead to friction and interfaces between developed and developing economies in environmental law. Recognizing the impossibility of a globalized Northern economy, the authors in Part III present some alternatives through framework ideas of human and civil rights, environmental rights, and indigenous persons’ rights, as well as concrete and specific legal tools to strengthen justice and rule of law institutions. The book gives new perspectives to familiar approaches through concrete examples by professional practitioners and theoretical discourse by academic researchers, and can thereby form the basis for changes in practices, as well as further discussions and comparisons. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental law, sustainable development, and globalization and international relations, as well as legal professionals and practitioners.

The Jingshan Report is a collection of research papers on key issues for China’s financial opening, including reform of the RMB exchange rate regime, management of cross-border capital flows and financial support for the Belt and Road Initiative. Authored by leading experts in the relevant fields, the report examines the evolution, current status and problems with the financial opening policy over the past four decades, and puts forward policy recommendations on how to steadily push forward China’s financial opening.

This monograph focuses on the figure of the Augustinian friar and Blessed of the Catholic Church Simone Fidati of Cascia (ca. 1295–1348), aiming to provide new insights into his principal vernacular work, the Ordine della vita cristiana, as well as into the transmission of the volgarizzamento of his De gestis Domini salvatoris, prepared after his death by his disciple Giovanni da Salerno and known under the title Spositione sopra de’ Vangeli. The analysis adopts both a historical and a palaeographic-codicological perspective and is supplemented by a catalogue offering a detailed description of the surveyed manuscripts. The study also reconstructs the networks of production and circulation of the aforementioned works, with particular attention to female audiences, who represented a privileged target of Fidati’s preaching. An unpublished treatise on virginity attributed to the friar is included in the appendix.

In diesem Buch wird, anders als in den meisten anderen Veröffentlichungen zur Pflegekinderhilfe, neben einer differenzierten Betrachtung der Inanspruchnahme ein empirischer Blick auf die Pflegekinderhilfe als Institution gerichtet. Ein Teil der fachlichen und öffentlichen Diskussionen beziehen sich auf die Rolle und die Aufgabenwahrnehmung der Dienste, die die öffentliche Verantwortung des Staates für Pflegeverhältnisse wahrnehmen. Diese agieren in einem hochkomplexen Feld, das durch sehr unterschiedliche Interessen und Erwartungen einer Vielzahl von Akteuren gekennzeichnet ist und in dem folgenreiche Entscheidungen für das Leben von Kindern und Jugendlichen getroffen werden.

The book addresses the genesis of Polish integral nationalism and the role of Roman Dmowski as a co-founder of this phenomenon in the development of Polish political thought at the fin-de-siècle. Based on extensive documentary research, it attempts to show a broader picture of modern Polish political and social thinking in context of the late 19th and early 20th East Central Europe. The author reflects on the significance of racial thinking and Social Darwinism of the new nationalist imagination, arguing that its intellectual foundations came from anti-positivist and anti-Enlightenment tradition. He challenges the widespread assumption that Polish nationalism in its early version cherished somehow mild attitudes toward minorities, especially the Jews, claiming instead that enmity toward «Otherness» constitutes its ideological core. A major feature of the book is the contextualization of Polish nationalism against the backdrop of the fin-de-siècle European political thought.

»Das ist kein Blut, das ist nur rote Farbe« (Jean-Luc Godard). Das Kino ist eine Welt der Illusionen. Doch wann wird es zur Lüge? 24 mal pro Sekunde? Die Aufsatzsammlung spürt der Lüge im Kino anhand beispielhaft analysierter Filme verschiedener Genres nach. Die Filme Blow Up, Der Clou, Rashomon, Der Kontrakt des Zeichners, Das Leben ein Pfeifen, Schwarze Katze, weißer Kater sowie eXistenZ und Lost Highway werden in interkultureller Breite sowohl inhaltlich als auch medienreflexiv auf die Aspekte der Lüge, der Täuschung und der Manipulation hin untersucht. Die Beiträger arbeiten die Spannung der Lüge im Kino heraus: Es geht ihnen sowohl um das Lügen im Film als auch um das spezifisch ästhetische Lügen des Films.

The series "Literature and Archive" establishes a common field of conversation between literary and edition science, archive theory, archival and cultural studies as well as the practice of today's archives.

The book identifies conditions for trust and cooperation. It highlights unintended consequences of individually rational behavior, and shows how trust and cooperation change dependent on social embeddedness. Such analyses inspire experimental tests in lab conditions, but also tests through empirical applications in field studies. The results of this mixed-method approach can in turn be used to inspire further theoretical work.

Kurt Baschwitz (1886-1968) had a lifelong fascination for ‘the riddle of the mass’ in both its visible and invisible forms. He was a major pioneer of communication and media studies on the European continent, an early student of the social, political, and mass psychology of crowds, publics, audiences, and public opinion, as well as a versatile social historian. Half a century after his death, however, he risks being forgotten and misunderstood, falling through the cracks of history.

With the BJP securing a third consecutive term in power in 2024, India is no longer debating secularism—it is witnessing its metamorphosis into majoritarian rule. To some, this is a long-overdue reckoning that corrects decades of minority appeasement. To others, it is the death of the republic’s founding ideals. But what if both are wrong? But what if both are distractions from the larger truth? Secularism in India was never pure—it was always political. The collapse of secularism is not the doing of the last decade—it has been unraveling for 77 years. Since Independence, successive governments have distorted, exploited, and selectively applied secularism to serve their own political survival. It was never about true neutrality; it was about control. The judiciary, once the strongest safeguard of secular values, has become an inconsistent force—at times upholding secularism, at other times legitimizing its erosion. Secularism remains a constitutional principle, but in practice, it has been reinterpreted, redefined, and weakened to the point where it no longer functions as a safeguard against religious majoritarianism. The real crisis lies in its indecipherability. Framed as neutrality but often practiced as negotiation, secularism has meant different things at different times—to the state, the courts, and the people. Its contradictions have allowed it to survive, but they have also made it vulnerable. If secularism is to survive, it must be reimagined—not as passive neutrality, but as Diversity-Embracing Secularism, an active force that refuses to bow to political expediency. The fight is not between parties but between two visions of India—one that embraces diversity and one that seeks to erase it.

African American Females: Addressing Challenges and Nurturing the Future illustrates that across education, health, and other areas of social life, opportunities are stratified along gender as well as race lines. The unequal distribution of wealth, power, and privilege between men and women intersects with race and class to create multiple levels of disadvantage. This book is one result of a unique forum intended to bring into focus the K–12 and postsecondary schooling issues and challenges affecting African American girls and women. Focusing on the historical antecedents of African American female participation and the contemporary context of access and opportunity for black girls and women, the contributors to this collection pay particular attention to the interaction of gender with race/ethnicity, class, age, and health, with the central aim of encouraging thoughtful reading, critical thinking, and informed conversations about the necessity of exploring the lives of African American females. Additionally, the book frames important implications for recommended changes in policy and practice regarding a number of critical matters presently affecting African American females in schools and communities across the state of Michigan and nationwide.

Seit ihrer Gründung haben die Europäischen Gemeinschaften für die einzelnen Mitgliedstaaten immer mehr an Bedeutung gewonnen. Die Einbindung der föderativ aufgebauten Bundesrepublik Deutschland in die Europäischen Gemeinschaften wirft eine Reihe von Finanzausgleichsproblemen auf, die nicht zuletzt durch die zunehmende Verlagerung von Aufgaben auf die Gemeinschaftsebene und den wachsenden Haushalt der Gemeinschaften immer drängender geworden sind. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden diese Probleme anhand der ökonomischen Kriterien der Föderalismustheorie systematisch identifiziert und Lösungsansätze aufgezeigt. Dabei werden sowohl Aspekte der Beziehungen der Europäischen Gemeinschaften zur Bundesrepublik Deutschland insgesamt als auch die Auswirkungen der europäischen Integration auf den deutschen Finanzausgleich behandelt.

Der sich seit Jahren durchgesetzte Begriff des Literaturtransfers wird hier aus verschiedenen Perspektiven besprochen. Es geht um die Möglichkeit der Erschließung von Texten, um die Rezeption seitens des Publikums, um das Editionswesen und nicht zuletzt um die Kunst des Übersetzens. Der achte Band enthält Beiträge zu folgenden Themen: - Der Taugenichts bei, vor und seit Eichendorff in Deutschland und anderswo; - Edition und Interpretation; - Übersetzungen literarischer Texte und deren Edition; - Modelle, Figuren und Praktiken des deutsch-italienischen Literaturtransfers; - Florenz und die Deutsch-Florentiner. Eine Austauschbühne zwischen Risorgimento und Gründerzeit

Die Entstehung von Großstädten ist kein Novum der letzten drei Jahrhunderte. Auch im griechisch-römischen Kulturraum gab es bereits Millionenstädte, die in struktureller, kultureller und sozialer Hinsicht heutigen Großstädten durchaus vergleichbar waren. Aber hielt diese besondere Form menschlichen Zusammenlebens auch Einzug in die Literatur ihrer Zeit? Ohne Zweifel wurde in den Dichtungen der augusteischen und kaiserzeitlichen Epoche eine Großstadt wiederholt zum Ort der Literatur gewählt: die Hauptstadt Rom. Die vorliegende Untersuchung geht der Frage nach, inwieweit die Großstadt mit ihren (spezifischen) räumlichen Merkmalen in den zeitgenössischen Werken thematisiert wird und wie die lateinischen Autoren sich zu ihr als einem eigenen literarischen Gegenstand positionieren.

Language plays an essential role both in creating law and in governing its implementation. Providing an accessible and comprehensive introduction to this subject, Language and Law:describes the different registers and genres that make up spoken and written legal language and how they develop over time; analyses real-life examples drawn from court cases from different parts of the world, illustrating the varieties of English used in the courtroom by speakers occupying different roles; addresses the challenges presented to our notions of law and regulation by online communication; discusses the complex role of translation in bilingual and multilingual jurisdictions, including Hong Kong and Canada; and provides readings from key scholars in the discipline, including Lawrence Solan, Peter Goodrich, Marianne Constable, David Mellinkoff, and Chris Heffer. With a wide range of activities throughout, this accessible textbook is essential reading for anyone studying language and law or forensic linguistics.