Norbert Götz - Böcker

This book explores the roles of national actors within international organizations, with particular emphasis on the collaborative approach adopted by Nordic governments and associations.Analyzing Nordic regional cooperation within international organizations, this volume seeks to shed light on the politics of alignment and distinct macro-regional identity-building in international arenas. Exploring the middle ground between the national and the international, contributors discuss how Nordic governments and associations have successfully created and used the image of a distinct group within the international system and where they have failed. Presenting a richer picture of international and transnational relations, the volume’s features include: a key focus on the ‘Nordic model’ with its schism in regard to the EU studies on cooperation between governments and within civil society, including trade unions and anti-EU movements contributions from Nordic and international experts highly respected in their fieldsSeeking to move beyond neo-realist and cosmopolitan approaches in international studies, Regional Cooperation and International Organizations will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, regionalism, Nordic studies, and Transnationalism.

This book explores the roles of national actors within international organizations, with particular emphasis on the collaborative approach adopted by Nordic governments and associations.Analyzing Nordic regional cooperation within international organizations, this volume seeks to shed light on the politics of alignment and distinct macro-regional identity-building in international arenas. Exploring the middle ground between the national and the international, contributors discuss how Nordic governments and associations have successfully created and used the image of a distinct group within the international system and where they have failed. Presenting a richer picture of international and transnational relations, the volume’s features include: a key focus on the ‘Nordic model’ with its schism in regard to the EU studies on cooperation between governments and within civil society, including trade unions and anti-EU movements contributions from Nordic and international experts highly respected in their fieldsSeeking to move beyond neo-realist and cosmopolitan approaches in international studies, Regional Cooperation and International Organizations will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, regionalism, Nordic studies, and Transnationalism.

The concept of mental maps is used in several disciplines including geography, psychology, history, linguistics, economics, anthropology, political science, and computer game design. However, until now, there has been little communication between these disciplines and methodological schools involved in mental mapping. Mental Maps: Geographical and Historical Perspectives addresses this situation by bringing together scholars from some of the related fields. Ute Schneider examines the development of German geographer Heinrich Schiffers’ mental maps, using his books on Africa from the 1930s to the 1970s. Efrat Ben-Ze’ev and Chloé Yvroux investigate conceptions of Israel and Palestine, particularly the West Bank, held by French and Israeli students. By superimposing large numbers of sketch maps, Clarisse Didelon-Loiseau, Sophie de Ruffray, and Nicolas Lambert identify "soft" and "hard" macro-regions on the mental maps of geography students across the world. Janne Holmén investigates whether the Baltic and the Mediterranean Seas are seen as links or divisions between the countries that line their shores, according to the mental maps of high school seniors. Similarly, Dario Musolino maps regional preferences of Italian entrepreneurs. Finally, Lars-Erik Edlund offers an essayistic account of mental mapping, based on memories of maps in his own family.This edited volume book uses printed maps, survey data and hand drawn maps as sources, contributing to the study of human perception of space from the perspectives of different disciplines.The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Cultural Geography.

The concept of mental maps is used in several disciplines including geography, psychology, history, linguistics, economics, anthropology, political science, and computer game design. However, until now, there has been little communication between these disciplines and methodological schools involved in mental mapping. Mental Maps: Geographical and Historical Perspectives addresses this situation by bringing together scholars from some of the related fields. Ute Schneider examines the development of German geographer Heinrich Schiffers’ mental maps, using his books on Africa from the 1930s to the 1970s. Efrat Ben-Ze’ev and Chloé Yvroux investigate conceptions of Israel and Palestine, particularly the West Bank, held by French and Israeli students. By superimposing large numbers of sketch maps, Clarisse Didelon-Loiseau, Sophie de Ruffray, and Nicolas Lambert identify "soft" and "hard" macro-regions on the mental maps of geography students across the world. Janne Holmén investigates whether the Baltic and the Mediterranean Seas are seen as links or divisions between the countries that line their shores, according to the mental maps of high school seniors. Similarly, Dario Musolino maps regional preferences of Italian entrepreneurs. Finally, Lars-Erik Edlund offers an essayistic account of mental mapping, based on memories of maps in his own family.This edited volume book uses printed maps, survey data and hand drawn maps as sources, contributing to the study of human perception of space from the perspectives of different disciplines.The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Cultural Geography.

‘Power investigation’, or the practice of power to legitimize itself through commissioned programmes of scientific enquiry, is a hallmark of Nordic democracy. Five power investigations have been conducted in the Nordic countries since 1972. The close connection to state power has not dissuaded prominent scholars from participating in them, nor have their findings evoked strong criticism. Combining politically guided perspectives with collaborative research, power investigations represent public events that typify the ostensibly open political culture of the Nordic countries, rather than simply existing as texts or as a politico-scientific genre. Although such investigations have been thought of as critical studies of power, the authors in this book show that their findings have varied greatly and that they have served as tools for wielding power. Whatever shortcomings they uncover, the utility of these investigations in suggesting transparency and self-reflection enhances the legitimacy of Scandinavian government. The investigations are persuasive exercises through which the commissioning authorities and those scholars hired to carry them out engage in a mutually beneficial exchange. Underlying this strategy is the perception, deeply embedded in Nordic political culture, that politics is a progressive, rational endeavour, and that identification with the state is an honourable role for academics.This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Contemporary European Studies.

This title was first published in 2003. The Baltic Sea region offers exceptionally rich material for the discussion of civil society. This is because it has witnessed the erosion of communist regimes, the crisis of the welfare state, the increasing importance of new social movements and the shift from a centralist paradigm to one oriented towards networks. This engaging book focuses on the phenomena and prospects for civil society in north-eastern Europe which have had a major impact on political and scholarly debates since 1989. Nineteen experts from the region provide a comprehensive and comparative account of the history, the present state and the perspectives of civil society in the Baltic Sea area. The reader will learn that civil society should not only be seen in opposition to the state and that it has a major impact on current developments of European integration.

This title was first published in 2003. The Baltic Sea region offers exceptionally rich material for the discussion of civil society. This is because it has witnessed the erosion of communist regimes, the crisis of the welfare state, the increasing importance of new social movements and the shift from a centralist paradigm to one oriented towards networks. This engaging book focuses on the phenomena and prospects for civil society in north-eastern Europe which have had a major impact on political and scholarly debates since 1989. Nineteen experts from the region provide a comprehensive and comparative account of the history, the present state and the perspectives of civil society in the Baltic Sea area. The reader will learn that civil society should not only be seen in opposition to the state and that it has a major impact on current developments of European integration.

‘Power investigation’, or the practice of power to legitimize itself through commissioned programmes of scientific enquiry, is a hallmark of Nordic democracy. Five power investigations have been conducted in the Nordic countries since 1972. The close connection to state power has not dissuaded prominent scholars from participating in them, nor have their findings evoked strong criticism. Combining politically guided perspectives with collaborative research, power investigations represent public events that typify the ostensibly open political culture of the Nordic countries, rather than simply existing as texts or as a politico-scientific genre. Although such investigations have been thought of as critical studies of power, the authors in this book show that their findings have varied greatly and that they have served as tools for wielding power. Whatever shortcomings they uncover, the utility of these investigations in suggesting transparency and self-reflection enhances the legitimacy of Scandinavian government. The investigations are persuasive exercises through which the commissioning authorities and those scholars hired to carry them out engage in a mutually beneficial exchange. Underlying this strategy is the perception, deeply embedded in Nordic political culture, that politics is a progressive, rational endeavour, and that identification with the state is an honourable role for academics.This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Contemporary European Studies.

The ‘open society’ has become a watchword of liberal democracy and the market system in the modern globalized world. Openness stands for individual opportunity and collective reason, as well as bottom-up empowerment and top-down transparency. It has become a cherished value, despite its vagueness and the connotation of vulnerability that surrounds it. Scandinavia has long considered itself a model of openness, citing traditions of freedom of information and inclusive policy making. This collection of essays traces the conceptual origins, development, and diverse challenges of openness in the Nordic countries and Austria. It examines some of the many paradoxes that openness encounters and the tensions it arouses when it addresses such divergent ends as democratic deliberation and market transactions, freedom of speech and sensitive information, compliant decision making and political and administrative transparency, and consensual procedures and the toleration of dissent.Contributors are: Ainur Elmgren, Tero Erkkilä, Norbert Götz, Ann-Cathrine Jungar, Johannes Kananen, Lotta Lounasmeri, Carl Marklund, Peter Parycek, Johanna Rainio-Niemi, Judith Schossböck, Ylva Waldemarson, and Tuomas Ylä-Anttila.

Norden fem självständiga länder i Europas nordvästra hörn. Det är det hårda Norden. Men det finns också ett mjukt Norden, som är en ideologisk och medial konstruktion, inte sällan med kommersiella förtecken. Det handlar om jämlikhet, tillit, kort distans till makten, inklusivitet, flexibilitet, kärlek till naturen, luthersk arbetsetik samt sparsmakad och ljus estetik. Vi häruppe är inte så lite övertygade om de egna lösningarnas universella förträfflighet. Men varför är de tre baltiska länderna inte med i gemenskapen? Har det med den svenska stormaktstiden att göra, med arvet efter Sovjettiden eller med något annat? I regionernas Europa kan det också finnas plats för ett fördjupat nordiskt samarbete kanske rentav en politisk union? Det finns argument både för och emot. En ännu svårare fråga är vad som är nordiskt. Handlar det om historia, nutidskultur eller samhällsekonomi? Vad har vi gemensamt som skiljer oss från omvärlden? Kanske mer än vi tror. Eller möjligen tvärtom. Riksbankens Jubileumsfonds årsbok 2011/2012, Ett nordiskt rum, vrider och vänder på Norden. Årsboken utsträcker det nordiska i sydöstlig riktning, men undersöker också den exotiska periferin norr om norr. Med stora övergripande penseldrag, både historiskt och i nutid, och med nedslag i belysande detaljer målas ett nordiskt rum upp som är på en gång välbekant och helt nytt. Författare: Andres Andresen Peter Aronsson Nicholas Aylott Stuart Burch Inger Damsholt Björn Fjæstad Lizette Gradén Norbert Götz Jonas Harvard Karl Magnus Johansson Lisbeth Lewander Pärtel Piirimäe Valters Scerbinskis Kadri Simm Sverker Sörlin Sanna Turoma Gunnar Wetterberg Susanne Österlund-Pötzsch

The essays in this collection present research on national, class, and gender identities in the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe being conducted by researchers based at the Institute of Contemporary History, Södertörn University, Stockholm. The contributors focus on transnational flow as they explore Danish, Estonian, Finnish, German, Lithuanian, Moldovan, Polish, Russian, and Swedish instances, and the region at large. The studies examine fluid identities in a historical perspective and show how notions of identity have been naturalised in specific contexts. This book is issued in conjunction with the fifteenth anniversary of the Swedish Institute of Contemporary History. By bringing to the public the most current findings in Baltic and East European studies and offering an overview of work done by the institute’s researchers, it hopes to demonstrate the fruitfulness of opening contemporary history to broader regional and transnational approaches. Dr Norbert Götz is professor of history at the Institute of Contemporary History, Södertörn University, Sweden.

The Nigerian Civil War, spanning from 1967 to 1970, garnered significant global attention, especially due to the media's portrayal of suffering children in the seceding region of Biafra and the subsequent humanitarian response. This booklet chronicles a seminar where journalists from Sweden, Denmark, and Finland, who reported from Biafra, shared their experiences and perspectives on the conflict and the humanitarian efforts aimed at alleviating the famine. The discussions captured in this document provide valuable insights into Nordic humanitarianism and its ethical dimensions, with relevance for contemporary global aid initiatives and the involvement of Nordic countries in international humanitarian cooperation. Norbert Götz is Professor at the Institute of Contemporary History at Södertörn University and head of the project “Civil Society without Boundaries: Nordic Humanitarianism Facing the Biafra Crisis”. Carl Marklund is an Associate Professor in Nordic Studies at the University of Helsinki and a researcher at the Institute for Contemporary History at Södertörn University.

This memoir is the story of Lucie Widl (1930–2023), born in Vienna and, due to her Jewish background, sent to the United Kingdom as a child refugee following the Nazi annexation of Austria. She recounts her childhood, her experiences with the Kindertransport refugee scheme in Scotland, her post-war years with vocational training in London and travels across Europe and North Africa, and her eventual settlement in Sweden. There she started a family and came into close contact with the medical facilities of the welfare state. With its keen observations, trenchant commentary, dry humor, and hopeful aspirations, Lucie Widl’s firsthand account vividly brings history to life. This publication includes additional research, annotations, and an introduction by Norbert Götz, professor at the Institute of Contemporary History at Södertörn University.