The Shape of the Next Coronation—Some Tentative Thoughts

Abstract

This article considers the meaning and symbolism of the United Kingdom coronation service. After surveying the impact of recent royal ritual, it explores the detailed structure of the coronation service and makes and proposes a number of alterations and reforms in the shape and structure of the next coronation. It also advocates the introduction of a new ceremony of enthronement and homage, separate and discrete from the coronation, and to be held outside London.     

Who Has the Rights to Talk About the Human——Rights of Tibetans

At present, Tibetan human rights are a hot topic amongst some people right around the world. On the face of it they sound plausible. But as a matter of fact, they have absolutely no idea of what “Old Tibet” （referring to the time before the peaceful liberation in 1951） was really like, how the Tibetan slaves/serfs lived in old Tibet and how they survived in an appalling lack of numan rights in those days.     

The Concept of Reading: Kierkegaard,Irony, and Duality—A Response to Mark Cortes Favis

In a recent article in The European Legacy, Mark Cortes Favis argued that the figure of Kierkegaard expressed a tension between two aspects of writing—the Socratic and the Platonic. While Favis is correct to see a duality in Kierkegaard's writing, his article does not fully answer the problem of how we can account for our interpretation of this tension. Given that the duality within Kierkegaard's writing transgresses the boundaries of author and reader, we cannot easily circumscribe any claims on his writing without considering its effect on our reading. Rather, the characteristic duality of his authority manifests itself in a number of ways in the task of identifying the philosophical meaning of his texts. Kierkegaard's relationship to Socrates is thus symptomatic of a number of figural dualities that pervade interpretations of his work. By surveying the ways in which these interpretations draw on the axiom of duality in order to ascribe an authority to Kierkegaard's texts, I suggest Favis's argument that Kierkegaard's writing expresses both Socratic and Platonic aspects should be placed within the wider duality at work in the interpretation of Kierkegaard's work.     

The breakdown of the educational system of the G.D.R. in 1989—Problems of restructuring public education

The disappearance of an apparently well-established European state within one year—sudden, unexpected, and self-imposed—probably presents an event without parallels in European history. In educational history, too, there may be few examples of bringing together the structures of two very different educational systems after four decades of separate development.     

A Theological Response to ‘The Case for a Pre-emptive Strike’

Abstract

After the enlargement of the European Union at the beginning of 2007, Western Europe has seen an enormous migration of East European Roma people begging in the streets. In this article, I will focus on some juridical as well as moral dilemmas these street beggars, mostly Romanian Roma, have raised in the EU territory and especially in the Nordic countries. I will also reflect on the historical facts and on past legislation where it is necessary to provide the background for the current situation. I shall argue that to hinder the right to free movement of Roma beggars in the European Union territory by criminalizing their begging and camping violates their fundamental rights. Moreover, such treatment in this case is tantamount to ethnic discrimination.     

The ‘Copper Age’—A History of the Concept

Journal of World Prehistory - The idea that there was a Copper Age between the Neolithic and Bronze Age was inspired by the discovery of the use of native copper in prehistoric North America. Its...     

The New Museum Folkwang in Essen. A Contribution to the Cultural and Economic Regeneration of the Ruhr Area?

Abstract

The “Bilbao effect” shows that major cultural investments can contribute to the regeneration of old industrial cities and regions. Four different contributions can be distinguished: the (1) direct economic effects of such an investment; (2) social functions of a cultural institution which often serves as a point of contact for local and regional elites; (3) symbolic functions as an expression of a new regional identity and (4) cognitive functions, for example, the contribution to regional diversity and the cross-fertilization of ideas. Taking the example of a major cultural investment in Germany, namely the renovation of Museum Folkwang prior to the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010, this article discusses the economic, social, symbolic and cognitive contributions of this investment to the economic transformation of the town and the Ruhr area, which is now one of the largest urban agglomerations in Europe. A Bilbao effect was not intended and did not take place. The museum, however, contributed to the incremental transformation of the town by creating a different image of the town, its role as a meeting place and point of identification for local elites and companies and its contribution to the emergence of an integrated cultural district.     

Response of the outer ionosphere to the magnetic storm of 20–22 March 1990

Measurements of the thermal plasma parameters in the interval 17–23 March 1990, made within the scope of the ACTIVE Project, were analysed to study the response of the outer ionosphere to the storm with SSC at 22.45 UT on 20 March. These measurements in the morning sector at altitudes around 2000 km clearly reflect the enhanced geomagnetic activity. They allow us to estimate the radial depth to which the plasmasphere has been affected by increased magnetospheric convection and at which a new equatorial plasmapause has formed. They also provide the possibility of monitoring the initial phase of recovery.The measurements in the dusk altitudes of 500–1000 km indicate a distincttrough in electron concentration and also a trough of light ions under relatively quiet, as well as under disturbed, conditions. The position of the equatorial edge of these troughs and the position of electron temperature peaks enable us to judge whether a plasmaspheric bulge has formed, and whether an inner plasmapause exists.