Habermas’s Theological Turn and European Integration

Abstract

Jürgen Habermas’s recent work is defined by two trends: an engagement with the realm of the sacred and a concern for the future of the European Union. Despite the apparent lack of connection between these themes, I argue that the early history of European integration has important implications for Habermas’s conclusions about the place of faith in public life. Although Habermas’s work on religion suggests that the sacred contains important normative resources for postsecular democracies, he continues to bar explicitly religious justifications from discourse within state institutions. I question this exclusion of faith by reconstructing the role that political Catholicism played in the foundation of the European project. By focusing on two of the most important actors involved in the creation of the first European Community, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman and German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, I show how explicitly religious reasons can broaden political perspectives, resulting in the creation of new, inclusive, postnational forms of communal life. Pushing Habermas to accept the implications of his theological turn, I argue that pluralistic, nondogmatic and nonauthoritarian religious claims should be allowed to enter into the formal public sphere through a discursively determined interpretation of secular translation.     

Neolithic nomadism in south‐east Arabia — strontium and oxygen isotope ratios in human tooth enamel from al‐Buhais 18 and Umm al‐Quwain 2 in the Emirates of Sharjah and Umm al‐Quwain (UAE)

Human skeletal remains from the Neolithic sites BHS18 in the interior of the Sharjah Emirate and the Neolithic shell midden UAQ2 (Umm al‐Quwain) on the coast of the Persian Gulf (United Arab Emirates, UAE) were analysed for their isotope ratios of strontium (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) and oxygen (¹⁸O/¹⁶O). The results are not in agreement with earlier assumptions about a Neolithic nomadism between inland regions and the south‐eastern coast of the Persian Gulf. Existing evidence of nomadic movements of the people from BHS18 most possibly refers to transhumance within the mountains in the hinterland. The strontium isotope measurements on human skeletons from UAQ2 on the contrary indicate uninterrupted residence of this population on the coast. Nevertheless, evidence was found of individual mobility between inland regions and the coast.     

Positive and Negative Externalities in Innovation,Trade, and Regional Economic Growth

We build on Grossman and Helpman (1991), Rivera‐Batiz and Romer (1991), Acemoglu (2009, pp. 678–80), and Batabyal and Nijkamp (2013b) and analyze the interactions between positive and negative externalities in innovation and trade for economic growth in a region when this region is part of an aggregate economy consisting of two regions. In both regions, consumers have constant relative risk aversion preferences; there is human capital use, and there are three kinds of manufacturing activities involving the production of blueprints for inputs or machines, the inputs or machines themselves, and a single final good for consumption. We study two cases. In the first case, although no growth occurs in the human capital stock, innovative activities give rise to positive externalities or knowledge spillovers in two ways. In this setting, we, study whether and under what circumstances opening a region to trade results in an increase in this region's equilibrium growth rate. In the second case, although growth occurs in the human capital stock, innovation experiences negative externalities. In this scenario, we show that opening a region to trade leads to more innovation but to no change in its long‐run growth rate. Los autores se basan en el trabajo de Grossman y Helpman (1991), Rivera‐Batiz y Romer (1991), Acemoglu (2009, pp 678‐80), y Batabyal y Nijkamp (2013B), para analizar las interacciones entre las externalidades positivas y negativas en la innovación y comercio para el crecimiento económico en una región, en los casos en los que dicha región es parte de una economía global que consiste en dos regiones. En estas dos regiones hipotéticas a) los consumidores tienen aversión constante al riesgo relativo (CRRA); b) se hace uso del capital humano; y, c) se llevan a cabo tres tipos de actividades manufactureras: la elaboración de planes o plantillas de producción, la producción de insumos y maquinaria, y la producción de un único bien de consumo final. El presente estudio analiza dos casos. En el primer caso, aunque no hay crecimiento en el stock de capital humano, las actividades de innovación generan externalidades positivas o derrames (spillovers) de conocimiento de dos tipos. En este contexto, se estudia si, y bajo qué circunstancias la apertura de una región al comercio resulta en un aumento en la tasa de crecimiento de equilibrio de la región. En el segundo caso, hay crecimiento en el stock de capital humano, pero la innovación experimenta externalidades negativas. En este escenario, se muestra que la apertura al comercio de una región conduce a una mayor innovación pero sin ningún cambio en la tasa de crecimiento a largo plazo. 本文在Grossman and Helpman (1991)、Rivera‐Batiz and Romer (1991)、 Acemoglu (2009,,pp. 678–80)和Batabyal and Nijkamp (2013b)等研究基础上,分析了当某一区域与另一区域构成经济聚合体时,该区域经济增长中创新与贸易的外部正负效应的相互影响。在两区域中,消费者均具有不变的相对风险规避(CRRA)参数设定,然后考虑人力资本利用和三种类别的制造活动的预期产量,即投入或机器、原料或机器本身、可消费的单一制成品。我们分析了两种不同的场景。在第一种场景中,尽管人力资本存量并未增长,创新活动也通过正外部性或知识溢出两种方式得到了增长。在该设定下,我们研究了区域是否或者在何种情况下开放贸易会提高地区的均衡增长率。在第二种场景中,尽管人力资本存量增长而创新部分却经历着负外部效应的影响。研究显示,一个地区贸易开放将导致更多创新活动的发生,但并未影响到长期的增长率。     

Identification of Employment Concentration Areas

This article presents a method to identify “Absolute and Relative Employment Concentration (AREC) areas” for a particular industry. Two novel characteristics of the method are that it simultaneously analyses AREC, and that it combines spatial concentration per area with the spatial concentration in neighbouring areas. The method is easy to understand and apply. It is developed to assist regional policy makers and corporate decision-makers with their investment decisions related to new infrastructure or plants. The identification of concentration areas also allows for analysing the performance of these areas in relation to characteristics such as infrastructure availability and the housing and labour market. This can yield new academic insights that are relevant for regional planners. An application of the newly developed method to five industries in a Dutch province subdivided into 502 areas illustrates the value of the method in comparison to other methods.     

Imaginary Success?—The Contentious Ascendance of Creativity

This paper posits that a set of “creative industries” centred around cultural practice have played a key role within a dominant “economic imaginary” in recent years. The success and stability of this role is considered, and a coherent position regarding the nature of creativity is outlined. Examination of the “evidence” gathering projects used to bulwark this position, however, reveals how the data which emerge from such projects may no longer appropriately serve to support the position the creative industries have come to occupy within the dominant imaginary. It is argued that this imaginary persists in providing a coherent framework for understanding and for action, however, regardless of the contradictions it contains. A tangible example of this “imaginary success” is briefly considered within the UK context, via an examination of developments around the staging of the European Capital of Culture programme in Liverpool, England in 2008. In this case, it is also argued that apparent contradictions are successfully concealed by dominant positions regarding culture and creativity. In conclusion, some explanations for this state of affairs are considered, and it is argued that the increased attention being paid to cultural creativity may render the continued concealment of these contradictions untenable.