Studienreform im Lichte des Bologna-Prozesses Das Beispiel der Geographie an der Universit?t Potsdam

Die gro?en Reformen in Europa seit der politischen Wende in den Jahren 1989/1990 gelten vor allem dem Abbau von Schranken: an den Grenzen zwischen den Staaten, bei der Durchführung demokratischer Wahlen und beim Zugang zur Hochschulbildung innerhalb der einzelnen Staaten. Die bisher letzte Reform betrifft die Beseitigung von Grenzen zwischen den Hochschulsystemen der Staaten Europas. Diese Grenzen sollen zumindest durchl?ssiger werden. Das angestrebte schrankenlose Hochschulsystem in Europa wird auch „harmonisierter Hochschulraum“ genannt. Zurzeit befinden wir uns etwa am Beginn der zweiten Halbzeit auf dem Weg dorthin. Der Weg begann im Jahre 1999, als 29 europ?ische Staaten in Bologna beschlossen, ein gemeinsames Hochschulsystem oder – wie es auch hei?t – einen gemeinsamen Hochschulrahmen zu schaffen. Im Jahre 2005 wurde in einer Nachfolgekonferenz in Bergen (Norwegen) Zwischenbilanz gezogen. Seitdem beteiligen sich 45 Staaten – also weit mehr als nur die 25 Mitgliedstaaten der EU – am Bologna-Prozess. Dieser Prozess soll auch die Mobilit?t der Studierenden zwischen den Universit?ten der beteiligten Staaten f?rdern. Bis zum Jahre 2010 sollen an allen Universit?ten dieses Raumes vergleichbare Qualit?tsstandards eingeführt und Studienabschlüsse realisiert werden, die gegenseitig anerkannt werden k?nnen.     

Flexibility Meets Accountability: State Charter School Laws and Their Influence on the Formation of Charter Schools in the United States

Using an original and unique database of state charter school laws that we have developed, we analyze how state policymakers have incorporated two key values into state charter school laws: flexibility and accountability. We supplement this database with other state‐level measures to answer two specific questions: What factors influence the degree of flexibility and accountability in state charter school laws? How does the content of state charter school laws, and the different values those laws embrace, affect the formation of charter schools in the United States? Overall, we show that state political and contextual factors help account for the degree of flexibility, but not accountability, in state charter school laws. Further, we show that the degree of flexibility, accountability, and political and contextual factors influence the number of charter schools that form in the states.     

The suppression of the Congo rebellions and the rise of Mobutu, 1963–5

ABSTRACT

The first years of the Congo as an independent state were marked by instability and rebellion as local nationalist struggles became embroiled in what NATO powers feared could lead to the loss of hegemony over the country and its vast mineral wealth, if not into a theatre of Cold War politics. This article focuses on the series of rebellions, including the Mulelist revolt and the Simba uprising, that took place in the Congo from late 1963 into 1965. Belgian, British, and US diplomatic and Congolese military sources are used to analyse the intervention of the West against the Congolese rebels, in support of the Congo government in Léopoldville headed by Prime Minister Tshombe and President Kasa Vubu. Belgian, US, and Congolese sources on this military campaign led by Belgian officers, known as ‘the Ommegang’, allow a detailed analysis of the planning and execution of the assault on the rebel stronghold Stanleyville by Belgian officers, white mercenaries and the forces of the Congo Army, including the decision to deploy Belgian parachutists, dropped by US aircraft. These events culminated in the coup that brought Mobutu to political power in Congo in November 1965, marking out the trajectory of the county's history for the next three decades.     

Popul?r oder elit?r? Anmerkungen zum Kulturbegriff in der Geschichtswissenschaft

While the Historische Kulturwissenschaft (new cultural history) is introduced as a new way of writing history the question has to be answered what Kultur (civilization) means or how it should be interpreted. The paper deals primarily with the special German notion of ‘Kultur’. The distinction between ‘intension’ and ‘extension’ is made and contrasted with both the narrow and the wide concept of ‘Kultur’. Writing history as new cultural history is shaped at least by five aspects: space, perspective, language, acting and time (particularly memory) which are discussed in this thesis. The intension of ‘Kultur’ in Historische Kulturwissenschaft leads to popularisation. The sense of the popular approach to history emphasizes modality in the conception and writing of history.