Institutionalization of Islam in Secular Europe: The Influence of State–Religion Relations on Anti‐Muslim Attitudes

This study examines church–state relations in Europe, and analyzes their influence on anti‐immigrant attitudes. The literature explains this relationship primarily with religious demographics, or state privileges for the majority faith. Alternately, this study focuses on the status of the majority religion. It argues that, in countries with a national church, citizens are more likely to consider the institutionalization of a new religion to be occurring at the expense of the national heritage, and react negatively. To test that hypothesis, the study focuses on Muslim immigrants in Europe, and builds an index that gauges the extent to which European states institutionalize Islam. Then, employing multilevel regression analysis, it investigates how the institutionalization of Islam influences anti‐Muslim prejudice in different contexts of church–state regimes. Individual‐level data come from the latest wave of the European Values Study, and cover 31 countries. Findings indicate that, in European countries with a national church, institutionalization of Islam increases anti‐Muslim prejudice. In countries without a national church, however, institutionalization leads to tolerance. These results confirm the continuing relevance of religion on the national level in Europe, despite the decline in individual religiosity.     

Spain and the Partition Treaties (1697–1700)

This study takes an analytical approach to the diplomatic strategy adopted by the Spanish monarchy in confronting the challenge it faced associated with the Partition Treaties that were signed by Louis XIV, William III and the United Provinces in 1698 and 1700. By consulting Spanish sources to complete the understanding of the diplomatic process, this study analyses the political action that Spain mobilized in its defence around 1700 and describes the evolution of Spain's foreign policy as the product of the mistrust that had developed between the main powers of Europe. This mistrust was politically answered by Madrid with Carlos II's last will and other planned measures to ensure the viability of the project that contained a turning point in the policy underlying the alliances of the monarchy. Although, like that of the other powers, Spain's manoeuvrability was restricted, this study concludes that Spain was able to create policy action plans and rationally implement them; moreover, the dynamics resulting from the negotiation and signing of the Partition Treaties led the monarchy to oppose them at all costs and naturally led to the choice of a French heir as its only solution.     

DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE AS A FUTURE CHALLENGE FOR CITIES IN EAST CENTRAL EUROPE

Contemporary cities in East Central Europe (ECE) represent a hybrid type of urban development which is still generally considered to be a special case and is only exceptionally referred to in the recently intensified debate over the European city. Our paper argues that such exclusion is short‐sighted because ECE cities face structural problems similar to those of their Western pendants. Therefore, the contextual frame of urban research needs to be widened and can no longer be restricted to post‐socialist transition. In this regard, one of the main challenges for future urban development will be the consequences of demographic change. Ageing, new patterns of fertility behaviour and more diversified household structures in line with the Second Demographic Transition (SDT) will have significant implications for urban structures and housing markets, as already known for Western Europe. The purpose of this paper is to work out new questions and hypotheses for future urban research with special respect to Polish and Czech cities. Besides West European experience, recent developments in eastern Germany are taken as a frame of reference, assuming that this specific transition case may, in many respects, be regarded as a forerunner for similar developments in its neighbouring countries.     

A Cut‐marked and Fractured Mesolithic Human Bone from Kent's Cavern,Devon, UK

An isolated adult human ulna fragment recovered from the ‘black mould’ layer of Kent's Cavern by William Pengelly in 1866 exhibits a series of stone tool cut marks. The specimen has been directly AMS ¹⁴C‐dated to 7314–7075 cal bc (OxA‐20588: 8185 ± 38 bp ) and may be from the same individual as a maxilla fragment dated to the same period. The cut marks are located on the olecranon process, in a position indicative of dismemberment, whereas the fracture characteristics of the bone furthermore suggest peri‐mortem breakage, typical of butchery for the extraction of marrow. We here present and discuss the specimen and consider both ritual mortuary treatment and anthropophagy as possible explanations. Although it is difficult to interpret a single element in isolation, the latter scenario seems to be better supported and is not without parallel in prehistoric Europe, as indicated by a review of the available literature. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Archaeozoological research on vertebrates in Central Europe with special reference to the medieval period

This paper is the outcome of a lecture held at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. It provides a summary in English of the archaeozoological research work which has been carried out in Central Europe during the last 30 years, with special reference to material from medieval times. It is shown that a thorough zoological analysis of bones from excavations provides much information for historical interpretation. Not only was the ratio of wild and domestic animals or of the different species of interest, but also the age and sex structure of the population by taking the function of the site into consideration. Some observations on animal teeth gave indications of distinctive handicrafts. Cut marks on cervical vertebrae of horse skeletons found as grave goods from early medieval times were considered in connection with beliefs and juridical conceptions of that time.     

论日欧首脑外交

首脑外交是第二次世界大战以来国家间交往的一种频繁使用的外交形式,随着国际格局多极化与世界经济全球化的发展,首脑外交也日益突显出其独特作用,并且为当今大多数国家的政治首脑所接受,冷战约束后,首脑外交更加趋向于公开化,制度化,全球化,在当今国际新秩序的构建过程中,资本主义世界的铁三角同盟（日美欧战略三角）也面临着战略性的结构调整,向着全球性战略伙伴关系发展,日本与欧盟及其成员国的关键日益密切,日欧间首脑的频繁互访无疑发挥了重大的作用。     

Human‐Aided Movement of Viral Disease and the Archaeology of Avian Osteopetrosis

The term avian osteopetrosis is used to describe alterations to the skeletal elements of several species of domestic bird, most typically the chicken, Gallus gallus domesticus (L. 1758). Such lesions are routinely identified in animal bones from archaeological sites due to their distinctive appearance, which is characterised by proliferative diaphyseal thickening. These lesions are relatively uncomplicated for specialists to differentially diagnose and are caused by a range of avian leucosis viruses in a series of subgroups. Only some avian leucosis viruses cause the development of such characteristic lesions in osteological tissue. Viraemia is necessary for the formation of skeletal pathology, and avian osteopetrosis lesions affect skeletal elements at different rates. Lesion expression differs by the age and sex of the infected individual, and environmental conditions have an impact on the prevalence of avian leucosis viruses in poultry flocks. These factors have implications for the ways in which diagnosed instances of avian osteopetrosis in archaeological assemblages are interpreted. By integrating veterinary research with archaeological evidence for the presence of avian leucosis viruses across Western Europe, this paper discusses the nature of these pathogens, outlines criteria for differential diagnosis, and offers a fresh perspective on the human‐aided movement of animal disease in the past through investigation of the incidence and geographic distribution of avian osteopetrosis lesions from the first century BC to the post‐medieval period. © 2017 The Authors International Journal of Osteoarchaeology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Modeling the state of agritourism in the Malopolska region of Poland

ABSTRACT

The Malopolska region of Poland is highly representative of the current state of agritourism in Poland. The level of agritourism services in this region is very high relative to the national average, the result of environmental and cultural values being incorporated into social and economic development practices. Based on evidence from 1259 agritourism-oriented farms collected from municipal and regional government bureaus, web-published data, and survey data from 575 farm owners in the Malopolska, this paper analyzes the spatial distribution of such farms and the relationship between agritourism and ‘regular’ rural tourism. The Malopolska Voivodeship is strongly diversified in terms of agritourism development. The largest number of agritourism farms is in mountain, piedmont, and upland areas. Research has shown that agritourism is pursued by farmers who own small farms and produce food only for their own use. However, 60% of agritourism farms were found not to engage in any agricultural production. The research also identified basic tendencies of agritourism development in the region. The following basic trends were observed – a shift from agritourism to rural tourism, an increase in the number of agritourist farms offering 10 or more beds, and an expanded service offering – yielding a targeted offering for a specific customer and an increase in the quality of services. This indicates that agritourism owners engaging in this form of business are investing to create more usable space for tourists. The authors’ findings and conclusions also cover the concept of a functional model of agritourism in the Malopolska region. This model shows the relationship between environmental value and the nature of agricultural production and type of tourism in rural areas as well as the diversity of tourist offerings. The model also shows the transition from agriculture and its close relative, agritourism, to regular tourism in rural areas.     

The Calibanisation of the South in the German public ‘Euro crisis’ discourse

This article highlights the renaissance of the essentialist topos of the ‘lazy and irrational’ ‘Südländer’ (Southerner, Southern countries, South) in the German political and media discourses during the ‘Euro crisis’. It argues that it served to legitimate the political and economic measures taken in Southern European countries that pushed them into still more peripheral positions within the European Union (EU) and deepened the cleavage between North and South. Culture, or better culturalism and racism as its political ideological version, thus were used as a trap, as an intellectual battleground for justifying extremely complex economic and political decisions in a simplistic fashion throughout a crucial period of European history. The article furthermore demonstrates how a postcolonial reading may productively decode the processes of Othering taking place within Europe itself, especially between the so-called core and peripheral countries.     

Regional paths towards Europe 2020 targets: a spatial approach

Europe 2020 is a 10-year EU strategy, promoting smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Despite ambitious goals, its spatially blinded approach might seriously threaten its success. Actually, large territorial disparities still affect the EU, being the basis for a strong EU-wide cohesion policy and suggesting a general re-framing of sectoral policies on a regional basis. In this respect, the paper tackles the issue of regional disparities in achieving Europe 2020 Strategy targets. As the Strategy involves different targets, principal component analysis is applied to disentangle Europe 2020 domains and to describe major differences in EU-27 NUTS 2 regional performances. In particular, two components are returned: high-employment inclusive growth and smart growth. Territorial patterns of both components are analysed, by jointly considering some geographical features that may affect them. Both a rural and a spatial effect occur: rural and remote regions show poor performances whilst the presence of spatial autocorrelation may actually lock-in negative outcomes. When considering urban rural divides, also within-regions disparities matter. Results strengthen the idea that Europe 2020, as other sectoral policies, should be translated into a regional setting according to a place-based approach: although requiring large efforts, this represents the only way to fully achieve its own targets.