Macedonian Migration Policy and the Future of Europe
This year-end analysis draws in unique facts and previews of the migrant crisis in the Balkans, and how it is likely to affect Macedonia and Europe in general.
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This year-end analysis draws in unique facts and previews of the migrant crisis in the Balkans, and how it is likely to affect Macedonia and Europe in general.
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Our annual year ahead risk assessment covers the most likely and often underreported security trends to watch,
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This article details the potentil for migrant route diversification following the closure of the Balkan Route, and especially Italy and Albania.
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This exclusive interview with Edith Harxhi provides insight on the challenge and opportunities facing Albania as it aspires to a larger regional role.
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This article explores the potential regional security risks from terrorism and the migrant crisis following weaks of border violations and protests.
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This exclusive article examines the potential for a breakdown in European security along the Balkan and Italian migration routes.
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This exclusive article with accompanying Defense Ministry photos is the best analysis of the reasons for poor security cooperation between Macedonia and local EU staff on migration response, required reading for all scholars on the issue.
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Heimerl "Nordafrikanische Sigillata, Küchenkeramik und Lampen aus Augusta Vindelicum/Augsburg."; Münchner Beiträge zur Provinzialrömischen Archäologie 6. Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden 2014. 2184 S., 115 Abb., 32 s/w-Abb., 4 Farbabb.
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Forests play a key role in the rural area landscape. One of the types of information which determines their social function are local names (geographical names, toponyms). The research was focused on forest toponyms the names of forest areas and objects related to forest management. The aim was to choose several sets of spatial data (topographic maps, tourist maps, forest maps and the State Register of Geographical Names) and then to compare them in terms of the number of forest toponyms they contain. The study area covers three forest districts (Daleszyce, Write, Tuchola) located in different parts of Poland. In total, more than 120 toponyms were found, which were divided into 8 categories. It was found that the compared sets of data are diverse both in terms of the number and categories of presented forest toponyms. Generally, good tourist maps, despite their smaller scale, include a slightly larger number of such names than modern topographical maps.
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The paper presents the results of the research of structural changes in the rural areas of the Polish-German borderland region. The main objective of this study was to determine the nature, rate and directions of the changes in the demographic structure and the rural economy. An important part of the research were case studies of individual farms in the municipalities of Letschin and Krzeszyce. The study covered the period from 2002 to 2010. The study used the methods of observation, as well as monographic, diagnostic and statistical survey. The results show an unstable demographic development. The limited labour market in the border areas contributes to the outflow of the working age population from both Märkisch-Oderland and Sulęcinto the cities of the Berlin Metropolis. The influx of working and retirement-aged populations to rural areas is associated with more attractive conditions of residence. In contrast to Märkisch-Oderland, the age structure of the poviat of Sulęcin is characterised by a higher proportion of the pre-working age population and a smaller share of those at the retirement age. The structure of land use still shows the old boundaries of large-scale collective farms. The leading form of the use of arable land of large holdings is leasing, while private property accounts for only 10-20%. In Poland, however, the share of ownership of small farms is 80-90%.
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This article analyses the relationship between the level of economic development and level of human capital in rural areas of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. The typology of the commune (pol. gmina a principal unit of administrative and territorial division in Poland) with regard to the level of human capital proposed by W. Kamińska [2011] has been applied in the paper. Thirteen measures describing the economic structure of rural areas (considering the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors), labour market and level of wealth of local government units have been used in order to analyse the level of economic development. No strong statistical relationship between the analysed phenomena were observed in the study. This means that human capital as the only factor does not guarantee outstanding economic growth. It may be an element (factor) facilitating growth, but it becomes active only when there is a certain level of other assets (location, natural environment, infrastructure factors).
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Landscape is not only the environment surrounding people, but also a part of their quality of life, a general combination of culture and nature which arrangement is concurrent with the knowledge of its setup and historical development. The previous 20th century was distinguished in Lithuania for especially fast historical events and radical rearrangement of the agrarian landscape inspired by them, therefore the modern landscape is a manifestation of interaction of previous and current factors with the natural environment.The article familiarises with the most important features of the Lithuanian agrarian landscape. The main components forming its spatial structure are reviewed - settlements and a system of fields. It also briefly introduces past historical events that have had an effect on it, as well as the newest change trends in the agrarian landscape.
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This paper is an attempt to answer the questions: Is it possible to use entropy to determine the quantity of information for the purpose of analysis and spatial planning of rural areas? Is it possible to predict the directions of settlement around cities by analysing the entropy of built-up areas and determining the quantity of information? The paper presents a theoretical attempt to determine the quantity of information according to Shannon. The data used in the paper consists in the records of the built-up areas of Stawiguda commune (the Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodeship).
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Since 1990, rural Lithuania has experienced a transformation due to a change in the agricultural model, when social and economic reforms were launched towards creating a market economy. Agricultural activity started concentrating in territories with the best social and physical conditions. A type of latifundium agrarian structure has formed in northern and central Lithuania. The transition from the collective model into the family farming model in western and south-western Lithuania developed faster than in other regions by the active formation of medium and large family farming. Small family farming has overtaken the collective agricultural exploitation in eastern, southern and coastal regions. Landscape structure analysis supported the results of socio-geographical research in rural spaces. During 19952009, the decline of the agrarian land area was the most intensive and an increase in the average size of land plot was the least visible in the morainic hill landscape (eastern Lithuania), the most unproductive compared to the other investigated landscape types: clayey plains and downy clayey plains (central and northern Lithuania).
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This paper analyses the relationship between the level of socio-economic development in rural areas of the Mazowieckie voivodeship and the degree of modern information-communication technologies in agriculture in these areas. The case study area was the Mazowieckie voivodeship, which is very diversified in both the level of rural area socio-economic development and the types of agriculture. Empirical data was obtained by a survey of over 1400 questionnaires. They were addressed to farmers from 20 selected communes, diversified by location in the voivodeship functional-spatial structure background and by the type of agriculture. This group of respondents revealed a rather low level of ICT application in agriculture. The results were analysed by regression analysis between the level of socio-economic development and indexes of the ICT application level in a given commune. The level of socio-economic development was measured by the Hellwig index of distance to theoretical exemplar of development. It takes into consideration three dimensions of development: economic, demographic-social and infrastructural. Characteristics of ICT application in agriculture were used to describe four categories: infrastructural equipment, frequency of ICT usage, scope of application of the Internet in household and for agricultural purposes. The results were verified by regression analysis, where the Hellwig index values for a given commune were the describing variables and the index of ICT application in agriculture was the described variable.
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This article analyses the changes in agricultural land prices in the province of Malopolska before and after Polish accession to the European Union. It shows how the changing prices of private agricultural land and the growth in transaction prices reflect the financial support that the Polish agriculture has received from the European Community. Price data for private agricultural land (depending on soil quality) in Malopolska is compared to the average prices in Poland. The analysis shows that the market in Malopolska has maintained a steady growth trend in prices, which stands in contrast to the situation in other Polish regions where the agricultural land prices fell or remained at similar levels following EU integration or increased, depending on the natural and economic conditions of the region.
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Elaboration of a method to evaluate the state of the spatial harmony of a multi-family building was a main aim of this study. Firstly, based on the literature of the subject, binding legal regulations and own considerations, 34 elements of spaces were selected which have an influence on the formation of spatial harmony in a multi-family building. On the basis of results of the study, the previously-developed list of spatial elements was restricted to ten and, in a further part, they were used as indicators of the evaluation of the state of the spatial harmony. Within the framework of the following stage, for indicators of the evaluation of the state of the spatial harmony, their measures were worked out and the procedures for carrying out the evaluation were regulated. The method was applied to a chosen example - the settlement of Kosciuszko, located in the town of Ostrów Mazowiecki (in the north-eastern part of the Masovian voivodship). In order to gain more exact findings, the analyzed area was divided into seven sectors. On the basis of the results of the evaluation, the spatial harmony of the evaluated area was defined.
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The paper has been aimed at finding agrotourism development opportunities in particular municipalities of Western Pomerania district. A Drzewiecki's method, comprising seven criteria scale for agro tourism attractiveness for each municipality, was used to valorise recreational space in there. According to Drzewiecki a rural or urbanrural municipality can be regarded as a rural recreational space only if three, out of seven criteria, are met. In case of Western Pomerania region, municipalities happen to meet the criteria of agrotourism attractiveness mainly due to small population density (89% of municipalities), high individual agriculture rate (52% of municipalities), and last but not least, high forest to overall area rate (47% of municipalities). Specifically, 41 municipalities shall be regarded as country recreational since they meet at last three, out of seven concerned, criteria. Country recreational space in the Western Pomerania district amounts to 10 700 km2 (47% of the total district area), which is inhabited by 206 000 people (12% of the district population). The area does not provide a compact space, though the agrotourism oriented municipalities tend to conglomerate in Drawskie Lakeland (namely Drawsko, Łobez, and Szczecinek counties), as well as in Goleniów county. Four criteria (maximum) are met, however, only by 14 municipalities of Western Pomerania (zachodniopomorskie) District, most frequently in Drawsko, Goleniów, and Stargard Szczeciński counties.
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From 20 to 27 August 2018, the International Slavic Congress took place in Belgrade. The pro-gram of the Commission held meetings that are accredited (affiliated) at the International Committee of Slavists. The congress of researches on emigration provided an opportunity to discuss the current state of research and their prospects for further development. The author of the article discusses the specifics of emigration research, paying particular attention to the achievements of Polish stud-ies, and points out the most important tasks facing the Board and the Bureau of the Commission. An important stage in the activities of the commission is the decision to move its headquarters to Olsztyn, which strengthens the Institute of Eastern Slavic studies as one of the Leading centers of emigration research, not only in Poland, but also in European science.
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Study was conducted to research the effect of “Jigsaw II Technique” to be one of the “Cooperative Learning Approach” on the students’ academic learning success and gains in the 10th classes geography lesson’s learning subject of “Turkey’s Population” located in the unit of “A Spatial Synthesis Turkey.” In this study Cooperative learning technique and traditional question-answer and explaining were compared and “Pretest-Posttest Control Group Experimental Research Method” was used. In the control group the choosen geography lesson was carried out by using traditional methods and in the experimental group the “Jigsaw II Technique” being one of the “cooperative Learning Approaches” was used. Achievement test and attitude scala were applied such as pretest and posttest. In the end of the study afew students having representation ability of representing the experimental group was selected and their ideas were defined by using semi stuructured interview forms. According to the applied interview results it was understood that the cooperative learning process was more effective in geography lesson for improving the learning success than the traditional teaching methods called question-answer and explaining methods. In other words it was understood that the cooperative learning method affected the students’ attitudes positively in geography lesson.
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