1.6.1 Introduction Of course, there is another problem hovering in the background in respect to the Euro's international role: namely that of the enlargement of the EU. In the light of the analysis so far two areas are picked out here: monetary implications and fiscal policy implications. These are obviously closely related. Both of these raise questions about the costs involved for the new members and those set to join somewhere down the line. We concentrate on the monetary issue of joining the Euro-zone first
1.4.1 Nature of the pact With the advent of EMU and the Euro the question of the SGP embodied in the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997 was raised once again (Linter, 2001, p. 68). This pact is designed to ensure that EU member states’ fiscal policies (involving government taxation and expenditure decisions) do not clash with their monetary policies (or, in the case of the Euro-zone countries, with the monetary policy pursued by the ECB). As we have seen, by and large, the monetary policy pursued by the ECB is
1.2.2 Summary The EU-15/25 is a large and prosperous player on the world economic stage. It represents a continental-sized economy, able to compete with the USA and Japan (and China and India, somewhere down the line). The new EU members who joined in 2004, and those lining up to join later, are at a different level of development to the EU-15. This will pose considerable challenges for those managing and governing the n
4.1 A situated practice In the previous sections we considered the challenges facing the contemporary social sciences and the issues raised by thinking of social research as a situated practice. You will already have identified the ways in which the social sciences are complicated by the problem of researchers attempting to know and understand the social world they inhabit. At this point it is useful to develop a checklist of the ways that this has affected social research practice.
2.3 The challenge of terminology Probably the biggest challenge that you will encounter is acquiring a command of the terms and concepts of this field of knowledge – even the words ‘philosophy’ and ‘science’ can seem off-putting. In your reading around this unit you will come into contact with a wide range of ‘-isms’, ‘-sophies’ and ‘-ologies’, some of which you may have encountered in previous studies. Actually, these terms are best seen as shorthand for groups of assumptions and ideas about the way th
2.1 The challenge of change We are living in a very complex and rapidly changing world. Social science does not exist in a vacuum: by its very nature, social scientific study directly considers those things in life which are close to our concerns as human beings – how we produce things, communicate with one another, govern ourselves, understand our varied environments, and how to solve the problems we face in the organisation of social relations and processes. The social sciences offer a way of dealing with all of the
References 2 Personal lives We start our exploration of the interrelationship of personal lives and social policy with personal stories. Read Extracts 1, 2 and 3 below, and make notes on areas of similarity and difference. What questions are raised a 1 The aspects and meanings of citizenship The issues discussed in this unit are considered in relation to different aspects and meanings of citizenship: people's legal and political status, their rights, opportunities to work, access to welfare, sense of identity and belonging, and practices of the everyday.
Throughout human history people have migrated from their place of birth for different reasons – for example, to seek new ways of surviving, to colonise new lands, to establish new markets for trade, or because they feare Acknowledgements Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Licence Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this unit: 6.1 The complexities of a multifaceted Europe If the ‘Europe of the Regions’ model is also ruled out – at least in its stronger versions which suggest that nation states are being replaced – the interesting question remains: how will significantly enhanced regionalisms relate to other ‘possible Europes’? These include the traditional ‘nation state’ and ‘Federal Europe’ models, both of which also reflect some continuing elements of reality, but in addition a ‘Europe’ of cities, of cultures, of national and ethnic m 4.3 Regional networking and alliances Increasingly, regions have become important players in their own right. Partly because of encouragement and legitimation from EU institutions, but also on their own initiative and in response to the threats and opportunities of the SEM, regional interests have been demanding more powers and resources. In many cases regional authorities have played a key, neo-corporatist role in stimulating economic development, linking ‘Eurocrats’, multinational companies, the local bourgeoisie, politicia 2.3 Diversity within states There is no simple or necessary correspondence between types of region and types of regionalism. But clearly-demarcated and long-established regions are a more likely basis for strong regionalist or nationalist movements, while top-down regionalisation often results in regions with little popular identity or awareness of the region by its own inhabitants. Pre-existing regional diversity provides an uneven basis for regionalising a whole state. For example, regionalising the UK is relatively e 1.1 The debates How and why have Europe's regions and their relations with states been changing in recent decades? What roles are regions playing and likely to play in the emerging governance structures of the European Union (EU)? These structures, still in the process of formation, raise strongly contested normative as well as empirical questions, and regions occupy a central position in debates about past trends and possible futures. Three main political models have been proposed for the futu Learning outcomes After studying this unit you should be able to: recognise the varieties of region and sub-state nations that exist within Europe; explain the growth of regionalism; critically assess the view that what is evolving is a ‘Europe of the Regions’; engage better with debates about the future direction of Europe, and the place of your nation or ‘region’ within it; improve your skills of academic reading and note taki 10.2 Links to external resources Here we have listed some external Scottish resources, links to which can be found within various units of the OpenLearn Scotland collection. They are intended to be useful sources of further information and to support a broader understanding of Scottish culture and identity.  This is the official website of the Scottish Parliament, whose founding principles are openness, 7.3 What is poetry? Have you always wanted to try to write poetry but never quite managed to start? This unit is designed to illustrate the techniques behind both the traditional forms of poetry and free verse. You will learn how you can use your own experiences to develop ideas and how to harness your imagination. The unit introduces common techniques underlying free verse and traditional forms of poetry, and how it is necessary to use these techniques in order to harness what T.S. Eliot called the ‘log 6.2 Introduction to the law in Scotland This unit will introduce you to law making in Scotland. It is taken from W150 An introduction to law in contemporary Scotland, a new 15-point course from The Open University's Centre for Law. The unit begins by developing your general and legal study skills such as reading unfamiliar information, note taking and critical thinking. It then asks you to think about what law is and introduces you to the legal history of Scotland. The unit then moves to look at the Scottish Parliament by gi 5.5 Science in the Scottish Enlightenment This unit is concerned with science in Scotland, one of the most dynamic centres of Enlightenment thinking. Writers speak of the mid-eighteenth century as Scotland's ‘Golden Age’. In order to get a flavour of this age, it is necessary to take a very broad view of what we mean by ‘science’. Staying within the boundaries recognised by modern science faculties misses most of what is distinctive about eighteenth-century Scotland. The interconnections and cross-fertilisation between discip 3.2 Mountain building in Scotland Some of Britain's most dramatic scenery is to be found in the Scottish Highlands. The sight of mighty Ben Nevis, the desolate plateau of the Cairngorms and the imposing landscapes of Glen Coe can unleash the call of the wild in all of us. Although these landforms were largely carved by glacial activity that ended some 10,000 years ago, the rocks themselves tell of a much older history. The Highlands are merely eroded stumps of a much higher range of ancient mountains. This unit is an account
Activity 1
Author(s):
