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1. Navigating Extremism: Safeguarding Europe’s Religious Sites amidst Shifting Political Landscapes

Author:
Annika Scharnagl and Daniela Pisoiu
Publication Date:
01-2024
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Austrian Institute for International Affairs (OIIP)
Abstract:
This report highlights the increase in violence against religious institutions in Europe, particularly affecting Jewish and Muslim communities following conflicts such as the Israel-Hamas war. The report also notes a correlation with the rise of right-wing factions, indicating a concerning trend towards discriminatory beliefs in society. It is concluded that urgent scholarly and policy interventions are necessary to address these challenges. This emphasises the need for comprehensive interfaith dialogues and educational initiatives to mitigate emerging threats and uphold the values of religious freedom and social cohesion in contemporary European societies.
Topic:
Violent Extremism, Far Right, Social Cohesion, Protection, Muslims, and Jews
Political Geography:
Europe

2. Addressing Cohesion Policy’s identity crisis in a changing European Union

Author:
Alison Hunter
Publication Date:
02-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Policy Centre (EPC)
Abstract:
Since the late 1980s Cohesion Policy has been one of the cornerstone policies of the European Union. However, nowadays, a different, bolder Cohesion Policy debate is needed, reflecting a radically changed global environment. This Discussion Paper focuses on the upcoming review of the post-2027 Multi Annual Financial Framework and the debate concerning the future EU Cohesion Policy. It argues that Cohesion Policy’s purpose requires reinvention, not an incremental upgrade. Four overarching themes are analysed, reframing Cohesion Policy with a strategic, long-term investment perspective: EU resilience, security, strategic autonomy, and reforms. The author then proposes five recommendations which weave together these themes with the policy’s long-standing core features: Acknowledge the need to review the Cohesion Policy’s purpose. The EU should breathe new life into the Cohesion Policy debate. Revitalise Cohesion Policy’s long-term value by defending its pillars. The EU should re-confirm Cohesion Policy’s role as a structural policy. Position Cohesion Policy as the ‘guardian’ of EU place-based policymaking. Cohesion Policy should champion the “future-proofing” of regional resilience. Articulate Cohesion Policy’s role in the evolving EU governance and reform agenda. The EU should reach beyond the Recovery and Resilience Facility to reclaim Cohesion Policy’s role in structural reform. Improve Cohesion Policy’s convening power to catalyse deeper EU innovation cooperation. The future Cohesion Policy must deliver a more coordinated approach to the EU’s innovation agenda. The Paper concludes that the future Cohesion Policy should evolve in lockstep with citizens’ needs. This will not be easy. As discussions on the EU’s future have been sidelined in this crisis-prone area, the challenges ahead require strong leadership and coordination. The post-2027 EU Cohesion Policy will have much to contribute to rebuilding the EU’s future vision.
Topic:
Security, Governance, Reform, European Union, Regional Integration, Social Cohesion, Resilience, and Strategic Autonomy
Political Geography:
Europe

3. The Sunshine Problem: Climate Change and Managed Decline in the European Union

Author:
Timur Ergen and Luuk Schmitz
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Max Planck Sciences Po Center on Coping with Instability in Market Societies (MaxPo)
Abstract:
Decarbonization requires the winding down of – economically – fully viable, if not highly prosperous, lines of economic activity. Different from past episodes of industrial restructuring revolving around the managed decline of sunset industries, accelerating climate change requires reallocation away from economic activities where the metaphorical sun is still shining. Firms, owners, workers, regions, and polities structurally rely on these sources of prosperity and have interwoven their past and future lives with them. We argue that this problem has created a space for state actors to experiment with vertical industrial policies to manage the reallocation of resources from polluting to non-polluting activities. We illustrate this dynamic by investigating the least-likely case of the European Union, a polity heavily tilted towards market governance. European climate policymakers, we argue, have incrementally moved away from the primacy of regulatory, market-making tools and have introduced a plethora of vertical instruments to shift resources away from climate-harming fields. This experimentation with vertical policies unfolds against the backdrop of a thirtyyear institutional legacy of single market-oriented policy in the energy field.
Topic:
Climate Change, Industrial Policy, European Union, Social Cohesion, and Green Transition
Political Geography:
Europe

4. Attracting, Retaining, and Diversifying Sponsors for Refugees in Community Sponsorship Programs

Author:
Maria Belen Zanzuchi, Nadja Dumann, Florian Tissot, and Admir Skodo
Publication Date:
09-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
More countries in Europe and elsewhere are exploring the potential of sponsorship programs to open up another pathway for refugee protection and integration. This reflects recognition of both the staggering scale of unmet protection needs globally and the value of involving receiving communities more directly in welcoming and supporting refugee newcomers. The strength of these community sponsorship programs—and their ability to be sustained and scaled up over time—hinges on recruiting community members to volunteer their time and often some personal resources to support arriving refugees. This report examines the challenges sponsorship programs have faced to recruiting, retaining, and diversifying the sponsors involved in these efforts, as well as strategies that programs could and in some cases already use to overcome these obstacles. It highlights findings from surveys and interviews conducted in three case-study countries (Belgium, Germany, and Ireland) as well as evidence from other countries that operate sponsorship programs. This MPI Europe study is part of the Building Capacity for Private Sponsorship in the European Union (CAPS-EU) Project, which aims to build the capacity of European, national, and local governments and nongovernmental stakeholders to design, implement, sustain, and scale up community sponsorship programs for refugees.
Topic:
Refugees, Resettlement, Asylum, Integration, and Social Cohesion
Political Geography:
Europe and Global Focus

5. From Fear to Solidarity: The Difficulty in Shifting Public Narratives about Refugees

Author:
Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan
Publication Date:
05-2022
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
Refugees and asylum seekers are alternatively depicted as heroes or security threats, victims or exceptional workers, exemplary neighbors or opportunists. And though public narratives are sometimes described as a binary, in reality, people can hold multiple, competing beliefs and opinions about forced migration and its impacts on society. They may, for example, experience pride in their country’s humanitarian response and compassion for refugees alongside anxiety over changing cultural norms or fear of competition for scarce jobs, each of which can become more or less salient under different circumstances. These public attitudes can create or constrain the space needed for sensible and creative policy responses, as well as community cohesion. As a result, governments, international organizations, and advocates have invested in myriad programs and campaigns to bolster solidarity and defuse negative reactions to forced migrants. Yet, as this study discusses, changing people’s minds is far from straightforward. This report—the first in the Beyond Territorial Asylum: Making Protection Work in a Bordered World initiative led by MPI and the Robert Bosch Stiftung—examines the different narratives that tend to emerge in communities welcoming forced migrants, looking at a variety of geographic, socioeconomic, and historical contexts. It also explores two categories of interventions that aim to address negative narratives about refugees and asylum seekers: information campaigns that aim to defuse threat narratives and “contact-building” initiatives that seek to build connections between refugees and host communities. The report concludes by offering strategies to promote solidarity and mitigate tensions.
Topic:
Immigration, Employment, Refugees, Economy, Asylum, Integration, Social Cohesion, COVID-19, and Labor Market
Political Geography:
Europe

6. Political and Ideological Orientations of Ukrainian Citizens in the Conditions Of The Russian Aggression

Author:
Yuri Yakymenko, A. Bychenko, V. Zamiatin, M. Mishchenko, O. Ruzumnyi, P. Stetsiuk, and L. Shanghina
Publication Date:
12-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
National Security and Defence
Institution:
Razumkov Centre
Abstract:
The all-out Russian armed aggression against Ukraine that began on February 24, 2022, has fundamentally changed the situation in Ukraine and the world. Thousands of Ukrainians were killed, many fell victims to torture and inhuman treatment, millions left the country, saving their lives from the war, the aggressor forcibly deported from Ukraine thousands of adults and children.
Topic:
Politics, Public Opinion, Ideology, Civilians, Social Cohesion, and Russia-Ukraine War
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Ukraine

7. Resilience through Placemaking: Public Spaces in Rotterdam’s Climate Adaptation Approach

Author:
Katherine Peinhardt
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:
Public spaces are an often-overlooked opportunity for urban climate adaptation. It is increasingly clear that the unique role of public spaces in civic life positions them to enhance not only physical resilience, but also to enhance the type of social cohesion that helps communities bounce back.
Topic:
Climate Change, Social Cohesion, Resilience, and Adaptation
Political Geography:
Europe and Netherlands

8. Solidarity in Isolation? Social Cohesion at a Time of Physical Distance

Author:
Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan and Aliyyah Ahad
Publication Date:
07-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
In addition to its widespread public-health and economic impacts, the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged social cohesion in many countries by forcing changes in how people interact. Physical connection, the most human response to collective adversity, has been largely out of reach during long periods of lockdown, social distancing, and remote work and learning. The temporary closure of public spaces such as libraries and schools has also limited the spontaneous, casual encounters that can build bridges between disparate groups. This MPI Europe report explores ways to assess the pandemic’s effects on social capital and social infrastructure in Europe and North America. It also presents an initial analysis of how and where social cohesion is in peril and where it may actually be gaining strength, and highlights the importance of governments taking an inclusive approach and prioritizing social cohesion as societies move toward recovery. The authors identify three trends: Bridges between groups are weakening, even as new forms of connection may be strengthening bonds within existing networks. Immigrant integration programs have worked hard to move their offerings online, but digital tools may capture only a fraction of what in-person programming can and they may leave behind some people who most need assistance overcoming integration barriers, such as those with limited access to and familiarity with technology. A wide range of volunteering, mutual aid, and other grassroots forms of solidarity have emerged during the pandemic, but it remains to be seen which can make the switch from emergency response to longer-term engagement.
Topic:
Immigration, Citizenship, Integration, Social Cohesion, Social Capital, COVID-19, and Civic Engagement
Political Geography:
Europe, North America, and Global Focus

9. Socio-Economic Challenges and the Impact of Regional Dynamics on Jordan: Employment, Social Cohesion, and International Cooperation – Policy Briefs from the Region and Europe

Author:
Dina Fakoussa and Laura Lale Kabis-Kechrid
Publication Date:
01-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
Abstract:
Jordan’s stability is severely challenged by socio-economic hardship. The country is plagued by high un-employment rates, an alarming debt-to-GDP ratio of around 94 percent, corruption, and dismal social ser-vices. The fight against terrorism has also resulted in further infringement of rights such as freedom of expression. These grievances have led to a series of protests and strikes in the past two years; the latest strike by teachers has had a far-reaching impact on the public.
Topic:
Security, International Cooperation, Terrorism, Employment, Economy, Freedom of Expression, Protests, Unemployment, and Social Cohesion
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, and Jordan

10. The European Union and the Right to Community Living

Author:
Luke Clements
Publication Date:
05-2012
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
The European Union and its Member States have an obligation to ensure that European taxpayer money in the form of Structural Funds is invested in a manner that respects human rights and fundamental freedoms. These are among the basic values upon which the EU was founded. However, some Member States are acting contrary to EU law by using European money to invest in institutions for people with disabilities rather than developing alternative community-based services that promote community living. Such actions contravene the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and violates the fundamental human rights of people with disabilities. This report by the Open Society Foundations features legal analysis from Queen’s Counsel Richard Gordon and examines how the use of Structural Funds to renovate or build institutions is contrary to EU law. The European Commission and its Member States should take actions to ensure that Structural Funds are not used to perpetuate the social exclusion of any European citizen. Topics discussed in the report include: The role of Structural Funds in moving from institutionalization to community living; Key principles of the right to community living and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; The legal framework for Structural Funds investments; EU obligations to combat discrimination and social exclusion; Conclusions and recommendations.
Topic:
Discrimination, Social Cohesion, and Community
Political Geography:
Europe