Re:thinking Europe - - ebook

Within the framework of the Forum A. & A Leysen, several experts from in and outside the Muslim world contributed to this book. In Islam and Europe: Crises Are Challenges they discuss how dialogues between Islam and the West, with a focus on Europe, can be achieved. The various authors (legal scholars, political theorists, social scientists, and psychologists) explore in these collected essays such interrelated questions as: How much diversity is permissible within a liberal pluralistic democratic society? How strong are the implications of citizenship? What are equitable accommodations of contested practices? They argue for an adequate understanding of how Western Muslim communities in Europe experience their minority position and what needs to be done to improve their participation in European society. The second part of this volume is a collection of papers written around the work of Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, who also makes his own contribution to the book. The Catholic University o…

Case studies upon the use of concepts like feminization and masculinization in relation to christianity. Since the 1970s the feminization thesis has become a powerful trope in the rewriting of the social history of Christendom. However, this 'thesis' has triggered some vehement debates, given that men have continued to dominate the churches, and the churches themselves have reacted to the association of religion and femininity, often formulated by their critics, by explicitly focusing their appeal to men. In this book the authors critically reflect upon the use of concepts like feminization and masculinization in relation to Christianity. By presenting case studies that adopt different gendered approaches with regard to Christian, mainly Catholic discourses and practices, the authors capture multiple 'feminizations' and 'masculinizations' in Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries. In particular, it becomes clear that the idea that Christianity took on 'charicteristically feminine' v…

This anthology contains ten papers prepared for the Third Colloquium on Cross-Border Crime, held in Bratislava, Slovakia, at the National Police Academy in October 2001. Petrus van Duyne provides an introduction. Letizia Paoli presents a study on illegal drug markets in Germany, Italy and Russia. Klaus von Lampe analyzes the structure of criminal enterprises involved in the cigarette black market in Germany. Petrus C. van Duyne assesses the threat emanating from illicit profits. Michael Levi examines the effects of anti-money laundering measures on criminal and terrorist finances. Josef Stieranka reviews anti-money laundering strategies in Slovakia. Vladimir Baloun and Miroslav Scheinost provide an overview of financial crime in the Czech Republic. Jan Vittek discusses preventive measures against economic and financial crime in Slovakia. Matjaz Jager explores how economic concepts can enhance the understanding of corruption. Igor Osyka gives an account of corruption and anti-corruption…

Europe has the image of a slow moving old lady. However, this is a misleading picture. As a matter of fact, the 'Old Continent' is bristling with life and mobility, and many fear that much of this is of a criminal nature. This criminal mobility is supposed to be aggravated by the accompanying movement of crime-money. It is true, Europe is 'on the move', legally and criminally. But this is all but a new phenomenon. Europe has always been an open space in whichpeople were moving around looking for (illegal) opportunities. This has not changed basically. Some of the wandering luck seekers operate aspredators, looking for objects to steel. Others offer services which areprohibited, either itself or in the way in which they are organised. The oldest of those services being sex. Naturally, the crime-monies from these flexible criminal economic activities have to move too. To block this financial movement an elaborate defence system has been established:the anti-laundering chain of financial …