In this monograph the programme leader provides recent findings of his research work in the field of the so-called “contact areas”. The aim of the book is to provide students and those interested in contemporary issues of political geography with a useful study aid. The monograph first covers theoretical-methodological questions related to human territorial tendencies as the basic aspect of social divergence and gives an overview of theoretical starting points for understanding the question of ethnicity and nationalism. Next to individual case studies, especially the case of Slovenia, the monograph also covers the factors of convergence in the field of regionalism and cross-border integration processes at local level and a systemic integration on a global scale.
COBISS.SI-ID: 217373440
This work, published in one of the world’s leading human geography journals, provides the wider international professional public with a synthetic presentation of the basic research results within the scope of the programme orientation. It discusses contemporary processes of social and spatial convergence and divergence that are becoming the key factors in understanding the possibilities of not only horizontal, but also vertical integration in Europe and, through it, the limiting and supportive elements and factors of the newly established European paradigm ‘unity in diversity’. On the basis of investigating the areas of social and cultural contact, the author thus developed the model of European integration taking place in parallel with a simultaneous maintenance of regional identities and deepening and managing convergent and divergent social and spatial phenomena and processes in Europe. The latter tend to be particularly exposed in European border areas, which is why in order to understand modern integration processes it is essential to provide an analysis of the degree of functional and socio-cultural integration of the border population, the forms of institutional cross-border integration and the degree of coordination between social and spatial planning (developing) at the example of social and cultural contact areas. These issues were examined in detail in a comprehensive article written by dr. Bufon in 2006, entitled ‘Geography of Border Landscapes, Borderlands and Euroregions in the Enlarged EU’, published in the leading Italian geographical journal of a high international impact factor – ‘Rivista Geografica Italiana’ (vol. 113, fasc. 1, pp. 47-72, COBISS.SI-ID 1039827), which made him one of the leading experts on borderland issues and cross-border integrations within a wider international framework. The article provided an in-depth study of the factors and elements encouraging or impeding cross-border communication and integration, the position and role of local communities and minorities in intercultural and functional social integration, the effects of implementation and abolition of borders on society and its space and the processes and problems of borderland and contact areas at Slovenian and wider European level, particularly in the context of globalization processes and European macroregional relations between the Western European practice of institutional integration, Central European functional cross-border cooperation and the remaining open issues of the areas of potential conflict in South-Eastern Europe.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1141203
The journal was created at the initiative of the International Geographical Union’s Commission on Political Geography, chaired by the author/editor of the publication. The journal contains contributions of world’s leading researchers of the European political-geographical issues, with whom members of the programme group have established intensive formal and informal contacts. The debate on related questions from the viewpoint of geopolitical and political-geographical settings and open dilemmas related to the European past and future is also presented in the paper: BUFON, M. Between Convergence and Divergence: Dilemmas of European Integration Processes, Annales 15/1, 2005, pp. 55-68.
COBISS.SI-ID: COBISS.SI-ID
In this monograph, accompanied with a preface written by Slovenian Foreign Minister dr. Dimitrij Rupel, the author gives a synthetic insight into political geographical developments in the area between the EU and South-Eastern Europe, which is perceived and interpreted as one of the most prominent examples of the contemporary and conflicting “coexistence” of social and spatial integrations and disintegrations. The monograph consists of contributions by over twenty research partners from different countries of the former Yugoslavia and the Balkans, or South-Eastern Europe, reflecting on geopolitical changes and developmental perspectives in this region. Special emphasis is placed on the area of the former Yugoslavia, which is undergoing processes between fragmentation and regional reintegration, in the networks and aspects of social and spatial change taking place within the new and future members of the EU, as well as at borders and cross-border connections as important elements of the future construction of a new, united Europe.
COBISS.SI-ID: COBISS.SI-ID
The article presents the author’s pilot introduction of modules of intercultural language communication to linguistic and non-linguistic study programmes and, through descriptors of intercultural communication, concurrently also to the CERCLES Portfolio. At the same time, this work presents an upgrade to the international exchange of achievements at conferences held in Slovenia and abroad, which has opened a new field of research cooperation in the area of intercultural and civic education. Bilateral cooperation with France, implementation of the Italian Language study programme with the University Ca'Foscari, cooperation with reputed researchers from the United Kingdom have helped form a research network of European citizens’ education in intercultural communication and its effects in the international and regional dimensions. Tertiary socialization with empathy and citizenship towards democracy and new dimensions of language learning/teaching, strengthening the awareness of language together with intercultural awareness and empathy occur as elements of European citizens’ education. The research aims in the field of intercultural education present a priority not only to national strategies but also to the basic documents and projects of the Council of Europe and the EU (Action Plan of the Council of Europe in the field of languages, 2004-2006, European Framework of References for Languages, European Portfolio of Languages, Europass). Formation of a structure (Centre for Languages and Intercultural Communication of the UP) that is implementing research achievements and international empirical practice is a novelty in Slovenia, for no national network of centres has been established so far.
COBISS.SI-ID: COBISS.SI-ID
The journal was created at the initiative of the International Geographical Union’s Commission on Political Geography, chaired by the author/editor of the publication. The journal contains contributions of world’s leading researchers of the European political-geographical issues, with whom members of the programme group have established intensive formal and informal contacts. The debate on related questions from the viewpoint of geopolitical and political-geographical settings and open dilemmas related to the European past and future is also presented in the paper: BUFON, M. Between Convergence and Divergence: Dilemmas of European Integration Processes, Annales 15/1, 2005, pp. 55-68.
In this monograph, accompanied with a preface written by Slovenian Foreign Minister dr. Dimitrij Rupel, the author gives a synthetic insight into political geographical developments in the area between the EU and South-Eastern Europe, which is perceived and interpreted as one of the most prominent examples of the contemporary and conflicting “coexistence” of social and spatial integrations and disintegrations. The monograph consists of contributions by over twenty research partners from different countries of the former Yugoslavia and the Balkans, or South-Eastern Europe, reflecting on geopolitical changes and developmental perspectives in this region. Special emphasis is placed on the area of the former Yugoslavia, which is undergoing processes between fragmentation and regional reintegration, in the networks and aspects of social and spatial change taking place within the new and future members of the EU, as well as at borders and cross-border connections as important elements of the future construction of a new, united Europe.
The article presents the author’s pilot introduction of modules of intercultural language communication to linguistic and non-linguistic study programmes and, through descriptors of intercultural communication, concurrently also to the CERCLES Portfolio. At the same time, this work presents an upgrade to the international exchange of achievements at conferences held in Slovenia and abroad, which has opened a new field of research cooperation in the area of intercultural and civic education. Bilateral cooperation with France, implementation of the Italian Language study programme with the University Ca'Foscari, cooperation with reputed researchers from the United Kingdom have helped form a research network of European citizens’ education in intercultural communication and its effects in the international and regional dimensions. Tertiary socialization with empathy and citizenship towards democracy and new dimensions of language learning/teaching, strengthening the awareness of language together with intercultural awareness and empathy occur as elements of European citizens’ education. The research aims in the field of intercultural education present a priority not only to national strategies but also to the basic documents and projects of the Council of Europe and the EU (Action Plan of the Council of Europe in the field of languages, 2004-2006, European Framework of References for Languages, European Portfolio of Languages, Europass). Formation of a structure (Centre for Languages and Intercultural Communication of the UP) that is implementing research achievements and international empirical practice is a novelty in Slovenia, for no national network of centres has been established so far.