Two new Publications on the Middle East

Within the scientific row “Weltregionen im Wandel”, volumes 4 and 5 are published and available now.

Volume 4 “Der Staat im Vorderen Orient”, (The State in the Middle East), edited by Peter Pawelka, adresses concepts of the State in the Middle East. This Region is the only one in the world with 5000 years of traditions and concepts of the State. This bureaucrat, interventionist, and authoritarian type of state struggles nowadays struggles to survive in a globalized world. In this volume, renowned authors discuss the historic and cultural roots of the oreintal state and his developmental perspectives.

Volume 5 “Politischer Islam im Vorderen Orient” (Political Islam in the Middle East), edited by Holger Albrecht and Kevin Köhler, adresses one of the most discussed phenomena in the Arab World and offers an insightful overview of the different phenotypes of Political Islam and discusses both conceptional questions and particular islamist movements in the most important countries of the Middle East, e.g. the egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, the development of political Islam in Algeria, and the question of islamist movements in Iraq.

Taken together these volumes contribute to a deeper understanding of the Middle Easts’ political,  historic, cultural and religious history and actual development.

Weltregionen im Wandel – Lateinamerika

Within the scientific row “change in world regions” a new volume is just out now concerning Latin America.  Te volume is edited by my dear collegues and friends Patricia Graf and Thomas “Charlie” Stehnken who did a realy good job to give an overview on developments in Latin Americas politics, economies and societies.

As Latin America experienced fundamental transitions not only due to globalization, latin american countries were faced with substantial problems. Part One of the volume analyzes the changes of stateness, mechanisms of political power and governance as well as the results of state reforms. The second part deals with  economic issues reaching from strategic partnerships with the EU to questions of competitive capacities in the international environment. The third part is dedicated to political culturem civil society and the means of populist political leaders to mobilize the masses. As this volume brings together  authors from science and practice, it offers a unique perspective on transitions in Latin America.

• Patricia Graf/Thomas Stehnken (Hrsg.) (2008): Lateinamerika. Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. (Weltregionen im Wandel Bd. 3), Baden-Baden: Nomos, 244 pp., 45.-€, ISBN 978-3-8329-3432-3

Das zersägte Klassenzimmer – the Jigsaw-Classroom

A new article of mine is available online: “Das zersägte Klassenzimmer – Ein Gruppenpuzzle-Experiment in Zeiten der Ökonomisierung von Bildungsprozessen”, which is published in Tübinger Beiträge zur Hochschuldidaktik 4,1

In a first step article summarizes the development, usage and evaluation of the Jigsaw-Method. Developed in the 1970ies by Elliot Aronson et al to desegregate classrooms in the US in the aftermath of the Brown vs. Board of Education Case in 1954, this interdependent teamwork-method has become an oftenly and sucessfully used method in education on all levels. In times of economization of education, it can be used 1) to effectively teach the so called soft skills as teamwork and so on; 2) to motivate students to study while researching; 3) to bring together heterogeneous and groups of students from different cultural backgrounds.

The second part of the article describes and evaluates an experimental seminar in political science, I held at the University of Tübingen twice, using the jigsaw method. Quantitative and qualitative Evaluation of the first seminar showed some weaknesses of the seminar, I tried to expunge in the second seminar. For example there, i held two more plenary sessions in the middle of the semester to secure results of group work. Both, students presentations/tests and feedbacks showed a significant increase in quality that seems to be linked with the readjustment of the seminar according to the first evaluation.

New Publication: Postmoderne und Persönlichkeit

Yesterday I received a parcel from Nomos Publisher with my authors copies of “Postmoderne und Persönlichkeit”, which is one of the outcomes of a research project, in which I was involved. Unfortunately, it is only available in german laguage, but will probably be translated later on.

• Rolf Frankenberger /Gerd Meyer (2008): Postmoderne und Persönlichkeit. Theorie – Empirie – Perspektiven. Baden-Baden: Nomos Publishers, 175 pp, 24,90€, ISBN: 9-783832-933661

Weltregionen im Wandel – Change in World Regions

Weltregionen im Wandel – Change in World Regions

Schriftenreihe – Scientific Series

This scientific series contributes to the field of area studies in social sciences. All volumes deal with actual structures, actors and Dynamics of Change in Regions of the World (except of the liberal democracies and market economies in Western Europe and Northern America) from a comparative perspective. Main Regions of interest are the Middle East, Subsahara Africa, Asia-Pacific, post-soviet Europe and Central Asia. Main topics of interest are State, Power and Governance, Economy and Development, Culture and Society. The series comprises volumes from Political Science, Economy, and Sociology as well as interdisciplinary Approaches.
The Series is one of the few peer-reviewed in Germany. High quality manuscripts with an emphasis on theoretical foundation and method-driven empirical analysis in English as well as in German are welcome. The  editors especially encourage authors to submit manuscripts based on their PhD-Thesis. If you are interested or have further queries, please feel free to contact one of the editors.
Die Schriftenreihe leistet einen wichtigen Beitrag zu sozialwissenschaftlichen „Area Studies“. Die Beiträge beschäftigen sich aus einer vergleichenden Perspektive mit aktuellen Strukturen und Wandlungsprozessen in unterschiedlichen Weltregionen außerhalb der „westlichen Welt“, das heißt der liberalen Demokratien und Marktökonomien in Westeuropa und Nordamerika. Im Fokus stehen die globalen Subregionen Naher und Mittlerer Osten, subsaharisches Afrika, das pazifische Asien und die postsowjetischen Staaten.

Das Interesse der Reihe gilt den drei Themenkomplexen Staat und Herrschaft, Wirtschaft und Entwicklung sowie Kultur und Gesellschaft. Die Schriftenreihe umfasst Bände aus der Politikwissenschaft, Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Soziologie als auch Beiträge, die in der Schnittmenge der drei Disziplinen oder angrenzenden geistes- und kulturwissenschaftlichen Ansätzen liegen. Besonderen Wert wird auf die sorgfältige theoretische Fundierung und methodische Analyse der empirischen Studien gelegt. Der Veröffentlichung geht ein anonymisiertes Begutachtungsverfahren voraus.

Die Reihe wird herausgeben von / the series is edited by:  Holger Albrecht, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg; Prof. Dr. Aurel Croissant, Universität Heidelberg; Dr. Rolf Frankenberger, Universität Tübingen; Prof. Dr. Friedbert W. Rüb, Universität Hamburg und Prof. Dr. Siegmar Schmidt, Universität Koblenz-Landau.