This thesis treats the subject of French language policy for regional languages. Even though the position of French as the only official language of French state is undeniable the question of regional languages and its support is still a topical problem of French society. The evolution of French language policy for regional languages is the main subject of this thesis as well as all elements that have been influencing it. One part of this language policy is the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which France signed in 1999 but remains unratified. Despite the flexibility of commitments deriving from the Charter ratification of this document remains to be seen as a menace for the roots of the French republic . Therefore France can't/doesn't want to ratify the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. This thesis analyses main obstacles for ratification of the treaty which is especially important for its strong symbolic meaning. These obstacles are defined as juridical, ideological and political.

Diploma thesis "The role of regional political parties within the Spanish political scene in the period of 1993-2010" presents an analysis of the role of Spanish regional political parties, which play within the national political scene since 1993. The preliminary chapter of this thesis provides a brief description of the contemporary Spanish political system, the regional organization of Spain and the Spanish electoral system, which has considerable influence especially on the party system. I consider this general introduction relevant and important for a better understanding of the whole issue. The next section is devoted to the Spanish party system, its development, the typology and the main national political parties. Here I come to the conclusion that due to the specific configuration of the electoral system in Spain happens relatively complicated interpenetration of the national party system with the regional party systems. The final and the most important chapter deals with the regional political parties, which after 1993 came to the Spanish parliament, and especially about those that have influence on the government formation and the government policy. At the beginning of this chapter I define the regional political party, the regionalist and the nationalist political party and I try to...

This thesis deals with the interregional relations between the European Union and Mercosur. It is approached as a single case study where the examined case is defined as "the strategic partnership between the European Union and Mercosur in the context of new regionalism". The thesis consists of three main chapters. The first chapter explains the phenomenon of new regionalism and interregionalism and deals with two theoretical approaches to regional integration - neofunctionalist and intergovernmental. The subject of the second chapter is the development of regional integration within Mercosur and the analysis of the relations between the EU and Mercosur from the early 1990's till present. The current negotiations between the two regions are aimed at the conclusion of the Association Agreement creating free trade area and consisting of three pillars: political dialogue, cooperation and trade. The negotiations were officially launched in 1999, later suspended in 2004 and re-launched at Madrid Summit in 2010. The thesis seeks to find out how the EU and Mercosur are motivated to sign the agreement and what are the main obstacles blocking the successful conclusion of the negotiation process. To this end, the third chapter analyzes the three pillars of the Association agreement under negotiation paying...

In this essay, I investigate how the historic and current economic structures operating in Appalachia from the 1920s to the 2010s are represented in two contemporary Southern Appalachian novels – Serena (2008) by Ron Rash and Flight Behavior (2012) by Barbara Kingsolver. Through the lens of postcolonial theory, I show how Serena represents Appalachia as functioning under the colonial model outlined by Robert Blauner and Helen Mathews Lewis in 1978. Then, still under the theory of postcolonialism, I explore how Kingsolver’s work depicts regional identity in response to a post-colonial environment and the ever-expanding global economy.

During the first half of the twentieth century there was a flourishing of publishers in the United States that specialized in books with content targeted for regional audiences. One of the largest regional publishers west of the Mississippi was the Binfords & Mort publishing company of Portland, Oregon. In 1930, Binfords & Mort began publishing works of fiction, history, poetry, children's literature, and natural history by Pacific Northwest authors with content focused on the Pacific Northwest. Between 1930 and 1984, when the Binford family sold the publishing company, Binfords & Mort published around one thousand titles, and became a one of the leading influences on the Oregon literary scene. Although Binfords & Mort did not publish books that received widespread critical praise from national literary critics, its books sold well to Oregon readers. This thesis examines the economic and cultural contexts for Binfords & Mort, and its larger cultural impacts. The thesis also challenges the standard claim that Oregon literature underwent a major shift toward modernism after the publication of H.L. Davis's and James Stevens's critique of Oregon writing, Status Rerum in 1927. Instead, the thesis proposes that by looking at the output of Oregon's most popular publisher, Binfords & Mort, one finds that an older style of writing focused on the pioneer period continued to be popular well into the twentieth century. These publications had a widespread impact on Oregon's cultural development.

(in English) In this diploma thesis we will focus on the current possibilities of using the region as a motive and an instrument of poetic narration on the Czech - polish example. In recent years, regional literature has represented widely discussed, yet still semantically and conceptually ambiguous field in the area of literary theory. First part of thesis represents the basic concepts for research of regionalism in literature and also works with selected theories of Czech and Polish literary theorists. Second part presents interpretative chapters, which are concentrated on a concrete schemes of region in poems collections by Czech and Polish poets.

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[pt] A América Latina tem uma larga tradição no debate do regionalismo, mobilizando reflexões originais no processo de produção de conhecimentos e saberes sobre a integração regional latinoamericana. Ao considerar esse rico acervo, o presente trabalho busca analisar conjugadamente os conceitos de integração regional, autonomia e desenvolvimento que atravessam tanto o campo de estudos do regionalismo quanto a atuação de comunidades epistêmicas – formal ou informalmente – reconhecidas por aglutinar atores (intelectuais, acadêmicos, diplomáticos, atores sociais e políticos) e instituições (universidades, redes, think tanks, órgãos governamentais e organismos regionais) responsáveis por formular, implementar e difundir conhecimentos teóricos e práticos sobre a integração regional e que reúnam capacidade de influenciar a política e os tomadores de decisão na região. O trabalho fez uso da pesquisa qualitativa sendo guiado pela abordagem multidisciplinar, promovendo o debate na área de relações internacionais, sociologia e geopolítica. Visando alcançar os objetivos delineados, foi realizada a revisão bibliográfica dos processos de integração e regionalismo conectada ao marco conceitual das comunidades epistêmicas no contexto latinoamericano e caribenho. Nesse sentido, a discussão foi potencializada pela pesquisa de campo que alcançou 32 entrevistas semiestruturadas com atores de perfil acadêmico, político, sindical e diplomático de oito nacionalidades que se disponibilizaram a responder as questões sobre o sentido da integração latino-americana, o histórico do regionalismo, o cenário atual e o futuro da agenda regional no continente. Por fim, a pesquisa buscou ilustrar um breve panorama da governança regional, bem como indicar tendências e capacidades de influenciar políticas públicas e tomadores de decisão nos países e blocos regionais além de dar visibilidade à atuação de comunidades epistêmicas potenciais, viáveis e prováveis para orientar, apoiar e articular os processos de integração contemporânea da América Latina. / [en] Latin America has a long tradition in the debate on regionalism, mobilizing original reflections in the process of producing knowledge and insight on Latin American regional integration. Considering this rich collection, the present work seeks to jointly analyze the concepts of regional integration, autonomy and development that cross both the field of regionalism studies and the performance of epistemic communities – formally or informally – recognized for bringing together actors (intellectuals, academics, diplomatic, social and political actors) and institutions (universities, networks, think tanks, government agencies and regional institutions) responsible for formulating, implementing and disseminating theoretical and practical knowledge on regional integration and which have the capacity to influence policy and decision-makers in the region. The work made use of qualitative research being guided by the multidisciplinary approach, promoting debate in the area of international relations, sociology and geopolitics. In order to achieve the objectives outlined, a bibliographic review of the processes of integration and regionalism connected to the conceptual framework of epistemic communities in the Latin American and Caribbean context was carried out. In this sense, the discussion was enhanced by the field research that reached 32 semi-structured interviews with academic, political, trade union and diplomatic actors from eight nationalities who made themselves available to answer questions about the meaning of Latin American integration, the history of regionalism, the current scenario and the future of the regional agenda on the continent. Finally, the research sought to illustrate a brief overview of regional governance, as well as to indicate trends and capacities to influence public policies and decision-makers in countries and regional blocks, even as to give visibility to the performance of potential, viable and likely epistemic communities to guide, support and articulate the processes of contemporary integration in Latin America.

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