Patterns of im/mobility,conflict and the re/making of identity narratives*

ABSTRACT

This paper analyses the interrelationship between patterns of im/mobility on the one hand and the reconstitution of social collective identities and the related emergence or settlement of conflicts on the other. The main arguments are (1) that the im/mobility of a social or cultural group has major impact on how identity narratives, a sense of belonging and relationships to ‘others’ are shaped, and vice versa, and (2) that these dynamics are closely interlinked with mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion between groups and power structures that involve a broad variety of actors. Mainly looking at patterns of internal mobility such as ‘traditional’ or strategic mobilities and mobilities enforced by crisis, conflict or governmental programmes and regimes, the contribution provides the conceptual background for a special issue that aims to go beyond currently predominant issues of transnational migration. Established or emerging dynamics of (non-)integration and belonging, caused by im/mobility, are analysed on a cultural and political level, which involves questions of representation, indigeneity/autochthony, political rights and access to land and other resources. Conflict situations in contexts of mobility involve changes in the social understanding and renegotiation, reconstruction or reproduction of group identities and narratives with reference to certain socio-political and historical patterns. The legitimation of rights and access to various forms of citizenship and mobility need to be understood against the backdrop of emerging or established mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion between groups, which trigger or settle conflicts and make social identities to be constantly renegotiated.     

Was kosten Kliniken? Zur Weiterentwicklung des Krankenhaussektors am Beispiel Berlins

The costs of hospitals. Developments of the German hospital sector evaluated in the case of Berlin This article illustrates the development of the German hospital sector evaluated in the case of the capital Berlin. Due to the difficult economic situation of the hospital sector after the reunification major reforms became unavoidable. Especially a reduction of the average days of stay per case created overcapacities of personell. But all the reforms which have been taken during the last years had to consider the major role of the hospital sector for the labour market of the city. On the one hand the article shows, that the reforms of the nineties have been successful also with regard to the important role for the labour market. On the other hand the restructuring of the hospital sector is not finished yet, there is still a need for further reforms.     

Ignoring Commitment Is Costly: New Approaches Establish the Missing Link Between Commitment and Performance

The branch network of a bank was used toinvestigate the link between employee commitment andorganizational performance in terms of sales targets metand change in profits. Commitment was measured by the conventional Organizational CommitmentQuestionnaire (OCQ) and different variations of aspecifically designed new commitment scale. The approachtaken involved the application of multiple regressionanalysis. That way a variety of factors assumed tocontribute to performance, apart from commitment, couldbe included in the model and held constant. It emergedthat employee commitment is significantly related to the financial success of bank branches. Theresults varied depending on how commitment andperformance were measured. Supervisory commitmentappears to have a particularly strong impact on theoutcome indicators.     

Landowners’ perspectives on the rural future and the role of forests across Europe

Contemporary changes in rural Europe have been characterised by the contrasting terms of rural modernisation and productivism versus restructuring and post-productivism. This study investigates how different categories of owners of farm and/or forestland in 16 case study areas in eight European countries perceive future development. Landowners’ prospects for change are investigated on both the locality and enterprise level. Special attention is given to the role of forestry as a potential future development perspective. The results reveal that both restructuring and modernisation perspectives are important to many landowners. Moreover, a polarisation seems to be developing between a minority of full-time farmers with progressive farming prospects and the vast majority of landowners with declining prospects or little dependency on primary production. More importantly, the research reveals a third employment perspective, which did not have any specific content apart from the social security of having employment opportunities in the locality. Also at the enterprise level, farmers anticipate both restructuring and modernisation practices, even on the very same property. The study proves that it is not only part-time, hobby and retired farmers that are engaged in “restructuring” activities, but also full-time farmers. As regards the role of forests, the majority of landowners do not interpret forests in an economic development context, but as green infrastructure important to the local quality of life. It can be concluded that forests are closely related to restructuring thinking among landowners. Future perspectives differ from one European rural area to another, dependent on local conditions and problems. More importantly, however, this research reveals that modernisation–restructuring thoughts and practices of landowners are manifold and heterogeneous in all types of rural areas across Europe.