What kind of citizenship for whom? The ‘refugee crisis’ and the European Union’s conceptions of citizenship

The European Union (EU) plays a dominant role in coordinating the responses to the massive inflow of refugee-migrants into Europe; consequently, the conceptions of citizenship and future integration which are embedded in its policies are significant. We explore and analyse the key EU education policy documents that refer to immigrants to identify the forms of citizenship attributed to various types of incomers by the EU. Our analysis demonstrates that the EU’s conception of refugee-migrants is more closely affiliated with the notion of ‘Global citizens’ rather than with that of ‘European citizens’. Furthermore, we suggest that the EU distinguishes and navigates between various migratory flows, namely internal-European, desired external-European and undesired external-European (refugee-migrants), each associated with a distinctive conception of citizenship as well as with related policy discourses. In the light of the migratory flows into Europe, the particularistic conceptions of citizenship shaping the EU’s educational policy carry considerable implications for the future integration of refugee-migrants in Europe.     

Plans are nothing, changing plans is everything: the impact of changes on project success

Based on a sample of 448 projects, the interactions between three project planning variables, the quality of planning, goal changes, plan-changes and project success are analyzed. The most important results of this study are the interactions between the planning variables and their influences on project success. By using structural equation modeling, we gained insight into these complex indirect relationships. The results clearly show that the positive total effect of the quality of planning is almost completely overridden by the negative effect of goal changes. If we add the total effects of goal changes and plan-changes on project success, their combined effect is considerably stronger than that of the quality of planning. The study also identifies several contextual variables affecting the planning process.     

莫大危险:人变成了神却不负责任

在7万年前,智人还不过是一种微不足道的动物,在非洲的角落自顾自地生活。但就在接下来的几千年间,智人就成了整个地球的主人、生态系统的梦魇。时至今日,智人似乎只要再跨一步就能进入神的境界,不仅有望获得永恒的青春,更拥有创造和毁灭一切的神力。但遗憾的是,智人在地球上的所作所为,实在没有太多令人自豪。