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Books in Comparative politics

Educating Europe

  • 1st Edition
  • October 1, 1991
  • David J. Bell
  • English
  • eBook
    9 7 8 - 1 - 4 8 3 2 - 9 3 1 4 - 1
The last few years have seen monumental battles over education both in Britain and in continental Europe. While the need for the state to take responsibility for raising educational standards has never been fully accepted in Britain, on the continent of Europe the state is seen to have a legitimate and necessary role in providing better education for the bulk of its citizens. This difference will take on greater importance after '1992' when competition will depend on a skilled, that is educated, workforce. In the Europe of the future there will be little room for unskilled, low-paid workers. This issue of Contemporary European Affairs discusses present and future aspects of the education systems of the UK, France, Germany and Italy.

Politics and Religion

  • 1st Edition
  • July 31, 1990
  • Sami Nair
  • English
  • eBook
    9 7 8 - 1 - 4 8 3 2 - 9 3 0 6 - 6
In Paris in the autumn of 1989 three Muslim girls, observing their own religious custom, went to school wearing Muslim headscarves. The ensuing political storm, which continued unabated into 1990, has brought sharply into focus one of the fundamental questions related to Western democracy: the nature of the relationship between religion and the state. The 'scarves affair' was primarily a dispute between practitioners of Islam and the secular state. However, the controversy in France and similar recent controversies elsewhere have forced a general and radical reappraisal of the wide and complex issue of religion and its relation to politics. This issue of Contemporary European Affairs is a contribution to that debate.