http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/1783 Sat, 11 Feb 2012 14:44:27 GMT 2012-02-11T14:44:27Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/bitstream/id/33976/ http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/1783 http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/179612 Educational policy in Spain - a federal illusion? Holesch, Adam, 1977- Education and health policy are two of the public policies, which in Spain have been assigned to the Autonomous Communities (AC). This transfer of powers could be considered a proof for the strong “self-rule” of the AC, which in turn shows that Spain could be classified as a federal state. In the following analysis the authors in some parts disagree with that conclusion, showing that considering the education area Spain is “heavy at the top”. Due to the state’s exclusive power to regulate the basic conditions guaranteeing the equality of all Spanish citizens, the important and final decisions are taken at the center through the framework legislation. The AC play a minor role in the legislation process, they have to adopt the center decisions. De-centralization and extension of the framework legislation are highly connected: The central state reacted with strong framework legislation to the stages of the educational decentralization process. In addition, the concentration of important framing powers within the central state does not make educational reforms more infrequent. However, such reforms are the results of a competition between the parties, and not between the AC or between the AC and the central state Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/179612 2012-02-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/179308 Immigration controls and the erosion of popular sovereignty Gilligan, Chris The idea that immigration controls in Western developed states are a response to popular pressure is axiomatic in the academic literature on migration. In the academic literature and in policy circles it is also commonplace to hear that migration is eroding the sovereignty of states. This article challenges both of these ideas. We argue that both of these ideas overlook or ignore the erosion of popular sovereignty from within states. We argue that engaging with, rather than evading, public debate on migration can potentially help to reinvigorate popular sovereignty. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/179308 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/172951 Capital cities of federations. On the way to analysing the normative base of their asymmetrical status Nagel, Klaus-Jürgen Federal Capitals often have special statutes. Compared with member states, they often enjoy a lower degree of self-government and a lesser share in the governing of the federation. Why do actors choose such devices, and how can they be justified in a liberal democracy? Surprisingly, the burgeoning literature on asymmetric federalism (to which our research group has contributed significantly) has overlooked this important feature of a de iure asymmetry, perhaps because political theory up to now has concentrated on cases of multicultural and plurinational federations. However, comparative literature is also rare. This paper is the first step to filling in this gap by comparing some federal capitals. The Federal District model (Washington) is compared to capitals organized as member-states (Berlin and Brussels), and capitals that are cities belonging to a single member state (Ottawa in Ontario). The different features of de iure asymmetry will thereby be highlighted. Some light will be shed on the possible motives, reasons and justifications for the choice of each respective status. The paper opens the door to further research on such status questions by analysing public and parliamentary debates, for example. It paves the way for more thorough research. Sicne the author has been awarded a grant by the Institut d’Estudis Autonòmics, this research will be carried out soon. Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/172951 2011-12-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/172644 The Point system of selection of immigrants in Quebec Franco Guillén, Núria The present paper is aimed at identifying what are the effects of the Point System of Selection of immigrants in Quebec. I defend that the distribution of points results in a different composition of immigrant stocks in terms of origin mix and not in terms of labour skills. To do so, I carry out a longitudinal descriptive analysis on the national composition of immigrants in Quebec and two other significant provinces (Ontario and British Columbia), as well as an analysis of the distribution of points in Quebec and in the rest of Canada. Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/172644 2011-11-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/169988 Effects of prison work programmes on the employability of ex-prisioners Alòs, Ramon; Esteban, Fernando Osvaldo; Jódar, Pere; Miguélez, Fausto This paper presents the main results of a study that relates information from the prison system with information for the Spanish Social Security in order to study the employability of the former inmates of prisons in Catalonia, Spain who obtained final release from 1/1/2004 to 31/12/2007. The results show that 43.6% of the ex-prisoners find a job after serving their sentences, but their integration in the labour market tends to be fragile, confirming that it is a very vulnerable group. It was also found that prison work has a favourable effect on employability and that vocational training could be useful for those who have not previously worked and have no education or job skills. Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/169988 2011-07-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/168472 The European Union and refugees: towards more restrictive asylum policies in the European Union? Kaunert, Christian; Léonard, Sarah Several scholars have argued that European countries have decided to cooperate on asylum and migration matters at the EU level in order to develop more restrictive policies. In particular, it has been argued that European states have ‘venue-shopped’ to a new policy-venue in order to escape national constraints. This paper puts this argument to the test by assessing the extent to which the development of EU cooperation on asylum matters has indeed led to the adoption of more restrictive asylum standards. The paper argues that, actually, EU asylum cooperation has led to an overall increase in protection standards for asylum-seekers and refugees. This outcome is explained by two main factors: the increasing ‘judicialisation’ of asylum in the EU and institutional changes in the EU asylum policy area that have strengthened the role of more ‘refugee-friendly’ institutions. Mon, 01 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/168472 2011-08-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/152114 Political mobilisation and models of trade unionism : Southern Europe in comparative perspective Cebolla Boado, Héctor; Ortiz Gervasi, Luis The relationship between union membership and political mobilization has been studied under many perspectives, but quantitative cross-national analyses have been hampered by the absence of international comparable survey data until the first round of the European Social Survey (ESS-2002) was made available. Using different national samples from this survey in four moments of time (2002, 2004 and 2006), our paper provides evidence of cross-country divergence in the empirical association between political mobilisation and trade union membership. Cross-national differences in union members’ political mobilization, we argue, can be explained by the existence of models of unionism that in turn differ with respect to two decisive factors: the institutionalisation of trade union activity and the opportunities left-wing parties have available for gaining access to executive power. Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/152114 2011-06-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/152113 Parental care time in four European countries: comparing types and contexts Gracia Molina, Pablo; Ghysels, Joris; Vercammen, Kim The intensity of parental investments in child care time is expected to vary across families with different norms and time-constraints. Additionally, it should also differ across countries, since the abilities of parents to harmonize family and work vary by national context. In our opinion, however, this question remains inconclusive for two main reasons: 1) only some countries have been studied from a comparative approach; 2) previous studies have not paid enough attention to the analysis of how the conditional effects of education and employment affect parental investments. In this paper we used nationally representative time-use data from Denmark, Flanders, Spain and the United Kingdom (N=4,031) to explore how employment and education predict variations in child care time. IN Britain and Spain employment has a strong negative effect on fathers’ child care, but a weaker one in Flanders and particularly in Denmark. In contrast, maternal employment has a strong negative impact in all four countries. Education increases child care time significantly only among Spanish mothers and fathers, as well as British mothers. Nonetheless, we find that college-educated mothers under similar time-constraints increase substantially their expected child care time in Britain, Flanders and Spain; for fathers we find a more mixed picture. Routine child care activities are more sensitive to both maternal and paternal employment than interactive child care activities. Finally, we observe that working a public sector job generally increases a total time allocated to parental care, controlling for several demographic and socioeconomic variables. Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/152113 2011-06-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/152112 Deferred effects of nursery school on adolescents' school performance in Spain Sarasa Urdiola, Sebastià This research analysis the long-term effects of nursery school attendance before the age of three in Spain. The effects are measured when the individuals are adolescents and attend secondary school. The article deals with the controversy over the long-term effects of nursery school attendance and its potential effect on reducing inequalities and social exclusion. The results estimate a significant long-term effect of nursery school attendance on improving educational performance, although the beneficial effects are lower among adolescents residing in the lower status households. Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/152112 2011-06-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/152104 When federalism is not enough? Paths to cooperation in Federal democracies Ferreira do Vale, Helder This paper explores an overlooked issue in the literature on federations and federalism: the relationship between federalism and democracy. Starting from the assumption that federalism per se is not enough to guarantee cooperative intergovernmental dynamics between different levels of governments, this article analyzes how democracy reinforces cooperative intergovernmental relations under a federal design. Drawing from empirical evidence of federations in the making – Brazil, India, Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa and Spain – this article shows that in countries where the federal design was built under democratization, namely Brazil, Spain and South Africa, intergovernmental dynamics evolved under an increasingly cooperative mode of interaction. Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/152104 2011-06-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/151686 Teaching ethnic diversity in journalism school Dijk, Teun Adrianus van, 1943- It has been found that the symbolic elites have a prominent role in the discursive reproduction of racism in society, because they control the public discourse through which many ethnic prejudices are spread and shared. This special position of the mass media requires that the professional education of journalists, also featuring such topics as ethnic studies, diversity and racism, is optimally adapted to the multicultural societies in Europe, North America and Australia. This paper reports about an extensive research project examining ethnic education of journalists in these white-dominated countries, by examining the websites of many journalism and communication departments. Consistent with the general finding that white symbolic elites primarily deny or ignore (their) racism in society, none of the academic programs, anywhere in the world, mentions special classes on racism in the mass media. Finally, a practical proposal is made for a course on ethnic reporting in multicultural societies. Sun, 01 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/151686 2011-05-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/115697 Toleration and the fair terms of engagement with diversity Sardoc, Mitja The aim of this paper is to examine the various controversies over the genuine problems of toleration in a plurally diverse polity as both historically and conceptually, toleration is one of the foundational characteristics that defines the very essence of a plurally diverse polity and the basic virtue associated with a liberal conception of citizenship. In section 1, I present the main philosophical and conceptual issues related to the toleration-based approach to diversity in liberal political theory. In section 2 I identify the conditions and the circumstances of toleration. I articulate in Section 3 the most pressing objections against toleration. I present in section 4 two competing approaches to the toleration-based approach to diversity is faced with. In the concluding section, I outline a modified conception of toleration that mediates between different requirements associated with the two principled commitments of the liberal version of the rights-based conception of citizenship. Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/115697 2011-03-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/97263 Explaining parental dedication to child care in Spain Baizán, Pau; Domínguez Folgueras, Marta; González, María José The quality of the time dedicated to child care has potential positive effects on children’s life chances. However, the determinants of parental time allocation to child care remain largely unexplored, particularly in context undergoing rapid family change such as Spain. We assess two alternative explanations for differences between parents in the amount of time spent with children. The first, based in the relative resources hypothesis, links variation in time spent with children to the relative attributes (occupation, education or income) of one partner to the other. The second, derived from the social status hypothesis, suggests that variation in time spent with children is attributable to the relative social position of the pair (i.e. higher status couples spend more time with children regardless of within-couple difference). To investigate theses questions, we use a sample of adults (18-50) from the Spanish Time Use Survey (STUS) 2002-2003 (n=7,438). Limiting the analysis to adults who are married or in consensual unions, the STUS allows to assess both the quantity and quality of parental time spent with children. We find little support for the “relative resources hypothesis”. Instead, consistent with the “social status hypothesis”, we find that time spent on child care is attributable to the social position of the couple, regardless of between-parent differences in income of education. Wed, 01 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/97263 2010-12-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/97189 Gendered networks and Mexican migration Creighton, Mathew; Riosmena, Fernando In this paper, we investigate how the gendered origin of migrant networks (i.e. matrilineal vs. patrilineal) is associated with aspirations to migrate and subsequent migration behavior. Using longitudinal data from the Mexican Family Life Survey (MxFLS), we follow 3,923 married couples across 139 municipalities over the 2002-2005 period. We find that the networks of both the individual and her/his spouse are associated with aspiring to migrate to the United States. However, one’s own network matters most (i.e. matrilineal networks for women and patrilineal networks for men). On the other hand, in terms of behavior, only matrilineal networks predict a subsequent move to the U.S. for men and women/couples, who are assessed jointly. These findings suggest that our understanding of the role of migrant networks in perpetuating male-centered, labor migration does not necessarily translate once a union has formed. We make the case that future work would do well to account for not only the presence and composition of networks, but also their origin, which in certain circumstances may be the most relevant factor. Fri, 01 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/97189 2010-10-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/93886 Why do workers leave unions? - group differences in a Spanish Union Federation Jódar Martínez, Pere; Alós, Ramon; Vidal, Sergi This study analyses the characteristics of members leaving a Spanish union federation – Catalonia branch of Workers’ Commissions (CCOO-Catalonia), together with their reasons for leaving using a variety of data sources. Our findings indicate that higher union attrition among members in instable employment (i.e. casual employment and low seniority). In general, union leavers confirm that their job situation is an important reason for leaving the union. We therefore conclude that efforts made by the union to retain members in vulnerable labor market positions are important in reducing high rates of union attrition in Spain. Mon, 01 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/93886 2010-11-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/88236 Pluralismo religioso, multiculturalidad y democracias liberales Requejo Coll, Ferran Este WP analiza la regulación del pluralismo religioso en las democracias liberales como uno de los aspectos mas destacados de la creciente multiculturalidad de las democracias actuales. Tras situar el liberalismo político como fenómeno surgido de las guerras de religión europeas de los siglos XVI y XVII (sección 1), se establecen ocho elementos analíticos para el estudio de los fenómenos multiculturales (sección 2) y tres modelos de "integración" política en las democracias de raíz liberal (sección 3). Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/88236 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/86913 Claves para el trabajo con la muestra continua de vidas laborales Lapuerta, Irene Desde el año 2005 la comunidad científica cuenta con una nueva fuente de información anual para el estudio de las dinámicas del mercado de trabajo y del sistema de previsión social de carácter contributivo en España. Sus microdatos, que reciben el nombre de Muestra Continua de Vidas Laborales (MCVL), proceden de tres registros administrativos: la Seguridad Social, el Padrón Continuo Municipal y la Agencia Tributaria. En este trabajo se exponen sus características fundamentales, al tiempo que se plantean algunas pautas básicas para afrontar las dificultades en el manejo de sus datos. Entre ellas destacan las peculiaridades de su estructura panel; el tratamiento del pluriempleo y las situaciones simultáneas; el modo en que se computa una relación laboral; y los problemas para la identificación de la estructura familiar. Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/86913 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/63986 The externalisation of the asylum function in the European Union Morgades Gil, Sílvia This paper aims to identify and assess the main items in the strategy followed by the EU and its member states on the externalisation of their asylum function. First, it analyses the European harmonisation of the return to safe third countries and to countries of first asylum, which is carried out by means of readmission agreements. Second, it refers to the strategies defined by the Hague and the Stockholm programs concerning the External Aspects of the European Union Asylum Policy, on the detention centres for illegal immigrants abroad, and on the proposals for delocalisation of asylum applications processing centres beyond the EU borders. Finally, this paper considers whether the strategy of externalisation of the function of asylum sometimes lacks legitimacy, and to what extent there is a fair balance between the interests of the states and the protection of the human rights of refugees and asylum seekers. Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/63986 2010-06-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/51323 The Role of social institutions in inter-generational mobility Nolan, Brian, 1953-; Esping-Andersen, Gøsta; Whelan, Christopher T. In this study we examine the role of institutions in shaping inter-generational mobility behavior. Research has traditionally emphasized the role of educational systems but cummulative evidence suggests that variations in their design offer only a very limited explanation for observed mobility differences. We examine the impact of welfare states and, in particular, how early childhood and family policies may influence the impact of economic and cultural characteristics of origin families on child outcomes. Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/51323 2010-03-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/51308 The Sociology of educational mismatch Kucel, Aleksander This paper studies the theoretical relationships between core research lines of sociology such as intergenerational mobility, class structure, cultural capital and educational mismatches. By educational mismatch we mean two things. Firstly an individual can be horizontally mismatched whereby their field of study is inadequate for the job. Another direction of educational mismatch is the so called vertical mismatch where worker possesses more/less education than the job requires resulting in over-/under-education. While analyzing the educational mismatches I keep present the conclusions of Rational Action Theory on individuals’ rational choices in their educational careers. I arrive to conclusions where the influences between educational mismatches and social classes are bidirectional and one can establish fairly clear theoretical links between class of origins and likelihood of being educationally mismatched. Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/51308 2010-03-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/51307 Is there a wage penalty for horizontal and vertical mismatch? Kucel, Aleksander; Vilalta-Bufí, Montserrat This paper studies how the horizontal and vertical mismatches in the labor market affect wage. We do so by taking into account that by choosing a job, wage and mismatches are simultaneously determined. The Seemingly Unrelated Equations model also allows us to control for any omitted variable that could cause biased estimators. We use REFLEX data for Spain. Results reveal that in most cases being horizontally matched has a wage premium and being over-educated does not affect wage. Results suggest that the modeling strategy successfully accounts for some omitted variable that affects simultaneously the probability of being horizontally matched and the wage. This could explain the existence of a wage penalty for over-educated workers when the omitted variable issue is not dealt with. Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/51307 2010-03-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/46795 Theorizing institutional changes: understanding decentralization and federalization in Brazil, Spain and South Africa Ferreira do Vale, Helder In light of the existing theories about institutional change, this paper seeks to advance a common framework to understand the unfolding of decentralization and federalization in three countries: Brazil, Spain, and South Africa. Although in different continents, these three countries witnessed processes after their respective transitions to democracy that transferred administrative and fiscal authority to their regions (decentralization) and vertically distributed political and institutional capacity (federalization). This paper attempts to explain how institutional changes prompted a shift of power and authority towards regional governments by looking at internal sources of change within the intergovernmental arena in the three countries. This analysis is organized around two propositions: that once countries transit to democracy under all-encompassing constitutions there are high incentives for institutional change, and that under a bargained intergovernmental interaction among political actors subnational political elites are able to advance their interests incrementally. In short, through a common framework this paper will explain the evolving dynamics of intergovernmental dynamics in three countries. Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/46795 2010-03-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/46734 "¡Mezquita No!: the origins of mosque opposition in Spain Astor, Avi This paper examines why mosque opposition has been more frequent in Catalonia than in other Spanish regions. A comparison is conducted between the metropolitan areas of Barcelona, where opposition has been most prevalent, and Madrid, where it has been strikingly absent. A relational approach is employed to highlight the factors in Barcelona that have complicated the reception of mosques and the populations they serve. These factors include pronounced socio-spatial divisions and a lack of confidence in the state's commitment to managing the challenges that accompany immigration. The prevalence of these factors in Barcelona has resulted in the integration of mosque debates into more general struggles over urban privilege and state recognition, explaining the high degree of opposition. These findings highlight the importance of studying conflicts related to religious and cultural diversification in context, as such conflicts are inextricably linked to the lived spaces and local structures in which they develop. Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/46734 2010-03-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/43768 Overeducation among European university graduates : a comparative analysis ot its incidence and the importance of higher education differentiation Barone, Carlo; Ortíz Gervasi, Luis The incidence of over-education is here assessed by applying some standard subjective and objective indicators and a new skill-based indicator of over-education to the national samples of eight European countries in the REFLEX survey. With the exception of Spain, the results reveal that over-education is a minor risk amongst European tertiary graduates. Yet, the contrast between the standard indicators and the skill-based indicator reveals the existence of an over-education of a moderate kind in countries with high tertiary attainment rates (Norway, Finland and Netherlands). Such a type of over-education does not come to the surface when applying the standard indicators. Our results also reveal the importance of higher education differentiation (i.e. field of study and branch of higher education) for understanding the risk of over-education. Graduates from humanistic fields, bachelor courses and vocational colleges are more exposed to over-education, though their disadvantage varies across-nationally to a significant extent. Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/43768 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/43325 Introducing diversity in public organisations : diminishing theoretical ambiguity and controversy by empirical research Van Ewijk, Anne R. Many theoretical dissertations have an unclear definition of diversity and when interpreting strategies of organizational diversity policies, theories often contradict each other. It is argued that this ambiguity and controversy can be diminished by basing theory on diversity and diversity policy more on qualitative structured descriptive empirical comparisons. This argument is elaborated in two steps. First, diversity is shown to be a social construction: dynamic and plural in nature, dependent on the social-historical context. Second, the common theoretical dichotomy between diversity policy as equal opportunities or as diversity management in shown to be possibly misleading; empirical studies indicate more practical differentiation in types of diversity policy, manifested in public and private organizations. As qualitative comparisons are rare, especially in the European context and especially among public organizations, this article calls for more contributions of this kind and provides an analytical framework to assist scholars in the field of diversity studies. Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/43325 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/43036 Secession and liberal democracy. The case of the Basque country Requejo Coll, Ferran; Sanjaume Calvet, Marc The academic debate about the secession of a territory which is part of a liberal democracy state displays an initial contrast. On the one hand, practical secessionist movements usually legitimize their position using nationalist arguments linked to the principle of national self- determination. On the other hand, we find in academia few defenders of a normative principle of national self-determination. Philosophers, political scientists and jurists usually defend the status quo. And even when they do not defend it, most of them tend to leave the question of that question and secession unresolved or confused. Regarding this issue, liberal-democratic theories show a tendency to be “conservative” in relation to the political borders, regardless the historical and empirical processes of creation of current States. Probably, this feature is not far away to the fact that, since its beginning, political liberalism has not been a theory of the nation, but a theory of the state. Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/43036 2009-12-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/42922 The Nationalism of stateless nations and Europe. The Catalan case Nagel, Klaus-Jürgen This paper analyzes how the ideas and concepts of Europe have developed in Catalonia, under the conditions of a decentralizing “nation-state” (Spain) on one hand, and the European integration process on the other. It analyzes the programmes, manifestations of political leaders, and political actions of the Catalan political parties, specially the nationalists, from the setting up of the Spanish state of autonomies (1977-1982) until today. The paper tries to show how, in multilevel governance, holistic and enthusiastic visions of an economically and political integrating Europe as a “natural ally” of a Catalan nationalism were partially replaced by more pragmatic and even more critical assessments. Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/42922 2009-12-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/42108 Three theories of liberalism for the three theories of federalism. A Hegelian turn Requejo Coll, Ferran This paper links different political liberal theories, considered from the perspective of their moral ontology, with federal democracies. After giving a brief description of these theories, I discuss their relationship with the theoretical and institutional models of federalism. As methodological tools, the paper introduces some Hegel’s political concepts and deals with their potential application to the analysis of federalism, taken into account the case of minorities in multinational democracies. I postulate the need for a moral and institutional refinement of liberal-democratic patterns that is better able to accommodate national pluralism than has so far been achieved by traditional constitutionalism. Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/42108 2009-11-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/42107 Revealing the dark side of traditional democracies in plurinational societies. The case of Catalonia and the Spanish “Estado de las Autonomías” Requejo Coll, Ferran In this article, I firstly offer a synthesis of a brief set of analytical elements of the theory of democracy and federalism established in the recent debate which identify a number of flaws in the normative and institutional bases of plurinational democracies. It is necessary to overcome these flaws in order to achieve a true political and constitutional recognition and accommodation of the national pluralism of this kind of liberal democracies (section 1). Secondly, we will focus on the Spanish case of the “Estado de las Autonomías” taking into account the recent reform of the Catalan constitutional law (Estatut d’autonomia 2006) (section 2). A final section makes a number of concluding remarks relating the previously highlighted elements of the theory of democracy and federalism with the analysis of the Catalan case (section 3). Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/42107 2009-11-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/41897 Temporary and circular labour migration : reassessing established public policies Zapata-Barrero, Ricard; Faúndez García, Rocío; Sánchez Montijano, Elena Today, Temporary Labour Migration is a fundamental course of action promoted by relevant economic and political agents, such as EC, the GCIM, or the OECD. Based on a specific empirical case study of Temporary and Circular Labour Migration in the Catalonian agrarian sector, which has been distinguished as a particularly successful formula, we identify a new area of interest: the emergence of a new empirical migrant category, the Circular Labour Migrant, which remains theoretically unnamed and lacks public recognition. We argue that, until now, there have been two historical phases regarding temporary labour migration: one of total deregulation and another of partial regulation, led by private actors with support from public institutions, and featuring circularity. IN a developed Welfare State context, it would be normatively pertinent to except a step towards a third phase, one involving the institutionalization of this new mobility category through the elaboration of a public policy. Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/41897 2009-10-01T00:00:00Z