Springer – To Archeio https://toarcheio.org To Archeio project site Mon, 04 May 2020 23:24:29 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.1 The Ecumenical ‘Right to the City’: Urban Commons and Intersectional Enclosures in Athens and Istanbul https://toarcheio.org/items/the-ecumenical-right-to-the-city-urban-commons-and-intersectional-enclosures-in-athens-and-istanbul/ Mon, 04 May 2020 23:24:29 +0000 https://toarcheio.org/items/the-ecumenical-right-to-the-city-urban-commons-and-intersectional-enclosures-in-athens-and-istanbul/ The collective volume is an outcome of the international conference ‘Contested Borderscapes. Transnational Geographies vis-à-vis Fortress Europe’ that took place in Mytilene (Lesvos), September 28 – October 1, 2017.

]]> A post-colonial enquiry into Europe’s debt and migration crisis https://toarcheio.org/items/a-post-colonial-enquiry-into-europes-debt-and-migration-crisis/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:44 +0000 http://arc.local/items/a-post-colonial-enquiry-into-europes-debt-and-migration-crisis/ Continued]]> This important and topical volume is composed around the debt and migration crisis in Europe in 2015 (known as the Greece crisis), and written almost concurrently as the two crises developed in quick succession. The central argument here is that Europe’s present crisis suggests a post-colonial bind, or to put in stronger terms, a post-colonial destiny of Europe. The European situation bears remarkable similarity with the post-colonial condition elsewhere in the world and suggests a strong bond between Europe’s present situation and the post-colonial bind in which much of the world finds itself. The purpose of this volume is to examine in the light of 21st century capitalism notions such as debt, crisis, rupture, dialogue, mobilization, neo-liberalism, war and migration, and the old, never to be settled, question of ideology. The volume ends with reflections on Europe’s migration crisis, and reinforces the point that a critical post-colonial sense of history, accumulation, globalization, and the resilience of the nation form will help us reflect on the present European crisis, and draw appropriate lessons.

]]> Crisis and transition of NGOs in Europe: The case of Greece https://toarcheio.org/items/crisis-and-transition-of-ngos-in-europe-the-case-of-greece/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:36 +0000 http://arc.local/items/crisis-and-transition-of-ngos-in-europe-the-case-of-greece/ Continued]]> The ongoing financial crisis has globally impacted nearly every national economy in the world. Although its initial effects were concentrated purely in the financial sector, increased economic turbulence has gradually diffused into most sectors of society—including civil society and NGOs. One basic consequence has been the transformation of development assistance due to a decrease in available funding from the usual “suspects”, known as “old donors,” and a subsequent increase from so called “new donors” such as China and Brazil. Moreover, many of these “new donors” are negatively predisposed to working with NGOs and thus available funding to NGOs in the international level seems to be decreasing. A focus on the national level also reveals a similar case: countries that were greatly impacted by the aftermath of the crisis, such as Greece, have sharply decreased available public funding to NGOs.

This paper explores the effects of these developments. Its initial findings suggest that the “western model” of NGOs expansion is less viable than before. NGOs are being accused of losing their fundamental values and working mostly as ‘walking sticks’—covering states’ inefficiencies in specific sectors—thus their function as an unofficial public sector is being challenged. In practice, NGOs are transforming into dedicated contractors of national and international public agencies with limited to no real interconnection with society. This transformation is being rendered incompatible with the new environment, as available contracts are becoming less lucrative. As a result, many NGOs are rediscovering their idealistic past while new, less formal civil society actors are arising to cover the multiple needs created by the crisis. Focusing mainly on the Greek case study, this paper presents a seldom-studied effect of the financial crisis—the transformation of the NGO sector, culminating in informal networks overlapping with “old school” NGOs which find it difficult to adjust to the new economic situation. Evidence suggests that a dual trend currently exists where a small segment of existing “professionalized” NGOs are able to gain public funding through the usual public procurement procedures. Thus, they are able to survive and further expand in conjunction with the rise of small, grassroots organizations whose main strengths derive from their devotion to the practice of philanthropy, altruism, and voluntarism, in addition to their widespread acceptance from the general public.

]]> Coping with the crisis: Academic work and changes in Greek higher education https://toarcheio.org/items/coping-with-the-crisis-academic-work-and-changes-in-greek-higher-education/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:35 +0000 http://arc.local/items/coping-with-the-crisis-academic-work-and-changes-in-greek-higher-education/ Continued]]> Reforms over the last decade were an effort by the state to regulate the quality and effectiveness of Greek public universities. Concurrent with the introduction of these reforms, the austere economic crisis and the current political unrest in Greece are perceived to affect academic work. The objective of this chapter is to present changes in academic work in Greece, as derived from the laws, and discuss challenges that academics face resulting from higher education laws and the economic crisis. The data consists of documents and interviews with academics from 16 disciplines in one large university (N = 23). Under such changing circumstances, this small study shows that academics, especially those with more than 25 years of work at this university, work hard to keep the university open and help students to complete their degree.

]]> Current Debates About Religion and Human Rights in Greece https://toarcheio.org/items/current-debates-about-religion-and-human-rights-in-greece/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:34 +0000 http://arc.local/items/current-debates-about-religion-and-human-rights-in-greece/ Continued]]> This paper addresses the topics of Religion and Human Rights in the Greek context. More specifically, it explores key Human Rights issues from the perspective of Religious Freedom, namely the legal personality of local religious communities, provisions on proselytism and places of worship, civil rights and youth engagement in the relevant debates. Furthermore, it highlights the dynamics developed between the State regulations, the religious communities and the Human Rights debates in Greece. In this perspective, it enhances as important the fact that Greece as an EU member State cultivated during the last decades a legal and political culture that belongs to the modern liberal democracies tradition. Despite this progress, a variety of challenges is to be faced by Greek society: the rapid changes in global geopolitics, the new migration waves, and the cultural and religious pluralism along with the social and political instability caused by the debt crisis bring to the forth discontent. In this sense, the overall challenge for the Greek society is to approach an understanding of human rights that may function as a framework that guarantees justice and equality for all.

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