With the expansion of the European Union, the countries of Southeast Europe have finally been brought together within one socio-political entity. The restructuring of these economies following globalization and neoliberalization has meant that this region has become much more open to geopolitical shifts and trends. While the various countries have all entered into the slow process of European integration, the historic fragmentation of this region has led to various conflicts and contradictions in the restructuring and transition of national economies. This volume provides a theoretical and comparative overview which examines the prospects for spatial cohesion in this region. With the need to handle persisting problems and conflicts from the past while coping with new economic and political structures, Southeast Europe proves to be a challenging yet fruitful testing ground for how best to overcome fragmentation and establish a long-term process of social and economic integration.

With the expansion of the European Union, the countries of Southeast Europe have finally been brought together within one socio-political entity. The restructuring of these economies following globalization and neoliberalization has meant that this region has become much more open to geopolitical shifts and trends. While the various countries have all entered into the slow process of European integration, the historic fragmentation of this region has led to various conflicts and contradictions in the restructuring and transition of national economies. This volume provides a theoretical and comparative overview which examines the prospects for spatial cohesion in this region. With the need to handle persisting problems and conflicts from the past while coping with new economic and political structures, Southeast Europe proves to be a challenging yet fruitful testing ground for how best to overcome fragmentation and establish a long-term process of social and economic integration.

"With the expansion of the European Union, the countries of Southeast Europe have finally been brought together within one socio-political entity. The restructuring of these economies following globalization and neoliberalization has meant that this region has become much more open to geopolitical shifts and trends. While the various countries have all entered into the slow process of European integration, the historic fragmentation of this region has led to various conflicts and contradictions in the restructuring and transition of national economies. This volume provides a theoretical and comparative overview which examines the prospects for spatial cohesion in this region. With the need to handle persisting problems and conflicts from the past while coping with new economic and political structures, Southeast Europe proves to be a challenging yet fruitful testing ground for how best to overcome fragmentation and establish a long-term process of social and economic integration."--Provided by publisher

This volume uses new empirical evidence and analytical ideas to study phenomena of fragmentation and exclusion threatening stability and cohesion in Greek society in the aftermath of the crisis. The contributors argue that processes of fragmentation and exclusion provoked by the crisis can be observed on both a material and an ideational level. On a material level, rising levels of unemployment, poverty and inequality have produced new social security “outsiders”, while on an ideational level, a discursive-cultural shift is documented, which has led to new understandings and categorizations of new (and old) insiders and outsiders. Moreover, the volume attests to the aspirations, but also the limitations, of spontaneous civil society mobilization to address the social crisis. Finally, the volume offers a discussion of the political management of social fragmentation and exclusion in Greece both before and after the onset of the crisis. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of social policy and phenomena of poverty, social exclusion and economic inequality, civil society studies, and comparative political economy and politics.

The Iron Curtain, running from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea, divided Europe for almost 40 years and no activity was allowed in this "forbidden" zone. When it fell in 1989, it left a strip of land that runs the entire length of Europe and that has remained comparatively undisturbed - a green belt. The Green Belt initiative aims to integrate this entire strip of land with its key habitats and ecological areas as part of an international network of valuable ecosystems. This book provides background information on the initiative, reviews current activities in a number of case studies and looks at how the initiative can fit into current and future global efforts to protect European biodiversity.