This book explores how identities, public spheres and collective memories are being transformed in cross-border areas, contributing to the broad sociological context of Europeanization. Offering case studies on the German-Czech-Austrian, and Czech-Polish-German borderlands, the book introduces original primary data on cross-border cooperation. This data is interpreted using the concept of active borders, which approaches borders as a source of multicultural competence and cognitive capacity. In turn, the authors argue that Europeans need to treat borders, both territorial and symbolic, as specific cultural forms. Active borders allow an unprecedented level of cross-border cooperation and integration, and foster a better understanding of differences, rather than re-embedding them or constructing others. Accordingly, the authors contend that active borders promote more dynamic, open and resilient societies, and represent crucial prerequisites for the success of the European integration project.

In the first week of May 1988, more than seventy scholars and musicians from five countries gathered at Washington University in St. Louis to participate in the first conference and festival ever to take place in the United States on the Moravian composer Leos Janácek. This volume, arranged in seven parts, is a collection of thirty-five of the papers presented at the conference. It is the first large collection of essays in English concerning Janácek's music, and the only collection of proceedings from a Janácek symposium to be published in the last twenty-five years... most of its essays deal with Janácek's music, while some with other Czech music, mostly from before the time of Bedrich Smetana. This breadth of scope is not a weakness of either the conference or the volume, since it places Janácek in historical perspective, and since the articles that deal with the earlier music are among the best in the volume and are deserving of a forum. John K. Novak, Notes June 1996

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.

This book discusses how tourism between neighboring countries like Poland and Germany is hindered despite the Schengen Treaty. Taking protected areas in north-eastern Germany and north-western Poland as exemplary cases, it analyses the phenomenon of socio-economic and cultural barriers for cross-border tourism. It also presents the results of a representative online survey in both countries, and discusses socio-economic and geographical research on border areas, nature tourism in protected areas, national stereotypes and prejudices. As one of the very few source market studies on protected area tourism, it is relevant for scholars and practitioners (protected area managers, tourism professionals) alike providing them with insights into the implications for future research and tourism practice.