South Tyrol is a small, mountainous area located in the central Alps. Despite its modest geographical size, it has come to represent a success story in the protection of ethnic minorities in Europe. When Austrian South Tyrol was given to Italy in 1919, about 200,000 German and Ladin speakers became Italian citizens overnight. Despite Italy's attempts to Italianize the South Tyroleans, especially during the Fascist era from 1922 to 1943, they sought to maintain their traditions and language, culminating in violence in the 1960s. In 1972 South Tyrol finally gained geographical and cultural autonomy from Italy, leading to the 'regional state' of 2010. This book, drawing on the latest research in Italian and German, provides a fresh analysis of this dynamic and turbulent period of South Tyrolean and European history. The author provides new insights into the political and cultural evolution of the understanding of the region and the definition of its role within the European framework. In a broader sense, the study also analyses the shift in paradigms from historical nationalism to modern regionalism against the backdrop of European, global, national and local historical developments as well as the shaping of the distinct identities of its multilingual and multi-ethnic population.

In lively language, Hans Karl Peterlini guides us through the recent history of South Tyrol. He illuminates the developments and key events, including the fighting in the First World War, the option and Italianisation of the country under the fascists, the political efforts for autonomy and the bomb attacks. Furthermore, Peterlini tells the stories of the people of South Tyrol, their economies, cultural creations and lifestyles, their misunderstandings, and achievements in reconciliation - right up to the present day.

The autonomous province of South Tyrol in Northern Italy is generally considered to be one of the most successful examples for the solution of ethnic conflicts. This book gives an analysis of the evolution of the legal instruments and institutions of self-government and minority protection through power-sharing as well as of the experience gathered during decades of the implementation of a "working economy." It thus provides insights regarding the state and the evolution of this specific case as well as for the general tendencies in the development of territorial autonomy and minority protection.

The Position of the German Language in the World focuses on the global position of German and the factors which work towards sustaining its use and utility for international communication. From the perspective of the global language constellation, the detailed data analysis of this substantial research project depicts German as an example of a second-rank language. The book also provides a model for analysis and description of international languages other than English. It offers a framework for strengthening the position of languages such as Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Spanish and others and for countering exaggerated claims about the global monopoly position of English. This comprehensive handbook of the state of the German language in the world was originally published in 2015 by Walter de Gruyter in German and has been critically acclaimed. Suitable for scholars and researchers of the German language, the handbook shows in detail how intricately and thoroughly German and other second-rank languages are tied up with a great number of societies and how these statistics support or weaken the languages’ functions and maintenance.