The book offers new insights into how ethnicity, language and regional-local identity interact within the context of Ukrainian political reform, and indicates how these reforms affect social cohesion among ethno-cultural groups. While the individual chapters each focus on one or a few facets of the overall research question, together they draw a nuanced picture of the multifaceted challenges to creating and consolidating social cohesion in a nationalizing state. The concept integrates various disciplines, including political science, international relations, law, and sociology. Correspondingly, the contributions are based on various methodological approaches, ranging from legal analysis over media discourse analysis, individual and focus group interviews to analysis of data from a representative population survey. The findings of the in-depth study are discussed within the broader context of comparative research on diversity management and social cohesion in fragmented societies.

The book offers new insights into how ethnicity, language and regional-local identity interact within the context of Ukrainian political reform, and indicates how these reforms affect social cohesion among ethno-cultural groups. While the individual chapters each focus on one or a few facets of the overall research question, together they draw a nuanced picture of the multifaceted challenges to creating and consolidating social cohesion in a nationalizing state. The concept integrates various disciplines, including political science, international relations, law, and sociology. Correspondingly, the contributions are based on various methodological approaches, ranging from legal analysis over media discourse analysis, individual and focus group interviews to analysis of data from a representative population survey. The findings of the in-depth study are discussed within the broader context of comparative research on diversity management and social cohesion in fragmented societies.

This book conceives federalism not as a static institutional architecture, but as a dynamic formation always in flux. This may entail processes of federalization, but in some cases also lead to de-federalization. It looks at emerging federal structures worldwide and analyses federal structures: their emergence, operation and categorization. The contributors highlight that the “emergence” of these federal structures has multiple facets, from the recognition of ethnic diversity to the use of federalism as a tool of conflict resolution. Identifying and categorizing processes of federalization and defederalization in a variety of cases, the book provides much needed empirical and theoretical discussion on emerging federal structures and the changing nature of federalism in the post-Cold War era.

When the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, the Russian Federation and the newly independent republics of the Baltics, the Caucasus and Central Asia engaged in redefining their national identity in a challenging regional and global context. The stances and policies towards the minorities living in these countries became part of the striving towards national independence and identity formation. Despite vastly different post-Soviet nation-building trajectories, the development and implementation of state policies towards minorities had similar relevance and importance across the region. Thirty years after the end of the USSR what is the situation of minorities and minority issues in the countries that emerged from that multi-ethnic state? How have the former republics – including Russia dealt with their minorities and minority affairs? To what protection and rights are minority communities entitled to? Studies of the dissolution of the USSR and of nation-building in the independent post-Soviet states have flourished over the past decades. However, despite the relevance of the theme, there is a dearth of specialist publications which address the many issues related to minority communities in the post-Soviet space. This volume attempts to fill this gap by providing a collection of essays covering some of the most relevant aspects of the contemporary status and situation of minorities in the area.

The eight-volume set LNCS 13375 – 13382 constitutes the proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Computational Science and Its Applications, ICCSA 2022, which was held in Malaga, Spain during July 4 – 7, 2022. The first two volumes contain the proceedings from ICCSA 2022, which are the 57 full and 24 short papers presented in these books were carefully reviewed and selected from 279 submissions. The other six volumes present the workshop proceedings, containing 285 papers out of 815 submissions. These six volumes includes the proceedings of the following workshops: ​ Advances in Artificial Intelligence Learning Technologies: Blended Learning, STEM, Computational Thinking and Coding (AAILT 2022); Workshop on Advancements in Applied Machine-learning and Data Analytics (AAMDA 2022); Advances in information Systems and Technologies for Emergency management, risk assessment and mitigation based on the Resilience (ASTER 2022); Advances in Web Based Learning (AWBL 2022); Blockchain and Distributed Ledgers: Technologies and Applications (BDLTA 2022); Bio and Neuro inspired Computing and Applications (BIONCA 2022); Configurational Analysis For Cities (CA Cities 2022); Computational and Applied Mathematics (CAM 2022), Computational and Applied Statistics (CAS 2022); Computational Mathematics, Statistics and Information Management (CMSIM); Computational Optimization and Applications (COA 2022); Computational Astrochemistry (CompAstro 2022); Computational methods for porous geomaterials (CompPor 2022); Computational Approaches for Smart, Conscious Cities (CASCC 2022); Cities, Technologies and Planning (CTP 2022); Digital Sustainability and Circular Economy (DiSCE 2022); Econometrics and Multidimensional Evaluation in Urban Environment (EMEUE 2022); Ethical AI applications for a human-centered cyber society (EthicAI 2022); Future Computing System Technologies and Applications (FiSTA 2022); Geographical Computing and Remote Sensing for Archaeology (GCRSArcheo 2022); Geodesign in Decision Making: meta planning and collaborative design for sustainable and inclusive development (GDM 2022); Geomatics in Agriculture and Forestry: new advances and perspectives (GeoForAgr 2022); Geographical Analysis, Urban Modeling, Spatial Statistics (Geog-An-Mod 2022); Geomatics for Resource Monitoring and Management (GRMM 2022); International Workshop on Information and Knowledge in the Internet of Things (IKIT 2022); 13th International Symposium on Software Quality (ISSQ 2022); Land Use monitoring for Sustanability (LUMS 2022); Machine Learning for Space and Earth Observation Data (MALSEOD 2022); Building multi-dimensional models for assessing complex environmental systems (MES 2022); MOdels and indicators for assessing and measuring the urban settlement deVElopment in the view of ZERO net land take by 2050 (MOVEto0 2022); Modelling Post-Covid cities (MPCC 2022); Ecosystem Services: nature’s contribution to people in practice. Assessment frameworks, models, mapping, and implications (NC2P 2022); New Mobility Choices For Sustainable and Alternative Scenarios (NEMOB 2022); 2nd Workshop on Privacy in the Cloud/Edge/IoT World (PCEIoT 2022); Psycho-Social Analysis of Sustainable Mobility in The Pre- and Post-Pandemic Phase (PSYCHE 2022); Processes, methods and tools towards RESilient cities and cultural heritage prone to SOD and ROD disasters (RES 2022); Scientific Computing Infrastructure (SCI 2022); Socio-Economic and Environmental Models for Land Use Management (SEMLUM 2022); 14th International Symposium on Software Engineering Processes and Applications (SEPA 2022); Ports of the future - smartness and sustainability (SmartPorts 2022); Smart Tourism (SmartTourism 2022); Sustainability Performance Assessment: models, approaches and applications toward interdisciplinary and integrated solutions (SPA 2022); Specifics of smart cities development in Europe (SPEED 2022); Smart and Sustainable Island Communities (SSIC 2022); Theoretical and Computational Chemistryand its Applications (TCCMA 2022); Transport Infrastructures for Smart Cities (TISC 2022); 14th International Workshop on Tools and Techniques in Software Development Process (TTSDP 2022); International Workshop on Urban Form Studies (UForm 2022); Urban Regeneration: Innovative Tools and Evaluation Model (URITEM 2022); International Workshop on Urban Space and Mobilities (USAM 2022); Virtual and Augmented Reality and Applications (VRA 2022); Advanced and Computational Methods for Earth Science Applications (WACM4ES 2022); Advanced Mathematics and Computing Methods in Complex Computational Systems (WAMCM 2022).

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022 has not only caused immense suffering inside the country, and among its people, it has shifted the political landscape in Russia for the worse, altered the strategic map of Europe, and created division and economic pain in the rest of the world. In this volume, a group of internationally acclaimed academics – many originally from Ukraine or Russia – examine the deep causes of Putin’s war, the role played by other actors such as China and the United States, the severe consequences for the many millions of Ukrainians displaced from their home and country, the impact on the West and the Global South and the challenges confronting Ukraine when the war finally comes to an end. Part of the LSE Public Policy Review Series, Ukraine: Russia’s War and the Future of the Global Order offers a rigorous intellectual response to this extreme humanitarian crisis and considers the implications for the future of Ukraine and the transformed global order.

Over the last decade, Europe has been struggling to cope with a series of significant and challenging global crises. Dramatic scenes from the so-called migrant crises, global financial crises, the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have sent shockwaves across Europe’s borders and have triggered drastic and sometimes even unprecedented responses from nation states. Caught between the shockwaves and counter-measures are Europe’s national minority communities. With little say or influence in national discussions on which measures to take in response to each crisis and often situated in peripheral or border regions, it is likely that these communities have been subjected to shifts in power balances and this may have even impacted their regional, national and transnational identities. By combining various sociological and anthropological methodologies with case studies from across northern, central, eastern and southern Europe, this book stresses the importance of listening to the unique concerns of minority communities in times of crisis. Starting in the Arctic Circle and working down in a reverse C-shape through Europe, each stop along the journey visits a different national minority community, where we learn about their multicultural, multilingual and transnational lifestyles and the distinct challenges they have faced in recent years. This book will be of interest to academics and researchers working in the areas of human geography, border studies, European studies, sociology, politics, minority studies and language studies.