/library/oar/handle/123456789/46130 2026-06-21T18:54:01Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/46194 Title: Development cooperation in the 21st century : looking beyond the surface Abstract: Many years ago I read Fernand Braudel’s “The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II” and it left an indelible impression on me. Has the reader heard of Braudel’s great work? The Mediterranean and its development – from its geological evolution to the end of the 16th century – is a fascinating subject. It is not the subject matter itself that makes the book unforgettable, it is Braudel’s genius in piecing together the enormous quantity of material to create an epic work. He first presents the reader with an almost static history, describing the geology, geography and the climate of the region, a history that indicates only very slow, hardly perceptible changes. Things happen over and over again; cycles recur through the work. Braudel focuses on the seasons, the maritime storms, the wanderings of the shepherds, the ways in which the mountains and rivers shape human history and ways of thinking and doing things. And we are led to understand such remarks as his observation that mountain dwellers are more conservative than people who live on the plains. 2010-12-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/46163 Title: The Malta turn of Europe - the European Union in the age of globality Abstract: Victor Hugo once described revolutions as a return from the artificial to normalcy. Certainly, revolutions are processes that unveil the unknown in history. Revolutions are revelations. 1989 was such a revelation in Europe. It changed the European perspective from Yalta to Malta, that is: from internal division to global exposure. The turn from Yalta to Malta was not only a semantic gag. It was also more than describing the end of the Cold War. To link Malta to Yalta was not a nice way for writing an obituary to a closed chapter in history. To the contrary, “Malta” opened a new chapter in the history of Europe. I call this fundamental fact “the Malta turn of Europe”. Most people which were living the political events of 1989 or were observing them from a distance did not instantly grasp the meaning of the political changes that happened across Central Europe. Two basic meanings were revealed by the history of 1989: a fundamental geopolitical change and a fundamental sociocultural change – and both were fundamentally interrelated. The fall of communist regimes that had been governing many societies was met with excitement and joy, sometimes even with disbelief and worry across the world. With hindsight knowledge, two facts remain evident: 1989 did not begin in 1989 and it did not end with 1989. When we compare the fall of communist regimes in Europe with the French Revolution of 1789, we instantly realize the meaning of this thought: also 1789 did not begin in 1789 and it did not end with 1789. The French Revolution in its time went through periods of incubation. And it continued through several periods of transformation, of revolutions inside the revolution, of unexpected results and unintended consequences. The same was happening in Europe again two centuries later. Three insights remain fundamental to better contextualize 1989 and the Malta summit in that year that declared the Cold War dead. 2010-02-01T00:00:00Z