The relationship between religion, politics, and law represents, one of the most important issues in contemporary discussions on the world's future. While global changes and political conflicts in many parts of the world demand serious reflection about the role of religion in politics and in public discourse, the study of religion in post-secular societies calls for reflections about the normative role of religion in politics and law. Through the contributions of scholars in the disciplines of theology, the science of religion, and political science, this volume presents an absorbing analysis of democracy, politics, and law, drawing upon the works of John Rawls, Jfirgen Haberman, Max Horkheimer, Michel Foucault and Theodor W Adorno. Such topics as Islam and democracy are addressed, in addition to the report by the European Council on Fatwa and Research and specific issues in which churches have been involved in political conflicts. Case studies on communism, nazism, and apartheid, for example, are also presented, and finally the question is addressed of how inter-religious dialogue can function in secular societies in relation to the Danish cartoon crisis.

Hegel's influence on post-Hegelian philosophy is as profound as it is ambiguous. Modern philosophy is philosophy after Hegel. Taking leave of Hegel's system appears to be a common feature of modern and post-modern thought. One could even argue that giving up Hegel's claim of totality defines philosophy after Hegel. Modern and post-modern philosophies are philosophies of fini-tude: Hegel's philosophy cannot be repeated. However, its status as a negative backdrop for modern and post-modern thought already shows its pervasive influence. Precisely in its criticism of Hegel, modern thought is bound up with his thinking. - Arne Gron (from the Introduction)

Drug policy has spread into new areas of society and new players are now engaged in this policy. This leads to the question: How can we understand and explain the increasingly complex puzzle that we call drug policy? A very wide range of drug policies are implemented in contemporary societies - not only by governments, but also by local communities, organisations, public institutions, private enterprises, sports clubs etc. , with consequences for drug users, citizens and society in general. In this book, anthropologists, criminologists and sociologists analyse different aspects of drug policy, seeing it as a way of regulation drugs - including control, treatment, prevention and harm reduction. Using examples from both Denmark and the USA, the authors' approach is to focus in particular on the history and consequences of drug policy in practice. The topic is analysed on an international, national as well as local level. The book will be of great value to advanced undergraduate and graduate students with an interest in drug policy, as well as to academics, practitioners and policy makers in the drug field.

Abraham's intention to sacrifice his son on God's command symbolises the violent potential of authoritarian religion. The contemporary resurgence of radically 'conservative' and 'fundamentalist' religion raises the question whether this kind of God-relation is compatible with a commitment to liberal democracy. In this timely and original book, Troels Nager provides an answer by integrating insights from philosophy of religion and political philosophy. In Part One, Nager surveys the interpretive history of Genesis 22, focusing in particular on Kierkegaard's ingenious attempt to save Abraham and his unquestioning faith. In Part Two, drawing on eminent thinkers like Rawls and Habermas, Nager argues that while religion can be accorded an important role in the public square, each religion and each believer must learn to appreciate that in a pluralist society 'the political' (government, legal system, and public administration) is neutral towards religion and ultimately guided by 'secular' reason. Taking Leave of Abraham is a call to embrace our post-secular modernity without surrendering to the demands of authoritarian religion.

Text in English & Spanish. This book is the third and last in a series of three focusing on the deplorable development in the Ceja de Selva from Rodriguez de Mendoza to Soritor (Moyobamba). The interdisciplinary research at the regional level has shown how the natural and cultural landscape has changed dramatically over time, depending on the people, crops, and markets present. The forest with its biological diversity is disappearing fast along with the cultural remains from pre-hispanic times. Archaeological, ethnohistorical, anthropological, botanical and geographical investigations present a status quo on the landscape changes and many of the problems the migrating colonos face in their new environment. The book is also a reminder for the regional and national governments to take serious measures before the fragile landscape of the Ceja de Selva has lost its unique characteristics. Text in Spanish and English.

Iron Age Households - Structure & Practice in Western Denmark, 500 BC-AD 200

Is the body a mere container of learning processes? Or can we, in a productive way, develop an approach to learning that includes learning as a bodily phenomenon? The authors all work with the development or refinement of theories of 'learning bodies', and in this anthology they present the state of the art to anybody with an interest in current scientific discussions about the interplay between body, movement and learning. A full understanding of learning in all its complexity requires that the body is taken into account - regardless of whether we are dealing with the neurological foundations of learning processes, skill acquisition, mental health and illness, aesthetics or the physical setting where the learning takes place. Body, movement and senses (in short: corporeality), provide the necessary experiences for change and development in relation to life-long learning. This anthology presents a range of theoretical approaches to learning; neuroscience, psychiatry, sociology, psychology, phenomenology and pedagogy. By presenting this range of approaches, the anthology raises a central question in the philosophy of science: the need for incorporation of different approaches to achieve further insights. The first section of the book, The learning body, concerns the learning process from a psychological, neuroscience and phenomenological point of view. In part two, The encultured body, gender and aesthetics will be analysed in relation to the body and the community of practice. The third section, The educated body, sheds light on various aspects of the body in educational contexts and different body-related conditions for learning. The anthology is of particular interest to researchers and students of education, development and psychology, and to those interested in body and movement, both biomedical and the relation to social science and the humanities.

In this book Ove Korsgaard, the well-known scholar of democracy, examines how the concept people has changed throughout Danish history. Interpretations and uses of this notion have had dramatic influence on the building of the Danish society. The struggle of the people is the struggle for power in society. Until The Age of Enlightenment the concept was used to categorise the subjects of the master of the house, the subjects of the King, the subjects of God. Later the notion became a revolutionary key concept. The people was now regarded as sovereign. Today we are confronted with new questions, but the struggle continues: How are we to understand the concept people in a world of globalisation, individualisation and migration? Anyone who wants a quick overview of Danish history throughout the last 500 years will profit from this book.

Policymakers in welfare democracies throughout the world are raising questions as to whether welfare systems deliver what the public expects, and focus attention on increasing costs. Social workers need more evidence and knowledge about an increasing diversity of social work practices. Users of social welfare are increasingly individualised and made responsible for choosing and delivering their own service through contracts and this makes politicians, social workers and users more interested in evidence and knowledge about social services -- even though these interests are often conflicting. These tendencies might be part of the reasons why the evaluation of social work practice seems to be characterised at present by a variety and diversity of research methods, approaches and theories. Politicians, social workers and researchers more and more often use the term knowledge-based instead of evidence-based when they describe the practice they aim to develop through research. This is often an expression of a broader perception of research approaches that can help to produce the required knowledge. The contributors to this book hold a diversity of positions on evidence-based and knowledge-based practice.

Although Denmark, a small country on the European periphery, has only made a modest contribution to decisive progress in scientific research on the international arena, there have nevertheless been numerous significant Danish contributions, and naturally this present work describes these high points. While the high points are represented by scientists like Tycho Brahe, H.C. Ørsted and Niels Bohr, this publication distances itself from prevailing heroic presentations by putting weight on the dependence of these scientists on a wide-ranging professional network, as well as close contacts to private patrons, the state and other sponsors. Even though splendid pinnacles are also to be found, the flat landscape is perhaps more representative of Danish natural science history. In Denmark, the natural sciences (as also applies to other sciences, and culture in general) have developed mainly through the reception of and adaptation to science from abroad. Reception-history has therefore been given a prominent place in the work. Institutions- and organisations-history is another area that is given high priority, just as great weight has been laid on the material, economic and cultural framework under which research has always functioned. Although Danish natural science researchers have nearly always emphasised the importance of international cooperation, there are many national aspects of a social, political and cultural type which have had significant influence on the scientific practice in Denmark. The present work is documented in such a way that it (also) makes sense to write the international scientists history in a national context, and thereby placing the work solidly in a new and fast-growing scientific-historic genre.

This booklet presents lectures given by professors of archaeology Helle Vandkilde, Claus von Carnap-Bornheim and James Graham-Campbell. Vandkilde on "Archaeology, Anthropology and Globalisation" touching upon her future project in Papua New Guinea combining archaeology and social anthropology. Von Carnap-Bornheim interprets the finds from the location of the battle (Kalkriese-Niewedder Basin, Germany) in 9 AD between Roman Varus and the Germanic leader Arminius. Graham-Campbell deals with the silver economy in Viking-Age Britain and Ireland.

This second volume on the excavations of the Norwegian Viking town Kaupang 2000-2003 presents find types used in economic transactions - coins, hacksilver, ingots, weights and balances. Changes in type and volume of economic transactions at Kaupang and in Scandinavia are discussed, and the economic mentality of Viking crafts- and tradesmen is explored. In the early ninth century, silver and goods seem to have come to Kaupang mainly from the Carolinigian world. After the mid-ninth century this early system was altered. The increased availability of silver and the introduction in most of Scandinavia in the 860s-870s of standardized weights, paved the way for an increased use of silver as payment. The combined study of the find types and the sophisticated chronology of settlements' finds from sites like Kaupang give completely new insight into economy and exchange. The book demonstrates how sites like Kaupang led the way in economic development in Scandinavia and promoted an economic mentality that eventually led to the fundamental transformation of Scandinavian culture and society and culminated in the region's integration in High Middle Ages Christian Europe.

Most studies of Roman local administration focus on the formal structures of power: provincial laws, imperial edicts, urban institutions and magistracies. This book explores the interplay of formal politics with informal factors such as social prejudice, parochialism and personal rivalries in the cities of northwestern Asia Minor from the first to the fifth centuries AD. Through a detailed analysis of the municipal speeches and career of the philosopher-politician Dion Chrysostomos, we gain new insights into the petty conflicts and lofty ambitions of an ancient provincial small-town politician and those around him.

How did Denmark avoid a macro-economic catastrophe in the 1980s and 1990s and still manage not only to maintain but also expand its welfare state? Denmark's macro-economic troubles apparently derived from a number of vices identified by critics of the welfare state: it had an enormous, thoroughly unionised, and unresponsive public sector; large numbers of people relied on the state for their livelihood, making programmatic cuts politically difficult; many programs had the characteristic of property rights and were hard to modify. Taxes to sustain this welfare state compressed investment, eroding both fiscal and current account balances. Yet by the mid 1990s, public support for the welfare state was as high as ever, while fiscal and current accounts were essentially in balance. This book presents a comprehensive picture of how the Danish welfare state and political economy works by looking at the governance of and interactions between the welfare state and economy at all levels, using analyses of general macro-economic policy, centre-local relations, budgeting, labour market, and welfare state transfers and services in three critical areas. A critical introductory survey of the welfare state literature and a synthetic conclusion frame these studies.

What do Europeans have in common apart from the rights and duties deriving from the treaties? Is there such a thing as 'Europeanness' in the sense of a common identity? Can rights serve as a unifying factor in the new EU of 27 member states? And what are the sources of human identity as such? This book addresses these topical issues through a combination of theoretical and philo-sophical enquiry and empirical analysis. The nature of Political Man is investigated, as well as the sources of identity. The author argues in favour of a broad conception of political rationality and develops a new individualistic approach to the study of identity and culture summarised in the formulation "culture is choice -- and choice is culture". The notion that culture and identity are holistic phenomena, something that citizens have to accept as a kind of destiny, is challenged, because with the exception of gender, identity and culture are very much chosen. While the existing literature tends to define culture in terms of customs and habits, the author argues that the emphasis ought to be shifted towards subjective meanings and tastes (broadly defined). But choice is also culture in the sense that humans are cultural beings with cultural needs and the simplistic notions of rational choice and globalisation, which assume that human beings are utility maximisers in a narrow, materialistic sense, must therefore be abandoned. From this perspective European identity suddenly looks quite solid: It is based on a variety of sources of identity, and some of the strongest sources of identity are immaterial and cultural. There is such a thing as a cultural community of distance; a sharing of outlook, memories and not least aesthetic experiences.

The aim of this publication is to stress that cultural, social and cognitive aspects today are important goals and perspectives of technological studies, and that technological studies can contribute vitally to the interpretation of our prehistory. There is today a strong new trend among a young generation of archaeologists towards using the study of technology. This trend focuses on the understanding of the material process -- and sees these processes as logical responses and changes reflecting human behaviour and cognition. Thus, in some ways, this trend is in opposition to former morphological and static studies of artefacts. The book consists of ten case studies, which employ the study of technology as a primary methodology, and discuss issues and problems concerning the methods, results and perspectives of this methodology. The materials analysed in the studies are made from bone, stone and textiles, while the archaeological contexts are ranging from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Viking Age. This publication is a result of the workshop "The study of technology as a method for gaining insight into social and cultural aspects of prehistory", held at the National Museum of Denmark, the 3-4 November 2005.