Author: Pero Maldini File Type: pdf The accession of Croatia to the EU marked the end of a long and arduous period of transition. Croatia had to meet significantly higher criteria than previous states with suspicion and concerns among existing members about further enlargement increasing. Meanwhile initially strong public support in Croatia declined as inconsistencies in EU policy, entry criteria and problems caused by the economic crisis all combined with fears about the loss of national identity and the ability to realize national interests. The successful Croatian accession to the EU in 2013 shows that, despite concerns on both sides, the EU continues to have meaning and significance and that membership remains highly desirable. Through nine mutually interrelated chapters the contributors speak not only about the political and social situation in Croatia, but also prospects for the European Union itself.**ReviewThis volume offers an exceptionally wide range of uses. It frames and articulates the issues of special interest to regional scholars, especially those interested in the last waves of admissions to the Union. It provides much needed perspective and insight for policy-makers and European politicians and a platform for further research and study for serious students of European, Balkan, and Croatian politics. Comparative and IR scholars need to read it. --Richard P. Farkas, DePaul University, USA Processes, actors and issues of Croatias journey to European Union membership are explained by this timely and analytical work. A must read for scholars, students and practitioners of politics of European enlargement. Political science at its best. --Ivan Grdesic, Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland About the Author Pero Maldini is an associate professor at the Department of Communication Science at University of Dubrovnik and Head of Interdisciplinary Doctoral Study of Communication Science at University of Osijek. He teaches courses in political science. His research interests are comparative politics, democratization, democratic transition, political culture and Croatian politics. Davor PaukoviA is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Science at University of Dubrovnik. He received his Ph.D. in contemporary history in 2010 from the University of Zagreb. He teaches courses in contemporary Croatian and world history. He is editor in chief of international journal for social sciences & humanities Contemporary Issues.

Author: Sumit K. Mandal File Type: pdf Sumit K. Mandal uncovers the hybridity and transregional connections underlying modern Asian identities. By considering Arabs in the Malay world under European rule, Becoming Arab explores how a long history of inter-Asian interaction was altered by nineteenth-century racial categorisation and control. Mandal traces the transformation of Arabs from familiar and multi-faceted creole personages of Malay courts into alienated figures defined by economic and political function. The racialisation constrained but did not eliminate the fluid character of Arabness. Creole Arabs responded to the constraints by initiating transregional links with the Ottoman Empire and establishing modern social organisations, schools, and a press. Contentions emerged between organisations respectively based on Prophetic descent and egalitarianism, advancing empowering but conflicting representations of a modern Arab and Islamic identity. Mandal unsettles finite understandings of race and identity by demonstrating not only the incremental development of a modern identity, but the contested state of its birth.**ReviewMandal makes an important and original contribution to our understanding of Arabs and Arabness in the Malay world, as well as to the history of colonial and postcolonial Indonesia. His lucid and accessible style makes Becoming Arab a pleasure to read. This ground breaking work will provoke various conversations that will further enrich our knowledge of the topic. Ronit Ricci, Hebrew University, Israel Becoming Arab presents rich, engaging and original material on Arabs in the Malay world and makes a powerful case for deeper exploration of creole and transnational histories it makes an important contribution to Southeast Asian history and colonial history, to the study of contemporary identity, ethnicity, and race, to understandings of the salience of race and ethnicity in the making and maintenance of modern nation states. Iza Hussin, University of Cambridge Book Description For all readers seeking a fresh perspective on how Asians negotiated racial categorisation and control under European colonial rule. Asians - Arabs in this instance - did not acquiesce but drew on a history of integration in the Malay world, connections to the Ottoman Empire, and modern organisations and schools.