Robert C. Ostergren
The
Mathias Le Bossé
Europeans
Chapter 1
Strasbourg is, in many ways, the perfect place to begin this book, for it epitomizes much of what we
may think of as important to an appreciation of today’s Europe.
In the aftermath of World War II the city
became the headquarters of the Council of
Europe, which was headquartered here on
the border between France and Germany as
a symbol of the postwar rapprochement
between these two warring rivals.
Capital of Europe, an icon of European unity
and cooperative integration
It is also the permanent home of the European Parliament, which makes
Strasbourg, along with Brussels and Luxembourg, one of the main centers of the
European Union
Strasbourg is also home to a host of other international organizations, including the
International Human Rights Institute, the European Science Foundation, the
European Center of Regional Development, and the Assembly of European
Regions.
But the city may be thought of as representative of Europe in many other ways as well.
It is a provincial capital (and certainly looked upon as no more than that from Paris) and
a regional center.
Like many other such places in today’s Europe, the city takes special pride in its historic
heritage, its cultural leadership of its regional hinterland, and its modern economic
prosperity and development.
Strasbourg was founded more than 2,000 years ago as a Celtic settlement and later
served as a Roman camp.
, History
As the capital of Alsace, tucked between Germany and France, sovereignty
over the city and its region has bounced back and forth between these two
rivals
After two centuries of French rule, it was annexed by Germany between 1871 and 1918, and again from
1940 to 1944, before being finally returned to France.
A region may be defined as a bounded segment of earth space. We will discuss three kinds of
regions here: instituted, naively perceived, and denoted. It is important to recognize that all regions are
products of the human mind.
Regions do not exist without the agency of humankind. They do, however, differ in who creates them,
why they are created, and how they function.
Instituted Regions
Instituted regions are perhaps the most familiar to the lay public. They are created by authorities
within some organization—for example, national, state, or local governments, religious organizations
such as the Roman Catholic Church, private businesses, and so on.
The regions are created so that the organization can more easily administer whatever activity it is
engaged in, whether carrying out planning for the future, collecting revenues, assembling data, or
the like. Once instituted, these regions are recognized as existing entities and have boundaries that
are clearly demarcated, on paper if not always on the ground; these are usually, but not always,
agreed on by everyone.
Systems of instituted regions are often hierarchical; that is, they nest within one another.
The secular instituted region at the highest level of the hierarchy is the independent state. In the
United States the second level is represented by the constituent state (e.g., Minnesota); below that
is the county, then the city or rural township.
Characteristics: recognized as existing entities, boundaries, Hierarchical (they nest within each other
i.e. Country-state-county-town)
The regions at different levels have different functions, but it is not easy to generalize about their
importance. In the United States, for ex-ample, local authorities control education, while in European
countries decisions about education are typically made at higher levels. In Switzerland the greatest
power over most matters is held by the communes and the cantons into which they are grouped
rather than by the federal government.
Con el fin de organizar políticamente la República, el territorio nacional se divide en el de
los Estados, Distrito Capital, las dependencias federales y los territorios federales
The
Mathias Le Bossé
Europeans
Chapter 1
Strasbourg is, in many ways, the perfect place to begin this book, for it epitomizes much of what we
may think of as important to an appreciation of today’s Europe.
In the aftermath of World War II the city
became the headquarters of the Council of
Europe, which was headquartered here on
the border between France and Germany as
a symbol of the postwar rapprochement
between these two warring rivals.
Capital of Europe, an icon of European unity
and cooperative integration
It is also the permanent home of the European Parliament, which makes
Strasbourg, along with Brussels and Luxembourg, one of the main centers of the
European Union
Strasbourg is also home to a host of other international organizations, including the
International Human Rights Institute, the European Science Foundation, the
European Center of Regional Development, and the Assembly of European
Regions.
But the city may be thought of as representative of Europe in many other ways as well.
It is a provincial capital (and certainly looked upon as no more than that from Paris) and
a regional center.
Like many other such places in today’s Europe, the city takes special pride in its historic
heritage, its cultural leadership of its regional hinterland, and its modern economic
prosperity and development.
Strasbourg was founded more than 2,000 years ago as a Celtic settlement and later
served as a Roman camp.
, History
As the capital of Alsace, tucked between Germany and France, sovereignty
over the city and its region has bounced back and forth between these two
rivals
After two centuries of French rule, it was annexed by Germany between 1871 and 1918, and again from
1940 to 1944, before being finally returned to France.
A region may be defined as a bounded segment of earth space. We will discuss three kinds of
regions here: instituted, naively perceived, and denoted. It is important to recognize that all regions are
products of the human mind.
Regions do not exist without the agency of humankind. They do, however, differ in who creates them,
why they are created, and how they function.
Instituted Regions
Instituted regions are perhaps the most familiar to the lay public. They are created by authorities
within some organization—for example, national, state, or local governments, religious organizations
such as the Roman Catholic Church, private businesses, and so on.
The regions are created so that the organization can more easily administer whatever activity it is
engaged in, whether carrying out planning for the future, collecting revenues, assembling data, or
the like. Once instituted, these regions are recognized as existing entities and have boundaries that
are clearly demarcated, on paper if not always on the ground; these are usually, but not always,
agreed on by everyone.
Systems of instituted regions are often hierarchical; that is, they nest within one another.
The secular instituted region at the highest level of the hierarchy is the independent state. In the
United States the second level is represented by the constituent state (e.g., Minnesota); below that
is the county, then the city or rural township.
Characteristics: recognized as existing entities, boundaries, Hierarchical (they nest within each other
i.e. Country-state-county-town)
The regions at different levels have different functions, but it is not easy to generalize about their
importance. In the United States, for ex-ample, local authorities control education, while in European
countries decisions about education are typically made at higher levels. In Switzerland the greatest
power over most matters is held by the communes and the cantons into which they are grouped
rather than by the federal government.
Con el fin de organizar políticamente la República, el territorio nacional se divide en el de
los Estados, Distrito Capital, las dependencias federales y los territorios federales
