NATIONS IN THE NEWS

THE MISSION: To study recent European news stories and to think about whether these can be framed within an historical context:

THE PROCEDURE:  Choose one of the following options.

OPTION A: THE NATIONAL FOCUS

Pick a country from the list below.  Using the recommended links, and your own independent research,  identify three issues that have been in the news in that nation in the last five years (as historians, we don't want to get too focused on yesterday's stories when we talk about "Current Events!").

Identify one of these issues as your special focus.  You should find a minimum of six news stories about this theme.  Each of the other two topics should be based upon at least thee articles.   For each of the issues, provide a page of description and analysis, using the following table as a template or model:

POSSIBLE COUNTRIES:

• ALBANIA

• AUSTRIA

• BALTIC STATES IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE (Examine at least two issues in all three Baltic States nations: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)

• BELARUS

• BELGIUM

• BOSNIA

• BULGARIA

• CROATIA

• CYPRUS

• CZECH REPUBLIC

• DENMARK

• ESTONIA

• FINLAND

• FRANCE

• GEORGIA

• GERMANY

• GREECE

• HUNGARY

• ICELAND

• IRELAND

• ITALY

• LATVIA

• LIECHENSTEIN

• LITHUANIA

• LUXEMBOURG

• MACEDONIA

• MALTA

• MOLDOVA

• NETHERLANDS

• NORWAY

• POLAND

• PORTUGAL

• ROMANIA

• RUSSIA

• SLOVAKIA

• SLOVENIA

• SPAIN

• SWEDEN

• SWITZERLAND

• TURKEY

• UKRAINE

• UNITED KINGDOM

• YUGOSLAVIA/SERBIA

RECOMMENDED LINKS:

•   BBC NEWS:  I recommend starting here whether you choose the country or thematic focus.  Type search terms into the box in the upper-right hand corner of the home page and you will be directed to an index of relevant articles from the last five years.  For the national focus, begin by typing in the name of the country.  But experiment here with alternative terms when you zero in on specific topics, remembering that search engines are not intuitive.  Note that each specific BBC article also includes links to related articles in the right-hand margin.  For those who choose a thematic focus, try putting in general terms (eg. "Abortion and Europe") but then also specific country pairings ("Italy and Abortion;" "Poland and Abortion;" "France and Abortion;" "Germany and Abortion;" etc.).

• New York Times:  News is organized by individual country at http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/news/international/countriesandterritories/index.html   .

• Guardian:  Type in general search terms, though there also is a special Europe page at  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/europe/roundup  .

• Spiegel Online International:

• Christian Science Monitor:

• ABYZ News Links:  A portal to many international newspapers and other media sources.

OPTION B: THEMATIC FOCUS

Pick a theme from the list below or of your own design.  Using the recommended links as a starting point, and your own independent research,  find several news stories about your topic from any time in the last five years in at least three different European countries.

Write a journal entry of at least three pages in length that uses the following table as a template or model.

SOME POSSIBLE THEMES:

• ABORTION

• AIDS AND EUROPE

• BALKAN WARS AND THEIR LEGACIES (Look in at 3 of Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia)

• DRUG TRADE AND DRUG POLICY

• ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

• ETHNIC MINORITIES

• EURO

• EUROPEAN UNION

• EUTHANASIA

• FAR RIGHT IN EUROPE TODAY (One useful source is the two-part BBC audio documentary at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00dd29c   )

• GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS

• GYPSIES/ROMA (See the Romani People Topic at the New York Times as one source)

• LANGUAGE ISSUES

• MONARCHY IN MODERN TIMES

• MUSLIMS IN EUROPE

• NATO AND ITS FUTURE

• NUCLEAR POWER AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS

• POPE JOHN PAUL II AND/OR BENEDICT XVII (In this case, look in at general news stories rather than organizing the topic on a country-by-country basis)

• RELIGION IN EUROPE TODAY

• SOCCER (FOOTBALL) AND EUROPEAN SOCIETY

• TERRORISM

• UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

• WAR IN AFGHANISTAN

• WOMEN AND POLITICS