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Diese Dissertation beschäftigt sich mit der Darstellung der Herrscherin Maria Theresia anhand von 221 Porträts, die zwischen der Geburt der Herrscherin im Jahre 1717 und ihrem Tod im Jahre 1780 angefertigt wurden, die meisten nach dem Regierungsantritt im Jahre 1740. Die Porträts befinden sich in allen ehemaligen Ländern der Monarchie, und zwar in den österreichischen Erbländern, in Ungarn, Böhmen, Italien und in den österreichischen Niederlanden. Die Porträts erlauben es, die Beziehungen zwischen Maria Theresia und den Eliten der Monarchie (Adlige, Klöster, Städte) zu untersuchen. Sowohl die Produktion als auch die Verbreitung und der ikonographische Inhalt werden berücksichtigt. Wie stärkten die Porträts die Position und die Legitimität der Herrscherin Maria Theresia in einer schwierigen Situation? Wie legitimierten sie sowohl die Monarchin als auch die Eliten der Monarchie, die das königliche Porträt auch selbst in Auftrag gaben, in ihrer jeweiligen Stellung? Die meisten Maler der königlichen Porträts wurden an der Wiener Akademie ausgebildet, deren Direktor der wichtigste Hofmaler Maria Theresias, Martin van Meytens, war. Viele Maler, die für Kopisten gehalten werden können, imitierten die Porträts von Martin van Meytens und seiner Werkstatt. Diese Maler, die meistens unbekannt geblieben sind, vermitteln übrigens ein etwas weiblicheres Bild der Herrscherin. Die Maler, insbesondere die Hof- und Kammermaler, arbeiteten für verschiedene Auftraggeber und fertigten das königliche Porträt sowohl für den Wiener Hof als auch für die Eliten aus den verschiedenen Ländern der Monarchie an. [.]Es hat sich gezeigt, dass die Porträts sowohl von Maria Theresia als auch von den Eliten in Auftrag gegeben wurden. Sie wurden in bestimmten Räumen der adligen und kaiserlichen Schlösser ausgestellt: nämlich in Audienzzimmern, die auch Kaiserzimmer oder Maria-Theresien-Zimmer genannt wurden. Sie waren Repräsentationszeichen für die Herrscherin und zugleich Repräsentationsmittel für das eigene Prestige der Eliten. Die Bildtypen waren ähnlich, ob die Porträts von den Eliten oder vom Hof in Auftrag gegeben wurden; sie änderten sich aber im Laufe der Regierung und stellten verschiedene unter den zahlreichen Rollen Maria Theresias in den Vordergrund. Sie trat verschiedentlich als Erzherzogin von Österreich, als König (nicht Königin) von Ungarn und Böhmen, als Tochter, Ehefrau und Mutter von Kaisern des Heiligen Römischen Reiches in Erscheinung. Neben und zugleich mit ihren Rollen als Herrscherin konnte Maria Theresia auch als Frau, Mutter und Witwe gezeigt werden. Die Krone und die Kaiserwürde des Heiligen Römischen Reiches Deutscher Nation, die Maria Theresia als Frau nicht tragen durfte, spielten immer noch eine wichtige Rolle, insbesondere in der Darstellung von Maria Theresia und ihrer Familie. Komplementäre Porträts von Maria Theresia und ihrem Ehemann, Kaiser Franz I., respektive später ihrem Sohn, Kaiser Joseph II., dienten dazu, die Kontinuität zwischen den Habsburgern und den Habsburg-Lothringern zu betonen. Nach dem Aussterben der männlichen Linie der Habsburger im Jahre 1740 war es wichtig für Maria Theresia, ihre zahlreichen Kinder durch Porträts darzustellen. Neben Kronen und Zeptern werden nach und nach neue Legitimations- und Herrschaftssymbole in den Bildern dargestellt. Dokumente, Papiere, Bücher spiegeln am Ende des Lebens der Herrscherin neue Herrschaftswerte wider. Als Zeitgenossin der Aufklärung wird die Darstellung Maria Theresias von diesen neuen Symbolen geprägt. ; The PhD is about the representation of Maria Theresa, queen of Hungary and Bohemia and archduchess of Austria. It focuses on portraits, using them as the basis for exploring the relationship between the monarch and the elites. To this end, I consider in turn the production, the distribution and the content of the paintings. How did the portraits of Maria Theresa reinforce the legitimacy of her rule in a situation of crisis? At the same time, how did portraits provide legitimacy for both the position of the elites and their relation to Maria Theresa? These images can be considered as self-projections not only of the queen, but of the various groups that made up her monarchy. The marks and symbols of each province as well as those of the monarchy as a whole are displayed in the portraits. Royal portraits were commissioned both by Maria Theresa and her court, and by the elites of the monarchy: nobles, ecclesiastical institutions, cities and others. The same painters often worked for both the monarch and the elites, creating similar images and representations of the ruler. The most important occasions for these commissions were visits by Maria Theresa, on the occasion of a coronation, a diet or some other event; the portrait left behind served to perpetuate the presence of the monarch. It manifested the bond between the elites and the ruler; this display was in the interests of both sides. The portraits were displayed in the centres of power and representation both of the dynasty (imperial residences) and of the institutions and groups of which the monarchy was composed (aristocratic chateaux, town halls, universities). The act that placed them there were themselves performances of the mutual relation: the gift of a portrait by Maria Theresa was a sign of favour and recognition; when elites themselves ordered a portrait, this was both an act of homage and an assertion of status. The same types of paintings were ordered by the monarch and by the elites, indicating a consensus about the representation of the royal image. Maria Theresa was queen of Hungary and Bohemia, archduchess of Austria and ruler of many other provinces, each with its own title and symbolism; she was the daughter, wife, widow and mother of emperors. Her person incarnated the unity of all these provinces and the continuity between the house of Habsburg and the new line of Habsburg-Lorraine. Her body, her postures and gestures and her attributes represented in her portraits changed over the course of her reign, reflecting the development of the structure of the monarchy, the role of its ruler, and the strategies of legitimation. New symbols of legitimacy such as pen and paper appeared alongside traditional ones such as crowns and sceptres, or even supplanted them. Established imagery of both male and female Habsburgs was continued, adapted and even reinvented for Maria Theresa; regional traditions of many provinces were incorporated into her images. ; À partir d'un corpus de deux cent vingt et un portraits répartis principalement dans les anciens territoires de la Monarchie des Habsbourg (Autriche, Royaumes de Hongrie et de Bohême, mais aussi les Pays-Bas autrichiens ainsi que certains territoires italiens), réalisés entre la naissance de Marie-Thérèse en 1717 et sa mort en 1780, une base de données a été mise en place, qui a permis d'analyser l'importance des portraits de Marie-Thérèse au sein des pays de la Monarchie. Tour à tour, archiduchesse d'Autriche, puis « roi » de Hongrie et de Bohême, fille, épouse et mère des empereurs du Saint Empire Romain Germanique, Charles VI, François Ier et Joseph II, impératrice-veuve, les types de portraits diffusés tout au long du règne et de la vie de Marie-Thérèse sont à chaque fois liés à des contextes et des publics précis. L'unité et la continuité entre les Habsbourg et les Habsbourg-Lorraine est fortement soulignée à travers les portraits. Malgré la Pragmatique Sanction de 1713 censée garantir l'accès au trône de la fille aînée de Charles VI, l'arrivée au pouvoir de Marie-Thérèse en 1740 est tout de suite remise en cause et marquée par de nombreuses contestations externes comme internes. Les guerres marquent les vingt premières années du règne de Marie-Thérèse, qu'il s'agisse des guerres de Succession d'Autriche ou de la guerre de Sept ans. Même l'allégeance des élites de la Monarchie n'est jamais une chose totalement acquise. Comme le monarque ne peut être présent en personne en tout lieu et en tout temps, il doit être dédoublé par l'image. Au cours du temps, l'image royale se confond avec la figure de l'entité monarchique et étatique. La mise en place de la figure royale permet celle de l'État. La formation étatique sous le contrôle de la Monarchie est encore fragile et nécessite un certain nombre de rituels ; la commande et le don de ces portraits royaux apparaît ainsi comme l'un d'entre eux. [.] L'objectif de notre travail fut de rassembler les portraits de Marie-Thérèse pour les analyser sous l'angle de la production (avec l'analyse des peintres), sous celui de leur localisation (pays, institutions, emplacement particulier au sein d'une pièce), et des occasions de la commande et/ou de l'envoi des portraits. Enfin, les tableaux ont été étudiés sous l'angle de leur contenu iconographique, contenu qui évolue au cours des quarante années du règne et reflètent ainsi les divers enjeux des périodes comme des publics auxquels les tableaux sont destinés. L'analyse des portraits sous ces différents angles aide à appréhender les rapports de la souveraine avec ses élites, comme des élites entre elles et avec le pouvoir royal habsbourgeois. Il est possible d'en conclure à une interdépendance des acteurs entre eux, que cela passe par le choix d'un réseau de mêmes peintres, ou que cela relève des mêmes occasions de commander et/ou de recevoir des portraits royaux, ainsi que dans les types de portraits diffusés qui sont assez homogènes.

Defined as models for sustainable development, Biosphere Reserves (BR) have been generally accepted as a promising option for backwashing spatially planned interactions for nature conservation and urbanization. As UNESCO designated sites for development, the assumption over their diffusing power into other planning scales and spatial units emerged as a framework in which both planning approaches and their interdependencies were explored. The assumption over the diffusing power of BRs implied that the traditional divide between nature conservation and urban planning would result into a theory of convergence and point towards a series of trade-offs that would temporality consolidate into one planning. It was precisely this convergence and system of trade-offs what interested this research and thus, the objective of this research grounded on "understanding" how and which were the trade-offs between both planning traditions. With the use of two case studies, and a mix of grounded theory and deductive approaches, a self-standing theory on borders' definition and innovation of territories emerged as a final result. The case study design included Mexico and Guatemala and focused particularly on reviewing the genesis of their administrative and governmental units, their planning traditions and their embedded BR designations (Calakmul BR in Mexico and Maya BR in Guatemala). The results pointed at the concept of identity as the core element for the definition of borders. As a social organization principle, identity showed to be an important conglomerating element for collective processes and organizations. Once the spatial borders of identity were stabilized, the resulting territorial regimes entered into power relations with other organizations and their spatial units. In doing so, organizations saw the need to develop and to specialize their sovereignty conservation strategies. Five different sovereignty conservation strategies emerged. The first strategy is the provision of public services, the second is the certification of ownership, the third and fourth is linked to education and awareness building and finally, the fifth strategy relates to the use of spatial planning for the designation and definition of sub-borders. Results showed that the relationships between BRs and spatial planning laid mainly on how the BR offered the different actors a possibility to innovate their identity and thus their sovereignty strategies through nature conservation regimes. The normative character of BR management plans were either top-down or bottom-up. Independently from the direction, the process of assimilation showed to be bound to a renegotiation of borders (social projects) between the designating organizations and affected designated site's organizations. The consequence of the renegotiation of power relations legitimated in the first place the State - or other organizations which also used nature conservation regimes to conserve their power (i.e. Government subsidiary, drug cartels). In a second place, the resulting power relations articulated the local orders with global nature conservation regimes (i.e. REDD+ Pilot Projects of the UNFCCC or the Millennium Development Villages der MDGs). Hence, the global and increasing trend of "natural protected area" designation was closer to a (inter-) State legitimacy seeking strategy rather than one to overcome an ecological crisis. ; Biosphärenreservate (BR) werden als Modelle für nachhaltige Entwicklung definiert und gelten als eine vielversprechende Option für die Integration der raumplanerischen Interaktionen zwischen Naturschutz und Urbanisierungs-Prozessen. UNESCO-BR Stätten, welche für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung vorgesehen sind, schufen den Forschungsrahmen für die vorliegende Arbeit, in der Ausstrahlungseffekte der BR auf andere Planungsebenen und räumliche Einheiten untersucht wurden. Umgekehrt wurde auch analysiert wie traditionelle Planungsansätze Auswirkungen auf die Gestaltung der BR haben. Die Annahme, dass die BR diese Ausstrahlungseffekte haben, impliziert, dass die traditionelle Grenze zwischen Naturschutz und Stadtplanung zu einer Theorie der Konvergenz führen könnte. Diese Konvergenz sowie das in das BR Design eingebaute System der Gegenleistungen war Hauptgegenstand der vorliegenden Studie. Damit zielte diese wissenschaftliche Arbeit auf ein "Verstehen" der möglichen Trade-Offs dieser Planungstraditionen. Zwei Fallstudien und eine Verbindung von gegenstandsbezogener Theoriebildung und deduktiven Ansätzen wurden für die resultierende Theorie verwendet. Das Design der zwei Fallstudien in Mexiko und Guatemala konzentrierten sich vor allem auf die Überprüfung der Genese der administrativen und staatlichen Einheiten, deren Planungstraditionen und der UNESCO BR Ausweisung (Calakmul BR in Mexiko und Maya BR in Guatemala). Die Ergebnisse weisen auf das Konzept der Identität als Kernelement für die Definition von Grenzen hin. Als strukturierendes Prinzip für eine soziale Organisation zeigt sich das Konzept der Identität als ein wichtiges Zusammenhaltsmittel für kollektive Prozesse. Sobald die Grenzen der Identität und damit auch des damit assoziierten Raumes stabilisiert wurden, traten die daraus resultierenden territorialen Regime in verschiedene Machtverhältnisse mit anderen Organisationen und deren Raumeinheiten. Dabei sahen die Organisationen die Notwendigkeit, Souveränitäts- und Erhaltungsstrategien zu entwickeln und zu spezialisieren. Fünf verschiedene Souveränitätsstrategien zur Machterhaltung sind dabei entstanden. Die erste Strategie ist die Bereitstellung der Daseinsvorsorge, die Zweite ist die Zertifizierung des Eigentum, die Dritte und die Vierte beziehen sich auf Bildung und Bewusstseinsbildung, und schließlich bezieht sich die fünfte Strategie auf die Verwendung der Raumplanung für die Benennung und Definition von Sub-Grenzen. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass die Beziehungen zwischen BR und Raumplanung vor allem darin liegen, dass BR den verschiedenen Akteuren die Möglichkeit geben, ihre Identität und Souveränitätsstrategien durch Naturschutzregime weiterzuentwickeln. Der normative Charakter der BR Managementpläne kann entweder top-down oder bottom-up sein. Nichtsdestotrotz und unabhängig von der Richtung der Implementierung zeigte der Prozess der Assimilation eine Neuverhandlung der Grenzen (gesellschaftliche Projekte) zwischen der die UNESCO Stätte benennenden und der von der BR Ausweisung betroffenen Organisationen. Die Folgen der Neuverhandlung der Machtverhältnisse legitimierte in erster Linie den Hegemoniestatus des Staates - oder anderer Organisationen, die ebenfalls Naturschutzregime zum Machterhalt benutzen (z.B. Subsidaritätsorganisationen, Drogenkartelle). Zum anderen adaptierten sich lokale Akteure an die BR und instrumentalisierten sie um in der Folge an globalen Naturschutz-Regime (z.Bsp. REDD+ Pilotprojekt Gebiete der UNFCCC oder Millennium Development Villages der MDG) teilzunehmen. Demzufolge sind in den untersuchten Fallbeispielen der globale und wachsende Trend der "Naturschutzgebiet" Bezeichnungen und der BR weniger eine Antwort auf ökologische Krisen als eher eine Rechtfertigung für staatliche und nichtstaatliche Legitimation.

When under pressure, people revert to their true
natures. And insofar as political leadership goes, in the final session of the
2020-24 term of the Louisiana what we saw from the Legislature leadership was
ugly, hopefully the last gasp of a mentality that has left Louisiana in tatters.

In the House of Representatives, Republicans
Speaker Clay
Schexnayder and Pro Tem Tanner Magee
have come under much fire for their handling of the session. It all crystallized
in the last week of the session, when they muscled through a resolution
allowing state government to spend, as opposed to banking, about 10 percent
more of transitory revenue generation, and in the final half-hour of the
session, when most of the spending bills were presented for members' approval
with hardly any of them knowing any details about what they were asked on which
to vote.

This failure of leadership occurred at two levels,
beginning with their unwise squandering of dollars ahead of a bleaker revenue picture.
The Revenue
Estimating Conference foresees fiscal year taxes, licenses, and fees
falling from $15.277 billion in fiscal year 2024 to $15.103 billion in FY 2025,
$14.666 billion in FY 2026, then a bump upwards to $14.936 billion in FY 2027 –
a drop of over a billion bucks from FY 2023 just wrapping up. Given that new
commitments (at least in intention) of around $320 million annually were doled
out for education alone starting in 2024, maintaining this total level of
spending will be difficult.

This leads to consideration whether this
budget isn't some kind of poison pill left to the next governor and
Legislature. Frontrunner GOP Atty. Gen. Jeff Landry has made no secret of
wanting to rein in government, and neither is hidden the distaste that Schexnayder
and Republican Sen. Pres. Page
Cortez have for Landry and those legislators sympathetic to Landry's
right-sizing goal, who certainly would gain considerable power in the Legislature
with Landry in office.

Of course, one goal with the bloated budget was to
allow its backers to puff their chests out with pride in to leave in the history
books or as a resume-builder for future elections the fact that they "gave"
stuff to the people (as if one can be made a gift of your own resources; it's
not legislators' money, it's the people's) – a legacy of Louisiana's liberal
populism where politicians seeks to hoard as much money as they can then distribute
it as a way that makes themselves seem indispensable to the wellbeing of the
polity. But another motive also was using it as a tool of payback against those
with a different vision.

It's all right to have competing visions, where
the Schexnayders and Magees of the world take the grasshopper version of
blowing it all now in the face of a certain looming winter, and the fiscal
conservatives who voted against the enabling resolution to do this adhere to
the ant version of saving to deal with that future. Realize as well a good portion
of the excess spending authority went to non-priority items, mainly
transportation infrastructure, while $237 million went towards more critical things
such as stabilizing property insurance markets and coastal protection – which could
have been afforded without busting the cap. There absolutely was no need to
spend so much at this time.

For their trouble, most of the fiscal
conservatives had Schexnayder yank
their capital projects from the supplemental bill after the successful vote
to violate the cap. This turned into a tag team effort when liberal big spender
Democrat Gov. John
Bel Edwards subsequently used
his line item vetoes on those in the regular capital outlay bill.

The grasshopper view is a flawed vision and in and
of itself may disqualify those who follow it from being entrusted with elective
office. It's why Louisiana has lurched from fiscal crisis to fiscal crisis
historically while remaining relatively overtaxed, which manifested in the Edwards
era – who backed Schexnayder for Speaker and with whom has cooperated in
keeping bloated government – as declining
population and stagnant job and wage growth contrary to most other states.

But truly reprehensibly about these people is their
avoidance of taking responsibility for this and trying to blame others for their
failures. This excuse-making stems not just from bad policy-making, but from
bad leadership as an extension of trying to explain away policy mistakes.
Remarks by both Schexnayder and Magee after the session attempted to address widespread
complaints about budget priorities and the zero transparency involved in its
promulgation that hardly
was distinguishable from budgeting in the heyday of the Soviet Union.

In a radio interview, Magee (like
Cortez before him) adopted the spousal abuser role by blaming the victims
in causing the budgetary chaos, saying "You have a group of lawmakers who are
more interested in making headlines about obstructing government than they are
about doing the people's work." Note the breath-taking arrogance of this remark:
equating a desire to spend less as "obstructing … the people's work" and attempting
to cancel legitimation of opposition to his big-spending agenda, as well as the
avoidance of responsibility for his cabal's cutting $100 million out of health
care in the operating budget and $136 million out of Jimmie Davis Bridge
funding in the capital outlay budget.

In media remarks, Schexnayder attempted even more
vigorously to distance himself from accusations of failure to budget responsibly
and transparently. Also assuming the spousal abuser role by calling those who
voted against raising the cap "a small group of blockers, instead of helpers" –
similar to Magee voicing a sentiment that trying to keep government spending
under control was illegitimate – he mischaracterized outside assessments of the
budget in trying to defend his actions as the chief budget architect (and who
sat on the conference committees that approved removing dissenters' projects,
as did Magee, and the bridge money). "Someone sent me PAR
[Public Affairs Research Council] and CABL[Council
for a Better Louisiana]'s evaluations of the budget. The budget is a good
budget; a good, conservative budget that moves our state forward. That has
excellent projects in it."

PAR did say the operating, capital, and supplemental
bills had "many state priorities and positive developments," but also noted that
those "were overshadowed by the messy way lawmakers handled the spending of
taxpayer dollars" and "lawmakers wasted tens of millions on favored projects
for their districts that don't represent state priorities. They continued
unnecessary giveaways through tax break programs with uncertainty about their
long-term impact on the state treasury. And they stripped hundreds of millions
of dollars from the state health department with no idea what the impact might
be on services to the poor, elderly and people with developmental disabilities."

CABL noted that "lawmakers did enact spending
bills that make many wise investments in the future of Louisiana" where for the
"most part it spends non-recurring revenue on one-time expenses, mostly
infrastructure projects." But it also declared "there needs to be more time and
transparency when making decisions over such huge sums of money" and "It also
remains to be seen what the fiscal impact of this session's spending will mean
in a couple of years when some current taxes are removed from the State General
Fund."

Regarding these and other critiques of how the
process was handled, Schexnayder followed the playbook by saying this could
have been avoided if only the fiscal conservatives hadn't dissented. But that's
a failure of leadership in that only at the last minute relatively speaking did
Schexnayder convince enough of them to back a breach – by promising to retain
the majority of dollars to pay down unfunded pensions and use much of the authorized
excess on one-time expenses – and then he had an entire day after to clear up everything.
Maybe if he hadn't spent so much time trying to find ways to punish dissenters
he might not have produced such shoddy results.

And his laughable assertion that dissenters
deliberately disengaged themselves from the process so they didn't know about
contents is absurd on its face since he went out of his way to punish them, a
style of leadership that doesn't invite participation of your opponents. Nor does
it address similar complaints from others who voted to bust the cap.

These attitudes and behaviors by Schexnayder and Magee,
as representations of legislative leadership and policy-making, reveal
everything that is wrong with Louisiana and why it has fallen so far behind
other states by squandering its resources. Making mistakes and blaming others, neither
wisely nor warily, only continues a long history state politicians of doing the same. As for the
future as they and others who think like them seek elective office, voters
should know Schexnayder and Magee are the problem and having nothing to do with
the solution.

El contrato de SWAP es un producto financiero que ha provocado en los últimos años un notable interés mediático debido, por una parte, a su comercialización masiva y por otra, en un contexto de crisis generalizada, a ciertas dudas que ha generado respecto de su inocuidad para el cliente de crédito y la necesidad de corregir judicialmente determinadas disfunciones frecuentemente debidas a un desconocimiento no solo de su significado y funcionamiento en los mercados crediticios sino también de su estructura jurídica. La tesis pretende diagnosticar lo problemas que más frecuentemente se generan en la práctica, así como de perfilar los caracteres de ésta variedad de permuta financiera cuya modelización queda a la libertad de las partes pues son ellas las que, en uso de su autonomía de la voluntad, han confeccionado todo un régimen jurídico propio ante la ausencia de legislación estatal o internacional en la materia. Debe advertirse que con frecuencia únicamente la vuelta a los principios básicos del Derecho de las Obligaciones contractuales, permite identificar la solución procesal más satisfactoria adecuada a los intereses en conflicto. Sobre estas premisas, el estudio está estructurado en las siguientes tres partes: En la primera parte se define el swap y se enmarca en un contexto económico determinado, analizando la posición jurídica de las partes, la forma habitual del contrato requiere una serie de particularidades debido a su extremada volatilidad y el uso de contratos marco como normativa aplicable ante la ausencia de derecho nacional. Tras el análisis del origen del Swap y de los elementos básicos del contrato, el estudio se centra en el consentimiento y su problemática tanto sustantiva como procesal. En España son numerosas las sentencias que en los últimos años han fallado exigiendo un deber de cuidado a la hora de informar sobre los productos financieros a los clientes, fluctuaciones inesperadas o contrarias a los clientes han revelado que un buen número de contrapartes no conocían bien el funcionamiento y consecuencias de los productos financieros que contrataron. En este punto se analizan tanto el procedimiento para la nulidad del contrato ( legitimación, argumentos recurrentes, procedencia de la sumisión a arbitraje) como las sentencias más relevantes del Tribunal Supremo y de otros países. En la segunda parte aborda el tema de la naturaleza jurídica del contrato de Swap-Irs, que resulta caracterizado como atípico, aleatorio, bilateral, sinalagmático, oneroso, de tracto sucesivo, autónomo y consensual desde el punto de vista de su perfección. La atipicidad del contrato de Swap es la más destacada, aunque no la única, fuente de problemas puesto que el artículo 2 de la Ley del Mercado de Valores reconoce que existen y los incluye dentro de la clasificación pero siguen sin marco legal es específico. Lo dicho anteriormente sobre algunas notas definitorias del contrato de Swap tiene importantes consecuencias en el ámbito de un procedimiento concursal. A título de ejemplo, cabe preguntarse qué pasaría si consideraríamos el contrato Swap como sometido a condición suspensiva, según pretende un sector del la doctrina. La tercera parte posee un larga trayectoria de elaboración pues su origen se remonta al año 2009, tras la sentencia del Juzgado de lo Mercantil nº 3 de Valencia que calificaba los créditos de contratos de Swap como subordinados tanto si el Swap era autónomo (al menos reconocía esa posibilidad) como si estaba vinculado a una operación de activo. El trabajo se centra en la búsqueda de un argumento para defender el punto débil de los créditos derivados de los Contratos de Swap, lo que, ahondando en la materia, condujo a extraer dos conclusiones, en torno a las que gira esta parte del estudio: (i) Que la base de los argumentos recurrentes de los juzgados está en la naturaleza del contrato (ii): Que destruyendo determinados elementos definidores podría cuestionarse la aplicabilidad de dos normas: el articulo sesenta y uno de la Ley Concursal que regula la calificación de los créditos subordinados y el Real Decreto Ley 5/2005 en su aplicación a las operaciones de Swap. De este modo, lo que tenia visos de practicidad se ha convertido en un análisis doctrinal de los elementos del contrato, de su naturaleza, de su posible subsunción en otras figuras típicas y de su problemática jurisprudencial, todo ello, empezando por su origen como cláusula en los contratos de financiación y terminando por el análisis pormenorizado de sus caracteres según la naturaleza jurídica para determinar en cómo influye este análisis en la normativa que aplicamos. A SWAP contract is a financial product that has caused, in recent years, a remarkable media interest due, firstly, to its massive sale, and secondly, in a context of widespread crisis, to some doubts about the benefits for the credit customer. There have been a need for correcting certain legal aspects, often due to a lack not only of their meaning and function in credit markets but also of their legal structure. The thesis aims to diagnose the problems that most frequently are generated in the practice and give shape to the character of this variety of swap, whose modelling is the freedom of the parties who, practising their autonomy, have made an entire legal regime in the absence of national or international legislation. It should be noted that often, only returning to the basic principles of the contractual obligations law is the most satisfactory solution to the conflict of interests. Based on this premise, the study is divided into the following three parts: In the first part, the swap is defined and framed in a particular economic context, analyzing the legal position of the parties. The usual way of the contract requires a number of peculiarities due to its extreme volatility and the use of framework contracts and regulations because of the absence of a national law. After analyzing the origin of the Swap and the basic elements of the contract, the study focuses on the consent and its substantive and procedural problems. In Spain, there have been numerous sentences in recent years, compelling banks to inform about financial products to their customers. Unexpected fluctuations revealed that a number of clients were not familiar with the operation and consequences of the products they contracted. At this point, it is analysed the procedure for annuling the contract (legitimation, recurring arguments, arbitration) as well as the study of some of The most important Supreme Court decisions. The second part addresses the legal nature of the Swap-Irs contract, which is characterized as atypical, randomized, bilateral, synallagmatic, onerous and consensual from the point of view of its perfection. The unusualness of the swap agreement is the most prominent, but not the only one, source of trouble since Article 2 of the Securities Market Act recognizes that there are included within the classification but it has not legal specific framework. What has been mencioned previously about some defining features of the swap agreement has important consequences in the field of bankruptcy proceedings. For example, one wonders what would happen if the Swap contract was considered as subject to condition precedent, as a sector of the doctrine claims. The third part has a long history of development since its origins date from 2009, following the judgment of the Commercial Court No. 3 of Valencia branding Swap contracts' credits as subordinates whether the swap was autonomous (at least it recognized that possibility) as if it was linked to an active operation. The work focuses on the search for an argument to defend the weak point of credit derivatives swaps, which, digging into the matter led to two conclusions, around which turns this part of the study: (I) The basis of the recurring arguments of the courts is in the nature of the contract (ii) by destroying certain defining elements it could be questioned the applicability of two provisions: Article sixty-one of the Insolvency Act regulating rating subordinated claims and the Royal Decree Law 5/2005 in its application to swap transactions. Thus, what had overtones of practicality has become a doctrinal analysis of the elements of the contract, its nature, its possible subsumption in other typical and jurisprudential problematic figures, all beginning with its origin clause in the financing agreements and ending with a detailed analysis of their characters as the legal nature to determine how it affects this analysis in the regulations we appy.

The opening of the Colombian economy, decided in 1990, was supposed to promote a new model of growth and development based on exports (and Foreign Direct Investment). This dissertation argues that the opening was not made in order to promote growth and development, and that these two phenomena did not live up to what was expected. This result is based on an International Political Economy approach: taking into account power relationships may give a better explanation of economic phenomena. The first chapter shows that the structural characteristics of the Colombian economy made its opening unable to generate growth and development. This assertion is based on the analysis of the lack of competitiveness and of the institutional flaws of the Colombian economy, as well as on the potential increase in the spatial inequalities of development resulting from the opening. The second chapter thus highlights that the opening aimed at achieving some objectives peculiar to the United States. These objectives are made of economic considerations (typically the access to foreign markets and to raw materials) as well as political ones (dealing with the threats caused by Marxist guerrilla groups within the framework of the American foreign policy). This second chapter explains a series of means at the disposal of the United States to obtain the opening. These means go from coercion (such as sanction threats) to legitimation (to give rise to a Colombian pro-opening government). The third chapter shows that the opening did not lead to an export-led growth. On the contrary, it led to an unstable growth regime. The latter is based on the foreign capital flows. The latter feed the purchase of real estate assets by credit. The housing sector is thus stimulated, which in turn stimulates other economic activities, within the framework of spill-over effects. However, when foreign capital flows lack, real-estate asset purchases are penalized, thus preventing the expansion of the housing sector and eventually of aggregate production itself (spill-over effects no longer work). However, given the power relationship exercised by the United States, the Colombian government had to purchase American military equipment massively, in order to fight against the Colombian guerrillas. By doing so, the economic policy could not stabilize the economy at that time. Besides, the subsequent intensification of the conflict increased the violence within the Colombian territory, thus leading to the migration of skilled workers and to the destruction of infrastructures. The recession had thus been exacerbated. This scenario occurred a few years after 1990, resulting in the worst economic crisis of the 20th century in Colombia with a -5 % recession in 1999. The fourth chapter questions the changes followed by the production and exchange structures because of the opening, to show that these changes did not really contribute to development. Colombia tends to neglect its historic international specialization in coffee and other cultures like wheat, rice, barley, sorghum or cotton, to privilege other cultures whose positive effects on development are lower. As regards the industries of extraction of raw materials (in particular hydrocarbons), they are oriented toward exportation but they promote few development. In addition, the Colombian productive system may lack of this type of input in the future. Finally, if the manufacturing industry was able to increase at the rate of the growth regime, it owes it to the protection still remaining with the differential treatment for developing countries in the World Trade Organization, and less to the export opportunities given by the opening. When this treatment will be eliminated or at least decreased, a whole part of the Colombian economy will be threatened. ; L'ouverture de l'économie colombienne, décidée en 1990, fut présentée comme un promoteur de croissance et développement sur la base des exportations (et des Investissements Directs Etrangers). Cette thèse soutient que l'ouverture n'a pas été décidée afin de favoriser la croissance et le développement et que ces deux phénomènes n'ont pas été à la hauteur de ce qui était anticipé. Ce résultat est fondé sur une analyse en termes d'Economie Politique Internationale : les relations de pouvoir peuvent être utiles pour répondre à des questions d'ordre économique. Le premier chapitre montre que les caractéristiques structurelles de l'économie colombienne rendaient son ouverture impropre à générer croissance et développement sur la base des exportations. Cette proposition s'appuie sur l'analyse de la compétitivité sectorielle et des carences institutionnelles de l'économie colombienne, ainsi que sur l'accroissement potentiel des inégalités spatiales de développement suite à l'ouverture. Le deuxième chapitre s'attache alors à mettre en évidence que l'ouverture répond à des objectifs propres aux Etats-Unis. Ces objectifs sont à dominante économique (typiquement la création des débouchés extérieurs et l'accès à des matières premières) ou politique (lutte contre les guérillas d'inspiration communiste dans le cadre de la politique étrangère américaine). Le deuxième chapitre expose une série des moyens à la disposition des Etats-Unis afin d'obtenir l'ouverture du gouvernement colombien de l'époque. Ces moyens vont de la coercition (par exemple la menace de sanction) à la légitimation (favoriser l'élection d'un gouvernement pro-ouverture). Le troisième chapitre montre que l'ouverture n'a pas instauré un régime de croissance fondé sur les exportations. Au contraire, elle a instauré un régime instable fondé sur une dynamique spéculative sur les actifs immobiliers à partir des flux de capitaux étrangers venant nourrir l'achat de ces actifs à crédit. Lorsque ces capitaux finissent tôt ou tard par manquer, de tels achats sont pénalisés et viennent interrompre la dynamique. Celle-ci ne peut plus tirer la croissance via des effets d'entrainement du secteur de la construction sur le reste de l'économie. Mais pris au piège de la relation de pouvoir exercée par les Etats-Unis, le gouvernement colombien n'a pas cherché à stabiliser la conjoncture. Il a dû privilégier les dépenses en équipement militaire américain pour lutter contre les guérillas colombiennes. L'intensification subséquente du conflit armé a accentué la violence au sein du territoire. Il en résulta la destruction d'infrastructures, ainsi qu'une migration de travailleurs qualifiés. La récession en a été d'autant plus accentuée. Ainsi l'ouverture débouche-t-elle sur la pire crise économique du XXème siècle en Colombie, avec une récession de -5% en 1999. Le quatrième chapitre enquête sur les changements des structures de production et d'échange suite à l'ouverture, pour ainsi montrer que ces changements n'ont que peu favorisé le développement. La Colombie tend à négliger sa spécialisation internationale historique dans le café et la plupart des cultures transitoires (blé, riz, orge, sorgo, coton, etc.) pour privilégier d'autres cultures dont les effets positifs sur le développement sont moindres. Bien que les hydrocarbures et d'autres matières brutes bénéficient d'un certain potentiel d'exportation, le développement des territoires où l'extraction a lieu reste faible. Se pose en outre un problème de soutenabilité de l'extraction. Enfin, si l'industrie manufacturière a pu croitre au rythme du régime de croissance, elle le doit à la protection dont elle bénéficie encore dans le cadre du traitement différentiel des pays en développement à l'Organisation Mondiale du Commerce et moins aux opportunités d'exportation données par l'ouverture. Le jour où ce traitement sera diminué voire supprimé, toute une partie de l'économie colombienne est menacée.

*This series is the result of an adaptation of a paper presented as part of a seminar on "Theories and Research in International Relations" at Hebrew University, July 2012. Commentaries are welcome to daniel.wajner@mail.huji.ac.il Click here to read Part II of the series In the first article of this series we have introduced the debates on the ontology of power, while in the second one we have presented the main epistemological approaches of the different paradigms. In this third and final article we will deal with methodological schemes for Power Analysis in IR, while indicating areas for possible innovation using the "Arab Spring" cases as illustrations. Power, Outcomes, and what brings them togetherAs we have seen in the last part, the contribution made by Barnett and Duvall with his taxonomy of four dimensions of power is very helpful as theoretical framework; nevertheless, it is still weak to implement as a methodological tool - it is very difficult to distinguish in a real case what is originated through the structure or the actor, as well as to measure if the specificity is direct or diffuse.But the same could be expressed about the majority of the mentioned schemes. In fact, Dahl itself warned about the difficulties of combining variables to compare power relations and argued that it depends on the requirements of the research.1 This complexity is even larger when normative factors are included; for example, despite the proposal of Nye of measuring soft power through polls and focus groups, he also cautioned about the limits of the intangible variables.2 Hurt addresses certain ways of skipping the difficulties in measuring the power of legitimacy, such as examining: the rates of compliance, the reasons given for compliance and for non-compliance, the support given by the centers of Power and the need for legitimacy argument (akin to a counterfactual technique).3 But, once again, no combined power relations framework is presented.In addition, Lukes argues that power depends on the "significance" of the outcomes, namely, in the capacity of affecting the interests of the agents. He refers to two methods: by changing incentives structures (indoctrination) and by influencing interests (subject freedom). However, Lukes confesses that the main question remains open: how to use certain power to shape certain preferences?4In conclusion, in these approaches no power relation mechanism explains, in a measurable way, how material and normative resources are combined to shape power and influence decisions. Therefore, I would like to subsequently suggest a very simple framework that may allow us to implement the knowledge mentioned hitherto to study specific cases in IR.In line with the majority of the authors, in order to make power measurable I consider that we have to divide it in two variables: material power (or simply Power) and legitimation power (or legitimacy). In international politics, the power of an actor is expressed by its military (backed-by-economical) resources, and for the scheme it would receive "high" or "low" values. The legitimacy of the actors, which is based on their capacity to be perceived as norms-compliers and to build consensus around them5, would receive also "high" or "low" values.A power analysis based on the combination of those two variables, as it is shown below in illustration I, leads us to the taxonomy of four types of cases, each one ascribed to an "outcome". It is important to clarify that, for this paper, the outcomes would reflect the domestic situation of the main agent (the State) given an international system; it is a sort of outside-in analysis if we take into account Gourevitch´s second image reversed.6 Further work has to be done to adapt this scheme so as to explain the conduct of the State vis-à-vis other States as well as to include the domestic sphere of legitimacy.The first actor, which has high power and high legitimacy, could describe his situation as "stable"; that means, the actor would overcome the domestic and external challenges without internal changes and high international costs.The second actor, having high power but low legitimacy, is considered to be in a "changeable" situation. Although this actor is capable of overcoming internal and external challenges, due to the fact that it lacks of support from the other actors he could suffer from high international costs and possibly domestic changes.Illustration I – Taxonomy of Power-Legitimacy outcomesPOWERLEGITIMACYHigh PowerLow Power High Legitimacy "STABLE" "PROTECTABLE" Low Legitimacy "CHANGEABLE" "REVOLUTIONABLE" To the third actor, which has low power but high legitimacy, his situation is defined as "protectable". Due to his incapacity to overcome alone the internal and external challenges, this actor may count on the support of other actors to reduce the possibility of domestic changes; otherwise he will suffer from it.The fourth actor, with low power and low legitimacy, is placed in a "revolutionable" situation; that means, this actor is candidate to suffer from internal changes and high international costs at the time he would face challenges.Testing the Power Analysis framework with the "Arab Spring"The phenomenon known as the "Arab Spring", composed of dozens of countries in which massive protests were held, constitutes an outstanding test for the theory. A large quantity of those cases happened in a very short range of time, with all the variety of domestic conditions, reactions from the regime and from the world, as well as different outcomes. This makes those events ideal for the present examination; even though it is just a "sample" of a more deeply study.7Although no State of those that suffered uprisings is considered in a "stable" situation at all, Saudi Arabia and Jordan could be mentioned as good examples of Arab countries that combined high power (relatively, of course) and high legitimacy. Their regimes faced the uprisings from the beginning (mid-January 2011), but were capable of overcoming the internal challenges through a combination of repression and reforms, without suffering changes in their regime and being supported by the international community.Egypt is probably the best representation of a country whose regime kept high power at the moment of facing domestic challenges but received low legitimacy from the world; this "changeable" situation caused drastic changes at the top of the leadership (including the president, ministers, etc), albeit not of the whole regime (still leaded by the Military Council). Syria seems to be in a similar situation; while the power of the regime is still high, the legitimacy is not low enough to bring to major changes due to the sustained support of Russia, China and Iran. As a result, Syria constitutes today an excellent test for the power of legitimacy (and norms) in international politics.Between those countries that experienced a combination of low power and high legitimacy, experiencing a "protectable" situation, it is possible to mention Bahrain. Despite its regime was not capable of overcoming the internal revolts alone, it counted with the support of most of the Arab countries in the repression, and the Western approval of the "regional intervention" leaded by Gulf countries around the GCC. Yemen was in a comparable position, but at the end of 2011 the legitimacy of its regime was reduced when the region and the world understood the necessity to remove the President to maintain the remaining, in what was denominated later "the Yemenite option".Finally, Libya constitutes the case in which the regime was in a "revolutionable" situation, owing to its low Power to contain the rapid domestic rebellion and its low legitimacy after the first days of tremendous repression. The international costs were so high that included a military intervention leaded by NATO (with the endorsement of the Arab League), that led to the total collapse of the regime. It is possible to say that Tunisia was in an analogous situation while it did not need for a civil war and an external intervention to consummate finally a revolution (i.e., the complete removal of the existing regime).ConclusionsThroughout the paper we were able to observe that the ontological, epistemological and methodological discussions about the complex concept of Power maintain their relevance in the main schools of IR, and in some cases even constitute an essential part of their latest developments.At the same time, the inter-paradigmatic efforts of the last decades are demanding new power analysis approaches; that means, theoretical schemes that would embed a combination of the different factors at stake (material and non-material, resources and interactions, agents and structures) to specific cases of study.Deeper examinations of the "Arab Spring" cases need to be implemented so as to confirm the presented findings, as it was previously said. However, these small samples could possibly reveal that the implementation of a framework that combines both material and non-material resources is possible and, even more, desirable, to a better understanding of the devices of power in IR. 1 Robert A. Dahl, "The concept of Power", p.2142 Joseph S. Nye, Soft Power- The Means to Success in World Politics. p.63 Ian Hurt, "Legitimacy and Authority in International Politics". International Organization 53 No2 (Spring 1999), 390-3914 Stephen Lukes, "Power and the Battle for Hearts and Minds", p.4925 This short definition is based on concepts presented in Ian Clark, "Legitimacy in International Society" (London: Oxford University Press, 2005). It includes components both from the structure and the agent.6 Peter Gourevitch, "The second image reversed – the international sources of domestic politics" International Organization 32 No4, (Autumn 1978), 881-911.7 An investigation is "under construction", called "The Arab League and its legitimation role in the Arab Spring". It focuses on the power of the Arab League to yield legitimacy (or not) in six different cases. Bibliography Bachrach, Peter and Baratz, Morton S. "Two Faces of Power". The American Political Science Review 56 No4, (December 1962), 947-952 Baldwin, David A. Paradoxes of Power (NYC: Basil Blackwell, 1989). Barnett, Michael and Duvall, Raymond. "Power in International Politics", International Organization 59, No1 (Winter 2005), 39-75 Berenskoetter, Felix and Williams, Michael J. Power in World Politics. (NYC: Routledge, 2007) Bourdieu, Pierre. Language & Symbolic Power (NYC : Polity Press, 2001) Carr, Edward H., The Twenty Years' Crisis,1919-1939 (NYC: Harper Torchbooks, 1964) Clark, Ian. "Legitimacy in International Society" (NYC: Oxford University Press, 2005) Claude, Inis L., Power and International Relations (New York: Random House, 1962). Dahl, Robert A. "The concept of Power", Behavioral Science 2 No3, (July 1957), 201-215 Haas, Ernst B. When Knowledge is Power (University of California Press, 1990). Finnemore, Martha and Sikkink, Kathryn "International Norm Dynamics and Political Change," International Organization 52, No. 4 (Autumn 1998), 887-917. Foucalt, Michael. Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-77 (Brighton: Havester, 1980) Franck, Thomas M., "The Power of Legitimacy and the Legitimacy of Power: International Law in an Age of Power Disequilibrium." American Journal International 88 (2006), 88-106 Gourevitch, Peter. "The second image reversed – the international sources of domestic politics" International Organization 32 No4, (Autumn 1978), 881-911. Guzzini, Stefano, "The Concept of Power: A Constructivist Analysis" Millennium 33 No3, 2005, 495-521. Guzzini, Stefano, "Structural power: the limits of neorealist power analysis", International Organization 47, No3 (Summer 1993), 443-478. Hurt, Ian, "Legitimacy and Authority in International Politics". International Organization 53 No2 (Spring 1999), 379-408 Ikenberry, John and Kupchan, Charles A. "Socialization and hegemonic power", International Organization 44, No3 (Summer 1990), 283-315. Keohane, Robert O. and Nye, Joseph S., Power and Interdependence, 2nd edition (New York: Harper Collins, 1989) Krasner, Stephen D. "Regimes and the Limits of Realism: Regimes as Autonomous Variables", International Organization 36 (Spring 1982), 497-510 Lukes, Stephen. "Power and the Battle for Hearts and Minds", Millennium 33 No3, (2005), 477-493 Mearsheimer, John. The Tragedy of Great power Politics (NYC: Norton, 2001) Morgenthau, Hans J., Politics among Nations, 4th edition (NYC: Knopf, 1967). Nye, Joseph S. Soft Power- The Means to Success in World Politics (NYC: PublicAffairs, 2004) Putnam, Robert. "Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two-Level Games," International Organization 42, No3, (1988), 427-460 Risse, Thomas. "Let's Argue! Communicative Action in World Politics," International Organization 54 No1 (Winter 2000), 1-40. Schmidt, Brian C. "Competing Realist Conceptions of Power", Millennium 33 No3, 523-549 Walt, Stephen. The Origins of Alliances (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1987) Waltz, Kenneth. Theory of International Politics. (NYC: McGraw-Hill, 1979) Weber, Max. Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. (California: University of Berkeley, 1978. Edited by Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich). Wendt, Alexander. "Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics," International Organization 46 (1992), 391-425. Wendt, Alexander. "The Agent-Structure Problem in International Relations Theory", International Organization 41/3 (1987), 335-370. Fabian Daniel Wajner is a Research and Teaching Assistant at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Department of International Relations) and a Fellow of the Liweranth Center for Latin America Studies.

Das Konzept des demokratischen Rechtsstaates, bisher einigendes Fundament und Leitprinzip der europäischen Einigung, steht heute im Zentrum einer kritischen Debatte, die die Grundlagen des europäischen Friedensprojektes zu gefährden droht. Weltweit und insbesondere in Europa wächst die Sorge um den Erhalt der freiheitlich-demokratischen Werte. Populistische Bewegungen gewinnen an Einfluss, indem sie einfache Antworten auf die komplexen Herausforderungen unserer Zeit anbieten. Diese Bewegungen finden vor allem bei denjenigen Anklang, die sich inmitten des raschen gesellschaftlichen und wirtschaftlichen Wandels nach Sicherheit und Beständigkeit sehnen. Sie neigen dazu, sich Lösungen wie nationaler Abschottung und der Etablierung autoritärer Regime zuzuwenden, um ein Gefühl der Sicherheit zu vermitteln (vgl. Möllers 2018, S. 7).Seit der Flüchtlingskrise 2015 haben populistische Strömungen in verschiedenen europäischen Ländern an Zulauf gewonnen. Ungarn und Polen sind prominente Beispiele, in denen rechtsnationale bis rechtsradikale Parteien an die Macht gekommen sind. Diese Regierungen stehen im Widerspruch zu den Grundprinzipien der Europäischen Union, einschließlich der Achtung der Menschenwürde, der Demokratie, der Freiheit, der Gleichheit und der Rechtsstaatlichkeit. Der Umbau des Staatswesens in diesen Ländern zeigt sich insbesondere in der Einschränkung der Unabhängigkeit der Justiz, der Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit und der Medien (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung 2022).Besonders in Ungarn, wo seit Viktor Orbáns zweiter Amtszeit im Jahr 2010 ein schleichender Prozess des Demokratieabbaus zu beobachten ist, wird die Bedeutung der Medienregulierung für die demokratischen Strukturen und die politische Landschaft offensichtlich. Die vorliegende Arbeit widmet sich dieser Problematik und beleuchtet, wie die Regulierung der Medien in Ungarn demokratische Prozesse und die politische Szenerie des Landes beeinflusst.Die Arbeit beginnt mit einer grundlegenden Definition des Begriffs "Medien" und einer Erörterung ihrer primären, sekundären und tertiären Funktionen im politischen Raum. Anschließend wird die Nutzung der Medien als Instrument der Regierungskommunikation und als Mittel der Machtsicherung untersucht. Eine Analyse der aktuellen Medienlandschaft in Ungarn, einschließlich der Einschränkungen der Pressefreiheit, der Meinungsvielfalt sowie der Kontrolle und Einflussnahme der Regierung auf die Medienorgane, bildet den Kern der Arbeit.Besonderes Augenmerk wird dabei auf die Medienregulierung in Ungarn gelegt. Die Auswirkungen dieser Medienregulierung auf die Demokratie in Ungarn werden untersucht, um zu verstehen, wie Veränderungen in der Medienlandschaft die Grundpfeiler der Demokratie beeinflussen - die Bedeutung der Medien für eine demokratische Gesellschaft, die Einschränkungen der Demokratie durch Regulierungen in der Medienlandschaft und die politischen Auswirkungen auf das demokratische System. Abschließend wird in einem Fazit reflektiert, inwiefern die Medienregulierung in Ungarn als symptomatisch für eine Verschiebung weg von demokratischen Idealen gesehen werden kann.Ziel der Arbeit ist es, ein Verständnis der komplexen Wechselwirkungen zwischen Medienregulierung und demokratischen Prozessen in Ungarn zu erlangen und damit einen Beitrag zur aktuellen Debatte über die Bedeutung liberaler demokratischer Werte in Europa zu leisten.Die Rolle der Medien in der PolitikDer folgende Abschnitt befasst sich mit der Rolle der Medien in der Politik. Im Mittelpunkt steht dabei die differenzierte Betrachtung der primären, sekundären und tertiären Funktionen der Medien. Mit Hilfe dieser Unterscheidung ist es möglich, ein tieferes Verständnis dafür zu entwickeln, wie Medien die politische Landschaft gestalten und beeinflussen. Durch die Analyse dieser Funktionen wird untersucht, wie Medien Öffentlichkeit herstellen, Informationen verbreiten, politische Akteure kontrollieren und zur politischen Sozialisation und Bildung beitragen. Dies ist von entscheidender Bedeutung, um die komplexen Wechselwirkungen zwischen Medien und Politik vollständig zu erfassen. Primär-, Tertiär- und SekundärfunktionDie Macht der Massenmedien, bestehende Machtstrukturen herauszufordern, darf nicht unterschätzt werden. Durch die Sammlung, Aufbereitung und Verbreitung von Informationen, Wissen und politischen Ansichten wird die öffentliche Meinung wesentlich beeinflusst (Wittkämper, S. 37). Bereits in der Frühen Neuzeit erkannten der Adel und die Kirche als damalige Machthaber die potenzielle Bedrohung, die von den Medien ausging. Sie reagierten schnell und führten nach der Entdeckung des Buchdrucks Zensurmaßnahmen ein, um die zu druckenden Inhalte vorzuprüfen und ihre Herrschaft zu sichern (Strohmeier 2004, S. 69).In der heutigen Zeit spielen die Medien eine zentrale Rolle bei der Gestaltung der politischen Realitäten, da sie in der Lage sind, die politische Macht entweder zu stärken oder zu untergraben (Strohmeier 2004, S. 69). Ziel der folgenden Ausführungen ist die Veranschaulichung des Einflusspotenzials der Massenmedien durch die Darstellung ihrer grundlegenden Funktionen.Gerd Strohmeier weist auf die Bedeutung der primären, der sekundären und der tertiären Funktion der Massenmedien hin. Die Primärfunktion besteht darin, Öffentlichkeit herzustellen, die entsteht, wenn direkte Kommunikationsformen bevölkerungsbedingt nicht ausreichen. Massenmedien ermöglichen eine schnelle und einfache Verbreitung von Nachrichten und füllen so diese kommunikative Lücke (Strohmeier 2004, S. 72).Die Kontrolle der politischen Akteure und die Verbreitung von Informationen gehören zu der Sekundärfunktion. Ziel ist die umfassende und verständliche Vermittlung von Inhalten und damit die Beeinflussung der Meinungsbildung. Zugleich haben Massenmedien die Aufgabe, das Verhalten der politischen Institutionen zu überwachen, Missstände aufzudecken und Kritik zu üben (Strohmeier 2004, S. 72f.).Die Tertiärfunktion der Medien umfasst drei wesentliche Aspekte. Erstens die Förderung der politischen Meinungs- und Willensbildung, zweitens die Integration und politische Sozialisation und drittens die Vermittlung politischer Bildung. Diese Aspekte unterstützen die Entwicklung der Persönlichkeit des Einzelnen und seine Integration in die Gesellschaft, fördern das Verständnis für das politische System und regen zur aktiven Teilnahme am politischen Leben an. Darüber hinaus haben die Massenmedien einen entscheidenden Einfluss auf die Art und Weise, wie über bestimmte Themen nachgedacht und gesprochen wird, oft ohne dass sich die Menschen der Beeinflussung ihrer Meinungen durch die Medien bewusst sind (Strohmeier 2004, S. 73f.).Medien als InstrumentIm nächsten Schritt unserer Analyse konzentrieren wir uns auf die Rolle der Medien als politisches Werkzeug. Dabei unterteilt sich unsere Betrachtung in zwei Schlüsselaspekte. Einerseits die Nutzung der Medien für Regierungskommunikation, durch die Regierungen ihre Botschaften vermitteln, und andererseits die Anwendung der Medien als Mittel zur Machtsicherung, wodurch Einfluss auf die öffentliche Meinung genommen und politische Macht gefestigt wird.Medien als Instrument für RegierungskommunikationDie strategische Nutzung der Medien durch die Regierung wird vor allem in Bezug auf den Einfluss der Mediengesetzgebung auf die Demokratisierungsprozesse und die Politikgestaltung in Ungarn untersucht. Durch die gezielte Verbreitung politischer Botschaften und Entscheidungen interagieren Regierungen direkt mit der Bevölkerung, was nicht nur die Verbreitung von Informationen fördert, sondern auch die öffentliche Meinung prägt und politische Unterstützung generiert.Um den Rechtspopulismus zu verstehen, ist es notwendig, sich mit Cas Muddes Definition des Populismus auseinanderzusetzen, der Populismus als eine Ideologie betrachtet, die die Gesellschaft in zwei homogene und antagonistische Gruppen teilt: "das reine Volk" gegenüber "der korrupten Elite", wobei Politik als Ausdruck des allgemeinen Volkswillens verstanden wird (Mudde 2004, S. 543). Die Tendenz, dass rechtspopulistische Parteien seit den 1980er Jahren Wahlerfolge erzielen und sich etablieren, zeigt sich nicht nur in westeuropäischen, sondern auch in jungen Demokratien Osteuropas, einschließlich Ungarns (Geden 2006, S. 17f.).Rechtspopulisten positionieren sich als Vertreter der "schweigenden Mehrheit" in direktem Gegensatz zu den politischen und kulturellen Eliten und privilegierten Minderheiten, denen sie die Verfolgung partikularer Interessen vorwerfen (Geden 2006, S. 20f.). Ihre politische Rhetorik ist durch Vereinfachung und Komplexitätsreduktion gekennzeichnet, wobei sie sich organisatorisch von den etablierten Parteien abgrenzen, etwa durch die Zusammenarbeit mit außerparlamentarischen Gruppen, die Initiierung von Volksentscheiden oder die Präsenz charismatischer Führungspersönlichkeiten (Geden 2006, S. 22).Ein zentrales Element rechtspopulistischen Denkens ist der "Ethnopluralismus", der besagt, dass sich ethnisch und kulturell homogene Völker nicht vermischen sollten, was eine inhärente Ungleichheit der Völker suggeriert und kulturelle Begegnungen als konfliktträchtig ansieht (Bruns et al. 2015, S. 12f.).Im spezifischen Kontext Ungarns unter der Führung von Viktor Orbán zeigt sich die kritische Rolle dieser Medienstrategien. Die Regierung Orbán hat Medienregulierung bewusst eingesetzt, um ein medienfreundliches Umfeld für regierungsnahe Nachrichtenquellen zu schaffen und gleichzeitig den Raum für kritische Stimmen einzuschränken (Mudde 2004, S. 543). Dies schränkt nicht nur die Vielfalt und Freiheit der Medien ein, sondern hat auch tiefgreifende Auswirkungen auf demokratische Prozesse, indem es die Möglichkeiten für eine offene politische Debatte einschränkt.Diese strategische Nutzung der Medien für die Regierungskommunikation verdeutlicht die Doppelnatur der Medien in der Politik. Einerseits als Kanäle für die transparente Kommunikation politischer Inhalte und andererseits als Instrumente der Machtkonsolidierung, die die demokratischen Grundlagen untergraben können. Diese Dynamik ist entscheidend für das Verständnis der politischen Situation in Ungarn und der Rolle, die die Medienregulierung dabei spielt (Geden 2006, S. 17f.).Detlef Grieswelle betont in "Politische Rhetorik: Macht der Rede, öffentliche Legitimation, Stiftung von Konsens" die bedeutende Rolle der Rhetorik in der Politik. Rhetorik dient nicht nur der Durchsetzung und Legitimation von Macht, sondern auch der Kontrolle und Repräsentation von Interessen, was ihre Bedeutung als Instrument politischer Führung und Einflussnahme unterstreicht (Grieswelle 2000, S. 33). In diesem Zusammenhang ist die rhetorische Strategie des ungarischen Ministerpräsidenten von besonderer Relevanz, da mit ihr versucht wird, politische Legitimität für diese Vision zu schaffen und die Unterstützung der Bevölkerung zu gewinnen (Bruns et al. 2015, S. 12f.).Medien als Werkzeug zur Sicherung von MachtUm zu verstehen, wie die Medien zum Machterhalt beitragen, ist die Rhetorik von rechtspopulistischen Figuren wie Viktor Orbán besonders aufschlussreich. Orbán nutzt plakative und skandalträchtige Kommunikationswege, um mediale Aufmerksamkeit zu generieren die nicht nur seine Präsenz in der Öffentlichkeit stärkt, sondern auch eine Mobilisierung seiner Anhängerschaft bewirkt (Schnepf 2020, S. 5). In seinen politischen Reden kehren bestimmte rhetorische Muster immer wieder, darunter die Verwendung von Antagonismen, die eine Konfliktsituation erzeugen, insbesondere durch die Gegenüberstellung von "Elite" und "Volk". Dabei wird das "Volk" als unterdrückt dargestellt, während die rechtspopulistische Partei als volksnah inszeniert wird (Mudde 2004, S. 543). Eine charakteristische Einfachheit in den Botschaften rechter Parteien wird von Bischof und Senninger hervorgehoben. Je weiter rechts eine Partei steht, desto einfacher ist ihr Programm (Bischof/Senninger 2018, S. 484). Solche Diskurse verwenden prägnante und leicht verständliche Formulierungen für ansonsten komplexe politische Sachverhalte, suggerieren einfache Lösungen und nutzen Dramatisierungen und Metaphern. Insbesondere werden Migrant*innen durch metaphorische Vergleiche abgewertet (Hogan/Haltinner 2015, S. 533) und es wird auf die Bedrohung der nationalen Identität durch ethnische Minderheiten und Migrant*innen angespielt, ein Vorgehen, das Ruth Wodak als "politics of fear" beschreibt (Wodak 2015, S. 2).Diese Elemente rechtspopulistischer Rhetorik finden sich in Orbáns Äußerungen deutlich wieder, wie einige seiner Reden und Interviews exemplarisch zeigen. Besonders deutlich wird dies in seiner Darstellung von Migration als Bedrohung für das ungarische Volk, wobei er einen alarmistischen Ton anschlägt, um die migrationskritische Haltung der Regierung zu untermauern und ein Klima der Angst zu erzeugen: "Europa wird von einer beispiellosen Masseneinwanderung bedroht. (...) Wir sprechen heute von Hunderttausenden, nächstes Jahr werden es Millionen sein, ein Ende ist nicht in Sicht" (Orbán, zitiert nach Mendelski 2019, S. 8). Orbáns Wortwahl, in der er von der "Wahrheit" spricht, verdeutlicht seine Überzeugung von der Legitimität seiner Politik, wobei er durch Übertreibungen wie "Millionen", "massive Integration" oder "unerwartetes Ausmaß" eine Atmosphäre der Panik schafft.In einer Rede anlässlich seiner Vereidigung als Ministerpräsident präsentierte Orbán seine Vision einer Demokratie, die er als "christdemokratisch im 21. Jahrhundert" bezeichnete und damit ein stark von christlichen Werten geprägtes Bild nationaler Identität entwarf, das traditionelle Familienbilder bevorzugt und Homosexualität ausgrenzt. Diese Ausführungen zeigen, wie Orbán die Medien nutzt, um seine politische Botschaft zu verstärken und wie er die Medien als Instrument zur Sicherung seiner Macht einsetzt, indem er sich einer Rhetorik bedient, die sowohl mobilisiert als auch polarisiert, um seine Position zu festigen und Herausforderungen zu kontrollieren.Analyse der aktuellen Medienlandschaft in UngarnDer folgende Teil der Arbeit befasst sich mit der aktuellen Medienlandschaft in Ungarn. In der ersten Amtszeit Orbáns zwischen 1998 und 2002 gab es kaum Eingriffe in die Pressefreiheit, was auf mehrere Faktoren zurückzuführen ist. Da Ungarn in dieser Zeit noch auf den EU-Beitritt hinarbeitete, vermied Orbán bewusst Auseinandersetzungen mit der Europäischen Union über Fragen der Pressefreiheit. Dies änderte sich jedoch in der darauffolgenden Amtszeit ab 2010 drastisch: Ein neues Gesetz wurde eingeführt, das staatlichen Stellen die Einflussnahme auf die Medien ermöglichte und deren Regulierung legitimierte. Fortan nutzte die Regierung Orbán die Medien gezielt für ihre politischen Ziele.Einschränkungen der Pressefreiheit und Meinungsvielfalt in UngarnDas Beispiel Ungarns zeigt den Übergang von einem Demokratisierungsprozess zu einem schleichenden Verlust demokratischer Strukturen. Ursprünglich galt Ungarn aufgrund seiner politischen Fortschritte und wirtschaftlichen Stabilität in den späten 1990er und frühen 2000er Jahren als Vorbild unter den EU-Beitrittskandidaten. Nach dem Fall der kommunistischen Einparteienherrschaft (1949-1989) und der Etablierung einer parlamentarischen Demokratie (ab 1990) unternahm das Land erhebliche Anstrengungen, um eine demokratische Staatsform zu etablieren. Wichtige Reformen dieser Zeit schufen unter anderem eine klare Trennung der Staatsgewalten (Legislative, Exekutive, Judikative) und die neue Verfassung verankerte Prinzipien wie Rechtsstaatlichkeit und Unabhängigkeit der Justiz (Ismayr 2002, S. 310ff.).Seit 2010 hat Viktor Orbán mit seiner Fidesz-Partei jedoch einen politischen Kurs eingeschlagen der den zuvor eingeleiteten Demokratisierungsprozess nicht nur gestoppt, sondern in einigen Bereichen sogar rückgängig gemacht hat. Ein 2010 verabschiedetes Mediengesetz, das es staatlichen Stellen erlaubt, die Medien zu überwachen und bei Verstößen zu sanktionieren, markiert einen Wendepunkt in der Einschränkung der Pressefreiheit und ist ein zentraler Faktor im Demokratieabbau des Landes (Bajomi-Lazar 2018, S. 273ff.). Freedom House hebt hervor, dass von allen Kriterien zur Bewertung des Zustands von Demokratie und Rechtsstaatlichkeit gerade die Pressefreiheit in Ungarn die dramatischsten Einbußen zu verzeichnen hat (Bajomi-Lazar 2018, S. 273).Die ungarische Medienlandschaft hat sich seit der Regierungsübernahme durch Orbán und Fidesz sukzessive verändert. Die Regierung kontrolliert den öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunk, die staatliche Nachrichtenagentur Magyar Tavirati Iroda sowie einen erheblichen Teil der privaten Medien, die sich im Besitz von Orbán nahestehenden Personen befinden. Im Rahmen einer umfassenden Umstrukturierung wurden 570 leitende Angestellte der Rundfunkanstalten durch der Fidesz-Partei loyale Mitarbeiter ersetzt (Bajomi-Lazar 2018, S. 275f.).Für die regionale Berichterstattung sind seit Sommer 2017 ausschließlich unternehmerfreundliche Medien zuständig. Mit der Schließung einiger kritischer Zeitungen, darunter die überregionalen Blätter Nepszabadsag und Magyar Nemzet, ist die kritische Berichterstattung landesweit nahezu zum Erliegen gekommen. Zudem werden Journalisten, die sich kritisch über Orbán und seine Regierung äußern, nicht selten auf "schwarze Listen" gesetzt, eine Praxis, die offensichtlich darauf abzielt, Kritiker einzuschüchtern (Bajomi-Lazar 2018, S. 280).Kontrolle und Einflussnahme der Regierung auf MedienorganeEin neues Medienpaket mit Änderungen des Medien- und Pressegesetzes trat am 01.01.2011 durch die Regierung Orban in Kraft. Dieses sorgte damals europaweit für Schlagzeilen. Die Rechtsstaatlichkeit des Gesetzes wurde von der EU-Kommission angezweifelt. Auf einige Aspekte soll im Folgenden kurz eingegangen werden.Die Unabhängigkeit der Medien wurde durch das Mediengesetz erheblich geschwächt. Das Mediengesetz sah unter anderem ein Verbot bestimmter Äußerungen vor und legte eine Registrierungspflicht für alle Medien fest. Es drohte die Löschung und der Entzug der rechtlichen Möglichkeit, in Ungarn zu publizieren, wenn der Registrierungspflicht nicht nachgekommen wurde. Dies galt auch für Medienunternehmen, die außerhalb Ungarns in anderen Staaten der Europäischen Union (EU) tätig waren.Die Aufsicht über die Medien wurde nicht mehr von verschiedenen Behörden, sondern von einem einzigen Medienkontrollgremium ausgeübt. Das Medienkontrollgremium war für die Verhängung von Geldstrafen bei "politisch unausgewogener Berichterstattung" (Möllers 2018, S. 47) zuständig. Hinzu kam, dass viele Journalistinnen und Journalisten, die für den staatlichen Rundfunk arbeiteten, entlassen wurden und beispielsweise privaten, regierungskritischen Medien erschwert wurde, eine Rundfunklizenz zu erhalten. Die EU konnte durch die Androhung eines Vertragsverletzungsverfahrens zumindest eine Änderung der "EU-Ausländer betreffenden Aspekte" (Möllers 2018, S. 47) erreichen.MediengesetzgebungNoch bevor Ungarn seine neue Verfassung verankerte, stand die Regierung aufgrund der Verabschiedung eines restriktiven Mediengesetzes unter Beschuss. Das Gesetz, welches im Januar 2011 in Kraft trat, beschränkt deutlich die Freiheit der Medien und Presse (Salzborn 2015, S. 76). Das Hauptziel dieser Maßnahme ist die Dominanz der Regierung Orbáns über das Mediengefüge. Zu diesem Zweck wurde die Nationale Kommunikations- und Medienbehörde ("KESMA") ins Leben gerufen. Diese Behörde und der Medienrat erhielten erweiterte Befugnisse zur Überwachung und Lizenzierung von Medienangeboten. Unter anderem ist die Nationale Kommunikations- und Medienbehörde verantwortlich für die Vergabe von Sendelizenzen und übernimmt Aufgaben im Bereich des Verbraucher- und Wettbewerbsschutzes. Eine der Hauptaufgaben des Medienrates ist die Gewährleistung einer Berichterstattung (Bos 2021, S. 38). Neben der Neustrukturierung des Medienwesens führte die Regierung ein Fördermodell ein, das regierungsnahe Medien durch staatliche Werbeverträge finanziell unterstützt.Nach den Wahlen im Jahr 2014 erwarben Unternehmer, die der Regierung nahestehen, zunehmend Medien der Opposition, die anschließend in die neu geschaffene "Mitteleuropäische Presse- und Medienstiftung" eingebracht wurden (Bos 2021, S. 38). So schaffte es die Regierung Orbán, einflussreiche Medien der Opposition zu marginalisieren oder vollständig vom Markt zu nehmen. Ebenso wurden Online-Nachrichtenplattformen in das System eingegliedert (Bos 2021, S. 39).Samuel Salzborn kritisiert insbesondere den rechtlichen Charakter des neuen Mediengesetzes, das vage Generalklauseln beinhaltet, welche sich auf unbestimmte Konzepte wie "gute Sitten" berufen. Diese Klauseln sind offen für Interpretationen und ermöglichen damit eine gewisse Willkür. Die Definition dessen was als "gute Sitte" gilt kann staatlich bestimmt und gegen kritische Berichterstattung eingesetzt werden, was deren Sanktionierung zur Folge haben kann (Salzborn 2015, S. 77).Auswirkungen der Medienregulierung auf die Demokratie in UngarnNachdem im vorangegangenen Kapitel die aktuelle Medienlandschaft in Ungarn dargestellt wurde, widmet sich der folgende Abschnitt den Auswirkungen der Medienregulierung auf die demokratische Verfasstheit Ungarns. Anhand konkreter politischer Maßnahmen der ungarischen Regierung wird untersucht, wie die Visionen Orbáns umgesetzt wurden. Darüber hinaus wird analysiert, inwiefern die rechtspopulistische Politik die Qualität der ungarischen Demokratie beeinflusst und verändert hat.Bedeutung der Medien für die demokratische GesellschaftIm Zentrum der Debatte um die Rolle der Medien in der demokratischen Gesellschaft Ungarns steht die Transformationspolitik Viktor Orbáns und seiner Fidesz-Partei, die seit ihrem Regierungsantritt eine umfassende Kontrolle über die Medienlandschaft ausüben. Die Regierung nutzt diese Kontrolle strategisch als Instrument der Regierungskommunikation, um eine fast ausschließlich positive Berichterstattung über ihre Handlungen und Entscheidungen sicherzustellen. Regierungskritische Stimmen finden kaum Gehör, stattdessen wird Kritik systematisch unterdrückt und negative Nachrichten werden in einem für die Regierung vorteilhaften Licht dargestellt. Die gezielte Durchführung von Desinformationskampagnen, die Bajomi-Lazar als "Propaganda" bezeichnet, ist ein weiterer Baustein dieser Medienpolitik (Bajomi-Lazar 2018, S. 280f.).Die Verpflichtung von Arthur J. Finkelstein, einem erfahrenen Kampagnenstrategen aus den USA, durch Viktor Orbán unterstreicht den gezielten Einsatz der Medien zur Meinungsbildung. Das Phänomen der Verbreitung von teilweise oder vollständig gefälschten Nachrichten ist zwar kein Alleinstellungsmerkmal der ungarischen Medienlandschaft, die offene Zurschaustellung dieser Praktiken durch die ungarische Regierung ohne den Versuch, ihre Aktivitäten zu verschleiern, stellt jedoch einen klaren Bruch mit demokratischen Normen dar (Bajomi-Lazar 2018, S. 281).Diese Entwicklung wirft grundsätzliche Fragen nach den Auswirkungen der Medienregulierung auf die Demokratie in Ungarn auf. Die Einflussnahme auf die Medien und die damit einhergehende Unterdrückung pluralistischer Diskurse hat unmittelbare Folgen für die demokratische Gesellschaft. Indem die Medien als verlängerter Arm der Regierungskommunikation fungieren und kritische Berichterstattung marginalisiert wird, werden demokratische Grundwerte wie Meinungsvielfalt und Pressefreiheit massiv untergraben. Die strategische Manipulation der Medienlandschaft durch die Regierung Orbán verdeutlicht die Herausforderungen vor denen die Demokratie in Ungarn steht und unterstreicht die zentrale Rolle der Medienfreiheit als Grundpfeiler einer lebendigen und funktionierenden demokratischen Gesellschaft. Einschränkung der Demokratie durch Regulierungen in der MedienlandschaftDie Regulierung der Medienlandschaft in Ungarn durch Viktor Orbán und seine Fidesz-Partei hat weitreichende Folgen für die Demokratie im Land. Durch die systematische Übernahme und Anpassung der Medien an ihre Vorstellungen, insbesondere durch die Besetzung der Führungspositionen in den wichtigsten Medienorganisationen mit Verbündeten der Regierung, haben sie die Medien zu einem Instrument der Machtsicherung gemacht. Die Aufhebung der Unabhängigkeit der Medien ermöglicht es der Orbán-Regierung, die Berichterstattung vollständig für ihre politischen Ziele zu instrumentalisieren. Es dominiert eine einseitige Berichterstattung, die den Bürgern vor allem in den ländlichen Regionen wenig Spielraum lässt die Authentizität und Richtigkeit der präsentierten Nachrichten zu überprüfen. Die Bürger Ungarns stehen vor der Herausforderung, dass sie kaum Zugang zu alternativen Perspektiven oder kritischen Stimmen haben, was sie quasi dazu zwingt, den regierungsgesteuerten Nachrichten Glauben zu schenken (Bajomi-Lazar 2018, S. 281/282).Diese Einschränkung der Medienfreiheit und die Manipulation der Informationslandschaft durch die Regierung Orbán untergraben grundlegende demokratische Prinzipien, indem sie den freien Zugang zu Informationen einschränken und eine fundierte öffentliche Meinungsbildung verhindern. Durch die gezielte Meinungsmache und die Abschottung gegenüber kritischen Debatten werden die natürlichen demokratischen Kontrollmechanismen geschwächt und die Bevölkerung als Kontrollinstanz der Regierung faktisch entmachtet. Die Strategie, die Macht über die Medien zu festigen und dafür zu sorgen, dass keine Gegenmeinungen an die Öffentlichkeit gelangen oder Widerstand gegen politische Entscheidungen leisten können, ist ein deutliches Zeichen für den Missbrauch von Medienmacht zur Festigung autoritärer Strukturen.Diese Entwicklungen in Ungarn verdeutlichen die zentrale Bedeutung einer unabhängigen und pluralistischen Medienlandschaft für den Erhalt einer gesunden Demokratie. Die Einschränkung der Pressefreiheit und die gezielte Manipulation der Medien durch die Regierung stellen eine ernsthafte Bedrohung für die demokratischen Prozesse und die politische Freiheit im Land dar. Politische Auswirkungen auf das demokratische System UngarnsDie politischen Auswirkungen der Regulierung der Medien auf das demokratische System in Ungarn sind tiefgreifend und haben zu einer Verschlechterung der Qualität der Demokratie im Land geführt. Diese Veränderungen spiegeln sich in verschiedenen internationalen Indizes wider, die die demokratische Stabilität Ungarns bewerten. Der "Freedom in the World Index" von Freedom House stuft Ungarn als "teilweise frei" ein, da die Fidesz-Partei die Kontrolle über unabhängige Institutionen erlangt hat, was zu einer Schwächung der Aktivitäten von Oppositionellen, Journalisten, Universitäten und NGOs geführt hat (Freedom House 2021). Der "Nations in Transit Index" bezeichnet Ungarn sogar als "Transitional or Hybrid Regime" mit einem Wert von 49 von 100 Punkten, wobei 100 Punkte für eine funktionierende Demokratie stehen (Freedom House 2021b). Der Bertelsmann Transformationsindex beschreibt Ungarn als "defekte Demokratie", in den demokratischen Institutionen zwar existieren, aber eingeschränkt und ineffektiv sind (Bertelsmann Stiftung 2020, S. 13).Deutlich verschlechtert hat sich zudem die Platzierung Ungarns in der Rangliste der Pressefreiheit von "Reporter ohne Grenzen", wo das Land nur noch auf Platz 92 von 180 Ländern rangiert und die Situation der Pressefreiheit als problematisch eingestuft wird (Reporter ohne Grenzen 2021). Der "Rule of Law Index" des World Justice Project weist Ungarn den niedrigsten Wert in Osteuropa zu, weltweit liegt es auf Platz 60 von 128 (World Justice Project 2020).Diese Indizes und Bewertungen zeigen, dass die von Viktor Orbán vorangetriebene politische Transformation direkte negative Auswirkungen auf die Qualität der Demokratie in Ungarn haben. Einige Autoren wie Attila Ágh sprechen von der "ungarischen Krankheit" als antidemokratischer Herausforderung für die EU und beschreiben das Land als "worst case scenario" einer "elected autocracy" (Ágh 2015, S. 4, S. 16). János Kornai sieht in der Entwicklung seit Orbáns Amtsantritt eine Abkehr von Demokratie und Errungenschaften des Systemwechsels Ende der 1980er, einen "U-Turn" (Kornai 2015, S. 1). Samuel Salzborn identifiziert eine transformatorische Entwicklung hin zu einer Diktatur, bedingt durch rechtliche Veränderungen und eine zunehmende Ethnisierung der Innenpolitik (Salzborn 2015, S. 81).Andere Forscher sprechen von einem "hybriden Regime" und positionieren Ungarn in einer Grauzone zwischen Demokratie und Autokratie. András Bozóki und Dániel Hegedüs betonen, dass hybride Regime eine eigenständige Kategorie darstellen, die weder als Unterform der Demokratie noch der Diktatur zu verstehen ist (Bozóki/Hegedüs 2018, S. 1183). Attila Antal betont, dass das Orbán-Regime seine politische Anhängerschaft gezielt repolitisiert und den Rest der politischen Gemeinschaft depolitisiert hat (Antal 2017, S. 18).SchlussfolgerungDas Phänomen des Demokratieabbaus, beobachtet nicht nur in Ungarn, sondern weltweit und innerhalb Europas, unterstreicht eine kritische Herausforderung für die demokratische Ordnung vieler Staaten. Die systematische Einschränkung der Presse- und Meinungsfreiheit in Ungarn seit Viktor Orbáns zweiter Amtszeit im Jahr 2010 zeichnet ein beunruhigendes Bild der Degradierung demokratischer Werte, das weit über die Grenzen Ungarns hinausreicht und die europäische Gemeinschaft insgesamt betrifft (Möllers 2018, S. 7; Ismayr 2002, S. 309ff.).Die zentrale Rolle der Medien in einer Demokratie, hervorgehoben durch ihre vielfältigen Funktionen wie die Schaffung von Öffentlichkeit, Informationsvermittlung, Kontrolle der Macht, soziale Integration und Bildung, unterstreicht die Bedeutung der Medienfreiheit für das Funktionieren einer demokratischen Gesellschaft (Strohmeier 2004, S. 69ff.). Die Kontrolle über die Massenmedien zu haben bedeutet, einen entscheidenden Einfluss darauf zu besitzen, welche Informationen die Bevölkerung erhält und wie sie die politische Realität wahrnimmt.Ungarns Entwicklung seit 2010 unter der Fidesz-Regierung ist besonders alarmierend, da sie zeigt, wie gezielt Propaganda eingesetzt wird, um die Regierungsperspektive zu stärken und oppositionelle Stimmen effektiv zum Schweigen zu bringen. Die offene Ausführung dieser Maßnahmen und das scheinbare Desinteresse der Regierung, ihre Aktionen zu verbergen, verdeutlichen eine besorgniserregende Gleichgültigkeit gegenüber demokratischen Standards (Bajomi-Lazar 2018, S. 281f.). Trotz der Transparenz dieser Aktivitäten hat die Europäische Union bisher wenig Einfluss auf eine positive Veränderung nehmen können, was den Demokratieabbau in Ungarn weiter vorantreibt.Die Situation in Ungarn ist nicht isoliert zu betrachten, sondern stellt ein ernstes Problem für die EU dar, da es die konstitutionellen und demokratischen Grundlagen der Gemeinschaft untergräbt. Die aktuellen Entwicklungen in Ungarn sind ein Warnsignal und erfordern eine dringende und koordinierte Reaktion auf europäischer Ebene, um die Demokratie zu schützen und zu fördern. Die Frage, wie die Medienregulierung in Ungarn die demokratischen Prozesse und die politische Landschaft des Landes beeinflusst, lässt sich klar beantworten: Sie führt zu einer erheblichen Einschränkung der Demokratiequalität, indem sie die freie Meinungsäußerung untergräbt, die politische Pluralität einschränkt und die Kontrollfunktion der Medien schwächt.Die Hoffnung liegt nun darauf, dass die internationale Gemeinschaft und europäische Institutionen wirksame Maßnahmen ergreifen, um die demokratischen Prinzipien in Ungarn zu stärken und einen weiteren Demokratieabbau zu verhindern. Die Bewahrung der Medienfreiheit und die Sicherstellung einer pluralistischen und unabhängigen Medienlandschaft sind essenziell für die Aufrechterhaltung einer lebendigen und gesunden Demokratie, nicht nur in Ungarn, sondern in allen demokratischen Staaten. LiteraturverzeichnisÁgh, Attila. 2015. 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1. Kapitel: Einleitung Das Kapitel der Einleitung erläutert die Zielsetzung und Fragestellung dieser Arbeit unter Angabe der verwendeten Primärquellen, zu denen die Zeitungsartikel, Archivdokumente, die Transkriptionen der qualitativen Interviews gehören sowie den aktuellen Forschungsstand. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es zum einen, auf inhaltlicher Ebene die Auto- und Heterobilder sowie Stereotype in der westdeutschen und britischen überregionalen Presse herauszuarbeiten und diese vor dem Hintergrund des außenpolitischen bilateralen Verhältnisses zu interpretieren. Zum anderen sollen jene Eigen- und Fremdbilder strukturell in die Argumentationen der jeweils nationalen Pressetexte eingeordnet werden und auf ihre Funktion hin überprüft werden. In der vorliegenden Dissertation wird angenommen, dass Stereotype und Bilder "des Anderen" gezielt in die Argumentationen der nationalen Pressetexte eingebettet sind und dort argumentative Funktionen erfüllen, wie etwa die Verstärkung eines Arguments oder die Herstellung von Plausibilität, Interpretation und Einordnung eines Ereignisses oder dessen gesellschaftliche Legitimation. Daher verbindet diese Arbeit die Methodik der "Kritischen Diskursanalyse" (KDA) mit der "Imagologie". Das Forschungsparadigma der KDA lautet nach Siegfried Jäger, den Diskurs auf seine ikonographischen Mittel hin zu untersuchen. Manfred Beller und Joep Leerssen definieren den Forschungsanspruch der Imagologie wie folgt: "Imagology aims to understand a discourse rather than a society". Weder die KDA gelangt zu einer näheren Klassifizierung der zu untersuchenden "ikonographischen Mittel", noch unternimmt die "Imagologie" den Versuch, den Begriff "discourse" näher zu bestimmen. Daher wird in dieser Arbeit diese Lücke geschlossen und beide Methodiken an ihrer Schnittstelle miteinander verbunden. Es ist das Hauptanliegen dieser Arbeit, die diskursive Konstruktion des deutsch-britischen Verhältnis im jeweiligen Pressediskurs beider Länder im Untersuchungszeitraum dieser Arbeit tiefgreifend zu analysieren und die dem jeweiligen Diskurs zugrundeliegenden "Aussagen" im Sinne Foucaults herauszuarbeiten. Zudem sollen allgemein-gültige Ergebnisse zur Tradierung von Stereotypen und dem positiven und negativen Tenor der überregionalen Berichterstattung unter Berücksichtigung des außenpolitischen Kontextes in Betracht gezogen werden. Die Auswirkungen des Pressediskurses auf das öffentliche Denken soll anhand von Archivdokumenten bzw. von qualitativen Interviews punktuell gezeigt werden. 2. Kapitel: Diskurs und Kritische Diskursanalyse Im zweiten Kapitel wird zunächst der Diskursbegriff nach Michel Foucault mit den Wirkmechanismen und Strukturen von Diskursen begründet. Wichtig dabei ist der "Wissen/Macht-Komplex", der die diskursive Aushandlung von "allgemein gültigem Wissen" innerhalb einer Gesellschaft beschreibt. Dieses "Wissen" enthält die Tradierung gültiger Argumentationsformen inklusive Eigen- und Fremdbilder in der Presse. Der Begriff "Aushandlung" impliziert dabei, dass es sich um einen diffizilen diskursiven Prozess handelt. "Wissen und Macht" sind laut Foucault intrinsisch miteinander verbunden. Macht generiert Wissen, Wissen impliziert Macht. Demnach haben die als gültig ausgehandelten Argumentationsformen und Bilder in den Pressetexten eine Wirkungsmacht, Bewusstsein innerhalb einer Gesellschaft formen. In Foucaults diskursanalytische Theorien, die selbst keine konkreten Analyseschemata zur Untersuchung von (Medien-) Diskursen beinhalten, fließen die Weiterführungen von Sara Mills, Ruth Wodak und Norman Fairclough mit ein. Konkrete Vorgaben zur praktischen Analyse von Mediendiskursen legte der Linguist Sigfried Jäger des Duisburger Instituts für Sprach- und Sozialforschung vor. Jäger definiert verschiedene Diskursebenen innerhalb einer Gesellschaft, bei denen der Mediendiskurs zwischen der Politiker- und Alltagsebene angesiedelt ist. Jäger beschreibt, dass der Mediendiskurs in sich relativ homogen ist, da die großen Leitmedien ihre Informationen von wenigen offiziellen Presseagenturen beziehen. Dies bedeutet, dass die Nachrichten zur Aktualität im Fernsehen relativ gleich denen im Radio oder den Zeitungen sind. Im Fall dieser Arbeit ist bestätigt, dass die Presse den dominanten Mediendiskurs sowohl in der BRD als auch in GB zur politischen Information darstellt. Die Pressetexte mit ihren Argumenten, ihrem Tenor und den Selbst- und Fremdbildern zu den Ereignissen der zweiten Berlin-Krise hatten demnach eine große Wirkung auf ihre Leser, zu denen nachweislich auch die Regierungsoberhäupter Adenauer und Macmillan zählen. Trotz der angenommen Homogenität des Mediendiskurses besitzt jede Presse- und Medieninstitution eine eigene "diskursive Position" gemäß ihrer Ausrichtung, die nachhaltig den Tenor ihrer Nachrichten bestimmen. Grundsätzlich teilt man in einer Gesellschaft Wissen darüber, welche Ausrichtung die "großen Zeitungen" haben. So ist etwa der Guardian und die SZ sozialliberal, die Times, FAZ, Die Welt und der Daily Telegraph konservativ eingestellt. Darüber hinaus teilt Jäger die Presseberichterstattung in ihre Bestandteile. Diese sind etwa die Berichterstattung über ein bestimmtes Thema, den "Diskursstrang". Pressetexte, die ein bestimmtes Thema behandeln, nennt er "Diskursfragmente". Demnach bilden alle Diskursfragmente zu einem Thema den Diskursstrang, der sich diachron gemäß der (außen-)politischen Situation entwickelt. Jäger bezeichnet ihn metaphorisch als "Fluss von Wissen durch die Zeit". Analysiert man ein Ereignis, über das in den Medien viel berichtet wird, stellt dies ein "diskursives Ereignis" dar. Für Jäger stellen diese Orientierungspunkte dar, da sie eine "Momentaufnahme" des Diskursstranges abbilden und zeigen, welche Bilder, Argumente und diskursiven Mechanismen zu einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt tradiert wurden bzw. "gültig" waren. Die diachrone Aneinanderreihung von Ergebnissen aus mehreren diskursiven Ereignissen zeigt dann Entwicklungen und Veränderungen in einem Diskursstrang auf, dessen Einwirkungen vor dem Hintergrund der politischen Ebene interpretiert werden können. 3. Kapitel: Imagologie und Stereotypenforschung Das Kapitel behandelt die Bildung, Funktionen und Tradierung von Eigen- und Fremdbildkonstruktionen als kulturelle Konstrukte im öffentlichen Diskurs, dem die Berichterstattung angehört. Ursprünglich in der vergleichenden Literaturwissenschaft situiert, weiten Beller & Leerssen das Untersuchungsfeld der Imagologie von literarischen Texten auf Texte "as forms of cultural representation" aus. Dem sind Zeitungsartikel überregionaler Qualitätszeitungen ebenso zuzuordnen. In diesem Kapitel werden die "Images" als Oberbegriff erläutert, aus denen sich das Bild, Stereotyp, Vorurteil und Feindbild ableiten. Zudem wird das Nationenbild behandelt. Der Schwerpunkt der Darstellungen in dieser Arbeit liegt dabei auf dem Stereotypenbegriff. Eingehend erläutert dieses Kapitel die identitätsstiftende Funktion von Eigen- und Fremdbildern, wobei ebenso die Aspekte des Wandels und der Beständigkeit von Stereotypen beleuchtet werden. Die Eigen- und Fremdbildkonstruktionen werden in den Kontext der Presseberichterstattung, insbesondere der Auslandsberichterstattung, eingebettet und deren Merkmale skizziert. Demnach wird die Struktur der Presseberichterstattung erläutert, in dem die Stereotype und Bilder eingebettet werden. Ebenso wird die Relation zwischen verbalem Ausdruck eines Stereotyps und dessen kognitive Assoziierung behandelt, wobei der konturierte Charakter eines Stereotyps gezeigt werden soll. 4. Kapitel: Methodische Vorgehensweise Dieses Kapitel fasst, basierend auf der erläuterten Methodik der Kritischen Diskursanalyse aus Kapitel 2 und den Grundlagen der Stereotypenforschung in Kapitel 3 die konkrete Vorgehensweise und methodische Anwendung dieser Arbeit zusammen. Behandelt wird die konkrete Auswahl relevanter Pressetexte für die quantitative und qualitative Analyse von westdeutschen und britischen Zeitungsartikeln der jeweils drei großen überregionalen Tageszeitungen, die das Korpus dieser Dissertation bilden (Times, Daily Telegraph, Manchester Guardian, FAZ, SZ und Die Welt). Die diskursiven Ereignisse des Untersuchungszeitraumes werden erläutert, ebenso wie die Klassifizierung der drei untersuchten Diskursstränge, die das deutsch-britische Verhältnis zur Zeit der zweiten Berlin-Krise von 1958 bis 1962 diskursiv aushandeln. Die konkrete Vorgehensweise aus Struktur- und Feinanalyse, die auf die drei Diskursstränge angewandt wird, wird geschildert. Dabei wird bereits der "Tenor der Berichterstattung" geschildert, der die drei untersuchten Diskursstränge dominiert. Neben der Tradierung von negativen, neutralen oder positiven Stereotypen im überregionalen Pressediskurs eines Landes entscheidet auch die subtilere "Stimmung" im Pressetext über die Formulierung eines positiven oder negativen Fremdbildes. Die Ergebnisse dieser Untersuchung zeigen in Abgleich mit den Archivdokumenten zum politischen Hintergrund, dass der Tenor der Berichterstattung eines Landes über die fremde Nation an das außenpolitische Verhältnis gebunden ist – zur Zeit von Macmillans Moskau-Reise im Februar 1959 stellt die britische Außenpolitik eine Bedrohung für den Kurs Adenauers dar mit der Konsequenz, dass in beiden Pressediskursen ein negativer Tenor mit einer großen Anzahl negativer Fremdbilder zirkulierte. Als Macmillan 1960 von seiner Entspannungspolitik in Zentraleuropa Abstand nimmt und sich der kontinentaleuropäischen Wirtschaftsbeziehungen zuwendet, verbessert sich sowohl der Tenor als auch die wechselseitigen Heterobilder über den Anderen in beiden Pressediskursen. Demnach hängt die negative Tradierung von Fremdbildern von der diskursiven Konstellation ab, die in den überregionalen Leitmedien dem außenpolitischen Kurs der jeweiligen Regierung folgt. 5. Kapitel: Das britische und westdeutsche Pressewesen Im 5. Kapitel wird das westdeutsche Pressewesen dem britischen gegenübergestellt. Zunächst soll gezeigt werden, dass die Zeitungen im Untersuchungszeitraum dieser Arbeit das dominante Leitmedium zur politischen Information darstellen, da die "ephemeren" Medien wie Radio und Fernsehen zwar in beiden Ländern zahlenmäßig (bereits) weit verbreitet waren, sich zur intensiven politischen Information jedoch (noch) nicht durchgesetzt hatten. Dies hat zur Folge, dass der Presseberichterstattung über die britische und westdeutsche Außenpolitik zur zweiten Berlin-Krise eine noch größere Wirkungsmacht zukommt, deren inhaltliche Analyse sich eignet, dominante Grundaussagen des britischen und westdeutschen Pressediskurses in Form von Argumentationsmustern und der Tradierung von Fremdbildern zu Legitimierungszwecken herauszuarbeiten. Von diesen kann angenommen werden, dass sie eine sehr starke Wirkmacht zur Bewusstseinsbildung über die jeweils fremde Nation bei den Lesern hatten, zu denen nachweislich auch die führenden Politiker beider Länder zählten. Danach werden die sechs überregionalen Zeitungen in ihrer Pressegeschichte sowie ihrer zahlenmäßigen Verbreitung vorgestellt und ihre "Diskursposition", d.h. in ihrer (politischen) Ausrichtung im gesellschaftlichen Diskurs, genannt. Da diese Arbeit eine relative Homogenität der überregionalen Leitmedien annimmt, wird die Diskursposition der einzelnen Tageszeitungen in dieser Untersuchung vernachlässigt. Es werden zudem wesentliche Unterschiede des westdeutschen und britischen Pressewesens erläutert und die Kriterien einer "überregionalen Tageszeitungen" definiert. Abschließend werden beide Pressewesen miteinander verglichen und in den historischen Kontext der zweiten Berlin-Krise eingeordnet. 6. Kapitel: Die zweite Berlin-Krise als diskursiver Kontext Dieses Kapitel erläutert die außen- und weltpolitischen Hintergründe des längsten Konfliktes des Kalten Krieges, die im August 1961 zur sichtbaren Teilung Deutschlands in Ost- und West führte. Der historische Hintergrund wird mit Archivdokumenten aus dem Bundesarchiv Koblenz sowie dem Politischen Archiv des Auswärtigen Amtes gestützt. Gezeigt werden die Rollen und Verantwortlichkeiten der alliierten Siegermächte Großbritannien, den USA und Frankreich gegenüber den sowjetischen Forderungen Chruschtschows, das Viermächteabkommen aufzukündigen und die alliierten Truppen aus Westberlin abzuziehen. Mit der Schilderung des historischen Hintergrundes wird zudem der Untersuchungszeitraum dieser Arbeit festgelegt, der mit dem Chruschtschow-Ultimatum vom 27.11.1958 beginnt und mit dem Beginn der Kuba-Krise im Oktober 1962 endet. Neben der Schilderung des Verlaufes der zweiten Berlin-Krise wird das deutsch-britische Verhältnis in diesem Zeitraum eingehend geschildert. Betont werden die Rolle Großbritanniens in der Außenpolitik Adenauers sowie umgekehrt, Deutschland bzw. Berlin in der britischen Außenpolitik. Darüber hinaus behandelt dieses Kapitel dominante Deutschlandbilder der britischen Öffentlichkeit sowie die Englandbilder der westdeutschen Bevölkerung. Inhalte politischer Dokumente stützen vorherrschende Haltungen beider Regierungen zueinander, die dem Zweck dienen, Einflüsse auf den jeweiligen Pressediskurs eines Landes zu erkennen, bzw. aus diskursanalytischer Sicht, die Politikerebene von der Medienebene zu trennen. 7. Kapitel: Kategorisierung der Diskursstränge Hier werden die drei in dieser Arbeit analysierten Diskursstränge inhaltlich umrissen. Diskursstränge, die Bilder des Anderen enthalten, jedoch nicht wechselseitig in beiden auftreten, werden in Punkt 7.4 genannt. Dabei handelt es sich um Diskursstränge, die spezifisch für ein Land stehen, die fremde Nation jedoch thematisieren. So behandelt Großbritannien verstärkt das Thema "NS-Prozesse" im eigenen spezifischen Diskurs anders als dies in der westdeutschen Presse geschieht. 8. Kapitel: Diskursstrang 1: Der Staatsbesuch von Theodor Heuss: Oktober 1958 Mehrere Faktoren begründen den Staatsbesuch von Theodor Heuss als ersten offiziellen Empfang eines deutschen Regierungsoberhauptes durch die britische Monarchin seit 1907 als diskursives Event zu behandeln und in die Analyse miteinzubeziehen, obwohl er Ende Oktober 1958, knapp einen Monat vor dem Beginn der zweiten Berlin-Krise, durch das Chruschtschow-Ultimatum stattfand. Erstens repräsentieren sowohl der Bundespräsident als auch die britische Monarchin die Bevölkerung ihres Landes und nicht die außenpolitische Linie. Demnach steht das Verhältnis beider Bevölkerungen zueinander im Mittelpunkt der Berichterstattung. Zweitens bestätigen mehrere Quellen, dass der Heuss-Besuch das Ende der Nachkriegsära im deutsch-britischen Verhältnis einläutete. Demnach stand dem Besuch eine große diskursive Aushandlung über die Presse beider Länder bevor, das deutsch-britische Verhältnis, das sich insbesondere durch den Zweiten Weltkrieg zu einer Feindschaft wandelte, neu auszuhandeln. Von britischer Seite bestand eine große Reserviertheit und Kühle gegenüber dem westdeutschen Gast, die die britische Presse dominierte. Die westdeutschen Zeitungen berichteten ausführlich über die Ehrung und Würde des königlichen Empfangs und bezogen sich anschließend auf das negative Echo der britischen Zeitungen. Die britische Presse zeichnete dabei das Bild des "deutschen Charakters" als obrigkeitshörigen, gefügigen, materialistischen und unmoralischen Deutschen, der seine Vergangenheit mit dem Konsum des Wirtschaftswunders verdrängt. Heuss dagegen sei "not this kind of German". Von deutscher Seite seien "Engländer auch keine Italiener". Nationale Bilder des Anderen dienen der Legitimierung und Einordnung in den eigenen diskursiven Kontext, die Haltung und Reaktion des Anderen logisch zu interpretieren. Sowohl die qualitative als auch quantitative Analyse der Presseartikel in den westdeutschen und britischen Zeitungen ergeben, dass das Bild vom Anderen in seiner Anzahl negativ ist, was auf ein vorherrschend negatives Bild und Grundaussauge insbesondere im britischen Diskurs gegenüber den Deutschen schließen lässt. Es zeigt sich zudem, dass die dominanten Unterthemen der britischen und westdeutschen Presse analog zu der Hierarchie der am meisten verwendeten negativen Fremdbildern sind. Demnach überwiegt zahlenmäßig in der britischen Presse das Bild des unmoralischen und militanten Deutschen, das in Analogie zum am meisten vorhandenen Unterthema der NS-Vergangenheit steht. Von deutscher Seite ist das Bild der kühlen, reservierten und unhöflichen Briten dominant, das am gewichtigsten das Unterthema der "Reaktion der britischen Bevölkerung und der britischen Presse" interpretierend unterstützt. Heterobilder und -stereotype sind demnach in die Struktur der Presseberichterstattung eingebettet und erfüllen bestimmte Funktionen, meist die der Verstärkung der Argumentationen zur Herstellung von Plausibilität und Logik. Indem die westdeutsche Presse die Briten als "arrogant allem Fremden gegenüber" charakterisiert, dient dies der Einordnung und Erklärung für die berichtete kühle Reaktion der britischen Bevölkerung auf den deutschen Gast. Indem die britische Presse ein Kontinuitätsbild der Deutschen als "militant und unmoralisch" tradiert, ist die reservierte Haltung der eigenen Bevölkerung gegenüber den unmoralischen Deutschen gerechtfertigt. Zugleich stilisieren sich die Briten selbst als "moralisch" im Hinblick auf ihre politische Tradition und Konstitution. Die diskursive Aushandlung des deutsch-britischen Verhältnis zum Heuss-Staatsbesuch dient der "Aktualisierung" des jeweiligen Fremdbildes, wodurch aus diskursanalytischer Sichtweise "viel Wissen produziert wird". Die mediale Neuaushandlung der deutsch-britischen Beziehungen wird durch Berichte etwa des deutschen Botschafters in London sowie von Heuss selbst ergänzt, die erläutern, dass es sich um eine berichtete kühle Reserviertheit der britischen Bevölkerung gegenüber dem deutschen Staatsgast handelt und nicht um eine tatsächlich erlebte Ablehnung aus Sicht beider Politiker. Theodor Heuss berichtigte diese Tatsache sogar in seiner Neuansprache an das deutsche Volk vom 31.01.1958, bei der er sagte, dass er viel Wärme erfahren habe und dass verantwortliche Journalisten einberufen wurden. Trotz der überwiegend negativen Tradierung der Bilder des Anderen während des Heuss-Besuchs ist eine Verbesserung des Tenors in beiden nationalen Pressediskursen zu erkennen, die etwa im Januar bei den wohlwollenden Berichten über die Assoziierung Großbritanniens an den europäischen Markt deutlich erkennbar ist, jedoch durch die Herausforderungen der zweiten Berlin-Krise ab Januar 1959 deutlich in den Hintergrund rückt. 9. Kapitel: Bilaterale Krise zwischen Adenauer und Macmillan: 1959 Der Diskursstrang der bilateralen Krise zwischen Adenauer und Macmillan im Jahr 1959 bildet den "Kern" der in dieser Arbeit durchgeführten Diskursanalyse. Dies ist damit zu begründen, dass der Diskursstrang von Oktober 1958 bis Januar 1959 eine positive Entwicklung aufzeigt, die durch das zunächst relativ harmonische persönliche Verhältnis zwischen Adenauer und Macmillan aufgrund außenpolitischer Übereinstimmung gekennzeichnet ist. Adenauers Position als Befürworter des britischen Anliegens, sich wirtschaftlich in Europa nicht zu isolieren durch die Schaffung einer Freihandelszone als Gegengewicht zur 1957 gegründeten EWG der Kontinentaleuropäer stößt zunächst auf Wohlwollen der außenpolitischen Interessen Macmillans und Adenauers, der stets eine engere Einbindung Großbritannien an Europa anstrebte. Durch das Chruschtschow-Ultimatum Ende November 1958 und der sich Mitte Januar 1959 herauskristallisierenden entgegengesetzten Positionen im Ost-West-Konflikt verschlechterte sich das bilaterale Verhältnis um ein Vielfaches, das nach der unilateralen Moskau-Reise Macmillans Ende Februar 1959 im April 1959 seinen Höhepunkt nimmt. Der bilaterale Konflikt wird auf den polarisierenden Charakterisierungen des weichen Macmillans gegenüber eines starren Adenauers auf die Personen des britischen und westdeutschen Regierungsoberhauptes übertragen. Von westdeutscher Seite wird dem Misstrauen gegenüber der britischen Außenpolitik mit Beschwichtigungen reagiert. Zugleich tritt Amerika als "Beschützer" vor den Russen ins Zentrum der westdeutschen Argumentation. Macmillans ergebnislose Moskau-Reise wird in der westdeutschen und britischen Presse unterschiedlich interpretiert: die Briten sehen sie weitestgehend als Erfolg, da Chruschtschow gegen Ende doch noch einer Außenministerkonferenz zustimmte, die ab Mai in Genf stattfand. Die Zeitungen der BRD werten sie einschlägig als "Fehlschlag". Macmillans einseitige Initiative wirft zugleich die Frage einer "Paris-Bonn-Achse" auf, da die Moskau-Reise noch stärker zu einer Polarisierung innerhalb der westlichen Allianz führt: de Gaulle steht entschieden zur starren Haltung Adenauers gegenüber der UdSSR, Amerika befürwortet eher Verhandlungen wobei die britische Regierung vollkommen auf Verhandlungen mit Chruschtschow setzt, um die Berlin-Frage zu lösen. Die Begriffe "schwach" in der westdeutschen Presse und "suspicious" in der britischen sind die im Verlauf des Jahres 1959 am häufigsten tradierten Bilder des Anderen. Die deutschen Zeitungen stilisieren Macmillans Außenpolitik und Großbritannien als schwächste Alliierte wohingegen die britische Presse Adenauer als "misstrauisch" gegenüber britischen Motiven charakterisiert. Im April äußerte sich Adenauer im Rundfunk über "Drahtzieher", die bewusst das deutsch-britische Verhältnis in Großbritannien verschlechtern. Ohne direkt die "Wire-Pullers" zu nennen, bezieht die britische Presse Adenauers Anschuldigungen Mitte April 1959 auf sich. Es kommt zum Times-Artikel: "Anglo-German relations at low ebb" sowie zur Bemerkung im Daily Telegraph: "No conspiracy is needed since anti-German feelings exist without being artificially inspired". Adenauers kritische Äußerungen halten von Juni bis September 1959 an. Während der ersten Phase der Genfer Außenministerkonferenz bleibt ein negativer Tenor in der westdeutschen Presse gegenüber britischen Motiven bestehen, wobei Adenauers Kritik an der britischen Außenpolitik in Zusammenhang mit der (ergebnislosen) Genfer Konferenz zu sehen ist. Ab September ist eine eindeutige Distanzierung sowohl der britischen als auch deutschen Presse zu Adenauers Äußerungen zu bemerken. Dies liegt in der quantitativen Anzahl von Artikeln begründet als auch in der qualitativen Analyse der Presseartikel. Über die dritte Adenauer-Kritik an Großbritannien wird verhältnismäßig wenig und sehr "nüchtern" berichtet. Daher ist eine Einflussnahme der Regierungen auf eine Verbesserung des bilateralen Verhältnisses in der Presseberichterstattung zu verzeichnen. Als Adenauer im Oktober 1959 bekannt gibt, Ende November 1959 zu bilateralen Gesprächen mit Macmillan nach London zu reisen, richtet sich der Tenor beider Pressediskurse auf die Hoffnung und Zuversicht, dass beide Staatsmänner ihre Differenzen beseitigten. Insbesondere in der britischen Presse ist eine stark betonte Verbesserung des Tenors gegenüber Deutschland zu vermerken, die etwa in Berichten wie "the prospects for next week's talks are excellent" zum Ausdruck kommt. Die deutsche Presse bezeichnet die Verschlechterung des deutsch-britischen Verhältnis als "unnötigen Hader". Auch die Nachbereitung der bilateralen Gespräche hinterlässt einen positiven Einschlag. Die öffentliche Haltung des westdeutschen Außenministers sowie Adenauers selbst, eine Assoziierung der neu gegründeten EFTA mit der EWG zu befürworten, sowie Macmillans Distanzierung von einem Disengagement in Zentraleuropa führt zu jener bilateralen Verbesserung. Die Analyse ergab, dass die britische Presse Adenauer negativ als "old, suspicious, rigid und authoritarian" im April, Juni und September im Rahmen seiner Kritik an Macmillan charakterisiert. Britische Außenpolitik wird in der zweiten Hälfte von 1959 als "nüchtern" und "pragmatisch" stereotypisiert, in der ersten als "weich, schwach und flexibel". Auffallend ist, dass, je mehr über die verschlechterten deutsch-britischen Beziehungen berichtet wird, desto stärker das deutsch-französische hervortritt. Die Dominanz der Unterthemen in beiden Pressediskursen im Jahr 1959 zeigt, dass das Gewicht vom außenpolitischen Prinzip bestimmt ist. Für die deutsche Presse sind dies die deutsch-französischen Beziehungen und die außenpolitische Haltung Großbritanniens im Ost-West-Konflikt, für die britische Presse sind dies die Thematik um die Freihandelszone bzw. EFTA sowie die erstarkende Position der BRD als ("gleichberechtigter", "dominanter") NATO-Partner. Die überregionalen Leitmedien folgen demnach den außenpolitischen Kurs der jeweiligen Regierung. 10. Kapitel: Hinwendung zu Europa? Großbritannien und die EWG ab 1960 Der dritte Diskursstrang behandelt schwerpunktmäßig die diskursive Aushandlung des britischen Selbstbildes in seiner Hinwendung zu Europa gemäß der britischen Außenpolitik. Mit der zunehmenden und schnell wachsenden Europäischen Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft, die zur politischen Union werden soll, verliert die von Großbritannien gegründete EFTA an Kraft. Neben Kennedys Wunsch nach einer Europäischen Integration, die Großbritannien als Mitglied der EWG sehen will, wird die Einheit der westlichen Allianz gegenüber der Sowjetunion auf die Wirtschaft übertragen. Bei Macmillans Besuch in Washington im April 1961 wird dieser Prozess beschleunigt, als der britische Premier am 31.07.1961 im Unterhaus verkündet, ein Beitrittsgesuch zur EWG in Brüssel zustellen. Der Diskursstrang ist zunächst in drei Phasen zu teilen: 1) Deutsch-britische Annäherung zwischen EWG und EFTA von Januar 1960 bis Februar 1961, 2) Erwägung und Beschluss des britischen EWG-Beitrittes: März bis Dezember 1961, 3) Wachsende Skepsis und Distanz Adenauers zum britischen EWG-Beitritt: Januar bis Oktober 1962. Das der Diskursstrang eine starke Fokussierung auf dem britischen Selbstbild besitzt und das Verhältnis Großbritannien vermehrt gegenüber den EWG-Staaten und weniger bilateral behandelt wird, wurde hier auf eine Feinanalyse verzichtet. Ziel der Strukturanalyse ist es, vor dem Hintergrund der zeitweiligen Abwesenheit außenpolitischer Differenzen zwischen beiden Ländern eine starke Verbesserung des Tenors in der britischen und westdeutschen Presseberichterstattung festzustellen, wobei es im Februar 1961 zu einem berichteten "Höhepunkt" im deutsch-britischen Verhältnis beim bilateralen Treffen zwischen Adenauer und Macmillan in London kommt, der neben dem positiven Tenor auch gerade in der positiven Darstellung Adenauers in der britischen Presse zeigt. Die positive Darstellung Adenauers ist mit seiner Befürwortung eines britischen EWG-Beitrittes verbunden. Auch hier kommt das deutsch-französische Verhältnis zum Tragen: die britische Presse erhofft sich mit Adenauer einen Fürsprecher gegenüber de Gaulle zu haben bzw. die deutsch-französische Achse aufzuweichen. Adenauer dagegen ist über die positive Haltung der Briten gegenüber einer Europäischen Integration positiv gestimmt. Während sich in der zweiten Phase des Diskursstrangs die bilaterale Aushandlung der deutsch-britischen Beziehungen entfernt, da die britischen Zeitungen etwa das Selbstbild um den Verlust der eigenen Souveränität aushandeln und die Berlin-Krise mit dem zweiten Chruschtschow-Ultimatum vom Juni 1961 und der darauf folgenden Abriegelung des Ost-Sektors von Berlin im August 1961 die Aufmerksamkeit der westdeutschen Zeitungen auf den Ost-West-Konflikt richten. Die dritte Phase ab Januar 1962 wird eingeleitet durch Macmillans Besuch in Bonn Anfang Januar 1962. Dabei werden erste Verschlechterungen in der beiderseitigen Berichterstattung deutlich, die sich um die Stationierungskosten der britischen Rhein-Armee ranken, die aufgrund der Teilung Deutschlands im Rahmen der NATO aufgestockt werden muss. Im März äußert sich Adenauer erstmals öffentlich gegenüber einem französischen Journalisten kritisch dem britischen EWG-Beitritt gegenüber. Politische Dokumente vom Dezember 1961 belegen, wie sehr Adenauer de Gaulles distanzierter Haltung zu einem britischen EWG-Beitritt zustimmt, da sonst das politische Konzept der EWG nicht umgesetzt werden könne. Im Juni 1962 äußerte sich der Bundeskanzler erneut konkret kritisch, indem er behauptet, dass eine wirtschaftliche Assoziierung Großbritanniens zur EWG nicht gleich eine Vollmitgliedschaft des Vereinigten Königreiches bedeuten muss. Die westdeutsche Presse distanziert sich zunehmest von Adenauers kritischen Äußerungen wohingegen die britischen Zeitungen Ludwig Erhards und von Brentanos Zustimmung zitieren. Mit Adenauers Staatsbesuch in Paris Anfang Juli und der zelebrierten deutsch-französischen Aussöhnung in der Kathedrale von Reims kommen Feindbilder gegenüber den militanten Deutschen in der britischen Presse erneut hervor. Adenauer wird für die britische Europapolitik zur Bedrohung, da eine demonstrierte Aussöhnung mit de Gaulle gleichbedeutend sei mit einer Distanzierung Bonns vom britischen Anliegen und von einer Fürsprache Adenauers bei de Gaulle für die britische Sonderstellung. Weitere kritische Äußerungen Adenauers im August 1962 verstärken diese Haltung. Die westdeutsche Presse distanziert sich dabei nachweislich von den Äußerungen des "alten Herrn" und folgen dem Konsens der Bonner Außenpolitik. Mit dem Beginn der Commonwealth-Konferenz in London im September und dem aufkommenden Konflikt der Kuba-Krise endet der Untersuchungszeitraum dieser Arbeit. 11. Kapitel: Ergebnisse und diskursanalytische Schlussfolgerungen Zu den zentralen Schlussfolgerungen zählt die Aussage, dass die britische und westdeutsche überregionale Presse den allgemeinen Konsens der Außenpolitik verfolgt. Abweichende Haltungen einzelner Personen, auch gerade die der Regierungsoberhäupter, werden gegebenenfalls ausgegrenzt. Somit hält der überregionale Pressediskurs die Funktion einer Korrektur inne. Einflussnahmen der Politikerebene auf den Tenor der überregionalen Berichterstattung wurden kenntlich gemacht, etwa ab September 1959 vor dem Adenauer-Besuch in London. Die Formulierung negativer Fremdbilder und Stereotype ist in den Zeiten des außenpolitischen Konfliktes quantitativ erhöht. Ein interessantes Ergebnis ist die Dichotomie der tradierten Bilder von Adenauer und Macmillan: im April 1959 stilisiert die westdeutsche Presse Macmillan als "weich" und "flexibel" wohingegen die britischen Zeitungen Adenauer als "rigid" und "authoritarian" charakterisieren. Die Herausbildung negativer Stereotype ist damit zu begründen, dass die fremde Nation zur Bedrohung für die eigenen Interessen wird, wie im Fall von Macmillans Moskau-Reise oder Adenauers zunehmender Distanzierung zum britischen EWG-Beitritt. In Zeiten der akuten Bedrohung ist zusätzlich eine quantitative wie qualitative Abhängigkeit der britischen und westdeutschen Presseartikel festzustellen. So verlaufen beide Diskursstränge parallel zueinander. Aus qualitativer Sicht finden zahlreiche direkte und indirekte Bezüge der westdeutschen Presse zu britischen Artikeln sowie umgekehrt statt. Im dritten Diskursstrang, der vor dem Hintergrund der vorläufigen Abwesenheit von bilateralen Spannungen artikuliert wurde, treten die direkten Bezugnahmen zwischen der britischen und westdeutschen Presse zurück. Darüber hinaus verbessert sich der Tenor nachhaltig. In dem Moment, als erneut Spannungen auftraten, wie ab Juni 1962, tritt sogar das Bild des militanten Deutschen erneut in der britischen Presse auf. Somit hängen negative Fremdbilder vom außenpolitischen Kurs der Regierung und der Position der anderen Nation im bilateralen Verhältnis in den überregionalen Zeitungen ab. Zudem werden Forschungsausblicke vorgelegt, die sich auf einen Vergleich etwa des dritten Diskursstrangs mit dem gegenwärtigen EU-Austritt Großbritanniens beziehen oder sich mit den Dynamiken des deutsch-französischen Verhältnisses beschäftigen. 12. Kapitel: Ausblick: Wandel der Stereotype in der deutsch-britischen Presseberichterstattung(?) Das Kapitel möchte einen Ausblick zum Wandel bzw. zur Beständigkeit von den hier untersuchten Bildern des Anderen im gegenwärtigen deutsch-britischen Verhältnis liefern. Dazu werden einerseits Parallelen zum gegenwärtigen EU-Austritt Großbritanniens gezogen. Andererseits werden mittels der Aussagen von Interviewpartnern aus dem deutsch-britischen Verhältnis Ergebnisse und Ausblicke vorgelegt, die zur weiteren Erforschung der deutsch-britischen Pressebeziehungen einladen sollen. ; This doctoral dissertation examines the use of national stereotypes used in British and West German quality newspapers during the second Berlin Wall Crisis (1958 to 1962). As the Berlin Wall Crisis represents the tensest controversy within Cold War history, the national press coverage of West Germany and Great Britain is highly defined by reports on the political events. These are temporarily characterised by the direct confrontation between the West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer and the British Premier Harold Macmillan. The density and acuteness of this Cold War crisis, however, reduces the respective press releases on German and British affairs to a mere political coverage; thus, the analysis of the prevailing British and German newspapers can be regarded as a political discourse analysis. The methodological approach employed in this work follows the Critical Discourse Analysis according to Ruth Wodak [1], Norman Fairclough [2] and Sara Mills [3] with the aim of displaying the mutual use of auto- and hetero-images of "the Germans" and "the British" in the respective national media and consequently, the discursive construction of national identity. The discourse analysts' view is supplemented here by the imagologist approach of Manfred Beller [4], which concerns the construction of national images of the Self and the Other in public national discourse. Referring to the above-mentioned dominance of politically related reports in past national press coverage, Critical Discourse Analysis represents a highly suitable methodological approach as it aims at examining the discursive mechanisms of power and ideology in which a text is set. Considering this, Sara Mills defines Critical Discourse Analysis as a "political analysis of text" [5]. The time period examined in this work does not only mark the peak of the East-West conflict but also implements the substantial formation and structure of the European Union as it is still prevalent today. Major negotiations in the national press of that time, such as the entrance of Great Britain into the European Economic Community (EEC) beginning in the late 1950s, reveal arguments, attitudes and images in national press coverage about European affiliation of which many are still valid today. This can be currently noticed in British demands for a European reform as well as in a possible exit from the European Union in 2017. Accordingly, the diachronic view from the news coverage between Germany and Britain during the Berlin Wall Crisis is accomplished by this present outlook on German-British relations. This double-tracked approach allows both a complex portrayal of the historical development of German-British relationship and a definition of the mechanisms of auto- and hetero-images as they occur and change in trans-national media discourse. References: [1] Ruth Wodak and Michael Meyer (Eds.). Methods of Critical Discourse Studies. London: Sage, 32016. [2] Norman Fairclough. Critical Discourse Analysis. The Critical Study of Language. Edinburgh: Longman, 22010. [3] Sara Mills. Discourse. London: Routledge, 1997. [4] Manfred Beller and Joep Leerssen (Eds.). Imagology. The Cultural Construction and Literary Representation of National Characters. A Critical Survey. New York: Rodopi, 2007. [5] Mills: Discourse, p. 131. ; Arrogante und nüchterne Briten, ein Bundespräsident, der nicht deutsch sein kann, da er den Briten sympathisch ist oder militante Deutsche, die gemocht werden wollen - so schreiben die überregionalen britischen und westdeutschen Tageszeitungen während einer der brisantesten Krisen des Kalten Krieges übereinander. Die zweite Berlin-Krise (1958 bis 62) repräsentiert dabei eine schicksalhafte Zeit sowohl für die Bundesrepublik als auch für das Vereinigte Königreich. Themen wie die Suche nach einer gemeinsamen westlichen Strategie als Antwort auf sowjetische Ultimaten und die Teilung Deutschlands, die ambivalente britische Außenpolitik gegenüber Berlin, die deutsch-französischen Annäherungen und die Einbindung des Vereinigten Königreiches in die kontinentaleuropäische Wirtschaft dominieren die Pressediskurse beider Nationen. Diese Studie untersucht die diskursiven Mittel, mit denen die überregionale Presse außenpolitische Ereignisse in den eigenen nationalen Referenzrahmen integriert, und welche Rolle dabei textuelle Stereotype und Charakterisierungen spielen. Mithilfe der Methode der Kritischen Diskursanalyse will diese Arbeit anhand qualitativer und quantitativer Darstellungen jeweils diskursive Mechanismen der westdeutschen und britischen Tagespresse aufzeigen und damit ein kleines Stückchen Licht in die mediale Tradierung eines komplexen deutsch-britischen Verhältnisses bringen.

Issue 39.6 of the Review for Religious, November 1980. ; The Fot~rth Level of Prayer Developmental Stages and the Novice Limits of Adaptability of the Exercises Volume :~9 Number 6 November 1980 REVIEW ~:OR Rrl.J~aOt~S (ISSN 0034-639X). published hi-monthly (every two months), is edited in collaboration with faculty members of the Departmenl of Theology of St. Louis University. The editorial offices are located at Room a,28:3601 Lindell Blvd.: St. Louis, MO 63108. It is owned by the Missouri Province Educational Institute; St. Louis, Missouri, © 1980. By R~v~w FOk RFa.~¢aous. Composed. printed and manufactured in U.S.A. Second class postage paid at St. Louis. Missouri. Single copies: $2.(X). Subscription U.S.A.: $8.1XI a year; $15.00 for two years. Other countries: $9.00 a year. $17.00 fi~r two years. For subscription orders or change of address, write R~v~w I;Ok R~-:~,~;~ot;s: P.O. Box 6070: Duluth, Minnesota 55802. Daniel F. X. Meenan, S.J. Robert Williams, S.J. Dolores Greeley, R.S.M. Joseph F. Gallen, S.J. Jean Read Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor Questions and Answers Editor Assistant Editor November, 1980 Volume 39 Number 6 Correspondence with the editor and the associate editors, manu~ripts and books for review should be sent to REw~:w ~on R~:~AG~OUS; Room 428; 3601 Lindell Blvd.; St. Louis, MO 63108. Questions for answering should be sent to Joseph F. Gallen, S.J.; Jesuit Community; St. Joseph's College; City Avenue at 54th Street; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19131. "Out of print" issues and articles not re-issued as repr.ints are available from University Microfilms International; 300 North Zeeb Road; Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106. The Benedictine Call to Judgment James M. Desche~e, O.S.B. Brother James has written this article especially to celebrate the 1500 anniversary of the Benedic-tines. His last article, "Journey into Christ," appeared in the issue of July, 1980. He resides at Christ-of-the-Hills Monastery; P.O. Box 32849; San Antonio, Texas 78216. Make no mistake about the age we live in; already it !s high time for us to awake out of our sleep., the night is far on its course., day draws near. (Rm 13:11,12). Despite the Lord's command to comfort the afflicted, one cannot help but be struck by the frequency with which the Lordhimself afflicts the comfort-able. Despite our very human tendency to seek peace and security, one cannot easily forget (for the Lord will not permit it) that Christ came "not to send peace, but a sword" (Mt 10:34). When, like ancient Israel, we have come to prefer the security of enslaved lives, the Lord, ever perverse in his grace, calls us out of our comfortable slavery to wander in a desert of freedom, exiled from security and peace. ¯ Wandering.in that terrible place, we long with all our hearts to be back in the dreary mud pits of Egypt, preferring the dry but dependable crusts of slavery to those fierce, unsatisfied hungers we discover within us as we sojourn in the desert of fre~edom.and ~of judgment. Whatever the pain of crises in our lives, we must never forget that the crises themselves are divine gifts. The Greeks, who had a word for everything, gave us the word crisis. But they wisely knew (as we often do not) that the word, while it involved pain, really meant a time of challenge and judgment, an opportunity to-measure and evaluate and change. For the Christian, crises are moments in which God confronts us with truths we had preferred not to see, with realities we have chosen to ignore, with decisions we have refused to make. For the Christian, a crisis is a 801 802 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 moment--albeit painful--of deepest grace. For a Christian who has become settled in a life of slavery to routine and superficial existence, a moment of crisis is a moment of salvation and an opportunity to regain touch with th~ deep roots of being, to be enlivened and energized by a return to life and grace. Just as there are moments of crisis ! of j udgment-- in each human life, so are there moments of crisis in each human generation and in each human society. This is the human condition: to stand--as an individual and as a race--at eve.ry moment in need of judgment and of conversion, in need of redemption and of new life. It is his recognition of this condition--and of Christ's lordship over all our crises--that prompts Saint Paul to call us to judgment: "Make no mistake about the age we live in; already it is high time for us to awake out of sleep." Paul's word, translated here by "high time," is the Greek kairos, with its sense of urgency, of.opportunity, of occasion. The word for Paul usually suggests a critical time (a time of judgment), a God-filled moment of salvation, an end and a beginning. Fifteen hundred years ago was born a man whose wisdom in crisis was to have an incalculable influence on the history and life of our. western world. Benedict, born around the year 480 in the small Umbrian town of Nursia in the Apennines, found himself thrust into a world in crisis. The old Roman Empire and its social fabric were f~lling into ruin around this young man. Rome itself narrowly escaped attack by Attila the Hun in~452 only to be sacked a few years later by the Vandals. Nor was the Church im-mune from crisis. In 451, churchmen struggling over the doctrinal issue of the two natures in Christ met in council at Chalcedon. The results were a victory for dogma but a defeat for Christian unity, giving rise to the two schisms of the NestOrians and the Monophysites, and planting the seeds of the great disunity between east and west that were to bloom prodigiously in the later Middle Ages. In brief, it was an age not unlike our own. Into the crisis of his age entered this man Benedict who wisely allowed the larger crises of his time to become one with his own personal moment of crisis, of judgment and of salvation. In the person of Benedict, in fact, a judgment is passed upon the age itself: "Even while still living in the world, free to enjoy all it had to offer, he saw how empty it was and turned from it without regret" (St. Gregory the Great: Dialogues, H, Preface). It is the genius of Saint Benedict, and the special mark of his,holiness, that this judgment, while never compromising itself, always avoids the taint of the puritan harshness we of later generations have come to expect in those who renounce the world. Instead, as we discover in the Prologue to his Rule, Benedict's judgment is filled with goodness and grace, with charis as the ancients knew it, sounding clear notes of kindliness; graciousness and mercy. Benedict calls his advice that of a "loving father" and finds only joy in the~call to judgment: "What can be sweeter to us, dear brothers, than this voice of the Lord inviting us? Behold, in his loving kindness the Lord shows us the way of The Benedictine Call to Judgment / 803 life" (Rule, Prologue). As the monk confronts the crisis of his own life, any hardness results from the very hardness and smallness of his own heart. But in crisis, the Lord stands ready to give the monk a neff heart and with this growth comes an ineffable joy: "For as we advance in the religious life and in faith, our hearts expand, and we run the way of God's commandments with unspeakable sweetness of love" (Rule, Prologue). In its essence, the monastic or religious life as Benedict understands it is a call to judgment, a call to be ever open to the voice of the Lord, a vocation to enter into each and every moment of crisis with the faith tha, t God is present in that moment to recreate and renew our hearts and our lives. The great enemy to this vocation is hardening the heart: "Today if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts." And Benedict's remedy for this is sounded in the opening of his Rule: "Listen, my son, to your master's precepts, and incline the ear of'your heart." For Benedict this is no poetic fancy. To listen, to incline the ear of the heart, is exactly what is meant by obedience. "By the labor of obedience you may return to him from whom you had departed by the sloth of disobedience" (Rule, Prologue). Obedience, to the Latin ear ofSaint Benedict, always carried a message we easily miss in the English word. Obedience (from ob +audire) has to do with listening, with hearing, with attending to. It involves an openness and a sensitivity to the voice and,the, will of the Lord speaking to each person in each situation. To obey is tobe wholly open and submissive to the Lord in crisis; it is to be ever willing to enter into crisis because that is .where the Lord will be found at that moment. It is a willingness to allow the Lord tobe our judge, to have his way with us. It isa willingness to let one's,heart be broken, if that is the Lord's will. It is to. hold back no part of one's life,ands'being from the Lord of all life and being. To obey is to be wholly the Lord's creature, Benedict clearly indicates that it is in obedience that the monk finds a deep stability when he quotes from the Gospel the words: "Whoever listens to these w~ords of mine and acts upon them, I will liken him to a wise man who has built his house on rock. The floods came, the winds blew and beat against that house, and it did not fall, because it was founded on rock" (Rule, Prologue). When we are in crisis, security and stability appear to lie in avoiding the critical issue. When .the Lord calls.us out of slavery into the desert, slavery doesn't look so bad. Only the0deepest faith and the deepest trust in the Father's love can teach us to face the crisis, to enter into judgment, to listen to and obey the voice that calls us into seeming desert and chaos and.ruin. For Benedict this faith and trust are reflected in the words: "In his loving kindness the Lord shows us the way of life." What appears to be a way of death is really the way of life. One of the.practical ways Benedict provides to his monks for learning this deep trust in the Father's unfailing love is the office of the abbot; the abba who incarnates among the monks the Father himself. It is by his obedience to the abbot that the monk learns obedience to the Father. Indeed, it isin his obe- 804 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 dience to the abbot that the monk is obedient to the Father. Yet Benedict is careful to remind the monk that obedience-- in its radical sense of openness to crisis and the will of God expressed in concrete situations--is not limited to the relationship between a monk and his abbot. The monk is to recall that he must be obedient to all his brothers. "Not only is the boon of obedience to be shown by all to the Abbot, but the brothers are also to obey one another, knowing that by the road of obedience they are going to God" (Rule, Chapter 71). The call to crisis involves every member of the community. No one is to be denied our obedience--our listening, our sensitivity, our responsiveness. Every crisis between Christians, whether they be monks or not, is a God-filled kairos, a time of salvation. In light of the foregoing, it may be objected by some that this appears to be a diminution of the force of the vow of obedience. I have avoided all the juridical and legal aspects of the vow. Yet I have done this purposely, and for two reasons. First, the vision I find in Benedict of obedience is deeper, stronger and more demanding than. any purely juridical concept. Indeed, it is possible (perhaps even common) to find juridically conceived obedience an effective means of escaping real crisis, real judgment and encounter between the monk and the Lord. Secondly, a purely juridical view limits our considera-tion to those who are juridically bound by a vow. Yet Benedict's view of obe-dience is no less applicable to every Christian man and woman than to monks. All are called to crisis, to judgment. No Christian is exempt from this demand nor from the demand of obedience to each of his fellow Christians. Nor is any Christian exempt from the demand Benedict makes by the vow of conversatio morum, usually translated as "conversion of manners" or "reformation of life." For in its most profound sense, this vow is essentially a radical call to crisis, to judgment. It requires that at every moment we respond to the voice of the Lord calling us to newness of life. Today's response may have to be relinquished to tomorrow's response. Our hearts must be continu-ally open to each new judgme.nt and call from the Lord. We are not to settle down, not to set camp in the desert, but to be continually on the move. There is no standing still in the service of the Lord. Endless conversion, perpetual metanoia, are the marks of a truly living Christian. To guarantee that the monk will not be tempted to escape this demand of endless reformation and endless conforming to the living will of God as revealed in crisis and discovered by obedience, Benedict adds the third vow of stability. By this the monk renounces his right to escape God's demands in the present moment and circumstances by moving into other circumstances. Run-ning away is not permitted the monk and so there is nothing for him to do but to submit to the divine crisis and know it is God's will that he submit. From the day of his profession, the monk is assured by God's promise that it is here, among these particular persons,, that God will confront him in crisis. To flee from these brothers, then, is to flee from God and his call. (I do not wish here to enter into the problematical issues of canonical transfer of stability or of The Benedictine Call to Judgment / 805 departure from the monastic life, though these deserve fuller treatment in light of what has been said here.) One of the last points to consider in Benedict's vision of the Christian life authentically lived is the place of humility. A close examination of his chapters on hi~mility reveals that humility has a great deal to do with truthfulness. It has to do with facing the truth about ones.elf. It has to do with seeing oneself for what one is. It is a virtue of utter and radical realism. Above all, its end is tosee oneself as God sees one. It involves looking at fearful truths intently and steadily, refusing to turn away from them, until by grace and work, all fear is transformed into love and "the monk will presently come to that perfect love of God which casts out fear" (Rule, Chapter 7). Humility is thus related to crisis; it helps us to face crisis, to endure judg-ment, to bear the truth. It also enables the monk to be of assistance to his brothers in their need to face crisis. The monk serves his brother by being perfectly truthful, by obscuring nothing of his own weakness or sin and nothing of his brother's weakness and sin. Humble monks do not support one another in self-deception. Equally importantly, the monk is alway.s ready, in humility, to take from the moment of crisis the truth of his own goodness and to affirm the same in his brothers:.Humility is the readiness to admit the truth as it is revealed at every moment. This is particularly seen in the requirement that the monk hold back nothing about himself from his spiritual father. Every selfish thought, every petty jealousy, every twinge of hatred--all must be laid without hesitation before the spiritual father. In this way, spiritual direction for the monk becomes in the truest sense a crisis and a moment of salvation. Nothing of Benedict's vision is without relevance to the life and growth of every Christian. In this fifteen-hundredth year of Saint Benedict's gift to Christianity, it must be seen that his gift is a gift to all men and women who seek the Lord. The gift of his monks is to be bearers of crisis. The monk must live in such a way that the world may never forget that Christ is Lord. The monk must live in such a way that the values of the world, insofar as they are opposed to the values of Christ, are absurd and empty. Benedict's sons and daughters must see that their lives bring a continual judgment on the lives of all men and women; that their lives are lived in a way that proclaims the power of truthfulness, of humility, of obedience. The monk must live his life in such a way that it would make no sense if there" were not a loving Father guiding and ruling all things. It is this "senselessness" that can bring the world into crisis, into facing the truth of its own empty values, its own abandonment of God, This is the Benedictine crisis, this call to judge the world not by condemn-ing or rejecting it, and certainly not by fleeing it; but by living every moment in such a way that the world must face the question of God's rule and the reality of his kingdom. Our criticism must lie, like Benedict's, not in speaking against the world (though this too has its place), but by the positive and grace-filled 806 / Review for Religious~ Volume 39, 1980/6 living of our lives in truth, in love, in brotherhood, in simplicity, in peace: In our time, perhaps more than ever, this is the task to which Benedict's monks and nuns are called, For all of us it is a time of crisis, of asking whether weare really doing what Saint Benedict interided. To answer this question, we do not 'need to examine our effectiveness. For our effectiveness lies entirely in our observance of the Rule and spirit of Saint Benedict. It is by being witnesses to God's kingdom that we shall have our effect, and this witness lies in our fidelity to the principles we have briefly looked at~here: obedience, continual reformation, stability, humility. For fifteen hundred years the presence in the world of Benedictine monks has been a sign and a challenge, a judgment and a question .--a crisis. So long as~we do not ourselves abandon the elements of our life which keep us ever open and sensitive to the workings of the Spirit, so long as we have the faith and the courage to examine ourselves for fidelity to the authentic Benedictine tradition and to step into the future with faith and trust and submissive-ness- so long as these things are present,,the Benedictine family and mission will be .needed, will be in crisis, will be genuinely alive, ~ We attest to a frightened world that the'sword of Christ.is but a prelude to the peace of Christ, that death through olSedience leads to the fullest life, and that the ruins of our lives in the crises we meet are the foundations of Resur-rection. The world's fear must be cast out by the perfection of our love.For it is love that is the greatest judgment and crisis in all of human history. Benedict, in his school of the Lord's service, shows us the way to the crisis of love. The Fourth Level of Prayer: Mystery David J. Hassel, .S.J. Father:Hassel is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Loyol~i University in Chicago. His last arti-cle, "'Prayer of Personal Reminiscence: Sharing Oners Memories with Christ," was printed in the issue of March, 1977 and is still available in reprint form. He currently resides at 6525 North Sheridan Road; Chicago, IL 60626. Ironically, the terms most frequently used to describe our present-day spirituality can cause us the most c6nfusion: peace, consolation and desola-tion, dryness in prayer, contemplation in action, discernment. Since these terms.point to.mySterious processes within our experience, even a book-length analysis of them would be hardly adequate. But perhaps an article can achieve some clarity if it attempts simply to locate the happenings described by these terms~ In other words, if we were to ~st~rvey the various level~ of human awareness--e~en with some crudity--we might better understand the events occurring at these levels.' But before doing tlais survey, could we first describe the problems to be touched hire? For ~xample, people can feel disturbed about the peace they experience in their decisions and their prayer. Is this peace simply the euphoria of having finally made a decision after hours or days of sweaty deliberations? Is peace in prayer mainly exuberant physical ~nd mental health? The f6~ty'- year old priest has decided that God no longer wants him to practice° his priesthood but now wishes him to marry the woman who has helped him so ' I am deeply indebted to the retreatants whose honesty and trust have furr~ished me with the data out of which this article rises, i am particularly indebted to the following persons who have attempted to save me the usual number of unhealthy exaggerations inevitable in such an article as this: Mary Ann Hoope, B.V.M., Robert Harvanek, S.J., Paul Clifford, S.J., John Schuett, S.J., Richard Smith, S.J., Robert Murphy, S.J, :Mary Jane Linn, C.S.J., Frank Houdek, S.J., Jules Toner, S.J., Mrs. Mary Ellen Hayes. 807 808 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 much in his ministry and in his discovery of manhood. He feels peace in this decision; but is this "peade" simply the relief from heavy parish obligations and the glad anticipation of married life? Will "peace" remain when his new life begins to place renewed obligations on his shoulders? Again, a person can experience what seems to be a split in his personality. He finds himself half-miserable, half-happy. He asks himself: "How can I, at one and the same time, experience the depressing defeat of losing my job and yet, in my depths, feel confident? Are there two of me? Is this the play of con-solation and desolation within my life? Or are the pressures of life splitting my consciousness into two?" A third problem is Christ's command: "Pray always." Such a request seems psychologically impossible when a mother is raising four children between the ages of two years and twelves years or when an engineer is testing a heavily traveled city bridge for stress-breaks and wondering what will hap-pen in the business community and-at city hall if he condemns the bridge, or when the advertising executive is sizing up a prospective customer, estimating the product to be advertised, and puzzling over the morality of a slick sales-pitch which has just come to mind. But if Christ is asking the psychologically impossible, is he not providing the conditions for skepticism about his whole message? A fourth problem arises when we focus upon discernment process the three puzzling cases just mentioned. What does it mean to discern God's will in a decision, if I am unsure about peac~, consolation-desolati0n, and ongoing prayer in my life? Such discernment is often termed the concrete call of Christ to the individual Christian or to his community. But does God call only through external circumstances and other people, or does he not also" make his desires known within the experience of the individual Christian? Does such an interior experience occur in the imagination or in the mind or in the heart of the person? Or in all three at the same time? Or somewhere else? Some clarity, it is contended here, can be attained in these problems if one distinguishes four levels of awareness in the praying Christian: the superficial, physical, psychic, and mysterious. Could we, therefore, describe these levels then indicate a way of uncovering the fourth level, next show the type of partial solution which the appreciation of this fourth level offers to our prob-lems, subsequently explain how the fourth level would seem to affect the upper thre~ levels of awareness, and finally offer some cautions about the use of this fourth-level explanation? These five steps would be the strategy of this presentation. Four Levels of Awareness2 First Level: the Sensuous-Superficial. This first level is the skin-surface of experience: sensuous awareness. It is a tissue of minor irritations and pleasures. For example, I am displeased by the cold draft playing on my neck during the auditorium talk, or by the raspy.voice of the woman describing her The Fourth Level of Prayer: Mystery / 809 Florida vacation or by the first gnawings of hunger at 4:30 p.m., or by the slight rash on the back of my hand. At this same level, I experience satisfac-tion at a favorite meal of ham and sweet potatoes, at the sweet smell of spring grass just cut, at the relaxation of a hardy laugh, at the caressing of the family cat. Such minor irritations and pleasures ordinarily do not demand much at-tention and are taken for granted as the normal flow of life. Though I am often barely conscious of them, they do give life its continuous texture. Second Level: the Physical-Vital. Underneath the first level of awareness, there are other happenings which demand attention because they last longer and are more intense tfian events of the first level. Here are the pains and joys which go deeper than minor ir.ritations and pleasantries~ Anyone who has experienced the steady throb of neuralgia or the constant harassment of ulcer pains or the brain-deadening effect of insomnia will vouch for the e~xistence of this second level of awareness. Here are also pleasurable joys which exceed the simple pleasures described in the first level. There is, for example, the exuber-ance of glowing health, the feeling that "all the world is beautiful and owned by me'~-experiences which the carbonated-drink advertisements exploit. At this level the fifth symphony of Beethoven can stir a person to his depths with its elegant majesty, can make him feel noble beyond his dreams. Or this level contains the sustained sat!sfaction of slowly mastering one's tennis or golf. Here, too, the ecstasy of sexual pleasure .occurs with its deep drum-beat of powerful delight. The very power of the pains and pleasures of this second level demand our attention and make us aware of how superficial the first- . level irritations and pleasures are. Yet these second-level happenings do com-penetrate and influence the first-level, sensuous awareness. One's enjoyment of a favorite dinner is enhanced by the feel of good health or diminished by in-somnia. Third Level: the Psychological-Psychic. Although the second level of awareness contains happenings of insistent strength, still the third level of awareness is capable of riveting a person~.s attention and so possessing him or her that, for a time, he or she is seemingly unaware of second- or first-level happenings. The deep sorrows and the pure joys of this level totally permeate a person's being and consciousness. For example, the young woman, working at her first secretarial job, may be hypnotized by fear of failure so that her voice creaks, her fingers clog the typewriter keyboard, her memory fails and she feels no hunger throughout the first day of work. The paranoid person 2 In their article "Phenomenology, Psychiatry, and Ignatian Discernment," (The Way, Supple-ment #6, May, 1968, 27-34) Felix Letemendia and George Crofts'peak of four levels of experience: the sensorial, the vital, the psychic and the spiritual, which somewhat resemble the levels described here. They have borrowed their descriptions from Max Scheler, the philosopher, and from Kurt Schneider, the psychiatrist. Of course, there are many levels of experience, if one wishes to be very specific. But perhaps this more simplifiedlsketch of four levels better serves our present purpose. 810 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 may be so concentrating on the "derogatory actions" of others that he walks through a glass door without knowing that he is bleeding from cuts. At this third level a woman may experience haunting doubts about her ability to love another adeq~uately and thus may begin to feel like a dull, unattractive child u~na.ble to evoke love from another. A father's mental pain at watching his daughter waste away in unrelievable cancer is matched on this level only by the suffering of a wife undergoing systematic and.continuous belittlement from her husband while the children look on bewildered. But at this third level, the depth of the pure joys~equal such sorrows. Here an6ther mother experiences the warm security of being loved by an admired husband and of being respected by admiring children: Here, too, is where the older brother ~njoys the four-touchdown afterri0on of his younger brother whom h~had 6oached on all the moves of a tigl~t end during four years. It is at this third lev61 that the novelist reads over the'laudatory reviews of his book and experiences lasting gratitude to the elderly journalism teacher who had taught him his craft. Here, too, the woman social worker sits late at her desk, savoring the bone-tiredness but deep satisfaction of a day well spent in patiently binding together fragmenting families, persons, and situations. This third level, then; encompasses the top two levels'and, in so doing, can render them almost routine. For the top two-levels, distracting as they may be to this thir~l level of awareness, are integrated into a fuller meaning at the°third level. The tired social worker does feel the pangs of hunger at the ~irs~t level, and at the second level does anticipate the pleasure of relaxing at home with her husband over a leisurely dinner, but all this is occurring in the wider and deeper context 'of fulfillment in her work at the third level of awareness. Fourth Level: the Underground River of God. ~ The fourth level is like a great underground river which, underlying the upper three levels, quietly nourishes them, sustains them in their storms and blisses, acts as the continuity (the stay-in~ power) underneath~their sometimes rapid fluctuations of irritation-pleasantry, pain-pleasure, sorrow-joy. Compared to theupper three levels, this fourth level is a quiet beneath turbulance, a constancy amid flux, a seem-in~ Passivity under great activity. Consequently, the fourth level is never explicitly conscious in itself (as are the top three levels) but only by way of cont~ast with the top levels. It is not simply experiential, but implicitly experiential,' as we note in the following two cases. Discovery of the Fourth LevEl A remarkable case-history, whose details rife changed to disguise the ~ Being ignorant of C. G. Jung, the author would not wish the combined images of underground river and of ever deeper experiential levels to be interpreted as intentionally Jungian. ' John F.~ Dedek in his Experimental Knowledge of the Indwelling Trinity: an Historica/Study of the Doctrine of St. Thomas (St. Mary of the Lake Seminary Mundelein, Illinois, 1958, pp. 125r142) calls attention to Aquinas' doctrine that.the Christian's knowledge of the Trintiy is quasi The Fourth Level of Prayer: Mystery / 811 person, illustrates how this fourth level can be discovered. A woman novice in a religious order located onthe west coast came to a midwest Jesuit University to begin her collegiate studies. Her novice mistress had taken a dislil(e to her, told her that her lack of intelligence would keep her from ever being a useful member of the congregation, succeeded in turning the other novices against her and yet had capriciously admitted her into vows. When ! met this woman, her skin was blotched with anxiety, the doctor had diagnosed stomach ulcers, she herself felt isolated and :depressed~ But she also was convinced that, despite all the sufferings, God wanted her to be a nun. As three years went by, she discovered that she was a straight "A" student, that she had special talents for political science, that she was being accepted by her fellow students and by the nuns with whom she lived, that she could pray. In other words, she found that she had a future, that deep happiness could occur in religious life. As these discoveries slowly permeated her life, the skin-blotches .disap-peared, the ulcers became healed, the sense of alienation was replaced with the warm feeling of being accepted by her religious community. The steady accomplishment felt at the top three levels of her experience now allowed her to experience by contrast a constant uneasiness or lack of peace at her deepest level, the fourth level. During the period of her novitiate experience, she could not be clearly aware of the uneasiness at the fourth level, because it was clouded by all the disturbances at the upper three levels. Only the growing brightness at the top three levels of-her experience during her collegiate days enabled her to appreciate the bl~i9k uneasiness at the deepest level of her being. After a year or so of disc_e~;nment at-this fourth level, she gradually came to acknowledge that the Lord was asking her to leave the religious community and was calling her to another way .of life. She resisted this leave-taking because she had found so much pleasure, joy, fulfillment in her religious com-munity and in her study-work. Finally she accepted God's will and, leaving the congregation, secured a job in Washington as research assistant to a member of Congress who bullied every member of his staff consistently and impartial-ly. The former novice's skin again took on the anxiety blotches, again she was consulting a doctor about stomach pains, again :she felt herself sinking into a dark and angry depression. But to her surprise, at. t.he fourth level of awareness now opened to her by her previous and present experience, she found a constant serenity never before experienced, The Lord was apparently experimentalis, i.e., "knowledge that is joined to charity" (p. 146). But he is unable to determine whether for Aquinas "this knowledge is merely discursive cognition based on signs or rather some kind of immediate or supra-discursive perception of the divine persons." Such knowledge is cer-tainly at the deepest l~vel of man's experience and, according to.the above analysis, is inferential, that is, the person becomes aware by contrasting the top three levels with the fourth level. The cen-tral texts noted in Aquinas by Fr, Dedek are in I Sent., D. 14, q. 2a., and 3; D. 15, Expositio Secundae Patris Textus. Also Sum. Theol. I, q. 43, a.5, ad 2. 812 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 approving her new way of life. At a great price and with subtle indirectness she had discovered the fourth level of awareness where the Lord calls to her and speaks in her discernment. Among other factors for diagnosing God's will for her, the crucial factor was the continuous uneasiness or the steady Peace at this fourth level. A second quick example illustrates these same points in a less extra-ordinary way. One day in a community corridor I met a fellow Jesuit who had just returned from home. He said to me, "You know my younger sister just died, I discovered two weeks ago that my doctoral thesis of a year's slaving has already been written by a South American, I'm wondering whether I can handle the theology courses scheduled for next year, and I haven't slept more than four hours a night during the last two weeks. But do you know? I must be crazy. Down deep I'm at peace, God loves me and will help me work out these things, I worry at one level of me; but at a deeper level I feel at peace." Could it be that this man is discovering with new clafity 'and enjoying with fuller appreciation the fourth level within his experience--precisely because of the striking contrast between the top three levels of suffering-sorrow and this fourth level of serenity-security? But what is this fourth level so poetically described as the underground river of God within us? First of all, its peace ap-pears to be a sense of God's approval, almost a companioning of the person by God, On the other hand, its uneasiness seems to express God's disapproval which produces an emptiness and loneliness. Secbndly the experience of peace or uneasiness is implicit to the top three levels; that is, it is recognizable by contrast with these levels yet is hidden under and within them. Thirdly, because of its depth and implicitness, this fourth level is difficult to describe directly. Instead, one offers experiential case-histories with the hope that the latter can point within the hearer'sexperience to his or her fourth level. For this reason, too, metaphor ("underlying river of God," "the ocean floor of life-experience" and "the background music of our activity at the top three levels") is employed rather than neat definitions composed of essential char, acteristics or criteria. Fourthly, the peace of the fourth level is marked by a passive alertness to.the top three levels of activity, an intent listening at the fourth level, a sense of not being along, a wi!lingness simply to be and to let be, an expectant openness to all future events. Yet at the same time, this peace permeates, patiently strengthens and lends finer quality to all the activities at the top three levels? What Is Happening at the Fourth Level? Peace. One event of vital importance seems to be happening at the fourth level: peace, a perduring serenity even amid storms at the top three levels. ~ Prayer experience at the fourth level bears a number of resemblances to what Karl Rahner describes as transcendental experience in his Foundations of Christian Faith (Seabury, New York, 1978), pp. 20, 21, 54, 58. The Fourth Level of Prayer: Mystery / 813~ Once the four levels are distinguished, it becomes clear that the word peace can refer to at least four different states in a person's awareness. At the first level, peace would mean enjoyment of life's little pleasures without its normal irritations. Confer television's beer and cosmetic advertisements for further clarification of this bodily peace. At the second level, peace could well mean a combination of good health, unworried mind and settled emotions. The fisherman, safe from the office telephones and watching the sun rise over water dimpled by surface-fee~ding trout, may well be the symbol of tl~is peace of mind. At the third level, peace may be euphoria, the neatly balanced inner life of felt achievement, of skilled competence, of fully satisfying family life, of pleasant prospect. For examples, look at the All-American father or mother in the Geritol or insurance-annuity advertisements; or, .better, look to the disciplined people who are willing to suffer much for the good of others. This could be called peace of heart. As we have mentioned, the top three level~ of peace, when disturbed, can reveal by contrast the fourth level of peace. Evidently, when one is recollecting himself or sinking into himself to discover his center of being so that he can pray better, he is actually dropping down through the three upper levels of awareness so that he can reach the fourth level where life flows most richly, quietly, serenely. He will note how the peace of this fourth level tends to render peaceful the upper three levels and he will understand better the restlessness of those who appear to have everything but lack peace of being or person. So, h'~ will discover that fourth-level peace is not just the concern of the wise, the religiously inclined~ the fortuna~tely educated; it is the goal and hope of every living person. Indeed, this is precisely what the Taoist, the Buddh.ist, and the transcendental meditator seeks. Yet not all seem to recognize the fourth level cli~arly for what it is: the felt presence of God. And quite a few seem unwilling to pay the price of such .recognition. For the price i~ double: (1) a sometimes painful discerning of ~what factors are operating within the fourth level and (2) for the Christian, the consequent willingness to accept the call of Christ (n6w heard more clearly,) and to respond to it more generously. Let us attempt some exploration of thesetwo points. Discernment. A spate of articles and floods of conversation about discern-ment make it one of the "in" terms. As luck would have'it, the mystery of discernment is not lessened by all this attention. Nor will this article do anything more than try to show where discernment takes place~ To put it starkly, discernment occurs radically at the fourth level.6 What 6 In using the term radical discernment to point to God's approving (peace) or disapproving (uneasiness) movemeni within the fourth level, I do not intend to discount the other convergent factors which go into the full discernment process, e.g., the weighing of reasons pro and con, obe-dience to lawful authority, spiritual direction, the testing of the decision in the actual living of it, use of Scripture, the calibrating of patterns of past behavior and accomplishments (the direction 814/Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 this:statement means become clearer only after one defines the events (or states) of desolation, consolation, depression, and elation. For it would seem that these four states occur only at the upper three levels. In other words, although desolation and consolation are used to read the spirits influencing a person to good or to evil, and although they may well appear to intrude upon the fourth level, still they are quite distinct from a perons's peace or lack of peace at this lowest level. Nor do depression and elation enter the fourth level of man's awareness even though they can obscure the peace or uneasiness of this level. Consolation-Desolation, Elation-Depression. It is necessary to define these four terms experientially in order to understand and to test in one's own awareness the truth of the above statements. First of all, though desolation can cause depression and intermingle with the latter almost inextricably, still desolation is not the psych.ological state of depression. For desolation is induced by the evil spirit, not by the psychological dy~.namisms causing depres-sion such as extreme fatigue, poor self-image, seemihgly depreciatory actions by admired people, neurotic or psychotic impulses, and so on. In addition, desolation has spiritual effects, i.e., those based on faith experience. Thus the person undergoing desolation feels that God igat a cold distance or does not exist at all. This person finds himself convinced that he has no future b~cause he can do no good for. anyone, least of all for the kingdom of Godl He feels totally unloving and unlovable for God and his people. On the other hand, depression is not concerned with faith-o.bjects such as these, but is involved with natural goals and hopes which, however, can be easily entwined with faith objects, e.g., when th~ nun-teacher estimateg that her attempt to write a biology book is being thwarted (depression) by her own lack of competence or (paranoia) by the devious enyy-tactics bf the department chairman so that as a result she cannot Contribute to God's glory and his kingdom. To put all this succinctly, depression paralyzes or weakens the human as human; while desolation freezes or enerx~ates the Christian as Christian. Thus it almost goes without saying that consolation is not elation since of one's life), and so on. But I am saying that in the midst of complex decisions, peace or uneasiness at the fourth lex;el is the predominant factor to be considered. For often enough the reasons pro and con cancel each other out; authority often gives such broad directives that numerous alternatives are left open; spiritual direction can only help the directee discover for himself or herself the peace or uneasiness; testing of the decision in practice can be somewhat ambivalent; use of scriptural prayer is itself tested in terms of consolation and desolation which, in turn, are discerned in terms of peace or uneasiness; patterns of past behavior do not fully account for new demands of life, new turns on the road of life. For more on discernment, confer Karl Rahner's The Dynamic Element in the Church, (Herder and Herder, New York, 1964) Part 111: "'The Logic of Concrete Individual Knowledge in Ignatius Loyola." Thomas M. Gan. non and George W. Traub's The Desert and the City (Macmillan, Toronto, 1969) Chapter VIII: "The Logic of Christian Discernment" says much clearly in short compass. The Fourth Level of Prayer: Mystery / 815 strengthening consolation ~(as distinct from Satan's eventually debilitating elation) is caused by God, not by such psychological dynamisms as the sense of worked achievement, the feel of competence in skilled activity, the reassurance of someone's deep affection, the hope of career-success, the discovery of one's deepest self. Fo~ consolation, unlike the elation which it can cause and enter, is concerned with faith-effects. That is, God consoles me with the inner faith-vision that he pervades the whole world, with the hope that I can do much for him and his people, with the certainty that I amcapable of deep devotion to the triune God and his people, Briefly, consolation is the state of feeling cl.ose to self, God, and others; just as desolation is the state of feeling isolated from God,. others, and even one s self, Consolation ~s a deep sense of the commu'nion'~of saints because of the felt presence of faith, hope, and charity; while desolation is experience of the utter loneliness of hell. Only God can cause consolatio.n; just as Satan is the sole cause of desolation, a deliberate attack on the three God-given virtues of faith, hope and charity. And both pheno~aeha occuronly at the top three levels of a person's experience- .Dryness in Prayer. Obviously, when consolation and desolation are swinging back and .forth (along with elation and depression) in one's experience, one feels no "dryness in prayer." For this dryness is the state of normalcy, the middle balancing state between the swings of consolation and desolation, of elation and desolation. Indeed, it is the state of~everyday living. Thus, dryness in prayer is not necessarily a sign of God's displeasure. For one cannot undergo the alternations of desolation-consolation or of depression-elation over.long periods of time without becoming exhausted'physically as well as spiritually. There must be periods of so-cailed~dryness if only so that the con-solations and desolations may be felt with refreshed sensitivity. It should be noted here that there is a dryness induced by ungrateful or disloyal actions, by petty selfishness, by clever screening out of spiritual insights which might disturb Complacency. This is when God declines to speak to Us with Consolation lest he seem.to approve our.state, and when Satan does not want to disturb our foolish self-satisfa'ction with desolation. But this dryness of complacency is not the normal dryhess in prayer even though both types of dryness occur within the same top three levels and can intermingle or at least succeed each other This intermingling makes it necessary to enter the fourth level of e~xperi-ence to explain~what normal dryness in prayer is. For underlying this dryness of the top three levels, can be a perduring sense of being right with God, of not being alone, and even of companioning God--despite all one's mistakes, shortcomings, and sin~fulness. This fourth-level, implicit sense of God is itself a prayer of quiet calmness which gives endurance, balance, and centering to all our spiritual living.~ This prayer of trusting expectancy would seem to be the somewhat experiential divine presence of which Aquinas speaks. Here the 816 ./ReviewforReligious, Volume 39, 1980/6 person is, in the words of Hans Urs von Balthasar, "a sustained utterance of prayer.''8 For this reason, such prayer can go on underneath one's fatigue, distractions, deadness of feeling, fitful sexual urges, tightening tensions, twitches and quirks. The quiet, hidden (not explicitly conscious) presence of God is supporting all the events at the tbp three levels of experience as one studies educational theory, works crossword puzzles, sells toothpaste, kisses children goodnight, and argues with one's spouse; This is why the :fourth level of experience can be described as a great underground river which quiets, stabilizes, nourishes, and guides the praying person. It is that which enable us literally to pray always. For, to change the figure, peace of the fourth level is like the quiet background music to all our endeavors on 'the upper levels. Again, this peace is the sense of carrying within oneself the Center of the World and of having nothing to fear (See Rm 8:35-39; I Co 3:21-23). Seeming Dereliction. For these reasons, even a partial obscuring of the fourth level can be a confusing, even an initially frightening, experience. When one'~ sense of the indwelling presence of God seems clouded in some way within the fourth level itself and not merely by desolation or depression at th~ top three levels, one experiences a certain dereliction. One.feels cut adrift, terribly alone, like a solitary canoeist drifting on a great body of night water. For the fourth level contains the center of one's universe, the hope of one's total future, the sourse of one's strength to love when not loved back. Of course, the fourth level of experience is never completely obscured; God is never far away. In fact, our very vulnerability and helplessness prob-ably make us, like the waif, even more appealing to him. Yet because this feel-ing of atheism at the fourth level is often accompanied by a convergence of outside calamities affecting the top three levels (confer the example of the Jesuit mentioned earlier), the suffering is acute. In fact, the sufferer needs the reassurance of spiritual direction as much as the storm-engulfed navigator needs clear sighting on the North Star. Still, in this seemingly total absence of consolation, to say nothing of elation, there perdures the subtle peace of God's presence never doubted even though ba~ely felt. Indeed, after the tem-porary dereliction, one feels more sensitive to peace', more alert to G.od's movements within the fourth l~vel.9 ' A wise and experie~ntial description of prayer amid dryness is Leonard Boase's Prayer of Faith (B. Herder, St. Louis, 1962), especially Chapters IV and V. (Paperback reissue: Our Sunday Visitor Press, Noll Piazza, Huntington, Indiana, 1976, a somewhat rearranged edition). ~ Hans Urs yon Balthasar, Prayer(Paulist Press, New York, 1961), translated byA. V. Littledale, p. 36. (Though not easy reading, this book gives deep understanding of prayer. One of its surpris-ing insights is that "even the dark night of the soul, the total absence of consolation, is a form of consolation" (p. 239). The paradox would seem to be that the ve~:y endurance of desolation with trust and love is itself a type of consolation. , * In his When the Well Runs Dry (Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, 1979), Thomas H. Green, S.J., has provided an encouraging synthesis of Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Leonard Boasei and The Fourth Level of Prayer: Mystery / 817 Levels of Prayer. Consequently, as one sinks down past the first or sensuous level where vocal prayer finds expression, past the second and third levels where meditative and affective prayer predominate, and into the fourth level where prayer of.simplicity (simple being) occurs, the praying person hears more and more clearly the call of Christ within. Here one listens with a deeply passive alertness underneath the swirl of activities on the top three levels.'° Here the God-hunger is never sated; here in faith one feels heard, faced, touched by the Other. From here one responds with a surprising strength and tenderness. For, from here an all-embracing hope reaches up through the top three levels to say: "There will always be someone to serve and to love wherever I go, whomever I meet, whatever be the conditions of myself and others," From here love explodes up through the top three levels in strong generosity: "How can I give joy to my friends, coworkers, people I serve? How can I help each discover his or her deepest value and find this in each other and in Christ?" Thus, at the fourth level one seems to discover the peaceful river of God's mysterious presence, the radical source of discernment underlying consola-tion and desolation, the prayer of quiet calmness underneath the normal dryness of routinized life, the sometime feeling of dereliction when God is Closest, and the source of exuberantly hopeful generosity at the call of Christ. Influence of the Fourth Level on the Top Three Levels Despite its many levels, human experience is a unified focusing on the world, God, and self. So, it is not surprising that the peace of the fourth level percolates up through the upper three levels--with varying results. For example, in flooding up into the top three levels, this peace may make a face radiant, give added physical strength, direct strong emotions into creative activity, lend stable purpose .to one's thinking, imagining, feeling, deciding. Under these conditions even the ordinarily dour person will occasionally appear to be cheerful and rather outgoing. Because joy and lightness of heart are not infrequently a result of this pe~ace, people may rashly judge that a per-son undergoing deep sorrow at the third level is strange because of "his being unmoved, his quiet smile." On the other hand, uneasiness felt at the fourth level can move up and disturb. A person may be fe~eling euphoric at the top three levels and yet expe-the Cloud of Unknowing, within his own experience of prayer and of giving spiritual direction. ¯ Especially helpful are Chapters IV, V, and VI where he imaginatively and succinctly describes the Dark Night of the Senses and the Dark Night of the Soul. ~o M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O., works with brilliant clarity at this fourth level in his two articles "Centering Prayer--Prayer of Quiet" (REwEw FOR RELIGIOUS, Vol. 35, 1976/5, pp. 651-662) and "Progress in Centering Pr~iyer" (REVIEW FOR RELIGIOOS, VOI. 38, 1979/6, pp. 833-838). These are complemented by Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., with his "Cultivating the Centering Prayer" (REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, Vol. 37, 1978/1, pp. 10-15). 818 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 rience a vague restlessness; 'amid continuing success, the man who has everything may feel a sense of incompleteness; within a totally secure situation ("I simply can't lose") a sense of impending chaos sends up ripples of fear from the fourth level. When this happens, people will sometimes~seek to distract themselves from this basic uneasiness. They will overwork., start an unending process of job-jumping, try multiplemarria.ges, haunt psychiatrists, exhaust themselves .on attractive trifles like stamp collecting, golfing, crocheting and televiewing. St. Augustine's description of his ownfascinatio nugacitatis is a case history of one man's twenty-year struggle with constant uneasiness at the fourth level. But if peace from the fourth level is arising within a person's euphoria at the top three levels, it acts as a stabilizing ballast to the ballooning emotions and exuberant activities. For its very perdurance at the depth of one's being gives a sharp sense of the temporariness of success. Indeed, the .implicit awareness of God at the fourth level helps us to feel, as well as to understand, how relative are all events and things compared to the absolute faithfulness of the Lord. In this way, contemplation is permeating not only the top three levels of experience but entering into all the activities issuing from these levels of experience. The duality of contemplation and action is becoming more and more unified as the active person becomes more and more aware of the fourth level of experience. For the prayer of simplicity at the fourth level, in penetrating the top levels of experience, gives a new alertness to God's presence in others, a renewed hope in people's future fidelity, a deeper con-fidence in God's providence. Lastly, it should be mentioned here that the neurotic or psychotic person, if put in touch with the fourth level,, may find a new source of hope. Underneath all the disturbances at the top three levels where the psychiatrist competently works to free his client from constricting fears, is the fourth level where the spiritual director competently tries to help a person interpret God's call. Because these four levels intermingle, both the psychiatrist and the spiritual director must know something of the other's area of competence, must learn to respect each other's discoveries, and must cooperate to help their client accept and live within his limitations. In this way, the neurotic or the psychotic can slowly learn that God will be daily with him, that he can hope against hope without this being just another contradiction, that he is lovable and capable of loving, that, like Theresa of Lisieux, he can become a saint. '~ Four Dimensions of Prayer Experience. Once we have indicated, how the fourth level of awareness intermingles with and influences the other levels, we " In his Storm of Glory (Doubleday, Garden City, New York, 1955, Image) John Beevers indicates that Theresa of Lisieux struggled with personality imbalance of a serious nature from her mother's death (Aug. 28, 1877) until her miraculous cure by the Blessed Virgin (May 13, 1883). See pp. 34, 41-43. The Fourth Level of Prayer: Mystery / 819 are in a position to change the metaphor of "levels" to that of "dimensions" of experience. For human experience is marvelously unified and thus all the levels of awareness do permeate and mutually modify each other in forming a single human consciousness. For example, the fourth level contains the deep root of every prayer. Yet this prayer flowers differently, e.g., into prayer of the feelings and imagination at the third level, into reflective-meditative prayer at'the second level and into vocal prayer (action-prayer) at the first level. This is why these forms of prayer can be equally profound, can succeed each other quickly during a fifteen-minute period of prayer, can support and challenge each other, and can vary in intensity as does conversation between two human beings. This interchange between levels of prayer experience is also the reason why discernment, though founded radically at the fourth level in basic peace or uneasiness, nevertheless also occurs at the third level in the shapes of consola-tion, desolation, obedience, friendship; at the second level in terms of Scrip-ture, historical memories, and reasons pro and con; and even at the first level in the setting of such conditions for discernment as fasting, silence, and mortification. Obviously, then, the presence of God, so intimately and per-duringly active at the fourth level, is not limited to that level of awareness. Consequently, to change the model of explanation from "levels" to "dimensions" is not to deny the distinctions among the four levels and to homogenize their diverse influences on each other. Rather, it is to assert con-comitantly the remarkable unity of a praying person's consciousness. This is to say that all four levels, while remaining distinct, nevertheless are como penetrating and mutually influencing each other like distinct eddies in the single stream of human consciousnesL ,Some Cautions About the Fourth Level Because the above description of the location and the dynamics of the fourth level is rather crude, one must carefully assess one's own experience to see if it somewhat fits this description. One should not be unduly surprised if things are not totally clear. Then, too, one's spiritual director should be con-sulted for the necessary qualifications of the many flat statements made above. At the heart of each person is the deepest mystery and this article can hold only a fitful candle-flame to it. It is hoped that the shifting shadows accompanying such a flame will not obscure the basic contours outlined. For there are many, many layers of experience, and consequently, many, many interpretations of them to be considered. Still, no matter how many levels of experience, there is always the last and deepest level of man's being where union with God is radical.'2 ,2 Would it be outrageous to predict that growing sensitivity to the fourth level of experience will occur through steady practice of the examen of consciousness? 1120 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 Further, though God may be most present and most clearly speaking at the so-called fourth level, still he is also present in all the levels above. As a result, it takes some reflective living to distinguish these levels and to calibrate their functions. So I have been warned: "Only veterans of the spiritual life will really understand what you are saying; others will be mystified or will mistakenly think that they understand--with consequent bad results." In response to this, I can only say that the Lord protects those trying to find him and that no one can escape the facing of mystery deep within himself. It seems to me that we are never "safe" with any mystery, never in control, never ade-quately understanding, always searching and groping, always trusting amid our fears. If we must take chances in order to grow, then here would be the best place of all to gamble. Now Available As A Reprint Prayer of Personal Reminiscence: Sharing One's Memories With Christ by David J. Hassel, S.J. Price: $.60 per copy, plus postage Address R~view for Religious Rm 428 3601 Lindell Blvd. St. Louis, Missouri 63108 Journey into Journey--A Reflection Rita Bernard Walton, S.S.J. Sister Rita's last article, "Nomadic Memories," appeared in the January issue, 1978. She resides at St. Charles Seminary; Overbrook; Philadelphia, PA 19151. i was tired, as though at the end of a long journey. Long it had been, for I had journeyed into the human condition and had come to the doorway of under-standing that the human condition was so fragile, so delicately beautiful and so unique. I had journeyed and had come to the crossroads of another journey. It was there that I met Jesus in a new and startlingly beautiful way. For many days I had concentrated on the road itself, the dust, the rocks, the potholes, the many trials of faith and trust, the deaths along the way. It was easy to lose sight of the sunshine, even when it was directly overhead, when my mind grappled with the why of human events of suffering and death, events that seemed to crash in, like hurricane winds. Jesus had been my companion on the whole of my'journey, but for awhile I lost full sightoof him as I became enveloped in the dust-cloud of self pity and independence. It was only when I fell, or when I cried out in hurt or pain that my vision cleared enough to allQw me to see that others were just as fragile and beautiful as I, and I saw him in them. Friends tended to my wounds, making his,compassion so real. I continued on my journey, renewed in tasting the empathy that had been portioned out to me. It was when I came to what seemed like the end of my journey, at the crossroads, that my vision cleared in grace and I saw Jesus again. He was standing there right in front of me as though in a line at the bus depot. He was as dusty and worn down at the heels as I was. He had been journeying in the human condition, too. We looked deeply into each other's eyes, feeling recognition flood within as our eyes drank in the sight of the human condition. "I have come to do the will of him who sent me" (see Jn 6:35-40) we both said together, laughing and hugging 821 822./Review for Religious, ~'olume 39, 1980/6 each other as old friends do. Calvary lingered in my bones and memory. We had tasted each other's experience in dialogue often along the way before this. The look in our eyes now spoke more eloquently than words as we recalled our meetings on The Hill. I saw myself reflected in his eyes and came to understand how much he loved so many other fragile creatures like me--enough to die upon that Hill. Suddenly, I saw an endless procession of fragile creatures reflected in his eyes as once again I heard him say: "I have come to do the will of him who sent me. come follow me" (ibid.; Jn 1:43). All through my life I had worked to achieve something and here I was wrapped in the total surprise of being given unconditional love and the knowledge of its depth of meaning, of its desire for response. I felt rooted in time, yet weightless, as my mind and heart saw and felt the others who had responded to his call. I saw Jesus before me gesturing like a white-faced clown who beckons a crowd to come forward. He skipped around gleefully to show the.adventure with him that lay ahead. I felt life and death penetrate me, both at the same time. Self came to life and self died as I stepped forth, lifted by the urgency ofthat leap. I found myself transformed, a new clown among clowns, called to love the human condition. The clowns remind us, with a tear and a smile, that we share the same human weakness. Thus, it is not surprising that, in the:clown, we have a powerful image to help us under-stand the role of, the minister in contemporary society.' I had laughed and cried so often along the way, feeling the human condi-tion fired in my bones, but it was only my own condition that I had felt. I had seen others and so often moved on without feeling. In this leap away from myself I experienced the desire to share in, and feast in the human condition of my brother an~d sister clowns, the soon-to-be Clowns as well as the never-to-be clowns. Jesus had touched my fire-brighted stillness and unharnessed me. I no longer marched in my own parade~ My mind whirled in thoughtful excitement and new comprehension as I" found myself thinking of my Old Testament favorites, friends whose life stories had~ encouraged me to persevere along the way. I laughed when I thought of Abraham. In my own way I understood how he felt having been stirred by Yahweh (Gn 12:1). When Abraham was seventy-five years oid he had an experience 0f God that created a disturbance in the order of his life. Yahweh took possession of him as friend and placed within him the seed for upsetting the known order of the time. Abraham was headed toward a new foundation caused by the deliberate intervention of God into the course of human history. In response, Abraham abandoned his natural roots and "went" (Gn 12:14). Abraham was called to bring life to celebration in know-ing God's affirmation, and he allowed God to alter the course of his life ' Nouwen, Henri J. M., Clowning in Rome, New York, 1979, p. 2-3. Journey into Journey--A Reflection dramatically. His response brought biblical religion to birth. God moved across the existing culture, purified the existing religion and showed himself to be a personal, saving God. Abraham's story is a story of the trials and con-solations he experienced in his need to have faith in the God who called and stirred him. I think Abraham would have made a good clown. His faith touched me as I reflected on his journey into a new land. I, too, was journeying in a new land and realized that love had placed within me, also, the seed for upsetting my known order of time. Jesus had intervened in the course of my human history and created a disturbance in the order of my life with his call to follow him. He walked on my sand and seeded the field of me. He called me friend, beloved; and I felt his warmth. I was unbirthed, in labor to be born, wrapped in silent wonder, wrapped in warmth, encased, ensacked in womb-like nurturing, waiting to become more of who I am. I was born and aging, greying, daily dying, stepping slower, encased, ensacked in tomb-like mystery, waiting to become more ofwho I am. I was spiraling unborn to birth, spiraling birthed to dying, going both ways--to life, to death-- like the seed, dying to be alive. Quantum leap, broken shell, o rising beauty from out of clay, reaching upwards to the Son; I felt the warmth of him who enters and transforms in utter silence and mystery. His warmth pulled my roots down into the numerous sands of time. His warmth pulled my beauty up into the spiraling newness of his life. Ah, the wonder of it all. I was 894 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 nurturing the mystery of God in me, waiting for the moment to be more of who I am. I had journeyed into the human condition and found the footprints of those who had been there before me. I had cried out from my own slavery that held me deep within my selfishness. I had longed for a new freedom. My Lord, I ask you' to lure me once more and lead me out into the wilderness and speak to my heart. Give me back the vineyards of your love and make my troubled valley a gateway of hope. Show me how to respond to you as I did when I was young, as I did when I came out of the Egypt of sin and into the land of freedom in your love. When that day comes, teach me again how to call you "my husband" and no longer let me call you "distant Lord." Take the names of sin off my lips; let them never be uttered again. When that day comes make a treaty for me with all that is wild in me. Break up the battle in me and make my sleep secure. Betroth me to yourself forever, betroth me with integrity and justice, betroth me with tenderness and love. Betroth me to you with faithfulness so I may come to know you. (see Ho 2:16-22) The Lord put Moses before me for reflection. He marks a turning point in salvation history and is a promise, an expectation for the future (Dt 18:15). Moses' journey with God took him to.the edge of fulfillment. He was deprived of the joy of entering the Promised Land in this life. His glance across the Promised Land accepted ownership of it for his people and it climaxed his ministry to them. His glance thrust us forward as a people of God. Glances along my journey, glimpses of future freedoms thrust me forward, too, and helped form me along the way. My living-dying-living is an exodus event that I continue to celebrate in my covenant with God in grace. I had to learn, as did Moses and the Israelites, to live with confidence in God. God wished me, too, to be content with him. Though he provided much manna, he continued to call to a deeper surrender, to total reliance (Dt 8:2-3). Exodus became a present :reality in the celebration of Eucharist. My "daily bread experience" called me to come out of my self-will slavery into the freedom of surrendering my needs to my Provider. I began to learn to live Journey into Journey--A Reflection / ~125 without the securities and comforts that had been baals along the way. He gave to me in "miraculous measure" (see Ex 16:14-31, 17:6) to increase my faith in order to conquer temptations and survive the desert trials. I began to realize that my whole life was dependent upon his sovereign grace and prom-ise. I felt the trust formed within me asI came to a new life, became a truer person, nourished and brought into covenant. My gratitude and trust found expression in the celebration of the Eucharist and in the ways I began to live with others. His all-the-time presence which had cut into my life, became a deeper experience of presence. This "peak:' experience left its mark on me and continues to call me into wonder and celebration and into deeper exami-nation of the heart of my being. I found that I was interacting with the extra-ordinary love of God. Justice, equity and charity e.ntered a new depth within me. "The wages of a day laborer are to be paid before the day is over, before sundown of the day itself, since he is poor and looks forward to them" (Dt 24:15). This thought brought affirmation alive in me. To pay my brothers and sisters their due ,wages before the sun goes down, to affirm them for who they are, for what they do, was to help me to live in sacred truce with my God and with each one of them. Affirmation makes me lovable. God affirmed me by my creation, by my calling to be more along the journey. Affirmation enriched community liv-ing and spilled out over into liturgy where the heart of affirmation comes to a depth of appreciation around the table of the Lord. I had journeyed into the human condition and learned affirmation from God's presence to Abraham, to Moses in the desert, and with me in the desert night into which he had invited me. I realized that finally My self-will cocoon had worn thin. It had cracked. The long hours of darkness and death-like sleep were at an end. A new awaking had flashed through my being, and I felt the pulsation of new life in the deep recesses of my unknown self. I felt my weakness, fragileness, and the limited space this life permits; but I had come to know the unbounded space of time that my Creator has. I felt a flutter in my new wings, faith sustained and overcame the fear of being lifted by the gentle breeze that warmed my wings and lifted them to the sun and sky. There ffere flashes of color and shapes of hope I had never seen before. They surrounded me and formed a world of trust that enhanced the colors I, too, had been gifted with. Wings and color, 826 / Review for fleligious, Volume 39, 1980/6 warmth and sun, gentle .breeze and cracked cocoon, --a new world, a new pulsation of life, and surrender, amen, your will be done. . and I was born, and borne aloft to him on the wings of love. Silence, burst of sound. Darkness, flash of light. " Once entombed, now unwombed, made real. Made real and set free, set free in the desert castle of life, sparked by the Flame of Love, enveloped by the Cloud of the Spirit, held only by the Song of Mortalness and the time to sing it in joy. I was made real, with what was real gone. I no longer fit into the crevices of the past nor in the ways of yesterday. I couldn't speak to yesterday as once I did. I tried and laughter faded, while puzzles formed and pain stood up. Yesterday and I were no longer one, and I had to trust that wings and colors would speak for themselves, that pains would be salved by the Son for I could not fold my wings to return to the cocoon of yesterday. A new form of life was presented io me in my quantum leap; for it to remain effective I knew I had to relate to and affect the world where I lived. I had to examine what would guide and support, my internal strength during my period of adjustment~ I was. on journey with a definite purpose, to keep cove-nant with my beloved God. I knew my quantum leap was a "peak" moment to recall and bring to celebration. I knew that I had to celebrate.by living fully alive, deeply in tune and in harmony with the life that surrounded me. God had funneled me down through many generations of people and I had to live as an important part of the whole production of life. I realized that Jesus held the promise of life. He set me free from sin and death through the sorrow and joy of the cross. Faith and trust had to stay alive in me and come to external expression in the celebration of life. Jesus had drawn me close and changed the structure of my existence. I became aware of his wanting my total dependence, a dependence of love, a life of daily living- " dying-living in the internal martyrdom of the consuming fire of love. I felt like bread dough that had become leavened and I was rising to the proportion that Journey into Journey--A Reflection / 827 he had measured out for me. He asked only for love. His was the action which created laughter within me, a love that reflected itself in a deeper sense of peace and joy. I was given a new identity in living a deeper form of covenant love. I was being built and structured into a new expression of love that gentles, purifies and strengthens as it sets the soul aflame with the desire to serve and love in total unity of mind, heart, and will. Nothing seemed dif-ferent, yet everything was different, is different. There is a new beauty in the air, in the pulsation of life and in silence which is an alive silence filled with wonder. In the silence of wonder I found and. still find my attitudes under reform. My wildness is being consumed further. The cry of the poor wants to be heard; and Jesus asks for a compassionate friend to respond to the cry of pain, of loneliness, of suffering that is crying out from members of his bruised body. In my meeting with Jesus at the crossroads of my journey, in the quan-tum leap of faith, in exodus from self, Jesus had blessed me--blessed me as poor. He brought me to the beautiful awareness of the fragileness of the human condition we all share. In union with him in the blessed poverty of dependence I am learning to share his love-gift. His living word gives me courage and encouragement. I hear him say: You are poor, and I have need of your povertyr your dependence on Me, Blessed are ihe poor in spirit; the kingdom o'f heaven is theirs (Mr 5:3). Your Father, who sees all that is done in secret, will reward you (Mt 6:6). You are poor, and I have need of your poverty to fill the hungry with good things and to give dessert to the poorest poor who are filled even with the crumbs of things, and the little that the poor can share. You are poor. Come! I know the plans .I have in mind for you. Plans for you to seek me with all your heart (Jr 29:11-14), for you are poor with need to find me, with need to listen so to listen to the poor and the poorer-- with a heart's care. 828 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 You are poor. The Plan I have for you is poor, a foolish plan, a prophet's plan. ¯ Console my people, console them (Is 40:1). Go now to those to whom I send you. and say whatever I command you (Jr 1:7). Do not be afraid, for I am with you (Is 43:5). I have called you- pool', I will be with you--poor, passing through the sea.--poor, walking through fire~ poor, you are precious in my eyes--poor, you are honored--poor, and I love you--poor. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. You are poor, and I have need of your poverty for the poor are blessed in spirit, heaven is the kingdom that is theirs. It is the Father's given reward. You are poor . Come! I lead you with reins of kindness, With leading strings of love (Ho 11:4), for you are poor with need to be fed, with need to be led-- so to, lead, for it is only the led who become those who lead. You are poor, and I have need of your poverty; for the poor are blessed in spirit, heaven is the kingdom that is theirs. It is the Father's given rewhrd You are poor, and I have need of your poverty. Come! I shall feed you in good pasturage. Journey into Journey--A Reflection / 829 You will rest in good grazing ground. I will show you where to rest (Ezk 35:14-16) Come! Come to feed the rich who fatten on the spoils of greed. Come! Come to look with me for the lost one, the stray one, the wounded one. Come! Be a true shepherd to them. You are poor, and I have need of your poverty, for the poor spirit is blessed. Heaven is the kingdom, a reward given by the Father who sees. Who sees that you are poor. You are poor, and I have need of your poverty. I have need for your spirit to be poor, poor enough to be sustained only on manna, on quail, on water, from rock (Ex 16), poor enough to be sustained on providence, the sustenance of the poor. You are poor, and I have need of your poverty. Come! Show the anawim the manna for thb seventh day so they may gather and share what few omers they need (Ex 16:23). Bring forward the people tha~t is blind, yet has eyes, that is deaf and yet has ears (Is 43:~). They are poor and in need of your poverty. Your poverty-- my song, piped through a bruised reed of foolish clay. Come! Sing a new hymn! Let praise resound from the ends of the earth, Let the sea sing praise, 830 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 Let the deserts and the cities raise voice! (Is 42:10-11). Your poverty--my song, piped through a bruised reed of foolish clay. Come! Come to the water, thirsty as you are; and though you have no money, come! I make no charge for corn, for wine, for milk. I make no charge for satisfying bread (Is 55:1-3). Come! Give your attention, listen! I know theplans I have in mindforyou (Jr 29:1 l). Come! Come to covenant (Is 55:4). you are poor. Your poverty--my song. My words do not return to me empty. They water the earth. They give growth and seed (Is 55). --seed for the poor. Your poverty--my song. You are poor, and I have need of your poverty, for the poor spirit is blessed. Heaven is the kingdom, a reward given by the Father, who sees . . and he took pity on them. (Mk 6:34). He took the five loaves and the two fish. (v. 41). They all ate., and (v. 42) They collected the scraps remaining, twelve baskets full (Mt 14:20). Come! You are poor, and I have need of your poverty. In grace and love I respond: Let what you have said be done to me (Lk 1:38). I am poor, ° and I have need of your song. Journey into Journey--A Reflection / 831 It took many years to form Israel as a people:. It takes us years to be formed as his beloved. We each experience our own Exodus, Covenant, Tran-sition, and Celebration through many times of stepping but of chronolo.gical time into kyriological moments. So, come! I was tired, as though ~at the end of a long journey. Long it had been, for 1 had journeyed into the human condition to find that the next stage of the journey was just beginning. I have joyfully met you along the way. Come! O God, in mercy bless us; let your face beam with joy as you look down on us. Send us around the world with the news of your saving power and your eternal plan for all people. How everyone throughout the earth will praise you! (Ps 67:1-3, adapted The Way). An Apostolic Spirituality for the Ministry of Social Justice by Max Oliva, S.J. Price: $.50 per copy, plus postage. Address: Review for Religious Rm 428 3601 Lindell Blvd. St. Louis, Missouri 63108 Developmental Stages and the Contemporary Male Novice Jonathan Foster, O.F.M. Father Jonathan is Director of Continuing Education for the Chicago-St. Louis Province of Franciscans. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in Adult Education and Develop-ment. His present address is Office of Continuing Education; 3400 St. Paschal Drive; Oak Brook, IL 60521. Writing an article such as this is a precarious business. The study of adult development stages is of fairly recent origin in the empirical sciences. There is some very interesting theory (Erikson, 1963, 1964; Kohlberg, 1968; Levinson, 1978; Fowler, 1978; Vaiilant, 1977), but not an abundance of evidence. Moreover, what theory and evidence exist leave us with no clearcut delimita-tion of such stages. One prominent developmentalist (Neugarten) has in fact stated that all we know is that there is some development in adults. Its precise staging is by no means widely accepted. An article such as this is also precarious because of the subject of interest: novices. They comprise no one adult developmental stage. In recent years in my own community, the age range has run from twenty-two to fifty. To treat them all as "young adults" is obviously to allow some of them to fall through the cracks, or, if you will, off the end. Nevertheless, I will attempt to make some sense out of the evidence we have to date, and apply this to a reasonable estimate of what a novice is. I take the age of a typical novice from our Vocation Center's projection of the next few classes currently in pre-novitiate programs for our province. According to this projection, the age of most novices in the immediate future will fall between twenty-two and twenty-eight. There will certainly be a few older than this. But it is not likely, in view. of current policies, that there will be any younger. The observations I will make here will concern the generality of 832 Developmental Stages / 883 young American adults, from whose company we can assume most novices come. According to Levinson (1978), the essential task of the young adult is to separate himself .from emotional dependence on his family and the social structure from which he comes-- not thesame, it should be noted, as destroy-ing his roots. He does this by exploring different possibilities for making his life and creating a stable life structure in which to live out whatever this separation has led him to. Both elements, exploration and stabilization, need equal attention during this period. In one way or another, ehch of the stages we shall look at attempt to deal with this dynamic. The Developmental Task: Identity and Dream Formation I am treating these two stages as one because of their intimate connection with each other. By identity I mean the ability of the individual to see himself as essentially the same person as he passes through the many, even profound, changes of his life. The first great change in a person's life is the traumatic passage from adolescence to adulthood with all the separation and newness it brings with it. The achievement of identity is not so much the search for something new and frustratingly elusive as it is the maintenance and building of a "unique and reasonably coherent whole".(Erikson, 1968), something that holds together and remains ultimately the same despite the shock of change, and the addition of the new. In other words, "identity" is not exclu-sively drawn from within. It is built on a given reality growing out of the experience of community, persons, the historical times, and especially at this age, out of ideology. Ideology is a vision according to which the individual wants to live. Identity in this ideological sense moves into dream formation, a concep-tion of life that the individual picks oi~t as most suitable to his personality. Identity is thus not a mere summation of all experiences a young man has. It is the process by which he tries to integrate what he already knows about himself with elements of experience that seem to promise him a vision and purpose by which he can live and give meaning to life. In this process he must perceive himself as at core unchanged. The question he must answer at this stage of life is simply, "Do I fit with this dream?" Several elements go into the achieving of this identity. One of the principal catalysts is the attraction of a strong ideological system, such as, for example, the Franciscan way of life. This is the "dream." It may stem from a purely ideological contact with St. Francis. But it does not become a real and viable dream until it is experienced in a vital institutional reality, and in attractive personalities living it out. In accepting and trying out the "lived dream," it is especially important that there be at least one special person who embodies that dream, and inter-prets it to the new aspirant in a way that has personal significance to him. This 834 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 is the mentor so often spoken of today. He is not typically a hcro at a distance--though this is possible--but, in our context, a committed religious who shares the younger religious' visionandwho pays special attention to the latter's apprenticeship in that vision. The first reality is probab!y of more significance to older communities with well-known and charismatic founders. We find it particularly so in the Franciscan order, whose founder is one of the most popular and attractive men in history. The problem is this, that today, to a far greater extent than in earlier years, young men are attracted to the Franciscan order precisely by the dream, with relatively less experience of those who profess to embody it. Up to fifteen years ago, most aspirants came to the order out 6f heavily Franciscan contexts, attracted, not by the historical vision of St. Francis--of which they had but a dim view--but by the actual way in which Franciscan priests and brothers lived their own vision of religious life, or by a traditional piety which was, upon close examination, barely distinguishable from that of any other religious order. The dream that attracts candidates today, however, is more often.in touch with the historical view. Candidates thus are more likely to be confused and puzzled by their encounter with many friars who entered the order out of con-tact with Franciscans, not St. Francis, and who may seem, therefore, to the candidate to have rationalized the historical "dream" away. It creates in him, moreover, great insecurities that perhaps his vision is not a real one, or that "those who count" may not view his "dream" as an acceptable version of the Franciscan vision. It is for this reason, once more, that the mentor is extremely important to the young religious, to reassure him--perhaps even to play the advocate before "those who count." In this connection, it seems desirable that the place where novices live should not feature a uniform view of the particular order's "dream." Both staff and community should display some diversity in interpretation of that "dream." Thus both mentor and community can at once challenge and support the candidate's perception of the "dream." Another identity-related problem with this age-group is the prolongation of the moratorium (Erikson, 1963). This is a period of life, usually beginning with adolescence and lasting an indeterminate period (often well into the mid-twenties), in which an individual, committed to nothing, explores and plays with a variety of possibilities or dreams. This is an entirely legitimate develop-ment, perhaps one that many of us never fully undertook. Ideally, it ought to be completed by the time of entry into novitiate, but in today's society, which increasingly delays adulthood, it is not at all unlikely that a candidate will try novitiate with the same degree of uncommittedness as he might hax~e tried being a cowboy in the nineteenth century. Novitiate, it seems, implies some degree of commitment to the dream, and"should not be 'viewed as a moratorium experience. A third problem is that young adults at the "identity-dream formation" Developmental Stages / 835 stage are given to caricaturization. In an attempt to make the dream fit, and fit so securely as to cover all aspects of the aspirant's reality, he tends to see it in terms of black and white. Consequently, he tends to portray his chosen dream somewhat unrealistically, and even to be intolerant of other dreams. The attraction of young people to an oversimplified view of life and reality is well known, and applies just as much to novices in religious orders. Kohibert (1968) and Fowler (1978) have both pointed out that people at this stage of development make moral and religious judgments primarily in terms of their commitment to a particular group of people or an institution which they see as embodying their dream. This is distinct from making judgments in terms of abstract principles applicable to one~'.s own group as well as others. Such a development is perhaps natural and necessary. However, the activity of an overzealous or overly charismatic director--or indeed mentor--can play directly into this .,caricaturizing tendency and allow it to sharpen into a dangerously unrealistic view of life. A further problem is that powerful religious conversions sometimes occur at this stage. Individuals allow themselves to be so overwhelmed by a vision or dream .that they cease to see continuity between what they were before the conversion and what they see themselves to have become because of the conversion. Indeed often they do not want to see the continuity. Such conver-sions, apart from rare cases, are obviously disruptive to the developmental process of identity formation. Of some interest to directors of a novitiate, which, ambng other things, is a time of an intense and unremitting daily round of organized prayer, is the attitude of young adults towards organized religiosity. It is in the latter phases of identity formation that participation in formal religious practice is typically at its very lowest ebb. This usually reflects the individual's attempt to separate himself from dependence on his family and culture, including the religious structure bound up with that. The fact is that it is precisely in the novitiate year that aspiring religious are subjected to the most intense exposure to formal religiosity they will perhaps ever know, and this may rub a bit excessively against the developmental grain. Some caution must be urged, too, concerning the possibilities of contem-plation at this stage. True religious contemplation--by means of which the individual, while retaining his identity, is drawn out of himself into union with God--is objectively oriented. It assumes some stable sense of identity. It is for this reason that religious contemplation is not normally found in young adults and most often flourishes in the more contented self-acceptance of mature adulthood. What passes for contemplation among the young is more typically a preoccupation with the achieving of identity than the handing over of this identity into union with God. The young adult is by developmental necessity more self-centered, indeed self-absorbed, than other-centered. Novitiate directors need to keep this in mind when inculcating habits of prayer and contemplation. To speak of the novitiate as a "year of contemplation" 8:36 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 can be misleading, and even, in terms of what both novices and their directors expect to happen, damaging. The Developmental Task: Intimacy Intimacy is basically the task of learning to establish close relationships with others, to respect human beings as ends, not mere means, of learning to communicate. It is a form of love, and it is the love that characterizes persons at this age. Erikson (1964) distinguishes this love of Relationship from the love of Care that is characteristic of the more mature adult. The task of intimacy may be described as one of the major tests of a person's identity. If this identity is'securely in hand, then one is capable of risking it in relationship, and indeed must do so. If the identity is not secure, intimacy is more difficult to achieve and is often avoided or at least sim~ated. Most young people, however, make serious forays into intimate or quasi-intimate relationships at this stage. Intimacy is indeed the task that marriage at this age seeks to accomplish. The relationship is not, however, exclusively heterosexual, although this is the typical form it takes. Erikson (1964), in a phrase reminiscent of St. Francis of Assisi who urged his brothers to exercise a mother's love for their confreres, wrote that intimacy also happens when "young adults become sons of each other." The failure to achieve intimacy results to some degree or other in isolation, the inability to relate deeply. A number of structures will be important in a novitiate to enable the process of intimacy achievement to go forward. Obviously, there must be opportunities for the development of friendships, including friendships with women. Some friendship will be available within the community, but since friendship-making is highly selective, this may not always be the case. With the smaller novitiate classes prevalent today, making intimate friendships has become more difficult. Larger classes make such relationships more possible. Smaller numbers limit the possibility. Given these smaller numbers, the importance of locating the novitiate in a community which includes a substan: tial number of other religious seems important. For this reason, close friend-ships outside the novitiate community cannot be excluded either. Hence the advisability of allowing, indeed encouraging, other forms of maintaining friendship contact: visits, correspondence, telephones. The mentor is very important to this task. The mentor-relationship is an intimate one when it is exercised in spiritual direction, confession, or simple friendship. There is indeed a case to be made (Levinson, 1978) for the "Special Woman" as mentor to the young male adult. In this relationship, intimacy expands easily into a heterosexuality which is less threatening to the celibacy aspect of the dream. A lived brotherhood is important for the young adult. Not only does it increase the likelihood of selective friendship, but failing this, still allows for a considerable amount of sharing at a deeper level. In this respect, the current emphasis in most orders on brotherhood or community is an especially attrac- Developmental Stages / 837 tive aspect of/he dream for young men. The achievement of intimacy in an all-male structure presents special problems. Women, in such situations, tend to get caricaturized. They may be over-romanticized as indispensable partners in the life-journey. They may be feared as a threat to the dream. Or they may be ridiculed as a result of a cultural residue of male chauvinism, a position unfortunately supported by a large segment of the male ecclesiastical establishment. Hence, it is important that novices have an on-going encounter with women their own age, such as for example the inter-novitiate program in the Chicago area where novices from several different communities of men and women meet weekly for study, prayer and informal interaction. However, it is also interesting to note that, even in the larger world, many men get so caught up in their dream, or their career, that women do not romantically interest them at this stage. This may very well describe the situa-tion of the modern novice, as we shall note when we discuss career consolida-tion below. What frequently happens, however, is that once they reach the thirties, some of that pressure lifts, and the quest for intimacy with women starts anew, including a deep interest in marriage. Homosexuality is a form of intimacy, and is, of course, always a problem in the all-male society. This is more true today when there has been some social legitimation of the homosexual friendship. There is simply no way of avoiding this possibility, and directors should understand that an occasional homosexual encounter neither automatically implies homosexuality nor is necessarily grounds for expulsion. Finally, the concern for intimacy explains in part the young religious' preference for one-to-one ministries over the ministries involving administra-tion, leadership and social change. It is the need for people in his life. Developmental Stage: Career Consolidation Vaillant (1977) points out that an intermediary stage occurs between Erikson's stages of Intimacy and Generativity, one that Erikson did not fully consider. This is the stage at which the young adult becomes preoccupied with establishing work skills and climbing the career ladder. It begins in the twen-ties, and lasts usually throughout most of the thirties. What is important about this period is the mastery of a craft, the seeking of approval for one's work and achievements, the thrust of ambition, the excitement of developing a career, the sheer pleasure of work and success. It is a time when the vividness of the dream recedes, and the individual focuses rather on the work associated with the dream. The role of the mentor also declines. Thus, what guides the young adult at this stage is neither parent, mentor, nor even dream. It is the satisfaction of the work itself. What happens at this stage may very well be the triumph of the larger society's "Dream" in the individual, the American Dream of Success and Achievement. Certain it is that American society strongly rewards work, achievement and success. It is not surprising that the 838 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 career-consolidation stage is accompanied to a large extent by the decline of the intense inner life that characterized the stages of Dream Formation and Intimacy. Given the increasing number of older candidates entering religious life, especially those already committed to or having just finished intensive preparation for professional careers, it is important that directors be aware of this dynamism. To the extent that this development stage is at work, the novice must have opportunities to exercise his competence, not, perhaps, in his chosen career, but at least in some area of novitiate life. This means that he shall have to be given some area of responsibility that is more than sweeping a corridor~ He must, moreover, be constantly able to exercise at least the basic tools of all work-competence: the hands, the mind, the imagination," and judgment-making that has consequences. The larger question may be to what extent this professional training and competence already acquired may have on the novitiate experience. Such training and competence may have achieved apart from the dream formation which the novitiate agenda is all about. It may even be somewhat separate from-- even in conflict with -- that dream. Yet it usual-ly has brought continued rewards and satisfaction so necessary at this stage of life. It is not clear to me how a novitiate experience handles such a conflict. But for a novitiate director to simply ignore this previous experience does not seem to me to constitute a reasonable response. These, then, are the stages of development likely to be encountered in a given novitiate class. Because of their fluidity and because of the individuality with which each person passes through them, they are perhaps useful more as mind-sets by the director than as the basis for actual guidelines. Three recom-mendations emerge strongly from their consideration, however. The first is the necessity to view a novitiate as a highly individualized experience. Not a solitary experience, but one which a group of young men move through together, each following to whatever extent necessary his own individual track. Obviously, Group Spiritual Direction is no substitute for individual attention. Which leads to the second recommendation, the need for mentors. Whether this role is carried out by the director, his associate, a chosen spiritual director, or another member of the religious community, its impor-tance is critical. Finally, given the social context of Identity/Dream Forma-tion and Intimacy, it seems important that the novitiate be not a sequestered experience. A director and his novices should not go off to the woods by themselves for a year. They should live in an extensive friar community and they should be in regular, on-going contact with the community-dream-- manifested certainly in its documents, but even more so by regular in-depth contact with the people who incarnate that dream in their lives. Yes Peter G. van Breemen, S.J. Father van Breemen is a staff member of the newly erected Dutch Center of Spirituality Om Vuur; Twelloseweg 5; 7419 BJ Deventer, The Netherlands. This article is a chapter from his forthcoming book, Certain as the Dawn, scheduled for publication by Dimension Books (Denville, N J) in the fall of 1980. doration always implies surrender, a fiat. In fact adoration is a surrender of our whole being, a dedication of all our affection, a gift of every minute of our time. Adoration has to be lived; it commands a life-style. Since adoration is the ultimate, it includes everythir~g. Adoration is a Yes, expressed with or without words during prayer, but then lived every single moment of the day and of the night. Being the ultimate, adoration also provides perspective to all that precedes; the total Yes injects meaning into everything that is encom-passed by it. Three concise lines which Dag HammarskjOld wrote in his diary in March 1956, some five years before his tragic death, offer a framework for a meditafibn on Yes. You dare your Yes--and experience a meaning. You repeat your Yes--and all things acquire a meaning. When everything has a meaning, how can you live anything but a Yes!~ You Dare Your Yesmand Experience a Meaning "Yes" is a daring word: it implies arisk and requires courage. It means a leaving behind in order to move ahead. We leave behind what is certain and we ventureinto the unknown. We give up what has become dear and proceed as a ' Dag HammarskjOld, Markings, transl, by Leif SjOberg and W. H. Auden (London, Faber & Faber), p. 110. 839 840 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 free person without looking back. "None of you can be my disciple if he does not renounce all his possessions (Lk 14:33). "Whoever puts his hand to the plow but keeps looking back is unfit for the reign of God" (Lk 9:62). It can be very hard to really say good-bye. A famous French proverb claims it is mourir un peu, a little, dying. It means farewell to people and to things to which we are far more attached than we realized. We give to the people with whom we live and we take from them. Somehow we are more aware of the sacrificing during the actual process, while the receiving becomes more manifest after it has stopped. It is like the various organs of the body which we easily take for granted as long as they function well, whereas we learn to appre.ciate them most when ill. It is only in the concrete leaving that we find out how dependent we are on the things we have collected during the years, how we have become entangled in the small world of our hands, our minds, our hearts. We have developed our own ways of enjoying and asserting ourselves in that small world, even to the point of imposing it on others. We have learned to manage in it. To leave means to cut the ego. That is one reason why we shrink from giving up the past. Being human is essentially living in an exodus-situation. Leaving is part of life. We have to ready ourselves in many .minor rehearsals for the final farewell which is the only absolute certainty of everybody's life. Apart from God, everything in life is transitory: everything biological, social, political, intellectual, etc. The refusal to accept this passing quality of life causes stunted growth, induration, and in extreme cases, neurosis. The early Chris-tians sometimes called their faith "The Way." God is always greater; he keeps us continually on the move. "Here we have no lasting city; we are seeking one which is to come" (Heb 13:14). Jesus stressed that the kingdom of God re-quires the Gift of self: "Whoever would save his life will lose it, whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Mt 16:25). The giving up of oneself in this life is not done once and for all; it is an ever-growing gift of self and demands an increasing willingness to sacrifice. To leave people and things behind does not mark the end; rather it opens up a new beginning in a wider context. The severing of the umbilical cord introduces the baby into the family; the leaving of the family's security challenges the adolescent to venture into a big world; the renouncing which Jesus demands leads us into the kingdom of God. The pruning is for increas-ing the yield. The Father is glorified in our bearing much fruit. It is not the stripped, stifled, petty life that honors him, but the life which surges to the full. Jesus leads the way. This man-for-others appeals. The reflection of his intimacy with his Father intrigues and invites us. He calls us to follow. We do not know where his way will lead us, but we do have an intuition that it will transform us for the better. If our hearts are cluttered with houses or land, relatives or friends, job or hobby, he is going to set us free so that we can go forward. All that remains will be love--serving God and serving people. The Yes is particularly scary because it is so personal. It affects the deepest 841 in me, where I am most myself. There exists no mold for it. It is my yes, such as no one before me has ever said and in which no one can really accompany me. The Yes condenses my whole self. I have 'to descend into the depths of my self in order to perform the act of my life. The person who wants always to be upheld by others could never go that far. Yet in saying Yes, there is a solidarity with others which gives strength and inspiration. The community of all those who spoke their Yes gives us support. Outstanding is the help of Mary who is an immaculate Yes, a simple fiat. Above all, her Son in his absolutely unambiguous and unrestricted Yes, enables us to dare our Yes: "Jesus Christ. was not alternately 'yes' and 'no'; he was never anything but 'yes.' Whatever promises God had made have been fulfilled in him; therefore it is through him that we address our Amen to God." (2 Co 1:19-20). Nevertheless it remains an adventure to follow Jesus in his Yes. It entails giving up tangible security and the felt affirmation by others. It is an act of faith. "Yes" is a word of freedom; to be authentic it can never be forced. Ultimately it can be said only to a person, not to a thing or an institution. The German author Giinther Grass once wrote an enigmatic little "poem" to which he gave the title "Yes." This house has two exits; I use the third one. Between Anne and Anne, I choose for Anne. The interpretation is said2 to be that both exits of the house lead into meaning-lessness which G~nther Grass rejects. The third exit is not something but someone: Anne. Between Anne the saint and Anne the sinner, between Anne the beautiful and Anne the unattractive, the poet chooses the actual Anne, and through her finds life meaningful. His yes to the real Anne saves him from the existentialist void. Grass' poetic riddle rhymes well with HammarskjOld's clear entry: "You dare your Yes--and experience a meaning." Meaning implies more than an intellectual conviction; it comprehends the whole of life. True meaning is beyond success or failure. The Way leads to the wisdom of the cross; this is a disaster which is a triumph, and a victory which is a catastrophe. The paschal mystery unites the horror of the crucifixion and the glory of the resurrection. The folly of the cross reveals the ultimate mean-ing. The following of Jesus leads beyond the antithesis of humiliation and elevation. The Way leads into a new realm of life where old values acquire a new perspective and where what used to be considered meaningless shows an unexpected significance. Therefore it provides a tremendous strength for making sacrifices. As long as we count the cost, seek our own comfort, fight for our position or strive for recognition we have not yet said a whole-hearted gsef Sudbrack, S.J., in Geist und Leben 48, October 1974, pp. 346-347. 842 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 Yes nor experienced the true meaning of life. You Repeat~Your Yes--and All Things Acquire a Meaning It is not enough to say Yes just once, It has to,be repeated over and over again. We have to set out on a way and we have to carry on step by step. Our Yes is a growing reality; the further we go, the deeper and richer its content. The resistance, of course, is always there. We do not want to reiterate it in ever new circumstances. We find ourselves, like Jacob, resisting the angel of Yahweh (Gn 32:23~33). During the night Jacob crosses the ford of the Jabbok and untildaybreak he wrestles with aman whom he does not know is a divine messenger. At the end of his fight he asks for the stranger's blessing. He then receives a new name, Israel, meaning "you contehded with divine beings." In his struggle against God he becomes injured and keeps on limping. It is a strange, but .typical story. How difficult to recognize God in his numerous disguises. How easy to consider him a threat to be fought. How often is our encounter with God, before it becomes a bow to receive his blessing, first a long, dark ~resistance. How much harm do we inflict on ourselves in that opposition. Every refusal to repeat our Yes does harm to our personality; it stifles our growth, eats out our joy and reduces the meaningfulness of our life. What follows are self-concern, grudges, resentment, compensations, addic-tions of all kinds, polarization which we stretch too far, fencing in against other people. The half-hearted Yes creates impaired persons, very much unlike the kind God wants us to be. "I know your deeds; I know you are neither hot nor cold. How I wish you were one or the other--hot or cold! But because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth!" (Rv 3:15-16). The Yes has to be repeated so often that it includes everything in the past, in the present and in the future. As long as there is something in my past which I reject, there is still a screen in me that pr~events my being transparent. That which I repress or resent splits my inner self, or becomes a heavy chain I drag along behind me. It may take time to really accept the suffering or the failure that came to me, maybe long ago, but it is vital that I do accept it. The Yes can create a meaning where first there was none. The repeated Yes will become more mature, more profound, more silent, and eventually it will extract light from the dark, radiance from, the cross. "We know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who have been called according to his decree" (Rm 8:28). To say Yes is to accept the present. It means to acknowledge gratefully the talents and the possibilities I have without thinking that all of them have to be realized. It means to accept my limitations in health, education, character, etc., while at thesame time trying to overcome them. It means to transform gently weaknesses into strength, innate temptations into grace, given potential into a ripe harvest. It means to say Yes to the lives of others and to give them the room and the sympathy they need. It means to accept the situation I am in, Yes / 843 and myself in that situation. To repeat my Yes will lead to self-acceptance which in turn, will make everything else meaningful. It is obvious of course, that the Yes is not identical with a limp settling for anything, neglecting all attempts to improve things. The opposite is true: it is only by accepting them that things can be improved. No effort born of anger, impatience or resentment will bear fruit. An example may illustrate this point. Suppose the parents of a stuttering boy have great difficulty in accepting /he child's handicap. Whenever he stammers, they harshly make him repeat his words. One evening the parents discuss the situation. They both had noticed that the stuttering was becoming worse and they begin to see that the pressure they put on the boy may have something to do with it. So they decid~ to make no more remarks when the child stammers. Both father and mother manage to live up to their resolution, and yet they find that the speech handi-cap is becoming still worse. After some time, they talk things over once more and discover that, in their first discussion, they had changed only their policy, their external approach, but not their interior attitude. They had stopped scolding all right, but they still resented the stuttering. The boy was no longer being reprimanded, but he still felt the pressure of disappointing his parents. At this :pOint the parents break through to a new mentality and accept the boy as he is, with his stuttering. The paradox is that from now onward, the child can slowly improve in his speech because he no longer has to. This is a real paradox: as long as the parents resentfully demanded it, progress was blocked; after thedefect is accepted in peace, it begins to improve. In some cases we are simultaneously both the parents and the boy! The Yes to the future is a stark act of faith since we do not know what ~ve are saying Yes to. It is only the confidence in a person that enables us to say Yes for better or for worse. In the wedding it is the trust in the spouse, together ¯ with our faith in God that allows us to engage in a common future and to accept whatever it has in store. In ordination and in religious profession it is--over and above the reliance on the community--the belief in the living God that constitutes the basis for commitment. Without a strong spirit of faith, it would be utter foolishness to promise solemnly and forever poverty, chastity, and obedience. In fact the beauty and the testimony of the vows con-sists precisely in their being so explicitly an act of faith. When Everything Has a Meaning, How Can You Live Anything But a Yes! The faithful repetition of our Yes eventually leads us to the watershed where life starts flowing in another direction. The uphill climb pays off in a panoramic perspective and gracious ease to live the Yes continuously. The pilgrim has become single-hearted and now sees God everywhere. The purity of his eye penetrates to the deepest Ground of everything and discerns all as grace-filled and meaningful. This in turn reinforces the Yes. Life has become whole and holy. Meaninglessness implies that the various life-experiences are disconnected 844 / Review for Religious, l/olume 39, 1980/6 and therefore disconcerting. It just does not make sense! They present a void which creates feelings of despair. They paralyze all efforts to do something about it because they suggest that it is all useless anyway. Suicide becomes an alluring temptation. In the realm beyond the watershed the isolated pieces fall into place and show a pattern never perceived before. Perhaps it is more accu-rate to say that the change takes place not so much in the objective reality as in our view of it. We have finally reached the vantage point where we have the right perspective. The total Yes has rendered all reality transparent and coherent. We feel like Jacob awakening from his dream at Bethel: "Truly, the Lord is in this spot, although I did not know it!" (Gn 28:16). A deep joy a~ccompanies this experience. It is like coming home after a long, hopeless meander. That home is really the presence of God. We now recognize him everywhere, even where previously we had discerned nothing whatsoever of him. He is the bond that connects all. It is the old concept of divine providence which we rediscover in shining newness. Meaningfulness then, is not some-thing, but someone. God has nothing since he is the creator of all. He does not produce something which he then delivers. He remains the living center of all that is; without him, it could not be. In everything he gives, he gives himself as well; therefore he can be found in everything. It is ohly in recognizing God this way that reality acquires its full meaning, is allowed to be all that it is meant to be. The basic trust which is so vital for human well-being now extends to all of reality. "Nothing can separate us from the love of God." (Rm 8:39). The surrender can now be complete. How can we live anything but a Yes? We can join in with Charles de Foucauld in his prayer of abandonment: Father. I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, 1 thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures-- I wish no more than this, 0 Lord. Into your hands l commend my soul; I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for ! love you Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands, without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for you are my father. Others, to art.iculate their gift of self, may prefer the older prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola at the end of his Spiritual Exercises: Take, Lord, all my liberty. Receive my memory, my understanding, my whole will, Yes / 845 all that I have and possess. You have given all to me; I return it all to you. Do with me as you will; Give me only your love and your grace. with these I am rich enough and ! desire nothing more. In Luke's Gospel we find an expression of total abandonment that is still much older and took only one word:fiat. With it Mary chooses obedience as the pattern of her life, "Let it be done to me as you say" (Lk 1:38); through it she surrenders her body to God, and all her possessions are also included in this one act of abandonment. Said in a moment, it is spelled out in a lifetime. As a sheaf is bound in the middle and fans out towards the ends, so the life of Mary, in all its bounty, is held together by this little word. All her years before this moment flow into it and all the rest of her life flows from it. God's grace enables her to say it, and in saying it, she enables God's grace to work in her. It directs her whole beirig towards God and away from selfishness and self-concern. It makes her completely transparent so that through her the Light in its fullness can come into the world. It creates the room God needs to become man. Jesus is the embodiment of. Mary's Yes, the fruit of her fiat; greater fruitfulness is inconceivable. Her fiat in no way stymies her personality; in fact, it brings her utter fulfillment and is the prototype of all Christian fruit-fulness. We come to you, Mother of our Lord and Mother of us all, to thank you for your Yes that gave us the incarnation of God's own Yes and brought life to its fullness. We ask you, teach us to follow you in saying our Yes with faith and courage. You know the cost of living the Yes; protect ours in integrity and joy. Ask your divine Son for the grace always to repeat our Yes with an ever-growing surrender and to experience how this increases the meaningfulness of our life. Under your inspiration may we help to build the kingdom of God today and every day, for ever and ever. Amen. The Social Context of Personal Prayer in Seminaries Stephen Happel Father Happel is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at St. Meinrad Seminary; St. Meinrad, IN 47577. This article is based on an earlier paper originally published in Learning to Pray Alone (Abbey Press), pp. 34-43. Private prayer is never accomplished without a social, communal context. Individual prayer has not only social conditions and social ramifications, but also social ingredients which quaiify and constitute its very nature. Our private languages are learned in the public forum. We speak to ourselves because others have spoken to us and because we have learned to speak to them. So too with God. Both the personal vocabulary and private grammar of our speech with God are primarily social-ecclesial in their initial stages (whether learned from parents or teachers), in their performance from day to day, and in their various results (ministering to others, praying with others, allowing the kingdom to be formed). If one combines this sense of the social dimension, indeed social constitu-tion, of prayer with its fundamental component, dialogue with the Other, then that Other will almost necessarily have the characteristics of the "social other" experienced at any given point in human development. So, for exam-ple, in one's earlier years, speaking with God is accomplished in the horizon of the discipline and "otherness" of one's parents. Religious psychologists maintain that it is possible atany given point in an individual's life to indicate the creative synthesis of parental figures which qualifies the notion of God.' Thus, I will maintain in the following that "the other" in the seminary context ' See A. Vergote, Psychologie religieuse (Brussels: Dessart, 1966), esp. pp. 294-299, 307. The Social Context of Personal Prayer / 847 will radically qualify the ability or inability of individuals to pray alone. How is "the other" experienced in the seminary environment? Needless to say, the reflections offered here should not be taken so much as judgment, but as description. It may be true that the achievement of human freedom in relation to God is the goal of seminary education programs; but what sort of inter-active freedom does seminary structure actt~ally provide? The typological description of institutional structure which follows is not so much an analysis of any particular seminary as it is the affective grid of the institution-known-as- seminary. I offer it as an hypothesis about the problem, and suggest that facing it constructively may assist in achieving a solution to the problem of praying privately.2 The Perfect Society: A Unity of Transcendentals The seminary, whatever its historical origins, seems to think of itself as an autonomous, indeed "perfect society." In an updated version of this ideal, it would be described as a place in which all would be brothers and sisters; in which power would intelligently persuade and invite to participation rather than willfully force; in which external forms of .religious expression would always mirror interior dispositions; and in which each person's relation to sur-rounding Nature would be in terms of appreciating and creating Beauty, rather than exploiting it. Affect and reason would be coincident; and the Good would necessarily flow from and be the origin of both. The truth would always be told; the good would always be practiced; and the beautiful would be in evidence everywhere. Institutional structure would incarnate and measure this integration; individuals would readily learn to assume the responsibility of living these goal,s; and, as St. Paul says, God would be "all in all." This enlightened reincarnation of Christian society, however, contains two major oversights of fact: namely, the overwhelmingly transient character of a seminary's student population, and what has been gracefully entitled by a colleague of mine "human sloth." These may be described in more classical terms as "the finite character of the human condition," and "original sin." Now the inclusion of these two facts of human experience into our descrip-tion of societal mix does not justify removing the human odcasion for achiev-ing freedom. I do not subscribe to the simplification which would suggest: "Mistakes will be made; therefore remove the possibility of mistakes." But their inclusion does allow us to see what happens when it is assumed that an institution can easily incarnate the human good without reference to the criticism required by the acknowledgement of finitude and guilt. The first consequence of these two facts is that power will inevitably fall to 2 1 am also convinced that some of the problems discussed and the solutions proposed, if utilized, would go a long way in aiding contemporary Catholic seminaries in their task of acculturating the older students who are entering seminary at present. 848 / Review for Religious, l/olume 39, 1980/6 those who remain the longest in the situation, in this case to the faculty and administration. The second is that this power will be concretized in a bureaucracy which is supposed to "run the system" irrespective of the iden-tities of the participants. Students, faculty, staff, and administration will all feel victims of "the other" who is the system (confer the,response to ques-tions: "That's the way it's done around here," noting especially the neuter passive construction). But because students are the primary mobile popula-tion, they will feel the alienation of power