This book presents a unique analysis of the learning derived from East-West contacts in social work and reflects on the discipline’s trans-national dimensions. The fundamental transformations in Europe subsequent to the revolutions of 1989 had a profound impact on social work in terms of raising sharply the profession’s relationship with politics. The exchanges between western schools of Social Work and the emergent academic partner institutions in former Communist countries formed a valuable testing ground for the essential principles and competences of social work in terms of their universal scientific basis on the one hand and their regard for cultural and national values and contexts on the other. The chapters in this edited volume focus on aspects brought to the forefront as a result of East-West encounters, as well as issues facing other European national contexts in the present and future where cultural divisions have to be addressed and there are direct implications for training and practice in these changing contexts. In reaffirming social work’s core value orientation, the contributors reflect also on the specific contribution of this discipline and profession to resolving the contemporary European crises in social solidarity and collaboration. weiterlesen