Declining Towns in Russia, 1989-1993

An article based on data for the last census of the former USSR and population estimates for 1993 for urban places of over 15,000 population in the Russian Federation surveys the regional distribution, economic functions, and size characteristics of urban settlements in Russia with declining population over the period 1989-93. Interesting comparisons are drawn with patterns prevailing during previous periods, revealing recent increases in the number of such towns in major manufacturing regions and the North and an increase in the number of large cities. Towns experiencing the very greatest percentage declines (-10.0 percent or more) also are investigated. 2 tables, 2 figures, 18 references.     

美国殖民地时期的人口变动及其意义

关于美国殖民地时期人口问题的研究,由于深受统计数据稀缺的制约,美国学术界在很长时期内不是视为畏途,就是加以忽略。自20世纪60年代以来,受年鉴学派和剑桥英国人口史和社会结构研究小组的学术成就的刺激,美国学利用容种分散的社区记录、家庭帐册和遗嘱等材料,借助欧洲学摸索出来的研究方法和规范,     

1995-2005年越南堤岸华族状况的演变

在以前研究结果的基础上,通过实地调查的方法,本文分析了受访家庭于1995—2005年间在经济和认同方面的演变情况。结果显示,华人族群规模正在逐渐缩小;族群间通婚的数量增加;来自台湾、香港、新加坡和柬埔寨的华人在经济活动中十分活跃;华族聚居区的总体情况与国家经济改善的大趋势一致,但财富增长的分布不平均;华人在经济、文化、教育等方面作出了积极提高社会地位的努力。由此得出结论,华人社区在越南经济活动中发挥了重要作用,华族在经济和认同方面的集中化进程正在加速。     

Economic Restructuring and Regional Change in Australia

This paper examines geographical dimensions of the actual and potential impacts of economic restructuring on individual regions in Australia from the perspective of the jobs and services that support people and families. Four examples are discussed: The discussion raises four sets of concerns for the future: potential social dislocation in rural and remote communities; the erosion of the employment and service bases of those same communities; the vulnerability of sections of society, especially women and disadvantaged ethnic groups; and the imprecision involved in disentangling webs of cross subsidy and community service obligations in Australia.

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The Political Ecology of Transition in Cambodia 1989–1999: War,Peace and Forest Exploitation

Over the last decade, forests have played an important role in the transition from war to peace in Cambodia. Forest exploitation financed the continuation of war beyond the Cold War and regional dynamics, yet it also stimulated co‐operation between conflicting parties. Timber represented a key stake in the rapacious transition from the (benign) socialism of the post‐Khmer Rouge period to (exclusionary) capitalism, thereby becoming the most politicized resource of a reconstruction process that has failed to be either as green or as democratic as the international community had hoped. This article explores the social networks and power politics shaping forest exploitation, with the aim of casting light on the politics of transition. It also scrutinizes the unintended consequences of the international community’s discourse of democracy, good governance, and sustainable development on forest access rights. The commodification of Cambodian forests is interpreted as a process of transforming nature into money through a political ecology of transition that legitimates an exclusionary form of capitalism.     

Energy Intensity in Light of China's Economic Transition

Two economic geographers examine the impacts of economic transition on the efficiency of energy use in China, the second-largest energy consumer in the world. Following a brief review of reform and deregulation in China's energy sector, they proceed to systematically test the relationship between economic transition (conceptualized as a triple process of marketization, decentralization, and globalization) and energy intensity using a panel data set. The statistical units of analysis are China's 30 provincial-level administrative regions, facilitating the investigation of spatial variations in energy intensity. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O53, P20, Q40, Q43. 9 figures, 5 tables, 62 references.     

Population Density,Economic Growth and Societies in Transition: Boserup Reconsidered in a Kenyan Case-study

In examining the relationship between population growth and income growth, this article first looks at the Malthusian, transition and revisionist positions. The first is not borne out by historical experience, and the latter two do not explain why greater affluence generally leads to lower rates of population growth. It is argued here that the crucial population characteristic is density. Rising densities from a low base facilitate more productive agriculture and greater specialization and exchange within a society, as Boserup (1965) pointed out. This leads to increased wealth but also to higher costs for education and land. This provides a link to Caldwell's (1976) explanation of changing attitudes to family size: at low densities in simple societies benefits from children exceed costs, while at higher densities in complex societies costs exceed benefits. The changes in societies and economies are illustrated by a Kenyan case study. Kenya has experienced particularly rapid population growth this century, and high economic growth; it is now experiencing the transition to lower birth rates.     

Economic Resources and Political Power at the Local Level in Post-Soviet Russia

In the 1990s in local government in Russia, the dominant trends might be described as neo-Soviet because of their apparent continuity with patterns that prevailed before the end of communist rule in that country. The promise of independence for "local self-government," as set forth in the Russian Constitution of 1993 and subsequent legislation, largely has been frustrated. The tendency of privatized economic enterprises to divest themselves of responsibility for social benefits, and the lack of an adequate base for financial independence for local governments, have made it necessary for local officials to rely heavily on the regional authorities for support. Within local government, the elected legislature usually is subordinate to a dominant executive leadership. Those features of contemporary local government in Russia are explained by the consequences of decisions adopted by the country's post-Communist leadership, including the method and content of economic reform. The results are unfavorable both for the resurgence of the local economy and the growth of democracy at the local level.     

Postmaterialist and Economic Voting in Australia, 1990-98

Recent research in Australian sociology and political science has debated the extent to which postmaterialist values and economic self-interest shape voting in federal elections. Some researchers have argued that postmaterialist values have partly displaced materialist concerns with physical security and economic well-being in Australian public life. This displacement, coupled with the adoption by major political parties of postmaterialist 'quality of life' issues such as the environment, has meant that voting in Australia has come to be more dependent on postmaterialist values than on perceptions of economic interest. Other research, however, has found no relationship between postmaterialist values and voting behaviour, while economic evaluations remain a strong determinant of voting behaviour. Part of the disagreement reflects methodological differences in the research. But different methodological problems compromise each of the previous studies. In this paper we use data from the 1990, 1993, 1996 and 1998 Australian Election Studies to investigate postmaterialist and economic voting in the Commonwealth House of Representatives and the Senate. Using various statistical methods, we first explore bivariate relationships between key variables and then use multivariate models of postmaterialist and economic voting to adjudicate between the contending positions.     

Economic Transformation in Russia and China: Two Comments on A Comparison

Two prominent Western observers of the economic transition and development in Russia and China evaluate and supplement the preceding paper (Malle, 2008), which compares the two economies by tracing their evolution from central planning to market-oriented systems. While in general supporting and agreeing with the premise of the comparative analysis presented in that paper, albeit pointing out some instances of disagreement, the authors add observations on the preconditions and structural differences between the countries, on the political context and framework of the transitions, as well as benchmarks for measuring China's success, and reasoned observations on the latter country's policies and sustainable growth.     

Regional Demographic Dynamics in the Neolithic Transition in Iberia: Results from Summed Calibrated Date Analysis

This paper assesses long-term trends in human activity across the Iberian Peninsula associated with the spread of agriculture. In order to improve our understanding of regional trajectories within the two-way and multiple-velocity model proposed by Isern et al. (Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 21:447–460, 2014), we consider summed calibrated radiocarbon dates of a large audited dataset from across Iberia. To assess the role of different analytical units, two alternative peninsular divisions at different spatial resolutions were used: one, with three generalized study areas, and the second, with eight biogeographic regions. This comparison of spatio-temporal variability provides a more in-depth inter-regional reading of the Neolithic transition in Iberia than more generalized approaches. The southwest, Mediterranean coasts and interior portions of Iberia all showed significant demographic expansion with the onset of the Neolithic, as observed across Western Europe. By contrast, northern Iberia featured a close adherence to a null model of exponential growth and a longer continuation of hunter-gatherer strategies.