Looking into the ‘black box’ of heritage protection: analysis of conservation area disputes in London through the eyes of planning inspectors

The paper analyses conflicts associated with policies to protect the built heritage. Such conflicts relate to a host of tensions between private and public concerns and specifically between pro-development and pro-conservation approaches. To examine these cleavages, the paper operationalises private and public concerns over heritage by asking if there is a recognisable set of justifications that policy-makers use for supporting a pro-conservation or alternatively a pro-development approach? To do this, the paper looks at appeals decided by Her Majesty’s Planning Inspectors in London. The findings show that although they are not dichotomous, public and private interests in heritage development can be factually recognised in the setting of appeals. Moreover, the paper finds that Planning Inspectors often channel conflicts through the prism of certain public interests, namely, protecting architectural and physical attributes of the building and its surroundings. Although inspectors are instructed to actively weigh in other (potentially overriding) considerations in heritage appeals, such as socio-economic and proprietary issues, these considerations do not appear to have the same standing within the decision-making process.     

Governance,public policy and boundary-making

This symposium draws attention to innovative and emerging research in Australian public policy exploring the interplay of governance, public policy and boundary-making. Conceptually and substantively, boundaries are fundamental to understanding policy outcomes, yet remain overlooked and undertheorised. We aim to contribute to public policy debates, in Australia and beyond, by provoking further reflection on this theme, in particular, the distributive effects of boundaries in policy-making; the blurring of boundaries implicit to governance frameworks; the crossing of boundaries, especially by policy-officials within and between institutions; the construction of boundaries to separate and marginalise; and the existence of temporal–spatial boundaries that demarcate jurisdiction and authority. In short, the study of governance and public policy-making is marked by multiple different types of boundaries but the way in which boundaries get drawn and redrawn is also suffuse with political contestation meaning they raise crucial questions about the exercise of power.     

Negotiating Difference through Everyday Encounters: The Case of Sexual Orientation and Religion and Belief

Abstract: This paper argues for geographers to be more attentive to the potentially competing values, interests, and rights of the equality strands (race, gender, disability, religion and belief, sexual orientation, age). We focus on two that are most commonly assumed to experience tensions: religion/belief and sexual orientation. Drawing on focus groups with heterosexual Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Hindus and lesbian and gay people of faith we explore the attitudes of heterosexual people of faith towards homosexuality. These findings suggest that tensions should be emerging between these groups in public space. However, we then demonstrate that these anticipated conflicts are not emerging because of the strategies people employ for separating their beliefs from their everyday conduct. In such ways, our findings demonstrate how the “what is” (ie personal experience) for both heterosexual and lesbian and gay people of faith is prioritised over theological or institutional perspectives of “what ought to be”.     

国计与民生:抗战时期川康区食糖专卖中的蔗糖定价之争

抗战时期食糖专卖政策的实施打破了川康区原有的蔗糖价格生成机制。由于蔗糖价格不仅与战时经济统制、国家税收休戚相关,也同蔗农、制糖商切身利益紧密相连,蔗糖定价机制的转变最终导致蔗农、制糖商与食糖专卖局之间发生利益纠葛,甚至演变为"官民"纷争。经过多次博弈与角力,在地方政府居中协调下方使各方之矛盾暂时得以缓和。此一纷争,在很大程度上体现了抗战特殊时期协调国计与民生内在关系的紧张与矛盾。     

Commoditizing the safari and making space for conflict: Place,identity and parks in East Africa

Increased resource scarcity, the social construction of nature, the disintegration of moral economy and associated policy shifts are often cited as the main drivers of resource conflicts in East Africa. Research in geography, anthropology and rural sociology has unveiled how common explanations of resource conflicts overlook multi-scalar political, economic, social, cultural and environmental tensions. The purpose of this study is to provide more nuanced explanations of resource conflicts by incorporating three disparate but related threads of literature. Using literatures on the commodification of nature, multi-stranded notions of identity and geographical conceptualizations of ‘place’, I demonstrate how three transformational moments structure and propagate conflicts between herders and protected area managers around a national park in Kenya. I argue that the rise of a commoditized form of nature tourism coupled with idealized notions of ‘nature’ and ‘wilderness’ have altered the micro-geography of interaction between herders and protected area managers. These altered geographies of interaction have diluted the shared history and traditional relations of reciprocity, created new social milieux, and lead to the creation of binary identities among herders and protected area managers. The enforcement of these binary identities culminates in conflict.     

Competing discourses of territorial development: tensions between cities and regions as a result of the new regionalism

Competition between metropolitan areas and old regions is one of the most visible results of the ‘new regionalism’ policy in the EU. The aim of this paper is to explain the newly emerged tensions between the regions and the cities within the EU in the context of the ‘new regionalism’. The newly introduced ‘Integrated Territorial Investments’ (ITI), a potentially powerful instrument of the cohesion policy of the EU was presented as ‘a flexible mechanism for formulating integrated responses to diverse territorial needs’. However, this flexibility produced a competitive relationship between cities and regions in their chase for money. Based on interviews with sub-state officials, the study focuses on two countries: Czechia and Slovakia. They are both major recipients of EU structural funds and the ITI tool is being implemented in both of them, however with different outcomes. Three variables have been identified as major factors causing the tensions: insufficient administrative capacity, political challenges and lack of shared understanding of priorities of regional development among sub-state actors.     

Contested multi‐level governance: Merseyside and the European structural funds

This paper critically explores the problems and tensions that occur within a multi‐level governance structure. It examines the (conflictual) relationships between the European Commission (EC), the UK Government, and regional and local actors. The case study is Merseyside's European Union Objective I Programme, with particular reference to the Pathways to Integration initiative in the Borough of Knowsley. It traces the design of policy and its delivery and argues that these processes are riven by acutely contested power relations. Objective 1 generally, and Pathways specifically, provided a substantial opportunity for Merseyside, but conflicts over economic governance act as a debilitating force upon the prospects for economic development.     

Introduction: film policy in a globalised cultural economy

This special issue on ‘Film Policy in a Globalised Cultural Economy’ is devoted to the changing economic and technological context in which filmmaking occurs, the policy responses that these changes have generated and their consequences for the pursuit of cultural objectives. The issue offers discussions of the general economic, technological and political shifts shaping the global film industry as well as case-studies examining the specific policies adopted by different states. While these indicate how governments have been obliged to respond to the economic and technological changes wrought by globalisation they also highlight the variations in approach to film policy and the continuation of tensions between economic and cultural, and public and private, objectives.     

Theories of and in the Policy Process

Like public administration before it, public policy has an uneasy place in the discipline of political science. The stress is most obvious in the distinction between theories that attempt to explain the policy process and theories that are useful to those who seek to operate within the policy process. Accommodating this stress within the disciplinary boundaries of political science poses a difficult challenge.     

The Gender of Militancy: Notes on the Possibilities of a Different History of Political Action

Departing from some texts that examine women's participation in clandestine organisations in Brazil and Argentina during the 1960s and 1970s, the author discusses possibilities of a different approach towards the historiography of political action, particularly focusing on left-wing parties. Oral history contributes towards recovering subjectivity, a dimension little explored in political historiography. This dimension is usually confined to a private sphere that appears as radically severed from the public sphere. The articulation of these two spaces as well as tensions, conflicts and complementarities between masculine and feminine roles take the history of women away from the ghetto, allowing this new perspective to analyse political action in a complex way     

Tensions between municipal reform and outdated fiscal levers in rural British Columbia

Debates about the future of small municipalities in Canada are set against a backdrop of economic, political, and social restructuring processes that have displaced former state investment policies in favour of neoliberal public policy approaches. Small municipalities struggle with outdated financial and governance structures and a provincial public policy agenda that asks them to become more creative, innovative, and “entrepreneurial” in their approach and responsibilities. Drawing upon key informant interviews with eight case studies in British Columbia, Canada, this research examines the tensions between municipal reforms mandated by the provincial government over the past 30 years and commensurate fiscal levers and capacities in place to address these broadening responsibilities for small municipalities in volatile staples-dependent regions. Our findings demonstrate how successive provincial governments have mobilized New Public Management objectives through a host of legislative and regulatory changes that have increased the responsibilities and requirements on local governments without commensurate fiscal or jurisdictional capacity.     

Ramadan Blues: Debates in Popular Islam during Ramadan in Amman,Jordan

Within the context of the contemporary Middle East and the post‐Islamic Resurgence, avoiding music has become associated with a rise in religiosity and normative Islam. As a result, residents of Amman, Jordan actively avoid consuming music during Ramadan. A large‐scale survey and ethnographic data, including participant observation with employees in an Islamic bank, confirm that avoiding music is a public ethic of Ramadan that is temporally specific and in wide use during the month. In this article, I argue that the tensions surrounding the debates of music's compatibility with normative Islam are enacted in terms of a conflict between cultural and Islamic authenticities. These tensions are resolved temporarily during Ramadan through altered consumption in which one ethical, “Islamic” framework that regards music as haram, or “forbidden,” eclipses another, more diverse “cultural” framework, and does so largely without inducing crisis or controversy. This is because the two realms are not articulating with each other; rather, claims of a normative Islamic authenticity overwhelm the possibilities for a more diverse cultural authenticity. Outside of Ramadan, however, these two competing authenticities often spark tensions and conflicts between family members, neighbors, and coworkers. This article concludes by exploring the implications of ordering morality for religious life in this assertive, even illiberal fashion for diversity in belief and practice.     

转型期乡村多功能性及景观重塑

本文以全球化为背景,阐述了基于乡村发展多功能性和景观功能的概念。乡村多功能概念的兴起,为重新审视乡村地域自力发展带来一种机会,而乡村景观多功能可能是塑造乡村地域多功能的潜在动力和机制。构建乡村景观多功能的目的,主要在于保护和改善农村环境,以维持生物多样性之生态功能和作为旅游和特色文化场所的社会－经济功能,以及传承历史之文化功能。对于现阶段转型中的乡村,应该妥善规划和运用并积极重塑景观的多重功能。通过乡村多功能和景观重塑之讨论,可以为乡村地域景观重塑规划实践策略提供一种新视角。     

Who governs culture? Actors,federalism and expertise in Swiss regional cultural policy

ABSTRACT

This article proposes a novel approach to cultural policies and cultural policy change, drawing on public policy and institutional analysis to study how decision-making power is distributed between actors in the public and private sectors and at different state levels, as well as the precise roles of public administrations, elected officials and cultural actors. Indeed, rather than directly defining cultural policy, laws on culture mostly designate actors in charge of policy implementation. Based on an empirical application of this analytical framework to the case of Swiss cantons and focusing specifically on the positions of cultural actors, findings show that cultural policies are transformed in different ways, affording more or less power to actors from the cultural sector in implementation arrangements generally dominated by administrative actors.     

论宋代基层区划: 乡的边界及其划界原则

北宋元丰年间以前,乡是县以下一级“实体政务”区划,其数量和幅员随着人口的损益而变化,故边界尚不稳定。王安石变法之后,乡的行政职能被大大削弱,“乡系户口”的功能也随之消失,乡界逐渐稳固下来。保甲法、经界法等基层改革都是在乡内完成,并不跨乡编排,这种政策性的规定强化了乡的整体性,使乡界变得越来越清晰。依据乡所邻对象的差别,可将其边界细分为四类: 乡与乡的分界;乡与路州军县等政区的分界;乡与行政治所的分界;乡与市镇的分界。从现有材料分析,乡的划界大体上遵循“山川形便”原则,这既是为了基层官员管理的便利,又符合自然聚落形成的规律。     

Questions of Symmetry: Programme Experiences Featuring Northern Borderland Development

In the North European border region between the Nordic countries and northwestern Russia, much of cross–border development continues to be steered by public authorities and channelled through programmes which are dominated by public actors–even though the participation of private partners such as businesses and various non–governmental organisations is strongly encouraged. This article examines one case of Northern European peripheral cross–border development by focusing attention on institutionalised co–operation programmes. This chosen approach brings to the fore some of the persistent obstacles and challenges of these development initiatives. Particular attention is paid to institutional conditions of and for collaboration, including administrative and legislative systems or economic and governance mechanisms, social structures, institutional systems and general living conditions across national boundaries. Symmetry between the participating countries' institutional environments is perceived as a necessity for the construction of balanced interdependence as well as the increasing involvement of a variety of actors (e.g. private partners) in the creation of a functional borderland.     

Rethinking Britain's Foreign Policy and the Occupation Zone in Germany 1945–1947: Questions of Structural and Functional Continuity in British Foreign Policy-Making

This article uses a detailed examination of British policy towards the occupation zone in Germany after World War II as a lens through which to illuminate enduring elements of structural and functional continuity in British foreign policy-making. Many of the problems facing British policy-makers in the post-World War II era replicated those relating to the occupation of the Rhineland and Ruhr in the early 1920s. Analysing the response of British policy-making to these resonances highlights underlying thematic trends in overall British foreign policy. The areas of continuity revealed challenge traditional historiographical views that foreign policy was shaped by elite group thinking in the Foreign Office. This article also evaluates British foreign policy in the light of recent developments in the historiography of the Cold War. Recent scholarship emphasises the multi-faceted and organic nature of the Cold War and highlights the difficulties involved in approaching issues such as ideology when the states involved were varied and had different infrastructures, cultures and foreign policy traditions and systems. By drawing out deeper resonances in foreign policy-making, this article contributes to a deeper understanding of the culture and tensions through which British policy was generated in the post-World War II period.     

ADMINISTRATIVE DEFINITIONS OF ARTISTS IN THE NORDIC MODEL OF STATE SUPPORT FOR ARTISTS

This article considers the role of public arts policy in producing societal definitions for “art” and “artists”. It examines administrative definitions generated and used by the Nordic system of state support for artists and reflected in its administrative categories and structures of decision‐making. Using the concepts of “artistic field” and “artistic classification system” as starting points, the article focuses on the regulated and institutionalized interaction of the state and artistic fields in decision making, and on the administrative categories emerging from this interaction. Through this interaction, professional and administrative definitions of “art” and “artist” are closely intertwined in the four countries discussed. The administrative categories examined show considerable variation between the countries related to differences in the nature of this interaction. The definition power involved in state support for artists is related to the nature of this interaction, as well as to such factors as the legitimating arguments, objectives and criteria for the support.     

论区域旅游发展中旅游区与行政区的矛盾与融合

旅游区与行政区在区域划分目的、区域划分方式等方面存在着本质上的差异,这种差异造成了旅游区与行政区在区域旅游发展的运作与管理中的诸多矛盾,阻碍了区域旅游业的发展。本文阐述了旅游区与行政区的本质与差异,分析了旅游区与行政区在区域旅游发展中的矛盾,研究了如何消除这些矛盾,并通过利益的协调达到区域间的融合。     

Reconceptualizing the Policy Subsystem: Integration with Complexity Theory and Social Network Analysis

The concept of the policy subsystem is an essential building block for several of the basic frameworks of policy process studies. Over time issues have become more complex, crossing subsystem boundaries, and so subsystems have escalated in their complexity as well. It is increasingly insufficient to study just one policy subsystem and so scholars have turned to studying boundary‐spanning regimes or policy networks. In this essay, we review the major contributions to developing the concept of a policy subsystem and trace its evolution into broader conceptualizations like issue and policy networks. We argue that the future for theories of the policy process is in more explicit integration of complexity theory and more effective modeling of subsystems with the utilization of social network analysis. In closing, we discuss the enduring nature of the concept of policy subsystems and highlight studies that continue using it in innovative ways.