MAKING SENSE OF THE GREEN ECONOMY

This special issue editorial explores potential research interfaces between human geography and the rapidly unfolding concept and practices of the “green economy”. The article outlines a range of critical issues about the green economy that are particularly pertinent and suited to geographical analysis. The first concerns questions around the construction of the green economy concept and critical questioning of current, largely hegemonic neoliberal, growth‐focused and technocentric definitions of the green economy. The second broaches the spatial complexities of green economic transitions, while the third discusses the need for critical appraisal of the logics and mechanisms of governance and transition that see the green economy as a key mechanism for economic, social and environmental change. The fourth focuses on the crucial issue of micro‐level and individual practices and behaviour, and on links between individual behaviour and wider economic‐environmental governance and economic systems. Finally, the article discusses the need for scholars to engage in imaginative consideration of alternatives to current, growth‐focused paradigms and conceptualizations of the green economy.     

Second‐Order Condensations of Societal Power Relations: Environmental Politics and the Internationalization of the State from a Neo‐Poulantzian Perspective1

Abstract: This article develops an understanding of the internationalization of the state which draws on materialist state theory, regulation theory and the scale debate in radical geography. It introduces the concept of “second‐order condensations of societal relationships of forces” which aims at advancing Poulantzas’ state theoretical approach and applying it to the analysis of international state apparatuses, their functions and their relationship to state apparatuses on other spatial scales. The empirical and political relevance of the theoretical considerations is elucidated with examples from international resource and environmental policy.     

State Expenditures and Policy Outcomes in Environmental Program Management

Comparative state environmental research seeks to explain the factors contributing to intergovernmental environmental management. In pursuing the answer to this query, researchers have relied on either fiscal (expenditures) or nonfiscal (ranking) measures of state environmental effort. Respecting the debate surrounding state policy outputs and fiscal versus nonfiscal measures, we evaluate comprehensive state environmental management comparing spending and ranking measures in our analysis. Though pronounced differences do exist between the two models, we find pollution and state size to be the primary factors affecting a state's environmental effort no matter which measure is used.     

THE FIRST WORLD WAR AND THE REGULATORY STATE

It is well-established in various strands of historiography that the First World War was a formative phase in the evolution of the modern state. This article deals with the Danish case, in which the politics of neutrality made a previously unseen kind of economic regulation necessary. This led to a heated debate about the functions and role of the state, especially its role in economic life. On the one hand, the Social Liberals in government saw the great potential of economic regulations, and their experiences during the war confirmed their beliefs in the importance of a strong state in dealing with the problems of capitalism; on the other, liberals and conservatives began to voice strong criticism of this slide towards stronger state control. Hence different visions of the role of the state came to be the dividing line between Left and Right, and the ideologies of the liberal and conservative Right were redefined in direct opposition to socialism and economic regulation.     

THE EFFECTS OF REGIONAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY ON THE GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF INDUSTRIAL R&D LABORATORIES*

ABSTRACT. The determinants of the geographic distribution of industry R&D activity are examined with particular emphasis on the role of university research as well as state science and technology programs. An analysis of a cross section of metropolitan areas indicates that industry R&D labs are located in areas with state science and technology programs, as well as in areas with higher levels of university research, larger quantities of non-welfare related local government spending, a better educated workforce, and a greater population density.     

Two AHA Sessions: The Revolutionary Mr. Kuhn and the Evolutionary Mr. Bertalanffy

Abstract

Quantitative methods of content analysis have become established in most subfields of political science, but remain relatively unutilized in studies of political theory, despite the exclusive focus of that subfield on textual sources. This article develops a variation of content analysis—termed usage analysis—and employs it to resolve a standing debate in scholarship on Cicero's political theory regarding the synonymy of the major Latin terms for the state (civitas and res publica). The resulting distinction between these concepts then informs an exposition of Cicero's ideal state not as the Roman Republic itself or the mixed constitution alone, but as a universal, everlasting political society supported by justice, a mixed constitution, and active citizenship.     

Science in Dispute: Debating the Authority of Knowledge in an Environmental Contestation

This paper is an examination of science, as it is understood and contested between conservationists and developers in an application to construct a salt mine in Western Australia. If the salt mine were to go ahead, it would have become the largest salt mine in the world, adjacent to a World Heritage Area. Thus, the application triggered significant local interest in the potential environmental impacts on surrounding ecological systems. As the only means for the public to have an impact on decision‐making is through the environmental approvals process, much of the debate revolved around the validity and legitimacy of knowledge gained through ecological science. This paper focuses on the ways in which the conservationists and developers moulded and shaped scientific knowledge to fit their opposing beliefs, values, and aims. However, rather than focus on the overtly political manipulation of science, I examine why particular interpretations of science are considered legitimate by some participants in the dispute, while others are not. In particular, I ask, what does it take for particular scientific ‘facts' to be considered legitimate? To do so, I examine how the conservationists and developers came to conceptualise and frame science within the dispute. I argue that for members of either group to consider any scientific knowledge legitimate, it is first judged on its ability to resonate with their own worldviews, experiences, and aim.     

The crisis before the crisis: the ‘problems of modern society’ and the OECD, 1968–74

‘Economic crisis’ is conventionally understood as the absence of economic growth. However, far from being straightforward and self-explanatory, this understanding is itself an expression of a very particular ensemble of statistical techniques, economic theory, state practices and broader societal beliefs; it is not adequate for the historical analysis of what people have historically perceived as economic crises. This article aims at illustrating this divergence by analysing debates within the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on the so-called ‘problems of modern society’ from 1968 to 1974. These problems, which occurred at a time of comparatively robust economic performance, were perceived by contemporaries as a crisis closely related to the economic system. This debate led to a new impetus to recast the formerly dominant quantitative-growth paradigm in terms of environmental policies and qualitative growth. It was spearheaded by critical intellectuals within the OECD Secretariat and the OECD's Committee on Science and Technology Policy, who were at the same time launching the Club of Rome. In this article I will draw out the main arguments, actors, relevant contexts and effects of this discussion to highlight some of the characteristics of the intellectual uncertainty so distinctive of this period. The author argues that a historical understanding of this ‘crisis before the crisis’ demands a broader conception of economic crisis, one that is able to grapple with the divergence of economic growth, human welfare and environmental sustainability.     

THE EFFECT OF LAND USE AND ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS ON HOUSING COSTS

This paper examines the effects of various land use and environmental regulations on land and housing markets. Seven widely used techniques for controlling residential development appear to generate four “direct” and two “indirect” inflationary impacts. Land use and environmental controls directly affect the supply and cost of residential land, shift the cost of public services forward to developers, and increase delay and compliance costs associated with project evaluation. Development controls may also inadvertently facilitate monopolistic behavior in the development industry and predispose developers to orient their projects to high income groups onto which they can more easily pass along higher costs. The paper concludes by offering several policies for reducing the inflationary effects of environmental regulations.     

The Intersection of Narrative Policy Analysis and Policy Change Theory

Narrative policy analysis and policy change theory rarely intersect in the literature. This research proposes an integration of these approaches through an empirical analysis of the narrative political strategies of two interest groups involved in policy debate and change over an eight‐year period in the Greater Yellowstone Area. Three research questions are explored: (i) Is it possible to reconcile these seemingly disparate approaches? (ii) Do policy narrative strategies explain how interest groups expand or contain policy issues despite divergent core policy beliefs? (3) How does this new method of analysis add to the literature? One hundred and five documents from the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the Blue Ribbon Coalition were content analyzed for policy narrative strategies: identification of winners and losers, diffusion or concentration of costs and benefits, and use of condensation symbols, policy surrogates, and science. Five of seven hypotheses were confirmed while controlling for presidential administration and technical expertise. The results indicate that interest groups do use distinctive narrative strategies in the turbulent policy environment.     

THE POLITICAL TRADE‐OFF BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTAL STRINGENCY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN RURAL AMERICA*

ABSTRACT We examine the impact of the political trade‐off between rural economic development and environmental quality on the determination of environmental regulations in the U.S. intensive livestock industry. The political economy model, adapted from Fredriksson (1997) , is tested empirically, using state‐level data on environmental regulation of the U.S. livestock sector. We find that state governments respond to greater potential for water pollution with more stringent environmental regulations. Consistent with our political economy model, we also find that states with lower recent growth in per capita income implement less stringent environmental regulations.     

JUDICIAL SELECTION: THE SOCIAL SCIENTISTS' VIEW*

This paper is an assessment of the contributions which social scientists have made to the debate on the most appropriate mode for selecting state judges. Specific analyses of the assumptions behind differing normative positions qoverning judicial selection (e.g., accountability versus independence) are discussed. Considerable empirical research has been completed on elective and Missouri Plan systemic. It is suggested however, that more definitive conclusions might be possible through cross-system analysis. The methodological barriers to effective comparisons among the systems are high, but that area of inquiry appears to offer the potential for social scientists to make a significant policy contribution.     

The use and abuse of paradigms in the history of political thought

A paradigm is a methodological device which historians of political thought borrow from the history of science. The initial part of this article examines the views of three distinguished historians of political thought—Sheldon Wolin, Alan Ryan and John Pocock—who have borrowed paradigms. Wolin and Ryan are shown to have confused paradigms with weltanschauungen in such a way as to make the former less useful as methodological devices. Pocock, on the other hand, has been successful in his use of paradigms, though he does not sufficiently recognise their methodological limits. He also raises a conceptual problem. The latter part of this article examines the recent history of science in an attempt to clarify the use of paradigms and their limits.     

Cities in Old Industrial Regions Between Local Innovative Milieu and Urban Governance—Reflections on City Region Governance

Over the past few years, city regions have received a great deal of attention as important policy objects. Documents like Europe 2000 + and the German European Metropolitan Regions are cases in point. Academic debate has provided a number of paradigms which understand city regions as complex structures. The local innovative milieu and urban governance represent two of the more interesting examples of such paradigms. When applied to a region, evidence substantiating both paradigms can be found despite reality not simply following model assumptions. However, both help to get to grips with another layer of interpretation; that of the role of structure and agency in city regions.     

IN SEARCH FOR THE ROOTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN

Contrary to widespread conception, environmental issues were commonly debated in public already over a hundred years ago. Based on an extensive newspaper study this paper concentrates on water management and animal welfare issues in the local newspapers in the city of Turku, Finland, in 1890–1950. At the time, the role of the newspapers was important in shaping public understanding of environmental issues. Although the amount of environment‐related writing remained scarce in comparison to today's media, the debate was continuous and sometimes even fierce. Both environmental protection and animal welfare received very positive comments in the press and they were considered important aims. The discussion reflected the opinions of the middle‐class and especially the well‐educated professionals and officials, whose views dominated the debate. However, animal protection also gave women a possibility to get their voice heard. Ordinary newspaper‐reading city dwellers must have been well aware of the local environmental problems already in the early 20th century.     

西安市人地关系协调状态评价及动态预测

认识人地关系要素因果反馈联系和构建定量模型是进行城市协调状态评价的关键,以"关中-天水经济区"规划为背景,探讨大西安人地关系协调演进趋势具有现实意义。本文在突出表征城市环境因素对人地关系地域系统运行作用的基础上,优化指标体系,运用资源环境与经济社会发展函数构建复合人地关系协调发展度模型,对西部大开发以来研究区人地关系协调状态的等级与类型进行定量评价。在此基础上,通过灰色模型GM(1,1),预测2011-2020年研究区总人口与耕地面积的模拟值。分析发现:未来10年研究区的总人口年均增长13.99‰,耕地面积年均递减14.30‰,人多地狭的矛盾使生态安全将会受到严重挑战。     

PARADIGMS IN THE STUDY OF HEALTH POLICY

This essay identifies and analyzes four different paradigms in the study of problems in the American health system. The paradigms, which are labelled the individual–deficiency, the economic, the organizational, and the Marxist perspective, are examined as “diagnostic paradigms” according to the way in which problems are conceptualized and the way in which remedial strategies are chosen. The essay shows the differences and similarities between characteristic diagnoses and policy solutions within the four perspectives. It is argued that such paradigms can easily be identified in recent health reform proposals.     

Bureaucratic Domination of Hunter-Gatherer Societies: A Study of the San in Botswana

Social science analysis of hunter-gatherer societies has highlighted their economic and cultural subordination to neighbouring peoples. This article shows that, at least in the case of the San in Botswana, state bureaucratic domination is becoming the determining factor in social change. The authors provide evidence of bureaucratic domination with respect to settlement of the San, the establishment of headmanship, extension of social services and environmental legislation. In this new environment, hunter-gatherer self-determination requires the creation of effective political organizations to counter the bureaucratic state. Some San groups in Botswana are already reacting to the expanding presence of the state by dramatically increasing their involvement in various aspects of Botswana's electoral politics. While the outcome of the San political challenge to the state is still in doubt, the authors conclude that San settlement is a precondition for political change in spite of the serious cultural sacrifice involved.     

PARADIGMS BEHIND (AND BEFORE) THE MODERN CONCEPT OF RELIGION

This essay identifies five paradigms that are basic to understanding the historical emergence and uses of the generic idea of “religion” in the Christian cultures of Europe and America. The spread of this concept has been sufficiently thorough in recent centuries as to make religion appear to be a “social fact,” to use Durkheim's phrase, rather than so many cultural expressions and different social practices. The supremacy of Euro‐American culture—and an academy still saturated with Christian ideas—has enjoined other cultures and forms of religiosity to conform to this idea of religion; for these cultures contentment with the status quo can vie with the anxieties of influence, including “modernization.” The key paradigms discussed are the following: Christianity as the prototype; religion as the opposite of reason; the modern formulation of “world religions”; the cultural necessity of religion; and critical analysis of the Western “construction” of religion. These paradigms demonstrate the limits on theoretical variety in the field, the difficulty in making real changes in set ways of thinking, and productive foci for interdisciplinary methods of study.     

Regional Analysis of China's Green GDP

A Chinese economist and U.S.-based economic geographer investigate China's move toward introducing "greener" measures of economic output to better assess the environmental costs associated with the country's recent economic development. More specifically, the authors applied a model of green gross regional product (GGRP) that adjusts for the costs of growth arising from negative environmental externalities. They then conduct a spatial analysis of the indicator's distribution across China's provinces in 2007 in an attempt to better understand the factors explaining its patterns. The analysis indicates that once environmental externalities in the form of industrial wastes are accounted for, the coastal—inland divide that traditionally describes China's geography of income inequality is much less obvious. Rather a more diffuse pattern emerges, in which some poor provinces are found to be relatively efficient regional producers whereas certain wealthier ones are not.