Can Community Action Groups Produce Structural Change in the Blue Mountains Tourism Industry?

Local community action groups in Katoomba have changed the structure of the tourism industry in New South Wales. Although community action groups did change the local tourism industry, their effectiveness was limited chiefly by their reliance on the state to provide them with access to and influence over the development process. The relationship between community action groups and the government potentially affects the power of this form of local political action.     

Settlement Pattern Change in the Morea (Peloponnisos), c.A.D. 1700–1830

Abstract

The historiography of the Ottoman period (Tourkokratia) in what is now the state of Greece contains many untested propositions about both the nature and the consequences of Turkish rule (Hatzidimitriou 1982). Amongst these is the notion that during the Ottoman occupation the Christian population – or at least a sizeable proportion of it – was driven into the mountains. Our paper sets out to test the hypothesis – for such it is – using readily available published information on the settlements of the Morea (Peloponnisos) dating from c.1700 and c.1830. First, though, we specify the hypothesis and indicate the types of evidence which appear to give it support.     

‘Tailoring the Millions‘; the Women Workers of the Leeds Clothing Industry, 1880–1914

Abstract

This article concerns the ways in which J. &; P. Coats, the major British multinational company manufacturing cotton thread, did business in Latin America before 1945. The company carried out a total of some 21 foreign direct investments in six countries, including Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, exemplary business practice among British contemporaries. The evidence on origins, performance and management, drawn from the company's archives for the first time, begins to fill a long-standing gap in the history of British business in Latin America. To this point, most studies have focused on the tertiary and primary industries. In the light of the extensive business interests of J. &; P. Coats alone, further research may show that the significance and role of British manufacturing companies, seemingly minor actors in Latin American economies, was much greater than has been assumed.     

The Creative Economy: Vision or Illusion in the Structural Change?

This contribution discusses the hopes associated with the rise of the creative industries and gives explanations for the debates in politics, science and the media. In doing so, our underlying thesis is that the culture and creative economy is a virtual sector and that a uniform promotion—also by means of staged events that attract a lot of media attention—needs to be challenged. In a further step, the scientific implications will also be outlined on the basis of the term's “career” in the public debate. A brief analysis of the empiricism of the creative economy will provide further insight into its real significance and demonstrate possible definitional weaknesses of the term. The creative industries are an essential element of modern economic infrastructure. They will play an important role in the future, especially for cluster strategies. However, the scientific research so far is not able to reach more accurate conclusions regarding the effects of governance on the culture and creative industry. Therefore, this contribution shows future research fields. We will conclude by venturing an outlook on the further development of the sector and demonstrate its social and economic effects using the example of the Ruhr Area in North Rhine-Westphalia.     

Cycling towards the nation:the use of the bicycle in Germany and the Netherlands, 1880–1940

This article explores the role of commodities in the construction of identities by examining the use of the bicycle in the Netherlands in comparison with and contrast to Germany. It argues that cyclists in Germany and the Netherlands used the bicycle to construct and display a certain identity and to express certain views of themselves as well as of the society in which they lived. The popularity of the bicycle in Dutch society can thus be explained by its particular meaning in that society. The vehicle became an important object in Dutch national identification, whereas in Germany, despite its widespread use especially among the working class, the bicycle was viewed as outdated and inferior technology by the 1920s.