Restructuring of the Polish Passenger Car Industry through Foreign Direct Investment

A U.S.-based geographer discusses the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Polish passenger car industry. The paper illustrates the magnitude of enterprise restructuring and changes in a significant economic sector. Using the case study approach, the author focuses on three of the largest foreign-owned passenger car makers in Poland: Fiat Auto Poland, Daewoo-FSO, and Opel Polska. He then considers FDI in the rest of the Polish automobile industry, noting inter alia Poland's proximity to West European markets and the country's low-cost labor. The case studies, based in part on recent interviews, discuss investment policies, enterprise restructuring, production trends, and effects of FDI in the supplier bases of car makers. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: D20, F21, L62. 6 figures, 1 table, 76 references.     

China's Dynamic Industrial Sector: The Automobile Industry

Two leading Beijing- and Singapore-based economic geographers examine the recent developments and spatial change in China's automobile industry (currently the world's third largest). The paper covers changes in market share among major automobile transnational corporations as well as domestic assemblers; industrial restructuring in the form of product diversification (SUVs to hybrid cars) and production concentration; the massive increase in exports of motor vehicles; and the rise of new automobile production centers. Also included in the paper is a case study of the firm Chery to illustrate the development path of Chinese domestic car assemblers. The embeddedness of transnational corporations and deregulation by the Chinese government are advanced as the two major factors that shape the car industry's geographic distribution in China. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: D20, F21, L62. 15 figures, 2 tables, 46 references.     

Redistribution of Land in Post-Communist Romania

A geographer discusses changes in the ownership of state and collectivized rural land in post-communist Romania. In an analysis based on historical and recent ownership data as well as on the author's interviews with 205 landholders from East and West Romania, local officials, as well as politicians, the study examines how the country's rural land has been redistributed after 1989. The combination of restitution and distribution is singled out as the unique feature of the Romanian land reform that sets it apart from the less equitable procedures adopted by other post-communist countries. Similarly different, as noted in the paper, is the high share of Romania's agricultural sector in the country's labor force. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: P32, Q15, Q24. 4 figures, 4 tables, 38 references.     

Russia's Inward and Outward Foreign Direct Investment: Insights into the Economy

A prominent British economist reviews the recent growth, partner-country composition, and sector composition of foreign direct investment in and out of Russia from a comparative international perspective, based on UNCTAD and Central Bank of Russia data as well as selected case studies. Two hypotheses are tested: that foreign policy significantly affects the host-country pattern of Russia's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) and that domestic institutions significantly impact the host-country pattern of Russia's OFDI and the sectoral pattern of its inward foreign direct investment (IFDI). Quantitative evidence of foreign-policy influence could not be found, while domestic institutional influences do appear to be present, most notably in the form of system-escaping OFDI.     

Romanian Monasteries: Signs of Tourist Attraction and Self-Discovery

Besides Dracula, Ceau?escu, and Nadia Com?neci, monasteries constitute a permanent Romanian brand, inextricably linked in every foreign visitor's mind to Romanianness. Specific to Moldavia and Bucovina—the Eastern and Northern parts of Romania—these monasteries have attracted visitors for the past 500 years. The person visiting a sacred site is transformed from being merely a tourist into a pilgrim. The painting “The Ladder towards Heaven” at the Pâng?ra?i Monastery, for example, highlights the importance of the mental and physical involvement of the tourist-pilgrim as an interactive participant in the process of self-discovery.     

Globalizing China: The Rise of Mainland Firms in the Global Economy

Two economic geographers survey the changing trends of China's outward foreign direct investment. Based on materials derived from original field work as well as published studies, they shed light on the major mechanisms through which mainland China's leading firms have successfully ventured abroad, as evidenced by proposed or realized acquisitions of significant corporate entities in the United States, Africa, Europe, and elsewhere in Asia. The authors argue for a political-economy approach to understanding "globalizing China," a complex phenomenon whereby the Chinese state is strategically and intricately enmeshed with the corporate interests of its leading business firms. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F23, L21, L22, M16. 3 figures, 3 tables, 128 references.     

Tourism and Foreign Investment in Australia: Trends,Prospects and Policy Implications

Processes of internationalisation and structural economic change have had profound impacts on the pattern of regional economic activity in Australia. The 1980s was a decade of rapid growth in foreign investment, reoriented to the property and services sector, including tourism. It was also a boom time for international tourism, which emerged as the nation's leading export industry. In addition to the national gateway city of Sydney, the rapidly growing coastal cities of Gold Coast and Cairns in Queensland emerged as major international tourism destinations underpinned by significant levels of foreign investment, particularly from Japan. The 1980s boom years for tourism and foreign investment are revised and raises policy implications raised for the longer-term development of tourism and the role of foreign investment.     

Real Estate FDI in Chinese Cities: Local Market Conditions and Regional Institutions

Two China-based geographers test the importance of market conditions and local institutions in determining the locational pattern of foreign direct investment in real estate development (FDIRE), a major component of China's urban growth since the 1980s. Using data from 35 major Chinese cities, they trace the diffusion of FDIRE from a concentration in China's major coastal cities in the late 1990s to a more dispersed pattern including large inland cities in 2008. In addition to investigating the general association between FDIRE, local market opportunities, and liberalized economies/more developed land markets, the authors assess differences in the locational behaviors of developers from Hong Kong-Taiwan-Macao and foreign countries. A concluding section explores the implications of FDIRE activity for the restructuring of China's urban system. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F210, L850, O180, R330. 3 figures, 7 tables, 35 references.     

The regulation of direct foreign investment in the Australian mining sector

Although Australia has relied on foreign capital and multinational corporations to develop its mining sector, it has been successful in restricting foreign ownership and control to 50 per cent The Australian experience provides a valuable case study because its successive minerals and energy booms in the last two decades occurred before and after restrictions were imposed and the Foreign Investment Review Board established in the mid‐1970s. During the prior minerals boom when there were virtually no restrictions, levels of foreign ownership and control increased from less than 30 to 50 per cent. During the second energy boom, in the late 1970s to early 1980s, a firm policy of 50 per cent Australian participation in all mining projects was successfully implemented. Australia did not become a ‘client state’ of international capitalism, nor did its federal system preclude the regulation of foreign investment The article summarises the results of Australia's regulatory policy and examines the political and policy reasons for its success.     

Car park charging in the Cairngorms National Park

Charges for parking in the countryside pose a particular dilemma in Scotland as they are seen by many outdoor groups as a backdoor approach to restricting the public's newly acquired right of responsible access to the countryside. The issue is particularly sensitive in the case of the Cairngorms National Park (CNP) where charging has spread to a number of key car parks across the area. Based on the results of a survey of over 300 visitors this paper investigates visitors’ attitudes and perceptions towards car park charging in the CNP, and explores the conditions under which they would find charging legitimate; in particular, the notion of hypothecation (i.e. the practice of declaring where and how monies contributed will be spent). We find that the vast majority of visitors surveyed are supportive of charging but that support is conditional on: the nature of the charging system, the type of location in question, and the landowners’ commitment to hypothecating user fees for reinvestment in visitor facilities and preservation of the environment. We conclude by proposing a CNP‐wide charging policy, fundamentally based on the principle of hypothecation.     

Workers,Unions and the State: Migrant Workers in China's Labour‐intensive Foreign Enterprises

Migrant workers present a new challenge both to China's increasingly diversified industrial relations and to its state–society relationship, especially vis‐à‐vis China's developmental state. Through an examination of the situation of migrant workers in the country's labour‐intensive foreign investment enterprises, this article argues that it is difficult to establish tripartite industrial relations in China and that pluralistic labour organizations will not easily develop into civil society type labour entities. China's developmental state is in an ambiguous process in redefining its role. Its ability to micro‐manage society is weakening substantially. However, its developmental character at the macro‐level largely remains strong, allowing it to continue to restrict progress towards civil society. The future will ultimately depend on a collective determination by key players — the workers, unions and the state — to find a compromise.     

Perspectives on the Potential of Russian Oil

A prominent American specialist on the economy of the former USSR comments on Russian oil in light of a preceding paper on the subject. Noting the congruence of Russia's economic growth with world oil prices, the author points out that the country's growth is endangered by sharp declines in those prices. He also recalls how an oil windfall shaped Russian thinking in the 1970s, questions how long Russia can pump oil at its maximum level by invoking the American experience from 1859 through the peak in 1970 until the present, analyzes the two corporate models in the Russian oil sector, and briefly outlines Putin's new approach to foreign investment in the sector. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: L71, O13, O18. 3 figures, 8 references.     

Vietnam: Two Decades of Urban Development

Doi moi, adopted as a policy of economic reform in Vietnam in 1986, has ushered in fundamental and sweeping economic and social changes spearheaded by its cities. The paper, by a senior Hong Kong-based geographer, reviews the country's progress over a twodecade period ending in 2006. Discussion of the first decade focuses on deterioration of urban infrastructure and its causes (as well as the onset of reconstruction) based largely on field interviews, reconnaissance, and review of official documents and reports. Coverage of the second decade's more rapid change highlights legal reforms, privatization, foreign direct investment, as well as regional development. The favorable prognosis for urban Vietnam is examined in the context of the country's accession to the WTO and its hosting of the APEC Summit in late 2006. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O10, O18, O30, P20. 4 figures, 1 table, 26 references.     

Structural Adjustment and Subsistence Industry: Artisanal Gold Mining in Ghana

Since the implementation of Ghana's national Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), policies associated with the programme have been criticized for perpetuating poverty within the country's subsistence economy. This article brings new evidence to bear on the contention that the SAP has both fuelled the uncontrolled growth of informal, poverty‐driven artisanal gold mining and further marginalized its impoverished participants. Throughout the adjustment period, it has been a central goal of the government to promote the expansion of large‐scale gold mining through foreign investment. Confronted with the challenge of resuscitating a deteriorating gold mining industry, the government introduced a number of tax breaks and policies in an effort to create an attractive investment climate for foreign multinational mining companies. The rapid rise in exploration and excavation activities that has since taken place has displaced thousands of previously‐undisturbed subsistence artisanal gold miners. This, along with a laissez faire land concession allocation procedure, has exacerbated conflicts between mining parties. Despite legalizing small‐scale mining in 1989, the Ghanaian government continues to implement procedurally complex and bureaucratically unwieldy regulations and policies for artisanal operators which have the effect of favouring the interests of established large‐scale miners.     

Researching the Medieval Past between Catalonia and Romania. Josep Puig i Cadafalch,Nicolae Iorga,and the Transnational Writing of National History (1921‐1935)

This paper analyses knowledge transfers between Catalonia and Romania in the interwar period, in order to cast new light on the nature of national history writing in early‐twentieth‐century Europe. To do so, it discusses the historiographical works of the Catalans Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1867–1956) and, to a lesser extent, Antoni Rubió i Lluch (1856–1937) and of the Romanians Nicolae Iorga (1871–1940) and Constantin Marinescu (1891–1970). It pays particular attention to Iorga's and Marinescu's contributions on the history of medieval Catalonia in the Eastern Mediterranean and to Puig's studies on Moldavian painted churches. In doing so, the paper challenges the view that the historiography of foreign scholars regarding one's own national history was often disregarded as incompetent. At the same time, the paper also responds to the debate on the creation and validation of cultural knowledge across borderlands, outside of cultural cores. It builds on recent work on the creativity of cultural peripheries and argues that, while France continued to operate as a reference in the exchanges between Catalans and Romanians, their historiographical exchanges responded to local research and political agendas.     

Russian Accession to the WTO: An Assessment

A senior World Bank economist presents a study focusing on issues controlling Russia's accession to the WTO in 2007. The paper discusses the principal reform commitments that Russia has made in an effort to become a member of the organization and addresses the question of whether the country faces excessive demands due to political considerations. While exploring such issues as potential relations with foreign exporters and investors, the author summarizes the relevant parts of his recent joint study of Russian import tariffs that casts a new light on a complex aspect of international trade. Among other problems relating to Russia's entry, he discusses in some detail branch banking and the tradedistorting subsidies in agriculture. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F13, F40, O19. 3 tables, 26 references.     

Economic Policy in Post-Soviet St. Petersburg

The paper assesses the efforts of regional government officials in St. Petersburg, a city heavily dependent on the defense sector, to transform its economic base after the fall of communism. It describes how the strategy initially favored in the early 1990s (the development of St. Petersburg as an international business center based largely on foreign investment) fell well short of expectations. The author then examines the results thus far from an alternative strategy, following the election of a new mayor in 1996, that focuses on the revival of the city's industry and the promotion of trade. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F21, H71, L52, O20. 59 references.     

South Korea's Meandering Path to Globalisation in the Late Twentieth Century

Globalisation, or segyehwa1 1. The system of romanisation for the South Korean language that is used in this article is the revised system proclaimed by the South Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism in July 2000. Exceptions to the revised system are proper nouns – e.g. the names of the former presidents of South Korea and of jaebeol (chaebol) groups such as Samsung, Hyundai, Daewoo and Sunkyung. View all notes in Korean, has recently been the central theme in discussions of South Korean political economy, particularly in strategic policy-making discourses since the outbreak of the Asian financial crisis, which was triggered by the collapse of the Thai baht in 1997. The serious nature of the South Korean currency meltdown in 1997 resulted at first glance in a striking transition in the South Korean political economy from state-driven market and industrial policies, and a strong nationalist policy towards foreign capital (inflow of foreign direct investment), to a neo-liberal policy of globalisation. This article critically examines the paradoxical nature of Korea's globalisation efforts under three political regimes (February 1993–February 2008), as a response to new economic conditions embedded in the nature of developmental capitalism. The paper argues that South Korea's globalisation effort over the period has been highly pragmatic and selective in policy and regulations but has resisted embracing the principles of market-driven globalisation. South Korea's globalisation drive or segyehwa therefore appears only a temporary phenomenon rather than a carefully structured strategic policy.     

Foreign Trade in China's Electronics Industry

Three Taiwan-based economists examine the effects of GDP, per capita GDP, geographic distance, FDI outflows and inflows, openness to trade, bilateral investment treaties, and other factors on the volume of bilateral trade between China and 40 of its trading partners in the up-, mid- and downstream segments of the country's electronics industry. Pooled cross-section and time-series data are employed in an empirical estimation for the period 1995-2005, which indicate that the Chinese electronics sector's import/export volumes have grown substantially alongside China's economy. The authors address a specific set of issues questioning whether FDI inflows have created a trade effect in the electronics industry, whether they have lead to a measure of import substitution in China's electronics industry, and whether the net impact of opening the market has been positive or negative on the sector's foreign trade. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F14, F21, L63, O53, P33. 6 tables, 23 references.     

Pax Ottomanica No More! The “Peace” Discourse in Turkish Foreign Policy in the Post‐Davutoğlu Era and the Prolonged Syrian Crisis

Turkey's eight years between 2008 and 2016 has been dominated by Ahmet Davuto?lu's vision of foreign policy, which was derived from his multi‐edition book Strategic Depth (2000). In order to be able to present itself in its larger periphery as a pro‐active, trustworthy actor, Davuto?lu argued, Turkey needed to change the foreign‐policy paradigms with which it was stranded. As the Strategic Depth vision unfolded, it drew explicit parallels between modern Turkey and the Ottoman neighborhood policy. Turkey‐Syria relations since 2008 had been providing the seekers of neo‐Ottomanist tendencies in the contemporary Turkish foreign policy with abundant examples, because Syria, once an Ottoman territory and always a challenge to modern Turkey, came to be the first poster country in the shift towards Turkey's imperial awakening. In the post‐Davuto?lu era, however, the rhetoric and practices of the past eight years seemed suddenly to disappear from the use of the Turkish agents of foreign policy; the new code of terms and actions to replace the Strategic Depth version is yet to be decided. This study seeks to pin down the neo‐imperialist character of Turkey's foreign‐policy discourse of the aforementioned eight years and contribute to discussions of the Turkish aspiration of neo‐Ottomanism with focus on the Syrian crisis through the Justice and Development Party's re‐invented peace discourse. In doing so, it aims to find out and elaborate on the current tendencies of Turkish foreign policy, which are no longer as explicit and articulated as they were during Davuto?lu's ministry and prime ministry. As Turkey's cross‐border operation to Syria — the Euphrates Shield — ends and another one in Idlib begins, a discursive analysis stretching from Davutoglu's diplomatic “zero problems” with Damascus to the military use of ground troops and air force is timely. Such an endeavor would be essential in understanding the spectacular swing from one edge to the other in Turkey's inclination over a phantasmagorical empire.