National and Regional Population Trends in Georgia, 1989-2002: Results from the 2002 Census

An American geographer and specialist on urbanization and population change in the countries of the former USSR summarizes major results of the first post-Soviet census of Georgia, only recently released. After describing sources of census data and methodological issues warranting attention (e.g., exclusion of most of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and movements of internally displaced persons), he reviews significant national- and regional-level developments in population size, urban and rural distribution, and ethnic affiliation in the country. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: J11, O18, R23. 3 figures, 3 tables, 34 references.     

National and Regional Population Trends in Kyrgyzstan, 1989-1999: Results from the Recent Census of Kyrgyzstan and 2001 Update

A specialist on population change and urbanization in the countries of the former USSR examines nationwide and regional total, urban, and rural population change in Kyrgyzstan for 1989—1999—the period between the last census of the former USSR and the first census of independent Kyrgyzstan—with selected updates to 2001. Of particular interest is the availability of oblast-level nationality data making possible the detailed investigation of changes in the regional and rural-urban populations of major nationality groups in Kyrgyzstan. A focus is on the decreasing sizes of Russian, Ukrainian, and German populations and population growth among ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O18, R12, R23. 4 figures, 17 tables, 41 references.     

Population Maps in National Atlases

The author finds that population maps in national atlases should, as a minimum, treat population from four aspects: population numbers and density, geography of settlements, social and economic characteristics, and ethnographic characteristics. He notes that published national atlases generally slight the social and economic aspects in favor of strictly demographic characteristics of population.     

当代中国国民素质发展态势与加入WTO后国民素质建构

中华人民共和国成立以来 ,中国共产党和中国政府领导全国人民进行社会主义革命和社会主义建设 ,大力发展生产力 ,既着眼于国民的物质文化需要 ,又着眼于人的全面发展 ,从根本上保证了国民素质的提高。当代中国国民素质发展大致经历了更新与发展 ( 1 94 9～ 1 96 5年 )、停滞与徘徊 ( 1 96 6～ 1 976年 )、调整与提高 ( 1 976年至今 )三个不同的阶段 ,并表现出不同的发展态势 ,其演变形态具有如下特征 :国民素质的发展是螺旋式上升运动 ;国民素质每次大的发展都取决于当时社会生产力的突破性发展 ;社会的发展与人的发展具有内在的一致性。中国加入WTO后 ,必须树立以国民素质为本的发展观 ,构建新的国民素质结构体系 ,使国民素质具有超前性 ,才能真正推动社会主义现代化建设     

Regional Policy as Interaction between National Institutions and Regional Science

As a reaction to emerging regional imbalances, discussions regarding growth centre policy began in the Nordic countries during the latter part of the 1960s. At this time, a working group within the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) provided a policy option based on international theories from urban and agglomeration economics. Within the actual growth centre policies in Norway, Sweden and Finland, central elements from the EFTA concept related to the scale of the centres were, however, not adopted. Instead, growth centres were located to places that had a smaller population than the 30,000 inhabitants recommended by the EFTA concept. This outcome was related to the fact that the EFTA concept was adapted to the existing regional policy institutions. As these institutions were egalitarian and redistributive in character, the Nordic growth centre policies favoured a more dispersed settlement structure than suggested by the EFTA concept.     

National Industry Clusters and Regional Specializations in Turkey

The article aims to identify industry clusters in Turkey by examining inter-industry selling and purchasing relationships. The 1990 Turkish input-output table is used to identify similarities between selling and purchasing patterns of the 60 manufacturing industries and derive a matrix that describes relative linkages between them. The article also investigates the regional specializations by using the identified national clusters as templates for an analysis of local patterns. Principle component factor analysis reveals the presence of six identifiable industry clusters. The firms within the identified clusters provide a potential to share technical information and knowledge transfer through formal or informal interactions.     

Basic Trends in the Population Geography of Contemporary Cuba

Population changes in Cuba are analyzed on the basis of differential growth rates in provinces and urban centers. Three types of areas are distinguished: (1) those where population continues to be concentrated as a result of high growth rates exceeding the national average (notably major industrial towns and ports and rapidly developing agricultural areas); (2) areas recording absolute population increases, but at lower rates of growth than the national average; (3) areas in which population is declining.     

贵州省人口老龄化的现状趋势特点及对策

本通过“五普”、“四普”及相关的资料,分析了贵州省人口老龄化的现状、趋势和特征,探讨了老龄化将会给贵州带来的可能影响并对应采取的对策提出了看法。     

“少子化”与“老龄化”:马来西亚华人人口发展特点与趋势预测

论文基于历年马来西亚官方的统计数据,对当前"少子化"背景下马来西亚华人人口发展现状进行系统描述;在人口转变理论框架下对马来西亚华人人口比重下降这一现象进行归因分析;并利用人口队列预测方法预测分析马来西亚中长期人口发展状况。研究发现:由于较早开始人口转变进程,马来西亚华人具有低生育率、高老龄化程度等特征;人口转变进程中的族群"堕距",是当前华人人口比重下降的根本原因。伴随马来西亚各族群人口转变进程的推进,未来华人人口比例下降速度将逐步趋缓,但老龄化程度将快速提高。     

Regional Innovation Support Systems: Recent Trends in Germany and East Asia

Since the beginning of the 1990s, one can observe a clear shift in the aims of regional policy in industrialized countries from reducing regional inequalities to developing endogenous small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and innovation in regions through regional innovation support systems. Innovation support systems are defined as a group of actively cooperating organizations that support the innovativeness of SMEs. An innovation support system consists of all agencies found in three support stages, namely the provision of general information, technological advice and joint R&D projects, between firms (of which technology-following SMEs are the main group), higher education institutes (HEIs) and public research establishments (PREs). Agencies found in these stages try to help to solve innovation problems mainly of technology-following SMEs by either giving them advice themselves or by referring them to other agencies in a further stage of support. The agencies can be mainly supra-nationally, nationally or regionally initiated. This paper aims at comparing these regional innovation support systems in Germany and East Asia, that is Japan and South Korea, both concerning the instruments used, their impact on regional economic development, their level of organizational embeddedness in regions and the ability of regions to coordinate innovation support policies. The main conclusions of the paper are that there are similarities between the regional innovation support systems found in the countries when it comes to policy instruments, but that the countries differ concerning their level of regional embeddedness and the abilities of regions to coordinate innovation support policies. The paper also tentatively concludes that in countries where regions have the ability to coordinate policies into integrative innovation support systems, the impact on regional economic development tend to be larger than in countries where these abilities are lacking, that is where dirigiste and grassroots support systems prevail. One important explanation for the different coordinating abilities lies in the different political-administrative systems found in the studied countries (centralized in South Korea versus federal in Germany). Other factors explaining differences are: a time lag of development policies between countries, differences between the history of supporting SMEs in regions, supra-national support frameworks, the commitment of the political leaders in regions, collective trust and the size of countries.     

市场经济体制下的民族区域自治法与民族关系的深化发展

《民族区域自治法》是我国的一项基本法律．是少数民族和民族地区经济化发展和各民族共同繁荣的法律保障。《民族区域自治法》颁布至今．民族地区在各个层次各个领域都取得了较大的发展,这有力地促进了民族关系的健康发展。与此同时．《民族区域自治法》自身也有许多不完善之处。我们必须根据社会主义市场经济的总体要求．修订《民族区域自治法》．确保民族自治地方的自治地位．最终达到促进民族关系深化发展的目的。     

Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Population Trends in Northeastern North America

Abstract

The Seneca are an original member of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy and one of several Northern Iroquoian societies that inhabited northeastern North America. This research explores their population history during the 16th and 17th centuries. Previous studies of Northern Iroquoian populations identified population increase until contact with Europeans, no evidence of pre-contact diseases, and drastic depopulation resulting from interaction with European societies. Similar patterns were expected in this research. Combining archaeological settlement data collected with non- and minimally invasive survey techniques and ethnohistorical information, this article estimates the population trends of the Seneca. The results show a highly complex population history that includes pre-contact population losses, in- and out-migration episodes, significant losses from Old World diseases, and rapid population recovery. The field methods employed here may have wider applicability for the demographic archaeology of other similarly adapted cultures.     

Population Trends in a Contested Pseudo-State: The Case of Nagorno-Karabakh

A U.S. population geographer specializing in the former Soviet Union surveys the results of an October 2005 census conducted in a contested pseudo-state known as the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR). Data from the enumeration provide the first credible information about recent population characteristics, including nationality composition and migration from the war-torn republic. The data make it possible to ascertain the crude magnitudes of population losses in the republic's constituent rayons as well as changes resulting from deaths and expulsion of ethnic Armenians and/or Azerbaijanis. Changes documented since the last (1989) Soviet census in the region indicate that the current republic's population differs quite dramatically from that of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of Azerbaijan, complicating efforts to broker a lasting peace agreement between the pseudostate's two neighbors. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: J11, O18, R23, 1 figure, 1 table, 36 references.     

Regional Distribution of the Muslim Population of Russia

Drawing on the results of the 2002 population census in Russia, an American geographer examines the size and spatial distribution of ethnic groups classified as Muslim. Methods of classification and issues with enumerating the Muslim population and changes since the 1989 census are described and analyzed. Considerable attention is paid to the implications of such a large and territorially concentrated Muslim population under conditions in the post- Soviet era. Demographic, social, and economic differences between Muslims and the rest of the population of Russia are examined. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: I00, J10, O18. 2 figures, 6 tables, 53 references.     

Innovative Trends in Women's and Gender Studies of the National Socialist Era

The text is less a review of the new literature than a reflectionon significant and innovative current trends in the historiographyon women and gender in the National Socialist era. The firstpart deals with various women's activities within milieus andprofessions, including their room for manoeuvre: midwives, socialworkers, female Nazi functionaries, and female auxiliary workersof the Nazi Wehrmacht. The second part of the article addressesspecific features of biopolitics, targeted not only againstJews but also against asocial women, homosexuals and prostitutes.It also looks at visual images of bodies. Although the Nazistried to create strongly determined binaries to categorize ‘we’and ‘the others’ in the arts and other propagandamaterial, there existed, in fact, a broad spectrum of body images,especially among media stars. A third trend in the history ofthe Third Reich deals not only with the politics of exclusionbut also of inclusion, as found in the concept of Volksgemeinschaft(national community), a concept that had many facets, such asthe Volksfamilie, comradeship and home front. And it was themedia that had the task of ‘translating’ this conceptto the people in many appealing ways. The fourth part considersthe gendering of memories after 1945 and the dominance of malenarratives and points of view. The four parts of the articleare intended to contribute to intersectional history and thehistory of social engineering.     

Inter-Country Trade Patterns in Europe and the Asia-Pacific: Regional Structure and Extra-Regional Trends

This paper examines the regional structure and extraregional trends of Europe and the Asia-Pacific. The formation of the European Community and the latter's potential enlargement to Eastern Europe contrasts with the Asia-Pacific which has resisted economic and political integration and pursued economic linkages with countries outside of the region. The difference in regionalization tendencies have resulted in more geographically defined subregions in Europe, and greater territorial fragmentation in the Asia-Pacific. Even though European countries exhibit tighter interlinkages with one another, the evidence indicates that their extra-regional links compare favorably with the Asia-Pacific for much of the period from 1965 to 1994.     

Settlement and Population Trends in the Basin of Mexico (Ixtapaluca and Zacatenco Phases)

Abstract

The geographic distribution and environmental setting of 90 sites in the Basin of Mexico dating from between 1200 B.C. and 425 B.C. (radiocarbon time) are examined within the framework of a refined chronology developed from excavated materials and applied to surface collections. Inferences are drawn relating to agricultural practices and population trends through time, and limitations affecting such inferences are discussed.     

The Sociopolitics of Archaeology in Quebec: Regional Developments within Global Trends

In the 1960s, archaeology was a newcomer to Quebec’s cultural francophone scene, and commercial archaeology made its first appearance at the end of the 1970s. Today, in a context of global chronic economic crisis, we intend to examine the effects of provincial and federal ideological and economic trends on the praxis of archaeology in Quebec. These include a progressive deregulation of the public sector by weakening the institutions through the termination of archaeological posts or/and non-replacement of retired archaeologists, and a progressive disengagement of the public sector through conditional regulation, accompanied by a lax attitude towards entrepreneurs, and stickler regulations for archaeologists. We present a series of current issues and examples in Quebec archaeology which illustrate these trends, in particular two case studies occurring in Montreal and Northern Quebec, respectively.