Seeing for the state: Kemalist long‐distance nationalism in Australia

The recent literature on Muslim organisations in the Turkish diaspora context is voluminous as is analysis of Kurdish and Alevi grassroots politics against the Turkish state. Yet nothing has been written on those whose political orientation is in line with the secularist‐nationalist ideology of the Turkish Republic, that is, of Kemalists. As a contribution to this endeavour, this paper explores Kemalist actors' mobilisation in Australia. The paper argues that their current activism is related to a threatened economic privilege, a loss of cultural capital and a waning political dominance in the ongoing social life of Turkey.     

The ‘Cultural Turn’ in Australian Regional Economic Development Discourse: Neoliberalising Creativity?

Regional economic policy‐makers are increasingly interested in the contribution of creativity to the economic performance of regions and, more generally, in its power to transform the images and identities of places. This has constituted a ‘cultural turn’, of sorts, away from an emphasis on macro‐scale projects and employment schemes, towards an interest in the creative industries, entrepreneurial culture and innovation. This paper discusses how recent discourses of the role of ‘creativity’ in regions have drawn upon, and contributed to, particular forms of neoliberalisation. Its focus is the recent application of a statistical measure — Richard Florida's (2002) ‘creativity index’— to quantify spatial variations in creativity between Australia's regions. Our critique is not of the creativity index per se, but of its role in subsuming creativity within a neoliberal regional economic development discourse. In this discourse, creativity is linked to the primacy of global markets, and is a factor in place competition, attracting footloose capital and ‘creative class’ migrants to struggling regions. Creativity is positioned as a central determinant of regional ‘success’ and forms a remedy for those places, and subjects, that currently ‘lack’ innovation. Our paper critiques these interpretations, and concludes by suggesting that neoliberal discourses ignore the varied ways in which ‘alternative creativities’ might underpin other articulations of the future of Australia's regions.     

旅游对我国区域经济增长及其敛散性的影响——基于1997年～2010年省际面板数据的实证分析

本文以Barro和Sala-i-Martin的收敛假说为理论基础,利用面板模型探讨了1997年～2010年间旅游业发展对我国总体国民经济及东、中、西部地区区域经济增长及其敛散性的影响。结论显示:1997年～2010年间,全国及东、中、西部地区经济增长均呈发散趋势;旅游发展对全国及东、中、西部地区区域内经济增长及其差距的缩小产生了积极影响。     

IS SOCIAL CAPITAL USEFUL FOR EXPLAINING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN POLISH REGIONS?

The concept of social capital is widely perceived as a promising tool for explaining differences in economic development between countries and regions. According to this theory, weak links (bridging social capital) and social trust in an area favour its better access to other forms of capital, that is, economic and human capital. However, strong links (bonding social capital) may stifle creativity and entrepreneurship. Since the vast majority of research on the impact of social capital on economic development focuses on highly developed Western European countries, it seems particularly interesting to evaluate the usefulness of this approach when applied to post‐communist countries with their different experiences. The objective of this article is to identify the spatial variation of different forms of social capital in regions of Poland and then to test a hypothesis on the impact of this capital on regional economic development. The results demonstrate that despite the existing differences between regions there are no significant relationships between levels of social capital and economic development. This may be explained either by low social capital levels or by the overall degree of Polish economic development.     

THE DIFFERENCE PRINCIPLE? SHAPING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN THE CULTURAL PRODUCT INDUSTRIES

This article argues that due to the endless substitution possibilities open to consumers of cultural products, firms’ competitive advantage rests as much upon positionality and differentiation as upon traditional forms of intellectual property such as copyrights and trademarks. However, the construction of positionality and differentiation may entail geographies and milieus other than associated with product origination and creation. The article suggests that existing models of regional growth and innovation systems must, and can, be adapted to fit firms and sectors where competitiveness is not only based on traditional types of intellectual property (such as copyrights or patents) but also differential property (such as marketplace positionality). The idea of regional systems supportive of differentiation (and market positionality) means we must reappraise some of our notions of what constitute supportive regional conditions. To this end a revised version of the cluster model of regional competitive advantage is presented: one which attempts to be more tailored to industries where intellectual property and differentiation are the core products.     

中国互联网发展的地域结构研究

本文通过对我国近年来CN下注册的域名、WWW站点及互联网用户三要素变化的分析 ,表明我国互联网的发展的地域差异巨大。首先 ,东部沿海地带省份发展水平远远高于中西部地带 ,呈东、中、西三带递减规律。其次 ,互联网在我国的发展主要集中在城市 ,特别是大、中城市 ,广大的农村地域基本属于待发展区。再次 ,在东、中、西三带内部存在次级分异。此外 ,在城市之间也存在次级差异 ,呈超大城市向小城镇递减规律。最后 ,作者从经济、科技、社会发展水平等角度初步探讨了差异形成的原因