Cross-Border Trade Liberalization: The Case of Lokmaci/Ledra Gate in Divided Nicosia,Cyprus

In the divided Walled City of Nicosia, there are two separate markets: one in the Greek Cypriot South and one in the Turkish Cypriot North. The division is the result of the unresolved Cyprus Problem. However, UN-sponsored negotiations are gradually liberalizing trade as well as movement of people across the border. On 3 April 2008, the Ledra Street/Lokmaci Gate was opened, allowing people, tourists and shoppers to cross to the other side. This event was further stimulated by action on the part of various aid agencies, principally the European Union, United States Agency for International Development and United Nations Development Program, who had invested heavily in revitalization projects to restore historic and heritage sites in the area. These two complementary effects (i.e. revitalization projects and opening the Gate) have generated significant trade creation in the business district near the Gate. It is the overall aim of this paper to quantify the “trade creation effect”. The paper reports the results of a special survey of primary shop owners in the neighbourhood of the Gate in the northern part of the capital. The study finds empirical evidence of substantial trade creation, especially for Turkish Cypriots. However, this optimistic finding is clouded by the on-going bitterness of the last divided European capital surrounded by barbwires and minefields of the UN buffer zone that prevent maximum economic prosperity of a potential political settlement.     

The Problems of Adjusting to Slow Growth in the Niagara Region of Ontario

During the 1970s it became clear that earlier forecasts of population increase and urban expansion in the Niagara region were too great. There has been a steady decline in the national birth rate since the 1950s and a decline locally in the rate of net in-migration. Moreover, a worsening economic climate, increasing development costs, and greater planning restrictions have led to a decline in the rate of land conversion from rural to urban uses. These changing circumstances afford an opportunity to plan for more compact urban areas and thus protect the area's valuable agricultural land. However, attempts to achieve these ends have been constantly frustrated by a regional and local planning process which has been loath to recognize such a conservationist cause or the need to plan for slower growth. In this report I will review three issues: the changing trends in future urban growth in the Niagara region; the regional plan and the designation of future urban areas; and the problems that have contributed to conflict and delay in approving that plan.     

The Neoliberalization of Development: Trade Capacity Building and Security at the US Agency for International Development

Abstract: This paper examines recent changes at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) regarding the connections between trade liberalization, development, and security. USAID has adopted “trade capacity building” as a framework for development, and, in conjunction with new US national security discourses, now operates under the assumption that underdevelopment is a source of state weakness that produces insecurity. I argue that these changes in how USAID understands and undertakes development constitute the neoliberalization of development. In accordance with these shifts, USAID has redefined critical aspects of its development mission, undergone internal restructuring, and altered its relationship with other US state institutions and capital. The actual prospects for achieving security or development are slim, however, as the agency remains wedded to definitions of both that suggest the only acceptable role for the state lies in facilitating further neoliberalization and promoting the stability of capitalist class relations. An overview of USAID's historical development, and a closer examination of the place of food aid and food security in the agency's development work, demonstrate this.     

Political Time in a Westminster Democracy: The Canadian Case

Stephen Skowronek’s idea of political time is tested by applying it to Canada. Skowronek identified a recurring cycle in US presidential politics, in which a coalition was forged around a distinctive set of ideas, dominated the political scene, and then crumbled, making way for a new coalition; a president’s ability to act as an agent of change depended on his place in this cycle. The concept of political time offers insights for the study of Westminster democracies, but Skowronek’s typology cannot be transplanted from the US to the Canadian context. A political orthodoxy cannot be easily identified in Canada, and prime ministers cannot be clearly labeled as affiliated with or opposed to the ideas of a given era. Some seem determined to play a corrective role, accepting much of the orthodoxy but reconstructing some elements of it. This problem of classification is amplified by the very short term of some prime ministers, by the very long term of others, and by a multiparty system, which has meant that Canadians often end up with prime ministers who are out of synch with the dominant ideas of their age. When applying Skowronek’s ideas to Canada, they emerge as overly structural and not sensitive enough to the possibility that leaders can fail to perform according to type.     

参展商参展目的、绩效评估及其相关关系研究——以东莞展览会为例

本文以展览业发达的东莞为研究案例地,通过对523家参展商进行问卷调查分析,探究参展商的参展目的和绩效评估以及两者之间的相关关系.结果表明:类型各异的参展商的销售目的均甚过非销售目的,但性质不同的参展商参展目的存在差异;参展商衡量参展效益的重要指标是结识新客户的数量、参展商的数量和质量、专业观众的数量和质量,不同经营性质的参展商评估展览会的绩效标准一致;参展目的明确与否与参展绩效感知好坏存在很强的正相关关系.     

The Institutionalization of the European Internal Cross-Border Co-operation Policy: A First Appraisal

In the space of just 20 years, internal cross-border co-operation (CBC) has transformed from a marginal issue for European integration into an important strand of the third objective of European Union's (EU's) regional policy. How might this process of transformation be explained? This study intends to reconstruct the chronology of its development through interviews and use of archival material. The emergence of the current CBC policy was not, we argue, an inevitable solution to the problem of border management but, rather, the result of a struggle between the actors of that policy sub-system. The dramatic rise of CBC is the result of a series of factors that originated with the signing of the Single European Act in 1986. The construction of CBC as a set of problems and solutions by a network of policy actors at the margins of the EU through a series of technical reports, together with the policy window opened by the appointment of the Delors Commission, allowed the launching of an innovative CBC policy which has consolidated over time.     

Fortune Favours the Prepared Region: The Case of Entrepreneurship and the Capitol Region Biotechnology Cluster

The US Capitol region ranks as one of the important biotech clusters in the US. This article documents the general dimensions of the innovative milieu and highlights the historical development of the cluster. The Capitol region biotechnology cluster, in essence, is the result of three reinforcing sets of factors: pre-existing resources, entrepreneurship and the incentives and infrastructure provided by government. Due to significant investments in science and technology the region was prepared to capitalize on technological opportunities in biotechnology as well as institutional policy changes that facilitated technology-based entrepreneurship.     

The Niagara Fruit Belt: the Ontario Municipal Board Decision of 1981

In the preceding essay, Gayler has traced and explained part of the tortuous, long-delayed progress towards an effective regional land use plan over the Niagara fruit belt. As population and expansion projections diminished, excessive amounts of land were requested by the several municipalities and by the regional council. These demands were not greatly reduced after lengthy Ontario Municipal Board (omb) hearings, but the board's decision offers some limited hope that the remaining lands will remain under agricultural uses. This proposition will be examined in this paper, with particular reference to the nature and character of the omb decision.     

Exploring the context and elements of local environmental stewardship: An embedded case study of the Niagara Region,Canada

Environmental stewardship—a concept that describes the relationships between humans and the environment—is gaining increased attention as an approach that can address planetary sustainability issues. In-depth empirical investigations of local environmental stewardship are needed to understand how social-ecological context influences stewardship, as well as the arrangement of conceptual elements in applied settings. This study addresses these needs by conducting an in-depth exploration of environmental stewardship in the Niagara Region of Canada. A single embedded case study design is employed, with environmental stewardship initiatives constituting the individual units of analysis with the case. Analysis of the spatial arrangement of a total of 89 initiatives indicated that initiatives tended to cluster closer to the Niagara River and in more populous municipalities. The significance of collaboration, tensions between the environment and economic development, and concerns about political impacts emerged as themes across contextual factors. The configuration of stewardship elements reveals interesting discrepancies between initiatives and previous stewardship research focused on larger scales, individuals, and organizations. Further analysis is encouraged to illuminate environmental stewardship in other settings as well as advance relational understanding of conceptual elements.     

Transnational Capital, Urban Globalisation and Cross-Border Solidarity: the Case of the South African Municipal Workers

The article discusses the redefinition of strategies of international solidarity and action in South African organised labour, with particular regard to the South African Municipal Workers' Union (SAMWU). SAMWU has recently been challenged by the pervasive penetration of global capital and multinational corporations in schemes of "PublicÐPrivate partnership" in the delivery of municipal infrastructures. These developments carry potential dangers for trade union organisation and for public services in a context of extreme inequality. SAMWU has identified international action against global capitalism as a decisive terrain of struggle for workers' and citizens' rights. However, the union's difficulties in articulating an effective confrontation at this level reflects broader problems in internationalist approaches adopted by South African labour. These refer primarily to a problematic conceptualisation of new subjects of opposition and of alliances with emerging global social movements.     

The British at Weihaiwei: A Case Study in the Irrationality of Empire

The grand spectacle of Britain's return of Hong Kong, its colony since the 1842 Treaty of Nanking, to Chinese sovereignty in July 1997 served to dramatize to a global audience the end of imperialism in its most overt political form. Beginning with China's defeat in the First Opium War in 1842, Britain and other European powers came to exercise varying degrees of forcible dominion, wrapped in a confusing array of legal guises, over parts of this proud but endangered country. Known to the Chinese ever since as the "unequal treaties," these agreements progressively infringed on China's sovereignty, administrative and legal integrity, and economic viability. Extraterritorial rights exempting foreigners from Chinese justice, treaty ports where administration was in the hands of foreigners, and foreign control of extensive portions of Chinese bureaucratic administration, including even the country's ability to collect revenue through the Maritime Customs Service—all became part of the elaborate edifice of extraordinary rights and privileges that the powers created for themselves in the name of the "great game" of empire in China.¹     

试析战时贸易统制实施的阶段及其特点

抗日战争爆发后不久,国民政府即转入战时体制,并对战前所执行的种种措施加以变革,以适应战时局势的变化。在这些重大变革中,对外贸易政策上的演变极为显著,而且这些政策还随着战局的变化不断加以修正与变更。本文即主要依据原始档案资料,以财政部贸易委员会及其属下国营公司作为研究对象（有关资源委员会及特矿产品出口统制不在讨论范围之内）,深入分析战时国民政府各个阶段对外贸易政策的演变、内容及其特点,并在此基础上对于战时统制贸易政策的作用予以客观的评价。     

游客抽样调查中"拒答"现象的原因分析及应对措施——以崆峒山游客抽样调查为例

本文对游客抽样调查中的拒答现象和拒绝率进行了阐述和分析,探讨了拒答现象产生的原因和应对措施。指出：游客抽样调查中的拒答现象是值得重视又容易忽视的,是旅游流、旅游心理、旅游目的地类型和其他社会因素综合作用的结果,而非单纯地由游客心理决定。所以要降低拒绝率,需要从消除游客心理障碍和提高游客主动参与性入手,促使游客主动配合调查,减少拒绝现象,提高调查的成功率和准确率。     

Dynamics of Industrial Districts and Business Groups: The Case of the Marche Region

Italian industrial districts are undergoing fundamental changes due to globalization. Taking a firm perspective, we argue that the analysis of firm strategies, in particular the rise of business groups, is key to understand the organizational adjustments industrial districts have recently gone through. Due to the typical family structure of industrial district firms in the Marche region, as in other fragmented Italian districts, the organizational form adopted by firms to manage growth is that of the business group. We evaluate the empirical relevance of business groups in the Marche region, and we describe different transition strategies that turned firms into business groups.     

Evolution of Knowledge Intensive Services in a High-tech Region: The Case of Hsinchu,Taiwan

Communication costs have reduced markedly owing to improvements in communication technology. Despite this development, face-to-face interactions facilitated by geographic agglomeration remain important in high-tech innovation activities owing to the ambiguity and uncertainty related to new knowledge. Consequently, location remains a major influence on global strategies of transnational companies, and enables global cross-border divisions of labour in high-tech industries. On the one hand, this phenomenon transforms the geographic distribution and structure in industry; on the other hand, it creates demand for strategic functions in management and organizational innovation. The emergence, introduction and operation of such functions all rely on the support of specialized service industries. During the two decades of development of the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (HSIP), the area around HSIP saw the gradual formation of a distinctive and strong network including production, incubation and research and development (R&D) activities. Within this network, knowledge intensive services provide a crucial interface between the supportive environment and technological infrastructure. This investigation analyses the interactions, geographic transformation and distribution between HSIP firms and producer services around HSIP, as well as the coordination between HSIP firms and research institutions. This investigation found that competition strongly influences the development and geographic transformation of producer services. Together with different industrial resources, they formed production networks. Such networks caused the development and geographic transformation of the Hsinchu area, and thus further influenced the growth of knowledge-intensive service businesses.     

Governing Regional Development Through Culture and Creativity: The Case of the Veneto Region

This article has adopted a focus on culture and creativity in order to reflect on existing policies for the governance of large polycentric territories. Two trends, namely the increasing importance of regions in the urban planning field of study and culture as a strategic factor for territorial development, are combined to see how culture can be used as a strategic element within processes of regional development. Culture-led strategies are found to be instrumental to regional development, especially in territories undergoing a moment of inertia. The case of the Veneto Region shows that this momentum has now evidently also arrived in Italy. At a time in which the whole country is experiencing economic crisis, the Veneto region seems to be trapped in a transition stage between its successful past and the uncertainty of these days. While the Regione del Veneto is only somewhat trying to include culture and creativity in its official regional planning documents, some bottom-up initiatives have highlighted culture as a strategic factor for governing large territories and for their all-embracing development. In this context, culture and creativity can be seen as tools for governing territories that do not follow the policy orientation given by Regione del Veneto, but rather have a new understanding of regional governance taken forward by the private sector working together with the local administrations.     

区域博物馆开放性叙事探究 ——以长三角区域博物馆展览叙事为例

传统的区域博物馆封闭性叙事固然能够强化对区域文化的集中阐释,但也有明显的"视野局限".长三角区域一体化发展要求基于现代意识和全球眼光建设具有当代价值的"江南文化",强调区域文化间的交互联动,推动区域博物馆叙事模式从封闭性向开放性转化.区域博物馆的开放性叙事建构可借鉴"大英博物馆百物展"叙事创新模式,从叙事空间的开放性、叙事结构的对话性和跨媒介叙事三方面重构博物馆叙事机制,这既能够反映区域历史和故事,也能够表述当下,更具主动参与性.探索建构"江南文化"的博物馆整体叙事路径,可从全球对话、主题展览、当代性叙事三个角度给予区域博物馆实践例证,并探索女性史、文创展览、"物的关联"等开放性叙事新方向.     

农民的时间感——以山东省淄博市聚峰村为中心

我们谈到时间,当然了解,听别人谈到时间,我们也领会。那么时间究竟是什么?没有人问我,我倒清楚,有人问我,我想说明,便茫然不解了1。这是圣奥古斯丁在谈到时间时曾说过的一句至理名言,其中道出了他对于时间的莫大困惑。的确,虽然我们人人都生活于时间之中,无时无刻不在经历时间的流逝,似乎对于时间是非常之熟悉。但时间究竟是什么?恐怕又没有人能真正说得清楚。因此,对于时间,正如法国著名哲学家柏格森所说的那样,我们不可以深入理究,只可直觉与体验2。人类对于时间的体验,大体可分为两类,即标度时间经验与时间之流经验。标度时间经验是对于…     

Maritime Archaeology and Trans-Oceanic Trade: A Case Study of the Oranjemund Shipwreck Cargo, Namibia

Routine sand dredging for alluvial diamonds at Oranjemund on the southern coast of Namibia exposed remnants of a long forgotten Portuguese merchant ship believed to have wrecked in the 1530s. The rescue excavations yielded over 40 tons of cargo consisting of thousands of gold and silver coins, tons of copper and lead ingots, and large quantities of ivory together with food refuse, part of personal possessions and the superstructure of the ship. This paper discusses the cargo from the shipwreck. The varying provenances show that overland inter-and intra-regional networks fed into the maritime trade between Europe and the Indian sub-continent. As such, the wreck is a lens through which we can view what was happening on the seas as well as on land. Finally we consider wider issues raised by this discovery relating to the protection and management of such material wherever it may be found in future.