London in the European financial services industry: locational advantage and product complementarities

If its prospects were doubted in the early 1990s, London isnow the pre-eminent international financial centre. It dominatesits European rivals and is joined with New York and Tokyo ina non-stop reciprocal global embrace. Whereas some analystsapproach this topic concentrating on the nature and qualityof market relationships in London, others emphasise the rolethat government regulation has played in promoting the growthof the City of London with respect to its European rivals. Here,I elaborate the logic whereby financial products and servicesare produced at a particular point in space even if financialtrading is an increasingly ubiquitous virtual activity. I emphasisethe competitive dynamics of the financial services industry,the complementary qualities of financial products, and the placeof London in corporate global transactions systems. I mean toshow that the production of financial products has been broughtto ground (so to speak) in London for a variety of (perhapsnon-replicable) reasons. In this regard, my argument is clearlyat odds with those analysts of information and communicationtechnology who proclaim the end of geography. However, my argumentsits uncomfortably with those who insist upon the persistenceand co-existence of different national financial systems. Implicationsare drawn for the role of London in the evolving integratedEuropean market for financial services, and for the future ofcontinental European financial centres.     

From 'industrial districts' to 'knowledge clusters': a model of knowledge dissemination and competitive advantage in industrial agglomerations

This paper integrates knowledge-based theories of the firm withgeograph-ical studies of industrial agglomeration to producea model that helps explain the competitive advantages enjoyedby proximate firms located in geographical clusters. We proposea hierarchy of specialized knowledge stocks at both firm andcluster levels and suggest that the comparative advantage conferredby knowledge resources at each level is protected, in part,by asymmetries in knowledge flows from level to level. The paperargues that codified component knowledge is more easily spreadthan firm-specific architectural knowledge. Nevertheless, overtime, agglomerations may develop a cluster-specific form ofarchitectural knowledge that facilitates the rapid disseminationof knowledge throughout the cluster by increasing the learningcapacity of proximate firms and thereby conferring cluster-specificcompetitive advantages.     

Art and design as competitive advantage: A creative enterprise cluster in the Western United States

The creative enterprise cluster consists of companies that take their principal competitive advantage from a distinctive appearance, form, content, or sound that they embed or embody in their products or services. They include large numbers of micro-enterprises, freelancers, and design manufacturers, which loosely comprise a 'creative enterprise cluster'. The US state of Montana has such a cluster. It includes artisan firms, native American businesses, freelancers, and design manufacturers, many of which are included in government business databases. Montana's biodiversity, low population density, independent lifestyle, and cultural heritage have drawn large numbers of creative enterprises and entrepreneurs, which have led to support network of associations, cooperatives, galleries, suppliers, and educators. A study of the cluster for the Montana Governor's office(1) led to a number of recommendations that included recognizing recognition as economic development, increasing emphasis on arts and design in education, forming local and international marketing networks, establishing specialized business service centres, and matching artists with manufacturers. As a result, the state selected this cluster for further targeted support and development.     

Noncontiguity and political architecture: the parliaments of small island states

Territorial noncontiguity creates distance problems, and thereby promotes a need for noncontiguous countries to accommodate regional or otherwise distinct interests that emanate from or are linked to territorial divisions. For a population of 31 small island states, many of which display territorial noncontiguity, this study explores to what extent geography is reflected in the political architecture of legislatures that these political units choose to apply. Specifically, the study searches for possible effects of noncontiguity on federalism and bicameralism as well as the extent to which parliaments are recruited by means of apportionment and appointment. Concerning federalism and bicameralism, no discernible patterns emerge. Concerning apportionment and appointment, however, noncontiguity makes a difference. These techniques are used by a majority of the noncontiguous island states, but not (Mauritius being by virtue of its social heterogeneity a distinct exception) by contiguous island states. Processes of constitution-making in the island states have indeed been concerned with challenges that originate from the partitioning of space, and although geography does not of course explain the totality of politics, it does affect, to some extent at least, the motives, inducements, calculations and behaviour of constitution-makers as political architects.     

Spatial and temporal dynamics of the urban heat island effect in a small Brazilian city

This study examined the spatial and temporal patterns of the canopy layer urban heat islands (UHI_UCL) in a small city in southeastern Brazil using the local climate zone (LCZ) system. We analysed the influence of weather conditions, LCZs characteristics, and local surface relief on the UHI_UCL magnitudes. Mobile traverses were used to measure air temperatures during representative nights of wet and dry seasons. Daily maximum magnitudes were observed in compact classes (LCZs 3 and 7) under ideal weather conditions (dry, clear skies, and calm) and higher anthropogenic heat release (weekdays). Seasonal effects on LCZ thermal differences were negligible. The peripheral landscapes were warmer than the city centre in both seasons. Among the warmer areas in the city, magnitudes in compact LCZs 3 and 7 were consistently higher than in LCZ 6. In general, representative sites of the main ‘built’ LCZs in the study area exhibit similar inter-zone temperature patterns to those reported for cities of different sizes from tropical and midlatitude regions. Thermal contrasts of ΔT_{LCZ 3 − D} in the study area reveal significant evidence that small cities can have as strong heat islands as bigger cities. These findings highlight the importance of the LCZ system to identify the main controlling factors driving such thermal differences and the need to extend the application of this approach in other South American cities to yield systematic data of UHI_UCL for urban planning given the coming challenges of climate change over the region.     

Navigating the binaries of island independence and dependence in Greenland: Decolonisation,political culture,and strategic services

Over the past decades, islands and archipelagos undergoing decolonisation have opted not to pursue independence. Many have instead become autonomous subnational island jurisdictions (SNIJs), maintaining links with their former colonisers in order to gain economic, social, and political benefits. The age of island independence movements has largely ceased. One exception is Greenland, an SNIJ in which the public overwhelmingly favours independence from Denmark. This desire for independence is linked to a binary understanding of Greenlandic identity and Danish identity as well as a binary understanding of independence and dependence. Greenland's colonial experience has trapped it in a Denmark-oriented conceptualisation of Greenlandic identity, which prevents the pursuit of potential political and economic futures, for example gaining economic benefits through the provision of strategic services to a patron state. This study demonstrates how island status and centre-periphery relations can influence political culture and, by considering the exceptional case of a present-day island independence movement, sheds light on the dynamics of island-mainland relations more generally.     

Literature,crisis, and Spanish rural space in the context of the 2008 financial recession

ABSTRACT

The novelistic production related to the 2008 financial crisis has been partially studied from the lens of the label of “literatura de la crisis.” In this article, I analyze the complex and essential transformations suffered by literary writing practices in contemporary Spain where ill attention has been devoted to the social, political, and aesthetic implications of neoliberal globalization in rural areas. Departing from a thorough conceptualization of the notion of “literatura de la crisis” and its paradoxical impact over the most recent literary production, I study the rural discourse and the emerging academic challenges for the assessment of the rural experience in literary works. In conclusion, I set the main principles for the development of a transposable model of textual analysis that will shed new light on the cultural representation of the rural sphere in the aftermath of the 2008 financial recession.     

The South Korean financial crisis: competing explanations and policy lessons for financial liberalization

There are two types of explanations of the Asian financial crisis: the 'fundamentalist', which focuses on macroeconomic imbalances; and the 'self-fulfilling', which ascribes the crisis to beliefs. This article argues that while both have some merit in explaining the Korean crisis, neither fits the facts very well. The authors put forward a new explanation which emphasizes the role played by financial liberalization and the structural weaknesses in the banking system. They explain that the combination of these factors created conditions that made the Korean banking system vulnerable to the sentiments of foreign investors, simultaneously eroding the ability of the Korean central bank to act effectively as a lender of last resort. The authors examine how various policy mistakes aggravated the crisis and draw some conclusions that may be useful for other emerging market economies.     

Learning in districts: Novelty and lock-in in a regional context

This paper deals with the constraints and risks of learning in different types of spatial concentration of related industries and firms. We aim at a better understanding of what makes the difference between local lock-in on the one hand and ongoing creation of novelty on the other. To achieve this purpose, we use Nonaka and Takeuchi's (1995) treatment of knowledge conversion processes and Nooteboom's (2000) cycle of discovery. Hence, we are able to clarify the concept and nature of learning, which in turn provides a basis for specifying different learning effects of two prototypes of spatial concentration: Marshallian and dynamic industrial districts. We show that these two types of industrial districts have multiple, different, and complementary functions in terms of knowledge conversion and knowledge creation. Hence, we can explain why spatial concentration can have positive and negative effects for learning and innovation, and how lock-in can be avoided.     

Quality, imagery and marketing: producer perspectives on quality products and services in the lagging rural regions of the European Union

A range of factors, including consumer concerns about food safety, the growing popularity of rural tourism and policy initiatives to promote endogenous rural development, is converging to promote a relocalization of food production and service provision, especially in those regions marginalized by the globalization of the food supply system. The recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the UK has starkly illustrated the fragility of localized systems which depend heavily on consumers travelling to them. Within such a context, the importance of successful marketing strategies has become even more apparent. This paper reports on a questionnaire survey which investigated promotional and marketing strategies among a diverse range of producers and service providers in marginal agricultural areas of the EU. The findings suggest that many producers are situated towards the formal end of a marketing continuum, whereby ability to promote quality products and services (QPS) lies with a range of intermediaries. This raises doubts about the future economic benefits of QPS, should current marketing structures persist. The discussion offers critical reflections on interdisciplinary and international research of this nature, and advocates further theoretical and methodological development in order to explore in more depth many of the aspects raised in this exploratory investigation.     

Choosing between America and Europe: a new context for British foreign policy

Power in Britain has changed hands from a prime minister who sought to balance intense UK‐US consultation on foreign policy with the ambition to be ‘at the heart of Europe’ to one whose approach towards both the United States and the European Union has yet to be tested. It is an appropriate moment, there fore, to assess how these two contextual poles of British foreign policy‐making have changed over recent years and what this might mean for UK foreign policy choices. The premise of this article is that the days are now largely over when the UK can or should start out by trying to build an Anglo‐US position on a foreign policy challenge before trying to tie in the European and transatlantic positions. The UK is now a central player in the development of increasingly activist European foreign policies, whether these can later be coordinated effectively with the United States or not. A strong, bilateral relationship continues to serve the interests of both sides on multiple levels, but this relationship does not sit upon the same foundations as during the Cold War. There are now significant underlying factors, especially since the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001 in the US and July 7 2005 in the UK, that pull the US away from Europe and the UK, while pushing the UK towards Europe as the first port of call in developing foreign policy strategies. It is also notable that, today, UK positions on most global issues and foreign policy challenges tend to conform more closely to the dominant EU line than to the United States. On balance, the UK might think about European integration more from a US than from a European perspective, but it now thinks about global problems more from a European than from a US or transatlantic perspective.     

Crafting identities in a multinational context: evidence from Catalonia

The nationalist messages that family and school transmit are very often concurrent, making it difficult to measure their independent impact on individuals. In order to separate out the leverage of these two agents of socialisation, this article focuses on a case study in which such concurrence cannot be taken for granted: Catalonia. The article exploits variation in parents' national identification, resulting from the presence of a population born in other regions of Spain outside Catalonia, to tease out the effect of both parents and Catalan school in crafting individuals' identification. The results, which draw on the analysis of a household survey, suggest that more years of schooling makes more likely that individuals develop a dual identity; however, parents' attachment to Catalonia is key in fostering an exclusive identification with Catalonia. Results also suggest that residence in neighbourhoods in which the proportion of natives and immigrants from other regions of Spain favours contact between children from different identity backgrounds is decisive in promoting a more Catalan‐oriented identification between second generations.     

From photography to cinematography: recording movement and gait in a neurological context

The major challenge of photography has been freezing movement, to transform it into a fixed image or series of images. Very soon, photographers became interested in movement itself and tried to use photography as a tool to analyze movement. At the early stages, physicians interested in movement, perhaps surprisingly, made important technical contributions. Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine, by Duchenne, the first book with physiological experiments illustrated by photographs, is a landmark in this historical development. At the Salpêtrière, thanks to Charcot, photography officially entered clinical neurology. Medical journals with photographs were actively developed by Bourneville. Londe established a clinical photographic laboratory and published the first book on medical photography. The study of animal and human movement by Muybridge and Marey in the 1880s led to chronophotography and later cinematography. Clinicians such as Dercum and Richer took advantage of these new techniques to study pathological movement and gait in neurological diseases.     

Compare and contrast: understanding Irish migration to Britain in a wider context

This article explores the potential for comparative research across different migrant groups. Research on migration is often weakened by the marked tendency to use a single ethnic/national group as the unit of analysis. Analysing migration from the experiences of a particular ethnic group may exaggerate ethnic exceptionalism and understate the extent to which experiences are shared across different migrant groups. My recent experiences on a range of research projects with diverse migrants to London made me think about similarities with the Irish, but each in different ways. However, there is a dearth of comparative analysis in relation to the Irish experience in Britain. On the one hand, there are many studies of Irish migrants, but these tend to focus solely on the Irish or else examine the relationship between Irish migrants and the ‘native’ British population. There has been little work on how the Irish relate to other migrant groups within British society. On the other hand, studies of other migrant communities rarely refer to the Irish as a comparative group. The article explores the reasons for the dearth of comparative work involving Irish migrants in Britain. In so doing, it considers some of the benefits and challenges of going beyond the ‘ethnic lens’. What would be gained but also lost by viewing Irish migration to Britain through a more comparative perspective? I explore how such comparative analysis might contribute, firstly, to a wider understanding of migration processes, experiences and inter-migrant relations, and, secondly, to a fuller appreciation of varied dimensions of migratory experiences in Britain. These issues are considered through a comparison of Polish and Irish migration to Britain.     

Kenya's new indigenes: negotiating local identities in a global context

ABSTRACT. This article examines the proliferation of communities that self‐identify as indigenous peoples by looking at the Ogiek, Sengwer, Endorois and Pokot of western Kenya. It shows how community leaders have self‐consciously employed a global discourse of indigeneity – and associated ideas of territorial association, marginalisation and especial vulnerability – to strengthen moral and legal claims to land and resources, to access new domains of action and cultivate new channels of patronage. The analysis also highlights how this process, together with similar developments across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, has prompted a re‐evaluation and stretching of this global signifier at the supra‐state level. Finally, the article reveals how the emergence of a new global space has provided new opportunities and strong incentives to renegotiate local “nationalisms” in a struggle for ownership and control of communal terroir, while factionalism has fed into, supported and fundamentally altered supra‐national definitions.