Indonesia and the tsunami: responses and foreign policy implications

Given the scale of destruction, and the international responses to the disaster, it has been clear from the outset that the tsunami in Aceh would also have far-reaching internal and external political consequences for Indonesia. Within Indonesia's domestic context, the disaster has forced the government to deal with the problems of xenophobia, the resolution of the Aceh conflict, and the imperative of good governance. The tsunami has also presented an opportunity for much closer bilateral relations between Indonesia and some key aid-providing nations, especially Australia, and the US. Despite some encouraging improvements in the aftermath of the disaster, the long-term effects of tsunami aid on Indonesia's relations with Australia and the US should not be taken for granted.     

New technologies in cultural institutions: theory,evidence and policy implications

Publicly-funded cultural institutions such as theatre companies, symphony orchestras, museums, libraries and so on are increasingly engaging with new technologies as a means of improving their operational efficiency and extending the range of ways in which they pursue their cultural missions. For example, opera companies are broadcasting performances by satellite to cinemas, and art museums are using the Internet to show virtual exhibitions. These developments have implications for funding authorities who need to update their policy approaches to encompass a range of new technological phenomena. This paper provides a framework for assessing technological innovation in cultural institutions, and discusses the ramifications of such a framework for cultural policy. The paper is illustrated using the results of a recent research project that evaluated the UK National Theatre’s NT Live experiment and the Tate Gallery’s use of a web-based exhibition as strategies to expand their audience reach.     

The elderly population of Great Britain: locational trends and policy implications

"The distribution in 1981 and trends during the 1970s of the pensionable age population, of those aged 75 years or more and of pensioners living alone in Great Britain are examined by counties, by county districts and at the intra-metropolitan scale. A pause in the tendency towards the spatial dissociation of the elderly from the remainder of the population is revealed. Many large retirement resorts now have declining elderly populations although rapid growth continues in their suburbs and adjacent rural areas. Rapid increases of the elderly population during the 1970s were seen in several inland rural areas and to a lesser extent in well established new towns and large city suburbs."     

Towards a European spatial planning policy: Theoretical dilemmas and institutional implications

This article examines the emergence, the present configuration and the perspectives of a spatial planning policy at a European level in the light of the institutional and economic properties embodied in the nature of the European integration process. First, it recapitulates the main historical steps through which the idea of a European view about spatial questions has been developed as a combined result of cohesion and solidarity objectives and liberal market constraints. On the basis of these complementary and competitive principles, the article explores the conceptual identity of the emerging policy and discusses especially the reorientations of the spatial justice concept under a market integration paradigm. Finally, it presents the fundamental traits for the institutional design of the new policy, which lead to the reshaping of the traditional hierarchical, substantialist and normative profile of welfare spatial intervention towards an horizontal, procedural and pluralist model of collective spatial coordination. The article comes to the conclusion that the conceptual and institutional innovations to which the emergence of a European spatial planning policy is submitted constitute a part of a more general rearrangement in the legitimation basis of public policies in a post‐national and post‐welfare Europe. Recognition of these transformations could be seen both as a search for new forms of governance beyond the state and as a chance for rethinking traditional concepts of social theory in a time of change.     

Transport costs: measures, determinants, and regional policy implications for France

We develop a methodology to accurately compute transport costs.Based on the real transport network, our measure encompassesthe characteristics of infrastructure, vehicle and energy used,as well as labor, insurance, tax and general charges borne bytransport carriers. Computed for the 341 French employment areas,road transport shipments and the period 1978–1998, thisnew measure is compared to alternative ones such as great circledistance, real distance, or real time. We conclude that theseproxies do a very good job in capturing transport costs in cross-sectionanalysis. However, important discrepancies limit the possibilityof using them in time series analysis. Moreover, our measureallows us to identify the policies that most impact transportcosts. We show that transport technology and market structureare responsible for most of the transport cost decrease. Infrastructureimprovements only condition the spatial distribution of thegains. Finally, some implications for researchers and regionalpolicy makers are derived.     

Natural Resources,Innovative Milieux and the Environmentally Sustainable Development of Regions1

Traditional economic theory views natural resources as production factors to be exploited for the benefit of society. However, for this exploitation to be sustainable it must take into account the conservation and/or renewal of the resource. Increasingly, development projects have come to regard natural resources as essential elements of the local environment that must be exploited in ways that ensure future generations can also benefit from them. This process has been termed “patrimonialization”. In this article it is shown that the constructive development of natural resources and the environmentally sustainable development of regions are closely linked and the role of innovative milieux in defining the nature of local development projects is examined.     

Cultural policy as development policy: evidence from the United States

Cultural policies and cultural projects in the United States have been reframed to emphasize their economic benefits to cities. New alliances between arts advocates and place promoters are apparent at all levels, but are most prominent locally. These new alliances are facilitated by the changing interests of local officials and business people, who have come to believe there is economic value in the arts and of arts administrators, for whom attracting broader public support has become imperative. In some cities, entirely new organizational structures have sprung up to plan and implement projects that serve cultural and economic development advocates simultaneously. Such new institutions are most prominent in more economically disadvantaged cities.     

Determinants of role differentiation: The Kibbutz case

Yonina Talmon. Family and Community in the Kibbutz. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1972 (paper, 1974). xiii + 266 pp. Tables, appendix, references, and index. $12.00 cloth, $3.75 paper.

Lionel Tiger and Joseph Shepher. Women in the Kibbutz. New York: Harcourt Brace, Jovanovich, 1975. vii + 334 pp. Tables, notes, appendices, bibliography, and index. $10.95.