Asia‐Pacific security regimes: Conditions and constraints

Security regimes constitute an important test of the ‘liberal’ school of thought in contemporary international relations. In the Asia‐Pacific, interest is growing over how they may contribute to that region's future order and stability. It is argued here, however, that Asia‐Pacific security regimes cannot succeed unless ‘realist’ power‐balancing strategies are first applied, affording time for patterns of structural leadership to shape enduring security norms and institutions. The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) is arguably the region's first potential post‐cold war security regime. Its fate, or that of its successor security regimes in the Asia‐Pacific, depends upon satisfying four critical conditions for regime building and upon winning the acceptance of China and the United States, the region's two key ‘structural leaders’. While the ARF does not at present seem close to satisfying these criteria, it may help to provide the breathing space necessary for a successful transition from a competitive cold war environment to a more cooperative climate in the Asia‐Pacific.     

Thinking State/Space Incompossibly

Abstract: This paper develops multi‐dimensional analyses of socio‐spatial relations. Building on previous research, we identify some tensions associated with different dimensions of socio‐spatiality and introduce the theme of compossible and, more importantly, incompossible socio‐spatial configurations. Two short studies are deployed to highlight the socio‐spatial implications of the principle that not everything that is possible is compossible. The first shows the power of thinking varieties of capitalism compossibly (via the concept of variegated capitalism) and then examines the successive strategies adopted by the European Communities and European Union to address the significance of changing patterns of variegation for approaches to European integration, spatial strategies, and economic and social policies. The second case discusses some related problems for state spatial projects, starting in the 1980s with spatial planning, promotion of a Europe of the Regions and/or of Europe and the regions, and then turns to examine city‐regional development strategies.     

Bringing the study of warfare into theories of nationalism

This article argues that warfare has been marginalised in theories of nationalism but that in conjunction with nationalism is vital for understanding the rise of nation‐states, the formation of nations and the nature of the international system. It offers a critique of statist approaches, suggests mechanisms through which warfare may sacralise nations and explores different patterns of nation‐state formation as they affect the interstate system. In particular, it emphasises tensions between state and nation‐formation as activated by the fortunes of war and the destabilising effects of waves of imperial dissolution, which are accompanied by patterns of re‐imperialization. It suggests that it is simplistic both to claim that war has led to a transition from empires to nation‐states and that contemporary practices of war‐making have led to a postnational era.     

DOUBLE TRANSITIONS? REGIONAL PATTERNS OF POPULATION AGEING IN POLAND

The number and geographical distribution of the aged, and how the distribution changes over time, have captured the attention of geographical gerontologists; the complexity and spatially differentiated nature of ageing is of considerable practical and theoretical import. This article seeks to link the traditional concerns of population geography to the social and spatial relations between old people, their health and places of residence and care. It does presuppose, however, that patterns and processes at the sub‐national level are also taken into account. Therefore, the aim of the article is to identify the aged and the localities or regions where they reside, within the particular context of a Polish post‐socialist society that has recently become integrated into the European mainstream. As such it is potentially subject to a double transition, where the political and economic changes cross path with the second demographic transition. To identify interrelationships between ageing and post‐socialist transition, areas vulnerable to ageing are defined using ageing indices. Projections of the share of elderly up to 2030, based on a component cohort method, are made with a view to identifying future change in the spatial patterns of ageing. Regional patterns of ageing are presented in social, political or economic context, to show their relation to the structural changes that societies such as Poland have been passing through during the period of transition to democracy and a market economy or are likely to go through in the near future.     

The Challenge of Change: Australian Cities and Urban Planning in the New Millennium

This paper reviews recent research on the changing spatial structure of Australia's major cities from the early 1990s, concentrating on (a) the location of employment and journey to work patterns, (b) the changing nature of housing, and (c) patterns of residential differentiation and disadvantage. The paper argues that the 1990s was a watershed decade during which some taken‐for‐granted aspects of Australian urban character experienced significant change. It then examines the latest generation of strategic planning documents for these major metropolitan areas, all published between 2002 and 2005, and argues that there is a mismatch between the strategies’ consensus view of desirable future urban structure, based on containment, consolidation and centres, and the complex realities of the evolving urban structures. In particular, the current metropolitan strategies do not come to terms with the dispersed, suburbanised nature of much economic activity and employment and the environmental and social issues that flow from that, and they are unconvincing in their approaches to the emerging issues of housing affordability and new, finer‐grained patterns of suburban inequality and disadvantage. Overall, the paper contends that current metropolitan planning strategies suggest an inflexible, over‐neat vision for the future that is at odds with the picture of increasing geographical complexity that emerges from recent research on the changing internal structure of our major cities.     

The Financialisation of Rental Housing 2.0: Releasing Housing into the Privatised Mainstream of Capital Accumulation

This article presents two cases of listed real estate companies that operate in the Ruhr metropolitan region of Germany. The first is Immeo Wohnen, a subsidiary of the French real estate investment trust (REIT) Foncière des Régions that was previously owned by a US hedge fund. The second is Vonovia, Germany's largest real estate company, originally a subsidiary of a British private equity firm. Both examples embody what we call the shift from financialisation 1.0 to financialisation 2.0, i.e. the transition from pure speculation to long‐term investment. We show that long‐term investment strategies are used by REITs and listed funds in order to release housing into the privatised mainstream of capital accumulation. With the advent of the financialisation of rental housing 2.0, the long‐term investment focus of these funds paradoxically enables a short‐term investment focus by buying and selling shares in these funds on the stock exchange.     

STABLE ECONOMIC AGGLOMERATION PATTERNS IN TWO DIMENSIONS: BEYOND THE SCOPE OF CENTRAL PLACE THEORY

This paper elucidates which agglomeration patterns exist in two‐dimensional economic space and how such patterns appear stably. Hexagonal lattices, that with and that without a boundary, are advanced, respectively, as practical and theoretical spatial platforms of economic activities. Agglomeration patterns on these lattices include hexagons in central place theory, but also encompass megalopolis and racetrack‐shaped decentralization. As the transport cost decreases, stable economic agglomeration undergoes the formation of the smallest hexagon and transition to patterns with larger market areas, often undergoing downtown decay but finally leading to a megalopolis. Formulas for break points are provided in an economic geography model.     

Nationalism without a nation: the rise and fall of Zulu nationalism in South Africa’s transition to democracy, 1975–99

During South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy the most virulent opposition to change came from Zulu nationalism. Post‐apartheid, however, Zulu nationalism has largely waned. This is because Zulu nationalism was instrumentally invoked and jettisoned by the Inkatha Freedom Party. Beginning in 1975, Inkatha embraced a ‘third way’ resistance politics between ‘acquiescence’ in apartheid and ‘impossible’ militant resistance. It was only later that Inkatha turned to Zuluness when it was out‐competed by the ANC and allies, first over the leadership of resistance politics and secondly during the transition. After 1994 the inclusion of the IFP in democratic government made old strategies redundant and thus it abandoned Zulu nationalism. Moreover, while a widespread sense of Zuluness exists, the meanings attached to it vary to the extent that the Zulu nation cannot exist. Thus the Zulu nationalism of the transition was an elite‐driven political nationalism prosecuted without a popularly imagined Zulu nation.     

Spatial Empirics for Economic Growth and Convergence

This paper suggests some new empirical strategies for analyzing the evolution of regional income distributions over time and space. These approaches are based on extensions to the classical Markov transition matrices that allow for a more comprehensive analysis of the geographical dimensions of the transitional dynamics. This is achieved by integrating some recently developed local spatial statistics within a Markov framework. Insights to not only the frequency with which one economy may transition across different classes in the income distribution, but also how those transitions may or may not be spatially dependent are provided by these new measures. A number of indices are suggested as ways to characterize the space‐time dynamics and are illustrated in a case study of U. S. regional income dynamics over the 1929–1994 period.     

Taphonomy and zooarchaeology of the Upper Palaeolithic cave of Dzudzuana,Republic of Georgia

We present the results of a detailed taphonomic and zooarchaeological study of the faunal remains from the Upper Palaeolithic layers of Dzudzuana Cave, Republic of Georgia. This study presents the first carefully analysed Upper Palaeolithic faunal assemblage from the southern Caucasus and thus serves as a significant point of reference for inter‐regional studies of Upper Palaeolithic subsistence in Eurasia. A series of intra‐site taphonomic comparisons are employed to reconstruct the depositional history of the bone assemblages within the different occupational phases at the site and to investigate subsistence, meat procurement and bone‐processing strategies. Caucasian tur (Capra caucasica), aurochs (Bos primigenius) and steppe bison (Bison priscus) were the major prey species throughout the Upper Palaeolithic. Their frequencies do not change significantly over time, and nor does bone preservation vary by layer. The assemblage is characterised by significant density‐mediated biases, caused by both human bone‐processing behaviours and in situ post‐burial bone attrition. Bone marrow extraction produced large numbers of unidentified bone fragments, many exhibiting green bone fractures. The density and size of bone assemblages and the extent of fragmentation indicate that Dzudzuana Cave was repeatedly occupied by Upper Palaeolithic foragers over many years. Skeletal part representation and butchery marks from all stages of carcass processing suggest that prey occasionally underwent field butchery. Intra‐site taphonomic comparisons highlight uniform patterns of cultural and economic behaviours related to food procurement and processing strategies. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Subsumption of Space and the Spatiality of Subsumption: Primitive Accumulation and the Transition to Capitalism in Shanghai,China

Abstract: Based on extensive interviews, this study is the first systematic attempt to map the spatio‐temporal evolution of production networks linking urban, state‐owned enterprises and rural, township and village‐owned enterprises in reform‐era China. It identifies two distinct regimes of urban‐to‐rural subcontracting patterns and conventions. The first, which developed and prospered from the mid‐1980s until the mid‐1990s, brought rural workers and the countryside into a relatively extensive relationship with urban capital, and thus represented a partial transition to capitalism. Its violent reconfiguration in the wake of a series of sectoral crises in the late 1990s led to the widespread privatisation of rural enterprises, and the emergence and consolidation of a second regime that simultaneously constituted a significant intensification of relations, the capture of the rural by the urban, and a new stage in this region's transition. This paper argues that these regimes are analogous to the formal and real subsumption of labor to capital, respectively, and that subsumption may be a more useful analytic for understanding the process of capture and transition than primitive accumulation: the latter concept alone, without reference to the dynamics of the social/spatial division of labor, risks missing other ways that exploitive connections can be constructed between places. This paper thus seeks to recast the relationship between these two concepts, and to develop a larger vocabulary in which subsumption, like primitive accumulation, is both spatial and ongoing and internal to capitalist accumulation.     

Subsistence continuity,change, and environmental adaptation at the site of Nugljanska,Istria, Croatia

This paper investigates changes in subsistence strategies at the upland cave site of Nugljanska (Croatia) at the end of the last ice age, during a time of rapid sea level rise and changing environment. We analysed the faunal assemblage from archaeological levels spanning the Pleistocene–Holocene transition (15,000–8000 years BP) and evaluated changes in relative abundance of species, measured species diversity, and compared the representation of terrestrial mammal and marine resources. We found a significant shift in the most abundant prey species exploited (from red deer, Cervus, to wild boar, Sus). There was some correlation between dietary diversification and periods of increased moisture availability and the spread of deciduous forest in the area. Our results suggest that there was a continuing reliance on terrestrial resources throughout time and that changes in dietary patterns were likely due to local environmental change and potentially, changing seasonal mobility strategies, at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition.     

Can Institutional Reforms Reduce Corruption? Economic Theory and Patron–Client Politics in Developing Countries

The ‘anti‐corruption consensus’ of the dominant development paradigm sees corruption as a governance failure and maintains that graft can be reduced or eradicated through appropriate institutional reforms, such as strengthening the judiciary, designing corruption‐proof regulatory regimes, and establishing anti‐corruption agencies. This article aims to cast doubt on the theoretical rationale of this family of anti‐corruption interventions. The neo‐classical paradigm that informs the consensus is based on a set of unsatisfactory idealizations, which undermine the explanatory power of mainstream economic models of corruption. Drawing on insights from economic sociology and anthropology, the article develops an account of the relationship between corruption, cultural norms and patron–client politics in developing countries. This account shows that corruption is embedded in socio‐cultural structures that are endemic to the process of transition to industrial capitalism — a transition that all developing countries are arguably undergoing, however haltingly. This insight clarifies the theoretical limitations of mainstream corruption economics and provides a framework for constructing more empirically adequate explanations of corruption levels in specific countries. It also suggests that substantially reducing, let alone eradicating, corruption in the developing world may not be possible without fundamentally rethinking the existing set of anti‐corruption strategies and techniques.     

First large‐scale provenance study of pigments reveals new complex behavioural patterns during the Upper Palaeolithic of south‐western Germany

The use of red iron‐based earth pigments, or ochre, is a key component of early symbolic behaviours for anatomically modern humans and possibly Neanderthals. We present the first ochre provenance study in Central Europe showing long‐term selection strategies by inhabitants of cave sites in south‐western Germany during the Upper Palaeolithic (43–14.5 ka). Ochre artefacts from Hohle Fels, Geißenklösterle and Vogelherd, and local and extra‐local sources, were investigated using neutron activation analysis (NAA), X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that local ochre sources were continuously and systematically accessed for c.29 500 years, with periodic events of long‐distance (about > 300 km) ochre acquisition during the Aurignacian (c.35–43 ka), suggesting higher mobility than previously suspected. The results reveal previously unknown long‐term, complex spatio‐temporal behavioural patterns during the earliest presence of Homo sapiens in Europe.     

No Way Back? Adaptation and Urbanization of IDP Livelihoods in the Darfur Region of Sudan

This article explores how people in conflict zones adapt their livelihoods after they migrate to urban areas. Drawing on case studies in two towns in the Darfur region of Sudan, the authors find that livelihood systems are in transition and have undergone fundamental changes resulting from displacement and the effects of conflict on dysfunctional and failing institutions. Urban migrants’ livelihood strategies evolve in a context of insecurity, distorted markets, lack of regulation and punitive rent‐seeking regimes such as protection payments. Maladaptive livelihood strategies emerge in response to the need for food and income in the short term. New strategies also can increase societal inequities and marginalization, and over‐exploit limited natural resources. Thus the ‘new’ livelihoods cannot be considered sustainable or equitable, or even able to provide food security in the short term. Locally appropriate and innovative approaches to support livelihoods are badly needed, but it is important to monitor and evaluate their impacts on livelihood groups, local economic recovery, environment and conflict.     

Geography and Economic Preferences as Cultural Markers in a Border Town: The Faunal Remains from Tel Beth‐Shemesh,Israel

We present a zooarchaeological analysis of the faunal remains at Tel Beth‐Shemesh, a site located in the Shephelah region of Israel, which has been dated to the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age I. The site, identified as the biblical city of Beth‐Shemesh, was a Canaanite border town between Philistine and Israelite settlements and of great importance in our attempts to understand the social and cultural transformations that occurred in the southern Levant during those periods. This study contributes to a more accurate understanding of the cultural identity of the site's inhabitants by exploring the cultural differences between populations as reflected in their different dietary preferences. We analysed the subsistence economy at the site, the general exploitation patterns, herd management strategies and consumption practices, all of which are based mostly on domestic livestock. We determined the cultural identity at the site mainly by comparing the representation of pig remains with that found at other sites in the region, and offer various explanations for the differences. The comparisons revealed clear differences between Tel Beth‐Shemesh and other known nearby Philistine sites. This site appears to have possessed a self‐contained production and consumption economy with similarities in the general pattern of animal exploitation between the two periods. These similarities constitute evidence for the continuation of the local population and of its culture at the site during the period of turmoil that swept the region during the transition to the Iron Age. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial variation in cervical cancer screening participation and outcomes among Indigenous and non‐Indigenous Australians in Queensland

Indigenous women continue to experience a disproportionately higher burden of cervical cancer than non‐Indigenous women in Australia. The National Indigenous Cervical Screening Project used probabilistic record linkage to combine population‐based administrative databases and identify Indigenous women on Pap Smear Registers. This study aimed to quantify the spatial variation by local government areas (LGAs) for Indigenous and non‐Indigenous women in Queensland in cervical screening participation rates and related outcomes. Empirical Bayes local geostatistical smoothing was performed to reduce the likelihood of spurious variation between small areas. The cohort included 1,091,260 women (2 per cent Indigenous) aged 20 to 69 with 2,393,708 Pap smears between 2006 and 2011. Indigenous women had smoothed LGA‐specific 5‐year participation rates (interquartile range (IQR) 38.9–53.3 per 100 eligible women) consistently lower than non‐Indigenous women (IQR 80.7–85.3). The non‐overlapping confidence intervals of these rates suggest that the Indigenous differential was significant. Compared with Indigenous women, non‐Indigenous women had consistently lower and more stable prevalence rates of histologically confirmed high grade abnormalities (IQR 8.0–10.1 versus 15.0–21.3 per 1,000 screened women). Although the LGA‐specific rates also suggest that a higher proportion of non‐Indigenous women were followed‐up within two months of an abnormal screening result, the wide confidence intervals for these estimates limit our ability to draw definitive conclusions about spatial patterns for this outcome. These findings highlight the importance of continued monitoring and ongoing efforts to identify drivers of these patterns and develop effective strategies to improve participation and potentially reduce the cervical cancer burden among Indigenous women.     

Nonparametric Significance Test for Discovery of Network‐Constrained Spatial Co‐Location Patterns

Spatial co‐location patterns are useful for understanding positive spatial interactions among different geographical phenomena. Existing methods for detecting spatial co‐location patterns are mostly developed based on planar space assumption; however, geographical phenomena related to human activities are strongly constrained by road networks. Although these methods can be simply modified to consider the constraints of networks by using the network distance or network partitioning scheme, user‐specified parameters or priori assumptions for determining prevalent co‐location patterns are still subjective. As a result, some co‐location patterns may be wrongly reported or omitted. Therefore, a nonparametric significance test without priori assumptions about the distributions of the spatial features is proposed in this article. Both point‐dependent and location‐dependent network‐constrained summary statistics are first utilized to model the distribution characteristics of the spatial features. Then, by using these summary statistics, a network‐constrained pattern reconstruction method is developed to construct the null model of the test, and the prevalence degree of co‐location patterns is modeled as the significance level. The significance test is evaluated using the facility points‐of‐interest data sets. Experiments and comparisons show that the significance test can effectively detect network‐constrained spatial co‐location patterns with less priori knowledge and outperforms two state‐of‐the‐art methods in excluding spurious patterns.     

Hunter‐gatherer use of small animal food resources: coprolite evidence

Faunal remains are commonly found in coprolites and provide direct evidence of animal consumption. An evaluation of hunter‐gatherer coprolites from the Southwest US shows that animal bone in coprolites can be used to assess patterns of hunting, food preparation, and general importance of small animals in diet. This is demonstrated by a comparison of faunal assemblages between two hunter‐gatherer sites with respect to small animal hunting strategies. The sites are Dust Devil Cave on the Colorado Plateau, an Archaic winter habitation, and Hinds Cave, a warm season Archaic habitation in the lower Pecos of Texas. The results indicate that small animal hunting varied regionally and seasonally. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

COORDINATING EVERYDAY LIFE IN THE NETHERLANDS: A HOLISTIC QUANTITATIVE APPROACH TO THE ANALYSIS OF ICT‐RELATED AND OTHER WORK‐LIFE BALANCE STRATEGIES

Due to women's increased participation in the labour force, more and more family‐households are now juggling paid labour and care‐giving in space and time and do so in many different ways. Much research and policy about how households try to establish a satisfactory work‐life balance singles out particular coping strategies, such as telecommuting or the mobilizing of informal help by relatives or friends. While insightful, foregrounding single strategies may oversimplify the complex reality of everyday life, in which people often skilfully weave together multiple coping strategies. As well, advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) have further diversified the arsenal of possible coping strategies, but the academic literature has yet to verify whether ICT usage complements or substitutes the adoption of other coping strategies. Adopting a holistic quantitative approach this study assesses which combinations of coping strategies prevail and which role ICTs play in this regard among one‐ and dual‐earner households in the Utrecht–Amersfoort–Hilversum area of the Netherlands. We also examine systematic variations in strategy combination by socio‐demographics, ICT possession, affordability and skills, social network factors, employment and commute factors, spatial factors, lifestyle orientation and other factors. We identify several distinct combinations of strategies and find that ICT‐related strategies are frequently adopted by highly educated employed parents in the Netherlands attempting to achieve a satisfying work‐life balance and tend to complement other types of strategies. Which combinations of strategies have been adopted depends most strongly on the presence of young children, but also on employment factors and characteristics of the environment surrounding the dwelling and main workplace.