How Beneficial is a Knowledge-based Development Strategy for Peripheral Regions? A Case Study

This paper aims to contribute to the debate on the success factors of peripheral regions in the knowledge economy. It explores the viability of the knowledge-based development model for peripheral regions by examining the experiences of a follower region in Finland. The empirical case is Seinäjoki region in Western Finland which adopted a determined knowledge, research and innovation-driven development strategy in the 1980s. The article analyses the evolution of this strategy and assesses the progress and results that have been achieved until 2012. The results show that the strategy has improved the preconditions and structures for innovation, but there have been difficulties in turning these into real innovation outcomes. Peripheral regions may benefit from a knowledge-based development strategy but the development is slow and only takes place through building base capacity in the region.     

Who Grows Food in Russia and Eastern Europe?

Drawing upon an innovative program of surveys in Russia and Eastern Europe, a prominent Western public policy specialist and Russian geographer present an important empirical study demonstrating a wide diffusion of subsistence food production by both urban and rural households in Eastern Europe and by urban households in Russia. With access to land, rather than occupational specialization, determining who grows food in the stressful 1990s, the paper, based on an extensive survey in 1991 and 1992 with 3,550 Bulgarian, Czechoslovak, and Polish respondents and 2,100 Russian, reveals that most people in the post-Soviet realm consume the food that they produce. 1 diagram, 7 tables, 25 references.     

How Different are Emerging Multinationals' Views of Economic Integration in Europe? A Case Study of Korean Automobile Manufacturers' Strategic Reactions

This study is a survey of Korean automobile manufacturers in Europe, which examines the different perceptions of emerging multinationals to economic integration and the subsequent strategic reactions relating to their particular characteristics. The findings show dissimilar patterns and motivations for Korean automotive foreign direct investment (FDI) when compared to those of established multinationals, which are conceptualized as a pre-emptive strategic advance, particularly in relation to the changing ownership endowments and negative perceptions of the single European market. These finding imply that conventional variables are unlikely to be applicable to emerging multinationals and show the need to segregate them from other multinationals when formulating industrial policies and firm-level competing strategies.     

Renewal through Culture? The Role of Museums in the Renewal of Industrial Regions in Europe

Abstract

Bilbao has become a role model for the regeneration of declining urban and industrial regions. The debate on the so-called Bilbao effect showed that rundown industrial cities and regions might profit from culture-based development strategies, even if successful urban regeneration cannot be induced by only one flagship project without an appropriate local and regional context. Based on the comparative analysis of six, in general recently founded, museums in five countries (Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; Louvre in Lens; Centre Pompidou in Metz; Istanbul Modern Art Museum; Museum Folkwang in Essen; Museum of Natural History in Florence), the authors of this special issue discuss the role of these museums in building the image and the attractiveness of their local and regional environment, the cross-fertilization of ideas and the integration of a region in global circuits and networks. Museums can play an important role in building up “social capital”, creating networks between different professionals, groups, sectors and segments of society, bridging diverse social backgrounds, lowering coordinating costs for individuals and businesses, and increasing the capacity of firms to reconnect.     

Bigamy: A Male Crime in Medieval Europe?

Crime is often gendered. This article argues that the crime of bigamy was a male crime in the fifteenth‐ and sixteenth‐century Catholic world. Courts prosecuted male bigamists far more often and more harshly than female offenders. However, drawing in particular on records from the fifteenth‐century bishop's court of Troyes, I argue that women also committed bigamy. Judicial and social gender biases identified only male bigamy as fully criminal behaviour.
The reasons for this gender difference lie in the different roles of spouses as prescribed in Christian law, theology and culture. For a man to commit bigamy fundamentally violated his responsibilities as a husband. Female bigamy, by contrast, was to an extent tolerated as a lesser evil. Better a woman have two living husbands, one present and one absent, than no husband at all.     

What Kind of Entrepreneurship Drives Regional Development in European Non-core Regions? A Literature Review on Empirical Entrepreneurship Research

Regional policies across Europe aim at stimulating regional development in non-core regions through fostering entrepreneurship. However, the policies applied in non-core regions and the concepts of entrepreneurship these policies are based on differ. Therefore, the goal of this review is to identify different understandings of entrepreneurship and their role for regional development processes in European non-core regions. To this end, empirical studies investigating entrepreneurship in European non-core regions from 1999 to 2011 were analysed. The results of the analysis are presented along three drivers and outcomes of entrepreneurship identified inductively from the literature: innovation, social capital and institutional change. We made out seven different types of entrepreneurship in European non-core regions. These seven types of entrepreneurship comprise particular mechanisms through which they stimulate regional development. Further research should study the interplay between these different mechanisms of regional development in non-core regions which may induce a more territorial approach to understand entrepreneurship in non-core regions across Europe.     

Does the economy matter? Economic perceptions and the vote in Australia

Does the economy matter for how Australians vote in federal elections? International studies show an association between economic performance and elections, but research on Australia finds that the impact of the economy on voting is modest. What explains this relative absence of economic voting? How do Australians perceive the economy? And how do economic perceptions inform their decisions at the polls? Our results confirm the lack of an association between economic indicators and incumbent vote shares. Analyses of survey data from 1996 to 2013 show that political factors condition perceptions of economic performance, while preferences for – and perceptions of – the government's unified control over economic policy shape the influence of economic perceptions on voter choice. Overall, responsibility attributions are the key to economic voting in Australia.     

Economic Transformation in Russia and China: How Do We Compare Success?

One of Europe's leading international economists compares the economies of Russia and China by tracing the evolution of their transformation from central planning to market-oriented systems. The paper singles out the respective structural and policy constraints and the importance of political decisions in moving ahead with reforms in crucial years when the dangers of reversals have materialized. It analyzes, inter alia, the reasons for present growth in both countries, which is robust in Russia and impressive in China. While macroeconomic performance indicators are commonly used to compare success and work out projections, the author argues that underlying structural and political contexts as well as institutional problems of a different nature in each country provide the key to our understanding of the respective obstacles to sustainable growth.     

Postcrisis recovery in the regions of Europe: Does institutional quality matter?

This paper investigates how institutional quality and its components (quality, impartiality, and control of corruption) are associated with the economic recovery in the aftermath of the global recession (2010–2016). The evidence suggests that the postcrisis dynamism of a region depends on whether its economy is accompanied by a good governance at the local level. The results also show the heterogeneity in the effects of institutional characteristics and other traditional determinants of growth for the high-income club (core) and the low-income club (periphery), respectively. This evidence can provide indications to define ad hoc policies apt to mitigate the recent surge in inequality among EU regions.     

Does a Change in Presidency of the US Really Matter in an Age of Economic Globalization?

Abstract

This article exposes the cracks in the US economy, in politics and in its image in the world. The US has, particularly in the Bush era, strayed away from the values enshrined in the lives and witness of its founders. It has refused to recognize and use creatively its potential in playing a constructive leadership role in the world. In fact many of its actions have contributed to the erosion of global commitments. The focus is on the impact the crisis the US economy has on the world. In such a context, it asks the question as to whether a change in Presidency of the US really matters? The article challenges the churches to address the structural consequences of globalization and to critique neo-liberal corporate capitalism and engage in the search for alternatives. The churches have acted with compassion and charity to eradicate poverty and to serve the people. What is required now is for the churches to put aside their reluctance to speak out boldly, whether they be from the North or the South, and engage in radical actions for transformation.     

How Much Do We Actually Know? A Comparison of the Organization of Preventive Archaeology in Romania and in Europe, 2000–15

This study focuses on the organization of preventive archaeology in Romania and several other European countries over the last fifteen years. It provides data comparing the number and density of archaeological sites in Romania identified as a result of large-scale investment projects. It also discusses some important aspects regarding the financial and human resources involved in preventive archaeological excavations in Romania and other European countries. The paper attempts to outline the steps that need to be taken in Romania to ensure the continuing preservation of archaeology. These are: 1. A proper understanding of the importance of certain sites in comparison to others; 2. An accurate understanding of the importance of Article 9 of the Valletta Convention, which focuses on the concept of ‘public awareness’; 3. Prioritizing archaeological projects with useful results; 4. The creation of accurate digital databases, using GIS platforms. Ultimately, it is argued that we need to excavate, but we need even more to preserve, capitalize, and promote the archaeological patrimony, to facilitate the access of the public to archaeological sites, and to make people understand why it is crucial to protect our monuments.     

The 1913 Ottoman Military Campaign in Eastern Thrace: A Prelude to Genocide?

This article argues that the leadership of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) experimented with methods of mass expulsion for the first time during the Balkan Wars in 1912–1913. The success of these methods of mass violence contributed to their renewed application in World War I. Much has been written about the crimes committed against civilians by Serbian, Bulgarian and Greek armies in this period, but little about the Ottoman operations in Eastern Thrace in 1913. Neither European nor Turkish historiography has examined the issue closely, partly because the Ottoman campaign in Eastern Thrace was very short and of relatively little military significance, and partly because historians interested in the study of violence in the late Ottoman Empire have devoted their attention to the Armenian genocide, which began less than two years after the recapture of Thrace. And yet, it is during this brief period, from July to September 1913, that the Unionist leadership of the Ottoman Empire developed a very specific, new and systematic form of violence that would later be used against other Christian populations, including the Armenians. In this context, the 1913 Ottoman campaign is worth examining closely not just as an important aspect of the Balkan Wars, but also as a prelude to practices that would later be tragically used on a wider scale during World War I and World War II.     

How to Attract Managers and Professionals to Peripheral Regions? Recruitment Strategies in the Weser-Ems Region,Germany

An adequate supply of highly qualified workers is a central prerequisite for the ability of peripheral and economically lagging regions to develop. In order to take advantage of endogenous potential, bottlenecks in human knowledge and know-how must be overcome by means of support from outside. An important element in this is migration. Taking as an example the Weser-Ems region in northwestern Germany, the strategies used by local enterprises to motivate managerial staff to move from other regions are shown and the level of success achieved is described. As is shown, the regional labour market has lost significance for the upper segment in the course of structural changes in the economy, which has led to an increase in the necessity for cross-regional searches in order to fill managerial posts. As enterprises in peripheral locations have poor starting conditions in the cross-regional competition for highly qualified workers, this development demands that more and more enterprises mobilize considerable resources for the recruitment of staff. Although the findings indicate that the potential of workers willing to migrate is greater and more diverse than is often assumed, they also show that certain types of enterprises have great difficulty in overcoming independently the personnel-related disadvantages resulting from the location, and require support through regional structural policy.     

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.     

Why ethnic parties? A new theory of ethnic minority political strategy in Europe

Why do some ethnic minority groups in Europe form ethnic minority parties (EMPs), while others work within established, mainstream parties? I argue that an ethnic minority group's historical background influences its political engagement strategies. I propose that native groups (those that inhabited the territory of the modern‐day state in which they reside prior to that state's establishment), groups with territorial attachment (historical concentration in particular regions of the state) and groups with historical experiences of autonomy are more likely to form successful parties. Groups perceiving themselves as native to their state and that have enjoyed autonomy are more likely to feel entitled to the unique form of representation provided by an EMP. I test my theoretical expectations on an original data set of elections in European states in the period 1990 to 2012, finding that the three historical variables working in conjunction exert a strong positive influence on EMP entry and success.