Competition and cooperation among jurisdictions: The case of regional cooperation in science and technology in Europe

This article analyzes the possible conflict between regional cooperation and jurisdiction and the cases in which cooperation is compatible with competition. This analysis is carried out beginning with the concrete case of regional cooperation that has been called the ‘Four Motors for Europe’ established in the field of cooperation in science and technology. The basis for the analysis of cooperation between jurisdictions in science and technology is the same as that for cooperation in the same field between companies. It allows the establishment of when this cooperation can degenerate into collusion or else when the result is a socially efficient organization. The risk of regional cooperation in science and technology is that it degenerates into collusion between the regions that occupy a more favourable technological position at the cost of those that are in a worse situation. The solution in order to avoid this risk would be to guarantee political competition in the same way that through regulations competition in the market is guaranteed.     

Global firms in local information societies: Work and employment issues for Europe

The strategies of large firms have a major influence on the evolution of the global information society because they dominate the markets for information and communication technologies. This paper examines the user rather than the producer role of large firms, and focuses on the surrounding issues relating to evolving patterns of work and employment. Its discussion of these issues and their policy significance reflects the perspective of the EU on what is effectively a global agenda on the future of work in the information society.     

Theoretical economic geography and spatial econometrics: dynamic perspectives

Theoretical economic geography has received significant newimpetus from so-called ‘new economic geography’theory, and this provides the basis of the spatial econometricmodel developed in this paper. The model, which is seen as partof an attempt to bridge the gap that presently exists betweenthis new body of theory and reality, is fitted using 3SLS todata on manufacturing productivity growth data for 178 regionsof the EU covering the periods 1975–81, 1981–89,1989–95. The resulting estimates point to the continuedexistence over time of increasing returns, and thus providessupport for one of the main tenets of new economic geographytheory. The results also highlight urbanization, peripherality,the initial level of technology and across-region spilloversas determinants of regional productivity growth variations,operating via the rate of technical progress and labour efficiencyvariations. There is no evidence that these variables are diminishingin significance systematically over time, leading to the conclusionthat spatial polarization in productivity will persist. Thepaper points to the need for further testing of fundamentalassumptions of the underlying theory, and for developments inthe theory to accommodate interdependence between model parametersand the socio-economic context within which the process is operating.     

Iron Age temperate Europe: Some current research issues

The Iron Age designates the 800 years preceding the Roman conquest of Europe. This period represents the latest social and cultural development of indigenous European societies before the annexation of much of temperate Europe into the Roman Empire and the final phase of cultural change before the beginning of local traditions of written history north of the Alps. Our understanding of the Iron Age has changed substantially over the past 30 years, as a result both of recent discoveries and of new perspectives. Much recent research has focused on specific themes such as changing social structure and patterns of ritual behavior. I attempt here to provide an overview of current understanding and debate on some of these topics in Iron Age archaeology. The subject and its literature are vast, and my treatment is selective. The references will guide the interested reader to the wider literature.     

The politics of US missile defence cooperation with Europe and Russia

Pushed by the realities of domestic politics to proceed with plans to deploy a US missile defense (MD) capability in Europe, the Obama administration has made cooperation on MD a key element in its strategy for engaging both NATO and Russia. While addressing many of the shortcomings of the Bush administration's approach, the current US vision underestimates both the technical and political obstacles ahead. European states and NATO see MD as a lower priority, particularly in the aftermath of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Libya, and are unlikely to commit the resources necessary to making a shared NATO MD architecture a reality. Russia's cautious support for MD cooperation is based on a desire to create a more inclusive model of European security, an idea that has limited support in Washington and the European capitals. By trying to do too much with MD cooperation, the Obama administration risks the whole effort collapsing. Given domestic constraints, the administration cannot pull back from its European MD plans, but should nudge them off centre stage in its conversations on security with both NATO allies and the Russians.     

Discovering Eastern Europe: Perspectives on WAC's future cooperation with Bulgaria and Eastern European countries

En este artículo yo demuestro la relación entre la formación de WAC como una reacción polítical y moral al régimen de aparteid en Sur áfrica y los cambios en Europa después de la caída del Muro de Berlín. Arqueología como una disciplina en su propio derecho no puede continuar escondida tras objectivismo falso. La necesidad para re-evaluar los problemáticos pasados nacionalista de la mayoría de los países europeos crea un imperative para re-analizar los vínculos entre arqueología y los regímenes nazi y comunista. Es más, yo considero las realidades post-comunistas en Bulgaria y las maneres que los arqueóloqos reaccionan a la comercialización del Control de Herencia Cultural. Yo se?alo áreas que son importantes para cooperación entre el WAC y Bulgaria y otros países de Europa Oriental. Lo más importante son los esfuerzos cooperativos entre el WAC y los arqueólogos de los Balcanes para humanizar la disciplina. Durante los 1990s fue obvio que a través de sus “representaciones visuales” la arqueología contribuyó enormemente a mantener las actitutes nacionalistas que promovieron la guerra en los Balcanes.

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Résumé Dans cet article, je considère la relation entre la création du WAC, comme réaction morale et politique, le régime de l'apartheid en Afrique du Sud et les changements en Europe après la chute du mur de Berlin. L'archéologie, en tant que discipline dans son plein droit, ne peut plus se cacher derrière un faux objectivisme. Le besoin de ré-évaluer le passé nationaliste, trouble de la plupart des Etats Européens crée comme impératif le réexamen des liens entre l'archéologie et les régimes Nazi et Communiste. De plus, j'examine les réalités du post-comunisme en Bulgarie et la fa?on dont les archéologues réagissent à la commercalisation de la gestion du Patrimoine Culturel. Je souligne les domaines qui sont importants pour la coopération entre le WAC et la Bulgarie comme d'autres pays d'Europe de l'Est. Le plus important sont les efforts coopératifs entre le WAC et les archéologues des Balkans pour humaniser la discipline. Dans les années 90, il est devenu évident qu'à travers ses représentations visuelles l'archéologie a contribué énormément à maintenir des attitudes nationalistes qui ont favorisé la guerre dans les Balkans.

     

Rural development perspectives in enlarging Europe: The implications of CAP reforms and agricultural transition in accession countries

The purpose of this paper is to put into an appropriate theoretical frame the rural development issues in enlarging Europe and to analyse the rural development perspectives in the European Union (EU) accession countries. Based on comparisons of developments in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and features of the rural areas in incumbent EU member states with the status of the rural sectors in accession countries, implications for the future of CAP are discussed. It is argued that despite coming from different development doctrines, the dominant rural sector—agriculture—in both eastern and western Europe is similarly characterized by dual structure. Thus, emphasis on rural development structural policies currently being promoted by the reforming CAP can be fruitful in both new and incumbent member states.     

Analysing Contemporary Metropolitan Spatial Plans in Europe Through Their Institutional Context,Instrumental Content and Planning Process

This article sets out to propose and apply a qualitative framework for thinking about how to analyse and compare metropolitan spatial plans in a milieu of divergent spatial planning traditions and discretionary planning practices. In doing so, the article reviews and develops an understanding concerning the institutional context, instrumental content and planning processes associated with four contemporary metropolitan spatial plans in Europe, namely those of London, Copenhagen, Paris and Barcelona. Through the results of a multiple case study and a subsequent cross-comparative analysis, the article stresses that contemporary metropolitan spatial plans tend to merge the characteristics associated with project-based and strategy-based spatial plans, thus contrasting with the typical land-use character of municipal plans and the often strategic, growth-oriented pursuit of regional plans in Europe. In this sense, the metropolitan scale is treated less explicitly as a planning scale per se; rather, it tends to emerge as a “concealed” scale between municipal and regional scales and also between local and regional knowledge in planning. Moreover, the analysis suggests that while metropolitan plans seem to converge in terms of their general themes, they cannot be ultimately “typified” in view of ad hoc variations related to their institutional contexts, instrumental contents and planning processes.     

Early farming in Europe 1

Barker, Graeme. Prehistoric Farming in Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985. xviii + 327 pp. including illustrations, bibliography, and site and general indices. $44.50 cloth, $14.95 paper.

Whittle, Alasdair. Neolithic Europe: A Survey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985. xiv + 363 pp. including illustrations, select bibliography, and index. $44.50 cloth, $17.95 paper.     

解决股权分置问题的多维视角

从多维视角和分析途径解决股权分置问题,应使非流通股东与流通股东的持股成本一致。唯此,才能提升股票价值中枢,股市才有可能实现历史性的飞跃,打破坚冰,实现所有权转移多元化改革的市场化运作,促使经济主体在“耦合”中走向协同。     

Regional and transnational spatial planning1: problems today,perspectives for the future

This introductory contribution presents some results of the EURBANET project, dealing with European urban networks in the framework of the INTERREG IIC programme of the North‐western Metropolitan Area (NWMA). This project was conducted between 2000 and 2001 by researchers of Delft University of Technology, the University of Glasgow, the University of Dortmund, the Catholic University of Leuven and the University of Nijmegen. The central objective of the EURBANET project was to explore the role of polynucleated urban regions in the reinforcement of the competitive strength and quality of life in the NWMA, as a contribution to transnational spatial planning in the NWMA. Four polynuclear urban regions are involved: Randstad Holland, the Flemish Diamond, the RheinRuhr Area and Central Scotland (Glasgow‐Edinburgh region). One of the conclusions is that it is necessary to move between scales: from the European Union to national spatial policies (and vice versa), between national policies and regional spatial policies and between regional and urban spatial policies. At each scale, specific demands for spatial planning policies in polynuclear urban regions are becoming increasingly relevant. This is a challenge for spatial policies and policy domains like infrastructure policy, transport policy, housing policy, economic and environmental policy. We present an analysis of how polycentricity has become central to recent discussions on European and north‐west European spatial and economic planning. We launch a spatial network approach to integrate spatial policies. These wide perspectives contrast heavily with the current less satisfactory practice of spatial planning on the level of urban networks and transnational governance.     

Reexamining transport poverty,job access,and gender issues in Central and Eastern Europe

Tirana, the Balkan capital examined in this study, displays patterns of gendered job search behavior and access, which are unique within contemporary Europe and even within post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe. Here, it is a rather spatially constricted job search range rather than transport poverty that prevents women living in first-ring suburbs from attaining satisfactory employment. Female commutes are extraordinarily short and most often on foot. While the city now has nearly one million inhabitants and a high car ownership rate, and is located in Europe, the employment and mobility choices and behaviors of its female residents resemble those in developing rather than developed countries, and in small rather than large cities. The reasons underpinning this situation have more to do with socio-cultural gender barriers and less with transport poverty or labor market weaknesses. This finding might apply to other Balkan capitals or cities outside Europe, which have recently experienced large waves of internal migration and where both existing residents and newcomers have not yet adjusted to ‘big city’ life.     

No and after: options for Europe

The French and Dutch ‘no’ votes in referendums on the European Union Constitutional Treaty have thrown the EU into turmoil. The messages from both referendums are that public dissatisfaction with European integration is widespread and there is a disjuncture between the views of citizens and those of elites. The original purpose of the process that produced the Constitutional Treaty was to bring the EU closer to its citizens. However, the text that was negotiated was an unwieldy document intended to satisfy diverse requirements but difficult to explain concisely. After the completion of negotiations some governments, for reasons of political expediency, took decisions to hold referendums on the treaty, but the future of The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe that took three years to complete is now uncertain. Furthermore, member states are divided about whether to press ahead with ratification after the two recent ‘no’ votes. What is the range of alternatives to member states if they wish to salvage the treaty or component parts? Finding a way through this current situation is the task the British government faces as it takes on the EU presidency from 1 July 2005.     

Drink Driving: Offenders and Penalties in Metropolitan Hobart

Conviction rates for drink driving charges vary markedly between suburbs in metropolitan Hobart. Particularly high rates occur in public housing and inner city areas. Low rates typify the more affluent suburbs. The pattern may reflect a complex interplay between police implementation of random breath testing, constraints imposed by the physical structure of the city, and varying attitudes towards the law. Court penalties imposed on drink drivers also vary markedly between suburbs. Recidivism probably provides much of an explanation; the role of other factors cannot yet be assessed.     

Direct detection of Southeast Asian smelting sites by ASTER remote sensing imagery: technical issues and future perspectives

Satellite-based multi-spectral remote sensing data were used in an attempt to identify control signatures for known prehistoric copper smelting sites in Thailand. It had been hoped that these characteristic signals could then be used as a reference for the detection of unknown Southeast Asian metal production sites, with the overall intention of strengthening the evidence base for early technological interactions with China and India. Regrettably, control signatures were not identified from the ASTER data due to issues of scale, chemistry, and vegetation, but we are able to offer reasons for this setback that might lead other scholars to develop successful applications of this methodology in more amenable (non-tropical) environments. Combined with ground truthing, intensive survey, excavation, and the technological analysis of metallurgical assemblages, this potentially useful and cost effective approach could lead to improved data density for the metal technology transmission discussions currently spanning Eurasia.