The missing link: the need for comprehensive engagement in regions of refugee origin

Asylum policies in Britain and in the countries of its EU partners are failing to cope with the demands made upon them. With migration pressures mounting and opportunities for legal immigration to many EU states restricted, larger numbers of potential migrants are turning to alternative means of entry and access, namely irregular migration and asylum channels. The responses of states to these challenges have been to adopt more restrictive policies and practices that have considerably changed the balance between immigration control and refugee protection. While states have the right to control entry and enforce their borders, the restrictive measures that have come to dominate policy-making and recent immigration enforcement initiatives in Britain and its European partners do not sufficiently discriminate between asylum seekers and other kinds of migrants, thereby failing to safeguard the right of refugees to seek protection. Current British proposals to move asylum seekers to 'safe areas' in regions of origin fail to understand the burdens, pressures and priorities of countries in the regions, fail to ensure effective protection for those in need, and are unlikely to deliver the UK policy objective of substantially reducing the numbers of illegal entries to Britain. What is needed is an approach that reduces the number of individuals seeking protection in Europe while maintaining the European tradition of providing asylum to those in genuine need. The 'missing link' in asylum policy that would respond both to the concerns of states and to the protection needs of refugees is more comprehensive engagement in regions of refugee origin. It is in this way that western asylum countries, including the UK, may best address the challenge of providing international protection to victims of persecution and respond to their own concerns about asylum.     

Policy Support for the Diffusion of Innovation among SMEs: An Evaluation Study in the Spanish Region of Madrid

Innovation is increasingly supported by public authority action focused on regions and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In this line, the region of Madrid launched a programme to create Technology Diffusion Centres (TDCs) in order to promote innovation culture among the SMEs of the region. This article analyses the nature of innovation activities in these firms, and the achievements of the TDCs through their work with them. Different types of TDCs are compared according to the approach they applied and the agent to which they were linked. Ten indicators were used to examine the degree of embeddedness and performance of the different TDCs among the SMEs. Results show that a sectoral approach in conjunction with links to business association is the best option for the TDCs in urban and industrial areas. However, in the peripheral or less favourable areas, such as rural ones, a territorial approach in conjunction with links to local entities is the most effective alternative.     

Faunal exploitation and agricultural transitions in the South American agricultural limit

The southern Mendoza Province of Argentina constitutes the southernmost limit of Andean agriculture in South America. Archaeofaunal assemblages from sites in this region show a pattern of changing taxonomic diversity concomitant with the first appearance of domesticated plants. This pattern is characterised by an increase in prey diversity before the appearance of the first cultigens and a decrease in diversity after their arrival. Furthermore, the animal taxa exploited when domesticated plants entered the diet indicate a focus on big game. The pattern observed in southern Mendoza is in accord with ethnographic and archaeological models generated by faunal research worldwide. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Regional Impact of Mining Activity During Colonial Times in the Highlands of Southern Bolivia

The Lípez Altiplano is an arid and cold highland desert, where population density was always low and there was no urbanization. Pre-Hispanic, the regional distribution of the population was related to the environment: the majority was concentrated where quinoa agriculture was possible. Following the Spanish conquest, however, mining activity allowed an unprecedented demographic development in those highlands. In this study, I analyze the consequences of mining activities on demography and socio-economic activities in Lípez, before, during and after the apogee of its most important colonial mine, San Antonio del Nuevo Mundo.     

Late Prehistoric High-Altitude Hunter-Gatherer Residential Occupations in the Argentine Southern Andes

Test excavations were conducted at Risco de los Indios (RDLI), a site at 2480 masl with 29 residential features and a well-developed midden containing abundant floral, faunal, lithic, and ceramic materials. Analyses indicate the site was intensively used ca. 500 cal b.p. as a residential base for groups focused on hunting guanaco, supplemented by locally-available wild flora and fauna as well as domestic beans transported from the lowlands. Ceramic and obsidian artifacts indicate these groups were highly mobile and in contact with groups on the eastern and western margins of the Andes. These patterns compare favorably to those seen in the region’s other high altitude villages. It appears that the development of these patterns began with population increase and economic intensification in the lowlands ca. 2000 cal b.p. and that the move to slightly lower elevation settings like RDLI may have been conditioned by the onset of the Little Ice Age.     

A simple methodology for recording petroglyphs using low-cost digital image correlation photogrammetry and consumer-grade digital cameras

In the present study a simple method is described for obtaining 3D digital models of petroglyphs of different sizes and characteristics and its usefulness, in the study of this cultural heritage, is evaluated. For this research we used low-cost photogrammetric software and consumer-grade digital cameras, without any other surveying techniques. In order to test this methodology, three field research studies were carried out in Galicia (Spain).     

Heterogeneity, Power, and Political Economy: Some Current Research Issues in the Archaeology of Old World Complex Societies

Recent research on Old World chiefdoms and states has largely retreated from the general comparative explanatory paradigm of the 1970s and has focused instead on more historically oriented analyses of culture-specific developmental trajectories. Both theoretical and empirical work tend to emphasize a heterogeneous, conflict-based model of complex society and political economy. This analytical framework has been quite successful in documenting variation and historically determined patterning in the organization of urbanism, craft production, specialization, and exchange. I present an overview of this research and argue that we now need to reintegrate culturally specific analyses within a modified comparative/generalizing perspective on complexity.