The Franciscans and the Scottish Wars of Independence: an Irish perspective

The intention of this paper is to examine the role of the Franciscans in the Scottish Wars of Independence. Many of the studies relating to this period have been confined to either the political or ecclesiastical arena. They also choose to treat the individual countries of the British Isles in an unconnected fashion. This paper is intended to redress the balance, using the involvement of the Franciscan friars in Ireland and Scotland to study political events on either side of the Irish Sea. By examining the actions of diverse nationalities belonging to a single order I hope to establish why the Franciscans saw fit to involve themselves in either the nativist or royalist causes and to determine it was purely race that dictated their actions when their countrymen went to war.     

Coordinated Credit Spaces: The Globalization of Chinese Development Finance

This article examines the emergence of Chinese development finance on the global stage and evaluates the extent to which it differs from, complements and/or competes with the Western‐backed development finance institutions. Whereas the new, China‐backed multilaterals are closer to the Western model, especially the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, this analysis finds that China's national development finance is significantly distinct along three parameters — the scale and business model of Chinese finance relative to its Western counterparts, the composition and approach of China's lending portfolio, and the governance of China's development finance institutions. These differences can be seen as complements to the Western‐backed system, given that much of Chinese development finance has flowed into countries and sectors in which Western development finance institutions have ventured to a lesser extent. However, the globalization of Chinese development finance, patterned on the international diffusion of what is coined in this article as the ‘coordinated credit space model’, contrasts with Western development finance, governance and business models, and has triggered a competitive stance from Western actors. Either contestation or convergence are possible trajectories for the future, and the outcome will be determined by whichever can produce conditions akin to the ‘politics of productivity’.     

SHIPPING COSTS,INFORMATION COSTS,AND THE SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL COAGGLOMERATION*

ABSTRACT Direct trade between establishments, coupled with costs of trading goods and information across space, has long been considered a primary determinant of industrial colocation. However, researchers have had difficulty decomposing the effects of interindustry trade into these two cost components. Using new techniques for separately estimating shipping and information costs, this paper provides an empirical framework for identifying the various sources of industrial coagglomeration among U.S. manufacturing industries. My findings suggest that both interindustry shipping costs and information costs influence metropolitan‐level coagglomeration. Additional evidence points to the significant role of direct information costs in determining intraindustry agglomerations.     

At home in preschool care? Childcare policy and the negotiated spaces of educational care

Concerns have been raised across a range of discplinary perspectices about the heightened policy expectations which are being placed on the educational outcomes of preschool services leading to suggestions of over formalisation of the preschool space. In light of these concerns, this paper will explore how new socio-economic expectations around educational care are actually shaping the preschool space. By doing so I will argue that concerns over the formalisation of educational care need to be considered with reference to the different contexts and sectors in which educational care is being provided. In offering a more situated analysis, formalisation processes can be seen as highly contingent, as they are articulated within existing social norms around the care of young children.