BEYOND THE GPN–NEW REGIONALISM DIVIDE IN CHINA: RESTRUCTURING THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY,REMAKING THE WENZHOU MODEL

This article attempts to advance the research on industrial districts and regional development through a study of the restructuring of the clothing industry in Wenzhou Municipality, a regional driver of the Chinese economy. Wenzhou is known for the Wenzhou model of development traditionally centred on family‐owned small businesses embedded in local institutions. The clothing industry is one of the leading industries in Wenzhou, and a cluster with national significance has emerged, where most of the production components can be purchased locally. However, the industry has been scaled up nationally and internationally, with the expansion of sales networks and production facilities across China, and to a lesser extent, abroad. This restructuring has changed the endogenous nature of industrial clusters/districts. The restructuring challenges the orthodox notion of the Wenzhou model and the New Regionalism literature, particularly the orthodox notion of Marshallian industrial districts that overly emphasizes small firms and local assets, and the global production network perspective that highlights coupling with global lead firms in regional development.     

L'expansion occidentale dans le Levant: Les Vénitiens á acre dans la seconde moitié du treiziéme siécle

This case-study is the first attempt to examine a commercial outpost in the Crusader Levant within the context of the commercial and colonial expansion of its mother-city and in direct relation to its particular features. The Venetian quarter in Acre in the second half of the thirteenth century provided the physical setting for the exercise of authority by the state and a solid base for the expansion of its dominion. The Venetian administration there implemented the strict regulation of commerce and shipping enacted in Venice in this period, including several rules stemming from the particular needs of Acre. Various families of settlers from Venice, nobles as well as popolani, can be traced for several generations; the grant of Venetian status to natives of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, Latins oriental Christians, and Jews, enlarged the size of the Venetian population in Acre. The fate of the refugees who escaped from the city in 1291 is the last topic to be examined.     

Anthropology in the world: Limits and unity (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

This editorial anticipates the conference Anthropology in the World by reflecting upon the influence of anthropology, and its limits, arguing that it is only by knowing where these limits are that we can be sure where and how it can best be judged. It is too, a call for unity, suggesting that in seeking to influence the external world, anthropology should unite across its sub‐disciplines, and in doing so a mutually‐beneficial exchange of practice, ideas and methodology will emerge.