Talking about regional resilience: evidence from two formerly rural Spanish regions

ABSTRACT

This research analyses the contrasting socio-economic performances of two neighbouring territories, which, while sharing similar starting points, have, for various reasons, diverged in terms of their dynamics and ultimately reached different economic resilience levels. Regional production structure, socio-economic assets, social capital endowment and leadership strength, together with institutional and governance quality are factors that may underlie their current differences. The results of the research confirm the hypothesis that these factors are indeed the key to their different resilience levels.     

‘The right to immobility’ and the uneven distribution of spatial capital: negotiating youth transitions in northern Sweden

‘Successful adulthoods’ are associated with mobile professionals, higher education and cosmopolitan lifestyles. This paper takes an interest in how this discourse is adopted or altered by young people living far away from big cities. Based on interviews in a traditional woodland community in northern Sweden, the study examines how young people in the second and final years of upper secondary school negotiate their transition from education to work. It draws on the two-dimensional concept of ‘spatial capital’. It sheds light firstly on a range of local possibilities underpinned by ‘position capital’, such as proximity to mining districts as well as to educational institutions. These possibilities compete with ‘situation capital’ in the form of young people’s dispositions towards mobility where they consider alternatives in other cities in Sweden and sometimes – although rarely – abroad. I argue that spatial capital is an indication of young people’s habitus, where the geographical marginality of the study location influences perceptions of the future in divergent and sometimes contradictory ways. The paper also problematizes contemporary society’s privileging of mobility, which should be viewed in relation to youth’s perceived ‘right to immobility’.     

Counterinsurgency Reexamined: Racism,Capitalism, and US Military Doctrine

The US has been engaged in coercive projects of counterinsurgency since the Indian Wars in the 19^th century. Racist constructions of the enemy have been central to this process. Counterinsurgency has called forth new waves of contestation at every juncture, which has in turn shaped the very texture of military doctrine. This article draws on archival research, historical geography, and Marxist theory to trace the dialectics of counterinsurgency and insurgency through a series of turning points in US imperial history from the development of small wars doctrine in the 1930s to renewal of counterinsurgency during hybrid wars in Venezuela and Latin America in the current conjuncture. Through a conjunctural analysis, we argue that racism performs fundamental work in achieving consent to counterinsurgency wars, allowing capitalism to survive challenges to its legitimacy.     

Competition for talent: retaining graduates in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine

Graduates are considered a convenient source of human capital in today’s knowledge-based economy. It is therefore crucial to understand what drives their mobility intentions to retain larger numbers of graduates. This is particularly true for peripheral regions, which need to compete with economic centres that are assumed to be more attractive. This paper adds a euregional perspective to the existing literature on graduate migration by investigating whether or not students intend to stay in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine (EMR) after graduation. It takes into account the role of hard and soft locational factors, social factors as well as individual characteristics in shaping future graduates’ mobility preferences. Using survey data from 2015 from five higher education institutions in the EMR, this paper finds that mobility intentions are determined by students’ perceptions of the quality of life, openness and career opportunities in the euroregion. In addition, distance to the partner and other social ties such as family and friends influence migration intentions.     

The Neo-colonialism of Decolonisation: Katangan Secession and the Bringing of the Cold War to the Congo

The link between the Cold War and decolonisation is tackled by using the uniqueness of the complex Congo crisis and its neo-colonial elements, with a focus on agents and specific policies rather than theories and general themes. The ‘real’ Cold War is essentially defined as that followed by Kennedy, with its priority in the early 1960s, among the Cold War’s many different constituent elements, taken to be the winning of newly independent African nations to the socio-economic values and hoped-for developmental benefits of Western capitalism. The importance of using soft power to defeat the ideology of communism, as opposed to containing the allegedly expansionist Soviet aims in Africa, is highlighted. Clear distinctions are made between the Kennedy administration and those of Eisenhower and Johnson. Interpretations of decolonisation using the Congo’s particular neo-colonial circumstances have been rare, and interpretations of decolonisation in the Congo also require some qualification. In particular the role of the colonial state and its ‘partnership’ with private European enterprises, established under King Leopold, had economic consequences for the Belgian decolonisation process. The importance of the role of financial capital, as opposed to business interests simply represented through trade and industry, is emphasised. The role of the UN and its secretary general is also highlighted but not by using inaccurate perceptions of Hammarskjöld’s neutral Cold War stance. The different positions taken by the Belgians, the British and the Americans, embodying conflict and cooperation in different forms, are analysed at different times with the important consequences of the Belgian refusal to comply with UN Security Council Resolutions highlighted. The need to limit the damage from that and from the neo-colonialism of secession is analysed. Exaggerating the causal consequences of Soviet actions and accusing Lumumba, despite evidence to the contrary, of being a communist or vehicle for Soviet influence was what brought the Cold War to the Congo. The British refusal to do more than decline to support openly the neo-colonialism in Katanga, particularly by supporting action likely to end secession, threatened to damage relations with the US. Such action, which could have led to more military action, would have contributed to the success of US policy in the ‘real’ Cold War but at the expense of those British investors who were the main financial backers of the Conservative party.     

金代诸府政区等第问题新探

学界一般将金代诸府分为京府、总管府和散府三等。研究认为,从行政区划的角度,上述划分混淆了路级行政机构总管府与总管府路治府之间的差别,也掩盖了《金史》等文献中“京府”通常不指诸京路治府的事实。根据入驻上级机构的行政地位,可将金府分为京路治府、总管府路治府和散府(即非总管府路治府)三等。该阶序与以人口因素为主构成的上、中、下等第体系无直接关联,彼此具有独立性。深入认识金代诸府的分等问题,有助于理解元代府路分等的实践逻辑,并揭示元路分等现象所反映金元路制发展的重要转折。     

空间生产视角下我国城市行政区划调整的三元互动逻辑

在空间生产的视角下,行政区划调整不仅包括地域层面上对城市空间的重新划分,而且包括尺度层面上对社会关系和制度结构的系统重塑。将政府、市场与社会的行动和权力、资本、权利的三重逻辑整合起来,可以为分析城市行政区划调整提供一个全新的工具。在实践中,合作与互制是政府（权力）和市场（资本）的互动逻辑,监督与回应是政府（权力）和社会（权利）的互动逻辑,嵌入与互渗是市场（资本）和社会（权利）的互动逻辑。城市行政区划的调整不仅是政府、市场、社会主体相互博弈的结果,而且会不断重塑三类主体自身以及相互关系。     

论清末吸引侨资的政策及其失败的决策因素

清季末年吸引侨资的政策 ,经过逐步探索 ,在引资措施、激励制度、投资环境建设等方面渐露比较健全、规范、注重政策实施步骤等相对科学可行的端倪。但随着引资政策的实行 ,财政本位性对引资政策的反动 ,引资政策缺乏切实可行的优惠办法以及新旧体制的摩擦等深层次的决策性因素 ,制约了吸引侨资政策的深入。这是晚清政府半封建半殖民地本质所决定的。     

关于中国古代高利贷资本的历史作用——读《资本论》第三卷第五编

马克思在《资本论》第三卷中正确估价了高利贷资本的保守性,谴责了高利贷资本对小生产方式的冲击和破坏。中国学术界受这一观点影响,对中国古代高利贷资本的历史作用多加否定。但是从中国古代经济运行及高利贷资本的实际情况看,它对小农再生产及工商业运行既有残酷的一面,也发挥了一定的积极作用,尤其是因为高利贷资本对手工业、商业、矿业等资本性经营放贷的增加,更是促进了封建社会后期商业资本规模的扩大和总量的增加。     

构建和谐社会的社区治理路径

社区和谐是社会和谐的微观基础,构建和谐社会应该从社区治理入手。而社区居民之间普遍的信任、互惠的规范和通过自主组织所建立起来的致密的社会参与网络构成了社区居民合作所依赖的社会资本,这些社会资本既是社区治理的基础,也是实现社区发展和社会和谐的社会资源。因而有必要认清我国社会资本的现状,培育社会资本以有利于和谐社会的实现。