The Cutting Edge of Accumulation: Neoliberal Risk Mitigation,the Baku‐Tbilisi‐Ceyhan Pipeline and its Impact

Abstract: Adopting a historical materialist position, this article looks at new methods deployed to expand processes of accumulation and the impact that this has at different scales. Focusing upon the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline (traversing Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey), the article pays particular attention to the technocratic tools of “social neoliberalism” and corporate social responsibility, which variously incorporate environmental and social impact assessments, community investment programmes and voluntary codes of conduct. While such approaches seek to relegitimise the efforts of capital and its assistants and mitigate their risks, the assessment below details how these approaches actually assist in facilitating an increase in risk for many people. The article begins by looking at the accumulation drive pushing BTC and then provides an account of how new approaches to pipeline governance have both emerged and been incorporated into the project. The article then details what it is that these approaches have actually facilitated at four scales—the local, the national, the regional and the supra‐regional.     

Interorganizational Collaboration Networks in Economic Development Policy: An Exponential Random Graph Model Analysis*

Regional economic development competition can be inefficient and destructive because decisions by one governmental unit can impose both externalities on its neighbors. Collaborative networks of multiple stakeholders within and across jurisdictions are an increasingly crucial component of regional economic development. In this article, we focus on the emergence of voluntary and self‐organizing network relationships among local governments to address economic development concerns. The motivations and decisions of local actors play a critical role in shaping and implementing regional collaboration. On a micro level, the collaboration choices are shaped by three primary factors: the transaction costs reflected in the configuration of relationships in which an actor is embedded; the organizational similarities (homophily); and the resource dependencies that shape the local actors' preferences for forming relationships with other specific actors. We utilize an exponential random graph model (ERGM) to test hypotheses regarding the most prominent observed patterns of network relationships within and across different organizational sectors. The results demonstrate that both reciprocity and social clustering structures are preferred by both government and nongovernment organizations. These results suggest that interorganizational collaboration for economic development requires more than simple exchange relationships. Rather, network actors may be better served by participating in a densely clustered network that is capable of maintaining credible commitments to collective solutions.     

‘Broad but not deep’: regional food hubs and rural development in the United States

Abstract

As organizations that aggregate, market, and distribute locally and regionally sourced food within wholesale, retail, and institutional markets, regional food hubs (RFHs) are increasingly promoted in the United States as rural development tools. Connections between RFHs and rural development, however, remain mostly untested and unclear. Motivated by prolonged declines in rural, agricultural communities and limited investigation to date, this paper adopts the capability approach to comprehensively test for the first time the rural development rhetoric surrounding RFHs. In-depth interviews in a rural, poor setting contribute empirical, noneconomic evidence to assess if, how, how much, and for whom RFHs advance rural opportunities and improve upon highly localized food systems. Though not to the purported degree, RFHs facilitate rural development, and do so in previously unexplored though substantial ways. Contrary to what proponents might anticipate, the study simultaneously highlights negative outcomes and areas that – albeit key to rural development narratives – remain unchanged. Grounding assumptions, highlighting alternative spaces of impact, and uncovering barriers with a novel evaluative approach, this paper draws on community voices to fill gaps between theory and reality and offer insights for those hoping to harness the transformative capacities of food.     

SMALLHOLDERS,ORGANIC FARMERS,AND AGRICULTURAL POLICY

An increasing number of consumers find it important that food is produced locally and in an environmentally friendly way. This development is beneficial for small‐scale and organic farmers. It might also give them new opportunities to influence policy‐making. Agriculture is however a policy sector where conventional and large‐scale farming interests have had a strong position for a long time. This paper examines the possibilities for Scandinavian smallholders' and organic farmers' organizations to exert influence on agricultural policy. In Sweden, the main focus of investigation, the smallholders are marginalized. The organic farmers on the other hand have been successful and during the 1990s they managed to establish themselves in the policy network.     

Thomas Graham Brown (1882–1965): Behind the Scenes at the Cardiff Institute of Physiology

Thomas Graham Brown undertook seminal experiments on the neural control of locomotion between 1910 and 1915. Although elected to the Royal Society in 1927, his locomotion research was largely ignored until the 1960s when it was championed and extended by the distinguished neuroscientist, Anders Lundberg. Puzzlingly, Graham Brown's published research stopped in the 1920s and he became renowned as a mountaineer. In this article, we review his life and multifaceted career, including his active neurological service in WWI. We outline events behind the scenes during his tenure at Cardiff's Institute of Physiology in Wales, UK, including an interview with his technician, Terrence J. Surman, who worked in this institute for over half a century.     

Absence/presence and the ontological politics of heritage: the case of Barrack 57

19 July 2009. A barn burns down in a small Dutch town. Afterwards, this invisible and insignificant ‘barn’ became widely known as ‘Barrack 57’. The destruction triggered attention and led to the barn’s association with a Nazi Second World War transit camp and with Anne Frank. Its material destruction made this barn/barrack both present and absent in various networks. We use the case of Barrack 57 to study the interplay between presence/absence and non-existence of objects in these networks, an exercise which connects to and contributes to the development of constructivist perspectives on object formation in heritage studies. Our analysis of presence/absence and non-existence therefore is based on different concepts developed in actor network theory and Niklas Luhmann’s theory of social systems. Of particular importance is Luhmann’s distinction between first- and second-order observation. We argue that heritage objects themselves are the result of different enactments of (non) human properties in various relational configurations. With this view, a new task for critical heritage scholars emerges. Understanding the dynamics of presence/absence and non-existence of heritage objects in different networks deepens insight into the broader issues of the formation of heritage objects and their delineating technologies and the policies of normalisation and naturalisation.     

国外创新网络研究述评与区域共生创新战略

创新网络是企业创新在地理空间和战略关系层面上的综合体现。在经济地理视角下,本文重点从企业层面的联盟创新网络,产业层面的集群创新网络,以及区域层面的共生创新网络加以具体评述与分析。在企业层面,强调企业在网络当中的核心地位,以及如何通过企业战略联盟构建创新网络;在产业层面,强调产业集群要素对创新网络影响,更倾向刻画创新网络是一种以产业地理空间为边界的整体性创新网络;在区域层面,跨越企业所处的产业边界,基于生态共生思想提出区域共生创新网络的新范式。最后,提出创新网络未来的研究应重点关注企业、产业与区域三个层面的协同演化,突破传统区域创新网络的空间特征和地理格局,探讨如何构架一个具有层次性、协同性和互动开放性的区域生态共生创新网络。     

城市混居地段外来人口社会隔离的空间测度——以广州客村为例

本研究选取广州客村代表典型的城市混居地段,创新性地从空间维度测度本地人与外来人群体的社会隔离程度,包括其社交对象的地域分布差异及空间活动轨迹的差异。基于社会学二模网络理论,建立空间共场性的概念,测度两类人群的社会隔离程度。研究发现:客村外来人群体的社交对象具有鲜明的迁出地指向特征;本地人与外来人两类群体的空间活动轨迹呈现显著分异,体现为使用公共服务设施与公共开敞空间的区隔;通过两类群体之间及各自内部的共场度测度,发现外来人群体过于离散的空间活动轨迹不利于其获取社会网络的支持。     

1995-2010年中国省际人口迁移态势与空间格局演变——基于社会网络分析的视角

采用第五次人口普查、2005年人口抽样调查和第六次人口普查数据,基于社会网络分析的视角,研究了省级尺度下中国人口迁移态势与空间格局演变特征。结果显示:(1)1995-2010年间,中国人口迁移规模迅速增大,省际间人口迁移规模差异明显;上海、浙江人口迁入率显著上升,河南、安徽人口迁出率显著上升。(2)北京、上海、安徽、四川等13省是我国人口迁移网络的核心节点,人口迁移网络表现出中心性、收敛性和地区非均衡性特点。(3)京津地区、长三角地区、广东是我国主要人口辐合流场,安徽、四川、河南、湖南等中部省份是我国主要人口辐散流场。研究表明,不同地区的人口迁移有显著的空间异质性,各地应根据自身人口迁移趋势及在全国人口迁移网络中角色,科学制定区域人口政策与经济社会发展规划。     

1989—2010年武汉城市圈县域通达性的空间演化及对称性

以武汉城市圈为例,基于县域尺度,计量揭示了武汉城市圈道路网通达性的空间演化规律:县域通达性演化保持时间惯性,空间分布整体遵循良好的指数律,空间极化程度保持连续,通达性极值的县域分布具有空间惰性;县域通达性基本遵循距离衰减律,呈中心-外围的环状分异,局部出现一定变形,具有强空间集聚性,形成明显的等级圈层结构。县域通达性的这种空间变化受其自然环境"刻画"明显,呈现"反自然梯度"格局,也与其社会经济发展水平密切关联,但不同指标下的社会经济"牵引"强度存在差异,总体上县域通达性与自然-人文地理系统保持空间共轭协同,遵循一定的空间对称性:县域通达性分布遵循中心地原理,与城乡节点体系的靶形分布一致;通达性空间供给与人口和经济需求保持密切耦合,与地形地貌分布具有宏观上的对应性和一致性,空间呈现协同共轭的">"型结构。