Network Governance and the 2020 Summit

The idea that governance has replaced government, and that networks have replaced hierarchy as the dominant mode of governance, have become mainstream views in the public policy literature. In this article, we consider a key initiative of the Rudd government in Australia, the 2020 Summit, which, at first sight, seems like an example of network governance in action. Having considered the operation and outcomes of the Summit, however, we argue that it more accurately illustrates how governments, perhaps particularly in Westminster systems, attempt to preserve hierarchy, through a process of metagovernance.     

A Swiss anomaly? A relational account of national boundary‐making

ABSTRACT. This article reviews how major theorists of nationalism – from Ernest Renan to Benedict Anderson – have tried to come to grips with the puzzle that Swiss nationalism and the Swiss state present in view of the monoethnic states that surround it. I will argue that this puzzle disappears when assuming a political sociology perspective that highlights the networks of political alliances underlying nationalist movements and the power structure of recently formed nation‐states. Studying an ‘outlier’ case such as Switzerland helps us to gain insight into the general processes and mechanisms at work in the rise of nationalism and the nation‐state.     

A tale of two scenes: civic capital and retaining musical talent in Toronto and Halifax

Un conte de deux scènes: le capital civique et le maintien des talents musicaux à Toronto et à Halifax Même si depuis plusieurs décennies Toronto trône au sommet de l’industrie canadienne de la musique, des entretiens récents font apparaître le poids de la restructuration de cette industrie sur les décisions des musiciens quant à l’endroit où vivre et travailler. En cette époque de production indépendante de musique contemporaine, certaines régions urbaines de taille réduite comme Halifax en Nouvelle‐Écosse recèlent un potentiel pour attirer des musiciens. La principale question abordée dans cet article est de savoir dans quelle mesure les dynamiques économique et sociale des régions urbaines ont une incidence sur les choix de localisation des musiciens. Ces derniers sont bien conscients des possibilités économiques qu’une ville de la taille de Toronto peut leur offrir, mais les artisans de la scène musicale la dépeignent comme un milieu de travail extrêmement compétitif et ardu. En revanche, du côté d’Halifax, les répondants évoquent la solidarité et le soutien apportés par la collectivité dans l’accueil des nouveaux arrivants, l’appui à l’organisation de spectacles, et la promotion de la créativité. Dans un tel contexte contemporain, les musiciens indépendants déploient de nouvelles stratégies de valorisation de leur métier et les collectivités qui sont dotées d’un capital civique supérieur sont plus en mesure d’attirer et de retenir les personnes talentueuses.     

Collaboration and Partnership Development for Sustainable Tourism

Abstract

For many years, the need to improve sustainability in the tourism industry has been widely recognized. Many destinations have attempted to move toward sustainability, but unfortunately, have been hindered in their attempts by a lack of collaboration among stakeholders that is necessary to support their sustainability agendas. Collaboration, specifically through multi-stakeholder partnerships, has been seen as an effective way to support initiatives in tourism development. Through the lens of Gray's collaboration theory and Selin and Chavez's tourism partnership model, the success of collaboration and partnerships in tourism development on the island of Gili Trawangan, Indonesia, will be examined. Through a multi-method approach consisting of an environmental audit and semi-structured interviews, this paper explores the implementation of a multi-stakeholder partnership. The partnership that has been developed, called the Gili Ecotrust, provides an example of successful collaboration, leading to the implementation of innovative sustainability initiatives on the island.     

The looting of the Iraq Museum: Thoughts on archaeology in a time of crisis

Abstract

The looting of the Iraq Museum has been widely proclaimed to be the worst cultural destruction since World War II; some have compared it to the decimation wrought by the Mongol invasion of Baghdad. Others have contended that the damage was wildly exaggerated. Any attempt at understanding the events surrounding the looting and destruction of the museum's collections must examine both what happened and how it was represented to a worldwide audience through the news media. I compare these events with the toppling of a statue of Saddam Hussein in Fardus Square and the burning of major libraries in Baghdad and suggest that their perceived significances for Western audiences stem in large measure from the extent and tone of press reporting. The long-standing coverage by major mainstream news media of Mesopotamian archaeology as foundational to Western civilization may be a prime reason why otherwise pro-(US) government reporting also included some critical coverage about the loss of the museum collections. Such circumstances challenge archaeologists to use media interest to convey more nuanced and ethically responsible views of archaeology to broader publics.     

Residential versus civic use in the Pueblo II-III period: A case study from the Harlan Great Kiva site in the Goodman Point area of southwestern Colorado

Abstract

Sites recorded during survey that were occupied or used for long periods of time often present problems in determining when particular activities may have occurred, and what types of activities correspond to which periods of use. The Harlan Great Kiva site, in southwestern Colorado, provides an opportunity to examine sequential residential and civic use of one ancestral Pueblo period site over a period of 250 to 300 years. Pottery recovered during test excavations suggests that it may be possible to recognize changing types of use from surface remains recorded during survey. This analysis may prove useful for survey-level studies of long-lived sites with recognizable civic architecture at the surface.     

Julia Gillard's Citizens' Assembly Proposal for Australia: A Deliberative Democratic Analysis

Many governments have embraced the rhetoric of inclusive citizen engagement. Greater public involvement promises to strengthen democratic institutions and improve the quality of policy decisions and services. How do these aspirations sit alongside the reality of Australian federal politics? This article investigates the responses of elite policy actors to the Gillard government's proposal to conduct a citizens’ assembly on climate change in 2010. Drawing on over 200 media articles, the authors identify a series of procedural, institutional and political objections raised by elite commentators against the citizens’ assembly proposal. Many of these objections have little basis in the experience of deliberative designs in practice. Some, however, reflect the challenge of realising inclusive, deliberative governance in highly politicised contexts.

很多政府对公民广泛参与的说辞爱不释手。更大程度上的公共参与有助于强化民主体制,改善政策及服务的质量。这种渴望与澳大利亚联邦政治的现实相处如何呢？本文考察了政策精英对杰拉德政府倡议在2010年召开的气候变化公民大会的反应。本文浏览了200多篇媒体文章,发现了这些人从程序、体制、政治等等方面反对公民大会的倡议。不少反对意见在精心设计的实践经验中并没多少基础。但有些却反映了高度政治化的语境中正在实现的广泛参与所构成的挑战。     

Going places; challenging directions for the future of heritage studies

This article is a comment on: Tubridge et al., 2012. Decennial reflections on a ‘geography of heritage’ (2000). International Journal of Heritage Studies, DOI: 10.1080/13527258.2012.695038     

Heritage,identity and community engagement at Dunluce Castle,Northern Ireland

As Northern Ireland transitions out of conflict, increased attention is being paid to the role heritage can play in building peace across society and developing a more sustainable future. Recent archaeological investigations at Dunluce Castle have uncovered elements of the site’s Gaelic past and the remains of an early seventeenth-century town built immediately prior to the Crown-sponsored Plantation of Ulster. The project included a dynamic programme of community engagement and outreach that created opportunities to work as a group in the embodied act of recovering the physical past. This formed a space in which to challenge aspects of the region’s contested past and facilitated the renegotiation of accepted local histories and existing identity constructs.     

Are there differences in social capital related to corporate regional engagement in dynamic and less dynamic non-core regions?

ABSTRACT

This article explores corporate regional engagement and related social capital in non-core regions. Corporate regional engagement comprises various activities of firms to influence regional contexts, which are challenging in non-core regions (e.g. on account of their organizational or institutional thinness). Corporate regional engagement engenders positive effects for regional development when firms collaborate among themselves (bonding social capital) and with other actors (bridging social capital) to improve regional endowments. We assume that dynamic regions have at their disposal higher levels of inclusive social capital in terms of collaboration networks for regional concerns and trust, while less dynamic regions have more exclusive and fragmented social capital. Consequently, less dynamic regions in particular appear to have potential to develop in a more social sense by activating the endogenous potential of region-wide collaboration. Those assumptions are tested based on a survey with Chief Executive Officers from the manufacturing industry from three dynamic and three less dynamic Swiss regions. The findings show that in dynamic regions, more firms are members of regional cross-industry associations, favouring regional collaboration; in less dynamic regions, meanwhile, more firms are members of industry-specific associations and service clubs, where benefits seem to be higher for individual firms than for the regional business environment.