Tourism and cross-border regional development: insights in European contexts

This paper aims to structurally analyse the role of tourism in regional development processes in European cross-border regions with different historical development paths. Departing from an institutional perspective, the research is based on comparison of the position of tourism in region-building processes in the newly developing German–Czech cross-border region and the more ‘mature’ German–Belgian borderlands. Results indicate that the development of local cross-border tourism projects is no guarantee for positive destination-wide regional development impacts. In some cases, these projects may even reinforce asymmetrical socio-economic development directions of neighbouring borderlands. Rather, the socio-spatially equitable distribution of tourism benefits in cross-border contexts depends on several process-based aspects. These include the presence of ‘thick’ (cross-border) institutional arrangements, multi-scalar representation of tourism stakeholders in decision-making processes and a transversal position of tourism in regional development strategies. However, both with cross-border institutional ‘under-mobilization’ (Germany–Czech Republic) and with institutional ‘over-mobilization’ (Germany–Belgium), the informal network position of institutional brokers proved key for safeguarding the integrative character of tourism in the inevitably complex cross-border region-building process.     

Constitutional change: an explanation

This paper first distinguishes the explicit changes that have been made in the text of the Italian constitution from others that have affected how constitutional balances work (e.g. new electoral laws), before considering both together. The turning point in both cases was 1989 and the transition from the first to the second Italian political party system. Down to that time the first system that originated in the Cold War fractures in Italian politics remained in force with only marginal and incremental changes. After 1989, however, both Italy's highly centralized structure and its system of proportional representation were called into question, resulting in the constitutional reform of 2001 that increased the powers of the regions and the electoral law reforms (which were not changes to the constitution). In both cases the consequences of these changes have proved to be contradictory, which is why reform of the Senate is now being contemplated to make the project for increasing the powers of regional and local government more coherent, as well as the form of government and the electoral laws in ways that will produce the majorities needed to make governments more cohesive and stable.     

Local autonomies and economic development in Italy's incomplete transition

Since the 1990s Italy's autonomous local governing bodies have experienced important changes in their powers and functions in ways that have been shaped by national and international developments. The two decades of Italy's ‘transition’ have seen structural changes in the system that enabled the country in the second half of the twentieth century to take a place at the centre of the world economic system. But the evidence of the last two decades indicates that the changes that have taken place do not constitute a transition, but reveal instead a country that in terms of its politics and the economy is living an extremely diversified and complex phase of its history. This essay explores these processes at the level of the provinces and local government, showing how their capacity to contribute, locally and nationally, to growth through increasing territorial competiveness has been hampered by uncertainties resulting from the reforms that have been introduced and by growing financial restrictions.     

东西部区域协调发展与构建和谐社会调查分析

调查数据显示,我国区域发展政策、战略实施所产生的效应是明显的,它培育了经济发展的重点区域,促进了欠发达地区的发展。区域发展增速差距趋于缩小,和谐社会建设取得了不小的成绩,但也存在不少影响社会和谐的矛盾和问题,如何将社会资源在空间上进行有效的配置,合理组织东西部区域协调发展,是构建和谐社会的重大战略任务。     

边境区位、边境区经济合作的理论与实践--以辽宁省-朝鲜边境地区经济合作为例

欧洲和北美的实践表明,边境地区经济合作具有推动经济全球化和区域经济一体化的作用,同时,经济全球化和区域经济一体化又促进了边境地区经济合作的发展。本文从边境区位的理论分析入手,探讨了边境区位再创造问题,并分析边境区位再创造与边境区经济合作的内在联系。最后,对辽宁省和朝鲜之间边境区经济合作做了实证研究。     

Economic effects of recent experiences of federalism: Analysis of the regionalization process in Spain

Setting limits on government action is critical to economic development. Some forms of government organization, such as market-preserving federalism, seem effective to protect property rights in the long term with good results for economic efficiency. Spain endowed its regions with “Statutes of Autonomy” in the 1980s thus moving from a centralized to a decentralized form of government. It renewed and expanded some of the statutes in the 2000s. This article investigates whether these two waves of regionalization, which had their own characteristics in each region, had led to positive effects on economic performance. Using a novel autonomous region/country-matched balanced sample for the period 1950–2016, we apply the synthetic control method and compare the economic growth trajectories of Spanish regions with their synthetic control groups not affected by the regionalization process. We show that the first wave of “Statutes of Autonomy” had a positive but temporary economic growth impact. By contrast, the second wave of regionalization of the 2000s is associated with a negative growth impact.     

协调民族关系促进民族地区和谐发展

在新的历史时期,党的民族工作面临着许多新的情况和问题。要切实解决这些问题,必须认真贯彻落实党的各项民族政策,积极协调民族关系,努力化解各种矛盾,促进民族地区“三个文明”建设的高度发展,真正实现各民族之间的共同繁荣与团结和睦,促进民族地区的和谐发展,这将最终影响到我国构建社会主义和谐社会的总体进程。     

江苏史前考古的发现和研究

近50年来,江苏境内发现了许多旧石器时代和新石器时代的文化遗址,对这些史前文化遗址按文化区域阐析文化性质、文化时代和年代,并提出江苏史前考古今后需要探索的问题。     

中美网络银行发展环境比较研究

中国和美国在网络银行发展过程中,存在很多的差异,这些差异主要表现在经济环境、银行的竞争环境、网络银行系统和网络银行潜在用户这四个主要方面。通过对这四个方面的中美比较研究,我们得到中国网络银行的发展差距还是很大的结论。针对我国网络银行发展中存在的不足,本文提出了几点解决办法。     

关于陕西发展观光农业的研究

观光农业以其较好的经济效益和社会效益,成为我国各地竞相发展的朝阳产业。本文结合陕西实际和观光农业发展的一般规律,并借鉴国内外的发展经验,提出了陕西发展观光农业应遵循的基本原则:统一规划,合理布局;突出特色和文化内涵;因地制宜;可持续发展;循序渐进。