Australia’s relationship with the European Union: from conflict to cooperation

ABSTRACT

After decades of tension, Australia and the European Union (EU) now have a substantive relationship, interacting and cooperating with each other within a wide range of areas. The relationship is currently at a critical turning point. The Framework Agreement has, for the first time, elevated the relationship to a treaty level. It strengthens Australia–EU actions and interests on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues. There is considerable potential for closer cooperation and more extensive pooling of the resources and capacities of both interlocutors on a range of policies and within the multilateral context. This article provides an assessment of the relationship, the current state of play and key challenges facing the relationship as the EU and Australia forge stronger ties through the conclusion of a Framework Agreement and the commencement of discussions on a Free Trade Agreement at the same time as the UK’s exit negotiations from the EU. It demonstrates that, although there are challenges facing the relationship, there are also significant opportunities to further develop and strengthen ties.     

Preliminary Investigations of Two Shipwreck Sites in Cahuita National Park,Costa Rica

Recent underwater archaeological investigations in Costa Rica focused on two sites as potential candidates for Danish West Indies slave ships wrecked in 1710. Historical research suggests a landmark wrecking event associated with a large infusion of Africans, many who remained in Central America. This paper is the first interim report of two fieldwork seasons combining field methods, research, and preliminary interpretation of the findings with voyage history. Context within the broader theme of slave‐ship archaeology and Costa Rica Caribbean landscape is addressed. An integral part of the initiative is community memory, stewardship, and education.     

Early Imports in the Late Bronze Age of South‐Western Iberia: The Bronze Ornaments of the Hypogea at Monte da Ramada 1 (Southern Portugal)

The composition and manufacture of Late Bronze Age metallic artefacts from funerary and domestic contexts of southern inland Portugal was studied. The prevailing trend comprises binary bronzes (10.3 ± 2.1 wt% Sn) showing deformed equiaxial grains, annealing twins and slip bands. The alloy composition is somewhat independent of artefact type, while the manufacture seems to rely on artefact function and the skilfulness of the metallurgist. The technological characteristics were linked with archaeological and chronological features, disclosing some artefacts of uncommon composition, such as low‐tin bronze bracelets (4.3–7.1 wt% Sn) associated with ornaments of exotic materials (glass and Egyptian faience beads, and also ostrich egg shell beads). The assemblage testifies to an archaic trade with the Mediterranean region before the establishment of the first Phoenician colonies on the southern Iberian coast.     

中日制成品产业内贸易实证分析

本文通过对1987~2006年的统计数据进行实证分析发现:中日产业内贸易水平20年来总体处于上升趋势;中日产业内贸易主要集中在制成品领域内,其中,机械和运输设备产业内贸易所占比重最高;垂直型产业内贸易是中日产业内贸易的主要形式;中日两国的产业内贸易受多种因素共同影响,其中,中国人均收入水平不断提高以及日本对华直接投资规模的扩大是重要的影响因素。     

'Proactive fast-tracking' diffusion of supermarkets in developing countries: implications for market institutions and trade

Supermarkets have spread extremely rapidly in developing countriesafter the ‘take-off’ in the early to mid-1990s.Former analyses of supermarket diffusion have not adequatelyexplained the sudden burst and then exponential diffusion ofsupermarkets in the late 1990s and early 2000s. We argue thatrather than taking demand and market institutional and organizationalconditions as ‘exogenous’, as former analyses havetended to do, modern food retailers instead have treated localconditions as substantially ‘endogenous’. To enabletheir rapid growth, supermarkets undertake ‘proactivefast-tracking strategies’ to alter the ‘enablingconditions’ of entry and growth. Beside the retail investmentsthat have been extensively treated in recent literature, theseproactive strategies focus on improving the ‘enablingconditions’ via (i) procurement system modernization and(ii) local supply chain development. One important strategyretailers have used to facilitate (i) and (ii) is to form symbioticrelationships with modern wholesale, logistics and processingfirms. An example we address is ‘follow sourcing’,where a transnational retailer encourages transnational logisticsand wholesale firms with whom the retailer is working in homemarkets, to locate to the developing country. This is a spurto globalization of services in support of retail. Follow-sourcinghas been treated for example in the automobile manufacturessector (follow-sourcing from spare parts manufacturers)—butnot in the food sector. A second important strategy is thatof multi-network-sourcing, in which supermarkets source fromnational, regional and global networks. We analyze that strategyhere, adding to the literature which to date has touched onthis theme only scantly, and for the first time identify typicalpaths, present preliminary evidence (from Central America andIndonesia) concerning this multi-sourcing-network strategy anddiscuss trade implications. One of these is the move to primacyof South–South trade in supermarket sourcing—a newdimension of globalization. By introducing this link of retailertransformation and trade into the literature, we hope to spura new line of research that is timely in light of the trade,development and globalization debates in developing countries.     

Oligopoly and the structural paradox of retail TNCs: an assessment of Carrefour and Wal-Mart in Japan

This research focuses on the case of international chains facingsignificant competition from domestic chains in advanced industrializedeconomies. In this article, I question the assumptions behindthe perceived, simultaneous process of globalization and retailconcentration by taking the cases of the world's two largestretailers, Wal-Mart and Carrefour, entering the Japanese marketin the early 2000s. Both retail TNCs have so far failed to meetinitial high expectations for their performance. I argue thatthere is a structural paradox inherent among retail TNCs, whichis expressed as contradictory forces between standardizationand localization. Empirical evidence is provided on how theseforces complicate retail TNCs’ front-end (store-front)and back-end (distribution) operations in the case of Japan.Emphasis is placed on the role of oligopoly in the retail sectorand how its absence affects retail TNCs’ operation inforeign markets.     

Nabataean or not? The ancient necropolis of Dumat. First stage: a reassessment of al‐Dayel's excavations

Two reports on excavations carried out in 1985–1986 by archaeologist Khaled Abdulaziz al‐Dayel and published in the journal Atlal (1988, 1986) have revealed the existence of ‘Hellenistic tombs’ in the Dūmat al‐Jandal oasis (ancient Adummatu/Dumat/Dumata) in northern Saudi Arabia. Although attributed more precisely to the Nabataeans by Khalil al‐Muaikel (1994), these tombs nevertheless appear not to have interested specialists of this historical period in the least. Moreover, a re‐examination of the architectural data and of the grave‐goods indicates the difficulty of establishing a link between the unearthed remains and a purely ‘Nabataean’ cultural sphere (i.e. of the Petra type). This study therefore attempts to reassess published archaeological data, formulate questions on the Nabataean presence in the oasis, and also to demonstrate the relations connecting Dumat to the great Levantine and Mesopotamian cultural spheres between the first century BC and the second century AD.     

Common good and private justice: letters of marque and the utilitas publica in fourteenth-century Marseilles

Political debate, even in medieval Europe, has often centred upon the relationship between individual liberties and the greater good. Fourteenth-century town councils had to think about protecting private property while ensuring the greater public good. The council registers of late medieval Marseilles offer the opportunity for insight into this public–private dichotomy through an examination of the council's decisions to suspend temporarily the execution of letters of marque. In fourteenth-century Marseilles, letters of marque helped citizens gain restitution from foreign debtors through a judicial authorisation to seize foreign assets. The suspensions, justified in the language of the utilitas publica, were declared for two reasons: to protect the integrity of the town's market by ensuring an ample supply of labourers and victuals, and to protect the town's honourable reputation when dignitaries visited. Study of these suspensions illustrates an overarching philosophy in urban government – that the public good must be safeguarded against private advantage.     

Livestock Trade during the Early Roman Period: First Clues from the Trading Post of Empúries (Catalonia)

Written sources show that livestock were traded during the Roman period. However, there is scarce information available to characterise this trade because of its invisibility in the archaeological record. In our paper, we shed light on this issue by applying both osteometric and genetic analyses on cattle remains from the Roman trading post of Empúries (Catalonia) to determine how livestock contributed to Roman trade and, thus, to the economy of the Empire. Analysis of 26 cattle metacarpals from Empúries has allowed us to document the presence of different cattle morphotypes in this city during its Early Roman occupation. The morphological and genetic differences seen in Empúries cattle can be explained through trade of different cattle varieties, more appropriate for milk production and/or traction than the local stock. Once arrived at the port of Empúries, these imported cattle would have then been distributed to surrounding villas. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.