EMPLOYMENT CHANGE DURING RECESSION: THE EXPERIENCE OF FOREST PRODUCT MANUFACTURING PLANTS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1981–1985

This paper, on the basis of primary data obtained at the level of the individual plant, examines the nature and extent of employment change in the forest product manufacturing industries of British Columbia between 1981 and 1985 -that is, during and following extremely severe recessionary conditions. Conceptually, the discussion emphasizes the employment implications of enterprise strategies in recessions; empirically, selected characteristics of employment change are related to plant-level rationalizations, investment and technological changes, and market performance and plans. The overall size of the workforce employed by forest product firms in 1981 was significantly lower in 1985. Females were more vunerable to loss of employment than males. In occupational terms, however, male-dominated administrative workers experienced the greatest proportionate losses. The production, marketing and regional context of job loss varied. Trends in general towards value-added activities and geographically more diverse markets occurred largely within the coastal region. Ce rapport examine, sur la base des premiéres données obtenues au niveau d'uneusine, la nature et I'extension des modifications de I'emploi dans les industries de transformation deproduits forestiers en Colombie-Britan-nique entre 1981 et 1985, c'est-à-dire pendant et juste après une période de récession extrêmement sévère. La discussion fait ressortir essentiellement les implications sur le marché de I'emploi des stratégies des entreprises en période de récession. De manière empirique, les caractéristiques de modifications de I'emploi sont liées directement aux raisons attachées au niveau de I'usine proprement dite, aux changements apparus dans les investissements et la technologie, de même qu'aux performances et aux plans à terme du marché. Dans son ensemble, la taille de la main d'oeuvre employée par les entreprises traitant les produits forestiers en 1981 a considérablement diminue en 1985. Les femrnes ont été plus touchées que les hommes. Cependant, en termes de catégorie d'emplois, les employés administratifs, en rnajorité masculins, ont sub; la plus grande proportion de perte d'emploi. De plus, le marché et le contexte régional de perte d'emploi se sont modifiés. D'une manière générale on a noté des tendances vers des activités plus valorisantes et des marchés géographiquement plus diversifiés au sein de la région côtière.     

The regional consequences of a dualistic industrial structure: the case of Australia

This article is a preliminary attempt to consider the spatial consequences of business organisation segmentation in the Australian economy. The first section outlines a framework that can be employed in an analysis of business organisation segmentation. The second section applies this framework in the context of the Australian economy. This section is in three parts. First, it is shown that conventional sectoral data can be used to approximate business organisation segmentation. Second, the labour market consequences of this empirical exercise are documented. Finally, the spatial consequences of the exercise are shown by way of a series of maps.     

China's oil diplomacy in Africa

Within the next five years, Chinese trade with Africa is predicted to reach $100 billion per year. Much of this springs from China's growing expansion into Africa's oil markets. It is argued that Chinese oil diplomacy in Africa has two main goals: in the short-term to secure oil supplies to help feed growing domestic demand back in China; and in the long-term, to position China as a global player in the international oil market. Yet at the same time, this oil safari is being accompanied by an explicit stance that emphasizes state sovereignty and 'non-interference' in domestic affairs and is wholly disinterested in transparency or human rights. Consequently, Beijing has increasingly been accused of turning a blind eye to autocracy and corruption. China is also threatening to undercut efforts by the African Union and its western partners to make government and business more accountable. While China is providing investment where little was previously forthcoming, concerns about Beijing's engagement with Africa's oil industries need to be resolved, not least by African leaders themselves.     

Imperial Improvement

Cyrus Veeser . A World Safe for Capitalism: Dollar Diplomacy and America's Rise to Global Power . New York : Columbia University Press , 2002 . 190 pp. Photos. $ .     

The lenses of nationhood: an optical model of identity

ABSTRACT. This paper tries to make the case for a model of political identity based on an optical metaphor, which is especially applicable to nations. Human vision can be separated into sentient object, lenses and inbuilt mental ideas. This corresponds well to identity processes in which ‘light’ from a bounded territorial referent is refracted through various lenses (ideological, material, psychological) to focus in certain ways on particular symbolic resources like genealogy, history, culture or political institutions. Distinguishing between referent, lenses and resources helps us more precisely situate many hitherto disparate problems of national identity. These include the ‘ethnic‐civic’ dilemma, the mystery of national identity before nationalism, and the relationship between local and national, and individual and collective, identities. The model also clarifies the place of universalist ideology, which currently fits poorly within the leading culturalist and materialist theories of nationalism.