Assessing Australia’s options in the context of Brexit: engaging with the UK and the European Union

ABSTRACT

The Brexit vote will fundamentally transform the European Union (EU) and will change how the UK relates to Europe and the rest of the world. What are the implications for Australia at this critical juncture? The UK has been a major player in the Australia–EU relationship, and Australia will now need to recalibrate its approach to both the UK and the EU across a range of policy areas. This article examines the future of Australia–UK and Australia–EU relations in the wake of Brexit, and assesses Australia’s options going forward. The authors advance three considerations. Firstly, Australia’s national interests are best served by adopting a pragmatic rather than nostalgic approach towards future relations with the UK and the EU. Secondly, Australia should avoid pursuing one relationship at the expense of the other and creating a zero-sum dynamic. Finally, Australia’s future strategy must consider broader global developments, such as events within its own region and the US presidency.     

What Makes SMEs more Likely to Collaborate? Analysing the Role of Regional Innovation Policy

The last 20 years have witnessed the diffusion of regional innovation policies supporting networks of innovators. The underlying aim of these policies is to encourage firms, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to undertake collaborations with organizations possessing complementary knowledge. Focusing on a set of SMEs that have participated, over time, in several innovation networks funded by the same regional government, the paper investigates how their relationships have evolved with respect to the following aspects: (i) reiteration of pre-existing relationships as opposed to experimentation with new relationships; (ii) collaboration with organizations possessing complementary rather than similar knowledge and competencies; (iii) creation of local relationships rather than experimentation with extra-local collaborations; (iv) reliance upon intermediaries to connect with other organizations. Our findings reveal that the involvement in these policy-supported networks changed the firms' relational patterns, leading them to collaborate with a wider variety of agents than those with whom they were linked before the policies. Sectoral heterogeneity had a negative effect on the probability of collaborating, while co-localization increased the likelihood of collaborating. Mutual involvement with intermediaries also had a positive effect. However, in the case of firm-to-university relationships only specialized intermediaries were likely to perform a positive role and, therefore, encourage networking.     

Chinese Independent Documentary Films: Alternative Media,Public Spheres and the Emergence of the Citizen Activist

This article argues that contemporary independent documentary filmmaking in China has been used as a tool by Chinese citizens to intervene in the public sphere and to provoke social change. I therefore propose to look at the phenomenon of Chinese video activism under the umbrella of alternative media. In particular, I take into consideration the “rhizomatic” media approach, which focuses on the interaction of alternative media with authority, the market and civil society. The case studies I present consist of several documentary projects completed between 2004 and 2010 that opened up spaces of dialogue between filmmakers and local authority, mass media and civil society. The paper claims that documentary films have an impact on audiences, whose members are consequently motivated to engage in discussion and action. I argue that activist video-making in China is reshaping the identity of urban citizens: through filmmaking, urban citizens claim their right to access information and demonstrate their will to participate and intervene in social issues.     

Prefiguring a future city: urban growth,spatial planning and the economic local context in Catalonia

This study undertook a quantitative analysis of town master plans to define future urban growth. Spatial direction and intensity of urban expansion were analysed in relation to local contexts using land zoning and a comprehensive database of socio-economic indicators at the municipal scale in Catalonia, Spain. Our results illustrate a progressive shift towards discontinuous settlements consolidating urban centres in most accessible rural areas. Contrary to what was hypothesized (and partly observed) in recent decades, settlement expansion will modestly contribute to a balanced urban spatial structure. Future urban development in Catalonia will not follow a polycentric model, fuelling instead the growth of medium and small urban centres. This process may consolidate the incipient divide in rural areas with high accessibility and a dynamic economic base with remote inland areas experiencing land abandonment and depopulation. The use of indicators derived from town master plans in the assessment of (scattered or polycentric) future urbanization in Europe is finally discussed.     

A Byzantine Shipwreck from Cape Stoba,Mljet, Croatia: an interim report

The Cape Stoba shipwreck is located on the seabed off the island of Mljet in Croatia at a depth of 21–28 m. Following initial investigation in 1975, four seasons of excavation have been carried between 2010 and 2014 by the Department for Underwater Archaeology of the Croatian Conservation Institute, joined by the Department of Studi Umanistici of the Università Ca' Foscari of Venice from 2012. The wreck‐site is evidenced by a cargo of nine amphora types dated to the 10th‐11th century AD, produced in the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea area, and glassware of Levantine production. The only direct evidence of the ship itself to date, is one iron anchor.     

Characterization of elemental and firing-dependent properties of Phlegrean ceramics by non-destructive ED-XRF and NMR techniques

A combination of energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF) and 2D proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) relaxometry was employed for the characterization of two groups of similar ceramic fragments from the high-medieval production of the Phlegrean area (Miseno and Cuma, Southern Italy). Both methods are based on the use of non-destructive and portable instruments. This approach allows to correlate complementary microstructural features of ceramics, both dependent and independent of the firing technique.     

Laser ablation depth profiling of U-series and Sr isotopes in human fossils

We have explored laser depth profiling to obtain data sets for U-series as well as Sr analyses. Laser probing with an 81 μm spot size allows for the exploration of low uranium domains of up to 400 μm below the outer surface in tooth enamel. These low U domains will contain Sr isotope compositions of the individual, that are least affected by diagenetic Sr overprints. The small holes drilled for U surveying are not visible to the naked eye. Using larger spot sizes of around 233 μm, laser drilling can be used to obtain reliable U-series isotope data to a depth of approximately 1000 μm in enamel and around 1300 μm in bone. Furthermore, meaningful ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotope data can also be obtained with this spot size. Using our sampling strategy, the overall damage to a human tooth is minute, as demonstrated on a Neanderthal tooth from Moula-Guercy. We expect that laser ablation depth profiling will become routine for gaining insights into the age of human fossils and the migrations of ancient humans.     

Enhanced European Union–Australia security cooperation through crisis management

ABSTRACT

Since January 2003, the European Union (EU) has launched over 30 civilian and military crisis management missions under the Common Security and Defence Policy. These missions have involved the participation of both EU member states and third states. In order to help facilitate the participation of third states in these missions, the EU established the Framework Partnership Agreements on crisis management, setting out the legal framework for third-state participation. In April 2015, Australia became the seventeenth country to sign such an agreement with the EU. This agreement reflects both the common interest and values shared by Australia and the EU and the extent to which EU–Australia relations have evolved and deepened over the years. In addition, the increased engagement and socialisation of Australian military and civilian personnel with individual EU member states through their participation in such operations as the International Security Assistance Force operation in Afghanistan, led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the Combined Maritime Force have further facilitated opportunities for security cooperation at the EU level. Shared concerns and interests on counterterrorism, counter-piracy, instability and capacity-building have also opened up opportunities for increased cooperation between the EU and Australia. This article assesses the significance of the Framework Partnership Agreements on crisis management for EU–Australia relations within the area of security cooperation, and examines future prospects for cooperation.     

Marriage by exception: Marriage dispensations and ecclesiastical policies in nineteenth‐century Rome

A set of documents discovered by chance in the Ecclesiastical Archive in Rome, presenting the preliminary steps that set in motion petitions for marriage dispensations in the mid‐nineteenth century, throws light on the systems of marriage formation among the rural poor. These procedures also illustrate how church laws were understood and employed by ecclesiastical functionaries and by the faithful. For less skilled artisans and unskilled workers, second marriage with the brother or sister of a deceased spouse was customary, and made it possible to renew ties between the original couple's families that would otherwise have dissolved. This required a special dispensation, however, and the procedures required to obtain this illustrate the cultural and political stance of the Catholic Church, and in particular that of the ecclesiastical institutions in Rome in the nineteenth century, which conferred an ambiguous but decisive role on premarital sexual relations, while willingness to make exceptions to the law appears as a means of governance.