Innovative Capacity,Educational Attainment and Economic Development in the European Union: Causal Relations and Geographical Variations

This article sets out to examine the innovative capacity of the European Union (EU) countries and regions vis-à-vis educational attainment and economic development, as it is frequently stated that innovation and the availability of human capital, specifically education, are the key drivers of economic growth. In addition to the aggregate level, the countries and NUTS-2 regions of the EU, and traditional indicators of the studied dimensions, were used as observation units. Granger causality tests identified education as a driving force behind innovative capacity and economic development, whereas the relationship between innovative capacity and economic development is bidirectional. The study results also confirm the existence of innovation paradoxes in form of rising research and development expenditures but modest rate of gross domestic product growth. The implications of the results concern the recognition of spatial generalizations and national variations, identification and creation of development strategies and the horizontal and vertical collaborations between the public and private sectors.     

Variations in the adoption and willingness to use e-services in three differentiated urban areas

This study analyses electronic service (e-service) adoption in regards to socio-spatial dynamics. Conceptually the paper focuses on the interrelations of both private and public e-services and on the influence that demographic variables have on e-service adoption. To empirically engage in this discussion the study uses segmented residential areas representing different socio-spatial characteristics; namely ‘city center’, ‘high-income suburban’ area, and ‘lower-income suburban’ area. With data from an extensive postal survey and standard statistical methods for analyzing survey data the paper shows the extent of existing differentiation in e-service use between genders and according to age, education and income, as well as spatial differences between the studied residential areas. The study results, thus, clearly indicate that the e-service use has still statistically differentiated user profiles, particularly if it is considered in a spatial setting. The paper concludes by addressing directions for the future research.     

Debating federal Europe in the British Parliament,c. 1940–49

Federalism, or the fear of it, worked as a catalyst in the British pre-referendum debate on Brexit in June 2016. In this paper, we focus on the pre-European integration context and ask what kind of an alternative federalism was seen to afford in British politics during and after the Second World War. We limit our discussion to parliamentary debates, which have only rarely been used as primary sources for studying European integration history. The British Parliament was one of the key political arenas for debates on foreign policy, not just in terms of informing the party lines but also guiding the public discussion. In the early part of the 1940s, the British federalist movement was able to generate political debate on the issue and gain the attention of many leading politicians. We argue that the approach to the use of the concept was politically charged but remained open to various context-based interpretations, which did not eventually lead to any concrete proposals. During the latter part of the 1940s, the majority of British MPs were open to different ways of creating unity in Europe. The emphasis on national sovereignty, however, continued. As a result ‘federalism’, attached to structures for unity, gave way to more pragmatic political solutions.     

Civilizing the “Uncivilized”: The Fight against Tuberculosis in Northern Norway at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century

Abstract

The anti-tuberculosis campaign conducted in Finnmark, north Norway, between 1914 and the Second World War was informed by shifting scientific, social and ethnic notions pertaining to the disease itself, the region of Finnmark, and its population. This article focuses on how the Sámi were represented by the medical establishment, how that image of the Sámi influenced the form and the content of the fight against the disease, and how the anti-tuberculosis campaign was connected to the state minority policy of the period. The understanding of tuberculosis and the ways of combating it underwent several changes during the period, particularly during the economic crisis of the 1920s and 1930s. The initial emphasis on the role of culture, more specifically ethnicity and language, was gradually replaced by a more medicalized focus in the fight against the disease. As the notion of tuberculosis as a disease of civilization was replaced by an understanding of the disease as an infectious one, on a par with other infectious diseases, the earlier strategy of civilizing the “uncivilized” Sámi in order to protect them from tuberculosis was replaced by a more epidemiological approach in tuberculosis prevention.     

Effecting Equality: Norwegian Health Policy in Finnmark, 1945–1970s

Abstract

At the heart of “the Nordic model of welfare” is a strong will for national integration and social equality between citizens and regions. It is commonly held that that “homogeneity ethnic” is one explanatory factor behind the Nordic model of welfare. On the contrary, we claim that it is the political will to treat the population as homogeneous that influenced the creation of the model, not any factual ethnic homogeneity (which is, after all, a historical fiction, also in the Nordic context). Thus, the pursuit of integration and the strive for regional equality have challenged local autonomy and cultural diversity while at the same time underpinned arguments for a regionalization of politics and, to some extent, for ethnic particularization. Drawn between a strong state and local authority, universalism and particularization, welfare and health policies have reshaped the relationship between center and peripheries and between the majority and ethnic minorities.

The integration of the county of Finnmark into the national system of institutionalized welfare in Norway after World War II constitutes a good case to investigate not only the will, but also the ability, for national integration and equalization along the dimensions of centre–periphery and majority–minority relations, not only because of the county's position furthest to the north, but also because it held the largest minority populations. This article examines Norwegian policies to establish and effect equality between Finnmark and other regions in the field of health care facilities from 1945 until the 1970s, and the attempts to establish equal access to health services between the Sámi minority and the Norwegian majority population in Finnmark. It sheds light upon how the immanent conflict between the ideals of a national, universal welfare policy and particular measures in favor of the Sámi was conceived in the period. (The authors expected multi-culturality to be clearly visible in the sources. It was, but only with regard to one minority group, the Sámi. The Kvens were not discussed by the policy-makers in the period.) Furthermore, it has been argued that in the shaping and implementation of Norwegian health policies in the first years after World War II, primacy was given to expert knowledge. A particular point of interest in this article is how this primacy manifested itself in the choices of political strategies of universalism and particularism within the field of health policy in this particular geographical setting.     

Cross-border regional innovation systems: conceptual backgrounds,empirical evidence and policy implications

The concept of cross-border regional innovation systems (CBRIS) surfaced in the literature on economic geography through discourses that highlighted the need for broadening innovation systems to cross-border contexts. Since these early discussions, the theoretical backgrounds of CBRIS have been elaborated through notions of geographical scale, proximity and related variety in a range of conceptual papers proposing CBRIS as a comprehensive framework for analysing regional cross-border integration. However, the empirical literature on CBRIS has failed to keep up with the advances in conceptualization. This paper discusses the reasons behind this mismatch, which means that the concept still rests upon and draws policy suggestions based on a thin evidence base. Directions for further research are pointed out by underlining the need for holistic empirical validation of the concept together with the need of understanding how suggested policy measures based on CBRIS reasoning have been implemented in border regions, and their effectiveness in promoting cross-border integration.     

A northern Neolithic? Clay work,cultivation and cultural transformations in the boreal zone of north‐eastern Europe,c.5300–3000 bc

The adoption of pottery in eastern Fennoscandia in the later sixth millennium BC has traditionally been understood in straightforward technological and practical terms, and as a development that did not mark other significant changes in local culture or ways of life. Recent research in the region, combined with new ideas about Neolithization in Eurasia more generally, nonetheless suggests that the adoption of pottery was associated with more fundamental cultural and environmental transformations than has previously been thought. This article brings together diverse old and new data from north‐eastern Europe and discusses the character and dynamics of cultural and human‐induced environmental change following the adoption of pottery. The aim is to provide a scenario of long‐term cultural changes and, in particular, to consider the significance and broader implications of the very practices of clay use and cultivation, as well as their links to wider cultural and environmental phenomena.