Foreign Hypermarket Retailers in China: Spatial Penetration,Local Embeddedness,and Structural Paradox

As the world economy shifts towards services, transnational corporations (TNCs) in the service sector have accelerated their expansion in emerging economies. This paper examines the development and embeddedness of foreign hypermarket retailers in China. It also analyzes the spatial penetration patterns of retail TNCs, the impacts of home and host economies on their local embeddedness, and how they resolve the structural paradox between enforcing standardization and conducting localization. The expansion of retail TNCs has been influenced by the gradual liberalization policies of the Chinese government. Spatially, they expanded in two directions: from the eastern costal region to the central and western hinterland, and along China's urban hierarchy from larger cities to smaller cities. While home economies greatly influenced their initial strategies, foreign hypermarket retailers are constantly adjusting to better embed in the Chinese market and to more effectively resolve the structural paradox.     

Sisterhood and Seine‐Nets: Engendering Development and Conservation in Ghana's Marine Fishery

As processors and marketers of fish, women fishtraders in the Fanti town of Cape Coast, Ghana have become powerful financers and owners of canoes, nets, and other fishing equipment. Since the 1960s, when motors were first introduced to Ghana's artisanal canoe fleet, two interrelated processes have occurred in Cape Coast. First, Ghana's fisheries have become increasingly exploited and—in the case of some species—overfished. Second, the social relations of production in the artisanal sector have shifted from being socially embedded to being more market‐based and impersonal. I argue that two recent Women in Development (WID) projects in particular have contributed to the breakdown of fishtraders’ traditional economic networks and livelihood strategies: (a) loan schemes that target women's associations, and (b) the 1985 Intestate Succession Law, which reconfigured inheritance rights. These WID projects, based on western notions of gender and the household, have created disharmony and mistrust among Cape Coast's fishtraders rather than promoting their “development.” The breakdown of fishtraders’ labor and marketing organizations has resulted in increasingly desperate strategies to get fish, increased degradation of Ghana's marine environment, and uncertainty for the future of the coastal economy.     

AGRICULTURAL EXPANSION IN NORTHERN ALBERTA

ABSTRACT. Since the early 1980s some 40,000 acres of forested land have been cleared and placed under cultivation by Mennonite farmers near the small town of La Crete in northern Alberta's Peace River district. This incipient agriculture has been accompanied by dramatic increases in road building and home construction and by the establishment of churches and schools. The principal force behind the acquisition of land has been a desire of families to have homes in rural areas where they can enjoy lifestyles based on traditional Mennonite values. Because most new farmers cannot earn a living in the district from agriculture alone, they must rely on the wood industries to supplement their incomes. Demand is building for the province to open still more land, but disagreements between the government and the Mennonite community about the most appropriate location for developing new farms has put further expansion on hold until the conflict can be resolved.     

TAIWANESE FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT AND TRADE WITH THAILAND

Thailand has one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and an important factor contributing to this phenomenal growth is foreign direct investment (FDI). Taiwan's investment in Thailand, led by small and medium sized companies in labour intensive and relatively low technology industries, has increased dramatically since 1986. While Western multinational companies have been interested in using FDI to expand their markets in the host country, Taiwanese FDI — in a pattern similar to Japanese FDI of the 1970s — has been taking place in selected developing countries to lower production costs and export manufactured products to third country markets. Taiwan's exports to Thailand have also shown a marked increase since the Taiwanese government allowed large scale FDI in 1986. Although small at the global scale, Taiwanese investment in Thailand has contributed to an increasingly integrated East Asian economy.     

Fighting Over Forest: Toward a Shared Analysis of Livelihood Conflicts and Conflict Management in Ghana

Conflicts undermine forest-based livelihoods for the rural poor. Conflict management is key to preventing such conflicts. This article analyzes actor perceptions of forest- and tree-related conflicts and conflict management in Ghana's high forest zone. It also assesses a phased methodology that promotes shared problem definition and ownership of recommendations on conflict resolution strategies through the presentation and discussion of findings from document analysis, surveys, interviews, and focus-group discussions at a workshop with forest professionals held in Kumasi, Ghana. The study found that conflicts are inherent in forest-based livelihoods due to policy and legislative failures and institutional deficiencies, perceived goal incompatibility, opportunities for interfering with the attainment of one another's goals, and environmental scarcity. Ongoing forest governance reforms in Ghana should consider the stepwise conflict management model developed by the workshop participants involved in this study, but expand it to include the views of other stakeholder groups.     

Spillover effect offsets the conservation effort in the Amazon

Diverse conservation efforts have been expanding around the globe, even under the stress of increasing agricultural production. A striking example is the supply-chain agreements put upon the Amazon forest which had reduced deforestation by 80% from the early 2000s (27,772 km²) to 2015 (6207 km²). However, evaluation of these conservation efforts usually focused on the impacts within the Amazon biome only, while the effects that spill over to other areas (e.g., displacement of environmental pressure from one area to another) were rarely considered. Ignoring spillover effects may lead to biased or even wrong conclusions about the effectiveness of these conservation efforts because the hidden cost outside the target area of conservation may offset the achievement within it. It is thus important to assess the spillover effects of these supply-chain agreements. In this study, we used the two supply-chain agreements (i.e., Soy Moratorium and zero-deforestation beef agreement) implemented in the Amazon biome as examples and evaluated their spillover effects to the Cerrado. To achieve a holistic evaluation of the spillover effects, we adopted the telecoupling framework in our analysis. The application of the telecoupling framework includes the interactions between distant systems and extends the analytical boundaries beyond the signatory areas, which fill the gap of previous studies. Our results indicate that the supply-chain agreements have significantly reduced deforestation by half compared to projections within the sending system (i.e., Pará State in the Amazon, which exports soybeans and other agricultural products), but at the cost of increasing deforestation in the spillover system (i.e., a 6.6 time increase in Tocantins State of the Cerrado, where deforestation was affected by interactions between the Amazon and other places). Our study emphasizes that spillover effects should be considered in the evaluation and planning of conservation efforts, for which the telecoupling framework works as a useful tool to do that systematically.     

Industry Clusters and Sydney's ITT Sector: northern Sydney as ‘Australia's Silicon Valley’?

This paper examines the claim that the North Ryde–North Sydney arc is Australia's ‘Silicon Valley’, seeking firstly to identify the empirical validities behind the claim, and secondly to ask how the documented patterns might be explained. The paper evidences the fact that this area indeed provides the pre-eminent site for Australia's information technology and telecommunications (ITT) sector. However, examination of this industry suggests that its expansion in Sydney has been motivated primarily by the increasing centrality of advanced producer services within the high-order business sector. It is Sydney's attributes for multinational business, as opposed to the propulsive dynamics of local clustering per se, which appears to explain the spatial concentration of these activities. Thus, it is the urbanisation economies of Sydney more than the localisation economies of the ITT sector which account for the growth of this sector in the city. Nevertheless, localisation economies are sporadically significant, suggesting that Sydney's ITT sector is to a certain extent a hybrid product of the two types of economies.     

The application of GIS in the lands sector of a developing country: Challenges facing land administrators in Ghana

The Government of Ghana is about to take steps under its Land Administration Project to initiate the adoption of geographical information systems (GIS) in the administration of land. This paper identifies some of the challenges for Ghana's leading lands agency, the Lands Commission Secretariat, and highlights problems such as the paucity of reliable data sets and lack of standards. One of the major planning issues in Accra is that of building encroachments, for which no digital information is currently available. The paper reports on a pilot study to record encroachments on public land and demonstrates the type of inconsistencies that are apparent between the planning and cadastral data sets that do exist. The paper emphasizes that appropriate applications of GIS in Ghana's land sector are those that consider the political, social and institutional contexts within which GIS is to be operationalized.     

Repercussions of institutional governance changes on communication practices in the Afar National Regional State,Ethiopia

Formal and informal institutions guide and shape communities and communication practices worldwide. Colonization, modernization and political transformation processes changed and questioned the role and relevance of informal institutions and strengthened the position of formal institutions. This paper looks at institutional governance transitions and the increasing presence of formal as opposed to informal clan based practices in the pastoralist lowlands of the Afar Region, Ethiopia, by analysing its impact on communication practices. Afar is governed by numerous multi‐scale institutions; a complex network of governmental and traditional, formal and informal bodies at different scales. The region witnessed the devaluation of indigenous and traditional customs, which altered how and with whom pastoralists and agro‐pastoralists communicate. The paper's case study shows that although residents now report their concerns to formal institutional representatives, traditional institutions are still functional. This change allows females to take a more active role in reporting concerns and communicating with authority figures. However, spatial disadvantages are present in this vast and sparsely populated region as those based further away from government representatives are disadvantaged. The relevance for a clear understanding of communication methods on the ground is stressed, in particular for implementing and disseminating programs and policies in this aid‐dependent area.     

The Asian financial crisis,women's work and forced migration

The effects of the deepening financial crisis in Malaysia, Thailand and South Korea, led by the collapse of financial and currency markets, have spread beyond domestic boundaries to other Asian economies. Financial instability, devaluation and inflation are warning signals for other Asian countries in the process of repairing damage to their economies. The mobility of female labour, due to eviction and expulsion (forced migration), is related to forces of the new market mechanism in the era of the globalizing world. Two processes of forced migration are highlighted: between countries; and between urban and rural areas. Such processes have led to increasing mobility and to the eviction of immigrant labour and the female labour force, which has affected the local economy, type of work and gender relations. Thailand is examined as a case study, with supplementary data from other affected countries. There is a strong tendency for women especially to be priced out of the economy and forced to return either to their native villages within the host country or to their home countries. The type and pattern of migration and change of occupation helps in the understanding of the power of globalization, the dynamics of the crisis and its impact on women workers.     

The Best of Times and the Worst of Times: Structural Adjustment Programs and Uneven Development in Africa: The Case Of Ghana

Since 1983, Ghana has been undergoing World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) sponsored Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs). The implementation of the SAPs, it is claimed, has arrested Ghana's economy from complete collapse, resulted in consistent growth in GDP averaging 6% over the past decade, reduced inflation levels, created budget surplus, and increased export earnings. Compared to the 1970s, these are the best of times indeed. But while these SAPs-derived improvements in the national economy have been recorded at the macro level, the benefits at the micro level are a matter of considerable debate. This study revisits the issue of socioeconomic and spatial disparities that have characterized Ghana since colonial times, emphasizing the period from 1983 when Ghana's SAPs began. It examines current patterns of socioeconomic disparities with emphasis on the distribution of, and access to, health, education, basic services, and the like. The study focuses on urban-rural as well as interregional disparities in the country.     

The Best of Times and the Worst of Times: Structural Adjustment Programs and Uneven Development in Africa: The Case Of Ghana

Since 1983, Ghana has been undergoing World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) sponsored Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs). The implementation of the SAPs, it is claimed, has arrested Ghana's economy from complete collapse, resulted in consistent growth in GDP averaging 6% over the past decade, reduced inflation levels, created budget surplus, and increased export earnings. Compared to the 1970s, these are the best of times indeed. But while these SAPs‐derived improvements in the national economy have been recorded at the macro level, the benefits at the micro level are a matter of considerable debate. This study revisits the issue of socioeconomic and spatial disparities that have characterized Ghana since colonial times, emphasizing the period from 1983 when Ghana's SAPs began. It examines current patterns of socioeconomic disparities with emphasis on the distribution of, and access to, health, education, basic services, and the like. The study focuses on urban‐rural as well as interregional disparities in the country.     

Fundamental causes and spatial heterogeneity of deforestation in Legal Amazon

This study explores the main direct and underlying causes of deforestation in Brazil's Legal Amazon region by considering spatial differences. The computation of localized parameters is based on geographically weighted regression (GWR). The novelty of this paper lies in its incorporation of economic, rather than Euclidean, distances into the GWR. Economic distances are measured by travel time, sourced from Google Inc. A global approach revealed several important factors that affect deforestation, including: rural population, GDP (suggesting a U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve), forest stock, cattle ranching, timber value, and road networks (both official and unofficial). Local analysis uncovered patterns not seen under global models, especially in the state of Pará. Most notably, crop cultivation was found to accelerate deforestation in southeastern Pará and northeastern Mato Grosso, while in some regions (especially in the northeastern corner of Pará), the area covered by crop plantations was negatively associated with deforestation. For Pará, rural credit constraints, larger territories designated as sustainable use areas and indigenous lands, and higher levels of precipitation inhibit deforestation. Further, rural population has a very heterogeneous impact on deforestation across Legal Amazon: it is not a significant factor of deforestation in northern Pará and Amapá, but it has a relatively strong effect in the western parts of Mato Grosso and Rondônia. Also, official and illegal roads create significantly more pressure on forests in remote regions compared to developed areas. Finally, the use of economic distances, as opposed to Euclidean distances, leads to notably different GWR results.     

Spatial Integration,Adjustment, and Structural Transformation in Sub‐Saharan Africa: Some Linkage Pattern Changes in Ghana

In 1983, Ghana embarked on a program of structural adjustment under the auspices of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, to resuscitate the economy and to foster development. This paper utilizes the Lagos Plan of Action, a comprehensive, continent‐wide effort and African‐led policy strategy for the economic development of the African continent, to examine the contribution of adjustment to the development of an integrated economy in Ghana. Adjustment is examined as a form of structural transformation, as evidenced by the emergent intranational (intra‐ and inter‐sectoral) and international linkages in the formal wood processing industry, a key sector with tremendous potential for such linkages. Intranationally, this study shows that, as in the pre‐adjustment years, inter‐sectoral linkages, although important, were not dynamic enough to play a significantly galvanizing role in the nation's economic development. However, intra‐sectorally, a dramatic expansion in lumber exports led to an unprecedented constriction in the traditional forward linkage between sawmills and downstream processors. This forced the latter to depend on the informal sector for inputs. Internationally, Ghanaian firms operated as subcontractors of convenience for firms overseas (particularly in Europe) via an expanded forward linkage, reflecting a new “colonial relationship” under the program.     

Benefiting from the regional problem: The politics of 60 years of regional development

The New Zealand government approach to regional development and the economy more broadly has oscillated from the 1970s economic growth and investment focus to 1980s neoliberal neglect, followed by the more recent rediscovery of the regions' importance in national economies, all with tenuous outcomes. This paper explores the changing scope of regional development initiatives by successive New Zealand governments over the last 60 years to show a pattern of opportunism and neglect that suggests regional development is more aligned to electoral priorities than regional success.     

THE VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL EXPANSIONS OF CHINA'S CITY SYSTEM

Most studies of the size, growth, and distribution of cities have been based on Western economies and have identified economic factors such as scale and agglomeration economies and level of economic development as major determinants of urban growth. It is unclear whether these generalizations are applicable in socialist economies. In this paper, I argue that institutional factors have played key roles in shaping China's city system, which is characterized by declining population concentration across cities and by tremendous vertical (population growth of cities) and horizontal (addition of new cities) expansions. The empirical analysis focuses on describing the size distribution of cities, estimating a multivariate model predicting the population growth of cities, and performing a logistic regression analysis of new and existing cities. The findings underscore the effects of urban and regional development policies, socialist institutions, changes in the urban administrative system, and state and local government interests, and suggest that they as a whole are more important than economic factors in explaining the attributes and changes of China's city system. [Key words: urban growth, city system, institutional factors, China.]     

Water Flows Toward Power: Socioecological Degradation of Lake Urmia,Iran

Water is an invaluable resource, and equitable access to it is a fundamental human right. Disenfranchised groups often lose access to water resources because their interests are not well represented by decision makers. Excluding these groups from resource management policy often results in myopic decisions that contribute to further ecosystem damage. We describe the ecological degradation of Lake Urmia in Iran, which has recently experienced increased salinity and declining water quantity. The lake is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and Ramsar site, and supports unique biodiversity in the region. The lake's decline is driven by the destruction of Zagros forests and the government's water policies, which diverted water to more politically connected agricultural land users, increasing social inequity and prompting more deforestation. The most straightforward restoration solution is to discontinue the diversions and allow critical inflows to recharge Lake Urmia, preserving the lake and wetlands for migratory birds, tourists, and local communities.     

Reading Lanyu's tourism landscape: Hybridity and identity on Orchid Island,Taiwan

This article analyses the creation and implications for cultural identity of a hybrid tourism landscape on Taiwan's Orchid Island (Lanyu). It particularly argues that Lanyu's native Tao people have begun to gain a somewhat stronger cultural identity and autonomy through this landscape. Orchid Island underwent rapid modernization within the past 60 years. The article not only shows how tourism was imposed by Taiwan's government, but also how the Tao have made greater use of tourism's landscape over time for their own purposes. Not without sociocultural problems and contradictions, Lanyu's tourism landscape has been polysemic enough to allow for gradually improving relationships between Taiwanese and Tao and for gradually increasing Tao participation in modernity on their own terms.     

The scramble for the Waste Lands: Tracking colonial legacies,counterinsurgency and international investment through the lens of land laws in Burma/Myanmar

This article traces the revenue category and legal concept of the Waste Land in Burma/Myanmar from its original application by the British colonial apparatus in the nineteenth century, to its later use in tandem with Burma Army counterinsurgent tactics starting in the 1960s, and finally to the 2012 land laws and current issues in international investment. This adaptation of colonial ideas about territorialization in the context of an ongoing civil war offers a new angle for understanding the relationship between military tactics and the political economy of conflict and counterinsurgent strategies which crucially depended on giving local militias—both government and nongovernment—high degrees of autonomy. The recent government changes, including the more civilian representation in parliament and its shift to engage with Western economies, raise questions regarding the future of the military, as well as local autonomy and the rural peasantry's access to land. As increasing numbers of international investors are poised to enter the Myanmar market, this article will revisit notions of land use and appropriation, and finally the role of the army and its changing relationship with Waste Lands.     

ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION IN BRAZILIAN AMAZONIA: PERSPECTIVES IN US NEWS MEDIA*

While news media play a major role in shaping public opinion and government policy, existing literature suggests that coverage of both the third world and environmental issues is superficial and crisis-oriented. This study uses the example of Amazonian deforestation to explore the quantity and content of coverage in influential American newspapers. We found that coverage included a wide range of (sometimes) contradictory theories regarding the causes of deforestation, and that the amount, but not the nature, of the coverage changed in response to a “crisis.”