The political-economy of Blair’s “New Regional Policy”

The “region” and “regional change” have been elusive ideas within political and economic geography, and in essence require a greater understanding of their dynamic characteristics. Trailing in the backwaters of the devolution to the Celtic nations of Britain, the contemporary era of New Labour’s political-economic ideology, manifest through “third-way” governance in England places the region and its functional capacity into the heart of geographical inquiry. Drawing upon a new regionalist epistemology, this paper seeks to recover a sense of (regional) political economy through a critical investigation of the development and formulation of Blair’s “New Regional Policy” (NRP). I address how New Labour has attempted to marry economic regionalisation on the one hand, and democratic regionalism on the other. This paper specifically questions the wisdom of such a marriage of politically distinct ideologies through a critical investigation of the underlying contradictions of their strategy from both a theoretical and empirical standpoint. Demonstrated both in the North East “no” vote in 2004, and in the post-mortem undertaken by the ODPM Select Committee in 2005, the paper illustrates how a loss of political drive gradually undermined the capacity of devolution to deliver in England. Finally, I argue that through the lens of the NRP we can speculate on some of the wider issues and implications for the study of regional governance.     

Exile and exclusion: The legacy of soviet forestry for villages in the north of Perm oblast

This paper explores the relationship between the forestry enterprises (leskhozi) and the inhabitants of forestry villages in the northern rayony of Perm oblast, Russian Federation in the context of the `new regional geography'. These relationships are compared with those identified between peasant farmers and collective and state farms post-1991, and a theory of the cultivation of these relationships as a coping mechanism for both households and enterprises facing difficult economic circumstances is advanced. The situation in the northern rayony is contextualised through discussion of the settlement and development history of the region, which was a recipient of forced and voluntary labour migration during the Soviet period. The paper concludes that in accordance with recent theories of post-communist regional development, the experience of transition in the northern rayony of Perm oblast is determined at least in part by its social and economic context. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The social construction of the service sector: institutional structures and labour market outcomes

I argue that the characterisation of the lower end of the service sector as innately poorly paid, casualised and unorganised confuses cause and effect. It describes the effects of an institutional vacuum that allows this sector to suffer severe wage competition, which results in low wages and poor working conditions. There is nothing innate in the lower end of the service sector that makes these jobs poorly paid except the lack of institutions, such as unions and the state, structuring this segment of the labour market. Pay and working conditions vary within the sector and between specific locations, and depend on institutions, or the lack of institutions, to structure the local labour market. I use the case of hotel employees and restaurant employees in Las Vegas to show that not only can high union densities affect wages and other measurable benefits but a strategically unionised labour market also can transform the structure of the labour market itself.     

‘Bringing government to the people’: women, local governance and community participation in South Africa

This paper considers the ongoing political transformations in South Africa in the context of debates about good governance and participatory democracy. It first appraises the current transformations of local government in South Africa, focusing specifically on relationships between gender equality and citizenship on the one hand, and local government policy, legislation, and community participation on the other, and then explores meanings of participation and how they inform approaches towards local socio-economic development. The findings of primary research conducted with civil society organisations and black women in communities in the Cape Town metropolitan area are explored through three interrelated themes. First, the model of structured participation that is central to South Africa’s democratic transformation is assessed from the perspective of black women. Second, cultures of alienation, both within local governance structures and amongst black women and the extent to which recent restructuring is combating or contributing to these are explored. Third, how participation policies are dealing with conflict within and between target groups are analysed, whether stakeholder group politics obliterate important differences in interests and whether alternative structures might be more effective in terms of women’s participation and empowerment. Finally, the findings are interpreted in relation to theoretical concepts of good governance and participatory democracy, and the potential and problems of realising South Africa’s transformation process toward developmental local government are assessed.     

The ecological modernisation of SMEs in the UK’s construction industry

Ecological Modernisation (EM) theorists argue that businesses in industrialised nations are ecologically restructuring in response to market signals, and that economic actors increasingly perceive a business case for sustainability. Whilst UK policymakers urge companies to undertake environmental measures voluntarily on the basis that it will be good for business, a qualitative study exploring the environmental practices of small and medium-sized construction firms found that the opinions of owner-managers had little resonance with this ‘win-win’ rhetoric. Respondents did not perceive the financial returns to be gained from eco-efficiency measures to be significant enough to warrant the short-term investment in time and resources required to pursue them. Moreover, the market was not signalling that product value could be raised or that customers could be won by embracing environmental best practice. The paper concludes by questioning the UK government’s faith in EMs ‘win-win’ ideology to encourage the greening of industry.     

uTshani BuyaKhuluma––The Grass Speaks: the political space and capacity of the South African Homeless People’s Federation

The point of departure for this article is the contemporary tendency towards localisation of politics in the context of neo-liberal globalisation. Mediated through institutional reforms, political discourses and localised struggles, this localisation of politics produce new and transformed local political spaces. The purpose of the article is to examine the capacity of popular movements to use and transform such political spaces within the South African housing sector. This analysis is done through a combination of conceptual examination of political space and actor capacity and a concrete case study of the political strategies and capacities of The South African Homeless People’s Federation. The article argues that the Federation has utilised political relations at different scales to mobilise resources such as land and subsidies for housing for its members. It has also influenced the formulation of housing policies through its discourses and practical experiences with people-driven housing processes. In consequence the Federation’s ability to function as a civil/political movement has granted them a certain capacity to participate in the complicated process of turning de jure rights to adequate shelter into de facto rights for the urban poor as citizens of a democratic South Africa.     

Who’s afraid of red, yellow and green?: Redlining in Rotterdam

Redlining research is common practice in the US but not in other countries. Does this imply redlining does not take place elsewhere? This paper presents evidence from Rotterdam, the second largest city of the Netherlands, showing that in the 1990s it was impossible to get a home mortgage in large parts of the city. However, after Rotterdam joined the National Mortgage Guarantee (an institutional control measure) in 2000, hardly any evidence of redlining was found. This paper not only shows that redlining takes place outside of the US context, but also that a (discursive) treatment based on case study research has the possibility to gain a fuller understanding of redlining practices than a statistical/correlation analysis of mortgage data. Interviews with key actors are instrumental to unravelling how, why and when those in power make their decisions: agents are structured by the existing system while, at the same time, some of these agents have the power to re-produce as well as re-structure (transform) the system. One of the geographical outcomes of the agency-structure interaction is that credit is “redirected away from poorer to richer (and therefore “safer”) groups” as part of a strategy of risk avoidance [Leyshon and Thrift, 1997]. Thus redlining, like any other form of financial exclusion, deepens and accentuates prevailing levels of uneven development by creating geographical variations in access to the financial system [Dymski and Veitch, 1992].     

New populations in the British city centre: Evidence of social change from the census and household surveys

Encouraged by government policies to promote city centre living and to increase residential land use on brownfield sites, there has been considerable repopulation of the city centre. Through detailed small-area census analysis of Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea, supplemented by household surveys and key informant interviews, the research points to a range of population characteristics and changes occurring in the British city centre. Certain characteristics such as a high proportion of lone person households, fewer children and low car ownership remain fairly consistent. However, substantial population expansion affirms that a large part of the population is “new”. Between 1991 and 2001, men came to outnumber women, and each of the city centres saw a relative expansion of its young adult population. The new residents have a higher appreciation than longer term residents of proximity to work and leisure facilities, and of the stylishness of city centre living. Most of the new residents rent their accommodation, generally in flats, and the predominance of renting is associated with a transient attitude to city centre residence among the new population. Socio-economic evidence indicates a striking rise in social status or gentrification in all the city centres investigated, especially where high status private housing developments encourage the trend. With policies promoting residential development, the city centre is becoming increasingly socially exclusive.     

The Caesura: remarks on Wittgenstein’s interruption of theory, or, why practices elude explanation

This paper aims to bring the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein into contact with the growing interest and concerns over the status of practice, performance and non-representational ‘theory’ within human geography. Drawing predominantly on Wittgenstein’s later work, the aim is to use Wittgenstein’s comments to illuminate how certain presuppositions and idealisations over the nature of understanding and meaning are or have been built into our (social scientific) modes and methods of explanation. Thus Wittgenstein’s work is used as a diagnosis––a diagnosis of how the modus operandi of giving an explanation can, and often does, prevent us from acknowledging the practical and the performative, from witnessing the taking-place of meaning and understanding. The paper carries out this task by focusing first on Wittgenstein’s critique of the role of ‘rules’ and ‘rule-following’ in the construction of social scientific accounts and secondly, through a consideration of the implications of Wittgenstein’s ‘scenic’ style of writing through which he attempts to deconstruct the epistemo-methodological idealisations and representationalist desires of social analysis. The claim here is not that Wittgenstein’s work provides the solution to the problematics which confront us in considering the status (or otherwise) of practice, but rather that his work may provide us with other ways of going-on, ones more sensitive to the eventful, creative, excessive and distinctly uncertain realms of action.     

Emotional labour/body work: The caring labours of migrants in the UK’s National Health Service

The provision of care is an increasingly pressing issue in the Global North. With an ageing population and policies encouraging women into the labour market, there is a growing need for workers to undertake paid caring. This poses important and urgent questions about the social organisation of labour markets. Care work typically is low paid and undertaken in precarious, informal, or temporary situations. Many posts are filled by economic migrants, raising concerns about a care deficit in sending countries. In this paper we examine the ‘caring work’ undertaken by migrant workers in a West London Hospital. We employ a twofold characterisation of caring work. Like other bottom-end service sector work, this work is characterised by the face-to-face ‘emotional labour’. However, it also requires ‘body work’: close and often intimate physical contact between carers and those they care for. We argue that both of these aspects are important in understanding how caring work is constructed as poorly regarded and low paid. We show how these features play out in particular ways for migrant workers employed in such caring work.     

Shifting frames for local people and forests in a global heritage: the Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary in the context of Thailand’s globalization and modernization

Focusing on the case of the World Heritage Site and Wildlife Sanctuary Thung Yai Naresuan, the paper sketches the interdependences of international and national forest and conservation policies in Thailand since the middle of the 19th century. In the context of Thailand’s globalization and modernization, these policies resulted in a coercing conservationism which focuses increasingly on the so-called ‘hill tribe’ ethnic minority groups. The shifting cultural and political framings of the area that became a national wildlife sanctuary and a ‘global heritage’ reflect external economic, political, and ideological interests. The people of the Karen ethnic minority group who live in the sanctuary are conceived of as a disruptive factor and never have had a chance to participate in these framings. After the designation of the area as a World Heritage Site, the remaining villages face increasing pressure from the Royal Forest Department which is trying to remove them with the help of the Military. Drawing on the different vested interests and the relativity of cultural conceptualizations, the paper questions the external framing, pointing to three major problems that are raised with regard to Thung Yai, but are symptomatic of modern conservationism at large: inconsistencies between normative claims and political practice; distortions of scale between conceptions designed at different levels of social space from the local to the global, and; the problem to reconcile conflicting cultural patterns and conceptualizations. The paper argues for a reframing of the conflict to conceive the Karen in Thung Yai as an integral part of the ‘global heritage’.     

Negotiating through nature: The resistant materiality and materiality of resistance in Bolivia’s natural gas sector

Over the past two decades, the natural gas of Bolivia has been a point of international interest and internal contention. Materially and discursively using Bolivia’s natural gas to express their demands, transnational energy firms, the Bolivian state, and Bolivia’s social movements have made the country’s natural gas into an object of profit and protest. In this paper, I examine how these actors have used the country’s natural gas to both secure and disrupt processes of capital accumulation. Extending regulation approaches that take into account the materiality of nature, I argue that the differential abilities of transnational energy firms, the Bolivian state, and the country’s social movements to materially and discursively use Bolivia’s natural gas have provided each of these actors with differential mediums through which to express their often times contradictory interests, and thus to the challenge or stabilize existing regulatory frameworks. Within this context, the Bolivian state has been forced to continually balance the tensions surrounding its natural gas in an attempt to secure a stable regime of accumulation.     

From smallholders to transnationals: The impact of changing consumer preferences in the EU on Ghana’s pineapple sector

This paper explores the impact that a new type of pineapple, and subsequent changing consumer preferences in the Global North, has had on the livelihoods of pineapple growers in Ghana. The paper starts by tracing how research and development in Costa Rica by the world’s largest producers of pineapple, Del Monte and Dole, have resulted in a new variety MD2. This new pineapple type has been marketed in the EU through campaigns carried out by plantation companies via supermarkets. Consumer preferences have subsequently switched to MD2 away from the varieties which previously dominated the market, including the Ghanaian grown Smooth Cayenne. Ghanaian smallholders have experienced a dramatic drop in the demand for Smooth Cayenne and are unable to switch to growing MD2. The Ghanaian pineapple sector is consequently being restructured with large-scale pineapple farms, principally run by transnational companies, growing large quantities of MD2 for export. Through a detailed empirical study of the changing livelihoods of pineapple growers in two settlements in Ghana, we show how smallholders have been affected in differing ways as transnational companies have increasingly entered the market. Recent attempts to incorporate smallholders as producers of niche pineapple products are discussed. The paper illustrates the mutual benefits of linking global value chain analysis with livelihood analysis.