Elite discourses of regional identity in a new regionalism development scheme: The case of the ‘Mountain Region’ in Norway

Norway's regional structure is under debate as questions about territorial boundaries, scale, scope of tasks and responsibilities, and decision-making structures have become an issue in Norwegian politics. This tendency of changing the scale of public action with regard to governmental structures, economic politics, welfare, and civic society has been termed ‘new regionalism’. New regionalism often comes under criticism of being too neo-liberalistic or too economically orientated, leaving in its wake debates of democratic accountability and the neglect of ‘soft factors’ (i.e. socio-culture, identity, consciousness, and participation). In this article the authors investigate whether new democratic or semi-democratic regional organisations as advocated by new regionalist schemes require identification amongst the local population in order to be successful and enduring governmental structures. Further, it is shown how too simplistic understandings of the social processes, and their inherent power aspects, involved in the implementation of the new regionalist development scheme ‘Mountain Region’ distort the undertaking. The authors find that a more complex relational and contextual understanding is in demand, one in which regionalisation is not only recognised as a process which diffuses across time-space, but also takes an asymmetrical place across society's social fabric, and one where ‘soft factors’ such as ‘regional identity’ are not sidestepped.     

Southwest China and Southeast Asia: towards sustainability through cooperative development and management of international rivers *

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Reconciling Multiple Societal Objectives in Cross-Scale Marine Governance: Solomon Islands’ Engagement in the Coral Triangle Initiative

Environmental governance aims to reconcile an expanding set of societal objectives at ever-larger scales despite the challenges that remain in integrating conservation and development at smaller scales. We interrogate Solomon Islands’ engagement in the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security to contribute new insight on the scalar politics of multi-level marine governance. We show how regional objectives are re-interpreted and prioritized as they translate into national policy and practice. Our data suggest that enhanced coordination of finances and activities, integration of objectives in shared protocols and priority geographies, and a subtle shift in power relations between the state, donors, and implementation partners have resulted from processes of re-scaling. We discuss important procedural adjustments in cross-level and cross-scale governance across jurisdictional, institutional, and sectoral scales. We also reflect on the changing role of national governments in shifts toward large-scale, multi-national initiatives.     

The Asian Development Bank and the production of poverty: Neoliberalism,technocratic modernization and land dispossession in the Greater Mekong Subregion

In 1992 the Asian Development Bank coordinated a meeting between government representatives from China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam to discuss regional economic integration. From that meeting the Greater Mekong Subregion was formed to promote peace and prosperity within the Mekong countries. Yet, despite more than more than USD 14 billion being spent on facilitating trade, development and infrastructural ties between these nations, poverty remains widespread. This article provides a critical analysis of the Asian Development Bank and its approach to development and poverty alleviation within the Greater Mekong Subregion. It suggests that the institution's technocratic neoliberal development ideology provides a discursive legitimation to processes of displacement and dispossession that has seen the production of new forms of poverty. To make this argument, the article draws on an ethnographic study of the local‐scale implications of forced resettlement at the Luang Prabang Airport. It conducts an analysis of how the Asian Development Bank defines and measures poverty, and critiques the institution's resettlement guidelines for the airport project.     

回归后香港城市发展的尺度重组：以广深港高速铁路香港段项目的规划过程为例

全球化时代城市问题越来越多的以尺度问题的形式出现,尺度理论为分析城市发展背后的各种动力及其影响提供了新的视角。回归后,特区政府如何与位于不同尺度上的地域组织相互作用,进行尺度重组,是探究香港城市发展与管治的关键问题。本文考察广深港高速铁路香港段从项目构想、方案设计,到咨询及申请拨款的全过程,识别这个过程所涉及的不同尺度的作用者,分析他们的作用方式及作用结果。研究表明,回归后,特区政府主动向上尺度重组以拓展香港发展的腹地,政府间的制度性合作是其尺度重组的重要方式。同时,香港逐渐成长的市民社会是参与城市发展尺度重组的重要力量,地方行动者运用尺度政治从多个尺度建构话语和采取行动,对特区政府的方案进行抗议并引发整个社会的讨论。对香港的案例分析可加深对体制转型背景下地域组织尺度重组的认识,丰富尺度重组的理论内涵;也有助于国家客观地了解香港,为制定合理的政策提供科学依据。此外,内地市民社会逐步萌芽成长,案例中特区政府与香港市民社会互动的经验与教训可为内地政府提供借鉴。     

Race,region and the territorial politics of immigration in the US

Zelinsky and Lee recently unveiled a model of the sociospatial process of immigrant settlement designed to augment and possibly supplant the well-known theories of assimilation and pluralism. Although in some ways new, their work continues a tradition in social science that treats the settlement geography of immigrants as a measure of their more general fit into American society. The authors question the prevailing assumption that immigrant settlement patterns represent a barometer of their adaptation, or lack thereof, to a host society. This critique of the concepts of assimilation, pluralism and Zelinsky and Lee's alternative "heterolocal" model of immigrant settlement pivots around the issues of spatial scale and race. The authors argue that the contestations over immigration and how well immigrants fit into society are increasingly constructed at the regional scale. The authors also assert that questions race infuse almost all aspects of these debates. The transformation of America's largest city-regions into places of non-White immigrants, and the shifting political balance of power to states like California through immigration-driven reapportionment, are touchstones for anti-immigration initiatives and associated local and national debate. Fear of racial regional changes underpins an increasingly powerful response to immigration. The reactions elicited by these settlement geographies fall under the heading the authors call the "territorial politics of immigration".     

(ANTI)SOCIAL CAPITAL IN THE PRODUCTION OF AN (UN)CIVIL SOCIETY IN PAKISTAN*

ABSTRACT. Pakistan is home to some of the most widely admired examples of civil‐society‐based service‐delivery and advocacy groups. Pakistan has also spawned some much‐maligned nongovernmental actors with violent agendas. This article uses the social capital / civil society conceptual lens to view the modes of (anti)social capital mobilization that contribute to the civil and uncivil spaces of Pakistani society. The case examples of Jamaat‐e‐Islami, an Islamic revivalist organization, and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan are used to understand the geography of social and antisocial forces in Pakistan. It is argued that the processes that mobilize social capital‐whether positive or perverse‐are multiscalar and that, in the Pakistani context, no compelling cultural or religious reason exists for the ascendance of one type of social capital over the other. Positive social capital can be mobilized to contribute to a more civil social discourse in Pakistan, given the right policy choices.     

Scales and Sales: Changing Social and Spatial Fish Trading Networks in the Siiphandone Fishery, Lao PDR

The Siiphandone wetland in Khong district, Champasak province, Lao PDR, is one of the most important fisheries in the Mekong River basin. The resource, situated along the Laos‐Cambodia border, supports the livelihoods of around 65,000 inhabitants, mainly semi‐subsistence rice farmers or fishers. In January 2000, the provincial authority was given a special dispensation by the Lao government to allow the importation of Cambodian fish through Khong district, for export to Thailand. Previously, in large part due to the government's policy of food self‐sufficiency, the export of Lao fish was illegal. This paper examines how the implementation of this law has influenced existing legal and illegal trade networks from the Siiphandone fishery by comparing the findings of two studies, one conducted before and the other after the change in the law. In doing so, the transition of the fishery from a local, food‐important resource to an increasingly regional, market‐oriented resource is examined. Conclusions are drawn as to the impact this change has had on the livelihoods of fishers and traders involved in the fishery.     

Managing migration in the Greater Mekong Subregion: Regulation,extra‐legal relation and extortion

One major aim of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) integration programme, supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), is to foster regional ‘community’ for sharing resources, people and financial flows. This ‘community’ is the target of both economic growth and poverty reduction. The emphasis on ‘community’ in the ADB's mushrooming quantity of documents raises important questions about what kinds of people are included, in what roles and with what kinds of support and protection. This paper explores these questions in relation to the political economy of regulating ethnic migrants from Myanmar working in Thailand. This paper argues that extra‐legal relations between migrants and state/para‐state agents constitute a crucial part of regulation. In transferring the regulation of migration to the national scale, the ADB inadvertently reinforces national differences between Thais and cross‐border people. Additionally, the complicated and fluctuating implementation of national regulations in both countries leaves migrants subject to violence and extortion from state and quasi‐state agents in Thailand. This paper shows that the dynamics of global capitalism require ‘deportable labour’ supplied by ethnic migrants who are included in the GMS community as the most invisible, vulnerable and exploited members.     

Constructing Risk: multi-scale change,livelihoods and vulnerability in the Mekong Delta,Vietnam

ABSTRACT

Change has been at the heart of the livelihoods concept since its inception, allowing for a clear focus on how people perceive, respond to and experience risk. The ardent focus on ‘the local’ within livelihoods work, both in research and programmatic terms, has to some extent overshadowed attention on the role of wider-scale political economic and environmental processes in generating change and determining responses to change. Livelihoods in the Mekong Delta have never been ‘local’, having long been historically embedded in international, regional and national economic, political and environmental transformations. Drivers of change at these wider scales have intensified, complicating local responses to change, whether through economic, social or political means. A more nuanced appreciation of how scaled relations can be supported is required to better anticipate and respond to the political ecology of risk.     

可持续性转型研究动态与经济地理学展望

近年来,可持续性转型概念进入经济地理学者视野,用于探究区域绿色技术、消费市场和产业转型的多维因果过程与空间动力机制,已成为演化经济地理学和环境经济地理学新兴议题之一。为掌握该研究动态,本文对2000—2020年来共计2453篇可持续性转型文献进行回顾,重点探讨了转型地理研究进展和理论不足,阐述了经济地理学对可持续性转型研究的理论价值和融入方向。本文发现：① 可持续性转型是创新研究和可持续管理领域热门议题,呈多学科介入特点;其中,转型地理研究正不断崛起,并聚焦区域绿色新兴产业发展的社会-技术共演过程、多尺度动力机制、环境经济和社会效应及其转型地理性等问题。② 经济地理学对转型研究有三个视角优势：时空语境敏感性;转型过程、机制和结果的空间多样性;新产业系统的地方嵌入及其合法化的地理性。③ 经济地理学对可持续性转型研究含三个提升方向：概念内涵深化（含地方、尺度和空间）、多范式互动融合（演化、制度和政治经济地理）、分析框架构建方向（多地理尺度性与多层次视角,区域创新系统与技术创新系统）。④ 中国转型地理研究在三个议题上有广阔前景：基于国家语境敏感的地方转型探索、绿色利基发展与转型空间机制研究、以及区域新产业路径发展与转型研究。     

Another political ecology of civil society reflexiveness against urban industrial risks for environmental justice: The case of the Bisasar landfill,Durban, South Africa

The concerns of political ecology since its beginnings as a field have been predominantly set in rural areas with limited focus on urban industrial risks. Further, debates on the global South (often from Anglo‐American perspectives) have not fully appreciated the divergent and differentiated perceptions of urban risks and, therefore, everyday forms of resistance within civil society. Instead, work has mainly focused on civil society power relations against the state and industry that are driven by coherent populist political agendas. Against this setting, this paper's contribution aims to better contextualize ‘other’ third world localities in political ecology through a case study of urban industrial risks in the upper/middle income (as opposed to rural, low/lower middle income) country, South Africa. In doing so, the paper sheds light on the derelict aspect of civil society contestation, especially along class and ethnic lines, over urban landfill infrastructure as a livelihood resource or a health hazard. The paper draws upon frameworks of self‐reflexivity and reflexive localism as complementary to the mainstream political ecology to illuminate differentiated civil society reflexiveness and therefore, aims to advance the discussion of other political ecologies. The case study of the largest formal landfill site in Africa, the Bisasar landfill situated in Durban, highlights differences underlying power relations and constraints within civil society (in leadership, social networking, resources and mistrust) that have implications for mainstream political ecology notions of civil society coherence.     

Economic globalization and regional disparities in the Philippines

This paper empirically tracks the Philippine (policy) path following the mantra of economic globalization over the past 25 years. Specifically, it investigates the resulting regional growth‐inequality relationships and development footprints accompanying the restructuring of political economy and livelihoods. The Philippine case thereby shows how globalization can simultaneously cause the selective dismantling of (economic) barriers and enhancement of mobility and growth, as well as a deterioration of socioeconomic inequalities in space and society. In an increasingly deregulated and contested environment these development divides do not just pose serious threats to regional balance and national cohesion but, ultimately, undermine state capacity to achieve avowed goals of inclusive growth, stability and equality for citizens.     

Regional diversification in the Norwegian fish-processing industry

The fish-processing industry, one of the most important industries of coastal Norway, consists of approximately 500 firms employing 12,500 people. This article draws attention to the regional specialisation of the Norwegian fish-processing industry. Changes in the level of activity and in profitability at the regional level can to a large extent be linked to characteristics of the regional production system in different areas. In order to develop a more profitable and market-oriented industry, we argue for a regionalised policy approach that encourages the establishment of inter-firm relations and collective learning processes at the level of the regional production milieux. A regionalisation of the national policy would be the most sustainable way of stimulating more efficient longterm business strategies in this industry.     

环印度洋地区中国国家风险的综合评估及时空演变分析

环印度洋地区对中国经济发展与国家安全至关重要,但是环印度洋地区广阔的地域空间和复杂的社会环境,对中国企业投资、商贸往来等构成诸多潜在风险。基于2005—2019年环印度洋地区49个国家的相关数据,从政治、经济、社会和文化4个维度选取22个指标构建环印度洋地区国家风险评价指标体系,利用动态时间规整和地图可视化探究环印度洋地区5个子区域2005—2019年综合风险及各维度风险的时空演变特点。研究结果表明：① 2005—2019年,环印度洋地区国家的综合风险总体呈下降趋势,但区域内国家仍集中在中风险和较高风险等级;② 巴基斯坦?阿富汗?伊拉克?伊朗和埃及?苏丹?厄立特里亚?索马里是区域内2大综合风险高值集聚区,环印度洋地区国家的综合风险呈现较为明显的“区域集聚性”特点;③ 不同地区主导风险不同,政治风险是除澳大利亚以外其他地区的主导风险,也是环印度洋地区目前最主要的风险来源。     

Shaken, Not Stirred

In a remarkable and yet largely unheralded piece off legislation, the New Zealand government has reshaped national provisions for earthquake insurance. Three major sets off issues emerge from the 1993 Earthquake Commission Act and warrant detailed investigation. The A ct will encourage significant changes in patterns of regional development in New Zealand, it heralds a simultaneous globalisation and localisation of earthquake risk through the mechanism of insurance and it gives new regulatory powers to insurers in New Zealand society.     

Progress of economic geography in China’s mainland since 2000

Economic geography in China’s mainland has developed in a different way from that in many other countries. On the one hand, it has been increasingly active in participating in academic dialogues and knowledge development led by Anglophone countries; on the other hand, it takes practice-based and policy-oriented research, i.e. satisfying the demands from the Chinese government and society, as the linchpin of research. Since there has been a lot of literature reviewing the development of economic geography in the country before the new millennium, this paper will make a comprehensive analysis of the discipline in 2000–2015, based on a bibliometric survey and research projects done by Chinese economic geographers. The analysis indicates that (1) economic geography research in China’s mainland is unevenly distributed but concentrated in several leading institutions; (2) traditional research fields like human-nature system, regional disparity, industrial location and transportation geography remain dominant while new topics such as globalization, multinational corporations and foreign direct investments, information and communication technology, producer services, climate change and carbon emission emerge as important research areas; (3) Chinese economic geography is featured by policy-oriented research funded by government agencies, having considerable impacts on regional policy making in China, both national and regional. To conclude, the paper argues that the development of economic geography in China’s mainland needs to follow a dual track in the future, i.e. producing knowledge for the international academic community and undertaking policy-oriented research to enhance its role as a major consulting body for national, regional and local development.     

综合开发与可持续发展——广西壮族自治区环钦州湾地区发展问题研究

环钦州湾地区位于中国沿海地带的南部末端，西部大开发地带中的西南地区出海口，地缘政治经济地位显要突出。经历“九五”期间发展，这里已经成为中国西南地区经济快速成长的地区之一，与昆明、贵阳地区一起，形成为中国西南地区经济成长新三角。面对新挑战，环钦州湾地区要加强人才资源能力建设，依靠科技进步，将资源优势转化为经济强势，在区域一体化进程中受益，建设成为大西南出海主通道，对外开放窗口和口岸，海洋经济与高新技术产业基地、现代化的沿海港口城市群，增强区域发展的可持续性。     

Towards a new spatial perspective – Norwegian politics at the crossroads

The purpose of the article is to investigate how the hegemony of traditional regional policy in Norway has been weakened in favour of policies of a new type, derived from the combined effect of climate concerns and a search for increased structural efficiency. This phenomenon is identified as an ‘eco-spatial’ turn that marks a new policy regime with changing agendas. The policy transition is analysed by drawing on existing scientific literature in the fields concerned, central policy documents, and relevant news articles. The results of the analysis substantiate that a decisive turn has taken place, with the period of transition between the two policy types identified as 1992–2015. This shift in policy orientation has important institutional and political consequences, including the move from a perspective of demographic and economic expansion in space to one of contraction and a subsequent creation of spatial scarcity. To conclude, the author questions whether the new policy position is viable, given the deep-rooted nature of regional cleavages within Norwegian society. However, the formal institutional ability to deal with the situation at the national level is in place, since national planning and regional policies have finally been gathered within the confines of one ministry.     

区域管治研究的国际进展与展望

经济发展的区域化、区域发展的集团化、社会发展的民主化使得一个公平、公开又具世界 竞争力的区域管治和协调系统越来越成为当今众多学者关注的焦点;对国内外区域管治的相关 研究成果的回顾、归纳与总结, 有助于增进对区域管治的概念、理论、实践和研究方法的认识。本 文在总结区域管治研究历史和辨识相关概念的基础上, 分别对国内外不同层次的区域管治的研 究成果进行了综合评述, 对国内区域管治研究的主要问题进行了系统剖析, 并指出了我国区域管 治实施中存在的问题与难点, 提出了未来区域管治的主要研究方向。