The European level in EU governance: territory, authority and trans-scalar networks

This article offers an analysis of the emerging scalar configuration of the governance of the European Union. It discusses how European integration stands for a move from a collection of territorially homogenous systems of rule towards a new assemblage of territories, authorities and rights. The paper first questions the stretchy territoriality of the seemingly obvious European level. Second it analyses the sectoral differences in the evolution of the width and the depth of integration, measured as the transfer of competencies to the EU level between the Rome Treaty (1958) and the Lisbon Treaty (200y). Third it turns to the day-to-day decision-making to assess the relations between players in EU governance and finally it looks more closely at the administrative wheels of the EU machinery.     

Unfolding scientific expertise and security in the changing governance of Ecosystem Services

Within the past few decades, the idea of global Ecosystem Services (ES) has moved center stage in environmental and sustainability debates. The academic and policy discourse behind Ecosystem Service protection appears to have changed from a more ecological focus on habitat restoration to a predominantly economic one revolving around human well-being. The aim of this paper is to unfold the coupling between scientific expertise and security in the changing governance of ES. We employ a ‘securitization’ lens to advance our understanding of the recent change in the governance of ecosystems, as we reflect on the role of scientific expertise at the boundary between science and security. Empirically, we analyze how scientific experts, as securitizing actors, frame the degradation and loss of ES as an existential threat to human security thereby justifying measures to reverse these trends. In order to trace how the voices of scientific experts shape policies to govern ES we apply bibliometric analysis and an opinion-based survey to first identify who produces the scientific knowledge published, and then follow how key scientific experts link to policy-making arenas and use security framings. Lastly, we discuss the implications of the shifting discourse surrounding ES, and we reflect on our own positionality and approach, as we string together our findings to contribute to the debate about environmental expertise and governance, and the authority of scientific knowledge.     

Relationality/territoriality: Toward a conceptualization of cities in the world

The paper contributes to the conceptualization of cities in the world by first outlining the conceptual and empirical challenges of theorizing the urban/global nexus in both relational and territorial terms. It argues that the most useful and appropriate approach to understanding contemporary urban governance in global context is to develop a conceptualization that is equally sensitive to the role of relational and territorial geographies, of fixity and flow, of global contexts and place-specificities (and vice versa), of structural imperatives and embodied practices, in the production of cities. In order to illustrate the benefits of this conceptualization, the paper will apply it to the case of how downtown development is governed in many contemporary cities. The role of the Business Improvement District (BID) program and New Urbanist planning models in shaping downtowns will be examined in terms of: (1) how and by whom these models are developed in a global-relational context and are set in motion through scaled circuits of policy knowledge and (2) how the mobilization of these models are conditioned by their territorialization in specific spatial and political economic contexts. The paper emphasizes that the ‘local globalness’ of policy models like BIDs and New Urbanism and their consequences for cities can best be understood through a combined focus on relationality and territoriality.     

The changing nature and European perceptions of Europe's refugee problem

Many in Western Europe regard it as being in the grip of a refugee crisis. This paper considers this contention. It describes the main stages in the development of the current refugee crisis and argues that having established the agenda in the 1940s, Western Europe has been able to progressively distance itself from refugee episodes and define them as essentially problems of the Third World. The end of the Cold War and the growth in numbers of spontaneous, rather than quota, refugees have been considerable shocks to the West, which can no longer contain and distance itself from refugee flows. Shock has led Europe to overreact and become myopic in its view of refugee matters. In reality, figures demonstrate that Wetern Europe is not the centre of refugee generation, applications or resettlement. Despite this, governments have taken draconian unilateral and multilateral action to exclude not only Third World asylum seekers but also those from the East.     

Pacification,resistance, and territoriality: prospects for a space of peace in East Timor

Despite current United Nations-sponsored negotiations on East Timor between Indonesia and Portugal, there is little prospect for success given the overwhelming advantages Indonesia enjoys in the struggle for control over the territory. The territorialization of Indonesian power in East Timor over the last two decades has given Jakarta a level of dominance that has allowed it to avoid serious negotiations aimed at resolving the conflict. By interrogating social power in conjunction with Knight's (1994) three key components of statehood (territory, population, and sovereignty) on a variety of geographical scales, however, it becomes clear that East Timor is a far more contested terrain than it first appears. This paper illustrates that the peace process can succeed in a manner consistent with international law and human rights only by a strengthening of the forces of resistance, which necessarily entails the West's altering its relationship of criminal complicity with Indonesia.     

Foreign direct investment in European manufacturing industry: the changing position of the United Kingdom as a host country

The position of the United Kingdom as a host country for foreign direct investment in manufacturing is examined in the European context. Several trends are identified which suggest that the United Kingdom's relative position is changing. In particular, the balance of United States manufacturing investment has been shifting away from the United Kingdom and towards mainland Europe while the United Kingdom's membership of the EEC enables European countries to serve the United Kingdom market by exporting rather than by direct investment. As yet, the volume of Japanese investment in United Kingdom and European manufacturing is small. In the competition between nations for internationally mobile investment. Ireland has captured a good deal of new manufacturing investment, some of which may have been ‘diverted’ from the United Kingdom. The apparent decline in the attractiveness of the United Kingdom as a host country for foreign manufacturing investment could have serious consequences for employment in the peripheral regions of the United Kingdom particularly in the light of developments in the organization of multinational enterprise and the impending enlargement of the EEC.     

Deconstructing Italy: (Northern) Italians and their new perception of territoriality

The nineties will go down in Italian history as the decade of great political change. By way of emphasising this change, the media and politicians use the expressions `Prima Repubblica' and `Seconda Repubblica' (first and second republics), adopting the terminology used by the French for their `republics'. During the so-called First Republic (1948–1994), the centrist Christian Democrat Party represented the moderate political force in every government. However, the corruption trials of 1992–1993, which involved many of this party's members, led to its collapse at the ballot box. In northern Italy, a consequence of the demise of the Christian Democrats was the resounding success of the Lega Nord at the local government elections of 1993 and the general election of 1994. The Lega Nord based, and continues to base, its success on the use of ethno-nationalist slogans and catchcries. Italy has an ancient tradition – dating at least from the fall of the Roman Empire – of political and linguistic splintering. Given today's situation, this factor may have impacts at the level of the structure of the state: federalism, special statutes for regions and/or provinces, the decentralization of the state, and so on. For the first time for perhaps more than a century, in this new period of uncertain political change, Italians are increasingly viewing territory and its characteristics as politically relevant. Justifications for `national' cohesion are being rediscovered, or invented, at the local level, transforming it into political claims. Italians have begun to talk about relationships with territories and neighbouring groups from a different perspective. At present, traditional political parties and politicians are too slow and insufficiently focused in their response to the rising call for autonomy and decision-making authority at the local level. This factor has provided the time and space for isolationist and culturally self-reliant localist ideologies to propagate. It is impossible to say how long this period of transition will last and what its outcomes will be. The three main choices now facing Italians would be appear to be:(1) reclaim the nationalist sentiment of a united state (abandoned after the Fascist era);(2) provide the space (ideological and territorial) for the numerous localist nationalisms;(3) construct a real and flexible `localist' democracy for Italy as a whole.     

Groundwater socio-ecology and governance: a review of institutions and policies in selected countries

Groundwater is crucial for the livelihoods and food security of millions of people, and yet, knowledge formation in the field of groundwater has remained asymmetrical. While, scientific knowledge in the discipline (hydrology and hydrogeology) has advanced remarkably, relatively little is known about the socio-economic impacts and institutions that govern groundwater use. This paper therefore has two objectives. The first is to provide a balanced view of the plus and the down side of groundwater use, especially in agriculture. In doing so, examples are drawn from countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Spain and Mexico—all of which make very intensive use of groundwater. Second, institutions and policies that influence groundwater use are analyzed in order to understand how groundwater is governed in these countries and whether successful models of governance could be replicated elsewhere. Finally, the authors argue that there is a need for a paradigm shift in the way groundwater is presently perceived and managed—from management to governance mode. In this attempt, a number of instruments such as direct regulation, indirect policy levers, livelihood adaptation and peoples participation will have to be deployed simultaneously in a quest for better governance.

Religion and governmentality: Understanding governance in urban Brazil

In this paper I argue that geographies of religion are fundamental to understanding governance and social order in contemporary urban space. More specifically, I show how Foucault’s notion of governmentality characterizes regimes of power beyond the state apparatus, positing that religion and churches also produce and maintain the knowledges, truths, and social order associated with governmentality and self-regulated governance. By considering the geography of religion literature within the context of Foucualt’s work, I illustrate the importance of religious and spiritual practices to contemporary urban space, and the roles they play in producing and maintaining governance and socio-political order. My purpose is not to suggest that governmentality has been misapplied as a theoretical tool for understanding the state and political power, but to show how the term actually describes power more generally, including spiritual moments in addition to political ones. Drawing from my case study in Fortaleza, Brazil, I substantiate my theoretical argument using empirical examples, showing how governmentality is produced through religion and churches and the relationship between spiritual practices and governance in everyday space.     

Future ozone in a changing climate

The stratospheric ozone layer is expected to recover as a result of the regulations of the Montreal Protocol on chlorine and bromine containing ozone-depleting substances (ODSs). Model simulations project a return of global annually averaged total column ozone to 1980 levels before the middle of the 21^st century, well before the ODSs will return to 1980 levels. This earlier ozone return date is due to the effects of rising greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations. GHGs influence ozone directly by chemical reactions, but also indirectly by changing stratospheric temperature and the Brewer–Dobson circulation. Based on projections of chemistry–climate models, this article summarizes the effects of GHGs on stratospheric and total column ozone in the mid-latitude upper stratosphere, Arctic and Antarctic spring, and the tropics. The sensitivity of future ozone change to the GHG scenario is discussed, as well as the specific role of a future increase in nitrous oxide and methane.     

Elemental and isotopic carbon and nitrogen records of organic matter accumulation in a Holocene permafrost peat sequence in the East European Russian Arctic

A peat deposit from the East European Russian Arctic, spanning nearly 10 000 years, was investigated to study soil organic matter degradation using analyses of bulk elemental and stable isotopic compositions and plant macrofossil remains. The peat accumulated initially in a wet fen that was transformed into a peat plateau bog following aggradation of permafrost in the late Holocene (～2500 cal a BP). Total organic carbon and total nitrogen (N) concentrations are higher in the fen peat than in the moss‐dominated bog peat layers. Layers in the sequence that have lower concentrations of total hydrogen (H) are associated with degraded vascular plant residues. C/N and H/C atomic ratios indicate better preservation of organic matter in peat material dominated by bryophytes as opposed to vascular plants. The presence of permafrost in the peat plateau stage and water‐saturated conditions at the bottom of the fen stage appear to lead to better preservation of organic plant material. δ¹⁵N values suggest N isotopic fractionation was driven primarily by microbial decomposition whereas differences in δ¹³C values appear to reflect mainly changes in plant assemblages. Positive shifts in both δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C values coincide with a local change to drier conditions as a result of the onset of permafrost and frost heave of the peat surface. This pattern suggests that permafrost aggradation not only resulted in changes in vegetation but also aerated the underlying fen peat, which enhanced microbial denitrification, causing the observed ¹⁵N‐enrichment. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Autonomy in a post-neoliberal era: Community water governance in Cochabamba,Bolivia

Bolivia’s leftward political shift, which is frequently described as “post-neoliberal,” is crucially linked to the ideal of autonomy. While autonomy has a long history among leftist theorists and social movements in Latin America, its contemporary importance is related to an ongoing effort on the part of scholars and activists to identify an alternative organizational form that eschews both state actors and private entities. Drawing on fieldwork conducted with a group of community-run water systems in peri-urban Cochabamba, this paper asks what autonomous water governance looks like in practice. By presenting a case in which the community water systems made a series of structurally limited “autonomous” decisions that ultimately bound them more closely to the local state and private sector, the paper argues that autonomy faces socio-ecological limitations when conceptualized as a project of internal self-governance. Socio-ecological processes take place at multiple scales and over long time spans; a radical politics of autonomy therefore necessitates a spatially extroverted project that focuses on building strategic alliances that strengthen community autonomy in the long-term.     

Navigating the tensions in collaborative watershed governance: Water governance and Indigenous communities in British Columbia,Canada

First Nations in British Columbia (BC), Canada, have historically been—and largely continue to be—excluded from colonial governments’ decision-making and management frameworks for fresh water. However, in light of recent legal and legislative changes, and also changes in water governance and policy, there is growing emphasis in scholarship and among legal, policy and advocacy communities on shifting water governance away from a centralized single authority towards an approach that is watershed-based, collaborative, and involves First Nations as central to decision-making processes. Drawing on community-based research, interviews with First Nations natural resource staff and community members, and document review, the paper analyzes the tensions in collaborative water governance, by identifying First Nations’ concerns within the current water governance system and exploring how a move towards collaborative watershed governance may serve to either address, or further entrench, these concerns. This paper concludes with recommendations for collaborative water governance frameworks which are specifically focused on British Columbia, but which have relevance to broader debates over Indigenous water governance.     

Defining the forest,defending the forest: Political ecology,territoriality, and resistance to a protected area in the Dominican Republic

Political ecologists have considered the social and economic impacts that nature reserves, national parks and other forms of protected area can have on neighbouring communities, and how this can generate conflicts between them. This paper analyses such conflicts through the lens of territoriality, considering how the way protected area territories are created, delineated, and defined is linked to the social impacts experienced by local people. Conflicts between locals and conservation authorities over protected areas are about rival attempts to define the boundaries of protected areas, who the land should belong to, what it should be used for, and what its purpose is. Yet the ability of local people or conservation authorities to impose their meaning is unequal. It illustrates these processes with the example of a scientific reserve in the Dominican Republic, and a decades-long conflict to define what the reserve should mean, what it should look like, and who it should belong to.     

Postcolonial environmental justice: Government and governance in India

In this paper, we investigate the context within which struggles for environmental justice are taking place in India. We explore the ways in which postcolonial patterns of government and governance in India affect the ends, the means and the representation of these struggles, focusing on three particular areas: state reform, the judiciary and public interest litigation, and environmental social movements. We argue that India differs from west in the ambitious yet incomplete and contradictory nature of government-sponsored intervention in the environment, and in the particular nature of its public sphere, both of which have been important in shaping struggles for environmental justice. Our wider intention is not merely to catalogue these differences, but to use the Indian material to raise questions about the emphases and implicit assumptions of western environmental justice literature, and reflect on how these may be need reconsideration when working in postcolonial contexts.     

Sources and composition of organic matter for bacterial growth in a large European river floodplain system (Danube, Austria)

Dissolved and particulate organic matter (DOM and POM) distribution, lignin phenol signatures, bulk elemental compositions, fluorescence indices and microbial plankton (algae, bacteria, viruses) in a temperate river floodplain system were monitored from January to November 2003. We aimed to elucidate the sources and compositions of allochthonous and autochthonous organic matter (OM) in the main channel and a representative backwater in relation to the hydrological regime. Additionally, bacterial secondary production was measured to evaluate the impact of organic carbon source on heterotrophic prokaryotic productivity. OM properties in the backwater tended to diverge from those in the main channel during phases without surface water connectivity; this was likely enhanced due to the exceptionally low river discharge in 2003. The terrestrial OM in this river floodplain system was largely derived from angiosperm leaves and grasses, as indicated by the lignin phenol composition. The lignin signatures exhibited significant seasonal changes, comparable to the seasonality of plankton-derived material. Microbially-derived material contributed significantly to POM and DOM, especially during periods of low discharge. High rates of bacterial secondary production (up to 135 μg C L(-1) d(-1)) followed algal blooms and suggested that autochthonous OM significantly supported heterotrophic microbial productivity.     

Rethinking responsibility and care for a postcolonial world

Both responsibility and care have much to offer in thinking through the relationalities that make up a postcolonial world. Although contemporary political systems often posit responsibility and care within the context of individuated and autonomous selves, geographers have done much to relocate responsibility and care within narratives of interdependency - spatially and temporally. They have argued that both terms offer a route for thinking about ethical geographical relations between myriad places. In this article we take this project further, by looking at how the nature and shape of these relationships might be construed in a postcolonial world. We suggest that, through a more critical engagement with postcolonial thinking, any exploration of existing practices of responsibility and care will not only reveal the enormous potential of imagining these geographies as forms of existing and evolving relationalities, but will also lead us to interrogate the deployments of these terms in the context of past and present inequalities. We show that routing care and responsibility through postcolonial geographies moves us towards a more pragmatic responsiveness, one that involves a ‘care-full’ recognition of postcolonial interaction.