Tourism, Globalisation and Critical Security in Myanmar and Thailand

This paper seeks to articulate recent debates on globalisation and critical security with the process and local impact of international tourism development in Thailand and Myanmar (Burma). It argues that, although tourism is an important manifestation of the globalisation phenomenon, its impact on host societies is very much dependent upon the influence of local institutions and actors. Hence, the enquiry will focus principally upon the "global-local interface". The impact of tourism is viewed within the "new security" framework which involves broadening the notion of security beyond its traditional focus on military issues and inter-state relations into such realms as economic, environmental and societal security with a strong emphasis on sub-national situations. Using empirical examples of forced labour and human rights in Myanmar, the HIV/AIDS crisis and societal insecurity in Thailand and Myanmar, and the environmental impact of golf tourism in Thailand and elsewhere, the paper attempts to show how the perceived macro-level benefits of active tourism promotion are frequently traded off against significant, and occasionally severe, negative local security impacts. How such a situation occurs will be the principal focus of this investigation.     

中国城市空间扩展的非协调性研究

针对中国人多地少, 且处于城镇化快速发展阶段的客观现实, 以及城市空间扩展研究中存在的一系列问题, 比如相对缺乏合理性评价, 存在重实证轻理论, 重个案缺规律, 重特大、发达城市轻一般城市的不足, 本文从城市空间扩展非协调性的基础理论问题着手, 构建非协调性评价体系, 并以2009 年中国246 个地级市为研究单元, 对其扩展规律进行总结;然后从微观层面的行为主体博弈、要素流集聚扩散及制度安排反馈视角讨论了其内在机理;最后从可持续发展视角提出对策建议。结果表明:中国城市空间扩展效率低下, 表现在区际功能匹配性差, 城市化质量整体水平不高:内在“人口-经济-空间”城市化耦合协调度低, 用地增长弹性系数全国平均值为1.192, 其中大于1 的城市占26.42%, 土地资源浪费严重;空间分布呈现出由东往西依次递减的地理格局;城市的功能地位与铁路干线对其影响大, 呈现出地级市以上城市>地级市, 铁路干线城市>非铁路干线城市;通过机理分析揭示出, “产权区域”视角下的地方政府, 出于实现自身行为目标函数(政府绩效和地方财政可支配收入)最大化的考虑, 而在制度安排的框架下, 通过对要素流的做功而传导出来的制度反馈效应:现有制度安排强化了地方政府的“扩散冲动”;在政策建议部分, 基于地方政府的行为目标函数提出修改完善现有制度的建议。     

中国对缅甸直接投资的发展特征及趋势研究

随着中国-东盟自贸区的建立,中国与东南亚地区的经济合作不断加深。作为中国-东盟地缘经济合作的桥头堡,缅甸一直以来都是中国对外投资的热点区域。自军政府统治以来,由于和缅甸的传统友好关系,中国成为缅甸的最大的投资者,投资主要集中在油气资源、矿业资源、水电资源开发等资源相关领域,投资主体为大型的央企、国企等。地处地缘破碎地带,物产资源丰富,缅甸历来为战略要地。民主化改革后,众多大国势力进入对缅甸的投资和贸易,既在客观上对中国的对缅直接投资形成了竞争激励,又有主观上的挤压乃至遏制;随着缅甸国内边境战事的逐渐升级,中国企业对缅投资风险加大;中国企业对外投资未能更好融入当地,由此引发的群体性排华事件,也恶化了对缅的投资环境。未来中国对缅直接投资应进一步拓宽投资领域,融入多元的投资形式,着重对缅甸经济特区进行投资,并且在投资过程中兼顾各方利益。     

Comprehensive Evaluation of the Suitability of Agricultural Land in Myanmar

Myanmar is a country with an economy based on agriculture. It has rich agricultural resources and great potential for development. The development of agriculture in Myanmar is becoming increasingly important to international food security. Assessments of agricultural land resources in Myanmar are the basis for the country’s agricultural development and for food security evaluations. In this paper we used the MaxEnt model to analyze the relationship between the suitability of land for agricultural reclamation and the main environmental variables in Myanmar, and then constructed a model to comprehensively evaluate the suitability of land for agriculture in Myanmar. The results show that: 1) the overall accuracy of the MaxEnt model is high (AUC>0.8), which means there is a high correlation between the database of selected environmental indicators and the true distribution of cultivated land in Myanmar. 2) Soil depth is the most important factor affecting the suitability of land for agriculture in Myanmar. When the thickness of soil layer is less than 100 cm, the suitability of land for agriculture is low. With respect to topographic conditions, slope is the main factor affecting suitability. When the slope is greater than 20 degrees, the suitability of land for agriculture is low. With respect to climate conditions, precipitation is the main influencing factor. There is a positive correlation between river network density and land suitability. 3) Currently, 400 000 km² of the land resources in Myanmar are suitable for agriculture, and of this amount 290 000 km² are highly suitable, accounting for nearly 40% of the country's land area. The highly suitable land is distributed mainly in Magway, Sagaing, Ayeyarwady and Yangon provinces. The provinces are also important grain production areas in Myanmar, and this serves to validate the effectiveness of the method used in this paper.     

Imagining the borderlands: Contending stories of a resource frontier in Muang Sing

Muang Sing in Luang Namtha province, an administrative district of northern Laos bordering Myanmar and China, has been portrayed by the Lao government and international development agencies as a ‘poor’ rural region in need of development. To developers, Muang Sing's remoteness from major towns and the livelihoods of ethnic people such as the Akha in the uplands based on swidden agriculture and opium production characterized ‘poverty’. To address this rural poverty, state and development agencies devised land use zoning that would demarcate and regulate various land uses in line with a rural development plan for the district. This vision for regulated development began to go awry, however, as farmers and traders in Muang Sing launched their own rapid social and economic changes. In contrast to the official image of a backward rural district in need of outside assistance, this paper portrays farmers and local entrepreneurs of the Muang Sing borderlands as actively transforming their lives and agricultural landscapes. This paper challenges the official version of a remote, poor district untouched by regional trade through a focus on narratives of local people. Ethnographic research reveals the dynamic micro‐processes of agrarian transformation during recent decades to highlight the centrality of borderland people in reworking their lives and agricultural landscapes through cross‐border relationships in China.     

地方政府竞争对城市土地利用效率影响分析

利用面板随机前沿分析法研究了2009-2015年期间地方政府竞争对中国城市土地利用效率的影响,为规范地方政府的竞争行为并提高中国城市土地利用效率提供政策参考.研究结果表明:地方政府基础设施竞争对中国城市土地技术效率的提高具有促进作用,但效果并不显著,而地方政府财政收支竞争、土地优惠政策竞争及外商直接投资竞争都不利于城市土地利用效率的提高.进一步测算各地区土地利用的技术效率发现,地方政府竞争影响下中国东、中、西部城市土地利用个体技术效率均出现明显下降.因此,应进一步完善城市土地利用中的地方政府竞争关系,改革地方政府官员考核机制,为城市土地集约利用提供良好政策环境.     

2009年后缅甸国内冲突的地缘政治学视角解读

缅甸建国后的数十年里,中央政府与各地少数民族武装之间的冲突一直处于打打停停的战乱状态。然而2009年后缅甸国内冲突开始走向国际化,其未来形势变得异常复杂多变。2015年缅甸国内冲突的规模和持续性更进一步印证了这点。文章从地缘政治学视角,结合实地调研所做的访谈和问卷,得出一个基本观点：缅甸国内地缘冲突已经不再是单纯的国内民族问题,而是全球地缘政治经济格局变化下的大国博弈的焦点之一;全球地缘格局变化导致大国地缘战略在缅甸汇聚,从而导致缅甸在全球地缘区位的变化。缅甸不过是大国全球博弈的一个新战场,再加上缅北和缅甸东部的地理特征和缅甸少数民族武装的地缘关系成就了当前和未来的冲突,乃至缅甸的国内局势走向。     

改革开放以来珠江三角洲基层非正规土地利用实践与制度创新——以东莞市长安镇为例

21世纪初,在对非正规经济研究的二元主义、新马克思主义和新自由主义理论解释基础上,出现了批判管治主义理论,重点关注国家权力与制度对非正规性产生的影响。基于该视角,以东莞市长安镇为例,运用质性研究方法,分析了改革开放先行区的珠江三角洲,其基层非正规土地利用实践的产生、表现及其与制度创新之间的关系。研究发现：改革开放以来,在国家土地制度缺失、正规土地管理制度颁布和实施阶段,以及省级政府主导的土地制度创新阶段,非正规土地利用实践经历了被政府鼓励、包容和默许及正规化的过程。部分非正规土地利用实践成为制度创新的根源。土地制度的演变经历了由乡村基层“自下而上”式向地方政府“自上而下”式推动的转变,在演变过程中具有非正规性特征,并服务于各个时期的城市与经济发展需求。未来的研究中,应更多的关注“自下而上”的制度创新和地方实践。     

地方自治背景下印度尼西亚空间规划面临的挑战

空间规划通过协调区域活动,合理地利用空间,辅助国家政治、经济和社会等事务的治理。印尼的空间规划由总统制定、落实,它体现着国家政治层面的发展愿景和任务。当国家治理结构改变时,各区域的空间规划及其具体的实施过程也随之改变。分权化和地方自治是2001年以来印尼政府体制的重大变革。通过相关规划法律条文和文献分析,发现空间规划开始面临一系列问题,主要表现为资金和专业人员的缺乏、政策交叉现象和空间规划违规行为等。此外,印尼的地方自治制度对空间规划产生了一定的积极影响：首先,在地方自治的背景下,地方政府通过系统的管理增加了区域收入,以支持空间规划的实施;其次,地方政府开始优先聘用空间规划的专业人员,制定更加有效的空间规划政策;最后,各地区加强了对空间规划违规者的执法力度,增强了区域间团结意识,从而促进地区繁荣发展。目前中央与地方之间在权力和利益分配上仍存在着大量的博弈和冲突,应加强上下级政府之间的沟通与合作,保障地方对地方相关事务决策时的参与权,建立地方利益表达与平衡的机制,提高中央决策的科学化和民主化水平。     

中国建设用地规模变化及其影响因素

建设用地是经济社会活动的重要基础, 建设用地规模变化与经济社会发展有着密切的关系, 深入分析中国建设用地规模及其变化的影响因素, 对于正确认识中国土地利用中存在的问题及其未来改革创新方向具有深远意义。基于1996 年和2007 年的中国土地利用变更调查数据及经济社会统计数据, 采用逐步回归分析方法, 分别对1996 年和2007 年中国建设用地规模及其变化同经济社会因素的相关关系进行了定量研究。结果发现, 1996 年和2007 年中国建设用地规模同经济社会因素的相关关系有所不同。1996 年中国建设用地规模与非农产业产值、总人口正相关, 与城镇居民人均收入负相关;2007 年建设用地规模仅与总人口呈正相关关系。1996-2007 年间中国建设用地规模变化仅与财政收入变化、城镇人口变化呈正相关, 与非农业产值变化没有显著的相关关系。这一结果表明, 1996 年中国建设用地规模与经济社会发展状况相对比较协调, 2007 年则变得不够协调, 1996-2007 年间建设用地规模增加的主要动力源于地方政府对土地财政的严重依赖性和中国的快速城镇化, 与产业发展和经济增长的协同性较弱。建设用地规模增加与经济社会发展的失调不利于中国社会经济的可持续发展, 从长远来看, 需要改革不合理的财政体制和土地征用制度。     

Neoliberalism, environmentalism, and agricultural restructuring in Morocco

Neoliberal restructuring in Morocco has been taking place for over twenty years. Beginning with a decade of structural adjustment, from the early 1980s to the early 1990s, parts of the public sector have been privatized, state services such as health care and education reduced, tariffs lowered and exports heavily promoted. In the dryland agricultural areas, a declensionist colonial environmental narrative has been appropriated to help justify and implement the neoliberal goals of land privatization and the intensification of agricultural production in the name of environmental protection. This paper contributes to areas of growing interest for geographers through an analysis of the underexplored relationship between neoliberalism and environmentalism, in the form of questionable environmental narratives, in Morocco. Land degradation in the dryland agricultural areas of Morocco is commonly blamed on overgrazing by local pastoralists despite existing documentation that suggests instead that ploughing of marginal lands and over-irrigation are the primary drivers of land degradation in the region. The deployment of this colonial environmental narrative of 'native improvidence' has facilitated an expansion of state power over collective rangelands under neoliberalism at the same time that government involvement has decreased in other sectors. The effects of neoliberalism in Morocco have been complex and thus the paper argues that current neoliberal reforms such as the Morocco–US free trade agreement need to be scrutinized carefully to prevent a further exacerbation of poverty as well as to prevent further land degradation in these areas.     

毒品贸易与国家主权破碎：基于缅甸北部的政治地理学分析

与中国云南省接壤的缅甸北部少数民族自治邦,包括掸邦和克钦邦,构成全球第二大非法毒品生产地的金三角核心区。通过借助历史档案和学术文献,聚焦缅甸北部,基于政治地理的视角,理清缅甸北部毒品贸易的历史起源,探讨了自缅甸1948年独立后毒品贸易给该国带来的政治与经济危机,以及相应的地缘政治冲突和外部干预。文章试图回答的问题有：为什么毒品贸易能够在缅北扎根?毒品贸易如何影响缅甸政府在其北部山区的主权完整和领土控制?文章的核心观点是毒品成为缅甸国内破碎主权和外部势力干预的原因和结果,毒品贸易以及与毒品相关的犯罪活动已经渗入缅北,严重危害了缅甸的主权完整。毒品贸易也为外部势力介入缅甸国内事务提供了契机。由于主体民族缅族控制的中央政府同缅北的少数民族地方武装间缺乏足够的信任,民族和解缺乏基础,也无法为全面禁毒创造有利的政治条件。因而,缅北的毒品贸易和缅甸的国家建设相互影响,导致国家主权破碎化和外部干预,导致缅北成为亚洲最贫穷落后的地区。文章分析以毒品为核心的开源权力机制与非正式或者非法全球化,丰富了Agnew有关主权的理论,在实践方面有助于认识中缅边境安全的复杂性,促进云南同东南亚的跨国区域化。     

基于国别地缘环境视角解析缅甸民主化改革进程

2021年2月缅甸军方再度接管国家政权后,其国内民主化改革进程戛然而止,再次引发学术界的广泛关注和讨论。然而,已有学者大多从政治、经济等单一性要素,或从多行为体间利益斗争的视角入手,缺乏多要素、多主体、多时空维度的综合分析视角对民主化改革进程的影响和未来前景的研究。随着地缘环境研究日益体现出跨尺度耦合、多元地缘体博弈和跨领域间互动等分析理念,本文将国别地缘环境分析理解为一个视角,构建其解读民主化改革的一般思路和框架;以缅甸为例,探讨不同时期缅甸地缘环境的情景特征及其对民主化改革进程的影响并预测其未来态势。研究得出：① 国别地缘环境视角可以被界定为跨尺度耦合下国内外多元地缘体利用跨领域间互动进行综合作用的情景分析。② 自1980年代以来,由于缅甸地缘环境从内乱外压、外压内稳到外稳内乱的演变,其民主化改革进程依次经历民主开启、转型过渡期、民主转型、民主巩固和民主倒退。③ 缅甸民主化改革的未来走向极为可能是在军方控制下民选政府与军方合作推进的适度改革。解析缅甸民主化改革进程不仅有利于帮助中国理解缅甸的政局变化进而构建和谐稳定的中缅关系,同时也能推动地缘环境的理论与应用研究,促进学术界对“应该推行怎样的民主化进程”这一问题的进一步思考。     

明代大同镇建设与生态环境变迁

为抵御蒙古贵族侵扰,明朝于长城沿线设置了九个军事重镇。大同镇位于北京西北部,是明代重要的军事屏障,因此十分重视大同镇的建设。有明一代,围绕大同镇的建设,大批军士征调于此,修筑边墙堡寨,屯垦土地。这些政策与措施虽然为明朝国防安全发挥了极其重要的作用,但对资源形成了巨大的消耗,使这一地区的生态环境发生了剧烈的变化。大片森林和草场被新垦土地所吞噬,生态效益迅速跌落,土壤保水能力差,风蚀、水蚀严重,土地不断荒漠化,不少以土地为生的百姓被迫留离失所,影响到该区域经济社会的发展。同时,严重的水土流失也导致了河流水性与水质发生变化,殃及下流北京以及沿岸地区。生态与环境是经济社会发展基本的物质基础,历史警示在区域经济建设中,我们只有提高环境保护意识,注重资源环境利用的科学性,才能达到经济社会发展与生态良性循环的双赢目标。     

Mapping Human Terrain in the Joint Army–Navy Intelligence Study of Korea (1945)

The concept of human terrain has become a prominent element of U.S. military strategy. It is a means to capture the cultural–geographical qualities of an enemy or target population. An early effort to map human terrain is found in the Joint Army–Navy Intelligence Study (JANIS) of Korea (1945). We argue that the JANIS report on Korea was paradigmatic for the U.S. military's contemporary geographical work and offers insights into the cultural politics of human terrain mapping. This explains why the JANIS text is cited by the National Geospatial-Intelligence College (NGC) today as an historical model. This article not only offers a window into the history of geography counterinsurgent but also shows that geography has been entwined with empire.     

国家尺度下耕地功能占补平衡模式研究

在耕地非农化必然要占用耕地的态势下,地方政府受GDP主义和土地财政的驱动,出现大量违规违法占地行为,造成省域内耕地总量占补平衡政策的严重异化,致使耕地质量和数量持续下滑,严重危及国家粮食与生态环境安全以及社会稳定。采用文献分析法和演绎推理法,基于国家尺度的层面,阐释了耕地功能占补平衡模式的内涵及价值,探讨了该模式的架构思路。应从认识和核算耕地功能入手,在确保社会耕地总功能不减少的前提下,坚持政府首责、社会补偿和比较优势原则,发挥不同区域耕地功能的比较优势,合理分配耕地保护的社会责任与成本,激发耕地保护主体的积极性,消除省域内耕地总量占补平衡模式的缺憾,实现有效保护耕地的目标。     

国家地缘脆弱性探索——缅甸案例及对中国地缘战略启示

当今国际地缘政治经济格局正处于剧烈变动中,并对缅甸地缘环境的复杂性及地缘脆弱性产生深刻影响。缅甸所在的大湄公河次区域日益成为世界重要地缘政治力量博弈前沿和焦点。系统研究缅甸国家地缘脆弱性,对于中国西部大开发、“一带一路”及周边地缘环境建设具有重要战略意义。本文基于地缘政治及人地关系地域系统等学科理论,规范分析与实证分析相结合,从暴露性、敏感性和适应性等方面构建了国家地缘脆弱性研究框架,系统探索了缅甸典型的国家地缘脆弱性特征。资源环境禀赋、内部地域结构等引致的经济政治体系、社会文化传承等方面是缅甸脆弱性的本底特征,而缅甸与中国的地缘关系及决策则从根本上影响其地缘战略位态。缅甸地缘政治脆弱性及其与中国的相互依赖使之成为西方“U型封堵大陆战略”的薄弱点和今后角逐的着力点,也是中国解围破局重要的地缘战略出口。近期中国应通过“一带一路”孟中印缅经济走廊建设,大力加强中缅之间政治、经济、文化等各方面友好关系。     

"The Island has been Handed over to Me": Ascension Island as a Company Colony, 1922–42

Ascension Island has spent almost all its years of organised human settlement as a military base. The major exception was between 1922 and 1942 when it was ruled by a civilian company, an unusual form of governance in modern colonial history. Though nominally subject to St Helena, and through that British colony to London, outside interference was largely restricted to rulings on colonial etiquette. The manager of the company was also head of both the government and legal systems. This paper considers the operation of this company colony, the tensions between the company and its workforce/subjects, and the contestation from 1942 for political supremacy between the company, the British state and the American forces that arrived when the island became involved in World War II. Ascension's narrative helps to exemplify some themes in postcolonial discourse and, given the unusual and extreme nature of the island's experiences, informatively broadens understanding of colonialism.     

BUILDING A COLONIAL RESOURCE MONOPOLY: THE EXPANSION OF SULPHUR MINING IN NEW SPAIN, 1600–1820*

The discovery, extraction, and monopolistic control of key natural resources was a priority of New Spain's colonial administration. Managing the region's abundant resources, however, often proved difficult for the Spanish Crown. Human and environmental challenges impeded protoindustrial growth and development, and monopolistic control of resources often met resistance. In this article I examine these processes in the context of New Spain's little‐known monopoly on sulphur—a yellow, powdery mineral the Crown jealously guarded as its own. Sulphur was critical for gunpowder and explosives production, yet the Crown often failed to produce enough of it to meet the growing demand by its military and the silver blast‐mining industry. Colonial documents reveal administrators’ attempts to improve sulphur production through reform measures, which included advising sulphur miners on how to discover sulphur deposits and, eventually, how to develop their mines. Efforts to improve sulphur production were moderately successful, although the process was messy and inefficient.     

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.