From national to post-national territorial identities in Israel-Palestine

Territory remains a central component of national identity in the contemporary political discourse between Israelis and Palestinians, both populations opposing power sharing within the same space, for fear of the other's domination. The contemporary political discourse relates to conflict management and the desire for separate spaces within which national identities are strengthened through territorial/national homogeneity. The Zionist national ideology of most Jewish citizens of Israel has strong territorial roots; hence they reject the post-Zionist post-nationalist ideology, regardless of whether they accept the possibility of change in Israel's territorial configuration or of a diminishment in the importance of the territorial dimension of national struggle. The rights of residency and citizenship even of second and third generation Jewish citizens remain linked with the territorial configurations of a State that will continue to be called Israel and have a national anthem expressing the aspirations of a single, exclusive, national group. But within territorial readjustment, issues of configuration may become less relevant and in it is this sense that post-Zionism focuses on a discourse of territorial pragmatism, rather than the disappearance of territory from the nationality-citizenship debate altogether. It is part of a process of re-territorialization and spatial reconfiguration of political and national identities, not a reversal of territorialization, if only because there is no such thing as a post-territorial notion of the organization of political power. The boundaries of national identity become more permeable, more inclusive, but they do not disappear altogether.     

Rural diversification in Eastern Europe: Introduction

The decline in agricultural production and the inevitability of reduced employment on the land makes rural diversification an important priority. The papers in this collection outline the problem and indicate the range of options available, noting the differences between the northern and southern parts of the region. Attention is given to the settlement system because opportunity will vary according to the accessibility of urban areas. The tourist industry offers considerable opportunity but has implications for environmental conservation which should therefore attract greater attention. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

国土空间类型划分与主要特征分析

国土空间类型的综合划分是其后续规划、开发利用与保护的基石。首先,基于现有国土空间的主要类型及其深入划分的现实需求,选取空间维度、空间性质、使用用途、矿产资源价值/矿业空间规模和地下工程/空间规模作为文中对国土空间类型进行进一步划分的主要依据;其次,基于上述主要依据提出了较为完善的国土空间类型划分方案与体系,其涵盖了包括二维平面视角和三维立体视角的29类和45亚类陆域和海域国土空间;最后,简要分析了以上提出的不同类型国土空间的主要特征和规划开发要点,为其实现良性四维规划开发利用与保护提供了重要依据。     

Ethnicity in Eastern Europe: Historical legacies and prospects for cohesion

Eastern Europe lacks cohesion partly arising from a history of ethnic tension. Ways are now being found to overcome historic conflicts over alternative political structures, as the enlargement of membership for European institutions requires greater equality of rights at the same time as support and security is extended. Thus while ethnicity, as a political, social and cultural entity, persists in Eastern Europe as an essential element at the local level, it is now being seen more positively as cultural diversity and thus more compatible with democracy and a positive asset to national well-being. Multi-ethnic states are proving to be viable and some of the most intractable inter-ethnic problems (linked with the Hungarian minorities) are being addressed constructively. Yet there are signs that the southern part of the region is being marginalised regarding foreign investment. Also there is unease that European values are not being embraced unconditionally in parts of the Balkans. Recent military intervention has created fresh problems, committing the West to continued economic and political support to strengthen its stance on democracy and minority rights. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Agriculture in Eastern Europe: Communism, the transition and the future

The paper summarises the East European experience with socialist agriculture and notes that while production often failed to meet plan targets (thereby giving the impression of a sector in crisis), there was steady growth based on substantial investments in buildings, machinery, fertilisers and irrigation systems which provided food for the population at affordable prices. The increased spending power of higher salaries during the 1970s and 1980s also drew a positive response from agriculture in the context of significant reforms which, unintentionally, contributed to the demise of the communist system in 1988–1990. Transition to a market economy has cast agriculture into a state of great uncertainty through restitution and the end of price controls, combined with the disruption of trade contacts with the Former Soviet Union. Falling real wages have reduced demand while the overtures being made to the European Union (with its substantial food surpluses) suggest that reduced agricultural output may be a permanent reality. In this case the thrust of rural development will have to give more attention to the quality of the environment and the provision of alternative employments for country dwellers. It remains to be seen how far small family holdings can be maintained in the context of farm diversification and pluriactivity.     

Climate change and coastal evolution in Europe

Geologie en Mijnbouw -     

Geochemistry, Petrogenesis and Geodynamic Relationships of Miocene Calc-alkaline Volcanic Rocks in the Western Carpathian Arc, Eastern Central Europe

We report major and trace element abundances and Sr, Nd andPb isotopic data for Miocene (16·5–11 Ma) calc-alkalinevolcanic rocks from the western segment of the Carpathian arc.This volcanic suite consists mostly of andesites and dacites;basalts and basaltic andesites as well as rhyolites are rareand occur only at a late stage. Amphibole fractionation bothat high and low pressure played a significant role in magmaticdifferentiation, accompanied by high-pressure garnet fractionationduring the early stages. Sr–Nd–Pb isotopic dataindicate a major role for crustal materials in the petrogenesisof the magmas. The parental mafic magmas could have been generatedfrom an enriched mid-ocean ridge basalt (E-MORB)-type mantlesource, previously metasomatized by fluids derived from subductedsediment. Initially, the mafic magmas ponded beneath the thickcontinental crust and initiated melting in the lower crust.Mixing of mafic magmas with silicic melts from metasedimentarylower crust resulted in relatively Al-rich hybrid dacitic magmas,from which almandine could crystallize at high pressure. Theamount of crustal involvement in the petrogenesis of the magmasdecreased with time as the continental crust thinned. A strikingchange of mantle source occurred at about 13 Ma. The basalticmagmas generated during the later stages of the calc-alkalinemagmatism were derived from a more enriched mantle source, akinto FOZO. An upwelling mantle plume is unlikely to be presentin this area; therefore this mantle component probably residesin the heterogeneous upper mantle. Following the calc-alkalinemagmatism, alkaline mafic magmas erupted that were also generatedfrom an enriched asthenospheric source. We propose that bothtypes of magmatism were related in some way to lithosphericextension of the Pannonian Basin and that subduction playedonly an indirect role in generation of the calc-alkaline magmatism.The calc-alkaline magmas were formed during the peak phase ofextension by melting of metasomatized, enriched lithosphericmantle and were contaminated by various crustal materials, whereasthe alkaline mafic magmas were generated during the post-extensionalstage by low-degree melting of the shallow asthenosphere. Thewestern Carpathian volcanic areas provide an example of long-lastingmagmatism in which magma compositions changed continuously inresponse to changing geodynamic setting. KEY WORDS: Carpathian–Pannonian region; calc-alkaline magmatism; Sr, Nd and Pb isotopes; subduction; lithospheric extension     

Urban and regional restructuring in Eastern Europe: the role of foreign investment

The annual conference of the Royal Geographical Society/Institute of British Geographers, held in Exeter in January 1997, offered wide coverage of issues relating to urban and regional restructuring in Eastern Europe. This paper attempts to summarise the main arguments to emerge from the seminars and to provide a coherent view of the discussions. In the urban context, there was consideration of ownership change and the growth of the tertiary sector, but with significant tension between planners and local residents. Enterprise in cities showed wide spatial variations according to the quality of the infrastructure and status in the urban hierarchy. Regional restructuring was also shown to be uneven, given the global scale of the competition for investment. But substantial progress was reported in some regions, despite a tendency to exaggerate the impact of foreign investment in the early years of the transition.     

The relocation of Nigeria's Federal Capital: A device for greater territorial integration and national unity

As an important feature in the political geography of a country, the location of the capital of a state is of great significance especially as any geographical forces which have affected the political history of a country reach their most intensive expression in the choice of site for the development of the capital city. The decision to relocate it is usually an exceedingly tough one to make and difficult to follow up. In the post-colonial era, Nigeria like many newly independent African States inherited a capital which is central in respect of international trade but eccentric in relation to the country's administrative and cultural hinterlands. Lagos is a typical example. Although the city continues to function as the federal capital, a new site has been selected for its relocation prompted by administrative and political considerations, physical limitations, and the numerous problems resulting from excessive concentration of the nation's resource there. It is hoped that the new site in the country's geometric centre will bring a long-dormant region into effective settlement by spurring a central migration that will open new agricultural frontiers, create a more equitable distribution of population and above all foster the growth of a core region in and around which the state idea could develop.