Regional policy in Cameroon: The case of planning without facts

Cameroon's economic development is without doubt a story of success. Since independence, the country has been favoured by internal and external advantages but, as in most African countries south of the Sahara, the results of regional development policies — in spite of an existing and sound planning structure — are disappointing. Cameroon was always well-provided with the now fashionable ‘integrated’, ‘basic need-oriented’, ‘bottom-up’ and ‘development-from-within’ regional policy programmes. In discussing such a programme and proposing elements of a modified development strategy, it can, however, be argued that even the first step of creating a basic regional development project has been far from satisfactory. Further, in spite of government rhetoric, no regional development policy as normally defined exists. What does exist are regional effects of development projects. This prompts the question of whether it may be preferable to replace the term ‘regional development policy’, and to return to a ‘regionally based, comprehensively planned, project policy’, based on facts which first have to be collected and analysed.     

Natural resources as national fantasies

The development of agriculture is recognised to be an essential preliminary and on-going element in the economic development strategies of most developing countries. The contribution of agricultural production to gross domestic product, food self-sufficiency and export income are amongst the major development goals exercising the governments of such countries. In addition, in many countries the agricultural sector is regarded as one with a potential for generating a surplus to sustain other economic activities and to have an important stabilising role in reducing the movement of population from rural areas. This article discusses renewable natural resources, soil and water, as the basis for agricultural development and especially of irrigated farming. A number of case studies will be referred to which illustrate the idea that many national governments attribute quite unreal qualities to soil and water resources. Once development schemes were launched appropriate rhetoric was mobilised to invest the reclamation of ‘virgin lands’ and ‘new lands’, with the character of ‘green revolutions’. These ventures have been sustained not because of their success but because the ‘fantasies’ have been circulated amongst ill-formed urban populations, remote from the arduous realities of land reclamation. Case studies in the Soviet Union and the Middle East are discussed.     

The strategy of region-specific development in Italy

This article looks at the ‘region-specific’ economic development strategy which has emerged in Italy during the last fifteen years as a result of the creation of institutionalized regional government. It is argued that the decentralization of decision-making and administrative powers in the areas of territorial, economic and social planning has coincided with the reorientation of manufacturing to ‘service-intensive’ production and permitted the formulation of diversified roles by the regions in areas of policy-making vital to regional development. The article concludes with a discussion of the roles fulfilled by the regions in the promotion of region-specific products and services.     

The structure and territorial distribution of industry in RomaniaTerritoriale struktur und verteilung der industrie in RumänienLa structure et la répartition territoriale de l'industrie en Roumanie

Socialist industrialization, with its multiple economic and social consequences, has helped Romania to become, within a short stage of development, an industrial-agrarian country, with a well-balanced and dynamic economy. The changing structure of its industry is characterized chiefly by the ever increasing importance of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, machine building and chemicals. The well-balanced regional distribution of industry is based on geographical, economic and social criteria, such as distance from sources of raw material or consumption centres, intensive use of transport and the use of the available industrial basis, the raw materials, and labour. Unlike the previous periods, the geographical distribution of industry today is characterised by four great industrial areas —the south, the south-west, the centre and the east as well as other more restricted areas and an important number of industrial centres.     

Geographic analysis of manufacturing industry in Saudi Arabia

The study focuses on the analysis of manufacturing industry in Saudi Arabia by examining development, structure and spatial distribution. The analysis has shown that Saudi manufacturing is basically of recent development and is highly capital- and energy-intensive, particularly the hydrocarbon-based groups. Perhaps the most conspicuous weakness of Saudi industrialization is the almost total dependence on expatriate labour. Foreign capital and expertise share in the building and development of the industrial sector by providing technical, managerial, and marketing skills. Saudi industry is heavily subsidized by the government, and the public sector plays a commanding role in industrial development. Large-scale basic industries are owned and run by the government, while light manufacturing of the import-substitution type is dominated by the private sector. One of the main characteristics of manufacturing industry is that it is scantily diversified, modestly concentrated and remarkably linked geographically but not functionally or structurally. Although the authorities are exerting tremendous efforts to achieve a regional balance in industrial development, Saudi manufacturing industry is significantly polarized, urban-oriented and highly associated with the major axes of population scatter. Like all developing countries beginning to industrialize, Saudi manufacturing industry faces certain problems which have to be resolved so as to lay the foundations for a sound and prosperous industrial future. The paper goes on to indicate problems and to suggest solutions.     

Learning from the history of disaster vulnerability and resilience research and practice for climate change

This paper calculated the embodied carbon in China export and its distribution in each industrial sector. The calculation results showed the total carbon emission of export experienced an increase before 2007 and then a decrease till 2010. The ratio of export embodied carbon accounting for the total carbon emission in China also increased from 31 % in 2002 to 52 % in 2007 and then declined to 40 % in 2010. As for distribution, the export embodied carbon emission of the following industries such as machinery and equipment manufacturing, metal products manufacturing industry, chemical industry, textile, clothing and leather products manufacturing industry ranked the highest. According to the calculation and analysis of the main driving factors of embodied carbon growth, we analyzed the structure effect, scale effect and technological effect’s influence on embodied carbon growth, respectively. We also calculated the trade competitiveness index of 17 export industries. Through research, we found that the products with strong international competitiveness belong to high-carbon-emission categories, which was the main reason of high carbon emission in China export. Finally, we proposed related policy suggestions to promote China’s export trade structural readjustment and optimization and China’s low carbon development in export.     

Production space and regional industrial evolution in China

A growing literature on evolutionary economic geography concludes that regional industrial evolution is path-dependent and is determined by the preexisting industries. This study more accurately calculates the industry relatedness based on the co-occurrence approach to portray the production space of China’s manufacturing sectors and then examines the impact of industry relatedness on regional industrial evolution. The findings report that industry relatedness does underscore the regional structural change in China but shows significant regional differences in the evolution path. The coastal region has strong tendency of path dependence in its industrial evolution, while North West and South West break the path-dependent trajectory and transition into high productive sectors distant from their own production network. The results suggest that governmental policies can play a crucial role in creating new paths in the West. Institutions matter to allow the significant role of industry relatedness in driving regional industrial evolution.     

Industrial strategy in Malaysia: the role of export processing zones

Industrial strategies and policies play a fundamental role in the overall development goal. The basic arguments and models surrounding industrialization in the developing countries are reviewed. Malaysia's industrial progress is atypical in the Third World and reflects the recent attempt to achieve an export orientation. A primary tool in the industrial strategy has been the export processing zone. The utility and function of this mechanism is discussed and evaluated within the Malaysian context. Employment in the zones represented about 8 % of manufacturing in 1980. Despite a recent deficit, exports and the zones' contribution to total exports display an upward trend. However, technology transfer and linkage creation have not been great. The lack of these developments results from the impact of the international product cycle mechanism. On an international scale, the locational pattern of zones is unstable since many firms are footloose and may, therefore, shift location in response to strong incentives. Housing and administration problems of the zones must be solved. In addition, a new package of incentives and a viable bargaining position must be developed in order for success to continue.     

Growth and change and the innovative firm

Regional economic development is largely influenced by technical progress, and innovative manufacturing firms are important in this context. Large, fast growing, innovative firms contribute significantly to growth by direct and indirect employment and income-generating impacts, and these are likely to be extended through time if the firms are capable of developing new product lines and markets. Unfortunately, ‘orthodox’ theories of the firm provide a poor basis for understanding ‘how’ and ‘why’ innovative firms come into existence, grow, change, and operate over time and geographic space. Behavioral—managerial notions, on the other hand, do appear to provide a useful basis for conceptualization. This paper examines some of these concepts and goes on to provide a framework for understanding growth and change in innovative, multiproduct, multiregional firms.     

Regional geography considered from the systems' approach

The main critiques of the term ‘region’ were directed in the 1950s against the ‘uniqueness’ of the region: being not repetitive, it was considered not to be of general value. In the author's opinion the term ‘uniqueness’ was misinterpreted: a region is made unique by the unique relationship between natural, cultural, economic, political and social elements existing in it. However, as these relationships are repetitive, or some at least can be repeated, regional geography is of general value. If the geographical study of a region invests its efforts and interests in functions, processes and relationships between the elements existing in a region, the concept of a region becomes, in fact, a concept of a system, with epistemological and methodolgical consequences. A model of ‘region as a system’ is the approach taken in this paper. Such an approach can resolve some basic problems of geography: the dichotomy between natural and anthropic elements of the region, which cannot be treated except by a systems approach; the tension existing between ‘space’ and ‘place’, which is perpetuated by the dichotomy between regional and systematic geography. Through a systems approach, the choice of a scale appropriate to a particular study can be directed by a distinction between system and subsystem; inclusion or exclusion of an element in the study of a region is not an arbitrary one, but depends on its relevance to the processes within the region. Perhaps the ‘personality of the region’, so often misinterpreted by scorners of regional geography, can be accepted as a legitimate part of the regional output.     

Research on China export structure adjustment: an embodied carbon perspective

This paper calculated the embodied carbon in China export and its distribution in each industrial sector. The calculation results showed the total carbon emission of export experienced an increase before 2007 and then a decrease till 2010. The ratio of export embodied carbon accounting for the total carbon emission in China also increased from 31 % in 2002 to 52 % in 2007 and then declined to 40 % in 2010. As for distribution, the export embodied carbon emission of the following industries such as machinery and equipment manufacturing, metal products manufacturing industry, chemical industry, textile, clothing and leather products manufacturing industry ranked the highest. According to the calculation and analysis of the main driving factors of embodied carbon growth, we analyzed the structure effect, scale effect and technological effect’s influence on embodied carbon growth, respectively. We also calculated the trade competitiveness index of 17 export industries. Through research, we found that the products with strong international competitiveness belong to high-carbon-emission categories, which was the main reason of high carbon emission in China export. Finally, we proposed related policy suggestions to promote China’s export trade structural readjustment and optimization and China’s low carbon development in export.

     

The role of environment and natural resources in territorial organization of the USSR economy

At present there is a tendency for the roles, in the economy, of the environment and natural resources to be interrelated. Economic factors have increasingly been affected by environmental impact in spatial economic organisation (ETO). The growth of production results in the constant increased consumption of natural resources. New sources (of inferior quality in the developed regions or in the regions with extreme conditions), formerly not exploited area now used. At the same time the following tendencies can be observed: increased concentration of production, more complicated branch structure, growth in number of manufacturing industries, decline in the share of mining in industrial output. This tendency is accompanied by the spatial disjunction of technologically interconnected industries (dealing with mining and processing of raw materials) and by the formation of new industrial integrations (not dealing directly with natural resources utilization). In this complicated situation the investigation of natural resources and of the environmental role in the spatial organisation of the economy is becoming of special relevance. In the author's opinion while investigating this problem the type of social system should be considered, as well as the level of development of productive forces and the combination of regional nature and economic conditions. Three aspects of investigation—branch, spatial and functional—are proposed. The analysis of natural resources and environmental impact the spatial organisation of the economy in each of mentioned aspects should be performed on different scales—local, regional, national and international levels. The approach to problem investigation is based on the analysis of data about the USSR. and exemplified. The investigators recommend the application of Soviet experience in this field by the geographers of other countries.     

Global,regional and local: new firm formation and spatial restructuring in China’s apparel industry

The rise of China as the ‘world factory’ has been attributed to the export-oriented industrialization largely driven by some fundamental transformations unfolding in China’s economic, political and cultural arenas, since the Reform and Opening-Up policies. As production costs and competitive pressures both rise, the flexible business environment that export-led production used to embed in has undergone dramatic restructuring and this has further pushed forward new rounds of spatial restructuring and industrial relocation, especially in China’s highly export-oriented apparel industry. Using a large firm-level dataset on new firm formation, we show the articulation of global, regional and local factors are shaping the new firm formation pattern and industrial relocation in interactional and collective ways. The econometric estimations also indicate the ways in which and the extents to which these factors affect firm location choice are highly determined by firm-specific capability.     

Divergent growth trajectories in China’s chemical industry: the case of the newly developed industrial parks in Shanghai,Nanjing and Ningbo

In the late 1990’s, the “new-economy” industries in China proved to be relatively vulnerable and were strongly hit by the financial crisis in Asia. As a result, a new economic support policy was introduced in China’s Yangtze Delta region, which put greater emphasis on the support of traditional industrial sectors, including the chemical industry. This paper investigates the effects of the growth of this industry, as well as the potential and current problems emerging from new growth paths. It compares the growth of three newly developed chemical industry parks in Shanghai, Nanjing and Ningbo. The paper is based on an institutional perspective of clustering processes arguing that regional industrialization is subject to formal and informal institutions which shape the growth paths and contribute to divergent regional trajectories. Although these industrial parks all benefit from the general economic upswing in China, their development is influenced by different business models, economic contexts, goals and strategies, leaving room for divergence and specialization. Due to the existing structure of operations, these parks have a great deal of potential but also face substantial challenges, such as the establishment of internal networks and close customer linkages. It is argued that this might limit their innovative capability in the future. Furthermore, their growth prospects differ depending on future government policies.     

粤港澳大湾区水资源现状及其与社会经济协同演化趋势——与国际湾区对比研究

粤港澳大湾区（以下简称大湾区）水资源现状及其演化规律关系到该区社会经济的高质量发展。本文对大湾区"9市+2区"近10年的社会经济与水资源现状及其协同演化规律进行分析研究。结果显示：目前大湾区供水主要依赖地表水，水资源的分布与区域经济发展不协调，作为区域发展核心引擎的香港、澳门、深圳（极度缺水）以及广州（重度缺水）人均水资源量过低。广州、佛山、中山、东莞（>80%）以及深圳（>40%）水资源开发利用程度高，水资源供需压力大。通过归因分析得到大湾区的水资源利用现状与社会经济的协同规律：产业结构影响用水结构以及水资源开发利用程度，控制用水效率。区域内产业结构与发展趋势，及其与世界湾区的对比分析验证了产业结构理论中的"配第-克拉克定理"。随着大湾区经济持续的发展与产业结构优化，大湾区用水效率将提高，人均用水量会逐步降低。同时城市公共用水、生活用水需求量将持续上升，需确保大湾区供水设施，供水量及供水安全满足未来社会经济发展需求。     

Simultaneity as a challenge for development

Societies in the Global South are simultaneously confronted with various challenges that societies in the Global North faced over a long period of time. From the beginning of the 18th century the Global North has faced challenges in line with its industrialization and modernization processes including population growth with the necessity to feed that growing population, rapid urbanization or infrastructure development. Solving these challenges during past centuries has led to highly developed societies but produced new threats: environmental degradation and climate change—features of Beck’s ‘reflexive modernity’. Today, societies in the Global South not only face similar challenges such as population growth, malnutrition or lacking infrastructure, but also the consequences of the human-made environmental change and its related risks. Change in the Global South has reached a previously unseen pace and notable simultaneity. This paper aims to operationalise and visualise the challenge of simultaneity. By identifying six indicators for three main issues, the extent of simultaneity will be analysed using the examples of Kenya, India, Brazil and Germany. The findings show that simultaneity is a key challenge for current social, economic and ecological transformations in the Global South.     

The decentralization of manufacturing industry: Recent American experience in perspective

Studies of economic development in the USA in the 1970s emphasized the strong growth of manufacturing in non-metropolitan areas and stressed the break implied with historical patterns of spatial concentration. Much of this growth took place, however, either in counties adjacent to existing metropolitan areas or in counties where existing urban centres were, as a consequence, raised to metropolitan size. Thus when new job growth is assessed on the basis of current definitions of SMSAs, the share of national manufacturing employment contained in metropolitan centres has increased. There has been no marked break with the historical pattern which has chiefly been one of growth of manufacturing employment at the metropolitan periphery. Important variations of experience occur, however, at the regional level and also according to the size of metropolitan areas. A study of the kinds of industry concerned in both metropolitan and non-metropolitan growth and in differential regional growth helps to explain the processes involved. The increasing role of ‘non-production’ workers in manufacturing also becomes a key feature here.     

New port developments and balanced regional growth: a Taiwan example

Ports are very visible manifestations of economic activity. Not only are they vital systems of infrastructure, indispensable to the smooth operations of international trade and, hence, the nation's well-being, but they can also serve as industrial complexes in their own right. They are, in effect, symbols of integrated growth centres enjoying both service and manufacturing sectors. Mindful of these critical attributes, planners have attempted to render them into positive elements of economic development, not excepting regional economic development. This study examines one such rendition, the port of Taichung, Taiwan, founded as a deliberate act of government to fulfil two objectives; namely, to facilitate the island's export-promotion strategy by avoiding trade disruption stemming from anticipated port bottlenecks and, secondly, to spearhead formal commitments to balanced regional growth. The approach adopted in this paper is essentially one of qualitative evaluation; that is to say, it examines the degree to which Taichung Harbour has conformed to the demanding expectations set for it. Serious structural limitations are elicited, limitations which have prevented the port from realizing its full potential. By the same token, the port's role in advancing balanced regional growth has also been disappointing. As the study shows, the latter result is almost inevitable given the exigencies exposed in the former. This paper concludes by stressing the need for clear formulation of growth-centre functions in conjunction with urging a determination on the part of planners to evade the trap of goal conflicts.