Population dynamics, socioeconomic change and land colonization in northern Jordan, with special reference to the Badia Research and Development Project area

The paper reports on preliminary observations from northern Jordan aimed at testing the view that people migrate from areas of relatively high potential for cultivation to the marginal semi-arid/arid frontier because of social differentiation, political factors or environmental constraints. Cultivated areas have been mapped from multi-date remotely sensed imagery, a typology of fields in the area has been constructed, and their dynamics between 1972 and 1992 analysed. In addition, semi-structured interviews with farmers attempted to understand the reasoning behind village growth, changing farming systems and cultivation practices. The findings are discussed in the context of the area's demography and national and regional shifts in economic policy.     

'In the shadow of hierarchy': meta-governance, policy reform and urban regeneration in the West Midlands

This paper explores the relationship between political hierarchy and the complex webs of political organization associated with urban governance. Deploying the concept of meta-governance and a study of urban policy reform in the West Midlands region of England, this paper claims that state and governmental hierarchies continue to have a crucial role in coordinating the activities of governance regimes in the UK. This paper concludes by considering the effects of hierarchical power on the systems of political participation and representation that are associated with urban governance.     

简论90年代以色列的经济政策

现代以色列经济是外向型经济。90年代以来,中东和平进程在前进,以色列经济在发展,工党政府和利库德集团政府都把进一步改革开放、奠定以色列的中东经济强国地位作为主要目标,为此,制定了推进私有化、吸引外资、扩大对外贸易的政策以及一系列相关政策,对以色列经济的现状和将来有着重大影响,也对中东区域经济的发展有着促进作用,同时也存在着某些问题。     

Certified emissions reductions and CDM limits: revenue and distributional aspects

The EU allows those installations that are subject to emissions trading to use a limited volume of certified emissions reductions (CERs), generated through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), to cover their own GHG emissions. These CERs can be used in addition to the EU allowances (EUAs), which were primarily allocated free to installations in Phase II of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) from 2008 to 2012. For the year 2008, the CER limits, which are differentiated by EU Member State, created substantial arbitrage rents (due to the CER-EUA spread) of approximately EU€250 million. Different options for the allocation of this rent are discussed and it is found that, according to economic theory, making the right to use CERs tradable or the regulator pre-committing to buying CERs at the level of the relevant limit reduces the inefficiencies connected to the current regulation. Furthermore, auctioning these CER usage rights shifts the rents created through the CER-EUA spread to the Member State itself. The improved design and implementation of CDM limits justifies EU policy makers intervening to correct previously competition-distorting choices.     

Cultural policy in Singapore: negotiating economic and socio-cultural agendas

In this paper, I examine the role of cultural policy in a newly industrialised economy, which is at the same time a state with a short history and only nascent beginnings in nation-building and efforts to construct a distinctive cultural identity. Using Singapore as the site of analyses, develop an understanding of the intersection between the economic and socio-cultural agendas behind cultural development policies. I illustrate the hegemony of the economic, supported by the ideology and language of pragmatism and globalisation. At the same time, I explore the reception of and attempts to negotiate (and at times, contest) state policies by “cultural practitioners” – artists, dancers, playwrights, actors, directors and so forth, illustrating the disjuncture between state policies and practitioners' ideals. This may be cast as a conflict between social and cultural development priorities as envisaged by the practitioners as opposed to economic development priorities as embodied in the state’s cultural economic policies.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviewed in this article: Marine Resources of Kuwait: Their Role in the Development of Non-oil Resources . Fatimah H. Y. al -Abdul -Razzak Recollections of a Revolution: Geography as Spatial Science . Mark Billinge , Derek Gregory and Ron Martin Entre l'Eden et l'Utopie . Luc Bureau Developments in Political Geography . M. A. Busteed The Elements of Graphing Data . William S. Cleveland Rural Resource Management . Paul J. Cloke and Chris C. Park Third World Atlas . Ben Crow and Alan Thomas Exploitation, Conservation, Preservation: A Geographic Perspective on Natural Resource Use . Susan L. Cutter , Hilary Lambert Renwick, and William H. Renwick . Wine Regions of the Southern Hemisphere . Harm Jan de Blij Regional Development: Problems and Policies in Eastern and Western Europe . George Demko The Geographer at Work . Peter R. Gould Change in the Amazon Basin . John Hemming Geography Since the Second World War . R. J. Johnston and P. Claval Urbanization in China: Town and Countryside in a Developing Economy 1949–2000 A.D. , R. J. R. Kirkby Transport and Communications for Pacific Microstates: Issues in Organisation and Management . Christopher C. Kissling Fluvial Forms and Processes . David Knighton The Urban Millennium . Josef W. Konvitz Technological Transition in Cartography . Mark Stephen Monmonier Field Guide to Soils and the Environment: Applications of Soil Surveys . Gerald W. Olson Northern Australia: The Arenas of Life and Ecosystems on Half a Continent . Don Parkes A Killing Rain: The Global Threat of Acid Rain . Thomas Pawlick From the Family Farm to Agribusiness: The Irrigation Crusade in California and the West, 1850–1931 . Donald J. Pisani Hybrid Maize Diffusion in Kenya . Franz -Michael Rundquist Warning and Response to the Mount St. Helens Eruption . Thomas F. Saarinen and James L. Sell Coastal Geomorphology in Australia . B. G. Thom Tropical Rain Forests of the Far East , 2nd ed . T. C. Whitmore The Dark Side of the Earth . Robert Muir Wood Categorical Data Analysis for Geographers and Environmental Scientists , Neil Wrigley     

天津市海岸带环境的空间价值及其政策启示

运用政策选择实验的方法, 对天津市沿海地区居民的政策需求进行了实证分析, 定量地考察了海岸带环境 的价值及其在不同地区和不同属性居民之间呈现的空间差异, 对不同类型经济开发的空间影响强度, 及海岸带开 发、防灾减灾和生态环境保护政策的效果进行了比较分析。主要研究结论包括, ①工业开发明显降低了居民的效 用, 说明在目前的产业结构和增长方式下, 工业开发是以生态环境的破坏为代价的, 需要通过产业和环境政策的统 筹和协调来解决工业开发与环境承载力的矛盾。相反, 渔业开发仍然会带来正面的综合效益, 因此, 渔业作为天津 沿海地区未来发展的重点产业之一是适宜的。②塘沽和汉沽地区海岸带环境的价值具有明显的空间差异性。例如, 在塘沽区, 港湾开发和娱乐业的发展给居民带来负面影响, 而在汉沽区, 这些开发所带来的影响不显著。因此, 应该 根据不同地区的实际情况确定海岸带管理政策的重点和目标, 并实施差别化的生态环境补偿政策, 对产业开发格 局进行调控。③不同类型人群对于海岸带政策的敏感性存在差异, 因此有必要根据各类人群的空间集聚程度制定 有针对性的政策。上述研究结论为海岸带管理的定量决策, 如凝炼各地区海岸带规划的目标、制定产业开发的生态 补偿政策提供了一定的科学依据。     

东北振兴政策体系解构及区域经济响应研究

本文回顾、梳理了2003—2020年东北振兴战略实施以来国家和地方出台的一系列有关政策,分别在国家、省、地市级层面归类总结、解读,对政策的层级、类型和时序进行解构性分析,并基于Python自主编程对相关政策进行文本数据挖掘,最后对东北振兴系列政策引发的区域经济及国企改革效应进行评价。结果表明：① 国家、省、地市围绕东北振兴形成了多类型、多层级、多时间节点的复杂政策系统;② 东北振兴政策体系形成与变迁具有稳定性、连续性、时效性、地域性等特征;③ 东北振兴政策从长期尺度看推动了区域经济发展,但地方对政策依赖度高,短期政策刺激效果明显但可持续性较差;④ 在政策引导和支持下,东北地区国企改革不断深化,创新驱动效果明显,但也面临关键技术瓶颈。     

Climate policy innovation in the South – Domestic and international determinants of renewable energy policies in developing and emerging countries

This article attempts to disentangle the determinants of the adoption of renewable energy support policies in developing and emerging countries. By analyzing policies already implemented in industrialized countries, we focus on the diffusion but not the invention of climate-relevant policies. We look at four different types of policies (renewable energy targets, feed-in tariffs, other financial incentives and framework policies) and consider both domestic factors and international diffusion mechanisms utilizing a discrete-time events history model with a logit link on a self-compiled dataset of grid-based electricity policy adoption in 112 developing and emerging countries from 1998 to 2009. In general, we find stronger support for the domestic determinants of policy adoption, but also substantial influence of international factors. Countries with a larger population and more wealth have a higher probability of adopting renewable energy policies. Only in some specific cases do natural endowments for producing renewable energy encourage governments to adopt policies, and hydro power resources even correlate negatively with the adoption of targets. Among the international determinants, emulation from colonial peers and membership within the EU seem to facilitate policy adoption. International climate finance is less relevant, as the Global Environmental Facility and the Clean Development Mechanism may only increase the adoption of frameworks and targets, but they have no influence on tariffs and incentives.     

Chinese overseas industrial parks in Southeast Asia: An examination of policy mobility from the perspective of embeddedness

The development of overseas industrial parks is a key component of the Belt and Road Initiative and an expected experimental way of promoting inclusive globalization by inventing new forms of cooperation between China and local host countries. Policy mobility, a classic theory within international political geography addressing the connection between local and global policies, has implications for overseas industrial parks development. In this paper, we argue that policies are not easily moved directly from one place to another; instead, policies are embedded due to the role of local actors in policy mobility. This article first provides an overview of seven China-Southeast Asia economic and trade cooperation zones identified by the Ministry of Commerce, and analyzes their key participants. It then discusses policy mobility by looking into the roles of revenue, land, and talent in developing these industrial parks. The paper finds that these parks face challenges, such as the complicated geographical environments of host countries, huge pressure from enterprise investment capital, the lack of overseas service platforms, and underdeveloped agglomeration economies. In the light of the current situation, policy suggestions for the future sustainable development of overseas industrial parks are put forward.