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Special economic zones have long been argued to promote social and economic “development” and, more recently, to “activate” and integrate refugees. In this paper, we critically examine a supposedly prime example of the nexus between “development” and “refugee integration”: the Jordan Compact, a bilateral agreement between Jordan and the European Union adopted in 2016. In the article, we draw on world-systems approaches, on the one hand, while emphasising the necessity of their spatial-theoretical updating, on the other hand. By presenting the empirical example of the garment industry’s global production networks and the working and living conditions in the Jordanian special economic zones, we highlight that uneven development glocally constituted the multi-scalar socio-spatial fragmentation of labour and the reproduction of conditions, constitutive of neoliberal globalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational decisions represent an investment in the future. Various aspirations and goals are linked to the decision to attend a specific university. Thus, the educational decision provides information on how the present and possibilities of the future are individually evaluated. This article focuses on the decision to study at the German Jordanian University, which includes a year abroad in Germany. What goals and expectations are attached to the choice? What role does student mobility play in the decision-making process? And last but not least, to what extent is it a collective decision that is influenced by the family? The trajectories of nine students are used to shed light on their educational decisions and the associated visions of the future. Jordan, a country located in a conflict-ridden region with a young population, provides an exciting context. It becomes clear that educational decisions are multidimensional and are accompanied by an interaction between educational and migration aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]