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From the perspective of investment-driven to innovation-driven for high-quality development, this study discussed an influence mechanism of investment structure optimization on the industrial agglomeration degree and its growth path of balanced regional economics. We put forward assumptions about their relationship with a mediator of the regional innovation capability and a moderator of the market-oriented business environment to solve problems of the regional economic gap to accelerate the construction of a unified national market in China. We used the regional industrial data of 31 provinces in China from 2004 to 2017 to verify these hypotheses. Finally, we found that regional innovation capability completely moderates the relationship between investment structure optimization and industrial agglomeration degree, and the market-oriented business environment adequately moderates the relationship. This result shows that regional innovation capability and market-oriented business environment restrict industrial agglomeration degrees and accelerate the integration of diversified capital. So, improving the investment of human capital and R&D capital is the key to solving the regional economic gap. It has enriched the research of high-quality development and provided necessary enlightenment for the practical application of regional industrial economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new interpretation of place brand as a multilevel threshold public good (MTPG) produced by the interaction of narratives from different geographical levels. Using an original dataset of Google trends and tweets from Italian provinces and regions, we test the hypothesis that place branding has a multilevel structure. We further test the MTPG framework applied to place branding, showing that place branding is influenced by different geographical levels which can trigger a spillover in terms of attractiveness if they contribute to crossing a threshold point. The results confirm the presence of a provision point in place branding, showing that the proposed MTPG framework fits the phenomenon. This article contributes to the literature on place branding and brands by providing a new lens through which to interpret the phenomenon, which may be useful for a better understanding and measuring of the interaction of branding strategies operating at different spatial scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An admirer of John Maynard Keynes and an advocate of a historically grounded economic theory, the French economist, Bernard Maris, investigated the possible emergence of alternative monetary, productive, and distributive institutional arrangements for a more just society. Based on a dialogue between institutional economics and Bernard Maris, the present paper aims at proposing general guidelines for the construction of a plan for subnational development towards a more equitable and inclusive society on the regional, individual, and geo-economic levels. With a special focus on the region of Occitanie—Maris's native region, located in the Southwest of France—the study borrows Karl Polanyi's lens, in his The Great Transformation, to envision a possible reduction of dependency in each one of those three levels through the process of decommodification of money, labor, and land, respectively. Because of its ability to take into consideration specificities (being them departmental, territorial, and/or social), institutional economic theory seems adequate to support subnational development, especially in a region with great diversity and a high level of socio-economic and geographic disparity like Occitanie. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no doubt that major regional disparities exist within China. The gap between its eastern coastal regions compared with the central and western regions has only grown wider over time. China's special economic zones (SEZs) are defined as small geographical areas that allow the integration of free-market principles to attract additional foreign investment. However, the creation and success of SEZs has led to prosperity in the coastal regions of China, creating additional economic disparity between regions. This paper posits that one solution to reduce regional disparities is to extend the influence of the SEZs, or even set up new ones in different areas of the country, to spur investment and close the economic gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of a vibrant clean technology (or 'cleantech') sector has numerous advantages for a regional economy, among them economic development and job creation. But how do governments go about developing this sector? General demand policies and environmental regulations are clearly important, but this review of regional cleantech policies focuses on the less well-recognized area of governmental assistance for cleantech-business development. The research identifies four main policy instruments: clean-energy and high-technology funds; commercialization and incubation support; research, development, and testing facilities; and assistance to business networking organizations such as business associations. Two cases of cleantech-sector development, one in California and one in New York State, are discussed in more detail. They show how state- and local-demand policies provide important background assistance but also highlight the importance of developing independent intermediary organizations that represent and network the cleantech-business community. Moreover, this focus on the business-networking side of clean-energy policies can also help to broaden political support, especially in conservative regions where environmental frames are controversial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by ongoing research into the cluster concept that considers dynamic features of economic development and the cluster life cycle, differences between traded clusters and local activity across different spatial scales are examined for Ireland. Using recent cluster definitions for Europe, this paper presents clustering patterns within the Irish economy from 2008 to 2012. We report on data requirements when applying the benchmark cluster definitions to Irish data. Integrating small, open economy features with life-cycle concerns, we focus on specific clusters in Ireland, along with their export performance, noting that appropriate cluster boundaries are neither regional nor national. Analyses indicate that while Ireland hosts a number of internationally competitive clusters, foreign-owned firms remain substantially more productive than indigenous enterprises. We identify the geographical location of these prominent clusters at the NUTS-3 regional level and highlight the role of regional features for differences in adaptive cycles of clusters. We identify a substantial portion (60%) of Irish regional wage variation relates to the different cluster mixes across regions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is a growing recognition that regional growth outside major urban centres should not – indeed cannot – be marginalized or ignored. In Europe, especially, important work now considers the growing role and importance of small and medium-sized cities in terms of spatial flows and networks and alternative pathways to economic growth than the city-centric, mega-urban approach. However, despite their prominence in economy geography, there is little mention of global production networks in this debate; and there has been much less focus on national contexts that lie beyond the traditional Euro-American heartlands of neoliberal capitalism. In the paper we address this issue by analysing the province of Korat in the north-east Thailand, revealing how Korat was unprepared for an influx of new firms; however, we note the untapped potential of peripheral regions to contribute to ameliorating regional inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The general idea of social capital is that relationships matter. In this sense, the trust, cooperation and reciprocity involved in these relationships can have a positive impact on the wealth of society by reducing transaction costs, facilitating collective actions, and lowering opportunistic behavior. This work sheds light on the different theoretical and empirical problems that a scholar is likely to face in dealing with social capital research and analysis. We propose a critical roadmap of the social capital theories and applications for a general audience, nonusers included, with particular attention to the works of political and social economists. We provide a critical debate on the different definitions and measures produced, the theoretical frameworks developed, and the empirical techniques adopted so far in the analysis of the impact of social capital on socio-economic outcomes. We turn to the limitations of these techniques and suggest some basic strategies to reduce the magnitude of these limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides insights into the structural role that knowledge-intensive business service (KIBS) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play in de-industrialized regions in the UK at a critical time of change. It establishes what contribution KiBS make to their regional economies in terms of exports to other regions in the UK as well as abroad, but also what is their role in providing support to other sectors in their respective regions. The paper draws evidence from a survey of KiBS SMEs in the North East and West Midlands conducted during the recent recession. The results exhibit a degree of wider generalizability to other regions, which may be characterized as de-industrialized. Results from the West Midlands and North East survey show that although KiBS play an important role in the local economic base of de-industrialized regions, they are not as important as their elite, tradable counterparts in global cities such as London. However, KiBS SMEs in the North East and West Midlands provide important support to their regional clients, many of which are in the declining manufacturing and public service sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Place branding has become an increasingly integral part of local and regional economic development strategies in the global competition for business investment. Professional and academic understanding remains limited, however, regarding whether place branding can be classified as a 'high-road' policy with substantive and effective merits or a 'low-road' policy that is generally inefficient and ineffective at fostering sustainable economic growth. Through the context of business attraction, this study examines whether place branding represents 'high-road' policy by comparing what economic development practitioners are doing to create and support their brands against the needs and desires of businesses considering relocation. The research goal is achieved through a series of in-depth interviews with economic development practitioners (n = 25) and private-sector site selectors (n = 10) in the province of Ontario, Canada. Gaps between policy and practicality are identified by comparing the responses of the two groups. Results demonstrate that place branding has the potential to be 'high-road' policy given its utility in business attraction. In its current implementation, however, place branding remains better described as a 'low- road' policy, as it is not being used efficiently. Several gaps in place-branding policy are identified, including an overreliance on visual identities and narratives, poor communication of the brand information, and overemphasis on presenting quality of life and affordability. These gaps present possible areas of ineffectiveness that can limit the ability of a place brand to attract investment, but provide areas of future policy improvements, thus enabling place branding to shift from 'low road' to 'high road'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When I first met Don, I was already an established research fellow in regional economics. Don’s subsequent influence directly helped me follow my dreams, passions and interests. Thus, my academic career grew, developed and transformed from regional economics, to information economics, and eventually to evolutionary economics. This reflection traces that evolving process, illustrating Don’s influence throughout. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In an era when it is proclaimed that, through globalization, the world has become flat, the unevenness of economic and social development is often overlooked or suppressed. This case study explores the conditions of uneven geographical development in the urban space of central Florida. Focusing primarily on the Reedy Creek Improvement District ( RCID), better known to much of the world as Walt Disney World, and on Celebration, the community developed by the Disney Corporation in the 1990s, the relationship between tourism, the defining economic sector in the region, and uneven geographical development is explored. This study shows that the theory of uneven geographical development applies well to a region that is heavily dependent upon the tourist sector for its economy, and thereby works to control the narrative of that space to continue attracting consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decades creative and cultural activities have had modest opportunity to develop and grow in Algarve (Portugal) due to the tourism specialization in 'sun and sand'. The regional dynamics based in this specific tourism product created path dependencies and limited opportunities for expansion and consolidation of the cultural and creative sector. Using the model of three Ts -- talent, technology, tolerance -- this short article presents the relative creative potential of Algarve, and opportunities to diversify the tourism offer attracting talented people and breaking the regional economic lock-in. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to stimulate the discussion about the constant influx of new and potentially useful methods for empirical investigations in regional science and policy analysis. Particularly, the focus here lies on a brief presentation of 'quasi'-experimentalist methods as a promising approach to derive causal statements with respect to the effectiveness of regional policy instruments. Outlining potential advantages and pitfalls of this approach by means of an illustrative empirical example, this article finally sets up a research agenda for its future use by regional scientists and economic geographers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez in increasing autonomy in Latin America and the Caribbean. Chávez opposed the proposed 2000 Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) to protect regional economies. He also formed the framework PetroCaribe which allowed the supply of oil products to Caribbean states under certain conditions. The author shares that Chávez was able to position the country as an import alternative to North American markets.

abstract In a seminal article, Chinitz (1961) considered the effects of industry size, structure, and economic diversification on the performance of firms and regional economies. His inquiry suggested a related but conceptually distinct issue: how does the extent to which a regional industry or industrial sector is concentrated in a small number of firms affect the local performance of that industry? The question has not been addressed systematically in empirical research other than case studies, principally because accurately measuring regional concentration requires firm-level information. This exploratory study uses confidential plant-level data to gauge concentration in manufacturing industries at the regional scale across the continental United States, to explore changes over time in geographic patterns of concentration, and to investigate associations between regional industrial structure concentration and changes in employment. The implications for understanding the impacts of regional industrial structure on economic development processes are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines domestic and external financial constraints on development in the Maghreb region and proposes policy recommendations to alleviate them. In contrast to the IMF-Monterrey consensus view on finance for development, it is argued that financial liberalization and the privatization of domestic banking systems, combined with export-led development strategies, tend to amplify financial constraints on development, instead of reducing them. Alternative policy recommendations include: relying more on domestic banking systems, adopting monetary, fiscal and sectoral policies to support economic development and finally, strengthening the Arab Maghreb Union with the adoption of a regional bank and a common currency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How should we think of the role of regions in relation to the global economy? Theory has surprising gaps when it comes to building a unified vision of these two scales of development. Two contributions to such a vision are proposed in this article. First, the relationship between geographic concentration and the regional economic specialization it underpins and globalization should be theorized as a dynamic process. Standard location and trade theory is not adequate for this task; instead, the dynamic relationship can be captured through growth theory. But capturing this dynamic relationship requires correcting growth theory to separate its local and its global components, which are, respectively, Marshall- Arrow and Romer externalities. Second, the missing element in all theories of geographic concentration and locally specialized development is an element labeled "context" here. A theory of context, in turn, raises important new questions about the dynamic welfare and developmental effects of contemporary processes of fragmenting and relocating production at a global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the growing importance of global, or external, search networks that firms and other actors rely on to locate collaborators who can solve part of a problem they face or require part of a solution they may be able provide. We focus on the creation in emerging economies of venture capital-an institution that is organized to search systematically for, and foster the development of, firms and industries that can, in turn, collaborate in codesign. The article examines the case of Taiwan, where first-generation immigrant professionals from U.S. technology industries have collaborated with their home-country counterparts to develop the context for entrepreneurial development. It refers to the members of these networks as the new Argonauts, an allusion to the ancient Greek Jason and the Argonauts, who searched for the Golden Fleece. We also argue that the most significant contributions of these skilled professionals to their home countries are not direct transfers of technology or knowledge, but participation in external search and domestic institutional reform. The new Argonauts are ideally positioned to search beyond prevailing routines to identify opportunities for complementary "peripheral" participation in the global economy and to work with public officials to adapt and redesign relevant institutions and firms in their native countries. They are, therefore, exemplary protagonists of "self-discovery"-the process by which an enterprise or entrepreneur determines which markets it can serve-and of a micro level institutional reform that can, diffusing and cascading, ultimately produce wider structural transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there is a growing body of research into the cultural and creative industries, little work has focused specifically upon on the geography of design and its role in regional economies. The relative neglect of the geography of the UK design industry is surprising given recent assertions about the sector's role in national economic competitiveness; its contribution to product innovation; and its importance as an urban regeneration resource. This paper explicitly considers the extent to which existing conceptualizations of agglomeration and creativity provide insights into the realm of design. Our discussion reflects upon recent surveys of the design sector and analyses current design organization membership data, both of which reveal an overwhelming concentration of design activities in London and the South East. Our analysis of the strategies, organization and practices of agencies in London reveals that a number of the key features associated with cultural industries in general are significantly less discernible within design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to analyse the nexus of integration and disintegration processes in the post-Soviet space. On the one hand it considers 'formal' regionalism projects and the reasons for their inefficiency, and explores the real impetus behind the repeated attempts at top-down regional integration by post-Soviet elites. On the other hand, it analyses the bottom-up regionalisation of the post-Soviet space through the investment activity of Russian corporations, and demonstrates possible effects of this process for institutional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on environmental governance and its role in the global political economy. The article reviews three books on environmental governance outlining the challenges it offers both for the regional economies and the international political economy. The article also discusses the pros and cons of Malthusian perspective on environmental science.

Entrepreneurship is an important process in regional economic development. Especially the growth of new firms is of major significance to the commercialization of new ideas and employment growth. These growing new firms are transforming structurally like caterpillars turning into butterflies. However, like butterflies, they are at risk of leaving their region of origin for better places. This article analyzes how and why the spatial organization of firms develops subsequent to their start-up. A new conceptual framework and an empirical study of the life course of entrepreneurial firms are used to construct a theory on the firms' locational behavior that explains that behavior as the outcome of a process of initiatives by entrepreneurs, enabled and constrained by resources, capabilities, and relations with stakeholders within and outside the firms. The study shows that entrepreneurs decide whether to move their firms outside their region of origin for different reasons in distinct phases of the firms' life course. Being embedded in social networks, for example, is an important constraint on locational behavior during the early life course of a firm, but over time it becomes less important, and other mechanisms, such as sunk costs, increasingly determine a firm's locational behavior. The development of spatial organization is also of major importance: when a multilocational spatial organization has been realized, it is much easier to move the headquarters to another region. The spatial organization of entrepreneurial firms co-evolves with the accumulation of the firms' capabilities. A developmental approach that incorporates evolutionary mechanisms and recognizes human agency provides new insights into the age-old study of the location of firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reevaluates the regional embeddedness of multinational manufacturing branch plants in view of recent work on global production networks and extraregional links. It argues that the predominance of extraregional production linkages is not necessarily detrimental to regional economies and that such linkages can even compensate for weak territorial innovations systems in noncore regions. The arguments are supported by a case study of the South Tyrol region of Italy, using firm-level data from surveys and interviews, complemented by evidence on institutional conditions. The findings suggest that neither the branch plants nor the locally owned manufacturing firms are strongly embedded in the region in terms of material linkages and interorganizational relationships, indicating that the ownership status of firms is not a good predictor of embeddedness. Second, compared to local firms, branch plants are more innovative and hence contribute to a larger degree to regional upgrading processes. Third, South Tyrol's core institutional structures, such as those governing the labor force, play a decisive role in the competitiveness of branch plants and therefore create codependencies that bind these producers to the territory. The results suggest a more differentiated assessment of the role of branch plants within noncore regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at analyzing the role of several monetary variables in the development of different regions based on the concepts of central place and on the Post Keynesian approach to regional economy. The concept of liquidity preference is used to analyze the effect of money behavior on the regional economic performance of regions inside Brazil. The analysis of data is accomplished by using principal component analysis and cluster analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social influence plays an important role in social transitions. The model of dynamic social influence is used to model social transitions. We assume that individuals communicate with a certain number of others to find out how much support each of the possible opinions has. Opinions of others located nearby and of those who are most influential are given the most consideration. Individuals adopt the opinions that they find most influential in the process. During social transitions the spatial clusters of social reality of the "new" coexist with the reality of the "old." Computer simulations show that social transitions occur as clusters of the "new" grow and connect to each other at the expense of the "old." Analysis of regional economic as well as voting data support this scenario. In a society composed of clusters, global indicators might be misleading, since they may average the thriving clusters of new and decaying clusters of old. Effective facilitation of the transition should capitalize on natural properties of social change processes. It should be concentrated on the creation and growth of the clusters of the "new." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Purépecha region of Michoacán State, in west-central Mexico, has a strong tradition of craft production, especially wooden items. Transportation improvements in the region since the mid-twentieth century have led to a higher level of integration of the regional economy, yet access to the broader Mexican market remains limited. Towns throughout the region have experienced substantial changes in the types of crafts produced, the extent of their local and external markets, and the location of craft production. Transportation improvements have, in part, led to agglomeration economics and a resultant contraction in the number of different types and an increase in the volume of the crafts produced. Market changes have led to the proliferation of craft storefronts in towns with higher levels of accessibility. Conversely, remote towns still rely heavily on distributors and have not been able to expand their markets. As a result, the region has seen the development of a two-tiered system whereby towns with increased accessibility have viable craft industries and towns with limited accessibility struggle with stagnant craft industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is to assess whether the recent economic evolution of EU accession countries and their expected developments for the coming years put them in a better or a worse position to join the euro. Using structural vector autoregression models, the results show that shocks are more asymmetric in candidate countries than in current euro-zone members and that the situation has worsened in the most recent years. However it seems that monetary policies in accession countries are closely influenced by monetary conditions in the euro zone. If this is the case, then the costs of losing monetary independence when joining the euro would be reduced. In any case, and considering that, on average, correlations are still far from the values of the euro-zone countries, the flexibility of real sector and labor markets will be essential for the sustainability of joining the euro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the challenges facing regional policy in the European Union is the accession of new countries to the Single Market and to Economic and Monetary Union. Conditions in many of these East European regions are worse than in the least developed regions of the fifteen existing member states. Moreover the accession of these countries is likely to have a marked effect on the geographical distribution of economic activity in the rest of the European Union (EU). Taking this into account, this article discusses the lessons that we have learned from the latest adhesions to the EU, in order to be able to predict what will arise from the enlargement scheduled for mid-2004. In this sense, we compute specialization and concentration indexes in order to highlight the effects of enlargement on the spatial distribution of activity in the EU Additionally, inequality measures are calculated to describe the evolution of regional disparities before and after enlargement. A regional and national database for EU15 and for candidate countries with a high degree of sectoral detail from 1985 to 2001 is compiled. Analysis and some recommendations for regional policy are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land retirement is one option that can be used to address water shortages in agricultural areas. The regional economic impacts of land retirement should be considered when evaluating these proposals. This paper presents a methodology for estimating these impacts, including guidelines that should be considered during such an evaluation. A case study of an application in California indicates that the overall regional economic impacts of land retirement in agricultural areas will probably be negative, but the associated mitigating activities greatly reduce the magnitude of these impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offers a look at the threats and opportunities facing three Central American nations in their insertion into the process of globalization. Elements underlying the importance of local socio-contextual factors for globalization; Advantages of La Fortuna, Costa Rica over other Central American communities; Key problem affecting handicraft development in La Palma, El Salvador; Issues related to upgrading for apparel manufacturing facing the community of San Pedro Sacatepéquez, Guatemala.

The ideology of neo-liberalism is currently dominant at the elite level. This has profound implications for how development is viewed as best pursued. Currently, a process of regionalization projects, at both the macro- and micro-level, are reconfiguring parts of Africa as the continent's elites seek to promote economic integration as a means of latching onto what is perceived as the globalization juggernaut. However, such processes, and the case of the Maputo Development Corridor (MDC) is provided as a case study, cannot simply be defined as top-down projects to reconfigure spatial areas along neo-liberal lines: globalization and regionalization stimulates reactions involving the re-organization and re-territorialization of spaces in order to meet the challenges posed. Though existing regionalist projects, such as the MDC, reflect the impulses of a neo-liberal world, space for contesting alternatives exists and is nascent, with counter-reactions being continually generated, with diverse forms of regional connectivities being constructed. Analyses of the new regionalisms must be cognisant of such pregnancy within such ongoing processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work argues that the formation of an economic union requires that the homogeneity of domestic economic institutions and the process of regional integration reinforce each other. Granger causality tests on four cases of regional integration in the Americas, Asia and Europe (1975 through 1995) confirm our thesis. These cases include the Andean Pact, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Central American Common Market and the European Union. The most successful case of integration - the European Union - does evince a pattern of positive interaction between the two variables, while less successful cases, found in Latin America, are lacking in this mechanism of mutual influence. We further discuss several regional groups that have recently emerged and use our theoretical implications to assess their future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1997, cooperation initiatives involving Asian countries have become more visible and ambitious. These initiatives reflect incentives for regional cooperation in Asia that are the product of prior levels of regional integration and international developments. While many countries in the region stand to gain from more substantive cooperation, they are likely to find certain cooperative goals difficult to achieve. This difficulty cannot be ascribed to the commonly cited obstacles to cooperation in Asia: economic diversity, inter-state political rivalry and the influence exercised by the US. Rather, parts of the new regional agenda are complicated by the kind of government organizations that exist in some countries. Government organizations that lack domestic regulatory capacity are poorly equipped to participate in some regional initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advances the argument that moves towards regional integration need to be understood as 'regional governance projects' undertaken by domestic actors and coalitions. Regional political projects--such as open regionalism--have roots in domestic structures, and it is this which defines the broad configuration of the regional political economy. On the basis of this framework the paper suggests, first, that the strategy of open regionalism was contingent on a particular configuration of power and interests in the domestic and external economy (embedded mercantilism). Second, this system of embedded mercantilism depended on a set of domestic coalitions between tradeable and non-tradeable sectors of the economy. The non-tradeable sector in Southeast Asia was entrenched within a particular system of political patronage. Third, the Asian crisis and other structural changes in the international economy have made these domestic coalitions less sustainable, thereby creating opportunities for new forms of regional governance projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the impact of democratic transitions in Southeast Asia on regional co-operation, and the relationship between this process and the development of a non-official regionalism. Until now, regionalism in Southeast Asia has been essentially elite-centred and politically illiberal. The emergence of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was founded upon the common desire of its members, which had by then retreated significantly from their postcolonial experiments in liberal democracy, to ensure regime survival. This orientation was further institutionalised by asean's doctrine of non-interference, which helped to shield its members from outside pressures towards democratisation. But with democratisation in the Philippines, Thailand and more recently Indonesia, the asean model of elite-centric regional socialisation has been challenged. The civil society in the region demands greater openness in Southeast Asian regionalism. The article proposes a conceptual framework for analysing the relationship between democratisation and regionalism, with the key argument being that the displacement of traditional patterns of regional elite socialisation has been offset by potential gains such as advances in regional conflict management, transparency and rule-based interactions. But the realisation of a more 'participatory regionalism' in Southeast Asia faces a number of barriers, including obstacles to further democratisation, the continued salience of the non-interference doctrine and the diminished space for civil society in the wake of the 11 September terrorist attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) has conventionally been explained as a project of open regionalism adopted by the asean member governments to attract foreign direct investment to the region through the 'carrot' of the single regional market. Yet, when the same governments incorporated an investment liberalisation component programme within the AFTA project in 1998, they opted to accord full national treatment and market access privileges to foreign (non-asean) investors at least 10 years later than to domestic or asean national investors. Although member governments removed this particular discriminatory clause in September 2001, the fact that a distinction between foreign and domestic investors was adopted and maintained for a three-year period is puzzling given AFTA's acknowledged role as a magnet for foreign investment. Although AFTA is clearly a response to the pressures of globalisation, the available theoretical models of the relationship between globalisation and regionalism are unable to account for this empirical anomaly because they do not make a distinction between foreign-owned and domestic-owned capital. This paper advances the notion of 'developmental regionalism' as a way to incorporate domestic-owned capital in analysing the globalisation-regionalism relationship, which allows for a more robust explanation of the empirical puzzle outlined above. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the original framework of 'open regionalism' underpinning the Mercosur is petering out, and consequently the regional governance project in the Southern Cone is undergoing a process of redefinition. The article seeks to understand the nature of this redefinition, and contends that this task requires a re-orientation of some of the prevalent ways in which the study of regionalism is approached. Specifically, it highlights the limitations of an understanding of regionalism merely as a reflection of domestic processes, and instead argues for a greater attention to processes of regionalisation and their complex relationship with both regionalism and domestic political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The splintering of the Mercosur following the Brazilian devaluation in early 1999 has given way to an important re-crafting of the regional vision and a significant expansion of the scope of the regional project. This article contends that these trends can best be understood as coalescing into a new (and nascent) form of regionalist governance in the Southern Cone, in which the Mercosur is reconfigured as a vehicle for a new set of developmentalist and strategic objectives. This emerging form of regionalist governance is both causative and indicative of a new political economy both of the subregion and of the wider region of the Americas, and reflective of the crystallisation of a new political economy of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aceh is known as not only a rich but also a rebellious region. It experienced one of the longest wars against the Dutch colonial government. The seeds of conflict with the Indonesian government were sown early on during the independence period in the 1940s and 1950s. During the Suharto period (1966-98) Aceh developed from being a poor province to being the fastest growing provincial economy in Indonesia. However, the Acehnese believe that they did not gain much from this economic growth. This fuelled anti-Jakarta feeling among the Acehnese and also increased the popularity of the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka) in Aceh. The military solution that the Suharto government imposed in the late 1980s worsened the human rights conditions in Aceh. As both the Habibie and Abudurrahman Wahid governments have failed to end the conflict, many Acehnese have been calling for a referendum to decide the future of the province: whether to remain part of Indonesia or to be an independent state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial thresholds of ceramic spheres and interaction networks are delineated in the Yoruba-Edo region, SW Nigeria, between the 13th and 19th centuries A.C. in order to understand the relationships between the regional periphery of Ilare district and the major political centers and the events that originated from them. This study assumes that the intersocietal movement of commodities reflects regional interaction systems. Integrating the distribution of ceramics with local settlement history demonstrates that ceramic styles in Ilare district were configured by regional migrations, sociopolitical growth and decline, and economic links. What is more, changes in the structure of regional socioeconomic and political networks are more likely to appear earlier in the regional peripheries than in the metropolises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article outlines a model of regional cluster development in which the clusters and foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs) are interdependent. Such clusters are characterized by a strong or dominant presence of foreign MNEs as well as a strong contribution by cluster-based subsidiaries to the overall strategy of the MNEs. The case of the Hong Kong financial-services cluster is used to demonstrate that interdependent clusters provide types of investment opportunities, particularly for "marketplace-seeking" and "information-seeking" investments, and benefits to foreign multinationals that go beyond those usually contemplated in the MNE literature, while the locations housing such clusters receive benefits that also go beyond those usually contemplated. The article concludes with implications for economic policy, firm strategy, and further research on the interaction between clusters and MNEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the trajectories of economic development among European national and regional economies in the light of the pressure for greater integration and enlargement of the European Union. Demonstration of the variations in the speed and direction of change in per capita income; Interpretations of growth and spatial development.

Cosmopolitanism has emerged as a humanistic perspective to express globalizing societal experiences. What are its geographies? World cities are centers of globalizing processes, and their populations and institutions may share elements of cosmopolitical worldviews. Most world cities have also been ports, yet in the contemporary global imaginary, many world cities are not readily understood as places of maritime activity, historic or contemporary. Disjunctures in perceptions of the coastal city-region reflect changes in the world economy and human experiences in modes of travel. This analysis recovers geographical processes of maritime urban areas as a basis for understanding transhistorical and geographical factors of cosmopolitics in globalizing regions and contemporary intellectual thought. Keywords: Asia, cosmopolitanism, cultural economy, maritime world cities, South China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines global regionalization tendencies, by tracing trade interactions between 1965 and 1990. Information on postwar international trade relations; Factors which shape the world economy; Growth of regionalism in Europe and the North American Free Trade Agreement; Main viewpoints on the desirability of trading regions and their formation.

Explains a multiregion dynamic model of profitability, capital investment and value that eschews the notions of equilibrium. Measure of value; Values that differ between regions; Capital, supply and demand; Interregional flows of capital; Appropriate definition of the rate of profit.

Examines the role of some forms of production organization in the process of regional economic transformation. Presence of geographical or regional element to the transformative forces; Economic performance of the Midwest; Explanations for the Midwest's industrial recovery; International trade performance; Institutional barriers to production organization.

This article explores the way state-society relations and the advent of a historically specific Eastern Asian region were forged in the context of a succession of forms of world order: the colonial, era, the Pacific War, the Cold War and the post-Vietnam War world of globalization of production, finance, cultural practice and ideas. It will do so by first considering the various ways rational models of political economy have been theorized. The article will then propose a historicist political economy that is both comparative and transnational at the same time, locating specific country contexts in relation to region-formation and the nature of world order. This method, it will be argued, must embrace an explicitly political understanding of regional political economy. By political, it is meant to be more than merely the institutional context within which public policy is formulated, or the impact of inter-state rivalry on industrialization. The political also needs to be considered in terms of a configuration of power that has sub-national, national, macro-regional and global dimensions, and, at least in part, is linked to the structure of production. Once a theoretical framework is delineated, the key processes of region-formation will be discussed via the use of a brief comparative study of the Taiwanese and Thai cases. Often seen as adopting similar models of political economy because of the predominance of small-scale firms, the comparison will attempt to highlight how the social and institutional composition of the respective countries as well as the timing and manner of their linkage to regional and global structures have combined to produce divergent social formations, with different political economies that belie the notion that there is some sort of region-wide model.

Examines the process of cooperation, competition and control in regional economic development. Specialized interdependence in a regional economy and its role in generating economic activity; Correlation of space, time and iterative exchanges; Use of an evolutionary model of cooperation to assess the vitality of industrial development in particular regions.

Contrary to the writings of academicians and journalists, college students from most sections of the country perceive the Middle West to have its core in Nebraska and Kansas, In a 1980 survey, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio seldom were seen as part of the region except by their own residents. Business and organization names using the term Middle West also are at their greatest relative frequency in the plains states, matching the collegiate perceptions. Regional images provide an explanation for the cognitive map patterns. Americans view the Middle West overwhelmingly in rural, small town terms. Even residents of the industrialized states of the Old Northwest hold this view. Pastoralism apparently has been so much a part of the regional and national identity that people find the idea difficult to abandon. Rather than changing the regional image to fit urban-industrial reality, the public has shifted the regional core westward to the Great Plains where rural society is more dominant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]