Twenty‐first century nomadic city: Ger districts and barriers to the implementation of the Ulaanbaatar City Master Plan

Since the early 1990s, Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, has experienced rapid rural to urban migration and population growth resulting in the growth in informal settlements across the city. The informal settlements are known as ‘ger’ districts. In response to these pressures, since the 1990s, the central government has adopted a programme of land reform and metropolitan planning. These new reforms take place in the context of a unique, post‐socialist political, economic and institutional context. The land reform process has attempted to privatise land ownership, which has traditionally resided with the state. The privatisation process was initiated under the new Constitution of Mongolia, which initiated reforms in all sectors of social and economic development, and since 2003, targeted land reform in ger districts. Running parallel, a series of urban land‐use planning schemes have been introduced to frame the development of Ulaanbaatar in the context of an emerging market economy. Although master plans for urban development have been established since the 1950s, urban land‐use planning is a new concept in this emerging market economy. The aim of this paper is to trace the rationales and challenges of implementing master plans and land privatisation processes in Ulaanbaatar. Drawing on interviews with city, national and local government officials conducted in 2009, the paper focuses on the implications of these reforms for both the government and the residents of ger districts.     

Port reform,South Asian migrant workers and spaces of vulnerability in Port Klang,Malaysia

The corporatisation of Port Klang from the mid‐1980s onwards was a significant moment in the history of Malaysia's political economy and generated considerable momentum for the changes that were to occur in this late industrialising nation under the leadership of the Barisan Nasional government. In particular, the restructuring of how labour was organised in Malaysia's most significant port became frequently cited both within and outside the country as a model for tripartite labour privatisation and the well‐managed divestment of state‐owned enterprises. However, in the past decade, the organisation of labour in the port has again changed dramatically. Migrant labour from some of the poorest parts of Asia now makes up the majority of semi‐skilled and unskilled workers. Based on fieldwork carried out during 2009 with workers from Bangladesh and Nepal who are employed in Port Klang, this paper suggested that a regulatory vacuum now exists in the port, which means foreign workers are often treated badly and have few avenues for dissent. An analysis of the changing labour regime in Port Klang over time can assist in understanding the contemporary political economy of Malaysia as well as illuminate debates about the spaces of migrant labour more broadly.     

Transport

Transport in the 1990s has continued the pattern of significant change begun in the 1980s. Rail, sea and air have essentially completed the process towards privatisation, with minimal government involvement in monitoring standards and safety. Roading, however, is still financially confused in its funding and management. A sharp increase in cheap vehicle imports has brought the vehicle per capita ratio to be amongst the leaders in the first world, while the highway network remains at a lesser standard. Rational road pricing, especially in its impact on major urban areas, remains the critical issue for the next decade.     

省级农业科研院所课题经费的变化特点和管理对策

随着国家和地方政府对农业科技工作的重视,省级农业科研院所课题经费呈现出资金总量快速增长、课题经费来源渠道和经费结构变化明显、经费管理办法不一、课题组织形式多样等新特点;不同程度地存在经费管理与课题管理脱节、预算编制与实际需求脱节、资产管理与财务监管脱节、项目支出与科研实际脱节等问题。基于这些变化特点和存在的问题,研究提出了建立健全财务管理制度、规范科研资金管理,科学编制课题预决算、提高资金使用效益,制定课题经费管理办法、强化项目经费监督管理等意见和对策。     

Regime Network Restructuring in Akron,Ohio, 1975–2009: A Longitudinal Social Network Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impacts of extra‐local economic and political forces on the business community participants of the governing regime coalition in Akron, Ohio, and in turn, how other regime partners responded to and engaged with the changing constitution of Akron's business community. Unlike the UK where municipalities receive substantial fiscal support from regional and national governments, American cities are more readily forced into regime partnerships with other public and private actors for fiscal solvency, including, primarily, the local business community. In the case of Akron, the local business community experienced a prolonged and ongoing period of comprehensive deindustrialization and economic restructuring, forcing the city into partnerships with less traditional non‐private sector actors as Akron's business community structure continues to transform. A secondary objective is to forward the utility of social network analysis in regime theory applications. Social network analysis offers a way to situate arguably the most influential actors in a regime coalition. Utilizing the directories of Standard and Poor's Index of Corporations and Directors from 1975 through 2006, social network analysis is performed on the interlocking network of corporations and civic organizations based in Akron for each decade, allowing a longitudinal view of the changing business community partners of Akron's governing coalition.     

Building knowledge city in transformation era: Knowledge‐based urban development in Beijing in the context of globalisation and decentralisation

This study examines knowledge‐based urban development in Beijing with the objective of revealing the impact of the ‘synergetic’ forces of globalisation and local government intervention on knowledge‐based urban development in the context of the coexisting processes of globalisation and decentralisation. The findings in this paper show that due to the rapid growth of the cultural industry sector, knowledge‐based urban development has created various kinds of ‘cultural industry clustered areas’, which were recently promoted by the 2008 Olympic Games. ‘Synergetic’ global and local forces are leading knowledge‐based urban development, with the emergence of a local coalition regime in which local government manages local development, considered as ‘enterprises’ in the decentralisation process, while the State retains a significant influence on knowledge‐based urban development. The central and municipal governments tend to emphasise strategies to ‘facilitate the climate for growth’ rather than the centrally planned control they exerted prior to the 1980s.     

Road to shared prosperity: The elaboration and influence of a transboundary policy narrative for regional economic integration

In the Mekong Region, the Asian Development Bank and partners have promoted economic corridors as a way to achieve regional economic integration and growth. This study evaluates how a transboundary policy narrative of shared prosperity around the East–West Economic Corridor programme emerged, and then how it was elaborated and used, taking a set of border policies of the government of Thailand as cases. For two decades the shared prosperity narrative has been used by a coalition of elite actors to support a programme of investments in road infrastructure, as well as to push for agreements on trade, border logistics, investment and tourism. The shared prosperity narrative has helped maintain support for the programme despite its failures to meet projections and expectations. Although criticised by civil society and experts from time to time, no coherent shared counter‐narrative emerged. Policy elites in Thailand have used the transboundary narrative to justify investments in special economic zones, and transport infrastructure near the border and inside neighbouring countries. Thailand has also reproduced the narrative in support of efforts to bolster tourism cooperation, and negotiate cross‐border trade and logistics agreements. Roads and bridges have been built, underlining how discursive practices have material consequences and reinforce the narrative.     

From free to forced adaptation: A political ecology of the ‘state‐society‐flood’ nexus in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta

This paper investigates the adaptation processes with reference to the narrative analysis of human–environment interactions in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. From the political ecology perspective, it focuses on the discourses of the power relationships embedded within the ‘state‐society‐flood’ nexus over the course of its ‘opening‐up and closing‐off’ processes (e.g. excavating large‐scale canals for human settlements and agricultural expansion (opening‐up) and human interventions into natural systems through water control structures (closing‐off)). Drawing on empirical data gathered from 33 interviews and nine focus group discussions in three study areas and relevant literature, the paper argues that human interactions with the flood environments are intertwined with adjustments of adaptation patterns as evidenced through three periods: free adaptation (pre‐1975), transitional adaptation (1976–2010) and forced adaptation (after 2010). These processes have witnessed a gradual power shift in the ‘state‐society’ relations in manipulating floods, which moves from the top‐down towards a more collaborative fashion. By unravelling the political ecology of the ‘state‐society‐flood’ nexus, this paper exhibits the skewed development in the delta, which is largely bound to short‐term development planning to prioritise local socio‐economic and political objectives. The paper contributes important policy implications for achieving socially just and environmentally sustainable development in the delta.     

The LEADER approach and drivers of job creation

This study investigates the links between rural development funding delivered via LEADER and job creation. Analysis is carried out using application‐level data during the 2007–2013 period in Northern Ireland. A two‐step procedure is employed to estimate a negative binomial model and correct for sample selection. Results indicate that there is a positive relationship between the number of jobs created and the amount of funds awarded, and that this depends on what Measure within Axis 3 applications are submitted under. More economic‐focused Measures, such as Farm Diversification, Business Development, and Tourism show a positive relationship between the amount of public funds and the number of jobs created. No such relationship was found for the more social, or cultural Measures. This result supports the argument that in such cases “jobs created” is not an appropriate indicator for evaluation purposes, but rather non‐economic criteria should be given priority to better suit the primary objective of such Measures. Other factors that are linked to job creation include applicant characteristics, such as its business status. In general, we find a limited connection between the process to select which applications are funded and the application characteristics most strongly associated with job creation.     

The State‐by‐State Economic Impacts of the 2002 Shutdown of the Los Angeles–Long Beach Ports

In previous research, the economic impacts of temporary shutdowns of the Los Angeles–Long Beach harbors were simulated after a hypothetical terrorist attack, applying the National Interstate Economic Model to estimate state‐by‐state as well as interindustry impacts. However, the unpredictable characteristic of terrorist attacks might not be applicable to the case of a ports shutdown such as the one caused by the lockout of September–October 2002. Market participants can be expected to have contingency plans based on anticipations of a strike or shutdown. Can we identify any of these in terms of the use of alternate ports, in terms of alternate modes or even alternate time periods? The purpose of this study is to examine these questions. The approach is elaborated by testing for the possible effects of trade diversion to other West Coast ports, transportation modes, and intertemporal substitutions. We use data from WISERTrade describing commodity‐specific trade for the major West Coast ports before, during, and after the 11‐day shutdown of the fall of 2002. Shippers’ ability to divert trade is a key ingredient in the economy's ability to withstand attacks and disruptions. The work estimates the impacts on 47 industrial sectors across 50 states (and the District of Columbia).     

Determinants of Local Highway Spending in North Carolina

Public spending, because it is influenced by elected officials, can be swayed by political considerations as well as socio‐economic factors. Previous studies have confirmed the importance of political measures in the allocation of general public spending as well as in spending for infrastructure and highway projects at the state level. This study examines the determinants of the allocation of state highway funds within one state—in North Carolina to counties during the period 1990–2005—and assesses the relative importance of socio‐economic and political factors in these decisions. Determinants were derived from three conceptual approaches to public spending: the median voter model, the special interest model, and the political model. Persistence was found in both highway construction spending and highway maintenance spending. In addition, employment market conditions were a strong determinant of highway construction spending, as was one political factor—the county's relative vote in the most recent election for the state's dominant political party. Highway maintenance spending was found to be dominated by median voter factors with no finding of political influence.     

Something New or More of the Same in the Bidding Wars for Big Business?

The economic downturn that began in 2007–2008 was blamed by some commentators on neoliberalism and pro‐business policies. So we might expect U.S. state and local governments to have responded with policy changes affecting their neoliberal economic development strategies. Based on this assumption, this paper is a theoretically informed examination of recent high‐profile bidding wars in Wisconsin. The highest profile example was in 2009 when General Motors chose a plant in Michigan over Wisconsin and Tennessee for a new small car line. Wisconsin's Commerce Secretary characterized Michigan's $1.2 billion incentive offer as “absolutely crazy” (compared with his state's $409 million offer!). My main research question is how have Wisconsin state and local governments adjusted their neoliberal economic development efforts in these bidding wars given the recent economic downturn and weak economy? This paper uses the largest incentive offers in Wisconsin during the tenure of the current and previous state governors within the context of ten themes drawn from the literature to problematize the neoliberal policy of bidding for big business. It concludes by considering the implications for economic development policies.     

The borders within: Mobility and enclosure in the Riau Islands1

Abstract: The border studies literature makes a strong case against claims for unfettered transnationalism and ‘borderlessness’ in our ‘globalising world’. However, its focus on movement across borders means that it fails to address bordering practices that occur within the nation‐state as a result of transnational activity. In this paper, we extend Cunningham and Heyman’s concepts ‘enclosure’ and ‘mobility’ to confront the different layers of bordering (both physical and non‐physical) that have occurred in Indonesia’s Riau Islands since they became part of the Indonesia–Malaysia–Singapore Growth Triangle.     

Institutions and local growth coalitions in China's urban land reform: The case of Hangzhou High‐Technology Zone

Abstract: China's urban land reform is a gradualist process of transforming a planned land allocation system to an open land market system, while the ownership of the land remains under the control of the state. This process defines the relationships between local government and emerging non‐public interest groups in the land development process. These issues can be most clearly seen in the State‐Approved Development Zones, where municipalities have been encouraged to promote economic development and test out land policy initiatives. Using the institutionalist and urban growth machine analytical approaches to land development processes, this study examines the operation of development processes and the role of local government and its relationship with other interest groups. By employing a case study research strategy, focused upon the Hangzhou High‐Technology Zone, the study uncovered a local government‐led growth coalition which featured participation by other interest groups and revealed the applicability and variations when applying two strands of theories to a socialist economy in transition. Besides the land reform policy implications drawn from the case study evidence, the study concludes that the presence of interest groups and the missing community organisations unique to China give new theoretical implications and that both theories work much better with the economic domain than with the political domain largely because of a lagged political reform.     

Rule of law,anti‐corruption,anti‐terrorism and militant Islam: Coping with threats to democratic pluralism and national unity in Indonesia

Abstract: President Yudhoyono, Indonesia's first directly elected president, was swept into office on a wave of popular support, but was faced with a formidable array of challenges, each demanding a prompt and effective response. Among the most immediately pressing, calling for crisis management, were: first, the need to assert political control and to build an effective political coalition; second, the need to secure grass‐roots democracy by ensuring that regional elections were effectively carried out; third, the need to cope with the Aceh tsunami crisis and achieve a peaceful reconciliation with the Free Aceh Movement; and fourth, the need to resolve a series of socioeconomic policy ‘growth versus equity’ dilemmas, to attract foreign investors to stimulate export‐led growth, while securing basic needs and anti‐poverty social programmes. After briefly noting how Yudhoyono and his administration responded to these immediate problems during its first 20 months in office (to June 2006), the paper then discusses at greater length three more fundamental and intractable sets of problems, namely, the urgent need to implement judicial and administrative reform, and to launch a wide‐ranging anti‐corruption campaign; the need to confront the resurgence of militant Islamic terrorism, both inter‐communal and al‐Qaeda‐inspired, and to mount a robust anti‐terrorist campaign; and finally the intense and convoluted problem of inter‐sectarian animosities, and the clash of religious versus secular values, the reconciliation of which will be absolutely critical to securing social stability, democratic pluralism, national unity and Indonesia's futurity.     

Rethinking Technology‐Oriented Business Incubators: Developing a Robust Policy Instrument for Entrepreneurship,Innovation, and Regional Development?

ABSTRACT Today, technology‐oriented business incubators are a worldwide phenomenon, although empirical research evidence clearly suggests that they tend to fail in supporting entrepreneurship, innovation, and regional development and, therefore, do not fulfil their expected role as policy instrument. The paper focuses on this obvious antagonism. It deliberates upon political rationales, reviews evaluation literatures, and delineates suggestions for the future of the incubation industry. The main conclusion is that technology‐oriented business incubators should be run as private organisations without public funding.     

Livelihoods,leadership, linkages and locality: The Simbo for Change project

This paper analyses the ‘Simbo for Change’ project in the Western Province of Solomon Islands, a collaboration between Simbo leaders and a Samoan non‐governmental organisation (NGO), with funding provided by the Australian aid programme. We explore the role of local leadership in catalysing an island‐wide community development project that has generated new livelihoods opportunities and led to greater community cohesion and more proactive governance. By mobilising around a ‘collective subject’ (Simbo as an island community), the project allowed existing skills and practices to be revalued and extended, particularly in relation to chiefly governance and the standing of women in the community. While mobilising the island scale was important in building social cohesion and support for livelihoods activities, this was not a parochial identity but was redefined by stronger connections to off‐island markets, organic accreditation for Simbo, renewed interest from provincial and national government authorities and by the enduring trans‐Pacific friendships established with the Samoan NGO and its trainers. The case study provides an example of the constructive potential of the island scale in Melanesia, whereas other recent studies of similar scale‐making processes have focused on violent conflict generated by industrial scale mining.     

Mapping of Quantitative Trait Loci Associated with Reproductive‐Stage Salt Tolerance in Rice

Salinity tolerance in rice varies with the state of growth, with the seedling and reproductive stages being the most sensitive. However, association between tolerances at the two stages is poor, suggesting that they are regulated by different processes and genes. Tolerance at the reproductive stage is the most crucial as it determines grain yield. An F₂ mapping population was developed from two rice genotypes contrasting in tolerance: Cheriviruppu and Pusa Basmati 1 (PB1). Cheriviruppu is highly tolerant at the reproductive stage, while PB1 is highly sensitive at both seedling and reproductive stages. One hundred and thirty‐one microsatellite markers polymorphic between the parents were used to construct a linkage map of 1458.5 cM (Kosambi), with a mean intermarker distance of 11.1 cM. Sixteen QTLs with LOD values ranging from 3.2 to 22.3 were identified on chromosomes 1, 7, 8 and 10, explaining 4–47 % of the phenotypic variation. The maximum number of QTL clusters for different component traits was colocalized on the long arm of chromosome 1 and chromosome 7. We identified several significant epistatic interactions, including three inter‐QTL interactions, using MapManager. The results suggest that pollen fertility, Na⁺ concentration and Na/K ratio in the flag leaf are the most important mechanisms controlling salt tolerance at the reproductive stage in rice. The study reports the construction of a genetic map for reproductive‐stage salt tolerance in rice and demonstrates its utility for molecular mapping of QTLs controlling salinity tolerance‐related traits, which will be useful in marker‐assisted selection in the future.     

Shifting subjects of health-care: placing "medical tourism" in the context of Malaysian domestic health-care reform

"Medical tourism" has frequently been held to unsettle naturalised relationships between the state and its citizenry. Yet in casting "medical tourism" as either an outside "innovation" or "invasion," scholars have often ignored the role that the neoliberal retrenchment of social welfare structures has played in shaping the domestic health-care systems of the "developing" countries recognised as international medical travel destinations. While there is little doubt that "medical tourism" impacts destinations' health-care systems, it remains essential to contextualise them. This paper offers a reading of the emergence of "medical tourism" from within the context of ongoing health-care privatisation reform in one of today's most prominent destinations: Malaysia. It argues that "medical tourism" to Malaysia has been mobilised politically both to advance domestic health-care reform and to cast off the country's "underdeveloped" image not only among foreign patient-consumers but also among its own nationals, who are themselves increasingly envisioned by the Malaysian state as prospective health-care consumers.     

Urban water supply and local neoliberalism in Tagbilaran City,the Philippines

The aim of this paper is to explore the processes and outcomes of neoliberalism in relation to urban water supply in the city of Tagbilaran, the Philippines, in order to provide a nuanced account of (an) actually existing hybrid neoliberal space. Using Bakker's typology of market environmentalist reforms in resource management as a guiding frame to link this case to a bigger ‘neoliberal’ conversation, I distinguish how reforms to resource governance at the national level, coupled with changes in the ways in which resource management institutions and resource management organisations function at the local level have acted to constitute local practices of neoliberal governance. Local articulations of (national and supranational) neoliberal and development discourses are revealed as a means for reconceptualising the role of the state and the emergence of new forms of hybrid governance in Tagbilaran. Analysis of the operation of BWUI, a public/private water utility, and the politics of privatisation/private sector participation enables a closer inspection of how water and water services are politicised and resisted by local publics.