Raoul is a Reader in Political Economy in the Future Economies Research Centre, Manchester Metropolitan University.
His work focuses on the international political economy of tourism and visitor economies with specific reference to sustainability, governance and socioenvironmental justice. His particular areas of interest are Spain, the Canary Islands, the Mediterranean and Middle East.
He has also been involved in campaigning for ethical and fair trade tourism as a member of the executive council of the UK-based NGO Tourism Concern.
Raoul is fluent in Spanish as well as speaking French and Italian and has spent time living in nearly a dozen different countries.
Abstract: Although there has been ample discussion of the external relations of the European Unio... more Abstract: Although there has been ample discussion of the external relations of the European Union and its role as an institutional actor in the Mediterranean region (and indeed beyond), few analyses if any refer specifically to the role of culture and/or heritage within the overall policy frameworks or the wider fields of influence of the EU. This presentation situates the analysis of the Euro-Med Heritage Programme in the context of the changing political and economic landscapes of the European Union and the realignment of the European Union’s relations with its southern neighbours. Drawing on official European Union documentation as well as material generated by the Mediterranean Voices project (Euromed Heritage II), it interrogates the basis of Euro-Mediterranean Partnership from an international relations and political economy perspective, with particular emphasis on the role of ‘culture’ and ‘heritage’ (both tangible and intangible) in the context of the European Union’s intervention in the Mediterranean region, with particular reference to the urban context.
Drawing on historical materialism in the Marxian tradition, this chapter focuses on key facets of... more Drawing on historical materialism in the Marxian tradition, this chapter focuses on key facets of the political economy of mass tourism (PEMT) and the industrial configurations and political-economic relations that drive the logic of accumulation and development, which impel its expansion in today's networked transnational capitalist economy. The discussion centres on the forces and relations of capitalist development that shape and determine the industrial logic of mass tourism as it expands, diversifies and settles in different parts of the globe, driven by the search for profits and the self-expansion of capital.
Abstract International tourism represents the apotheosis of consumer capitalism and Western moder... more Abstract International tourism represents the apotheosis of consumer capitalism and Western modernity, based on an apparently seamless harmony between the free movement of people, merchandise and capital. However, as the growing insecurities engendered by the globalisation of terrorism and military interventionism, as well as targeted attacks on foreign tourists in certain parts of the world illustrate, the liberal calculus of unhindered mobility, political stability and the unfettered expansion of the market, which underpins the ...
International Journal of Heritage Studies, Jan 1, 2002
Thirty years after the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) b... more Thirty years after the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) brought the concept of World Heritage into official existence (16 November 1972), this collection of papers offers a timely set of reflections upon the meaning, purpose and outcomes of circumstances related to theWorld Heritage project'. The publication of this special issue of the International Journal of Heritage Studies is intended to coincide with both UNESCO's own 30th anniversary conference in Venice (November 2002) as well as ...
International Journal of Heritage Studies, Jan 1, 2002
Abstract This paper considers the World Heritage Site of Garajonay National Park on the island of... more Abstract This paper considers the World Heritage Site of Garajonay National Park on the island of La Gomera (Canary Islands). It is based on a research project carried out during 1999± 2000 that explored the circumstances surrounding its declaration as a National Park and ...
Abstract: Although there has been ample discussion of the external relations of the European Unio... more Abstract: Although there has been ample discussion of the external relations of the European Union and its role as an institutional actor in the Mediterranean region (and indeed beyond), few analyses if any refer specifically to the role of culture and/or heritage within the overall policy frameworks or the wider fields of influence of the EU. This presentation situates the analysis of the Euro-Med Heritage Programme in the context of the changing political and economic landscapes of the European Union and the realignment of the European Union’s relations with its southern neighbours. Drawing on official European Union documentation as well as material generated by the Mediterranean Voices project (Euromed Heritage II), it interrogates the basis of Euro-Mediterranean Partnership from an international relations and political economy perspective, with particular emphasis on the role of ‘culture’ and ‘heritage’ (both tangible and intangible) in the context of the European Union’s intervention in the Mediterranean region, with particular reference to the urban context.
Drawing on historical materialism in the Marxian tradition, this chapter focuses on key facets of... more Drawing on historical materialism in the Marxian tradition, this chapter focuses on key facets of the political economy of mass tourism (PEMT) and the industrial configurations and political-economic relations that drive the logic of accumulation and development, which impel its expansion in today's networked transnational capitalist economy. The discussion centres on the forces and relations of capitalist development that shape and determine the industrial logic of mass tourism as it expands, diversifies and settles in different parts of the globe, driven by the search for profits and the self-expansion of capital.
Abstract International tourism represents the apotheosis of consumer capitalism and Western moder... more Abstract International tourism represents the apotheosis of consumer capitalism and Western modernity, based on an apparently seamless harmony between the free movement of people, merchandise and capital. However, as the growing insecurities engendered by the globalisation of terrorism and military interventionism, as well as targeted attacks on foreign tourists in certain parts of the world illustrate, the liberal calculus of unhindered mobility, political stability and the unfettered expansion of the market, which underpins the ...
International Journal of Heritage Studies, Jan 1, 2002
Thirty years after the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) b... more Thirty years after the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) brought the concept of World Heritage into official existence (16 November 1972), this collection of papers offers a timely set of reflections upon the meaning, purpose and outcomes of circumstances related to theWorld Heritage project'. The publication of this special issue of the International Journal of Heritage Studies is intended to coincide with both UNESCO's own 30th anniversary conference in Venice (November 2002) as well as ...
International Journal of Heritage Studies, Jan 1, 2002
Abstract This paper considers the World Heritage Site of Garajonay National Park on the island of... more Abstract This paper considers the World Heritage Site of Garajonay National Park on the island of La Gomera (Canary Islands). It is based on a research project carried out during 1999± 2000 that explored the circumstances surrounding its declaration as a National Park and ...
Borderless Worlds for Whom? Ethics, Moralities and Mobilities. , 2019
This chapter examines the contradictions that mark the intersections between the right to the fre... more This chapter examines the contradictions that mark the intersections between the right to the freedom of movement and travel, and the right to tourism. While tourism is celebrated as an instrument of economic development, force for peace and a marker of global citizenship, the intensification of securitized bordering practices has accentuated severe inequalities between those deemed to lack the right credentials for travel and those whose mobility is defined as legitimate. The argument presented in this chapter repudiates the normative view of tourism as an apolitical phenomenon removed from the broader realm of mobility politics and structural determinants of immobility. In doing so it highlights a central paradox of international tourism, whereby growing institutional support for the right to tourism coincides with and potentially reinforces calls for the securitization of borders to be strongly enforced-at home and at the destination itself.
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Papers by Raoul Bianchi