Economic Restructuring

San Francisco has arisen as an "instant city" not once but three times: after the California Gold Rush (1849-1875), following the 1906 earthquake and fire (1906-1930), and
with the modern high-rise city (1960-1985). These pivotal periods of intense city building, each about twenty-five years in duration, have been separated by a generation of relative stability. Current redevelopment activity raises an intriguing historical-geographical question: Is a fourth instant city in the making?

Gentrification has changed in ways that are related to larger economic and political restructuring. Among these changes is the return of heavy state intervention in the process. This paper explores heightened state involvement in gentrification by examining the process in three New York City neighbourhoods: Clinton, Long Island City, and DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass). We argue that state intervention has returned for three key reasons. First, continued devolution of federal states has placed even more pressure on local states to actively pursue redevelopment and gentrification as ways of generating tax revenue. Second, the diffusion of gentrification into more remote portions of the urban landscape poses profit risks that are beyond the capacity of individual capitalists to manage. Third, the larger shift towards post–Keynesian governance has unhinged the state from the project of social reproduction and as such, measures to protect the working class are more easily contested.

This article examines how local people's memories relate to processes of industrial decline and ruination in Walker Riverside, Newcastle upon Tyne, based on site observations and 30 semi-structured interviews conducted between June 2005 and March 2006, with a range of local people. Much of the recent literature concerning the relationships between memory and place focuses on the contrast between social reconstructions of official and unofficial collective memory. This article explores a different dynamic between memory and place through the case study of Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne, an area where shipbuilding has long been in decline, but at the time of interviewing, the ‘last shipyard of the Tyne’ had yet to close. In Walker, local accounts of the industrial past represent ‘living memories’, embodying complex relationships with the industrial past: many people who have lived through processes of industrial ruination focus on imminent regeneration rather than mourning or celebrating the industrial past. The strength of community solidarity in Walker represents another form of living memory, echoing family and community bonds formed in the industrial era despite the fact that a direct connection with shipbuilding has all but disappeared. This article argues that living memories relate to the particular social and economic processes of industrial ruination in Walker, where the decline of shipbuilding over the past 30 years has been protracted, leaving a profound sense of uncertainty for people who occupy the precarious transitional spaces of post-industrial change.

The small town, an environment adapted to the paradoxes of West Africa. A study on the distribution of small towns, and a comparison of the spatial an social system of seven settlements: Badou and Anie (Togo) ; Jasikan and Kadjebi (Ghana) ; Torodi, Tamaske and Keita (Niger)

In the first place, the role of small towns within the urban network is analyzed, as well as the nature of the links between them and their "hinterland". Therefore, in the first part, deals with the following issues : the study of the spatial pattern of small agglomerations in west africa and the modalities by wich they multiply ; the role of small towns in the evolution of the urban networks of ghana, togo an niger ; and, finally, the regional and local functions of the seven settlements chosen for study. In the second place, a functional model of the social-spacial system of the west african small towns is developed. An analysis of the spacial, demographical, political and economical processes taking place in the seven small towns makes it possible to elaborate this model and go beyond local particularities.

Tampere is a Finnish city with a powerful industrial past. Like many other cities around the world, Tampere has been struggling to keep up with the changing demands of globalisation. Recently, special efforts have been made to shape Tampere into a high-performing informational city. This volume provides insights into the overall dynamics of local development strategies as well as concrete aspects and stages in the development of Tampere. Current challenges and possible future directions for the city are also discussed.

The chapters in the book represent various viewpoints on local development, including history, knowledge economy, democratic e-governance, e-education, e-health, culture and e-inclusion. In addition, some of the articles provide international comparisons with other regions in similar situations.

Contributions from both local and international experts are included. Due to its multidisciplinary approach, this book can be used for teaching in several fields. As a comprehensive analysis of an informational city, this book is useful for academics and practitioners who are looking for solutions to local development in a global age.

Documenting the historical sequence running from the post-war ‘New Deal’ and corresponding economic boom up until the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, this thesis outlines the rise of post-politics internationally. With the collapse of the former Soviet-states signalling the left’s capitulation to neoliberal capital under the guise of the ‘third way’, this period marked the ostensible ‘End of History’ and the dawn of post-politics. Here, politics is no longer about contestation, antagonism or disagreement but is reduced to its purely administrative function, whereby its primary purpose is to facilitate the continuous and successful operation of the economy. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Chantal Moffe, Jacques Rancière, Alain Badiou and Slavoj Žižek, this thesis demonstrates that post- politics does not result in the evisceration of politics but, rather, the repression of politics. The outcome of this is the inevitable return of the repressed, this being politics ‘proper’. In the wake of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 and the emergence of Occupy, Trump, Brexit, and numerous other revolts and uprisings, this period signals the fall of post-politics and the ‘Rebirth of History’, witnessing the emergence of politics ‘proper’. An explicit exercise in self-clarification, this thesis ultimately documents the international rise and fall of post-politics, exploring how this maps onto the local context in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Drawing on Dylan Taylor’s identification of a ‘third phase’ of Aotearoa/New Zealand’s left, characterised by a potential ‘period of renewal’, this thesis seeks to inquire into whether this trend has continued. Given that Taylor’s thesis was completed immediately prior to the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, an ‘updating’ is therefore required to account for the events of the last ten years. Coinciding with international fall of post-politics, this thesis ultimately identifies the emergence of a new politics outside of the parliamentary sphere, potentially indicative of a ‘fourth phase’ of Aotearoa/New Zealand’s left.

The shift of manufacturing industry from Japan, the first industrializing nation in East Asia, to neighboring South Korea and China saw the emergence of restructuring problems and policies in traditional industries and regional economies depending on them. Based on a literature review on this topic in East Asia, this paper draws three conclusions. First, the resource endowments of the three countries differ greatly and consequently also the magnitude of restructuring problems. Secondly, governments in all three countries strongly affect restructuring processes, albeit with different policies and at different spatial scales. Thirdly, although many studies have a strong applied, policy-oriented character, recent research, particularly in China, has started to use evolutionary theories and to engage with debates of mainstream economic geography.

One of the core aims of economic geography is to explore people-place relationship. The geography of feminist economics, one of the sub-disciplines of economic geography, aims to study the gendered nature of economic processes, confined largely to the issues of work and labor. This article addresses the notion of work and labor that has been central to feminist political economy. These two notions have been contested extremely with different meanings, as documented by feminists, with many different claims to what, where and how these notions should actually be studied to signify the politics of gender. For this, the article first, examines the dualisms of public/private dichotomy and the notion of power, to challenge the notion of work as opposed to home. Secondly, it sheds light on the continuous increase in the number of women in employment, especially after the end of the Second World War, though spatially uneven across the globe, referred commonly as the feminization of the labo...

Leaders who led the feeble skeleton of Pakistan’s politics crippled the state by implementing economic reforms of International Monetary Fund  (IMF) and World Bank . By meeting their conditions, they have become powerless, as West has been using them for their own interests. The involvement of West in policy making has blemished the concept of transparency, accountability and fair decisions in state affairs. Thus, corrupt ruling class dare to govern the state. Whereas, the military intervention in politics has been impediment in institution building because of fragile civil rule. The economic reforms have been conveniently implemented in periods of dictators, not only in Pakistan but in other countries also.

This chapter focuses on maintaining employment in the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises, which is crucial for the functioning of the economy. However, in an economic crisis, the changes in the area of employment of workers often become the foremost way of adapting to declining financial resources, which are the result of reduction of interest in the offer of the organisation by the customers. These actions had proven to be particularly evident in the case of global financial and economic crisis, which also affected the Polish economy after 2008.
The chapter suggests that the layoffs lead to rise in unemployment. Thus, there is a need to promote the outplacement, which is, a technique oriented on responsible dismissals in order to support a smooth transition of laid-off workers to new workplaces. In this way, both employees and companies increase their chances of maintaining competencies and better adapt to market competition requirements.
This chapter explores the characteristics of the labour market policy in Poland, main features of the outplacement in the context of the crisis, examples of the outplacement implementation, plans for further development of the outplacement, and conclusions including directions for further research.

M. Klimczuk-Kochańska, A. Klimczuk, Outplacement: The Polish Experience and Plans for Development in the Labour Market, [in:] S. Romano, G. Punziano (eds.), The European Social Model Adrift: Europe, Social Cohesion and the Economic Crisis, Ashgate, Aldershot, England; Burlington, VT 2015, pp. 89-106.

This study analyzes the changing role of women in the new economic activity of farm tourism in two distinct areas of Spain: Catalonia and Galicia. One of the most evident effects of economic restructuring processes in rural areas is the need to create in situ employment alternatives to agriculture. Farm tourism is a valuable alternative for women which both allows the combination of domestic responsibilities with tourism work and represents an income source that supports continued small-scale farming and conservation of the countryside environment. Women's perceptions of the built and natural environments are changing in response to these activities.Tourisme rural, rôles de genre et l'environnement en Espagne. Cet article analyse le rôle changeant de la femme dans l'èconomie rurale en Espagne, spécialement en rapport avec une activité nouvelle, le tourisme rural, en Galice et en Catalogne. Un effet visible du processus de restructuration économique dans les zones rurales est le besoin de créer sur place des emplois alternatifs à l'agriculture. Le tourisme rural est une option favorisée par les femmes parce que, d'une part, elle est aisément compatible avec leurs charges un ménagères et leur travail dans la ferme et, d'autre part, consitute une source complémentaire de revenues nécessaires pour la survie de l'exploitation familiale et la préservation du paysage et de l'environnement—auxquels les femmes rurales attachent une importance particulière.

El presente trabajo concentra sus análisis en el contexto de las reformas y de la reestructuración de las instituciones del bienestar en la Europa occidental en el tránsito al siglo XXI. Se trata, entre otros propósitos, de examinar las transformaciones en la provisión de políticas sociales t en el funcionamiento de los sistemas de protección social a la luz de los cambios en los grandes paradigmas económicos, desde el Keynesianismo al Monetarismo. Una atención especial se dedica a debatir la cuestión de si el desarrollo del bienestar social se ha convertido en un simple subrogado de ideas, instituciones e intereses económicos.

National culture can influence entrepreneurship by creating a specific cultural framework which defines the possibilities for the recognition of opportunities for entrepreneurial activities, as well as their social desirability. Very large corporations, especially those that dominate a region, also have their own organizational cultures, which in turn influence local social culture, and which can constitute a specific subculture within society. The “Kolubara” mine is the largest in Serbia, employing more than 11,000 workers. As most of its employees are living close to its headquarters, the small town of Lazarevac (Central Serbia), the culture nurtured within this organization and among its employees is heavily intertwined with the social culture of the inhabitants of the town. The GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) approach was used to investigate the relation between this organizational culture and national culture, by measuring the nine GLOBE cultural dimensions of the “Kolubara” employees and of the inhabitants of Lazarevac. The results of this are discussed and analysed in the context of the ongoing economic transformation in many post-socialist economies. This study highlights the readiness of the people of small industrial towns, such as Lazarevac, to adapt to this ongoing transition and to undertake entrepreneurial activities in tourism during periods of industrial restructuring and the growth of service industries in former industrial areas.

AbstractThis article examines factors accounting for persisting regional inequality in Hungary during the regime change from socialism to a market economy in 1990. We examine the determinants of regional inequality through the lens of leading sector theory which has been used to explain why some ex-socialist countries have done better than others during the transformation. In other words, we ask whether some regions of Hungary are doing better than others for the same reasons that some ex-socialist countries have outperformed their counterparts. We use county level data from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office to examine whether the quantity and types of foreign direct investment counties have received since 1990 are associated with regional inequality in per capita GDP. We find that foreign capitalists concentrate human-capital-intensive investment in already well performing locations because they have similar supply structures to their home economies. We also contend that no measure of institutional modernization is likely to make lagging regions attractive candidates for human-capital-intensive investments in the near future. Hence, regardless of the national state's efforts to target development to lagging areas, or the effectiveness of local institutions, lagging regions are likely to remain underdeveloped. We recommend that future field-based research be conducted to examine the nexus between FDI, the nation state and localities. Unraveling interrelationships between these three political economy sites will expose the causal forces sustaining regional inequalities during post-socialism.This article examines factors accounting for persisting regional inequality in Hungary during the regime change from socialism to a market economy in 1990. We examine the determinants of regional inequality through the lens of leading sector theory which has been used to explain why some ex-socialist countries have done better than others during the transformation. In other words, we ask whether some regions of Hungary are doing better than others for the same reasons that some ex-socialist countries have outperformed their counterparts. We use county level data from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office to examine whether the quantity and types of foreign direct investment counties have received since 1990 are associated with regional inequality in per capita GDP. We find that foreign capitalists concentrate human-capital-intensive investment in already well performing locations because they have similar supply structures to their home economies. We also contend that no measure of institutional modernization is likely to make lagging regions attractive candidates for human-capital-intensive investments in the near future. Hence, regardless of the national state's efforts to target development to lagging areas, or the effectiveness of local institutions, lagging regions are likely to remain underdeveloped. We recommend that future field-based research be conducted to examine the nexus between FDI, the nation state and localities. Unraveling interrelationships between these three political economy sites will expose the causal forces sustaining regional inequalities during post-socialism.RésuméCet article analyse les facteurs qui expliquent l'inégalité persistante entre régions hongroises lors du passage du socialisme à une économie de marché en 1990. Nous examinons les déterminants de l'inégalité régionale à travers la théorie du secteur moteur qui a servi à expliquer pourquoi certains ex-pays socialistes ont mieux réussi que d'autres pendant la transition. Plus précisément, nous cherchons à savoir si des régions de Hongrie font mieux que d'autres pour les mêmes raisons que certains ex-pays socialistes ont eu de meilleurs résultats que leurs homologues. Nous utilisons des données départementales provenant du Bureau central hongrois de la statistique afin d'examiner si la quantité et les types d'investissement direct à l'étranger que les départements ont reçu depuis 1990 sont associés à une inégalité régionale en termes de PIB par habitant. Nous établissons ainsi que les capitalistes étrangers concentrent leur investissement à fort capital humain dans des sites qui présentent déjà de bons résultats, les structures d'approvisionnement étant similaires à celles de leur économie nationale. Nous soutenons également que, dans le court terme, aucune mesure de modernisation institutionnelle ne va sans doute transformer les régions en retard en candidates intéressantes pour des investissements à fort capital humain. En conséquence, quels que soient les efforts de l'État national en vue de développer spécifiquement les zones en décalage, ou l'efficacité des institutions locales, les régions en retard resteront sans doute moins développées. Nous conseillons d'entreprendre à l'avenir des études de terrain afin d'analyser le lien entre IDE, État national et régions. Démêler les relations entre ces trois centres de l'économie politique révélera les forces en cause dans la durabilité des inégalités régionales pendant l'après-socialisme.Cet article analyse les facteurs qui expliquent l'inégalité persistante entre régions hongroises lors du passage du socialisme à une économie de marché en 1990. Nous examinons les déterminants de l'inégalité régionale à travers la théorie du secteur moteur qui a servi à expliquer pourquoi certains ex-pays socialistes ont mieux réussi que d'autres pendant la transition. Plus précisément, nous cherchons à savoir si des régions de Hongrie font mieux que d'autres pour les mêmes raisons que certains ex-pays socialistes ont eu de meilleurs résultats que leurs homologues. Nous utilisons des données départementales provenant du Bureau central hongrois de la statistique afin d'examiner si la quantité et les types d'investissement direct à l'étranger que les départements ont reçu depuis 1990 sont associés à une inégalité régionale en termes de PIB par habitant. Nous établissons ainsi que les capitalistes étrangers concentrent leur investissement à fort capital humain dans des sites qui présentent déjà de bons résultats, les structures d'approvisionnement étant similaires à celles de leur économie nationale. Nous soutenons également que, dans le court terme, aucune mesure de modernisation institutionnelle ne va sans doute transformer les régions en retard en candidates intéressantes pour des investissements à fort capital humain. En conséquence, quels que soient les efforts de l'État national en vue de développer spécifiquement les zones en décalage, ou l'efficacité des institutions locales, les régions en retard resteront sans doute moins développées. Nous conseillons d'entreprendre à l'avenir des études de terrain afin d'analyser le lien entre IDE, État national et régions. Démêler les relations entre ces trois centres de l'économie politique révélera les forces en cause dans la durabilité des inégalités régionales pendant l'après-socialisme.

Like many cities in the Midwestern United States in recent years, Kalamazoo, Michigan has experienced profound social and economic restructuring, resulting in significant job losses, poverty, homelessness, hunger, and racialized inequalities. Despite these conditions in Kalamazoo, many are attempting to improve social conditions by engaging in a wide range of activities such as downtown development projects, investments in education, living wage movements, entrepreneurial training programs, anti-racism advocacy, among many other initiatives. In this paper, we analyze these well-intended efforts by drawing upon Slavoj Žižek's (2008, 2009) insights on violence in today's world. We suggest that the focus on what is perceived to be reasonable, or realistic, is maintained by and helps to maintain, the normal workings of capitalism which appear as inevitable, natural, or altogether invisible. In other words, relations of exploitation remain in the realm of the REAL.

Industrial restructuring that took place in most developing countries after the mid-1980s failed to take  into  consideration  the  working  and  living  conditions  of  workers,  since  multinational  companies  that bought over state owned enterprises focused more on profit maximization at the detriment of workers welfare. This study explores the challenges and coping strategies of workers of the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) in the context of neoliberal restructuring masterminded by the Bretton Wood Institutions. The  researcher  employed  a  qualitative  phenomenological  research  design  with  purposeful  sampling  of participants.  Data  collection  entailed  conducting  in-depth  interviews  and  focus  group  discussions  with  120 male  and  female  workers  drawn  from  four  CDC  camps  in  Fako  Division.  The  study  affirms  that  the restructuring  of  the  CDC  had  negative  consequences  on  the  living  and  working  conditions  of  workers.  In a bid to salvage the situation workers had to reduce their expenditure and diversify their sources of income. The coping strategies that were employed by workers to curb the negative effects of these restructuring failed to ameliorate their living conditions, though little has been done by the CDC, CTE and Delmonte to ameliorate their situation, despite huge sacrifices they have made to restore the CDC to its past glory.

From the early settlements which were a manifestation of concentrated human activities in space to the modern period, the form of cities has defined our imagination. Constantly evolving, reflecting technological changes, such as the invention of steel, the form of the city has undergone major changes within the past two hundred years. In the twentieth century, most of the industrial cities in the West have replaced their smokestacks with office towers. Similarly, we have witnessed a profound shift in residential housing from the nineteenth century onward, with a move outwards into the peripheries of urbanized areas. While the dominant notion of the contemporary Western city remains the image of a dense downtown with high-rise towers surrounded by residential zones, the real existing spatial form of cities has changed. New urban forms are developing at the fringe, the periphery, the liminal space at the border of city and suburb, and between urbanized areas and the space “out–there.” This is where the interesting sociospatial manifestations of an urbanized society are showing their face.

This paper examines the engagement of different regions in Norway in the EU's environmental programmes. The aim is to explore the programmes' potential for supporting green restructuring through branching and new path creation. The paper assesses which regions participate in the programmes, which international networks they build, and which organisations participate in different regions. It compares three regions with different restructuring needs and research capacity-Rogaland, Hordaland and Sør-Trøndelag. Overall, Norwegian organisations participate relatively frequently in the programmes, but private firms play a marginal role. Their partners are mainly in core EU regions. Regional participation in the programmes is a function of research capacity as well as oil dependence. However, in research-oriented regions, research establishments tend to dominate participation, creating potential for restructuring mainly through path creation. In oil-dependent regions, private firms account for a higher share of participants, enhancing the potential for branching. As the former regions participate more, the programme can mainly stimulate path creation.

Korea’s state-led, bank-based, and closed financial system helped generate its impressive development record from 1961 until the 1997 crisis. However, an ill-conceived liberalization process in the early 1990s eventuated in an IMF takeover in late 1997. Post-crisis neoliberal restructuring, which moved Korea towards a globally open, capital market-based financial system, has thus far failed to generate a sustainable economic recovery. It threatens to significantly lower Korea’s long-term rate of capital accumulation. Korea would be well advised to reject neoliberalism, and adopt a modernized and radically democratized version of the traditional model, incorporating a state-led bank-based financial system with capital controls.