New cultural economies of marginality: revisiting the West Coast,South Island,New Zealand

Marginal regions have been the subject of political concern and remedial action in western states for several decades now. The West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand is an interesting case study in this regard, for recent economic growth has confounded earlier expectations of post-restructuring decline, while also contradicting several of the nostrums of new regionalism. In an effort to understand this trajectory, this paper draws on documents from public and private sector organisations, newspaper articles and field visits to examine developments in four key sectors of the West Coast's economy: mining, dairy farming, forestry and tourism. Economic growth is found to be closely linked to the cultivation of new markets for primary products, but efforts to rework the cultural dimensions of marginality have also been important. Value has been added to specific products through the insertion of references to the region's alpine and forested landscapes. Isolation and peripherality have been recast in more positive terms, echoing the broader reframing of New Zealand as a scenic, unspoiled destination. In adopting a cultural economic perspective on marginal regions, the paper illustrates the significance of symbolic forms of value, the potentially flexible nature of marginality as a discursive category, and the importance of the networks which connect regions to national and international flows of capital and tourists.     

A Fair Globalization: Creating Opportunities for All∗

Much has been written recently about the supposed decline in the sovereign power of nation-states due to global economic processes and the emergence of supranational governing institutions like the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, NAFTA, the EU, etc. This has posed what some consider a problem for still largely nation-state-centric social theory in terms of making sense of what appears to be a major transformation in global governance patterns and institutions. This article argues that the apparent transformation in global governance is less historically revolutionary than evolutionary with the key being a shift in power relations among capitalist class factions at all levels of governance. Toward substantiating this claim, the article focuses on what some argue to be the (re)-emerging global political-economic significance of subnational city-regions as a result of the apparent geographic rescaling of global governance downward from dominant inter-nation-state relations. Of importance is that this apparent (re)emergence of sovereign actors at the subnational city-region scale is largely the result of this contemporary new regionalist discourse essentially rendering itself a reality. It is therefore a highly contested, and contestable, phenomenon, even in the overwhelmingly neoliberal context of the United States.

Recientemente se ha escrito mucho sobre la supuesta decadencia en el poder soberano de los estados-naciones, debido a los procesos económicos globales y el surgimiento de instituciones de gobierno supranacionales como la Organización Mundial del Comercio, el Banco Mundial, el Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, (NAFTA, por su sigla en inglés), la Unión Europea, etc. Esto ha planteado lo que algunos consideran un problema para una teoría social todavía en gran parte estado-nación-céntrica en términos de tener sentido lo que parece ser una transformación mayor en las tendencias de gobierno e instituciones globales. Este artículo sostiene que la transformación aparente en la gobernanza global es menos revolucionaria históricamente que evolutiva, siendo la clave un cambio en el poder de las relaciones entre las fracciones de la clase capitalista y todos los niveles de gobierno. Para corroborar este argumento, el artículo se enfoca en lo que algunos sostienen que es el (re)surgimiento del significado económico-político global de las regiones-ciudades subnacionales, como resultado de un aparente redimensionamiento geográfico de gobierno global descendiente de las relaciones inter-naciones-estado dominantes. Es de importancia que el (re)surgimiento de los actores soberanos en la escala de región –ciudad subnacional, se debe mayormente a este planteamiento regionalista nuevo contemporáneo, básicamente presentándose a sí mismo como una realidad. Es por eso un fenómeno altamente controvertido y discutible, incluso en el contexto abrumadoramente neoliberal de los Estados Unidos.

由于全球经济进程以及诸如世界贸易组织、世界银行、北美自贸区和欧盟等超国家治理机构的兴起而导致人们认为民族国家的主权权力受到削弱，近来已广为述及。这对在很大程度上仍以民族国家为中心的社会理论提出了一个亟需考虑的问题，如何理解全球治理模式和制度中的重大变迁。本文认为，全球治理中的显著变化与其说是历史革命性的，不如说是渐进性的，关键是各治理层次上资本家阶级各派系的权力关系的变化。为了证明这一主张，本文聚焦于一些人士所认为的（重新）兴起的次国家城市-地区的全球政治经济意义， 认为它是支配性的民族国家间关系下降为明显的全球治理地理再调整的结果。重要的是，在次国家城市-地区层次上主权行为体的明显（重新）兴起，很大程度上是当代新地区主义话语实际上使自身成为现实的结果。因此它是一个高度争论的和可争论的现象，即使是在美国压倒性的新自由主义语境下。

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Reconsidering the Connection between Capacity and Governance

Public Organization Review - High levels of sub-national policy experimentation and public cynicism about politics and government, combined with significant challenges and opportunities for...     

Elites and popular nationalism

Much current theory concerning nationalism holds that elites commonly create or cause popular nationalism. In part, that thesis may be due to an overwhelming emphasis in research on nationalism on positive cases: cases where nationalism has appeared, ignoring cases where it has not. In this article, I challenge the thesis by showing numerous historical cases in which elites have promoted nationalisms that ordinary people have not adopted, or in which ordinary people have adopted a nationalism before it was taken up by elites. Even if elites do not create popular nationalism, however, they can and do shape its expression in a variety of ways, such as organizing it, providing relevant information, or providing opportunity or incentive for it. I show this through historical examples.     

The Contemporary Construction of Chinese International Law Discourse

当代中国国际法学的话语体系, —方面, 必须准确、系统、全面表达和传递国际 法基本原则、基本制度和本质特征以及国际法研究过程中逐步确立和发展起来的核心 价值、基本概念、关键术语、主流的理论或学说、具有代表性的观点等基本要素;另 —方面, 应充分、及时体现中国对国际法、国际法学和国际法学话语体系所作出的创 造性贡献。当代中国国际法学话语体系的构建应以 “构建和谐世界”为指导理念, 应 全面顾及国际法治和中国外交政策及其实践的国内、多边、区域和双边等四个基本层 面, 应遵行、符合或顺应国际关系和国际法的基本准则, 全球化与多边主义、区域— 体化与区域主义、国际共同体义务(或权利)和中国和平发展需要等原则、规律或趋势, 应将其基本功能定位为: 推动当代国际法的不断发展和广泛适用, 促进当代国际法的教学、研究和传播, 推进中国的法治进步, 维护中国利益、尤其是国家的核心利 益并提升中国作为负责任大国的国际形象与地位。

关键词: 中国国际法学话语体系 当代国际法 多边主义 区域主义 国际共同体义务

The contemporary construction of Chinese international law discourse, on the one hand, ought to precisely, systematically and completely express and communicate fundamental principles, main regimes and substantial features of international law as well as core values, basic conceptions, key terms, mainstream theories or doctrines and representative views gradually established and developed in the study of international law; on the other hand, it should fully and in a timely way manifest China’s creative contributions to international law and its discipline and discourse. The framework of contemporary Chinese international law discourse should take “building a harmonious world” as the guiding rationale; thoroughly cover the four basic dimensions of the international rule of law and Chinese foreign policy and its practice, namely domestic, multilateral, regional and bilateral; coincide with, follow and respect those rules, natural laws and tendencies such as fundamental rules governing international relations, globalization, multilateralism, regional integration and regionalism, the international community’s obligations (or rights) and China’s needs for peaceful development. It should orient its basic functions toward promoting the continuous development and wide application of contemporary international law as well as its teaching, study and dissemination, stimulating the progress of the rule of law in China, protecting Chinese interests, especially those core national interests, and strengthening China’s international image and status as a responsible big country.     

我国的边疆治理研究

边疆是一个国家特殊的区域，中国古代由于没有确定的边界，所以把王朝国家统治的边缘地带视为边疆，这样的地区也是少数民族生活的区域，所以也被视为民族地区。近代以后，特别是随着民族国家的建立，国家有了确定的边界，因而形成了以边界界定边疆的方式。由此界定的边疆，就是国家邻近边界的地区。中国自古以来都十分重视边疆治理，并取得了巨大的成就。但是，边疆问题的解决不是一劳永逸的，旧有的边疆问题解决了，新的问题还会产生。因此，边疆治理是一个不断常新的过程。今天，中国还面临着发展、稳定和安全三大边疆问题，不仅要进行边疆治理，而且要根据形势的变化对边疆治理进行重构，促进和加强边疆治理。     

东亚新地区主义视角下的东亚合作

当前东亚区域合作的发展主要还是以现实主义的权力和利益为基础的竞争性地区主义,这也是东亚地区主义制度化发展的重要障碍.以平等协商、互利合作为价值观的东亚新地区主义为东亚合作提供了新的动力.同时,东亚合作的进一步深化也要求东亚各国打破传统现实主义权力制衡的牢笼,共同构建符合各方利益的"东亚共同体".     

以科学发展观为指导树立文化建设战略意识--关于内蒙古民族文化大区建设的思考

在内蒙古建设民族文化大区要以科学发展观的这一思路为指导,站在时代的高度,面向世界,面向全国,将文化的时代性同地区性、民族性结合起来,树立解决文化与经济发展及各类文化间的不平衡问题的宏观战略目标,把微观的诸多目标统一到社会发展对文化提出的要求上来.     

东盟与欧盟区域整合之比较

区域整合是当今世界发展的一种普遍现象,而东盟与欧盟的区域整合最引人瞩目。这两个组织尽管在成立的历史背景及其发展道路上存在着某些相似性,但是,由于东盟与欧盟在自然条件、历史传统、政治制度、经济制度和社会发展水平等方面所存在的巨大差异,它们的区域整合在深度和广度上都存在着明显的不同,特别是对建立超国家机构的不同态度,构成了东盟与欧盟区域整合模式的根本性区别。     

论城市文化的地域性及对地方经济发展的意义

中国的城市文化是具有鲜明地域特征的文化。城市文化的这种地域性特征的形成，与城市所在地悠久的农业文明、农耕文化有着极其密切的关系。这种地域性不仅成为中国城市的独特魅力，同时也是推动城市地方经济以及城市影响力所及的地区经济发展的强大动力。