Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Uneven development'

Microfinance relates to the provision, by specialized microfinance institutions (MFIs), of small-scale financial services - such as credit, savings, and insurance - to the poorer sections of the population. These sections have traditionally been excluded by the financial system. Microfinance is viewed as a system put into place in order to overcome market failures that are created by banks and that are omnipresent in the developing world. In development policy, microfinance has received considerable attention during the last twenty years, and the industry has grown substantially. Interestingly, the sector has been more successful in reaching out to people in some countries than in others. The sector has also developed in an unequal way within countries. The reasons why this happened are not directly apparent. This doctoral dissertation addresses the uneven development of the microfinance sector and aims at identifying factors that explain it.

The dissertation consists of three main parts. The first part, which consists of two papers, combines different datasets on the outreach of MFIs to assess in which countries MFIs have developed most. The papers indicate that the microfinance sector is more present in the richer countries of the developing world. It also reaches more clients in countries that receive more international aid. Population density also plays a stimulating role, which partially explains why the sector is still underdeveloped in rural areas.

The second part of the dissertation, which exists of one paper, explores in more depth the relationship between traditional financial sector development and microfinance institutions. The paper, co-authored with Bert D’Espallier, shows that MFIs reach more clients and are more profitable in countries where access to the traditional financial system is low. This is in line with the market-failure hypothesis. Along the same line, we find that MFIs serve poorer people in countries with well-developed financial systems. This observation is an important element to take into account in the debate on mission drift of the sector, where it is feared that MFIs drift away from serving the poor. The paper shows that MFIs in countries with well-developed banking sectors have less space to move up market and consequently to drift from the sector’s general mission.

The third and final part of the dissertation is a quantitative study on the spread and expansion process of MFIs in one Latin American country, Peru. The roles that district characteristics play in the decision to open an MFI branch are scrutinized. The paper finds that MFIs mainly increase financial access in districts with higher levels of development. Districts where banks are already present also have a higher probability that MFIs will open a branch there. This demonstrates that the two kinds of institutions co-exist in several districts, but most probably serve another clientele. Overall, although strategies differ between different types of Peruvian MFIs, the paper finds that they do not seem to be driven by a pure developmental logic that would push them towards the poorest or totally unbanked regions of the country.

On the whole, the main conclusions of the dissertation can be summarized as follows. First, the dissertation demonstrates that the outreach of the microfinance sector is influenced by a number of macro factors. Consequently, country-specific and macro-economic factors should be taken into account when evaluating MFI performance. Second, the dissertation shows that MFIs substitute the traditional banking sector. MFIs thus fulfill an important part of their mission, i.e. they have helped to increase financial access in the developing world. However, the study also suggests that MFIs still fail to serve a significant number of poor people. This leads to a third important observation, namely that MFIs may in fact not strive to serve the poor as such. Rather, it seems that they are currently focusing on the un-served market in general. The observation indicates that there is a need for a more thorough investigation on the issue of whom the unbanked in the developing countries are and whom MFIs actually strive to serve. Finally, since the outreach and performance of MFIs is dependent on the presence of a stimulating macro-environment, it remains a challenge to serve the financially excluded in the more remote areas of the developing countries and the people in the poorest ones.

Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Since the end of the 1990s, Berlin’s housing has been described by a transformation from state- to market-led provision, creating more socially and spatially segregated neighbourhoods. The underlying processes exacerbating and reproducing these inequalities have however rarely been addressed. This thesis investigates the question how the transformation of Berlin’s mode of housing provision generated particular forms of social and spatial inequalities. It begins from a state-focused approach to regulation theory and the related debate on the contemporary form of urban governance of the entrepreneurial city. The thesis identifies three transformation processes of Berlin’s mode of housing provision, which are informed by critical realist housing research. First, the privatisation of state-owned housing and the entrance of institutional investors; second, the reformation of the remaining state-owned housing companies and their adaptation to the government’s social and economic demands; and third, the abandonment of supplyside subsidies for the construction and renovation of housing. The analysis of these three processes exposes how regulation, production, and consumption mechanisms play out under particular spatial and temporal circumstances, creating social and spatial inequalities. A particular emphasis lies on the production mechanisms defined through the diverging strategies of different institutional investors and state-owned housing companies. The thesis concludes with a reflection upon the benefits of a critical realist methodology for analysing state restructuring. It is argued that only through the application of a critical realist methodology, the strengths of the regulation theory’s conceptualisation of state transformation can fully be deployed. The thesis therefore goes beyond an affirmation of a more entrepreneurial mode of housing provision in Berlin, deploying a critical realist approach to reveal the underlying mechanisms of the particular mode of housing provision and its uneven consequences.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 2012.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 320-343).
Comparative data reveal that Japan consistently has had one of the highest poverty rates among advanced industrialized nations, yet its government taxes the poor more heavily and gives them less in public cash transfers than its peers. Why does a country, endowed with democratic institutions, deep pockets, and a sizable social welfare system provide so little public assistance to the poor? I identify two features of Japan's political and economic development that gave rise to a distinctively threadbare safety net. First, the country's late-developer status paired with state-led industrial development incentivized the primary interest groups-namely, the agrarian landlords, industrialists, and organized labor-to oppose redistribution. Second, the manner in which democratic institutions were introduced in the late nineteenth century and the subsequent expansion of suffrage enabled these groups to gain political influence and block expansion of poor relief in the Diet. Beyond formulating redistributive policies, they locked in the minimalist pattern of redistribution by denying the poor the right to vote (pre-1945) and adopting an electoral system that muted their political voice after suffrage was obtained (post-1945). Consequently, Japan's welfare state developed unevenly, featuring a heavy layer of social insurance programs that benefit well-organized interest groups and an exceptionally minimalist public assistance program for the poor. Thus, contrary to extant theories that associate democracy, economic modernization, and a robust labor movement with higher social spending for the poor, I show that these factors stifled redistribution in the case of Japan. My findings strongly suggest that how a country built its democracy and wealth influences whether a welfare state reinforces or ameliorates existing inequality.
by Yumiko T. Shimabukuro.
Ph.D.

This thesis explores memory development in children with Down syndrome (DS) between aged 3 years and 9 months and 14 years and 5 months (N=43). While memory has been extensively explored in older individuals with DS, relatively little work has considered the development of memory in childhood in DS, in part due to the difficulty of assessing memory in individuals with lower levels of ability. The project was innovative in applying a mixture of original and pre-existing tasks to this population, in order to characterise a wide range of memory abilities at varying levels of cognitive demand. These abilities were initially compared between those with DS and typically developing individuals by age group, early childhood (3 years 9 months to 8 years 4 months) and late childhood (9 years 9 months to 14 years 5 months). Standardised tasks were used to produce mental-age equivalents and raw scores for verbal and non-verbal memory abilities (BPVS, BAS II pattern construction). Study 1 examined object and object-in-place recognition using eye-tracking, using a low demand methodology that excluded few participants. Study 2 examined verbal working and long-term memory abilities overall, as well as learning and forgetting rates. Primacy, recency and mid-list recall rates were also analysed to shed light on strategies of encoding. Study 3 examined spatial working and long-term memory abilities, as well as forgetting rates. Study 4 examined multimodal associative immediate and delayed memory, using a spatialauditory associative eye-tracking paradigm. Study 5 examined the relationships between sustained attention, inhibition, and sleep behaviour measures, as these faculties are implicated in the development of memory abilities. Finally, in Study 6, cross-sectional developmental trajectories were constructed for all memory measures to ascertain if base levels or gradients of change significantly differed, either with respect to chronological age or domain-relevant mental age measures, in comparison to a sample of typically developing children. Overall, the project charted the emergence of an uneven profile of memory abilities across childhood in DS.

This thesis challenges the Eurocentric division of international history into distinct 'Western' and 'Eastern' strands by demonstrating the intensive historical interactivity between the Ottoman Empire and Europe. Addressing Weberian, Marxian and postcolonial inspired historiography, it seeks to overcome a series of interconnected binaries- East versus West, tradition versus modernity and inside versus outside- that characterise the one-sidedness of these approaches. This thesis argues that Uneven and Combined Development (U&CD) is a theoretical framework primed to overcoming precisely such partialities, and can therefore make an original contribution to Ottoman historiography. More specifically the thesis tackles problems in Ottoman historiography across three key junctures. Through a treatment of the origins of the Empire, I demonstrate that the Ottoman tributary state was a product of international determinations- a form of combined development. Analysing the Ottoman apogee of the sixteenth century, I argue that Ottoman geopolitical pressure on Europe created sociological conditions for that emergence of capitalism. Finally, I show that Ottoman decline was inextricable from the uneven and combined development of capitalism over the course of the long nineteenth century. These historical analyses offer distinct contributions to historical sociological debates around the 'tributary mode of production', the 'Rise of the West' and 'modernisation' respectively. Theoretically, I show that any historical study from a singular spatial vantage point will always tend to be partial. Instead, multiple vantage points derived from multiple spatio-temporal origins better capture the complexity of concrete historical processes. In presenting this argument, this thesis offers a theoretical reconstruction of U&CD as the articulation of spatio-temporal multiplicity in mode of production analysis, which overcomes the fissure between international relations and historical sociology. It thus extends the theory of U&CD onto the terrain of 'big questions' surrounding pre-capitalist social relations and capitalist modernity.

This thesis examines the development of the Brazilian informatics industry and its relationship with and role in the international division of labour for informatics. The principal focus of the analysis is the Brazilian national policy for informatics (PNI). The PNI successes and failures at the national and regional level are related to the weak articulations between the Brazilian and the global informatics industry. The evidence for these fragile links are in the regional distribution patterns of the informatics industry throughout the national territory. The thesis differs from previous studies of Brazilian development policies in its assertion that industry and firms have specific sets of social relations which are spatially grounded and these depend on technology, itself socially created. Previous studies however have depended solely upon technological criteria with which to evaluate Brazilian development strategies. Five main points are covered: the organization of the global informatics industry; different forms of state intervention to cope with and secure nations' strategic stakes in this important industry in the AICs and NICs; interactions between this sector and other sectors of the national industry; and regional patterns of this sector's industrial development in the country. The thesis identifies contradictions between Brazilian policies for modernization of the economy as a whole and modernization of the informatics sector. Modernization requires introduction of new technologies (products and processes) which the heavily protected national informatics industry is not yet capable of producing. Current industrial (and therefore also regional) development bottlenecks faced by the Brazilian industry reflects structural rigidities in the nation's social-political structure. The inward-looking character of Brazil's informatics development policies, which are both unique (in national terms) and ambitious (in technological terms), the thesis argues, fails to take into account the global organization, and thus the role of international capital, in the informatics industry. The thesis emphasizes that it was the need to solve economic problems that triggered the Brazilian development process. However, the development of informatics industriesaround the globe cannot be seen as a direct and exclusive cause of capital migration. Brazil, together, with other developing countries, is an integral part of the world system and must take this system into account in order to make the most of its possibilities.

This research investigates housing-led regeneration in the post-industrial area of East Durham to examine whether a gap exists between policy expectation and regeneration, on-the-ground. By engaging with the themes of uneven development and stigma and marginality, the thesis argues that housing-led regeneration policies have exacerbated already existing unevenness and marginality, in their bid to regenerate areas and promote sustainability. This process is played out in the face of shifting economic and political issues. The housing and wider economic market boom of the early to mid 2000’s witnessed a shift in the emphasis placed on housing as a driver to renewal in East Durham; an approach which was sharply hit by the housing market slump, credit crunch and accompanying austerity measures. These funding cuts placed a greater emphasis on the private sector to fund (amongst other things) housing. In addition a rescaling of governing structures from regional and local authority to sub-regional has, the research contends, further influenced and shaped uneven development and marginality. Through the lens of post-political theory, this thesis engages with the relationships between those involved in housing-led regeneration to examine conflict within the process, to show how consensus is managed. Empirical data was gathered using the case study of East Durham. This involved the examination of secondary data in the form of government publications, official statistics, and media reports. The data is derived from extensive, in-depth interviewing of a sample of representatives from County Durham Unitary Council; builders and developers; private surveyors and planners; private landlords; social housing providers; property managers; central government agents; and third sector representatives. A range of county, local and community meetings and forums were attended to provide an ethnographic insight into the process of governing and the relationships which exist within the area.

This thesis examines two 'urban regeneration' projects ongoing in peripheral. post-industrial areas of Edinburgh (Scotland). Both areas have suffered from long term underinvestment, and are classic examples of Neil Smith's 'rent-gap'; the plans for both envision higher prices, richer residents, less (or no) council housing and hold onto the notion of integration into 'Edinburgh' proper. The way in which land must become a form of fictitious capital is in evidence as both fuel and aim: rising land values is the ideal; rising land values is the way to achieve that ideal. The aim of this thesis is twofold. on the one hand, I seek a detailed history of these two projects, to provide a portrait of urban change in areas of Edinburgh that are almost totally absent from the literature. Edinburgh is consistently perceived as a 'successful' and affluent city, and the history portrayed herein challenges this perception, illustrating how it is only maintained through the eviction of other notions of the city. In this sense the work of critical geographers is brought to bear on an urban environment not widely seen to offer insight into the visceral fault lines of profit-seeking urban redevelopment. At the same time, this thesis mounts a theoretical intervention vis-à-vis the conception of 'the state' in work on gentrification and urban regeneration. The state has assume growing importance as an actor in narratives of gentrification, so much so that the phenomenon is often perceived as state-led. In my two case-studies the habit for institutionally declaring a denial of state agency is in full force: both projects were led by elusive public/private 'partnerships', but in both cases they were in fact much more 'public' than they wanted to appear. In this sense state agency is (intentionally) hidden behind an unaccountable façade of separation. At its simplest, my research challenges the notion that 'the state' gentrifies because it know what it is doing. There is a presumed intentionality behind notions of state-led gentrification that appears to be missing: rather, this is gentrification enacted by assumptions, limitations, a lack of imagination, lack of money; in other words by the neoliberalisation of the state itself. In this sense gentrification is not occurring because it is chosen as a policy outcome, but is chosen because it is perceived as the only policy outcome. This can best be understood by challenging the notion of a state/economy dichotomy that is implicit in most research on gentrification. Both projects were ambitions, and both suffered spectacularly as a result of an ongoing financial crisis caused in no small way by the very strategies of real-estate valorisation they typify themselves. These are landscapes rendered by demolition and land values that catastrophically failed to rise, indicative of two epochs slain in quick succession: the Keynesian-industrial era, flattened to make way for the entrepreneurial city that lies in crisis. Attention to the way they were planned, the way they failed to succeed and the way no alternative plan has arisen haves us a treatise on the way planning is seemingly locked into a certain path. This thesis prompts a more critical engagement with 'the ate' of gentrification, and is ultimately guided by a political commitment to more equitable, democratically accountable urban policy where the legitimacy of state involvement needs constant renegotiation. The paradigm of neoliberal urban policy is - to use Neil Smith's phrase - 'dead but dominant', and we need to try and understand how.

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 1999.
Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 44 p. : col. map. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 42-44).

Improving African water and sanitation has been a central objective of international development policy for many years. Alongside high profile awareness campaigns and global initiatives such as the Millennium Development Goals, there have been fundamental transformations to African water and sanitation governance since the early 1990s. World Bank and International Monetary Fund structural adjustment policies have led to the adoption of neoliberal water reforms across large parts of the developing world, especially in urban regions of Africa. However, it is only in the last few years that the extent of the social, economic and political impacts of these reforms have begun to become apparent. An investigation has been made of the impacts of recent ly-adopted neoliberal reforms on water and sanitation development in an urban region of Zambia called the Copperbelt Province. Postcolonial theory and interdisciplinary approaches have been used to develop an analysis of neoliberal water policy impacts on: (1) provision of water supply and sanitation; (ii) the politics of development; and (iii) the history of uneven development in the Copperbelt. A critical analysis of neoliberal water and sanitation development reveals that, while the reforms have prompted greater conservation of water, there is continued water and sanitation poverty and widening inequality between the minority water-rich and majority water-poor populations. Also, scrutiny of the politics of water and sanitation development in the Copperbelt reveals that power is concentrated in the hands of a number of visible and less visible non-state actors, most notably the World Bank. These non-state actors are shown to have a considerable influence over decisions regarding the future of Copperbelt water governance. Analysis of neoliberal policies in relation to the history of development revealed the persistence of three key elements of uneven development: water and sanitation inequality; political marginalisation of the urban poor; and uneven power relations between Zambian and non-Zambian development actors. The resilience of these three dimensions of uneven development can be traced back to the policies and practices of British colonial water governance. A number of contributions to knowledge in this field of study have been made. This is one of the first analyses of the impacts of neoliberal water and sanitation development in Africa. It is also one of the first attempts to apply postcolonial theory to the study of an important material issue such as water and sanitation. It has given rise to serious questions over the applicability of neoliberal water reforms in urban Africa. It is concluded that policy makers need to consider the embedded, spatially inscribed, material inequalities that characterise many former European colonies in Africa, such as Zambia.

The thesis examines the impacts of European integration on interest representation in an EU applicant country, Hungary. The study identifies and explores the mechanisms of Europeanisation and their effects on the organisation and functioning of interest groups and of interest representation structures. The study primarily uses the qualitative method. The empirical part consists of three detailed case studies, covering the pharmaceutical sector, the agricultural sector, and peak employers' associations. The research is largely based on primary data gained from interviews and documents. Each case study explores the inclusion of Hungarian interest groups in the European level of interest representation, their participation in EU-related policy-making, and the European policy impacts on group developments and interest representation structures. The theories of Europeanisation constitute the primary analytical framework for the study. In addition in an attempt of contextualisation, the theories of political and economic transition and consolidation are also examined. The empirical chapters indicate a variation in the forms and degree to which Europeanisation affected interest representation in Hungary. Sectoral, group and interest representation structure characteristics, and the nature of the EU level interest representation are examined as the variables responsible for the differences. The research findings point to the need to distinguish between formal and substantive Europeanisation. It is also argued that Europeanisation is closely intertwined with and embedded in the double process of political and economic transition and consolidation in the Central and Eastern European context

This thesis examines economic restructuring and changing governmental regulation in the Central Wheatbelt of Western Australia. It argues that, for much of this century, Australian governments were committed to the development and maintenance of export orientated agriculture and stable rural communities. While the agricultural industry, and the rural society that it supported, were periodically affected by economic downturns, wars, and technological changes, the full socio-economic impacts were often tempered by interventionist agricultural, social and regional development government policies. Since the early 1970s, however, the Central Wheatbelt, and rural Australia more generally, have experienced profound economic, social and political changes. During this period, the rapid transformation of the global economy has contributed to a series of problems in the Australian economy, such as low levels of economic growth, rising interest rates, and increasing unemployment. In the case of agriculture, the upheaval in the global economy contributed to world surpluses of agricultural commodities, declining returns for food and fibre production, and the rising cost of farm inputs.Since the early 1980s, the response of Federal and State governments to the turmoil in the Australian economy has been to argue that the only workable solution to globalisation was the adoption of policies based on the principles of economic rationalism. However, this thesis argues that, in the Central Wheatbelt, the combination of global restructuring and policies based on economic rationalism have contributed to: the declining viability of family farming; farm amalgamation; labour force adjustments; the contraction of local economies; depopulation; public service rationalisation and withdrawal; and uneven economic and social development. It is contended that policies based on the principles of economic rationalism have increased levels of uncertainty and socio-economic disadvantage in a region already adversely affected by the economic pressures associated with restructuring. The thesis concludes by arguing that a more integrated policy framework, based to a greater extent on the principles of social equity, is critical to ensuring the social and economic welfare of rural people.

This thesis examines economic restructuring and changing governmental regulation in the Central Wheatbelt of Western Australia. It argues that, for much of this century, Australian governments were committed to the development and maintenance of export orientated agriculture and stable rural communities. While the agricultural industry, and the rural society that it supported, were periodically affected by economic downturns, wars, and technological changes, the full socio-economic impacts were often tempered by interventionist agricultural, social and regional development government policies. Since the early 1970s, however, the Central Wheatbelt, and rural Australia more generally, have experienced profound economic, social and political changes. During this period, the rapid transformation of the global economy has contributed to a series of problems in the Australian economy, such as low levels of economic growth, rising interest rates, and increasing unemployment. In the case of agriculture, the upheaval in the global economy contributed to world surpluses of agricultural commodities, declining returns for food and fibre production, and the rising cost of farm inputs.Since the early 1980s, the response of Federal and State governments to the turmoil in the Australian economy has been to argue that the only workable solution to globalisation was the adoption of policies based on the principles of economic rationalism. However, this thesis argues that, in the Central Wheatbelt, the combination of global restructuring and policies based on economic rationalism have contributed to: the declining viability of family farming; farm amalgamation; labour force adjustments; the contraction of local economies; depopulation; public service rationalisation and withdrawal; and uneven economic and social development. It is contended that policies based on the principles of ++
economic rationalism have increased levels of uncertainty and socio-economic disadvantage in a region already adversely affected by the economic pressures associated with restructuring. The thesis concludes by arguing that a more integrated policy framework, based to a greater extent on the principles of social equity, is critical to ensuring the social and economic welfare of rural people.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the relation between national economic ventures, environmental security and community development. It does so through a case study of the implementation process of an iron and copper mine (La Dominga Project) in a “biodiversity hotspot” in central-northern Chile. Using qualitative methods to gather empirical data and a discursive analytical framework, it seeks to understand how the mine affects livelihoods and community development, as perceived by local citizens. The results show that the state, the extractive industries and private landowners constantly contest the local community’s access to land. The state and the industry have an advantage in power, manifested in the decision-making procedure. As a consequence of the deficient participation in this process, the community faces a forced exposure to risk. La Dominga jeopardizes local livelihoods and alternative development plans, which show potential to be long-term ecologically sustainable. Those are 1) the community based- and adaptively co-managed area for exploitation of benthic resources and 2) the tourist activities, based on the bird and whale spotting tours to the closely located protected islands. The thesis further suggests that social mobilization and articulation of local resistance fails because of 1) elements of social control within the community, 2) the discursive role of mining, and more specifically copper mining in the Chilean landscape ideologies and 3) CSR-interventions in form of extensive, individual “grant programs”.

A multi-mechanism framework under a multi-scale method proposed by Wei (1999) is appropriate to analyze the development conditions of Northeast China. In detail, the three mechanisms are decentralization, marketization and globalization, and the three scales are at the interregional, interprovincial and intra-provincial levels. Decentralization after 1978 in China has led to a weaker central state and stronger local governments, both of which have had important implications for regional development. Challenges from local governments have undermined the control of the central government over regional development. However, powerful local governments have helped Chinese governments to embed in local economies. This has been beneficial to develop and form diversified local economies in the Northeast region. But their over-embeddedness in the economic development target has led to an overlook of local government’s responsibilities in maintaining social justice and protecting and assisting the disadvantaged groups, increasing inter-provincial competition and subsequent local protectionism. Marketization reforms in China have generated a regional biased effect on older declining regions including Northeast China. Privatization or the restructure of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) has led to losses of skilled labor and valuable intellectual properties, such as product brands and major manufacturing equipment in Northeast China. Moreover, the formation of an integrated domestic market in China after 1978 has created a more advantageous condition for southern provinces, not for northeastern provinces, because of the closer distance with domestic and overseas markets of southern provinces, and market protectionism conducted by some southern local governments through disguised subsidies to local enterprises or government procurement contracts only for local enterprises. Foreign investment and trade, two major forms of globalization, also have had influences on regional development in China. In detail, international trade has generated border effects, for example the newly formed economic centers alongside the border with leading western European countries in the central and east European transition countries, and also the prosperous economy in coastal China. Foreign investment’s effects on regional development have been influenced by several factors, including the particular selected locations of foreign investors, and also the attitudes or reactions from local players such as governments, labor unions and other actors.
Arts, Faculty of
Geography, Department of
Graduate

The concept of sustainability has recently become integrated into mainstream commercial spheres of cocoa-chocolate industries, whilst the concept remains elusive and debateable in the political sphere. The sustainability initiatives attempt to improve both farm management and farmer livelihoods by voluntarily integrating certification schemes (e.g., RA, Utzcertified, and Fairtrade) along with other initiatives. Exploring the implications of the sustainability initiatives beyond vertical industrial governance, this study contributes to the extant literature on GVCS/GPNs and provides an understanding of the extension of sustainability concept into horizontal extrafirm bargaining strategies. This study highlights the increasing industrial-centred power beyond a reorganisation of industrial activities of two case studies, Mars and Nestlé. The initiatives have resulted an increase vertical coordination with the upstream cocoa production networks, as the schemes become an instrument to minimise the supply risks. Also, the horizontal engagement through public private partnerships has created a negotiation space with extrafirm actors, yet the state participation in sustainability (keberlanjutan) discourse appeared to support local industrialists and the transnational firms to secure cocoa supply. Sustainability has strengthened the firm position in the upstream production networks, but the local actors and farmers continue struggle to overcome increasing market barriers and uneven competition. Eventually, the initiatives emphasize the economic interests, but at the expense of the cheaper productive capital supplied by the smallholder farmers and creating new processes of uneven development.

This doctoral project explores the evolution of regional uneven development in Jiangsu province under China’s growth-oriented state ideology during the economic reform era. Based upon a set of political-philosophical and historical analyses, it is argued that, as the foundation of China’s regime legitimacy in the reform era, the growth orientation of China’s dominant state ideology consisted of two key rationales, those are, China’s utilitarianism and its pragmatism. And, in order to concretely study the evolution of the regional unevenness between the south and north of Jiangsu province, two city-regions were selected as the basis for detailed empirical research. They are Changzhou city in the south and Nantong city in the north. Both the theoretical and empirical analyses were conducted under a three-stage periodization of economic reform. These are: the first stage (the late 1970s – the earlier 1990s), the second stage (the mid-1990s – the earlier 2000s), and the third stage (the earlier 2000s – 2013). It is found that, generally speaking, the dominant growth-oriented state ideology exercised key influences on regional unevenness in Jiangsu through a set of utilitarian and pragmatic institutional expressions and practices. And, corresponding to the influence of the growth-oriented state ideology, there are different kinds of strategically inscribed structural selectivities being expressed during different stage of the economic reform. Such selectivities are mainly exhibited by, and practised through, the dominant local growth patterns of the respective stage of the reform. Those are: TVE-driven growth, development zone-driven growth, and state-led, urbanisation-driven growth. Whilst the actual practices of these local growth patterns all decisively (re)produced and (re)shaped regional unevenness, they also exhibited, and were subject to, polymorphic and multidimensional sociospatial relations and processes which may be explored from the perspective of the so-called TPSN framework. It is proposed that whilst regional unevenness in Jiangsu province was increasing during the first two stages of reform, it was reduced during the third stage, though in a highly unsustainable and socially unjust fashion.

This thesis answers the question: ‘what explains Jordan’s international alignments between 1955 and 1957?’ In so doing, the thesis addresses the broader question of why states in the Global South make alignments and explores the conditions under which these alignments are generated. The thesis advances beyond existing accounts in the historical and International Relations (IR) literature: especially the ‘omni-balancing school who argue that in Southern States, ruling regimes balance or bandwagon (like state actors in neo-realist theory) but directed against both internal and external threats. This thesis argues that such explanations explain Southern state behaviour by some lack or failure in comparison to the states of the global North. The thesis argues that omnibalancing imports neo-realist assumptions inside the state, endowing regimes with an autonomy they do not necessarily hold. The thesis adopts the theoretical framework of uneven and combined development to overcome these challenges in explaining Jordan’s alignments between 1955 and 1957. Using this case study, at a turning point in the international relations of the Middle East where Jordan could have taken either path, the thesis illuminates the potential utility of this theoretical framework for the region as a whole. The thesis argues that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries a ‘combined social formation’ emerged east of the Jordan river through the processes of Ottoman mimetic reform, land reform and state formation under the British mandate. The main characteristics of this social formation were a relatively egalitarian rural land-holding structure and a mechanism of combination with the global capitalist system through British subsidy to the former nomadic pastoralists in the armed forces, replacing formerly tributary relations. The thesis traces the social bases of the struggles that produced Jordan’s alignments between 1955 and 1957 to the emergence of this combined social formation and presents case studies of: the Jordanian responses to the Baghdad Pact, expulsion of British officers in the Jordanian armed forces, the Suez Crisis, abrogation of the Anglo- Jordanian treaty and acceptance of US aid at the time of the Eisenhower Doctrine. The thesis will be of interest in the fields of IR and Middle East studies: contributing to IR by critiquing existing approaches and demonstrating the utility of a new theoretical framework that can overcome the dichotomy of universality/specificity in the region.

This study is primarily about the theory of uneven geographical development. 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. As the nexus between global and local processes, the urban space often becomes the site of conflict between those defining the hegemonic narrative of the space, from a global and flat perspective; and those experiencing heterogenous local narratives, whose uneven positions are reinforced by this hegemonic narrative. This 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 by much of the world as Walt Disney World, and on Celebration, the community developed by the Disney Corporation in the 1990s, the relationship between urban development and tourism, the defining economic sector in the region, are explored in the context of space-place, global-local narratives. This is done using the four conditions of David Harvey's Theory of Uneven Geographical Development. First, the history of sociopolitical processes within the urban space are explored as creating a framework upon which contemporary uneven geographical development could be built. Second, the development and continued power of the RCID in central Florida are examined within the context of accumulation by dispossession. Third, Celebration as a consumed company town is examined in the context of accumulation across space-time. Finally, the relationships between the RCID and Celebration, and the rest of the central Florida region, are developed in the context of struggles occurring simultaneously across multiple scales. 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. It also shows that, while the theory of uneven geographical development works well for a space that is a primary global tourist sink, it needs additional theoretical sophistication in order to better suit rapidly changing global processes.

As a country of origin, transit, and destination for migrants that now borders four European Union (EU) member countries, Ukraine has seen future integration possibilities with the EU become, in part, conditional upon its willingness to cooperate in controlling cross-border migration. The EU is now “externalizing” aspects of migration and border control to Ukraine through making investments in Ukraine’s capacity to selectively “manage” cross-border flows in line with EU security and economy priorities. In the context of this emerging spatial arrangement of EU externalization, this thesis analyzes how, by whom, and to what effect migration is being managed in and through Ukraine. Policies of migration and border management are now materializing in Ukraine in relation to actors and discourses that incorporate imperatives for security and development in their approaches to governance. Therefore, this thesis investigates migration and border management at the geopolitical nexus of development, security, and migrant (im)mobility. It does this with a critical concern for those migrants whose exclusion from the EU is subject to humanitarian management in Ukraine.

Incidence of youth and gang violence in the Portland, Oregon metro area has increased dramatically over the past five years. This violence has recently become more spatially diffuse, shifting outwards from gentrified, inner city neighborhoods, towards the city's periphery. These incidents exist within the context of a shifting regional political economy, characterized by a process of gentrification associated displacement and growing, and distinctly racialized and spatialized, inequalities. While gang researchers have long argued a corollary between the emergence of gangs and economically and culturally polarized urban landscapes, the ongoing suburbanization of poverty in American cities suggests a new landscape of uneven power differentials playing out between disenfranchised youth and those seeking to police and prevent violence. This paper provides a critical examination of how local agencies charged with addressing youth and gang violence are responding to shifts in the landscape of violence and navigating the inequitable distribution of wealth and resources in the "progressive" city. Drawing on interviews conducted with police, policy makers and gang outreach workers, the author investigates both perceptions of gentrification's role in youth and gang violence and the spacialities of emerging enforcement and prevention efforts. My findings suggest that prevention and enforcement efforts frequently rely on techniques and models designed to replicate conditions in older, gentrified neighborhoods, while perhaps unwittingly reifying existing inequalities. Ultimately, I hope to reveal some of the links, both at macro-structural levels and those of daily practice, between a shifting political economy and emerging forms of suburban policing.

The main goal of the thesis is to develop an understanding of the history of international society, reinterpreting it as the uneven and combined development of capitalism. It is argued that uneven and combined development is the historical form that capitalism has taken in expanding international society. The way in which each individual society was integrated into the expanding international society depended on the local conditions and how this fed into the international context set by an already-existing world market and states-system. When subjected to the pressures of capitalist expansion, states attempted to quickly consolidate their power and increase revenue by developing their productive capacity through copying the methods of production and political organisation which had made Europe so strong. This produced a particular model of development in that advanced forms were often grafted onto pre-existing structures. The experience of this creates the particular context in which political action takes place. The case studies of Egypt and Vietnam provide two local comparative applications of the theory. Each case study shows, through historical reconstruction, how the history of international society and the history of individual societies are intertwined. It will also show that in both cases the experience of uneven and combined development created a particular distorted and twisted class structure which meant that social and political instability was built in. By charting their different experiences an explanation is provided for the two very different routes they took: in Egypt's case - a nationalist military coup d'etat, and in Vietnam's case - Communist revolution and war. But the theory goes further than just providing an analysis of domestic instabilities, it also shows how it is the management of these very instabilities which has dominated the policies and actions of the major powers throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Regional inequality is one of the most challenging issues facing China in the coming decade. Whilst this matter can be approached from different angles; mainstream scholars have tended to examine this issue by way of monetary measurement (e.g. GDP or income per capita). This study draws attention to the non-monetary aspect in order to shed new light on regional inequality. Accordingly, this research focuses on the gaps and trends of human capital development, a key non-monetary index proxying for regional inequality in transitional China. Taking education and health status as two key indicators, in particular, this research aims to trace the trends in regional inequality over the last two decades, investigate to what extent those two dimensions can help to identify and integrate factors behind regional disparities, and to analyse some profound policies and implications. Based upon official educational and health status statistics at provincial level, this study develops a model to exam regional disparity between the three economic development zones from 1990 to 2005. Main findings are that different perspectives of regional inequality bring out different consequences; from the viewpoint of human capital development, regional inequality presents positive findings in uneven development. Secondly, causes of development are fairly diverse and different measurements may significantly vary outcomes. Thirdly, uneven development is a spontaneous phenomenon underlying development, which over varying lengths of time may have stimulated economic growth in a positive way. Finally, limitations are discussed associated with policy implications.

Issues related to food security have long been closely tied to the dynamics of the global political economy. The latest price peak experienced in the commodities market (2007-2008) greatly affected agricultural commodities, creating significant imbalances in production and consumption. This research develops an interdisciplinary approach that links together issues of natural resource governance, development, and transformations in the global political economy to explore the ways in which countries of South America govern commodity booms. In other words, this thesis examines how these global dynamics affect the ways in which food-producing states manage the wealth produced during commodity booms and how this is wealth is subsequently distributed among different sectors of society. In South America, the recent commodity boom has led to an expansion of primary production oriented towards export markets, creating imbalances in their domestic productive structures. This thesis focuses on the production and trade of soybean in three countries of the Southern Cone: Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Following the boom, soybean production has come to dominate the agricultural sectors and overall exports of these countries, with some authors going as far as to dub this rapidly expanding industry the ‘Soybean Republic’. This research engages with cutting edge debates in International Political Economy, with a conceptual focus that draws from human geography and brings in space as both contingent and constituted by the changing productive and trade dynamics. By looking at the development of fixed infrastructure and dynamics of capital mobility, this research explores the patterns of uneven development that emerge from the expansion of the soybean complex, as well as the capacity of the Argentine, Brazilian, and Paraguayan states to govern the distribution of the profits emanating from it.

This dissertation approaches the geopolitics of river infrastructure in the Indus Basin through the structured interaction of "hydraulic regionalism" and "technocratic developmentalism". The former occurs when regional elites feel their access to river resources are threatened by upstream infrastructure development. The latter occurs when technocratic elites underplay the geopolitics of regional vulnerability by stressing the overall integrated development of river resources to maximize utility. The dissertation interprets archival, legal, and ethnographic data regarding the negotiation and adjudication of the Indus Waters Treaty between India, Pakistan, and the World Bank, as well as the implementation of the Indus Basin Development Fund Agreement. The dissertation also analyzes upstream/downstream tension between the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh. The contributions of this dissertation are in the fields of post-colonial state theory, the political ecology/economy of environmental knowledge, the geopolitics of river disputes, and Marxist methodology.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1985.
MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH.
Bibliography: leaves 78-83.
by Richard Frank Kazis.
M.C.P.

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2009.
Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 148 p. : ill., (some col.), col. maps. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 138-148).

Sri Lanka's integration at the lower tiers of a (re)globalising world economy has entailed the mass migration of low-skilled and domestic workers employed as temporary contract labour throughout the oil-economies of West Asia. Foreign employment of this kind began after neoliberal economic restructuring in 1977 and, by facilitating remittance transfers, has since become a dominant livelihood strategy for households and the largest source of export earnings for the economy. Dominant policy-level assumptions of a mutually-beneficial ‘triple win’ between migrants and their countries of origin and destination posit temporary labour migration will produce positive economic outcomes for all involved. Yet while labour-receiving economies clearly benefit from exploiting reserve armies of labour and care, the developmental implications of remittance transfers for migrant households and sending economies remain empirically ambiguous and relatively under-theorised. Employing a multiscalar analysis of migration outcomes – spanning individual households, local communities, the macro-economy and global patterns of capital accumulation – this thesis demonstrates how cumulatively causative processes at structural, institutional and agency levels have left Sri Lanka a precariously uneven and remittance-dependent economy. Sri Lanka’s dilemma hinges on a central contradiction: uneven development has forced marginalised populations into foreign employment, only for their remittances to maintain the model of development they themselves are excluded from. The dualistic nature of remittance capital, as both an individual income transfer and an aggregate foreign exchange inflow, is fundamental to this dynamic. Fieldwork findings from over 100 interviews with migrant returnees suggest that a combination of rigid economic geography, exploitative recruitment networks and the social importance of status consumption have resulted in few lasting benefits from foreign employment. Most migrants achieved subsistence rather than ‘success’, while those from more disadvantaged communities often return indebted. Whilst remittance transfers have generally produced one-off or transient benefits for migrant households, their aggregated inflows have cushioned Sri Lanka’s trade deficit and buoyed the rupee to underwrite international loans that sustain uneven development by financing large infrastructural projects orientated explicitly to capital and the urban economy. Although evoking the pretence of stability, Sri Lanka’s remittance-driven development has complex implications for trade and production, to the effect of undermining domestic industry and limiting local spillovers from remittance consumption. With increasing remittance inflows needed to buffer a widening current account deficit and maintain macroeconomic stability, Sri Lanka has become entwined in an unsustainable and seemingly intractable path dependence on temporary labour migration as a substitute for substantive economic development.

Aquesta tesi explora el creixement regional desigual, el desenvolupament de la xarxa urbana i l'evolució dels ferrocarrils Als Balcans, una de les regions més diverses i turbulentes d'Europa. Els Estats inclosos en l'estudi són Albània, Bòsnia i Hercegovina, Bulgària, Croàcia, Grècia, Macedònia, Montenegro, Romania, Sèrbia, Eslovènia i Kosovo. Durant els segles XIX i XX, els Estats dels Balcans es van sotmetre a diverses transformacions polítiques radicals que van alterar profundament el seu desenvolupament socioeconòmic. La hipòtesi de l'estudi és que aquests canvis també van afectar a la geografia econòmica i la distribució espacial de la població a la regió. Per això, endinsar-se en la història moderna dels Estats dels Balcans és una oportunitat valuosa per estudiar els principals determinants dels desequilibris en el creixement regional. Les correlacions entre els esdeveniments polítics i el desenvolupament territorial il·lustren i s'analitzen a través de la base de dades especialment creada per a aquest estudi. La base inclou informació històrica i geogràfica de transport: com la modificació de les fronteres nacionals i regionals, i el desenvolupament de la xarxa ferroviària, i dades socioeconòmiques com ara: l'evolució de les taxes d'urbanització i la densitat a nivell regional i el creixement de les ciutats. La creació de la base de dades permet l'establiment d'una visió integrada, a llarg termini sobre el desenvolupament espacial de la regió i facilita l'anàlisi dels canvis regionals i ajustaments espacials a finals del segle XIX i XX. L'anàlisi ofereix observacions importants sobre el mecanisme de formació de la geografia econòmica dels estats en construcció o en transició. La tesi s'estructura en cinc capítols escrits en forma d'articles. Els tres primers capítols ofereixen estudis nacionals sobre el desenvolupament regional i urbà de Bulgària, Romania i l'ex-Iugoslàvia i els seus estats successors en els últims 100-130 anys. Es van posar de manifest les notables similituds en la formació espacial de les noves economies nacionals després de la dissolució de l'Imperi Austro-hongarès i l'Imperi Otomà. El quart capítol analitza l'evolució espacial de tota la península durant el segle XX. I l'últim capítol es centra en la transformació estructural de l'economia de Bulgària. En general, l'experiència dels Balcans il.lustra com, en els Estats de recent creació o en procés de formació amb una economia preindustrial, les institucions polítiques juguen un paper important en la determinació del desenvolupament i les tendències de la desigualtat regional. En general, en els estats balcànics subdesenvolupats i majoritàriament centralitzats, la iniciativa privada ha jugat un paper secundari. Les fronteres polítiques i el marc institucional han estat els principals determinants sobre les desigualtats en el creixement regional. Aquesta conclusió es veu confirmada per les dades sobre els sectors d'ocupació de Bulgària. Els governs van ser capaços d'influir de manera significativa en el desenvolupament regional, mitjançant inversions relativament petites en la infraestructura del transport que van tenir importants efectes a llarg termini a causa de l'efecte dels rendiments creixents. Els petits avantatges durant el període pre-industrial, en forma d'importància política i administrativa o accés ferroviari, van tenir efectes duradors sobre la geografia econòmica. Més tard, les transformacions econòmiques i polítiques van tenir menor efecte sobre la geografia econòmica de les nacions balcàniques perquè els beneficiaris del creixement econòmic van ser principalment les ciutats i les regions ja desenvolupades. .
Esta tesis explora el crecimiento desigual regional, el desarrollo de la red urbana y la evolución de los ferrocarriles en los Balcanes, una de las regiones más diversas y turbulentas de Europa. Los países incluidos en el estudio son Albania, Bosnia y Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croacia, Grecia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Rumania, Serbia, Eslovenia y Kosovo. Durante los siglos XIX y XX, estos estados se sometieron a varias transformaciones políticas radicales que alteraron profundamente su desarrollo socioeconómico. La hipótesis del estudio es que estos cambios también afectaron a la geografía económica y la distribución espacial de la población en la región. Por ello, historia moderna de los Estados de los Balcanes es una oportunidad valiosa para estudiar los principales determinantes de los desequilibrios en el crecimiento regional. Las correlaciones entre los acontecimientos políticos y de desarrollo territorial se ilustran y analizan a través de lo creado especialmente para este estudio base de datos. La base incluye información histórica y geográfica de transporte: como la modificación de las fronteras nacionales y regionales, y el desarrollo de la red ferroviaria, y datos socio-económicos tales como: la evolución de las tasas de urbanización y la densidad a nivel regional y el crecimiento de las ciudades. La creación de la base de datos permite el establecimiento de una visión integrada, a largo plazo sobre el desarrollo espacial de la región y facilita el análisis de los cambios regionales y ajustes espaciales a finales del siglo XIX y XX. El análisis ofrece observaciones importantes sobre el mecanismo de formación de la geografía económica de los estados en construcción o en transición. La tesis se estructura en cinco capítulos escritos en forma de artículos. Los tres primeros capítulos ofrecen estudios nacionales sobre el desarrollo regional y urbano de Bulgaria, Rumania y la ex Yugoslavia. Se puso de manifiesto las notables similitudes en la formación espacial de las nuevas economías nacionales después de la disolución del Imperio Austro-Hungría y el Imperio Otomano. El cuarto capítulo analiza la evolución espacial de toda la península durante el siglo XX. Y el último capítulo se centra en la transformación estructural de la economía de Bulgaria. La experiencia de los Balcanes ilustra cómo, en los estados de reciente creación o en proceso de formación con una economía preindustrial, las instituciones políticas juegan un papel importante en la determinación del desarrollo y las tendencias de la desigualdad regional. En general, en los estados balcánicos subdesarrollados y mayoritariamente centralizados, la iniciativa privada ha jugado un papel secundario. Las fronteras políticas y el marco institucional han sido los principales determinantes sobre las desigualdades en el crecimiento regional. Esta conclusión se ve confirmada por los datos sobre los sectores de ocupación de Bulgaria. Los gobiernos fueron capaces de influir de manera significativa en el desarrollo regional, mediante inversiones relativamente pequeñas en la infraestructura del transporte que tuvieron importantes efectos a largo plazo debido al efecto de los rendimientos crecientes. Las pequeñas ventajas iniciales durante el período pre-industrial, en la forma de importancia política y administrativa o acceso ferroviario, tuvieron efectos duraderos sobre la geografía económica. Más tarde, las transformaciones económicas y políticas tuvieron menor efecto sobre la geografía económica de las naciones balcánicas porque los beneficiarios del crecimiento económico fueron principalmente las ciudades y las regiones ya desarrolladas.
This thesis explores the uneven regional growth, the development of the urban network and the evolution of the railroads in the Balkans- one of the most diverse and turbulent regions of Europe. The states included in the study are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Kosovo. During the 19th and 20th centuries, these states underwent several radical political transformations that altered profoundly their socioeconomic development. The hypothesis of the current study is that these changes also affected the economic geography and the spatial distribution of the population in the region, and therefore the modern history of the Balkans provides a valuable opportunity to study the main determinants for the uneven regional growth. The correlations between political events and spatial development are illustrated and analyzed with the use of the created for the purposes of the study database. It includes historical geographical and transport information: like the changes to the national and regional borders, and the development of the railway network, and socioeconomic data: such as the evolution of urbanization and density rates at regional level, and the growth of the cities. The final result is a database with internationally comparable historical and geographical information covering the entire Balkan Peninsula, which therefore permits, for the first time, the establishment of an integrated, long run vision over the spatial development of the states in the peninsula. The thesis is organized into five chapters written in the form of articles. The first three chapters present national studies of the regional and urban development of Bulgaria, Romania and former Yugoslavia during the last 100-130 years. The results revealed remarkable similarities in the spatial formation of the new national economies after the dissolutions of Austro-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. The fourth chapter explores the spatial trends of the entire peninsula during the 20th century. The last chapter focuses on the structural transformation of the Bulgarian economy. Overall, the experience of the Balkans illustrates how, in newly established pre-industrial states or in those in the process of formation, political institutions can play a major role in determining the trends of the spatial inequality. By and large, in the underdeveloped and predominantly centralized Balkans, private initiative has played lesser role and political borders and the institutional framework have been the main determinants for the uneven regional growth. The governments were able to influence significantly the regional development; by making relatively small investments in transport infrastructure which had significant effects in long run due to the self-enforcing nature of increasing returns. The small initial advantages during the preindustrial period, in the form of political and administrative importance or railway access, had a lasting effect over the economic geography. Later economic and political transformations were followed by a visible increase of the regional and spatial disparities; however they had lesser effect on the economic geography of the Balkan nations, as the principal benefiters of the economic growth were the already developed cities and regions.

COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DO PESSOAL DE ENSINO SUPERIOR
PROGRAMA DE SUPORTE À PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO DE INSTS. DE ENSINO
O objetivo dessa pesquisa é analisar a Iniciativa de Integração de Infraestrutura da América do Sul (IIRSA) como uma política de desenvolvimento e planejamento territorial. A investigação procede inicialmente com uma topografia das forças sociais promotoras da IIRSA em seus dez anos de abrangência (2000-2010); uma análise de suas idéias-força e principais mecanismos de coordenação institucional. Dada a amplitude de organizações que em distintas escalas (locais, regionais, nacionais e globais) incidem nos projetos da Iniciativa se procede na investigação da economia política que confere legitimidade a um de seus eixos geoeconômicos de planejamento, o Peru-Brasil-Bolívia. O argumento central é que a produção do espaço sul-americano e os eixos da IIRSA acompanham o desenvolvimento geográfico desigual do capitalismo, nos termos desenvolvidos por David Harvey, pela geografia e estudos regionais . Essas contribuições nos permitem apreender o processo de adaptação dos distintos Estados Sul Americanos a globalização como também refletir sobre as resistências imanentes e locais , e em que medida essas articulam concepções distintas e heterogêneas de desenvolvimento às que orientam os projetos da IIRSA.
The purpose of this research is to analyze the Infrastructure Integration Initiative of South America (IIRSA) as a development and territorial planning policy coordinated between twelve South American States. The investigation proceeds initially with a topography of the social forces promoting IIRSA in its ten years of (2000-2010), an analysis of its key ideas and main mechanisms of institutional coordination. Given the complexity of organizations that at different scales (local, regional, national and global) participate in IIRSA projects, the investigation proceeds in search of the political economy that drives one of its geoeconomic axes, the Peru-Bolivia-Brazil. The central argument that drives this dissertation is that the production of a South American regionality and the axis of IIRSA follow the uneven geographical development of capitalism in the terms worked by David Harvey and key scholars of regional studies. This theoretical contribution permits us to learn more about the process of adaptation of different South American states to globalization, but also to reflect on the character of the social resistances inherent in the territories and to what extent these resistances might articulate different and heterogeneous concepts of "development" of the ones that guide the IIRSA projects.

Denna uppsats behandlar kommunal samhällsplanering, med fokus på handelsetableringar. Uppsatsen tar avstamp i den utveckling med externalisering och koncentration av detaljhandeln som pågått under de senaste decennierna. Denna utveckling är såväl lokal som regional och har inneburit att detaljhandeln koncentrerats till centralorternas stadskärnor och externa stormarknader. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka vilken aktör som bestämmer över denna utveckling. De aktörer som undersöks är dagligvaruhandeln och samt kommuner. Från dessa aktörer intervjuas ett antal informanter: etableringschefer på Axfood, Coop och Ica, samt kommunalråd och kommuntjänstemän från Borlänge, Säter och Örnsköldsviks kommuner. Dessutom intervjuas ett antal personer från en lokal intresseförening i Husum. Materialet visar att dagligvaruföretagen är aktiva och trendsättare, medan kommunerna är relativt passiva och försöker klara sig så bra som möjligt utifrån sina förutsättningar. I slutändan finner uppsatsen att det är handeln snarare än kommunerna som bestämmer över utvecklingen med externalisering och koncentration av handel. Detta aktualiserar bland annat frågan om framtida samarbete över kommungränserna i detaljhandelsfrågor kan bli nödvändigt.
This paper deals with municipal planning, with special focus on retail localisation issues. The paper takes its inspiration from the process of externalising and concentration that has characterised the past few decades of the retail industry. This development is both local and regional, and has meant that retailers have concentrated their localisations to the important city centers and out-of-town shopping centres. The purpose of this paper is to explore which agent that controls this development. The agents examined are the retail grocery industry and municipalities. From these agents a few people are interviewed: managers at Axfood, Coop and ICA, as well as municipal politicians and officials from Borlänge, Säter and Örnsköldsvik municipalities. Furthermore, a number of people from a local interest group in Husum are interviewed. The material shows that retail grocery companies are active and trendsetting, while the municipalities are relatively passive and trying to cope as well as possible based on their current situations. In the end, the paper finds that retail rather than the municipalities are in charge of the process of externalisation and concentration. Amongst other things, this raises the question of whether future cooperation in retail policy may be necessary across municipal borders.