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A corrective to the view that cities are only ever "good", arguing that the same urban properties which make cities so extraordinarily proficient at producing the "good" innovations also provides fertile ground for the development of the "bad" ones, on which urban elites have syphoned off wealth from other localities and regions.

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AbstractThe paper discusses in a personal appreciation of the literature whether the 'interlocking world city network model' (IWCNM) has contributed to overcoming the evidential crisis of world or global city research. After a brief summary of the main arguments made by JohnFriedmann and Saskia Sassen, the paper deduces methodological implications that follow from their economic‐geographical conceptualisation of global cities. In the third and fourth sections of the paper I recapitulate the rationale(s) given byPeterTaylor for theIWCNMand assess the model's contribution to empirically corroborating the global city concept. The paper's main claim is that theIWCNMbypasses the theoretical core of the global city paradigm, for which reason an evidential crisis continues to undermine the strength of the global city argument. Accordingly, in the last section of the paper a research strategy is proposed that is apt to take global city studies a step forward.

AbstractIn this article I assert that global cities are critical nodes in Global Commodity Chains because it is from them that producer services are provided. I explore forward linkages of producer service firms in Mexico City, showing that there are important service flows to companies responsible for the globalization of the 'Mexican' economy. Based on this finding I also indicate reasons why Mexico City is 'on the map' of global cities and of Global Commodity Chains. I argue that both access to local knowledge and close contact to clients are key factors. A third issue dealt with is the position of Mexico City in the geography of governance of commodity chains. The analysis suggests that it is useful to break up global city functions into the management of the world economy and into its command and control, because Mexico City is certainly a place for the former, while the scope of influence exercised from the city is rather limited.

With the debt crisis of 1982 fundamental transformations began in Latin America. State centered forms of development were abandoned in favour of liberal strategies, oriented to the world market. New literature discussing this transformation process and its outcomings is reviewed.

With the debt crisis of 1982 fundamental transformations began in Latin America. State centered forms of development were abandoned in favour of liberal strategies, oriented to the world market. New literature discussing this transformation process and its outcomings is reviewed. (Prokla / FUB)

Der Verfasser stellt die wichtigsten migrationstheoretischen Ansätze vor. Hierzu zählen sowohl Ansätze, die sich explizit auf internationale Wanderungen beziehen (Theorie der dualen Arbeitsmärkte) als auch solche, die sowohl internationale als auch Binnenmigration thematisieren (New Economics of Migration). Die Weltsystemtheorie sowie neomarxistische Ansätze sind in komplexe Theoriezusammenhänge eingebettet, während andere Ansätze (Theorie der internationalen sozialen Räume) sich noch in einem frühen Entwicklungsstadium befinden. Die neoklassische Migrationstheorie, die Theorie der Migrationsnetzwerke sowie geschlechtsspezifische Perspektiven vervollständigen den migrationstheoretischen Überblick. Mit Ausnahme der neoklassischen Migrationstheorie und der Push- und Pull-Modelle, so das Fazit des Verfassers, weisen alle behandelten Konzepte Ansatzpunkte auf, die ein besseres Verständnis der Migration ermöglichen. (ICE2)