Suchergebnisse

In 2012, a Chinese developer, Zendai, purchased 1,600 hectares of land in Modderfontein, Johannesburg, and announced plans for a new urban megadevelopment. Hiring a Chinese designer, the company released a series of computer-generated images. Drawing on these, the media and many in the city perceived the site to be distinctly "Chinese," rooted in futuristic, speculative visions of urbanity. At the same time, African urban research turned its attention to similar large-scale projects throughout the continent, and has continued to speculate on their consequences. Building on these two different interpretations of Modderfontein, this paper engages with the site as a manifestation of both global trends (e.g., increasing Chinese engagement with Africa, urban inter-referencing throughout the Global South) and a reflection of place- and context-specific factors. In doing so, we focus on the ordinariness of the project to interrogate how the idea of creating an ultramodern global economic hub, rooted in the experiences and practices of a Chinese-based developer, was in the end mediated by the actions of international consultants and the City of Johannesburg. We suggest that Modderfontein should be seen as a generative form of urbanism where elements perceived to be Chinese were lost in the master planning process. We argue that the socio-material dimensions of the project instead reflect a distinctly South African urbanism. (China Perspect/GIGA)

ARTICLE EXAMINES THE MAJOR STRATEGIC MODES ADOPTED BY LOCALITIES FACED WITH LONGTERM ECONOMIC DECLINE: THE STRUCTURAL MODE AND THE COMPETITIVE MODE. THE AUTHORS STRESS THE LIMITATIONS OF SUCH STRATEGIES, ARGUING THAT THEIR EFFECTIVENESS IS LIMITED BY THE NECESSITY OF PURSUING THEM ON A LOCAL BASIS WHILE MANY OF THE ACTUAL CONSTRAINTS ARE OPERATING ON A GLOBAL BASIS.

AbstractThis paper reviews the development trajectory of sociology as a discipline and its practice in Singapore. Viewing sociology as a global discourse, the paper argues that there have been, at least, three waves in the development of sociological practice in Singapore. These waves mark a shift in research interests that somehow parallel the changing official interest in the findings of sociological research. Such shifts in research interest and changes in curricula reflect important dynamics not only in the relationship between academic knowledge and official need for such knowledge but with time also an increasing appreciation of critical inquiry. This paper argues that there are limitations in viewing sociology simply as a "Western social science" in a "non-Western context". For the clarity of both conceptual and empirical understanding, it may be useful to rethink the relationship between sociological knowledge and power as a dynamic process with some universal features. This would entail going beyond the West versus non-West polarity and assessing the development of social science in terms of the global/local interface.

Published at: W. Safran and R. Máiz, coords., Identity and self-government in multicultural societies, 97-111, Barcelona: Ariel, 2002 Local and global interaction, territorial identities, and the impact of the mesocommunal sphere on political and social life are the main focus of this work. The overall framework of analysis is the Western hemisphere and in particular the European Union. It is noted that other identity orders are also affected by globalisation, such as those concerning culture, gender, political institutions, religion or even the socio-biological conditions of individuals. However, we confined our examination to the relationship between identity and territory. ; Publicado en: W. Safran y R. Máiz, coords., Identidad y autogobierno en sociedades multiculturales, 97-111, Barcelona: Ariel, 2002 La interacción local-global, las identidades territoriales, y la incidencia del ámbito mesocomunitario en la vida política y social concentran la principal atención del presente trabajo. El marco general de análisis es el hemisferio occidental y, en particular, el ámbito de la Unión Europea. Se deja constancia que otros órdenes identitarios también queda afectados por la globalización, tales como los relativos a la cultura, el género, las instituciones políticas, la religión o hasta las condiciones sociobiológicas de los individuos. No obstante, circunscribimos nuestro examen a la relación entre identidad y territorio.

This article investigates a central question in modern organization theory, how organizations adapt to environmental changes by examining the diffusion of environmental ordinances among Korean local governments, 1995 to 2016. There are two waves in the diffusion; 'Environment Basic Ordinance (1996-2007)' and 'Green Growth Ordinance (2010-2013).' We argue that Korean local governments have increasingly become autonomous and accountable actors that respond to diversified stimulus from surrounding environments, while also concerning about their own needs and capacity. Hence, in adopting 'Green Growth Ordinances,' competitively adopted in the 2010s, Korean local governments considered more factors than they had done for 'Environment Basic Ordinances.' Employing event history analysis, we find empirical support for this argument. By comparing the diffusion pattern of the two environmental ordinances, this paper traces changing mechanisms of local environmental governance as well as policy diffusion among Korean local governments.

The relationship between an organization and its public represents a central concern for the research and practice of public relations. This paper is based on the central research question: How can digital media and technologies contribute to a company's global relationship management? Stemming from the general question I have three more research-related questions: 1. How can social media communities contribute to corporate relationship management? 2. What are the key questions for global relationship management? 3. What are the organizational prerequisites for global relationship manage- ment? Conclusion: Digital media and technologies can contribute in a unique way to global relationship management. These peculiarities comprise the "big four": integration, accessibility, connectivity and interactivity. Connectivity and inter- activity are the two most important for global relationship management. Social media channels have opened up new opportunities for companies to benefit from platforms in recent years, where users meet, communicate, exchange ideas and even create products. The problem for global relationship management is that these platforms are very different world-wide, their users and the culture of the com- munication within these channels are equally different. As a consequence for global relationship management, organizations have to set up a systematic and long-term process of analysis, planning, creation and control to professionally manage the organization's communication.

A Tom Hunter interview by Diane Smyth is featured in the October isuse of the BJP, Think Global, Act Local. The interview wil go online in November 2010. From The Ghetto to the National Gallery, Tom Hunter continues to explore themes that depict his local neighbourhood, drawing on art historical references to paint Hackney in a different light to the usual lurid newspaper stories of urban blight.

Global Flows, Local Appropriations; Facets of Secularisation and Re-Islamization Among Contemporary Cape Muslims is the first ethnographic study of muslims in Cape Town, South Africa at this level in 25 years. It explores processes of secularisation and re-islamization among Cape Muslims in the context of a post-apartheid South Africa in which liberal and secular values have attained considerable purchase in the new political and social elites. Fractured by status, ethnicity and religious orientation, Cape muslims have responded to these changes through an ambiguous accomodation with the new order. This study explores this development through chapters on conversions to Islam among black Africans in Cape Town, Cape women's experiences with polygyny, Cape muslims and HIV/AIDS, the status of Islam in a prison Cape Town in the post-apartheid era and on contestation over rituals among Cape muslims.

Greenpeace was founded in Vancouver in the early 1970s. Initially, it was a small anti-nuclear protest group composed of Americans and Canadians, peaceniks and hippies, World War II veterans and people barely out of high school. Twenty years later, it was the world's largest environmental NGO, with headquarters in Amsterdam, branches in over forty nations, and a regular presence at international environmental meetings throughout the world. This article will chart Greenpeace's growth throughout its first two decades, in the process examining how the organization became influential at several levels: in local politics in places like Vancouver; at the national level in countries such as Canada, New Zealand, the USA, and Germany; and at global forums such as the International Whaling Commission and various UN-sponsored environmental meetings. It will analyze the combination of activist agency and political op-portunity structures that enabled Greenpeace to gain political influence. I argue that Greenpeace's influence largely stemmed from its engagement with what political scientist Paul Wapner calls "world civic politics," which in this case involves the dissemination of an ecological sensibility that indirectly influences behavior at multiple scales, from individuals, to governments, to multi-lateral organizations. Only in this way could a group with relatively limited resources hope to influence millions of individuals and powerful governments.