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This article suggests that the study of local development policies can be supported by the analysis of local political cultures &, in particular, by the analysis of local governance cultures. New-institutionalism offers a complementary point of view for the analysis of local development processes since local institutions can be seen to play an important role in our understanding of both the modality of political culture reproduction & the capacity of different contexts to meet the challenges of economic globalization & Europeanization. The article presents a contextual comparative analysis of two different Italian local political cultures, the "Red" one in the Emiia Romagna region (socialist/communist) & the "White" one in the Veneto region (catholic). These regional contexts are characterized by two different local policy styles & administrative practices that have articulated two different "modes of governance" in local development. The case study of a national policy to support the industrial districts development (L.317/1991), & the different regional applications, can help us to better understand these elements of analysis. 2 Figures, 97 References. Adapted from the source document.

NEPAD, New Partnership for Africa's Development, is a plan for the development of the African continent, formally adopted by the OAU in Jul 2001. This framework is a promise made by African leaders to eradicate poverty & to place African countries on a path of sustainable growth. Globalization has put African countries at great risk since it penalizes poor & underdeveloped countries, but it has also offered a series of opportunities that world leaders cannot afford to ignore. First & foremost the delocalization of productive processes could favor the African economy, also igniting interesting investment opportunities. NEPAD is the vision that Africa needs to adapt its own development to globalization standards. 1 Appendix. M. Williamson

Based on an interpretation of the European Union (EU) as a compound democracy, the article argues that the constitutionalization of the European Union is necessarily a contested process. A compound democracy is a union of states constituted by units of different demographic size, political history and geographical interests, and as such characterized by different views on its constitutional identity. This is also the experience of the other main compound democracy, that of the United States (US), although the latter is a compound democracy by design whereas the EU is by necessity. However, whereas the contested process of constitutionalization in the US was based on a common constitutional framework, at least since the Civil War, and has been ordered by a super-majority procedure for settling disputes, the EU lacks a document that embodies a shared language and a procedure that is able to solve the disputes. Here is the EU conundrum: it needs a constitution for stabilizing itself, but the divisions between its member states make the approval of such a constitution highly implausible. As a result the process of constitutionalization in the EU ends up periodically in stalemate. Adapted from the source document.

This essay examines the processes of transformation & the progressive formalization of Chinese law, particularly civil & commercial law, which have taken place since the beginning of the reform-and-opening process in 1978. The article emphasizes the large-scale rehabilitation & strengthening of laws & procedures as necessary tools in view of the modernization & economic development of the country. Westernization & internationalization of legal norms, particularly in the field of international trade, the central role undertaken by private law, formal litigation, arbitration & third party decision are significant features of this process. The central part of the study focuses on four institutions, considered to be highly indicative of the abovementioned directions & transformations (market economy, private law): a) property, b) contracts, c) special legal vehicles of foreign investments (FIE), d) bankruptcy. Lastly, the study underlines the importance for future (market & western-oriented) developments of the Chinese legal system at large, & not only in the field of international trade, of the entrance of the PRC in the World Trade Organization. Adapted from the source document.

After a 50-year process, Europe is ready to ratify the Constitutional Treaty. The intense work started in 1951 with the Treaty of Paris, which created the European Steel & Coal Community (ESCC), followed, in 1957, by the Treaties of Rome that established the European Economic Community (EEC) & the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC). Since inception it has been clear that there are three categories of norms: those produced to administer international relations, those produced to identify institutions & related competences, & those produced to ratify bills. These categories have followed the European evolution & have allowed distribution of competencies among communities & states of the EU, which is moving toward a federal state organization. M. Williamson

It has been nine years since the Treaty of Dayton put an end to the Balkan conflict. Since then, the reconstruction of Bosnia & Herzegovina has made good progress. However, the provisions laid down in the Dayton Treaty have proved to bear dangerous limits. Peace is far from being secure, especially when the bordering countries have not reached the stability necessary for the whole area to develop. The risk is that the European international community could be losing interest in the political & economical development of Bosnia & Herzegovina, thus slowing down the process of assimilation of the area in the EU. M. Williamson

Redefining territoriality is a crucial aspect of the changing nature of public policies in a multi-level, 'post-national' polity. New forms of territoriality in spatial development policies can be thus seen as a key analytical dimension of change in the state's role & rationales in defining public policies. The article addresses emergent practices of territorial governance in a perspective of inquiry on state change, with particular reference to western European countries. The changing nexus between territoriality & the state is addressed according to a 'governance approach' that privileges a policy-driven interpretation of change, & builds on a theoretical framework largely alternative to traditional 'state-centered' approaches. Reference goes to new conceptualizations of socio-spatial structuration processes in the social sciences & to critical reassessments of related geographical concepts in political economy & geography. Particular attention goes to the notion of 'scale', & to 'rescaling' -- i.e. the redefinition of the geographical scales of state regulation & governance -- as a key dimension of state restructuring processes. In this perspective, state-theoretical regulationist approaches are discussed that emphasize the scalar dimension of state restructuring as a key response to the changing position of the state as a site of regulation in a context of inter- & trans-nationalization. References. Adapted from the source document.

Traces process of Islamization in Pakistan, 1977-93; some focus on developments under General Zia. Summary in English.

This article investigates the evolution of the local development partnerships in Italy. In particular, we focus on a specific aspect of these cooperative experiences, ie., their consolidation as governance instruments of territorial development policy. The main aim is to reconstruct the internal processes that characterize the partnership experiences before & after their creation & to single out the main factors that affect them. On the basis of the empirical evidence provided by the study of the Territorial Pacts of the Province of Turin, the article presents an analysis of the political dynamics that have accompanied the evolution of these partnerships, focusing at the same time on the conditions that seem to facilitate or impede the persistence of the cooperation among public & private actors in local development policy. Adapted from the source document.