"The study investigates determinants of labour migration from East to West Germany from 1992 to 2001. Using a discrete-time logistic hazard model for multilevel data, individual characteristics as well as regional context characteristics are estimated as determinants of out-migration. Amongst others, the empirical analysis led to the following results: At the individual level, higher income increased the migration rate whereas the level of education had no net effect. Moreover, the migration rate depended on work-related social networks. But especially individual unemployment heavily increased the migration rate. In addition, the rate decreased with larger distances from the border to the West, and was much higher in regions of the borderland. Finally, a Cross-level interaction showed that women benefited more than men from the favourable location at the border to move to West German labour markets." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
The author discusses the lack of communication between African policy makers & regionalist researches in investigating, understanding, predicting, & preventing violent conflict in Africa. The author argues that collaboration between these groups is necessary, & that the first step towards collaboration is to identify research topics relevant to both groups. Research into conflict prolonging factors can serve as a starting point for mutual engagement. She then addresses both opportunities & obstacles for cooperation.
A discussion of Michael Hardt & Antonio Negri's Empire (2000) begins by acknowledging the value of Lacan's mirror stage, which is related to Dionysus' mirror, as a political myth & a model for migration dynamics. As migration is hardly attended to in classical political theory, it persists in the realm of myth. Augustine's & Slavoj Zizek's views on migration, or exodus, are looked at in this light & in relation to Hardt & Negri's multitude. For postmodernists, exodus -- typically seen to involve three phases -- has become a two-place relation. Hardt & Negri turn nomadism into the "Neoplatonic ascent of the soul" wherein their Augustinian rhetoric crosses with Deleuze & Guattari's nomadology; migrant & nomad refer to the same people whenever they wish to stress the liberatory potential of nomadism, made possible, they reason, because they believe that now this is a "smooth world" (ie, no longer striated) characterized by a withered civil society, the collapse of national boundaries, & the obsolescence of traditional forms of politics. According to Hardt & Negri, this smoothness is the condition of the multitude's utopian aggregation. Linkages between Durkheimian concepts, organic & mechanical solidarity & the Body without Organs, to Deleuzain/Guattarian ideas in Empire are noted before addressing migration as a model for a politics of unfettered political agency, a politics without sociology, ie, a politics of unimpeded movement. Yet this smooth politics winds up constrained anyway in the social forms it can take. It is then contended that while nomadism might effect political change, in late modernity, it is largely motivated by the desire for wealth. Remarks are then offered on the notion of desire, highlighting Plotinus, Lacan, & desire's centralty to Hardt & Negri. It is argued that Hardt & Negri are actually working with the illusion of a smooth world, ignoring the striations that still exist, however finely wrought. Thus, the multitude is able to see the fantasy of its own unity in this smooth mirror. It is asserted that reasserting Durkheim's organic solidarity against Deleuze & Guattari's conception of the Body without Organs exposes the striations beneath the illusion of smoothness. The example of the Wobblies is used to illustrate the fallacy in Hardt & Negri's rejection of hybridity, which is identity across striation, & suggest that the Wobblies make a productive model for a contemporary politics of migration. Ultimately, Hardt & Negri's secular utopianism retains the social dynamics of its mythological predecessors. J. Zendejas
Considers several broad themes that usually come into play in specific policy discussions, followed by a general outline of the historical cycles of centralization & decentralization in the US & EU. Next, comments are offered for each polity on the stage of this cycle at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The topics of particular focus are geography-based diversity, the benefits & drawbacks that accompany government scale, the function of autonomous governments as testing-grounds for innovation, & the entwining of choice & consequence to reduce the effects of external policy factors. 2 Tables, 4 Figures. K. Coddon
The control of geographic location by individuals or groups with authority is studied. Despite Jean Gottman's (1982) assertion that geographers are responsible for addressing how spatial organization constrains individual freedom, it is asserted that political geographic scholarship has largely failed to engage the topic of spatial freedom. Examples of forced migration, internal exile, & enforced segregation illustrate the use of spatial organization to restrain individual & collective freedom. South African apartheid is viewed as a state mechanism of spatial control that worked on meso-, national, & individual levels. Contemporary literature that attempts to relocate individuals in relation to specific places rather than geographic spaces is reviewed. It is concluded that geographers must acknowledge their role in preserving states' ability to organize space for constraining purposes & increasingly address the notion of freedom in their scholarship. 27 References. J. W. Parker
Article 8 of the European Community (EC) Treaty defines EC citizens in economic terms, but laws providing for the free movement of persons between member states suggest that EC citizens might also have certain social rights. After outlining these limited social rights, the troubling question about the legal basis for EC social policies is addressed. How a broader interpretation of the principle of equal treatment, as provided in Article 6 of the EC Treaty, might expand the substantive content of EC citizenship is also discussed, as are the potential consequences of any extension of EC competence in the social field. M. Maguire
After outlining some general characteristics of peace movements, an attempt is made to explore their geographic dimensions from a historical perspective. The development of organized peace groups is traced from their origins in the 19th century to the present (focusing on Europe & the US), & their changing geopolitical & societal contexts are illuminated. Theoretical concepts drawn from the recent social movement literature are utilized to examine the places & spaces of mobilization in contemporary peace movements. Several key reasons for the endurance of peace movements despite temporal disjunctures & setbacks are identified. The utility of a geographic approach is demonstrated via a case study of the 1980s peace movement against nuclear armaments. References. K. Hyatt Stewart
Examines the nature & consequences of the multiple interconnections between religions & wars both historically & in the contemporary world, highlighting their geographic dimensions. The function of religions as "cultural systems" & the mutable nature of such systems are described in terms of how they provide the impetus, motivation, or rationale for war. The relationship between geographic context & the religious discourses that fuel war is explored, along with religion's role in the "territorial concerns & spatial strategies of combatants." Also discussed are differences between religiously motivated wars & other types of conflict; linkages between religion, nationalism, ethnicity, & war; wars resulting from secular opposition to religious activities; & the function of religion in the political pursuit of peace. References. K. Hyatt Stewart
Studies the challenges of environmental change & sustainability from a geographic perspective. Geographic knowledge refers to the open-ended processes of development & change, & it encompasses all dimensions of social life subject to material practices, differentiation, diversification, & reconfiguration. Political ecology is studied analytically, & the major dimensions of the comparative framework for studying regionality & regional change are identified. This framework examines how ecological change & sustainability are viewed in environmental discourse. The tensions between state & community are revealed, & an alternative regionalized strategy for sustainable management of natural resources is explored. Joint forest management in the state of West Bengal, India, is an example of a regional approach. The practices of substantive democracy may achieve political action that assists regional control & redistribution. L. A. Hoffman
Chronicles the formation & development of a multiracial movement in the US composed of married interracial couples designed to support each other & their mixed-race children. Ways in which groups such as the Assoc of MultiEthnic Americans (AMEA), together with civil rights activists, lobbied for changes in how racial information was collected & used are described. Their impacts on the dramatic change in the 2000 decennial census, which, for the first time, allowed respondents to select more than one category to designate their racial identification, are analyzed, & new federal policy stemming from the Office of Management & Budget's Directive 15 is reviewed. Newly available (Mar 2002) data from the 2000 census are presented to determine how many people actually utilized the new option in describing their race, & the geographic distribution of the multiple-race population by racial/ethnic group is graphically illustrated. The new enumeration yields 63 distinct races or racial combinations down to the lowest level of census geography -- the city block -- which, when tabulated according to Hispanic ethnicity, produce data for 126 different groups. New methods of analyzing & making use of this multirace data are described. 3 Tables, 6 Figures, 32 References. K. Hyatt Stewart
Demonstrates how the application of a world-systems perspective in anthropological research can offer sociologists new insights into non-Western & noncapitalist societies. Archaeologists have begun such work via redefinitions of (1) the nature of geographic differentiation within world systems & (2) the nature of economic interdependence among differentiated regions. Research in each of these areas is summarized. 42 References. K. Hyatt Stewart
The author asks if the establishment of democratically autonomous local community-based authorities (LCAs) in the UK would create intolerable geographic differences in public service provision. Main topics include the decline of local democracy in the UK & the trend toward a new local-central relationship with integrated government service (IGS). The article concludes that LCAs provide vital services & that there exist many unique local problems that must be solved at the community level. J. R. Callahan
The working-class Mexican residents have played a conflicted role in the constant growth & restructuring of Los Angeles' urban environment because they have been simultaneously at the geographic center & on the economic outskirts. Their labor has been essential to the city's growth while their homes & neighborhoods have often occupied land needed for development. They have struggled to protect themselves against the undesirable side effects of urban growth, as the overwhelming forces of capitalist urbanization have repeatedly threatened the vulnerable barrio. 62 References. A. Funderburg
Describes the Swiss confederation & its Constitution. The most distinct attribute of Switzerland is its cultural, linguistic, religious, & geographic diversity. Switzerland is a willensnation forged by its people's commitment to an ongoing renewal of their interconnections; it is this quality that makes the country a model of political integration. This commitment to unified diversity is expressed in the Constitution. Indeed, the Constitution's establishment of governmental institutions & its identification of Swiss democratic operations that permanently foster national integration & a federal polity responsive to its citizens. Tables. K. Coddon
This volume attempts to challenge the contention of Nicholas Spykman (1944) that "geography is the most important factor in foreign policy because it is the most permanent," arguing instead that (1) physical geography is far from permanent, but fluid, volatile, & constantly shifting; And (2) there are political geographies beyond the physical that shape & are shaped by processes of war & peace. The mutually constituted & social constructed nature of war & peace & their geographies are compared. Several key geographic themes in the study of war & peace are investigated: territoriality, borders, regionalization, scale, & network relationships between places across space. References. K. Hyatt Stewart
