Economic Collaboration Research Articles

VOICES OF DIALOGUE: Participatory Action Research Crosses the Border: Economic development and solidarity between Latinas in New Mexico and Maya women in Chiapas, Mexico

This article describes the work of activist anthropologist Christine Eber whose participatory action research in Chiapas, Mexico led to the development of a cross‐border solidarity project. Eber established the Las Cruces–Chiapas Connection, an advocacy organization that assists women of Chiapas with their grassroots economic development projects. Centered on women's artisanal craft production, the project helps create marketing networks for Maya women's hand‐crafted weavings, an effort that grew in significance for the women and their families with the passage of NAFTA in 1994. Since that time, the project has emerged into a cross‐border project with the Chaparral Family Development Center in New Mexico. Creaciones Yuca (Yucca Creations) involves low‐income, immigrant women in the U.S. working in direct economic collaboration with Maya women weavers in Mexico.

State Capitalism and Government Linked Companies

ABSTRACT This paper aims to examine the process of overseas investments by Singapore government linked companies (GLCs) in India which is an emerging market for Singapore investors. The “Look East” policy instituted by the Indian government after its 1991 Economic Crisis has found convergence with the Regionalization policy implemented by the Singapore government to create an external economic wing. The policy of regionalization would also assist in the expansion of GLCs overseas and prevent the marginalization of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Singapore economy. This convergence of policy making creates synergy for more economic collaboration between both economies. Using India as a case study, this paper aims to illustrate that the motives behind state capitalism as practiced by the Singapore government is different from the common norm of state owned enterprises (SOEs).

Aspects économiques de l'occupation allemande en France, 1940-1944: l'exemple de l'industrie électrotechnique

Abstract A prerequisite to understanding economic collaboration, its outcome, reach, and limits is to take into account the particular regime that prevailed in an occupied territory and the fact that economic collaboration is a process shaped over time by the interactions between occupiers and occupied. The article tries to illustrate this basic assumption by a case study of the French and German electrical engineering industry. The peculiar features of this industry, its long-standing internationalism and the fact that all the major French and German companies were integrated into a network of multilateral relations that often included the giant American companies as third party, had an ambivalent impact. On the one hand, the existing relations made it easier for the German electrical engineering companies to employ the French resources for their own war effort and to integrate the French plants into their production schemes, thus fostering economic collaboration; on the other hand they limited its reach and destructive intensity, as both parties, the French and the German top managers alike, realized by 1943 that the balance of power was about to shift and that the future existence of their firms depended on the cooperation with the Americans after the end of the war.

The prospects for regional economic integration between China and the five Central Asian countries

AS THE PROCESS OF ECONOMIC GLOBALISATION CONTINUES, there is a trend towards regional economic integration. By eliminating the barriers to trade between the participant countries, regional economic integration encourages efficient allocation of production factors and a more effective division of labour, while also helping to boost the efficiency of the regional economy as a whole and enhancing social welfare. For countries seeking to enhance their international competitiveness, efforts to reduce the level of risk attached to trading and investment activity need to be combined with pro-active participation in regional economic collaboration (Hanson, 1998). In the case of China, with the ongoing opening of its markets and the rapid economic development the country has achieved in recent years, there has been significant progress in economic collaboration between China and other countries in the region. By participating actively in regional economic collaboration, China can strengthen both its economic links with other developing nations and its political ties with these countries (Wang, 2003). At the same time, collaborating with one another on the basis of mutual benefit and reciprocity helps to facilitate involvement in the process of globalisation; China's active participation in regional economic collaboration therefore has political, diplomatic and economic benefits. China's strategy for regional economic collaboration emphasises the leveraging of its geographical location, focusing on pro-active involvement in various forms of collaborative activity with neighbouring countries. The main emphasis in China's economic collaboration efforts is thus on the Asia Pacific region (Song & Chen, 2002). The main forms of collaboration adopted include participation in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) framework for the liberalisation of trade and investment and for economic and technology co-operation, collaboration with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the basis of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Between ASEAN and the People's Republic of China, and the development of a collaborative relationship with the five Central Asian countries: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

People as Infrastructure: Intersecting Fragments in Johannesburg

The inner city of Johannesburg is about as far away as one can get from the popular image of the African village. Though one of Africa’s most urbanized settings, it is also seen as a place of ruins—of ruined urbanization, the ruining of Africa by urbanization. But in these ruins, something else besides decay might be happening. This essay explores the possibility that these ruins not only mask but also constitute a highly urbanized social infrastructure. This infrastructure is capable of facilitating the intersection of socialities so that expanded spaces of economic and cultural operation become available to residents of limited means. This essay is framed around the notion of people as infrastructure, which emphasizes economic collaboration among residents seemingly marginalized from and immiserated by urban life. Infrastructure is commonly understood in physical terms, as reticulated systems of highways, pipes, wires, or cables. These modes of provisioning and articulation are viewed as making the city productive, reproducing it, and positioning its residents, territories, and resources in specific ensembles where the energies of individuals can be most efficiently deployed and accounted for.

Economie en totale oorlog

J. Meihuizen, Noodzakelijk kwaad. De bestraffing van economische collaboratie in Nederland na de Tweede WereldoorlogThe economy and full-scale warMeihuizen concludes that the interests of the reconstruction had to take precedence over those of an honourable judicial process, as a result of which cases of economic collaboration seldom reached the courts. This essay argues that Dutch firms could not avoid manufacturing goods for the occupying forces because they were often relatively small-scale in nature and organised along the lines of a family business. If this type of firm refused to fulfil a German order and its competitor was willing to accept it, then it ran the risk of being squeezed out by the competition. This is why, in the Netherlands and elsewhere, as soon as a firm made the transition from a smallscale to a medium-sized family business it was inclined to work all-out for the occupying forces. This had nothing to do with free choice, but rather the will to survive. In addition to this, non-military production, even that which was geared towards keeping the people at home alive and healthy, supported the German war effort. In an economy where all military production is systematically maximized and manufacturing geared towards producing civilian goods is pushed back to a level where it can just about survive, all manufacturing becomes economic collaboration, thereby making the notion redundant. Consequently, the question that should have resounded throughout this study ought to have been whether a legal case could have been made against economic collaboration at all or whether this was doomed to fail from the start. Onderdeel van het discussiedossier Noodzakelijk kwaad.

Rechtspraak en totale oorlog

J. Meihuizen, Noodzakelijk kwaad. De bestraffing van economische collaboratie in Nederland na de Tweede WereldoorlogA successful failure?Melhuizen’s powerful dissertation focuses on one section of the Special Judicial Procedure: settling cases of economic collaboration, particularly the more serious ones. He also examines the Special Judicial Procedure as a whole. First of all with figures, which are less reliable than suggested as is argued in this contribution. Secondly, he used these figures to bolster up his conclusion that we have failed to punish economic collaboration. This is questionable, because the element of punishment was more important in those days than can be deducted from Melhuizen’s views. Onderdeel van het discussiedossier Noodzakelijk kwaad.

Η ΚΡΙΣΗ ΤΟΥ ΣΟΥΕΖ (1956) ΚΑΙ ΟΙ ΕΠΙΠΤΩΣΕΙΣ ΤΗΣ ΣΤΙΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΟΓΑΛΛΙΚΕΣ ΣΧΕΣΕΙΣ

<p>Lambros Flitouris, The Suez Crisis and the Greek-French Relations</p> <p>The Suez crisis in 1956 constitutes an important point in the development of the international relations at the period of the cold war. 1956 is a landmark year for the appointment of the Arabic nationalism as a basic constitutive element of the anti-colonialist wave that convulsed the world. During this period, the relations of Greece with the states involved in the crisis were to a large extent precarious. The anti-imperialists tones of Nasser found impression in the Greek common opinion that was exceptionally irritated from the EOKA's fight in Cyprus. In the present article we examine one particular aspect of the crisis: the relations of Greece with France. The agreements of economic collaboration that was achieved by Markezinis in 1953 signalled a new era in the activation of French capital in Greece. In combination with the big cultural tradition that Prance had in the country but also with the crisis in the relations of Greece with the UK because of the Cypriot question, the French factor in Greece acquired a great importance. However, the French diplomacy followed the policy of London and because of this the relations between Greece and France faced their more important post-war crisis. The Greek common opinion also turned against France, while the French diplomacy lost a great opportunity to strengthen her place in Greece. In the sector of economic relations and cultural exchanges befell a period of algidity with extensions in the Greek internal political life. The crisis of the period 1956-1958 constituted a negative parenthesis in the traditionally good relations between Athens and Paris, while it could be characterized as an adjacent negative result of the anti-colonial struggle and the Cypriot affair.</p>

Limits of Generosity and Trust: The Naval Side of the Combined Munitions Assignment Board, 1942–1945

Economic mobilisation and close collaboration were central to Allied victory over the Axis powers in the Second World War. At political and senior military levels, American and British staffs worked together to harness available resources, pursue a common strategy, and exchange vital information. Although virtually taken for granted in retrospect, provision of the vast quantities of war materials and munitions necessary for timely prosecution of military operations was little short of remarkable. The winning of total war on a global scale involved overwhelming material advantage. During the four war years, American shipyards and factories turned out some 87,620 large and small warships, 372,000 guns and 296,000 aircraft, at a cost of Us$183 billion. In contrast, over six years of war, Great Britain produced 4300 large and small warships, 132,100 guns, and 96,100 aircraft, while the Dominion of Canada manufactured 4043 small warships and landing craft, 42,966 guns and 16,418 aircraft.1 The United States clearly deserved Franklin Roosevelt's billing as the 'Arsenal of Democracy'. The industrial capacity in the United States that produced such impressive numbers was huge compared to most other countries at the time, but never remained unlimited. A world-wide war in several key theatres of operations and an American commitment to share a portion of its war production with Allied nations

Reaching the Larger World: New Forms of Social Collaboration in Pikine, Senegal

AbstractActors in fluid African urban environments try to make collaborative social action work, collective responsibility enforceable, and instruments of power effective and legitimate. These efforts give rise to an uneasy tension between the adoption of normative discourses concerning urban management and governance, the ways in which urban residents attempt to adapt to a vast range of new opportunities and crises, and the role of the city as a place of experimentation. Given this tension, what are diverse groups of African urban residents doing to make cities habitable and to use cities as a means of enlarging the spatial parameters in which they operate? Focusing on the site of one of urban Africa's major governance restructuring projects, Pikine, Senegal, the article discusses a particular instance of translocal economic collaboration among three discrete groups of women. Whereas the major intervention, the City Project, sought to promote greater co-ordination among the localities making up Pikine, ‘real’ co-ordination, as exemplified by these women's collaboration, may be taking place in unanticipated and relatively invisible ways. Through examining some of the intricate difficulties actors often face in operating at translocal levels, ‘small leaps’ across scale are sometimes significant accomplishments and potentially important precursors to new extended forms of economic collaboration.

Reaching the Larger World: New Forms of Social Collaboration in Pikine, Senegal

Actors in fluid African urban environments try to make collaborative social action work, collective responsibility enforceable, and instruments of power effective and legitimate. These efforts give rise to an uneasy tension between the adoption of normative discourses concerning urban management and governance, the ways in which urban residents attempt to adapt to a vast range of new opportunities and crises, and the role of the city as a place of experimentation. Given this tension, what are diverse groups of African urban residents doing to make cities habitable and to use cities as a means of enlarging the spatial parameters in which they operate? Focusing on the site of one of urban Africa's major governance restructuring projects, Pikine, Senegal, the article discusses a particular instance of translocal economic collaboration among three discrete groups of women. Whereas the major intervention, the City Project, sought to promote greater co-ordination among the localities making up Pikine, ‘real’ co-ordination, as exemplified by these women's collaboration, may be taking place in unanticipated and relatively invisible ways. Through examining some of the intricate difficulties actors often face in operating at translocal levels, ‘small leaps’ across scale are sometimes significant accomplishments and potentially important precursors to new extended forms of economic collaboration.

Kiln Firing Groups: Inter-Household Economic Collaboration and Social Organization in the Northern American Southwest

AbstractRecent research on trench kilns from the Mesa Verde region of the northern American Southwest (Blinman and Swink 1997) suggests that trench kilns represent collaborative firings by groups of potters. This study presents a method for estimating the sizes of these proposed kiln firing groups. A comparative analysis between firing group sizes and the size of other contemporaneous social units provides insights into socioeconomic relationships between Mesa Verde households in both dispersed and aggregated settlement contexts. This study demonstrates that different stages of a production process may involve different production groups and highlights the utility of examining each production stage individually. It further suggests the importance of searching for archaeological evidence of production beyond residential areas to other production contexts, such as firing features, if the organization of all stages of production is to be understood.

Imperial Self‐Insufficiency Rediscovered: Britain and Australia 1945–51

This paper addresses the unresolved debate about the timing of economic disengagement between Australia and Great Britain. During Chifley’s administration international economic collaboration between Australia and Britain was close, Australia tending to identify its interests with those of the UK and the sterling area. Yet collaboration never stretched to acceptance by Australia of traditional forms of manufacturer–primary producer complementarity; this played no part in Canberra’s postwar planning and priority given to industrialization led to the relative neglect of rural industries, which, together with the rapidly growing demands of its own population, reduced export surpluses and contributed to Australia’s poor record as a food supplier. Buoyant export prices, especially for wool, combined with capital inflows from the UK to stimulate import demands. Because of dollar shortages most of these had to be sourced from Britain. From 1948 the UK not only expanded exports dramatically but was a major source of migrants and capital. Yet British industrial capacity in particular proved unequal to the task of meeting Australian needs. Imperial self‐insufficiency again stood revealed, encouraging Menzies to look beyond the sterling area to support Australia’s rapid development.

Prosecution, Society and Politics : the Penalization of Economic Collaboration in Belgium After The Second World War

In this article the perception of economic collaboration by Belgian population after the Second World War and its consequences for the policy of the prosecution service are examined. There was no general dissatisfaction on the way Belgian entrepreneurs behaved during the war. Only those who worked exclusively for the needs of the German army or mistreated the workers were attacked. Another target of public discontent were small entrepreneurs as grocers or innkeepers who were accused of black market activities. This attitude can be explained by the fact that workers feared deportation to Germany and therefore accepted that industry was kept in activity. This was in line with the policy of the main holding companies. As a consequence, the prosecution service found not much support for its ambitious policy that was also directed against big firms. On the other hand, the reactions of the population made clear that public opinion would not accept that economic collaboration in general remained without punishment. Therefore a prompt trial and severe sanctions against entrepreneurs who had done business with the enemy were a priority for the Chief Military Prosecutor Ganshof van der Meersch.

Beyond conflict in the Horn: prospects for peace, recovery and development in Ethiopia, Somalia and the Sudan

Part I: achieving peace, recovery and development. Part II: the problems of peace and the return of normalcy repatriation of refugees demobilization of combatants rehabilitation of children, women and other victims of war public welfare future role of NGOs. Part III: potential regional economic collaboration the Nile oil Red Sea ports trade networks labour migration pastoral people. Part IV: requirements for reconstruction and long-term development towards sustainable agriculture and food security debt and economic adjustment restructuring the state.

Collaborative Strategies for Reindustrialization: Sheffield and Pittsburgh

Governmental actors in regions faced with stagnant or declining economies often involve various groups in the common pursuit of a reversal of fortunes. Such collaborations recognize that economic development is as much an organizational and political as an economic activity. This article reviews the economic development collaborations that formed in Sheffield (England) and Pittsburgh (United States) during the 1980s in order to turn those regional economies away from reliance on a rapidly disappearing dominant industry. The purpose of this comparative analysis is to develop lessons for policymakers who are contemplating or currently undertaking such approaches to regional economic development.

Namibia, After Three Years: Political Independent but Economic Unstable

Namibia became independent on the 21st of March 1990, after seventy-five years of South African colonial and racial rule. SWAPO fought a long war for liberation, but the independence was also gained thanks to the diplomatic pressure from the United Nations. The United Nations were actively involved in the organisation of the first free elections which were held on the 7th of November 1989. The SWAPO liberation movement became by far the most important political party in the Namibian Parliament. But from the beginning the SWAPO-leaders explained that the past should be forgotten. They promoted a constructive political and economic collaboration with all Namibians, African and European. Due to this atmosphere of reconciliation Namibia had a successful political independence. One of the world's most progressive constitutions was written. It ends all racial discrimination and guarantees an extensive review of the human rights. The rules for the organisation of the legislative, executive and judiciary power are respected by all political parties. Namibia is without any doubt an example for a lot of African countries, which are now making steps towards democracy and multi-partyism. The Namibian government has still a lot of problems to deal with. The major ones are the social and economic inequalities that still exist between African and European Namibians. The conditions of life of the European Namibians are comparable to these in modern western societies, while African Namibians are living in poverty. The government will have to change this, because in the long term one cannot expect to build democracy on empty stomachs. But in order to realize the necessary economic growth, Namibians are also counting on the support and the investments from abroad. A member of government recently said: "Now we've installed democracy and the human rights are respected, where are the foreign in- vestments and the international aid?"

Namibië Drie Jaar Later: Politiek Ontvoogd Maar Economisch Wankel

Namibia, After Three Years : Political Independent but Economic Unstable Namibia became independent on the 21st of March 1990, after seventy-five years of South African colonial and racial rule. SW APO fought a long war for liberation, but the independence was also gained thanks to the diplomatic pressure from the United Nations. The United Nations were actively involved in the organisation of the first free elections which were held on the 7th of November 1989. The SW APO liberation movement became by far the most important political party in the Namibian Parliament. But from the beginning the SWAPO-leaders explained that the past should be forgotten. They promoted a constructive political and economic collaboration with all Namibians, African and European. Due to this atmosphere of reconciliation Namibia had a successful political independence. One of the world's most progressive constitutions was written. It ends all racial discrimination and guarantees an extensive review of the human rights. The rules for the organisation of the legislative, executive and judiciary power are respected by all political parties. Namibia is without any doubt an example for a lot of African countries, which are now making steps towards democracy and multi-partyism. The Namibian government has still a lot of problems to deal with. The major ones are the social and economic inequalities that still exist between African and European Namibians. The conditions of life of the European Namibians are comparable to these in modern western societies, while African Namibians are living in poverty. The government will have to change this, because in the long term one cannot expect to build democracy on empty stomachs. But in order to realize the necessary economic growth, Namibians are also counting on the support and the investments from abroad. A member of government recently said: “Now we’ve installed democracy and the human rights are respected, where are the foreign investments and the international aid?”

The real prospects for power supply of the eastern part of the country lie only in hydropower

1. The construction of facilities of the southern Yakut hydropower complex, making it possible to bring 23–25 billion kWh of renewable energy resource into the energy balance of the Far Eastern power region, should become one of the strategic directions of power construction. 2. For further elaboration of the concept of development of the energy base of the Far East, it is necessary in the shortest possible time to work out a “Feasibility study of the southern Yakut hydropower complex,” in which problems of the organization of construction and social and commercial substantiation should be elaborated; in the latter it is necessary to investigate all possible variants of obtaining such large investments in construction. 3. The creation of the SYaHPC in the territory of the Yakut ASSR will have great significance for the development of the economy and improvement of the living conditions of the population of the republic. Export of part of the electricity to China will make it possible to reliably and constantly meet (as compensation for the removal of lands) a considerable part of the republic's needs for vegetables and fruits and other goods; it will make it possible to eliminate investing a part of the means and material and labor resources in unproductive and unprofitable agricultural enterprises. 4. The SYaHPC with partial export of the electricity being generated at its hydrostation, being practically unaffected by inflationary processes by virtue of low operating expenses, under market economy conditions in the future can become one of the most profitable enterprises, a most important object of international and regional economic collaboration in the RSFSR.

Policy Review Section

In this Policy Review Section Paul Teague of the Cranfield School of Management presents an account of the economic development strategy of the Northern Ireland Department of Economic Development as set out in its strategy document entitled Pathfinder . Having reviewed the weaknesses of the Northern Ireland economy, Paul Teague criticizes what he regards as the narrow focus of the Pathfinder strategy. He argues that the emphasis on the creation of a self reliant economy is an unrealistic and overambitious goal and that rather more attention should be devoted to: attracting multinational companies and establishing better links between them and local companies; corss border economic collaboration; greater emphasis on direct employment measures; and a broader consideration of new forms of regional economic development taking place elsewhere in Europe and North America upon which policy makers could draw. In the second article, David Owen and Anne Green of the Institute for Employment Research at the University of Warwick set out the basis of a technique known as ‘labour market accounts' which seeks to highlight the various demographic and economic factors which lead to employment change in labour markets. As a technique this has considerable potential for policy makers and Owen and Green illustrate the point by operationalizing the technique for the 322 Travel-to-Work Areas in Britain for the period 1981–4.