Geographical Linkages Research Articles

Chronopolitics: Decolonising African Migration Studies

This article proposes the concept of ‘chronopolitics’ as a heuristic for a kind of decolonial imagination in migration studies, one that insists on structural changes as opposed to those relational ones that dominate the field. The article argues that migration scholars should question the coloniality of key concepts they use in their work to understand how the ‘solutions’ they propose (re)embed a colonial world and view. Building on previous critiques of migration studies, the article proposes that a chronopolitical argument to decolonising migration studies reveals the intrinsic connectivity of temporal and geographical linkages, in order to relate migration research epistemologies to ontological problems. This can allow the migration discourse to move beyond the centre, to address the current ‘black burden’ of ambivalent academic positioning and predominant methodological and conceptual approaches to migration studies. In these ways, chronopolitics adds conceptually to an underexplored debate in the field.

(2021) Volume 2, Issue 4 Cultural Implications of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC Authors: Dr. Unsa Jamshed Amar Jahangir Anbrin Khawaja Abstract: This study is an attempt to highlight the cultural implication of CPEC on Pak-China relations, how it will align two nations culturally, and what steps were taken by the governments of two states to bring the people closer.

(2021) Volume 2, Issue 4 Cultural Implications of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC Authors: Dr. Unsa Jamshed Amar Jahangir Anbrin Khawaja Abstract: This study is an attempt to highlight the cultural implication of CPEC on Pak-China relations, how it will align two nations culturally, and what steps were taken by the governments of two states to bring the people closer.

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Dynamics of Regional Connectivity: Prospects and Challenges

Since 1950, China and Pakistan have enjoyed historic friendly relations. They helped each other during the times of need and have supported each other at various regional and international forums. Currently, they are engaged in building the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is a component of China’s gigantic economic venture, One Belt, One Road (OBOR). Later termed as Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), it is a framework of regional connectivity to enhance geographical linkages and to improve roads, rail networks with frequent and free exchanges of growth while moving towards more optimal business by win-win model. The CPEC, being its flagship project, has the potential to bring incredible financial gains for the BRI countries. In this connection, the South Asian countries and the global community have mixed perception about the project. However, the CPEC is important for regional countries because it will bring socio-economic prosperity and technological advancement. The CPEC will offer China and Pakistan an opportunity to promote regional connectivity, trade growth and infrastructure development. Pakistan views the corridor not only as an infrastructure and economic development programme but a key initiative for the country’s economic prosperity. Nevertheless, China needs to expand its influence in the peripheral neighbourhood, consolidate its global presence and secure future supply routes of energy and trade goods; This will help Pakistan become one of the beneficiaries of the Chinese investment in the region.

Monetary Policy Contagion in the West African Monetary Zone

The study utilized quarterly time series data for Nigeria and three selected West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) countries for the period 1980–2016 to verify whether monetary policy shocks emanating from Nigeria are an important source of macroeconomic fluctuations in WAMZ economies. The study complemented the Global vector autoregressive method with the Diebold–Yilmaz (2009) connectedness weights computation for the analysis. Inferences from generalized impulse response function (GIRF) analysis indicated that an unanticipated Nigerian monetary policy shock depreciates the Nigeria–USA exchange rate, stimulates growth, decelerates inflation and expands the money stock in the short run for Nigeria. In Ghana, Nigeria’s monetary policy shocks similarly depreciates the exchange rate, slows growth with high inflationary impact in the short run. In the Gambia, unanticipated shocks emanating from Nigeria strengthens the Gambia–USA exchange rate, depresses growth and inflationary pressures. Sierra Leone shares the appreciation of its currency with the Gambia, in addition to an economic expansion and rising inflation. Money supply also increases to accommodate the expanding demand. These results validated the thesis that there exist considerable geographical linkages within the WAMZ regions through which macroeconomic fluctuations are transmitted. For policy, monetary authorities in the region should collectively address the question of how to stabilize the economy in response to monetary policy shocks emanating from Nigeria. JEL Codes: E52, E32, E65, F02

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC): Fostering the Trade, Investment and Economic Globalization

Though the 21st century was considered hallmark economic globalization and trade partnership but recent developments of Brexit and President Trumps protective and anti-multilateral trading have challenged the established liberal consensus on economic globalization. This paper would argue that on the contrary the case of CPEC is the recent initiative from China and Pakistan which is giving boost to the new wave of economic Globalization as the economic corridor China projected the Belt and Road as a road to prosperity whereas isolation brings backwardness, will be more true with regard to CPEC. For Pakistan it is a gamechanger as it is a framework of regional connectivity. CPEC will not only benefit China and Pakistan but will have positive impact on Iran, Afghanistan, India, Central Asian Republic, and the region. The enhancement of geographical linkages will further the economic globalization as against the anti-globalization moves.

Correction to: HIV-1 genetic diversity, geographical linkages and antiretroviral drug resistance among individuals from Pakistan.

Unfortunately, the co-author's name Nouman Mughal was incorrectly published in the original article and the same is corrected here in this erratum.

HIV-1 genetic diversity, geographical linkages and antiretroviral drug resistance among individuals from Pakistan.

Worldwide antiretroviral therapy (ART) has reduced the mortality and morbidity rates in individuals with HIV infection. However, the increasing occurrence of drug resistance is limiting treatment options. In recent years, Pakistan has witnessed a concentrated epidemic of HIV. It is very important to identify geographical linkages and mutations that generate selective pressure and drive resistance of HIV in our population. The aim of this work was to identify genetic diversity and drug resistance patterns of HIV in Pakistan, using available sequences and bioinformatics tools, which may help in selecting effective combination of available drugs. A total of 755 Pakistani HIV gag, pol and env sequences were retrieved from the Los Alamos HIV database. Sequences were aligned with reference sequences of different subtypes. For geographical linkages, sequences of predominant subtypes were aligned with sequences of the same subtypes from different countries. Phylogenetic trees were constructed using the maximum-likelihood method in MEGA 7 software. For drug resistance analysis, sequences were entered into the Stanford University HIV Drug Resistance Database. Phylogenetic trees for studying genetic diversity showed that 82% of the sequences were of subtype A, while the rest of the sequences were of subtypes B (9.5%), K (2%), D (2%) and AE (1%). Moreover, trees that were constructed to examine geographical linkages showed close clustering of strains with those of the neighboring countries Afghanistan and India, as well as some African countries. A search for drug resistance mutations showed that 93% of the sequences had no major or minor mutations. The remaining 7% of the sequences contained a major mutation, Y115F, which causes the virus to exhibit low to intermediate resistance against lamivudine and emtricitabine. Our data indicate that HIV subtype A is the major subtype, while subtypes K, D and AE are also present in our country, suggesting gradual viral evolution and possible entry of different subtypes from neighboring countries. These data suggest that HIV is still sensitive to most of the antiretroviral drugs used in Pakistan.

Quantifying the non-breeding provenance of staging Ruffs, Philomachus pugnax, using stable isotope analysis of different tissues

International conservation efforts for migratory populations are most effectively based on quantification of the geographical linkages between wintering, staging, and breeding areas, patterns that may not remain constant in times of global change. We used stable isotope (δ 13C, δ 15N, and δ 2H) measurements of different tissues representing distinct periods of dietary integration to quantify the non-breeding provenance of a threatened staging population of Ruffs Philomachus pugnax. In 199 staging Ruffs captured in 2012 during northward migration in the Netherlands, we compared the multi-isotope patterns of feathers grown at wintering grounds, with the δ 13C and δ 15N profiles of blood cells and plasma representative of staging areas. Few birds had the 13C-depleted and 15N-enriched feathers suggestive of wintering quarters in European agricultural areas. Most Ruffs had higher feather δ 13C values, suggesting that they wintered in sub-Saharan Africa. Feather δ 2H values were not informative due to the overlap of values from European and African moulting sites. Blood cell δ 13C and δ 15N values indicated that sub-Saharan Ruffs fuelled on low trophic-level foods in habitats dominated by C3 terrestrial or freshwater aquatic primary production, e.g. the rice fields in Africa or the Mediterranean. Stable isotope ratios in plasma suggested that Ruffs made stopovers in southern European agricultural areas. Stable isotopes thus enabled assessments of wintering origin in large numbers of birds. We further propose that conservation measures to protect Ruffs must include the adequate management of sub-Saharan wetlands, based on a better understanding of the role of human-made rice fields for fuelling birds.

Geographical linkages in the financial services industry: a dialogue with organizational studies

ABSTRACTGeographical linkages in the financial services industry: a dialogue with organizational studies. Regional Studies. This article proposes a conceptualization of the geographical linkages in the financial services sector based on boundary-spanning activities. In doing so, it seeks to open a dialogue between organizational sociology and regional development that goes beyond an analysis of financial transactions and asset prices to the informational content shared between organizations within a city, country or region. This conceptual approach offers new insights into why and how geographical linkages emerge within and between financial services organizations. This article foreshadows the utility of this approach by way of an illustrative case of HSBC, the ‘world’s local bank’.

Does foreign direct investment stimulate new firm creation? In search of spillovers through industrial and geographical linkages

This paper examines the spillover effects of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) on the entrepreneurial activities of new firm creation through both industrial and geographical linkages. Using a dataset of 44,434 newly created small firms in 234 regions of South Korea in 2000–2004, this study finds that while the spillover impacts of FDI in the low-tech industry are positive and significant across almost all four possible combinations of the intra-/inter-regional and intra-/inter-sectoral channels, the impacts in the high-tech industry are largely intra-sectoral within the host region and across neighboring regions. Moreover, all statistically significant spillover effects follow an inverted ‘U’-shaped curvilinear trend.

Large‐scale spatial analysis of ringing and re‐encounter data to infer movement patterns: A review including methodological perspectives

Summary A major aim of bird ringing is to provide information about the migration and movements of bird populations. However, in comparison with demographic studies, little research has been devoted to improving quantitative inferences through large‐scale spatial analyses. This represents a serious knowledge gap because robust information on geographical linkages of migratory populations throughout the annual cycle is necessary to understand the ecology and evolution of migrants and for the conservation and management of populations. Here, we review recent developments and emerging opportunities for the quantitative study of movements of bird populations based on marked birds. Large‐scale spatial analyses of ringing data need to account for spatiotemporal variation in re‐encounter probability and the complexity of movement processes, including variability among individuals and populations in migration direction and distance. We identify seven recent studies that used quantitative methods for large‐scale spatial analyses of ringing and re‐encounter data gathered by national ringing centres. In most cases, numbers ringed and recovered in a series of source and destination areas were used to derive estimates of the proportion of each source population travelling to each destination area. Where recovery data were sparse, precision was improved by incorporating information on re‐encounter probabilities of similar species. When numbers ringed were not available, inferences could sometimes be drawn based on local recapture data from the source areas. Studies to date illustrate that analyses of these large‐scale ringing data sets can provide robust quantitative inferences. Further work is needed to develop these modelling approaches and to test their sensitivity to key assumptions using both real and simulated data. Data for all birds that were marked, not only those re‐encountered, are often inaccessible and should be computerised in parallel with analytical developments. Further, there is great potential for the formal combination of re‐encounter data with information from additional data sources such as counts and detailed movement data from radiotracking or data loggers. Because data from bird ringing operations cover long periods of time and exist in large quantities, they hold great promise for inferring spatiotemporal migration patterns, including changes in relation to climate, land use change and other environmental drivers.

Multiple and shifting geographies of world music production

Taking European world music charts since 1991 as a surrogate measure of the salience of global economic and geographical linkages in world music production, our paper offers an in-depth analysis into the clustered and transnational dynamics therein. We substantiate the claim that the valorisation of commodified musical content has traditionally been removed from its place of origin and centred on metropolitan areas in Western Europe and the USA. However, the paper suggests a growing diversification in the geography of production, with the emergence of secondary centres with an international and national orientation. It also offers promising avenues for further research into the positionality of cultural mediation and the increasing prominence of hybrid musical output.

The Relationship between Technology Industrial Cluster and Innovation in Taiwan

Many economic activities, especially research and development, still rely on face-to-face communication and the geographical linkages among industries are beneficial to technology sharing and in decreasing unnecessary expenditures. It is observable that the salient role of research and development in today's knowledge economy heavily relies on geographical linkages, the localization of learning networks, and face-to-face communication. Hence, these predicaments make the clustering of high-tech industries plausible and are in fact popularly practiced all over the world. Specifically, this research discusses the effects of the clustering in the technology industry and its innovative variants in Taiwan. It is hypothesized that variants in Taiwan's technology industry and innovation are interfacing with each other instead of working independently. The relationship between the clustering of Taiwan's technology industry and innovation is investigated through 3SLS. The results show that clustering of the technology industry and innovative production are positively correlated. That is to say, clustering of the technology industry is beneficial to the industry itself and moreover is also beneficial to the development of innovative practices in the industry. As a result, clustering in Taiwan's technology industry is observably speeding up.

BIODIVERSITY RESEARCH: Geographical linkages between threats and imperilment in freshwater fish in the Mediterranean Basin

AbstractAim The level of imperilment of mediterranean freshwater fish is among the highest recorded for any group of organisms evaluated to date. Here, we describe the geographical patterns in the incidence of threats affecting mediterranean freshwater fish and test whether the effects of specific threats are spatially related to the degree of imperilment of fish faunas.Location The Mediterranean Basin Biome.Methods From the IUCN Red List, we recorded the six main threats to 232 endemic freshwater fish species. We used data on fish distributions from IUCN to characterize the spatial patterns in the incidence of threats (as percentage of species affected) through multivariate statistics. We studied the relationships between threat incidence and two estimators of imperilment (proportion of species threatened and an index of extinction risk) at two spatial scales (10 × 10 km and basins) using partial least squares regressions (PLSR) that incorporated the effects of species richness and mean range size.Results The main axis of variation in the incidence of threats to freshwater fish split areas mainly affected by invasive species from those areas where species are threatened by pollution and agriculture. Wherever invasive species and water extraction were predominant threats, fish assemblages consistently tended to be more imperilled.Main conclusions As far as we know, this is the first large‐scale analysis on the spatial relationships between the incidence of threats and level of imperilment of any taxonomic group. Our results highlight the primary role of invasive species and water extraction as drivers of native fish declines in the Mediterranean Basin. Large‐scale patterns described here should be generated by local‐scale impacts of both threats on fish biodiversity, widely reported in Mediterranean areas. Because all the species under concern are endemic, control of invasive species and reducing overexploitation of freshwater resources should be conservation priorities for mediterranean freshwater systems.

From colonization to national territories in continental West Africa: the historical geography of a transport infrastructure network

This paper argues that in order to study the geohistory of a transport infrastructure network it is necessary to identify the link between networks and territorial scales during a given period. It focuses on the creation of road and rail networks in French West Africa during the colonial period and in the land-locked States during the national period, which involves post-independence development policies. The network is perceived in this paper as the manifestation of the political will to facilitate traffic within a delimited space. Within the colonial and then the national periods roads and railways were thus constructed as part of a process that can be interpreted as the outcome of a compromise between a territorial project and the capacity to implement it. This geohistorical study thus allows us to identify, with reference to the link between borders and networks, the successive geographical linkages (railway and port combinations with their subsequent branches, national roads, economic roads, external connections) which have been applied in the delimited spaces in question. This exercise has concentrated particularly on continental West Africa.

Monetary Independence under Floating Exchange Rates: Evidence Based on International Breakeven Inflation Rates

It is widely assumed that, under flexible foreign exchange (FX) rates, countries may pursue an independent monetary policy with respect to domestic goals. By contrast, recent empirical evidence suggests that, similar to pegs, floating regimes are affected by transmissions of nominal quantities such as inflation or nominal interest rates from abroad. For the case of a four dimensional subsystem of the G7, we highlight the strength of international comovements in liquidity adjusted breakeven inflation interpreted as a measure of future inflation prospects. Results indicate that economies with geographical proximity and strong trade linkages (e.g. Canada and the U.S., the UK and EMU) share highest realized correlations of nonstationary breakeven rates. Moreover, these linkages appear strengthened if corresponding exchange rates are relatively stable or if the respective large economy is in a state of relatively uncertain inflation expectations.

What Can Be Learned from Introducing Settlement Typology into Urban Poverty Analysis: The Case of the Tomsk Region, Russia

This study uses household survey data from the Tomsk oblast (region) to analyse how and why household welfare differs among the distinct urban settlement types. Urban settlements patterns in the Soviet Union were unusual because they were determined by government priorities not market forces. As a result, transition brought widespread change in urban fortunes to different types of urban settlement. In Tomsk oblast, smaller cities dependent on timber and other non-oil-related economic activities were hardest hit. Poorly located and increasingly economically disadvantaged, these cities have become geographical poverty traps for their residents. Households living in the oblast capital with its diverse economy and good geographical linkages to other places have fared better, while households living in smaller cities dependent on oil production have done best of all.

Mother Goose’s Map

This article is an exploration of the ways that gay men negotiated and created urban spaces in 1950s Toronto. A significant part of this everyday encounter was the proliferation of tabloid journalism that exploited and mapped out transgressive domains of same-sex erotics for its readers. Using a variety of sources, such as oral histories, government documents, and these local newspaper tabloids, the author traces the contours of same-sex urban spaces, their conceptual and geographical linkages, and their relationship to the larger society within which they are set. Ultimately, the author shows how the securing of these spaces was deeply implicated in existing class and gender hierarchies that simultaneously served as places of resistance and domination.

Self-organizing innovation networks: implications for globalization

The most valuable and complex technologies are increasingly innovated by networks that self-organize. Networks are those linked organizations (e.g., firms, universities, government agencies) that create, acquire, and integrate the diverse knowledge and skills required to create and bring to the market complex technologies (e.g., aircraft, telecommunications equipment). In other words, innovation networks are organized around constant learning. Self-organization refers to the capacity these networks have for combining and recombining these learning capabilities without centralized, detailed managerial guidance. The proliferation of self-organizing innovation networks may be linked to many factors, but a key one seems to be increasing globalization. Indeed, globalization and self-organizing innovation networks may be coevolving. Changes in the organization of the innovation process appear to have facilitated the broadening geographical linkages of products, processes, and markets. At the same time, globalization seems to induce cooperation among innovative organizations. Research on innovation networks is used to illustrate these ideas. The evolution of the automotive industry provides a test case.

Keeping the high-tech region open and dynamic: the organizational networks of Taiwan's integrated circuit industry

This paper aims to bridge the literatures of industrial districts and organizational networks by studying the development of organizational relationships in Taiwan's integrated circuit (IC) industry. Firms of the IC industry in Taiwan are highly concentrated in the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (HSIP). They not only have contributed the most to the combined sales for the HSIP compared to other industries for half a decade, but also have made Taiwan the country with the fourth-largest IC industry in the world today. Along with the creation and maintenance of global competitiveness in this industry, the means of developing organizational relationships and geographical linkages are examined in this paper. The empirical findings are based on analysis of data regarding the organizational connections for Taiwan's IC industry during 1976 to 1996, collected at the individual firm level. It is found that a concurrent process of intensifying the internal as well as external linkages has occurred in the HSIP, a young high-tech region. It indicates that not only is the ``regional advantage'' sufficiently sustained, but also the global industrial networks are continuously expanded to maintain the openness and dynamics of the region.