Regional Power Structure Research Articles

Landscape in Transition, Heritage in the Making: A Research Agenda for Understanding Lusatia’s Post-mining Landscape as a Practice of Past Presencing

The region of Lusatia in Germany is characterised by a permanent state of uncertainty – as a consequence of decades of resettlements due to lignite mining as well as structural changes resulting from the German reunification. This article discusses an inclusive concept of post-mining landscapes and the presencing of their pasts in regional discourses, given that lignite mining in Lusatia mainly took place in the settlement area of the autochthonous minority of the Sorbs/Wends. Since the end of lignite mining is planned for 2038, historicizing perspectives such as a World Heritage initiative are becoming increasingly important, leading to a new conceptualisation of the post-mining landscape primarily as a practice of past presencing itself, which functions as a coping mechanism for facing up to new uncertainties, thereby emerging as a new action arena for the negotiation of regional identity, belonging and power structures.

The Impact Of Military Assistance On International Political Dynamics

Abstract This research explores the intricate interplay between military assistance and international political dynamics, focusing on its implications for regional power structures. Grounded in Power Transition Theory, the study aims to unravel the complex web of relationships influenced by military aid, examining its intended and unintended consequences. Leveraging qualitative research methods through the analysis of secondary data, three key dimensions are investigated: Military Assistance and Power Transition Theory, Unveiling Diplomatic Dynamics: Military Assistance, Bilateral Relations, and Alliance Politics, and Unintended Consequences: Military Assistance, Security Dynamics, and the Specter of Arms Races. The findings highlight the multifaceted impact of military assistance on regional power dynamics, shedding light on its role in shaping diplomatic relations, influencing alliance politics, and potentially triggering unintended security consequences such as the specter of arms races. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of how military aid shapes the global geopolitical landscape. In conclusion, it emphasizes the need for nuanced policy considerations to mitigate unintended outcomes while harnessing the potential positive impacts of military assistance. Keywords: alliance politics, bilateral relations, diplomatic dynamics, military assistance, power transition

Multistage charging facility planning on the expressway coordinated with the power structure transformation

AbstractThis study presents a novel multistage expressway fast charging station (EFCS) planning problem coordinated with the dynamic regional power structure (PS) transformation. Under the prerequisite of the EFCS network's sustainable operation, network accessibility, and orderly construction, a three‐step planning method oriented to the enhancement of energy saving and emission reduction (ESER) benefits and rationalization of facility utilization is developed: (i) EV‐expanded network, (ii) multiagent‐based dynamic traffic assignment (MA‐DTA), and (iii) deployment refinement. Embedding the MA‐DTA and customized refinement strategy into the iterative planning structure enables the integration of operations and planning of the EFCS network. A numerical experiment and an empirical study in the Shandong Peninsula urban agglomeration are conducted. It demonstrates that the method can find a high‐quality solution within acceptable computation time and is applicable to realistic large‐scale EFCS planning. The planning method can effectively play the role of economy and facility in inducing EV users' charging demands, thus enhancing the overall ESER benefits. The integration of operation and planning is proven effective in reasonably matching the supply and demand of facility service and charging loads in a full‐time period. Further, the multistage EFCS planning schemes during 2025–2045 are explored, and some insightful policy implications are revealed.

Demystifying Indo-US Natural and Strategic Partnership

India–US relations have witnessed diverse trends ranging from estrangement to engagement followed by strategic partnership. They have signed various agreements, such as DPA, CND, LEMOA, COMCASA and BECA, to institutionalize their strategic partnership. However, real-time challenges have continuously shaped the trajectory of strategic alignment as their national interests occasionally converged and often diverged. Their notions of world order sharply contrast. New Delhi stands for a multi-polar world order, whereas Washington advocates uni-polar world order. The US–Pakistan alliance partnership has further proved an impediment to the Indo–US strategic partnership. Hence, much claimed natural partnership has not been able to make much headway as their national interests diverge on core issues such as trade, immigration, joint and co-production, and world order. The mainstream literature advocates that these are the teething problems of evolving strategic partnerships, but the in-depth analysis indicates that issues confronting their relationship are structural and deep-rooted. Realism, neorealism and social constructivism prove appropriate tools to grasp the dynamic of Indo–US natural and strategic partnerships by locating them in the global, Asian and regional power structure.

Will Government-driven Urbanization Exacerbate Urbanization Imbalances?

As a major form of administrative division adjustment in China since the reform and opening up, abolishing county and establishing district policy has reshaped the regional administrative power structure, which in turn has had a profound impact on regional economic and social development. Based on data from population census and land survey, this paper uses the general OLS method to estimate the effect of abolishing county and establishing city-administered district reform on the imbalance of urbanization development in prefecture-level cities. The study finds that the reform of abolishing counties and setting up districts softens the constraint of construction land targets and creates favorable conditions for local governments to "seek development through land use", but the larger supply of construction land eventually exacerbates the imbalance between population urbanization and land urbanization, and this finding still holds for cities where the initial relationship between people and land is not tense. By region, the effect of urbanization imbalance exacerbated by abolishing county and establishing district policy is significant in the eastern region but not in the central and western regions; moreover, the effect of urbanization imbalance exacerbated by county revocation is weakened in cities with higher degree of financial deepening. The rapid urbanization with land as the core has supported China's rapid economic growth for a long time in the past, but the role of land as an economic engine is declining. Promoting a new type of people-oriented urbanization and making efforts to improve the quality of urbanization construction is the right way to transform China's economic development mode and promote high-quality development in the future.

A hybrid estimation of carbon footprints for urban commuting transportation via path reconstruction

The transportation sector is a major source of carbon emissions, and it is of great significance to study the estimation method of carbon emissions from urban commuting traffic for energy conservation and emission reduction. In view of the difficulty of collecting detailed trip trajectory data, this paper first reconstructs the trip paths via an improved modal choice model and a modified path planning model based on the O-D trip matrix, taking seven single traffic modals and two combined modals into account. In order to estimate the carbon footprints with theoretical accuracy, the bottom-up method is adopted considering the trip modal, vehicle type, power source, vehicle occupancy, operation characteristics and traffic conditions. Meanwhile, faced with the converted carbon emissions from electric vehicles, factors like charging efficiency, vehicular load, regional power structure and transmission loss are further considered in the estimation function. A case study of Changzhou City has been performed to verify the feasibility of the proposed models, where the volume distribution of commuting trips is predicted upon a modified network traffic assignment by TransCAD, and the spatial distribution of carbon emission intensity has further expanded to the adjacent areas via ArcMap analysis tools. The total carbon emission and the average link emission intensity of daily commuting in the study area are about 14.7 × 105 kg/day and 870 kg/km respectively. The discussion results indicate that the CO2 emission of fuel-driven vehicles accounts for over 86%, and the equivalent carbon emission of electric vehicles accounts for about 14% under given modal choices. The correlations of carbon emissions to road levels and zone attributes get further revealed and discussed based on the estimation results.

Rigged Elections: The Failure of Mexico’s New Labor Model to Protect Farmworker Rights

Due to recent labor reforms and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) negotiation, Mexico ratified freedom of association and collective bargaining rights. This new labor model promises the end of employer protection unions that thwart labor organizing and drive down wages. Through an ethnographic case study of farm labor organizing in the agro-export industry in San Quintín, Baja California, Mexico, this article argues that recent labor reforms are not sufficient to democratize labor relations in rural industries as they fail to overcome regional and transnational power structures. Although limited to one case, this article fills a gap in the literature on the impact of recent labor reforms on farmworkers. Mexico’s salaried agricultural workers offer critical insights into the promises and failures of current efforts to reform labor laws and remediate the adverse effects of economic integration.

Энциклопедисты петербургской власти. К изданию архивного справочника «Органы власти и управления Санкт-Петербурга. 1775–1993»

The review is devoted to analysis and review of the content of the first two volumes of a large-scale five-volume archival project, which is being carried out by the central city state archives employees under the charge of the Archival Committee of St. Petersburg. The project is to produce a comprehensive reference book on the history of city government and administration and state institutions of St. Petersburg—Petrograd—Leningrad—St. Petersburg. The reference book covers a significant historical period, staring from the moment the city government was established during the gubernia reform of the Empress Catherine the Great and ending with the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation B. N. Yeltsin no. 2252 of December 21, 1993, which put an end to the Soviet authorities’ existence in the northern capital. The reference book results from long years of the authors-compilers’ research of pre-revolutionary and Soviet archival fonds and regulatory legal acts concerning creation, reorganization, liquidation of the regional power structures of St. Petersburg—Petrograd—Leningrad—St. Petersburg. On the basis of a representative complex of archival documents, previously unintroduced into scientific use, the first two volumes offer over 130 detailed historical references on the history of state authorities and state institutions. Every article is supplemented with comprehensive references: archival ciphers, sources, detailed bibliography of published works on the history of this particular branch of public administration or city organization. The first volume contains 60 articles and is devoted to the highest city authorities and administration: from the Commander-in-Chief in St. Petersburg (1780–97, 1805–08, 1812–16) to the Leningrad City Committee of the CPSU (1931–90). The second volume includes 78 historical references on the governing bodies of the city economy: from the Petrograd Treasury Chamber (1780–1918) to the Main Directorate for Housing, Civil, and Industrial Construction in the city of Leningrad (1955–89). The reviewed publication permits to study general and particular in the organization of public administration over 200 years of Russian history, without its usual division into pre-revolutionary and Soviet history, in the largest capital city of Russia. The reader obtains informative historical background and all scientific apparatus necessary for the subsequent organization of their own research.

The Indo-Pacific Strategy from the Perspective of Offensive Realism

The Indo-Pacific strategy marks a shift in U.S. policy toward China from engagement to containment. The new goal of above policy is to comprehensively use various means to prevent China’s further rise and continue to maintain U.S. comparative advantage. However, the U.S. has been in trouble in recent years in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, unable to focus on China’s rise. Therefore, uniting Japan, India, and Australia to share the responsibility and obligation to balance China among the so-called G4 will not only meet the strategic needs of dealing with China’s threat, but also reduce the pressure of U.S. global strategic contraction. For Japan, India and Australia, in the face of an increasingly aggressive China, all three countries feel the need to seek the support and help of the United States, a major power outside the region, to maintain regional balance of power and balance. From the theoretical perspective of offensive realism, the Indo-Pacific strategy embodies the policy preferences of the four countries for establishing a balance of power and shirking responsibility in the process of maintaining the balance of regional power structures. However, like the theoretical flaws of offensive realism, the Indo-Pacific strategy has limitations and potential risks that may have a negative impact on the effective development of the strategy.

China’s Evolving Diaspora Engagement Policy: Transnational Linkages And Stakeholder Perceptions

China’s profound demographic and socioeconomic transitions over the last four decades have led to significant changes in its diaspora: increased numbers, different destinations, and diversified reasons for emigration. The national diaspora policy has undergone many shifts since China’s momentous economic reforms and opening to the world in 1978; but policy now converges on a multifaceted and intrinsically transnational system of engagement in the service of soft power. Studies have so far stressed domestic interests, drawing insights primarily from policy documents; but this article seeks to broaden the perspective, using a transnationally oriented framework to assist investigation of factors that range beyond the domestic. Using in-depth interviews with a variety of key informants and stakeholders, we systematically analyze features in four core policy dimensions that incorporate both international and domestic dynamics: diaspora institutions, dual citizenship, talent recruitment, and soft power. Finally, we explore implications for development (economic, sociocultural, educational) in both China and host countries. We draw the conclusion that China’s diaspora policy is shaped by a constellation of transnational factors—such as changing global and regional power structures, and competition in talent-recruiting and talent-retaining in the new technological era. China now deploys multi-scale linkages across several dimensions, expanding from economic to sociocultural and political spheres, to engage its diaspora effectively. Finally, these policy developments not only shape China’s internal development but also influence global sentiment, bringing new dynamics to bear global power relations.

Assessing the environmental benefits of battery packs from multi‐vehicle and multi‐region perspective: Aiming for lightweight and carbon neutrality

AbstractVehicle lightweight and carbon neutrality turn out to be the critical goals in developing new energy vehicles. As an important part of electric vehicles, power battery packs have an impact on the environment. In this study, multiple environmental assessment indicators were grouped into a comprehensive index, namely the green characteristic index, and the green characteristic index was used to comprehensively evaluate the environmental impact of 11 kinds of battery packs. This study calculates and analyzes the environmental impact values of battery packs in different regions for four types of small, medium, intermediate, and limousine cars. Finally, the uncertainty analysis was carried out. Research has found that micro battery packs have a lower potential environmental impact than advanced battery packs, so smaller, more energy‐efficient battery electric vehicles (BEVs) generally perform better than larger BEVs for vehicle models. During the operation stage of the battery pack, the environmental impact value of carbon footprint and ecological footprint is greatly affected by the regional power structure. Running the battery pack in China will generate higher carbon footprint and ecological footprint. In addition, the green characteristic index is more affected by the stage of use. When the scene is switched, the larger the model of the electric vehicle, the more obvious its environmental emission reduction capability. This highlights the benefits of high‐efficiency electrical structures in large electric vehicles, which can reduce environmental impact by increasing lifetime and charging efficiency, reducing the loss of transport power in the area, and improving the weight‐to‐energy relationship for BEVs.

Skill ecosystems in the global South: Informality, inequality, and community setting

The concept of ‘skill ecosystems’ considers how contextual and institutional factors shape the acquisition and utilisation of skills. Although initially developed in the global North, there is value in applying this concept in the global South, where large-scale skill development and vocational education reforms are underway, many of which struggle with post-training skill underutilisation. The concept requires modification, however, if it is to be meaningfully applied in the global South. To date, skill ecosystem research has focused on skill utilisation in contexts of formal employment and the institutional actors who support it. In the global South, where most people are employed in the informal sector, a different approach is required, more sensitive to regional power structures and social inequalities. Geographical research on skills can help develop a more dynamic, relational, and power-inflected version of the skill ecosystem concept. Drawing on a short-term longitudinal study of agricultural skills trainings in India, this paper argues a geographically sensitive skill ecosystems perspective helps identify how context shapes the outcomes of skill development programs. To be meaningfully deployed in relation to informal sector work in the global South, however, it must be extended in at least three ways: (1) a different set of institutions and actors must be recognized as comprising the ‘ecosystem,’ particularly those supporting entrepreneurship; (2) the community and family settings in which informal sector work takes place must be recognized; and (3) social inequalities must be considered to promote greater skill utilisation and more equitable outcomes.

ШАНХАЙСКАЯ ОРГАНИЗАЦИЯ СОТРУДНИЧЕСТВА: ПОСТРОЕНИЕ РЕГИОНАЛИЗМА НА ОСНОВЕ КОНСЕНСУСА (ЧАСТЬ 1)

The article is devoted to the theoretical analysis of regionalism as a general regional cooperation process in international relations and to examining the specifics of regional construction based on the example of the SCO. Looking back over the 20-year history of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, one can find that in terms of basic conditions, objective environment, interests and strategic orientation, its regionalism has both similarities with other similar regional organizations (such as OAS, OAU, League of Arab States, ASEAN, EU) and its unique distinctive characteristics. The article considers the regionalist attributes and regional consensus of the SCO, discusses the basis of the organization's structure and the reasons for its success, and analyzes the relationship between the collective “consensus” and the “interests” of the SCO member states. The problems involved in regional construction and cooperation in various fields are examined, the structure of the SCO is analyzed, and the features of the SCO's regionalism building and strategies for future development are summarized. The authors justify that this paradigm provides a new template for building regionalism, and in the context of the increasing challenges of globalization, the SCO needs to continuously deepen regional administration and building regional order. The common and continuous progress of regional subjects (member states), regional mechanisms (SCO) and regional building (cooperation in various fields) will help strengthen the influence of the SCO and serve as a starting point for new global management. The authors conclude that building a “community with a common future for humanity” has become the collective agreement of the SCO, which also means that the target of regionalism has been modernized in terms of concept and focus, The authors conclude that building a “community with a shared future for humanity” has become the collective agreement of the SCO, which also means that the goal of regionalism has been modernized in terms of concept and focus, which helps to strengthen the political, military, economic, cultural and other aspects of close ties, and in response to changes in international and regional situations, power structures and regional order are formed to guarantee this interconnection of people's lives. No doubt, creating a “community with a shared future” is an enormous project, and its realization requires more complex, long-term, and strenuous efforts.

MERIP and Political Economy in Middle East Studies

AbstractThe Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP) was founded in 1971 as a project of the American New Left in solidarity with and drawing inspiration from the Beirut-centered Arab New Left and anti-imperialist struggles for national liberation in the Middle East and North Africa. The question of Palestine was a central, but certainly not exclusive, concern. From its origins MERIP was committed to political economy as a key method to understanding the Middle East and North Africa. It highlighted the importance of oil in the regional power structure and to the emergent U.S. empire. Many of its articles featured analyses of the social relationships of class and capital. MERIP was wary of “Arab socialism” and pan-Arab nationalism as official state ideologies. Its analysis of the 1979 Iranian revolution won MERIP and its emphasis on the importance of political economy a respected place in Anglo-American academia. Political economy never disappeared from MERIP's orientation, although its salience declined from the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s. The financial crisis of 2008 drew renewed attention to the structure of global capitalism. MERIP's history positioned it to participate in the renewed attention to class, capital, markets with more attention to the racialized and gendered character of these relationships.

ЭКОЛОГО-ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИЕ ПОКАЗАТЕЛИ УСТОЙЧИВОГО РАЗВИТИЯ РЕГИОНОВ В КОНТЕКСТЕ ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИЯ КАЧЕСТВА ЖИЗНИ НАСЕЛЕНИЯ

Ecological and economic indicators are a kind of indicator of the economic state of the regions, the ongoing processes, trends in the regional economy, the quality of life of population and characterize the sustainable development of the regions. These indicators should take into account the regional power structures that make management decisions for regional development. Often, these indicators are formed in isolation from each other, and the analysis of statistical reports does not allow the data to be formed up-to-date. The study identifies the reasons associated with the problems of sustainable development of the region’s economy, and notes the connection of these problems with the quality of life of the population. It is noted that ensuring a high level of economic development in the regions is often at the expense of the state and quality of the environment. It is noted that Russia is following the path of international trends in the development of the regional economy – compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is due to the support of the global strategy of economic development within the framework of the “green economy”. The article examines the components of the environmental quality indicators of the Russian regions, and also establishes a correlation between them and the criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of the work of the heads of regions and regional executive authorities, which ultimately reflects the level of development of the region as a whole. In the work, using the National Environmental Rating for 2020 of the subjects of the Russian Federation, leaders and outsiders among the regions of the Russian Federation are identified by the level of their environmental condition. According to the results of the ecological and economic assessment, the authors ranked the complex indicator of the state of environmental indicators in the regions, which include a list of six indicators: the level of emissions of harmful substances, the discharge of polluted wastewater, production and consumption waste, water consumption, energy consumption, and environmental protection costs. The researchers analyzed the positions of the Voronezh Region in terms of the quality of life in the region and finding a position in the environmental rating of the subjects of the Russian Federation. The authors propose a grouping of regions by the value of a complex indicator, study the indicators of the ecological state of the regions, and correlate between sustainable development and the quality of life of the population of the regions

От подхода 2Д – к подходу 4Д

От подхода 2Д – к подходу 4Д

A Stochastic Optimization Model for Carbon-Emission Reduction Investment and Sustainable Energy Planning under Cost-Risk Control

Restricted by conventional energy resources and environmental space, the sustainable development of urban power sector faces enormous challenges. Renewable energy generation and carbon capture and storage (CCS) are attractive technologies for reducing conventional energy resource consumption and improving CO2 emission mitigation. Considering the limitation of expensive investment cost on their wide application, a stochastic optimization model for the optimal design and operation strategy of regional electric power system is proposed to achieve conventional resource-consumption reduction and CO2 emission mitigation under cost-risk control. The hybrid method integrates interval two-stage stochastic programming with downside risk theory. It can not only effectively deal with the complex uncertainties expressed as discrete intervals and probability distribution, but also help decision-makers make cost-risk tradeoff under predetermined budget. The proposed model is applied in the electric power system planning of Zhejiang Province, an economically developed area with limited fossil energy resources. The influences of different resource and environmental policies on the investment portfolio and power system operation are analyzed and discussed under various scenarios. The results indicated that different policies would lead to different generation technology portfolios. The aggressive CO2 emission reduction policy could stimulate the development of CCS technology, and the electric power system would still heavily rely on coal resource, while the tough coal-consumption control policy could directly promote regional renewable energy development and electric power structure adjustment.

ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИЙ РОСТ РЕГИОНОВ: АНАЛИЗ НА ОСНОВЕ КОМПЛЕМЕНТАРНЫХ ФАКТОРОВ

In modern economic conditions characterized by a slowdown in the economic growth, there is a demand for the identification and use of growth potentials. Growth potentials, among other things, lie in increasing the efficiency of using local resources, greater independence of regional power structures in setting goals, priorities and selecting development tools, as well as mitigating growth limitations. In the article, the author gives a definition to the “potentials – limitations” dichotomy, the elimination of which will allow to use the available resources more effectively. A technique for identifying regional growth potentials by determining the complementary components of production factors using econometric analysis based on panel data is proposed. As a result of the analysis, a number of significant and interrelated components of production factors have been identified on Russian data, the use of which within the framework of a sectoral and intersectoral regional economic policy, as well as targeted projects, will make it possible to unleash the region’s economic growth potentials and increase the GRP growth rates.

Analysis of emission taxes levying on regional electric power structure adjustment with an inexact optimization model - A case study of Zibo, China

In this study, an inexact two-stage chance-constrained programming (ITSCCP) model was provided for multiple electrical power system supply and demand management in Zibo City under uncertainties. Three scenarios about the electric power structure adjustment, renewable power generation, and the emission taxes were designed. Methods of two-stage stochastic programming (TSP) and inexact chance-constrained programming (ICCP) were incorporated into the developed model to tackle uncertainties in terms of various cost coefficients, decision maker's risk attitude which was described by interval values and probability distributions. Moreover, under the objective of cost minimize, the electrical power generation planning for each terms under different feasibility degrees (violating constraints or available resources situations) can be obtained. The results indicated that higher probability of violating system constraints would increase risk of system, but lower the total cost; the proportion of optimized thermal power generation and imported electricity would decrease, which could promote the energy conservation and emissions reduction in some degree. At the same time, the model results are valuable for decision-makers to tackle the uncertainty of the power generation schemes within a complicated energy system and make a desired compromise between the satisfaction degree of the economic benefits and feasibility degree of constraints.

ПРОБЛЕМЫ И ПУТИ ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИЯ СБАЛАНСИРОВАННОГО РАЗВИТИЯ ПРОСТРАНСТВЕННЫХ СОЦИАЛЬНО-ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИХ СИСТЕМ

The article highlights the problems of heterogeneity and dissociation of the economic space of Russia, the lack of effective interaction of territorially localized systems. The solution of these problems is possible on the basis of constructing the activity of planning subjects within spatial social and economic systems considering influence of factors of environment uncertainty, their quality, complexity and high dynamism. Strategic planning of the development of spatial socio-economic systems involves the study of the external environment to identify opportunities and threats, define their strengths and weaknesses and competitive advantages, formulate the mission and development goals, and choose a strategy to achieve them based on the analysis of alternatives. Algorithms for working out a program for regional socio-economic development and a program for socio-economic development of the municipality have been proposed. The organization of the process of creating the regional socio-economic development program in accordance with the proposed algorithm will significantly increase the efficiency of planning, interaction between authorities and society; it will allow a sufficiently high level of detail, excluding contradictions, to coordinate the priorities of balanced and sustainable development of individual regions and the region as a whole. The inclusion in the planning processes the spatial and socio-economic development of the region and its municipalities allows to ensure compliance with the principle of the unity of spatial and socio-economic planning, which is an undoubted advantage of the algorithms proposed. The analysis of the existing regulatory framework on the problems of strategic planning of spatial and socio-economic development of the Astrakhan region has been given. It is recommended to make certain adjustments to the law on regional strategic planning of the Astrakhan region. It has been inferred that synchronization of the process of strategic planning of spatial and socio-economic development of spatial socio-economic systems can be organized by eliminating the inconsistency of actions of power structures, local self-government and economic entities; improving the efficiency of management decisions of regional power structures and local self-government.