Negotiating Spaces
Amphisbaena of “the Local”: Changes in the Political Institution of Taiwanese Rural Development
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Hsinhua Chiang
Under the trend of globalization, global and regional competition has become a critical issue in governance. In Taiwan, regional dynamics and competitions have become increasingly dramatic after joining the WTO in 2002. Taiwanese rural areas are not only a resource supplier to meet demands in global industrial competition, but are also required to produce its own personality for attracting visitors and investors, further fighting to win regional competitions. In order to describe the two orientations in rural development, the study arranges the geographical concepts of space and place as components of local. The research explores institutional changes among rural development in the 2000s, through analysis on national policies and projects, including land use, tourism, community revitalization, also massive public investments such as industrial parks or renewable energy. As governmental institution orients rural development, it generates dynamics between different levels and scales: at the national level, opening battlefields for regional competitions and at regional level, representing strategies building identity as a local. The study uses amphisbaena, a double-headed snake in the Greek Mythology, as a metaphor to illustrate relationship and stress between being a space and a place, while building a rural area as a distinguished “local.”
Behavior of the South African Economy towards Net Flow of Foreign Direct Investment in the Economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Siyasanga Dingela
The study contributes to the scarce literature that focuses in the BRICS economies on investment. The overarching aim is to investigate the intra-BRICS FDI flows and how the net FDI flows from BRICS economies influence the South African economic growth. The method will be utilised for this investigations is GeneraliZed Methods of Moments (GMM). The use of GMM estimator requires tests of fixed versus random effects (Arrellano and Bond, 1991). The period of research will start from 1980 to 2016. This study will provide more information to policy makers regarding policy directions in relation to South African economic growth and BRICS FDI flows.
(Re)production of Neoliberal Spatiality: Emerging "Negotiability"
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Anamica Singh
Since the arrival of neoliberalism in India in the 1990s, urbanization has taken a dramatic turn. A pattern of instant urbanism is observed spreading across the peripheries of cities into its rural suburbs to accommodate the newly emerging "space of flows." Special economic zones, satellite townships, technology hubs, shopping malls, golf courses, etc. are being extensively built by private developers on what was once the agricultural lands of the villagers. Within this context, there are conventionally two important streams in urban discourse that are emerging. The first one focuses in bringing out the implication of neoliberalism on urbanization within the analytical framework of "capitalism," wherein issues related to accumulation by dispossession of the peasantry, privatization, practice of state eminent domain, land grabbing, etc. are being (re)defined within the context of neoliberalism. The second one, in response, is building on the narratives of grass-root incursions of the locals within the framework of "occupancy urbanism." Insights related to the power of villagers in resisting and sometimes subverting the state and corporate visions have started to unravel. Although both streams bring out valuable insights on facets of emerging neoliberal spatiality, they are often found rendering a highly polarized and contested spatiality, thus reinforcing the dichotomy between the elite and poor, urban and rural, global and local, modernity and traditions, and so on. On the contrary, this paper brings out a special case of Gurugram (Gurgaon) city in India, where the native villagers have evolved to be rather accommodating to neoliberalism under mutually beneficial and negotiable conditions. Thus, elaborating on production of a "negotiated space" instead, where both the imaginaries are found interweaving and at continuous negotiation. Through the study of ethnoscapes and the everyday at the village level, this paper reveals the emerging role of native villagers in the social production of neoliberal space. It firstly illustrates how the villagers have established strong alliance with private developers on the principles of reciprocity and negotiability. This is elaborated by in-depth explanations about the mechanisms and informal dynamics at the micro-level that underline the negotiated process between the dimensions of power and land resources. Secondly, the paper establishes links to the above framework of emerging socio-political dimension to its socio-identity and territoriality. The quintessence behind the rise of native villagers as important stakeholders in production and organization of these spaces is embodied in their centuries-old traditions and evolving land management system. It is a very "specific" clan organization, their identity, and territoriality linked to its historicality that has helped them to rise above the fate of being the dispossessed, and instead, provided them with the higher means to benefit from the larger neoliberal processes (although with questionable sustainability). In Gurgaon, this is evident, as the villagers emerge from being the native zamindaars (agricultural land owners) of yesterday to Mercedes owners of today. Methodologically, the paper uses "space" as a tool and method in order to illustrate the emerging neoliberal spatiality.
Governing Innovation under Authoritarianism: Institutional Development in Tianjin
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Daiding Zhang
In China, the innovation economy appears to receive full government support at the national level, leading to the rise of major innovation hubs like Shenzhen. However, innovation economy did not bloom in all major cities of China, especially in the north. We argue that competing economic and political goals create different incentives for other local governments, leading to regional divergence in regulatory choices. To examine how officials approach the expansion of innovation economy and what institutional choices they subsequently make to govern the sector, this paper maps the evolving institutions for the innovation economy in Tianjin. Owning a large proportion of state-owned enterprises, Tianjin’s socio-economic conditions and political challenges are more representative of the country than innovation hubs. We report evidence on three propositions. First, local officials are aware of the governance risks that the innovation economy presents although they admire its potentials for sustainable growth, which is the main criterion to measure Chinese officials’ performance. Second, officials adopt changes in the governance regime to contain and direct growth away from these risks. Third, local government's industrial policies have a positive impact on the businesses in corresponding subcategories of the innovation economy. We measure the performance of local start-ups by applying a model with two independent variables: number of documents local governments forwarded from the central government and number of documents issued by local governments in the innovation economy. By examining cross-regional policy implications in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, we interpret results as a part of China’s authoritarian resilience.
