Accounting for the resilience of the machine-tool industry in Spain (c. 1960–2015)

Abstract

This article examines the evolution of the machine-tool industry in Spain between 1960 and 2015, its international competitiveness and its adaptability to the changes that have taken place in this industry worldwide as regards markets, technology and competitors. Drawing on the theoretical literature on the resilience of regions, cities and production systems, the article offers an exploratory analysis of the three main factors that account for the resilience of this industry in Spain: business size, flexibility and production specialisation; absorptive and innovative capacity; and geographical concentration in a region with an ecosystem that is highly supportive of skilled human capital training and innovation.     

Cacao capitalism in coastal Ecuador: Production processes and accumulation in non‐transitionary agrarian capitalism during the long 19th century

Histories of agrarian capitalism have often been constrained by the implications of Robert Brenner's work on the subject. This essay, employing archival and secondary research on Ecuador's long 19th century experiences with cacao capitalism, argues that production processes and localized forms of accumulation, rather than class structure and legal relations, should be included in our definition of the concept. By focusing on how fixed capital in cacao trees and the production of the yearly cacao commodity responded to global demand and local material conditions, I propose amplifying the concept of agrarian capitalism, as well as a rethinking of coastal Ecuador's history of capitalist development. I highlight how both absolute and relative forms of surplus value generation coexisted in coastal Ecuador's cacao haciendas, while demonstrating how financial instruments used for extending the cacao frontier undermined the prospects for long‐term growth.     

论二十世纪俄罗斯民族发展特点及演变

俄罗斯民族拥有不寻常的历史、积淀深厚的文化和曲折的发展轨迹。19世纪末及20世纪上半叶的俄国更是经历沧桑,兴衰交叠,在动荡与复兴中,俄罗斯民族的特点得以淋漓尽致地彰显。从人文角度观察和研究俄罗斯,更具有实际意义。     

Understanding Urban Processes in Flint,Michigan: Approaching ‘Subaltern Urbanism’ Inductively

Ananya Roy introduces the concept ‘subaltern urbanism’ in her 2011 article ‘Slumdog Cities: Rethinking Subaltern Urbanism’. She challenges researchers to move beyond existing epistemological and methodological limits, and offers four concepts which, taken together, serve as a useful starting point for understanding and representing subaltern urban space. In this article I argue that instead of a deductive approach that begins with an a priori identification of slums as subaltern urban space, an inductive approach of identifying subaltern urban space would expand the concept and show that subaltern urbanism exists in the global North. I present original research to show that Flint, Michigan, can be considered subaltern urban space. In the final section of the article I argue that this inductive approach to subaltern urbanism can foster comparative research across the North‐South divide, and generate the transfer of knowledge from South to North.     

二十世纪社会主义发展的理性思考

二十世纪的社会主义实践,是社会主义取得辉煌成就又遭受严重挫折的过程,其实践中的经验教训,成为社会主义建设的宝贵财富。认真总结社会主义发展规律,理性思考社会主义实践中的历史经验教训,对于21世纪社会主义的健康发展,具有重要的历史与现实意义。     

National and international market integration in the 19th century: Evidence from comovement

This paper analyzes relative wheat price fluctuations to investigate market integration among 72 European and US cities. Applying a Dynamic Factor Model, which has seldom been used in market integration analysis, prices are decomposed into international, national and local components. Thus, national and international market integration are identified by a statistical restriction, and results for each single market are obtained. The first result is that globalization has accelerated faster in the first than in the second half of the 19th century, putting the post-1850 transport revolution into perspective. The USA integrated only later into the European market, discounting the role of the “grain invasion” for trade history. I also show that the European nations that turned protectionist after 1880 reduced the impact of foreign shocks, while free traders fully integrated into the international economy.     

专业化——新世纪高校体育教师继续教育理念

继续教育作为一种特殊的教育形式,是教师获得适应社会发展需要知识技能的重要途径和教育方式,为了适应新世界世界教师职业发展发展的潮流和趋势,高校体育教师继续教育应确立专业化的教育理念。本文就这一问题进行理论分析和探讨,为高校体育教师的职业发展提供新的发展理念和指导思想。     

‘All of my remaining property I donate to the poor…’: institutions for the poor in Norwegian cities during the eighteenth century

The eighteenth century saw a development of a stratified system of institutions for the poor in different social classes in Norwegian cities. This paper analyses its foundation through a cooperation of private donations and city authorities' management and it argues that donations to private almshouses aimed at safeguarding the social position of special groups in the city, while the city's poorhouse was responsible for the paupers from the lower classes. While charity to please God and secure a place in the afterlife was an old motive, the wish to protect the social group, relatives or personal servants is a striking phenomenon at the end of the eighteenth century. Citizens with burgher rights by virtue of their craft or commerce defended their position against non-skilled workers. Private gifts to supplement the public poorhouses helped securing this aim. The paper shows that donations to institutions in Trondheim fall into a general picture of social stratification, not only in society at large, but among the poorer parts of the population as well.     

The organisational structure of Spanish New Settlements in the eighteenth century

This paper analyses the organisational design of New Settlements (NS) of Sierra Morena, a Spanish farming and colonist project of the eighteenth century. Using archival data, historical facts during the period 1767–1772 are identified, collected and examined to understand how these settlements were structured. The reconstructions of their practices demonstrated that, in the eighteenth century, organisations already had the disciplinary techniques and dimensions of Weber's rational-legal bureaucracy. In fact, we observed the evolution of NS through three different organisational structures (configurations) to become more effective – rational – over time. This comprehensive analysis also provides evidence of how the colonies' growth (and their organisational complexity) implied changes to the co-ordination mechanisms used.     

21世纪的社会主义仍将是一个艰苦探索曲折前进的历史进程

新的世纪，要担当起社会主义建设的伟大任务，首先必须对社会主义的未来发展道路有一个清醒的认识。正确认识21世纪的社会主义仍将是一个艰苦探索曲折前进的历史进程，这是由事物自身发展规律和人们对事物的认识规律；由社会主义建设的历史起点；由社会主义建设遇到的各种现实制约因素决定的。