Trade and industrial policies: past performance and future prospects

Includes bibliography

The illuminist discourse of the digital divide: a critic to the Post-Fordist Informatic Mundaneum from Knoxville, Tennessee

This article discusses the project of the Information Society and the discourses that undergo it, as part of a political and ideological conception universalized by those countries that created and dominate computer technology, which is in turn is aligned with the Post-Fordist industrial capitalist order and its emphasis on economic accumulation and consumerism. We explain how information technology creates routines and legitimate social orders, taking for analyzes the case of the Clinton-Gore policy in the United States, when the discourse of the computer society was associated with the development and social welfare. This association is revealed in the speech made by Clinton in the city of Knoxville in year 1996. There we see the beginnings of the concern about the Digital Divide as a new form of "social disease" that prevents the passage to a better world, focused on productivity, accumulation and consumption in information-dense societies. This generates a clash between the industrial-graph-centric world and the oral-pre-industrial communities, as a result of attempting to transplant the institutional forms of the developed West. We explain the pillars of the new computerized order, and how they replaced previous epic narratives creating techno-deterministic or techno-phobic discourses in prejudice of more critical approaches. We identify the effects such deterministic discourses that connote the association between the Information Society, welfare and development, questioning the urgency of deploying this system at global level without profound critical discussion, clear goals focused on the benefit of the human beings, and the open participation of the users of the system.

Patterns of regional differentiation in post-Soviet Russia

This doctoral thesis aims at contributing to the literature on transition economies focusing on the Russian Federations and in particular on regional income convergence and fertility patterns. The first two chapter deal with the issue of income convergence across regions. Chapter 1 provides an historical-institutional analysis of the period between the late years of the Soviet Union and the last decade of economic growth and a presentation of the sample with a description of gross regional product composition, agrarian or industrial vocation, labor. Chapter 2 contributes to the literature on exploratory spatial data analysis with a application to a panel of 77 regions in the period 1994-2008. It provides an analysis of spatial patterns and it extends the theoretical framework of growth regressions controlling for spatial correlation and heterogeneity. Chapter 3 analyses the national demographic patterns since 1960 and provides a review of the policies on maternity leave and family benefits. Data sources are the Statistical Yearbooks of USSR, the Statistical Yearbooks of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Demographic Yearbooks of Russia. Chapter 4 analyses the demographic patterns in light of the theoretical framework of the Becker model, the Second Demographic Transition and an economic-crisis argument. With national data from 1960, the theoretically issue of the pro or countercyclical relation between income and fertility is graphically analyzed and discussed, together with female employment and education. With regional data after 1994 different panel data models are tested. Individual level data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey are employed using the logit model. Chapter 5 employs data from the Generations and Gender Survey by UNECE to focus on postponement and second births intentions. Postponement is studied through cohort analysis of mean maternal age at first birth, while the methodology used for second birth intentions is the ordered logit model.

Essays in Industrial Organization and Information Technology

Chapter 1 studies how consumers’ switching costs affect the pricing and profits of firms competing in two-sided markets such as Apple and Google in the smartphone market. When two-sided markets are dynamic – rather than merely static – I show that switching costs lower the first-period price if network externalities are strong, which is in contrast to what has been found in one-sided markets. By contrast, switching costs soften price competition in the initial period if network externalities are weak and consumers are more patient than the platforms. Moreover, an increase in switching costs on one side decreases the first-period price on the other side. Chapter 2 examines firms’ incentives to invest in local and flexible resources when demand is uncertain and correlated. I find that market power of the monopolist providing flexible resources distorts investment incentives, while competition mitigates them. The extent of improvement depends critically on demand correlation and the cost of capacity: under social optimum and monopoly, if the flexible resource is cheap, the relationship between investment and correlation is positive, and if it is costly, the relationship becomes negative; under duopoly, the relationship is positive. The analysis also sheds light on some policy discussions in markets such as cloud computing. Chapter 3 develops a theory of sequential investments in cybersecurity. The regulator can use safety standards and liability rules to increase security. I show that the joint use of an optimal standard and a full liability rule leads to underinvestment ex ante and overinvestment ex post. Instead, switching to a partial liability rule can correct the inefficiencies. This suggests that to improve security, the regulator should encourage not only firms, but also consumers to invest in security.

Livelihoods in Transition: Changing Land Use Strategies and Ecological Implications in a Post Soviet Setting (Kyrgyzstan)

The sudden independence of Kyrgyzstan from the Soviet Union in 1991 led to a total rupture of industrial and agricultural production. Based on empirical data, this study seeks to identify key land use transformation processes since the late 1980s, their impact on people's livelihoods and the implication for natural resources in the communes of Tosh Bulak and Saz, located in the Sokuluk River Basin on the northern slope of the Kyrgyz Range. Using the concept of the sustainable livelihood approach as an analytical framework, three different livelihood strategies were identified: (1) An accumulation strategy applied by wealthy households where renting and/or buying of land is a key element; they are the only household category capable of venturing into rain fed agriculture. (2) A preserving strategy involving mainly intermediate households who are not able to buy or rent additional agricultural land; very often they are forced to return their land to the commune or sell it to wealthier households. (3) A coping strategy including mainly poor households consisting of elderly pensioners or headed by single mothers; due to their limited labour and economic power, agricultural production is very low and hardly covers subsistence needs; pensions and social allowances form the backbone of these livelihoods. Ecological assessments have shown that the forage productivity of remote high mountain pastures has increased from 5 to 22 per cent since 1978. At the same time forage productivity on pre-mountain and mountain pastures close to villages has generally decreased from 1 to 34 per cent. It seems that the main avenues for livelihoods to increase their wealth are to be found in the agricultural sector by controlling more and mainly irrigated land as well as by increasing livestock. The losers in this process are thus those households unable to keep or exploit their arable land or to benefit from new agricultural land. Ensuring access to land for the poor is therefore imperative in order to combat rural poverty and socio-economic disparities in rural Kyrgyzstan.

Public values and perceptions of industrial heritage in the Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan

The purpose of this research is to assess public values and perceptions concerning industrial heritage in the Keweenaw by studying visitors at an endangered mining site tour. This research presents and analyzes feedback collected directly from participants in the Cliff Mine (Michigan) archaeological field school public tour surveys in June 2011, gathers semi-structured interview data from survey participants and local experts, and synthesizes and collates both survey and interview data. As those who study heritage site visitors have found, in all outreach there is a necessity for deeper understanding of visitors for the outreach to be effective. An appropriate metric for collecting public values and opinions was created and used at the Cliff Mine archaeological field school public tours. To accomplish research goals, an opinion survey was created to collect demographic information and qualitative feedback from visitors at the Cliff Mine field school. The survey, a pre-tour and post-tour question list, found that all visitors who filled out a survey supported preservation and most were adults over 46 years of age. Most visitors were white-collar professionals, identified as local residents, and found out about the tour through the newspaper. Interview questions were constructed to supplement and expand on the visitor survey results. In addition, local experts involved in Keweenaw heritage were interviewed. All interviewees supported heritage preservation but often had conflicting views when activities such as mineral collecting were factored into the preservation question. By analyzing responses to the survey and interviews, improvements to outreach efforts at the Cliff Mine are recommended. Future research should further explore perceptions of social class and identity, and should seek out stakeholders not contacted through this research, in order to improve outreach and include all community groups.

Los grandes grupos económicos : Ganadores y perdedores en la post-convertibilidad : Un estudio basado en la trayectoria del sector servicios y en el nuevo rol del Estado [2002-2010]

A lo largo de la post-convertibilidad el esquema de los ganadores y perdedores entre los grandes grupos económicos 'pertenecientes al sector servicios, financiero, agro-industrial, industrial, petrolero-minero' se fue redefiniendo. Este trabajo de cuenta de tales cambios a partir de considerar los estudios sociales más importantes sobre el tema, que incluyen tanto el problema de la crisis de la convertibilidad como la nueva situación de los grandes grupos económicos y el Estado durante la post-convertibilidad. De esta manera es de suponer como necesario comenzar con una conceptualización de la crisis de la convertibilidad y sus consecuencias, para entender la situación y los problemas que debieron solucionar los grandes grupos económicos y el Estado a comienzos de la post-convertibilidad para impulsar un proceso de crecimiento económico sostenido. Así las dicotomías presentes entre los trabajos que priorizan, por un lado, la lucha entre fracciones, y, por otro, el peso de la crisis, nos servirá para dicho fin. En segundo lugar se analizaran los diferentes trabajos que explican, de diversas maneras, la nueva situación en que se encontraron -y se encuentran- las fracciones de la burguesía, y su relación con las funciones del Estado a lo largo de la post-convertibilidad. De aquí saldrán los principales insumos para pensar el rol del Estado -bajo un nuevo tipo de arbitraje- y las acciones de los grandes grupos económicos, ambos condicionados por la crisis de la convertibilidad y el mercado mundial. Con las conceptualizaciones aceptadas, se analizará la acción de los grandes grupos económicos y las funciones del Estado para un caso específico: los grandes grupos económicos de las empresas privatizadas y su relación con el nuevo tipo de arbitraje estatal en la post-convertibilidad, según dos periodos diferentes. Y, se redefinirá el esquema de ganadores y perdedores para tal caso, teniendo como elemento distintivo la relación de las empresas privatizadas y los subsidios

Los grandes grupos económicos : Ganadores y perdedores en la post-convertibilidad : Un estudio basado en la trayectoria del sector servicios y en el nuevo rol del Estado [2002-2010]

A lo largo de la post-convertibilidad el esquema de los ganadores y perdedores entre los grandes grupos económicos 'pertenecientes al sector servicios, financiero, agro-industrial, industrial, petrolero-minero' se fue redefiniendo. Este trabajo de cuenta de tales cambios a partir de considerar los estudios sociales más importantes sobre el tema, que incluyen tanto el problema de la crisis de la convertibilidad como la nueva situación de los grandes grupos económicos y el Estado durante la post-convertibilidad. De esta manera es de suponer como necesario comenzar con una conceptualización de la crisis de la convertibilidad y sus consecuencias, para entender la situación y los problemas que debieron solucionar los grandes grupos económicos y el Estado a comienzos de la post-convertibilidad para impulsar un proceso de crecimiento económico sostenido. Así las dicotomías presentes entre los trabajos que priorizan, por un lado, la lucha entre fracciones, y, por otro, el peso de la crisis, nos servirá para dicho fin. En segundo lugar se analizaran los diferentes trabajos que explican, de diversas maneras, la nueva situación en que se encontraron -y se encuentran- las fracciones de la burguesía, y su relación con las funciones del Estado a lo largo de la post-convertibilidad. De aquí saldrán los principales insumos para pensar el rol del Estado -bajo un nuevo tipo de arbitraje- y las acciones de los grandes grupos económicos, ambos condicionados por la crisis de la convertibilidad y el mercado mundial. Con las conceptualizaciones aceptadas, se analizará la acción de los grandes grupos económicos y las funciones del Estado para un caso específico: los grandes grupos económicos de las empresas privatizadas y su relación con el nuevo tipo de arbitraje estatal en la post-convertibilidad, según dos periodos diferentes. Y, se redefinirá el esquema de ganadores y perdedores para tal caso, teniendo como elemento distintivo la relación de las empresas privatizadas y los subsidios

Los grandes grupos económicos : Ganadores y perdedores en la post-convertibilidad : Un estudio basado en la trayectoria del sector servicios y en el nuevo rol del Estado [2002-2010]

A lo largo de la post-convertibilidad el esquema de los ganadores y perdedores entre los grandes grupos económicos 'pertenecientes al sector servicios, financiero, agro-industrial, industrial, petrolero-minero' se fue redefiniendo. Este trabajo de cuenta de tales cambios a partir de considerar los estudios sociales más importantes sobre el tema, que incluyen tanto el problema de la crisis de la convertibilidad como la nueva situación de los grandes grupos económicos y el Estado durante la post-convertibilidad. De esta manera es de suponer como necesario comenzar con una conceptualización de la crisis de la convertibilidad y sus consecuencias, para entender la situación y los problemas que debieron solucionar los grandes grupos económicos y el Estado a comienzos de la post-convertibilidad para impulsar un proceso de crecimiento económico sostenido. Así las dicotomías presentes entre los trabajos que priorizan, por un lado, la lucha entre fracciones, y, por otro, el peso de la crisis, nos servirá para dicho fin. En segundo lugar se analizaran los diferentes trabajos que explican, de diversas maneras, la nueva situación en que se encontraron -y se encuentran- las fracciones de la burguesía, y su relación con las funciones del Estado a lo largo de la post-convertibilidad. De aquí saldrán los principales insumos para pensar el rol del Estado -bajo un nuevo tipo de arbitraje- y las acciones de los grandes grupos económicos, ambos condicionados por la crisis de la convertibilidad y el mercado mundial. Con las conceptualizaciones aceptadas, se analizará la acción de los grandes grupos económicos y las funciones del Estado para un caso específico: los grandes grupos económicos de las empresas privatizadas y su relación con el nuevo tipo de arbitraje estatal en la post-convertibilidad, según dos periodos diferentes. Y, se redefinirá el esquema de ganadores y perdedores para tal caso, teniendo como elemento distintivo la relación de las empresas privatizadas y los subsidios

Ex ante bargaining and ex post enforcement in trade credit supply: theory and evidence from China

If payment of goods is easily default, economic transaction may deeply suffer from the risk. This risky environment formed a mechanism that governs how economic transaction is realized, subsequently how trade credit is given. This paper distinguished ex ante bargaining and ex post enforcement, then modeled that bargaining power reduces trade credit ex ante, and ex post enforcement power and cash in hand of buyer can enhances both trade amount and trade credit in a presence of default risk. We modeled this relationship in order to organize findings from previous literature and from our original micro data on detailed transaction in China to consistently understand the mechanism governing trade credit. Then empirically tested a structure from the theoretical prediction with data. Results show that ex post enforcement power of seller mainly determines size of trade credit and trade amount, cash in hand of buyer can substitute with enforcement power; Bargaining power of seller is exercised to reduces trade credit and trade amount for avoiding default risk, but it simultaneously improves enforcement power as well. We found that ex post enforcement power consists of (ex ante) bargaining power on between two parties and intervention from the third party. However, its magnitude is far smaller than the direct impact to reduce trade credit and trade amount.

Wearable soft robotic device for post-stroke shoulder rehabilitation: identifying misalignments

Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability in the United States, affecting over 795,000 people annually. In order to regain motor function of the upper body, patients are usually treated by regular sessions with a dedicated physical therapist. A cost-effective wearable upper body orthotics system that can be used at home to empower both the patients and physical therapists is described. The system is composed of a thin, compliant, lightweight, cost-effective soft orthotic device with an integrated cable actuation system that is worn over the upper body, an embedded limb position sensing system, an electric actuator package and controller. The proposed device is robust to misalignments that may occur during actuation of the compliant brace or when putting on the system. Through simulations and experimental evaluation, it was demonstrated i) that the soft orthotic cable-driven shoulder brace can be successfully actuated without the production of off-axis torques in the presence of misalignments and ii) that the proposed model can identify linear and angular misalignments online.

Land Cover Mapping by an Optimized Object-Oriented Approach. Case of Study Mediterranean Landscapes

Remote sensing information from spaceborne and airborne platforms continues to provide valuable data for different environmental monitoring applications. In this sense, high spatial resolution im-agery is an important source of information for land cover mapping. For the processing of high spa-tial resolution images, the object-based methodology is one of the most commonly used strategies. However, conventional pixel-based methods, which only use spectral information for land cover classification, are inadequate for classifying this type of images. This research presents a method-ology to characterise Mediterranean land covers in high resolution aerial images by means of an object-oriented approach. It uses a self-calibrating multi-band region growing approach optimised by pre-processing the image with a bilateral filtering. The obtained results show promise in terms of both segmentation quality and computational efficiency.

Criterios de restauración, intervención y revitalización del patrimonio industrial : la fábrica de gas de San Paolo en Roma

La tesis está centrada en el patrimonio industrial, y trata de ahondar en los temas enunciados en el título, Criterios de restauración, intervención y revitalización del patrimonio industrial (capítulo 1). La fábrica de gas de San Paolo en Roma (capítulo 2): En el primer capítulo, se profundiza en los criterios institucionalizados de actuación en el patrimonio, pero también se habla sobre la singularidad, los valores originales, estratificados en cada construcción y su contexto. Ello resume la intención de la doctoranda al entender la necesidad del análisis de cada obra en modo profundo, concreto y abierto a novedosos acercamientos, antes de su transformación. Al hablar de intervención frente a restauración, se aborda la conocida polémica que plantea el modo de acercarse al legado histórico. Parece necesario enunciar cómo se consideran en el trabajo estos términos. Mientras la restauración (como diría Cesare Brandi, constituye el momento metodológico del reconocimiento de la obra de arte en su consistencia física y en su doble polaridad estética e histórica, en orden a su transmisión al futuro) es una acción más restrictiva, que implica atención suma a la recuperación y conservación de los valores significativos y únicos del bien, en comunicación con un (posible) equipo interdisciplinar; por intervención se entiende aquí un desarrollo más personal y libre por parte del proyectista, en el que se produce un proceso dialéctico entre la preexistencia y el posicionamiento crítico adoptado a la hora de dar un obligado nuevo uso a ese bien. Es decir, el contraste está en el diferente reconocimiento de la materialidad física y sus significados. En torno a la restauración/intervención, se analizan las perspectivas de actuación en España e Italia, contrastando factores como la formación del arquitecto o el entorno laboral-cultural, y utilizando el método analítico comparativo de casos. Habría un tercer concepto: el de revitalización del patrimonio industrial, Éste hace referencia a su transformación, a sus usos más comunes y compatibles, a la redimensión artística que ha experimentado la arquitectura industrial gracias al arte contemporáneo y a su relación con la Modernidad. Por último, se enuncia en el título el caso de estudio, la Fábrica, que ocupa el segundo capítulo. Se trata de un enorme conjunto industrial singular semi abandonado en el confín del centro histórico, cuyo protagonista es un gran gasómetro, que la autora ha tenido la oportunidad de descubrir en su estancia en la Ciudad Eterna. Este barrio constituyó el primer y único sector industrial de la Roma moderna a inicios del siglo XX. Por varias causas históricas y voluntad política, la ciudad prácticamente no tuvo más desarrollo industrial que el área mencionada, donde se implantaron servicios y actividades de gran transformación (Matadero, Mercados Generales, Almacenes Fluviales, Central Montemartini o esta fábrica). A partir de 1920, se empezó a construir un tejido productivo que la llevó de la situación de posguerra al milagro económico. Frente al mito de la Roma monumental o de la Roma cotidiana, aparece el aspecto industrial como mito de la contemporaneidad. Sin embargo, esta ciudad es demasiado antigua como para convertirse en moderna, y su proceso industrial en contraste con su larga historia resulta breve. La inmediata relación de la fase industrial romana con el resultado de este desarrollo viene identificada con las instalaciones señaladas, más significativas por su excepcionalidad que por la duración del momento irrepetible que representan. Su presencia física perdura a pesar de su abandono, aisladas tras su muro perimetral y casi desconocidas. Esto las hace apetecibles para la especulación inmobiliaria y resultan un caso de estudio ideal para realizar un Plan de Intervención Global, en el que determinar una serie de intervenciones necesarias, usos compatibles y directrices para la ordenación del conjunto, coherentes con los conceptos manejados en el primer capítulo. ABSTRACT The thesis focuses on industrial heritage, delving into the topics listed in its title, Criteria for the restoration, intervention and revitalisation of industrial heritage (chapter 1). The San Paolo gas factory in Rome (chapter 2): Chapter one elaborates on the official criteria to take action on heritage, but also deals with the singularity and original values unique to each construction and its context. This underlines the PhD candidate’s intentions by understanding the need for an in-depth and specific analysis, open to novel approaches to each site before its transformation. When speaking of intervention, as opposed to restoration, we address the well-known controversy that stems from the different ways of approaching historical heritage. It seems necessary to explain how these terms are interpreted in this piece of work. Whereas restoration (as Cesare Brandi would say, constitutes the methodological moment in which the work of art is appreciated in its material form and in its historical and aesthetic duality, with a view to transmitting it to the future) is a more restrictive action, demanding the utmost attention to the recovery and preservation of the piece of heritage’s defining and exceptional values, (ideally) in communication with a interdisciplinary team. By intervention, we hereby understand a more personal and free procedure carried out by the designer in which a dialectical process takes place between preexistence and the critical stance taken in order to give that good a much needed new use. That is, contrast lies in the different recognition of physical materiality and its meanings. As for the restoration/intervention dilemma, the different courses of action followed in Spain and Italy will be analysed, contrasting the architects’ training, the labourcultural environment and taking an analytical comparative case study method. There is a third concept: the revitalisation of industrial heritage, which refers to its transformation, its most common and compatible uses, the artistic redimensioning that industrial architecture has experienced thanks to contemporary art, and its relationship with Modernity. Lastly, the title refers to the case study, i.e., the analysis of the Factory, which makes up chapter 2. It is an enormous and semiabandoned peerless industrial complex on the edge of the historical city centre whose main landmark is a huge gasometer, which the author had the chance to discover during her stay in the Eternal City. This district made up the first and only industrial sector in the modern Rome of the early 20th century. Due to a number of reasons, both historical and political, barely no further industrial development took place in the city beyond the mentioned area, where processing services and activities were set up (Slaughterhouse, General Markets, Riverside Warehouses, Montemartini Power Plant or the said factory). In the 1920s began the construction of the productive fabric that raised the city from its postwar plight to the economic miracle. As opposed to the myth of monumental Rome and daily-life Rome, this industrial Rome rose as contemporaneity’s myth. However, this city is too ancient to become modern, and its industrial process strikes us as brief when confronted with its long history. The close relationship between Rome’s industrial stage and the consequences of this development is best represented by the aforementioned facilities, more relevant due to their uniqueness than the length of the once-in-a-lifetime moment they represent. Their physical presence lives on despite abandonment and isolation, as they stand vastly unknown behind their perimeter walls. This renders them appealing to property speculators, becoming an ideal case study for the creation of a Global Intervention Plan in which to determine a series of necessary actions, compatible uses and directives, all of them consistent with the concepts dealt with in chapter 1. RIASSUNTO La tesi è focalizzata sul patrimonio industriale e cerca di approfondire le tematiche contenute nel titolo, Criteri di restauro, intervento e rivitalizzazione del patrimonio industriale (capitolo 1). La Fabbrica del gas di San Paolo a Roma (capitolo 2): Nel primo capitolo vengono presi in esame i criteri istituzionalizzati di attuazione nel patrimonio, ma si parla anche della unicità, i valori originali, stratificati in ogni costruzione ed il suo contesto. Questo riassume l’intenzione della dottoranda di capire la necessità dell’analisi di ogni opera in modo profondo, concreto e aperto a nuovi approcci, prima della sua trasformazione. Nel parlare di intervento versus restauro, si affronta la famosa polemica che considera il modo di avicinarsi all’eredità storica. Appare necessario precisare come questi termini sono considerati in questo lavoro. Mentre il restauro (come direbbe Cesare Brandi, costituisce il momento metodologico del riconoscimento dell’opera d’arte nella sua consistenza fisica e nella duplice polarità estetica e storica, in vista della sua trasmissione nel futuro) è un’azione più restrittiva, e quindi implica massima attenzione al recupero e conservazione dei valori significativi ed unici del bene, in comunicazione con una (eventuale) squadra interdisciplinare; per intervento si intende qui un processo più personale e libero del progettista, nel quale si produce uno sviluppo dialettico tra la preesistenza e la posizione critica adottata quando si deve dare un nuovo uso di quel bene. Vale a dire che il contrasto risiede nel diverso riconoscimento della materialità fisica e i loro significati. Intorno al restauro / intervento, si analizzano le prospettive di attuazione in Spagna e Italia, contrastando diversi fattori come la formazione dell’architetto o l’ambiente lavorativo-culturale, ed impiegando il metodo analitico comparativo dei casi. Ci sarebbe un terzo concetto: quello della rivitalizzazione del patrimonio industriale. Questo fa riferimento alla sua trasformazione, ai suoi usi più comuni e compatibili, al ridimensionamento artistico vissuto dall’archeologia industriale grazie all’arte contemporanea ed al suo rapporto con la Modernità. In ultimo, si enuncia nel titolo il caso di studio, ovvero l’analisi della Fabbrica, che occupa il secondo capitolo. Si tratta di un enorme complesso industriale semi-abbandonato al confine con il centro storico, il cui protagonista è un grande gasometro, che l’autrice ha avuto modo di scoprire durante il suo soggiorno nella Città Eterna. Questo quartiere costituì il primo e unico moderno settore industriale della Roma moderna all’inizio del Novecento. Per diverse ragioni storiche e volontà politiche, la città praticamente non ha subito ulteriore sviluppo industriale oltre l’area citata, dove si impiantarono servizi e attività di grande trasformazione (Mattatoio, Mercati Generali, Magazzini Generali, Centrale Montemartini o questa fabbrica). Dal 1920, si inizió a costruire un tessuto prodottivo che portò la città dalla situazione post-bellica al miracolo economico. Di fronte al mito della Roma monumentale o della Roma quotidiana, appare questa Roma industriale come mito della contemporaneità. Tuttavia, questa città è troppo antica per diventare moderna, ed il suo processo industriale in contrasto con la sua lunga storia risulta breve. Il rapporto diretto della fase industriale romana con il risultato di questo sviluppo viene identificato con gli impianti segnalati, più significativi per la loro unicità che per la durata del momento irripetibile che rappresentano. La loro presenza fisica perdura nonostante l’abbandono, isolati dietro il loro muro di cinta e quasi sconosciuti. Questo li rende auspicabile per la speculazione immobiliare e sono un caso ideale per eseguire un Piano di Intervento Globale, che determini una serie di interventi necessari, usi compatibili e linee guida per la pianificazione del tutto, in linea con i concetti utilizzati nel primo capitolo.

The Theory of Interhybridity: Socio-political Dimensions and Migration Experiences of Post-communist Western Balkan States

The Western Balkans integration within the EU has started a legal process which is the rejection of former communist legal/political approaches and the transformation of former communist institutions. Indeed, the EU agenda has brought vertical/horizontal integration and Europeanization of national institutions (i.e. shifting power to the EU institutions and international authorities). At this point, it is very crucial to emphasize the fact that the Western Balkans as a whole region has currently an image that includes characteristics of both the Soviet socialism and the European democracy. The EU foreign policies and enlargement strategy for Western Balkans have significant effects on four core factors (i.e. Schengen visa regulations, remittances, asylum and migration as an aggregate process). The convergence/divergence of EU member states’ priorities for migration policies regulate and even shape directly the migration dynamics in migrant sender countries. From this standpoint, the research explores how main migration factors are influenced by political and judicial factors such as; rule of law and democracy score, the economic liberation score, political and human rights, civil society score and citizenship rights in Western Balkan countries. The proposal of interhybridity explores how the hybridization of state and non-state actors within home and host countries can solve labor migration-related problems. The economical and sociopolitical labor-migration model of Basu (2009) is overlapping with the multidimensional empirical framework of interhybridity. Indisputably, hybrid model (i.e. collaboration state and non-state actors) has a catalyst role in terms of balancing social problems and civil society needs. Paradigmatically, it is better to perceive the hybrid model as a combination of communicative and strategic action that means the reciprocal recognition within the model is precondition for significant functionality. This will shape social and industrial relations with moral meanings of communication.

Historic turning point or just another chapter? The results of a foreign-policy summit. EPC Post-Summit Analysis, 24 March 2014

The March 2014 European Council could enter the history books as a turning point, not only in the EU’s relations with Russia but also in its role as a foreign policy actor. Events in Ukraine inevitably dominated the Summit, with EU leaders adopting a balanced approach aimed at achieving three key objectives – de-escalation, containment/deterrence and cooperation – based on political and economic support for Ukraine, increased but limited pressure on Russia, and moves to strengthen ties with other EU neighbours. The Summit also discussed a range of economic and environmental policy issues, with the situation in Ukraine casting a long shadow over the discussion on energy policy, but failed to reach agreement on the EU’s climate goals to 2030, or to put more flesh on the bones of calls for a European “industrial renaissance”. However, two other developments were particularly significant: the creation of the second pillar of the future banking union, establishing a single regime for winding down failing banks; and changes to the savings tax directive, bringing years of negotiation to an end.