Gilles Van Hamme

THE RELEVANCE OF THE WORLD‐SYSTEM APPROACH IN THE ERA OF GLOBALIZATION OF ECONOMIC FLOWS AND NETWORKS

Abstract. Is world‐systems analysis of any relevance to present‐day economic flows? By using methods in line with the world‐system and dependence theories, we show that economic flows – trade and foreign direct investment – still deeply separate core and peripheries. On the one hand, through the analysis of the trade by products, we show that core countries hold on to a higher position in the international division of labour. On the other hand, by using network method, we highlight that core countries are still characterized by the intensity of their reciprocal relations while peripheral countries have few economic relations with a limited number of core countries. Moreover, the article demonstrates that this core–periphery division of the world has not lost its pertinence; it is as relevant as at the end of the sixties. In the current era of globalization, economic flows are still deeply structured by basic power relations between core and peripheries. However, the article also develops a theoretical framework to understand dynamics of the world‐system and insists on the emergence of Eastern Asia as a new core area, notably by showing the rising position of some East Asian countries in the international division of labour. We conclude by underlying the necessity to integrate world‐system and global network theoretical frameworks.

Global networks, cities and economic performance: Observations from an analysis of cities in Europe and the USA

The network paradigm has been highly influential in spatial analysis in the globalisation era. As economies across the world have become increasingly integrated, so-called global cities have come to play a growing role as central nodes in the networked global economy. The idea that a city’s position in global networks benefits its economic performance has resulted in a competitive policy focus on promoting the economic growth of cities by improving their network connectivity. However, in spite of the attention being given to boosting city connectivity little is known about whether this directly translates to improved city economic performance and, if so, how well connected a city needs to be in order to benefit from this. In this paper we test the relationship between network connectivity and economic performance between 2000 and 2008 for cities with over 500,000 inhabitants in Europe and the USA to inform European policy.

Theoretical and methodological challenges

The globalization phenomenon has been discussed and debated in the social sciences literature for over a decade. Both its existence and its meaning have been widely contested from different viewpoints and perspectives. Academic debate has focused most notably on whether globalization is really something new (for example, Veltz, 1996; Hirst and Thompson, 1996, 1999; Amin, 1997; Dicken et al., 1997; ChaseDunn, 1999; Sklair, 1999; Cochrane and Pain, 2000; Held, 2000; Held and McGrew, 2000; Beaverstock et al., 2000; Sassen, 2007; Robinson, 2011). We may think this a purely theoretical debate but identifying what really is new about the current global era may help in understanding the profound changes that people and states are being swept up in, in Europe and across the world. This is the primary focus of this book. This book reports on the findings from a major twoandahalfyear European Spatial Observation Network (ESPON) study – Territorial Impact of Globalization for Europe and its Regions (‘TIGER’) – which has set out to investigate the reality of the processes associated with contemporary globalization in Europe within a global context. Led by Gilles Van Hamme at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and funded by the European Commission, an international research team based in the UK, France, Bulgaria, Sweden and Belgium has together drawn on original data and evidence to critically analyse Europe’s changing spatial relations in a fluid global context and their significance for territorial strategy. While the changes that are impacting on the European territory and integrating Europe into the world have been the foci of analysis, the overarching research imperative has been to investigate the European position through active engagement with the multiscale nature of contemporary globalization. In consequence the research findings reported in this book will be of interest to researchers, students, policy makers and governments worldwide. The contributions to the book from the research teams make visible the complex multidimensional geographies that now constitute Castells’ (1996) socalled ‘space of flows’, informing understanding of the impacts

Changing urban and regional relations in a globalizing world: Europe as a global macro-region

Contents: PART I: EXPLORING THE EUROPEAN SPACE IN A CHANGING GLOBAL CONTEXT 1. Theoretical and Methodological Challenges Kathy Pain and Gilles Van Hamme PART II: POSITIONING EUROPE IN THE WORLD 2. Europe as a Global Actor - Between Decline and Inconsistency Kathy Pain, Yann Richard and Gilles Van Hamme 3. European Countries and Regions in the International Division of Labour Pablo Medina-Lockhart, Poli Roukova, Gilles Van Hamme and Peter Warda 4. Europe and its Territories in Global Human Flows Armando Montanari and Barbara Staniscia PART III: ANALYZING EUROPES GLOBAL NETWORK RELATIONS 5. European Cities in Global Networks Cesar Ducruet, Violaine Jurie, Marine Le Cam, Kathy Pain, Maude Sainteville, Sandra Vinciguerra, Gilles Van Hamme and Isaline Wertz 6. European Cities in Advanced Producer Services and Real Estate Capital Flows: A Dynamic Perspective Michael Hoyler, Colin Lizieri, Kathy Pain, Peter Taylor and Sandra Vinciguerra, Ben Derudder and Daan Pelckmans 7. European Stock Markets in the Arena of Financial Globalization Violaine Jurie and Maude Sainteville 8. Europe in Global Maritime Flows: Gateways, Forelands and Subnetworks Cesar Ducruet, Olivier Joly and Marine Le Cam PART IV: FROM THE EUROPEAN SPACE OF FLOWS TO RESILIENT TERRITORIAL POLICY 9. Territorial Performance and Position in the Global Economy Kathy Pain, Gilles Van Hamme and Sandra Vinciguerra 10. Europe in the Global Economy - Policy at a Crossroads Kathy Pain and Gilles Van Hamme References

Social and socio-territorial electoral base of political parties in post-revolutionary Tunisia

By giving a comfortable advance to the Islamist party of Ennahdha (around 37% of the votes), the first free elections of independent Tunisia on 23 October 2011 have taken by surprise most observers. In this paper, we identify the social and socio-territorial bases of major Tunisian parties through combining quantitative analyses at different scales and field surveys in specific localities. Although most interpretations have focused on the cultural modernist vs. conservative cleavage, hence obscuring the class cleavage, our analyses highlight very differentiated socio-territorial electoral bases for the main parties and indicate deep social differences in voting behaviour, especially within cities. In addition, the consensus expressed by most parties about the need to reduce regional inequalities hides very dissimilar voting behaviour in peripheral and core areas. While allowing for a better interpretation of electoral results, our analyses also provide tools to understand possible evolutions within the Tunisian political space.

Scale Matters in Contextual Analysis of Extreme Right Voting and Political Attitudes: Scale Matters in Contextual Analysis

A large body of literature has explored the rise of extreme right parties since the 1980s in Europe. A number of studies have assessed whether the context, particularly the level of unemployment and immigration, impacts support for the extreme right and found contradictory results. We argue in this paper that these contradictions might simply result from differences in the scale used to assess the context. We systematically test the impact of immigration and unemployment, measured at various scales, on extreme right voting and attitudes towards immigrants and immigration, using two alternative approaches with data for Belgium. In the concentric approach, we measure the unemployment and the presence of migrants within various radii around each respondents residence. In the polarized approach, we consider the actual polarization of space, using the very local scale (statistical district), the living pool (municipality), and the employment pool. We show that the scale choice changes the results and that the most significant impacts are generally found at intermediary scales.