Glenn Banks

Old World, New World, Third World? Reconceptualising the Worlds of Wine

This paper argues that existing categories defining the geography of the worlds wine industry, principally the Old World/New World dichotomy, are flawed. Not only do they fail to represent adequately the complexity of production and marketing in those two broad regions but also, crucially, they do not acknowledge the significant and rapidly expanding production and consumption of wine in ‘Third World’ developing countries. Rather than argue for the addition of a ‘Third World’ category, we instead use the lens of recent work on globalisation to argue that such production requires us to re-examine the dichotomous Old/New distinction which structures much of the thinking around the global wine industry. It also requires us to more closely link changes in patterns of global wine consumption with developments in global production. Changing geographies of wine production have been driven, to a large extent, by the rapid expansion of both local wealthy elites and burgeoning middle classes in countries such as China and India. This has resulted in the development of local wineries, large and small, throughout the developing world. It has also seen new flows of investment both from established wine regions to these new sites of production and from companies and individuals in the developing world who have invested in established wine regions, whether in France or Australia. Increasingly, the various worlds of wine will become more complex, accommodating new regions and also different forms of production and marketing, from traditional and modern artisanal production, closely tied to place and vintage, to large-scale industrial production for a mass market.

Place ‘From One Glance’: the use of place in the marketing of New Zealand and Australian wines

Abstract Associations between place and wine are historically deep. Past and current narratives of wine production are wedded to environment attributes of particular places, and in both the European and Australasian settings this has been codified by way of formal labelling requirements for the place of origin for wines. In this paper we explore the role of place references on the front labels of Australian and New Zealand wines through a small initial survey. The results reveal that the importance of place references is stronger for New Zealand wines. We argue that this reflects strongly the very different structures of the industries in the two countries, with the emphasis for New Zealand producers on high-quality wines for which origin statements are expected as opposed to the Australian focus on the production of bulk, value-driven wines dependent on the blending of wines across regions and places. This in turn has implications for the future development and marketing trajectories of the two industries.

Paddling on One Side of the Canoe? The Changing Nature of New Zealand's Development Assistance Programme

New Zealands aid policy has undergone a revolution under the National Party government elected in 2008. Prior to this, NZAID, a semi‐autonomous unit, had evolved to manage aid in line with internationally agreed principles. Under the new government, NZAID was reincorporated into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, its focus was shifted from poverty reduction to economic growth, and its programme was aligned with foreign policy. This article aims to provide an overview of the shifts in New Zealands aid policy over four decades, to explore the relationship between the global aid regime and national practice, and to analyse the influence of politics, and of key individuals, in setting the direction of aid policy.

The Race to the Bottom of the Glass? Wine, Geography, and Globalization

The wine industry is becoming increasingly globalized as consumer demand, capital investment, and industry restructuring lead to higher volumes of trade, greater levels of multinational ownership, and the evolution of new networks of production and consumption that link the four corners of the world economy. While there are some tendencies towards increasingly homogenized and low-cost production, wine is an industry that exemplifies the complex and contradictory elements of globalization. This article outlines some key parameters of globalization drawing on empirical evidence from key cases. In particular, it focuses on the role of geography and how place and scale matter in production, marketing, and consumption. As globalization unfolds, restructuring in the wine industry is leading to the increased economic and social differentiation of rural space. The resultant geographies of place are influenced by a complex combination of local development history, national policy context, and the nature of the insertion of the given locality into global value chains for wine. As such, globalization has and will continue to produce increasingly complex and intricate geographies. La industria del vino se ha venido globalizando cada vez más como una demanda del consumidor, inversión de capital y la restructuración de la industria da lugar a mayores volúmenes de comercio, mayores niveles de participación multinacional, y la evolución de nuevas redes de producción y consumo que unen las cuatro esquinas de la economía mundial. Mientras hay algunas tendencias hacia una producción cada vez más homogenizada y de bajo costo, el vino es una industria que ejemplifica los elementos complejos y contradictorios de la globalización. Este artículo subraya algunos parámetros claves de globalización sobre la base empírica de casos claves. Se enfoca particularmente en el rol de la geografía y cómo el lugar y la escala importan en la producción, mercadeo y consumo. A medida que la globalización evoluciona, la restructuración de la industria del vino da origen a un aumento en la diferenciación social y económica del espacio rural. Las geografías resultantes del lugar están influenciadas por una combinación compleja del desarrollo de la historia local, el contexto de la política nacional y la naturaleza de la inserción de la localidad dada, dentro de las redes del valor global para el vino. Como tal, la globalización ha producido y seguirá produciendo cada vez más complejas e intrincadas geografías. 葡萄酒产业正变得越来越全球化，消费需求、资本投入和产业结构重组都导致更高的贸易额、更扩大的跨国公司所有权以及连接世界经济各个角落的生产与消费新网络的演进。当存在日益同质化、低成本生产的一些趋势时，葡萄酒成为一种表征全球化复杂和矛盾要素的产业。本文通过引用来自关键案例的经验性证据来概括全球化的一些关键性参数。尤其是，本文关注地理扮演的角色以及地理位置和规模在生产、销售、消费中如何起作用。随着全球化的展开，葡萄酒产业的结构重组正导致乡村之间更大的经济和社会差异。其结果，一个地方的地理布局正受到当地发展的历史、国家政策背景以及特定地方纳入全球葡萄酒价值链的性质所形成复杂组合体的影响。因此，全球化已经并将继续产生更为错综复杂的地缘情况。 소비자 수요, 자본 투자, 산업재구조화가 무역량의 증대, 다국적 소유권, 전세계를 연결시키는 생산과 소비의 네트워크의 진화로 이어지면서 포도주 산업은 점차 세계화되고 있다. 점차 동질화된 저비용 생산 경향이 있지만, 포도주 산업은 세계화의 복합적이고 모순적인 요소를 잘 보여주고 있는 산업이다. 이 논문은 핵심 사례를 통하여 경험적인 증거를 가지고 세계화의 핵심적인 특성을 다룬다. 특히 지리의 역할과 생산, 마케팅과 소비에서 어떻게 장소와 규모가 문제가 되는지에 초점을 맞춘다. 지구화가 전개되면서, 포도주 산업의 구조조정이 농촌 공간의 경제적, 사회적 분화로 이어졌다. 결과적으로 공간의 지리가 지역 발전의 역사, 국가적 정책 맥락과 지역이 지구적 포도주 가치사슬에 편입되는 방식 간의 복합적인 결합에 의해서 영향을 받았다. 그 결과, 세계화는 점차 더 복잡하고 뒤얽힌 지리를 만들어 내고 있고 앞으로 더 그럴 것이다.

Monitoring the Environmental Impact of Mining in Remote Locations through Remotely Sensed Data

Abstract Mining is an integral part of the development of many countries in the Asia‐Pacific region and is associated with adverse environmental and social impacts. The monitoring of mining in remote locations is problematic due to difficulties of access. Satellite remote sensing is able to provide information on landscape transformation in a cost‐effective way around large‐scale mines. The PT Freeport Indonesia mine in Papua (Indonesia) is the worlds largest copper‐gold mine and previous studies have documented a range of impacts. A multi‐temporal analysis of Landsat 5 imagery of the Freeport area was undertaken for the years between 1988 and 2004. Anthropogenic land cover changes were quantified by screen digitising polygons from three false colour composite images over this period to determine the area of forested land that had been cleared and the area that had been affected by mine‐derived sediment transported by the Ajkwa River system. The results show that both settlement and sediment had radically altered land cover and together had led to a sixfold increase in the area of ultra‐diverse lowland tropical rainforest cleared in the study area. The study highlights the utility of this method to monitor elements of the impact of large‐scale mining and other extensive forms of resource exploitation such as deforestation in developing countries.

Mining multinationals and developing countries: theory and practice in Papua New Guinea

Abstract The theoretical approaches to the role of multinational mining operations in developing countries are examined in the light of the experience of Papua New Guinea. Existing theories tend to focus on the nation-state level, and it is argued that regional and local factors are consequently relatively ignored. The importance of the interactions between groups working at different geographic scales within Papua New Guinea is highlighted. Impacts of the mining industry (economic, political, social and environmental) at the various scales are briefly described and the responses to these impacts discussed. It is found that the greatest social and environmental costs fall on the local population around the mine sites, while economic and political benefits are concentrated at the national and international scales. Finally, a model of the multinational-developing country relationship is proposed to take account of the influence of local and regional actors.

Conceptualising corporate community development

Abstract Globally there is an increasing focus on the private sector as a significant development actor. One element of the private sector’s role emphasised within this new focus has been corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, whereby the private sector claims to contribute directly to local development. There is now a substantial body of work on CSR but it is a literature that is mostly polarised, dominated by concerns from the corporate perspective, and not adequately theorised. Corporations typically do development differently from NGOs and donors, yet the nature and effects of these initiatives are both under-researched and under-conceptualised. In this paper we argue that viewing CSR initiatives through a community development lens provides new insights into their rationale and effects. Specifically we develop a conceptual framework that draws together agency and practice-centred approaches in order to illuminate the processes and relationships that underpin corporate community development initiatives.

Landowner equity in Papua New Guinea's minerals sector: Review and policy issues

The involvement of local communities as equity holders in major mineral resource developments dates back over a decade in Papua New Guinea. This article reviews the history and result of landowner equity at two of Papua New Guineas major mines (Porgera and Lihir), with a particular focus on the contribution of these equity holdings to local sustainable development. It is found that while an equity holding can provide significant returns to a local community, it also exposes them to significant financial risk. A second major area of concern is the structures and instruments by which revenues generated from the equity are distributed and utilized within the local community. Further research and policy redirection is required before local equity holding can be viewed as making a significant contribution to local sustainable development.

Marginality and environment in Papua New Guinea: the Strickland River area

Mining in Papua New Guinea has caused considerable controversy, largely due to its environmental impact. This paper examines the debate around the downstream environmental impact of the Porgera gold mine, located in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. It is demonstrated that the greatest international concern and environmental protest is focused on an area that has, by the scientific accounts, the lowest environmental risk. In seeking explanations for this, attention is drawn to the marginality (in absolute and relative terms) of the affected communities, the intermingling of pre and post-colonial discourses of environment and development, and the role of both international mining companies and environmental non-governmental organisations in ‘re-colonising’ rural Papua New Guinea. The communities are seeking to reduce their marginality by actively reworking the material and imagined landscapes (social, environmental, political and economic) they inhabit, drawing on a range of resources, both old and new.

Exporting stimulus and “shared prosperity”: Reinventing foreign aid for a retroliberal era

The global aid world has changed, partly in response to the reconfigurations of geopolitical power and to the global financial crisis (GFC). Paradoxically, in the face of recession in most northern economies, collectively foreign aid contributions have not fallen. However there has been a qualitative shift in its narrative and nature. This new regime—which we term retroliberalism—projects the concept of “shared prosperity,†but constitutes a return to explicit self†interest designed to bolster private sector trade and investment. Drawing evidence from New Zealand and the United Kingdom, we argue that aid programmes are increasingly functioning as “exported stimulus†packages.