Does a Country Effect Exist？ Issues Related to Deployment of Foreign Direct Investments in the European Union Countries

Goal of this paper shall be examination of factors which have an impact on unequal deployment of foreign direct investments （FDIs） in European Union （EU） countries. In order to achieve the desired goal, the author shall conduct analysis of FDIs＇ location based on the selection of variables which in the literature of the subject has been recognized to be potentially correlated with inflow of the FDIs.     

俄罗斯太平洋石油管道建设的地缘政治分析

随着中俄原油管道建成投入运营,东北亚地区的石油管道之争似乎告一段落。解读管道之争背后真正在起决定作用的地缘因素,对一个国家的能源安全和能源战略更有借鉴意义。从地理学空间关系的相互依赖性、干扰因素、距离、运输方式等视角对俄罗斯太平洋管道之争的始末波折及未来可能出现的问题进行分析,可探究地缘环境要素及空间关系的各个方面是如何影响到一个国家对能源安全的控制权、如何影响对本国战略利益的保障等地缘纷争的核心内容。     

The Geography of U.S. Terrorist Incidents, 1970–2004

This paper describes the spatio-temporal trends in terrorist incidents in the United States, from 1970 through 2004. Utilizing the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) and ancillary data, we examine both the frequency of incidents and their characteristics: location, target type, attack type, weapon type, and perpetrator group. While the frequency of terrorist incidents has declined since the 1970s, there still is significant activity nationwide. Instead of urban-rural or West Coast-East Coast divisions, the pattern is a more complex mosaic based on group identity, target, and weapon type. We conclude that there is an explicit geography of terrorism, one that is quite decentralized and highly localized.     

Local Expenditure Interaction in Italian Municipalities: Do Local Council Partnerships Make a Difference?

This paper investigates interdependence among local councils in Italy in their public spending and distinguishes between possible sources of this interdependence. We find significant positive interaction among neighbouring local councils in regard to both spending at the level of total expenditure and spending on different sub-categories. Attempts to identify the source of this horizontal interaction seem to reject the yardstick competition hypothesis. Addressing the role that local council partnerships may play in internalising fiscal externalities, we suggest that expenditure interaction may be driven by spill-over.     

Indonesian local party politics

Since the fall of Soeharto in 1998, economic reforms have been linked to internationally supported programs to introduce market-facilitating “good governance” practices, which include the promotion of democratic elections and administrative and fiscal decentralization. International development organizations have thus put forward decentralization as necessary, essentially, to save Indonesia from becoming an irredeemably “failed state” — an issue that has now grown in importance because of the current nature of Western security concerns in Southeast Asia. But this article suggests that the way decentralization has actually taken place can only be understood in relation to the entrenchment of a democratic political regime run by the logic of money politics and violence, and primarily dominated by reconstituted old New Order elites. Taking local party politics in North Sumatra and East Java as case studies, the article shows that local constellations of power, with an interest in the perpetuation of predatory politics, still offer significant sites of resistance to the global neoliberal economic and political agenda.     

Spatial patterns of homicide and political legitimacy in Europe*

Political legitimacy, or a state's “right to rule,” has been a concern for philosophers, political scientists, and sociologists for centuries. This paper examines the relationship between European states' level of political legitimacy and violence, as represented by their homicide rate. It is theorized that political illegitimacy affects homicide through deteriorating social institutions of control, violating the rules of reciprocity between the state and citizens, and/or creating an environment of “virtual statelessness” that encourages methods of “self-help.” Focusing on the modernized societies of Europe, where legitimacy may be more important to maintaining order, the present study reveals two important findings: political legitimate states have significantly lower levels of homicide, and high and low homicide rates in Europe are significantly clustered among post-Soviet states (high) and Western Europe (low).     

Sequential angulation,spatial dispersion and consistency of distance attack patterns from home in serial murder,rape and burglary

Abstract

Three related measures of spatial movement (sequential angulation, spatial dispersion and consistency of distance in attack target) were compared across three serial offence types: serial homicide (n=35), serial rape (n=41) and serial burglary (n=30). In each case, each offender had committed at least five offences. “Spatial dispersion”, defined as the extent to which an offender distributes his offences across either a focused or relatively more evenly distributed area, revealed that burglary was less evenly distributed (i.e. more focused) than rape and murder. “Sequential angulation”, defined as the degree of rotational movement around the home of the offender from one offence to the next, revealed that serial murderers have higher angulation scores than do rapists who, in turn, have higher angulation scores than burglars. Lastly, a comparison of the offender's consistency in the relative distance travelled from home to each attack site (“consistency of distance in attack target”) was relatively similar across the three groups. This was despite the comparison of different serial offence types from disparate geographical areas. The supposition that differences in dispersion and sequential angulation scores across crime types are related to the perceived risk of the crime has been confirmed. The specificity and the mobility of the targets are also discussed.     

空间效应视角下中国省域碳排放总量的驱动因素分析

运用空间计量经济学模型实证分析中国省域碳排放的空间效应及驱动因素的结果显示,中国省域碳排放存在显著的空间自相关性和集群趋势,并主要集中在经济发达、人口密集和能源消费强度大的地区;能源消费强度、人口规模和人均GDP对碳排放总量影响显著,其中能源消费的影响最大;城市化、产业结构和技术创新对碳排放的影响不显著。该研究结论为我国城市化和产业结构升级进程中控制碳排放增量、国家和地方政府建立相应的碳减排鼓励政策和技术研发支持机制,以及各省域构建各具区域特色的低碳经济发展模式具有决策参考意义。     

Cartographies of Transformation in Mostar and Cape Town: Mapping as a Methodology in Divided Cities

ABSTRACT

All cities, as heterogenous spaces, are divided. However, conflict, in various forms can create cities which are monikered as ‘divided cities’. The divisions in these cities involve the segregation of communities and entrenchment of social and political divides. Through case studies situated in the spatially divided cities of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Cape Town, South Africa, this article demonstrates local resistance to top-down divisions. Theoretically and methodologically, this article contributes an understanding of mapping as a methodology which can materialise the spatial agency of local actors and can contribute to more inclusive memory work and reconstruction.     

The application of geographic information systems and spatial analysis to assess dumped and subsequently scattered human remains

This study utilizes geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial analysis (SA) technology to address the problems associated with prediction of location and effective recovery of dumped and scattered human remains in Louisiana. The goals are to determine if a selective bias exists in Louisiana as to where and when human remains are dumped and to assess whether or not geographically specific patterns exist in the dispersal of human remains. We hypothesized that a positive relationship exists between postmortem interval (PMI) and dispersal distance, and that there are negative relationships between PMI and dispersal direction and between dispersal direction and distance. Our results indicate that, in Louisiana, remains are more often dumped in rural areas away from a structure, and are found within (1/4) mile of the nearest road. For Louisiana, no seasonal bias was found in the analysis of when remains are dumped. Furthermore, with the exception of the relationship between PMI and the shortest distance remains were dispersed, no geographically specific patterns were detected in the analyses of dispersal distance, dispersal direction, and PMI.