This volume explores economic, social, and political dimensions of three catastrophic famines which struck mid-nineteenth and early-twentieth century Europe; the Irish Famine (An Gorta Mór ) of 1845–1850, the Finnish Famine (Suuret Nälkävuodet) of the 1860s and the Ukrainian Famine (Holodomor) of 1932/1933.In addition to providing new insights into these events on international, national and regional scales, this volume contributes to an increased comparative historiography in hist...

This open access book explores the digital transformation of small and rural towns, in particular, how to measure the evolution and development of digital towns. In addition to access to resources, competition from urban and global markets, and population trends, rural communities present lesser access and use of digital technologies and have lower digital competencies and skills than their urban counterparts. Consequently, they experience less beneficial outcomes from increased digitalisa...

Globalization of the economy, fragmentation of the production process, increasing externalization of TNCs activities through their global value chains and the widespread adoption of Just-in-Time have increased the flows of raw materials, intermediate goods and finished products, with a direct effect on the transport and logistics industry. This industry, indeed, plays a key role in connecting the different import and export markets and the vertically disaggregated components of production ...

This contributed volume explores the political economy and socioeconomic aspects of the Greek Financial Crisis both within the country's borders and as part of the global economy. With chapters authored by international experts, this book examines and explicitly deals with specific and important issues that have been ignored by the dominant socioeconomic theory and practice, which have largely focused on the causes and broad economic consequences of the crisis. Discussions include the effi...

This book highlights various challenges and opportunities for regional cooperation and development in South Asia. In light of the ongoing globalization process, the contributors investigate how socio-economic developments are changing the spatial organization of production as well as the profile of cities and landscapes, are stimulating the creation of maritime, terrestrial and aerial channels, and are putting increasing pressures on natural and environmental resources.The book is ...

This book gathers 22 papers which were presented at the 6th International Symposium of the ICA Commission on the History of Cartography in Dubrovnik, Croatia on 13–15 October 2016. The overall conference theme was ‘The Dissemination of Cartographic Knowledge: Production – Trade – Consumption – Preservation’. The book presents original research by internationally respected authors in the field of historical cartography, offering a significant contribution to the development of this field of...

Post-colonial Africa is littered with regional trade agreements that amounted to little more than a photo opportunity for the leaders that signed them. This book explores conventional explanations for past failures and posits a new theory rooted in the symbiotic relationship between authoritarian politics and crony-capitalism.

David A. Westbrook argues that we live in "the city of gold"--a global, cosmopolitan polity where politics are done through markets, and where global capital markets, not states, have become the dominant force in our social life.

This book presents an original methodology for analyzing urban retail systems, addressing the strong retail meltdown (increase in closed corner-shops and dead malls) that is severely affecting cities and suburban areas in Europe and the USA. Taking into account both spatial and regulative aspects, it offers a new approach to retailing and retail spaces developed within the urban planning field. The book describes international case studies together with solutions to the problem of vacant r...

Where water supply, railway transportation, and oil reserves have been abundant, towns in central West Texas have prospered; where these resources are few, settlements have maintained only slight growth or disappeared entirely. Supporting his conclusions with profuse statistical evidence, Robert L. Martin traces the economic development of six major towns in the area, all with over 10,000 residents in 1960: Lamesa, Snyder, Sweetwater, Big Spring, Midland, and Odessa.Ranching brough...

This book gives a systematic exposition of China’s logistics development to the English-reading community. The ultimate goal of the book is to present a timely portrayal of China’s logistics market growth and the evolution status of China’s logistics industry. Being the fourth volume of the “Contemporary Logistics in China”, the book strives to offer in-depth analysis on some hot issues and dilemmas amid the on going dynamic and multi-faceted development and also a source of reference for ...

The drama of the common currency is a hot topic. The Euro was planned for the European Union's member states, bringing economically strong nations like Germany and Holland and weaker nations like Greece, Spain and Italy under one set of currency rules. A dozen years of its implementation has shown that the planning was incomplete at best. Add to this the weight of a deepening debt crisis among western nations, which continues unabated, and Europe has a very deep financial hole to climb out...