China's Western Development Strategy: Policies, Effects and Prospects

China’s Western Development Strategy (WDS) has been carried out since 1999 with remarkable achievements, whereby Western China also experienced a rapid and stable development during the past decade. This paper analyzes policy actions and effects of WDS. The findings indicate that Western China’s economic development has experienced a dramatic reversion after implementation of WDS, which to a certain extent, proves that WDS has played a significant role in promoting western regions’ development. This paper also reveals some key constraints on Western China’s economic development and then offers a set of policy ideas for the next stage of Western development.Western Development Strategy; Regional Policy; Policy effects; Western China

War film as a political problem in Polish press 1945–1949

This book was financially supported by the National Programme for the Development of Humanities: project “Cinema: Intercultural Perspective. Western-European Cinema in Poland, Polish Cinema in Western Europe. Mutual Perception of Film Cultures (1918–1939)”

CROSSING THE NEXT MERIDIAN: THE ECONOMICS OF RURAL-URBAN INTERDEPENDENCE, INSTITUTIONS AND INCOME DISTRIBUTION IN THE AMERICAN WEST

This paper explores and develops three ideas: (1) that the aridity of western North America and its attendant characteristics have fundamentally shaped the work of western agricultural economists and encouraged some distinctive western contributions to the study of economics; (2) that, in order to understand economic relationships that are critical to rural western economic development, economists need to move beyond the standard equilibrium economic models and explore some emerging models of spatial development and institutional change in which the concept of "increasing returns" plays a key role; (3) that the West provides a fine laboratory for testing these frameworks.Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

CROSSING THE NEXT MERIDIAN: THE ECONOMICS OF RURAL-URBAN INTERDEPENDENCE, INSTITUTIONS, AND INCOME DISTRIBUTION IN THE AMERICAN WEST

This article explores and develops three ideas: (a) that the aridity of western North America and its attendant characteristics have fundamentally shaped the work of western agricultural economists and encouraged some distinctive western contributions to the study of economics; (b) that in order to understand economic relationships that are critical to rural western economic development, economists need to move beyond the standard equilibrium economic models and explore some emerging models of spatial development and institutional change in which the concept of “"increasing returns”" plays a key role; and (c) that the West provides a fine laboratory for testing these frameworks.Community/Rural/Urban Development,

The Concept of "Self" and the "Other" in Western Movies

Melodrama has been a part of the American life since colonial time. This genre, with its \u27hero-villain\u27 or \u27black and white\u27 development of characters, has formed the idea of the American heroes. In Western films, in which the \u27local\u27 themes of westward movement on the American society are developed, melodrama treats the dichotomy of hero-villain more stereotypically. The heroes depict the concept of the American \u27self\u27 and the villains picture the \u27other.\u27 However, the development of Western film shows that the stereotypical treatment on \u27self\u27 and the \u27other\u27 undergoes some changes

Imagining 'environment' in sustainable development

The paper presents an argument for a broader and more complex definition of environment than that currently offered in sustainable development discourse and practice. Sustainable development is rooted in dominant western rational and instrumental scientific representations of human-environment relationships. As such, it has been criticised as misrepresentative and meaningless for many of those for whom it is intended. Recent contributions by social scientists have emphasized the need to move beyond the narrow construction of the human-environment dichotomy found in western scientific rhetoric. These emerging ‘new ecologies’ advocate a re-imagining of human-environment relationships as holistic, connective, and relational, and as a product of direct perception and active engagement in the world. The Boumā National Heritage Park, Fiji, a community-based ecotourism initiative is presented as a case study to identify discrepancies between indigenous perceptions of the environment and those of formally educated western development practitioners, as well as the potential for ongoing convergence

Modern hospitality : medieval foundations

This paper reports on continuing doctoral research and specifically focuses on the development and regulation of hospitality in the Western European monasteries, from the beginning of the Middle Ages through to the Renaissance. It builds on previous research, into the Greco-Roman worlds, which had identified five key dimensions of hospitality. The establishment and development of the western monastic hospitality tradition is explored together with the changing significance of the monasteries in Western European development, and the adsorption of the principles of monastic hospitality into the secular world. Through the translation, modernisation and secularisation of monastic hospitality this paper demonstrates its relevance for the hospitality and tourism industries of today. A set of principals of hospitality provision and management have been derived which are instantly recognisable to modern hospitality managers, despite their mediaeval origins

Film screenings in the “Polish territories” in 1896 and their international context

This book was financially supported by the National Programme for the Development of Humanities: project “Cinema: Intercultural Perspective. Western-European Cinema in Poland, Polish Cinema in Western Europe. Mutual Perception of Film Cultures (1918–1939)

Barriers to the development of palliative care in Western Europe

The Eurobarometer Survey of the <i>EAPC Task Force on the Development of Palliative Care in Europe</i> is part of a programme of work to produce comprehensive information on the provision of palliative care across Europe. Aim: To identify barriers to the development of palliative care in Western Europe. Method: A qualitative survey was undertaken amongst boards of national associations, eliciting opinions on opportunities for, and barriers to, palliative care development. By July 2006, 44/52 (85%) European countries had responded to the survey; we report here on the results from 22/25 (88%) countries in Western Europe. Analysis: Data from the Eurobarometer survey were analysed thematically by geographical region and by the degree of development of palliative care in each country. Results: From the data contained within the Eurobarometer, we identified six significant barriers to the development of palliative care in Western Europe: (i) Lack of palliative care education and training programmes (ii) Lack of awareness and recognition of palliative care (iii) Limited availability of/knowledge about opioid analgesics (iv) Limited funding (v) Lack of coordination amongst services (vi) Uneven palliative care coverage. Conclusion: Findings from the EAPC Eurobarometer survey suggest that barriers to the development of palliative care in Western Europe may differ substantially from each other in both their scope and context and that some may be considered to be of greater significance than others. A number of common barriers to the development of the discipline do exist and much work still remains to be done in the identified areas. This paper provides a road map of which barriers need to be addressed