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The purpose of this study is to investigate and document the connections between recent dynamics of development and identity construction in two Russian regions: Novgorod the Great and Kaliningrad. The range of primary (books, flyers, photographs and documentaries) and secondary (newspaper, magazine and electronic articles) material produced in the regions is utilized to identify and examine common themes and topics that have emerged in the course of the pre-anniversary 'marketing' campaigns undertaken by these regions nationally and abroad. Some of the previous work on the topic of regional political and socio-economic development has taken into account the impact of local identities for creating favourable climates for regional development. This analysis examines the practices of re-interpretation of local histories in the contexts of national and international ones, the groups of local actors creating such interpretations, and the potential effect of such exercise. In my analysis, working from the social constructivist perspective, I utilize Ray's theory of the dialectic in local development, the concept of the invention of tradition, the elements of Bourdieu's social theory and Dovey's premise of the political role of architecture in social life to demonstrate: 1) that interpretation of historical facts is being strategically used to promote political, economic and cultural ideas and to imply the continuity of history and tradition with the past; 2) that certain groups in scientific and cultural circles are more than others involved in the processes of interpretation; 3) that the process of interpreting and reviving regional histories has an impact on territorial identity and local development projects. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many if not all Russian regions were left in disarray. In an effort to facilitate regional development, they have been trying to create and develop various industries, to attract investment, and simply draw attention to their regions with their existing problems. Some of them sooner than others came to realization that creating an attractive "image" might be the key to successfully competing for resources nationally and internationally. One of these regions was the Novgorod oblast. According to the series of studies, in the 1990s regional elites created there such positive environment for collaboration between various governmental structures, local intelligentsia and NGOs, that the region, without having much of an investment potential, became one of the country's leaders in attracting foreign investment. The second region, Kaliningrad oblast, was chosen for comparative purpose because of its extraordinary Prussian-German background and its unusual present-day positioning as the Russian semi-exclave and the enclave of the European Union. This oblast', in the not so remote past commonly portrayed as the "black hole" of the Russian Federation, has more recently become the focal point of the Russian-European relations. Both regions under study have been attempting to create favourable images of themselves and to promote local development. And for both regions local histories and identities have proven crucial in the image-creating exercise. It is particularly interesting to study territorial identity re-creation in these two regions because, within national and international contexts, certain historical facts and perspectives have been either emphasized or overlooked depending on the goals and motivations of the responsible regional players. Secondly, accents and emphases on historical meanings are being directly influenced by the political, socio-economic and cultural conditions each of the regions faces. Thus, officially accepted territorial identities and their connections to respective historical representations are said, often times, to influence and be influenced by the goals of regional development. The work begins with the outline of historical, political and socio-economic backgrounds of Novgorod the Great and Kaliningrad It is followed by the explanation of the theoretical and methodological approaches used to analyze the data. The main part of the thesis is thereafter dedicated to the analysis of the collected data using these concepts and methods and is concluded with the summary of the findings and some recommendations for further research on the subject.

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This dissertation argues that the interpretive framework from which Fontane's Effi Briest is commonly approached limits discussion to metropolitan core culture and fails to address Fontane’s path-breaking accomplishment. After outlining limitations of some prominent approaches to Effi Briest in chapter one, my next four chapters explore alternative reading strategies that instead situate the novel in the imperial context of the new German state inflected by transnational relations and problematize the tendency to see Germany as a space territorially and culturally homogenized and stable. Chapter two reads the novel through Foucault’s notion of heterotopia to demonstrate Fontane’s heterotopic strategies as a counter-model to the monolithic mapping of novelistic space. In chapters three and four I use Bakhtin’s chronotopic strategies to show how Fontane “fuses together” fictional time and space into a productive force for depicting society in motion and change. I demonstrate how this “spatial turn” breaks with the traditional time-paradigm and opens up space for polyphony and dialogism. Chapter five discusses Fontane’s Wanderungen contrapuntally to draw attention to Fontane’s counter-strategies, which break with the master narrative in favor of small-scale ones, to show their relevance for Effi Briest. The rest of my dissertation focuses on the novel’s Eastern Pomeranian/Kessin-based chapters. Chapter six addresses the spatial arrangement of Hinterpommern from the viewpoint of the ruling elites. Chapter seven treats Kessin as a hybridized “third space” that both resists the dominant and represents an unstable and ambiguous alternative to paralyzing dichotomies of opposites. I also look into Hinterpommern as a contested space between Germans and Poles—and their competing claims over the Kasubians, inhabitants of the strategically important Baltic area. In chapter eight I show how the Polish margins impinge on Fontane’s fictional representation of Prussia and are articulated in both the content and structure of Effi Briest. In chapter nine I discuss Fontane’s representation of Polish/Slavic-hyphenated characters in terms of their different responses/resistance to anti-Slav/Polish prejudices and measures. In revealing the creative and transformative powers of margins this dissertation models alternative ways of approaching canonical writers and contributes to the transnationalization of German studies in particular and cultural studies in general.

<p> Floating homes in the Netherlands are presented to consumers as a new sustainable and adaptable technology to climate change. With the rainfall increasing and flood levels rising in the Netherlands, there is a chance that the country can be inhabitable. Many countries throughout the world are adapting sustainable techniques into their public policies to fight off climate change. Sustainable technologies allow for certain countries to move forward with a new market trend in order to keep up with international competition. The Dutch government specifically has a reputation of inertia throughout policy making, but now the Dutch have a new environmentally sustainable technology that has a chance to change the market. That technology is the alternative housing option called a floating home. The combination of a technology marketed as sustainable while surrounding a valued cultural symbol, such as water, is not based on the environmental agenda, but for the public policy makers to gain power over an elite target market by using a specific marketing power.</p><p> With the lack of change throughout the Dutch government and culture, there has to be a question of whether this new technology has been introduced as a chance to develop a new social construct within the targeted elite class. In order to better distinguish this answer, thematic interviews were set up to sort out key themes that would help generalize the true meaning of these floating homes. With key points developed from experts in the field, it helped understand analyzation of specific case studies. The results of both interviews and case studies were then blanketed by a theory based on culture, knowledge, and power. The basis of the conclusion is that the floating homes were not necessarily developed for sustainable use like they were advertised for, but were developed to create profits and societal change to gain governmental power that the Netherlands once lacked.</p><p>

This study aims to expand the existing knowledge of the role of networking in innovation. It focuses on Russia, a country with a transition economy. On the governmental level, the lack of understanding of the networking mechanisms that Russian start-ups use to support their innovation creates a barrier to effective decision making related to the development of the national innovation system. On the start-up level, this lack of understanding hampers the ability to select effective networking strategies aimed at ensuring that companies can achieve their aims in each stage of their development. In order to determine the scope of opportunities for companies to establish external relationships and to set the context for the interpretation of the primary data, the author conducts a detailed analysis of the evolution of Russia's national innovation system. The investigation is based on secondary data, including official government documents, articles, and publications in the scientific literature and newspapers. To gain a deeper understanding of the interrelationship between networking and innovation, the study investigates the networking behaviour of Russian SMEs, represented by a sample of 59 companies that launched business activities in Moscow between 2009 and 2017. To collect primary data, in-depth interviews were carried out with the founders of these companies. To conduct a comparative analysis of networking behaviour of companies with different degrees of innovativeness, entrepreneurial ventures in the sample are grouped into four innovativeness categories: very low, low, medium and high. The findings confirm the key proposition that innovative start-ups are more actively engaged in networking and have wider networks. In addition, the study shows that more innovative start-ups build and govern their networks of business contacts differently than less innovative start-ups. Finally, the author discusses implications for the development of theory and practice, reflects on the limitations of the research, and makes suggestions for future research on innovative networking that might build upon this study. A key contribution of this DBA thesis to practice emerged in the sphere of the author’s teaching and administrative activities at the Lomonosov Moscow State University Business School. The results of this study were utilised in the construction and implementation of an educational project (February-April 2018) in which students worked closely with technological start-ups to help them establish vital contacts in their business and market environments. Therefore, the knowledge obtained from this study was taught to students and applied in practice in the implementation of a systematic approach to the search for and expansion of contact networks conducive to innovation. As such, it helped students develop networking skills and assisted start-ups in successfully solving tasks related to the commercialisation of innovative products and services.

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