No description available.

This essay explores setting, myth and magic in three of David Almond’s narratives for children: Skellig (2000), My Name is Mina (2010) and A Song for Ella Grey (2015). It looks at how magic influences and changes the way the characters view their local environment. This essay shows myth as a recurring theme in Almond’s narratives, the myths themselves as well as the mythological beings within the stories and how magic is brought to life in the North East setting, making the environment and everyday life extraordinary and magical.

<p>This thesis deals with the causes and effects of spatial clustering of similar and related economic activity. The relationship between spatial clustering and industrial competitive-ness is analysed in a series of empirical studies, revolving around four research questions: How useful is an institutional approach in analyses of spatial clustering? Can the link between spatial clustering and industrial performance be empirically validated and measured by quantitative methods? In what sense does spatial clustering promote localised processes of learning and innovation? What role can industrial and regional policies play in promoting the type of localised processes emphasised in spatial clustering research?</p><p>It proves to be a rather complicated matter to measure the impact of spatial clustering on firm performance. In the case of export-oriented manufacturing firms in Sweden, the co-location of firms in a particular industry appears to have only a modest impact on export performance. However, when a more qualitative approach is applied, there is some evidence that spatial clustering can have a positive impact. A study of the Swedish music industry indicates that there is indeed a link between the concentration of music-related businesses in the Stockholm region and localised processes of learning and innovation. Such localised processes appear, in turn, to be linked to the ability to create and sustain industrial competitiveness. Finally, the thesis examines how the cluster concept has been put into practice in Swedish industrial and regional policies.</p>

This thesis deals with the causes and effects of spatial clustering of similar and related economic activity. The relationship between spatial clustering and industrial competitive-ness is analysed in a series of empirical studies, revolving around four research questions: How useful is an institutional approach in analyses of spatial clustering? Can the link between spatial clustering and industrial performance be empirically validated and measured by quantitative methods? In what sense does spatial clustering promote localised processes of learning and innovation? What role can industrial and regional policies play in promoting the type of localised processes emphasised in spatial clustering research? It proves to be a rather complicated matter to measure the impact of spatial clustering on firm performance. In the case of export-oriented manufacturing firms in Sweden, the co-location of firms in a particular industry appears to have only a modest impact on export performance. However, when a more qualitative approach is applied, there is some evidence that spatial clustering can have a positive impact. A study of the Swedish music industry indicates that there is indeed a link between the concentration of music-related businesses in the Stockholm region and localised processes of learning and innovation. Such localised processes appear, in turn, to be linked to the ability to create and sustain industrial competitiveness. Finally, the thesis examines how the cluster concept has been put into practice in Swedish industrial and regional policies.

Les écarts de développement au sein de la Communauté européenne légitimèrent l’intervention publique dans les territoires défavorisés. Dès la signature du traité de Rome, celle-ci eut pour objectif de réduire les déséquilibres socioéconomiques qui concernaient de nombreuses régions. Des moyens considérables furent déployés devant la persistance des problèmes régionaux. La politique régionale devint une prérogative européenne, qui influença progressivement la mise en oeuvre des politiques régionales nationales. La portée de cette européanisation varia toutefois selon les États. Au Royaume-Uni, même si les gouvernements successifs ont accordé, depuis les années 1930, une attention particulière à l’action régionale, celle-ci n’est plus apparue comme une priorité au début des années 1980. Mais la diminution des aides régionales fut compensée par l’intervention des fonds structurels européens. Les réformes successives de ces fonds modifièrent les rapports entre le centre et la périphérie au Royaume-Uni. L’européanisation de la politique régionale britannique s’intensifia à partir de la fin des années 1980. Les gouvernements successifs lancèrent des décentralisations dont l’objectif fut de rapprocher Whitehall des régions. Même si ces innovations institutionnelles ont amélioré le rôle des régions, la persistance du retard de développement a mis en question les pratiques de gouvernance. / Public intervention in problem regions has been legitimated by regional development differences at the heart of the European Community. Since the Treaty of Rome, it has aimed at the reduction of socioeconomic imbalances affecting a number of regions. Persistent economic difficulties in problem regions have pushed the Community to invest considerable resources. The European regional policy has had a significant impact in shaping the regional policies of the Member States since the reforms of the structural funds in the late 1980s. But the Europeanization process was different according to the institutional architecture of the Member States. Despite a long tradition of regional policy dating back to the beginning of the 1930s, Britain has progressively deprioritised regional policy since the early 1980s. The reduction in regional assistance was compensated by European structural funds. As a consequence, the structural fund reforms resulted in changes in the centre-periphery relationship in the United Kingdom. Europeanization took a much greater role in this member state from the end of the 1980s onwards. Waves of decentralization were promoted by successive governments with the aim of bringing the regions closer to Whitehall. This led to the emergence of a new mode of governance. These innovations promoted a greater regional participation. But a persistent economic divide questions the success of “democratic renewal”.