State Restructuring and Urban Innovation Development in Post-reform China: Shanghai’s Innovation Action in Review

Given the ample evidences from present studies on national-level innovation policies evolution and mechanisms, this paper contributes to a city-level understanding towards innovation-related state restructuring,the consequent innovation policy change and its relational performance with urban development in post-reform Shanghai, China from an inputoutput perspective. It unfolds that state restructuring relinquishing state power to the market has revived non-government innovation activities and a synchronous, though a bit backward, firms-oriented transition towards innovation development in Shanghai throughout 1990s has been observed.Though scholars are reluctant to label the party-state in post-reform China as a developmental state due to dysfunctionality of state intervention in corporate sectors, in the field of technological upgrading, such topdown, elite driven and state-sponsored mode giving priority to innovation competitiveness well captures the developmental state model at local level, thus exhibits elements of local developmental state. Impacts of this restructuring and policy change are substantial, which can be observed in the soaring increase of science and technology expenditures and patents applications in Shanghai. Additional analysis further unveils that in most circumstances, innovation growth kept paces with urban development, yet its synergy with economic development and permanent residents is more significant than with other aspects.

Post-Disaster Economies at the Margins

This chapter is concerned with the making of development zones in Nepal’s northern borderlands. Focusing on the shifting economic geographies of traders and businessmen, I demonstrate that the current revival of border markets and informal economies is inseparable from the combined processes of state restructuring and infrastructural reconstruction that ensued after the 2015 earthquakes devastated large parts of the country. I seek to develop the category of “informal development zones” to attend to the ways in which state power is enacted to control and discipline the margins in the post-disaster moment, while also foregrounding how rural inhabitants engage with, resist, or support the formalities of state laws and regulations. Looking closely at local narratives of social differences and insecurities, I show how people navigate the complex space between competition and choice to carve out investment strategies and entrepreneurial opportunities. Informal development zones are transforming life in borderlands and offer an urgent reminder of the uncertain and uneven outcomes of market economies following moments of rupture.

Regime Divergence and the Limits of Austere Neoliberalism

The cities of Montréal, Nantes, Dandenong and Barcelona diverge in several ways from patterns of consolidation in austere neoliberalism discussed in chapter 4. These four cities all encounter familiar challenges with economic restructuring, and all have been exposed to waves of ideology, policy and state restructuring associated with austere neoliberalism and entrepreneurial development agendas. Yet, in the post-GFC period they moved in different, if inter-related, directions. The chapter first discusses Montréal and Nantes, as two cases of established urban regimes dealing with policy failure and coming under strain from internal contradictions. The second part of the chapter explores Greater Dandenong and Barcelona, cities with very different political orientations and traditions, but where constructive regime building activities were evident, respectively at a distance from and against austere neoliberalism.

Federalism Practice in Nepal Prospects and Upshots

This paper examines the core attributes and characteristics of federalism such as state restructuring, power-sharing, ensuring fundamental rights, and intergovernmental relationships. These are underpinned by constitutional provisions of 2015. Both primary and secondary information were used as a data sources. However, the constitution 2015 and citizens' responses were used as major sources of information. Seventy-two key informant interviews were administered purposely to triangulate the results. Findings indicate that the state was reformed into 7 provinces, and 753 local government units. However, much debate and discussions could not take place adequately on behalf of the state regarding the state restructuring process, nor had any established principles and criteria been used. As a result, there are many doubts have been emerged to implement federalism at the grassroots level. Although the government saying was that few indicators were designed to restructure the local governments, the political parties mainly Madheshi and identity-based sub-regional groups differed to the government decision. In addition, the constitution gives legislative, executive, and judiciary functions to all levels of governments, while capacity restraints, and lack of adequate legal procedures; federation have been extending its dominant role. Latterly, the inter-government relationship was adversely affected due for various reasons. For instance, firstly, imbalances of vertical and horizontal relationships; Secondly, provincial, and local governments' fiscal dependency on the federal government; and thirdly, power-seeking attitude of the bureaucracy. In the end, an applicable mechanism of service delivery and governance integrity is recommended for to effective federalization.

Beyond Compassionate Aid: Precarious Bureaucrats and Dutiful Asylum Seekers in Italy

In this article, I track shifting paradigms of refugee management in Italy in times of austerity and welfare state restructuring. Drawing on an ethnographic analysis of asylum-related bureaucratic work in Bologna, the essay explores paradoxical and violent effects of welfare decline both on reception workers’ labor conditions and on the dynamic of aid that they end up providing to asylum seekers. On the one hand, recent developments in asylum management in Italy suggest a transition to post-compassionate forms of aid, hinged more on the making of dutiful subjects ready to repay the “hospitality” offered by the state than on the moral imperative to rescue suffering bodies and lives. On the other hand, reception workers’ precarious positioning and unrest hold the potential for exposing the inherent contradictions of state-based narratives, thereby shaping alternative discourses on the causes and responsibilities of both refugee and economic “crises.” Abstract Questo articolo ricostruisce l’emergere di nuovi paradigmi di gestione dei rifugiati in Italia, in tempi di austerità e ristrutturazione dei sistemi di welfare. Prendendo spunto dall’analisi etnografica di un ufficio di supporto per l’asilo a Bologna, l’articolo esplora effetti violenti e paradossali dello smantellamento del welfare pubblico, sia sulle condizioni di lavoro degli operatori dell’accoglienza, che sulle dinamiche di aiuto a richiedenti asilo che essi finiscono col contribuire a produrre. Le recenti trasformazioni nella gestione dell’asilo in Italia suggeriscono uno slittamento verso forme di aiuto post-compassionevoli, incentrate più sulla costruzione di soggetti attivamente impegnati nel ricompensare “l’ospitalità” offerta dallo stato, che sull’imperativo morale di salvare corpi e vite sofferenti. Al tempo stesso, la precarietà e il dissenso dei lavoratori dell’accoglienza sono potenzialmente in grado di illuminare alcune delle contraddizioni intrinseche alle narrazioni statali, elaborando così discorsi alternativi sulle cause e responsabilità della “crisi”, sia migratoria che economica.