Conveners
- Dr. François Bafoil, Sciences Po CERI, 56 rue Jacob, 75006 Paris, France
- Dr. Suthiphand Chirathivat, Dean of the Faculty of Economics,
Economic research center Center for International economics Chulalongkorn University, Phayathai Road, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Venue
CERI Sciences Po
56 rue Jacob
75006 Paris, France
Date: June 15, 2010
The main objective of the seminar is to compare some aspects of the regional development in EU and in the Asean countries, which take place in the context of the completion of free trade areas on one side, and in the context of the current economic crisis on the other side. Such areas induce growth opportunities and economies of scale but may also widen the gap between prosperous regions and depressed zones. How do Asia and Europe tackle such a challenge? Which are the main regional policies implemented in order to facing up the economic crisis ? Which conclusions can be drawn as far as the concepts of “aseanisation” and of “europeanisation” are concerned? Three topics of research are selected: 1.Growth : the metropolization, Special economic zone and clusters 2. Challenge : The sustainable development issues and the impact of the economic growth on the surrounding environment. 3. Risks : The social policies, centered to the analysis of the migrations and of the rural development. Based on these topics (Growth, challenges and Risks), the comparative analysis of “europeanisation and aseanisation” can be carried out by isolating the impact of the supra national rule and by determining how these rules are adapted by the different social in accordance to the domestic features (institutional legacies). The workshop intends therefore to draw some empirical lessons (dealing with the factors of growth and poverty) and some theoretical outputs (dealing with the issue about the “Aseanisation” compared to the “Europeanisation”), in a comparative perspective.
1. Metropolisation, Special economic zones and Clusters Because big cities become the most important actors of the economic growth and social development in the EU and in Asia, the metropolisation process is increasingly becoming the relevant concept to explain the different programmes of regional development, (infrastructures, research and development and innovation, FDI, but also, migrations, etc) and national / sub-national policies of redistribution. The comparison of metropolisation in the EU and Asia will insist on the different flows from the centre of the city to the periphery and vice versa, so that the various links with the rural areas. Morever, in order to foster productive investment and to limit the impact of the crisis in terms of local employment all the regions have developed strategies to stimulate their economic zones, which are based on the same tax measures in the middle or longer term. Some of these zones have led to a major internal reorganisation between the firms within and outside the zones, often under the pressure of the FDI. Many clusters in Eastern Europe and Asia have emerged from these economic zones. Therefore the papers will analyse the importance of the public tools of development (including the structural funds) and the private ones, so that the historical local traditions and “social capital” to understand how clusters emerge.
2. Sustainable development
The question of climate change, the impacts of development on environment, the management of water resources, the worrying question of deforestation in some parts of the world, and in Asia in particular, represent important challenges in terms of development. While development often means using the resources of a country, whether it means the construction of power plants or the expansion of cities or the construction of roads etc, the impact on the environment is obvious. Because there are more and more exchanges within a regional area, cooperation between countries has an impact on the environment. Countries have introduced programmes to protect fauna and flora, water, forests, natural resources but often these programmes can not clearly be linked with development policies. It is therefore necessary to assess the territorial impact of regional policies affecting the environment. The main question tackled during this seminar will be how to conciliate development and environment and how this dimension of sustainable development can be integrated in regional policies. Some best practices in this field can be identified in the Philippines with Philippines Agenda 21 and with the deforestation issues in Laos and in Cambodia. Moreover we have to question the limits of a policy aimed at reducing greenhouse effects in countries that are the most dependent or the poorest. The position of Poland during the last discussions on climate change in December 2008 which obtained the possibility to keep its coal power plants is an example of those limits. The European Union supports environment policies by giving considerable financial means to the members via the structural funds, the way Asia can finance such policies has to be studied.
3. Social policies: mobility and poverty alleviation Rural development in Eastern Europe but much more in South East Asia is a crucial topic, not only because a lot of people are concerned (up to 70% in the latest region, more than 20% in 5 eastern countries) but because it raises various issues about the size of the farms, the lack of specialisation, the lack of professional organisation and for some of the dwellers, the threshold of survival / efficicency, The constitution of regional entities, moreover, has strong impact on human resources because it increases intra-regional mobility, like the EU shows it. Such internal migrations may have direct consequences on territories: first on the territories losing people and second on the territories gaining new populations. Such flows tend to increase micro-regional disparities. Education and training play a key role in dealing with geographical and professional mobility and in contributing to bridging the social gap between the urban and rural regions and thus bringing development. Promoting access to education is all the more important for young women in order to help them enter the labour market, particularly for rural women. On this very important topic which deals with rural development, migrations and education, the papers will concentrate their analytical efforts on the so called Asian “pro-poor policies” and the EU “social policies” to study their impacts on rural development.
