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Nature tourism and particularly tourism in national parks have acquired significant importance in contemporary societies. Post-Fordist consumers have reevaluated the meanings of ‘nature’ and ‘natural spaces’ and now avoid standardization to seek singularity. Tourism in national parks is a consequence of this tendency and has both positive and negative aspects. The purpose of this sociological research is to describe the most relevant conflicts in the Picos de Europa National Park (Spain) involving the park’s conservation, local economic development, and tourism. Seven in-depth interviews and three focus groups were addressed to key local stakeholders. In this research were identified three chief areas of existing or potential inter-related conflicts and the main actors interacting with them. The first is on population, particularly, the negative consequences of depopulations on the local socio-economic development and the environment. A second source of conflicts identified is caused by the difficult conciliation between commercial exploitation and conservation of the protected natural area. More precisely, this specific form of tourism positively contributes to the economy of local communities whilst problems can arise for the conservation goals of National Parks. Thirdly, in this research is also analyzed the institutional governance and the inter and intra-governmental conflicts as well as with the Park’s management body. These findings provide important information for the improved management of tourism and conflicting interests in natural parks.

This fascinating and innovative study explores the lives of people living in early modern Ireland through the books and printed ephemera which they bought, borrowed or stole from others. While the importance of books and printing in influencing the outlook of early modern people is well known, recent years have seen significant changes in our understanding of how writing and print shaped lives, and was in turn shaped by those who appropriated the written word. This book draws on this literature to shed light on the changes that took place in this unusual European society. The author finds that there, almost uniquely in Europe, a set of revolutions took place which transformed the lives of the Irish in unexpected ways, and that the rise of writing and the spread of print were central to an understanding of those changes which have previously only been understood to have been the result of conquest and colonisation. This is a book which will be read not only by those interested in the Irish past but by all those who are concerned with the impact of communications media on social change.

The article discusses the economy of Arctic «islands». These territories of the Russian Arctic are unavailable by transport all the year round and have considerable specificity in comparison with the other regions of the Russian and North European Arctic. The authors consider the economy of Arctic «islands» on the example of the Nenets and Chukotka Autonomous Areas. Despite the significant similarity in the economic and social parameters, after careful study, two regions show considerable internal differences. In order to identify dissimilarity, in the comparative analysis, we use the theoretical idea of the Arctic economy as a unity of three sectors — the traditional one, corporate (market) one and transfer (state) one. Each sector has the key contradictions, structures and its trajectory of evolution. The comparison of traditional sectors reveals significant landscape diversity of Chukotka in comparison with the Nenets tundra. The corporate sector of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug economy is significantly younger than in Chukotka, due to the fact that oil and gas development is relatively new practice for the region. On the other hand, because of the mining development of Chukotka gold, which started in 1960-s, it can be considered as an old industrial region. The level of the profitability of gold production is significantly lower than of the Nenets oil production. Therefore, we propose to include the economy of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug to the rental model, and Chukotka economy to the transfer model. The difference of transfer sectors of two areas is the result of not only the difference in the power of the regional budgets, but also of the urban settlement structure which is centralized in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug and polycentric in Chukotka. It means that the public health and culture in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug are dated generally for the capital of Naryan-Mar, and social facilities in Chukotka are significantly decentralized and concentrated in Okrug’s and regional centres.

North Caucasus is a diverse region at the border of Europe and Asia that belongs simultaneously to the modern civilization and historical traditions, and is populated with numerous multi-language, multi-confessional nationalities that speak a variety of languages and follow diverse traditions, carefully guarding their distinctiveness. Our paper sets up a goal of studying the processes and the mechanisms of modernizing regional economy on the case study of this unique region. The paper confronts the typical view about the similarity and differences of traditional economies supported by different economic research schools and opens opportunities for scientific (dialectical) analysis of a mechanism, non-customary in the modern society, of modernizing traditional economies inevitably present in the ＂pore spaces＂ of the global economy. We substantiate a special methodology for studying traditional economies, characterizing their essence, showing the methodological difficulties of analyzing traditional economies, exposing the specifics of their system-wide organization, studying the non-economic sphere in a traditional economy, and describing the mechanism of modernizing a traditional economy.

This paper considers Confucian influence in the economic systems of North and South Korea within the context of the context of the new traditional economy , introduced by the authors initially in 1996. Such an economy seeks to be modern technologically and in other ways, but also is embedded to some extent within a traditional socio-cultural tradition, usually tried to a traditional religion. In the case of the two Koreas, they both come from a strong Confucian tradition even though their current systems are very different, with the North Korean the purest remaining command socialist system in the world, while the much better performing South Korean one is mostly market capitalist, although with a history of considerable amounts of indicative planning. Both officially reject Confucianism as an official ideology, but both show substantial Confucian influence, particularly emphasis on the importance of education and the role of the family, although in South Korea this is more through family leadership in the chaebol corporations whereas in North Korea it is through the dynastic leadership. However, they differ on other aspects, with North Korea emphasizing certain aspects not aiding economic growth such as an anti-mercantile attitude and isolationism with its juche policy of self-reliance.

During econometric analysis conducted by the authors the following hypotheses were substantiated. First of all we found the most pronounced correlation between the amount of innovative products, works and services in the total amount of shipped goods, performed activities and technological innovation costs per one person. This demonstrates the need for planning and implementing state programs on raising intellectual capital in multicultural regions with traditional economics. Secondly there is a correlation between life expectancy and population density in ethnic regions. This demonstrates low level of life in the regions with low population density and strong influence of traditional economy. Creation of hi - tech companies and larger amounts of goods fabrication requires creation of local unions, developing the share of scientists and entrepreneurs and formation of government programs: these are the most important success factors. In order to achieve that we must create a cooperation program covering all parties participating in intellectual capital development in the region. State regulation of intellectual capital development must take into consideration peculiar features of social and cultural development of ethnical multicultural region strongly influenced by traditional economy. This direction of regional development will be available only in case of equal dialogue between business and authorities. Suggested options for using traditional knowledge for developing intellectual capital can improve economic position of the region, create new workplaces and, therefore, improve the level of life of population in the regions strongly influenced by traditional economy.

The traditional linear economic growth model pursues solely the GDP growth, and economic development is achieved at the expense of the environment and the resources. This model has obvious ethical flaws and has been viewed as a \"from cradle to grave\" approach. Differently, the circular economy development model establishes the principles of \"Reduce, Reuse and Recycle\" as its core contents in order to achieve sustainable development, which has been viewed as a \"from cradle to cradle\" approach. Circular economy engenders new ethical relationships, and proposes new ethics of production and consumption. Circular economy implies the holistic value principle and sustainable value principle, which can remedy the ethical flaws of the traditional linear model. As an ethical and sustainable development approach, circular economy contributes to the Copernican change in the field of economic ethics.

The traditional ecological adaptation of the herder-horticulturists of South Iran represents a distinct pattern of subsistence and a different type of adaptation. Being neither pastoral nomads nor sedentary agriculturists, their economy is maintained by a combination of herding (mainly goats) and cultivation of semi-wild orchards and rose bushes on the high altitudes, without the use of irrigation. This study is predominantly based on the field-work materials recorded during several years in the late 1980s.

Countries everywhere are divided into two distinct spatial realms: one urban, one rural. Classic models of development predict faster growth in the urban sector, causing rapid migration from rural areas to cities, lifting average incomes in both places. The process continues until the marginal productivity of labor is equalized across the two realms. The pattern of rising urbanization accompanying economic growth has become one of the most visible and self-evident empirical facts of development across the world, with almost 200,000 people making the rural-to-urban trek every day, according to the United Nations. Cities across the world are powering growth, development, and modernization. The study then takes a close look at Diepsloot, a large township in the Johannesburg Metropolitan Area, to bring out more vividly the economic realities and choices of township residents. Although atypical in many ways, by the virtue of being newer, poorer, and more informal, with a bigger concentration of migrants (many of them foreign nationals), than the historically established townships, Diepsloot also retains many of the economic characteristics of South African townships: Issues of joblessness, uneven access to basic public services, and overwhelming levels of crime and violence are almost as pervasive in Diepsloot as they are in other T&IS. At the same time, an emergent informal sector more visibly pervades the township than seen in the average township, which makes it a particularly useful place to study in order to develop an understanding of the kinds of economic activities that are feasible in townships. It focuses particularly on the nature of business activity in the township, the key investment-climate constraints faced by its firms, income and expenditure patterns across households, and some aggregative social and human indicators. In a first attempt of its kind for a township, the report also develops a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) of Diepsloot for a comprehensive and consistent picture of the place, including the circular flow of income within the township, the nature of its interaction with the rest of the South African economy, and a simple multiplier analysis of its economy.

We examine the “new comparative economics” as proposed by Djankov et al. (2003) and their use of the concept of an institutional possibilities frontier . While we agree with their general argument that one must consider a variety of institutions and their respective social costs, including legal systems and cultural characteristics, when comparing the performance of different economic systems, we find various complications and difficulties with the framework they propose. We propose that a broader study of clusters of institutions and such newly emerging forms as the new traditional economy may be better suited as ways to approach the study of comparative economics in the era after the breakdown of the old comparison of market capitalism and command socialism that came to an end with the breakup of the Soviet Union.