Globalization, Marginalization And Conflict: Political, Economic And Social Processes [6, 1st Edition] 3030532178, 9783030532178, 9783030532185

Table of contents :
Preface......Page 6
Contents......Page 8
Contributors......Page 10
List of Box......Page 11
List of Figures......Page 12
List of Tables......Page 15
Part I: Introduction......Page 16
1.1 Background......Page 17
1.2 Chapter Summary......Page 20
References......Page 24
Part II: Society, Conflicts and Marginality......Page 26
2.1 Introduction......Page 27
2.2 Definitions......Page 28
2.3 Polarized Thinking: Economy vs. Society......Page 30
2.4 (Not So) New Thinking......Page 33
2.5 The Place and Responsibility of the Civil Society......Page 36
2.6 Conclusion......Page 37
Appendix 2.1: Max Neef’s Human Basic Needs Matrix......Page 38
References......Page 39
3.1 Introduction......Page 42
3.1.1 Park Istra......Page 44
3.1.2 Creative Platform Inde......Page 46
3.2 The Importance of Collective Spaces for the Empowerment of the People......Page 47
3.2.1 Space of Political Practices......Page 49
3.2.2 Space of Freedom......Page 50
3.3 Opportunities for the Revitalization of Marginalized Areas......Page 52
3.4 Alternative Revitalization of Marginalized Areas......Page 53
3.5 Conclusion......Page 55
References......Page 56
4.1 Introduction......Page 58
4.1.1 Armed Conflicts......Page 59
4.1.2 Marginality and Marginalization......Page 60
4.2 The Violent World We Live in......Page 61
4.3 The Growing Number of Displaced People......Page 64
4.4 Marginalization of Refugees......Page 66
4.5 Marginality as a Driver of Armed Conflicts......Page 70
4.6 Concluding Remarks......Page 71
References......Page 72
Part III: Identities and Borders......Page 73
5.1 Introduction......Page 74
5.2 Relict Borders as Socio-cultural Divide in Czechia: An Example of Religious Landscape......Page 76
5.3 Regional Differentiation of Sacral Objects in Czechia......Page 78
5.3.1 The Example of Manětín Area......Page 80
5.4 Conclusion......Page 81
References......Page 82
6.1 Introduction......Page 84
6.2 Research Area – Spatial and Temporal Contexts of Marginality......Page 85
6.3 Approach and Methodology......Page 87
6.4.1.1 Svilaja Mountain......Page 88
6.4.1.2 Dry Rocky Karst Lowland......Page 89
6.4.2 Islands/Island of Hvar......Page 90
6.5 Basic Contexts and Conceptualization of Relations......Page 91
6.6 Concluding Remarks......Page 94
References......Page 95
7.1 Introduction......Page 97
7.2 Spatial, Temporal and Cultural Context......Page 99
7.3 Sources, Approach and Methodology......Page 100
7.4 Borderlands – Territories and Peoples at the Margins?......Page 101
7.5 Otherness – Identity – Borderland Regions......Page 103
7.6 Concluding Remarks......Page 105
References......Page 106
8.1 Educating Edgeworlds......Page 108
8.2 Borderland Geographies, Venturing beyond the ‘Where’......Page 110
8.3 Framing Edgeworlds through Humanistic Political Geography......Page 113
8.4 Gateway Between HPG Borderland Theory and Border Pedagogies......Page 117
8.5 Geography, a Marginalized Discipline Teaching the Margins......Page 119
References......Page 120
Part IV: Poverty and Disparities......Page 123
9.1 Introduction......Page 124
9.2 Housing: The South African Scenario......Page 125
9.3 The Social Dimension Described......Page 127
9.3.1 Place Identity and Place Attachment......Page 128
9.3.2 Place Dependence and Belonging......Page 129
9.4 What About Social Sustainability in South Africa?......Page 131
9.5 Living on the Margins in Marginal Housing: Port Elizabeth......Page 132
References......Page 136
10.1 Introduction......Page 139
10.2 Origin of the Indian Caste System......Page 140
10.2.1 Vedic Period 1500–600 B.C.......Page 142
10.2.3 The Age of Dharmashastra 200 B.C. to 500 A.D.......Page 143
10.2.4 Medieval Period 600–1200 AD......Page 144
10.2.6 Post-independence......Page 146
10.3 Caste-Rigidity......Page 147
10.3.2 Functions and Sustainment of the Caste System......Page 148
10.3.3 Impact of Caste Rigidity and Inequalities......Page 150
10.4.1 Enrollment in Higher Education......Page 151
10.4.2 Composition of Enrollment in Higher Education......Page 152
10.4.3 Educational Attainment......Page 154
10.4.4 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)......Page 156
10.4.5 Housing Condition and Availability of Basic Amenities......Page 157
10.4.6 Availability of Household Equipment......Page 158
10.4.7 Employment Status After Completing Higher Education......Page 159
10.4.8 Caste Atrocities Against Dalits......Page 161
10.4.9 Spatial Pattern of Caste Atrocity against Dalits......Page 162
10.5 Conclusion......Page 164
References......Page 165
11.1 Representations of Roma at the Intersections of Marginalization, Globalization and Conflict......Page 168
11.2 Roma, Romani Studies and the Persistent Problem of ‘Ethnic’ Labelling......Page 169
11.2.1 From Non-Europeans of Foreign Origin…......Page 171
11.2.2 … to “a True European minority”......Page 172
11.3 Roma Between New Opportunities and Vulnerabilities......Page 174
11.3.1 Globalization of the Romani Holocaust Discourse and Romani Identity......Page 176
11.3.2 Antigypsyism as a Form of Institutional Racism......Page 177
11.4.1 Legislative Framework......Page 178
11.4.2 Anti-Roma Discrimination – Antigypsyism in Slovenia......Page 180
11.5 Conclusion: The Problem with Water......Page 181
References......Page 182
12.1 Introduction......Page 186
12.2.1 The Transmission of Local Know-How, Mark of Traditional Agriculture......Page 188
12.2.2 Industrial Agriculture and the Segmentation of Roles and Knowledge......Page 189
12.2.3 The Modernised Family Farm......Page 190
12.2.4 The Crisis and the Emergence of Territorially Rooted Agriculture......Page 192
12.3 The Hypothesis of a Transition Towards Agroecology......Page 193
12.3.1 The Production and Circulation of Knowledge in the Drôme Valley: Actors, Places, Networks......Page 194
12.3.2 Three Transmission Positions: ‘Continuers’, ‘Networkers’ and ‘Ecosystemers’......Page 195
12.3.4 The Role of Networks......Page 197
References......Page 198
Part V: Conclusion......Page 200
Chapter 13: Conclusion......Page 201
References......Page 204

Citation preview

Perspectives on Geographical Marginality

Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš Walter Leimgruber  Editors

Globalization, Marginalization and Conflict Political, economic and social processes

Perspectives on Geographical Marginality Volume 6

Series Editors Walter Leimgruber, Department of Geosciences, Geography, University of Fribourg/CH, Fribourg, Switzerland Etienne Nel, University of Otago, Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand Stanko Pelc, Department of Geography; Faculty of Humanities,  University of Primorska, Koper-Capodistria, Slovenia

This book series Perspectives on Geographical Marginality comprehensively overviews research, on areas and communities impacted by processes of marginalization as a result of globalization, economic, environmental, political and social change. This series seeks to discuss and determine what is geographical marginality by inviting leading international experts to publish theoretical and applied work. It also seeks to rigorously debate the degree to which local areas and communities are responding to these process of change and with what success. The series stems from the International Geographical Union’s (IGU)‚ ‘Commission on Globalization, Marginalization, and Regional and Local Response’ (C12.29). As is suggested by its name, the commission researches the problem of geographical marginality offering a leading forum from which this series will be led. Marginality cannot be defined without putting it into a certain perspective: economic, political and social (including cultural). Marginality has to be clearly distinguished from peripherality. Marginal areas may be a part of periphery or even the centre, but “cannot really be attributed to them”. Proposed themes which will be covered include: • Mountainous regions and globalization • Regional development and policy/or: Globalization and its impact on local and regional development • Theory of marginalization • Transformation of rural areas from the viewpoint of globalization and marginalization • Drivers of marginalization in border and peripheral areas. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15046

Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš  •  Walter Leimgruber Editors

Globalization, Marginalization and Conflict Political, economic and social processes

Editors Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš Faculty of Science, Department of Geography University of Zagreb Zagreb, Croatia

Walter Leimgruber Department of Geosciences, Geography University of Fribourg/CH Fribourg, Switzerland

ISSN 2367-0002     ISSN 2367-0010 (electronic) Perspectives on Geographical Marginality ISBN 978-3-030-53217-8    ISBN 978-3-030-53218-5 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53218-5 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Preface

Globalization, based on the neoliberal paradigm, has been creating inequalities at all scales across the world, constituting its dark side. The choices taken by (multinational and other) enterprises, often backed by the political system and its major decision makers, privilege certain regions and groups, while others find themselves at a disadvantage and are marginalized. Studying marginalized regions and people can sometimes be painful as one begins to side with the disadvantaged, yet we have to look at these phenomena also from a neutral scientific perspective, seeing them as an expression of life that consists of diversity and difference. We also have to acknowledge that they can change, although in certain cases, ideas are very strongly entrenched and difficult to be eradicated. The present capitalist socio-economic model is obsessed with the idea that everything must follow its Western standards. In its mainstream expression, it leaves no space to deviations that are found in local and regional culture – the way men’s suits resemble each other across the world is a telling example, but also the fact that English has become the sole language of science, although relevant research is also published in other languages. Besides, it privileges quantity over quality, as is manifest in the ‘publish or perish’ attitude. This is the sixth volume of the book series Perspectives on Geographical Marginality, and it explores diverse sides of the complex relationship between globalization and marginalization in many regions of the world. The case studies address its political, economic, social, and cultural processes and implications as well as its conflict potential. The book is organized into three parts, discussing the implications of globalization on society in terms of marginalization and conflicts, identities and borders, and poverty and disparities. It provides practitioners, researchers, studentsand other interested readers with a compelling look on various sides of globalization, including the dark one, which affects the most sensitive and vulnerable parts of society.

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Preface

Finally, we offer our warmest thanks to the authors for their contributions as well as their patience and cooperation during the editorial process. We also thank the entire team at Springer (Evelien Bakker, Bernadette Deelen-Mans, Corina van der Giessen and Neelofar Yasmeen) for their constant support in bringing this book to fruition. Zagreb, Croatia Fribourg, Switzerland

Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš Walter Leimgruber

Contents

Part I Introduction 1 Marginalization – The Dark Side of Globalization������������������������������    3 Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš and Walter Leimgruber Part II Society, Conflicts and Marginality 2 Civil Society vs. Globalization and Marginalization: Polarized vs. Organic Thinking��������������������������������������������������������������   15 Walter Leimgruber 3 Do We Need to Change the System? Think Global and Create a Local Alternative ��������������������������������������������������������������   31 Kristjan Nemac 4 Armed Conflicts as Generators of Marginalization ����������������������������   47 Stanko Pelc Part III Identities and Borders 5 Relict Borders as Present Social-Cultural Divides in Czechia: An Example of Religious Landscape����������������������������������   65 Tomáš Havlíček 6 Environmental Response to Marginality: Between Borderlands and Littoralization in the Eastern Adriatic ������������������������������������������   75 Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš 7 Other and/or Marginal: Coexistence of Identities in the Historical Borderlands of Croatia ����������������������������������������������   89 Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš

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8 Geography Education and the Borderlands: Using a Marginalized Discipline to Teach About the Margins������������  101 Lisa Millsaps, Thomas B. Larsen, Mary Curtis, and Maria Monakhova Part IV Poverty and Disparities 9 Living on the Edge: Housing Challenges of the Urban Poor in Port Elizabeth, South Africa��������������������������������������������������������������  119 Leizel Williams-Bruinders and Anton de Wit 10 Caste Rigidity and Socio-economic Condition of Dalits in India��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  135 Sahab Deen 11 Roma, Marginalization, Globalization and Conflicts Over Water: The Case of Slovenia����������������������������������������������������������  165 Alenka Janko Spreizer 12 The Circulation of Knowledge at the Time of the Agroecological Transition, the Case of the Drôme Valley (France)������������������������������  183 Sabine Girard, Pierre-Antoine Landel, and Corentin Thermes Part V Conclusion 13 Conclusion������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  199 Walter Leimgruber and Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš

Contributors

Mary Curtis  University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA Sahab  Deen Center for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India Anton  de Wit  Department of Geosciences, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš  Faculty of Science, Department of Geography, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia Sabine Girard  UR LESSEM, INRAE, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France Tomáš  Havlíček Department of Social Geography and Regional Development, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia Pierre-Antoine  Landel UMR CNRS 5194 PACTE  – CERMOSEM, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France Thomas B. Larsen  University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA, USA Walter Leimgruber  University of Fribourg/CH, Fribourg, Switzerland Lisa Millsaps  University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA, USA Maria Monakhova  University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA, USA Kristjan Nemac  Science and Research Centre Koper, Koper, Slovenia Stanko Pelc  Faculty of Education, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia Alenka Janko Spreizer  Faculty of Humanities, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia Corentin Thermes  UMR CNRS 7324 CITERES, Université de Tours, Tours, France Leizel  Williams-Bruinders  Department of Geosciences, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa ix

List of Box

Box 10.1  Caste Discrimination�����������������������������������������������������������������������  150

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List of Figures

Fig. 2.1 Fig. 2.2 Fig. 2.3 Fig. 2.4 Fig. 3.1

Fig. 3.2

Fig. 3.3

Fig. 4.1

Fig. 4.2

The polarized perspective............................................................... 18 The mitigation of polarization. (based on Offe 1973, from Grauhan and Linder 1974, p. 72)........................................... 19 The new polarization (Own elaboration, based on Fig. 2.2)........................................................................... 20 Environment, economy, people, and politics in balance (Own elaboration)........................................................................... 22 Map of Slovene Istria. (Source: Elaborated by the author from Surveying and Mapping Authority of the Republic of Slovenia https://www.e-prostor.gov.si/access-to-geodeticdata/ordering-data/. Accessed February 7, 2020)........................... 32 Gross domestic product by statistical regions in Slovenia. (Source: Elaborated by the author from Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia https://www.stat.si/StatWeb/en. Accessed January 9, 2020).............................................................. 33 Elections to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia. (Source: Elaborated by the author from State Election Commission https://www.dvk-rs.si/index.php/en. Accessed January 9, 2020).............................................................. 36 Number of conflicts by intensity according to UCDP/PRIO Armed Conflict Dataset version 19.1 where ‘Minor conflict/War’ category is the conflict with more than 1000 deaths since the onset. (Own elaboration; Source of data: Pettersson et al. 2019, Gleditsch et al. 2002)................................. 51 Number of conflicts by sides involved according to UCDP/PRIO Armed Conflict Dataset version 19.1 (Own elaboration; Source of data: UCDP/PRIO 2019, Pettersson et al. 2019, Gleditsch et al. 2002)................................. 52

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Fig. 4.3 Fig. 4.4 Fig. 4.5

Fig. 5.1

Fig. 5.2 Fig. 5.3

Fig. 6.1 Fig. 6.2 Fig. 6.3 Fig. 6.4 Fig. 6.5 Fig. 7.1

List of Figures

Refugee populations (in 1000) by UNHCR regions at the beginning and end of 2018. (Own elaboration; Source of data: UNHCR 2019, p. 14)............................................. 53 Year of arrival of interviewed Syrian refugees by gender, as a percentage of all in the sample (n = 41,228). (Own elaboration; Source of data: Tiltnes et al. 2019, p. 23)......... 57 The share of all households that own various durable goods (n = 7579) compared to households living in the camps (Own elaboration; Source of data: Tiltnes et al. 2019, p. 49)................................................................ 58 Share of religious population in Czechia according to municipalities (2011) with the 1930 Czech-German nationality border. (Own elaboration. Data source Czech Statistical Office 2014)................................................................... 68 Churches and chapels destroyed in Czechia during the communist period (1948–1989). (Source: Havlíček and Hupková 2008)......................................................................... 70 Small sacral sites: spatial distribution in Czechia (2007) with Czech-German nationality border in 1930. (Source: Havlíček and Lysák 2017 (modified)).............................. 71 The location of the study area. (Own elaboration. Cartographic base: d-maps.com).................................................... 77 The environmental context. (Own elaboration).............................. 83 The borderland context. (Own elaboration)................................... 84 The marginality context. (Own elaboration).................................. 84 Environmental response to marginality. (Own elaboration)........... 85

Fig. 7.2

The location of the study area. 1- Location of Morlacca. 2 – Location of Wallachia Minor. (Own elaboration. Cartographic base: d-maps.com).................................................... 92 From otherness to regional identity. (Own elaboration)................. 96

Fig. 8.1

Updated Fenneman Diagram. (Source: Own Elaboration)............. 105

Fig. 9.1

Locality map of Port Elizabeth (Own elaboration)........................ 128

Fig. 10.1 Hierarchical social order of the Hindu society (Source: Own elaboration, based on the Indian Social Order of Caste System).................................................................. 137 Fig. 10.2 Gross enrollment ratio (GER) in higher education (Source: Educational Statistics at a Glance 2016 & AISHE Report 2016–17, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India 2016)............................................................ 148

List of Figures

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Fig. 10.3 Crimes against Dalits under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (Source: Crime in India, 2001–2018, Reports of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) Government of India)..................................................................... 158 Fig. 10.4 Caste atrocities against Dalits 2001–2010 (Map A) and 2011–2018 (Map B) (Source: Crime Statistics, India, 2001 to 2018, National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) Government of India) Note: AN Andaman and Nicobar Islands, AP Andhra Pradesh, AR Arunachal Pradesh, AS Assam, BR Bihar, CG Chhattisgarh, CH Chandigarh, DD Daman and Diu, DL Delhi, DN Dadra and Nagar Haveli, GA Goa, GJ Gujarat, HP Himachal Pradesh, HR Haryana, JH Jharkhand, JK Jammu and Kashmir, KA Karnataka, KL Kerala, LD Lakshadweep, MH Maharashtra, ML Meghalaya, MN Manipur, MP Madhya Pradesh, MZ Mizoram, NL Nagaland, OD Odisha, PB Punjab, PY Pondicherry, RJ Rajasthan, SK Sikkim, TN Tamil Nadu, TR Tripura, UK Uttarakhand, UP Uttar Pradesh, WB West Bengal............................................................................. 159 Fig. 12.1 Localisation of the Drôme Valley. (Cartography: Pacte Cermosem, reproduced by permission).......................................... 184 Fig. 12.2 Agriculture of the nineteenth century: the predominance of the peasant model. (Authors’ own elaboration)......................... 186 Fig. 12.3 Agriculture at the end of the nineteenth century: the emergence of the industrial model. (Authors’ own elaboration)...................... 187 Fig. 12.4 As of 1962, the establishment of the modernised family farms. (Authors’ own elaboration)................................................. 188 Fig. 12.5 The emergence of territorial embedded farms, and coexistence among 4 differentiated systems. (Authors’ own elaboration)........ 191 Fig. 12.6 The processes of the circulation of knowledge in agriculture. (Authors’ own elaboration)..................................... 192

List of Tables

Table 2.1

Ways of having impact in a new economy: from direct service to framework change��������������������������������������������������������   24

Table 10.1 Composition of enrollment in higher education in %, 2015 (eight states)���������������������������������������������������������������������������������  149 Table 10.2 Educational attainment by Age (7+) and levels for social groups, India���������������������������������������������������������������������������������  151 Table 10.3 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) of Dalits and upper castes in %, 2015������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  152 Table 10.4 Availability of Housing Amenities in Dalits’ and upper caste’s households (in %), 2015 (Pucca houses are solid constructions of brick, concrete etc.)�����������������������������  153 Table 10.5 Availability of Household Equipment in Dalits’ and upper castes’ household (in %), 2015������������������������������������  154 Table 10.6 Employment status of Dalits and upper castes after completing higher education (%), 2015���������������������������������������  156

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Part I

Introduction

Chapter 1

Marginalization – The Dark Side of Globalization Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš and Walter Leimgruber

1.1  Background Globalization as “the processes through which sovereign national states are criss-­ crossed and undermined by transnational actors with varying prospects of power, orientations, identities and networks” (Beck 2000, p.11) in its intensity is a child of the twentieth century, but it follows a tradition of similar practices of international trade and influence that have been taking place for centuries. Economic and political actors have always cultivated a sort of love-hate relationship as a look at the history of the Hanse in the Middle Ages demonstrates: privileges were granted to foreign traders by rulers to the detriment of local traders which provoked anger and jealousy (Dollinger 1966, pp.248 f.). However, at that time the world was in a different state, politically, economically, and technologically. The ‘new global world’ of the present roots in the colonial period and represents a completely novel order following a different logic – two Brazilian geographers call it a world dis-order (Haesbert and Porto-Gonçalves 2005). They refer to our traditional way of seeing the world as naturally consisting of “a fixed geography of countries, boundaries and relations” (p.13; transl. WL). However, they describe this image as a European historical invention which was subsequently disseminated across the globe as part of the colonialist and imperialist expansion (ibid.). Together, the neoliberal economy and progress in transportation and communications technology have transformed the world radically. The nation-state has been declared obsolete, but for its inhabitants and their social organization it is still B. Fuerst-Bjeliš (*) Faculty of Science, Department of Geography, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia e-mail: [email protected] W. Leimgruber Department of Geosciences, Geography, University of Fribourg/CH, Fribourg, Switzerland e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 B. Fuerst-Bjeliš, W. Leimgruber (eds.), Globalization, Marginalization and Conflict, Perspectives on Geographical Marginality 6, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53218-5_1

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relevant. Attempts at reducing its role as the European Union has done (and is doing) are only partly successful. The cultural differences between the member states are substantial and they want to maintain at least part of their sovereignty, as illustrated by the exit of the United Kingdom in 2020 (Brexit), but also the disputes about the even distribution of refugees since 2015. Also, when the issue of power arises, the nation-state is still pertinent. When the United States concluded the North American Free Trade Agreement NAFTA (1994), they did so for the simple reason to facilitate trade between the three partners but did not envisage a closer union. When he replaced it in 2018 by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), President Trump played the power-card to effectively dominate the two neighbouring states. The new world dis-order is characterized on the one hand by the diverging interests of politics and the global economy, on the other by their combined action when major geo-economic and geopolitical interests are at stake. Although 30 years old, Rufin’s (1991) idea of the new limes perfectly illustrates the present state of the world. During the Roman Empire, the Limes separated the so-called Civilized World from the Barbarians and served as a fortification, similar to the Great Wall of China – needless to say that this is the perspective of the dominators. Even if the physical Limes has disappeared since, its symbolic value remains; it has simply moved from the physical to the mental world. From the nineteenth century onwards, following the European colonization of the world, the rift between the dominating North (the Centre) and the dominated South (the Margins) has widened between the ‘Empire’ and the ‘New Barbarians’. The former pretends to be the guardian of civilization, whereas the latter are considered uncivilized regions and are looked down upon. They were subsequently called ‘undeveloped’, ‘underdeveloped’, ‘Third World’, ‘developing’, ‘emerging’, ‘industrializing’ etc. countries to signify the distance between centre and margins. What remains is the gap between Haves and Havenots; it persists and is even widening. This is the new limes, a wall erected by the powerful against the dominated, and it exists on a global level as well as on regional and local scales. To what extent is globalization part of this process? We live in a complex, interdependent world where no country can really exist on its own as a self-sufficient community, at least not if the current level of living is to be maintained. Joint (multilateral) action is required; isolationism is not adequate to solve the many problems that affect all of us. While every country has its own way of tackling the issue of inequality, for example, it has also the faculty to learn from other countries’ solutions and experience. In particular, environmental questions can no longer be answered through national policy: pollution and degradation know no boundaries. The Coronavirus pandemic of 2019/2020 has taught us the same lesson: viruses (and, of course, bacteria) cross borders without passport, and they also demand collective action and cooperation rather than competition when it comes to stop a pandemic. We argue that the new limes and the accompanying marginalization on all scales is not the direct result of globalization as Beck has defined it but the consequence of human inadequacy to control the forces that drive it. Neither is globalization the only reason why people and regions are marginalized. But while economic

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globalization is often praised as being of benefit to mankind, it manifests many dark sides, although there are probably also bright ones. The challenge is to overcome the negative forces that seem to prevail at present and steer the world into a life-­ affirming future. Marginalization, triggered by various facets of globalization processes, always hits the weakest – being that demographically old people or those unoccupied and unable to keep up with new technologies and networking with the globalized world, those economically weak and unable to adapt to new global market networks or market laws, or persons environmentally constrained and/or geometrically distant from developmental flux and thus deepening already existing marginality. In global terms, but of course with inevitable regional, local and at the end also severe individual implications, perhaps one of the darkest sides of globalization is, in fact, the polarization of the world led by multinational corporations (MNC) within the philosophical paradigm of growth and development. Growth and development in this context are understood in neoliberal economic and financial terms. MNC operate globally and in order to rule the global market, they include into their economic cycle “the persistent peripheries” (Dicken 2015, p. 35), that enable their rule and dominance on a global scale. In such a way MNC intensify the polarization by marginalizing the persistent peripheries. MNC are also considered as, although not solely, an economic, but also a political means of foreign domination. In such an architecture of relations, the conjunction of (neoliberal) economy and politics in a global world, leaves no place for (ordinary) people and their true well being. So-called developing countries, those at the persistent periphery, are particularly vulnerable to economic exploitation and often subject to human-rights abuses and disruption of their own traditional economy. These marginalized regions serve as a reservoir of cheap labour, as a solution for waste disposal, and areas of contested technology of agricultural or industrial production in terms of ecological or health requirements. Eventually, processes at the global scale affect every particular human being and its well being, which is of course much more than bare subsistence in terms of wage. Marginalized areas, as said, being weak in every possible term, often have no other solution in such a neoliberal order of things than to comply with it. This book presents a number of studies of marginal areas of the globe and intends to point out the need to change the way of thinking, away from neoliberal, linear and polarized to organic and holistic reasoning, and include the ‘real’ people. It also stresses the potential of local communities, ‘ordinary people’ or the civil society (to say it this way), and the need to act when dealing with their own well being. The book shows various examples of unsuccessful top-down measures and projects of amelioration of quality of living when the real needs of real people were not considered, as well as successful original bottom-up initiatives of local communities. Case studies also embrace diverse forms of marginality – in spatial, social and temporal terms. And it always appears that marginality goes hand in hand with non-belonging, exclusion and weakness, whether it is due to the spatial or territorial position, political, and/or social-cultural position or position within/outside the global flux.

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1.2  Chapter Summary This book emanated from the IGU Thematic Conference ‘Geographies for Peace’, held in La Paz (Bolivia) in 2017, a conference whose aim was to mark a counterpoint to the idea that geography primarily serves to make war (Lacoste 1976). Indeed, apart from being driven by the curiosity for foreign countries (as propagated by Herodot), our discipline has also a military tradition that goes back to the utility of cartography in warfare. This tradition is still visible in most cartographic institutions that are institutionally attached to the ministries of defence; it is maintained in the name of the Chilean Institute of Military Geography (Instituto Geografico Militar) that represents the country in the IGU. The main presentations of our Commission during that conference focused on globalization as a source of marginalization, and marginality as a source of tensions and conflicts. In our times, when hegemonic aspirations still dominate, this focus is of great actuality. This book contains a number of contributions from our Commission session that have been adapted for this publication; other chapters were committed specially for it. They reflect our preoccupations with aspects of political, identity and social marginality and its dynamics. The book is structured in three thematic parts, each of them specifically discussing one aspect of marginalization; one of them  analyses the interdependence of society, conflicts and marginality; the other one is discussing various issues of borderland societies, identity and marginalization; and the third one deals with disparities and poverty in marginalized areas. The three chapters in Part 2 embrace the main ideas that tie together the economy-­ environment -politics-society complex arranged within the frame of neoliberal linear thinking of growth, and marginalization and conflicts as the outcomes of the global, but also paradoxically polarized world. Walter Leimgruber, in the opening Chap. 2, argues that the main root of today’s polarised world of growing inequalities, marginalization and deprivation lies in the global neoliberal economy, free trade agreements and the profit oriented way of thinking which neglects the individual, the (ordinary) people and civil society. He points out that the quantitative growth (and growth-mania) is a phaseout model. The polarization that it triggers, deprives billions of people of their basic needs and rights. The only way further is to take into account all people and to change our way of thinking toward qualitative growth instead. To illustrate this concept shift, the author discusses some alternative indigenous approaches of organic - holistic thinking from which we all can learn and profit, based on the premise of ‘everything is related to everything’ in the world as a unity. This shift marks the post-growth era. In Chap. 3, Kristjan Nemac continues the above discussion and points to the importance of regaining the control over one’s space for the empowerment of people. He argues that the active participation of individuals in spatial governance leads to empowerment. Through the analysis of two different case studies of alternative spatial governance of the local community in geographically marginalized areas, he points to the great potential of marginalized areas. Specifically, their (partial)

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exclusion from the system stimulates the community to find some degree of alternative modes of action. Studies show again that bottom-up models function better in the local community than top-down approaches, and stress the importance of empowering people at the local level. Eventually, it seems that good practices of demarginalization may come out from the local community itself. In Chap. 4, Stanko Pelc discusses one particular and complex aspect related to marginalization  – armed conflicts. As marginalization is one of the facets of the polarised world of growing inequalities, it has a strong conflict potential. But, as the author points out, it is not a one-way road. Not only marginality can be the reason for armed conflicts, but also marginalized people, groups and communities can be victims and subject to violence that may escalate to armed conflict. On the other side, there are unfortunately many examples in the world that illustrate how an armed conflict may lead to marginalization, e.g. that people must leave their homes and become homeless, displaced and refugees. The focus of Part 3 lies on boundaries, their persistence and their relevance for education. They are often the result of conflicts – European history offers countless examples. Old or relict boundaries are the result of the dynamics of borders, and they often remain manifest in present-day cultural landscapes, visibly or invisibly. An example from Poland had been shown by Lijewski (1978), where the dense railway network of pre-WWII German Silesia contrasted with the relatively loose network in central Poland. Chapter 5 focuses on religion which used to play an important role in people’s life, but secularization has changed this dramatically. Yet, even if less people go to church and membership of the ‘official’ Churches is dwindling, there are many relics of the religious past. In his contribution, Tomáš Havlíček leads back to the time before World War II and the incorporation of the German settled Sudeten region in Czechoslovakia into the Third Reich (1938). What previously had been an ethnic border between German immigrants (who arrived since the late thirteenth century) and the Czech population became a political boundary, which disappeared in 1945 only when Czechoslovakia was restored and the former German population expelled. However, more than 70 years after the end of World War II, it is still recognisable as a ‘relict (or phantom) boundary’ in the cultural landscape and continues to be a socio-cultural divide. Borders (or more precisely border regions) are also the subject of the two chapters by Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš. Chap. 6 analyzes the environmental response to marginality in the Eastern Adriatic region since the nineteenth century. This area of Mediterranean karst is subject to many constraints such as soil permeability, water scarcity, little and highly localized and workable land, and regular summer droughts. Since the Early Middle Ages, this area of the Dalmatian Hinterland has been a borderland region, subject to constant border changes with resulting insecurity, which did not favor a sedentary lifestyle. Marginalization is due to two groups of factors: the borderland position and the Mediterranean karst environment (inner push factors) and littoralization (external pull factor; population concentration in the urban littoral zone), with substantial economic development under the influence of globalization, attracting the inhabitants of the weak and marginal Dalmatian Hinterland.

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The same holds good for the remote island belt off the coast. The chapter examines the environmental change, essentially extensification and reforestation, entailing high environmental risks, such as wildfires. Chapter 7 looks at the Early Modern Croatian borderlands, for centuries an area of constant warfare and insecurity which made it, apart from being the periphery, a marginal area burdened with lots of disadvantages. The emigration of the autochthonous agricultural and sedentary population largely depopulated the areas and offered space for other cultural, mostly semi-nomad pastoral communities, named Vlachs or Morlachs. Due to being culturally and religiously different, these communities were perceived as Others and marginalized. They were people outside the official system and structure and found themselves at the margins of society. The perception of otherness has been built into the spatial concepts of border regions. Chapter 8 by Lisa Millsaps, Thomas B.  Larsen, Mary Curtis and Maria Monakhova looks at borders from a methodological and pedagogic perspective, considering borderlands as marginal regions. It asserts that there is no teaching about borderlands without geography, and that the geographic perspective is inextricably connected to learning about borderlands. Borders and border studies illustrate the relationship between global societal changes and their impact on places along the margins. Despite their relevance to understanding globalization and marginalization, they have been on the margins of American education for decades. The authors base their contribution on humanistic political geography (HPG) and the ideas of philosopher Edward Casey, proposing a three-pronged organizational framework (HPG borderland theory) for teaching about borderlands: borderlands as historical documents, as places of convergence, and in people’s expressions or perceptions. Part 4 contains four chapters, three on marginal groups and the fourth on an important agricultural issue that has to do with the relationship between humans and nature. Chapter 9 by Leizel Williams-Bruinders and Anton de Wit discusses the living conditions of the urban poor in South Africa’s social environment, a legacy of apartheid. Although a phenomenon of the past, its remains can still be recognized in the present infrastructural investments that exacerbate social inequalities resembling to that of apartheid segregationist planning. The urban poor in South African society include marginal groups of Non-Whites and Coloured, living in marginal locations and mostly in informal settlements at the edges of the city. The growth of these settlements was also strongly influenced by the influx of Africans migrating to Port Elisabeth in the period of industrial development of the town. Most of these marginalized dwellers are deprived of secondary education and employment while surviving on one dollar per day. As there were no local plans for development alternatives, the governmental programs saw only one option to improve the living conditions in terms of formal housing by relocating the affected families. The authors present one of the South Africa’s most ambitious top-down social housing projects. However, it appears as not a satisfactory solution, since relocated residents felt marginalized in the new remote location with poor transport connections, lacking sense of place and sense of home. This is the result of the emphasis on building houses instead of

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homes and communities. This proves again, as mentioned before, that real people and real needs matter and have to be taken into account. It also proves again that bottom-up models always yield better solutions, because they stem from real needs of people and communities than top-down models which often lack an understanding for what is really important. As seen in Chap. 3, good practices of demarginalization may more successfully come out from the local community itself, if it is not already too deprived to take initiatives. The Indian social order based on the caste system enables the most severe forms of social inequalities, discrimination, social exclusion and marginalization of certain social groups. In Chap. 10, Sahab Deen presents all the economic, social and cultural implications of the rigidity of the caste system on the Dalits, who find themselves at the lowest stratum in the Indian social hierarchy. Dalits are those who are considered Untouchables and as such also ‘impure’ and deprived in almost all spheres of social and personal life. Even more, they are faced with almost unimaginable hostility, violence and atrocities as well as injustice and social exclusion that are paradoxically almost tolerated by the society due to the tradition and rigidity of the system. The roots, as the author argues, lie in the (official) interpretation of Hindu religious texts. Indeed, if looking at the regional distribution of reported caste atrocities against Dalits, it is obvious that the highest number of cases were reported from the regions that are the core area of Hindu culture and later developed as a feudal society with the caste system. Although the practice of untouchability was (just) formally abolished in modern India after Independence in 1947 and discrimination against lower castes is considered illegal by the Indian Constitution, the social status of Dalits remained unchanged. Moreover, the strong tradition and rigidity of the caste system, as well as caste behaviour/discrimination is transferred to other newly adopted religion, and spread across the globe among immigrant Indians. Even so, caste discrimination has been recognized as a global social problem by the European Parliament in 2013. In Chap. 11, Alenka Janko Spreizer sheds light on the plight of the Roma (or gypsies), a minority that has always been discriminated and pushed to the margins of society. As with all cases of social marginalization, we are confronted with the perception of a particular group, with the issue of WE and the OTHERS. As itinerant people, mobility is part of their existence, but this makes them suspect in the eyes of many people because they have neither a fixed dwelling nor a regular job – they are not mainstream. Very often they are subject to a racialist discourse, and they are often seen as criminals, even if they usually earn their living by regular petty trades. Of particular importance in the present-day context is the European Union which guarantees free movement to its citizens. However, Roma inclusion has not yet taken place despite political efforts, mainly due to the lack of will at the level of local communities or because of the resistance of the majority population. We have to do with a deeply rooted structural rejection of Roma. Agriculture is the essential activity for the survival of our society. Currently, we are experiencing a movement away from ‘conventional’ to ecologically based or organic farming. In Chap. 12 Sabine Girard, Pierre-Antoine Landel and Corentin Thermes examine the current agroecological transition in a region of southeastern

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France, the Drôme valley. This process marks the passage from one system to another, different both in terms of agricultural production and valorization. It involves changes in ways of production, among which the creation and circulation of knowledge innovation merit attention. The chapter analyses the evolution and superposition of the different models of agricultural operations. It goes on to discuss the hybridization between the different knowledge types of the production process: traditional skills transmitted regionally, modern imported expertise, and the knowledge resulting from experience gained during the transition. Three types of transmitters could be identified: ‘continuers’, ‘networkers’, and ‘ecosystemers’.

1.3  Concluding Remarks The choice of chapters and case studies in the book well illustrates the range of marginality around the globe as well as the variety of interrelations between marginalization and globalization. Globalization may be seen as a trigger of marginalization and, as shown by numerous studies, marginalization appears as its dark side. At the other hand, particular phenomena and processes, such as discrimination, deeply embedded in local traditions, history and culture that are empowering segregation and marginalization of certain social groups spread globally by immigrant groups and become a global social problem of the contemporary world. Globalization and marginalization are deeply intertwined processes. Neoliberal economy and politics create a world of inequalities and injustice. They are based on the dualism of dominators/rulers and marginalized. In order to maintain their power, the former imperatively need the later. The studies in this book show a number of local developments and initiatives of coping with marginalization and prove how important every individual and every human being is, and how and why bottom-up models are more promising in terms of empowering the local community to fight the marginalization than top-down ones.

References Beck, U. (2000). What is globalization? Cambridge: Polity Press. Dicken, P. (2015). Global shift: Mapping the changing contours of the world economy (7th ed.). Guilford Publication. Dollinger, P. (1966). Die Hanse, Kröner, Stuttgart (Original: La Hanse (XIIe – XVIIe siècles), Aubier, Paris. Haesbert, R., & Porto-Gonçalves, C. W. (2005). A nova des-ordem mundial. São Paolo: UNESP. Lacoste, Y. (1976). La géographie, ça sert, d’abord, à faire la guerre, Paris, Maspero (new editions 2012, 2014, Paris, La Découverte).

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Lijewski, T. (1978). The integration of the transport networks of territories with different histories: The case of contemporary Poland. In R. Caralp & U. Sulser (Eds.), Etudes de géographie des transports – Transportation studies (Basler Beiträge zur Geographie 26) (pp. 153–161). Rufin, J.-C. (1991). L’empire et les nouveaux barbares. Rupture Nord-Sud. Paris: Hachette/Jean-­ Claude Lattès.

Part II

Society, Conflicts and Marginality

Chapter 2

Civil Society vs. Globalization and Marginalization: Polarized vs. Organic Thinking Walter Leimgruber

2.1  Introduction We live in a complex world and risk to lose the overview over events that concern us every day, both locally and globally. There are many scapegoats for our dilemma: the government, the economy, globalization, the increasing velocity of life, or the associated digital revolution. The roots of this malaise lie in the Age of Enlightenment, when humans recognized that they could master nature, if they managed to understand its forces (Gronemeyer 1993, p. 99). Machines began to replace manpower in the industrial revolution, increasing the speed of production. We know that life is limited, but the lure of material goods is unlimited. “If life is short, this is compensated by velocity.” (ibid., p. 103; transl. WL). Speed reduces the constraints of space and time but increases the gap between people with and without access to the respective technical means: “To put it in a nutshell: rather than homogenizing the human condition, the technological annulment of temporal/spatial distances tends to polarize it.” (Bauman 1998, p. 18; original emphasis). This is the Enlightenment’s “dark side”: the “rational management of human society, knowledge and nature so often found at the heart of the modern condition.” (Withers and Livingstone 1999, p. 8). The topic of this chapter has initially been inspired by the discussions in Europe around TTIP, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. It triggered widespread protest movements demonstrating that civil society, globalization, and marginalization are directly linked to this 2013 treaty between the United States and the European Union. Bones of contention were the secrecy surrounding the negotiations, the role played by transnational companies, and the planned arbitration rule. However, the project has been provisionally shelved in 2017 because of fierce W. Leimgruber (*) Department of Geosciences, Geography, University of Fribourg/CH, Fribourg, Switzerland e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 B. Fuerst-Bjeliš, W. Leimgruber (eds.), Globalization, Marginalization and Conflict, Perspectives on Geographical Marginality 6, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53218-5_2

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opposition, threats from different EU countries, and probably because it does not ‘make America great again’. Since the TTIP dispute, the climate protest movement (Fridays for Future) has opened up an entirely new dimension. The young generation, usually ignored or at best belittled, has taken up a topic that has deeply resounded in the civil society. The young people are concerned about the state of the world they are going to live in as grown-ups, working people, future parents. Their appeal goes beyond climate change and concerns the way we live with (or rather against) nature. They question the very values behind our actions. The fact that they receive strong support from all generations above them illustrates that they touched a sensitive domain. The TTIP has demonstrated the conflict potential lying in such (almost) global trade agreements and the relative weakness of the State (that represents the population, i.e. ‘ordinary’ people) versus the power of the neoliberal economy. Fridays for Future, on the other hand, demonstrates that the civil society has realized that our very future is at stake, not only that of transnational companies. This chapter therefore looks at this critical issue, potential conflicts and ways out – war and peace are not understood in the military sense although street protests often degenerate into war-like situations. Violence is a sign that one is short of arguments. The Extinction Rebellion movement more directly confronts the power than do the peaceful climate parades. It challenges the fact that both governments/administrations and the private sector do not listen to arguments but try to water them down. The background behind my reflections in this chapter is the need to overcome polarization in every sense. This requires adopting a holistic attitude in our search for solutions and get all actors on board.

2.2  Definitions In the following discussion of the three key terms in the title, I shall put the cart before the horse and discuss them in inverted order. As discussed earlier, marginalization means to be pushed to the ‘edge’ or ‘fringe’ (Leimgruber 1994), distanced from centre or core. It is more than a spatial term. “[M]arginalised people might be socially, economically, politically and legally ignored, excluded or neglected, and are therefore vulnerable to livelihood change.” (Gurung and Kollmaier 2007, p. 9). It often implies segregation and exclusion in the social context, location, distance and relations in the spatial dimension (ibid.) – here lies a potential for social conflict. The term marginal must be seen from the perspectives of scale and context. The “spatial units of analysis” (Mehretu and Sommers 1994, p. 68) defines a region as marginal, and so does the context, e.g. a region’s endowment with resources. “Switzerland is very marginal, but this drawback is offset by the focus on human capital where the country occupies a fairly central position.” (Leimgruber 2004, p.  40). Also, the concept is dynamic (Gurung and Kollmaier 2007, p.  10):

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marginality is not an end-state, demarginalization can follow marginalization, because of new circumstances or new perceptions. History is full of examples. To define globalization, I refer to Ulrich Beck who calls it “the processes through which nation-states and their sovereignty are undermined and criss-crossed by transnational actors, their prospects of power, orientations, identities and networks.” (1997, p. 28 f.; original emphasis). The result of this process is globalism, where “the world market supplants or eliminates political action, i.e., the ideology of rule by the world market, the ideology of neoliberalism.” (ibid. 1997, p. 26), and globality is the fact that “[w]e have been living for a long time in a world society in the sense that the idea of closed spaces is becoming fictitious. No country, no group can shut itself off from others.” (ibid., 1997, p. 27 f.; original emphasis; all quotations translated WL). Beck suggests that the nation-state (the political system) is threatened because forces other than political can take the lead in governing the world. Such a force is the economy, particularly transnational companies (TNCs); others are NGOs and grassroots movements that originate in the civil society, while international organizations owe their existence to national governments. A well-known action of the civil society is the anti-globalization movement, a revolt by the people against being marginalized and not taken seriously. The ‘civil society’ (although the term is somewhat “nebulous, defined more by what it is not – the state of business – than what it is”; De Ville and Siles-Brügge 2016, p. 148) is discovering that it has been cheated by the elites. Who or what is the civil society? Hann (2011) defines it as “that segment of present-day societies that lies outside households but also outside the direct influence of the state” (p. 447; transl. WL). Hauff (2003) lists a number of institutions that constitute the civil society: “enterprises, associations, science, churches, non-state educational institutions etc.” (p. 32; transl. WL), but I would also include individuals. Spontaneous citizen initiatives are also part of civil societies (Notz 2003, p. 428). Civil societies are one of several western fundamental values (Hildebrandt 2003, p.  386), whose export to non-western societies and cultures can rightly be criticized (Hann 2011, p.  448), particularly because historical and institutional conditions are different.1 Personally, I see the civil society as that part of contemporary society that can operate independent of the state (political and bureaucratic systems) in defending its interests and securing its wishes. Ideally, this should happen within the state’s legal framework, but there are political systems that do not allow this and try to quell such actions, despite propagating democracy as their political leitmotif – but democracy is ill defined2 and subject to many interpretations. 1  One effect of globalization and the digital revolution is the global diffusion of western values and ideas. 2  George Orwell (2003, p. 4) notes: “In the case of a word like DEMOCRACY, not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides. It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it: consequently the defenders of every kind of régime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using the word if it were tied down to any one meaning.” (original emphasis). However, Michel Foucault (in

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Civil society actions demonstrate that the general public is no longer prepared to be warded off with political and economic quasi-arguments and opposes the dominant neoliberal system that enhances inequality. The common vision of all civil society organizations is social justice (Koehler 2020, p.13).

2.3  Polarized Thinking: Economy vs. Society Western society is driven by the growth- and profit-oriented neoliberal3 paradigm with its reductionist (polarized) perspective of a society with two players: producers (the economic system) and consumers (the people; Fig. 2.1). The former control all products they put on the market for the latter to satisfy their needs, and the latter accept this ‘help’ because they do not have to reflect on their needs. Through “conscious corporate manipulation” (Barber 2007, p. 7), the economy tells the public which are their needs, assuming that the customers are unable to think independently and nicely follow the publicity. The neoliberal paradigm of the Chicago school (Milton Friedman) pretends that the invisible hand of the market can regulate everything (Klein 2008, p. 33). It is a radical (fundamentalist) ideology that does not take the human being with its intellectual capacities into account.4 The reality, however, looks different. Neither can the economy act in total freedom, nor are all people docile consumers who accept everything without thinking. Even if consumers sometimes prefer to be told what they might need, they will also reflect on their decisions to buy – after all, budgets are usually limited. The economy on its part faces many constraints, in the natural environment as well as in the society that impose limitations to its actions. Technical solutions exist for all problems, but the costs may be prohibitive and the society may refuse to pay the price. A cost-benefit analysis to overcome natural obstacles has to adopt a long-term perspective that is contrary to short-term economic thinking. The logic of the self-regulating market creates inequalities, and only an outside intervention can reduce or eliminate marginality. “Since the working of such markets threatens to destroy society, the self-preserving action of the community was

Economy

People

Fig. 2.1  The polarized perspective

Chomsky and Foucault, p. 39) contends that “we are very far from democracy” because populations are divided into classes and “we are living under a regime of a dictatorship of class, of power of class.” 3  This term is in itself controversial. I use it here to simplify the arguments, not to start a debate on it. 4  Parallels to religious fundamentalism are obvious.

Economy

Politics

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People

Fig. 2.2 The mitigation of polarization. (based on Offe 1973, from Grauhan and Linder 1974, p. 72)

meant to prevent their establishment or to interfere with their free functioning, once established.” (Polanyi 1944, p. 210). Despite (or because of) the free economy and globalization, we need a functioning political system. This polarization has been criticized by Claus Offe (1973). He inserted a buffer between the economic system and the population (the legitimizing system), which he calls the political system. It functions in both directions: it defends the population’s interests (the need for security and social balance) and in return obtains its legitimization through loyalty (Fig. 2.2). The economy benefits from state regulations and infrastructure, but contributes a large share to the state budget. Offe (1973, in Grauhan and Linder 1974, p. 72) calls this role ‘organizational disconnection’ and mitigates the polarized view. In this way he defends the State, who has various functions that cannot be fulfilled by the economy for the benefit of the entire society. According to Boesler (1983, p. 192), it provides infrastructure (service function), fights socio-economic disparities (regional compensation function), assists disadvantaged regions (regional development function), maintains social peace (stability function) and protects its citizens (security function). The balance between economic and legitimizing system is guaranteed. These functions have not changed, but putting them into effect has become more difficult. Our thinking has become increasingly linear (input ➛ output or usefulness-­ oriented), which leads to the fragmentation of knowledge, and the State is gradually losing its buffer role. The political system has to some extent moved towards and become an accomplice of the economic system. It has been marketized (Birch and Siemiatycki 2016); public and private spheres become increasingly entangled (ibid., p. 178), and the latter usually prevail by imposing their interests. As a result, polarization and inequalities are increasing, the people receive less but the economy more from politics. The balance is skewed and economic (cum political) and legitimizing system risk to enter into a power conflict (Fig. 2.3). “The ability of business to fund politicians has created a back door for established firms to unfairly influence policy.” (Bateman 2017), and the political system comes to the rescue if business is threatened, e.g. during the banking crisis when “the rescue of the banks made the state look like it was an instrument of the banks, rather than representative of the democratic will of the people. “(ibid.). This new polarization has a considerable conflict potential and it is not only about material goods and inequality but mainly about fairness and credibility, the

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People

Fig. 2.3  The new polarization (Own elaboration, based on Fig. 2.2)

way the economic system has been treating the public (Rodrick 2016). Many events demonstrate that the public begins to react (Seattle protests 1999, the gilets jaunes movement in France 2018–2019, the Fridays for Future movement, following the school strike for climate 2018). Those in power are not enthusiastic about these reactions, particularly when they degenerate into violent deflagrations of material objects (shop windows, cars) and rioters confront the police. Violence is the result of linear thinking and a sign that both sides have run out of arguments, but also that the political class and the economic leaders do not see the population as serious partners for discussions. To simply play the power card will not solve the problem of polarization but is a sign of despair. However, the young generation has understood the challenge and receives substantial support from older people. The greed for power and profit drives the combined economic-political system. Interest groups lobby the political system, and corporate money interferes with the political process (Bello 2004, e.g. pp. 10 f., 18). A lot of human intelligence is used (wasted) to that effect. All inequalities among humans have to do with power relations, which Raffestin considers as a stakeholder in every relationship (“Le pouvoir est partie prenante dans toute relation.” Raffestin 1980, p. 45). This becomes obvious in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, where the pigs (the most intelligent animals on the farm) gradually seize power and dominate all other animals. The original seventh commandment (“All animals are equal”; Orwell 1945, p.  23) eventually becomes the only one remaining, but with a significantly altered content: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” (ibid., p. 114). This change marginalizes an entire population. Knowledge is power, that is why companies (and frequently also the political system) try to operate in secrecy5 and hide as much information as possible from the ordinary customers (and citizens) and are interested in keeping as many people as possible ignorant about what is really going on. The negotiations of the TTIP are a case in point. This entails two further questions: Why is elementary education not free to all children in all countries? And, why does the political Right in many countries favour

5  Also, the pigs hold their meetings in secrecy and simply communicate their decisions to the other animals on the farm. At the end of the story, the situation is almost the same as at the beginning, and the animals were so bewildered that they could no longer tell the difference between humans and pigs, looking “from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” (Orwell 1945, p. 120).

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cuts in the educational budgets? My (provocative) answer is simple: an educated population will question political and economic decisions and demand participation in the political process. It can (and will) challenge the power (state institutions) as well as the Power (the authority)6 and in this way, contribute to the development of society. People participation means democracy and freedom of expression.

2.4  (Not So) New Thinking It is possible to escape from this worsening polarization that will eventually lead humanity into an abyss? All processes in our society originate from the way we think and from the values we share. While mankind is extremely diverse, there are a few necessities we all have in common: to eat and drink, find shelter, and live in safety. These are three basic needs, but as Max-Neef (1991, p. 32 f.; see Appendix 2.1) demonstrates, there are several more we have to satisfy. The current polarized thinking deprives billions of people to satisfy even the most elementary ones. While nature does not figure explicitly in his scheme it is nevertheless present in subsistence, leisure, identity, and freedom. The linear model of Fig.  2.1 and its progressive evolution (Figs.  2.2 and 2.3) seem to have reached the end of their life, and new ideas are requested. Quantitative growth is a phaseout model, an “ideology [that] must be challenged.” (Danaher 2001, p.  36). The emphasis in the future will be on qualitative development. To achieve this turnaround requires a shift in our thinking, our standing for all humans. And it will obviously demand that we forego certain habits. Scientists can help us by showing alternatives. As members of the civil society they play various roles: citizens, parents, professionals, advisors to economy and politics, etc. Theoretically, scientists are unbiased, but given their multiple roles their interests may clash. They usually show us where the problems lie and they come up with answers and solutions, but they have few possibilities to influence the minds of decision makers in politics and economy. Hence the ideas of (not so) new thinking can only bear fruit if the crucial actors are ready to change their minds. An alternative to the linear model is organic thinking (Wood 1987). It is based on the fact that everything is related to everything, that there is a mutual influence even if at first sight it might not be obvious. Indigenous peoples are fully aware of this (UNEP 1999), but in the course of the development of civilization, such knowledge was forgotten or side-lined. We needed a ‘new’ theory as von Bertalanffy’s general systems theory (1968) that taught us to understand our complex world. The goal of systems is self-preservation, not growth – the inhabitants of the rainforests know this well enough. Systems comprise various levels of subsystems in complex relationships. By developing the idea of the human ecology triangle, Steiner (1988) simplified this

 This distinction has been suggested by Raffestin (1980, p. 44).

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Fig. 2.4 Environment, economy, people, and politics in balance (Own elaboration)

Environment

Politics

People

Economy

complexity and eased thinking in interconnections. It focuses on the interactions between individual, society and the subjective, social and physical world (Leimgruber 2004, pp. 54). From the perspective of this chapter, its modified version includes, along with the three elements environment, people, and economy also politics as the pivot around which everything revolves. Together they constitute a life-support system (Fig. 2.4) which sees the world as a unity. This model invites us to think in interrelationships which are needed to keep the system balanced. The unity is part of the timeless knowledge of indigenous people and can be discovered throughout the vast UNEP (1999) collection of texts. The growth-mania at the bottom of our considerations has been criticized decades ago. Although not directly mentioned, it is at the background of many of Rachel Carson’s statements from the 1950s onwards (see Lear 1998, particularly pp. 147–163, 201–210, 211–22, 227–245). It hit the frontpages when the report of the Club of Rome revealed that there are indeed limits to growth (Meadows et al. 1972), a book that triggered off hot and controversial debates. However, two follow­up studies 20 and 30 years later (Meadows et al. 1992; Meadows et al. 2005) demonstrated that it was fundamentally correct. It focused on the problem of overshoot, of unintentionally stepping beyond a limit (driving too fast, producing too much etc.) without observing warning signs. The paradox of growth, the call for sustainable development and the key role of nature are also the subject of the report edited by Van Dieren (1995), in the middle of the controversies around the limits to growth. The book does not necessarily open up new ways of thought but insists on what has been said by numerous authors before, but the title is explicit: nature can no longer be ignored. Unfortunately, the focus was mainly on the failure of the GDP as an economic indicator and how to replace it. Taking nature into account is difficult because “many nonproduced natural assets are not [and cannot be – WL] marketed” (p. 272) – this includes the beauty of landscapes as well as land. Both exist and have not been produced by manpower, hence there is no market (see Polanyi 1944, p. 75).

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The many reports and studies called for a new mindset that should acknowledge that growth cannot continue forever. For years, the economist Herman Daly has been advocating a paradigm change, based on the limits to growth and on the simple fact that the (macro-)economy is a part of the ecosystem and not vice versa (Daly 1996). It is possible to offer humanity a good future if a number of “fundamental assumptions” (Hawken et al. 1999, p. 9) are considered (Appendix 2.2). The basis of life is the natural environment, and this is limited, a fairly closed system with an input of solar energy and an output of depleted energy. The throughput is the process by which human and financial capital transform nature capital into manufactured capital. The economy applies an absolute perspective and considers the increasing production of goods as growth, but real growth would be the increase per unit of input (productivity), i.e. a qualitative component. Besides, it does not consider that apart from goods it also produces bads (unwanted by-products or waste). Daly (1996) points to a colossal error in our thinking: “Since bads are unpriced, GDP accounting cannot subtract them — instead it registers the additional production of anti-bads (which do have a price) and counts them as goods. For example, we do not subtract the cost of pollution as a bad, yet we add the value of pollution cleanup as a good. This is asymmetric accounting. In addition, we count the consumption of natural capital (depletion of mines, wells, aquifers, forests, fisheries, or topsoil, for instance) as if it were income rather than capital drawdown—a colossal accounting error.” If we take this line of thought into account, we realize that (economic) growth in the conventional sense (quantitative) is a myth, cultivated by those who benefit of the reckless exploitation of natural capital. But how will a post-growth economy look like? The concept of social entrepreneurship has been around for some time. An example is the Ashoka organization and network that looks back on almost 40 years of history. Founded in 1980, it unites innovative individuals with a vision that is not primarily driven by financial profit but by benefits for the society or the environment. A social entrepreneur is “a person driven by an innovative idea that can help correct an entrenched global problem.” (https://www.ashoka.org/en-CH/ ashoka%27s-history; 12.02.2019). She or he “aims for value in the form of large-­ scale, transformational benefit that accrues either to a significant segment of society or to society at large.” (Martin and Osberg 2007, pp. 34 f.). The Grameen Bank, founded by Mohammad Yunus, is an example (Leimgruber and Blumenthal 2010), although the reality of microfinance in recent years looks different (Sugie 2019). Social entrepreneurship is one possible answer to current problems, but it is a small-scale initiative, requiring courage and conviction and a lot of endurance. Small and medium enterprises can more easily respect social and environmental standards because of their flexibility, but they must nevertheless be careful to stay in business. However, this is one model of a post-growth economy. To be innovative and accept new ideas and put them into practice requires a change in thinking. According to Ashoka it is imperative “to build the specific skillset of every individual to be able to function in a world of constant change, what Ashoka calls the Everyone a Changemaker world  – a world where every young

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Table 2.1  Ways of having impact in a new economy: from direct service to framework change Direct service Scaled direct service Systems change

Framework changes

Description Innovations that provide populations with goods and services Models that unlock efficiency and impact through well-managed logistics of an intervention A new model that addresses the root cause of a problem. Involves policy change, widespread adoption of specific methodology by leading organizations, and new behaviors within specific markets People see and understand the world differently, affecting individual mindsets at large scale and changing behaviors across society as a whole

Example An NGO that provides food to a community in need A social enterprise that makes and sells low-cost gardening tools A social entrepreneur teaches people to use agroecological farming methods to produce in a sustainable way. Reach a point where it is the norm for consumers to demand organic food

Source: Wells (2018, p. 8), modified

person masters the skills of empathy, leadership, teamwork, and changemaking, and where every individual has the ability to identify social problems and create positive change.” (Wells 2018, p. 3). It is no easy way, but by going it we can leave old paths and turn towards innovation – not only in products (traditional view) but primarily in ideas (new view). To put it into practice can occur in various steps (Table 2.1), from simple help to a radical transformation of consumer behaviour. Ultimately it is consumer empowerment, a change that has become apparent in the past few years (with the increase of organic food, for example).

2.5  The Place and Responsibility of the Civil Society The public or the civil society is directly concerned by the latter statement. We are all consumers, and contrary to traditional economic thinking we are becoming increasingly alert and critical towards the conventional economy. Consumers hold considerable power if they decide to use it: renouncing consumption, shifting preferences, denouncing evil practices are some of the instruments at our disposal, to say nothing of direct pressure on governments. It is most likely the civil society, the consumers and the small and medium enterprises that will drive the post-growth society, the former from the demand-side, the latter from the supply side. The main problem, however, lies with our understanding of well-being or prosperity. We are used to define rich, poor, prosperous etc. in terms of money, but they are “not synonymous with income or wealth. Rising prosperity is not the same thing as economic growth.” (Jackson 2009, p. 16). Prosperity is more of a qualitative than a quantitative term and includes our quality of life, social relations, satisfaction; money is only one part of it and not necessarily the most important one (ibid., p. 102). People can be happy without or with very little. In subjective well-being or happiness, money accounts for 7%, whereas partner and family for 47%, health for 24%, and community and friend for 6% (ibid., p. 31).

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The fear that our current prosperity will disappear unless our economy keeps growing is legitimate but unfounded. The civil society, i.e. that part of society that operates outside the State, can act in such a way as to bring about a radical change. Since the economy (from small and medium enterprises to transnational companies) is part of civil society, everybody has to cooperate. The Ashoka network is a beginning. An alternative approach has been taken by Bhutan, where Gross National Happiness is part of the national strategy to improve people’s lives and ensure the country’s future. In 2011, the United Nations General Assembly endorsed it with a resolution (UN General Assembly 2011) which asked the member states to develop additional measures to the GDP “that better capture the importance of the pursuit of happiness and well-being in development with a view to guiding their public policies.” The imperative of happiness is deeply rooted in Bhutanese tradition. “Bhutan’s ancient legal code of 1629 stated that, ‘if the government cannot create happiness for its people, then there is no purpose for government to exist’”. (http://www.gnhcentrebhutan.org/what-is-gnh/history-of-gnh/; 12.02.2019). This statement is addressed to the political system, which could use its power over the civil society to promote happiness. As part of the civil society, the citizens (consumers, workers etc.) should claim this – they know what happiness really is. Gross National Happiness includes four pillars: good governance, sustainable socio-economic development, preservation and promotion of culture, and environmental conservation (http://www.gnhcentrebhutan.org/what-is-gnh/the-4-pillarsof-gnh/; 12.02.2019). They represent what we would expect of a post-growth society: more emphasis on quality and scaling down the exclusive quantitative outlook that dominates most of our thinking. Scientists usually know the answer to all problems. The answers and the solutions are not the problem, rather it is the will on all levels to resort to them and put them into practice. The profit-driven economy does not see an incentive to change their practices, and the political system is too much dependent on it to impose drastic measures. Politicians could lose the next election and therefore their power, but who wants to share power?

2.6  Conclusion This chapter has emphasized the need for a new way of thinking, of looking at the relationships between human society and the natural environment, seeing the world as from a macroscopic perspective with its many interrelationships (De Rosnay 1975). Our society has become very complex, and polarized thinking has resulted in a strong imbalance. The consequences of free trade agreements and globalization are inequality and marginalization and also loss of sovereignty. Organic (or systemic) thinking can take us out of this dead end that can lead to the next species extinction, this time of humans – we have the technical means (ABC weapons) as well as the intellectual capacities (greed for profit, for power, for domination etc.). It is important to remember that there is always a way out of such a situation, but it requires a change. We have seen that new approaches exist in the economic field that

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privilege social responsibility. And we see in daily life that the civil society in many countries opposes the drive for more power by the so-called elites. We are on the road to a fundamental change in our thinking and behaviour, radical transformations of our societies. It is a long process that requires patience and perseverance as well as positive intellectual inputs to achieve the aim of a more just society that lives in harmony with nature. Acknowledgement  I thank Dr. Sandra Grèzes for her valuable input.

Appendices Appendix 2.1: Max Neef’s Human Basic Needs Matrix Fundamental human needs Subsistence

Protection

Affection

Understanding

Participation

Leisure

Creation

Identity

Freedom

Interacting Doing (actions) (settings) Feed, clothe, Living rest, work environment, social setting Social Co-operate, Care, adaptability Social security, plan, take care environment, autonomy health systems, dwelling of, help work Privacy, intimate Respect, sense of Friendships, family, Share, take spaces of care of, make relationships with humour, togetherness love, express nature generosity, emotions sensuality Critical capacity, Literature, teachers, Analyse, study, Schools, families, universities, curiosity, intuition policies educational meditate, communities, investigate Associations, Responsibilities, Cooperate, Receptiveness, dedication, sense duties, work, rights dissent, express parties, churches, neighbourhoods opinions of humour Landscapes, Games, parties, Day-dream, Imagination, intimate spaces, peace of mind remember, tranquillity relax, have fun places to be alone spontaneity Spaces for Abilities, skills, Invent, build, Imagination, expression, work, techniques design, work, boldness, workshops, compose, inventiveness, audiences interpret curiosity Places one belongs Get to know Language, Sense of oneself, grow, to, everyday religions, work, belonging, commit oneself settings customs, values, self-esteem, norms consistency Anywhere Equal rights Dissent, Autonomy, choose, run passion, risks, develop self-esteem, awareness open-mindedness Being (qualities) Physical and mental health

Having (things) Food, shelter, work

Source: http://www.rainforestinfo.org.au/background/maxneef.htm (09.02.2019)

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Appendix 2.2: New Mind-Set 1. The environment is not a minor factor of production but rather is “an envelope containing, provisioning, and sustaining the entire economy” (Daly 1997) 2. The limiting factor to future economic development is the availability and functionality of natural capital, in particular life supporting services that have no substitutes and currently have no market value. 3. Misconceived or badly designed business systems, population growth, and wasteful patterns of consumption are the primary causes of the loss of natural capital, and all three must be assessed to achieve a sustainable economy. 4. Future economic progress can best to take place in democratic, market-based systems of production and distribution in which all forms of capital are fully valued, including human, manufactured, financial, and natural capital. 5. One of the keys to the most beneficial employment of people, money, and the environment is radical increases in resource productivity. 6. Human welfare is best served by improving the quality and flow of desired services delivered, rather than by merely increasing the total dollar flow. 7. Economic and environmental sustainability depends on redressing global inequities of income and material well-being. 8. The best long-term environment for commerce is provided by true democratic systems of governance that are based on the needs of people rather than business. Source: Hawken et al. 1999, pp. 9 f

References Barber, B. R. (2007). Consumed. How markets corrupt children, infantilise adults and swallow citizens whole. New York: Norton. Bateman V. (2017). Capitalists  – Not socialists  – Are killing capitalism., https://unherd. com/2017/07/capitalists-not-socialists-killing-capitalism/. 9 March 2019. Bauman, Z. (1998). Globalization. The human consequences. Cambridge: Polity. Beck, U. (1997). Was ist Globalisierung? Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. Bello, W. (2004). Deglobalization. Ideas for a new world economy. London: Zed Books. Birch, K., & Siemiatycki, M. (2016). Neoliberalism and the geographies of marketization: The entangling of state and markets. Progress in Human Geography, 40(2), 177–198. Boesler, K.-A. (1983). Politische Geographie. Stuttgart: Teubner. Daly, H. (1996). The end of uneconomic growth, Acceptance speech, Right Livelyhood Award. http://www.2052.info/glimpse-41/. Accessed 10 Feb 2019 Daly H.  E. (1997). Uneconomic growth: From empty-world to full-world economics. In Rice University, DeLange Woodlands conference sustainable development: Managing the transition, Houston TX (published by Cambridge University Press 2000: Sustainable Development: The challenge of transition). Danaher, K. (2001). 10 reasons to abolish the IMF & World Bank. New York: Seven Stories Press. De Rosnay, J. (1975). Le macroscope. Paris: Seuil. De Ville, F., & Siles-Brügge, G. (2016). TTIP. The truth about the transatlantic trade and investment partnership. Cambridge: Polity Press.

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Orwell, G. (2003). Politics and the English language. Essay. http://www.george-orwell.org/ Politics_and_the_English_Language/0.html. Accessed 25 June 2016. Polanyi, K. (1944). The great transformation. The political and economic origins of our time. Boston: Beacon Press. Raffestin, C. (1980). Pour une géographie du pouvoir. Paris: LITEC. Rodrick, D. (2016). The Walloon mouse, Dani Rodrik’s webblog, October 22, 2016. http://rodrik. typepad.com. Accessed 09 Feb 2019. Steiner, D. (1988). Das Dreieck und der Kreis. In D.  Steiner, C.  Jaeger, & P.  Walther (Eds.), Jenseits der mechanistischen Kosmologie – Neue Horizonte für die Geographie? (Berichte und Skripten, Nr. 36) (pp. 147–165). Zürich: Geographisches Institut ETH. Sugie, A. (2019). Deconstructing financial inclusion and exclusion in the development discourse: Case studies of microfinance operations in rural Bangladesh. In W.  Leimgruber & C.-Y. D. Chang (Eds.), Rural areas between regional needs and global challenges (pp. 97–119). Cham: Springer. UN General Assembly. (2011). Happiness: Towards a holistic approach to development, Resolution 65/309. UNEP. (1999). Cultural and spiritual values of biodiversity. Nairobi: United Nations Environmental Programme. Van Dieren, W. (1995). Taking nature into account. A report to the club of Rome. New  York: Copernicus. Von Bertalanffy, L. (1968). General system theory. New York: George Braziller. Wells D. (2018), From social entrepreneurship to everyone a changemaker: 40  years of social innovation point to what’s next, Social Innovations Journal 52. https://socialinnovationsjournal.org/editions/issue-52/108-intro-articles/2906-from-social-entrepreneurship-to-everyone-achangemaker-40-years-of-social-innovation-point-to-what-s-next. 12 Feb 2019 Withers, C. W. J., & Livingstone, D. N. (1999). Introduction: On geography and enlightenment. In C.  W. J.  Withers & D.  N. Livingstone (Eds.), Geography and enlightenment. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Wood, T. F. (1987). Thinking in geography. Geography, 72(4), 289–299.

Chapter 3

Do We Need to Change the System? Think Global and Create a Local Alternative Kristjan Nemac

3.1  Introduction Refugee crises, global warming, fear of recurrence of another economic crisis… After reading various modes of media, we have the feeling that humanity is constantly walking at the edge of the abyss, and this feeling of a permanent state of crisis spreads fear and anger among people. The negative effects of neoliberal globalization are fueling the emergence of populist politicians who have taken a strictly anti-globalization stance while offering simple, pleasing answers. At the heart of their discourse is a desire to retake control over their own space, secure it and limit the global effects. Globalization processes are integrating new territories into the global market; however, they are also simultaneously excluding and marginalizing spaces and individuals that are deemed ‘uninteresting’ and ‘unsuccessful’ in the current system. Moreover, the involvement of the state in international institutions and the dependence on the global market result in a rising democracy deficit, producing the sense of losing control over the local living environment and spread fear and powerlessness within the society. These processes of deterritorialization of power are increasing the importance of governance of local territories and spaces by locals, and participating in the decision-making processes can also mean symbolically gaining power over the conditions of one’s life. The feeling of the crisis often makes us see the world one-dimensionally, but if we can borrow one of the most used sentences of the managerial world that ‘a crisis is an opportunity’, we can see this situation as ideal to take the time and think about how to change the world. This chapter will analyze two examples of alternative forms of participation in spatial management of marginal spaces and rethink their

K. Nemac (*) Science and Research Centre Koper, Koper, Slovenia e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 B. Fuerst-Bjeliš, W. Leimgruber (eds.), Globalization, Marginalization and Conflict, Perspectives on Geographical Marginality 6, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53218-5_3

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Fig. 3.1  Map of Slovene Istria. (Source: Elaborated by the author from Surveying and Mapping Authority of the Republic of Slovenia https://www.e-prostor.gov.si/access-to-geodetic-data/ ordering-data/. Accessed February 7, 2020)

potential to slightly change the system here and now. In our research we will analyze two case studies in Slovene Istria (Fig. 3.1): • Park Istra is a charity project that welcomes volunteers from all over the world and involves them in landscaping in cooperation with the local population. We interviewed a project’s founder and coordinator, and analyzed their Facebook page and website, where we can find a lot of feedback from various volunteers. • Creative Platform Inde was a squat of an old dilapidated factory and lasted for 3 years. In that time, it quickly become the center of alternative culture in Koper. We conducted seven interviews with activists, who were differently involved in the community, and analyzed their Facebook page and the website. The two analyzed projects are dealing with marginalized areas that are geographically marginalized due to their physical distance from the center, poor transport infrastructure, depopulation etc. (such as the hilly hinterland of Slovene Istria) or are no longer profitable for the capitalist system and as such have become marginalized (as the abandoned factory in Koper). As Walter Leimgruber (2004, p. 47) has already noted, the marginality of an area has to be studied in the specific context, as a marginalized area in economic sense of the term may not be marginal in cultural or ecological terms, and moreover marginality cannot be understood as a static fact, but is constantly changing, being subjected to different marginalization or demarginalization processes. Marginalized areas may also be full of potential since their partial exclusion from the system stimulates the community to find some degree of alternative modes of action. The aim of the chapter will thus be to analyze two before mentioned projects and examine: • the importance of spatial governance for the empowering of individuals, outlining the difficulties with such decision-making forms;

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• the opportunities that such alternative forms of governance can offer for the revitalization of marginalized spaces.

3.1.1  Park Istra The study area is not a classical marginal region, as the Obalno-kraška statistical region (where it is located) is the second richest region in Slovenia with its per capita GDP of € 22,627 demonstrates (Fig. 3.2). Nevertheless, we can easily find many marginalized areas in the more remote part of the hilly hinterland of Slovene Istria, which has been subjected to depopulation for decades after the World War II (Natek 1990, p. 83). The loss of Trieste, as the main economic center where the farmers could sell their crops, poor infrastructure, and the lack of jobs in the hinterland were the main reasons for many young people to move to the developing coastal cities or abroad (Jakoš 1990; Urbanc 2011). After decades of depopulation only a few older inhabitants still live in this hinterland area today, and many abandoned houses are left to their fate, as their heirs moved abroad or are not interested to taking care of them. In order to help these locals and care for the cultural heritage of Istria, Petra and Janez Matos founded Park Istra,1 a project that welcomes volunteers from all over the world and involves them in landscaping in collaboration with local inhabitants

Fig. 3.2  Gross domestic product by statistical regions in Slovenia. (Source: Elaborated by the author from Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia https://www.stat.si/StatWeb/en. Accessed January 9, 2020)  Website: https://parkistra.com/; Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/parkistra/

1

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and local organizations. This project was founded in 2014 and until today it has hosted more than 800 volunteers from 51 countries worldwide. In the first years they were moving from village to village, depending on where they found temporary premises to camp. However, since 2018 they are located in Kastelec, a small village in the hinterland of the Municipality of Koper, where they received an old empty building for permanent use, which they renovated and is now suitable to receive up to 30 volunteers. Over the years, the number of volunteers, as well as the number volunteering actions, has rapidly increased as more and more people need help or have good ideas that are worth supporting in order to take Istria on a more sustainable path. The contribution of the organization has not been overlooked. In 2017 they were awarded by the prestigious Energy Environmental Globe Award Slovenia and gained the status of an organization active in the public interest in the field of youth work. As is stated on their website the mission of Park Istra is to promote sustainable development by spreading the values of volunteering and active citizenship. The main objectives are to assist the local population by supporting local sustainable initiatives, assisting vulnerable inhabitants and working together to preserve the natural and cultural heritage; and to empower and encourage young people for active citizenship, by volunteering, acquisition of new skills and to experience a genuine contact with locals. Moreover, they are also trying to • • • •

provide an environment where everyone can contribute to creating a better world; offer volunteers and visitors the experience of sustainable living; create a model of sustainable development that can be replicated to other regions; ensure the autonomy of volunteers by organizing volunteer activities that can survive without European and national funding.

In the research we will focus on the importance of the Park Istra for empowering volunteers who, through volunteering and their engagement in various actions acquire new skills, discover new places, meet new people, socialize and have fun, but also learn about their abilities and hidden talents. We will also examine its importance for revitalizing marginalized areas and empowering the local community. Park Istra offers an alternative way of revitalizing geographically marginalized areas as it is focused on doing something here and now. The revitalization of such areas is usually left to municipal and state initiatives. However, although different development strategies (such as the Strategy for Development and Marketing of Tourism in the Municipality of Koper to 2025 and the Regional Development Program of South Primorska 2014–2020) are highlighting the importance of the rural areas for the economic development of the region, there is still a great lack of basic infrastructure, such as water supply, sewerage, and traffic connections.

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3.1.2  Creative Platform Inde The second marginalized space we are going to analyze is the Creative Platform Inde,2 which was a squat that included activists, artists, musicians and many other young people, who simply did not recognize themselves in popular culture. Before becoming a squat, Inde was a company where mainly disabled people and unskilled workers were employed. The company was operating from the 1970s until the beginning of the twenty-first century, when, in 2005, due to various scandals it went bankrupt. After bankruptcy, the company premises remained empty for about 10 years and were subjected to rapid degradation. During this period, the abandoned building became a marginalized space and a shelter for drug users. After years of degradation, a group of young people decided to take matters into their own hands and on October 5, 2014, the day of the local municipal elections, they started cleaning the empty premises and created a collective space. The main reason for the creation of the squat was the absence of a collective space where the local population could express their creativity, by producing alternative content, such, as organizing concerts of alternative bends, art exhibitions, nonprofit dinners etc., and where they could socialize away from the consumer society. Initially the group counted only five people. However, in a short time the number of activists grew significantly, reaching soon the number of 50 active squatters who regularly attended the assemblies. After months of cleaning and renovating, the activists decided to open the squat to the community, and on February 5, 2015 the first public event was organized. The squat was well accepted by the local community and the squatters tried to open it as much as possible and collaborate with various civil organizations. They rapidly intensified their activities by organizing different events every week (round tables, art exhibitions, concerts, culinary evenings, movie nights, etc.), and in only 3  years they organized over 560 events (Ustvarjalna platforma Inde 2017). At the end of 2016, the property and the building were bought by the Bank Assets Management Company. One of the tasks of the company, which was founded by the Slovenian government, is to buy real estate investments that went wrong, stabilize them and prepare them for resale. The company immediately requested the squatters to move out of the building, but without success. The squatters were supported by different local, national and international organizations in what became their fight ‘against the state’. However, when the building was sold to two local entrepreneurs in June 2017, the discourse rapidly changed, and a large part of the activists believed that they no longer had the right to squat the premises. So, in September 2017 they left on their own. In the chapter we will analyze the importance of the Creative Platform Inde for the empowerment of the individuals that were active in this collective space. We will emphasize various knowledge and skills the participants acquired through  Website: https://www.indeplatforma.org/; indeplatforma/

2

Facebook

page:

https://www.facebook.com/

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involvement in the decision-making process, and highlight the problems that arose within their community. At the same time, the squatters also revitalized a dilapidated building that was previously a shelter for drug users and for 10 years ruining the landscape of that area. The building was partially renovated, but most importantly, it received a new meaning, as in a very short time it became the center of the autonomous culture of Koper.

3.2  T  he Importance of Collective Spaces for the Empowerment of the People The process of deterritorialization of power, that transfers the levers of decision-­ making from local and national levels to the global scale, and the loss of legitimacy of the elected representative, who has too often worked for the interests of the global elites, arguably results in an increasing dissatisfaction with representative democracy. Mainstream political parties, both nominally left and right, find themselves in a dead end as they have to operate in the framework of the global neoliberal capitalist system (Holloway 2004; Sitrin 2012; Graeber 2013; Krašovec 2013). Representative democracy in this context appears to be limited in bringing about real social change, which discourages people from engaging in decision-making processes. This is most evident in the fact that the percentage of voter turnout is falling, as we can see from the following graph (Fig. 3.3).

Fig. 3.3  Elections to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia. (Source: Elaborated by the author from State Election Commission https://www.dvk-rs.si/index.php/en. Accessed January 9, 2020)

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Distrust in state institutions and existing power relations creates a state of latent anarchism, which encourages individuals to actively seek alternative forms of direct governance in their living space (Jeffs 2007, p.  52). This is interestingly also in accordance to the prevailing neoliberal ideology, which ‘requires’ from individuals to become a key actor and be constantly engaged in creating their own life. Such a paradoxical situation creates a society where individuals are less likely to participate in elections and are not interested in politics, but on the other hand are more active in informal forms of organizing. The neoliberal globalization creates an environment where social changes cannot be expected to arrive through the decisions of national assemblies, but will more likely be gained through collective decision-making processes that empower the local population. However, the creation of such processes that are based on direct action and radical democracy requires a common space that can be legitimately managed by the community. As we mentioned before, the governance of the space becomes important for the empowerment of the people, but also for creating the community itself. The collective space is produced by the daily practices of the community, but it is also the community that is shaped by the space (Harvey 2011; Lefebvre 2013). Thus, the spaces are renovated, decorated and shaped by the community, but as Stavros Stavrides noted: The community is formed, developed and reproduced through practices focused on common spaces. To generalize this principle: the community is developed through commoning, through acts and forms of organization oriented towards the production of the common (Stavrides 2016, p. 165).

This was especially true in the case of the Creative Platform Inde, when the community of diverse individuals (anarchists, artists, BMX riders, etc.) was formed through their operating in the old dilapidated building. The squatters were working together to create a common space; they cleaned and refurbished the premises, drew graffiti, introduced new elements, and also edited the program and organized various events. They started to identify themselves in those walls and rooms, since they created a space in which they engraved their work, their freedom. Creative Platform Inde as a space was therefore a material manifestation of their work and their creativity. The space was important also for many other people, who were less active, but were part of the community when they visited concerts, exhibitions, round tables, etc. The importance of the space was also reflected in the Park Istra, where originally there were no fixed premises and the volunteers moved to different locations depending on the possibilities, but since they permanently settled in Kastelec it has become much easier for them, as they were able to design the premises in terms of their needs (large common area, professional kitchen, enough space for 30 volunteers, etc.). It also provided greater stability, as the volunteer can be present throughout the year, and the opportunity to carry out longer-term actions together with local communities and local organizations becomes possible.

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3.2.1  Space of Political Practices In both cases, individuals were strongly involved in the decision-making processes. The Creative Platform Inde was organized horizontally, had no formal leaders, and the actions were collectively decided, while the project Park Istra, although it has official coordinators who set the project, leaves it to the volunteers to select the actions they would like to participate in. The distribution of work in both organizations was based on the engagement of individuals, and what was of a great importance to their motivation. In the interview, Janez Matos, the coordinator of Park Istra, pointed out that “if a volunteer has the possibility to decide which activities he or she wants to be involved in, he or she will be much more motivated to do it”. Such forms of organization require a great deal of commitment from each individual to work effectively within the community of such heterogeneous individuals, who at the same time had to establish good relations with the local population. Park Istra is much more involved in cooperation with the local inhabitants, as volunteers are not preparing the project by themselves, but they are helping and assisting the local community. The experience of helping and working together with them will not only give to the volunteers the opportunity to learn new practical skills, but also the opportunity to experience a true solidarity, which is, in the opinion of the coordinator of Park Istra, the most important contribution of their project, as it can be also seen as a ‘cure’ for today’s individualistic world. At the same time it is important to note that the local community also greatly benefits from the project. Not only directly through the help, but as, the coordinator mentioned, through additional positive signs for the empowerment of the local community. In the interview he emphasized that some people admitted that they are willing to put more work into community projects, such as rebuilding walls or clearing overgrown areas, knowing that if they had any problems, they could count on the help of the volunteers from Park Istra. The positive effect of the project is therefore its potential to engage some people not only by directly helping them but also by the knowledge that the project exists. The Creative Platform Inde, on the other hand, was more interesting as a political experiment. The community was organized horizontally, and the decisions were taken at the general meetings, where the group tried to reach a consensus. The community did not have formal leaders, but this not mean that it was not organized. With the increasing number of active squatters and with their diverging interests’, various groups emerged within the community. They were responsible for a particular area, so they established a group for renovation, a program management group, a media group, and a political group. They had weekly meetings, where they prepared proposals which they presented later at the general assembly. To improve the efficiency of the organization of events, they also prepared some directions for members to know what activities they were in charge of (work behind the counter, water supply, cleaning etc.). Even though the community was divided into different groups, they did not abandon consensus as a decisions-making process. This experience offered squatters a good practice of rhetoric, as they had to substantiate their proposals well

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enough to convince everyone of their meaningfulness and to listen to other arguments. As the interviewees pointed out, this kind of decision-making, despite its slowness, turned out to be a good one, as they had to think carefully and discuss different views. Assemblies were also a good opportunity for resolving various small conflicts within the community as they were a safe place where anyone could express their concerns. However, the conflicts became heavier after the premises were sold to two local entrepreneurs, as the community failed to take a consensual position. This problematic period brought to light some problems connected to this type of organizational form. Finding a consensus has proven to be effective in smaller groups and when they had plenty of time to debate, but it is much more ineffective during the ‘crisis period’, as activists had to take quick decisions, which was prevented precisely by the search for consensus. Moreover, as one of the interviewees emphasized, the problem is that consensus can be reduced to finding the ‘lowest’ common denominator, which in some cases (such as when a collective has had to decide to move out or fight) is impossible to achieve. In this case, the inability to find a consensus also meant they had to leave. The community was explicitly horizontal, but as all interviewees admitted, leaders and certain hierarchies were quickly formed. The creation of informal hierarchies in horizontal structures is not unusual, as they can be created due to individual traits such as personality, charisma or rhetorical ability (Freeman 1972). In the Creative Platform Inde, the formation of the hierarchy was seen as a natural thing, and although some have problematized it, they have not been able to change things. The interviewees stated that it was very difficult to actively include everyone in the governance processes, as in everyday life we are socialized in patterns in which power relationships are clearly established. From the analysis of the responses we can also see that many supported the group of informal leaders as they were, as stated, formed on the base of meritocracy. The hierarchy was thus created from a context where most of the community supported the most active members and, in a society, where people are not used to participating equally.

3.2.2  Space of Freedom As we will see below these spaces were also spaces of freedom that allowed squatters and volunteers to work freely, to learn and refine their talents, and to try things they thought they did not know. Such spaces also provide the opportunity to make errors, which allows to get out of the comfort zone and try new things without any fears. Many were confronted with some physical labour for the first time, but easily learned these new skills in such an environment. The coordinator of the Park Istra stressed that some volunteers tried to avoid some chores as they did not have the necessary knowledge, but he insisted that they should do it, as it was the best place where they could learn through practice. He pointed out the experience of one girl who was at first afraid to use the demolishing hammer, but when she tried and

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learned how to use it, she did not want to stop. She also shared the importance of this new knowledge in a comment on the website as she wrote: I am so grateful of the experience I have had here in these 2,5 months. This place and the people I’ve met taught me a lot. Practical skills I will definitely use more in life. And now I am able to use the big destruction machine! But also a new way of living, friendships, and I have learned to enjoy life more intensely. These are things I will never forget and one of the most precious gifts one could receive.3

A similar experience was presented by one of the squatters from the Creative Platform Inde, when she proudly described how it was important for here that she could isolate the window by herself. What may seems trivial at first sight was something extraordinary for her. Not only because she learned a new skill, but that experience has charged her with energy and, as she remembers, when she returned home, she wanted to continue doing various chores and be ‘useful’. It is interesting to note that she used the word ‘useful’, from which we can see the manifestation of an ideology that sees a person’s meaning only through its ‘use-value’. As previously mentioned, neoliberalism has successfully shifted the focus to the individuals who are now solely responsible for their own future, and their success or failure is determined by their virtues and entrepreneurial skills. In this context, the individuals must constantly work on themselves, improve themselves and cultivate their creativity (Harvey 2012, p. 89). The individuals are thus constantly under social control, so they have always the obligation to do their best, which deepens their social unease. The spaces of freedom offered by such projects thus give them a safe space in which they can test their abilities and surpass them without any fear, which is essential for today’s neoliberal period. We understand the concept of empowerment as a process in which an individual acquires the skills and knowledge to fully function in organizations and communities (Zimmerman and Rappaport 1988). After the examination of both cases, we could easily confirm that both have a positive effect on the empowerment of individuals. Their experience demonstrate that these individuals have acquired so many soft skills, being involved in decision-making processes and in teamwork. This gives them the opportunity to train their rhetorical and listening abilities, as well as putting them in the position where they had to find and shape a common decision in a heterogenous community. Through their engagement, the squatters and the volunteers also developed many practical skills. Operating in these spaces of freedom gave them the feeling of being safe and with this the opportunity to get out of the comfort zone. The volunteers in the Park Istra also experience a genuine solidarity and in this way better understand the enrichment gained by helping others. As we highlight, the local community also felt empowered from this project, as it is getting help with activities the locals are no longer able to do, and they can also try new activities knowing there will be always someone who can help them.

3  The citation is published on the website of Park Istra, which we analyze in the research. http:// parkistra.com/en/about-us/testimonials/

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3.3  Opportunities for the Revitalization of Marginalized Areas The compression of space-time distances incorporates into the system new spaces that were inaccessible and distant some time ago. However, we are not witnessing the homogenization of the world where one culture will prevail, but rather an interaction and interplay of universal influences and local peculiarities (Giddens 1990; Robertson 1995; Bauman 1998; Beck 2003; Mlinar 2012). New ideas, images, and values are flowing into these spaces and in dialogue with local traditions are influencing everyday life and creating new realities and a new cultural landscape. The removal of time and space barriers thus does not mean that space becomes irrelevant, but vice versa, the specificity of a particular space becomes even more important (Harvey 1989, p.  296). Globalization processes, paradoxically, encourage subjects to rediscover local socio-cultural features and emphasize their ‘particularity’. The development of new technologies that reduce the dependence on distances, and the spread of neoliberal ideology that embodied entrepreneurial logic on local scales (Peck and Tickell 2002), could both promote the uniqueness, cultural and natural heritage and authenticity of products and territories. Specific cultural and natural assets can be used as a competitive advantage in the global market and give to the marginalized areas, that were seen so far as ‘unproductive’ and ‘useless’, a great opportunity for development. The neoliberal ideology has created an environment where consumers did not buy only products but also lifestyles (Harvey 2012, p. 59). Ethical consumption is thus becoming an important way of displaying individual values which promotes the ideological type of an informed consumer who appreciates local and handmade products with tradition. On the other hand, such local development can have negative consequences for the local population, as it triggers the commercialization of certain unique traits (such as cultural heritage), the degradation of the natural environment, and spreads the entrepreneurial logic into all the pores of everyday life. Neoliberal globalization provides certain opportunities for the development of the local community, but it also creates possible conflicting circumstances between the systemic tendencies and desires of the local population (Mlinar 2012, p. 405). The local inhabitants often only want to live peacefully and do not necessarily feel the desire to commercialize all the natural and cultural heritage. Neoliberal ideology also promotes a “growth-­ first” approach development (Peck and Tickell 2002, p. 394), making it frequently perceived only through the quantitative indicators. The concept of development is thus seen as embedded in a growth system, which is, however, limited in a physically restricted world. Some authors started to problematize the very concept of development, as Serge Latouche (2009, p. 28) pointed out, no matter what adjective we put before it, even if it is sustainable, social, local, human and so forth, we continue to maintain the capitalist discourse. For this reason, economic development will not feature in the first plan of our studies, but rather we will focus on the revitalization of marginalized spaces through

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alternative practices of decision-making processes. We will emphasize the importance that the analyzed projects had for the empowerment of local inhabitants and outline some concrete activities that revitalized these spaces and improved the well-­ being of the community. Any revitalization of marginalized spaces will clearly have to be sustainable, as only the sustainable conservation of space can promote the long-term well-being of the local community, yet it must also shake off the prevailing logic of continuous growth (Liegey et al. 2015).

3.4  Alternative Revitalization of Marginalized Areas Due to the above explained reasons, we decided to analyze the possibilities to revitalize marginalized areas through the case studies of the Creative Platform Inde and Park Istra. From the beginning both alternatives tried to be as independent as possible and did not want to be tied to state or local investments. They focused on direct actions and were trying to find solutions that could be immediately adopted. Being excluded from the funding system gave them much more autonomy and freedom to create the content of their operation without the restrictions from potential funders. The interviewees pointed out that applications to European and national projects could be restrictive, since the content of the proposed projects has to be adapted to the demands of the project call. The more radical proposals are also often censured as proposals must be appealing and interesting to the funders who prefer a traditional management structure. Moreover, all the tasks and outcomes of the activities must be defined in advance, which could limit the natural development of the project in the future. All interviewees emphasized the importance of freedom to decide what they want to do and not to be bound by any documents. The alternatives functioned solely on voluntary contributions and donations, which was, due to a reasonable spending practice, enough to create a quality program. Despite irregular funding and no institutional support, both alternatives proved to be very important for the revitalization of marginal areas. The Creative Platform Inde cleaned and renovated the former dilapidated factory and made it the center of alternative culture in Koper. The building was renovated, and it became a collective space for all those who did not want to be involved in the consumer society. The perception of the space varied from person to person. Some have found a space in which they could engage politically and form alternative practices of political participation, others found daily shelter from the frenetic world and a place where they felt at home, and some have simply found a place to party. In any case, the squatters were able to transform a building, which had been decaying for 10  years, transformed it into an important cultural center in Koper, with a lot of enthusiasm and a minimal financial input. Even more important for the revitalization of a marginal area is Park Istra that was created with the purpose of assisting the local population in Slovene Istria and revitalizing the region. As we already mentioned the hinterland of Slovene Istria was subject to depopulation in the decades after the World War II. The majority of

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younger population moved out, and now only older inhabitants and abandoned buildings remained there. The aim of the project was repairing these deficiencies and regulating this area in cooperation with the local population. However, the Park Istra was not proposing new projects they would like to implement in the marginalized area, but the promoters were acting more as a ‘workforce’ helping to realize projects proposed by the local population. As the coordinator emphasized in the interview there are a lot of EU-funded projects that bring some innovations into marginal areas, but they were not interesting for the local population, so they were abandoned after the official end of the project. Such top-down initiatives are not well supported by the local community, so it is important that the idea and the interest to implement a particular project come from the local inhabitants, as only in this case it will continue to exist after the completion of formal activities. Park Istra offers sustainable initiatives and projects that improve the lives of local inhabitants and vulnerable groups of people who can no longer perform the urgent tasks themselves. For example, the volunteers organized educational activities, restored children’s playgrounds, assisted organic farmers, collected and transported food for people in need, assisted elderly locals, etc. They also put a great emphasis on projects that take care of Istria’s heritage. The preservation of the natural and cultural heritage is important both for the care of regional identity and for environmental protection, as well as for the economic development of the area. Through the different actions, Park Istra arranged the surroundings of cultural monuments, old houses, churches, renovated the dry stonewalls, which is the traditional way of construction in Istria, and organized clean-up actions by clearing streams and springs, and the overgrown rural paths. Their operation also leaves a strong mark on the local community. Peter Babič, the President of local association Figaruola, who collaborated with the volunteers when they were accommodated in Smokvica, says: Last year we hosted about 80 volunteers from Park Istra for a month. They managed to revive our village. They cleaned the overgrown parts of our village, helped with our fig grove, painted the window frames and doors of our church…We became friends and we are delighted that we will be able to host them again this year.4

In addition to practical assistance, the local community could work with young people from all over the world, from whom they learnt about their values and cultural difference, which leads to a better understanding of the world. Moreover, as already mentioned, it is a positive sign that the locals became engaged just because of the idea that volunteers could help them. This shows that the project and the efficient work of the volunteers could also have multiple positive effects. In the interview the project coordinator pointed out that they had never had any problems with the locals themselves and were always welcome. However, he mentioned an apparently small problem among the locals themselves that has further

4  The citation is published on the website of Park Istra, which we analyze in the research. http:// parkistra.com/en/uncategorized/park-istra-is-the-winner-of-national-energy-globeaward-slovenia-2017/

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important implication. In such marginalized areas it is important for the community to come together and collectively pursue the common goals. However, he noticed that in the majority of the cases the community is not able to collectively step up, as there are ‘always’ two individuals who fight each other. Many times, such bickering prevented the revitalization of the area and paralysed other individuals who wanted to be active. As the coordinator added, the Park Istra project can be also helpful with this issue as the volunteers are treated differently because they do not regularly reside in this area, so they are not subjected to envy or various resentments, sentiments that could be strongly present in rural areas. The analysis of the Creative Platform Inde and the Park Istra demonstrated that such alternative practices can significantly stimulate the revitalization of marginalized areas. In spite of their low budget, they have managed to make an important difference and left a significant mark on the local society. The Creative Platform Inde created a unique space in Koper that offered the locals different events of alternative culture and a place to socialize beyond consumer culture. On the other hand, Park Istra is directly revitalizing a marginal area through its activities. Through their work the volunteers help vulnerable inhabitants with daily basic activities, and directly improve the local environment and play an important role in the well-being of the local population. With their restoration of the cultural and natural heritage, they also do an important work for the preservation of collective memories and regional identity.

3.5  Conclusion Do we need to change the system? The answer is yes, but we have to ask ourselves how to change it. Through this chapter we tried to reflect some possibilities for achieving social change. We believe that no qualitative changes can be achieved through top-down actions because they require changes of social patterns and relationships between people. For this reason, we focused primarily on bottom-up changes that brought some new social practices and impacted the everyday life in some marginalized areas. However, we are well aware that major global challenges, such as environmental changes or increasing inequalities, cannot be solved by local activism alone, but require globally coordinated action. What is becoming more and more problematic is that in recent years, we have witnessed that the classic political division between the left and right parties have been partially replaced by the emerging conflict between the local and global levels. Populist politicians took advantage of this conflict and, at least in their discourse, sided with the working class against elites and globalization processes, while offering simple solutions to complex global problems or even ignoring them completely. Their policies, partly stemming from being inhumane and as such inadequate, focus only on the results of the globalized world and not on the causes of the problems, and as such, cannot be seen as a solution. In this sense, when we will be confronted in the future with millions of environmental

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refugees, their proposals - such as building walls or fences at the borders - will not be successful. If we really want to avoid such future problems, we must find ways to mitigate the environmental crisis, to organize a different and more sustainable mode of production and different, more inclusive and democratic decision-making processes. This will not be an easy task, as we all have to rethink the foundations of the neoliberal system and the basis of our everyday life. In this chapter, we wanted to stress the importance of empowering people at local level, where they can gain the confidence that if they work together, they can achieve some necessary changes, and a prerequisite for creating a committed population that could reflect wider societal problems. As we have seen above, marginal areas could be extremely important in achieving this goal, as they require strong commitment from the community while offering a high degree of freedom that allows individuals to act without fear. The involvement of squatters and volunteers in the spatial management provided the opportunity to obtain various soft and technical skills. Participants also learned how to work together in the community and recognized the importance of solidarity, towards bridging the gap in the prevailing individualization of society. Both studied projects demonstrated a very positive impact on the revitalization of marginalized areas, and as such could be seen as practices of demarginalization. These areas were renewed and revitalized, and at the same time such practices facilitated the life of the local community. The squatters in the Creative Platform Inde and the volunteers in the Park Istra developed some new praxis, which alone cannot change the system, but are necessary for the creation of different social relations (De Angelis 2017, p. 265), and as such, act as an ideal starting point for creating a new society.

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Jeffs, N. (2007). Državica Ptičjestrašilna Milene Kosec in anarhizmi: manifestni, latentni, inverzni. In B. Škrjanec (Ed.), DRŽAVICA Ptičjestrašilna Milene Kosec (pp.  41–72). Ljubljana: Mednarodni grafični likovni center. Krašovec, P. (2013). Proti čemu se borimo, ko se borimo proti varčevalnim ukrepom? Borec: revija za zgodovino, literaturo in antropologijo, 65(698/702), 12–17. Latouche, S. (2009). Preživeti razvoj. Ljubljana: Založba/*cf. Lefebvre, H. (2013). Produkcija prostora. Ljubljana: Studia Humanitatis. Leimgruber, W. (2004). Between global and local: Marginality and marginal regions in the context of globalization and deregulation. Aldershot: Ashgate. Liegey, V., Madelaine, S., Ondet, C., & Veillot, A.-I. (2015). Projekt od-rasti: manifest za brezpogojno podporo za neodvisnost. Ljubljana: Sanje. Mlinar, Z. (2012). Življenjsko okolje v globalni informacijski dobi, Knj. 2: globalizacija bogatí in/ ali ogroža? Ljubljana: Fakulteta za družbene vede, Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti. Natek, M. (1990). Sestavine prebivalstvene rasti po naseljih Koperskega Primorja v obdobju 1961–1989. In M.  Orožen Adamič (Ed.), Primorje: zbornik 15. zborovanja slovenskih geografov, Portorož, 24.-27. oktobra 1990 (pp.  79–83). Ljubljana: Zveza geografskih društev Slovenije. Park Istra. https://parkistra.com. Accessed 10 Jan 2020. Peck, J., & Tickell, A. (2002). Neoliberalizing space. Antipode, 34(3), 380–404. Regional Development Program of South Primorska 2014–2020. (2015). https://www.rrc-kp.si/sl/ regionalni-razvoj/rrp-2014-2020.html. Accessed 10 Jan 2020. Robertson, R. (1995). Glocalization: Time-space and homogeneity-heterogeneity. In M. Featherstone, S. Lash, & R. Robertson (Eds.), Global modernities (pp. 25–44). London: Sage. Sitrin, M. (2012). Occupy: Making democracy a question. In F. Campagna & E. Campiglio (Eds.), What we are fighting for: A radical collective manifesto (pp. 85–94). London: Pluto Press. State Election Commission. https://www.dvk-rs.si/index.php/en. Accessed 9 January 2020. Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia. https://www.stat.si/StatWeb/en. Accessed 9 January 2020. Stavrides, S. (2016). Common space: The city as commons. London: Zed Books. Strategy for Development and Marketing of Tourism in the Municipality of Koper to 2025. (2017). https://www.koper.si/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/08-Strategija-turizma-v-MOK-do-2025. pdf. Accessed 10 Jan 2020. Surveying and Mapping Authority of the Republic of Slovenia. https://www.e-prostor.gov.si/ access-to-geodetic-data/ordering-data. Accessed 7 Feb 2020. Urbanc, M. (2011). Pokrajinske predstave o slovenski Istri. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC. Ustvarjalna platforma Inde. (2017). Delovanje Ustvarjalne platforme Inde. https://www.indeplatforma.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Delovanje-Ustvarjalne-platforme-Inde.pdf. Accessed 3 Jan 2020. Zimmerman, M., & Rappaport, J. (1988). Citizen participation, perceived control, and psychological empowerment. American Journal of Community Psychology, 16(5), 725–750.

Chapter 4

Armed Conflicts as Generators of Marginalization Stanko Pelc

4.1  Introduction There is no doubt that armed conflicts are an important generator of marginalization, but we must not neglect the fact that the opposite is also the case. Extreme marginalization can lead to armed conflicts. It is a vicious circle of violence and social exclusion that makes life so difficult for many people. The primary task of this chapter is to emphasize the extent of the problem, and present some cases of marginalization caused by armed conflicts. Armed conflicts have constantly been present since the invention of arms. The first half of the last century alone has witnessed two world wars. In certain regions and countries, a majority of people is still unexposed to peace and prosperity due to the persistent state of war. In such circumstances, armed conflicts are just another form of everyday dangers that one needs to avoid in order to survive. Getting killed by a suicide bomber, or by a rocket flown from somewhere in the sky, or being slaughtered by some self-proclaimed fighters for a certain higher cause become as common as getting killed in a car accident in the ‘safe’ parts of the world, only much more probable. To avoid everything that might increase the risk of being killed becomes a part of the everyday routine. However, all uncertainties that cannot be predicted become enormous sources of frustration that make life miserable, thereby marginalising the common citizen. Many people seek a solution by fleeing from the conflict zone in search of a safe refuge or asylum in a country with peace and democratic governance. That very often results in just a change from one type of marginalization to another.

S. Pelc (*) Faculty of Education, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 B. Fuerst-Bjeliš, W. Leimgruber (eds.), Globalization, Marginalization and Conflict, Perspectives on Geographical Marginality 6, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53218-5_4

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The intention of this chapter is to reveal the extent of marginalization caused by armed conflicts. Before getting deeper into the topic, a short presentation of the terms armed conflicts and marginality is discussed.

4.1.1  Armed Conflicts Armed conflict is not just any common fight where some kinds of arms are used. The use of arms is of course essential, but the question is who is involved in a conflict and what are its consequences. In this text, we use the definition prepared by the Uppsala Conflict Data Project: A contested incompatibility that concerns government or territory or both where the use of armed force between two parties results in at least 25 battle-related deaths. Of these two parties, at least one is the government of a state. (Gleditsch et al. 2002, p. 618–619)

It is important to point out that this definition always includes the government of a state as one of the parties involved in conflict. The reason for the conflict (contested incompatibility) may be due to demands for change in the political system or replacement of government, autonomy or secession of a certain part of the state, or the dispute about the sovereignty of a certain territory. Armed conflicts according to the above definition are classified by the extent of damage caused (number of deaths) (ibid. 619): • Minor armed conflict: Less than 1000 deaths during the total length of the conflict; • Intermediate armed conflict: More than 1000 deaths, but not more than 1000 in any given year1; • War: Armed conflict with more than 1000 deaths within 1 year. Another classification is based on the parties involved and the territory where the conflict occurs: • • • •

Interstate, Extra-state (extra systemic), Internal, and Internationalized internal armed conflicts.

Extra-state is a conflict between a state and a non-state group and it occurs outside the territory of the state (colonial power against the fighters for the independence of their territory) (ibid. 619). From the perspective of a civilian population, a non-state conflict may also be important, as this also results in suffering and deaths. It is “the use of armed force 1  The intermediate category was often incorrectly interpreted so the decision has been taken that it should be represented by cumulative intensity, a separate dummy variable denoting whether the conflict since the onset has exceeded 1000 battle-related deaths.

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between two organized armed groups, neither of which is the government of a state, which results in at least 25 battle-related deaths in a year” (UCDP, 2019). Examples are the conflicts among Mexican drug cartels or conflicts among different rebel groups in Syria. Yet another form of violence against civilians is one-sided violence, meaning, “the deliberate use of armed force by the government of a state or by a formally organized group against civilians which results in at least 25 deaths in a year” (ibid.). The use of a threshold of 25 deaths may be questionable, as it may seem without basis and appear too low or too high based on the perspective of the situation. However, it is high enough to include the conflicts that have larger social and political consequences.

4.1.2  Marginality and Marginalization Marginality is frequently used term, but its understanding may differ substantially: It is not a rare occasion when authors mention marginality, marginalization and marginalized groups without an explanation of the significance of the terms. The likely assumption is a shared perception that the terms do not require elucidation. A segment of readers would likely imagine marginal to mean socially excluded, deprivileged people in the community such as an indigenous population, extremely poor, unemployed, homeless, members of a lowest caste, etc. The EFA report designates the attribute of marginality to children that “live in remote areas and suffer chronic poverty and extreme gender disadvantage” (EFA Global Monitoring Report Team 2010). As highly marginalized, they consider “child labourers, the extreme poor, ethnic minorities, girls, children with disabilities, and” those living at “locations such as remote rural areas and slums” (ibid. p. 124). They define marginality in education as: A form of acute and persistent disadvantage rooted in underlying social inequalities. It represents a stark example of ‘clearly remediable injustice’. Removing that injustice should be at the centre of the national and international Education for all agendas. (ibid. p. 135)

This definition clearly shows that perspective is of principal importance when defining marginality (and other concepts). As geographers, we deal with space and spatial relations and therefore not only notice the numerous approaches to marginality such as geometrical, ecological, economic, social (or even political, cultural …) (Leimgruber 1994, p. 8), but also consider scale as an important issue that needs emphasis when debating the (geographical) marginality concept (Leimgruber 2004, p. 15). A more detailed discussion on marginality and marginalization has been published in a chapter of the second book of the series Perspectives on Geographical Marginality (Pelc 2017). In this text, we predominantly use the social approach to marginality with consideration towards the spatial implications of and on marginality and marginalization.

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Marginalization, here, is considered as a bi-directional process largely driven by socio-economic factors embedded in modern globalized society, captured in a neo-­ liberal capitalist economic system. The imperative of profit maximization is often achieved by pushing masses of population in so-called developing countries into extreme marginality (extreme low wages, long working days, child labor etc.). The consequences in the so-called developed world are compounded – cheap commodities from countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam or Sri Lanka feeding the greed of the consumer society, as well as the loss of jobs in productive industries affecting typically the least educated, often immigrants. The latter have come to the host country either as asylum seekers or as economic immigrants escaping economic deprivation caused by inhumane working conditions and high unemployment rates in their countries of origin. In either case, they escaped from one form of marginality and into another, hoping that developed countries offer better prospects to change their position on the social ladder from the lowest position to somewhere higher up. From the spatial perspective, marginal regions (areas), depending on the scale, are those that have a considerable share of marginalized population. Sometimes, at a local level, that may be whole communities (e.g., ghettos in big cities, Roma settlements in certain European countries; on Roma, see the chapter by Janko Spreizer in this book). Marginalized populations in this case typically occupy spaces not valuable enough for other non-marginal social groups. However, there are also certain ‘low productivity’ spaces (remote peripheries), where marginality is the result of the lack of economic opportunities at the location of residence, as well as of social contacts with the core economic and service/administrative areas. We can consider these to be spatial factors of marginalization. The spaces of political instability leading to armed conflicts also do not have just socio-economic roots; spatial conditions are often one of the root causes of such instability as well.

4.2  The Violent World We Live in We live in a world flooded with a surplus of information. We are witnessing an unprecedented competition of media outlets and sources. This results in an endless search for sensationalism and breaking news – the search for blood, suffering and horror that is believed to be the bestseller for a wider public, often misleading us to a perception that the world is becoming more violent. According to the statistical data collected by the Uppsala Conflict Data program, this is not the case. The number of armed conflicts has its fluctuations, but is definitely not constantly growing (Fig. 4.1). Although the last peak in 2014, with over 100,000 battle-related deaths in state-based conflicts was the highest since 1989, the number went down to less than 60,000 in 2018. The number of state-based armed conflicts on the other side reached its highest peak of 52 exactly in the last year of the period 1946–2018, the same number as in 1991. (Pettersson et al. 2019, p. 590). The second half of the last century (after WWII) did witness a more or less constant trend of growth in number of armed conflicts from the beginning of the 1950s

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Fig. 4.1  Number of conflicts by intensity according to UCDP/PRIO Armed Conflict Dataset version 19.1 where ‘Minor conflict/War’ category is the conflict with more than 1000 deaths since the onset. (Own elaboration; Source of data: Pettersson et al. 2019, Gleditsch et al. 2002)

to 1991, when the second highest number of 52 was recorded. Then, the number kept decreasing for a decade and did not grow radically over the following decade either. Only in the 2010s did the number start growing again to the same value as recorded in 1991. In 2015, the total number of conflicts was 52, rose by one in 2016 and remained just under that level for the following 2 years (50 and 52). The number of conflicts categorized as wars was very high just after WWII in 1948 (13). In the 1950s, the annual numbers were relatively low (around 5) with similar numbers recorded in most of the years of the first decade of the twenty-first century. The year 1978 recorded the highest number of wars – 14. The next three years saw the numbers falling. However, in 1982, the number jumped up to 15 and in the following ten years, there were only two with less than 13. The highest number of 16 was recorded in 1988. Since 1992, there have been two more peaks of 12, one at the end of the millennium and another in the mid years of the present decade. The number of minor conflicts never exceeded 18 and was the highest in the first half of the 1990s. It jumped up to 17 again in 2015 after a period of several years with relatively low numbers (3  in 2010 and several years with 6, none higher than 12). The number of conflicts that have, over time, resulted in more than 1000 battle-­ related deaths tended to grow till the mid-1990s and then, after a decade of stagnation, continued to grow. It grew in the last couple of years, too, even though the number of wars, as well as number of minor conflicts, started to decrease. These types of conflicts reached its peak number of 34 in 2018, while their share exceeded 60% in 2002 and remained above that in most years of this century.

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Fig. 4.2  Number of conflicts by sides involved according to UCDP/PRIO Armed Conflict Dataset version 19.1 (Own elaboration; Source of data: UCDP/PRIO 2019, Pettersson et al. 2019, Gleditsch et al. 2002)

The number of internationalized internal conflicts radically jumped up in 2014 to as high as 20, representing at least 30% of all armed conflicts in the last five years, with the USA involved in seven of them (Pettersson et al. 2019, p. 590–591)(Fig. 4.2). In 2018, the total number of deaths dropped for the fourth consecutive year by 43% compared to the 2014 peak, from more than 130,000 to 76,000. The death toll due to state-based conflicts went down from over 100,000 to below 60,000, largely due to the lower numbers of deaths in Syria and Iraq. The number of deaths caused by one-sided violence also dropped in the period 2014–2018 (to below 10,000), while non-state violence casualties grew in number mainly because of the fighting among different militias in Syria, Mexican drug cartels and farmers and herders in Nigeria. In 2017 and 2018, the number of fatalities from this kind of conflict exceeded 18,000, and in 2018, two-thirds of them were in Syria and Mexico (ibid. p. 592). In 2018, Afghanistan surpassed Syria with the number of deaths caused by state-based violence, up to 26,000. Another country with a rise in death toll the same year was Yemen, where the situation was described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis (ibid. p. 591). In recent years, countries most notably hit by fights of informally organized groups were Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo; while considering one-sided violence, the ‘ISIS’ (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) was still the number one in killing civilians (1800 in 2018). However, the most of these kinds of fatalities no longer occurred in Syria, Iraq and Nigeria but in Afghanistan and Pakistan (ibid. 593).

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The above figures show the intensity and extent of violence, which is at a relatively high level, although not at its highest in the last seventy years. The worrying trend is that non-state violence is gaining momentum and causing increased fatalities. The numbers, no matter how high, are just one side of the story. They reveal the critical humanitarian situation in war zones, but they do not reveal the number affected by the conflict or the kinds of consequences that armed conflicts cause to people.

4.3  The Growing Number of Displaced People Even though the number of armed conflicts has fallen in recent years, the number of displaced persons reached its peak in 2018 (70.8 million) (Fig. 4.3). In 2009, it was considerably lower, ‘only’ 43.3 million. The main driver of this growth was the armed conflict in Syria, with other important conflict areas such as Iraq, Yemen, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of the Congo contributing to the number as well (UNHCR 2019, p. 4). In 2018, there were 13.6 million new displacements (37,000 daily). Ethiopia contributed the largest share with more than 1.5 million being displaced. Inter-­ communal violence in the southern and western parts of the country caused internal forced displacements. Syria contributed almost 900,000 new displacements and more than two-thirds were internal. Nigeria, positioned third, also had almost

Middle East and North Africa

2.693 2.705 6.475 6.114

3.682 3.480

Europe

4.215 4.21

Asia and Pacific Americas

0.643 0.646

Total Africa (except North A.)

6.335 6.268 0.326 0.287

- West Africa

0.211 0.198

- Southern Africa

4.349 4.308

- East and Horn of Africa - Central Africa and Great Lakes

The share of Turkey within Europe

1.449 1.476

0

1

2

31/12/2018 01/01/2018

3

4

5

6

7

Fig. 4.3  Refugee populations (in 1000) by UNHCR regions at the beginning and end of 2018. (Own elaboration; Source of data: UNHCR 2019, p. 14)

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700,000 new displacements that were also more or less internal. The largest number of newly registered refugees and asylum seekers were also Syrians (