Drawing on Manuel Castells's and other scholars' views, their research achievements provide a perspective that globalization can be understood as a process with various ‘flows’ and leads to a modification of certain factors of urban development. Meanwhile, it also has been considered as a process with seldom or no governmental intervention. However, authority can currently play a crucial role in such process under a certain circumstances, especially in the megacities of developing countries. This paper, taking Guangzhou as a case study, will begin with a review of its recent urban development history, especially focusing on the policy reformation in various spheres (e.g. fiscal system, taxation system and urban land use system). Then, a series of crucial government reformations, which are considered as milestones, will be marked and further anatomized. By different research methods, direct or indirect influences and chain reactions from innovation results to urban forms and urban spaces and the results will be highlighted. These specialties of urban development will be further compared and linked with current globalization process. It is proved that a dominant government-oriented development model can equally benefit a city's globalization process. It also reveals how indeed a serious of local administrative behaviours contribute to its connection with globalization. Furthermore, it is concluded that the track of globalization could be different from the very beginning.

Many local and regional practitioners still use the single multiplier version of economic (export) base analysis in project assessments. However, dependable estimates of this multiplier require that the division of total activity into its export (basic) and local (non-basic) components be reasonably accurate across all industries. This paper compares the economic base multiplier that is generated by a shortcut approach, one calibrated by the Arizona Community Data Set (ACDS), with that generated by the popular IMPLAN input-output model. The comparison is made across 577 micropolitan (all non-metropolitan) US counties in the year 2000. Although the two approaches are not at all similar they generate comparable economic base multipliers. Moreover, various regional attributes, like human capital and specialization, affect the two multiplier estimates in much the same way.

Regional scientists have increasingly been playing a very important role in the development and application of spatial microsimulation models for policy analysis. It has long been argued that spatial microsimulation modelling has enormous potential for the evaluation of the socio-economic and spatial effects of major developments in the regional or local economy. This paper aims to add to this rapidly expanding work, by presenting a new spatial microsimulation model (SIMALBA) for Scotland (the development of which was co-funded by the Scottish Government) and by demonstrating how it can be used to perform what-if policy analysis in Scotland. The focus of the paper is on economic aspects of social and spatial inequality in the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh. The paper shows how spatial microsimulation modelling can address previously unanswered research questions in Scotland, particularly those relating to fiscal policy. The SIMALBA model has estimated income data for Scotland at output area level geography and this is the focus of the various ‘what-if’ policy scenarios. Simulated data has been created using a deterministic reweighing algorithm to build a spatial microsimulation model by combining UK Census data for 2001 and Scottish Health Survey (SHS) data for 2003. The analysis demonstrates the importance of geography by examining trends at OA level in Scotland. The paper concludes with a discussion of the simulated data and resulting policy scenarios as well as the impact of this analysis for policy formation in Scotland.

This paper examines the factors influencing the growth of four dominant and growing manufacturing sectors in Indonesia. The main purpose of this paper is to discriminate between localization economies and urbanization processes and their contributions to growth in selected manufacturing sectors in Indonesia. A secondary purpose is to identify the characteristics of local places that facilitate or hinder economic growth in the manufacturing sectors. We conclude that the studied manufacturing sectors benefit from localization economies, but that urbanization is largely not a contributor to growth in manufacturing. This suggests that new and geographically-isolated growth poles are probably not a viable growth option for Indonesia's manufacturing sector. Rather, decreasing the economic distance between vertically and horizontally-linked firms would be more conducive to growth.

An understanding of the factors affecting household CO₂ emissions is necessary for effective climate policies aimed at reducing emissions. We developed an empirical model of household CO₂ emissions in the 47 prefectures of Japan and conducted a sensitivity analysis to evaluate the impacts of demographic, meteorological, and economic changes on emissions. Emissions are projected to increase with demographic changes by 2030, and to decrease with temperature increases during the twenty-first century. Carbon taxes on energy sources are projected have a limited effect on the reduction of emissions in the short term. The closure of nuclear power plants is projected to lead to a substantial increase in emissions.

The issue of urban-rural integrated development is a focus topic in China in academic and applied research. There is value in recognizing the formation of an urban-rural dual structure and in finding the causes of regional differences. Because Jiangsu is the central province in the coastal areas of eastern China, urban-rural integrated development in Jiangsu is an essential requirement for building a prosperous society and for ensuring the province's leadership role in accomplishing modernization. In this paper, the evaluation index system of Jiangsu province is assumed. The urban-rural integrated development level in the study area is measured by exploratory spatial data analysis, Markov chain and the principal component analysis method. The measured value is classified into higher, high, medium and low ranks. Next, the evolutionary characteristics of spatial and temporal patterns and the driving mechanism are explored. Spatial distribution of the urban-rural integrated development levels in Jiangsu province indicates that counties with higher levels are centred in southern Jiangsu and counties with high levels are located around the edge of higher level counties, signifying the spatial distribution of ‘core-periphery’. The urban-rural integrated development levels appear to decrease from south to north. Counties with similar development levels tend toward spatial agglomeration. During the study period, the urban-rural integrated development levels of most counties improved to some degree. The directional distribution of polarization between areas with higher and low levels of development tends to diminish. Economic power, economic structure and information technology applications are the three major factors that exercise great influence over the spatial and temporal evolution of urban-rural integrated development levels in Jiangsu province.

Although there have been a small number of empirical studies that analyse northbound border crossings between Mexico and the United States, very few examine the potential impacts of both tolls and exchange rates on the various traffic categories. This effort attempts to partially fill that gap in the applied economics literature by modelling northbound traffic flows at one of the largest regional economies along the border. Results indicate that business cycle fluctuations, variations in the real exchange rate, and changes in real toll tariffs all influence cross border traffic volumes. Tolls on northbound traffic into the United States are assessed by Mexico. The results also indicate that tolls can provide a reliable revenue stream for international bridge infrastructure finance in Mexico.

Increased urbanization, global warming and sustainable growth belong to the major contemporary policy challenges. Today cities are home to more than 50 per cent of the world population, the largest 600 urban centres generate about 60 per cent of global GDP, and the agglomerated areas are responsible for 75 per cent of world carbon emissions. The UN estimates that 70 per cent of the world's growing population will live in cities by 2050. At the same time the world population is expected to increase from 7 billion people to 9 billion. Thus, the total number of people living in cities will be almost doubled within a period of less than 4 decades. This paper discusses two hypotheses on how this will affect climate change and economic growth.

The dominant view among transportation scholars is that transportation history flows from older to newer travel modes, with each mode being superior to and, for the most part, displacing the earlier modes. America, an early adopter of widespread automobility, was in this view a harbinger of trends that would follow elsewhere, and hence the US experience of passenger travel based almost completely on car travel was a signal of things to come. Yet this paper argues that interpreting from the US experience with the interstate highway era misses key points. The interstate system, and the planning that surrounded it, was developed during a brief period of time when transportation policy was centralized, standardized, and largely divorced from questions of local impacts and place-based political pressures. That made the years immediately after the 1956 Interstate Highway Act unusual in the broader context of transportation planning. The US has recently witnessed a return of pre-interstate urban transportation planning realities, and transportation in large US cities is now multi-modal, contextualized by ties to land use and neighbourhoods, and fraught with the politics and incrementalism of the pre-interstate era. Regional science research, grounded in the era of national highway construction, can adapt to the realities of modern urban transportation planning by focusing more on collaboration and financing in ill-defined institutional settings, environmental externalities and non-market impacts, and retrospective project evaluation.

As in other countries, urbanization and industrialization in Sweden was two sides of the same coin. To a large extent, the Swedish urbanization took place at a low level with the emergence of many small towns. In the last decades, a redistribution of the urban population to bigger cities has happened. This neo-urbanization is interpreted as a consequence of the breakthrough of the knowledge economy. This paper focuses on the ‘backside of the coin’ of this neo-urbanization, namely, how the rural areas have been affected. Westlund found that the countryside's population growth 1990–1997 primarily could be explained by income and the size of the local labour market. In this paper, we examine the current trends of population development in different age groups and extend the possible explanatory variables to among others, some variables measuring local social capital. Our main result is that it does not seem to be rural amenities per se that explain rural population growth in certain areas, but the rural areas' relative accessibility to urban amenities. This rural dependency on urban services and goods is a major challenge for rural policy in the neo-urban knowledge economy.

The recent literature is replete with studies of cities and city-regions, citing their various advantages in innovation, production, and consumption. So what sort of future can a non-metropolitan place expect? This paper argues that these places are surprisingly heterogeneous and, as such, their futures will be highly mixed. Those small communities and rural areas blessed with ample land-based or energy resources, or easy access to bountiful natural amenities, should continue to enjoy bright prospects. Most micropolitan centres, especially those having substantial urban cores and enjoying nearness to larger cities, should continue to prosper. Some smaller centres might even benefit from innovation that happens to thrive on local knowledge or social proximity. But those small places and rural areas lacking in resources, amenities, and metropolitan proximity will likely continue to decline.

The phenomenon of cities facing dramatic population loss, the so-called ‘shrinking city’, offers new challenges for urban scholars. After decades of focusing on growth, geographers, planners, politicians, and others are now confronted with cities and regions that are not just losing people, but often also facing economic and social transformation. As an area of study, we are in the beginning stages of theorizing new urban futures for these cities, as well as developing local planning responses to them.

Shanghai is the largest economic city in China. Its rapid emergence as a post-industrial metropolis is causing fundamental shifts in the city's economy. The development trends of Chinese economy need Shanghai to become a global metropolis. This study presents Shanghai's development direction to 2020, shows some key issues facing Shanghai to become a global metropolis, and puts forward some policy recommendations in order to overcome these issues.

This paper argues that in the historical evolution of cities, large-scale urbanization is not only a fact, but a necessary outcome of the forces of globalization and competition. The current trend towards large cities and megacities in a complex global urban system, operating and interacting at a local to global multi-layer scale, is inevitable. However, their dynamics is as yet a poorly understood phenomenon that deserves full-scale policy action and research attention in our highly diversified space-economy.

World trends about the problems and prospects of cities are discussed in the context of the present time and up to the year 2050. In 2010, urbanization grew to encompass about 52 per cent of the world's population, and the United Nations projects the percentage of the population living in cities to increase to about 67 per cent by 2050. The distribution of cities within each nation is changing as are the spatial structures of population and employment locations within cities. Government organizational structures are also evolving in many areas of the world. As the likelihood of natural disasters increases over time and resource constraints become more binding, cities of the future will see themselves striving for a triumvirate of goals ‘efficiency, sustainability and resiliency’.

The Philippines is one of the most populous countries in the world. In terms of population, it ranks twelfth globally and seventh in Asia behind China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan. The estimated population of the country in 2010 was 94 million people. Using data from the Philippines 2000 Census, this paper presents a discussion of the creation of a 3-tier hierarchical geodemographic system for the country at Barangay scale. Barangays are the smallest spatial entities in the structure of the administrative geography of the country. Most popular geodemographic systems are typically developed from continuous datasets. In this paper, we discuss how a geodemographic classification system can be created by combining categorical and continuous datasets. The first level of the Philippines geodemographic hierarchy ensures the population can be profiled broadly at Barangay level into seven super-groups. The super-groups are further subdivided into 24 groups and finally into 66 subgroups.

Resumen. Filipinas es uno de los países más poblados del planeta. En términos de población, ocupa el duodécimo lugar a nivel mundial y el séptimo en Asia por detrás de China, India, Indonesia, Pakistán, Bangladesh y Japón. La población estimada del país en 2010 era de 94 millones de personas. Utilizando datos del Censo de Filipinas de 2000, este artículo presenta una discusión sobre la creación de un sistema geodemográfico jerárquico de 3 niveles para el país a escala de barangay. Los barangays son las entidades espaciales más pequeñas en la estructura de la geografía administrativa del país. Los sistemas geodemográficos más populares suelen ser desarrollados a partir de conjuntos de datos continuos. En este artículo se discute cómo se puede crear un sistema de clasificación geodemográfica mediante la combinación de conjuntos de datos categóricos y continuos. El primer nivel de la jerarquía geodemográfica de Filipinas asegura que se puede obtener un perfil general de la población, a nivel de barangay, compuesto por siete súper-grupos. Los super-grupos se subdividen primero en 24 grupos y finalmente en 66 subgrupos.

This study uses a matched employee-employer database to explore how workers transfer knowledge and skills across employers and industries. Because workers are a primary vehicle of knowledge exchange, the analysis of labor mobility can help identify businesses with common skill requirements, production methods, or other technological foundations. After developing a measure of industry association based on labour flows, I test how well national industry staffing patterns and buyer-supplier associations explain labour mobility between industries. I find that workers are most likely to transfer between industries that share a common occupational profile, although up and downstream associations are also significant.

Resumen. Este estudio utiliza una base de datos de empleado-empleador para explorar cómo transfieren los trabajadores sus conocimientos y destrezas a otros empleadores e industrias. Dado que los trabajadores son un vector primario de intercambio de conocimientos, el análisis de la movilidad laboral puede ayudar a identificar las empresas que necesitan las mismas destrezas, métodos de producción, u otras bases tecnológicas. Después de desarrollar una medida de la asociación de industrias con base en los flujos laborales, he estudiado la medida en la que los modelos de personal de la industria nacional y las asociaciones de compradores-vendedores explican la movilidad laboral entre sectores. He encontrado que los trabajadores son más propensos a moverse entre industrias que comparten un perfil profesional común, aunque las asociaciones entre niveles anteriores y posteriores en la cadena son también significativas.

All data on crime rates, crime incident locations, crime hot spots, deployment of law enforcement personnel and facility distribution are circumscribed by the boundaries of law enforcement jurisdictions. How these boundaries are defined and change over time has a critical impact on the apparent rates and foci of crime. There are also a range of issues that arise near and spanning law enforcement jurisdiction boundaries. Different law enforcement agencies have different authorities, and there are examples of both conflict and co-operation across jurisdictional divides and in areas with overlapping or convoluted jurisdiction. In this paper the authors demonstrate in a variety of specific cases the importance of boundaries on the spatial analysis of crime data and the conclusions that can be drawn from that analysis.

Resumen. Todos los datos sobre índices de criminalidad, lugares de incidencia de crímenes, focos de delincuencia, despliegue de las fuerzas del orden y la distribución de instalaciones están circunscritos a los límites jurisdiccionales de las fuerzas del orden. La manera de definir estos límites y su variación con el tiempo tiene un impacto crítico en las tasas aparentes de criminalidad y los focos de delincuencia. También hay una serie de interrogantes que surgen en relación con la proximidad a los límites jurisdiccionales de las fuerzas del orden, así como entre límites. Las diferentes agencias de las fuerzas del orden poseen autoridades diferentes, y existen ejemplos de conflictos y de cooperación entre divisiones jurisdiccionales y en áreas donde las jurisdicciones se superponen o son complicadas. En este artículo, los autores demuestran por medio de una variedad de casos específicos la importancia de los límites en el análisis espacial de datos sobre delincuencia y las conclusiones que se pueden extraer de dicho análisis.

Innovation policy in many countries recognizes the significance of place-based innovation systems. Australia's innovation policy has incentives to bring universities and businesses together, but lacks place-based mechanisms to achieve this. Four case studies of regional intermediary organizations in Melbourne, Australia are examined to understand their role in enabling collaboration between university and industry. Each manages networks, facilitates collaboration, develops a shared direction and acts as a regional ‘door’ to broader systems. The ability of intermediary organizations to cross boundaries between knowledge generating and innovating entities is key to the cohesion and effective operation of the regional innovation systems.

Resumen. Las políticas de innovación en muchos países reconocen la importancia de los sistemas de innovación basados en el lugar. La política de innovación de Australia incentiva el acercamiento entre las universidades y las empresas, pero carece de mecanismos basados en el lugar para poder lograrlo. Hemos examinado cuatro estudios de caso de organizaciones intermediarias regionales en Melbourne, Australia para entender su papel en cuanto a facilitar la colaboración entre universidad e industria. Cada una administra sus redes, facilita la colaboración, desarrolla una política común y actúa como un “portal” regional que permite la entrada a sistemas más amplios. La capacidad de las organizaciones intermediarias de actuar a caballo entre las entidades que generan conocimiento e innovación es clave para la cohesión y el funcionamiento eficaz de los sistemas regionales de innovación.

This paper critically reviews the current economic models of climate change and policy options and examines smart adaptations as an alternative policy solution based on individual incentives. A variety of the models based on negative externality as well as catastrophe models of global warming are reviewed. This paper finds that the current models fail to account for disparate regional and private incentives under changing climates. We introduce the theory of the global commons (public goods) to illuminate the conflicts between individuals and the global objective. Smart adaptations are those that reduce the damage from global warming but also mitigate greenhouse gases at the same time. They are motivated by individuals, but supported by the public sector. Smart adaptation strategies include natural resource uses, land use changes, consumer actions, migration, population changes, alternative energy sources and technological advances. This paper discusses whether smart adaptations are sufficient to prevent climate catastrophe.

Resumen. Este artículo hace una revisión crítica de los modelos económicos actuales de cambio climático y las políticas existentes y examina las adaptaciones inteligentes como una solución política alternativa basada en los incentivos individuales. Se revisa una variedad de modelos basados en externalidades negativas, así como modelos de catástrofe por calentamiento global. Este artículo propone que los modelos actuales no tienen en cuenta los diferentes incentivos regionales y privados bajo climas cambiantes. Introducimos la teoría de los bienes comunes globales (bienes públicos) para esclarecer los conflictos entre los individuos y el objetivo global. Las adaptaciones inteligentes son aquellas que además de reducir los daños del calentamiento global, mitigan al mismo tiempo la emisión de gases de efecto invernadero. Están motivadas por individuos, pero apoyadas por el sector público. Las estrategias de adaptación inteligentes incluyen diferentes usos de los recursos naturales, cambios de uso del suelo, las acciones de los consumidores, la migración, los cambios de población, las fuentes de energía alternativas y los avances tecnológicos. Este artículo discute si las adaptaciones inteligentes son suficientes para evitar una catástrofe climática.

Purpose of science and technology (ST) in Arab countries is far from nourishing socio-economic development. The activities of ST in Arab countries were directed for prestige and propaganda rather than into socio-economic development. Arab countries have not produced a critical mass of full time equivalent researchers. The weaknesses of the national ST systems in the Arab region have drastically reduced the benefits derived from the investments made in economic infrastructure. The Arab countries need to adopt strategies to improve their ST capabilities in ways that promote the technological development necessary for sustained economic growth. Arab countries should not blindly imitate other countries, but should identify and leverage their own unique resources. All universities and research institutes in the region need to be re-envisioned. Research institute and university activities need to be market-driven. Initiatives targeting the networking between research and industry need to be developed. Monitoring the state of ST becomes a major challenge for the Arab countries in their endeavours for developing knowledge based economy. Each Arab country needs to establish and run its own ST national observatory. A proper ethics monitoring system needs to be developed. Developing and activating ethical code and strengthening research ethics committees will improve monitoring ethical issues which may arise in the course of work by the academic staff in the universities and research institutes. However, an ethics monitoring system needs to be kept rigorously outside the control of ST institutes.

Resumen. El propósito de la ciencia y la tecnología (CT) en los países árabes está lejos de fomentar el desarrollo socioeconómico. Las actividades de CT en los países árabes han estado dirigidas hacia el prestigio y la propaganda en lugar del desarrollo socioeconómico. Los países árabes no han producido una masa crítica equivalente de investigadores a tiempo completo. Las debilidades de los sistemas nacionales de CT en la región árabe han reducido drásticamente los beneficios derivados de las inversiones realizadas en infraestructura económica. Los países árabes deben adoptar estrategias para mejorar sus capacidades en CT de manera que promuevan el desarrollo tecnológico necesario para un crecimiento económico sostenido. Los países árabes no deben imitar ciegamente a otros países, sino que deben identificar y aprovechar los recursos que les son propios y únicos. Hace falta re-imaginar todas las universidades e institutos de investigación de la región. Las actividades de los institutos de investigación y de las universidades deben estar impulsadas por el mercado. Es necesario desarrollar las iniciativas dirigidas a las redes entre investigación e industria. El seguimiento del estado de la CT se convierte en un gran desafío para los países árabes en sus esfuerzos por desarrollar una economía basada en el conocimiento. Cada país árabe necesita para establecer y mantener su propio observatorio nacional de CT. Es necesario desarrollar un sistema adecuado de vigilancia de cuestiones éticas. El desarrollo e implementación de un código ético y el fortalecimiento de los comités de ética para la investigación mejorarán la vigilancia de las cuestiones éticas que puedan surgir en el curso del trabajo del personal académico en las universidades e institutos de investigación. Sin embargo, los sistemas de vigilancia de cuestiones éticas deben ser mantenidos estrictamente fuera del control de los institutos de CT.

Groundwater research in the Texas High Plains (THP), where production agriculture depends on the Ogallala aquifer, has been conducted by economists, hydrologists and environmental scientists, each focusing on disciplinary aspects of water use, including conservation cost, level of conservation achieved, long-term aquifer sustainability and water quality degradation. Due to paucity of data, economists often make stringent and unrealistic assumptions concerning the uniformity of aquifer characteristics, land use and water use practices. To address modelling sensitivity to the assumption that aquifer characteristics are homogeneous we develop an integrated regional water policy model for the THP that links a groundwater hydrology model with a dynamic economic optimization model. We compare baseline water use projections provided by a stand-alone normative economic model to those provided by an integrated economic and hydrologic model that controls for spatial variability in aquifer characteristics. Findings suggest the stand-alone economic model generally overstates baseline economic returns to water and the water use level compared to the integrated model. The integrated modelling framework controls for the impact spatially heterogeneous aquifer characteristics have on the optimal use of limited groundwater supplies. Improved county-level estimates for expected baseline economic returns to, and water use by irrigated agriculture over time enhances the ability of water policy-makers to more precisely model the economic cost and water savings of proposed water conservation policies because policy cost-effectiveness is normally measured relative to the baseline condition.

Resumen. Economistas, hidrólogos y científicos ambientales han llevado a cabo diferentes investigaciones en las aguas subterráneas de las altiplanicies de Texas, donde la producción agrícola depende del acuífero de Ogallala, las cuales han estado centradas en disciplinas diferentes en cuanto al uso del agua, como los costes de conservación, el grado de conservación alcanzado, la sostenibilidad a largo plazo de los acuíferos y la degradación de la calidad del agua. Debido a la escasez de datos, los economistas suelen hacer a menudo suposiciones estrictas y poco realistas acerca de la uniformidad de las características del acuífero, el uso del suelo y las prácticas de uso del agua. Para hacer frente a la sensibilidad del modelo respecto al supuesto de que las características del acuífero son homogéneas, hemos desarrollado un modelo integrado de política hidrológica regional para las altiplanicies de Texas que vincula un modelo de hidrología subterránea con un modelo dinámico de optimización económica. Aquí comparamos las proyecciones iniciales de referencia de uso del agua proporcionadas por un modelo económico normativo autónomo con las proporcionadas por un modelo económico e hidrológico integrado en el que se controla la variabilidad espacial de las características del acuífero. Los resultados sugieren que el modelo económico autónomo generalmente sobrestima los retornos económicos de referencia del agua y del nivel de uso del agua en comparación con el modelo integrado. El marco de modelización integrado controla el impacto que tienen las características espacialmente heterogéneas del acuífero sobre el uso óptimo de un suministro limitado del agua subterránea. La mejora de las estimaciones a nivel de condado de los retornos económicos de referencia esperados, y el uso del agua por la agricultura de regadío mejora con el tiempo la capacidad de quienes formulan las políticas hidrológicas de modelizar con mayor precisión el costo económico y el ahorro de agua de diferentes propuestas políticas para la conservación del agua, debido a que la relación entre el costo y la eficacia de una política se mide normalmente en torno a la condición de la línea de base.

This paper analyses the roles of three supranational organizations (SNOs), the African Union (AU), New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and Southern African Development Community (SADC), in the development of cross-national policy, regulatory and administrative systems for managing modern biotechnology, also referred to as biosafety systems, in southern Africa. The desire for convergence of these systems is not an uncontested issue. Therefore in seeking to understand the feasibility of this policy agenda, this paper traces how the three SNOs are contributing towards coalescence of the many contending issues. One of the major arguments presented by the paper is that the policy footprint of the SNOs has varying intensity across the biosafety terrain of the region, leaving one wondering whether this is by design or by accident, and what impact this has on the countries that see the SNOs as rallying points for regional aspirations.

Resumen. Este artículo analiza el papel de tres organismos supranacionales (OSN), la Unión Africana (AU), la Nueva Alianza para el Desarrollo de África (NEPAD) y la Comunidad para el Desarrollo de África Meridional (SADC), en el desarrollo de sistemas transnacionales normativos, administrativos y de políticas para la gestión de la biotecnología moderna, conocidos también como sistemas de bioseguridad, en el sur de África. El deseo de convergencia de estos sistemas no es un problema que carezca de oposición. Por lo tanto, al tratar de comprender la viabilidad de esta agenda política, este artículo da seguimiento al modo en que estos tres OSN están contribuyendo a la coalescencia de las muchas cuestiones en liza. Uno de los principales argumentos presentados en el artículo es que la huella política de estas OSN tiene una profundidad variable en el terreno de la bioseguridad de la región, dejando abierta la pregunta de si esto es así por diseño o por accidente, y el impacto que esto está teniendo en los países que ven las OSN como puntos de encuentro para sus aspiraciones regionales.