From a world history perspective, the most noticeable trend in the history of the late 19th century was the domination of Europeans over Non­Europeans. This domination took many forms ranging from economic penetration to outright annexation. No area of the globe, however remote from Europe, was free of European merchants, adventurers, explorers or western missionaries. Was colonialism good for either the imperialist or the peoples of the globe who found themselves subjects of one empire or another? A few decades ago, the answer would have been a resounding no. Now, in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the more or less widespread discrediting of Marxist and Leninist analysis, and the end of the Cold War, political scientists and historians seem willing to take a more positive look at Nineteenth Century Imperialism. One noted current historian, Niall Ferguson has argued that the British Empire probably accomplished more positive good for the world than the last generation of historians, poisoned by Marxism, could or would concede. Ferguson has argued that the British Empire was a \" liberal \" empire that upheld international law, kept the seas open and free, and ultimately benefited everyone by ensuring the free flow of trade. In other words, Ferguson would find little reason to contradict the young Winston Churchill's assertion that the aim of British imperialism was to: give peace to warring tribes, to administer justice where all was violence, to strike the chains off the slave, to draw the richness from the soil, to place the earliest seeds of commerce and learning, to increase in whole peoples their capacities for pleasure and diminish their chances of pain. It should come as no surprise that Ferguson regards the United States current position in the world as the natural successor to the British Empire and that the greatest danger the U.S. represents is that the world will not get enough American Imperialism because U.S. leaders often have short attention spans and tend to pull back troops when intervention becomes unpopular. It will be very interesting to check back into the debate on Imperialism about ten years from now and see how Niall Ferguson's point of view has fared! The other great school of thought about Imperialism is, of course, Marxist. For example, Marxist historians like E.J. Hobsbawm argue that if we look at the l9th century as a great competition for the world's wealth and …

The New Imperialism

The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century

Neoliberalism as Exception: Mutations in Citizenship and Sovereignty by Aihwa Ong

The End of Capitalism (As We Knew It): A Feminist Critique of Political Economy

Some people may be laughing when looking at you reading in your spare time. Some may be admired of you. And some may want be like you who have reading hobby. What about your own feel? Have you felt right? Reading is a need and a hobby at once. This condition is the on that will make you feel that you must read. If you know are looking for the book enPDFd the transit metropolis a global inquiry as the choice of reading, you can find here.

/pdf/the-transit-metropolis-a-global-inquiry-4r5hiuv2u8.pdf

The transit metropolis: a global inquiry

This article examines the ways in which discourses of urban development and socio-spatial discipline are wrapped around infrastructure development projects associated with recent, future, and proposed international mega-events in Rio de Janeiro. In the past few years the city and state governments of Rio de Janeiro invested billions of dollars in sporting, tourist, transportation and security infrastructures for the 2007 Pan American Games and hundreds of millions of dollars preparing for the 2014 World Cup and bidding (twice) for the 2016 Olympics. By looking at the historical trajectory of mega-events in Rio de Janeiro, I argue that there has been a discernable shift in the ideologies that drive the production of mega-events in the city. These logics have discursively and materially shifted from more localized expressions of notions of social inclusion and industrial democracy in the mid-20th century to reflect the socio-spatial exigencies of capital in a period of accelerated globalization. I suggest that mega-events impose a neo-liberal "shock doctrine", installing temporary regimes of extra-legal governance that permanently transform socio-space in Rio de Janeiro. Sumario: Este artigo examina como discursos sobre desenvolvimento urbano e disciplina socio-espacial sao usados para promover projetos de infrastructura associados com os mega-eventos internacionais no Rio de Janeiro. Nos ultimos anos os governos da cidade e do estado do Rio de Janeiro investiram bilhoes de dolares em infrastruturas esportivas, turisticas, de transporte e de seguranca para os Jogos Panamericanos e centenas de milhoes dos dolares para a Copa do Mundo de 2014 e em duas tentativas de conseguir os Jogos Olimpicos. Ao analisar a trajetoria historica dos mega-eventos no Rio de Janeiro, eu mostro que as ideologias que dirigem a sua producao sofreram mudancas profundas. Elas se transformaram, discursivamente e materialmente, de nocoes de inclusao social e de democracia industrial no meio do seculo 20 para refletir as exigencias socio-spaciais do capital em um periodo de globalizacao acelerada. Ao final, eu sugiro que os mega-eventos imponem uma "doutrina choque" neo-liberal, que instala formas de governo extra-legal, transformando permanentemente o socio-espaco do Rio de Janeiro.

Mega-events and socio-spatial dynamics in Rio de Janeiro, 1919-2016

“Smart cities” grew out of the realization that North American models of suburban development and central business district decline needed to be challenged with new paradigms. This movement began in the 1990s with ideas centered on smart growth and new urbanism. While initially restricted to small, wealthy cities, the ideas that emerged during this period combined with a vertiginous growth in information technologies to create software-driven urban managerial tools for major cities. The increasing “technologization” of urban systems that automatically replicate spatial dynamics has been on the agenda of urban scholars for some time. However, the relatively new paradigms of “whole system” implementation in large urban centers has not been the subject of robust critical engagement. The aim of this paper is to examine critically the implementation and functioning of two “smart cities” systems in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as part of the city's broader preparations for hosting the 2014 FIFA World Cup and ...

Smarter than Smart: Rio de Janeiro's Flawed Emergence as a Smart City

The highly variable residential landscapes of Rio de Janeiro are changing rapidly in response to intersecting vectors: a cycle of global mega-events that has accelerated real estate speculation, the occupation of strategic favelas by state military police, and the implementation of state-led urban development projects. The general trend has been toward an increase in rents across the metropolitan region with an identifiable process of gentrification occurring in select neighborhoods. By examining data from Rio de Janeiro’s primary online real estate search engine (zap.com.br), newspaper reports, interviews with residents and personal experience, this paper examines the processes of gentrification in four different regions of the city: (1) Flamengo, a centrally located middle-class neighborhood; (2) the Zona Portuaria, a port region undergoing state-financed, privately led “revitalization”; (3) the Vidigal favela in Rio’s Zona Sul; (4) the suburban neighborhood of Barra da Tijuca, site of closed-co...

Gentrifications in pre-Olympic Rio de Janeiro

The zero-sum nature of mega-event hosting encourages cities to escalate investment with an eye towards convincing event rights holders that a positive outcome will result. The discursive frameworks of “legacy” and “sustainability”, the global competition to attract events and the compressed event horizon make for mega-event preparation regimes that may seriously compromise long-term urban planning agendas in mega-event hosts. By examining the sustainable urban planning literature, the discursive frameworks of sustainability in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the discursive framing of the Rio 2016 bid, this paper will examine the Olympic Golf project being implemented in Rio de Janeiro. Through this case study the paper argues that unless mega-event rights holders change their candidacy and selection processes, these events will inevitably be detrimental to their hosts.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/5/9/3926/pdf

Between Discourse and Reality: The Un-Sustainability of Mega-Event Planning

Foreword Preface Acknowledgments AbbreviationsOne. The Stadium in Theory and Practice Two. Rio de Janeiro: Spiritual Home of World Football Three. Stadiums and Society in Twenty-first Century Rio de Janeiro Four. Buenos Aires: Estadiolandia Five. Class and Conflict in the Stadiums of Buenos Aires Six. Comparative Cultural UrbanismAppendix A. Stadiums in Rio de Janeiro, 2008 Appendix B. Clubs and Stadiums in Buenos Aires, 2007 Appendix C. Time Line, Brazil Appendix D. Time Line, ArgentinaNotes Bibliography Index

Christopher Gaffney

Papers

Mega-events and socio-spatial dynamics in Rio de Janeiro, 1919-2016

Smarter than Smart: Rio de Janeiro's Flawed Emergence as a Smart City

Gentrifications in pre-Olympic Rio de Janeiro

Between Discourse and Reality: The Un-Sustainability of Mega-Event Planning

Temples of the Earthbound Gods: Stadiums in the Cultural Landscapes of Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires