Page 12 - Pelc, Stanko, ed., 2015. Spatial, social and economic factors of marginalization in the changing global context. Koper, University of Primorska Press.
P. 12
tial, social, and economic factors of marginalization in the changing global context 10 • resource conservation and exploitation. Both of which contain
an important ethical component.
Work done over the past years has revealed that the concept of
marginality must be viewed from various perspectives as it is a
complex and dynamic phenomenon. While marginalization tends
to increase with the current socio-economic and political process-
es of globalization and deregulation, it is never an unidirectional
process, as a look back into history since the Industrial Revolution
demonstrates. It is also a relative concept that depends on the pre-
vailing socio-economic and political systems and on the scale of ob-
servation (a village may be marginal within a large region which it-
self is not marginal at all). Perceptions of the physical characteristics
of an area also are subject to change due to peoples’ evaluation
over time, i.e., a physically marginal region can become economi-
cally developed if its potential is recognised, and they can become
depressed again when human preferences and/or other socio-eco-
nomic circumstances change (e.g. resource depletion, natural ca-
tastrophe).
The research and publications of the IGU Commission “Margin-
alization, globalization, and regional and local responses” empha-
size the need for further in-depth consideration of continuing and
new issues of the spatial aspects of marginalized peoples, the envi-
ronments they inhabit, the impact of globalization and the region-
al and local responses which these considerations help to catalyse.
These issues are complex, which stresses that further attention is
required in order to delineate the nature of these societal prob-
lems and the potential nature of new policy and solutions that need
to be considered.
From both a theoretical and an applied perspective the commis-
sion seeks to reflect the reality that the interplay of economic and
social globalization with environmental degradation and resource
depletion is one of the determining forces operating in the pres-
ent-day world, which has implications for all nations and peoples –
both the marginal and those in the mainstream. In addition it can
be a process that marginalises places and people. However, at the
same time, it also helps to catalyse local and regional responses at a
variety of levels and in a variety of forms. These issues have, inher-
ently been the focus of the Commission and the preceding Study
Group. The commission’s special attention in the period 2012-2016
an important ethical component.
Work done over the past years has revealed that the concept of
marginality must be viewed from various perspectives as it is a
complex and dynamic phenomenon. While marginalization tends
to increase with the current socio-economic and political process-
es of globalization and deregulation, it is never an unidirectional
process, as a look back into history since the Industrial Revolution
demonstrates. It is also a relative concept that depends on the pre-
vailing socio-economic and political systems and on the scale of ob-
servation (a village may be marginal within a large region which it-
self is not marginal at all). Perceptions of the physical characteristics
of an area also are subject to change due to peoples’ evaluation
over time, i.e., a physically marginal region can become economi-
cally developed if its potential is recognised, and they can become
depressed again when human preferences and/or other socio-eco-
nomic circumstances change (e.g. resource depletion, natural ca-
tastrophe).
The research and publications of the IGU Commission “Margin-
alization, globalization, and regional and local responses” empha-
size the need for further in-depth consideration of continuing and
new issues of the spatial aspects of marginalized peoples, the envi-
ronments they inhabit, the impact of globalization and the region-
al and local responses which these considerations help to catalyse.
These issues are complex, which stresses that further attention is
required in order to delineate the nature of these societal prob-
lems and the potential nature of new policy and solutions that need
to be considered.
From both a theoretical and an applied perspective the commis-
sion seeks to reflect the reality that the interplay of economic and
social globalization with environmental degradation and resource
depletion is one of the determining forces operating in the pres-
ent-day world, which has implications for all nations and peoples –
both the marginal and those in the mainstream. In addition it can
be a process that marginalises places and people. However, at the
same time, it also helps to catalyse local and regional responses at a
variety of levels and in a variety of forms. These issues have, inher-
ently been the focus of the Commission and the preceding Study
Group. The commission’s special attention in the period 2012-2016
