Search

West Wales and the Valleys is approaching the mid-way point of its European funded Objective 1 programme—the highest form of Structural Fund aid for the Union's economically and socially ‘lagging’ regions. Objective 1 has afforded Wales the tools to develop an economic regeneration strategy aimed at improving the performance of the western part of the Welsh economy, and combating the country's entrenched pockets of economic and social disadvantage. However, after three years there are some important structural and implementation problems facing those managing Objective 1 in Wales, specifically in terms of the governance of the programme and resource allocation. This paper draws out these key issues by tracing the main fault lines in the design and delivery of the programme, and also offers some critical assessment of the initial economic impact of Objective 1. In short, this paper argues that Wales has shown little evidence of learning the lessons from other Objective 1 regions, but has been rather more adept at emulating the errors found elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Virdee’s account of how racialized minorities in socialist movements ‘played an instrumental role in trying to align struggles against racism with those against class exploitation’ (p. 164). In so doing, Virdee makes an important intervention at a time when popular historians and other ideologues are colluding in the elevation of myths and – no doubt in their view – noble lies that preclude these stories. Moving through theoretical debates concerning the relationships between race and class, the nature and form of sociologies of ‘outsiders’, to political issues of mobilization, Virdee’s book successfully brings in from the margins an account the multi-ethnic character of the working class in England from the very moment of its inception. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]