John Connell

The University of Sydney

Thailand is consistently ranked as having the worst road safety record in Asia, and one of the worst globally. Most deaths are of the rural poor, a function of necropolitical ecology. A primary factor is the materiality and design of the road system, built to increase mobility rather than improve safety, and lacking a hierarchical structure. Highwa...

The rapid rise of social media in the 2010s created a more individualistic tourism. Instantaneous electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) enabled tourists to choose their destinations based on the recommendations of others: a phase increasingly marked by the rise of bloggers and influencers and the search for ‘authenticity’. This more individualistic touri...

While the earliest phase of Chinese tourism was tied in to ‘standard’ Australian and international businesses across the various components of the industry, it became apparent to Chinese residents in Australia that they could enter and develop a valuable market sector. A domestic (Chinese) industry emerged, to some extent centred on the long-existi...

The Introduction contextualises Chinese tourism within the wider tourism studies literature. A more sophisticated understanding of Chinese tourism is critical for five main reasons, which are presented in this opening chapter. The chapter then outlines our distinctive approach which integrates geopolitical and economic changes over time with cultur...

In this chapter we focus on the relationships between social media, individual preferences and the rise of distinct choices and preferences. Chinese tourism in Australia has evolved from a general group tourism almost entirely centred on key iconic sites and nature towards a more subtle and differentiated niche tourism. This evolution has been view...

The chapter summarises the key trends and themes of the book, from mass tourism to the rapid evolution of a new cultural and geographical scene directed by social media and centred both on individualism, but also on marked places and new itineraries. These trends are linked back to discordance with the wider literature on tourism which takes little...

This chapter continues and develops the theme of the previous chapter to discuss how Chinese social media effectively created multiple new sites of interest to Chinese tourists that amounted to new itineraries. Photogenic places, often ignored by or unknown to non-Chinese tourists and most local people, are presented in this chapter with their appe...

China is the world’s largest source of outbound tourists. This chapter traces the rapid expansion of Chinese tourism in Australia and links it to other trends in the pattern of inbound tourism to Australia. It analyses the early days when Chinese tourism in Australia, similar to elsewhere, was package tours and conventional destinations. We demonst...

Most livelihood research focuses on micro-level decisions affecting occupations but fails to examine wider scale processes that shape markets, institutions , and thus livelihood choices. A political ecology framework can help address this gap by providing ways to analyse how multi-scalar and extra-local practices, policies, and discourses affect lo...

Kiribati is the largest coral atoll state threatened by climate change. Marine livelihoods and fresh water supplies will be first threatened, increasing vulnerability, since mitigation possibilities are scarce. In recent years economic development has been limited, aid dependency considerable, and population growth rapid, resulting in significant d...

Complex relationships exist between rationales for visiting, experiences and perceptions. Tourists are influenced by others, increasingly through social media as electronic word of mouth (ewom). While visitation rationales associated with popular culture are well documented, less understood is how social media use among specific cultural groups con...

Background Since the 2008 recession, Ireland has experienced large-scale doctor emigration. This paper seeks to ascertain whether (and how) the COVID-19 pandemic might disrupt or reinforce existing patterns of doctor emigration. Method This paper draws on qualitative interviews with 31 hospital doctors in Ireland, undertaken in June–July 2020. As...

This article interrogates three key arguments derived from the functional approach to studying the core executive: 1) that coordination is the primary problem that confronts executive decision makers; 2) that improved coordination will lead to better governance; and 3) that linkage problems dissipate as policy systems consolidate. Drawing on the ex...

The continued attachment of 50-odd scattered overseas territories around the world to European states, the United States, Australia and New Zealand seems at first sight an anomaly, an oversight of decolonisation. However, looked at more closely, the globe presents a baffling variety of peculiarities: enclaves and exclaves, geographically divided st...

Despite the currents of decolonisation that carried most colonies to independence from the 1940s to the 1970s, some 50 overseas territories remain formally attached to Britain, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. They range from populous Puerto Rico to Antarctic—areas with only seasonal inhabitants...

During the age of decolonisation, a widespread assumption held that colonies should have a certain size and population, economic strength and some degree of self-sufficiency before independence could reasonably and realistically be claimed. Simultaneously it was repeatedly suggested that many colonies were too small to develop an economy that would...

In the twenty-first century the overseas territories (OTs) have become less isolated, economically, culturally and socially, than in the past, assisted by technological change and emphasised by tourism and migration. Not always by choice they have also become more involved in global affairs of various kinds. More complicated and diversified trade r...

About half of the OTs have more or less static populations, where emigration has discounted population growth and immigration. Roughly a quarter are losing overall population numbers through emigration and another quarter are unequivocally gaining through immigration. Economic fluctuations, employment opportunities, hazard events and quests for hea...

By the end of the twentieth century, the French overseas territory of New Caledonia was relatively calm and peaceful after a protracted period of considerable, violent disorder in the 1980s, that had resulted in several deaths. Most of the indigenous Melanesian (Kanak) population had struggled for independence in the 1980s, while most other residen...

Culture lies at the centre of the distinctiveness of overseas territories—from Greenland to Gibraltar, American Samoa to French Polynesia—to the metropolitan states of which they form a part. Colonialism and the presence of indigenous, settler and diasporic populations from different parts of the world often have created rich cultural mixtures, par...

Constitutional provisions determine the status of 50-odd former colonies that have never achieved full independence and are still administered by Britain, France, the Netherlands, Spain, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Nomenclature varies widely—overseas territories, commonwealths, autonomous communities, special municipalities and ot...

This statement, from a 30-year-old resident of Ceuta, offers an opinion undoubtedly shared by numerous overseas territory residents: a sentiment of untroubled identification and affiliation with a small homeland but also with a larger, geographically separate metropole. It also draws a parallel between the situations of British Gibraltar and Spanis...

The 2011 Bangkok floods, a slow onset event, flooded significant parts of the city. The state's response to flooding followed a traditional cultural and hierarchical approach to justice within Thailand, stemming from Buddhist values, an informal caste system and monarchical order. This resulted in a spatially uneven outcome, with the ‘preservation’...

Food security in Micronesia has worsened in the past half-century. Agriculture, fishing and local food production have all declined, even in the most remote islands, especially in peri-urban environments. Diets have incorporated more processed and imported foods, because of prestige, accessibility, cost and convenience, at financial, social, enviro...

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are widely recognized as a special case for sustainable development due to the unique set of challenges and vulnerabilities they face. While SIDS are a diverse group of nations, most share such characteristics as limited land availability, insularity, susceptibility to natural disasters and deep integration int...

This book provides a contemporary overview of the social-ecological and economic vulnerabilities that produce food and nutrition insecurity in various small island contexts, including both high islands and atolls, from the Pacific to the Caribbean. It examines the historical and contemporary circumstances that have accompanied the shift from subsis...

‘The Ends of Empire makes a convincing case that we need a sharper lens through which to view the problems confronting overseas territories than a binary focus ‘for or against’ independence. This makes the book’s discussion of the many intermediate points between full integration and outright independence so important – and so rewarding a read.’ —P...

Urbanisation in PICs is rapid. Urban planning and management capacity are limited. Economic and environmental pressures are mounting and eroding urban resilience and livelihoods. Because urban planning and regulatory frameworks are weak, national politics and elite interests strongly influence urban development, and inequities in cities are growing...

New Caledonia is a distinctive French overseas territory with significant interest in independence. It reflects the legacy of a settler colony, where Melanesians were displaced to reservations in the nineteenth century. Pressure for independence comes almost exclusively from the minority Kanak (Melanesian) population. In the 1980s a violent and uns...

Background: The recession of 2008 triggered large-scale emigration from Ireland. Australia emerged as a popular destination for Irish emigrants and for Irish-trained doctors. This paper illustrates the impact that such an external shock can have on the medical workforce and demonstrates how cross-national data sharing can assist the source country...

In this century Chinese tourists in Australia have rapidly become the most numerous national source. Relatively little is known about their socio-economic status, their geographical origins and expectations of tourism, and their attitudes to and perceptions of Australia, although every Australian state has devised a specific Chinese tourism strateg...

Two major earthquakes hit Nepal in April and May 2015 causing widespread devastation. Many NGOs, including CARE Nepal, International Nepal Fellowship and Richa Bajimaya Memorial Foundation, responded to the crisis in diverse ways. In the relief phase, the three NGOs faced many challenges as a result of inadequate planning for a large‐scale disaster...

Thousands of studies have been conducted by social scientists in the villages and islands, and increasingly in the towns, of the Pacific. Despite this, there are few longitudinal studies of any great depth and sophistication in the region. The contributors to this book have all conducted long-term research in the islands of the Pacific. During thei...

In this century, sport has steadily become a more visible and marketable part of everyday life and of global political significance. States have consequently used sport as a means of soft power in order to develop a positive international presence and, usually to a lesser extent, affirm national identity. Sport diplomacy is usually associated with...

Seasonal worker programmes are promoted as a quadruple win, bringing benefits to participating countries, employers and workers. These benefits, however, are most often framed as economic, while the social costs of such schemes have received less attention. In 2009, Australia introduced a short-term agricultural employment scheme to provide unskill...

This overview explores sustainable development in island contexts. More subtle and complex concepts of sustainable development have become manifest in the Sustainable Development Goals, with tensions between social, economic and environmental objectives at different scales as livelihoods acquire greater flexibility and islands face multiple challen...

Urbanization in Vanuatu has increased rapidly in recent decades. Circular mobility has gradually given way to urban permanence as second and third generations grow up in urban centres. Migrants from the small outer island of Paama are numerically significant in the capital Port Vila with more Paamese living there than in their 'home' island. Few ha...

Urbanization in Vanuatu has increased rapidly in recent decades. Circular mobility has gradually given way to urban permanence as second and third generations grow up in urban centres. Migrants from the small outer island of Paama are numerically significant in the capital Port Vila with more Paamese living there than in their 'home' island. Few ha...

Sport, especially football, has rapidly acquired global cultural, commercial, and also political prominence. China recently and belatedly has sought to acquire international recognition in sport and participate in global development by linking soft power, national status, and football. Market principles have been adopted, football clubs are owned b...

Environmental change in small islands may be associated with migration as a means of adaptation. Both Manam and the Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea (PNG) have experienced rapid- and slow-onset changes, respectively. These have been accompanied by the forced migration and ‘temporary’ resettlement of the Manam population and attempts at resettle...

In the framework of the European Union–funded Migration, Environment and Climate Change: Evidence for Policy (MECLEP) project, this report analyses the case of Manam islanders in Papua New Guinea. Approximately 9,000 people were evacuated to the north coast of Madang Province due to volcanic activity. Since then, the Government of Papua New Guinea...

Predictions for the future of small islands and island states are often pessimistic. Multiple discontents have followed decolonization. In Pacific island states poverty and inequality have increased, free trade offers few development possibilities, governance is weak and urban biased, and aid dependence has not declined. Economic niches, including...

It is an ambitious author who entitles a book The Geography of Nostalgia and then publishes it in a series on Advances in Sociology. Will those pesky sociologists ever take space and place properly on board and how, in less than 180 pages, can this be the definitive text? It was timely. The book landed on my desk a day or so after I had come back f...

Groundhopping emerged in the 1980s as a primarily British social practice emanating from dissent with the capitalist structures of elite football and combining nostalgia, serious leisure, travel and collecting into a practice of regularly visiting small town football grounds. Most groundhoppers are middle-aged men, who value the atmosphere, archite...

Migration and remittances characterise many small Pacific islands, where local livelihoods are limited, and the need for money has increased. A majority of Paamese have left the island of Paama, in the central island chain of Vanuatu, and more now live in the capital city, Port Vila, than on Paama. Remittances are bidirectional, between the island...

International medical travel has increased in the last 20 years, becoming more diverse and complex, although definitions and data on its growth and structure are inadequate. Many countries, especially in the Global South, have sought to develop medical tourism for both strategic and defensive reasons. Few have been successful. Standard descriptions...

Aim: To address Australian aged care workforce challenges, a deeper understanding of the current care workforce is needed especially given estimated increases in demand. We provide a national picture of the aged care workforce in Australia focusing on country of birth. Methods: Data from the 2006 and 2011 Australian censuses. Results: The majo...

This book critically and succinctly examines recent changes in land ownership, mobility and livelihoods in various Pacific island states, from East Timor to the Solomon Islands, where climate change, environmental change (including hazards of various origins), population growth and urbanization have contributed to new tensions and discords and resu...

Development, as an idea and an industry, is premised on the assumption that all states have the ability to raise the material wellbeing of citizens. For many this appears to be working but the ideal is problematic for a sub-set of the world's smallest countries: the Pacific Island states. These states have sought to develop conventional export trad...

Event management research increasingly recognizes place embeddedness as critical to success. Less well understood is the significance of the festivals and events sector in places suffering from environmental crises. A major empirical survey of 480 festivals in rural Australia, conducted in 2008 at the height of the Millennium Drought, elucidates th...

Responding to China's major environmental challenges, researchers are increasingly exploring dynamics between international non-governmental organisations, the nation-state, and local communities. Much less understood are domestic environmental non-governmental organisations (eNGOs) and their interactions with actors across scales. This paper respo...

Food security in the Pacific, especially in Micronesia, has worsened in the past half century. Agriculture, fishing and local food production have declined, except in the most remote islands, especially in peri-urban environments. Diets have incorporated more processed and imported foods, because of prestige, accessibility, cost and convenience, at...

n this title, the editors draw together key articles by leading scholars which investigate the significance and role of remittances in economic and social development. They examine topics including reflections on methodology, the motives and determinants of remittances, their socio-economic impacts (especially at the household level), the role of c...

The involvement of small island states (SISs) in a growing number of international organisations (IOs) has placed increased pressure on domestic bureaucracies and political systems. Rapid turnover among SIS leaders, combined with generational change and decreased local support, has amplified disadvantages. Growing complexity has therefore further e...

Geographical perspectives on the relationships between people with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD), their home carers and the nature of domestic space are rare. People with an ASD have high levels of anxiety and a range of behaviours that create challenges for family carers. Interviews with forty carers in Sydney reveal how disruptive behaviours,...

Few studies exist of tourism in North Korea. Many passing references to tourism have been distanced from actual tourists. Visiting North Korea is a form of moral political tourism that has no relationship to dark tourism or fantasy, but represents tourist interest in seeking to discover a ‘real’ North Korea that is distinct from hegemonic political...

Geographies of health have neglected relevant consideration of health human resources. Five developments in the sub-discipline are examined to demonstrate how health labour has been neglected. Three research themes, circulation, regulation and distribution, are then presented to indicate the value of a greater focus on health workers for the geogra...

Emigration from Pacific island countries (PICs) began in earnest in the 1960s, in Polynesia, belatedly followed by many Micronesian states, but has not been characteristic of Melanesia. Many Polynesian states have more ‘ethnic nationals’ overseas than at home. Migration has resulted in an overseas population of around 850,000 people of Pacific ance...

Small Pacific islands, especially atolls, have been widely argued to be in the forefront of climate change. Recent degradation of island environments has primarily been attributed to the impact of sea-level rise. However, physical changes to several small islands can be linked to a range of physical influences and to human modification. La Niña eve...

n this title, the editors draw together key articles by leading scholars which investigate the significance and role of remittances in economic and social development. They examine topics including reflections on methodology, the motives and determinants of remittances, their socio-economic impacts (especially at the household level), the role of c...

Tourism has long been associated with improved health, by passive relaxation on beaches, more vigorous golf and hiking, and the rise of spas, yoga and rejuvenation treatments: loosely health tourism. Recently a more specific medical tourism has grown with increasing numbers of people travelling across national borders for various treatments, notabl...

Religious identity, when marked by physical changes to urban landscapes, has been a cause of tension and conflict in many cities. In the Sydney suburb of St Ives, an attempt to create an eruv, a symbolic and only partly physical boundary around orthodox Jewish space, was vigorously opposed and eventually defeated through the planning system. The re...

Small island states are increasingly characterised by the growing role of international migration and remittances as components of national and household incomes. Recent household-level survey data on migration and remittances in two Pacific island states, Fiji and Tonga, demonstrate that where formal social protection systems are largely absent, m...

Small scale cross-border trade on the Thai–Lao border has come under increasing pressure with the construction of a new Mekong bridge that has expanded formal trade between the two countries. Most small-scale traders are women who, with assistance from family and friends, have developed small businesses from childhood, and created social networks a...

Migration of health workers from relatively poor countries has been sustained for more than half a century. The rationale for migration has been linked to numerous factors relating to the economies and health systems of source and destination countries. The contemporary migration of health workers is also embedded in a longstanding and intensifying...