This book, originally published in 1978 concentrates on the structure and growth of the North Sea oil industry in Scotland. Drawing on relevant areas of economic theory, it examines the structure of the offshore Scottish oil industry, the employment generated by the industry, technological change created by oil and its impact on rural areas of the Highlands. For each subject discussed future developments are discussed which remain as pertinent today as when the book was first published, particularly given the issues surrounding Scotland's economic in relation to possible Scottish independence.

During the past century, scientists, world statesmen, and international entrepreneurs have become increasingly aware of the potential of the oceans as a source of minerals. This book provides an authoritative picture of the current state of marine mineral extraction. A major work of reference, it will be essential reading for both those engaged in maritime studies and for professional organisations involved in the extraction of underwater minerals.

This collection, featuring an impressive list of contributors, covers themes including maritime history, environmental issues, public policy, technology and resources as well as open sea development and management.

The North Sea, one of the most intensively used sea-areas in the world, may well be one of the most intensively regulated sea-areas as well. As human activity developed in the North Sea national & later international regulations followed these developments. The result has been what is commonly called a piecemeal approach. The legal regime of the North Sea has developed in an incremental manner. Thus one conventional instrument after the other, covering different user-functions like vessel-source pollution, fisheries, ocean dumping & land-based pollution, was adopted. In contrast to more modern approaches these legal instruments have their own framework. The result is that the instruments are scattered in many different documents, & even for the more well informed North Sea watcher it is difficult to obtain a comprehensive overview of the regulatory instruments. The North Sea: Basic Legal Documents on Regional Environmental Co-operation offers a comprehensive view of the instruments dealing with all sources of marine pollution in the North Sea, be they ocean dumping, land-based pollution or vessel-source pollution. The book contains many legal documents, including maps & tables. It also contains non-conventional instruments such as the texts of the declarations of the International North Sea Conferences, held between 1984 & 1990, & recommendations & decisions of e.g. the Paris Commission on Land-Based Pollution & the Oslo Commission on Dumping. Furthermore the book contains documentation on relatively new areas of environmental concern in the North Sea region, i.e. nature conservation & management of living resources. The book supplements The North Sea: Perspectives on Regional Environmental Co-operation also edited by David Freestone & Ton IJlstra which contains 26 essays on legal & policy aspects of environmental protection in the North Sea.

Inhaltsangabe:Introduction: This thesis tries to examine the structures, activities, changes and spatial impacts of economic development in Scotland. Looking at the Scottish economy it has to be considered that Scotland is both an integrated part of the UK and the UK economy and a peripheral region within the UK. Therefore Scotland does not have an economy of its own, but the distinctiveness of the region in terms of location, history and recent political devel-opments justifies a closer examination of the matter. Scotland is in many aspects a very heterogeneous region. This is in particular true for the economic structure and a focus on one region cannot be representative. Edinburgh is an exceptionally prosperous region, not only in Scottish terms. However this prosperity and activity in economic development makes Edinburgh an interesting subject for examination. Thus the focus of this thesis lies on the developments in Edinburgh. Economic development is certainly influenced by a vast number of factors and it is impossible to take all of them into account. Within this thesis the emphasis lies on governmental influence on the developments. However European development measures are not considered. Accordingly the thesis aims to look at the ways the promotion of economic development is carried out in Scotland and tries to assess the measures on the background of the distinctiveness of Scotland and Edinburgh. Thus in the first chapter the thesis takes a look at Scotland as a whole, examining the physical environment, the administrative framework and its re-cent changes. Furthermore it looks at the economic legacy of the heavy industries and the recent developments in the Scottish economy. Subsequently the history and institutions of the promotion of economic development in Britain and Scotland are presented. The last part of the first chapter deals with the planning framework in Scotland. The second chapter portraits Edinburgh's economic structure. The key industries are presented briefly as are the institutions of economic development. Afterwards parts of the Edinburgh development plan are examined. The third chapter focuses on the Waterfront project in Edinburgh. The background of waterfront revitalisation is presented. The project and its participants are then examined in some detail. Finally a conclusion is drawn on the developments in Edinburgh. Inhaltsverzeichnis:Table of Contents: Abbreviations List of Figures List of [...]

Scotland’s economic capacity to prosper independently of Britain has become a key political issue, dominating the independence referendum of 2014 and continuing to influence British politics since. But, as this book shows, the Scottish economy is not merely a statistical object – it is also a political, sociological and cultural idea which has been imagined and constructed. The book explores the history of how Scotland has been framed in statistical and policy terms, which are laden with conflicts over meaning, ranging from class struggles and struggles against "external control" to the ongoing debate over national independence. Using Scotland as a case study for examining the political meaning of "the economy", the book also considers the origins of efforts to measure the Scottish economy in the British nationalist terms of "regional policy". It then considers the influence, in turn, of North Sea oil, globalisation/Europeanisation, class dealignment and neoliberal "enterprise" ideology in changing the meanings attached to the Scottish economy. These form necessary conditions for the debate on national independence, where the nature and the future of the Scottish economy remain the central controversy. By examining the economic ideas of a self-proclaimed "cosmopolitan" nationalist movement, the study will offer deeper insights into how nationalists are adapting to the crisis of globalisation. This book marks a significant contribution to the literature on Scottish independence as well as economic sociology, nationalism, critical geography and political economy more broadly.