Book reviews 429 peripheral regions in the Balkans and the Baltic).

That is why they ask for a reassessment of the EU structural and cohesion policies, which can effectively bring about regional convergence and cohesion. A similar argument is also put forward by Schn and Pelster, in their attempt to map the socio-economic disparities and potentials of integration in SEE. They argue that the EU integration process has reinforced disparities between and within (Central and) Southeast European countries. The gap is not only represented by a core-periphery pattern at the European scale, but also at lower scales: between new and non-EU member countries and between capital city regions and the rest of a country. Their conclusion is therefore not particularly encouraging for the SEE, as growing disparities and weak internal integration run the risk to further fragment this region. Among the structural problems which penalize the SEE, the weak institutional framework and the lack of an adequate transport infrastructure attract the attention of two specic chapters. Pln Kovcs analyses the relationship between public administration and regional development in Eastern Europe and concludes that despite an initial decentralization trend, we witness a dangerous recentralization process in local and regional administrative capacities today, which can endanger the stimulus for further regional integration in the area. Pitsiavas study is both an overview of the present transport infrastructure in the SEE and a discussion of the strategic priorities for future development, based on the assumption that transport infrastructure and regional development are mutually constituted. The relative underdevelopment of SEE has also been explained in relation to the lack of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Kalogeressis and Labrianidis, however, question the idea, largely shared among policy-makers, that FDI can be a sort of panacea, as sustained growth cannot rely solely on external factors, but also requires endogenous human, technological and institutional resources. Among the last three remaining chapters, two focus on specific case studies (SerbiaMontenegro and Central Macedonia) and one on the typology of settlements in the SEE. Written before the independence of Montenegro, the chapter by Vujoevic highlights the difculties that Serbia-Montenegro has encountered during the last 15 years to adopt measures of a sustainable spatial development and lists some practical steps which can be taken to reverse this process. Quite a different picture emerges from the study of Foutakis and Thoidou on Central Macedonia, one of the richest regions of the SEE. Relying on the Delphi method (a sort of brainstorming among selected experts) and the SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats), the authors offer a methodologically interesting medium-term forecasting of the regions economic development. Finally, methodological issues are also central in the chapter by Zavodnik Lamovek on the typology of settlements patterns in Europe. The author makes the case for a qualitative study of settlement systems which takes into consideration the distribution of built structures, activities, infrastructure and other spatial factors. The study shows the existence of common characteristics and problems in the SEE area, regardless of national borders and socio-economic differences across countries. Dense in information, the book can certainly prove a useful resource for scholars interested in policy-making issues in SEE and, more broadly, Central and Eastern Europe. Marco Antonsich University of Birmingham Gough, J., Eizenschitz, A. and McCulloch, A. 2005: Spaces of social exclusion. London: Routledge. 288 pp. 95/US$190 cloth, 26.99/US$59.95 paper. ISBN: 978 0 415 28088 4 cloth, 978 0 415 28089 1 paper. In the context of the economic downturn gripping the world economy, a book on social exclusion would seem depressingly timely.

430 Progress in Human Geography 33(3) This volume actually came out a couple of years before the hedgies brought us all to the brink of ruin, but the problem of poverty was evident then and it is sure to increase once more as economies contract and jobs vanish. Spaces of social exclusion is intended to offer a geographically sophisticated analysis of the meaning, causes and consequences of the scourge of contemporary social exclusion. It does do this, but only up to a point. For the most part it is a very detailed and dense analysis of the phenomenon of social exclusion over the past 20 years or so culled from various other analyses of the problem, the authors own research and from a plethora of statistics, political pronouncements and policies and so on. Partly because of this multiplicity of sources, the structure of the text is rather fragmented divided into many small subsections with the result that, while it may be easy to consult (as a textbook, for example), the narrative line is rather broken up. Notwithstanding this, there is a great deal of material here that will be of use to anyone interested in exploring and opening up the debate on the nature and meaning of social exclusion. In terms of empirical information the only signicant limitation of the book is its largely British focus. While there is some material on Eastern Europe and some consideration of the international dimensions of exclusion, this is relatively insubstantial compared to the level of detail on the UK. More serious limitations appear when we turn to the conceptual and theoretical aspects of the book. Spaces of social exclusion is written from an unequivocally Marxian/ socialist perspective indeed the nal chapter is an ambitious (possibly hopelessly utopian) manifesto for an inclusionary socialist society. Despite this, there is neither explanation nor exploration of the books own theoretical position, let alone any acknowledgement of alternative ways of theorizing or understanding exclusion. While I have no problem with books taking particular positions in this way, and though I have sympathy with some of what is presented, the lack of any reexive or self-critical analysis produces a distinctly one-dimensional argument. I do not doubt for a second the sincerity with which these authors hold their beliefs, but they leave little conceptual or political room for those whose approach might be different. Unfortunately this means that the book is more preachy than persuasive, something that may put off those not already converted to the cause. This problem is exacerbated by an insistent use of rather crudely drawn categories: associationalists, neoliberals, communitarians, capitalists, etc. Some of these are self-identied groups, of course, but some are labels simply attached by the authors to groups of disparate people with little or no analysis. The same rather uncritical categorization is used for friend and enemy alike. Neoliberals are presented as all cut from the same, evil cloth. Trades unionists and socialists are lumped together because of their common values, with no consideration whatsoever given to the long history of distinctly exclusionary activities both groups have been responsible for in the past. Similarly the language of class is used in an extraordinarily general way. For example, we are told that:
Working class cultural capital is specific to particular neighbourhoods and localities, and is recognized and validated only in those spaces. In contrast, higher class culture is regarded as universal and recognized in wider spaces (p. 111)

If sweeping statements such as this are at all defensible, one might expect some explanation or evidence and yet often there is none. Indeed the authors often reference other sections of the book rather than any supporting literature let alone anything that would offer a different analysis. This is a pity because there is a wealth of material here that really needs to be read and discussed, but for me it is often compromised by the authors dogged single-mindedness and by the language of a very particular brand of British socialism. With apologies to readers who did not spend the 1980s on marches and

Book reviews 431 picket lines, this book is a little like a very extended copy of the Socialist Worker a particularly shouty leftist tabloid that was a ubiquitous feature of such events. Overall, therefore, while there is much to commend about this book, I fear that its overblown politicking will serve to limit its readership to those already in full agreement with the authors position. Angus Cameron University of Leicester Hewamanne, S. 2007: Stitching identities in a free trade zone: gender and politics in Sri Lanka . Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 296 pp. US$59.95/39 cloth. ISBN: 978 0 8122 4045 0. In South Asia, Sri Lanka was a forerunner in implementing neoliberal economic policies in 1977, which led to the setting up a free trade zone (FTZ) as early as 1978. Yet in comparison to Bangladesh, for example (Kabeer, 2000), there has been limited research on the politics of Sri Lankan garment factory workers. Hewamanne seeks to fill the gap by looking at the ways in which migrant FTZ garment workers create everyday political responses to the economic opportunities and surrounding cultural discourses brought about by the setting up of FTZs. The focus is on young, unmarried women workers from the Sinhala-Buddhist community. They are the main beneciary group targeted by (Sinhala) politicians to nd FTZ jobs in return for winning elections. Hewamanne points to us the ways in which the quest for Sri Lankas development and modernity is expressed through moral and cultural tropes of Sinhala-Buddhism. Many of her respondents, which involved factory managers, parents, factory nurses, government ofcials, NGO activists and women workers, hoped for a development and modernity with moral reins intact (p. 13). She pays attention to these cultural discourses because they not only affect the shaping of womens sense of self but also point to the space within which their agency and negotiation of alternative identities in their everyday lives pan out. The shop oor, boarding houses, formal parties, informal social outings, and village homes are the spaces for Hewamannes critical interventions. Because she was particularly fortunate to access and work with an established factory within the FTZ for a seven-month period during 2000 and to live in a boarding house, the book is ethnographically rich with many illuminative illustrations showing how women workers creatively twist and subvert their (sometimes) exploitative, sexually fraught and socially stigmatized jobs and living environments. For example, within their work environments women workers strain of class consciousness intertwined with religion, caste, and gender consciousness. This made it possible for them to occasionally show maternal concern towards male supervisors who usually pushed them beyond limits. Even if there was an oppositional class awareness and many moments of passive resistance, the women workers also saw their ability to be kind towards their supervisors as a way of earning good karma (spiritual merit). Similarly at other times, the women workers would indulge in flirtatious behaviour with junior officers on the shop floor because it was a way of manipulating and cultivating general goodwill among workers and staff. In this sense she points to how women workers had rather different readings of middle-class notions of sexual harassment. This differentiated understanding is also apparent in the ways in which women workers said that they enjoyed the catcalls they received from men when walking on the streets because they were seen as a means of initiating group communication with the opposite sex so as to gure out their potential (romantic) interest. In these respects the FTZ potentially offered a liberating space where women workers would develop oppositional consciousness, become desiring subjects and perform disrespectability through the clothes they wore. Yet there is also attention paid to