How Do Contact Systems Affect Regional Development?

Abstract

The paper reports on theoretical and empirical studies of contact systems. It refines and extends the framework, and consequently the implications, of such systems. This framework forms a base for extensive empirical studies, the results of which are used to suggest how contact systems are resolved and how they affect the quantitative and qualitative aspects of regional development. The analysis aims to determine how control of the course of development can be exerted by planning bodies at various levels.