to April 2006. The term ‘intifada’ was also
invoked by some Iraqi political movements
opposed to the US occupation since 2003 and
by some Lebanese activists in their struggle
against Syrian domination in 2005. dg
Suggested reading
See Electronic Intifada at http://eletronicintifada.
net; and the Forum on al-Aqsa Intifada, inArab
World Geographer(October 2001) at http://users.
fmg.uva.nl/vmamadouh/awg/
invasion and succession A concept adapted
fromecologyby sociologists of thechicago
schoolto describe processes ofneighbour-
hoodchange within cities. Within ecology, the
concept is derived from ideas regarding the
‘survival of the fittest’ in the competition for
living space (cf.darwinism).
According to the Chicago School model of
urban residential patterns (cf.zonal model),
the main stimulus to urban expansion is in-
migrationof relatively low-income groups.
These are largely constrained to low-cost,
high-density, relatively poor-quality housing,
much of which is concentrated in theinner
city; in addition, many move to that area
because of the presence there of family and
friends who assist their initialassimilationto
a new milieu (cf.chain migration). The pres-
sure that this puts on inner-city housing stock
stimulates existing residents to seek housing
further from the centre, initiating a ripple effect
through all of the city’s zones with residents on
the urban edge responding by moving into new
housing. Growth at the centre thus leads to
expansion on theurban fringethrough a pro-
cess offiltering, whereby housing moves
down the socio-economic scale as one group
replaces another in a neighbourhood, whilst
households move up the housing scale in
terms of housing age and quality.
Given the context in which the model was
developed – 1920s Chicago – many of the
immigrants who initiated the invasion-and-
succession sequence were members of ethnic
minorities (seeethnicity). Their movement
into areas might be challenged, causing hous-
ing stress (as densities then build up in the
areas that they already occupy), until eventu-
ally pressure on an adjacent area leads to its
residents yielding (cf.blockbusting). rj
Suggested reading
Bulmer (1986).
investment Most commonly discussed by
geographers in the context ofForeign Direct
Investment(FDI), which Dicken defines as
‘direct investment which occurs across na-
tional boundaries, that is, when a firm from
one country buys a controlling investment in a
firm in another country or where a firm sets up
a branch or subsidiary in another country’
(2003, p. 51). FDI involves either an ‘or-
ganic/greenfield’ strategy, in which investment
is used to establish operations in an overseas
country from scratch, or a ‘merger’ strategy,
where investment is used to buy an existing
operator.
When a firm or individual makes an invest-
ment, the aim is usually to reap financial bene-
fit, either by selling the commodity or
resourcepurchased at a later date at a profit
(as investment banks do through stock and
commodities markets) or by extracting value-
added in some other way. FDI usually follows
the latter strategy, aiming to use an overseas
investment to enhance long-term profitability
by extracting value from presence in another
country. As Dunning and Norman’s (1987)
‘theory of international enterprise’ suggests,
FDI can allow: (1) the leverage of existing
assets overseas, usually resulting in increased
sales and profits; and/or (2) access to new
assets, again resulting in either increased
sales (through innovation, for example, when
the asset is skilled labour) or improved profit-
ability (e.g. when costs are reduced because
access is gained to cheap labour).
The geography of investment can be studied
at twoscales. At the macro scale it is possible
to study the worldwide aggregate trends in
FDI. Shatz and Venables (2000) show that:
(1) the developed countries provide the dom-
inant origin of FDI (90 per cent), although
traditional sources such as the USA and the
UK are declining in their relative share be-
cause of the growing importance of Eastern
European and South East Asian nations; (2)
the developed nations are also the dominant
receivers of FDI (70 per cent). This does
not, however, mean that developing countries
are not important sources and sinks of FDI.
Indeed, there are a small number of countries
that are significant destinations for FDI be-
cause of the way firms seek to exploit the
new international division of labour. Pre-
dominantly, though, FDI is used to access
developed markets, in particular as a strategy
to overcome trade restrictions and access
consumer markets.
At the micro scale the patchiness of the geog-
raphy of investment can be explored and the-
orized. Firms usually choose a place for
investment that will bring particular market
or asset benefits. For example, those seekingGregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_I Final Proof page 395 31.3.2009 7:05pmINVESTMENT