Identifying and explaining common views, ideas and traditions, this volume challenges the concept of Serbian-Albanian hostility by reinvestigating recent and historical events in the region. The contributors put forward critically oriented initiatives and alternatives to shed light on a range of relations and perspectives. The central aim of the book is to 'figure out' the problematic relations between Serbs and Albanians - that is, to comprehend its origins and the actors involved, and to find ways to resolve and deal with this enmity. Treating the hostility as a construct of a long-running discourse about the Serbian or Albanian 'Other', scholars and intellectuals from Serbia, Kosovo and Albania examine the origins, channels, agents and mediums of this discourse from the 18th century to the present. Tracing the roots of the two ethnic groups' political divisions, contemporary practices and actions allows the contributors to reconsider mutually held negative perceptions and identify elements of a common, shared history. Examples of past and current cooperation are used to offer a critical analysis of all three societies. This interdisciplinary publication brings together historiographical, literary, sociological, political, anthropological and philosophical analyses and enquiries and will be of interest to researchers in the fields of sociology, politics, cultural studies, history or anthropology; and to academics working in Slavonic and East European studies.

This comprehensive volume observes how, after 25 years of transition and uncertainty in the countries that constituted the former Soviet Union, their political geographies remain in a state of flux. The authors explore the fluid relationship between Russia, by far the dominant economic and military power in the region, and the other former republics. They also examine new developments towards economic blocs, such as membership in the European Union or the competing Eurasian Economic Union, as well as new security arrangements in the form of military cooperation and alliance structures. This book reflects the broad range of changes across this important world region by engaging in insightful analysis of current developments in Central Asia, Ukraine, Russia, the Caucasus, and separatist regions. The authors explore new state alliances and the evolving cultural and geopolitical orientations of former Soviet citizens. Some chapters also examine the dynamics of wars that have occurred in the post-Soviet space, as well as how local political developments are reflected in electoral preferences and struggles over control of public spaces. The chapters in this book were originally published in the journal Eurasian Geography and Economics.

The recent collapse of the bipolar world order has been accompanied by momentous changes, dynamically setting the international system in motion toward an uncertain future. Such a profound transformation of the international system mandates an evaluation of American foreign policy and the role of the United States in this radically changed world order. In this insightful new book, Okbazghi Yohannes examines the role of U.S. foreign policy with regard to the four countries that make up the Horn of Africa: Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia, and Ethiopia. The book begins by analyzing the historical patterns and processes of American policy in relation to the African Horn during and after the Cold War, offering a comprehensive description of the fundamental policy choices of the United States and the means chosen to achieve American objectives in the region. Finally, Yohannes considers the extent to which the American role in the African Horn aided or impeded the emergence of political democracy and the promotion of economic development within the region. By juxtaposing this new method of examination with traditional approaches, the book reveals a greater coherence in the structural relationship between U.S. policy and the politics of the African Horn. Skillfully incorporating informative background material regarding the history, politics, and diplomacy of the countries covered by the study, Yohannes addresses the interests of both the specialist and the general reader.

This volume focuses on the influence that borders in the Middle East can have on actors' identity building, as well as how local, national, or transnational actors re/ define borders and boundaries. The Middle East is facing a political crisis, revealed by the Arab uprisings, that is affecting states' borders in a paradoxical way: while local, communal, or tribal dissent tends to contest international borders, states are trying to affirm their control over national territory in building border fences. Focusing on borders in their materiality as well as their symbolic dimensions - their representations - may help with reappraising the region's own history, the local/national specificities, as well as regional/ global constraints affecting borderlands and those who cross borders; be they workers, migrants, or jihadists. In this book, six case studies will provide insights on state- community relationships through the lens of border issues in the Levant and the Gulf. The theoretical framework provided by the border studies conceptual tools allows authors to delve into the process of bordering, de- bordering, and re- bordering which is affecting the region, raising questions on sovereignty, authority, and the political legitimacy of the regimes. This book was originally published as a special issue of Geopolitics.

Since the end of the Cold War there has been an increased interest in The Baltics. The Baltic States brings together three countries, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, to provide a comprehensive and analytical guide integrating history, political science, economic development and contemporary events into one account. Since gaining their independence each country has developed at its own pace with its own agenda and facing its own obstacles.
The authors examine the tensions accompanying a post-communist return to Europe after the long years of separation, and how each country has responded to the demands of becoming a modern European state. Estonia was the first of the former Soviet republics to enter membership negotiations with the European Union in 1988 and is a potential candidate for the next round of EU expansion in 2004. Lithuania and Latvia have also expressed their desire for future membership of NATO and the EU.

The present volume curates papers presented at an international conference organized at OUCIP to engage with the oceanic turn in different fields of knowledge embracing Social Sciences, Humanities and, Physical Sciences to project the Indian Ocean as the new frontier of research across various disciplines. The papers are divided into four sections: The Oceanic Reach has papers reflecting on the received knowledge regarding the historical role and reach of the Indian Ocean and providing new insights in the evolving dynamics of the region. The section on Literature and Culture has essays reflecting the different trajectories within Humanities and Cultural Studies through which Indian Ocean has stimulated the imagination of scholars, intellectuals, diasporic writers, and culture historians. The section on Roots and Routes includes accounts of the historical, cultural, religious, trade and diasporic linkages across oceanic communities inhabiting the vast expanse of the Indian Ocean. The final section on Power Games includes papers that deal with the increasing interests of various international powers in the Indian Ocean region particularly in the context of the shift from the Asian land mass to the enormous presence of the Indian Ocean, and the economic, political and strategic significance that it has for the entire region. Taken together these contributions offer both an opportunity and a challenge for interested scholars to engage with Indian Ocean as a new frontier of knowledge with enormous potential for research and exploration. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

Imagined Regional Communities provides an original approach to thinking about the processes of regional integration. Focusing mostly on communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America, it develops detailed case studies based on archives, interviews and critical readings of existing texts. These case-studies are related to each other and the overall themes of the book, so that a set of narratives and theoretical elaborations emerge, that critically reformulate understandings of regional communities, statehold and sovereignty.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203201760

It has seemed at times that there is no neutral territory between those who see Bakhtin as the practitioner of a kind of neo-Marxist, or at least materialist, deconstruction and those who look at the same texts and see a defender of traditional, liberal humanist values and classical conceptions of order, a conservative in the true sense of the term. Arising from a conference under the same title held at Texas Tech University, Carnivalizing Difference seeks to explore the actual and possible relationships between Bakhtinian theory and cultural practice. The introduction explores the changing configurations of our understanding of Bakhtin's work in the context of recent theory and outlines how that understanding can inform, and be informed by, culture both ancient and modern. Eleven articles, spanning a wide range of periods and cultural forms, then address these issues in detail, revealing the ways in which Bakhtinian thought illuminates, sometimes obfuscates, but always challenges.

The central point that this volume makes is that much of what happened in Jammu & Kashmir in the critical first few years (1947-53) needs a more careful reassessment. It is argued that there were little voices of ordinary people that should have been heard but were ignored. The political discourse that took centre stage even as it appeared more assertive and representative of mass public opinion was, however, as is now clear only a clever and misleading political move. Much of the source material upon which the author has based his study has till now remained unstudied and uncited - rare hard to find books, pamphlets, articles in journals, magazines and newspapers, official and party reports and so on. The volume takes the reader back in time to a kind of ring side seat. Kashmir's cultural and historical legacy, the invasion, the issue of the plebiscite, the United Nations and the ceasefire, the Praja Parishad and most important of all the political scene and its key players - Prime Minister Nehru, Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Sheikh Abdullah. Based on the nature of its sources the volume breaks free of a stereotyped approach to understanding the origin of what we commonly term today as the 'Kashmir problem'. The volume argues that contemporary views recorded as they are in the heat of the moment with natural spontaneity often contain hidden lines and new light. Not surprisingly contemporary versions tell us a story very different from mainstream conventional writings on Jammu & Kashmir. This timely volume will radically influence the existing discourse on Jammu & Kashmir. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

Since 1898, the former communist countries of Eastern Europe have gained international prominence. The continuing socio-economic transition and the instability evident in areas like the Caucasus and Former Yugoslavia have drawn the western world into uneasy interactions with the region. At the same time, closer commercial and cultural contacts are providing opportunities for rewarding relationships which have now resulted in many of these countries joining the EU.This book provides detailed coverage of the transition from communism to a market economy. Covering the whole range of East Central European and former Soviet Union countries, it charts the diversity within the region, offering in-depth coverage of specific areas as well as a broad view of development across the region. The book is organised into three comprehensive sections: the historical, socio-economic and environmental. The socio-economic section considers the critical issues of restructuring to effect the transition from central planning to a market economy, while the historical material provides an essential context for the constraints and opportunities affecting the region. The environmental section places emphasis on results of environmental neglect inherited from communism as well as looking to the future implications of EU directives on the problems of biodiversity and pollution in the region.

This is a key text on the very topical themes of power, defence and space. Landscapes of Defence is an exciting collection of theoretical and empirical material from very well known contributors, desiged to help students understand how landscapes of defence fit in with some of the broader concepts of space, power and place to which they are introduced in the 1st year. The book is split into four sections, and each section contains an introduction placing the subsequent chapters in context. There is also a comprehensive introduction and afterword to tie the book's broad themes together. 2nd and 3rd year undergraduates in urban and cultural geography will be the key market for this title, as well as strong secondary market in departments of Sociology, Anthropology, Law and Planning.

Since the first edition was published in 1994 as "The Atlas of Apartheid", there has been enormous change in South Africa. Gradually apartheid is being dismantled but in many sectors the effects have not yet been reversed. In this revised edition, A.J. Christopher examines the spatial impact of apartheid during the period of National Government from 1948 to 1994, and the legacy it has left for South Africa at the beginning of the 21st century. Apartheid was about the control of space and specific places. Intent upon maintaining white minority rule, despite local and international resistance, the government thought in terms of drawing lines on maps and on the ground to separate the South African peoples into discrete, legally defined groups in a classic example of divide-and-rule. Segregation operated at many levels and on many scales, from "petty apartheid" exemplified by separate entrances to buildings and residential areas to "grand apartheid" involving separate nation-states.; It is remarkable that those structures associated with petty and grand apartheid have been dismantled very rapidly, but those associated with the ownership and occupation of land have been extremely persist

As the world undergoes rapid technological and economic change, so too the role and functions of the State are being challenged. There are those who argue that that the nation state has come to an end and that we are entering a new phase in the territorial ordering of the world system. Others hold that boundaries have disappeared and that a globalized world has no need or use for artificial, man-made, territorial barriers.
The contributions here seek to determine the extent to which states and boundaries have, in fact, disappeared, or are simply changing their functions as we move from an era of fixed territories into a post-Westphalian territorial system. A group of international political geographers and political scientists examine the changing nature of the state, pointing to significant changes on the one hand, but equally noting the continued importance of territory and boundaries in determining the political ordering of the post-modern world.

The collapse of the Soviet Union has engendered one of the most momentous and critical regional transformations of our times through formation and development of the post-Soviet states. This book explores the politics of post-Soviet transition and the problems which will continue to face these states in the twenty-first century as they struggle toward democracy, market reform, ethnic co-existence and integration into a new geopolitical post-Cold War world order.
Richly illustrated with examples drawn from Russian and other post-Soviet primary sources, the book focuses upon three broad themes of transition: first, the progression from colonialism to post-colonialism and the consequences of such changes on national identity and the redefinition of national homeland; second, the movement away from totalitarian rule and the processes that both facilitate and challenge the prospects of a democratic future; third, the process of securing a successful place in the global capitalist economy.
New theoretical ways are introduced to map out these themes, providing a framework from which to understand the geopolitical, economic and social processes that are likely to shape this transition into the twenty-first century.

First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Recent controversies over the political and environmental management of the Antarctic ensure that it will remain an important global issue. Drawing on recent developments in critical geopolitics and cultural geography, Klaus Dodds examines the six major nations of the Southern hemisphere currently involved in the Antarctic. Each of these nations - Argentina, Australia, Chile, India, New Zealand and South Africa - claims a ‘natural’ interest in the future of the polar continent. Geopolitics in Antarctica presents a detailed exploration of the rhetoric and politics behind each of these claims, arguing that they are often based on uncritical understandings of territory, geographical proximity and national identity. The book concludes with an examination of how geographical understandings of the Antarctic continue to influence the management of the frozen continent and Southern Ocean.

In its most precise definition, a " dead country" is a place that once issued postage stamps but no longer does. Harding has used this definition as a basis for a fascinating investigation of world history. Collected in Dead Countries of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries is a telling portrait of global change. The book is organized as a series of entries for each dead country, arranged alphabetically under fifteen broad geographical headings. These short entries provide wonderfully detailed summaries of the history of the dead countries that fill in gaps and expose the hidden histories of many geographic locations throughout the world. The entries not only detail the creation and makeup of the dead country, but most importantly, describe the significant historical factors that caused its disappearance. Countries that have fractured politically or been absorbed into larger conglomerations are also included as dead countries. Each entry begins with a literary epigraph that offers a fresh way of thinking about the area in question. Also included is essential reference information such as area (in both square miles and square kilometers), capital city, estimated population, and an illustration of the region's postage stamp that provides a visual reference of the culture. Included at the end of each entry is a list of references that contain additional sources of information.

The foundings of constitutional democracies are commonly traced to singular moments. In turn, these moments of national origin are characterized as radical political innovations, notable for their civic unity, perfect legitimacy and binding authority. In constitutional democracies, this common view is particularly attractive, with original founding events, actors, and ideals continuously evoked in everyday politics to legitimize state authority and unify citizens. Angelica Maria Bernal challenges this view of foundings, however, explaining that it is ultimately dangerous, misguided, and unsustainable. Beyond Origins argues that the ascription of a universal authority to original founding events is problematic because it limits our understanding of subsequent foundational changes, political transformation and innovation. This singular view also confounds our ability to account for all of the actors and venues through which foundation-building and constitutional transformation occurs. Because such understandings of national foundings obscure the many power struggles at work in them, these origin stories are invalid. In the wake of these limited views of national founding, Bernal develops an alternate approach: "founding beyond origins." Rather than asserting that founding events are authoritatively settled and relegated to history, this framework redefines foundings as contentious, uncertain, and incomplete. Indeed, the book looks at a wide variety of contexts - early imperial Rome; revolutionary Haiti and France; the mid-20th century, racially-segregated United States; and contemporary Latin America - to reconsider political foundings as a contestatory and ongoing dimension of political life. Bridging classic and contemporary political and constitutional theory with historical readings, Bernal reorients understandings of political foundings, arguing that it is only through context-specific and pragmatist understandings of democratic origins that we can realize the potential for radical democratic change.

Cold war geopolitics may be dead, but struggles over space and power are more important than ever in a world of globalizing economies and instantaneous information. Using insights from contemporary cultural theory, the contributors address questions of political identity and popular culture, state violence and genocide, speed machines and militarism, gender and resistance, cyberwar and mass media - connecting each question to a generalized re-thinking of the spaces of politics at the global scale. This book argues that the concept of geopolitics needs to be reconceptualized as the 21st century approaches. Challenging conventional geopolitical assumptions, the diverse chapters include analyses of: theories of post-modern geopolitics, historical formulations of states and cold wars, the geopolitics of the Holocaust, the gendered dimension of Kurdish insurgency, the cold war world, political cartoons concerning Bosnia, Time magazine representations of the Persian Gulf, the Zapatistas and the Chiapas revolt, the new cyber politics, conflict simulations in the US military, and the emergence of a new geopolitics of global security.

Rethinking Geopolitics argues that the concept of geopolitics needs to be conceptualised anew as the twenty-first century approaches.
Challenging conventional geopolitical assumptions, contributors explore:
* theories of post-modern geopolitics
* historical formulations of states and cold wars
* the geopolitics of the Holocaust
* the gendered dimension of Kurdish insurgency
* the cold war world
* political cartoons concerning Bosnia
* Time magazine representations of the Persian Gulf
* the Zapatistas and the Chiapas revolt
* the new cyber politics
* conflict simulations in the US military
* the emergence of a new geopolitics of global security.
Exploring how popular cultural assumptions about geography and politics constitute the discourses of contemporary violence and political economy, Rethinking Geopolitics shows that we must rethink the struggle for knowledge, space and power.

The urban condition is today being radically transformed. Urban restructuring is accelerating, new urban spaces are being consolidated, and new forms of urbanization are crystallizing. In New Urban Spaces, Neil Brenner argues that understanding these mutations of urban life requires not only concrete research, but new theories of urbanization. To this end, Brenner proposes an approach that breaks with inherited conceptions of the urban as a bounded settlement unit-the city or the metropolis-and explores the multiscalar constitution and periodic rescaling of the capitalist urban fabric. Drawing on critical geopolitical economy and spatialized approaches to state theory, Brenner offers a paradigmatic account of how rescaling processes are transforming inherited formations of urban space and their variegated consequences for emergent patterns and pathways of urbanization. The book also advances an understanding of critical urban theory as radically revisable: key urban concepts must be continually reinvented in relation to the relentlessly mutating worlds of urbanization they aspire to illuminate.

Seeking Justice in an Energy Sacrifice Zone is an ethnography of the lived experience of rapid environmental change in coastal Louisiana, USA. Writing from a political ecology perspective, Maldonado explores the effects of changes to localized climate and ecology on the Isle de Jean Charles, Grand Caillou/Dulac, and Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribes. Focusing in particular on wide-ranging displacement effects, she argues that changes to climate and ecology should not be viewed in isolation as only physical processes but as part of wider socio-political and historical contexts. The book is valuable reading for students and scholars in the fields of anthropology, sociology, geography, environmental studies and disaster studies as well as public policy and planning.

Winner of the 2016 Julian Minghi Distinguished Book Award of the Political Geography Specialty Group at the AAG Providing important insights into political geography, the politics of peace, and South Asian studies, this book explores everyday peace in northern India as it is experienced by the Hindu-Muslim community. * Challenges normative understandings of Hindu-Muslim relations as relentlessly violent and the notion of peace as a romantic endpoint occurring only after violence and political maneuverings * Examines the ways in which geographical concepts such as space, place, and scale can inform and problematize understandings of peace * Redefines the politics of peace, as well as concepts of citizenship, agency, secular politics, and democracy * Based on over 14 months of qualitative and archival research in the city of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, India

The ongoing Irish peace process has renewed interest in the current social and political problems of Northern Ireland. In bringing together the issues of gender and inequality, "Women Divided," a title in the "International Studies of Women and Place" series, offers new perspectives on women's rights and contemporary political issues.
"Women Divided" argues that religious and political sectarianism in Northern Ireland has subordinated women. A historical review is followed by an analysis of the contemporary scene-- state, market (particularly employment patterns), family and church--and the role of women's movements. The book concludes with an in-depth critique of the current peace process and its implications for women's rights in Northern Ireland, arguing that women's rights must be a central element in any agenda for peace and reconciliation.

Can the European Union continue to grow and also converge? Is uniformity within the union desirable? This text provides a comprehensive introduction to the European Union, its identity, problems and prospects. Focusing on the issues of integration and enlargement, the authors examine the major economic, social, environmental and political aspects of the EU, both in terms of its individual regions and as a system of interdependent states that form the single EU entity. Assessment of controversial issues is frank: problems of unemployment, social stress, ageing and the place of women are covered objectively, prompting readers to form their own interpretations. This completely revised and expanded 2nd edition includes new illustrations, data and analysis and coverage of new members Austria, Finland and Sweden.