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Books > Earth & environment > Geography > Human geography > Political geography
People around the world are confused and concerned. Is it a sign of strength of or of weakness that the US has suddenly shifted from a politics of consensus to one of coercion on the world stage? What was really at stake in the war on Iraq? Was it all about oil and, if not, what else was involved? What role has a sagging economy played in pushing the US into foreign adventurism and what difference does it make that neo-conservatives rather than neo-liberals are now in power? What exactly is the relationship between US militarism abroad and domestic politics? These are the questions taken up in this compelling and original book.
There are now more than three hundred city-regions around the world with populations of more than one million. As globalization intensifies, these city-regions come to pose many new questions and problems. This book presents a highly-original and multifaceted review of these issues by some of the leading researchers in the field.
New Zealand (NZ) is widely regarded as being at the frontier of public policy reforms and public governance innovations. Bringing together acclaimed scholars and practitioners from NZ, including those who have led reforms, this edited collection examines the evolution of public policy in NZ. Through focusing on four areas of NZ's strength in public policy governance and management - managing and governing the economy, governing the natural environment, the effectiveness and management of the public service, and the advancement of minority populations - the authors highlight specific challenges, contexts and responses, with an emphasis on contemporary matters such as wellbeing, sustainability and fiscal responsibility. The authors discuss practices for developing innovative public policy and governance, discuss public governance reforms in detail and examine the use of innovative public management and e-government practices. Through the analysis of specific policies and management tools, this title offers an assessment of the impact of policies and their implementation. This book will appeal to scholars, practitioners, policy advisors and consultants in national and international organizations who are interested in, or involved with, cutting-edge, innovative public policy and governance strategies.
Using an integrative approach to international relations, the second edition of Reordering the World returns the ?geo? to geopolitical analysis of current global issues. The contributors focus on key emerging world issues, such as spatial data technology, IGOs/NGOs, gender and world politics, boundary disputes, refugee flows, ecological degradation, and UN intervention in civil wars. They also assess the redefinition of international relations by instantaneous, worldwide financial and telecommunication linkages and explore the struggles of new multinational and nongovernmental organizations to define their roles. Using current real-world examples, this group of eminent geographers challenges the reader to rethink international relations and reorder the world political map.
This volume explains the national and regional border modifications that took place in Europe from 1870 to 2020. It provides insights that allow us to understand boundary changes for several different levels of territorial organization. The text describes the state formation process related to the regional-administrative structures in each European country, and offers insight into the degree of centralization historically by describing the extent of legislative autonomy at different administrative levels and the competences reserved for each of them. The book sheds light on the complex regional organization of Europe and the difficulties its reform has faced. The main audience will be academics and PhD/Masters students working in a variety of geography fields, and the maps included in each chapter will also be of interest to a broader audience including undergraduate and secondary-school students wishing to better understand the political history of Europe.
This book explores the role of place names in the formation and maintenance of individual and group identities in multilingual and multi-ethnic situations. Using examples from Austria and Czechia as case studies, the authors examine the power of place names through an interdisciplinary and multi-methods approach that draws from the fields of anthropology, geography, sociolinguistics and toponomastics. The book contextualises both places within their social and political histories, and probes recent debates in the social sciences relating to place names, identity and power. It will be of interest to scholars and students focusing on place names and naming practices, minority communities and languages, and linguistic landscapes.
This proceedings book addresses the main issues of contemporary political geography and international relations, providing a platform for discussion and collaboration of experts in the fields of Political Geography, Geopolitics, International Relations, etc. Participants from all over the world consider the controversies and challenges posed by globalization, focusing, in particular, on the ideologies of globalization and regionalism, migration crises, prevention of ethnic conflicts, and measures to promote sustainable development. The content of the book may be interesting to expert community, academics and popular audience.
Frontier Road uses the history of one road in southern Colombia known locally as the trampoline of death to demonstrate how state-building processes and practices have depended on the production and maintenance of frontiers as inclusive-exclusive zones, often through violent means. * Considers the topic from multiple perspectives, including ethnography of the state, the dynamics of frontiers, and the nature of postcolonial power, space, and violence * Draws attention to the political, environmental, and racial dynamics involved in the history and development of transport infrastructure in the Amazon region * Examines the violence that has sustained the state through time and space, as well as the ways in which ordinary people have made sense of and contested that violence in everyday life * Incorporates a broad range of engaging sources, such as missionary and government archives, travel writing, and oral histories
An Introduction to Political Geography continues to provide a broad-based introduction to contemporary political geography for students following undergraduate degree courses in geography and related subjects. The text explores the full breadth of contemporary political geography, covering not only traditional concerns such as the state, geopolitics, electoral geography and nationalism; but also increasing important areas at the cutting-edge of political geography research including globalization, the geographies of regulation and governance, geographies of policy formulation and delivery, and themes at the intersection of political and cultural geography, including the politics of place consumption, landscapes of power, citizenship, identity politics and geographies of mobilization and resistance. This second edition builds on the strengths of the first. The main changes and enhancements are:
As with the first edition, extensive use is made of case study examples, illustrations, explanatory boxes, guides to further reading and a glossary of key terms to present the material in an easily accessible manner. Through employment of these techniques this book introduces students to contributions from a range of social and political theories in the context of empirical case study examples. By providing a basic introduction to such concepts and pointing to pathways into more specialist material, this book serves, both as a core text for first- and second- year courses in political geography, and as a resource alongside supplementary textbooks for more specialist third year courses.
In this book, O' Tuathail writes about the politics of the geographical struggle, and about the geography of global politics. It is the first geographical study to tackle geopolitical writing from a poststructuralist position.
Few countries as culturally rich, politically pivotal, and naturally beautiful as Indonesia are as often misrepresented in global media and conversation. Stretching 3,400 miles east to west along the equator, Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world and home to more than four hundred ethnic groups and several major world religions. This sprawling Southeast Asian nation is also the world's most populous Muslim-majority country and the third largest democracy. Although in recent years the country has experienced serious challenges with regard to religious harmony, its trillion-dollar economy is booming and its press and public sphere are among the most vibrant in Asia. A land of cultural contrasts, contests, and contradictions, this ever-evolving country is today rising to even greater global prominence, even as it redefines the terms of its national, religious, and civic identity. The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Indonesia offers an overview of the modern making and contemporary dynamics of culture, society, and politics in this powerful Asian nation. It provides a comprehensive survey of key issues in Indonesian politics, economics, religion, and society. It is divided into six sections, organized as follows: Cultural Legacies and Political Junctures Contemporary Politics and Plurality Markets and Economic Cultures Muslims and Religious Plurality Gender and Sexuality Indonesia in an Age of Multiple Globalizations Bringing together original contributions by leading scholars of Indonesia in law, political science, history, anthropology, sociology, religious studies, and gender studies this Handbook provides an up-to-date, interdisciplinary, and academically rigorous exploration of Indonesia. It will be of interest to students, academics, policymakers, and others in search of reliable information on Indonesian politics, economics, religion, and society in an accessible format.
This book examines social, economic and political issues in West, Eastern and Southern Africa in relation to borders, human mobility and regional integration. In the process, it highlights the innovative aspects of human agency on the African continent, and presents a range of empirical case studies that shed new light on Africa's social, economic and political realities. Further, the book explores cooperation between African nation-states, including their historical socioeconomic interconnections and governance of transboundary natural resources. Moreover, the book examines the relationship between the spatial mobility of borders and development, and the migration regimes of nation-states that share contiguous borders in different geographic territories. Further topics include the coloniality of borders, sociocultural and ethnic relations, and the impact of physical borders on human mobility and wellbeing. Given its scope, the book represents a unique resource that offers readers a wealth of new insights into today's Africa.
Frontier Assemblages offers a new framework for thinking about resource frontiers in Asia Presents an empirical understanding of resource frontiers and provides tools for broader engagements and linkages Filled with rich ethnographic and historical case studies and contains contributions from noted scholars in the field Explores the political ecology of extraction, expansion and production in marginal spaces in Asia Maps the flows, frictions, interests and imaginations that accumulate in Asia to transformative effect Brings together noted anthropologists, geographers and sociologists
Enhancing our understanding of how people and places are affected by globalization at the level of everyday interactions within 'Nordic Peripheries', this book sheds light on local particularities as well as global confluences, by illuminating how gender, mobility and belonging contribute to ruptures and/or stability in the lives of men and women living in and/or moving within these northern localities. Crossing disciplinary and geographical boundaries the focus of the book is specifically on how global processes shape and influence the Nordic countries at the social level: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, as well as the Faroe Islands. The book starts from the premise that the Nordic peripheries offer an especially powerful lens on 'peripherality' in a globalized and globalizing world, because the region as a whole is traditionally perceived as relatively affluent, stable and with high levels of social equality. Yet, as the different chapters in the book demonstrate - with case studies that illuminate diverse gendered processes - globalization produces ruptures and new social constellations also at the rims of Nordic societies, well beyond the cushioning of comprehensive social welfare regimes. By elevating the empirical findings to more general debates about the gendered effects of globalization the book invites the reader to reflect upon not only Nordic particularities but also how insights from this part of the world can be instructive for understanding the nuances and complexities of global confluences at large.
The massive intentional destruction of cultural heritage during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War targeting a historically diverse identity provoked global condemnation and became a seminal marker in the discourse on cultural heritage. It prompted an urgent reassessment of how cultural property could be protected in times of conflict and led to a more definitive recognition in international humanitarian law that destruction of a people's cultural heritage is an aspect of genocide. Yet surprisingly little has been published on the subject. This wide-ranging book provides the first comprehensive overview and critical analysis of the destruction of Bosnia-Herzegovina's cultural heritage and its far-reaching impact. Scrutinizing the responses of the international community during the war (including bodies like UNESCO and the Council of Europe), the volume also analyses how, after the conflict ended, external agendas impinged on heritage reconstruction to the detriment of the broader peace process and refugee return. It assesses implementation of Annex 8 of the Dayton Peace Agreement, a unique attempt to address the devastation to Bosnia's cultural heritage, and examines the treatment of war crimes involving cultural property at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). With numerous case studies and plentiful illustrations, this important volume considers questions which have moved to the foreground with the inclusion of cultural heritage preservation in discussions of the right to culture in human rights discourse and as a vital element of post-conflict and development aid.
This extensively revised second edition of The Geopolitics Reader draws together the most influential and significant geopolitical readings from the last hundred years. A compendium of divergent viewpoints of global conflict and change, it includes readings from Halford Mackinder, Theodore Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, George Kennan, Samuel Huntington, Edward Said, Osama Bin Laden and American neoconservatives. It draws on the most illuminating examples of imperial, Cold War and contemporary geopolitics, as well as new environmental themes, global dangers and multiple resistances to the practices of geopolitics.
Between 1989 and 1993, with the end of the Cold War, Tiananmen, and Deng Xiaoping's renewed reform, Chinese intellectuals said goodbye to radicalism. In newly-founded journals, interacting with those who had left mainland China around 1949 to revive Chinese culture from the margins, they now challenged the underlying creed of Chinese socialism and the May Fourth Movement that there was 'no making without breaking'. Realistic Revolution covers the major debates of this period on radicalism in history, culture, and politics from a transnational perspective, tracing intellectual exchanges as China repositioned itself in Asia and the world. In this realistic revolution, Chinese intellectuals paradoxically espoused conservatism in the service of future modernization. They also upheld rationalism and gradualism after Maoist utopia but concurrently rewrote history to re-establish morality. Finally, their self-identification as scholars was a response to rapid social change that nevertheless left their concern with China's fate unaltered.
From the United States to the United Kingdom and from China to India, growing inequality has led to social discontent and the emergence of populist parties, also contributing to economic crises. We urgently need a better understanding of the roots and costs of these income gaps. The Costs of Inequality draws on the experience of Latin America, one of the most unequal regions of the world, to demonstrate how inequality has hampered economic growth, contributed to a lack of good jobs, weakened democracy, and led to social divisions and mistrust. In turn, low growth, exclusionary politics, violence and social mistrust have reinforced inequality, generating various vicious circles. Latin America thus provides a disturbing image of what the future may hold in other countries if we do not act quickly. It also provides some useful lessons on how to fight income concentration and build more equitable societies.
The Beijing-Islamabad axis plays a central role in Asia's geopolitics, from India's rise to the prospects for a post-American Afghanistan, from the threat of nuclear terrorism to the continent's new map of mines, ports and pipelines. China is Pakistan's great economic hope and its most trusted military partner; Pakistan is the battleground for China's encounters with Islamic militancy and the heart of its efforts to counter-balance the emerging US-India partnership. For decades, each country has been the other's only 'all-weather' friend. Yet the relationship is still little understood. The wildest claims about it are widely believed, while many of its most dramatic developments are hid- den from the public eye. This book sets out the recent history of Sino-Pakistani ties and their ramifications for the West, for India, for Afghanistan, and for Asia as a whole. It tells the stories behind some of its most sensitive aspects, including Beijing's support for Pakistan's nuclear program, China's dealings with the Taliban, and the Chinese military's planning for crises in Pakistan.It describes a relationship increasingly shaped by Pakistan's internal strife, and the dilemmas China faces between the need for regional stability and the imperative for strategic competition with India and the USA.
By delving into the history of geopolitics and bringing us up to date with cutting-edge case studies looking at infrastructure, terrain, and maps, this book will dispel simplistic and misleading notions about the nature of how humans interact with the environment. Stops on the way will include critical geopolitics, religious geopolitics, popular geopolitics, feminist geopolitics, and, newest of all, critical quantitative geopolitics. More importantly, it uncovers new areas of research for the next generation of researchers, showing how critical and quantitative methods can be applied to look at how geography and war relate to diverse areas such as disease, sport, dispossession, and immigration.
Directly, with the candour of a well informed old friend, Dr Wafik Moustafa shares an insight into the remarkable situation Egypt finds itself in today.This authoritative commentary on Egyptian affairs casts an eye back over Egypt's modern history, taking the reader through the landmark events that have formed the modern nation, and brings the reader to a close and impartial understanding of the current political climate in Egypt.This updated edition brings in analysis of recent events - the collapse of the Muslim Brotherhood government and the new Egypt being forged under Sisi
This book analyses Chinese discourse on Indian attitudes towards the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI), and argues that the Indian discourse is becoming one of the biggest hurdles to China creating its own narrative about China's rise in Asia and beyond. In doing so, it spans across the themes of the power struggle between China and US, China and India, the Chinese perception of India, China-South Asia relations, the China-US- India strategic triangle and the success and failures of BRI. The first part of the book focuses on the Chinese thinking behind the launch of the BRI and addresses questions related to the purpose of this initiative and ways in which it will facilitate China's rise as a superpower. Subsequently the book addresses how effective or ineffective India's challenge is and how it is negatively affecting China's BRI.
When are borders justified? Who has a right to control them? Where should they be drawn? Today people think of borders as an island's shores. Just as beaches delimit a castaway's realm, so borders define the edges of a territory, occupied by a unified people, to whom the land legitimately belongs. Hence a territory is legitimate only if it belongs to a people unified by a civic identity. Sadly, this Desert Island Model of territorial politics forces us to choose. If we want territories, then we can either have democratic legitimacy, or inclusion of different civic identities-but not both. The resulting politics creates mass xenophobia, migrant-bashing, hoarding of natural resources, and border walls. To escape all this, On Borders presents an alternative model. Drawing on an intellectual tradition concerned with how land and climate shape institutions, it argues that we should not see territories as pieces of property owned by identity groups. Instead, we should see them as watersheds: as interconnected systems where institutions, people, the biota, and the land together create overlapping civic duties and relations, what the book calls place-specific duties. This Watershed Model argues that borders are justified when they allow us to fulfill those duties; that border-control rights spring from internationally-agreed conventions-not from internal legitimacy; that borders should be governed cooperatively by the neighboring states and the states system; and that border redrawing should be done with environmental conservation in mind. The book explores how this model undoes the exclusionary politics of desert islands. |
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