In an era of high technology and instant communication, the role of geography in the formation of strategy and politics in international relations can be undervalued. But the mountains of Afghanistan ...and the scorching sand storms of Iraq have provided stark reminders that geographical rea`lities continue to have a profound impact on the success of military campaigns. Here, political scientist Jakub J. Grygiel brings to light the importance of incorporating geography into grand strategy. He argues that states can increase and maintain their position of power by pursuing a geostrategy that focuses on control of resources and lines of communication.
Grygiel examines case studies of Venice, the Ottoman Empire, and China in the global fifteenth century—all great powers that faced a dramatic change in geopolitics when new routes and continents were discovered. The location of resources, the layout of trade networks, and the stability of state boundaries played a large role in the success or failure of these three powers. Grygiel asserts that, though many other aspects of foreign policy have changed throughout history, strategic response to geographical features remains one of the most salient factors in establishing and maintaining power in the international arena.
Island peoples around the world remain entangled in colonial processes. Western and metropolitan powers are increasingly deploying discourse of a ‘China threat’ to justify neocolonial entrenchment in ...the form of greater Western militarisation and economic dominance. In this paper, we investigate how Western and metropolitan powers use the China threat and warnings of economic, environmental, demographic, and military disaster to maintain and deepen colonial influence in former colonies, with special focus on four island states and territories: Guåhan/Guam in Oceania, Kalaallit Nunaat/Greenland in the Arctic, Okinawa in East Asia, and Jamaica in the Caribbean. We undertake this investigation as a means of practicing decolonial political geography, collaborating as a group of scholars from around the world and drawing upon diverse epistemologies and experiences to inform collaborative research and writing. Due to the complexities we have confronted in our efforts to think outside coloniality, this paper foregrounds our decolonial methodology and process, even as we respect our empirical findings.
Urban governance innovation is being framed as an imperative to address complex urban and global challenges, triggering the adoption of novel institutional forms, approaches and techniques. Urban ...political geographers are still some way off fully apprehending the dynamics of these innovations and their potential to reconfigure the composition and politics of urban governance. This paper suggests dialogue between urban political geography and public sector innovation literatures as a productive way forward. We build from this engagement to suggest a critical research agenda to drive systematic analysis of innovatory urban governance, its heterogeneous formation, politics and possibilities.
During the 2018 COP24 meeting in Poland, the Just Transition received particular emphasis, with the adoption of the “Solidarity and Just Transitions Silesia Declaration”. It represented commitments ...to take seriously the impact of climate change and climate change policy on workers and surrounding communities. To date, however, UNFCCC historical contexts and commitments have rarely been recognised in the academic literature. This paper reviews the link of the Just Transition to UNFCCC processes and labour unions before critically considering the current academic treatment of the agenda and in particular, the under emphasis of Nationally Determined Contributions. It then presents a series of research recommendations centred on a concern for how best to use this political background to leverage tangible impact.
Secor welcomes the opportunity to engage with John O'Loughlin's sharply articulated reflections on 35 years of editing Political Geography. Oloughlin demonstrates this succinctly in his comparison of ...the topics listed in the journal's 1982 inaugural editorial and the themes of the recent 2nd edition of the Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Political Geography (Agnew, Mamadouh, Secor, & Sharp, 2017). O'Loughlin's jaundiced view of political geography is that it has lost its focus and relevance. Today, although political geography has no call to start boasting about its diversity, the field no longer resembles that room she entered over two decades ago.
Political geography II Mountz, Alison
Progress in human geography,
10/2015, Letnik:
39, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
This second of two progress reports on the subdiscipline of political geography explores islands and archipelagos as material sites and political concepts with which to understand spatial ontologies ...of power. The piece reviews thematic interests in the interdisciplinary field of island studies as well as those taken up by political geographers. Areas for future research are also identified.
Political geography III Mountz, Alison
Progress in human geography,
10/2018, Letnik:
42, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
This third report on the sub-discipline of political geography explores how geographers, of late, have approached, analyzed, de- and re-centered bodies in order to expand understandings of the ...relationship between the spatial and the political. After reviewing conceptual approaches and thematic areas of study related to the body, I discuss the implications of this work for the broader field of political geography and the importance of engagement with existing social movements that already center the politics of bodies.
