Political Geography (Routledge Contemporary Human Geography)

257 Pages·2016·6.85 MB·English

by  Mark Blacksell

Political Geography
Political geography has produced some of the most radical and
innovative ideas in human geography in the past twenty years.
The meaning and significance of traditional political subdivisions,
such as the state, have had to be fundamentally re-evaluated in the face
of the globalisation of society and economy and this has forced political
geographers to look for new ways of explaining the dynamics of the
world system.
Political Geographyprovides a stimulating and concise introduction to
the key themes of the subdiscipline, which moves beyond the study of
the state to encompass the spatial consequences of power at all levels.
It is divided into three sections:
• Process and Patterns considers how and why societies allocate and
manage territory and why exclusive control over defined areas has
become such an overwhelming preoccupation.
• Ideology and Geopolitical Visions looks beyond the state to evaluate
critically the geopolitical strategies of successful expansionist powers
that have enabled them to stamp their values and influence beyond
their immediate political boundaries.
• Beyond the State extends the argument further to examine the impact
that globalisation has had on political structures and on political
relationships across the globe.
In the conclusion, the book asks whether the existing concepts and
models used by political geographers are sufficiently robust to be able
to contribute usefully to the analysis of the new world order in the
twenty-first century. This student-friendly textbook is a valuable and
accessible introduction to the broad themes of political geography.
Mark Blacksellis Emeritus Professor of Geography at the University of
Plymouth.
Routledge Contemporary Human
Geography Series
Series Editors:
David Bell, Manchester Metropolitan University
Stephen Wynn Williams, Staffordshire University
This series of texts offers stimulating introductions to the core
subdisciplines of human geography. Building between ‘traditional’
approaches to subdisciplinary studies and contemporary treatments of
these same issues, these concise introductions respond particularly to the
new demands of modular courses. Uniformly designed, with a focus on
student-friendly features, these books will form a coherent series which is
up-to-date and reliable.
Existing Titles:
Urban Geography, second edition
Cultural Geography
Tourism Geography
Development Geography
Political Geography
Geographies of Globalization
Routledge Contemporary Human
Geography
Political Geography
Mark Blacksell
First published 2006
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
©2006 Mark Blacksell
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Blacksell, Mark 1942–
Political geography / Mark Blacksell.
p. cm. — (Routledge contemporary human geography series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Political geography. I. Title. II. Series.
JC319.B575 2005
320.1′2—dc22 2005006198
ISBN 0-203-64714-9 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-67294-1 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0–415–24667–9 (hbk)
ISBN 0–415–24668–7 (pbk)
Contents
List of figures vii
List of boxes ix
Preface xi
1 Placing political geography 1
SECTION A Process and patterns 15
2 Human territoriality, maps, and the division of space 17
3 The idea of the state 37
4 Making states work: the variety of local state systems 58
5 The politics of difference 76
6 Civil society, pressure groups, and political parties 93
7 Electoral geographies 115
SECTION B Ideology and geopolitical visions 133
8 Imagining natural divisions of global power 135
9 Dreams into action: the making of national foreign policy 150
10 Annexing the oceans 168
vi • Contents
SECTION C Beyond the state 183
11 Globalisation and the theory of world systems 185
12 International government and the modern state 198
13 Conclusion: the shape of things to come 214
References 218
Index 231
Figures
1.1 Major phases in the development of political geography 4
2.1 Mid-twentieth-century definitions of Central Europe,
Mitteleuropa, and l’europe centrale 19
2.2 Road sign in English and Cornish at the border between
Cornwall and Devon 24
2.3 Beating the parish bounds in Belstone 24
2.4 Different worlds: the globe projected using the Mercator and
the Gall–Peters orthographic projections 29
2.5 The Communist threat to the West depicted using the
Mercator projection 34
3.1 The British Empire, 1763 46
3.2 The British Empire, 1914 51
4.1 The administrative and legal map of France 61
4.2 The Napoleonic Empire in Europe 62
4.3 The state apparatus 63
4.4 A typology of policy networks 67
4.5 EU Objective 1 and 2 regional assistance areas, 2004 73
5.1 Official languages in the EU 79
5.2 The process of ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia:
(a) The mixed distribution of ethnic groups before the civil war;
(b) The effect of the subsequent ethnic cleansing 82
5.3 The partition of Ireland 86
5.4 UN peacekeeping operations, 2004 90
6.1 Giant sequoias, King’s Canyon National Park, USA 94
6.2 Forms of environmentalism 96
6.3 Citizens’ Advice Bureaux in the UK 104
6.4 Demand for CAB services in Cornwall and Devon 106
6.5 Regional political parties in Europe 110
6.6 Membership of the European Parliament, 2004 113
viii • Figures
7.1 Electoral map of the UK after the 1997 General Election 127
7.2 Changes to the electoral map of the UK after the 1997
General Election 128
7.3 Changes to the electoral map of the UK after the 2001
General Election 129
8.1 Heartland/World Island 139
8.2 Rimland 141
9.1 Territorial changes as a result of the Congress of Vienna,
1814–15 155
9.2 Territorial changes as a result of the Treaty of Versailles,
1919 160
9.3 The Curzon Line defining the border between Poland and
the Soviet Union 163
10.1 The physical and political divisions of the oceans 169
10.2 UK showing internal waters and territorial seas 172
11.1 Tax havens across the world: small states where money can
be deposited to avoid national taxation elsewhere 189
12.1 The UN system 199
12.2 National claims on the Antarctic territory 203
Boxes
1.1 Modernism and postmodernism 3
1.2 Karl Marx 9
2.1 Tennessee Valley Authority 22
3.1 Aristotle’s city state 38
3.2 The English Reformation 40
3.3 The Iron Curtain 54
4.1 Subsidiarity 69
4.2 EU regional policies 74
5.1 Apartheid in South Africa 81
5.2 Genocide in Rwanda 84
6.1 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development 97
6.2 The European Parliament, 2004 112
7.1 The Reform Acts 117
7.2 The Electoral Commission 120
7.3 The New Deal 124
8.1 Social Darwinism 138
8.2 Environmental determinism 140
8.3 Frontiers and boundaries 144
9.1 Treaty of Versailles 161
9.2 The Curzon Line 164
10.1 Rockall 173
11.1 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development 187
12.1 Parties to the Antarctic Treaty 204
12.2 Membership of the G8 and G20 206