Oxford University Press, 2005. 461 p.
Geopolitics -- the view that geography creates its own enduring strategic logic that states ignore at their peril -- seems antiquated in these postcolonial days. The military importance of distance has been challenged by advances in the means of transport and communication and by the range of mode weapons. Nor does geopolitics fit well with mode academic fashion. Flint describes the "one single purpose" of this book as to debunk geopolitical theorist Nicholas Spykman's view that "geography is the most important factor in foreign policy because it is the most permanent" -- a purpose easily achieved. The many and varied essays that demonstrate how to approach the concept of "space" cover such topics as nationalism, religion, gender, peace movements, natural resources, water, and drug trafficking. The best pieces, which tend to be more focused and historical, provide real insight. The more general tend to be less satisfactory, especially after one has gotten used to the idea that "war/peace and geography are mutually constituted and socially constructed. " Although from different points on the ideological spectrum, there is much here that is reminiscent of the old geopolitician's habit of allowing political prejudice to masquerade as scholarly analysis.
Introduction: Geography of War and Peace. Colin Flint
Fundations for understanding geographies of war and peace
Geographies of War: The Recent Historical Background. Jeremy Black
Geography and War, Geographers and Peace. Virginie Mamadouh
Violence, Development, and Political Order Herman van der Wusten
The Political Geography of Conflict: Civil Wars in the Hegemonic Shadow. John O’Loughlin
Geographies of war
Soldiers and Nationalism: The Glory and Transience of a Hard-Won Territorial Identity
Gertjan Dijkink.
Amazonian Landscapes: Gender, War, and Historical Repetition. Lorraine Dowler.
Religion and the Geographies of War. Roger W. Stump
Geographies of Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing: The Lessons of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Carl Dahlman Dynamic Metageographies of Terrorism: The Spatial Challenges of Religious Terrorism and the War on Terrorism. Colin Flint
The Geography of Resource Wars. Philippe Le Billon
Landscapes of Drugs and War: Intersections of Political Ecology and Global Conflict. Michael K. Steinberg and Kent Mathewson
Navigating Uncertain Waters: Geographies of Water and Conflict, Shifting Terms and Debates
Leila M. Harris
Territorial Ideology and Interstate Conflict: Comparative Considerations. Alexander B. Murphy 280
Peace, Deception, and Justification for Territorial Claims: The Case of Israel. Ghazi-Walid Falah 297
Conflict at the Interface: The Impact of Boundaries and Borders on Contemporary Ethnonational Conflict. David Newman
Geographies of peace
The Geography of Peace Movements. Guntram H. Herb
The Geography of Diplomacy. Alan K. Henrikson
Shifting the Iron Curtain of Kantian Peace: NATO Expansion and the Mode Magyars. Ian Oas The Geopolitics of Postwar Recovery. Brendan Soennecken
Geopolitics -- the view that geography creates its own enduring strategic logic that states ignore at their peril -- seems antiquated in these postcolonial days. The military importance of distance has been challenged by advances in the means of transport and communication and by the range of mode weapons. Nor does geopolitics fit well with mode academic fashion. Flint describes the "one single purpose" of this book as to debunk geopolitical theorist Nicholas Spykman's view that "geography is the most important factor in foreign policy because it is the most permanent" -- a purpose easily achieved. The many and varied essays that demonstrate how to approach the concept of "space" cover such topics as nationalism, religion, gender, peace movements, natural resources, water, and drug trafficking. The best pieces, which tend to be more focused and historical, provide real insight. The more general tend to be less satisfactory, especially after one has gotten used to the idea that "war/peace and geography are mutually constituted and socially constructed. " Although from different points on the ideological spectrum, there is much here that is reminiscent of the old geopolitician's habit of allowing political prejudice to masquerade as scholarly analysis.
Introduction: Geography of War and Peace. Colin Flint
Fundations for understanding geographies of war and peace
Geographies of War: The Recent Historical Background. Jeremy Black
Geography and War, Geographers and Peace. Virginie Mamadouh
Violence, Development, and Political Order Herman van der Wusten
The Political Geography of Conflict: Civil Wars in the Hegemonic Shadow. John O’Loughlin
Geographies of war
Soldiers and Nationalism: The Glory and Transience of a Hard-Won Territorial Identity
Gertjan Dijkink.
Amazonian Landscapes: Gender, War, and Historical Repetition. Lorraine Dowler.
Religion and the Geographies of War. Roger W. Stump
Geographies of Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing: The Lessons of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Carl Dahlman Dynamic Metageographies of Terrorism: The Spatial Challenges of Religious Terrorism and the War on Terrorism. Colin Flint
The Geography of Resource Wars. Philippe Le Billon
Landscapes of Drugs and War: Intersections of Political Ecology and Global Conflict. Michael K. Steinberg and Kent Mathewson
Navigating Uncertain Waters: Geographies of Water and Conflict, Shifting Terms and Debates
Leila M. Harris
Territorial Ideology and Interstate Conflict: Comparative Considerations. Alexander B. Murphy 280
Peace, Deception, and Justification for Territorial Claims: The Case of Israel. Ghazi-Walid Falah 297
Conflict at the Interface: The Impact of Boundaries and Borders on Contemporary Ethnonational Conflict. David Newman
Geographies of peace
The Geography of Peace Movements. Guntram H. Herb
The Geography of Diplomacy. Alan K. Henrikson
Shifting the Iron Curtain of Kantian Peace: NATO Expansion and the Mode Magyars. Ian Oas The Geopolitics of Postwar Recovery. Brendan Soennecken