The Geography of War and Peace: From Death Camps to Diplomats

ISBN-13: 9780195162097 / Angielski / Miękka / 2004 / 480 str.

Colin Flint

Opis

Our world of increasing and varied conflicts is confusing and threatening to citizens of all countries, as they try to understand its causes and consequences. However, how and why war occurs, and peace is sustained, cannot be understood without realizing that those who make war and peace must negotiate a complex world political map of sovereign spaces, borders, networks of communication, access to nested geographic scales, and patterns of resource distribution. This book takes advantage of a diversity of geographic perspectives as it analyzes the political processes of war and their spatial expression.

Contributors to the volume examine particular manifestations of war in light of nationalism, religion, gender identities, state ideology, border formation, genocide, spatial rhetoric, terrorism, and a variety of resource conflicts. The final section on the geography of peace covers peace movements, diplomacy, the expansion of NATO, and the geography of post-war reconstruction. Case studies of numerous conflicts include Israel and Palestine, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland, Bosnia-Herzogovina, West Africa, and the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Recenzje

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.