The Politics of Political Geography

1 The Politics of Political Geography Guntram H. Herb INTRODUCTION case of political geography, the usual story is of a heyday characterized by racism, imperialism, and ‘La Géographie, de nouveau un savoir politique’ war in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, (Geography: once again a political knowledge). followed by a period of stagnation and decline in the 1950s, and finally a Phoenix-like revival (Lacoste, 1984) that started in the late 1960s and now seems to be coming to a lackluster end with the cooptation This statement by the chief editor of Hérodote, of key issues of ‘politics’ and ‘power’ by other intended to celebrate the politicization of French sub-disciplines of geography. However, as David geography through the journal in the 1970s and Livingstone has pointed out so aptly, the history of 1980s, also, and paradoxically, captures a profound geography, and by extension, political geography, dilemma of contemporary political geography. If, cannot be reduced to a single story (Livingstone, as a recent academic forum showed, the political 1995). There are many stories and these stories is alive and well in all of geography, does this not are marked by discontinuities and contestations, in question the continued relevance and validity of other words, ‘messy contingencies’, which compli- having a separate sub-field of political geography cate things (Livingstone, 1993: 28). (Cox and Low, 2003)? The most fruitful response A further problem is what one should include to such existential questions about academic sub- under the rubric ‘political geography’: publica- disciplines is delving into the past and tracing the tions of scholars, the work of professional academic genesis of the subject. In what follows, I will seek associations, the content of courses, textbooks and to understand the meaning of political geography popular accounts, or the activities of practition- by analyzing the historical development and impli- ers in government institutions (Mamadouh, 2003: cations for present practices, in short, the politics 664–5)? A promising solution to understanding the of political geography. politics of political geography is to focus on its cen- The standard starting points for political histo- tral concepts, such as power, territory, boundaries, ries of academic subjects are the first use of the scale, and place (Agnew et al., 2003). Yet, the diffi- term and the seminal first work; in the present culty remains of deciding which concepts are truly case, the coining of ‘political geography’ by the central (Mamadouh, 2004). French philosopher Turgot in 1750 and the publi- As an alternative to standard evolutionary and cation of Friedrich Ratzel’s Political Geography concept-based approaches, I have chosen to orga- in 1897 (Agnew, 2002: 13). Yet, the majority nize my discussion of the politics of political geog- of evolutionary approaches are limiting, to say raphy around the arguably most visible structure nothing of being potentially stodgy and boring. at the heart of the ‘political’: the state. This does The tendency is to present a story of progress from not mean that I advocate a state-centred approach a benighted past to an enlightened present. In the to political geography or restrict my analysis to [09:42 1/8/2007 4952-Cox-Ch01.tex] Paper Size: a4 paper Job No: 4952 Cox: Handbook of Political Geography Page: 21 21–40 22 THE SCOPE AND DEVELOPMENT OF POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY politics with a large ‘P’(Flint, 2003). Recent schol- geographers in this tradition is implicated in the arship on the politics of identity, the role of political governance of the state and aids state administra- discourse, and changing forms of political practice tion and policy. It is inward-looking and eschews have exposed such a view as short-sighted (Dalby, the problem of states in their relations with one 1992; Kodras, 1999; Cox and Low, 2003; Pratt, another. 2004). Nevertheless, neither the embodied politics Political geographers in the third tradition are at the level of the individual nor the networked critical of the activity, purpose, and legitimacy politics at the global scale can exclude consid- of the state. They recognize multiple scales and eration of the state. States continue to be major expressions of power from the bodies of individ- reference points of politics by virtue of the binding uals to global networks. Some of them focus on legal codes they define and enforce. class and the dominant influence of the capital- While I have singled out the state as the ‘pivot’ ist world economy, others direct their attention of political geography – to borrow a term from to diverse groups and communities, embrace the Halford Mackinder–Idosointhesense of a locus notion of hybridity of identities, and examine the of engagement, not in the sense of the state as the discursive power and production of knowledge. exclusive locus of politics and power. Moreover, They are united in their engagement with social my view of the state is not restricted to the modern process, which makes them distinct from the other or territorial state that is premised on the nation- two traditions. Political geographers in this vein state ideal, but includes other spatially constituted openly work toward transformation to achieve structures of government and political authority, destabilization, resistance, or revolution. They are such as the early states of antiquity, the networks oriented toward oppositional groups and new social of medieval power or the increasingly state-like movements. European Union. The term ‘state’ simply offers the The advantages of organizing a history of politi- most succinct way to express the institutionalized cal geography along the traditions of advocacy, political authority and mode of social organization governance, and critique of the state respectively that is behind ‘strategies of inclusion and exclu- are two-fold. First, they allow a consideration of sion, of territory and territoriality’, and thus at the political ideologies since, for the most part, these heart of political geography (Cox, forthcoming). ways of engagement or traditions reflect the major Historically, political geographers have engaged political ideologies of right, center, and left. All with the state in three ways: they have sought too often political ideologies are not presented to facilitate the process of maximizing its power up-front in political geographic studies but brought over space; to maintain and manage its territorial in through the back door (Agnew, 2003: 605). existence; and to actively resist and question its Second, this approach avoids a potential silenc- spatially manifested actions. I propose to use these ing of alternative approaches. Histories generally three ways or traditions to achieve a deeper and focus on those perspectives that are most visible more comprehensive understanding of the politics or dominant in a given time period, which gives of political geography. the impression that other views are obsolete. For Political geographers that follow the first way example, the critical view is currently the pre- prioritize the state as the most important actor, vailing approach in the flagship journal, Political privilege the state or national interest, and are Geography, and a perusal of its content would not decidedly realist or power-oriented. They employ fully reflect the key role that advocacy of state oppositional identities (us/them, black/white) and power continues to play in other disciplines, in oppositions of power (sea vs land power) to offer conservative think-tanks, and outside academia. representations of the world that dazzle through As with all forms of organizing knowledge, their simplicity. They have an activist stance and the focus on the three traditions I have outlined advocate change to achieve state dominance in a requires some caveats. The structure is necessar- world characterized by competition and conflict. ily arbitrary and simplistic. Within each tradition As a consequence, their work focuses on state and there are different expressions and one should not global scales for the most part, though internal divi- assume uniformity in thought or political orien- sions are recognized as important for the strength tation. For example, the scholars associated with of the state. Their efforts privilege the role of the the journal Hérodote are advocates of state power, state executive. yet fall into the Neo-Marxist camp. Likewise, a By contrast, work in the second tradition denies nationalist focus is not the sole prerogative of the political motives and professes neutrality and power-oriented tradition, but can also be found objectivity. The goal is to maintain a balanced among practitioners of the governance tradition. and peaceful status quo or a homeostatic equi- I attempt to address the plurality and hybridity librium in a closed system. The state is viewed that exists in the last section of the chapter, where as a given and its existence is not problema- I examine how the three traditions are reflected in tized. The main focus is at the scale of the state maps and other forms of visualization and I iden- and its administrative regions. Work by political tify there areas of difference and cross-fertilization. [09:42 1/8/2007 4952-Cox-Ch01.tex] Paper Size: a4 paper Job No: 4952 Cox: Handbook of Political Geography Page: 22 21–40 THE POLITICS OF POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY 23 As further safeguards against one-sided and facile guidance for political action. Of central importance interpretations I am including critical notes in the was how environmental features, such as moun- tradition of Hérodote so as to extend the discussion. tains, rivers, climate, and coastlines or the relative disposition of landmasses and oceans, affected the control of territories. This did not mean that the tradition employed a crude form of environmen- NO LIMITS? MAXIMIZING THE POWER talism, since these geographers were particularly OF THE STATE interested in the way technology (such as railroads) or societal development (such as urbanization) The objective of geographic work in this tradition affected the influence of the environment.

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