Bowman Expedition of the American Geographical Society
$5.00 VOLUME XXVI, NUMBER 1 FEBRUARY 2006 N O TES from T HE A MERICAN G EOGRAPHICAL S OCIETY UNDERMINING AMERICA: AGS CONDUCTS FIELDWORK THE OPIATE OF MILITARY DOMINANCE IN MEXICO By Brad Allenby By Jerome E. Dobson AGS Councilor, member of AGS Writers Circle President,The American Geographical Society It seems self-evident to most Professor of Geography, University of Kansas people that national power is What’s AGS done lately? Last issue I predominantly a matter of military wrote about the landmine project. This capability. Certainly, military power time I’ll write about foreign fieldwork. was critical in a world characterized by First, some background. colonialism, where direct control of In a recent column (Ubique, resources was so important to national Volume XXV, Number 1, March 2005), I power. Today, however, advanced deplored the cost of geographic economies increasingly rely on global financial and ignorance, measured in conflict. That information networks and highly flexible economic and was not a political statement because the political institutions. Accordingly, the key to obtaining malady itself is universal, infecting all parties, nations, and and keeping superpower status increasingly is not just levels of society from voters to politicians. military, but balance among five core constituents: In America, geography has been out of public favor so economic, science and technology capability, military, long that we cannot produce enough graduates to fill even institutional, and cultural. the most essential posts where geographers are sorely Until recently the United States has been the one needed in government. The bitter experience of war in power that has appeared to be globally competent in all Afghanistan and Iraq, however, has produced a glimmer of five categories.
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