Making Political Geography

by John Agnew, Luca Muscarà

Overview

Dating from its inception in the late nineteenth century, political geography as a field has been heavily influenced by global events of the time. Thus, rather than trying to impose a single “fashionable” theory, leading geographers John Agnew and Luca Muscarà consider the underlying role of changing geopolitical context as their framework for understanding the evolution of the discipline. The authors trace the development of key thinkers and theories during three distinct periods—1875–1945, the Cold War, and the post–Cold War—emphasizing the ongoing struggle between theoretical “monism” and “pluralism,” or one path to knowledge versus many.

The world has undergone dramatic shifts since the book’s first publication in 2002, and this thoroughly revised and updated second edition focuses especially on reinterpretations of the post–Cold War period. Agnew and Muscarà explore the renewed questioning of international borders, the emergence of the Middle East and displacement of Europe as the center of global geopolitics, the rise of China and other new powers, the reappearance of environmental issues, and the development of critical geopolitics. With its deeply knowledgeable and balanced history and overview of the field, this concise work will be a valuable and flexible text for all courses in political geography.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442212299
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/16/2012
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

John Agnew is Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. His books include Globalization and Sovereignty: Beyond the Territorial Trap. Luca Muscarà is associate professor of political geography at the University of Molise, Italy.

Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: How Political Geography is Made
Chapter 3: The Historic Canon
Chapter 4: Reinventing Political Geography
Chapter 5: The Horizon
Chapter 6: Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

A compelling book which inquires into the history of the subfield and sketches the intellectual horizon of the future of political geography.” —Progress In Human Geography

“This informative and well-written book carefully scrutinizes both the complex history of political geography and the contemporary challenges the field faces in a globalizing world. Offering current and versatile examples, the authors usefully problematize how politics, identities, and power relations are informed by geography and how geography is in turn informed by politics. This will be a major text for both students and researchers of political geography.” —Anssi Paasi, University of Oulu, Finland

“This engaging book uses the revealing history of Political Geography to explore a broader canvas of geopolitics and politically framed geographic knowledge from the imperialist age through the Cold War to the present. Illustrated with fascinating vignettes and everyday examples, this is an ideal text with which to think through the vertiginous dilemmas of our time. If Political Geography had an app, this would be it.” —Gerard Toal, Virginia Tech, Washington D.C.

From the Publisher

A compelling book which inquires into the history of the subfield and sketches the intellectual horizon of the future of political geography.

Progress In Human Geography

This informative and well-written book carefully scrutinizes both the complex history of political geography and the contemporary challenges the field faces in a globalizing world. Offering current and versatile examples, the authors usefully problematize how politics, identities, and power relations are informed by geography and how geography is in turn informed by politics. This will be a major text for both students and researchers of political geography.

Anssi Paasi

This engaging book uses the revealing history of Political Geography to explore a broader canvas of geopolitics and politically framed geographic knowledge from the imperialist age through the Cold War to the present. Illustrated with fascinating vignettes and everyday examples, this is an ideal text with which to think through the vertiginous dilemmas of our time. If Political Geography had an app, this would be it.

Gerard Toal