Showing papers in "Territory, Politics, Governance in 2017"
TL;DR: The authors identify a suite of epistemological commitments associated with assemblage thinking, including an emphasis on multiplicity, processuality, labour, and uncertainty, and then consider explicitly how such commitments might be translated into methodological practices in policy research.
Abstract: Assemblage thinking as methodology: commitments and practices for critical policy research. Territory, Politics, Governance. The concept of assemblage has captured the attention of critical social scientists, including those interested in the study of policy. Despite ongoing debate around the implications of assemblage thinking for questions of structure, agency, and contingency, there is widespread agreement around its value as a methodological framework. There are now many accounts using assemblage-inflected methodologies of various sorts as analytical tools for revealing, interpreting, and representing the worlds of policy-making, though few are explicit about their methodological practice. In this paper, we identify a suite of epistemological commitments associated with assemblage thinking, including an emphasis on multiplicity, processuality, labour, and uncertainty, and then consider explicitly how such commitments might be translated into methodological practices in policy research. Drawing...
174 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze the Australian Government's "Overseas Public Information Campaigns" (OPICs), which are transnational marketing campaigns disseminating advertisements in asylum seeker source and transit countries to "educate" people about the risks of irregular migration.
Abstract: Australia’s irregular migration information campaigns: border externalization, spatial imaginaries, and extraterritorial subjugation. Territory, Politics, Governance. This article analyses the Australian Government’s ‘Overseas Public Information Campaigns’ (OPICs). OPICs are transnational marketing campaigns disseminating advertisements in asylum seeker source and transit countries to ‘educate’ people about the risks of irregular migration. The article argues that these campaigns are a practice of externalized border security extraterritorially acting on people’s perceptions of migration in ways intended to discourage it. Specifically, the article demonstrates how campaigns are designed to reshape the symbolic and imaginative dimensions of the transnational space of irregular migration to Australia among ethnic groups the Australian Government deems at risk of asylum seeking. Campaigns do this by disseminating narratives about the spaces and places of clandestine boat travel to Australia. These na...
39 citations
TL;DR: This article argued that new rounds of socioeconomic reforms in post-1949 China, each with their distinct geographical expressions, constitute a complex palimpsest rather than a straightforward process of historical succession.
Abstract: On the Shifting Spatial Logics of Socioeconomic Regulation in post-1949 China. Territory, Politics, Governance. This paper argues that new rounds of socioeconomic reforms in post-1949 China, each with their distinct geographical expressions, constitute a complex palimpsest rather than a straightforward process of historical succession. Drawing on a review of extensive empirical evidence, the paper complicates two dichotomous portrayals of socioeconomic ‘transition’ in China, namely centralization and egalitarianism (the Mao era) and decentralization and uneven development (the post-Mao era). It demonstrates these binaries cannot adequately explain the post-Mao economic ‘miracle’ when decentralized governance and uneven development also characterized the Mao era. The paper concludes that decentralized governance and uneven development are not antithetical to the quest for perpetual Communist Party of China rule; just as the Mao administration strategically blended centralizing mechanisms with insti...
32 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors conceptualize sovereignty as a club good and specify the threat that secession poses to existing states, and examine the ways in which the club of sovereign states has limited membership in the past, including: (1) the pre-1816 European order in which liberal norms were absent and states colluded to deny independence to aspiring nations; (2) the age of de facto statehood from 1816 to 1918 in which self-determination came to be perceived as a negative right; and (3) the post-1945 era in which an evolving constitutive order
Abstract: Admission to the sovereignty club: the past, present, and future of the international recognition regime. Territory, Politics, Governance. The rules and practices of sovereign recognition are basic elements of the territorial design of the international system, but our understanding of these processes is under-theorized. This paper first conceptualizes sovereignty as a club good – excludable and non-rival – and specifies the threat that secession poses to existing states. It then examines the ways in which the club of sovereign states has limited membership in the past, including: (1) the pre-1816 European order in which liberal norms were absent and states colluded to deny independence to aspiring nations; (2) the age of de facto statehood from 1816 to 1918 in which self-determination came to be perceived as a negative right; and (3) the post-1945 era in which an evolving constitutive order has attempted to define which nations are eligible for independence. The paper then explores three potentia...
27 citations
TL;DR: The notion of "territory as an institution" was introduced by as mentioned in this paper, who argued that territory can be usefully conceptualized as the intersection of a set of ideas, practices and technologies: namely ideas about political space, practices of political authority and rule, and technologies relating to information and infrastructure.
Abstract: Territory as an institution: spatial ideas, practices and technologies. Territory, Politics, Governance. Territory is unquestionably central to many topics in international relations: political identity, foreign policy orientations, and political conflict at multiple levels, from disputes over land to civil and interstate wars. But what, exactly, is ‘territory’ in these contexts? This paper argues that territory can be usefully conceptualized as the intersection of a set of ideas, practices and technologies: namely ideas about political space, practices of political authority and rule, and technologies relating to information and infrastructure. Together, these three interrelated fields constitute the institution of territory. Thinking about territory through this particular institutional lens allows insights from a variety of fields – including institutionalist analysis in political science, the history of political thought, science and technology studies, and political geography – to be applied....
25 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a conceptual framework is proposed to facilitate critical understanding of immigration detention proliferation that goes beyond the role of privatization as well as beyond public-private sector relationships, with a focus on the contractual arrangements delineating detention between public and private entities and actors.
Abstract: Beyond privatization: bureaucratization and the spatialities of immigration detention expansion. Territory, Politics, Governance. Immigration detention has become central to models of immigration enforcement in the United States and globally. This paper elaborates a conceptual framework to facilitate critical understanding of detention’s proliferation that goes beyond the role of privatization as well as beyond public–private sector relationships. It draws on a study of immigration detention in Essex County, New Jersey, with a focus on the contractual arrangements delineating detention between public and private entities and actors. Our conceptual framework posits processes of bureaucratization as central to the growth in immigration detention. We understand bureaucratization as a spatialized process of obfuscation that both builds multidimensional webs of interdependence between public and private actors and flattens these relationships into one-dimensional rational economic decisions and exchang...
25 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explain how the Ottoman Empire could preserve intrastate peace and stability from its emergence in the 14th century until the 19th in regions, especially the Balkans and the Middle East, that later became hotbeds for ethnic, religious, and sectarian conflict.
Abstract: Territorial design and grand strategy in the Ottoman Empire. Territory, Politics, Governance. How could the Ottoman Empire preserve intrastate peace and stability from its emergence in the 14th century until the 19th in regions – especially the Balkans and the Middle East – that later became hotbeds for ethnic, religious, and sectarian conflict while at the same time fighting numerous interstate wars? This paper offers a novel explanation for this puzzle, based on the notion of ‘territorial design’. The Ottomans were able to preserve internal peace and stability thanks to their flexible and pragmatic approach to managing the space–society–politics nexus, which in fact followed from their grand strategy for expansion in a cost-effective fashion. The theoretical and historical analysis provided here also has implications for tackling macro-historical puzzles and patterns from an interdisciplinary perspective, positioning the Ottoman case vis-a-vis international relations theory, and motivating quest...
25 citations
TL;DR: The authors provide an overview of the scale, scope, and emergence of this phenomenon, supplemented by an analysis of contracting activities at the peak of the war in Iraq in 2008, and detail three notable geopolitical and geo-economic entanglements that logistics contracting has engendered: (1) subcontracting and the exploitation of a largely South and Southeast Asian subcontracting workforce that is fuelled by inadequate military oversight and the down-sourcing of risk, (2) the geopolitics of contractor deaths, travel bans and troop withdrawals instituted by labour ex...
Abstract: US military logistics outsourcing and the everywhere of war. Territory, Politics, Governance. Over the past two decades a network-centric ‘revolution in military affairs’ has profoundly reshaped the geographies of war. No less revolutionary has been the US military’s increasing reliance on private companies that employ a global army of civilian labourers to provide logistical support for operations around the world. This article provides an overview of the scale, scope, and emergence of this phenomenon, supplemented by an analysis of contracting activities at the peak of the war in Iraq in 2008. Following this, I detail three notable geopolitical and geo-economic entanglements that logistics contracting has engendered: (1) subcontracting and the exploitation of a largely South and Southeast Asian subcontracting workforce that is fuelled by inadequate military oversight and the down-sourcing of risk, (2) the geopolitics of contractor deaths, travel bans and troop withdrawals instituted by labour ex...
22 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the concept of "territorial designs" is introduced, which pertains to the delineation of the external boundaries, the constitution of the society within these boundaries, and the interaction between delineation and constitution.
Abstract: Territorial designs and international politics: the diverging constitution of space and boundaries. Territory, Politics, Governance. The debate about the role and direction of territory and territoriality – especially with respect to the politically and socially constructed nature of territory – has been evident within political geography and political science, as well as in other disciplines, for some time. Interdisciplinary interaction over the study of territory, however, has so far been less than impressive. Aiming to enhance our understanding of the place of territory in international relations, broadly defined, and to bridge disciplinary divides, this paper introduces the concept of ‘territorial designs’. Territorial designs pertain to the delineation of the external boundaries, to the constitution of the society within these boundaries, and to the interaction between delineation and constitution. It is a process by which elites, in interaction with their own society and their external envir...
22 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the same technologies of governance applied to advanced liberal societies are being translated onto spaces of forced displacement in the Global South through the notions of community and self-reliance.
Abstract: Community infrastructures: shelter, self-reliance and polymorphic borders in urban refugee governance. Territory, Politics, Governance. Over the last two decades community-based programmes have become important tools of migration and refugee governance. Governmentality approaches have argued that the same technologies of governance applied to advanced liberal societies are being translated onto spaces of forced displacement in the Global South through the notions of ‘community’ and ‘self-reliance’. Other accounts have instead focused on the potentially emancipatory character of migrant and refugee self-organization. This article contributes to this body of work by drawing on ethnographic research on refugee community shelters in Cairo, Egypt. It theorizes community as an informal and precarious infrastructure in which refugees’ social relations are mobilized as substitutes for direct, material humanitarian assistance in a global condition marked by the shrinking of aid budgets. Predicated as it is...
22 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a broad overview of the spatial thinking of Hannah Arendt is presented, including various spatial concepts such as place, space, territory, world, location, etc.
Abstract: Hannah Arendt’s spatial thinking: an introduction. Territory, Politics, Governance. Hannah Arendt is not among the philosophers most quoted by geographers and social scientists interested in the spatial dimension of social life; and when she is, authors typically cite one or two examples or concepts of her work, while neglecting to place her related propositions in the context of the various ways she refers to spatiality or territoriality. This paper aims to give a broad overview of her spatial thinking. More precisely, it presents the various spatial concepts Arendt uses (place, space, territory, world, location, etc.), and suggests that a tri-partite spatial ontology is at work behind her lexicon. Since such an ontological trilogy is never explicit in Arendt’s work, it is compared to the architecture of Arendt’s explicit theorization which is structured around different sets of concepts (identity/plurality; labour/work/action). Then, the paper explains that an ontological analysis of Arendt’s pr...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors address some of the more general methodological challenges involved in studying change in the territorial claims of stateless nationalist movements, drawing attention to the analytical distinction between the origin of territorial claims and their consequent changes and demonstrate the advantages of using a multidimensional understanding of change in territorial claims focusing on its timing, direction, and process.
Abstract: Methodological challenges in the study of stateless nationalist territorial claims. Territory, Politics, Governance. The territory claimed by stateless nationalist movements can change over time. Following a review of prominent explanations, this article addresses some of the more general methodological challenges involved in studying change in the territorial claims of stateless nationalist movements. It draws attention to the analytical distinction between the origin of territorial claims and their consequent changes. Building on this distinction, it also demonstrates the advantages of using a multidimensional understanding of change in territorial claims focusing on its timing, direction, and process. Then it turns to a discussion highlighting the tradeoffs in the choice of the unit of analysis as well as common problems in case selection, i.e., unjustifiable asynchronous comparisons and anachronism. The article concludes by laying out a roadmap for future research in this area.
TL;DR: The nation-hyphen-state as the clear and coherent mapping of a relatively culturally homogeneous group of people onto a territory with a singular and organized state apparatus of rule has long been recognized as a powerful metaphor for the common identity of people as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The nation-hyphen-state as the clear and coherent mapping of a relatively culturally homogeneous group of people onto a territory with a singular and organized state apparatus of rule has long been...
TL;DR: The authors examines the legal frameworks for drone-targeting operations, and in particular the conceptions of territory they draw upon, to argue that contemporary strikes reflect less a disappearance of the importance of territory and sovereignty to justifications of the use of force than a reconfiguration of their meanings.
Abstract: Drone strikes, ephemeral sovereignty, and changing conceptions of territory. Territory, Politics, Governance. One of the questions posed about contemporary US drone strikes is to what extent these strikes, particularly those occurring outside of Iraq and Afghanistan, are reshaping our conceptions of territory and sovereignty. It appears that geographies of war and of the use or projection of force are radically changing. This article examines the US legal frameworks for drone-targeting operations, and in particular the conceptions of territory they draw upon, to argue that contemporary strikes reflect less a disappearance of the importance of territory and sovereignty to justifications of the use of force than a reconfiguration of their meanings. Grounded in an understanding of territory that is more networked and dynamic, drone strikes reflect the emergence of a new landscape of mobile and ephemeral sovereignty.
TL;DR: This paper explored the tension in conservative and liberal ideology between supporting sub-state political responsibility through decentralization and supporting strong central government able to take long-term (and potentially unpopular) decisions in times of economic crisis.
Abstract: Decentralisation and the centre right in the UK and Spain: central power and regional responsibility. Territory, Politics, Governance. The British Conservative Party and the Spanish Partido Popular (PP) have been hostile, at least at times, to devolving greater power to regions. Although both parties might be expected to support decentralization on economically liberal grounds, in fact both have found it extremely difficult to reconcile their centre-right economic instincts with a deeply ingrained commitment to the integrity of the state. This paper explores the tension in conservative and liberal ideology between supporting sub-state political responsibility through decentralization and supporting strong central government able to take long-term (and potentially unpopular) decisions in times of economic crisis. We examine these two parties in light of Toubeau and Wagner’s [2015. Explaining party positions on decentralization. British Journal of Political Science, 45(1), 97–119] framework, finding...
TL;DR: The state as a space of health: on the geopolitics and biopolitics of health-care systems as mentioned in this paper has been considered in the context of state spaces in the OECD world.
Abstract: The state as a space of health: on the geopolitics and biopolitics of health-care systems. Territory, Politics, Governance. The historical transformations of state spaces have recently been theorized and conceptualized from multidisciplinary perspectives and in various spatial and temporal contexts, but less research has been concerned with the entanglement of biopolitics and geopolitics in transforming state spaces in the OECD world. This article seeks to develop an approach to the geopolitics/biopolitics interface by inquiring into the ways in which ‘health’ has been one of the key aspects of the territorial constitution of the so-called welfare state in the Finnish context, and how health care has been an important constituent of the recent re-working of state territory and citizen subjectivities. The paper suggests that the health care/state space nexus can be scrutinized through an analysis of historically contingent geopolitical and biopolitical rationalities and related governmental techniq...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors locate strategies of public spending, policing and political action that offer a governing logic in which neighbourhoods are essentially subtracted from the constitution of the city, during which the assurances of citizenship, vitality of civic institutions and presence of policing may be partially or wholly suspended.
Abstract: Non-state space: the strategic ejection of dangerous and high maintenance urban space. Territory, Politics, Governance. Some commentators have characterized so-called ‘no-go’ areas as sites in which the exercise of authority is prevented. Here we suggest that many such spaces are produced by state, policing and citizen repertoires that aim to minimize the costs and risks of engaging, supporting and servicing such spaces and their populations. In this article, we locate strategies of public spending, policing and political action that offer a governing logic in which neighbourhoods are essentially subtracted from the constitution of the city. During such designations, the assurances of citizenship, vitality of civic institutions and presence of policing may be partially or wholly suspended. We present a framework for the identification of such strategies in which these forms of social, political and spatial exiting are described as being autotomic in nature – spaces that are ejected in order to avo...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that to understand the unfolding of the discursive formations, as well as the spatial dimensions of conflict and control in Israel/Palestine, we should explicate the workings of the processes of politicide.
Abstract: Revisiting politicide: state annihilation in Israel/Palestine. Territory, Politics, Governance. State annihilation is a persistent concern in Israel/Palestine. While the spectre of Israel’s destruction increasingly haunts Israeli public political debates, the actual materialization of Palestinian statehood seems to be permanently suspended, caught in an ever-protracted process of state-building. The current paper claims that to understand the unfolding of the discursive formations, as well as the spatial dimensions of conflict and control in Israel/Palestine, we should explicate the workings of the processes of politicide. Politicide, in this regard, denotes the eradication of the political existence of a group and sabotaging the turning of a community of people into a polity. This analysis suggests that the insistence that the State of Israel is under threat of extinction should be understood as a speech act, a performative reiteration, which allows for the securitization of Israeli rule in the o...
TL;DR: The authors make a case for expanding the scope of current versions of regional studies to include greater emphasis upon transnational regions as of equal if not greater importance compared with an exclusive focus upon sub-national regions.
Abstract: What does regional studies study? From sub-national to supra-national regional spaces or Grossraum of sovereign governance. Territory, Politics, Governance. This article makes a case for expanding the scope of current versions of “regional studies” to include greater emphasis upon transnational regions as of equal if not greater importance compared with an exclusive focus upon sub-national regions. The latter more restrictive approach is typically predicated on the continued centrality of state borders against which the dominant notion of regions as subnational entities is constituted and reiterated. Drawing upon a case study of the African Union our study provides a framework, a critically revised Grossraum theory, for addressing the emergence of a new pluralistic and multipolar world order characterised by supra-national regions and regional organizations. Traditional Schmittian notions of Grossraum are shown to be in need of substantial revision before they are able to adequately accommodate an...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine processes of border crossing and border policing within churches engaged in immigrant-outreach in the US South and explore how border politics and anti-immigrant racialization intersect with the practice of faith.
Abstract: Policing the borders of church and societal membership: immigration and faith-based communities in the US South. Territory, Politics, Governance. This paper examines processes of border crossing and border policing within churches engaged in immigrant-outreach in the US South. Based on interviews with pastors and on focus groups with immigrant and non-immigrant congregants in 35 churches in the US South, we explore how border politics and anti-immigrant racialization intersect with the practice of faith. We argue that the complex border work undertaken by clergy members and congregants can be understood in terms of differential inclusion, that is, the extension of partial membership that may lead to a widening, rather than a diminution, of social inequalities. Immigrants themselves are cognisant of this border work and tread carefully in making claims of belonging in the church and in the state. Paying attention to the affective, emotional and performative dimensions of borders, we argue that bord...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors studied the effect of collective efficacy on crime growth rates in urban Ghana and found that crime opportunities are neither uniformly nor randomly organized in the urban areas. But, they also pointed out that the situation in less developed countries remains under-researched and poorly understood, a situation partly attributable to the dearth of official disaggregated data at the community level.
Abstract: Geographies of Crime and Collective Efficacy in Urban Ghana. Territory, Politics, Governance. The quest to understand how urban neighbourhood characteristics impact on crime has become an important theoretical and policy-relevant component of contemporary criminology thinking and a potential gauge for the relative value of informal and formal mechanisms of social control. This renewed interest and vigour stems, in great part, from recent works which use social disorganization theory as a spring board to examine the mediating effects of collective efficacy on crime-growth rates. The recent preeminence notwithstanding, the situation in less-developed countries remains under-researched and poorly understood, a situation partly attributable to the dearth of official disaggregated data at the community level. This paper addresses this gap in knowledge by drawing on our empirical study in Accra, Ghana. Our analytical results reveal that crime opportunities are neither uniformly nor randomly organized in...
TL;DR: This article argued that colonialism was at least as important a context for the elaboration of territory as a strategy of sovereignty, and as the example of Ireland shows, this colonial practice was not only a matter external to Europe.
Abstract: The territory of colonialism. Territory, Politics, Governance. Stuart Elden writes of territory as a specific form of sovereignty, and has provided its genealogy through a study of European texts. These texts drew upon a Roman legacy and engaged the practical issue of the relations between papal and monarchical powers. This paper argues that colonialism was at least as important a context for the elaboration of territory as a strategy of sovereignty. Furthermore, and as the example of Ireland shows, this colonial practice was not only a matter external to Europe.
TL;DR: In this paper, it is argued that in order to understand the shifting spatialities and mechanisms of border enforcement we must also attend to the way in which these processes play out in relation to different forms of subjectivity; cultural and legal frameworks surrounding precisely who can be detained and how detention can play out shapes the legal and practical options available to policy-makers and border enforcement agencies.
Abstract: Crisis, subjectivity and the polymorphous character of immigrant family detention in the United States. Territory Politics Governance. This article expands on research into the politics of ‘immigration crises’ by bringing feminist insights to bear on how one understands the political unfolding of immigration crises. In order to do so, it draws on ethnographic research and media and policy analysis to trace the 2014 ‘immigration crisis’ surrounding unauthorized family immigration and detention in the United States. In doing so, it is argued that in order to understand the shifting spatialities and mechanisms of border enforcement we must also attend to the way in which these processes play out in relation to different forms of subjectivity; cultural and legal frameworks surrounding precisely who can be detained and how detention can play out shapes the legal and practical options available to policy-makers and border enforcement agencies. Moreover, in examining both the proliferation of brick-and-m...
TL;DR: For instance, the authors proposes that states have other spatial aspects, which comprise the role of the state in place building, governing flows and networks within and across its territorial boundary, and organizing and reorganizing the state.
Abstract: Combining the three words composing the name of this journal – that is, territory, politics and governance – always reminds me of the word ‘state’. Even though we have to avoid any kind of state-centric approaches to territory, politics and governance, it is impossible to talk about these three words without consideration of the state. The state is always at the core of the processes through which social relations are spatially governed, political processes are territorially mobilized, and spaces and territories are politically contested and organized. In this editorial, I want to position the five papers collected in this issue in relation to recent efforts to develop spatial readings of the state. For the last decade, there has been growing literature dealing with issues of the spatialities of the state. Earlier works on state space, building on the neo-Marxist conceptualization of the state as a social relation, had been concerned with issues related to the production and transformation of state space in the context of neo-liberal globalization. In particular, there have been lots of interesting works exploring the restructuring of territorially demarcated forms of state power, the rescaling of state spatiality, and the effects of newly emergent state spaces on the nature of urban and regional governance (Brenner, 2004; Goodwin, Jones, & Jones, 2005; Jones & MacLeod, 2004; Park, 2008; Swyngedouw, 1997). Based on the achievements of these earlier studies, there have been more diverse efforts towards spatial readings of the state in recent years. In order to develop more nuanced understandings of state space, recent works have tried to move beyond earlier studies’ emphasis on neo-Marxist approaches, which tended to put more focus on macro-level processes and changes of the capitalist political economy, and to incorporate more diverse social, political and cultural aspects to readings of state spatiality. Jessop (2016), for example, tries to conceptualize the spatialities of the state in relation to broader and more diverse political and socio-spatial features of the state (e.g. governance, network, scale, place, etc.), compared to its traditional and narrowly defined features (e.g. government, territory, etc.), in his paper recently published in this journal. Inspired by Gramsci’s expanded and integral definition of the state and Foucault’s notion of governmentality, he redefines state power as ‘government + governance in the shadow of hierarchy’ (Jessop, 2016, p. 9). With this redefinition, he emphasizes that 1) the state as a social relation involves far more than the state in its narrow, juridico-political sense (Jessop, 2016, p. 14), and 2) spaces of the state are by no means confined to territory, but extend to all dimensions of socio-spatial relations (e.g. place, scale, network, etc.) (Jessop, 2016, p. 10). Jessop also challenges the traditional territory-centric view to state space, which sees the connection between territory, state apparatus, and population as the primary socio-spatial organization of the state. Instead, Jessop (2016, p. 12) proposes that states have other spatial aspects, which comprise the role of the state in place building, governing flows and networks within and across its territorial boundary, and organizing and reorganizing the
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare the intensity of international conflicts between Israel and Lebanon in two spaces: land and sea, and conclude that a partial form of sovereignty is associated with a less intense conflict.
Abstract: Between land and sea: spaces and conflict intensity. Territory Politics Governance. Do different levels of sovereignty affect the intensity of international conflicts that unfold there? The paper answers this question by comparing territorial conflicts between Israel and Lebanon in two spaces: land and sea. These spaces are subject to different levels of sovereignty. On land, sovereignty is understood to be full and indivisible. In the portion of the sea under dispute between Israel and Lebanon – the exclusive economic zone – sovereignty is only partial and refers primarily to the right to extract resources. The paper concludes that a partial form of sovereignty is indeed associated with a less intense conflict.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the links between states, the economy and the international system in an ongoing process of transformation generating a new world order, and propose using a geopolitical perspective emphasizing the territorial dimension of state making, which includes economic policies and the formation of national identities.
Abstract: 21st century geopolitics: integration and development in the age of ‘continental states’. Territory, Politics, Governance. There is a need, in the 21st century, to analyse the interconnection between development and regional integration with a renewed attention to geopolitics. The aim of this paper is to explore the links between states, the economy and the international system in an ongoing process of transformation generating a new world order. Drawing on geopolitical theory, this study advances the argument that in the 21st century, those states in search of increasing autonomy apply strategies of regional integration and development-oriented policies, following a path to constructing new grossraums centred on states that are continental in scope. For this analysis the study proposes using a geopolitical perspective – here called ‘classical geopolitics’ – emphasizing the territorial dimension of state making, which includes economic policies and the formation of national identities. Particular ...
TL;DR: Health Policy in Cross-border Cooperation Practices: The Role of Euroregions and Their Local Government Members as discussed by the authors discusses the extent to which health policy has not become an activity in cross-border practices, and what the potential is for Euro-regions to facilitate this.
Abstract: Health Policy in Cross-border Cooperation Practices: The Role of Euroregions and Their Local Government Members. Territory, Politics, Governance. The support for local cross-border cooperation in Europe has been built on the premises of new cross-border institutions (Euroregions) as primarily responding to policy problems that cannot be dealt with effectively within the national contexts, expressed as ‘filling the gaps’. One area with significant gains to be made by cooperating across borders is health policy. This article discusses the extent to which health policy has (not) become an activity in cross-border practices, and what the potential is for Euroregions to facilitate this. The article first relies on previous research in combination with a mapping exercise of 53 current structures to demonstrate that despite well-advertised ‘best practices’, the overall level of health cooperation is relatively low. It then looks into the motivations for cooperation and policy priorities of participating ...
TL;DR: The authors studied the everyday practices of Mexican bureaucrats and the everyday restriction of transnational migration in a context of scarcity, and explored how institutional contexts and conditions shape officials' restrictive actions in the Mexico-Guatemala border city of Tapachula.
Abstract: Mexican bureaucrats and the everyday restriction of transnational migration in a context of scarcity. Territory, Politics, Governance. Examining the everyday practices of the state is crucial to our understanding of the multiple ways that governments regulate transnational migration. While geographers have increasingly focused on these practices at a broad, institutional scale and in sites in the Global North, less attention has been given to the mundane and often unseen processes of regulation and restriction that take place beyond physical borders and outside of the formal spaces and practices of the state immigration apparatus in the Global South. This article draws on ethnographic research to understand the contexts in which low-level officials and bureaucrats’ practices of policy implementation with the Central American immigrant community in the Mexico–Guatemala border city of Tapachula unfold. It explores how institutional contexts and conditions shape officials’ restrictive actions. In par...
TL;DR: The contrasting fortunes of pro-sovereignty currents in Basque and Catalan nationalist parties: PNV and CDC compared as discussed by the authors, highlighting the significant influence of party-level factors in affecting the prospects of a decisive strategic shift.
Abstract: The contrasting fortunes of pro-sovereignty currents in Basque and Catalan nationalist parties: PNV and CDC compared. Territory, Politics, Governance. Nationalist parties based on regions within European states have seen cases of major shifts from accommodation to sovereignty-based assertiveness in their positioning vis-a-vis central government. While these have been interpreted elsewhere mainly in terms of changes in contextual influences, the activity of groups within parties aiming to redefine territorial strategies has received much less attention, not least in the case of Spain. This comparison of factional politics within Basque and Catalan nationalist parties since the 1990s highlights the significant influence of party-level factors in affecting the prospects of a decisive strategic shift. Factors such as the loss of political power by a party, competition during processes of leadership succession, generational renewal and distinctive party cultures help explain why the outcomes of such ef...