Making Political Geography (human Geography In The Making)

Human Geography in the Making Series Editor: A L E X A N D E R B. MURPHY Department of Geography, University of Oregon, USA This page intentionally left blank SERIES PREFACE To understand the rapidly changing world in which we live, the study of geography is essential. Yet the nature and importance of a geographic perspective can easily be misconstrued if geography is seen simply as a set of changing patterns and arrangements. Like the world around it, the discipline of geography itself has undergone sweeping changes in recent decades as its practitioners have confronted and developed new concepts, theories, and perspectives. Placing the contributions of geographic research within the context of these changes is critical to an appreciation of geography's present and future. The Human Geography in the Making series was developed with these considerations in mind. Inspired initially by the influential 'Progress Reports' in the journal Progress in Human Geography, the series offers book-length overviews of geographic subdisciplines that are widely taught in colleges and universities at the upper division and graduate levels. The goal of each of the books is to acquaint readers with the major issues and conceptual problems that have dominated a particular subdiscipline over the past two to three decades, to discuss and assess current themes that are shaping the evolution of the subdiscipline, and to highlight the most promising areas for future research. There is a widely recognized gap between topically focused textbooks and narrowly defined scholarly studies. The books in this series move into this gap. Through analyses of the intellectual currents that have shaped key subdisciplines of geography, these books provide telling insights into the conceptual and empirical issues currently influencing research and teaching. Geographic understanding requires an appreciation of how and why ideas have evolved, and where they may be going. The distinguished contributors to this series have much to say about these matters, offering ideas and interpretations of importance to students and professional geographers alike. Alexander B. Murphy Series Editor Professor of Geography University of Oregon FORTHCOMING T I T L E S Making Cultural Geography (Kay Anderson and Mike Crang, University of Durham, UK) Making Development Geography (Victoria Lawson, University of Washington, USA) Making Economic Geography (Trevor Barnes, University of British Colombia, Canada) Making Political Ecology (Rod Neumann, Florida International University, USA) Making Population Geography (Adrian Bailey, University of Leeds, UK) Making Urban Geography (Susan Hanson, Clark University, USA) Making Political Geography JOHN AGNEW Department of Geography, UCLA A member of the Hodder Headline Group LONDON Distributed in the United States of America by Oxford University Press Inc., New York First published in Great Britain in 2002 by Arnold, a member of the Hodder Headline Group, 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH http://www.arnoldpublishers.com Distributed in the United States of America by Oxford University Press Inc., 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY10016 © 2002 John Agnew All rights reserved. No part of