Boundaries, Territory and Postmodernity

Contributions to this collection seek to determine the extent to which states and boundaries have, in fact, disappeared, or are simply changing their functions as we move from an era of fixed territories into a post-Westphalian territorial system. A group of international political geographers and political scientists examine the changing nature of the state, pointing to significant changes on the one hand, but equally noting the continued importance of territory and boundaries in determining the political ordering of the post-modern world.

As the world undergoes rapid technological and economic change, so too the role and functions of the State are being challenged. There are those who argue that that the nation state has come to an end and that we are entering a new phase in the territorial ordering of the world system. Others hold that boundaries have disappeared and that a globalized world has no need or use for artificial, man-made, territorial barriers.
The contributions here seek to determine the extent to which states and boundaries have, in fact, disappeared, or are simply changing their functions as we move from an era of fixed territories into a post-Westphalian territorial system. A group of international political geographers and political scientists examine the changing nature of the state, pointing to significant changes on the one hand, but equally noting the continued importance of territory and boundaries in determining the political ordering of the post-modern world.

Booknews

Within geopolitics, a discipline enjoying a renaissance, ten academics from eight countries expound upon the fluid role of the state in a world simultaneously impacted by globalization and the resurgence of national and ethnic identities. They assess boundaries as social processes; new territorial dimensions (e.g. a treaty of silicon?); and move beyond borders to regional identity (in the Middle East), and pseudo-states (such as the Trans-Dniester Moldovan Republic) as harbingers of a new geopolitics. Contains abstracts of studies first appearing in a special issue of <-->formerly <-->(3/1, Summer 1998; Cass, ISSN 1465-0045). Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)