| ID | 084640 |
| Title Proper | Critical geopolitics and the 1950s bomber gap |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Mercille, Julien |
| Publication | 2008. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | In this paper, I outline three main issues that divide classical and critical geopolitics and offer a critique of the latter. The three issues are (1) criticism, (2) the relative importance of discourses vs. materiality/political economy, and (3) the status of knowledge claims (universal or partial). Through this discussion I present my own view, whose central claim is that versions of critical geopolitics relying to a great extent on discursive analysis should pay more attention to political economic factors. True, most studies in critical geopolitics pay attention to the institutional affiliation of political elites, but very few discuss the workings of the political economic system within which policy is formulated. To illustrate my points empirically, I discuss the bomber gap of the 1950s; the gap refers to the alleged fall of the United States behind the Soviet Union in strategic bombers under Eisenhower, a scare that gave rise to influential discourses describing American military inferiority. |
| `In' analytical Note | Geopolitics Vol. 13, No. 3; 2008: 498-518 |
| Journal Source | Geopolitics Vol. 13, No. 3; 2008: 498-518 |
| Key Words | Bomber Gap ; Military Economy ; Political Economy ; Cold War |