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1 |
ID:
084640
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Publication |
2008.
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Summary/Abstract |
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.
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2 |
ID:
098945
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3 |
ID:
080887
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4 |
ID:
128850
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Publication |
2014.
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Summary/Abstract |
A thematic selection and analysis of war photography across 165 years has tremendous explanatory power about the nature of modern war and the human experience in war and its aftermath. The year 2014 brings centennial commemorations of events that helped make the twentieth century the bloodiest in human history. Among these are the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 June, Germany's invasion of Belgium and France on 4 August, and the First Battle of the Marne in early September - the battle that halted the German offensive and ushered in an unprecedented period of stalemated, destructive warfare on the Western Front. As historian Margaret MacMillan has observed, the First World War still haunts us not only because of the scale of the carnage and suffering, but because so many believed that the early-1900s version of globalisation and interdependence had rendered war futile. The comparisons to today seem obvious, as the United States and European nations cut military budgets based, in part, on the belief that large-scale armed conflicts are relics from a barbarous past. If, however, peace remains as the Ancient Greek historian Thucydides described it over 2,500 years ago - 'an armistice in a war that is continuously going on' - understanding war and warfare will remain important for preventing conflict, as well as for its effective conduct. Understanding war's human, psychological and social dimensions requires an interdisciplinary approach and study across multiple genres including literature, art, film and photography.
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5 |
ID:
080888
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