Geographies Of Power

The issue of geographic scale has fundamentally shaped the intellectual agenda of critical human geography over the last decade and this text aims to provide a synthesis of the growing literature on the "problem of scale". Following the bombing of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, terrorism has joined economic restructuring, climate change, environmental degradation, and the AIDS pandemic as another issue warranting 'global' attention. The contributors to this book explore the nexus of power and space behind this rescaling of contemporary social, economic, and political life. The book opens with an introductory essay by the editors, outlining some of the main themes that have arisen in discussions about geographical scale to date. The contributors then consider in more detail key questions about how our world is scaled, how we think about such scaling, and how social actors – whether terrorists, environmentalists, or corporate executives – go about scaling their activities in ways that allow them to exercise power or deny it to others. This timely book will stimulate readers to find new ways to define the terms and spaces of political struggle open to them. At a time when references to things 'global' have gained more currency than ever, this book explores the nexus of power and space behind the politics of geographical scale. Explores the nexus of power and space behind the rescaling of contemporary social, economic and political life. Organized into three sections on theorizing scale, the discourses and rhetorics of scale, and scales of activism. Will stimulate discussion about how conceptions and visions of scale inform all aspects of social life.