Géographie sociale : la dénomination est née, après maintes vicissitudes, de la volonté de penser et d'appréhender les relations entre phénomènes spatiaux et phénomènes sociaux. La réflexion sur la nature de ces relations, leur dynamique, la recherche méthodologique à appliquer, a bénéficié du double effet de révolution de la société et de la reconnaissance scientifique d'une nécessaire interdisciplinarité. Mais le mouvement ainsi crée est loin d'être achevé.
Space, politics - what is one actually referring to ? The intersection - or better still the interaction - between two fields whose definition is far from obvious, is, as one may guess, nothing less than evident. On one hand, an appearance of simplicity that has to be dismantled in order to be rebuilt : one must ask if politics or the political are representation or justification, interpretation or action, if it is power, then in what form(s) ? On the other hand, we face the whole problem of passing from the philosophical category of space to the concept of social space. To clarify a type of reality which is, from the outset, abundant yet opaque, six specialists of the relations between space and politics attempt to answer, as briefly as possible, the question, « What do you mean by "political space" » ? The history of ideas, the challenges of the present - and a few pertinent and troublesome examples - are summoned to mark out the course, to begin to think through / classify political spaces. This will serve as operating instructions for the whole of this issue.
