Suchergebnisse

The financialization of culture (the spread of money management into daily life) has expanded into the lives of the poor & excluded across the globe with the rise of microcredit. Microcredit may actually increase dependence rather than self-sufficiency, especially among women. As the World Bank extends microcredit to the poor in different countries, it is defining a new geographic continuity for poverty. New Internet-based technologies hold the promise to drive financialization by making communication faster & closer for the middle class, but self-managed finances put these households at risk. The visions of Bill Gates (eg, 1999) & George Soros (eg, 1991) on financializing wealth are discussed; the idea that philanthropists amassing wealth can solve the world's problems is questioned. A vision for pooling wealth without immeasurable risk is needed. M. Pflum

The financialization of culture (the spread of money management into daily life) has expanded into the lives of the poor & excluded across the globe with the rise of microcredit. Microcredit may actually increase dependence rather than self-sufficiency, especially among women. As the World Bank extends microcredit to the poor in different countries, it is defining a new geographic continuity for poverty. New Internet-based technologies hold the promise to drive financialization by making communication faster & closer for the middle class, but self-managed finances put these households at risk. The visions of Bill Gates (eg, 1999) & George Soros (eg, 1991) on financializing wealth are discussed; the idea that philanthropists amassing wealth can solve the world's problems is questioned. A vision for pooling wealth without immeasurable risk is needed. M. Pflum

It is argued that the selection of a diplomatic venue, both in terms of physical location & the surrounding environment, is of much greater significance than has been acknowledged. The dynamics of a "geography of diplomacy" are examined here, exploring why diplomatic encounters occur in the locations where they do & considering reasons for (& effects of) the selection of particular discussion sites over others. The function of site selection in the negotiation process is discussed & the relationship between choice of locale & whether an international negotiation is expected to be conflict/cooperation-focused is considered. Twelve types of diplomatic sites are identified & illustrated with historical & contemporary examples. Discussion is based on historical scholarship on key diplomatic meetings, grounded in analysis of private papers & personal interviews. References. K. Hyatt Stewart

Examines geographers' treatment of war & peace since the establishment of modern Western academic geography in the late 19th century, drawing on a review of the literature, particularly from scholarship in political geography & geopolitics. Ways that geographers have conceptualized & analyzed processes of war & peace are analyzed, along with the application of geography to & geographers' roles in these processes. The place of academic geography in war & peace is considered in the context of international relations during the two halves of the 20th century, demarcated by the dropping of the first nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. Whether geography has been or can be transformed from a discipline for war into one for peace is evaluated; suggestions for the development of geographies of peacemaking, peacekeeping, & war avoidance are delineated. References. K. Hyatt Stewart

This volume attempts to challenge the contention of Nicholas Spykman (1944) that "geography is the most important factor in foreign policy because it is the most permanent," arguing instead that (1) physical geography is far from permanent, but fluid, volatile, & constantly shifting; And (2) there are political geographies beyond the physical that shape & are shaped by processes of war & peace. The mutually constituted & social constructed nature of war & peace & their geographies are compared. Several key geographic themes in the study of war & peace are investigated: territoriality, borders, regionalization, scale, & network relationships between places across space. References. K. Hyatt Stewart

Explores the relationship between armed conflict & two types of resources: (1) commodities legally traded on international markets, & (2) extracted natural resources (eg, oil, minerals, & timber). Ways that resource exploitation & resource dependency between producing & consuming countries factor into the emergence & persistence of armed conflicts are examined, noting the influence of a country's place in the world economy & historical, political, cultural, & regional factors. The changing geographies of these relationships are discussed, differentiating between proximate/distal & point/diffuse resources & the types of conflict they typically give rise to; the role of resources in determining the course & duration of armed conflicts is explored. Also considered are the geographical construction & significance of resource dependency; the violence inherent in natural resource exploitation; the role of resources in war economies, warlordism, secessions, peasant rebellions, & the financing of coup d'etats within states. The role of businesses, acting as intermediaries between resources & markets, in inadvertently supporting autocratic regimes & war criminals is discussed, together with the impact of foreign intervention into resource wars. Tables, References. K. Hyatt Stewart

After outlining some general characteristics of peace movements, an attempt is made to explore their geographic dimensions from a historical perspective. The development of organized peace groups is traced from their origins in the 19th century to the present (focusing on Europe & the US), & their changing geopolitical & societal contexts are illuminated. Theoretical concepts drawn from the recent social movement literature are utilized to examine the places & spaces of mobilization in contemporary peace movements. Several key reasons for the endurance of peace movements despite temporal disjunctures & setbacks are identified. The utility of a geographic approach is demonstrated via a case study of the 1980s peace movement against nuclear armaments. References. K. Hyatt Stewart

Discusses the utilization of the world-systems perspective in geography & the contributions of geography to this perspective, & evaluates the potential for interdisciplinary research. Focus is on analyses of the reciprocal roles of individual places & the world economy. The examples of several world cities demonstrate both the local impacts of global changes in geopolitical orders & the systemic influences of changes at the local level. Implications for the 21st-century study of changing world systems by geographers are explored. 45 References. K. Hyatt Stewart

An analysis of the changing geography of Mexican immigration to the US focuses on four periods: the classic era of open immigration (1900-1920); the Bracero era (1942-1964); the undocumented era (1964-1986); & the post-Immigration Reform & Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) era (1987-present). Data were obtained from Integrated Public Use Microdata Samples of individual records from US censuses of 1900-1920 & 1940-1990, & the March supplement of the 2000 Current Population Survey. Mexican immigration was strongly oriented towards Texas until 1920 when destinations shifted toward California &, to a lesser extent, Chicago. The Great Depression brought immigration to a standstill until the temporary worker Bracero program was instituted in 1942. By 1960, 42 percent of all Mexican immigrants lived in California, 36 percent in Texas, & 6 percent in Illinois or Indiana. California dominated as the preeminent destination during the undocumented era; however, strict enforcement provisions of the IRCA, coupled with a recession in California, transformed Mexican immigration into a nationwide movement that transfigured the political landscape of both countries. Tables, References. J. Lindroth