From geopolitics to global politics : a French connection /

The purpose of the 11 essays presented here is to acquaint the outside world with the specific traits of French geopolitical thought. French political scientists (represented here by only two essays) and geographers have always dipped into history and philosophy more than Americans have. Consequently their geopolitics has a more long-range and broader perspective and tends to be more scholarly and less journalistic. Excellent examples are Claude Raffestin's "From Text to Image," and Denis Retaille's "Geopolitics in History." It is also characteristic that, because French political science and geography are essentially interdisciplinary, so is its geopolitics. The transition from geopolitics to global politics announced in the title of this book is justified in the editor's introductory essay with the argument that in the era of globalization, politics and political thought cease to be under "the tutelage of the state," which, in France at least, lasted for centuries. With the weakening of territorial sovereignty and the porosity of state boundaries, international relations (as distinct from foreign policies of individual states) come to the fore, and the focus shifts from state territories to "World-spaces." The volume is exceptionally well suited for graduate seminars in geopolitics or international relations. Upper-division undergraduates and above. L. K. D. Kristof emeritus, Portland State University