Presses Polytechniques et Universitaires Romandes
vydavateľstvo
Mapping Power – History of Landscape in the Jordan Valley
An excavation of the Jordan Valley’s hidden history, depicting how mapping has not only documented territorial disputes but actively shaped them. For millennia, landscapes have been battlegrounds of power, history, and identity—nowhere more so than in the Jordan Rift Valley. In Mapping Power: History of Landscape in the Jordan Valley, Ben Gitai unearths the hidden forces that have shaped Naharayim/Al-Baqoura, a politically charged site at the crossroads of empire and conflict. Blending political geography and historical analysis, Gitai reveals how mapping and cartography have been wielded as tools of control by successive rulers, ranging from the Ottoman Empire and the British Mandate to present-day territorial disputes. Over one hundred and fifty years, this valley has been transformed by competing visions of land, water, and national identity, making it a microcosm of the enduring tensions in the Holy Land. Offering an intricate analysis of place and power, this book challenges conventional narratives of landscape history and exposes how maps do not merely document history but shape it.
Along the Line – Writing with Comics and Graphic Narrative in Geography
Transforms the study of borders into an immersive visual and intellectual experience, revealing how boundaries are drawn and lived. Part travelogue, part scholarly inquiry, Along the Line reimagines the study of borders through the lens of lived experience and graphic storytelling. Beginning with the COVID-19 border closures of 2020, Juliet Fall embarks on a three-year journey tracing the boundary between France and Geneva, uncovering the deep historical and personal significance of these invisible lines. Through vivid sketches and a feminist political geography perspective, this work confronts conventional academic narratives and demonstrates how borders shape both landscapes and lives. Through a blend of theory with immersive storytelling, Fall invites readers to slow down, observe, and rethink their understanding of space, mobility, and belonging. Along the Line is a groundbreaking contribution to border studies, political geography, and international relations, and also a powerful example of how creative and visual methods can transform academic research.
A Systemic Theory of Democracy
A new approach to democratic theory that empowers its citizens. Democracy is a complex social system. A Systemic Theory of Democracy investigates the complexity of democracy's functioning through a systemic perspective to identify opportunities and challenges for democratic transformations. It critically reappraises social systems theory, extracting critical tools to describe and evaluate dynamic and ever-evolving democratic systems within their changing societal environment. By articulating political functions, social practices, and democratic principles, this systemic framework transcends theoretical models' boundaries, enabling it to map existing political systems and identify their context-specific shortcomings. A systemic approach to democracy, argues political researcher Victor Sanchez-Mazas, opens the road for the possibility and necessity for citizens to identify the problems faced by their democratic system. A Systemic Theory of Democracy calls for a critical democratic agenda: the constant diagnosis of democratic shortcomings, by citizens themselves and through democratic processes. This book introduces democratic diagnosis as a major challenge and opportunity for both contemporary democratic theory and existing democratic systems.
Vypredané
55,99 €