Micronesia: The politics of the colonized

Carl Heine. Micronesia at the Crossroads: A Reappraisal of the Micronesian Political Dilemma. Honolulu: The University Press of Hawaii, 1974. xvi + 210 pp. Notes, appendices, bibliography, and index. $10.00 (cloth); $2.95 (paper).

Daniel T. Hughes and Sherwood G. Lingenfelter, eds. Political Development in Micronesia. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1974. 333 pp. Tables, charts, references, and index. $15.00.     

Saudi Arabia: The politics of education

Since 11 September Saudi Arabia's religious education system and its underlying ideology have been accused of contributing to anti–western sentiments and of providing fertile ground for Islamic extremism. While recognizing the economic necessity for educational reform, many Saudis have come out to defend their school system and officials adamantly reject any link between their curriculum and extremism. This article looks at the extent to which the Saudi education system has been shaped and used by religious, political and socio–economic forces and the factors that are undermining the current system. It also examines the content of the message propagated in the kingdom's schools and abroad and to what extent it may encourage anti–western sentiments.     

Changing electoral politics: The local level

This article explores contemporary notions of Italian kinship—procreation, the family, biological and social relatedness—as they are shaped by programmes of gamete donation (these are programmes that require the use of third‐party egg and semen to achieve conception). The research was carried out in Italian clinics of assisted conception and presents the views of heterosexual couples suffering from impaired infertility. The overall material reveals the power of kinship as a cultural form.     

The politics of migration

This editorial introduces the Virtual Special Issue on the Politics of Migration by presenting a review of migration and refugee related articles published in Political Geography. We have identified two major shifts in scope during the last 30 years. First, the scalar focus has changed from nation-state policies to supranational migration agreements and transnational migrant experiences. Second, the theoretical focus has moved from geopolitics to biopolitics. Ten selected articles illustrate three central themes: regulation of migration, practices of border enforcement and migrant experiences.     

The politics of hydropower: developing the Mekong

With renewed economic interest in the Southeast Asian region following the `peace dividend' of the early 1990s, numerous hydrodevelopment plans have been initiated in the Mekong basin. The river-as-resource, in a glibly bioregional metaphor, has been transformed from a Cold War `front line' into a `corridor of commerce', drawing six riparian states together in the pursuit of sustainable development through economic and infrastructural integration and cooperation, promoted by multi- and bilateral donors and lending institutions. Through a brief examination of the discursive framing of Mekong hydrodevelopment, this paper uncovers some of the implications of an emerging regional geopolitical imagination centred on the naturalising metaphor of the watershed. Through a discussion of the increasing involvement of private capital, and the politicisation of resource use, the implications of hydrodevelopment for Laos, an upstream state currently undergoing major hydrodevelopment, and Cambodia, a downstream state, are explored.     

The younging of Australian politics or politics as first career

Politics is usually seen as a second career and many elite studies include details of the background of MPs and draw conclusions from that data. But Australian politicians appear to be entering politics, reaching the ministry and retiring at younger ages. This article explores the accuracy of these perceptions for Australian federal politics and explores some of the implications of politics becoming a first career.     

The post‐politics of transport: establishing a new meeting ground for transport politics

This paper brings together two disparate but critical bodies of literature about contemporary citizen participation in the Australian city: transport politics and post‐politics. The argument is advanced that state and citizen actor relations—as they exist in the governance and management of Australian urban transport—have taken on characteristics of post‐politics. By conceiving of citizen participation in this manner, new ways of understanding it are generated and it is possible to appreciate how such participation is shaped by state actors both across time and in response to the politicisation of transport proposals. The paper illustrates the extent to which citizen engagement has become a new focal point in transport politics, particularly given citizens' capacities to politicise proposals and transport trajectories. It achieves such ends by drawing upon key‐informant interviews conducted between 2013 and 2016 with public transport advocates, select resident groups, and local and state level planning officials from Melbourne, Australia.