Terror and Territory

Abstract: While geographical aspects of the “war on terror” have received extensive discussion, the specifically territorial aspects have been less well explored. This article engages with the relation between territory and terror through three main angles. First, the relation between terrorist training camps and the absence of sovereign power over territory in particular places is examined through a broadening of Agamben's notion of a “space of exception”. Second, the portrayal of al‐Qaeda and militant Islam more generally as a deterritorialised organisation is interrogated, noting the territorial aspects of its operations. Third, the territorial responses are studied, particularly looking at the way the international legal term of territorial integrity, with its dual meanings of territorial preservation and territorial sovereignty is under increased threat. This is illustrated with a study of Afghanistan and Iraq and particularly through an analysis of the 2006 war in Lebanon.     

The chert abundance ratio (CAR): a new parameter for interpreting Palaeolithic raw material procurement

Raw material provenance and procurement studies are an essential research line to infer landscape exploitation, mobility dynamics and territorial management among prehistoric hunter-gatherer groups. This paper proposes an original and intuitive method, the chert abundance ratio, aimed at quantifying lithic resource occurrence in the landscape while considering the geological natural factors of an area (chert-bearing formation extent, thickness, occurrence index, size and chert content). The resource availability can be statistically compared to any archaeological assemblage distribution to define the procurement strategies, whether generalist or selective, and the mobility patterns. The study area, the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula, focused in the Prades Mountains, represents a regional scenario with high chert disposal shared by several Late Upper Palaeolithic occupations. The discrimination of the procurement areas is used as a parameter for outlining the foraging radius and the territorial range, contributing to an understanding of several aspects of the settlement, such as site functions, occupation length or intensity and group size.     

Territorial Capital: Theory,Empirics and Critical Remarks

Territorial capital has gained considerable attention in the past few years. The aim with this work is to throw light on some underlying aspects of territorial capital research. The study focuses on the theoretical and empirical issues of territorial capital and highlights some critical remarks related to the topic. On the one hand, the focus of the study is on the comparison of concepts and approaches in connection with territorial capital; then an in-depth look is taken at “capital frameworks” related to the research field. On the other hand, a comprehensive overview is presented of empirical investigations by comparing the applied methods, dimensions and variables of territorial capital. An argument is also made for a critical assessment concerning the topic with regard to the sense and function of territorial capital in regional economics and local economic development and highlights some further dilemmas concerning the “properties of capital” and “territorial capital paradigm”. Finally, some suggestions are provided for the future of territorial capital analysis. The main result of the study is an own belief in the concept of territorial capital.     

Processes of Development and the Level of Development of an Area

Some basic propositions of a theory of economic regional development are proposed. Development is viewed as the complex historical process of the man-nature relationship in a particular territory through time. The result of that process at any given time would be the level of territorial development. The developmental process consists of several closely related components, such as agricultural, industrial, transport development and the formation of a system of places. At any given time, one of these components may predominate and govern the evolution of the others. The process is thus endowed with a certain structure that may vary in time and in space. No territory can be developed indefinitely. At any given socio-economic and technical level, there is a certain limiting capacity for development. The existence of territories with different levels of development accounts for the existence of geographical types of territorial development as a form of spatial differentiation. This differentiation results from a sequence of two processes: concentration and stratification. A concentration of population and productive capacity proceeds until the capacity for development is reached, and gives way to stratification into concentric zones. This cycle may be renewed when the process of development resumes.     

Network topologies as collective social capital in cities and regions: a critical review of empirical studies

This paper outlines a theoretical framework to study collective social capital at the local scale using social network analysis. To do so, it develops a review on empirical research that found evidence regarding the impact of networks on the performance of cities and regions. Eight network topologies are identified with collective social capital: size and composition, connectivity, closeness, clustering, small world, openness, centralization and heterophily. The paper inquires into the effects of these properties concluding that they influence two aspects that are highly relevant for territorial development: they facilitate the diffusion of information and they foster cooperation among actors. Results help tracing roots among three different academic fields: literature on social capital, local and regional economics, and social network analysis. Furthermore, the article suggests a framework to obtain relevant conclusions regarding political and economic aspects of territorial capacities.     

The geopolitics of peacemaking in Israel–Palestine

The study of the Israel–Palestine conflict is a live laboratory for political geographers and this is reflected in a number of studies undertaken by Saul Cohen during his career. Despite the recent collapse of the Israel–Palestine peace process, the ongoing attempts at conflict resolution continue to focus on the territorial dimensions of the conflict. All attempts to configure State territories which are acceptable to both sides must take account not only of the tangible dimensions of boundary demarcation and strategic sites, but also the symbolic aspects of territory and the way in which such territories are part of the process through which national identities are constructed and maintained. Notions of territorial partition remain much the same as they were prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. However, the changing demographic and settlement realities that have emerged during this period have resulted in the creation of new facts on the ground which must constantly be re-fed into the negotiation process at any given time.     

The Role of Territorial Capital in Local Economic Growth: Evidence from Italy

Territorial capital is defined as the system of territorial assets of economic, cultural, social and environmental nature that ensures the development potential of places. The potential of this concept resides in the recognition of possible interactions between factors of different nature. So far, however, very few studies have focused on the empirical verification of the links between territorial capital and economic growth. This work is devoted to the analysis of the relationship between economic growth and territorial capital in Italian NUTS3 regions between 1999 and 2008. The distribution of territorial assets across regions points out the huge gap between Italian macro-areas. These divergences do not clearly reproduce the differentials in GDP growth. The second part of the analysis is focused on the joint effect of the territorial capital components on the regional economic performance. Our findings emphasize the role of some endogenous factors in explaining the differentiation of regional growth patterns. Moreover, they point out the importance of soft assets in correspondence of an external shock, as the one represented by the recent financial crisis.     

Eastern Asia's revitalization of the state ideal through maritime territorial disputes

In the midst of globalization and other processes that redefine state-territory-sovereignty relationships, reassertion of traditional state ideals is common. This article highlights one venue through which this takes place. Building on Stuart Elden's distinction between territorial sovereignty and territorial preservation as two aspects of “territorial integrity,” among other conceptual guides, the article posits that strong emphasis on territorial preservation through territorial disputes in effect works to counteract territorial sovereignty's slippage. Analysis of states' semi-official prosecution of five maritime territorial disputes in eastern Asia shows various rhetorical strategies that prop up traditional notions of unbreakable bonds between state, territory, and sovereignty. These include obscuring state historicity and naturalizing the nation-state relationship, using territory to represent historical victimhood and sanctifying state territory, and using the disputes to find a place for the state within the international state system. The analyzed territorial disputes include the southern Kurils/Northern Territories (Russia vs. Japan), Dokdo/Takeshima (Korea/Japan), Senkaku/Diaoyutai (Japan/China), Paracels (China/Vietnam), Spratlys (Vietnam/Philippines/China, especially).     

The temporality of territorial production – the case of Stortorget,Malmö

In recent years, we have seen the development of a more relational approach to territoriality. This perspective, which focuses on events rather than space, also opens up for an elaboration of temporal aspects of territorial production. In this study, I investigate the central urban square, Stortorget, in Malmö, Sweden, in order to develop a discussion of a time–space territorology. In 1978, Korosec-Serfaty performed a thorough study of the square, observing its everyday activities. The present study compares territorial productions at Malmö’s Main Square during 1978 with those of 2013. The results of the study indicate a change of time–space production in which temporary territorial appropriations and tactics tend to become shorter in duration, whereas the number of temporary and large-scale territorial strategies has increased and the role of these become more important. The study also shows how these territorial transformations include changes (in pace, rhythm, temporal salience and scale) that seem to vertically stabilise the territorial structure of the square, and thus decrease both territorial complexity and the possibilities for new publics to evolve.     

European developments in strategic spatial planning

Strategic spatial planning which takes an integrated approach to the development of a territory seemed to go out of fashion, but now there are signs that it is being re‐established. This paper explores these developments using case studies from 10 European countries. The analysis uses an ‘institutionalist’ approach, which examines how the ‘agency’ of spatial planning practices responds to the ‘structure’ of contextual forces, at the same time influencing that structure. The ‘driving forces’ which are influencing strategic spatial planning are investigated, as are two aspects of the changes in spatial planning: institutional relations and policy agendas. The conclusions are that—at least in the case studies—there is a movement in the institutional relations towards horizontal articulation, territorial logic, and negotiative forms. Policy agendas too are changing, becoming more selective and using new conceptions of space and place. Those institutional developments, however, are not necessarily being translated into territorially‐integrated policy (as distinct from functional/sectoral policy). That translation appears to require simultaneous re‐framing of relational resources (trust, social capital), knowledge resources (intellectual capital), linked to strong mobilization efforts (political capital). The cases considered varied significantly in how far that had been done. Where it had, strategic spatial plan‐making practices were playing a key role in developing institutional territorial integration and re‐invigorating territorial identities.     

Coalition-building in Portuguese Spatial Planning: Is There a Southern European Context?

This paper aims to discuss institutional capacity building in spatial planning focussing on two experiences of public policy in Portugal involving institutional cooperation. These experiences reveal the importance of factors associated with the roles of the central state and local political leadership in the way integrated tools of urban and territorial policy are implemented. They also show that the capacity to mobilize local agents is mitigated by the deep-rooted presence of highly personalized institutional ties, reflecting a relational model that is particularly characteristic of Portuguese society. We will conclude that territorial policies may be jeopardized when these policies are centred mainly upon the mobilization of local agents. In fact, these two case-studies, as well as similar experiences in Italy, suggest that, in southern Europe, two other aspects are central for the definition of territorial policies on the inter-municipal and local scales: the influence of the state, and the role of political leadership at local level.     

21世纪国土规划的理论探讨

该文结合国土规划性质及地位的探讨,针对国土规划的特点,笔者认为,进行跨学科的综合研究是解决国土规划重大问题的现实途径,其中,国土资源安全理论和城乡融合理论以及动态规划理论等是进行国土规划的理论支柱。在此基础上,指出国土规划的目标应是一个多层次、多目标的目标组合,应采取理论指导、专家论证与实践相结合的技术路线,最后提出了未来国土规划的研究趋向。     

Israeli historical geography and the Holocaust: reconsidering the research agenda

The case of the Israeli historical geography demonstrates how nationalism affects academic research agenda. As in many other cases of nation-building, Israeli geographers have played an important role in the manipulation of landscapes and places to form a modern Jewish Israeli national identity. Their role in the construction of national consciousness expanded following the development of a territorial national conflict with the Palestinian Arabs. Despite the eighteen centuries of the pre-Zionist Diaspora, and the fact that more than a half of the Jews in the world live outside Israel, Israeli historical geographers almost totally neglect Diaspora lifestyles and spatialities and ignore the impact of the geographical imagination of Diaspora Jews on the (re)construction of Zionist territorial concepts and space. Following five decades of a Palestine/Israel-centered agenda, it is time for Israeli historical geographers to turn to the research of different spatial aspects of the Jewish Diaspora. This move should begin with the research of the spatial aspects of the concentration and annihilation of Jewish European communities during the Holocaust, and to more general spatial aspects of Nazism, as well as to the political and cultural geography of the Holocaust remembrance.     

Territorial cohesion storylines in 2014–2020 Cohesion Policy

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the concept of territorial cohesion in the context of 2014–2020 Cohesion Policy. The main goal is to investigate how European Union (EU) Member States (MSs) are coping with territoriality in their policies and to assess whether they are only fulfilling the minimum standards of a place-based approach or whether they are moving towards a new paradigm of policy-making characterized by a more territorially sensitive approach. This paper analyses Partnership Agreements which were signed between the European Commission and EU MSs and identifies the perception of territorial cohesion in the Cohesion Policy in the programming period 2014–2020. The analysis shows that different MSs choose different ways of addressing territoriality of their policies. It is thus possible to categorize countries into several groups sharing similar features and to discuss underlying ideas and approaches, which could shed some light on the still rather fuzzy concept of territorial cohesion.     

From Cohesion to Territorial Policy Integration (TPI): Exploring the Governance Challenges in the European Union

The European Union (EU) is searching for new approaches to manage problems that span different policy sectors. In the regional policy field, incompatibilities between the EU's territorial development objectives and its transport, agricultural, competition and environmental policies, are well known. The need to integrate territorial policy concerns into these sectoral policies (territorial policy integration or “TPI”) has recently emerged as a key policy priority. This article examines the EU's capacity to implement TPI. It does so in relation to two member states (Germany and the Netherlands) and the European Commission. It finds that the administrative implications of implementing TPI are far more demanding than any of these actors are currently able to handle. Moreover, some EU-level networks are potentially relevant to TPI, but these are mostly focused on regional policy matters (i.e. they are relatively inward looking). If these administrative issues are not taken more seriously, “integration” will struggle to make headway in an EU which is notoriously sectorized.     

北部湾与中国近代海界问题

本根据历史事实对北部湾问题及中国近代海界问题进行了分析,提出了一些值得进一步探讨的观点。认为在历史上海界的概念至少包括以下方面,由自然洋流不同流向划分出的不同海域,自然洋流不具有主权意义;由岛屿、沙洲群划分出的海域,作为界限的岛屿、沙洲群也不具有主权意义;由军事防区划分出的不同海域,其界限都以岛屿群、沙洲群为识别标志。     

The cross-border reterritorialization concept revisited: the territorialist approach applied to the case of Cerdanya on the French-Spanish border

The aim of this paper is to bring new elements into the theoretical discussion so as to better understand the realities of borderlands. Our goal involves projecting a new conceptualization of the cross-border territory and cross-border reterritorialization by refining the analytical framework envisioned by the current literature on border studies. More specifically, we apply the so-called ‘territorialist approach’, an innovative and culturally oriented approach for territorial studies that is rooted in the Italian geographical school. Cross-border territories are conceived as complex territorial units, whereby geographical, socioeconomic and cultural patterns are affected and thus altered by the fixation of international boundaries and territorialization. Nevertheless, the persistence of local cross-border networks, both formal and informal, contributes to the maintenance of a shared local milieu. The European integration processes, especially in view of the European Territorial Cooperation programmes, represent an important framework for supporting local cross-border cooperation and boosting new territorial strategies for borderlands. From this perspective, we hypothesize that new cycles of local cross-border reterritorialization can be observed along the EU borderlands by creating new forms of cross-border territorial capital. The case study of Cerdanya (French-Spanish border) illustrates the application of the theoretical framework by analysing the enduring experiences of cross-border cooperation.     

日本国土结构演化及其方向的初步研究

日本国土经历了从东、西日本相抗衡的两极结构发展成为目前以东京大都市圈为中心、以太平洋沿岸为主轴的结构。日本国土结构演化是政治、经济、社会以及技术变化的一种结果,其中产业结构、要素与市场、以及国土政策是这种演化的最直接原因。目前日本已步入经济大国行列,国土开发的主题也由"经济"移向"生活",日本新一轮国土规划在一定程度上体现了对于国土的新的期待,21世纪的日本国土结构将会是一种具有强烈地域性的多轴型国土结构。     

Consuming geopolitics and feeling maritime territoriality: The case of China's patriotic tourism in the South China Sea

This paper develops the concept of territorial socialisation and explores the process and effect of tourism in China's maritime territorialisation of the South China Sea. The research demonstrates the mutual constitution of tourism and territorialisation and suggests that tourism is playing an increasingly important role in everyday contexts to socialise individuals into national-territorial thinking. However, tourism alone does not decidedly stoke strong territorial nationalism, instead it produces uneven bordering or territorialisation effects at the personal level. Tourism practices, tourist agency, and the distinct wet ontology of the sea complicate the state maritime territorialisation process. The research also shows that the Chinese tourists are pragmatic, calculative geopolitical actors. Their geopolitical experiences through tourism are connected to, and embedded in, the broad geopolitical realities of China's rising and unjust international orders, while informed by official territorial rhetoric and traditional political culture.     

Beyond the blind spot of knowledge-based territorial development: the mission of Metropolitan Food Clusters

The rise of knowledge-based territorial development has been fuelled primarily by aspirations of competitiveness and wealth creation. Another upcoming ambition is that of sustainability, not only as an accompanying goal but as a core mission driving territorial initiatives such as clusters development. This paper explores mission-driven territorial development along theoretical and empirical lines. The paper starts by discussing a basic heuristic model intersecting the three concepts of ‘mission’, ‘knowledge’ (distinguishing ‘substantive’ and ‘significant’ knowledge) and ‘governance’. This leads to an analytical framework for territorial development focusing on (1) mission formulation, (2) production and exchange of knowledge in supportive milieus, (3) embedding of substantive knowledge, (4) anchoring of significant knowledge, and (5) feeding of significant knowledge into the (re) design of institutions and strategies of policy design and implementation. This framework is applied to three cases of ‘Metropolitan Food Clusters’ to illustrate and test the framework. The paper shows how especially the continuous anchoring of significant knowledge poses major challenges to knowledge-based territorial development and should be a central issue in future research and policy.