Aligning Geopolitics, Humanitarian Action and Geography in Times of Conflict (Key Challenges in Geography)

This textbook offers valuable insights into the nexus between geography, geopolitics, and humanitarian action. It elucidates concepts regarding conflict and power, as well as the role of the state and the international community in mitigating and preventing violence and war. Here the material and non-material, existential or imagined reasons for conflict are deconstructed, ranging from land and resource grabs to Utopian ideals that can degenerate into dystopias, as with Daesh’s caliphate in Syria and Iraq. In turn, the issues discussed range from the local to wider national and global levels, as do their resolution mechanisms. Due to insecurities, the impacts of globalization, divisive nationalistic and isolationist reactions emerging in some democracies including the USA, the UK’s Brexit stress, and the ominous rise of populist parties across continental Europe (from France and the Netherlands to the Visegrád Group, the Balkans, and Greece), citizen fatigue has become increasingly evident, reflected in ever-growing socio-political malaise and violence. As the impact of any humanitarian disaster is proportional to the level of development of the area affected, concepts and categories of humanitarian action are explored, along with development issues at their core, especially in the Global South. Broadly speaking, humanitarian disasters fall into the categories of natural, human-made, technological, or complex; here, however, the focus is on human-made crises. Attempts at greater regulation, national and international organization and multilateralism to prevent violent conflicts, as well as enhanced responses to humanitarian emergencies, need to be supported now more than ever before. This textbook will appeal to graduate and upper undergraduate students and practitioners in the fields of geography, geopolitics, humanitarian action and geographies of conflict and war. In addition to the main content, it includes exercises, questions and sections for autonomous student learning. Preface 7 Acknowledgements 9 Contents 10 About the Author 16 1 Introduction 17 Reference 20 Conflict and Power 21 2 Geopolitics 24 2.1 Introduction 24 2.2 Frameworks for Understanding Geopolitics and Conflict 25 2.2.1 Geopolitics: Earth, Territory and Power 25 2.3 Time, Place and Space 30 2.3.1 A Few Square Meters, or Thousands of Square Kilometres 30 2.3.2 Walls and Boundaries 34 2.3.3 Symbolic Spaces 35 2.3.4 Historical Time Scales 36 2.4 Physical and Human Geographies 38 2.5 Conclusions 40 References 42 3 Territoriality: Identity, State and Nation Revisited 43 3.1 Introduction 43 3.2 Constructing the State 46 3.3 Territory and the State 48 3.3.1 The State, Political Economy and Geopolitics 49 3.4 Nations, States and Nationalisms 53 3.4.1 Patriotism 55 3.4.2 Patriotism and Nationalism 57 3.5 Defining Nationalisms 59 3.6 Continuing Territorialisation and Outer Space 65 3.7 Conclusions 67 References 70 4 The Causes of Conflict 72 4.1 Introduction 72 4.2 Material: Economic and Power Factors 73 4.2.1 Energy and Mineral Resources 73 4.2.2 Competition for Fertile Land 75 4.2.3 Geostrategic Competition 76 4.2.4 Zones of Influence 77 4.3 Non-material—Existential: Imagination and Utopia 78 4.3.1 Utopias, Ideals and Re-Imagined Golden Ages 78 4.3.2 Paradise and the God-Contract 79 4.3.3 Golden Ages 82 4.3.4 Anger and Grievance 83 4.4 The Genocide Project: Getting Rid of the Others 88 4.5 Democracy 89 4.5.1 Misinformation and Fake News 90 4.5.2 Democracy: A Continuous Process Based on Ideals 91 4.6 Development and Political Economy 95 4.6.1 The Democracy Index 96 4.6.2 Democracy and Development 97 4.6.3 Transparency 97 4.6.4 Endowment and Entitlement Mapping 97 4.6.5 Action, Context, Structure, and Power in Humanitarian Spaces 98 4.7 Human Rights and Democratisation 100 4.8 Conclusion 101 References 102 5 Can Democracy Be All Things to All People? 103 5.1 Introduction 103 5.1.1 The Pillars and Organs of Ideology 104 5.1.2 Ideological Competition 107 5.1.3 Religion and Fundamentalism 108 5.1.4 Democracies and Conflict 110 5.1.5 Inherent Contradictions 110 5.1.6 States Attempting Moves Towards Democracy 111 5.2 War Between Democracies 113 5.2.1 Regional Nationalisms 116 5.2.2 Multiple Causes for Regional Conflicts 117 5.2.3 Radicalization: Regionalist and Nationalist Campaigns 118 5.2.4 Regional Planning 119 5.2.5 Good Governance, Good Citizenship and Competing Voices 120 5.2.6 Interconnecting Central and Local Government 121 5.3 Conclusions 123 References 124 Humanitarian Action: Development Concepts 126 6 Aligning Humanitarian Actions and Development 129 6.1 Introduction 129 6.1.1 Defining Humanitarism 131 6.1.2 Humanitarian Action: Past and Present 132 6.1.3 Geographical Contexts and Development Levels 137 6.2 The Major Categories of Humanitarian Disasters 138 6.3 Defining Hazards, Vulnerability and Risk 142 6.4 Poverty, Vulnerability and Humanitarian Crises 143 6.5 Responses to Humanitarian Disasters 145 6.6 Conclusions 147 References 149 7 Sustainable Development: Vulnerability and Crises 151 7.1 Introduction 151 7.2 Sustainable Development 153 7.2.1 Food, Power and Hunger 155 7.2.2 Sustainable Development: Famine and Learning from the Past 157 7.3 Case Study: The Great Irish Famine/an Gorta Mór (1845–49) 157 7.3.1 Patterns of Global Malnourishment 160 7.3.2 Women Play a Major Role in Food Production in the NICs 161 7.3.3 Political-Economy and Poverty 161 7.3.4 Human Vulnerability and Risk of Disaster in Post-colonial Countries 164 7.3.5 Imperialism and Colonialism 164 7.4 Conclusions 166 References 168 8 Development: Ideal and Basics 169 8.1 Introduction 169 8.2 The Struggle for Development 171 8.3 The MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) and SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) 173 8.3.1 Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger 173 8.3.2 Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education 174 8.3.3 Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women 175 8.3.4 Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality 176 8.3.5 Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health 176 8.3.6 Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases 177 8.3.7 Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability 177 8.3.8 Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development 178 8.4 Human Rights Approach to Development 179 8.4.1 Rights Guaranteed to All Human Beings Under International Treaties 180 8.5 Development Discourses: Basic Concepts Revisited 180 8.5.1 Key Concepts in the Development Discourse 181 8.5.2 Under-Development 181 8.5.3 Food and Health 184 8.5.4 Money and Work 186 8.5.5 The Overpopulation Debate 188 8.6 Environment 189 8.7 The Big Economic Institutions 191 8.7.1 The IMF (International Monetary Fund) 191 8.7.2 The World Bank 192 8.7.3 The WTO 192 8.7.4 The G20 193 8.8 Economic Governance 193 8.9 Conclusions 195 References 197 Geopolitics and Global Governance 198 9 Geopolitics and International Organization 200 9.1 Introduction: Historical Perspectives 200 9.2 The Quest for Regulation: International Organizations 203 9.2.1 The United Nations Organization 204 9.3 Regional Inter-governmental Organization 205 9.3.1 The Council of Europe 205 9.3.2 European Union 206 9.3.3 The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 207 9.3.4 The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) 208 9.3.5 Other Major Regional Organizations 208 9.4 International Humanitarian Law 211 9.4.1 The Geneva Conventions 211 9.4.2 The International Criminal Court (ICC) 216 9.5 The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) 217 9.5.1 The R2P: To Prevent, to React, and to Rebuild 220 9.5.2 The Threshold for Military Interventions 220 9.6 Arguments Supporting the R2P 221 9.6.1 Humanitarian 221 9.6.2 A Major Reason for the Creation of the United Nations Organization 222 9.6.3 Deterrent 222 9.6.4 Economic 223 9.7 Criticisms of the R2P 223 9.7.1 Violation of National Sovereignty 223 9.7.2 Double Standards in the Implementation of the R2P 224 9.7.3 New or Neo-imperialism and Neo-colonialism 226 9.7.4 Abuse of Interpretation 226 9.7.5 Independence, Neutrality, and Impartiality 227 9.7.6 Structure of the UN 227 9.7.7 Not Realistic, Too Utopian 228 9.7.8 Remarks on the UN and Multilateralism 228 9.8 Peacebuilding and Post-conflict Recovery 231 9.9 Peace Processes 232 9.9.1 Truth and Reconciliation 233 9.10 Conclusions 233 References 235 Conclusions and Further Learning 236 10 Conclusions 237 11 Reflection: Autonomous Learning, Activities and Questions 243 11.1 Part 1 Conflict and Power 243 11.1.1 Theme: Geopolitics 243 11.1.2 Thematic Revision Questions 245 11.1.3 Theme: The Causes of Conflict 245 11.2 Revision Questions 247 11.3 Part 2 Humanitarian Action: Development Concepts 247 11.3.1 Theme: Development and the UN Human Development Index (HDI) 247 11.3.2 Theme: Humanitarian Narratives—What’s the Big Story? 251 11.4 Revision Questions 257 11.4.1 Theme: Development—Ideals and the Basics 258 11.5 Revision Questions 259 11.6 Part 3 Geopolitics and International Organization 259 11.6.1 Writing Reports and Recommendations 259 11.7 Revision Questions 260 References 260 Index 262 Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii Introduction (Gerry O’Reilly)....Pages 1-4 Front Matter ....Pages 5-7 Geopolitics (Gerry O’Reilly)....Pages 9-27 Territoriality: Identity, State and Nation Revisited (Gerry O’Reilly)....Pages 29-57 The Causes of Conflict (Gerry O’Reilly)....Pages 59-89 Can Democracy Be All Things to All People? (Gerry O’Reilly)....Pages 91-113 Front Matter ....Pages 115-117 Aligning Humanitarian Actions and Development (Gerry O’Reilly)....Pages 119-140 Sustainable Development: Vulnerability and Crises (Gerry O’Reilly)....Pages 141-158 Development: Ideal and Basics (Gerry O’Reilly)....Pages 159-187 Front Matter ....Pages 189-190 Geopolitics and International Organization (Gerry O’Reilly)....Pages 191-226 Front Matter ....Pages 227-227 Conclusions (Gerry O’Reilly)....Pages 229-234 Reflection: Autonomous Learning, Activities and Questions (Gerry O’Reilly)....Pages 235-253 Back Matter ....Pages 255-262