Geopolitical Perspectives from the Italian Border: Introducing Gianfranco Battisti, Triestino Geographer (Historical Geography and Geosciences)

This book presents the work of Gianfranco Battisti, on Geopolitics and Border Geographies in north-eastern Italy, Europeanization, and Globalization, contributing to debates on the inclusion of non-English speaking scholars in international geography. It highlights the institutions and cultures that shaped more than fifty years of his writing, as they emerged through his biography, theoretical contributions, and methods. Battisti uses historical geographies as tools to explain contemporary geopolitics while maintaining a high attentiveness to data-driven research. He applies these tools to investigate ‘geographical facts’ at the local, regional and global scale, viewed from the distinctive viewpoint of the city of Trieste, a laboratory of geopolitical change for more than two centuries. To better understand the importance of place in the production of geographical theories and methods, this book discusses Battisti’s biography in the context of the Triestino School of geography that started from the same French and German classics that shaped Anglo-American geography in the 19th century to later express original features. This book explains such features by introducing the concept of Geography as an industry that operates in a local and global context. It then deploys the methods Battisti developed within his school to discuss the realities and problems of borderlands in a historic and local context during the first and second World Wars and the geopolitical rationale that shaped the times between. The book continues to give an outlook, on how Europe reconstructed itself geopolitically, the implications thereof, and a comparison of how this fits in with geopolitical agendas on a global scale. Acknowledgements Contents List of Figures Introduction 1 Writing Geopolitics in Trieste: Gianfranco Battisti’s Intellectual Production in the Context of the ‘Geography of Geographies’ Abstract 1.1 Introduction: Bringing a Triestino Geographer to an International Audience 1.2 Intellectual Contribution 1.3 Methodology 1.4 The Chapters References 2 Geography as Industry: The Institutions, Untraded Interdependencies, and Worlds of Production Shaping Academic Work Abstract 2.1 Introduction: The Professional Framework of Geographical Thought 2.2 Institutions as Mutual Expectations 2.3 Rethinking ‘Untraded Interdependencies’ and ‘Worlds of Production’ Through an Institutional Lense 2.4 Toward an Academic World of Production 2.5 Conclusion: The Benefits of Viewing Geography as an Industry References Triestino Geographical Thought 3 Becoming a Geographer in Trieste. Autobiographical Essay, Reflecting on the Nature of Geography Abstract 3.1 Joining the Institute of Geography 3.2 Understanding Triestino Geography 3.3 Developing My Vision of the Discipline References 4 Living in the Borderlands: Political Geography, Geopolitics, and Advocacy in the Triestino School of Geography During the Long Twentieth Century Abstract 4.1 Introduction: The Civic Commitment of Triestino Intellectuals 4.2 The Interwar Period: The Formative years of Triestino Geography 4.3 After WW2: Geographers’ Policy Activism in a Bipolar World 4.4 Falling Walls: Triestino Geography at the End of the Bipolar World References Historical Geography as Method: Producing Geopolitics from the Julian Region 5 Urbanization Processes in a Transnational Area. An Application of the Rank-Size Rule to the Austrian Littoral Abstract 5.1 Introduction—Some Issues with Territories 5.2 The Area Under Investigation 5.3 Methodology 5.4 Regional Dynamics 5.5 Data Analysis 5.6 Conclusions: The Many Reasons of Places References 6 Gorizia Nova, Aka “New Gorizia:” A Euro-City on the Border Between Italy and Slovenia. A Recommendation for Local-Level Territorial Changes After Slovenia Joined the European Union in 2004 Abstract 6.1 Introduction: Integrating the Two Gorizias 6.2 The Territorial Challenges of Gorizia Nova 6.3 The Identification of the Areas 6.4 Defining Gorizia Nova’s Urban Core 6.5 Conclusion References 7 Inland Areas and Border Regions: A Geopolitical Interpretation. Comparing the Marginalization of Trieste and Umbria as Examples of the Dynamics of Borderlands Versus Remote Inland Areas Abstract 7.1 Introduction: The Marginality of Internal Areas 7.2 Geographical Marginality and Economic Marginality 7.3 The Inevitable Reversibility of Geographical Conditions 7.4 Borders as “Actors” of Regionalization References From Trieste to the World: Deploying Triestino Geographical Thought to Grand Geopolitics in Europe and Beyond 8 The Reshaping of German-Yugoslav Space from a Middle European Point of View. Paper Presented at the 2nd IBRU Conference, Held in Durham, UK, on July 18–21, 1991 Abstract 8.1 Introduction: Reading Thirty Years Old Notes 8.2 Paper Presented to the 2nd I.B.R.U. Conference (Durham, 18–21 July 199I). Foreword 8.3 The Yugoslav Question 8.4 Toward a New Danubian Confederation? 8.5 New Problems for Old Minorities 8.6 Is the German Question Really Ended? 8.7 Will the Soviet Union Disintegrate? 8.8 The Role of the European Community References 9 Europe. The Many Reasons of an Epoch-Spanning Crisis. A Long-Term Geohistorical and Geoeconomics Analysis of the Obstacles to European Integration Abstract 9.1 Introduction: A Long-Term Analysis of European Geopolitics 9.2 Between History and Geography 9.3 The Institutional Question 9.4 From the European Communities to the Union 9.5 The Weight of History 9.6 Towards a Pluralistic Europe 9.7 A Continent in Disarray 9.8 A Gaze in Retrospective 9.9 The Perspective of the Economy 9.10 Conclusions References 10 A Century of Struggles. A Comparison of Multiple Geopolitical Agendas in Europe, the USA, and Beyond Abstract 10.1 Introduction: The Repetitiveness of Geopolitical Nodes 10.2 The Problem of Primacy 10.3 Divide and Rule 10.4 American Crises 10.5 The Strategic Framework 10.6 A Preemptive War 10.7 The Resurgence of Russia 10.8 Europe in Disarray 10.9 The Many Problems of an Emerging Superpower 10.10 Escalating the Crisis 10.11 Conclusions References 11 Cycles of Geopolitical (Dis)order, as Determined by Interactions Between Spatial Systems. A Theoretical Model of the Systemic Drivers of Geopolitics Abstract 11.1 Introduction: A Systemic Approach to the Geopolitics of Conflicts 11.2 The Role of Conflicts 11.3 Globalization in Waves 11.4 Toward the End of a Wave 11.5 Conclusions References Appendix_1 Index