highlight the importance of these debates.Culture is discussed in a similar vein, againhighlighting the differing viewpoints and itscontentiousness within the field.

Chapter 9 concludes by explaining the con-current relevance of economic geography incontemporary debates highlighting many ofthe current issues faced in the world with thisperspective in mind. The statement that‘inequality of the sort that marks contemporaryeconomic life is, we believe, better understoodas inequity. That is, it is unjust.’ should stimu-late interest and debate among students whohave considered all the material presented upto this point, bringing the book to a close withthought provoking remarks.

Overall, this book gives broad coverage ofeconomic geography and would be a usefulresource for students, particularly under-graduate students, who wish to have a bal-anced overview with practical examples andproblems to solve relating to each of the issuesdescribed and discussed in each chapter. Thebook provides the introduction to economicgeography it claims to, as well as offering afresh perspective on some aspects of economicgeography. This is likely to more deeplyengage both the mind of the causal peruser ofeconomic geography and the curious studentsalike.

University of Canterbury Malcolm Campbell

The Ashgate Research Companion to CriticalGeopolitics.KLAUS DODDS, MERJE KUUS & JOANNE SHARP,eds. Burlington, VT 2013: Ashgate, 548 pp. ISBN: 10:1409423808.

The Ashgate Research Companion to CriticalGeopolitics provides a comprehensive overviewof the past, present, and future of a criticalapproachtogeopolitics.Thecontributionsfromleading researchers to this collection providea frame of reference for understanding themultiple approaches within the subfield. Theauthors clearly trace the development ofthought within this area of research using

minimal jargon, making it a useful resource forupper level undergraduate and graduate stu-dents. It will also be useful to professors asa reference to the development of variousspecialisations within the subfield and as a toolfor developing course readings. I will review thethree sections of the book: Foundations, Sites,and Agents, and give a short reflection on thecommon threads regarding the future of criticalgeopolitics that are woven throughout the 28chapters. In the introduction, the editors claimthat ‘the heterogeneity of critical geopolitics iscentral to its vibrancy’ (p. 10). This argument iscertainly reflected in the variety of engagementsacross disciplines and approaches in this singlebook.

‘Part I: Foundations’ includes contributionsfrom some of the most influential geographersof critical geopolitics, such as John Agnew andSimon Dalby. This section, along with the intro-duction and foreword (by Gearóid Ó Tuathail),gives readers different reflections on the intel-lectual beginnings of critical geopolitics. Oneof the most interesting aspects of this section isthe personal narrative alongside the analysis ofhow geopolitical thought has developed frompeople such as John Agnew, who has been afundamental player in the development of criti-cal geopolitics. Each chapter traces a differentaspect of the shift in geopolitics from a realisttradition focused on intellectual statecraft to aresearch focus that ‘is an effort to think criti-cally about the world around us and to chal-lenge inherited legacies of imperial practices inthe name of greater emancipation’ (p. xxi).Critical geopolitics has also expanded fromits geopolitics roots to include analysis of theeveryday, affect, and gender. This lineagefrom early thinkers, such as Mackinder, to theminds that contributed to this compilation isexpressed through different themes such as dis-course, sovereignty, neoliberalism, peace, andheteronormativity. This section builds a back-ground for looking at the various sites of geo-political practice and performance.

Part II of the Companion explores ways inwhich critical geopolitics challenges spatialassumptions in geopolitical imaginations, rep-resentations, and performances. Each of thesesections traces the history of how a particularsite has been approached. In contrast to PartI, the authors focus more on contemporary

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approaches to these sites, usually concludingwith suggestions for further studies. Forexample, Paasi argues that although borderstudies is well established, the changing globalpolitical and economic systems have causedand will continue to cause the meanings ofborders and bordering to change. Then,Moisio argues that a critical geopolitics of thestate should encompass global processes andmultiple ‘geopolitical imaginaries and widerdiscourses through which the neoliberalizationof the state occurs’ (p. 243). The section con-tinues as the other authors argue that weshould conceptualise these spaces in relation totheir contextual meanings and push our analy-sis outside of our normal constraints (suchas scale or the state). For example, Adam’smedia chapter calls for the use of actor networktheory to examine the ways in which media areinvolved in geopolitical dynamics and Cowenand Story’s chapter on the everyday argues thatgeopolitics should not be confined to theglobal scale.

The final part of the book discusses the role ofdifferent agents involved in geopolitics so thatour analysis may ‘move beyond the statistframing of power and spatiality in an effort toproduce more nuanced analyses of the dailypractices and performances of global politics’(p. 383). This section explores the connectionsbetween agency, subject, and context. Oneof the most compelling arguments includesBachmann’s look at international organisa-tions. He argues that we need to move fromlooking at territory and towards analysing spati-ality. This shift would also be a shift from focus-ing on state power and towards focusing onglobal networks and structures of governance.He also calls for using network ethnography as away to examine the everyday. Another persua-sive chapter, by Pinkerton, examines the role oftechnology in changing the dynamics of who isconsidered a journalist as the label becomes lessexclusive due to the proliferation of internetmedia. Dittmer also explores how studies involv-ing the role of evangelicals should focus on theeveryday religious experience instead of reli-gious discourses. Ingram’s chapter on artistssays that while contemporary art and criticalgeopolitics often investigate parallel topics, theyare rarely analysed together. He argues that thiscombination may sometimes be uncomfortable,

but through these ‘discomforts may lie thepotential for further critical reflection’ (p. 473).This suggestion reflects the overarching themein this collection, that critical geopolitics is dis-jointed in its multiple approaches, but thisvariety is united through the desire to decon-struct and unsettle the commonly held assump-tions about power, spatiality, and politics acrossthe world.

The overall focus on poststructuralism as atool for challenging realist, traditional, andpopular geopolitics also means that a fewnames (e.g. Foucault, Derrida, O’Tuathail,Agnew) are cited in most chapters. As I contin-ued reading, I quickly noticed the largely malegroup of thinkers who were seen as founda-tional to a critical geopolitics. This genderdominance is also reflected in the largely maleEuropean and American contributors to thiscollection. Coleman reflects on this briefly,noting that, ‘part of the difficultly, as argued byfeminist geopolitics scholars, is that the criticalgeopolitics project is as much a ‘boy’s town’ asits mainstream interlocutors’ (p. 504). My pointis not a criticism of this compilation, but acomment on critical geopolitics and geographymore broadly. The Companion serves as areminder that geography and critical geopoli-tics still has room to incorporate more diverseintellectual perspectives.

In fact, acknowledgment of this need isreflected in several of the authors’ suggestionsfor the future of critical geopolitics. Acrossseveral chapters, the role of participatory actionresearch (PAR) was discussed as a methodologi-cal improvement to the subfield. Additionally,several authors, including Moisio, Hughes, andMüller, argue for more precise iterations ofhow we approach and balance the discursive,visual, and material. And as another way tochallenge assumptions in our research, a focuson everyday lives and affect was continuouslycited as a way to push our analyses beyond thestate and its territory. This review cannot possi-bly encompass all of the valuable contributionsput forth in the Companion. However, the col-lection certainly gives a thorough investigationof the past, present, and future needs of avibrant critical geopolitics, making it a usefulresource for students and professors alike.

University of Kentucky Brittany Cook

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