GEOG 2337 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Political Geography, The Great Game, Montesquieu
9 Feb 2020
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Aristotle: 4th century bc, governance can only be practice within a discrete and well-defined area. Plato: 5th century bc, society that we dream of cannot grow into a reality until philosophers are kings. Thucydides: 4th century bc, wrote the history of the peloponnesian war (athens vs. sparta, father of political realism. Ibn khaldun: 14th century, governments viewed as institutions that prevent injustice, civilization cycle, sedentary luxuries distract, government overtaxes, leads to injustices, civilization falls, replaced by another, easy to conquer, difficult to govern. Montesquieu: 17th century, role of landscape and climate on governance systems, hot vs. Cold vs. france: hot and cold societies aren"t as productive as temperate climates, key to political development is climate and geography. Era of ascendancy: 1870-1945, foundation of political geography as a discipline begin. Frederick ratzel: 1897, academic, environmental determinism environment shapes the society, social darwinism a culture becomes better by weeding out the weaker people in society.
