Spatial Partitioning and the Politician's Wisdom

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Abstract
Jean Gottman presents the general theme of this special issue of the International Review of Political Science. He surveys the other six articles, all of which are concerned with the general theme of relationships between spatial partitioning and political thought, although they deal with different subjects and take different approaches. Two aspects of the relationships in question are examined in this issue of the Review, which sets the views of geographers alongside those of political scientists. In the first place, spatial partitions are considered as boundaries; while the latter have become more flexible in recent years, they continue to be a source of problems and tensions. The second aspect studied is electoral geography and its methodology. By way of conclusion, the article raises the issue of the dynamic nature of partitions and society, in contrast to the geographical stability of electoral patterns. Must we conclude that political ideas are rooted in geographic space, or that the basis of geographical stability is an inheritance from earlier habits of thought?

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