Geography presents interesting and intricate trade-offs between empirical data and demands, on the one hand, and deep philosophical issues (from ontology to political philosophy), on the other. What is a geographic entity? What is the relationship between a geographic entity and a physical territory? Can a geographic entity survive without a territory or without definite borders? Can it survive...

This contribution begins with a presentation of the three articles that constitute this part of the geography topic, which are: Main stages of the development, Theory and Methods, and Geographical Education. It continues with the analysis of the basis of the development of modern geographic thought, in which the scientific, institutional, social and political fundamental contexts are presented....

Port geographers and port economists all look basically at the way a port develops and performs. While this may seem rather trivial, the simple fact that 90% of world trade volumes are ensured by maritime transport is in itself a sufficient argument assessing the importance of ports in shaping the world economy. The core intention of port specialists is thus to explain why some ports grow while...

T he causes of political instability and state failure have become growing concerns for strategic leaders and national security professionals because the United States is much more likely to deploy force in countries experiencing such conditions than to engage a peer competitor in a conventional war. The authors of Why Nations Fail provide a compelling explanation for state failure that is all ...

Few, if any, would deny that political parties are integral to representative democracy as we know it. And yet since the 1960s it has become increasingly commonplace to encounter references in academic literature, journalistic comment, and polemical assertion alike to the `decline of party', a contention usually predicated on the view that parties are `failing' in a variety of respects. We have...

It is commonly assumed that how individuals identify on the political spectrum-whether liberal, conservative, or moderate-has a universal meaning when it comes to policy stances and voting behavior. But, does political identity mean the same thing from place to place? Using data collected from across the U.S. we find that even when people share the same political identity, those in "bluer" loca...