Thinking Geographically

Hubbard et al.'s main aim in Thinking Geographically is to present the contemporary ways of non-mainstream (i.e. Marxist, postmodern, poststructural...) thinking to the students of geography, and by doing so to demonstrate that theory matters in understanding the reality. An excellent literature review as it is, Thinking Geographically seems to betray its name, though. The book is more about introducing `post' ways of thinking than about `spatiality'. Except in a few chapters like the one on globalization the idea of space is secondary or miniscule throughout the book. Thus, if I was asked, I would name the book "Thinking Thinking for Geographers". Shifting from how well the book fares in doing what its title suggests to how well it fares in doing what it does, the book offers an excellent collection of `new' ideas that aim to challenge the traditional ways of thinking on concepts and on the real world. The aim of this `new' social theorizing is to move away from the traditional `narrow' definitions of concepts and replace them with the ones that are more social and humane (hence more dynamic and contingent). Situating themselves against the certainties and reductions of positivism and modernism, `post' ways of thinking question both their `truth claims' and knowledge accumulation strategies (p. 75). "I mistrust all systematizers and I avoid them" once said Nietzsche; in that sense, the `new' social theory follows a Nietzschean path. Examples to the non-traditional ways of thinking about the world abound in the Thinking Geographically volume. Among this multitude, the ones on governance and globalization stroke me most. First, contrary to the traditional identification of governance with the institution of government, Hubbard et al. present a broader understanding of governance as flexible and facilitative forms of partnership between government representatives (the state), business (the market), and other non-government agents (civil society) (p. 175). This type of governance understanding challenges both the dominant capitalist categorization of the state, the market, and civil society as independent realms, and the Marxist critique of this view, which considers the state the mere embodiment of the interests of the bourgeoisie. Second, opposing the arguments which claim the withering away of the state in this global age, some social scientists argue that what takes place is only a rearrangement of the roles of the state, not its extinction (p 189-90). As there has never been a capitalism independent of state intervention (here a Wallerstein would rather say "nor could there be") , contemporary version of capitalism does not (cannot?) function without the regulatory role of state. If the role of the modern state of the 19th century was to feed and protect the economy , the role of the "supermodern" state of today is "to create a suitable local political environment which is supportive of neoliberal economic development," (p. 179). As for