Chair: Professor André-Louis Sanguin, Faculty of Geography, University of Paris-Sorbonne, 191 rue Saint-Jacques, 75005 Paris, France. E-mail : alsanguin@wanadoo.fr

Vice-Chair: Professor Anton Gosar, Dean, Faculty of Humanities, University of Primorska, Glagoljaska 8, 6000 Koper, Slovenia. E-mail : anton.gosar@guest.arnes.si

Secretary: Professor David Newman, Department of Politics & Government, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, POB 653, 84105 Beer Sheva, Israel. E-mail : newman@bgumail.bgu.ac.il

Webmaster: Asst. Prof. Carl Dahlman, Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, Columbia SC 29208, USA. E-mail : dahlman@sc.edu

Steering Committee:

• Sanjay Chaturvedi, Centre for the Study of Geopolitics, Panjab University, 1600-014 Chandigarh, India. E-mail : sanjay@pu.ac.in
• Elena Dell’Agnese, Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via Bicocca degli Arcimbaldi 8, 20126 Milan, Italy. E-mail : elena.dellagnese@unimib.it
• Alexandru Ilies, Department of Geography, University of Oradea, Str. Armata Romana 5, 410078 Oradea, Romania. E-mail : ilies@uoradea.ro
• Maano Ramutsindela, Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, 7701 Rondebosch, South Africa. E-mail : maano@enviro.uct.ac.za
• Paul Reuber, Institute of Geography, University of Münster, Robert Koch Strasse 26, 48149 Münster, Germany. E-mail : p.reuber@uni-muenster.de
• Lynn Staeheli, Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado, Boulder CO 80309-0487, USA. E-mail : lynner@colorado.edu
• Marek Sobczynski, Department of Political Geography, University of Lodz, Collegium Geographicum, ul. Kopcinskiego 31, 90142 Lodz, Poland. E-mail : marsob@geo.uni.lodz.pl
• Takashi Yamazaki, Department of Geography, Osaka City University, Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku, 5588585 Osaka, Japan. E-mail : yamataka@lit.osaka-cu.ac.jp

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

            After a 20-years existence and five 4-year terms under different statutes (see the history of the Commission in the Commission's Website), the Commission on Political Geography has been renewed for the term 2004-2008 by the IGU General Assembly and Executive Committee on the occasion of the International Geographical Congress in Glasgow (August 2004). In its Report 2000-2004 which was distributed to all participants at Glasgow, the IGU Executive Committee has refered the Commission on Political Geography at the best rank in terms of connectedness with other commissions and with regional scientific organizations (Source: IGU Report 2000-2004, page 15 "IGU Commission Network & Reach 2000-2004"). At Glasgow, I have been elected as the new Commission's Chair. I would like to thank warmly Vladimir Kolossov, the Past Chair, for his significant commitment during his two terms (1996-2000 and 2000-2004) in favour of the international visibility and scientific legitimacy of political geography. As his Vice-Chair during the same period, I was very happy to collaborate with him in the publishing of the Newsletter and in the organization of some international conferences devoted to specific topics related with political geography.
           A new Commission's Steering Committee has been implemented (see above its official composition). According to the IGU rules, members of the Steering Committee can only serve a certain time and thus we had to change the team after Glasgow. We woud like to thank the outgoing members for their activities within the Commission.
          The main objective for the next four years has been explained by Vladimir Kolossov in the last issue of the Commission's Newsletter (June 2004, n° 3, p. 2). We can add two guidelines to this agenda: 

• the Mediterranean Renaissance Programme (MRP) which is a priority of the new IGU Executive Committee, particularly in a view to contribute to the scientific preparation of the 2008 International Geographical Congress, which will be held in Tunis (see further information on part V of this newsletter).
• a famous French geographer had published in 1976 a lampoon-book which was entitled "Geography is, at first, of use for making war". Today, we can say that "geography is also of use for making peace". In this view, two international conferences are constituting important meetings for political geographers:

- Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, November 28-30, 2005. "Dayton – 10 Years After: Conflict Resolution and Cooperation Perspectives".

            Peace and well wishes for 2005,

1. International Conference BRIT VII "Border Regions in Transition: Crossing Disciplines, Crossing Scales, Crossing Cultures" and EUBorderConf "Israel-Palestine Workshop". Jerusalem-Eilat, Israel, January 9-15, 2005. Organizer : David Newman, Secretary of the Commission, with the collaboration of Ben Gurion University, the Van Leer Institute of Jerusalem, the Centre for the Study of European Politics and Society, the EUBorderConf (European Union Border Conference). Contact at borders@bgu.ac.il (Conference's Secretary: Mrs. Ayelet Haimpur).

Programme: Theoretical Approaches to the Study of Borders. Crossing Borders: Barriers or Bridges?. Trans-Boundary Cooperation: Theoretical Issues. National Borders in Human Environments. Borders and Territorial Conflict. Border Regions. Cross-Border Cooperation from Conflict to Peace. Israeli Perspectives in Israeli-Palestinian Borders. The Role of the EU in Israel-Palestine Conflict Resolution after the Palestinian Elections. The Changing Borders of the EU. The Role of the EU in Border Management. Methodological Issues. Territorial Restructuring. Border and Geopolitical Representations in Film.

Field trips: 1/ (in-conference) to the West Bank, the Separation Fence and Jerusalem; 2/ (post-conference) to the Israel-Jordan and Israel-Egypt Boundaries. Last meeting in Eilat.

2. International Conference « Between Political Geography and Megalopolis. The Spaces of Jean Gottmann ». Paris, France, March 29-30, 2005 (Sorbonne, Society of Geography, National Library of France). Organizer : Professor Calogero Muscara, University La Sapienza, Rome, Italy. Preliminary programme : 1/ Geography between Global and Local according to Jean Gottmann; 2/ The French School of Geography and North America; 3/ Jean Gottmann, Geographer and Citizen of the World; 4/ The Jean Gottmann's Collection at the NLF.

For further information and registration form, contact: Professor Calogero Muscara, Via del Castro Pretorio 42, 00185 Rome, Italy. E-mail: calogero.muscara@uniroma1.it; phone: ++ 39-348-30-37-586 or ++ 39-06-44-60-022; or Luca Muscara at muscara@unive.it

3. Political Geography Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers. Annual pre-conference, Boulder, Colorado, 4-6 April 2005. In connection with the 25th anniversary of the review POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY, the organizers plan some retrospective and perspective sessions on the discipline as reflected in the journal and other outlets. Elsevier Science, the publishers of the journal, will help to sponsor the pre-conference. Contact the organizers: Lynn Staeheli, member of the Commission's Steering Committee, at lynner@colorado.edu and John O'Loughlin at johno@colorado.edu

4. International Conference « Former Yugoslavia Ten Years after Dayton. New States between Community Tearings and European Integration », Paris-Sorbonne, France, June 8-9, 2005. Organizer : André-Louis Sanguin, Chair of the Commission. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the signature of the Dayton Peace Accords in Paris (14 December 1995), this conference is aimed at going out from the "war litterature" and at scrutinizing the present diversity and complexity of the post-Yugoslav States. The analysis will alternate various levels from local to global. Preliminary programme : 1/ Local, National and Trans-National Identities; 2/ Ethnicities and Minorities within the new States; 3/ New International Borders and New Border Areas; 4/ Trans-National Consequences of the Dayton Peace Accords; 5/ Economic Inequalities between States. NeW Economic Networks. Grey Economy. The proceedings will be published in a Paris publisher some weeks before the 10th anniversary of the signature of the Dayton Peace Accords.

For further information and registration form, contact the organizer: Professor. André-Louis Sanguin (see above the complete office address). E-mail: alsanguin@wanadoo.fr Fax: ++ 33-1-44-32-14-38.

5. International Conference « Elisée Reclus / Paul Vidal de la Blache. The Geographer, the City and the World, Yesterday and Today ». Montpellier-Pézenas, France, July 4-6, 2005. On the occasion of the 160th anniversary of Vidal de la Blache's birth (1845) and of the 100th anniversary of Reclus’s death (1905), this international meeting will focus on five cross-section topics which will draw in perspective the man and the works in his context for each of both great forerunners : 1/ the geographer and his ideology in the context of the time; 2/ the relation with teaching; 3/  the world’s vision through Universal Geography; 4/  the idea of geography; 5/ the France’s territorial stitching and its evolution. Preliminary programme :

• July 4th-5th, 2005. Montpellier. Reclus, an international geographer: geography and anarchism, the Second Universal Geography, understanding and respecting the world’s diversity.
• July 6th, 2005. Pézenas (Vidal’s birthplace). Vidal de la Blache and the France’s evolution, geography and civic commitment.

6. International Conference « Mountain Countries : Population, Geopolitics, GIS Monitoring », Stavropol – Donbai, Russia, 12-17 September 2005. For more details, see first announcement in the Commission’s Newsletter 3 (June 2004). Topics :

• Demographic and socio-economic process and geographical shifts in mountain regions
• Comparative studies of Caucasus and other mountain regions under contemporary geopolitical conditions
• Round table. Balkans/Caucasus : Lessons for the Future

• Professor Vitali Belozerov, Vice-Rector, Stavropol State University, Puchkin Street 1, 355009 Stavropol, Russia. E-mail : vsbelozerov@yandex.ru
• Professor Vladimir Kolossov, Past Chair of the Commission, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetny per. 29, 119017 Moscow, Russia. E-mail : vladk@online.ru

The conference is open to scholars of various disciplines who may contribute to the analysis of the geopolitical, historical, cultural, social and economic aspects related to divergence and convergence processes and perspectives in the area of former Yugoslavia and Southeastern Europe. The aim of the Conference is to give an assessment of past developments and conflict resolutions, an analysis of current situations and problems concerning integration/disintegration, and the social and spatial trends with indication on future opportunities for cooperation within a broader European and global context.

The official language of the Conference is English. Participants who wish to give their communications in another language are required to send to the organizer a complete version of their paper in English by September 15, 2005. All participants are required to send a one-page long abstract, the registration form and forward payment of the conference fee (needed details will be sent on request) to the organizer by May 1, 2005. The conference fee is set at € 100 and includes programme materials, the book of abstracts, admission to all sessions, coffee breaks, the welcome dinner and the proceedings of the conference (in about three months after the conclusion of the conference). Other social events, excursions, meals and lodgings are to be paid separately. Registration after May 1, 2005 is set to € 150 per person. Requests for refunds of the registration fee will be accepted not later than September 15, 2005 (€ 50 will be deducted due to administration costs).

The Second Circular with details concerning the conference programme, the site of the conference and accomodation possibilities will be forwarded to participants in June 2005. Scientific Board of the Conference : André-Louis Sanguin (University of Paris-Sorbonne, Chair, IGU Commission on Political Geography), Anton Gosar (University of Primorska, Vice-Chair, IGU Commission on Political Geography), Safet Nurkovic (Head, Department of Geography, University of Sarajevo), Milan Bufon (Head, Department of Geography, University of Primorska), Carl Dahlman (University of South Carolina, Chair, Specialty Group on Political Geography of the Association of American Geographers), Maria Paola Pagnini (Head, Department of Diplomatic Studies, University of Trieste at Gorizia), Julian Minghi (Emeritus Professor, University of South Carolina).

For further information and registration form, contact via E-mail, fax or mail : Professor Anton Gosar (anton.gosar@fhs-kp.si) or Professor Milan Bufon (milan.bufon@zrs-kp.si) at Faculty of Humanities, University of Primorska, Glagoljaska 8, 6000 Koper, Slovenia. Tel. ++ 386-5-663-7744. Fax : ++ 386-5-663-7742.

8. IGU 2006 Regional Conference "Regional Responses to Global Changes. A View from the Antipodes", Brisbane, Australia, 3-7 July 2006. Traditionnally, the IGU Regional Conference is scheduled between two IGU International Congresses. This conference will focus geographical attention on critical physical and human processes driving global change. Complex, global-scale processes exert pressures on environmental, social, cultural and economic resources at regional and local scales. The conference will look at regional responses in a changing world, with emphasis on tropical zones, particularly in South-East Asia and the South-West Pacific.

The Commission on Political Geography will organize plenary and/or paper sessions: 1/ Political Spaces in and around the South Pacific; 2/ Maritime Boundaries in South-East Asia and South-West Pacific. For enquiries and information please contact the Chair of the Commission (alsanguin@wanadoo.fr) or the Website of the Regional Conference at www.igu2006.org

1. International Conference "Globalized Europe: Europe in a Globalized World of the 21st Century". Koper/Capodistria, Slovenia, June 3-6, 2004. The youngest Slovenian university, the University of Primorska at Koper/Capodistria organized, with the support of the Association of Slovenian Geographers and the assistance of the IGU Commission on Political Geography, a well-attended conference entitled "Globalized Europe...". Including students, the attendance at the meeting was close to 100 and 39 participants gave papers in plenary and parallel sessions. Representatives of the European Union and Slovenian politicians greeted the conference, as the election campaign for the EU parliament was in full swing.

In particular the topic of the European Union versus World and non-EU members has been addressed. The fragile relationship between the USA and the EU was put in the foreground of interests. Not less attention was devoted to the questions of the future political and other solutions in the area of Southeastern Europe. In this regard several on-site experiences and studies were presented and discussed. The conference locality was namely in the geographical space of the past and present Schengen border (Italy/Slovenia/Croatia) and in one of the ten new members of the European Union. The Mediterranean region of the Istrian peninsula and the Adriatic port of Koper/Capodistria are characterized by a rainbow like tapestry of cultures and a rich history in political geography. The conference concluded with the bus/boat excursion. Under the assistance of the Croatian Geographical Society, the organizer took participants to several historic sites of the region (Piran/Pirano, Porec/Parenzo, Pula/Pola) and to the Brioni Islands. This once exclusive resort of nobility and the communist elite, in particular of the late Yugoslav President Tito (museum!) is now open to public. The proceedings of the conference will be published on mid-2005.

2. Pre-Congress Workshop "Ordering the World: Political Geographies of War and Peace", Durham, UK, 12-15 August 2004. Organized by the "Politics-State-Space" Research Cluster (Department of Geography, University of Durham) under the leadership of Luiza Bialasiewicz, this Pre-IGU Congress Workshop gathered together some fifteen of papers devoted to the following topics: 1/ New/Old Territorializations; 2/ The Political Geography of War and Peace; 3/ Feminist Perspectives on Political Geography; 4/ Border Security in a Changing World; 5/ Trans-National/Trans-Boundary Spaces; 6/ Geographies of Surveillance and Control in the "Borderless" World.

3. Political Geography at the IGU International Congress "One Earth – Many Worlds", Glasgow, UK, 15-20 August, 2004. On 16 August, two sessions organized by the IGU Commission on History of Geographical Thought were devoted to a reassessment of Halford Mackinder and Friedrich Ratzel in a centennial perpective. Under the organization of David Newman with the help of André-Louis Sanguin, six paper's sessions of political geography  took place on 17 and 18 August. They gathered 16 papers (in spite of the withdrawal of other 7 papers). These papers were devoted to the following general topics: 1/ States in a Stateless World (Theoretical Approaches and Case Studies); 2/ Territory in a Deterritorialized World (Scale and Conflict); 3/ Borders in a Borderless World (Theoretical Approaches and Case Studies)

Totally (and secretly!) organized outside the Commission on Political Geography and without its previous agreement, a plenary lecture (80 minutes!) took place on 17 August and was entitled "Geopolitics in the 21st Century: Cultures and Confrontation". During the IGU Congress there were also some sessions held by the "sister" Commission on Geography and Public Policy organized by its Chair Professor Doris Wastl-Walter with the help of Professor Walter Leimgruber (Chair, Commission on Evolving Issues of Geographical Marginality).

The proceedings were concluded by a panel discussion introduced by a group of invited experts: William Stanley from USA, Jernej Zupancic from Slovenia, Zbygniew Rykiel and Roman Szul from Poland. They emphasized the role of the conference in defining the role of borderlands in the processes of international integration. The discussion led to the conclusion that next conferences should focus on a variety of issues, e.g. monitoring the integration processes in the "New Europe", researches of regional specificity, identities, policy of the EU toward the neighbouring countries. Attention should be also paid to the development of research methodology, the influence of borders on everyday life of borderlands' inhabitants, migration patterns and methods of regional management.

Including into the proceedings was a field trip to Lithania combined with a session held at the Victoria Resort on Lake Vistitis. The trip route led throughout the Polish-Lithuanian borderland (on both sides of the boundary) from Russian to Belorussian borders. The conference participants had an opportunity to meet with leaders of the Lithuanian minority in Poland (in the Lithuania House located in Sejny) as well as the Director of the "Pogranicze" Centre and Foundation (in the Old Synagogue and Centre's Library in Sejny), an institution conducting studies on multiculturalism and preservation of cultures. At the close it was decided that the 10th Jubilee International Lodz Conference on Political Geography would take place in September 2006 in Lodz.
 
3. Ratzel Centennial Conference "The Spaces of Ratzel's Geography", Leipzig (Germany), 18-20 November 2004. Organized by the Leibniz Institute of Regional Geography (Leibniz Institut für Länderkunde) under the leadership of Prof. Ute Wardenga (Leipzig) and Prof. Wolfgang Natter (University of Kentucky, Lexington) on the occasion of the centennial of Ratzel's death, this scientific meeting gathered 50 participants from Ireland, UK, France, USA, the Netherlands, Germany, Israel around 15 papers which were devoted to the following topics: 1/ Ratzel, Leipzig and the Historiography; 2/ Ratzel's Contemporaneous Contributions to Geography; 3/ Ratzel and Regional Geography; 4/ Ratzel's Interdisciplinary Forays; 5/ Contexts of Reception. The proceedings will be published in 2005 in the series "Beiträge zur Regionalen Geographie" from the Leibniz Institute of Regional Geography.

In 2001 the Mediterranean Network was established as a component of an ad hoc strategy of the IGU aimed at triggering collaboration on research and education among geographers from the individual regions of the world. The Mediterranean was implicitely assumed as an important reference area of the 2008 IGU International Geographical Congress in Tunis, and the focus of the 2010 IGU Regional Confrence in Tel Aviv. The MRP is essentially linked to the 2008 Tunis IGC. From the teleological point of view this linkage is due to the cicumstance that both IGC and the MRP assume sustainable development, human development, inter-cultural and scientific communication as cardinal points. Hence, the MRP may be regarded as a basic arena to catalyse discussions on the subject areas of the 2008 IGC, and to promote the participation of scientists in that event.

Regarding the potential role of IGU Commissions, investigations on the Mediterranean area are expected to lead to:

• discussing prospects and issues concerning the region as a whole
• exploring useful case studies that may help the discussion of subject concerning the regional scale
• investigating the relationships between the Mediterranean and other world's regions
• designing how the Mediterranean is perceived and represented from outside
• designing how the world is perceived and represented in the Mediterranean cultural contexts

• Potential broad subject areas: Globalization, Geopolitical Change
• Possible foci on the Mediterranean: To discuss how political co-operation may improve in the region, and how collaboration between the Mediterranean and other regions of the world may improve
• Possible UN collaborating organizations: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

• Plenary Session: "Geopolitical Trends of the Mediterranean in a 21st Century Globalized World"
• Special session: "The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership"
• Special session: "The Maritime Boundaries of the Mediterranean: Assessment and Outlooks"
• Special Session: "Conflicts and Conflict Resolutions in the Mediterranean World"

IGU-CPG Website: www.cas.muohio.edu/igu-cpg

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of its authors. The contents of the page have not been reviewed or approved by Miami University.

updated: January 25, 2005 (Oct 4, 2006)