Determinism in Geography

Platt, Robert S.

doi:10.1080/00045604809351972

Cited by 12 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Such extremes were voiced as, &dquo;The inhabitants of basaltic regions are difficult to govern&dquo; (Soulavie, in Burton et al, 1974: 102). Platt (1948) criticized such thought on the score that it could not &dquo;explain Argentine&dquo; and, seeking an alternative, he took refuge in &dquo;free will.&dquo; I, counting myself a determinist, would not dream of trying to identify the myriad of causes needed to &dquo;explain Argentine&dquo; and suggest that David Hume might have responded to Platt's espousal of free will with, &dquo;It is not that he may do as he wishes but rather that he must do as he wishes.&dquo; Much controversy followed; it has led to well-nigh universal rejection of the idea and it is a rare geographer who, even today, will not bridle a bit if charged with a tendency to environmental determinism. And yet, Rostlund (1956), summing up, had to say, &dquo;Geographers have not disproved environmental determinism, they have disapproved it.&dquo;…”

Section: Environment or Culture?mentioning

confidence: 97%

Ecological Optimism in the Social Sciences

Luten

1980

American Behavioral Scientist

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Section: Environment or Culture?mentioning

confidence: 97%

Ecological Optimism in the Social Sciences

Luten

1980

American Behavioral Scientist

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“…As early as the late 1940s, an intervention by Platt (1948) suggested the beginning of a pushback against determinism within the discipline: "If we avoid a deterministic approach and give our best efforts to the pursuit and use of knowledge, we can rightly hope to bend our common course in the direction of our desire, and to cause a trend of events (cause in a true philosophic and not in a pseudo-scientific sense) toward greater human welfare" (132). In descriptive essays that predate this more obvious shift, however, geographers observing Indigenous social worlds also subtly worked against the dominant determinism of their time.…”

Section: Prefiguring Social Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

The Enduring Struggle for Social Justice and the City

Heynen¹,

Aiello

Keegan³

et al. 2018

Annals of the American Association of Geographers

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“…Another key area of concern relates to appropriate applications of geographic data. In particular, use of data to make deterministic statements can cause significant problems for any analysis (Frenkel 1992;Sluyter 2003;Platt 1948;Peet 1985). These concerns are non-trivial as the inappropriate use of geographic data has served as core of some of the most virulent ideologies in modern history.…”

Section: Defining the Appropriate Type Of Inquirymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This effectively limits any role for human agency. Platt (1948) introduces a discussion of the importance of moving beyond the constraints of determinism and clearly stating assumptions in order to provide better models of human behavior. He also notes the inability of deterministic arguments in geography to effectively deal with all possible outcomes or with any time varying phenomena.…”

Section: Geography and Political Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Strategic Vulnerability: An Analysis of Physical Geography, Environmental, and Material Components of Force Structure

Christensen¹

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The selection of a military recruitment method has historically been based on material capabilities and military objectives. Recruitment strategies range from coercively conscripting soldiers to encouraging volunteer enlistments. Historically, states around the globe have used large conscripted armies to wage war when they become fully mobilized for protracted military engagements against another state. However, the occurrence of war is by its very nature a rare occurrence in the international system. This begs the question of what types of military recruitment states are using as a function of choice rather than necessity. Existing literature on the selection of force structure is far more complex than existing historical models would imply. A range of factors including material capabilities, geopolitical conditions, foreign policy objectives, and institutional characteristics have all been proposed as potential explanations for the adoption of military manpower systems. These factors reflect the wide degree of variation among states in their choice of recruitment strategy. Existing case literature implies that states with similar geographic and socioeconomic conditions may cluster around a given recruitment method. However, much of the realist scholarship in international relations implies a strong emphasis on power or security maximization, thus implying a more uniform policy calculus. However, there has been little theoretical or empirical research in political science or geography to date that effectively addresses this crucial policy area. This study explores the relationship between physical geography, environmental factors, and force structure in order to investigate a small portion of the classical geopolitics literature. In order to investigate the problem of recruitment strategy, this study must develop a metric for comparison. Geographic Information Science (GIS) is used to develop an Index of Strategic Vulnerability for all states in the international system. This measure is composed of geographic and environmental variables including elevation, area, precipitation, and temperature. Data generated in the GIS are used to conduct duration models to examine the effects of geographic and environmental variables on the length of militarized interstate disputes. The results of this analysis indicate that increasingly difficult geographic and environmental conditions produce significantly longer conflicts. These finding provide empirical support for the existing case literature that claims geography and environmental factors matter in the conduct of war. Next, the geographic and environmental data are used with political and institutional control variables to empirically evaluate the relationship between force structure and the operational conditions. Statistical analysis is used to empirically test the impacts of geographic and environmental variables have on force structure. Results indicate that geographic factor of size increases the probability that a state will use conscription. The only environmental...

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Determinism in Geography

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Ecological Optimism in the Social Sciences

Ecological Optimism in the Social Sciences

The Enduring Struggle for Social Justice and the City

Strategic Vulnerability: An Analysis of Physical Geography, Environmental, and Material Components of Force Structure

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